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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:04:00 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:04:00 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/23226-8.txt b/23226-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9db423f --- /dev/null +++ b/23226-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2483 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 455, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 455 + Volume 18, New Series, September 18, 1852 + +Author: Various + +Editor: William Chambers + Robert Chambers + +Release Date: October 28, 2007 [EBook #23226] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. Shiffer and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL + + CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S + INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c. + + + No. 455. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1852. PRICE 1-1/2_d._ + + + + +A GLANCE AT CONTINENTAL RAILWAYS. + + +When lately making a pretty extensive continental excursion, we were +in no small degree gratified with the progress made in the +construction and operation of railways. These railways, from all that +could be seen, were doing much to improve the countries traversed, and +extend a knowledge of English comforts; for it must always be borne in +mind that the railway system, with its locomotives, carriages, +waiting-rooms, commodious and cheap transit, and other matters, is +essentially English. Hence, wherever one sees a railway in full +operation, he may be said to see a bit of England. And is not this +something to be proud of? The railway being your true civiliser, +England may be said to have sent out a missionary of improvement, whom +nothing can withstand. The continent, with all its stupid despotisms, +must improve, and become enlightened in spite of itself. + +The newspapers lately described the opening of the line of railway +from Paris to Strasbourg. Those who know what travelling in France was +a few years ago, cannot wonder that Louis Napoleon should have made +this the occasion of a popular demonstration. The opening of this line +of railway is an important European event; certainly it is a great +thing for both France and Germany. English travellers may also think +much of it. A tourist can now journey from London to Paris--Paris to +the upper part of the Rhine at Strasbourg, going through a most +interesting country by the way--then go down the Rhine to Cologne by +steamer; next, on by railway to Ostend; cross by steamer to Dover; +and, finally, reach London--thus doing in a few days, and all by force +of steam, what a short time ago must have been done imperfectly, and +with great toil and expense. Still more to ease the journey, a branch +railway from the Strasbourg line is about being opened from near Metz, +by Saarbrück, to Manheim; by which means the Rhine will be reached by +a shorter cut, and be considerably more accessible. In a month or two, +it will be possible to travel from Paris to Frankfort in twenty-five +hours. All that is wanted to complete the Strasbourg line, is to +strike off a branch from Metz to Luxembourg and Treves; for by +reaching this last-mentioned city--a curious, ancient place, which we +had the pleasure of visiting--the traveller is on the Moselle at the +spot where it becomes navigable, and he descends with ease by steamer +to Coblenz. And so the Rhine would be reached from Paris at three +important points. + +Paris, as a centre, is pushing out other lines, with intermediate +branches. Marseille, Bordeaux, Nantes, Rouen, Dieppe, Boulogne, +Calais, and Lille, are the outposts of this series of radiation. The +latest move is a line from Caen to Cherbourg; it will start from the +Paris and Rouen Railway at Rosny, 40 miles from Paris, and proceed +through Caen to the great naval station at Cherbourg--a distance of +191 miles from Rosny. By the time the great lines in France are +finished--probably 3500 miles in the whole--it is expected that the +total expenditure will amount, in round numbers, to a hundred millions +sterling. + +It is gratifying to know, that the small German powers which border on +France have been most active in providing themselves with railways; +not only for their own accommodation, but to join the lines of other +countries; so as to make great trunk-thoroughfares through their +dominions. There seems to be a cordiality in making these junctions, +for general accommodation, that cannot but deserve praise. The truth, +however, is, that all these petty states are glad to get hold of means +for bringing travellers--that is, money-spenders--to their cities and +watering-places, and for developing their long-hidden resources. For +example, in the district lying between Saarbrück and Manheim, there +exist vast beds of coal, and powerful brine-springs; but hitherto, in +consequence of being out of the way of traffic, and there being only +wretched cars drawn by cows, as the means of locomotion, this great +mineral wealth has been locked up, and next thing to useless. What an +outlet will the Strasbourg and Manheim Railway furnish! Paris may be +as well and as cheaply supplied with coal as London. + +Belgium--a kind of little England--has for a number of years been well +provided with railways; and you may go by locomotion towards its +frontiers in all directions, except one--namely, that of Holland. This +odd exception, of course, arose from the ill-will that has subsisted +for a number of years between the Belgians and Dutch; the latter being +not at all pleased with the violent disjunction of the Netherlands. +However, that coolness is now passing off. The two neighbours begin to +find that ill-nature does not pay, and, like sensible people, are +negotiating for a physical union by rail, seeing that a political one +is out of the question. In short, a railway is proposed to be laid +down in an easterly direction from the Antwerp branch, towards the +border of Holland; and by means of steam-boat ferries across the Maas +and other mouths of the Rhine, the junction will be effected with the +Rotterdam and Amsterdam series of railways. The north of Holland is +yet a stranger to railways, nor are the towns of such importance as to +lead us to expect any great doings there. But the north German +region--from the frontiers of Holland to those of Russia and Poland, a +distance of something like 1000 miles--is rapidly filling up the +chasms in its railway net-work. Emden and Osnaburg and Gottingen in +the west, Danzig and Königsberg and Memel in the east, are yet +unprovided; but almost all the other towns of any note in Prussia and +North Germany are now linked together, and most or all of the above +six will be so in a few years. + +The Scandinavian countries are more interesting in respect to our +present subject, on account of _their_ railway enterprises being +wholly written in the future tense. Denmark has so little continuous +land, Sweden has so many lakes, and Norway so many mountains, that, +irrespective of other circumstances, railways have not yet reached +those countries. They are about to do so, however. Hitherto, Denmark +has received almost the whole of its foreign commodities _viâ_ the two +Hanse towns--Hamburg and Bremen; and has exported its cattle and +transmitted its mails by the same routes. The Schleswig-Holstein war +has strengthened a wish long felt in Denmark to shake off this +dependence; but good railways and good steam-ship ports will be +necessary for this purpose. When, in April 1851, a steamer crossed +rapidly from Lowestoft to Hjerting, and brought back a cargo of +cattle, the Danes felt suddenly independent of the Hamburghers; but +the route from Hjerting to Copenhagen is so bad and tiresome, that +much must yet be done before a commercial transit can really be +established. There was at that time only an open basket-wagon on the +route; there has since been established a diligence; but a railway +will be the only effective means of transit. Here we must correct a +mistake in the last paper: Denmark is not quite without railway +accommodation; there is about 15 miles of railway from Copenhagen to +Roeskilde, and this is to be continued across the island of Zealand to +Korsör. The Lowestoft project has led to important plans; for a +railway has been marked out from Hamburg, through the entire length of +Holstein and Schleswig to the north of Jütland, where five hours' +steaming will give access to the Swedish coast; while an east and west +line from Hjerting to Copenhagen, with two breaks at the Little Belt +and the Great Belt, are also planned. If Denmark can by degrees raise +the requisite capital, both of these trunk-lines will probably be +constructed. + +Norway has just commenced its railway enterprises. It seems strange to +find the familiar names of Stephenson and Bidder, Peto and Brassey, +connected with first-stone layings, and health-drinkings, &c., in +remote Norway; but this is one among many proofs of the ubiquity of +English capital and enterprise. The government of Norway has conceded +the line to an English company, by whom it will be finished in 1854. +The railway will be 50 miles in length; it will extend from +Christiania to Lake Miösen, and will connect the capital with an +extensive chain of internal navigation. The whole risk seems to have +been undertaken by the English company; but the benefits will be +mutual for both companies--direct steam-communication from Christiania +to some English port being one feature in the comprehensive scheme. + +In Russia, the enterprises are so autocratic, and ordinary joint-stock +operations are so rare, that our Stock Exchange people know very +little about them. The great lines of railway in Russia, either being +constructed or definitely planned, are from Warsaw to Cracow (about +170 miles); Warsaw to St Petersburg (680 miles); Moscow to St +Petersburg (400 miles); from a point on the Volga to another point on +the Don (105 miles); and from Kief to Odessa, in Southern Russia. The +great tie which will bind Russia to the rest of Europe, will be the +Warsaw and St Petersburg Railway--a vast work, which nothing but +imperial means will accomplish. Whether all these lines will be opened +by 1862, it is impossible to predict; Russia has to feel its way +towards civilisation. During the progress of the Moscow and St +Petersburg Railway, a curious enterprise was determined on. According +to the _New York Tribune_, Major Whistler, who had the charge of the +construction of the railway, proposed to the emperor that the +rolling-stock should be made in Russia, instead of imported, Messrs +Harrison, Winans, and Eastwick, engineers of the United States, +accepted a contract to effect this. They were to have the use of some +machine-works at Alexandroffsky; the labour of 500 serfs belonging to +those works at low wages; and the privilege of importing coal, iron, +steel, and other necessary articles, duty free. In this way a large +supply of locomotives and carriages was manufactured, to the +satisfaction of the emperor, and the profit of the contractors. The +managers and foremen were all English or American; but the workmen and +labourers, from 2000 to 3000 in number, were nearly all serfs, who +_bought their time_ from their masters for an agreed period, being +induced by the wages offered for their services: they were found to be +excellent imitative workmen, perfectly docile and obedient. + +Our attention now turns south-westward: we cross Poland and Germany, +and come to the Alps. To traverse this mountain barrier will be among +the great works of the future, so far as the iron pathway is +concerned. In the early part of 1851, the Administration of Public +Works in Switzerland drew up a sketch of a complete system of railways +for that country. The system includes a line to connect Bâle with the +Rhenish railways; another to traverse the Valley of the Aar, so as to +connect Lakes Zurich, Constance, and Geneva; a junction of this +last-named line with Lucerne, in order to connect it with the Pass of +St Gothard; a line from Lake Constance to the Grisons; a branch +connecting Berne with the Aar-Valley line; and some small isolated +lines in the principal trading valleys. The whole net-work of these +railways is about 570 English miles; and the cost estimated at about +L.4,000,000 sterling. It scarcely needs remark, that in such a +peculiar country as Switzerland, many years must elapse before even an +approach to such a railway net-work can be made. + +To drive a railway across the Alps themselves will probably be first +effected by the Austrians. The railway through the Austrian dominions +to the Adriatic at Trieste, although nearly complete, is cut in two by +a formidable elevation at the point where the line crosses the eastern +spur of the great Alpine system. At present, travellers have to post +the distance of seventy miles from Laybach to Trieste, until the +engineers have surmounted the barrier which lies in their way. The +trial of locomotives at Sömmering, noticed in the newspapers a few +months ago, related to the necessity of having powerful engines to +carry the trains up the inclines of this line. Further west, the +Alpine projects are hidden in the future. The Bavarian Railway, at +present ending at Munich, is intended to be carried southward, +traversing the Tyrol, through the Brenner Pass, to Innsprück and +Bautzen, following the ordinary route to Trieste, and finally uniting +at Verona with the Italian railways. This has not yet been commenced. +Westward, again, there is the Würtemberg Railway, which ends at +Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance. It is proposed to continue this +line from the southern shore of the lake, across the Alps by the Pass +of the Splügen, and so join the Italian railways at Como. This, too, +is _in nubibus_; the German States and Piedmont are favourable to it; +but the engineering difficulties and the expense will be enormous. +Other Piedmontese projects have been talked about, for crossing the +Alps at different points, and some one among them will probably be +realised in the course of years. Meanwhile, Piedmont has a heavy task +on hand in constructing the railway from Genoa to Turin, which is +being superintended by Mr Stephenson; the Apennines are being crossed +by a succession of tunnels, embankments, and viaducts, as stupendous +as anything yet executed in Europe. + +In Central Italy, a railway convention has been signed, which, if +carried out, would be important for that country. It was agreed to in +1851 by the Papal, Austrian, Tuscan, Parmese, and Modenese +governments. The object is to construct a net-work of railways, each +state executing and paying for its own. Austria is to do the work as +far as Piacenza and Mantua; Tuscany is to finish its lines from +Pistoja to Florence and Lucca; the Papal government is to connect +Bologna with both the former; and the small states are to carry out +their respective portions. The great difficulty will be, to cut +through the Apennines, which at present sever Tuscany from the other +states; but a greater still will be the moral one, arising from the +disordered state of Italy. Rome has conceded to an Anglo-French +company the construction of a railway from the capital to Ancona; but +that, like all other commercial enterprises in the Papal dominions, is +lagging sadly. + +Crossing the Pyrenees to view the works in the Peninsula, which +_Bradshaw_ may possibly have to register in 1862, we find that, amid +the financial difficulties of Spain, three lines of railway have been +marked out--from Madrid to Irun; from Aranjuez to Almansa; and from +Alar to Santander. The first would be a great line to the vicinity of +the French frontier, to cost 600 millions of reals; the second would +be part of an intended route from Aranjuez, near Madrid, to the +Mediterranean; the length to Almansa, involving an outlay of 220 +millions. The third line, from Santander to Alar del Rey, on the +Biscayan seaboard of Spain, is intended to facilitate approach from +the interior to the rising port of Santander; the outlay is put down +at 120 millions. It is difficult to translate these high-sounding sums +into English equivalents, for there are three kinds of reals in Spain, +varying from 2-5/8d. to 5-1/4d. English; but taking even the lowest +equivalent, the sum-total amounts to a capital which Spain will have +some difficulty in raising. The Santander line, however, has attracted +English capital and engineering towards it; the first sod was turned +by the king-consort in May 1852, and the works are now in progress. +There is also an important line from Madrid to the Portuguese frontier +near Badajoz, marked out on paper; but the fruition of this as well as +other schemes will mainly depend on the readiness with which English +capital can be obtained. Unfortunately, 'Spanish bonds' are not in the +best favour in England. + +Portugal is a _terra incognita_ to railways. It is on the extremest +verge of Europe towards the Atlantic; and European civilisation finds +entrance there with remarkable slowness. In 1845, the government tried +to invite offers from capitalists to construct railways; in 1849, the +invitations were renewed; but the moneyed men were coy, and would not +be wooed. In 1851, the government appointed a commission to +investigate the whole subject. The commission consisted of five +persons; and their Report, dated October 20, 1851, contains a large +mass of valuable information. It appeared in an English translation in +some of the London journals towards the close of the year. The +commissioners take for granted that Spain will construct railways from +Madrid to the Portuguese frontier at Badajoz on the one side, and to +the French frontier, near Bayonne, on the other; and they then inquire +how best to reach Badajoz from Lisbon. Three routes present +themselves--one to Santarem, and across the Tagus to Badajoz; another +to Santarem and Coimbra, and so on into Spain by way of Almeida; and a +third to Oporto, and thence by Bragança into Spain. The first of +these, being more directly in the route to Madrid, is preferred by the +commissioners, who estimate the outlay at a million and a quarter +sterling. They discuss the terms on which capitalists might possibly +be induced to come to their aid; and they indulge in a hope that, ten +years hence, Lisbon may be united to Central Europe by a railway, of +which 260 kilomètres will cross Portugal to Badajoz, 370 from Badajoz +to Madrid, and about 400 from Madrid to the French frontier, where the +Paris and Bayonne Railway will continue the route. (Five kilomètres +are equal to rather more than three English miles.) The Continental +_Bradshaw_ will, we apprehend, have to wait long before these +peninsular trunk-lines find a place in its pages. + +Leaving altogether the countries of Europe, and crossing the +Mediterranean, we find that even Africa is becoming a member of the +great railway system. After a world of trouble, financial and +diplomatic, the present ruler of Egypt has succeeded in giving reality +to a scheme for a railway from Alexandria to the Nile. A glance at a +map of Egypt will shew us that a canal extends from Alexandria to the +Nile, to escape the sanded-up mouths of that famous river. It is +mainly to expedite the overland route, so far as concerns the transit +along this canal, that the railway now in process of construction has +been planned; anything beyond this, it will be for future ages to +develop. The subject of the Isthmus of Suez and its transit has been +frequently treated in this _Journal_, and we will therefore say +nothing more here, than that our friend _Bradshaw_ will, in all +probability, have something to tell us concerning the land of Egypt +before any long time has elapsed. + +Asia will have a spider-line of railway by and by, when the slow-coach +proceedings of the East India Company have given something like form +to the Bombay and Bengal projects; but at present the progress is +miserably slow; and _Bradshaw_ need not lay aside a page for the rich +Orient for many years to come. + +There are a few general considerations respecting the present aspect +of the railway system, interesting not only in themselves, but as +giving a foretaste of what is to come. In the autumn of last year, a +careful statistician calculated that the railways of Europe and +America, as then in operation, extended in the aggregate to 25,350 +miles, the total cost of which was four hundred and fifty millions of +pounds. Of this, the United Kingdom had 7000 miles, costing +L.250,000,000. According to the view here given, the 7000 miles of our +own railways have been constructed at an expense prodigiously greater +than the remaining 18,350 miles in other parts of the world. It needs +no figures to prove that this is the fact. Many of the continental and +American railways are single lines, and so far they have been got up +at a comparatively small cost. But the substantial difference of +expense lies in our plan of leaving railway undertakings to private +parties--rival speculators and jobbers, whose aim has too frequently +been plunder. And how enormous has been that plunder let enriched +engineers and lawyers--let impoverished victims--declare. Shame on the +British legislature, to have tolerated and legalised the railway +villainies of the last ten years; in comparison with which the +enforcements of continental despotisms are angelic innocence! + +Besides being got up in a simple and satisfactory manner, under +government decrees and state responsibility, the continental railways +are evidently more under control than those of the United Kingdom. The +speed of trains is regulated to a moderate and safe degree; on all +hands there seems to be a superior class of officials in charge; and +as the lines have been made at a small cost, the fares paid by +travellers are for the most part very much lower than in this country. +Government interference abroad is, therefore, not altogether a wrong. +Annoying as it may sometimes be, and bad as it avowedly is in +principle, there is in it the spirit of protection against private +oppression. And perhaps the English may by and by discover that +jobbing-companies, with stupendous capital and a monopoly of +conveyance, are capable of doing as tyrannical things as any +continental autocrat! + +If a section of the English public stands disgraced in the eyes of +Europe by its vicious speculation--properly speaking, gambling--in +railway finance, our country is in some degree redeemed from obloquy +by the grandeur of a social melioration which jobbing has not been +able to obstruct. The wide spread of railways over the continent, we +have said, is working a perceptible change in almost all those +arrangements which bear on the daily comforts of life. No engine of a +merely physical kind has ever wrought so powerfully to secure lasting +international peace as the steam-engine. The locomotive is every hour +breaking down barriers of separation between races of men. And as wars +in future could be conducted only by cutting short the journeys by +railway, arresting trains, and ruining great commercial undertakings, +we may expect that nations will pause before rushing into them. +Already, the French railways, which push across the frontier into the +German countries, are visibly relaxing the custom-house and passport +systems. Stopping a whole train at an imaginary boundary to examine +fifteen hundred passports, is beyond even the French capacity for +official minutiĉ. A hurried glance, or no glance at all--a sham +inspection at the best--is all that the gentlemen with moustaches and +cocked-hats can manage. The very attempt to look at bushels of +passports is becoming an absurdity. And what has to be done in the +twinkling of an eye, will, we have no doubt, soon not be done at all. +Thanks to railways for this vast privilege of free locomotion! + + + + +A NEW PRINCIPLE IN NATURE. + + +It is pretty well known that researches by Matteucci, Du Bois-Reymond, +and others, have made us acquainted with the influence of electricity +and galvanism on the muscular system of animals, and that important +physiological effects have been attributed to this influence, more +than perhaps we are warranted in assuming in the present state of our +knowledge. That an influence is exerted in some way, is clear from the +difference in our feelings in dry and wet weather: it has been +supposed, however, that the effects on the nervous system are not +produced by an accumulation of positive or of negative electricity, +but by the combination of the two producing dynamic electricity. While +these points are undergoing discussion, we have an opportunity of +bringing before our readers the results of investigations bearing on +the general question. + +Most persons are aware of the fact, that a peculiar taste follows the +application of two different metals to the tongue in a popular +galvanic experiment. This taste is caused by the azotic acid formed +from the oxygen and azote of the atmosphere. An electric discharge, +too, is accompanied by a smell, which smell is due to the presence of +what is called ozone; and not long ago M. Schoenbein, of Basel, the +inventor of guncotton, discovered ozone as a principle in the oxygen +of the atmosphere; and it is considered to be the _active_ principle +of that universal constituent. Later researches have brought out a +striking analogy between the properties of ozone and chlorine, and +have led to conclusions as to the dangerous effect which the former +may produce, in certain cases, on the organs of respiration. Some idea +of its energy may be formed from the fact, that mice perish speedily +in air which contains one six-thousandth of ozone. It is always +present in the atmosphere in a greater or lesser degree, in direct +relation with the amount of atmospheric electricity, and appears to +obey the same laws in its variations, finding its maximum in winter +and its minimum in summer. + +Ozone, in scientific language, is described as 'a compound of oxygen +analogous to the peroxide of hydrogen, or, that it is oxygen in an +allotropic state--that is, with the capability of immediate and ready +action impressed upon it.' Besides being produced by electrical +discharges in the atmosphere, it can be obtained artificially by the +passing of what is called the electrical brush into the air from a +moist wooden point, or by electrolyzed water or phosphorus. The +process, when the latter substance is employed, is to put a small +piece, clean scraped, about half an inch long, into a large bottle +which contains just so much of water as to half cover the phosphorus, +and then closing the mouth slightly, to guard against combustion, to +leave it standing for a time in a temperature of about 60 degrees. +Ozone soon begins to be formed, as shewn by the rising of a light +column of smoke from the phosphorus, which, at the same time, becomes +luminous. In five or six hours, the quantity will be abundant, when +the bottle is to be emptied of its contents, washed out, and closed +for use and experiment. + +Whichever way the ozone be produced, it is always identical in its +properties; and these are described as numerous and remarkable. Its +odour is peculiar, resembling that of chlorine, and, when diluted, +cannot be distinguished from what is called the electric smell. When +largely diffused in atmospheric air, it causes unpleasant sensations, +makes respiration difficult, and, by acting powerfully on the mucous +membranes, produces catarrhal effects; and as such air will kill small +animals, it shews that pure ozone must be highly injurious to the +animal economy. It is insoluble in water, is powerfully electromotive, +and is most strikingly energetic in numerous chemical agencies, its +action on nearly all metallic bodies being to carry them at once to +the state of peroxide, or to their highest point of oxidation; it +changes sulphurets into sulphates, instantaneously destroys several +gaseous compounds, and bleaches indigo, thus shewing its analogy with +chlorine. + +In proceeding to the account of his experiments, M. Schoenbein shews, +that gases can be produced by chemical means, which exercise an +oxidizing influence of a powerful nature, especially in their +physiological effects, even when diffused through the atmosphere in +very minute quantities: also, that owing to the immense number of +organic beings on the earth, their daily death and decomposition, an +enormous amount of gases is produced similar to those which can be +obtained by artificial means; and besides these, a quantity of gaseous +or volatile products, 'whose chemical nature,' as the author observes, +'is as yet unknown, but of which we can easily admit that some, at +least, diffused through the air, even in very small quantities, and +breathed with it, exert a most deplorable action on the animal +organism. Hence it follows, that the decomposition of organic matters +ought to be considered as one of the principal causes of the +corruption of the air by miasmatic substances. Now, a continuous +cause, and acting on so vast a scale, would necessarily diffuse +through the atmosphere a considerable mass of miasmatic gases, and +accumulate them till at length it would be completely poisoned, and +rendered incapable of supporting animal life, if nature had not found +the means of destroying these noxious matters in proportion as they +are produced.' + +The question then arises: What are the means employed for this +object? M. Schoenbein believes that he has found it in the action of +ozone, which is continually formed by the electricity of the +atmosphere, and is known to be a most powerful agent of oxidation, +causing serious modifications of organic bodies, and, consequently, of +their physiological action. 'To assure myself,' he pursues, 'that +ozone destroys the miasma arising from the decomposition of animal +matters, I introduced into a balloon containing about 130 pints of +air, a piece of flesh weighing four ounces, taken from a human corpse, +and in a very advanced state of putrefaction. I withdrew it after a +minute; the air in the balloon had acquired a strong and very +repulsive odour, shewing that it was charged with an appreciable +quantity--at least for the smell--of miasm caused by the putrefaction. + +'To produce ozone, I introduced into the infected balloon a stick of +phosphorus an inch long, with water sufficient to half cover it. At +the same time, for the sake of comparison, I placed a similar quantity +of phosphorus and water in another balloon full of pure atmospheric +air. After some minutes, the reaction of ozone in the latter was most +evidently manifested, while no trace of it was yet apparent in the +former, which still gave off an odour of putrefaction. This, however, +disappeared completely at the end of ten or twelve minutes, and +immediately the reaction of the ozone was detected.' + +The conclusion drawn from this experiment is, that the ozone destroyed +the miasm by oxidation, and could only make its presence evident after +the complete destruction of the noxious volatile substances. This +effect is more strikingly shewn by another experiment. + +A balloon of similar capacity to the one above mentioned was charged +as strongly as possible with ozone, and afterwards washed with water. +The same piece of flesh was suspended within it; and the opening being +carefully closed, it was left inside for nine hours before the air of +the balloon presented the least odour of putrefaction. The air was +tested every thirty minutes by an ozonometer, and the proportion of +ozone found to be gradually diminishing; but as long as the paper of +the instrument exhibited the slightest trace of blue, there was no +smell, which only came on as the last signs of ozone disappeared. +Thus, all the miasm given off by the piece of flesh during nine hours +was completely neutralised by the ozone with which the balloon had +been impregnated, so small in quantity as to be but the 6000th part of +a gramme. One balloon filled with ozonified air, would suffice to +disinfect 540 balloons filled with miasmatic air. 'These +considerations,' says M. Schoenbein, 'shew us how little the miasma of +the air are to be appreciated by weight, even when they exist therein +in a quantity very sensible to the smell, and how small is the +proportion of ozone necessary to destroy the miasm produced by the +putrefaction of organic substances, and diffused through the +atmosphere.' + +The presence of ozone in any vessel or in the atmosphere, may be +detected by a test-paper which has been moistened with a solution +composed of 1 part of pure iodide of potassium, 10 parts of starch, +and 100 parts of water, boiled together for a few moments. Paper so +prepared turns immediately blue when exposed to the action of ozone, +the tint being lighter or darker according to the quantity. +Schoenbein's ozonometer consists of 750 slips of dry bibulous paper +prepared in the manner described; and with a scale of tints and +instructions, sufficient to make observations on the ozone of the +atmosphere twice a day for a year. After exposure to the ozone, they +require to be moistened to bring out the colour. + +M. Schoenbein continues: 'We must admit that the electric discharges +which take place incessantly in different parts of the atmosphere, and +causing therein a formation of ozone, purify the air by this means of +organic, or, more generally, oxidizable miasma; and that they have +thus the important office of maintaining it in a state of purity +suitable to animal life. By means of atmospheric electricity, and, +indirectly, nature thus attains on a great scale the object that we +sometimes seek to accomplish in a limited space by fumigations with +chlorine. + +'Here, as in many other cases, we see nature effecting two different +objects at one stroke. For if the oxidizable miasma are destroyed by +atmospheric ozone, they, in turn, cause the latter to disappear, and +we have seen that it is itself a miasm. This is doubtless the reason +why ozone does not accumulate in the atmosphere in greater proportion +than the oxidizable miasma, notwithstanding the constant formation of +one and the other. + +'In all times, the idea has been held, that storms purify the air, and +I do not think that this opinion is ill-founded. We know, in fact, +that storms give rise to a more abundant production of ozone. It is +possible, and even probable, that sometimes, in particular localities, +there may not be a just relation between the ozone and the oxidizable +miasma in the air, and that the latter cannot be completely destroyed. +Hence, in accordance with the chemical nature and physiological +influence of these miasma, they would exert a marked action on the +animal economy, and cause diseases among the greater number of those +who breathe the infected air. But numerous experiments prove that, as +a rule, the air contains free ozone, though in very variable +proportions; from which we may conclude that no oxidizable +miasm--sulphuretted hydrogen, for example--can exist in such an +atmosphere, any more than it could exist in air containing but a trace +of chlorine. + +'I do not know if it be true, as has been advanced by Mr Hunt and +other persons, that ozone is deficient in the atmospheric air when +some wide-spread malady, such as cholera, is raging. In any case, it +would be easy, by means of the prepared paper, to determine the truth +or fallacy of this opinion. + +'There is one fact which should particularly engage the attention of +physicians and physiologists, which is, that, of all seasons, the +winter is distinguished by the greatest proportion of ozone; whence it +follows, that during that season the air contains least of oxidizable +miasma. We can say, therefore, with respect to this class of miasma, +that the air is purer in winter than in summer. + +'All my observations agree in shewing, that the proportion of ozone in +the air increases with the height; if this fact be general, as I am +disposed to believe, we must consider the upper regions of the +atmosphere as purer, with regard to oxidizable miasma, than the lower. + +'The appearance of certain maladies--intermittent fever, for +example--appears to be connected with certain seasons and particular +geographical conditions. It would be worth while to ascertain, by +ozonometric observations, whether these physiological phenomena have +any relation whatever with the proportion of ozone contained in the +air in which they occur. + +'Considering the obscurity which prevails as to the cause of the +greater part of diseases, and the great probability that many among +them owe their origin to the presence of chemical agents dispersed in +the atmosphere, it becomes the duty of medical men and physiologists, +who interest themselves in the progress of their science, to seize +earnestly all the means by which they may hope to arrive at more exact +notions upon the relations which exist between abnormal physiological +phenomena and external circumstances.' + +Such is a summary of M. Schoenbein's views as communicated to the +Medical Society of Basel; and we the more readily accord them the +publicity of our columns, as, apart from the intrinsic value of the +subject, it is one which has for some time excited the interest of +scientific inquirers in this country. During the late visitation of +cholera, reports were frequently spread that the atmosphere was +deficient in ozone. + + + + +ENGLISH SISTERS OF CHARITY. + + +How much real good could yet be done in this old, full, struggling +world of ours, where so many among us have need of help, if each in +his or her small circle could manage just not to leave undone some of +the things that should be done. Little more is wanting to effect this +than the will, or perhaps the mere suggestion. A high influence may at +a time confer a considerable benefit; but very humble means, +systematically exerted, even during a comparatively short season, will +certainly relieve a load of misery. + +In a small village towards the west of England, there dwelt, some +years ago, two maiden gentlewomen, sisters, the daughters of the +deceased rector of the parish. Their father had early in life entered +upon his duties in this retired locality, contentedly abiding there +where fate had placed him, each passing year increasing his interest +in the charge which engrossed all his energies. His moderate stipend, +assisted by a small private fortune, sufficed for his quiet tastes, +and for the few charities required by his flock; it also enabled him +to rear a large family respectably, and to start them creditably on +their working way. + +There was no railway near this village--even the Queen's highway was +at some distance. Fields, meadows, a shady lane, a brook, and the +Welsh mountains for a background, formed the picture of beauty that +attracted the stranger. There was hardly what could be called a +street. The cottages were clustered upon the side of the wooded bank +above the stream, shrouded in gardens of apple-trees; but there was +space near the foot of the hill for a green of rather handsome size, +with a plane-tree in the middle of it, and a few small shops along one +side. Opposite the shops was the inn, the doctor's house, the +market-house, and a public reading-room; and a bylane led from the +green up towards the church--an old, low-walled, steep-roofed +building, with a square, dumpy tower, in which hung a peal of bells, +and where was placed a large, round, clumsy window. A clump of +hardwood trees enclosed the upper end of the church-yard, and extended +to the back of the rector's garden, quite concealing his many-gabled +dwelling. In a still, summer evening, the brook could be heard from +the parlour windows of the rectory, dancing merrily along to its own +music; and at those less pleasant seasons when the foliage was scanty, +it could be seen here and there between the boles of the trees, +sparkling in the sunshine as it rippled on, while glimpses of the rich +plain beyond added to the harmony of the prospect. + +The society of the village and its immediate neighbourhood was of a +humble kind--neither the rich nor the great were members of it; yet +there were wisdom, and prudence, and talent, and good faith to be +found in this little community, where all inclined to live as +brethren, kindly together. It was not a bad school this for the young +to grow up in. The rector's family had here been trained; and when +they grew to rise beyond it, and then passed out upon the wider world, +those of them that were again heard of in their birthplace, did no +discredit to its name: and all passed out, all but two--our two +sisters. It is said adversity must at some time reach us all: it had +been late in visiting them, for they had passed a happy youth in that +quiet parsonage. At last, sorrow came, and they were left alone, the +two extremes of the chain which had bound the little household +together--all the intermediate links had broken; and when, upon their +father's death, they had to quit their long-loved home, they found +themselves verging upon old age, in circumstances that natures less +strictly disciplined would have felt to have been at the least dreary. +The younger sister was slightly deformed, and very delicate; the +elder, though still an active woman, was quite beyond the middle of +life; the income of the two, just L.30--no great elements these of +either usefulness or happiness. Let us see, then, what was made of +them. Some relations pressed the sisters to share their distant home, +but they would not leave the village. They felt as if their work lay +there. The friends they knew best were all around them; the +occupations they had been used to still remained to them; the memory +of all they had loved there clung to them, in the old haunts so doubly +dear to the bereaved who bear affliction patiently. So they moved only +to a cottage a little higher up the hill, yet within view of the +church, and of the dear old house, with its garden, sheltering wood, +and pleasant rivulet; and there they lived in comfort, with enough to +use and much to spare, their cruse never failing them when wanted. It +was a real cottage, which a labourer had left: there was no ornament +about it till they added some. Rude and unfashioned did this +low-thatched cabin pass to them; it was their own hands, with very +little help from their light purse, which made of a mere hovel the +prettiest of rural dwellings--her own hands, indeed; for Sister Anne +alone was the working-bee. Sister Catherine helped by hints and +smiles, and by her nimble needle; but for out-of-doors labour she had +not strength. Sister Anne nailed up the trellised porch, over which +gay creepers were in time to grow. Sister Anne laid out the beds of +flowers, protected by a low paling from the sheep which pastured on +the downs. She planned the tidy bit of garden on one side, and the +little yard behind, where pig and poultry throve; but Sister Catherine +watched the bee-hives near the hawthorn hedge, and plied her busy +fingers by the hour to decorate the inside of their pretty cottage. +They almost acted man and wife in the division of their employments, +and with the best effect. + +It would have astonished any one unaccustomed to the few wants of +simple tastes, and to the many small gains from various trifling +produce which careful industry alone can accumulate, to see the plenty +consequent on skill, order, and neatness. The happiness was a joy +apart, only to be felt by the sort of poetic mind of the truly +benevolent, for it depended not on luxury, or even comfort, or any +purely selfish feeling. It sprang from warm hearts directed by clear +heads, invigorated by religious feelings, and nourished by country +tastes, softened and elevated by the trials of life, till devotion to +their kind became the one intention of their being; for it is as +Sisters of Charity we introduce our heroines to our readers, one of a +wide class in our reformed church, who, unshackled by vows, under no +bondage of conventual forms, with small means, and by their own +exertions and self-sacrifices, do more good in their generation than +can be easily reckoned--treading in the footsteps of their Master, +bearing healing as they move. Every frugal meal was shared with some +one less favoured. No fragments were too small for use in Sister +Anne's most skilful cookery; not a crumb, nor a dreg, nor a drop was +wasted. Many a cup of comfort fed the sick or the weary, made from +what, in richer households, unthrifty servants would have thrown away. +There were always roots to spare from the small garden, herbs for +medicines, eggs for sale, salves, and lotions, and conserves of fruit +or honey. All the poor infants in the parish were neatly clothed in +baby-linen made out of old garments. There were always bundles of +patches to give away, so useful to poor mothers; strips of rag for +hurts; old flannel, and often new; a little collection of rubbish now +and then for the bagman, though very rarely, the breakage being small +where there were so few hands used, and they so careful. + +They gave their time, too; for they were the nurses of all the sick, +the comforters of all the sorrowful, the advisers of all in +difficulty--without parade. They were applied to as of course--it +seemed natural. And they were sociable: they had their little +tea-parties with their acquaintance; they made their little presents +at Christmas-time; they sweetened life throughout their limited +sphere; and all so quietly, that no one guessed the amount of their +influence till it ceased. They preached 'the word' practically, +producing all the charity it taught, inculcating the 'peace on earth, +good-will towards men' which disposes even rude natures to the gentler +feelings, and soothes the chafed murmurer by the tender influence of +that love which is so kind. They were unwearied in their walk of +mercy, though they met with disappointment even among the simple +natures reared in this secluded spot. They bore it meekly; and when +cross or trial came to those around, then could our good sisters carry +comfort to afflicted friends, never pleading quite in vain for the +exercise of that patience which lightens suffering. They were as +mothers to the young, as daughters to the old, of all degree; for they +did not ostentatiously devote themselves to the poor and ignorant +alone--the so-called poor: the poor in spirit, of whatever rank, were +as much their care as were the poor in purse; their charge was all who +needed help--a help they gave simply, lovingly, not as meddlers, but +as sisters bound to a larger family by the breaking of the ties which +had united them to their own peculiar household. + +There was no scenic effect visible along the humble walk of their pure +benevolence, no harsh outlines to mark the course they went, or shew +them to the world as devoted to particular excellence all throughout a +lifetime of painful mortifications. Very noiseless was their quiet +way. In a spirit of thankfulness they accepted their lot, turning its +very bitterness into joy, by gratefully receiving the many pleasures +still vouchsafed them; for it is a happy world, in spite of all its +trials, to those who look aright for happiness. Our sisters found it +and bestowed it. How many blessed their name! How many have had reason +to love the memory of these two unobtrusive women, who, without name, +or station, or show, or peculiarity, or distinction of any kind, were +the types of a class the circle of which even this humble memorial, by +its truth and suggestiveness, may aid in extending--of the true, +simple, earnest, brave, holy Sisters of Charity of our country! + + + + +BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION. + + +I am not sure about bribery and corruption. It may be a bad thing, but +many seem to think otherwise. Much may be said on both sides of the +question. Oh! don't tell me of a worm selling his birthright for a +mess of pottage: I never read of such worms in Buffon, or even in +Pliny. But if they do exist in the human form, the baseness consists +in the sale, not in the _quid pro quo_. A mess of pottage in itself is +a very good thing--I should say, a very respectable thing; and no +exchange can take away from it that character. Still, if what we give +for it is an heirloom, coming from our ancestors and belonging to our +posterity, the transaction is shabby, and not only shabby, but +dishonest. If that is proved, I don't defend the worm. Trample on him +by all means--jump on him. But beware of insulting the mess of +pottage, which is as respectable as when newly out of the pot. Fancy +the sale to have been effected by means of some other equivalent: and +that, by the way, is just what puzzles me. There are numerous other +equivalents, not a whit more respectable in themselves--many far less +so--which not only escape all objurgation, but serve to lift the +identical transaction out of the category of basenesses. This confuses +a brain like mine, even to the length of doubting whether there is any +harm in the thing at all. Let us turn the question over patiently. I +confess I am slow; but 'slow and sure,' you know. + +Bribery and corruption is a universal element in civilised society; +but let us talk in the meantime of political bribery and corruption. +It is the theory of the law--if the law really has a theory--that in +the matter of a parliamentary canvass, every man, as a celebrated +Irish minister expressed it, should stand upon his own bottom. By this +poetical figure, Lord Londonderry meant that the man should depend +upon himself, upon his own merits and character, without having +recourse to any extrinsic means of working upon the judgment of +others. It is likewise the theory of the law, that a man who _suffers_ +his judgment to be indirectly biassed is as bad as the other--and +worse: that he is, in fact, a Worm, unfit to possess his birthright, +of which he should be forthwith deprived. Well, this being premised: +here is the Honourable Tom Snuffleton, who wants to represent our +borough, but having neither merit nor character of any convertible +kind, offers money and gin instead. The substitute is accepted; and +Honourable Tom, slapping his waistcoat several times, congratulates +the free and independent electors on having that day set a glorious +example to the world, by thus exercising their birthright and +upholding their palladium; and the affair is finished amid cheers and +hiccups. + +When I say, however, that the substitute is accepted, I do not mean +that it is accepted by, or can be offered to the whole constituency. +That would be a libel. There are many of the electors who have a soul +above sovereigns, and who, if they could accomplish it, would never +drink anything less than claret. These persons are ambitious of being +noticed by the family of Honourable Tom. They are not hungry, but they +take delight in a dinner in that quarter. They also feel intensely +gratified by having their wives and daughters bowed to from the family +carriage. A thousand considerations like these blind them to the +absence of merit and character on the part of the candidate, and lay +them open to that extrinsic influence which, according to the meaning +of the law, is bribery and corruption. As for the man who takes his +bribe, for the sake of convenience, in the direct, portable, and +exchangeable form of a sovereign, he lays it out in any pleasure or +distinction he, on his part, has a fancy for. If he is a dissolute +person, he spends it in the public-house; if he is a proper-behaved +husband, he gives his wife a new gown; if he is a respectable, serious +individual, he devotes it to the conversion of the Wid-a-wak tribe in +Central Africa, and gloats upon the name of John Higgins in the +subscription-list. In whichever way, however, he may seek to gratify +himself, he is neither better nor worse, so far as I can see, than the +voter of more elegant aspirations: they have both been bribed; they +are both corrupt; they have both sold their birthright. + +This is a homely way of viewing the question, but it suffices. If we +inquire into the motives of a hundred electors, we shall not find ten +of them free from some alloy of self-interest, direct or indirect. In +cases where the candidates are all equally good, equally bad, or +equally indifferent, there may be no practical harm in this; but it is +not a political but a moral question that is before us. The question +is as to the _bribe_. If we are to be excused because of the nature of +the solatium we accept, then should a thief successfully plead that it +was not money he stole, but a masterpiece of Raphael. What I doubt is, +whether they who have not been solely influenced by patriotic motives, +have any right to cast stones at the free and independent elector who +has sold his vote for a sovereign. + +If the common saying be true, that 'every man has his price,' then are +we all open to bribery and corruption; and the only difficulty lies in +ascertaining the weak side of our nature. The distinction in this case +is not between vice and virtue, but between the various positions in +which we are placed. Money will do with some men; others, who would be +shocked at the idea of taking money, will accept of something it has +bought; others, again, who would spurn at both these, will have no +objection to a snug little place for themselves or their dependents. +The English, as a practical, straightforward people, take money--five +to ten pounds being considered a fair thing for a vote, and no shame +about it. The Scotch, as more calculating, like a _situation_; +anything to put sons into, will do--a cadetship in India, a +tide-waitership, a place in the Post-office, or a commission in the +army. From a small Scotch country town, which we have in our eye, as +many as fourteen lads in one year received appointments in the Excise; +everybody knew what for: an election was in expectation. No money, +however, being passed from hand to hand, the fathers of these said +lads would look with horror on such cases of bribery as have given +renown and infamy to Sudbury and St Alban's. + + All men think all men _sinners_ but themselves. + +Happy this consciousness of innocence! How fortunate that we should be +such a virtuous and discreet people! And thus does one's very notions +of what is right become a marketable article. Where neither money nor +place is wanted, a gracious look and an invitation to dinner may have +quite a telling effect. In fact, the more refined men have become, +through the action of circumstances, such as education and position, +the more abstracted and attenuated is the equivalent they demand for +their virtue; till we reach the highest grade of all, whose noble +natures, as they are called, can be seduced only by affection and +gratitude. Now observe: in all these cases the _thing_ is the same, +whether it be crime we have been tempted to commit, or mere +illegality; the only distinction lies in the value of the _quid pro +quo_. But is there a distinction even in that? I doubt the fact. I +don't say there is none, but I doubt it. Value is entirely arbitrary. +One man, at the lower end of the scale, sins for the sake of a pound; +and another, at the higher end, does the same thing for the sake of a +kindness. The two men place the same value on their several +equivalents, and each finds his own irresistible. Are they not both +equally guilty? + +That a refined man is better than a coarse one, I admit. He is +pleasanter, and not only so, but safer. We know his virtue to be +secure from a thousand temptations before which meaner natures fall; +and to a large extent, therefore, we feel him to be worthy of our +trust. He will not betray us for a pound, or a dinner, or a place, or +a coaxing word, or a condescending bow: but we must not go too far +with him for all that. He has his price as surely as the meanest of +his fellows; and let him only come in the way of a temptation he +values as highly as the other values his miserable pound, and down he +goes! Refined natures, therefore, are only comparatively trustworthy; +and, however estimable or admirable they may be under other +circumstances, when they do fail they are as guilty as the rest. It is +a bad thing altogether, bribery and corruption is; and I don't object +to your putting it down when it takes that material form of money you +can so readily get hold of. But what I hate is the cant that is canted +about it by those who have not even the virtue to take their +equivalent on the sly. For it is a remarkable thing, that when this +does not come in a material shape, such as you can count or handle, it +is looked upon by the bribee as no bribe at all! Nay, in some cases he +will glory in his crime, as if it were a virtue; and in all cases he +will turn round upon his fellow-criminal--him of the vulgar sort--call +him a worm, and throw that mess of pottage at him! This refined +evil-doer may be as energetic as he pleases in his actions, but it +would be well if he were a little more quiet in his words. If he looks +within, he will find that the distinction on which he prides himself +is wholly superficial; and that such language is very unbecoming the +lips of one who might more truly, as well as more politely, say to +corruption, thou art my father, and to the worm, thou art my mother +and my sister. + +The main cause of such anomalies I take to be, that there is among us +a general want of earnestness. We do not believe in ourselves, or our +duties, or our destinies. Our life has no theory, and we care only for +outward forms and symbols. Our taste is shocked by the grossness of +vice, but we have no quarrel with the thing itself; and if the people +around us will only preserve a polished, or at least inoffensive +exterior, that is all we demand. Why should we look below the surface +in their case, when we do no such thing in our own? We feel amiable, +genteel, and refined; we detest the appearance of low impropriety, and +would take a good deal of trouble to put it down; we look very kindly +on the world in general, if the low people who are in it would only +become as decorous as ourselves. In the old republics, the case was +different. There men had a theory, even if a bad one, and they stuck +to it through good report and through bad report. The theory was the +spirit of the community, and its members sacrificed to it their whole +individuality. No wonder that such little political unities held +together as if their component parts had been welded, and that they +continued to do so till they came into collision, and, from their +hardness and toughness, rubbed one another out. + +Put down bribery and corruption: that is fair. And more especially put +down open, shameless, and brutal bribery and corruption, for its very +coarseness is, in itself, an additional crime. But no reform is +efficacious that does not come from within; and when refined men wage +war against vulgar vices, let them look sharply to their own. I do not +say, that by taking thought they will be able to do entirely away with +the seductive influence of a bow, or a dinner, or a kind action; and +that, in spite of these, they will do their duty with the stern +resolve of an ancient Spartan. But they will be less likely to yield +to temptation, and the price of their virtue will at least mount +higher and higher, which is as much as we can expect of human nature. +The grand benefit, however, they will derive from the inquisition, is +the lesson of tolerance it will teach. They will refrain, for shame's +sake, from casting stones and calling names. They will see that the +only part of the offence _they_ can notice is vulgarity and ignorance, +and they will quietly try to refine the one and enlighten the other. + + + + +THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM, LIVERPOOL. + + +In a cross street named Colquitt Street, near a fashionable promenade +of Liverpool, will be found the rich, valuable, and interesting museum +which we are about briefly to describe. It is the property of Mr +Joseph Mayer, F.S.A., a townsman of Liverpool, esteemed as much for +his private worth as for his refined classical taste. This gentleman +has been long known as a collector; and by the purchase of an entire +gallery of antiquities, formed by one who travelled long in Egypt and +Nubia, and visited the remains of ancient Carthage, he became +possessed of a museum so extensive that his private residence could +not contain them, and so rare, that the public desired to know more +about them. With the view, therefore, of keeping them together, and +gratifying the many who longed to acquaint themselves with these +interesting relics of an interesting race, this house in Colquitt +Street has been appropriated. For the purpose of meeting the current +expenses of the exhibition, and enabling the proprietor to add to its +contents, a very trifling charge is made for admission, and a book is +kept for the autographs of the visitors. + +The first room entered displays a large collection of Egyptian +_stelĉ_ and other monuments, while the outer cases and sarcophagi of +several mummies are placed in another apartment. The word _stela_ +means merely a memorial pillar or tombstone; and in this room the +reflective mind will find much food for meditation. We have here the +first elements of all religion brought visibly before us in the +carvings--the recognition of a deity, and the belief in immortality. +More than one of these stelĉ has upon it the royal cartouch; one of +them has no fewer than four of these elliptical rings with +inscriptions, and two more from which the hieroglyphics have been +erased. This tells a tale, for in the age commemorated, it was a mark +of disgrace to have the name obliterated. Another stela contains the +jackal, or genius of the departed, with propitiatory offerings from +his friends. The curious will learn with interest, that another of +these monuments dates back to the time of Joseph. It has twice +engraved upon it the name Osortosen--perhaps the Pharaoh 'who gave him +to wife Asenath, the daughter of Potiphorah, priest of On,' and raised +the obelisk at Heliopolis, towns thought to be the same. Near to this +is another stela of great beauty, engraved in low relief and +cavo-relievo, coloured. It belongs to Manetho's sixth dynasty, +and is consequently very ancient. One still more so is in +the same collection: it is of the fourth dynasty of that +historian--consequently, of the time when the Pyramids were built. It +is beautifully executed in intaglio and relievo, with the surface +polished. These stelĉ, of which the collection is very rich, are +composed of various rocks--such as granite, syenite, limestone, the +travertino of the Italians, and sandstone. + +While the tombs of Egypt have furnished these monuments, Karnac is +represented by a portion of its great obelisk, and Rome has supplied a +cinerary urn with cremated bones, several sepulchral tablets, and an +altar. + +In another room on the same floor, we find an extensive collection of +pottery from the tombs of ancient Etruria, and other parts of Italy; +Roman pottery found in Britain; Samian ware, and articles of that +kind, from Pompeii, Carthage, and South America. The central case is +overflowing with riches, containing as it does nearly six hundred +Etruscan vases in terra cotta. It is a subject of doubt among the +learned, whether these painted vessels, so called, are not in reality +Grecian. Bossi, in his great work on Italy, claims the first +manufacture for the Tuscans; but there is a strong argument in favour +of their Grecian origin in the negative evidence obtained from Roman +Italy, where they are not found, and the positive evidence from the +Grecian subjects depicted on the pottery; besides which, the tombs of +the Greek islands of the Archipelago contain them. Their not being met +with in the Asiatic colonies of the Greeks may go merely to shew, that +although the objects might be Grecian, the trade was Etruscan. It is +well known, too, that at Athens the art of making pottery had arrived +at great perfection. That the Tuscans used these as funereal vessels +at a remote period, is fully established; but the custom of depositing +them in sepulchres is not supposed to have originated with that +people, but to have been brought by colonists from Greece Proper. + +In this apartment, there are sepulchral lamps in the same material as +the Etruscan vases, and idols not a few. Besides these, there are +numerous Roman fibulĉ (a sort of brooch) and bracelets, found at +Treves, and others dug up in England. There are likewise many Roman +antiquities, which have been recently met with at Hoy Lake, near +Liverpool. But we must not attempt to enter into details; let us mount +to the floor above, and notice the contents of the apartments there. + +The first room on the second storey is the Mummy Room; and there rest, +side by side, royal personages and humble individuals, male and +female, who, about four thousand years ago, breathed the air of Egypt. +Except by their cerements, and the inscriptions on the cases, who +could tell which had been the greater? + +The plan adopted for the display of these human mummies--for the +Museum contains the preserved remains of the ibis and hawk, the cat, +and even the dog, a rare subject for the embalmer, besides the bodies +of other inferior animals--is to remove the outer case and covering, +then to place the inner case upon the floor; above it, resting on +supports, the body; and above that again, the lid, enclosing all +within plates of glass, so that the spectator may go round the mummy, +examining it in all directions, and likewise the case, within and +without, on which the hieroglyphics are inscribed. Before we describe +the mummies so laid out, let us explain briefly the process of +embalming. Herodotus is a great authority on this matter, and we +cannot do better than follow him. + +In the first place, the embalmer was a medical practitioner, and +legally pursued his craft. The deceased was taken to his room, and +there the process of preservation was conducted; not, however, till +the agreement had been made between the relatives and the embalmer as +to the style and cost; for there were three methods of embalming, +suitable to different ranks. This having been determined, the operator +began, the relatives having previously retired. In the most expensive +kind of embalming, the brain was extracted without disfiguring the +head, and the intestines were removed by an incision in the side: +these were separated and preserved. The body was now filled with +spices--myrrh cassia, and other perfumes, frankincense excepted; and +the opening was firmly closed. It was now covered with natron for +seventy days; and at the expiration of that time, it was washed and +swathed in linen cloth, dipped in gums and resinous substances, when +it was delivered to the relatives, and by them placed in the mummy +case and sarcophagus. It was finally placed perpendicularly in the +apartment set apart for the dead; so that the Egyptian could view his +ancestors as figured on their coffins; and with the thought that not +only were their portraits there, but their bodies also--for the +Egyptian was a firm believer in immortality, and piously preserved the +body in a fitter state, as he thought, for reunion with the soul, than +if allowed to perish by decay. + +According to the second mode of embalming, no incisions were made upon +the body, but absorbing injections were employed. The natron was used +as before; and after the customary days were passed, the injected +fluid was withdrawn, and with it came the entrails. The body was now +enfolded in the cloth, and returned to the friends. This process cost +twenty minĉ, the other was a talent. In the third style, that adopted +by the poor, the natron application was almost the only one used; the +body lay for seventy days in this alkaline solution, and was then +accounted fit for preservation. Sometimes the body, enveloped in the +cloth, was covered with bitumen. + +The most interesting mummy in this collection is that of a royal +personage, Amenophis I., the most ancient of the Pharaohs whose name +has yet been found. The case is richly decorated, and the name appears +in three different places--that in the interior being in very large +characters, in a royal cartouch. The spectator seems to hang over this +mummy as if spell-bound. Can this in reality be one of the Pharaohs? +Such is the question; and the inscription, thrice repeated--'Amenophis +I.'--is the answer! This monarch reigned in Egypt about half a century +after the exodus of the Israelites, and 3400 years ago, according to +the chronology of Dr Hales; but others give a remoter period--even in +the days of Joseph. + +Another mummy has the face covered with gold, and the body is +inscribed with the gods of the Amenti, on those regions over which +they were the genii. Thus _Amset_, with a human head, presided over +the stomach and large intestines, and was the judge of Hades; _Hape_, +with the head of a baboon, presided over the small intestines; +_Soumautf_, the third genius, with a jackal's head, was placed over +the region of the thorax, presiding over the heart and lungs; and the +last, _Kebhsnauf_, with the head of a hawk, presided over the +gall-bladder and liver. Besides these, there are other mummies +exhibiting the style of swathing peculiarly Egyptian, in +contradistinction to the Grĉco-Egyptian, which differs from the former +in having the limbs separately bandaged, instead of being placed +together and enveloped in one form. There are also fragments of the +human body mummied, one of which contains between the arm and shoulder +a papyrus-roll. And while we are now among the mummies, we must not +forget the vases called canopuses, in which the entrails and other +internal organs were deposited; each bearing upon it the emblem of the +genius presiding over the separately embalmed viscera. On each of +these canopuses, four of which compose a set, an inscription may be +seen. Thus: _Amset_--'I am thy son, a god, loving thee; I have come to +be beside thee, causing to germinate thy head, to fabricate thee with +the words of Phtah, like the brilliancy of the sun for ever.' +_Hape_--'I have come to manifest myself beside thee, to raise thy head +and arms, to reduce thy enemies, to give thee all germination for +ever.' _Soumautf_--'I am thy son, a god, loving thee; I have come to +support my father.' _Kebhsnauf_--'I have come to be beside thee, to +subdue thy form, to submit thy limbs for thee, to lead thy heart to +thee, to give it to thee in the tribunal of thy race, to germinate thy +house with all the other living.' + +In this apartment there are many statues, some in wood, some in stone. +In one of wood there is a recess behind intended for a papyrus +manuscript. There are also specimens of Egyptian Mosaic pavement, and +a monumental tablet, interesting from its having a Greek inscription, +while its style and figure are Egyptian--proving the continuance of +the ancient manner down to the Ptolemaic dynasty. + +The adjoining room contains infinitely more than we can enumerate, +and, like the others, many articles not Egyptian, yet deeply +interesting in themselves. The centre cases will demand our first +attention; and here we have idolets and amulets innumerable; coins of +the Ptolemies, Cleopatra, and others; and jewellery of all +descriptions, from the golden diadem and the royal signet down to the +pottery rings and glass beads worn by the poor. As might be expected +in an Egyptian collection, the _scarabĉus_, or sacred beetle, +frequently meets the eye. Here are scarabĉi in gold, cornelion, +chalcedony, heliotrope, torquoise, lapis-lazuli, porphyry, terra +cotta, and other materials; many of them having royal names and +inscriptions engraved. + +Two objects claim our first attention, on account not only of their +value, but their associations. They are placed together in a +glass-case, marked No. 3. One of them is perhaps the most ancient ring +in existence, and is a magnificent signet of pure solid gold. It bears +in a cartouch the royal name of Amenophis I., and has an inscription +on either side. The signet is hung upon a swivel, and has +hieroglyphics on what may be called the reverse. It is a large, heavy +ring, weighing 1 ounce, 6 pennyweights, 12 grains, was worn on the +thumb, and taken from the mummy at Memphis. It was purchased by Mr +Sams at the sale of Mr Salt's collection in the year 1835, for upwards +of L.50, and is highly prized by the present proprietor. Some doubt +still rests upon Egyptian chronology. By certain antiquaries, this +ring is supposed to have been worn by the Pharaoh who ruled over the +land while Joseph was prime-minister; but others, as has been +mentioned, place the reign of Amenophis I. after the departure of the +Israelites. + +The other is a diadem of pure gold, about seven inches in diameter, +taken from the head of a mummy. In the centre, a pyramid rises with a +double cartouch on one side and a single one on the other. Towards +this twelve scarabĉi are approaching, six on either side, emblematic +of the increase and decrease of the days in the twelve months; and +between these is a procession of boats, in which are deities and +figures. In the inner side of this diadem the signs of the zodiac are +represented. + +In close proximity to these remarkable objects is another of no less +interest--namely, a pair of earrings of gold, weighing each _half a +shekel_--'And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that +the man took _a golden earring of half a shekel weight_, and two +bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold; and said, Whose +daughter art thou?' Such was the present to Rebekah; and here, before +us, are ornaments similar probably in shape (zone-like), and exactly +similar in weight! + +Among the jewellery in this collection we find several valuable +necklaces in gold, coral, and precious stones. Besides the Egyptian, +there are some of Etruscan origin, taken from the tombs of this +ancient people. We cannot leave this subject without noticing the +beauty and perfection of the filigree-work, executed about 2400 years +ago, and equal to modern workmanship. Some exquisite specimens from +Pompeii are preserved here. + +Turning now to the walls of this apartment, we find glass-cases filled +with vases in terra cotta and eastern alabaster. On some of these are +royal names, gilt and coloured; that of Cheops, the builder of the +great Pyramid, occurs on one. Another of these vessels, or the neck +part of one, is covered with cement, and sealed with three cartouches, +besides having four others painted on it. This, it is thought, may +have contained the precious Theban wine, sealed with the royal signet. +There are many other things taken from the tombs which our space +forbids us to dwell upon; such as idols and figures, papyri and +phylacteries, paint-pots and colours, workman's tools, stone and +wooden pillows or head-rests, and sandals; a patera with pomegranates, +another with barley, the seven-eared wheat of Scripture, bread and +grapes, besides other fruits and dainties which were supplied to the +dead when deposited in the Theban tombs. On a tablet here we find the +name of that Amenophis or Phamenoph, who is celebrated as the Memnon +of the Greeks. We also find bricks as made by the Israelites, and +stamped probably in accordance with the regulations of the revenue +department of old Egypt. There are preserved in this and the adjoining +apartments some beautiful ancient manuscripts, and an exceedingly +valuable collection of books on antiquities, to which the visitor has +access. + +We now ascend to the upper rooms, where in one is a collection of +armour, and in the other, the 'Majolica' Room, specimens of pottery, +as revived in Europe in the fifteenth century by Luca Della Rubbia, +who was born in 1388. He discovered the art of glazing earthenware. In +the former of these rooms, all sorts of weapons and defensive +apparatus are met with--modern, mediĉval, and antique; some are highly +finished, others very rude. In the Majolica Room, there is much matter +for study, and those will fail to appreciate the value of the +collection who have not learned something of the history of the ware. +Here is exhibited a Madonna and Child, of about the year 1420, by +Rubbia himself. It was given to Mr Mayer by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, +when the medal of Roscoe was struck and presented. There are five +plates, made after the patterns of the Moors, about the middle of that +century, at Pessaro, near the Po; and four with portraits, marked +'Majolica Amatorii.' We find several other specimens, shewing the most +curious anachronisms and blunders in design. The 'Temptation,' for +example, is represented as a plate, with the drawing of a town and a +Dutch church. 'Jacob's Dream,' 'Joseph and his Brethren,' 'Alexander +and Darius,' 'Actĉon and Diana,' and such scenes, seem to have been +favourites. The specimens of 'Mezza Majolica,' with raised centres, +scroll-work borders, and embossed figures, are very curious. There are +two dishes, each eighteen inches in diameter, of Raffaelle ware, on +one of which is 'Christ healing the Sick,' and on the other, 'Christ +driving out the Money-changers.' Another, of Calabrian ware, is very +curious: it is of brown clay, glazed, with four handles, and inside +are the figures of two priests officiating at an altar; behind, are +female figures overlooking, but concealed by latticed-work. There is +one object here of local interest, and with it we bring this +description to a close. It is an earthenware map of Crosby, to the +north of Liverpool, made in 1716, at pottery works in Shaws-brow. + + + + +UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. + +STORY OF UNCLE TOM. + + +A former paper on Mrs Stowe's remarkable book, presented a little +episode, the heroine of which was Eliza, a female slave on the estate +of a Mr Shelby in Kentucky. We now turn to the story of Tom himself, +whose transfers from hand to hand afford the authoress an opportunity +of describing the private life and feelings of slave-owners, and the +unwholesome and dangerous condition of society in the south. + +Tom, we have hinted, was jet black in colour, trustworthy and valued +by his master, who was compelled by necessity to part with him to +Haley, a slave-trader. The separation of this honest fellow from his +wife Chloe, and his children, was a sad affair; but as Tom was of a +hopeful temperament, and under strong religious impressions, he did +not repine at the fate he was about to encounter, dreaded as that +usually is by persons in his situation. 'In order to appreciate the +sufferings of the negroes sold south, it must be remembered that all +the instinctive affections of that race are peculiarly strong. Their +local attachments are very abiding. They are not naturally daring and +enterprising, but home-loving and affectionate. Add to this all the +terrors with which ignorance invests the unknown, and add to this, +again, that selling to the south is set before the negro from +childhood as the last severity of punishment. The threat that +terrifies more than whipping or torture of any kind, is the threat of +being sent down river. + +'A missionary among the fugitives in Canada told us, that many of the +fugitives confessed themselves to have escaped from comparatively kind +masters, and that they were induced to brave the perils of escape, in +almost every case, by the desperate horror with which they regarded +being sold south--a doom which was hanging either over themselves or +their husbands, their wives or children. This nerves the African, +naturally patient, timid, and unenterprising, with heroic courage, and +leads him to suffer hunger, cold, pain, the perils of the wilderness, +and the more dread penalties of recapture.' + +After a simple repast in his rude cabin, Tom prepared to start. Chloe +shut and corded his trunk, and getting up, looked gruffly on the +trader who was robbing her of her husband; her tears seemingly turned +to sparks of fire. Tom rose up meekly to follow his new master, and +raised the box on his shoulder. His wife took the baby in her arms, to +go with him as far as the wagon, and the children, crying, trailed on +behind. 'A crowd of all the old and young hands in the place stood +gathered around it, to bid farewell to their old associate. Tom had +been looked up to, both as a head-servant and a Christian teacher, by +all the place, and there was much honest sympathy and grief about him, +particularly among the women. Haley whipped up the horse, and with a +steady, mournful look, fixed to the last on the old place, Tom was +whirled away. Mr Shelby at this time was not at home. He had sold Tom +under the spur of a driving necessity, to get out of the power of a +man he dreaded; and his first feeling, after the consummation of the +bargain, had been that of relief. But his wife's expostulations awoke +his half-slumbering regrets; and Tom's disinterestedness increased the +unpleasantness of his feelings. It was in vain that he said to +himself, that he had a _right_ to do it, that everybody did it, and +that some did it without even the excuse of necessity: he could not +satisfy his own feelings; and that he might not witness the unpleasant +scenes of the consummation, he had gone on a short business tour up +the country, hoping that all would be over before he returned.' + +Haley, with his property, reaches the Mississippi; and on that +magnificent river, a steam-boat, piled high with bales of cotton from +many a plantation, receives the party. 'Partly from confidence +inspired by Mr Shelby's representations, and partly from the +remarkably inoffensive and quiet character of the man, Tom had +insensibly won his way far into the confidence even of such a man as +Haley. At first, he had watched him narrowly through the day, and +never allowed him to sleep at night unfettered; but the uncomplaining +patience and apparent contentment of Tom's manner, led him gradually +to discontinue these restraints; and for some time Tom had enjoyed a +sort of parole of honour, being permitted to come and go freely where +he pleased on the boat. Ever quiet and obliging, and more than ready +to lend a hand in every emergency which occurred among the workmen +below, he had won the good opinion of all the hands, and spent many +hours in helping them with as hearty a good-will as ever he worked on +a Kentucky farm. When there seemed to be nothing for him to do, he +would climb to a nook among the cotton-bales of the upper deck, and +busy himself in studying over his Bible--and it is there we see him +now. For a hundred or more miles above New Orleans, the river is +higher than the surrounding country, and rolls its tremendous volume +between massive levees twenty feet in height. The traveller from the +deck of the steamer, as from some floating castle-top, overlooks the +whole country for miles and miles around. Tom, therefore, had spread +out full before him, in plantation after plantation, a map of the life +to which he was approaching. He saw the distant slaves at their toil; +he saw afar their villages of huts gleaming out in long rows on many a +plantation, distant from the stately mansions and pleasure-grounds of +the master; and as the moving picture passed on, his poor foolish +heart would be turning backward to the Kentucky farm, with its old +shadowy beeches, to the master's house, with its wide, cool halls, and +near by the little cabin, overgrown with the multiflora and bignonia. +There he seemed to see familiar faces of comrades who had grown up +with him from infancy: he saw his busy wife, bustling in her +preparations for his evening meals; he heard the merry laugh of his +boys at their play, and the chirrup of the baby at his knee, and then, +with a start, all faded; and he saw again the cane-brakes and +cypresses of gliding plantations, and heard again the creaking and +groaning of the machinery, all telling him too plainly that all that +phase of life had gone by for ever.' + +An unlooked-for incident raises up a friend. 'Among the passengers on +the boat was a young gentleman of fortune and family, resident in New +Orleans, who bore the name of St Clare. He had with him a daughter +between five and six years of age, together with a lady who seemed to +claim relationship to both, and to have the little one especially +under her charge. Tom had often caught glimpses of this little girl, +for she was one of those busy, tripping creatures, that can be no +more contained in one place than a sunbeam or a summer breeze; nor +was she one that, once seen, could be easily forgotten. Her form was +the perfection of childish beauty, without its usual chubbiness and +squareness of outline.' + +This angelic little creature was attracted by Tom's appearance; and +speaking kindly to him, expressed a hope of serving him, by inducing +her papa to become his purchaser. Tom had just thanked the little lady +for her intentions, when the boat stopped at a landing-place. At its +moving on again, Eva, who leaned imprudently on the railings, fell +overboard. Tom was fortunately standing under her as she fell. 'He saw +her strike the water and sink, and was after her in a moment. A +broad-chested, strong-armed fellow, it was nothing for him to keep +afloat in the water till, in a moment or two, the child rose to the +surface, and he caught her in his arms, and, swimming with her to the +boat-side, handed her up, all dripping, to the grasp of hundreds of +hands, which, as if they had all belonged to one man, were stretched +eagerly out to receive her. A few moments more, and her father bore +her, dripping and senseless, to the ladies' cabin, where, as is usual +in cases of the kind, there ensued a very well-meaning and +kind-hearted strife among the female occupants generally as to who +should do the most things to make a disturbance, and to hinder her +recovery in every way possible.' + +Next day, as the vessel approached New Orleans, Tom sat on the lower +deck, with his arms folded, anxiously from time to time turning his +eyes towards a group on the other side of the boat. 'There stood the +fair Evangeline, a little paler than the day before, but otherwise +exhibiting no traces of the accident which had befallen her. A +graceful, elegantly-formed young man stood by her, carelessly leaning +one elbow on a bale of cotton, while a large pocket-book lay open +before him. It was quite evident, at a glance, that the gentleman was +Eva's father. There was the same noble cast of head, the same large +blue eyes, the same golden-brown hair; yet the expression was wholly +different. In the large, clear blue eyes, though in form and colour +exactly similar, there was wanting that misty, dreamy depth of +expression; all was clear, bold, and bright, but with a light wholly +of this world: the beautifully cut mouth had a proud and somewhat +sarcastic expression, while an air of free-and-easy superiority sat +not ungracefully in every turn and movement of his fine form. He was +listening with a good-humoured, negligent air, half comic, half +contemptuous, to Haley, who was very volubly expatiating on the +quality of the article for which they were bargaining. + +"All the moral and Christian virtues bound in black morocco, +complete!" he said, when Haley had finished. "Well, now, my good +fellow, what's the damage, as they say in Kentucky; in short, what's +to be paid out for this business? How much are you going to cheat me, +now? Out with it!" + +"Wal," said Haley, "if I should say thirteen hundred dollars for that +ar fellow, I shouldn't but just save myself--I shouldn't, now, raily." + +"Papa, do buy him! it's no matter what you pay," whispered Eva softly, +getting up on a package, and putting her arm around her father's neck. +"You have money enough, I know. I want him."' + +Tom was purchased, and paid for. 'Come, Eva,' said St Clare, as he +stepped across the boat to his newly-acquired property. '"Look up, +Tom, and see how you like your new master." Tom looked up. It was not +in nature to look into that gay, young, handsome face without a +feeling of pleasure; and Tom felt the tears start in his eyes as he +said, heartily: "God bless you, mas'r!" + +"Well, I hope he will. What's your name? Tom? Quite as likely to do it +for your asking as mine, from all accounts. Can you drive horses, +Tom?" + +"I've been allays used to horses," said Tom. + +"Well, I think I shall put you in coachy, on condition that you won't +be drunk more than once a week, unless in cases of emergency, Tom." + +'Tom looked surprised, and rather hurt, and said: "I never drink, +mas'r." + +"I've heard that story before, Tom; but then we'll see. It will be a +special accommodation to all concerned if you don't. Never mind, my +boy," he added good-humouredly, seeing Tom still looked grave; "I +don't doubt you mean to do well." + +"I sartin do, mas'r," said Tom. + +"And you shall have good times," said Eva. "Papa is very good to +everybody, only he always will laugh at them." + +"Papa is much obliged to you for his recommendation," said St Clare +laughing, as he turned on his heel and walked away.' + +Augustine St Clare was a wealthy citizen of New Orleans, and possessed +a domestic establishment of great extent and elegance, with a body of +servants in the condition of slaves, to whom he was an indulgent +master. The description of this splendid mansion, with its lounging +and wasteful attendants, its indolent, pretty, and capricious +lady-mistress, and the account of Ophelia, a shrewd New-England +cousin, who managed the household affairs, must be considered the +best, or at least the most amusing portion of the work. The authoress +also dwells with fondness on the character of the gentle Eva, a child +of uncommon talents, but so delicate in health, so ethereal, that +while still on earth, she seems already an angel of paradise leading +and beckoning to Heaven. Eva was kind to everybody--kind even to +Topsy, a negro girl whom St Clare had one day bought out of mere +charity, on seeing her cruelly lashed by her former master and +mistress. Topsy is a fine picture of a brutalised young negro, who +never speaks the truth even by chance, and steals because she cannot +help it. Every one gives up Topsy as utterly irreclaimable--all except +the gentle Eva. Caught in a fresh act of theft, Topsy is led away by +Eva. 'There was a little glass-room at the corner of the veranda, +which St Clare used as a sort of reading-room; and Eva and Topsy +disappeared into this place. + +"What's Eva going about now?" said St Clare; "I mean to see." And +advancing on tiptoe, he lifted up a curtain that covered the +glass-door, and looked in. In a moment, laying his finger on his lips, +he made a silent gesture to Miss Ophelia to come and look. There sat +the two children on the floor, with their side-faces towards them, +Topsy with her usual air of careless drollery and unconcern; but, +opposite to her, Eva, her whole face fervent with feeling, and tears +in her large eyes. + +"What does make you so bad, Topsy? Why won't you try and be good? +Don't you love _anybody_, Topsy?" + +"Donno nothing 'bout love. I loves candy and sich--that's all," said +Topsy. + +"But you love your father and mother?" + +"Never had none, ye know. I telled ye that, Miss Eva." + +"Oh, I know," said Eva sadly; "but hadn't you any brother, or sister, +or aunt, or"---- + +"No, none on 'm--never had nothing nor nobody." + +"But, Topsy, if you'd only try to be good, you might"---- + +"Couldn't never be nothin' but a nigger, if I was ever so good," said +Topsy. "If I could be skinned, and come white, I'd try then." + +"But people can love you, if you are black, Topsy. Miss Ophelia would +love you if you were good." + +'Topsy gave the short, blunt laugh that was her common mode of +expressing incredulity. + +"Don't you think so?" said Eva. + +"No; she can't bar me, 'cause I'm a nigger!--she'd's soon have a toad +touch her. There can't nobody love niggers, and niggers can't do +nothin'. _I_ don't care," said Topsy, beginning to whistle. + +"O Topsy, poor child, _I_ love you," said Eva, with a sudden burst of +feeling, and laying her little thin white hand on Topsy's shoulder--"I +love you because you haven't had any father, or mother, or +friends--because you've been a poor, abused child! I love you, and I +want you to be good. I am very unwell, Topsy, and I think I shan't +live a great while; and it really grieves me to have you be so +naughty. I wish you would try to be good, for my sake; it's only a +little while I shall be with you." + +'The round, keen eyes of the black child were overcast with tears; +large bright drops rolled heavily down, one by one, and fell on the +little white hand. Yes, in that moment a ray of real belief, a ray of +heavenly love, had penetrated the darkness of her heathen soul. She +laid her head down between her knees, and wept and sobbed; while the +beautiful child, bending over her, looked like the picture of some +bright angel stooping to reclaim a sinner. + +"Poor Topsy!" said Eva, "don't you know that Jesus loves all alike? He +is just as willing to love you as me. He loves you just as I do, only +more, because he is better. He will help you to be good, and you can +go to heaven at last, and be an angel for ever, just as much as if you +were white. Only think of it, Topsy; _you_ can be one of those spirits +bright Uncle Tom sings about." + +"O dear Miss Eva!--dear Miss Eva!" said the child, "I will try--I will +try! I never did care nothin' about it before."' + +By such persuasions, Eva had the happiness to see the beginning of +improvement in Topsy, who finally assumed an entirely new character, +and attained a respectable position in society. + +Eva, after this, declined rapidly. Uncle Tom was much in her room. +'The child suffered much from nervous restlessness, and it was a +relief to her to be carried; and it was Tom's greatest delight to +carry her little frail form in his arms, resting on a pillow, now up +and down her room, now out into the veranda; and when the fresh +sea-breezes blew from the lake, and the child felt freshest in the +morning, he would sometimes walk with her under the orange-trees in +the garden, or, sitting down in some of their old seats, sing to her +their favourite old hymns. The desire to do something was not confined +to Tom. Every servant in the establishment shewed the same feeling, +and in their way did what they could.' At length, the moment +of departure of this highly-prized being arrives. 'It is +midnight--strange, mystic hour, when the veil between the frail +present and the eternal future grows thin--then came the messenger!' +St Clare was called, and was up in her room in an instant. 'What was +it he saw that made his heart stand still? Why was no word spoken +between the two? Thou canst say, who hast seen that same expression on +the face dearest to thee--that look, indescribable, hopeless, +unmistakable, that says to thee that thy beloved is no longer thine. + +'On the face of the child, however, there was no ghastly imprint--only +a high and almost sublime expression--the overshadowing presence of +spiritual natures, the dawning of immortal life in that childish soul. + +'They stood there so still, gazing upon her, that even the ticking of +the watch seemed too loud.' Tom arrived with the doctor. The house was +aroused--'lights were seen, footsteps heard, anxious faces thronged +the veranda, and looked tearfully through the glass doors; but St +Clare heard and said nothing; he saw only _that look_ on the face of +the little sleeper. + +"Oh, if she would only wake, and speak once more!" he said; and, +stooping over her, lie spoke in her ear: "Eva, darling!" + +'The large blue eyes unclosed--a smile passed over her face; she tried +to raise her head, and to speak. + +"Do you know me, Eva?" + +"Dear papa," said the child with a last effort, throwing her arms +about his neck. In a moment, they dropped again; and as St Clare +raised his head, he saw a spasm of mortal agony pass over the face: +she struggled for breath, and threw up her little hands. + +"O God, this is dreadful!" he said, turning away in agony, and +wringing Tom's hand, scarce conscious what he was doing. "O Tom, my +boy, it is killing me!" + +'The child lay panting on her pillows, as one exhausted; the large +clear eyes rolled up and fixed. Ah, what said those eyes that spoke so +much of heaven? Earth was passed, and earthly pain; but so solemn, so +mysterious, was the triumphant brightness of that face, that it +checked even the sobs of sorrow. They pressed around her in breathless +stillness. + +"Eva!" said St Clare gently. She did not hear. + +"O Eva, tell us what you see! What is it?" said her father. + +'A bright, a glorious smile passed over her face, and she said, +brokenly: "O love--joy--peace!" gave one sigh, and passed from death +unto life!' + +Previous to the death of the dear Eva, she had induced her father to +promise to emancipate Tom, and he was taking steps to give this +faithful servant his liberty, when a terrible catastrophe occurred. St +Clare was suddenly killed in attempting to appease a quarrel in one of +the coffee-rooms of New Orleans. His family were plunged into grief +and consternation; and by his trustees the whole of the servants in +the establishment, Uncle Tom included, were brought to sale in the +open market. + +'Beneath a splendid dome were men of all nations, moving to and fro +over the marble pavé. On every side of the circular area were little +tribunes, or stations, for the use of speakers and auctioneers. Two of +these, on opposite sides of the area, were now occupied by brilliant +and talented gentlemen, enthusiastically forcing up, in English and +French commingled, the bids of connoisseurs in their various wares. A +third one, on the other side, still unoccupied, was surrounded by a +group waiting the moment of sale to begin. And here we may recognise +the St Clare servants, awaiting their turn with anxious and dejected +faces. + +'Tom had been standing wistfully examining the multitude of faces +thronging around him for one whom he would wish to call master; and, +if you should ever be under the necessity, sir, of selecting out of +two hundred men one who was to become your absolute owner and +disposer, you would perhaps realise, just as Tom did, how few there +were that you would feel at all comfortable in being made over to. Tom +saw abundance of men, great, burly, gruff men; little, chirping, dried +men; long-favoured, lank, hard men; and every variety of +stubbed-looking, common-place men, who pick up their fellow-men as one +picks up chips, putting them into the fire or a basket with equal +unconcern, according to their convenience; but he saw no St Clare. + +'A little before the sale commenced, a short, broad, muscular man, in +a checked shirt, considerably open at the bosom, and pantaloons much +the worse for dirt and wear, elbowed his way through the crowd, like +one who is going actively into a business; and, coming up to the +group, began to examine them systematically. From the moment that Tom +saw him approaching, he felt an immediate and revolting horror at him, +that increased as he came near. He was evidently, though short, of +gigantic strength. His round, bullet head, large, light-gray eyes, +with their shaggy, sandy eyebrows, and stiff, wiry, sun-burned hair, +were rather unprepossessing items, it is to be confessed; his large, +coarse mouth was distended with tobacco, the juice of which, from time +to time, he ejected from him with great decision and explosive force; +his hands were immensely large, hairy, sun-burned, freckled, and very +dirty, and garnished with long nails, in a very foul condition. This +man proceeded to a very free personal examination of the lot. He +seized Tom by the jaw, and pulled open his mouth to inspect his teeth; +made him strip up his sleeve to shew his muscle; turned him round, +made him jump and spring, to shew his paces.' Almost immediately, Tom +was ordered to mount the block. 'Tom stepped upon the block, gave a +few anxious looks round; all seemed mingled in a common, indistinct +noise--the clatter of the salesman crying off his qualifications in +French and English, the quick fire of French and English bids; and +almost in a moment came the final thump of the hammer, and the clear +ring on the last syllable of the word "_dollars_," as the auctioneer +announced his price, and Tom was made over.--He had a master! + +'He was pushed from the block; the short, bullet-headed man, seizing +him roughly by the shoulder, pushed him to one side, saying, in a +harsh voice: "Stand there, _you_!"' + +By his new and rude master, Tom was forthwith marched off; put on +board a vessel for a distant cotton-plantation on Red River; stripped +of his decent apparel by his savage owner, and dressed in the meanest +habiliments. The treatment of the poor negro was now most revolting. +He was wrought hard under a burning sun; half-starved; scourged; +loaded with the grossest abuse. All this ends in a rapid decline of +health; and his story terminates with an account of his death, his +last moments being dignified by a strong sentiment of piety, and of +forgiveness towards his inhuman taskmaster. + +We have now presented a sufficiently ample abstract of _Uncle Tom's +Cabin_, a work which will undoubtedly be perused at length by all who +feel deeply on the subject of negro slavery. Of the authoress, Mrs H. +B. Stowe, it may be said, that her chief merit consists in close +observation of character, with a forcible and truth-like power of +delineation. In plot, supposing her to aim at such a thing, she +decidedly fails, and the winding-up of her _dramatis personĉ_ is +hurried and imperfect. Notwithstanding these defects, however, she has +succeeded in rivetting universal attention, while her aims are in the +highest degree praiseworthy. + + + + +HANDEL IN DUBLIN. + + +If biographers will occasionally make assertions at random, and pass +lightly over important events, because their records are not at hand, +while they give ample development to others, just because the +materials for doing so are more abundant, it is well that there is to +be found here and there an industrious _littérateur_, who will leave +no leaf unturned, and no corner unexplored, if he suspects that any +error has been committed, or any passage of interest slighted, in the +memoirs of a favourite author. + +Mr Mainwaring, the earliest biographer of Handel, and, on his +authority, a host of subsequent writers, took upon them to assert, +without any apparent foundation, that the oratorio of the _Messiah_ +was performed in London in the year 1741, previously to Handel's visit +to Ireland; but that it met with a cold reception, and this was one +cause of his leaving England. Dr Burney, when composing his _History +of Music_, examined all the London newspapers where public amusements +were advertised during 1741 and for several previous years, but found +no mention whatever of this oratorio. He remembered, too, being a +school-boy at Chester when Handel spent a week there, waiting for fair +winds to carry him across the Channel, and taking advantage of the +delay 'to prove some books that had been hastily transcribed, by +trying the choruses which he intended to perform in Ireland.' An +amateur band was mustered for him, and the manuscript choruses thus +verified were those of the _Messiah_. In the absence, therefore, of +stronger evidence to the contrary, Dr Burney believed that Dublin had +the honour of its first performance. An Irish barrister has now proved +this, we think, beyond dispute.[1] His evidence has been drawn from +the newspaper tomes of 1741, preserved in the public libraries of +Dublin, confirmed by the records of the cathedrals and some of the +charitable institutions, and yet more emphatically from some original +letters of this date. He has thus succeeded in doing 'justice to +Ireland,' by securing for it, in all time to come, the distinguished +place which it is entitled to occupy in the history of this great man. +Perhaps we should rather say, he has done justice to England, by +clearing it of the imputation of having 'coldly received' a musical +production to which immortal fame has since been decreed. While the +musical world will thank our author for several new facts particularly +interesting to them, the main attraction for general readers will +probably be found in the glimpses which this volume affords of a _beau +monde_ which has passed away. + +In 1720, a royal academy for the promotion of Italian operas was +founded in London by some of the nobility and gentry under royal +auspices. Handel, Bononcini, and Areosti, were engaged as a +triumvirate of composers; and to Handel was committed the charge of +engaging the singers. But the rivalry between him and Bononcini rose +to strife; the aristocratic patrons took nearly equal sides; and a +furious controversy on their respective merits was carried on for +years. Hence the epigram of Dean Swift-- + + Some say that Signor Bononcini, + Compared to Handel, is a ninny; + Others aver that to him Handel + Is scarcely fit to hold the candle. + Strange that such difference should be + 'Twixt tweedledum and tweedledee! + +When the withdrawal of both his rivals left Handel in sole possession +of the field, he quarrelled with some of his principal performers, and +thereupon ensued new scenes of discord. Ladies of the highest rank +entered with enthusiasm into the strife; and while some flourished +their fans aloft on the side of Faustina, whom Handel had introduced +in order to supersede Cuzzoni, another party, headed by the Countess +of Pembroke, espoused the cause of the depressed songstress, and made +her take an oath on the Holy Gospels, that she would never submit to +accept a lower salary than her rival. The humorous poets of the day +took up the theme, Pope introduced it into his _Dunciad_, and +Arbuthnot published two witty brochures, entitled _Harmony in an +Uproar_, and _The Devil to Pay at St James's_. The result of these and +other contests, in which Handel gradually lost ground, was the +establishment of a rival Opera at Lincoln's Inn Fields. It was +patronised by the Prince of Wales and most of the nobles; and not even +the presence of the king and queen, who continued the steady friends +of Handel, could attract for him an audience at the Haymarket. It +became quite fashionable to decry his compositions as beneath the +notice of musical connoisseurs. Politics, it is said, came to mingle +in the controversy; and those who held by the king's Opera were as +certainly Tories, as those who went to the nobility's were Whigs. Of +course all this was very foolish, and very wrong; yet in our days of +stately conventionality, when perfect impassibility is deemed the +highest style of breeding, there is something refreshing in reading of +such animated scenes in high life. The crowning act of hostility to +Handel, was when the Earl of Middlesex himself assumed the profession +of manager of Italian operas, and engaged the king's theatre, with a +new composer, and a new company. + +Handel had, for some time, been meditating a withdrawal from the +Opera, in order to devote himself exclusively to the composition of +sacred music, of which he had already produced several fine specimens. +He was wont to say, that this was an occupation 'better suited to the +circumstances of a man advancing in years, than that of adapting music +to such vain and trivial words as the musical drama generally consists +of.' The truth was, he had discovered his forte. But the tide of +fashionable feeling ran so strongly against him, that even the +performance of the oratorios of _Saul_ and _Israel in Egypt_ scarcely +paid expenses. Unwilling to submit his forthcoming _Messiah_ also to +the caprices of fashion, and the malignity of party, he wisely +embraced an opportunity which was opened to him of bringing out this +great work in Dublin, under singularly favourable auspices, and +crossed the Channel in November 1741. + +Those who are acquainted with the Irish metropolis--not merely with +the handsome streets and squares eastward, which are now the abodes of +gentility, but with the dirty thoroughfares about the cathedrals--have +observed the large houses which some of them contain, now let in +single rooms to a wretched population, and need scarcely be told that +they were once the abodes of wealth and luxury. Fishamble Street, in +this quarter of the town, is one of the oldest streets in Dublin. +'Under the eastern gable of the ancient cathedral of Christ's Church, +separated and hidden from it by a row of houses, it winds its crooked +course down the hill from Castle Street to the Liffey, as forlorn and +neglected as other old streets in its vicinity. A number of +trunkmakers' shops give it an aspect somewhat peculiar; miserable +alleys open from it on the right and left; a barber's pole or two +overhang the footway; and huxters' shops are frequent, with their +wonted array of articles more useful than ornamental. One would never +guess, looking at this old street, that it was once the festive resort +of the wealthy and refined. It needs an effort of imagination to +conceive of it as having witnessed the gay throng of fashion and +aristocracy; the vice-regal _cortège_; ladies, in hoops and feathers; +and "white-gloved beaux," in bag, and sword, and chapeau; with scores +of liveried footmen and pages; and the press of coaches, and chariots, +and sedan-chairs. Yet such was the scene often presented here in the +eighteenth century.' For see, in an oblique angle of the street, and +somewhat retired from the other houses, is a mean, neglected old +building, with a wooden porch, still known by name as the Fishamble +Street Theatre. This is the remaining part of what was originally 'the +great music-hall,' built by a charitable musical society, 'finished in +the most elegant manner, under the direction of Captain Castell,' and +opened to the public on the 2d October 1741. It was within these walls +that the notes of the _Messiah_ first sounded in the ears of an +enraptured audience, and here that its author entered on a new career +of fame. + +To prepare for the reception of this, his master-work, Handel first +gave a series of musical entertainments, consisting of some of his +earlier oratorios, and other kindred compositions. They commanded a +most distinguished auditory, including the Lord-Lieutenant and his +family, and were crowned with success in a pecuniary point of view, +answering, and indeed exceeding, the composer's highest expectations. +In a letter written at this time to Mr C. Jennens, who had selected +the words of the _Messiah_, and composed those of a cantata which had +been much admired, he describes, in glowing colours, his happy +position, and informs him that he had set the _Messiah_ to music +before he left England--thus inferentially affording additional +evidence that it had not been performed there. Moreover, the +advertisements call it Handel's _new_ oratorio, and boast that it was +composed expressly for the charitable purpose to which the proceeds of +its first performance were consecrated. This is confirmed by reference +to the minutes of one at least of these institutions, in which it +appears that Handel was in correspondence with them before he had +completed his composition. + +The people of Dublin are passionately fond of music, and charitable +musical societies form a peculiar and interesting feature of its +society during the last century. These were academies or clubs, each +of which was attached in the way of patronage to some particular +charity, to which its revenues were consecrated. Whitelaw, in his +_History of Dublin_ (1758), mentions a very aristocratic musical +academy, which held its meetings in the Fishamble Street Hall, under +the presidency of the Earl of Mornington--the Duke of Wellington's +father. His lordship was himself the leader of the band; among the +violoncellos were Lord Bellamont, Sir John Dillon, and Dean Burke; +among the flutes, Lord Lucan; at the harpsichord, Lady Freke; and so +on. Their meetings, we are told, were private, except once a year, +when they performed in public for a charitable purpose, and admitted +all who chose to buy tickets. It does not appear, however, that this +academy was identical with the association that built the hall, and +whose concerts seem to have been much more frequent, as well as its +benevolent designs more extensive. It was called, _par eminence_, The +Charitable Musical Society; the others having distinctive designations +besides. The objects of its benevolence were the prisoners of the +Marshalseas, who were in circumstances similar to those which, many +years afterwards, elicited the benevolent labours of John Howard: +confined often for trifling debts, pining in hopeless misery, and +without food, save that received from the casual hand of charity. This +society made a daily distribution of bread among some of these, while +others were released through their humane exertions. On the 17th of +March 1741, they report, that 'the Committee of the Charitable Musical +Society appointed for this year to visit the Marshalseas in this city, +and release the prisoners confined therein for debt, have already +released 188 miserable persons of both sexes. They offered a +reasonable composition to the creditors, and many of the creditors +being in circumstances almost equally miserable with their debtors, +due regard was paid by the committee to this circumstance.' Their +funds must have improved considerably after the erection of their +Music Hall, which seems to have been the largest room of the kind in +Dublin, and in frequent requisition for public concerts, balls, and +other reunions where it was desirable to assemble a numerous company, +or employ a large orchestra. The hire of the hall on such occasions +would form a handsome addition to the proceeds of their own concerts. + +It was to these funds that the proceeds of the first performance of +the _Messiah_ were devoted, in connection with those of Mercer's +Hospital, an old and still eminent school of surgery--and the Royal +Infirmary, which still exists in Jervis Street as a place for the +immediate reception of persons meeting with sudden accidents. The +performance was duly advertised in _Faulkner's Journal_, with the +additional announcement, that 'many ladies and gentlemen who are +well-wishers to this noble and grand charity, for which this oratorio +was composed, request it as a favour that the ladies who honour this +performance with their presence would be pleased to come without +hoops, as it will greatly increase the charity by making room for more +company.' In another advertisement it is added, that 'the gentlemen +are desired to come without their swords.' + +On the ensuing Saturday, the following account was given of this +memorable festival: 'On Tuesday last (April 13, 1742), Mr Handel's +sacred grand oratorio, the _Messiah_, was performed in the New Musick +Hall in Fishamble Street; the best judges allowed it to be the most +finished piece of musick. Words are wanting to express the exquisite +delight it afforded to the admiring, crowded audience. The sublime, +the grand, and the tender, adapted to the most elevated, majestick, +and moving words, conspired to transport and charm the ravished heart +and ear. It is but just to Mr Handel, that the world should know he +generously gave the money arising from this grand performance to be +equally shared by the Society for Relieving Prisoners, the Charitable +Infirmary, and Mercer's Hospital, for which they will ever gratefully +remember his name; and that the gentlemen of the two choirs, Mr +Dubourg, Mrs Avolio, and Mrs Cibber, who all performed their parts to +admiration, acted also on the same disinterested principle, satisfied +with the deserved applause of the publick, and the conscious pleasure +of promoting such useful and extensive charity. There were above 700 +people in the room, and the sum collected for that noble and pious +charity amounted to about L.400, out of which L.127 goes to each of +the three great and pious charities.' + +Handel remained five months longer in the Irish metropolis, during +which period it is recorded that 'he diverted the thoughts of the +people from every other pursuit.' On his return to London in August +1742, he was warmly received by his former friends; his enemies, too, +were greatly conciliated. His having relinquished all concern with +operatic affairs, and opened for himself a new and undisputed sphere, +removed the old grounds of hostility; while the enthusiastic reception +which he had met in Dublin, had served as an effectual reproach to +those whose malignity had forced him to seek for justice there. +Notwithstanding some difficulties at the outset of his new career at +home, he lived to realise an income of above L.2000 a year, and never +found it necessary or convenient to revisit Ireland; but the custom of +performing his oratorios and cantatas for the benefit of medical +charities was maintained for many years; and it is believed that the +works of no other composer have so largely contributed to the relief +of human suffering. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _An Account of the Visit of Handel to Dublin._ By Horatio +Townsend, Esq. London: Orr & Co. + + + + +ROYAL GARDENING. + + +Gardening has frequently been one of the most exhilarating recreations +of royalty. When Lysander, the Lacedemonian general, brought +magnificent presents to Cyrus, the younger son of Darius, who piqued +himself more on his integrity and politeness than on his rank and +birth, the prince conducted his illustrious guest through his gardens, +and pointed out to him their varied beauties. Lysander, struck with so +fine a prospect, praised the manner in which the grounds were laid +out, the neatness of the walks, the abundance of fruits planted with +an art which knew how to combine the useful with the agreeable; the +beauty of the parterres, and the glowing variety of flowers exhaling +odours universally throughout the delightful scene. 'Everything charms +and transports me in this place,' said Lysander to Cyrus; 'but what +strikes me most is the exquisite taste and elegant industry of the +person who drew the plan of these gardens, and gave it the fine order, +wonderful disposition, and happiness of arrangement which I cannot +sufficiently admire.' Cyrus replied: 'It was I that drew the plan, and +entirely marked it out; and many of the trees which you see were +planted by my own hands.' 'What!' exclaimed Lysander with surprise, +and viewing Cyrus from head to foot--'is it possible, that with those +purple robes and splendid vestments, those strings of jewels and +bracelets of gold, those buskins so richly embroidered; is it possible +that you could play the gardener, and employ your royal hands in +planting trees?' 'Does that surprise you?' said Cyrus. 'I assure you, +that when my health permits, I never sit down to table without having +fatigued myself, either in military exercise, rural labour, or some +other toilsome employment, to which I apply myself with pleasure.' +Lysander, still more amazed, pressed Cyrus by the hand, and said: 'You +are truly happy, and deserve your high fortune, since you unite it +with virtue.' + + + + +UNDER THE PALMS. + +BY CALDER CAMPBELL. + + + Under the palm-trees on India's shore + Ne'er shall I wander at morning or eve; + Hearts there have withered, but still in the core + Of mine springs the memory of feelings that give + Green thoughts in sunshine and bright hopes in gloom; + Friendship, which love's loud emotions becalms: + Oh, happy was I, in those bowers of perfume, + Under the palms! + + Go forth, little children; the wood's insect-hum + Invites ye; expand there, like buds in the sun; + Leave schools and their studies for days that _will_ come, + And let thy first lessons from nature be won! + Teachings hath nature most sage and most sweet-- + The music that swells in the tree-linnet's psalms; + So taught, my young heart learned to prize that retreat + Under the palms! + + The odour of jasmines afloat on the breeze, + That woke in the dawning the birds on each bough; + The frolicsome squirrels, that scampered at case + 'Mid lithe leaves and soft moss that smiled down below: + Heaps piled up of mangoes, all fragrant and rich; + Guavas pink-cored, such a wealth of sweet alms + Presented by bright maids, whose sweet songs bewitch + Under the palms! + + Pale, yellow bananas, with satiny pulp + That tastes like some dainty of sugar and cream; + Blithe-kernelled pomegranates, just gathered to help + A feast fit to serve in the bowers of a dream! + Milk, foaming and snowy; rice, swelling and sweet; + Iced sherbet that cools, and spiced ginger that warms: + Oh, simple our banquet in that dear retreat + Under the palms! + + A tinkling of lutes and a toning of voices-- + Of young maiden voices just fresh from the bath; + A sprinkling of rosewater cool, that rejoices + The scented grass screening our bower from the path; + Trim baskets of melons, new gathered, beside + Fair bunches of blossoms that heal all sick qualms; + And books, when to reading our fancies subside, + Under the palms! + + Or silence at eve when the sun hath gone down, + Or the sound of _one_ cithern makes melody near; + While a beautiful boy, that hath ne'er known a frown, + Softly murmurs a tale of the East in the ear; + Of peris, that cluster round flower-stalks like fruit-- + Of genii, that breathe amid blossoms and balms-- + Of gazelle-eyed houris, that play on sweet lutes + Under the palms! + + Of roses, that nightly unfold their flower-leaves + To welcome the lays of the loved nightingale-- + Of spirits, that home in an Eden of Eves + Where the sun never scorches, the strength never fails! + So singing, so playing, Sleep steals on us all, + Enclasping us gently within her soft arms;-- + Let me dream that the moonbeams still over me fall + Under the palms! + + * * * * * + +Printed and Published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, High Street, Edinburgh. +Also sold by W. S. ORR, Amen Corner, London; D. N. CHAMBERS, 55 West +Nile Street, Glasgow; and J. M'GLASHAN, 50 Upper Sackville Street, +Dublin.--Advertisements for Monthly Parts are requested to be sent to +MAXWELL & CO., 31 Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, London, to whom all +applications respecting their insertion must be made. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 455, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH *** + +***** This file should be named 23226-8.txt or 23226-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/2/2/23226/ + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. 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September 18, 1852 + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + /*<![CDATA[*/ + + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; + max-width: 40em;} + p {text-align: justify;} + p.center {text-align: center;} + p.left {text-align: left;} + blockquote {text-align: justify; font-size: 0.9em;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + pre {font-size: 0.8em;} + .returnTOC {text-align: right; font-size: 70%;} + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + hr.short {text-align: center; width: 20%;} + html>body hr.short {margin-right: 40%; margin-left: 40%; width: 20%;} + .sc {font-variant: small-caps;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .lowercase {text-transform: lowercase;} + sup {vertical-align: 0.25em;} + .note {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + span.pagenum {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt;} + .footnotes {border: none;} + .footnote .label {float:left; text-align:left; width:2em;} + .fnanchor {font-size: smaller; text-decoration: none; + font-style: normal; font-variant:normal; + font-weight: normal; vertical-align: 0.25em;} + .footnote {font-size: 0.9em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .contents + {margin-left:30%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .poem + {margin-left:20%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i1 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 3em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + // --> + /*]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 455, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 455 + Volume 18, New Series, September 18, 1852 + +Author: Various + +Editor: William Chambers + Robert Chambers + +Release Date: October 28, 2007 [EBook #23226] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. Shiffer and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL</h1> + +<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents">CONTENTS</a></h2> + +<div class="contents"> +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#A_GLANCE_AT_CONTINENTAL_RAILWAYS"><b>A GLANCE AT CONTINENTAL RAILWAYS.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#A_NEW_PRINCIPLE_IN_NATURE"><b>A NEW PRINCIPLE IN NATURE.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#ENGLISH_SISTERS_OF_CHARITY"><b>ENGLISH SISTERS OF CHARITY.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#BRIBERY_AND_CORRUPTION"><b>BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_EGYPTIAN_MUSEUM_LIVERPOOL"><b>THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM, LIVERPOOL.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#UNCLE_TOMS_CABIN"><b>UNCLE TOM'S CABIN.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#HANDEL_IN_DUBLIN"><b>HANDEL IN DUBLIN.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#ROYAL_GARDENING"><b>ROYAL GARDENING.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#UNDER_THE_PALMS"><b>UNDER THE PALMS.</b></a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[pg 177]</a></span></p> + +<img src="images/banner.png" + width="100%" + alt="Banner: Chambers' Edinburgh Journal" /> + +<h4>CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S +INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.</h4> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<table width="100%" + summary="Volume, Date and Price"> +<tr> +<td align="left"><b><span class="sc">No.</span> 455. <span class="sc">New Series.</span></b></td> +<td align="left"><b>SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1852.</b></td> +<td align="right"><b><span class="sc">Price</span> 1½<i>d</i>.</b></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h2><a name="A_GLANCE_AT_CONTINENTAL_RAILWAYS" id="A_GLANCE_AT_CONTINENTAL_RAILWAYS"></a>A GLANCE AT CONTINENTAL RAILWAYS.</h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">When</span> lately making a pretty extensive continental excursion, we were +in no small degree gratified with the progress made in the +construction and operation of railways. These railways, from all that +could be seen, were doing much to improve the countries traversed, and +extend a knowledge of English comforts; for it must always be borne in +mind that the railway system, with its locomotives, carriages, +waiting-rooms, commodious and cheap transit, and other matters, is +essentially English. Hence, wherever one sees a railway in full +operation, he may be said to see a bit of England. And is not this +something to be proud of? The railway being your true civiliser, +England may be said to have sent out a missionary of improvement, whom +nothing can withstand. The continent, with all its stupid despotisms, +must improve, and become enlightened in spite of itself.</p> + +<p>The newspapers lately described the opening of the line of railway +from Paris to Strasbourg. Those who know what travelling in France was +a few years ago, cannot wonder that Louis Napoleon should have made +this the occasion of a popular demonstration. The opening of this line +of railway is an important European event; certainly it is a great +thing for both France and Germany. English travellers may also think +much of it. A tourist can now journey from London to Paris—Paris to +the upper part of the Rhine at Strasbourg, going through a most +interesting country by the way—then go down the Rhine to Cologne by +steamer; next, on by railway to Ostend; cross by steamer to Dover; +and, finally, reach London—thus doing in a few days, and all by force +of steam, what a short time ago must have been done imperfectly, and +with great toil and expense. Still more to ease the journey, a branch +railway from the Strasbourg line is about being opened from near Metz, +by Saarbrück, to Manheim; by which means the Rhine will be reached by +a shorter cut, and be considerably more accessible. In a month or two, +it will be possible to travel from Paris to Frankfort in twenty-five +hours. All that is wanted to complete the Strasbourg line, is to +strike off a branch from Metz to Luxembourg and Treves; for by +reaching this last-mentioned city—a curious, ancient place, which we +had the pleasure of visiting—the traveller is on the Moselle at the +spot where it becomes navigable, and he descends with ease by steamer +to Coblenz. And so the Rhine would be reached from Paris at three +important points.</p> + +<p>Paris, as a centre, is pushing out other lines, with intermediate +branches. Marseille, Bordeaux, Nantes, Rouen, Dieppe, Boulogne, +Calais, and Lille, are the outposts of this series of radiation. The +latest move is a line from Caen to Cherbourg; it will start from the +Paris and Rouen Railway at Rosny, 40 miles from Paris, and proceed +through Caen to the great naval station at Cherbourg—a distance of +191 miles from Rosny. By the time the great lines in France are +finished—probably 3500 miles in the whole—it is expected that the +total expenditure will amount, in round numbers, to a hundred millions +sterling.</p> + +<p>It is gratifying to know, that the small German powers which border on +France have been most active in providing themselves with railways; +not only for their own accommodation, but to join the lines of other +countries; so as to make great trunk-thoroughfares through their +dominions. There seems to be a cordiality in making these junctions, +for general accommodation, that cannot but deserve praise. The truth, +however, is, that all these petty states are glad to get hold of means +for bringing travellers—that is, money-spenders—to their cities and +watering-places, and for developing their long-hidden resources. For +example, in the district lying between Saarbrück and Manheim, there +exist vast beds of coal, and powerful brine-springs; but hitherto, in +consequence of being out of the way of traffic, and there being only +wretched cars drawn by cows, as the means of locomotion, this great +mineral wealth has been locked up, and next thing to useless. What an +outlet will the Strasbourg and Manheim Railway furnish! Paris may be +as well and as cheaply supplied with coal as London.</p> + +<p>Belgium—a kind of little England—has for a number of years been well +provided with railways; and you may go by locomotion towards its +frontiers in all directions, except one—namely, that of Holland. This +odd exception, of course, arose from the ill-will that has subsisted +for a number of years between the Belgians and Dutch; the latter being +not at all pleased with the violent disjunction of the Netherlands. +However, that coolness is now passing off. The two neighbours begin to +find that ill-nature does not pay, and, like sensible people, are +negotiating for a physical union by rail, seeing that a political one +is out of the question. In short, a railway is proposed to be laid +down in an easterly direction from the Antwerp branch, towards the +border of Holland; and by means of steam-boat ferries across the Maas +and other mouths of the Rhine, the junction will be effected with the +Rotterdam and Amsterdam series of railways. The north of Holland is +yet a stranger to railways, nor are the towns of such importance as to +lead us to expect any great doings there. But the north German +region—from the frontiers of Holland to those of Russia and Poland, a +distance of something <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[pg 178]</a></span>like 1000 miles—is rapidly filling up the +chasms in its railway net-work. Emden and Osnaburg and Gottingen in +the west, Danzig and Königsberg and Memel in the east, are yet +unprovided; but almost all the other towns of any note in Prussia and +North Germany are now linked together, and most or all of the above +six will be so in a few years.</p> + +<p>The Scandinavian countries are more interesting in respect to our +present subject, on account of <i>their</i> railway enterprises being +wholly written in the future tense. Denmark has so little continuous +land, Sweden has so many lakes, and Norway so many mountains, that, +irrespective of other circumstances, railways have not yet reached +those countries. They are about to do so, however. Hitherto, Denmark +has received almost the whole of its foreign commodities <i>viâ</i> the two +Hanse towns—Hamburg and Bremen; and has exported its cattle and +transmitted its mails by the same routes. The Schleswig-Holstein war +has strengthened a wish long felt in Denmark to shake off this +dependence; but good railways and good steam-ship ports will be +necessary for this purpose. When, in April 1851, a steamer crossed +rapidly from Lowestoft to Hjerting, and brought back a cargo of +cattle, the Danes felt suddenly independent of the Hamburghers; but +the route from Hjerting to Copenhagen is so bad and tiresome, that +much must yet be done before a commercial transit can really be +established. There was at that time only an open basket-wagon on the +route; there has since been established a diligence; but a railway +will be the only effective means of transit. Here we must correct a +mistake in the last paper: Denmark is not quite without railway +accommodation; there is about 15 miles of railway from Copenhagen to +Roeskilde, and this is to be continued across the island of Zealand to +Korsör. The Lowestoft project has led to important plans; for a +railway has been marked out from Hamburg, through the entire length of +Holstein and Schleswig to the north of Jütland, where five hours' +steaming will give access to the Swedish coast; while an east and west +line from Hjerting to Copenhagen, with two breaks at the Little Belt +and the Great Belt, are also planned. If Denmark can by degrees raise +the requisite capital, both of these trunk-lines will probably be +constructed.</p> + +<p>Norway has just commenced its railway enterprises. It seems strange to +find the familiar names of Stephenson and Bidder, Peto and Brassey, +connected with first-stone layings, and health-drinkings, &c., in +remote Norway; but this is one among many proofs of the ubiquity of +English capital and enterprise. The government of Norway has conceded +the line to an English company, by whom it will be finished in 1854. +The railway will be 50 miles in length; it will extend from +Christiania to Lake Miösen, and will connect the capital with an +extensive chain of internal navigation. The whole risk seems to have +been undertaken by the English company; but the benefits will be +mutual for both companies—direct steam-communication from Christiania +to some English port being one feature in the comprehensive scheme.</p> + +<p>In Russia, the enterprises are so autocratic, and ordinary joint-stock +operations are so rare, that our Stock Exchange people know very +little about them. The great lines of railway in Russia, either being +constructed or definitely planned, are from Warsaw to Cracow (about +170 miles); Warsaw to St Petersburg (680 miles); Moscow to St +Petersburg (400 miles); from a point on the Volga to another point on +the Don (105 miles); and from Kief to Odessa, in Southern Russia. The +great tie which will bind Russia to the rest of Europe, will be the +Warsaw and St Petersburg Railway—a vast work, which nothing but +imperial means will accomplish. Whether all these lines will be opened +by 1862, it is impossible to predict; Russia has to feel its way +towards civilisation. During the progress of the Moscow and St +Petersburg Railway, a curious enterprise was determined on. According +to the <i>New York Tribune</i>, Major Whistler, who had the charge of the +construction of the railway, proposed to the emperor that the +rolling-stock should be made in Russia, instead of imported, Messrs +Harrison, Winans, and Eastwick, engineers of the United States, +accepted a contract to effect this. They were to have the use of some +machine-works at Alexandroffsky; the labour of 500 serfs belonging to +those works at low wages; and the privilege of importing coal, iron, +steel, and other necessary articles, duty free. In this way a large +supply of locomotives and carriages was manufactured, to the +satisfaction of the emperor, and the profit of the contractors. The +managers and foremen were all English or American; but the workmen and +labourers, from 2000 to 3000 in number, were nearly all serfs, who +<i>bought their time</i> from their masters for an agreed period, being +induced by the wages offered for their services: they were found to be +excellent imitative workmen, perfectly docile and obedient.</p> + +<p>Our attention now turns south-westward: we cross Poland and Germany, +and come to the Alps. To traverse this mountain barrier will be among +the great works of the future, so far as the iron pathway is +concerned. In the early part of 1851, the Administration of Public +Works in Switzerland drew up a sketch of a complete system of railways +for that country. The system includes a line to connect Bâle with the +Rhenish railways; another to traverse the Valley of the Aar, so as to +connect Lakes Zurich, Constance, and Geneva; a junction of this +last-named line with Lucerne, in order to connect it with the Pass of +St Gothard; a line from Lake Constance to the Grisons; a branch +connecting Berne with the Aar-Valley line; and some small isolated +lines in the principal trading valleys. The whole net-work of these +railways is about 570 English miles; and the cost estimated at about +L.4,000,000 sterling. It scarcely needs remark, that in such a +peculiar country as Switzerland, many years must elapse before even an +approach to such a railway net-work can be made.</p> + +<p>To drive a railway across the Alps themselves will probably be first +effected by the Austrians. The railway through the Austrian dominions +to the Adriatic at Trieste, although nearly complete, is cut in two by +a formidable elevation at the point where the line crosses the eastern +spur of the great Alpine system. At present, travellers have to post +the distance of seventy miles from Laybach to Trieste, until the +engineers have surmounted the barrier which lies in their way. The +trial of locomotives at Sömmering, noticed in the newspapers a few +months ago, related to the necessity of having powerful engines to +carry the trains up the inclines of this line. Further west, the +Alpine projects are hidden in the future. The Bavarian Railway, at +present ending at Munich, is intended to be carried southward, +traversing the Tyrol, through the Brenner Pass, to Innsprück and +Bautzen, following the ordinary route to Trieste, and finally uniting +at Verona with the Italian railways. This has not yet been commenced. +Westward, again, there is the Würtemberg Railway, which ends at +Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance. It is proposed to continue this +line from the southern shore of the lake, across the Alps by the Pass +of the Splügen, and so join the Italian railways at Como. This, too, +is <i>in nubibus</i>; the German States and Piedmont are favourable to it; +but the engineering difficulties and the expense will be enormous. +Other Piedmontese projects have been talked about, for crossing the +Alps at different points, and some one among them will probably be +realised in the course of years. Meanwhile, Piedmont has a heavy task +on hand in constructing the railway from Genoa to Turin, which is +being superintended by Mr Stephenson; the Apennines are being crossed +by a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[pg 179]</a></span>succession of tunnels, embankments, and viaducts, as stupendous +as anything yet executed in Europe.</p> + +<p>In Central Italy, a railway convention has been signed, which, if +carried out, would be important for that country. It was agreed to in +1851 by the Papal, Austrian, Tuscan, Parmese, and Modenese +governments. The object is to construct a net-work of railways, each +state executing and paying for its own. Austria is to do the work as +far as Piacenza and Mantua; Tuscany is to finish its lines from +Pistoja to Florence and Lucca; the Papal government is to connect +Bologna with both the former; and the small states are to carry out +their respective portions. The great difficulty will be, to cut +through the Apennines, which at present sever Tuscany from the other +states; but a greater still will be the moral one, arising from the +disordered state of Italy. Rome has conceded to an Anglo-French +company the construction of a railway from the capital to Ancona; but +that, like all other commercial enterprises in the Papal dominions, is +lagging sadly.</p> + +<p>Crossing the Pyrenees to view the works in the Peninsula, which +<i>Bradshaw</i> may possibly have to register in 1862, we find that, amid +the financial difficulties of Spain, three lines of railway have been +marked out—from Madrid to Irun; from Aranjuez to Almansa; and from +Alar to Santander. The first would be a great line to the vicinity of +the French frontier, to cost 600 millions of reals; the second would +be part of an intended route from Aranjuez, near Madrid, to the +Mediterranean; the length to Almansa, involving an outlay of 220 +millions. The third line, from Santander to Alar del Rey, on the +Biscayan seaboard of Spain, is intended to facilitate approach from +the interior to the rising port of Santander; the outlay is put down +at 120 millions. It is difficult to translate these high-sounding sums +into English equivalents, for there are three kinds of reals in Spain, +varying from 2-5/8d. to 5-1/4d. English; but taking even the lowest +equivalent, the sum-total amounts to a capital which Spain will have +some difficulty in raising. The Santander line, however, has attracted +English capital and engineering towards it; the first sod was turned +by the king-consort in May 1852, and the works are now in progress. +There is also an important line from Madrid to the Portuguese frontier +near Badajoz, marked out on paper; but the fruition of this as well as +other schemes will mainly depend on the readiness with which English +capital can be obtained. Unfortunately, 'Spanish bonds' are not in the +best favour in England.</p> + +<p>Portugal is a <i>terra incognita</i> to railways. It is on the extremest +verge of Europe towards the Atlantic; and European civilisation finds +entrance there with remarkable slowness. In 1845, the government tried +to invite offers from capitalists to construct railways; in 1849, the +invitations were renewed; but the moneyed men were coy, and would not +be wooed. In 1851, the government appointed a commission to +investigate the whole subject. The commission consisted of five +persons; and their Report, dated October 20, 1851, contains a large +mass of valuable information. It appeared in an English translation in +some of the London journals towards the close of the year. The +commissioners take for granted that Spain will construct railways from +Madrid to the Portuguese frontier at Badajoz on the one side, and to +the French frontier, near Bayonne, on the other; and they then inquire +how best to reach Badajoz from Lisbon. Three routes present +themselves—one to Santarem, and across the Tagus to Badajoz; another +to Santarem and Coimbra, and so on into Spain by way of Almeida; and a +third to Oporto, and thence by Bragança into Spain. The first of +these, being more directly in the route to Madrid, is preferred by the +commissioners, who estimate the outlay at a million and a quarter +sterling. They discuss the terms on which capitalists might possibly +be induced to come to their aid; and they indulge in a hope that, ten +years hence, Lisbon may be united to Central Europe by a railway, of +which 260 kilomètres will cross Portugal to Badajoz, 370 from Badajoz +to Madrid, and about 400 from Madrid to the French frontier, where the +Paris and Bayonne Railway will continue the route. (Five kilomètres +are equal to rather more than three English miles.) The Continental +<i>Bradshaw</i> will, we apprehend, have to wait long before these +peninsular trunk-lines find a place in its pages.</p> + +<p>Leaving altogether the countries of Europe, and crossing the +Mediterranean, we find that even Africa is becoming a member of the +great railway system. After a world of trouble, financial and +diplomatic, the present ruler of Egypt has succeeded in giving reality +to a scheme for a railway from Alexandria to the Nile. A glance at a +map of Egypt will shew us that a canal extends from Alexandria to the +Nile, to escape the sanded-up mouths of that famous river. It is +mainly to expedite the overland route, so far as concerns the transit +along this canal, that the railway now in process of construction has +been planned; anything beyond this, it will be for future ages to +develop. The subject of the Isthmus of Suez and its transit has been +frequently treated in this <i>Journal</i>, and we will therefore say +nothing more here, than that our friend <i>Bradshaw</i> will, in all +probability, have something to tell us concerning the land of Egypt +before any long time has elapsed.</p> + +<p>Asia will have a spider-line of railway by and by, when the slow-coach +proceedings of the East India Company have given something like form +to the Bombay and Bengal projects; but at present the progress is +miserably slow; and <i>Bradshaw</i> need not lay aside a page for the rich +Orient for many years to come.</p> + +<p>There are a few general considerations respecting the present aspect +of the railway system, interesting not only in themselves, but as +giving a foretaste of what is to come. In the autumn of last year, a +careful statistician calculated that the railways of Europe and +America, as then in operation, extended in the aggregate to 25,350 +miles, the total cost of which was four hundred and fifty millions of +pounds. Of this, the United Kingdom had 7000 miles, costing +L.250,000,000. According to the view here given, the 7000 miles of our +own railways have been constructed at an expense prodigiously greater +than the remaining 18,350 miles in other parts of the world. It needs +no figures to prove that this is the fact. Many of the continental and +American railways are single lines, and so far they have been got up +at a comparatively small cost. But the substantial difference of +expense lies in our plan of leaving railway undertakings to private +parties—rival speculators and jobbers, whose aim has too frequently +been plunder. And how enormous has been that plunder let enriched +engineers and lawyers—let impoverished victims—declare. Shame on the +British legislature, to have tolerated and legalised the railway +villainies of the last ten years; in comparison with which the +enforcements of continental despotisms are angelic innocence!</p> + +<p>Besides being got up in a simple and satisfactory manner, under +government decrees and state responsibility, the continental railways +are evidently more under control than those of the United Kingdom. The +speed of trains is regulated to a moderate and safe degree; on all +hands there seems to be a superior class of officials in charge; and +as the lines have been made at a small cost, the fares paid by +travellers are for the most part very much lower than in this country. +Government interference abroad is, therefore, not altogether a wrong. +Annoying as it may sometimes be, and bad as it avowedly is in +principle, there is in it the spirit of protection against private +oppression. And perhaps the English may by and by discover that +jobbing-companies, with stupendous capital and a monopoly of +conveyance, are capable of doing as tyrannical things as any +continental autocrat!</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[pg 180]</a></span></p> + +<p>If a section of the English public stands disgraced in the eyes of +Europe by its vicious speculation—properly speaking, gambling—in +railway finance, our country is in some degree redeemed from obloquy +by the grandeur of a social melioration which jobbing has not been +able to obstruct. The wide spread of railways over the continent, we +have said, is working a perceptible change in almost all those +arrangements which bear on the daily comforts of life. No engine of a +merely physical kind has ever wrought so powerfully to secure lasting +international peace as the steam-engine. The locomotive is every hour +breaking down barriers of separation between races of men. And as wars +in future could be conducted only by cutting short the journeys by +railway, arresting trains, and ruining great commercial undertakings, +we may expect that nations will pause before rushing into them. +Already, the French railways, which push across the frontier into the +German countries, are visibly relaxing the custom-house and passport +systems. Stopping a whole train at an imaginary boundary to examine +fifteen hundred passports, is beyond even the French capacity for +official minutiæ. A hurried glance, or no glance at all—a sham +inspection at the best—is all that the gentlemen with moustaches and +cocked-hats can manage. The very attempt to look at bushels of +passports is becoming an absurdity. And what has to be done in the +twinkling of an eye, will, we have no doubt, soon not be done at all. +Thanks to railways for this vast privilege of free locomotion!</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="A_NEW_PRINCIPLE_IN_NATURE" id="A_NEW_PRINCIPLE_IN_NATURE"></a>A NEW PRINCIPLE IN NATURE.</h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is pretty well known that researches by Matteucci, Du Bois-Reymond, +and others, have made us acquainted with the influence of electricity +and galvanism on the muscular system of animals, and that important +physiological effects have been attributed to this influence, more +than perhaps we are warranted in assuming in the present state of our +knowledge. That an influence is exerted in some way, is clear from the +difference in our feelings in dry and wet weather: it has been +supposed, however, that the effects on the nervous system are not +produced by an accumulation of positive or of negative electricity, +but by the combination of the two producing dynamic electricity. While +these points are undergoing discussion, we have an opportunity of +bringing before our readers the results of investigations bearing on +the general question.</p> + +<p>Most persons are aware of the fact, that a peculiar taste follows the +application of two different metals to the tongue in a popular +galvanic experiment. This taste is caused by the azotic acid formed +from the oxygen and azote of the atmosphere. An electric discharge, +too, is accompanied by a smell, which smell is due to the presence of +what is called ozone; and not long ago M. Schoenbein, of Basel, the +inventor of guncotton, discovered ozone as a principle in the oxygen +of the atmosphere; and it is considered to be the <i>active</i> principle +of that universal constituent. Later researches have brought out a +striking analogy between the properties of ozone and chlorine, and +have led to conclusions as to the dangerous effect which the former +may produce, in certain cases, on the organs of respiration. Some idea +of its energy may be formed from the fact, that mice perish speedily +in air which contains one six-thousandth of ozone. It is always +present in the atmosphere in a greater or lesser degree, in direct +relation with the amount of atmospheric electricity, and appears to +obey the same laws in its variations, finding its maximum in winter +and its minimum in summer.</p> + +<p>Ozone, in scientific language, is described as 'a compound of oxygen +analogous to the peroxide of hydrogen, or, that it is oxygen in an +allotropic state—that is, with the capability of immediate and ready +action impressed upon it.' Besides being produced by electrical +discharges in the atmosphere, it can be obtained artificially by the +passing of what is called the electrical brush into the air from a +moist wooden point, or by electrolyzed water or phosphorus. The +process, when the latter substance is employed, is to put a small +piece, clean scraped, about half an inch long, into a large bottle +which contains just so much of water as to half cover the phosphorus, +and then closing the mouth slightly, to guard against combustion, to +leave it standing for a time in a temperature of about 60 degrees. +Ozone soon begins to be formed, as shewn by the rising of a light +column of smoke from the phosphorus, which, at the same time, becomes +luminous. In five or six hours, the quantity will be abundant, when +the bottle is to be emptied of its contents, washed out, and closed +for use and experiment.</p> + +<p>Whichever way the ozone be produced, it is always identical in its +properties; and these are described as numerous and remarkable. Its +odour is peculiar, resembling that of chlorine, and, when diluted, +cannot be distinguished from what is called the electric smell. When +largely diffused in atmospheric air, it causes unpleasant sensations, +makes respiration difficult, and, by acting powerfully on the mucous +membranes, produces catarrhal effects; and as such air will kill small +animals, it shews that pure ozone must be highly injurious to the +animal economy. It is insoluble in water, is powerfully electromotive, +and is most strikingly energetic in numerous chemical agencies, its +action on nearly all metallic bodies being to carry them at once to +the state of peroxide, or to their highest point of oxidation; it +changes sulphurets into sulphates, instantaneously destroys several +gaseous compounds, and bleaches indigo, thus shewing its analogy with +chlorine.</p> + +<p>In proceeding to the account of his experiments, M. Schoenbein shews, +that gases can be produced by chemical means, which exercise an +oxidizing influence of a powerful nature, especially in their +physiological effects, even when diffused through the atmosphere in +very minute quantities: also, that owing to the immense number of +organic beings on the earth, their daily death and decomposition, an +enormous amount of gases is produced similar to those which can be +obtained by artificial means; and besides these, a quantity of gaseous +or volatile products, 'whose chemical nature,' as the author observes, +'is as yet unknown, but of which we can easily admit that some, at +least, diffused through the air, even in very small quantities, and +breathed with it, exert a most deplorable action on the animal +organism. Hence it follows, that the decomposition of organic matters +ought to be considered as one of the principal causes of the +corruption of the air by miasmatic substances. Now, a continuous +cause, and acting on so vast a scale, would necessarily diffuse +through the atmosphere a considerable mass of miasmatic gases, and +accumulate them till at length it would be completely poisoned, and +rendered incapable of supporting animal life, if nature had not found +the means of destroying these noxious matters in proportion as they +are produced.'</p> + +<p>The question then arises: What are the means <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[pg 181]</a></span>employed for this +object? M. Schoenbein believes that he has found it in the action of +ozone, which is continually formed by the electricity of the +atmosphere, and is known to be a most powerful agent of oxidation, +causing serious modifications of organic bodies, and, consequently, of +their physiological action. 'To assure myself,' he pursues, 'that +ozone destroys the miasma arising from the decomposition of animal +matters, I introduced into a balloon containing about 130 pints of +air, a piece of flesh weighing four ounces, taken from a human corpse, +and in a very advanced state of putrefaction. I withdrew it after a +minute; the air in the balloon had acquired a strong and very +repulsive odour, shewing that it was charged with an appreciable +quantity—at least for the smell—of miasm caused by the putrefaction.</p> + +<p>'To produce ozone, I introduced into the infected balloon a stick of +phosphorus an inch long, with water sufficient to half cover it. At +the same time, for the sake of comparison, I placed a similar quantity +of phosphorus and water in another balloon full of pure atmospheric +air. After some minutes, the reaction of ozone in the latter was most +evidently manifested, while no trace of it was yet apparent in the +former, which still gave off an odour of putrefaction. This, however, +disappeared completely at the end of ten or twelve minutes, and +immediately the reaction of the ozone was detected.'</p> + +<p>The conclusion drawn from this experiment is, that the ozone destroyed +the miasm by oxidation, and could only make its presence evident after +the complete destruction of the noxious volatile substances. This +effect is more strikingly shewn by another experiment.</p> + +<p>A balloon of similar capacity to the one above mentioned was charged +as strongly as possible with ozone, and afterwards washed with water. +The same piece of flesh was suspended within it; and the opening being +carefully closed, it was left inside for nine hours before the air of +the balloon presented the least odour of putrefaction. The air was +tested every thirty minutes by an ozonometer, and the proportion of +ozone found to be gradually diminishing; but as long as the paper of +the instrument exhibited the slightest trace of blue, there was no +smell, which only came on as the last signs of ozone disappeared. +Thus, all the miasm given off by the piece of flesh during nine hours +was completely neutralised by the ozone with which the balloon had +been impregnated, so small in quantity as to be but the 6000th part of +a gramme. One balloon filled with ozonified air, would suffice to +disinfect 540 balloons filled with miasmatic air. 'These +considerations,' says M. Schoenbein, 'shew us how little the miasma of +the air are to be appreciated by weight, even when they exist therein +in a quantity very sensible to the smell, and how small is the +proportion of ozone necessary to destroy the miasm produced by the +putrefaction of organic substances, and diffused through the +atmosphere.'</p> + +<p>The presence of ozone in any vessel or in the atmosphere, may be +detected by a test-paper which has been moistened with a solution +composed of 1 part of pure iodide of potassium, 10 parts of starch, +and 100 parts of water, boiled together for a few moments. Paper so +prepared turns immediately blue when exposed to the action of ozone, +the tint being lighter or darker according to the quantity. +Schoenbein's ozonometer consists of 750 slips of dry bibulous paper +prepared in the manner described; and with a scale of tints and +instructions, sufficient to make observations on the ozone of the +atmosphere twice a day for a year. After exposure to the ozone, they +require to be moistened to bring out the colour.</p> + +<p>M. Schoenbein continues: 'We must admit that the electric discharges +which take place incessantly in different parts of the atmosphere, and +causing therein a formation of ozone, purify the air by this means of +organic, or, more generally, oxidizable miasma; and that they have +thus the important office of maintaining it in a state of purity +suitable to animal life. By means of atmospheric electricity, and, +indirectly, nature thus attains on a great scale the object that we +sometimes seek to accomplish in a limited space by fumigations with +chlorine.</p> + +<p>'Here, as in many other cases, we see nature effecting two different +objects at one stroke. For if the oxidizable miasma are destroyed by +atmospheric ozone, they, in turn, cause the latter to disappear, and +we have seen that it is itself a miasm. This is doubtless the reason +why ozone does not accumulate in the atmosphere in greater proportion +than the oxidizable miasma, notwithstanding the constant formation of +one and the other.</p> + +<p>'In all times, the idea has been held, that storms purify the air, and +I do not think that this opinion is ill-founded. We know, in fact, +that storms give rise to a more abundant production of ozone. It is +possible, and even probable, that sometimes, in particular localities, +there may not be a just relation between the ozone and the oxidizable +miasma in the air, and that the latter cannot be completely destroyed. +Hence, in accordance with the chemical nature and physiological +influence of these miasma, they would exert a marked action on the +animal economy, and cause diseases among the greater number of those +who breathe the infected air. But numerous experiments prove that, as +a rule, the air contains free ozone, though in very variable +proportions; from which we may conclude that no oxidizable +miasm—sulphuretted hydrogen, for example—can exist in such an +atmosphere, any more than it could exist in air containing but a trace +of chlorine.</p> + +<p>'I do not know if it be true, as has been advanced by Mr Hunt and +other persons, that ozone is deficient in the atmospheric air when +some wide-spread malady, such as cholera, is raging. In any case, it +would be easy, by means of the prepared paper, to determine the truth +or fallacy of this opinion.</p> + +<p>'There is one fact which should particularly engage the attention of +physicians and physiologists, which is, that, of all seasons, the +winter is distinguished by the greatest proportion of ozone; whence it +follows, that during that season the air contains least of oxidizable +miasma. We can say, therefore, with respect to this class of miasma, +that the air is purer in winter than in summer.</p> + +<p>'All my observations agree in shewing, that the proportion of ozone in +the air increases with the height; if this fact be general, as I am +disposed to believe, we must consider the upper regions of the +atmosphere as purer, with regard to oxidizable miasma, than the lower.</p> + +<p>'The appearance of certain maladies—intermittent fever, for +example—appears to be connected with certain seasons and particular +geographical conditions. It would be worth while to ascertain, by +ozonometric observations, whether these physiological phenomena have +any relation whatever with the proportion of ozone contained in the +air in which they occur.</p> + +<p>'Considering the obscurity which prevails as to the cause of the +greater part of diseases, and the great probability that many among +them owe their origin to the presence of chemical agents dispersed in +the atmosphere, it becomes the duty of medical men and physiologists, +who interest themselves in the progress of their science, to seize +earnestly all the means by which they may hope to arrive at more exact +notions upon the relations which exist between abnormal physiological +phenomena and external circumstances.'</p> + +<p>Such is a summary of M. Schoenbein's views as communicated to the +Medical Society of Basel; and we the more readily accord them the +publicity of our columns, as, apart from the intrinsic value of the +subject, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[pg 182]</a></span>it is one which has for some time excited the interest of +scientific inquirers in this country. During the late visitation of +cholera, reports were frequently spread that the atmosphere was +deficient in ozone.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="ENGLISH_SISTERS_OF_CHARITY" id="ENGLISH_SISTERS_OF_CHARITY"></a>ENGLISH SISTERS OF CHARITY.</h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">How</span> much real good could yet be done in this old, full, struggling +world of ours, where so many among us have need of help, if each in +his or her small circle could manage just not to leave undone some of +the things that should be done. Little more is wanting to effect this +than the will, or perhaps the mere suggestion. A high influence may at +a time confer a considerable benefit; but very humble means, +systematically exerted, even during a comparatively short season, will +certainly relieve a load of misery.</p> + +<p>In a small village towards the west of England, there dwelt, some +years ago, two maiden gentlewomen, sisters, the daughters of the +deceased rector of the parish. Their father had early in life entered +upon his duties in this retired locality, contentedly abiding there +where fate had placed him, each passing year increasing his interest +in the charge which engrossed all his energies. His moderate stipend, +assisted by a small private fortune, sufficed for his quiet tastes, +and for the few charities required by his flock; it also enabled him +to rear a large family respectably, and to start them creditably on +their working way.</p> + +<p>There was no railway near this village—even the Queen's highway was +at some distance. Fields, meadows, a shady lane, a brook, and the +Welsh mountains for a background, formed the picture of beauty that +attracted the stranger. There was hardly what could be called a +street. The cottages were clustered upon the side of the wooded bank +above the stream, shrouded in gardens of apple-trees; but there was +space near the foot of the hill for a green of rather handsome size, +with a plane-tree in the middle of it, and a few small shops along one +side. Opposite the shops was the inn, the doctor's house, the +market-house, and a public reading-room; and a bylane led from the +green up towards the church—an old, low-walled, steep-roofed +building, with a square, dumpy tower, in which hung a peal of bells, +and where was placed a large, round, clumsy window. A clump of +hardwood trees enclosed the upper end of the church-yard, and extended +to the back of the rector's garden, quite concealing his many-gabled +dwelling. In a still, summer evening, the brook could be heard from +the parlour windows of the rectory, dancing merrily along to its own +music; and at those less pleasant seasons when the foliage was scanty, +it could be seen here and there between the boles of the trees, +sparkling in the sunshine as it rippled on, while glimpses of the rich +plain beyond added to the harmony of the prospect.</p> + +<p>The society of the village and its immediate neighbourhood was of a +humble kind—neither the rich nor the great were members of it; yet +there were wisdom, and prudence, and talent, and good faith to be +found in this little community, where all inclined to live as +brethren, kindly together. It was not a bad school this for the young +to grow up in. The rector's family had here been trained; and when +they grew to rise beyond it, and then passed out upon the wider world, +those of them that were again heard of in their birthplace, did no +discredit to its name: and all passed out, all but two—our two +sisters. It is said adversity must at some time reach us all: it had +been late in visiting them, for they had passed a happy youth in that +quiet parsonage. At last, sorrow came, and they were left alone, the +two extremes of the chain which had bound the little household +together—all the intermediate links had broken; and when, upon their +father's death, they had to quit their long-loved home, they found +themselves verging upon old age, in circumstances that natures less +strictly disciplined would have felt to have been at the least dreary. +The younger sister was slightly deformed, and very delicate; the +elder, though still an active woman, was quite beyond the middle of +life; the income of the two, just L.30—no great elements these of +either usefulness or happiness. Let us see, then, what was made of +them. Some relations pressed the sisters to share their distant home, +but they would not leave the village. They felt as if their work lay +there. The friends they knew best were all around them; the +occupations they had been used to still remained to them; the memory +of all they had loved there clung to them, in the old haunts so doubly +dear to the bereaved who bear affliction patiently. So they moved only +to a cottage a little higher up the hill, yet within view of the +church, and of the dear old house, with its garden, sheltering wood, +and pleasant rivulet; and there they lived in comfort, with enough to +use and much to spare, their cruse never failing them when wanted. It +was a real cottage, which a labourer had left: there was no ornament +about it till they added some. Rude and unfashioned did this +low-thatched cabin pass to them; it was their own hands, with very +little help from their light purse, which made of a mere hovel the +prettiest of rural dwellings—her own hands, indeed; for Sister Anne +alone was the working-bee. Sister Catherine helped by hints and +smiles, and by her nimble needle; but for out-of-doors labour she had +not strength. Sister Anne nailed up the trellised porch, over which +gay creepers were in time to grow. Sister Anne laid out the beds of +flowers, protected by a low paling from the sheep which pastured on +the downs. She planned the tidy bit of garden on one side, and the +little yard behind, where pig and poultry throve; but Sister Catherine +watched the bee-hives near the hawthorn hedge, and plied her busy +fingers by the hour to decorate the inside of their pretty cottage. +They almost acted man and wife in the division of their employments, +and with the best effect.</p> + +<p>It would have astonished any one unaccustomed to the few wants of +simple tastes, and to the many small gains from various trifling +produce which careful industry alone can accumulate, to see the plenty +consequent on skill, order, and neatness. The happiness was a joy +apart, only to be felt by the sort of poetic mind of the truly +benevolent, for it depended not on luxury, or even comfort, or any +purely selfish feeling. It sprang from warm hearts directed by clear +heads, invigorated by religious feelings, and nourished by country +tastes, softened and elevated by the trials of life, till devotion to +their kind became the one intention of their being; for it is as +Sisters of Charity we introduce our heroines to our readers, one of a +wide class in our reformed church, who, unshackled by vows, under no +bondage of conventual forms, with small means, and by their own +exertions and self-sacrifices, do more good in their generation than +can be easily reckoned—treading in the footsteps of their Master, +bearing healing as they move. Every frugal meal was shared with some +one less favoured. No fragments were too small for use in Sister +Anne's most skilful cookery; not a crumb, nor a dreg, nor a drop was +wasted. Many a cup of comfort fed the sick or the weary, made from +what, in richer households, unthrifty servants would have thrown away. +There were always roots to spare from the small garden, herbs for +medicines, eggs for sale, salves, and lotions, and conserves of fruit +or honey. All the poor infants in the parish were neatly clothed in +baby-linen made out of old garments. There were always bundles of +patches to give away, so useful to poor mothers; strips of rag for +hurts; old flannel, and often new; a little collection of rubbish now +and then for the bagman, though very rarely, the breakage being small +where there were so few hands used, and they so careful.</p> + +<p>They gave their time, too; for they were the nurses <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[pg 183]</a></span>of all the sick, +the comforters of all the sorrowful, the advisers of all in +difficulty—without parade. They were applied to as of course—it +seemed natural. And they were sociable: they had their little +tea-parties with their acquaintance; they made their little presents +at Christmas-time; they sweetened life throughout their limited +sphere; and all so quietly, that no one guessed the amount of their +influence till it ceased. They preached 'the word' practically, +producing all the charity it taught, inculcating the 'peace on earth, +good-will towards men' which disposes even rude natures to the gentler +feelings, and soothes the chafed murmurer by the tender influence of +that love which is so kind. They were unwearied in their walk of +mercy, though they met with disappointment even among the simple +natures reared in this secluded spot. They bore it meekly; and when +cross or trial came to those around, then could our good sisters carry +comfort to afflicted friends, never pleading quite in vain for the +exercise of that patience which lightens suffering. They were as +mothers to the young, as daughters to the old, of all degree; for they +did not ostentatiously devote themselves to the poor and ignorant +alone—the so-called poor: the poor in spirit, of whatever rank, were +as much their care as were the poor in purse; their charge was all who +needed help—a help they gave simply, lovingly, not as meddlers, but +as sisters bound to a larger family by the breaking of the ties which +had united them to their own peculiar household.</p> + +<p>There was no scenic effect visible along the humble walk of their pure +benevolence, no harsh outlines to mark the course they went, or shew +them to the world as devoted to particular excellence all throughout a +lifetime of painful mortifications. Very noiseless was their quiet +way. In a spirit of thankfulness they accepted their lot, turning its +very bitterness into joy, by gratefully receiving the many pleasures +still vouchsafed them; for it is a happy world, in spite of all its +trials, to those who look aright for happiness. Our sisters found it +and bestowed it. How many blessed their name! How many have had reason +to love the memory of these two unobtrusive women, who, without name, +or station, or show, or peculiarity, or distinction of any kind, were +the types of a class the circle of which even this humble memorial, by +its truth and suggestiveness, may aid in extending—of the true, +simple, earnest, brave, holy Sisters of Charity of our country!</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="BRIBERY_AND_CORRUPTION" id="BRIBERY_AND_CORRUPTION"></a>BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION.</h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">I am</span> not sure about bribery and corruption. It may be a bad thing, but +many seem to think otherwise. Much may be said on both sides of the +question. Oh! don't tell me of a worm selling his birthright for a +mess of pottage: I never read of such worms in Buffon, or even in +Pliny. But if they do exist in the human form, the baseness consists +in the sale, not in the <i>quid pro quo</i>. A mess of pottage in itself is +a very good thing—I should say, a very respectable thing; and no +exchange can take away from it that character. Still, if what we give +for it is an heirloom, coming from our ancestors and belonging to our +posterity, the transaction is shabby, and not only shabby, but +dishonest. If that is proved, I don't defend the worm. Trample on him +by all means—jump on him. But beware of insulting the mess of +pottage, which is as respectable as when newly out of the pot. Fancy +the sale to have been effected by means of some other equivalent: and +that, by the way, is just what puzzles me. There are numerous other +equivalents, not a whit more respectable in themselves—many far less +so—which not only escape all objurgation, but serve to lift the +identical transaction out of the category of basenesses. This confuses +a brain like mine, even to the length of doubting whether there is any +harm in the thing at all. Let us turn the question over patiently. I +confess I am slow; but 'slow and sure,' you know.</p> + +<p>Bribery and corruption is a universal element in civilised society; +but let us talk in the meantime of political bribery and corruption. +It is the theory of the law—if the law really has a theory—that in +the matter of a parliamentary canvass, every man, as a celebrated +Irish minister expressed it, should stand upon his own bottom. By this +poetical figure, Lord Londonderry meant that the man should depend +upon himself, upon his own merits and character, without having +recourse to any extrinsic means of working upon the judgment of +others. It is likewise the theory of the law, that a man who <i>suffers</i> +his judgment to be indirectly biassed is as bad as the other—and +worse: that he is, in fact, a Worm, unfit to possess his birthright, +of which he should be forthwith deprived. Well, this being premised: +here is the Honourable Tom Snuffleton, who wants to represent our +borough, but having neither merit nor character of any convertible +kind, offers money and gin instead. The substitute is accepted; and +Honourable Tom, slapping his waistcoat several times, congratulates +the free and independent electors on having that day set a glorious +example to the world, by thus exercising their birthright and +upholding their palladium; and the affair is finished amid cheers and +hiccups.</p> + +<p>When I say, however, that the substitute is accepted, I do not mean +that it is accepted by, or can be offered to the whole constituency. +That would be a libel. There are many of the electors who have a soul +above sovereigns, and who, if they could accomplish it, would never +drink anything less than claret. These persons are ambitious of being +noticed by the family of Honourable Tom. They are not hungry, but they +take delight in a dinner in that quarter. They also feel intensely +gratified by having their wives and daughters bowed to from the family +carriage. A thousand considerations like these blind them to the +absence of merit and character on the part of the candidate, and lay +them open to that extrinsic influence which, according to the meaning +of the law, is bribery and corruption. As for the man who takes his +bribe, for the sake of convenience, in the direct, portable, and +exchangeable form of a sovereign, he lays it out in any pleasure or +distinction he, on his part, has a fancy for. If he is a dissolute +person, he spends it in the public-house; if he is a proper-behaved +husband, he gives his wife a new gown; if he is a respectable, serious +individual, he devotes it to the conversion of the Wid-a-wak tribe in +Central Africa, and gloats upon the name of John Higgins in the +subscription-list. In whichever way, however, he may seek to gratify +himself, he is neither better nor worse, so far as I can see, than the +voter of more elegant aspirations: they have both been bribed; they +are both corrupt; they have both sold their birthright.</p> + +<p>This is a homely way of viewing the question, but it suffices. If we +inquire into the motives of a hundred electors, we shall not find ten +of them free from some alloy of self-interest, direct or indirect. In +cases where the candidates are all equally good, equally bad, or +equally indifferent, there may be no practical harm in this; but it is +not a political but a moral question that is before us. The question +is as to the <i>bribe</i>. If we are to be excused because of the nature of +the solatium we accept, then should a thief successfully plead that it +was not money he stole, but a masterpiece of Raphael. What I doubt is, +whether they who have not been solely influenced by patriotic motives, +have any right to cast stones at the free and independent elector who +has sold his vote for a sovereign.</p> + +<p>If the common saying be true, that 'every man has his price,' then are +we all open to bribery and corruption; and the only difficulty lies in +ascertaining the weak side of our nature. The distinction in this case +is not between vice and virtue, but between the various <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[pg 184]</a></span>positions in +which we are placed. Money will do with some men; others, who would be +shocked at the idea of taking money, will accept of something it has +bought; others, again, who would spurn at both these, will have no +objection to a snug little place for themselves or their dependents. +The English, as a practical, straightforward people, take money—five +to ten pounds being considered a fair thing for a vote, and no shame +about it. The Scotch, as more calculating, like a <i>situation</i>; +anything to put sons into, will do—a cadetship in India, a +tide-waitership, a place in the Post-office, or a commission in the +army. From a small Scotch country town, which we have in our eye, as +many as fourteen lads in one year received appointments in the Excise; +everybody knew what for: an election was in expectation. No money, +however, being passed from hand to hand, the fathers of these said +lads would look with horror on such cases of bribery as have given +renown and infamy to Sudbury and St Alban's.</p> + +<blockquote> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">All men think all men <i>sinners</i> but themselves.<br /></span> +</div></div> +</blockquote> + +<p>Happy this consciousness of innocence! How fortunate that we should be +such a virtuous and discreet people! And thus does one's very notions +of what is right become a marketable article. Where neither money nor +place is wanted, a gracious look and an invitation to dinner may have +quite a telling effect. In fact, the more refined men have become, +through the action of circumstances, such as education and position, +the more abstracted and attenuated is the equivalent they demand for +their virtue; till we reach the highest grade of all, whose noble +natures, as they are called, can be seduced only by affection and +gratitude. Now observe: in all these cases the <i>thing</i> is the same, +whether it be crime we have been tempted to commit, or mere +illegality; the only distinction lies in the value of the <i>quid pro +quo</i>. But is there a distinction even in that? I doubt the fact. I +don't say there is none, but I doubt it. Value is entirely arbitrary. +One man, at the lower end of the scale, sins for the sake of a pound; +and another, at the higher end, does the same thing for the sake of a +kindness. The two men place the same value on their several +equivalents, and each finds his own irresistible. Are they not both +equally guilty?</p> + +<p>That a refined man is better than a coarse one, I admit. He is +pleasanter, and not only so, but safer. We know his virtue to be +secure from a thousand temptations before which meaner natures fall; +and to a large extent, therefore, we feel him to be worthy of our +trust. He will not betray us for a pound, or a dinner, or a place, or +a coaxing word, or a condescending bow: but we must not go too far +with him for all that. He has his price as surely as the meanest of +his fellows; and let him only come in the way of a temptation he +values as highly as the other values his miserable pound, and down he +goes! Refined natures, therefore, are only comparatively trustworthy; +and, however estimable or admirable they may be under other +circumstances, when they do fail they are as guilty as the rest. It is +a bad thing altogether, bribery and corruption is; and I don't object +to your putting it down when it takes that material form of money you +can so readily get hold of. But what I hate is the cant that is canted +about it by those who have not even the virtue to take their +equivalent on the sly. For it is a remarkable thing, that when this +does not come in a material shape, such as you can count or handle, it +is looked upon by the bribee as no bribe at all! Nay, in some cases he +will glory in his crime, as if it were a virtue; and in all cases he +will turn round upon his fellow-criminal—him of the vulgar sort—call +him a worm, and throw that mess of pottage at him! This refined +evil-doer may be as energetic as he pleases in his actions, but it +would be well if he were a little more quiet in his words. If he looks +within, he will find that the distinction on which he prides himself +is wholly superficial; and that such language is very unbecoming the +lips of one who might more truly, as well as more politely, say to +corruption, thou art my father, and to the worm, thou art my mother +and my sister.</p> + +<p>The main cause of such anomalies I take to be, that there is among us +a general want of earnestness. We do not believe in ourselves, or our +duties, or our destinies. Our life has no theory, and we care only for +outward forms and symbols. Our taste is shocked by the grossness of +vice, but we have no quarrel with the thing itself; and if the people +around us will only preserve a polished, or at least inoffensive +exterior, that is all we demand. Why should we look below the surface +in their case, when we do no such thing in our own? We feel amiable, +genteel, and refined; we detest the appearance of low impropriety, and +would take a good deal of trouble to put it down; we look very kindly +on the world in general, if the low people who are in it would only +become as decorous as ourselves. In the old republics, the case was +different. There men had a theory, even if a bad one, and they stuck +to it through good report and through bad report. The theory was the +spirit of the community, and its members sacrificed to it their whole +individuality. No wonder that such little political unities held +together as if their component parts had been welded, and that they +continued to do so till they came into collision, and, from their +hardness and toughness, rubbed one another out.</p> + +<p>Put down bribery and corruption: that is fair. And more especially put +down open, shameless, and brutal bribery and corruption, for its very +coarseness is, in itself, an additional crime. But no reform is +efficacious that does not come from within; and when refined men wage +war against vulgar vices, let them look sharply to their own. I do not +say, that by taking thought they will be able to do entirely away with +the seductive influence of a bow, or a dinner, or a kind action; and +that, in spite of these, they will do their duty with the stern +resolve of an ancient Spartan. But they will be less likely to yield +to temptation, and the price of their virtue will at least mount +higher and higher, which is as much as we can expect of human nature. +The grand benefit, however, they will derive from the inquisition, is +the lesson of tolerance it will teach. They will refrain, for shame's +sake, from casting stones and calling names. They will see that the +only part of the offence <i>they</i> can notice is vulgarity and ignorance, +and they will quietly try to refine the one and enlighten the other.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="THE_EGYPTIAN_MUSEUM_LIVERPOOL" id="THE_EGYPTIAN_MUSEUM_LIVERPOOL"></a>THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM, LIVERPOOL.</h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> a cross street named Colquitt Street, near a fashionable promenade +of Liverpool, will be found the rich, valuable, and interesting museum +which we are about briefly to describe. It is the property of Mr +Joseph Mayer, F.S.A., a townsman of Liverpool, esteemed as much for +his private worth as for his refined classical taste. This gentleman +has been long known as a collector; and by the purchase of an entire +gallery of antiquities, formed by one who travelled long in Egypt and +Nubia, and visited the remains of ancient Carthage, he became +possessed of a museum so extensive that his private residence could +not contain them, and so rare, that the public desired to know more +about them. With the view, therefore, of keeping them together, and +gratifying the many who longed to acquaint themselves with these +interesting relics of an interesting race, this house in Colquitt +Street has been appropriated. For the purpose of meeting the current +expenses of the exhibition, and enabling the proprietor to add to its +contents, a very trifling charge is made for admission, and a book is +kept for the autographs of the visitors.</p> + +<p>The first room entered displays a large collection of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[pg 185]</a></span> Egyptian +<i>stelæ</i> and other monuments, while the outer cases and sarcophagi of +several mummies are placed in another apartment. The word <i>stela</i> +means merely a memorial pillar or tombstone; and in this room the +reflective mind will find much food for meditation. We have here the +first elements of all religion brought visibly before us in the +carvings—the recognition of a deity, and the belief in immortality. +More than one of these stelæ has upon it the royal cartouch; one of +them has no fewer than four of these elliptical rings with +inscriptions, and two more from which the hieroglyphics have been +erased. This tells a tale, for in the age commemorated, it was a mark +of disgrace to have the name obliterated. Another stela contains the +jackal, or genius of the departed, with propitiatory offerings from +his friends. The curious will learn with interest, that another of +these monuments dates back to the time of Joseph. It has twice +engraved upon it the name Osortosen—perhaps the Pharaoh 'who gave him +to wife Asenath, the daughter of Potiphorah, priest of On,' and raised +the obelisk at Heliopolis, towns thought to be the same. Near to this +is another stela of great beauty, engraved in low relief and +cavo-relievo, coloured. It belongs to Manetho's sixth dynasty, and is +consequently very ancient. One still more so is in the same +collection: it is of the fourth dynasty of that +historian—consequently, of the time when the Pyramids were built. It +is beautifully executed in intaglio and relievo, with the surface +polished. These stelæ, of which the collection is very rich, are +composed of various rocks—such as granite, syenite, limestone, the +travertino of the Italians, and sandstone.</p> + +<p>While the tombs of Egypt have furnished these monuments, Karnac is +represented by a portion of its great obelisk, and Rome has supplied a +cinerary urn with cremated bones, several sepulchral tablets, and an +altar.</p> + +<p>In another room on the same floor, we find an extensive collection of +pottery from the tombs of ancient Etruria, and other parts of Italy; +Roman pottery found in Britain; Samian ware, and articles of that +kind, from Pompeii, Carthage, and South America. The central case is +overflowing with riches, containing as it does nearly six hundred +Etruscan vases in terra cotta. It is a subject of doubt among the +learned, whether these painted vessels, so called, are not in reality +Grecian. Bossi, in his great work on Italy, claims the first +manufacture for the Tuscans; but there is a strong argument in favour +of their Grecian origin in the negative evidence obtained from Roman +Italy, where they are not found, and the positive evidence from the +Grecian subjects depicted on the pottery; besides which, the tombs of +the Greek islands of the Archipelago contain them. Their not being met +with in the Asiatic colonies of the Greeks may go merely to shew, that +although the objects might be Grecian, the trade was Etruscan. It is +well known, too, that at Athens the art of making pottery had arrived +at great perfection. That the Tuscans used these as funereal vessels +at a remote period, is fully established; but the custom of depositing +them in sepulchres is not supposed to have originated with that +people, but to have been brought by colonists from Greece Proper.</p> + +<p>In this apartment, there are sepulchral lamps in the same material as +the Etruscan vases, and idols not a few. Besides these, there are +numerous Roman fibulæ (a sort of brooch) and bracelets, found at +Treves, and others dug up in England. There are likewise many Roman +antiquities, which have been recently met with at Hoy Lake, near +Liverpool. But we must not attempt to enter into details; let us mount +to the floor above, and notice the contents of the apartments there.</p> + +<p>The first room on the second storey is the Mummy Room; and there rest, +side by side, royal personages and humble individuals, male and +female, who, about four thousand years ago, breathed the air of Egypt. +Except by their cerements, and the inscriptions on the cases, who +could tell which had been the greater?</p> + +<p>The plan adopted for the display of these human mummies—for the +Museum contains the preserved remains of the ibis and hawk, the cat, +and even the dog, a rare subject for the embalmer, besides the bodies +of other inferior animals—is to remove the outer case and covering, +then to place the inner case upon the floor; above it, resting on +supports, the body; and above that again, the lid, enclosing all +within plates of glass, so that the spectator may go round the mummy, +examining it in all directions, and likewise the case, within and +without, on which the hieroglyphics are inscribed. Before we describe +the mummies so laid out, let us explain briefly the process of +embalming. Herodotus is a great authority on this matter, and we +cannot do better than follow him.</p> + +<p>In the first place, the embalmer was a medical practitioner, and +legally pursued his craft. The deceased was taken to his room, and +there the process of preservation was conducted; not, however, till +the agreement had been made between the relatives and the embalmer as +to the style and cost; for there were three methods of embalming, +suitable to different ranks. This having been determined, the operator +began, the relatives having previously retired. In the most expensive +kind of embalming, the brain was extracted without disfiguring the +head, and the intestines were removed by an incision in the side: +these were separated and preserved. The body was now filled with +spices—myrrh cassia, and other perfumes, frankincense excepted; and +the opening was firmly closed. It was now covered with natron for +seventy days; and at the expiration of that time, it was washed and +swathed in linen cloth, dipped in gums and resinous substances, when +it was delivered to the relatives, and by them placed in the mummy +case and sarcophagus. It was finally placed perpendicularly in the +apartment set apart for the dead; so that the Egyptian could view his +ancestors as figured on their coffins; and with the thought that not +only were their portraits there, but their bodies also—for the +Egyptian was a firm believer in immortality, and piously preserved the +body in a fitter state, as he thought, for reunion with the soul, than +if allowed to perish by decay.</p> + +<p>According to the second mode of embalming, no incisions were made upon +the body, but absorbing injections were employed. The natron was used +as before; and after the customary days were passed, the injected +fluid was withdrawn, and with it came the entrails. The body was now +enfolded in the cloth, and returned to the friends. This process cost +twenty minæ, the other was a talent. In the third style, that adopted +by the poor, the natron application was almost the only one used; the +body lay for seventy days in this alkaline solution, and was then +accounted fit for preservation. Sometimes the body, enveloped in the +cloth, was covered with bitumen.</p> + +<p>The most interesting mummy in this collection is that of a royal +personage, Amenophis I., the most ancient of the Pharaohs whose name +has yet been found. The case is richly decorated, and the name appears +in three different places—that in the interior being in very large +characters, in a royal cartouch. The spectator seems to hang over this +mummy as if spell-bound. Can this in reality be one of the Pharaohs? +Such is the question; and the inscription, thrice repeated—'Amenophis +I.'—is the answer! This monarch reigned in Egypt about half a century +after the exodus of the Israelites, and 3400 years ago, according to +the chronology of Dr Hales; but others give a remoter period—even in +the days of Joseph.</p> + +<p>Another mummy has the face covered with gold, and the body is +inscribed with the gods of the Amenti, on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[pg 186]</a></span>those regions over which +they were the genii. Thus <i>Amset</i>, with a human head, presided over +the stomach and large intestines, and was the judge of Hades; <i>Hape</i>, +with the head of a baboon, presided over the small intestines; +<i>Soumautf</i>, the third genius, with a jackal's head, was placed over +the region of the thorax, presiding over the heart and lungs; and the +last, <i>Kebhsnauf</i>, with the head of a hawk, presided over the +gall-bladder and liver. Besides these, there are other mummies +exhibiting the style of swathing peculiarly Egyptian, in +contradistinction to the Græco-Egyptian, which differs from the former +in having the limbs separately bandaged, instead of being placed +together and enveloped in one form. There are also fragments of the +human body mummied, one of which contains between the arm and shoulder +a papyrus-roll. And while we are now among the mummies, we must not +forget the vases called canopuses, in which the entrails and other +internal organs were deposited; each bearing upon it the emblem of the +genius presiding over the separately embalmed viscera. On each of +these canopuses, four of which compose a set, an inscription may be +seen. Thus: <i>Amset</i>—'I am thy son, a god, loving thee; I have come to +be beside thee, causing to germinate thy head, to fabricate thee with +the words of Phtah, like the brilliancy of the sun for ever.' +<i>Hape</i>—'I have come to manifest myself beside thee, to raise thy head +and arms, to reduce thy enemies, to give thee all germination for +ever.' <i>Soumautf</i>—'I am thy son, a god, loving thee; I have come to +support my father.' <i>Kebhsnauf</i>—'I have come to be beside thee, to +subdue thy form, to submit thy limbs for thee, to lead thy heart to +thee, to give it to thee in the tribunal of thy race, to germinate thy +house with all the other living.'</p> + +<p>In this apartment there are many statues, some in wood, some in stone. +In one of wood there is a recess behind intended for a papyrus +manuscript. There are also specimens of Egyptian Mosaic pavement, and +a monumental tablet, interesting from its having a Greek inscription, +while its style and figure are Egyptian—proving the continuance of +the ancient manner down to the Ptolemaic dynasty.</p> + +<p>The adjoining room contains infinitely more than we can enumerate, +and, like the others, many articles not Egyptian, yet deeply +interesting in themselves. The centre cases will demand our first +attention; and here we have idolets and amulets innumerable; coins of +the Ptolemies, Cleopatra, and others; and jewellery of all +descriptions, from the golden diadem and the royal signet down to the +pottery rings and glass beads worn by the poor. As might be expected +in an Egyptian collection, the <i>scarabæus</i>, or sacred beetle, +frequently meets the eye. Here are scarabæi in gold, cornelion, +chalcedony, heliotrope, torquoise, lapis-lazuli, porphyry, terra +cotta, and other materials; many of them having royal names and +inscriptions engraved.</p> + +<p>Two objects claim our first attention, on account not only of their +value, but their associations. They are placed together in a +glass-case, marked No. 3. One of them is perhaps the most ancient ring +in existence, and is a magnificent signet of pure solid gold. It bears +in a cartouch the royal name of Amenophis I., and has an inscription +on either side. The signet is hung upon a swivel, and has +hieroglyphics on what may be called the reverse. It is a large, heavy +ring, weighing 1 ounce, 6 pennyweights, 12 grains, was worn on the +thumb, and taken from the mummy at Memphis. It was purchased by Mr +Sams at the sale of Mr Salt's collection in the year 1835, for upwards +of L.50, and is highly prized by the present proprietor. Some doubt +still rests upon Egyptian chronology. By certain antiquaries, this +ring is supposed to have been worn by the Pharaoh who ruled over the +land while Joseph was prime-minister; but others, as has been +mentioned, place the reign of Amenophis I. after the departure of the +Israelites.</p> + +<p>The other is a diadem of pure gold, about seven inches in diameter, +taken from the head of a mummy. In the centre, a pyramid rises with a +double cartouch on one side and a single one on the other. Towards +this twelve scarabæi are approaching, six on either side, emblematic +of the increase and decrease of the days in the twelve months; and +between these is a procession of boats, in which are deities and +figures. In the inner side of this diadem the signs of the zodiac are +represented.</p> + +<p>In close proximity to these remarkable objects is another of no less +interest—namely, a pair of earrings of gold, weighing each <i>half a +shekel</i>—'And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that +the man took <i>a golden earring of half a shekel weight</i>, and two +bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold; and said, Whose +daughter art thou?' Such was the present to Rebekah; and here, before +us, are ornaments similar probably in shape (zone-like), and exactly +similar in weight!</p> + +<p>Among the jewellery in this collection we find several valuable +necklaces in gold, coral, and precious stones. Besides the Egyptian, +there are some of Etruscan origin, taken from the tombs of this +ancient people. We cannot leave this subject without noticing the +beauty and perfection of the filigree-work, executed about 2400 years +ago, and equal to modern workmanship. Some exquisite specimens from +Pompeii are preserved here.</p> + +<p>Turning now to the walls of this apartment, we find glass-cases filled +with vases in terra cotta and eastern alabaster. On some of these are +royal names, gilt and coloured; that of Cheops, the builder of the +great Pyramid, occurs on one. Another of these vessels, or the neck +part of one, is covered with cement, and sealed with three cartouches, +besides having four others painted on it. This, it is thought, may +have contained the precious Theban wine, sealed with the royal signet. +There are many other things taken from the tombs which our space +forbids us to dwell upon; such as idols and figures, papyri and +phylacteries, paint-pots and colours, workman's tools, stone and +wooden pillows or head-rests, and sandals; a patera with pomegranates, +another with barley, the seven-eared wheat of Scripture, bread and +grapes, besides other fruits and dainties which were supplied to the +dead when deposited in the Theban tombs. On a tablet here we find the +name of that Amenophis or Phamenoph, who is celebrated as the Memnon +of the Greeks. We also find bricks as made by the Israelites, and +stamped probably in accordance with the regulations of the revenue +department of old Egypt. There are preserved in this and the adjoining +apartments some beautiful ancient manuscripts, and an exceedingly +valuable collection of books on antiquities, to which the visitor has +access.</p> + +<p>We now ascend to the upper rooms, where in one is a collection of +armour, and in the other, the 'Majolica' Room, specimens of pottery, +as revived in Europe in the fifteenth century by Luca Della Rubbia, +who was born in 1388. He discovered the art of glazing earthenware. In +the former of these rooms, all sorts of weapons and defensive +apparatus are met with—modern, mediæval, and antique; some are highly +finished, others very rude. In the Majolica Room, there is much matter +for study, and those will fail to appreciate the value of the +collection who have not learned something of the history of the ware. +Here is exhibited a Madonna and Child, of about the year 1420, by +Rubbia himself. It was given to Mr Mayer by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, +when the medal of Roscoe was struck and presented. There are five +plates, made after the patterns of the Moors, about the middle of that +century, at Pessaro, near the Po; and four with portraits, marked +'Majolica Amatorii.' We find several other specimens, shewing the most +curious anachronisms <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[pg 187]</a></span>and blunders in design. The 'Temptation,' for +example, is represented as a plate, with the drawing of a town and a +Dutch church. 'Jacob's Dream,' 'Joseph and his Brethren,' 'Alexander +and Darius,' 'Actæon and Diana,' and such scenes, seem to have been +favourites. The specimens of 'Mezza Majolica,' with raised centres, +scroll-work borders, and embossed figures, are very curious. There are +two dishes, each eighteen inches in diameter, of Raffaelle ware, on +one of which is 'Christ healing the Sick,' and on the other, 'Christ +driving out the Money-changers.' Another, of Calabrian ware, is very +curious: it is of brown clay, glazed, with four handles, and inside +are the figures of two priests officiating at an altar; behind, are +female figures overlooking, but concealed by latticed-work. There is +one object here of local interest, and with it we bring this +description to a close. It is an earthenware map of Crosby, to the +north of Liverpool, made in 1716, at pottery works in Shaws-brow.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="UNCLE_TOMS_CABIN" id="UNCLE_TOMS_CABIN"></a>UNCLE TOM'S CABIN.</h2> + +<h3>STORY OF UNCLE TOM.</h3> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">A former</span> paper on Mrs Stowe's remarkable book, presented a little +episode, the heroine of which was Eliza, a female slave on the estate +of a Mr Shelby in Kentucky. We now turn to the story of Tom himself, +whose transfers from hand to hand afford the authoress an opportunity +of describing the private life and feelings of slave-owners, and the +unwholesome and dangerous condition of society in the south.</p> + +<p>Tom, we have hinted, was jet black in colour, trustworthy and valued +by his master, who was compelled by necessity to part with him to +Haley, a slave-trader. The separation of this honest fellow from his +wife Chloe, and his children, was a sad affair; but as Tom was of a +hopeful temperament, and under strong religious impressions, he did +not repine at the fate he was about to encounter, dreaded as that +usually is by persons in his situation. 'In order to appreciate the +sufferings of the negroes sold south, it must be remembered that all +the instinctive affections of that race are peculiarly strong. Their +local attachments are very abiding. They are not naturally daring and +enterprising, but home-loving and affectionate. Add to this all the +terrors with which ignorance invests the unknown, and add to this, +again, that selling to the south is set before the negro from +childhood as the last severity of punishment. The threat that +terrifies more than whipping or torture of any kind, is the threat of +being sent down river.</p> + +<p>'A missionary among the fugitives in Canada told us, that many of the +fugitives confessed themselves to have escaped from comparatively kind +masters, and that they were induced to brave the perils of escape, in +almost every case, by the desperate horror with which they regarded +being sold south—a doom which was hanging either over themselves or +their husbands, their wives or children. This nerves the African, +naturally patient, timid, and unenterprising, with heroic courage, and +leads him to suffer hunger, cold, pain, the perils of the wilderness, +and the more dread penalties of recapture.'</p> + +<p>After a simple repast in his rude cabin, Tom prepared to start. Chloe +shut and corded his trunk, and getting up, looked gruffly on the +trader who was robbing her of her husband; her tears seemingly turned +to sparks of fire. Tom rose up meekly to follow his new master, and +raised the box on his shoulder. His wife took the baby in her arms, to +go with him as far as the wagon, and the children, crying, trailed on +behind. 'A crowd of all the old and young hands in the place stood +gathered around it, to bid farewell to their old associate. Tom had +been looked up to, both as a head-servant and a Christian teacher, by +all the place, and there was much honest sympathy and grief about him, +particularly among the women. Haley whipped up the horse, and with a +steady, mournful look, fixed to the last on the old place, Tom was +whirled away. Mr Shelby at this time was not at home. He had sold Tom +under the spur of a driving necessity, to get out of the power of a +man he dreaded; and his first feeling, after the consummation of the +bargain, had been that of relief. But his wife's expostulations awoke +his half-slumbering regrets; and Tom's disinterestedness increased the +unpleasantness of his feelings. It was in vain that he said to +himself, that he had a <i>right</i> to do it, that everybody did it, and +that some did it without even the excuse of necessity: he could not +satisfy his own feelings; and that he might not witness the unpleasant +scenes of the consummation, he had gone on a short business tour up +the country, hoping that all would be over before he returned.'</p> + +<p>Haley, with his property, reaches the Mississippi; and on that +magnificent river, a steam-boat, piled high with bales of cotton from +many a plantation, receives the party. 'Partly from confidence +inspired by Mr Shelby's representations, and partly from the +remarkably inoffensive and quiet character of the man, Tom had +insensibly won his way far into the confidence even of such a man as +Haley. At first, he had watched him narrowly through the day, and +never allowed him to sleep at night unfettered; but the uncomplaining +patience and apparent contentment of Tom's manner, led him gradually +to discontinue these restraints; and for some time Tom had enjoyed a +sort of parole of honour, being permitted to come and go freely where +he pleased on the boat. Ever quiet and obliging, and more than ready +to lend a hand in every emergency which occurred among the workmen +below, he had won the good opinion of all the hands, and spent many +hours in helping them with as hearty a good-will as ever he worked on +a Kentucky farm. When there seemed to be nothing for him to do, he +would climb to a nook among the cotton-bales of the upper deck, and +busy himself in studying over his Bible—and it is there we see him +now. For a hundred or more miles above New Orleans, the river is +higher than the surrounding country, and rolls its tremendous volume +between massive levees twenty feet in height. The traveller from the +deck of the steamer, as from some floating castle-top, overlooks the +whole country for miles and miles around. Tom, therefore, had spread +out full before him, in plantation after plantation, a map of the life +to which he was approaching. He saw the distant slaves at their toil; +he saw afar their villages of huts gleaming out in long rows on many a +plantation, distant from the stately mansions and pleasure-grounds of +the master; and as the moving picture passed on, his poor foolish +heart would be turning backward to the Kentucky farm, with its old +shadowy beeches, to the master's house, with its wide, cool halls, and +near by the little cabin, overgrown with the multiflora and bignonia. +There he seemed to see familiar faces of comrades who had grown up +with him from infancy: he saw his busy wife, bustling in her +preparations for his evening meals; he heard the merry laugh of his +boys at their play, and the chirrup of the baby at his knee, and then, +with a start, all faded; and he saw again the cane-brakes and +cypresses of gliding plantations, and heard again the creaking and +groaning of the machinery, all telling him too plainly that all that +phase of life had gone by for ever.'</p> + +<p>An unlooked-for incident raises up a friend. 'Among the passengers on +the boat was a young gentleman of fortune and family, resident in New +Orleans, who bore the name of St Clare. He had with him a daughter +between five and six years of age, together with a lady who seemed to +claim relationship to both, and to have the little one especially +under her charge. Tom had often caught glimpses of this little girl, +for she was one of those busy, tripping creatures, that can be no +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[pg 188]</a></span>more contained in one place than a sunbeam or a summer breeze; nor +was she one that, once seen, could be easily forgotten. Her form was +the perfection of childish beauty, without its usual chubbiness and +squareness of outline.'</p> + +<p>This angelic little creature was attracted by Tom's appearance; and +speaking kindly to him, expressed a hope of serving him, by inducing +her papa to become his purchaser. Tom had just thanked the little lady +for her intentions, when the boat stopped at a landing-place. At its +moving on again, Eva, who leaned imprudently on the railings, fell +overboard. Tom was fortunately standing under her as she fell. 'He saw +her strike the water and sink, and was after her in a moment. A +broad-chested, strong-armed fellow, it was nothing for him to keep +afloat in the water till, in a moment or two, the child rose to the +surface, and he caught her in his arms, and, swimming with her to the +boat-side, handed her up, all dripping, to the grasp of hundreds of +hands, which, as if they had all belonged to one man, were stretched +eagerly out to receive her. A few moments more, and her father bore +her, dripping and senseless, to the ladies' cabin, where, as is usual +in cases of the kind, there ensued a very well-meaning and +kind-hearted strife among the female occupants generally as to who +should do the most things to make a disturbance, and to hinder her +recovery in every way possible.'</p> + +<p>Next day, as the vessel approached New Orleans, Tom sat on the lower +deck, with his arms folded, anxiously from time to time turning his +eyes towards a group on the other side of the boat. 'There stood the +fair Evangeline, a little paler than the day before, but otherwise +exhibiting no traces of the accident which had befallen her. A +graceful, elegantly-formed young man stood by her, carelessly leaning +one elbow on a bale of cotton, while a large pocket-book lay open +before him. It was quite evident, at a glance, that the gentleman was +Eva's father. There was the same noble cast of head, the same large +blue eyes, the same golden-brown hair; yet the expression was wholly +different. In the large, clear blue eyes, though in form and colour +exactly similar, there was wanting that misty, dreamy depth of +expression; all was clear, bold, and bright, but with a light wholly +of this world: the beautifully cut mouth had a proud and somewhat +sarcastic expression, while an air of free-and-easy superiority sat +not ungracefully in every turn and movement of his fine form. He was +listening with a good-humoured, negligent air, half comic, half +contemptuous, to Haley, who was very volubly expatiating on the +quality of the article for which they were bargaining.</p> + +<p>"All the moral and Christian virtues bound in black morocco, +complete!" he said, when Haley had finished. "Well, now, my good +fellow, what's the damage, as they say in Kentucky; in short, what's +to be paid out for this business? How much are you going to cheat me, +now? Out with it!"</p> + +<p>"Wal," said Haley, "if I should say thirteen hundred dollars for that +ar fellow, I shouldn't but just save myself—I shouldn't, now, raily."</p> + +<p>"Papa, do buy him! it's no matter what you pay," whispered Eva softly, +getting up on a package, and putting her arm around her father's neck. +"You have money enough, I know. I want him."'</p> + +<p>Tom was purchased, and paid for. 'Come, Eva,' said St Clare, as he +stepped across the boat to his newly-acquired property. '"Look up, +Tom, and see how you like your new master." Tom looked up. It was not +in nature to look into that gay, young, handsome face without a +feeling of pleasure; and Tom felt the tears start in his eyes as he +said, heartily: "God bless you, mas'r!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I hope he will. What's your name? Tom? Quite as likely to do it +for your asking as mine, from all accounts. Can you drive horses, +Tom?"</p> + +<p>"I've been allays used to horses," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Well, I think I shall put you in coachy, on condition that you won't +be drunk more than once a week, unless in cases of emergency, Tom."</p> + +<p>'Tom looked surprised, and rather hurt, and said: "I never drink, +mas'r."</p> + +<p>"I've heard that story before, Tom; but then we'll see. It will be a +special accommodation to all concerned if you don't. Never mind, my +boy," he added good-humouredly, seeing Tom still looked grave; "I +don't doubt you mean to do well."</p> + +<p>"I sartin do, mas'r," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"And you shall have good times," said Eva. "Papa is very good to +everybody, only he always will laugh at them."</p> + +<p>"Papa is much obliged to you for his recommendation," said St Clare +laughing, as he turned on his heel and walked away.'</p> + +<p>Augustine St Clare was a wealthy citizen of New Orleans, and possessed +a domestic establishment of great extent and elegance, with a body of +servants in the condition of slaves, to whom he was an indulgent +master. The description of this splendid mansion, with its lounging +and wasteful attendants, its indolent, pretty, and capricious +lady-mistress, and the account of Ophelia, a shrewd New-England +cousin, who managed the household affairs, must be considered the +best, or at least the most amusing portion of the work. The authoress +also dwells with fondness on the character of the gentle Eva, a child +of uncommon talents, but so delicate in health, so ethereal, that +while still on earth, she seems already an angel of paradise leading +and beckoning to Heaven. Eva was kind to everybody—kind even to +Topsy, a negro girl whom St Clare had one day bought out of mere +charity, on seeing her cruelly lashed by her former master and +mistress. Topsy is a fine picture of a brutalised young negro, who +never speaks the truth even by chance, and steals because she cannot +help it. Every one gives up Topsy as utterly irreclaimable—all except +the gentle Eva. Caught in a fresh act of theft, Topsy is led away by +Eva. 'There was a little glass-room at the corner of the veranda, +which St Clare used as a sort of reading-room; and Eva and Topsy +disappeared into this place.</p> + +<p>"What's Eva going about now?" said St Clare; "I mean to see." And +advancing on tiptoe, he lifted up a curtain that covered the +glass-door, and looked in. In a moment, laying his finger on his lips, +he made a silent gesture to Miss Ophelia to come and look. There sat +the two children on the floor, with their side-faces towards them, +Topsy with her usual air of careless drollery and unconcern; but, +opposite to her, Eva, her whole face fervent with feeling, and tears +in her large eyes.</p> + +<p>"What does make you so bad, Topsy? Why won't you try and be good? +Don't you love <i>anybody</i>, Topsy?"</p> + +<p>"Donno nothing 'bout love. I loves candy and sich—that's all," said +Topsy.</p> + +<p>"But you love your father and mother?"</p> + +<p>"Never had none, ye know. I telled ye that, Miss Eva."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know," said Eva sadly; "but hadn't you any brother, or sister, +or aunt, or"——</p> + +<p>"No, none on 'm—never had nothing nor nobody."</p> + +<p>"But, Topsy, if you'd only try to be good, you might"——</p> + +<p>"Couldn't never be nothin' but a nigger, if I was ever so good," said +Topsy. "If I could be skinned, and come white, I'd try then."</p> + +<p>"But people can love you, if you are black, Topsy. Miss Ophelia would +love you if you were good."</p> + +<p>'Topsy gave the short, blunt laugh that was her common mode of +expressing incredulity.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think so?" said Eva.</p> + +<p>"No; she can't bar me, 'cause I'm a nigger!—she'd's soon have a toad +touch her. There can't <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[pg 189]</a></span>nobody love niggers, and niggers can't do +nothin'. <i>I</i> don't care," said Topsy, beginning to whistle.</p> + +<p>"O Topsy, poor child, <i>I</i> love you," said Eva, with a sudden burst of +feeling, and laying her little thin white hand on Topsy's shoulder—"I +love you because you haven't had any father, or mother, or +friends—because you've been a poor, abused child! I love you, and I +want you to be good. I am very unwell, Topsy, and I think I shan't +live a great while; and it really grieves me to have you be so +naughty. I wish you would try to be good, for my sake; it's only a +little while I shall be with you."</p> + +<p>'The round, keen eyes of the black child were overcast with tears; +large bright drops rolled heavily down, one by one, and fell on the +little white hand. Yes, in that moment a ray of real belief, a ray of +heavenly love, had penetrated the darkness of her heathen soul. She +laid her head down between her knees, and wept and sobbed; while the +beautiful child, bending over her, looked like the picture of some +bright angel stooping to reclaim a sinner.</p> + +<p>"Poor Topsy!" said Eva, "don't you know that Jesus loves all alike? He +is just as willing to love you as me. He loves you just as I do, only +more, because he is better. He will help you to be good, and you can +go to heaven at last, and be an angel for ever, just as much as if you +were white. Only think of it, Topsy; <i>you</i> can be one of those spirits +bright Uncle Tom sings about."</p> + +<p>"O dear Miss Eva!—dear Miss Eva!" said the child, "I will try—I will +try! I never did care nothin' about it before."'</p> + +<p>By such persuasions, Eva had the happiness to see the beginning of +improvement in Topsy, who finally assumed an entirely new character, +and attained a respectable position in society.</p> + +<p>Eva, after this, declined rapidly. Uncle Tom was much in her room. +'The child suffered much from nervous restlessness, and it was a +relief to her to be carried; and it was Tom's greatest delight to +carry her little frail form in his arms, resting on a pillow, now up +and down her room, now out into the veranda; and when the fresh +sea-breezes blew from the lake, and the child felt freshest in the +morning, he would sometimes walk with her under the orange-trees in +the garden, or, sitting down in some of their old seats, sing to her +their favourite old hymns. The desire to do something was not confined +to Tom. Every servant in the establishment shewed the same feeling, +and in their way did what they could.' At length, the moment of +departure of this highly-prized being arrives. 'It is +midnight—strange, mystic hour, when the veil between the frail +present and the eternal future grows thin—then came the messenger!' +St Clare was called, and was up in her room in an instant. 'What was +it he saw that made his heart stand still? Why was no word spoken +between the two? Thou canst say, who hast seen that same expression on +the face dearest to thee—that look, indescribable, hopeless, +unmistakable, that says to thee that thy beloved is no longer thine.</p> + +<p>'On the face of the child, however, there was no ghastly imprint—only +a high and almost sublime expression—the overshadowing presence of +spiritual natures, the dawning of immortal life in that childish soul.</p> + +<p>'They stood there so still, gazing upon her, that even the ticking of +the watch seemed too loud.' Tom arrived with the doctor. The house was +aroused—'lights were seen, footsteps heard, anxious faces thronged +the veranda, and looked tearfully through the glass doors; but St +Clare heard and said nothing; he saw only <i>that look</i> on the face of +the little sleeper.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if she would only wake, and speak once more!" he said; and, +stooping over her, lie spoke in her ear: "Eva, darling!"</p> + +<p>'The large blue eyes unclosed—a smile passed over her face; she tried +to raise her head, and to speak.</p> + +<p>"Do you know me, Eva?"</p> + +<p>"Dear papa," said the child with a last effort, throwing her arms +about his neck. In a moment, they dropped again; and as St Clare +raised his head, he saw a spasm of mortal agony pass over the face: +she struggled for breath, and threw up her little hands.</p> + +<p>"O God, this is dreadful!" he said, turning away in agony, and +wringing Tom's hand, scarce conscious what he was doing. "O Tom, my +boy, it is killing me!"</p> + +<p>'The child lay panting on her pillows, as one exhausted; the large +clear eyes rolled up and fixed. Ah, what said those eyes that spoke so +much of heaven? Earth was passed, and earthly pain; but so solemn, so +mysterious, was the triumphant brightness of that face, that it +checked even the sobs of sorrow. They pressed around her in breathless +stillness.</p> + +<p>"Eva!" said St Clare gently. She did not hear.</p> + +<p>"O Eva, tell us what you see! What is it?" said her father.</p> + +<p>'A bright, a glorious smile passed over her face, and she said, +brokenly: "O love—joy—peace!" gave one sigh, and passed from death +unto life!'</p> + +<p>Previous to the death of the dear Eva, she had induced her father to +promise to emancipate Tom, and he was taking steps to give this +faithful servant his liberty, when a terrible catastrophe occurred. St +Clare was suddenly killed in attempting to appease a quarrel in one of +the coffee-rooms of New Orleans. His family were plunged into grief +and consternation; and by his trustees the whole of the servants in +the establishment, Uncle Tom included, were brought to sale in the +open market.</p> + +<p>'Beneath a splendid dome were men of all nations, moving to and fro +over the marble pavé. On every side of the circular area were little +tribunes, or stations, for the use of speakers and auctioneers. Two of +these, on opposite sides of the area, were now occupied by brilliant +and talented gentlemen, enthusiastically forcing up, in English and +French commingled, the bids of connoisseurs in their various wares. A +third one, on the other side, still unoccupied, was surrounded by a +group waiting the moment of sale to begin. And here we may recognise +the St Clare servants, awaiting their turn with anxious and dejected +faces.</p> + +<p>'Tom had been standing wistfully examining the multitude of faces +thronging around him for one whom he would wish to call master; and, +if you should ever be under the necessity, sir, of selecting out of +two hundred men one who was to become your absolute owner and +disposer, you would perhaps realise, just as Tom did, how few there +were that you would feel at all comfortable in being made over to. Tom +saw abundance of men, great, burly, gruff men; little, chirping, dried +men; long-favoured, lank, hard men; and every variety of +stubbed-looking, common-place men, who pick up their fellow-men as one +picks up chips, putting them into the fire or a basket with equal +unconcern, according to their convenience; but he saw no St Clare.</p> + +<p>'A little before the sale commenced, a short, broad, muscular man, in +a checked shirt, considerably open at the bosom, and pantaloons much +the worse for dirt and wear, elbowed his way through the crowd, like +one who is going actively into a business; and, coming up to the +group, began to examine them systematically. From the moment that Tom +saw him approaching, he felt an immediate and revolting horror at him, +that increased as he came near. He was evidently, though short, of +gigantic strength. His round, bullet head, large, light-gray eyes, +with their shaggy, sandy eyebrows, and stiff, wiry, sun-burned hair, +were rather unprepossessing items, it is to be confessed; his large, +coarse mouth was distended with tobacco, the juice of which, from time +to time, he ejected from him with great decision and explosive force; +his hands were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[pg 190]</a></span>immensely large, hairy, sun-burned, freckled, and very +dirty, and garnished with long nails, in a very foul condition. This +man proceeded to a very free personal examination of the lot. He +seized Tom by the jaw, and pulled open his mouth to inspect his teeth; +made him strip up his sleeve to shew his muscle; turned him round, +made him jump and spring, to shew his paces.' Almost immediately, Tom +was ordered to mount the block. 'Tom stepped upon the block, gave a +few anxious looks round; all seemed mingled in a common, indistinct +noise—the clatter of the salesman crying off his qualifications in +French and English, the quick fire of French and English bids; and +almost in a moment came the final thump of the hammer, and the clear +ring on the last syllable of the word "<i>dollars</i>," as the auctioneer +announced his price, and Tom was made over.—He had a master!</p> + +<p>'He was pushed from the block; the short, bullet-headed man, seizing +him roughly by the shoulder, pushed him to one side, saying, in a +harsh voice: "Stand there, <i>you</i>!"'</p> + +<p>By his new and rude master, Tom was forthwith marched off; put on +board a vessel for a distant cotton-plantation on Red River; stripped +of his decent apparel by his savage owner, and dressed in the meanest +habiliments. The treatment of the poor negro was now most revolting. +He was wrought hard under a burning sun; half-starved; scourged; +loaded with the grossest abuse. All this ends in a rapid decline of +health; and his story terminates with an account of his death, his +last moments being dignified by a strong sentiment of piety, and of +forgiveness towards his inhuman taskmaster.</p> + +<p>We have now presented a sufficiently ample abstract of <i>Uncle Tom's +Cabin</i>, a work which will undoubtedly be perused at length by all who +feel deeply on the subject of negro slavery. Of the authoress, Mrs H. +B. Stowe, it may be said, that her chief merit consists in close +observation of character, with a forcible and truth-like power of +delineation. In plot, supposing her to aim at such a thing, she +decidedly fails, and the winding-up of her <i>dramatis personæ</i> is +hurried and imperfect. Notwithstanding these defects, however, she has +succeeded in rivetting universal attention, while her aims are in the +highest degree praiseworthy.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="HANDEL_IN_DUBLIN" id="HANDEL_IN_DUBLIN"></a>HANDEL IN DUBLIN.</h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">If</span> biographers will occasionally make assertions at random, and pass +lightly over important events, because their records are not at hand, +while they give ample development to others, just because the +materials for doing so are more abundant, it is well that there is to +be found here and there an industrious <i>littérateur</i>, who will leave +no leaf unturned, and no corner unexplored, if he suspects that any +error has been committed, or any passage of interest slighted, in the +memoirs of a favourite author.</p> + +<p>Mr Mainwaring, the earliest biographer of Handel, and, on his +authority, a host of subsequent writers, took upon them to assert, +without any apparent foundation, that the oratorio of the <i>Messiah</i> +was performed in London in the year 1741, previously to Handel's visit +to Ireland; but that it met with a cold reception, and this was one +cause of his leaving England. Dr Burney, when composing his <i>History +of Music</i>, examined all the London newspapers where public amusements +were advertised during 1741 and for several previous years, but found +no mention whatever of this oratorio. He remembered, too, being a +school-boy at Chester when Handel spent a week there, waiting for fair +winds to carry him across the Channel, and taking advantage of the +delay 'to prove some books that had been hastily transcribed, by +trying the choruses which he intended to perform in Ireland.' An +amateur band was mustered for him, and the manuscript choruses thus +verified were those of the <i>Messiah</i>. In the absence, therefore, of +stronger evidence to the contrary, Dr Burney believed that Dublin had +the honour of its first performance. An Irish barrister has now proved +this, we think, beyond dispute.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> His evidence has been drawn from +the newspaper tomes of 1741, preserved in the public libraries of +Dublin, confirmed by the records of the cathedrals and some of the +charitable institutions, and yet more emphatically from some original +letters of this date. He has thus succeeded in doing 'justice to +Ireland,' by securing for it, in all time to come, the distinguished +place which it is entitled to occupy in the history of this great man. +Perhaps we should rather say, he has done justice to England, by +clearing it of the imputation of having 'coldly received' a musical +production to which immortal fame has since been decreed. While the +musical world will thank our author for several new facts particularly +interesting to them, the main attraction for general readers will +probably be found in the glimpses which this volume affords of a <i>beau +monde</i> which has passed away.</p> + +<p>In 1720, a royal academy for the promotion of Italian operas was +founded in London by some of the nobility and gentry under royal +auspices. Handel, Bononcini, and Areosti, were engaged as a +triumvirate of composers; and to Handel was committed the charge of +engaging the singers. But the rivalry between him and Bononcini rose +to strife; the aristocratic patrons took nearly equal sides; and a +furious controversy on their respective merits was carried on for +years. Hence the epigram of Dean Swift—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Some say that Signor Bononcini,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Compared to Handel, is a ninny;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Others aver that to him Handel<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is scarcely fit to hold the candle.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Strange that such difference should be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twixt tweedledum and tweedledee!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>When the withdrawal of both his rivals left Handel in sole possession +of the field, he quarrelled with some of his principal performers, and +thereupon ensued new scenes of discord. Ladies of the highest rank +entered with enthusiasm into the strife; and while some flourished +their fans aloft on the side of Faustina, whom Handel had introduced +in order to supersede Cuzzoni, another party, headed by the Countess +of Pembroke, espoused the cause of the depressed songstress, and made +her take an oath on the Holy Gospels, that she would never submit to +accept a lower salary than her rival. The humorous poets of the day +took up the theme, Pope introduced it into his <i>Dunciad</i>, and +Arbuthnot published two witty brochures, entitled <i>Harmony in an +Uproar</i>, and <i>The Devil to Pay at St James's</i>. The result of these and +other contests, in which Handel gradually lost ground, was the +establishment of a rival Opera at Lincoln's Inn Fields. It was +patronised by the Prince of Wales and most of the nobles; and not even +the presence of the king and queen, who continued the steady friends +of Handel, could attract for him an audience at the Haymarket. It +became quite fashionable to decry his compositions as beneath the +notice of musical connoisseurs. Politics, it is said, came to mingle +in the controversy; and those who held by the king's Opera were as +certainly Tories, as those who went to the nobility's were Whigs. Of +course all this was very foolish, and very wrong; yet in our days of +stately conventionality, when perfect impassibility is deemed the +highest style of breeding, there is something refreshing in reading of +such animated scenes in high life. The crowning act of hostility to +Handel, was when the Earl of Middlesex himself assumed the profession +of manager of Italian operas, and engaged the king's theatre, with a +new composer, and a new company.</p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[pg 191]</a></span></p> + +<p>Handel had, for some time, been meditating a withdrawal from the +Opera, in order to devote himself exclusively to the composition of +sacred music, of which he had already produced several fine specimens. +He was wont to say, that this was an occupation 'better suited to the +circumstances of a man advancing in years, than that of adapting music +to such vain and trivial words as the musical drama generally consists +of.' The truth was, he had discovered his forte. But the tide of +fashionable feeling ran so strongly against him, that even the +performance of the oratorios of <i>Saul</i> and <i>Israel in Egypt</i> scarcely +paid expenses. Unwilling to submit his forthcoming <i>Messiah</i> also to +the caprices of fashion, and the malignity of party, he wisely +embraced an opportunity which was opened to him of bringing out this +great work in Dublin, under singularly favourable auspices, and +crossed the Channel in November 1741.</p> + +<p>Those who are acquainted with the Irish metropolis—not merely with +the handsome streets and squares eastward, which are now the abodes of +gentility, but with the dirty thoroughfares about the cathedrals—have +observed the large houses which some of them contain, now let in +single rooms to a wretched population, and need scarcely be told that +they were once the abodes of wealth and luxury. Fishamble Street, in +this quarter of the town, is one of the oldest streets in Dublin. +'Under the eastern gable of the ancient cathedral of Christ's Church, +separated and hidden from it by a row of houses, it winds its crooked +course down the hill from Castle Street to the Liffey, as forlorn and +neglected as other old streets in its vicinity. A number of +trunkmakers' shops give it an aspect somewhat peculiar; miserable +alleys open from it on the right and left; a barber's pole or two +overhang the footway; and huxters' shops are frequent, with their +wonted array of articles more useful than ornamental. One would never +guess, looking at this old street, that it was once the festive resort +of the wealthy and refined. It needs an effort of imagination to +conceive of it as having witnessed the gay throng of fashion and +aristocracy; the vice-regal <i>cortège</i>; ladies, in hoops and feathers; +and "white-gloved beaux," in bag, and sword, and chapeau; with scores +of liveried footmen and pages; and the press of coaches, and chariots, +and sedan-chairs. Yet such was the scene often presented here in the +eighteenth century.' For see, in an oblique angle of the street, and +somewhat retired from the other houses, is a mean, neglected old +building, with a wooden porch, still known by name as the Fishamble +Street Theatre. This is the remaining part of what was originally 'the +great music-hall,' built by a charitable musical society, 'finished in +the most elegant manner, under the direction of Captain Castell,' and +opened to the public on the 2d October 1741. It was within these walls +that the notes of the <i>Messiah</i> first sounded in the ears of an +enraptured audience, and here that its author entered on a new career +of fame.</p> + +<p>To prepare for the reception of this, his master-work, Handel first +gave a series of musical entertainments, consisting of some of his +earlier oratorios, and other kindred compositions. They commanded a +most distinguished auditory, including the Lord-Lieutenant and his +family, and were crowned with success in a pecuniary point of view, +answering, and indeed exceeding, the composer's highest expectations. +In a letter written at this time to Mr C. Jennens, who had selected +the words of the <i>Messiah</i>, and composed those of a cantata which had +been much admired, he describes, in glowing colours, his happy +position, and informs him that he had set the <i>Messiah</i> to music +before he left England—thus inferentially affording additional +evidence that it had not been performed there. Moreover, the +advertisements call it Handel's <i>new</i> oratorio, and boast that it was +composed expressly for the charitable purpose to which the proceeds of +its first performance were consecrated. This is confirmed by reference +to the minutes of one at least of these institutions, in which it +appears that Handel was in correspondence with them before he had +completed his composition.</p> + +<p>The people of Dublin are passionately fond of music, and charitable +musical societies form a peculiar and interesting feature of its +society during the last century. These were academies or clubs, each +of which was attached in the way of patronage to some particular +charity, to which its revenues were consecrated. Whitelaw, in his +<i>History of Dublin</i> (1758), mentions a very aristocratic musical +academy, which held its meetings in the Fishamble Street Hall, under +the presidency of the Earl of Mornington—the Duke of Wellington's +father. His lordship was himself the leader of the band; among the +violoncellos were Lord Bellamont, Sir John Dillon, and Dean Burke; +among the flutes, Lord Lucan; at the harpsichord, Lady Freke; and so +on. Their meetings, we are told, were private, except once a year, +when they performed in public for a charitable purpose, and admitted +all who chose to buy tickets. It does not appear, however, that this +academy was identical with the association that built the hall, and +whose concerts seem to have been much more frequent, as well as its +benevolent designs more extensive. It was called, <i>par eminence</i>, The +Charitable Musical Society; the others having distinctive designations +besides. The objects of its benevolence were the prisoners of the +Marshalseas, who were in circumstances similar to those which, many +years afterwards, elicited the benevolent labours of John Howard: +confined often for trifling debts, pining in hopeless misery, and +without food, save that received from the casual hand of charity. This +society made a daily distribution of bread among some of these, while +others were released through their humane exertions. On the 17th of +March 1741, they report, that 'the Committee of the Charitable Musical +Society appointed for this year to visit the Marshalseas in this city, +and release the prisoners confined therein for debt, have already +released 188 miserable persons of both sexes. They offered a +reasonable composition to the creditors, and many of the creditors +being in circumstances almost equally miserable with their debtors, +due regard was paid by the committee to this circumstance.' Their +funds must have improved considerably after the erection of their +Music Hall, which seems to have been the largest room of the kind in +Dublin, and in frequent requisition for public concerts, balls, and +other reunions where it was desirable to assemble a numerous company, +or employ a large orchestra. The hire of the hall on such occasions +would form a handsome addition to the proceeds of their own concerts.</p> + +<p>It was to these funds that the proceeds of the first performance of +the <i>Messiah</i> were devoted, in connection with those of Mercer's +Hospital, an old and still eminent school of surgery—and the Royal +Infirmary, which still exists in Jervis Street as a place for the +immediate reception of persons meeting with sudden accidents. The +performance was duly advertised in <i>Faulkner's Journal</i>, with the +additional announcement, that 'many ladies and gentlemen who are +well-wishers to this noble and grand charity, for which this oratorio +was composed, request it as a favour that the ladies who honour this +performance with their presence would be pleased to come without +hoops, as it will greatly increase the charity by making room for more +company.' In another advertisement it is added, that 'the gentlemen +are desired to come without their swords.'</p> + +<p>On the ensuing Saturday, the following account was given of this +memorable festival: 'On Tuesday last (April 13, 1742), Mr Handel's +sacred grand oratorio, the <i>Messiah</i>, was performed in the New Musick +Hall in Fishamble Street; the best judges allowed it to be the most +finished piece of musick. Words are wanting to express the exquisite +delight it afforded to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[pg 192]</a></span>admiring, crowded audience. The sublime, +the grand, and the tender, adapted to the most elevated, majestick, +and moving words, conspired to transport and charm the ravished heart +and ear. It is but just to Mr Handel, that the world should know he +generously gave the money arising from this grand performance to be +equally shared by the Society for Relieving Prisoners, the Charitable +Infirmary, and Mercer's Hospital, for which they will ever gratefully +remember his name; and that the gentlemen of the two choirs, Mr +Dubourg, Mrs Avolio, and Mrs Cibber, who all performed their parts to +admiration, acted also on the same disinterested principle, satisfied +with the deserved applause of the publick, and the conscious pleasure +of promoting such useful and extensive charity. There were above 700 +people in the room, and the sum collected for that noble and pious +charity amounted to about L.400, out of which L.127 goes to each of +the three great and pious charities.'</p> + +<p>Handel remained five months longer in the Irish metropolis, during +which period it is recorded that 'he diverted the thoughts of the +people from every other pursuit.' On his return to London in August +1742, he was warmly received by his former friends; his enemies, too, +were greatly conciliated. His having relinquished all concern with +operatic affairs, and opened for himself a new and undisputed sphere, +removed the old grounds of hostility; while the enthusiastic reception +which he had met in Dublin, had served as an effectual reproach to +those whose malignity had forced him to seek for justice there. +Notwithstanding some difficulties at the outset of his new career at +home, he lived to realise an income of above L.2000 a year, and never +found it necessary or convenient to revisit Ireland; but the custom of +performing his oratorios and cantatas for the benefit of medical +charities was maintained for many years; and it is believed that the +works of no other composer have so largely contributed to the relief +of human suffering.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>An Account of the Visit of Handel to Dublin.</i> By Horatio +Townsend, Esq. London: Orr & Co.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="ROYAL_GARDENING" id="ROYAL_GARDENING"></a>ROYAL GARDENING.</h2> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<p>Gardening has frequently been one of the most exhilarating recreations +of royalty. When Lysander, the Lacedemonian general, brought +magnificent presents to Cyrus, the younger son of Darius, who piqued +himself more on his integrity and politeness than on his rank and +birth, the prince conducted his illustrious guest through his gardens, +and pointed out to him their varied beauties. Lysander, struck with so +fine a prospect, praised the manner in which the grounds were laid +out, the neatness of the walks, the abundance of fruits planted with +an art which knew how to combine the useful with the agreeable; the +beauty of the parterres, and the glowing variety of flowers exhaling +odours universally throughout the delightful scene. 'Everything charms +and transports me in this place,' said Lysander to Cyrus; 'but what +strikes me most is the exquisite taste and elegant industry of the +person who drew the plan of these gardens, and gave it the fine order, +wonderful disposition, and happiness of arrangement which I cannot +sufficiently admire.' Cyrus replied: 'It was I that drew the plan, and +entirely marked it out; and many of the trees which you see were +planted by my own hands.' 'What!' exclaimed Lysander with surprise, +and viewing Cyrus from head to foot—'is it possible, that with those +purple robes and splendid vestments, those strings of jewels and +bracelets of gold, those buskins so richly embroidered; is it possible +that you could play the gardener, and employ your royal hands in +planting trees?' 'Does that surprise you?' said Cyrus. 'I assure you, +that when my health permits, I never sit down to table without having +fatigued myself, either in military exercise, rural labour, or some +other toilsome employment, to which I apply myself with pleasure.' +Lysander, still more amazed, pressed Cyrus by the hand, and said: 'You +are truly happy, and deserve your high fortune, since you unite it +with virtue.'</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="UNDER_THE_PALMS" id="UNDER_THE_PALMS"></a>UNDER THE PALMS.</h2> + +<h3>BY CALDER CAMPBELL.</h3> + +<p class="returnTOC"><a href="#Contents">Return to Table of + Contents</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Under</span> the palm-trees on India's shore<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ne'er shall I wander at morning or eve;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hearts there have withered, but still in the core<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of mine springs the memory of feelings that give<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Green thoughts in sunshine and bright hopes in gloom;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Friendship, which love's loud emotions becalms:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, happy was I, in those bowers of perfume,<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Under the palms!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Go forth, little children; the wood's insect-hum<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Invites ye; expand there, like buds in the sun;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leave schools and their studies for days that <i>will</i> come,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And let thy first lessons from nature be won!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Teachings hath nature most sage and most sweet—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The music that swells in the tree-linnet's psalms;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So taught, my young heart learned to prize that retreat<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Under the palms!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The odour of jasmines afloat on the breeze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That woke in the dawning the birds on each bough;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The frolicsome squirrels, that scampered at case<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Mid lithe leaves and soft moss that smiled down below:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heaps piled up of mangoes, all fragrant and rich;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Guavas pink-cored, such a wealth of sweet alms<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Presented by bright maids, whose sweet songs bewitch<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Under the palms!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Pale, yellow bananas, with satiny pulp<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That tastes like some dainty of sugar and cream;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Blithe-kernelled pomegranates, just gathered to help<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A feast fit to serve in the bowers of a dream!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Milk, foaming and snowy; rice, swelling and sweet;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Iced sherbet that cools, and spiced ginger that warms:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, simple our banquet in that dear retreat<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Under the palms!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A tinkling of lutes and a toning of voices—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of young maiden voices just fresh from the bath;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A sprinkling of rosewater cool, that rejoices<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The scented grass screening our bower from the path;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Trim baskets of melons, new gathered, beside<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fair bunches of blossoms that heal all sick qualms;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And books, when to reading our fancies subside,<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Under the palms!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Or silence at eve when the sun hath gone down,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or the sound of <i>one</i> cithern makes melody near;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While a beautiful boy, that hath ne'er known a frown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Softly murmurs a tale of the East in the ear;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of peris, that cluster round flower-stalks like fruit—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of genii, that breathe amid blossoms and balms—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of gazelle-eyed houris, that play on sweet lutes<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Under the palms!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Of roses, that nightly unfold their flower-leaves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To welcome the lays of the loved nightingale—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of spirits, that home in an Eden of Eves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the sun never scorches, the strength never fails!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So singing, so playing, Sleep steals on us all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enclasping us gently within her soft arms;—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let me dream that the moonbeams still over me fall<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Under the palms!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p>Printed and Published by W. and R. <span class="smcap">Chambers</span>, High Street, Edinburgh. +Also sold by W. S. <span class="smcap">Orr</span>, Amen Corner, London; D. N. <span class="smcap">Chambers</span>, 55 West +Nile Street, Glasgow; and J. <span class="smcap">M'Glashan</span>, 50 Upper Sackville Street, +Dublin.—Advertisements for Monthly Parts are requested to be sent to +<span class="smcap">Maxwell & Co</span>., 31 Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, London, to whom all +applications respecting their insertion must be made.</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 455, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH *** + +***** This file should be named 23226-h.htm or 23226-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/2/2/23226/ + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 455 + Volume 18, New Series, September 18, 1852 + +Author: Various + +Editor: William Chambers + Robert Chambers + +Release Date: October 28, 2007 [EBook #23226] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. Shiffer and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL + + CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S + INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c. + + + No. 455. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1852. PRICE 1-1/2_d._ + + + + +A GLANCE AT CONTINENTAL RAILWAYS. + + +When lately making a pretty extensive continental excursion, we were +in no small degree gratified with the progress made in the +construction and operation of railways. These railways, from all that +could be seen, were doing much to improve the countries traversed, and +extend a knowledge of English comforts; for it must always be borne in +mind that the railway system, with its locomotives, carriages, +waiting-rooms, commodious and cheap transit, and other matters, is +essentially English. Hence, wherever one sees a railway in full +operation, he may be said to see a bit of England. And is not this +something to be proud of? The railway being your true civiliser, +England may be said to have sent out a missionary of improvement, whom +nothing can withstand. The continent, with all its stupid despotisms, +must improve, and become enlightened in spite of itself. + +The newspapers lately described the opening of the line of railway +from Paris to Strasbourg. Those who know what travelling in France was +a few years ago, cannot wonder that Louis Napoleon should have made +this the occasion of a popular demonstration. The opening of this line +of railway is an important European event; certainly it is a great +thing for both France and Germany. English travellers may also think +much of it. A tourist can now journey from London to Paris--Paris to +the upper part of the Rhine at Strasbourg, going through a most +interesting country by the way--then go down the Rhine to Cologne by +steamer; next, on by railway to Ostend; cross by steamer to Dover; +and, finally, reach London--thus doing in a few days, and all by force +of steam, what a short time ago must have been done imperfectly, and +with great toil and expense. Still more to ease the journey, a branch +railway from the Strasbourg line is about being opened from near Metz, +by Saarbrueck, to Manheim; by which means the Rhine will be reached by +a shorter cut, and be considerably more accessible. In a month or two, +it will be possible to travel from Paris to Frankfort in twenty-five +hours. All that is wanted to complete the Strasbourg line, is to +strike off a branch from Metz to Luxembourg and Treves; for by +reaching this last-mentioned city--a curious, ancient place, which we +had the pleasure of visiting--the traveller is on the Moselle at the +spot where it becomes navigable, and he descends with ease by steamer +to Coblenz. And so the Rhine would be reached from Paris at three +important points. + +Paris, as a centre, is pushing out other lines, with intermediate +branches. Marseille, Bordeaux, Nantes, Rouen, Dieppe, Boulogne, +Calais, and Lille, are the outposts of this series of radiation. The +latest move is a line from Caen to Cherbourg; it will start from the +Paris and Rouen Railway at Rosny, 40 miles from Paris, and proceed +through Caen to the great naval station at Cherbourg--a distance of +191 miles from Rosny. By the time the great lines in France are +finished--probably 3500 miles in the whole--it is expected that the +total expenditure will amount, in round numbers, to a hundred millions +sterling. + +It is gratifying to know, that the small German powers which border on +France have been most active in providing themselves with railways; +not only for their own accommodation, but to join the lines of other +countries; so as to make great trunk-thoroughfares through their +dominions. There seems to be a cordiality in making these junctions, +for general accommodation, that cannot but deserve praise. The truth, +however, is, that all these petty states are glad to get hold of means +for bringing travellers--that is, money-spenders--to their cities and +watering-places, and for developing their long-hidden resources. For +example, in the district lying between Saarbrueck and Manheim, there +exist vast beds of coal, and powerful brine-springs; but hitherto, in +consequence of being out of the way of traffic, and there being only +wretched cars drawn by cows, as the means of locomotion, this great +mineral wealth has been locked up, and next thing to useless. What an +outlet will the Strasbourg and Manheim Railway furnish! Paris may be +as well and as cheaply supplied with coal as London. + +Belgium--a kind of little England--has for a number of years been well +provided with railways; and you may go by locomotion towards its +frontiers in all directions, except one--namely, that of Holland. This +odd exception, of course, arose from the ill-will that has subsisted +for a number of years between the Belgians and Dutch; the latter being +not at all pleased with the violent disjunction of the Netherlands. +However, that coolness is now passing off. The two neighbours begin to +find that ill-nature does not pay, and, like sensible people, are +negotiating for a physical union by rail, seeing that a political one +is out of the question. In short, a railway is proposed to be laid +down in an easterly direction from the Antwerp branch, towards the +border of Holland; and by means of steam-boat ferries across the Maas +and other mouths of the Rhine, the junction will be effected with the +Rotterdam and Amsterdam series of railways. The north of Holland is +yet a stranger to railways, nor are the towns of such importance as to +lead us to expect any great doings there. But the north German +region--from the frontiers of Holland to those of Russia and Poland, a +distance of something like 1000 miles--is rapidly filling up the +chasms in its railway net-work. Emden and Osnaburg and Gottingen in +the west, Danzig and Koenigsberg and Memel in the east, are yet +unprovided; but almost all the other towns of any note in Prussia and +North Germany are now linked together, and most or all of the above +six will be so in a few years. + +The Scandinavian countries are more interesting in respect to our +present subject, on account of _their_ railway enterprises being +wholly written in the future tense. Denmark has so little continuous +land, Sweden has so many lakes, and Norway so many mountains, that, +irrespective of other circumstances, railways have not yet reached +those countries. They are about to do so, however. Hitherto, Denmark +has received almost the whole of its foreign commodities _via_ the two +Hanse towns--Hamburg and Bremen; and has exported its cattle and +transmitted its mails by the same routes. The Schleswig-Holstein war +has strengthened a wish long felt in Denmark to shake off this +dependence; but good railways and good steam-ship ports will be +necessary for this purpose. When, in April 1851, a steamer crossed +rapidly from Lowestoft to Hjerting, and brought back a cargo of +cattle, the Danes felt suddenly independent of the Hamburghers; but +the route from Hjerting to Copenhagen is so bad and tiresome, that +much must yet be done before a commercial transit can really be +established. There was at that time only an open basket-wagon on the +route; there has since been established a diligence; but a railway +will be the only effective means of transit. Here we must correct a +mistake in the last paper: Denmark is not quite without railway +accommodation; there is about 15 miles of railway from Copenhagen to +Roeskilde, and this is to be continued across the island of Zealand to +Korsoer. The Lowestoft project has led to important plans; for a +railway has been marked out from Hamburg, through the entire length of +Holstein and Schleswig to the north of Juetland, where five hours' +steaming will give access to the Swedish coast; while an east and west +line from Hjerting to Copenhagen, with two breaks at the Little Belt +and the Great Belt, are also planned. If Denmark can by degrees raise +the requisite capital, both of these trunk-lines will probably be +constructed. + +Norway has just commenced its railway enterprises. It seems strange to +find the familiar names of Stephenson and Bidder, Peto and Brassey, +connected with first-stone layings, and health-drinkings, &c., in +remote Norway; but this is one among many proofs of the ubiquity of +English capital and enterprise. The government of Norway has conceded +the line to an English company, by whom it will be finished in 1854. +The railway will be 50 miles in length; it will extend from +Christiania to Lake Mioesen, and will connect the capital with an +extensive chain of internal navigation. The whole risk seems to have +been undertaken by the English company; but the benefits will be +mutual for both companies--direct steam-communication from Christiania +to some English port being one feature in the comprehensive scheme. + +In Russia, the enterprises are so autocratic, and ordinary joint-stock +operations are so rare, that our Stock Exchange people know very +little about them. The great lines of railway in Russia, either being +constructed or definitely planned, are from Warsaw to Cracow (about +170 miles); Warsaw to St Petersburg (680 miles); Moscow to St +Petersburg (400 miles); from a point on the Volga to another point on +the Don (105 miles); and from Kief to Odessa, in Southern Russia. The +great tie which will bind Russia to the rest of Europe, will be the +Warsaw and St Petersburg Railway--a vast work, which nothing but +imperial means will accomplish. Whether all these lines will be opened +by 1862, it is impossible to predict; Russia has to feel its way +towards civilisation. During the progress of the Moscow and St +Petersburg Railway, a curious enterprise was determined on. According +to the _New York Tribune_, Major Whistler, who had the charge of the +construction of the railway, proposed to the emperor that the +rolling-stock should be made in Russia, instead of imported, Messrs +Harrison, Winans, and Eastwick, engineers of the United States, +accepted a contract to effect this. They were to have the use of some +machine-works at Alexandroffsky; the labour of 500 serfs belonging to +those works at low wages; and the privilege of importing coal, iron, +steel, and other necessary articles, duty free. In this way a large +supply of locomotives and carriages was manufactured, to the +satisfaction of the emperor, and the profit of the contractors. The +managers and foremen were all English or American; but the workmen and +labourers, from 2000 to 3000 in number, were nearly all serfs, who +_bought their time_ from their masters for an agreed period, being +induced by the wages offered for their services: they were found to be +excellent imitative workmen, perfectly docile and obedient. + +Our attention now turns south-westward: we cross Poland and Germany, +and come to the Alps. To traverse this mountain barrier will be among +the great works of the future, so far as the iron pathway is +concerned. In the early part of 1851, the Administration of Public +Works in Switzerland drew up a sketch of a complete system of railways +for that country. The system includes a line to connect Bale with the +Rhenish railways; another to traverse the Valley of the Aar, so as to +connect Lakes Zurich, Constance, and Geneva; a junction of this +last-named line with Lucerne, in order to connect it with the Pass of +St Gothard; a line from Lake Constance to the Grisons; a branch +connecting Berne with the Aar-Valley line; and some small isolated +lines in the principal trading valleys. The whole net-work of these +railways is about 570 English miles; and the cost estimated at about +L.4,000,000 sterling. It scarcely needs remark, that in such a +peculiar country as Switzerland, many years must elapse before even an +approach to such a railway net-work can be made. + +To drive a railway across the Alps themselves will probably be first +effected by the Austrians. The railway through the Austrian dominions +to the Adriatic at Trieste, although nearly complete, is cut in two by +a formidable elevation at the point where the line crosses the eastern +spur of the great Alpine system. At present, travellers have to post +the distance of seventy miles from Laybach to Trieste, until the +engineers have surmounted the barrier which lies in their way. The +trial of locomotives at Soemmering, noticed in the newspapers a few +months ago, related to the necessity of having powerful engines to +carry the trains up the inclines of this line. Further west, the +Alpine projects are hidden in the future. The Bavarian Railway, at +present ending at Munich, is intended to be carried southward, +traversing the Tyrol, through the Brenner Pass, to Innsprueck and +Bautzen, following the ordinary route to Trieste, and finally uniting +at Verona with the Italian railways. This has not yet been commenced. +Westward, again, there is the Wuertemberg Railway, which ends at +Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance. It is proposed to continue this +line from the southern shore of the lake, across the Alps by the Pass +of the Spluegen, and so join the Italian railways at Como. This, too, +is _in nubibus_; the German States and Piedmont are favourable to it; +but the engineering difficulties and the expense will be enormous. +Other Piedmontese projects have been talked about, for crossing the +Alps at different points, and some one among them will probably be +realised in the course of years. Meanwhile, Piedmont has a heavy task +on hand in constructing the railway from Genoa to Turin, which is +being superintended by Mr Stephenson; the Apennines are being crossed +by a succession of tunnels, embankments, and viaducts, as stupendous +as anything yet executed in Europe. + +In Central Italy, a railway convention has been signed, which, if +carried out, would be important for that country. It was agreed to in +1851 by the Papal, Austrian, Tuscan, Parmese, and Modenese +governments. The object is to construct a net-work of railways, each +state executing and paying for its own. Austria is to do the work as +far as Piacenza and Mantua; Tuscany is to finish its lines from +Pistoja to Florence and Lucca; the Papal government is to connect +Bologna with both the former; and the small states are to carry out +their respective portions. The great difficulty will be, to cut +through the Apennines, which at present sever Tuscany from the other +states; but a greater still will be the moral one, arising from the +disordered state of Italy. Rome has conceded to an Anglo-French +company the construction of a railway from the capital to Ancona; but +that, like all other commercial enterprises in the Papal dominions, is +lagging sadly. + +Crossing the Pyrenees to view the works in the Peninsula, which +_Bradshaw_ may possibly have to register in 1862, we find that, amid +the financial difficulties of Spain, three lines of railway have been +marked out--from Madrid to Irun; from Aranjuez to Almansa; and from +Alar to Santander. The first would be a great line to the vicinity of +the French frontier, to cost 600 millions of reals; the second would +be part of an intended route from Aranjuez, near Madrid, to the +Mediterranean; the length to Almansa, involving an outlay of 220 +millions. The third line, from Santander to Alar del Rey, on the +Biscayan seaboard of Spain, is intended to facilitate approach from +the interior to the rising port of Santander; the outlay is put down +at 120 millions. It is difficult to translate these high-sounding sums +into English equivalents, for there are three kinds of reals in Spain, +varying from 2-5/8d. to 5-1/4d. English; but taking even the lowest +equivalent, the sum-total amounts to a capital which Spain will have +some difficulty in raising. The Santander line, however, has attracted +English capital and engineering towards it; the first sod was turned +by the king-consort in May 1852, and the works are now in progress. +There is also an important line from Madrid to the Portuguese frontier +near Badajoz, marked out on paper; but the fruition of this as well as +other schemes will mainly depend on the readiness with which English +capital can be obtained. Unfortunately, 'Spanish bonds' are not in the +best favour in England. + +Portugal is a _terra incognita_ to railways. It is on the extremest +verge of Europe towards the Atlantic; and European civilisation finds +entrance there with remarkable slowness. In 1845, the government tried +to invite offers from capitalists to construct railways; in 1849, the +invitations were renewed; but the moneyed men were coy, and would not +be wooed. In 1851, the government appointed a commission to +investigate the whole subject. The commission consisted of five +persons; and their Report, dated October 20, 1851, contains a large +mass of valuable information. It appeared in an English translation in +some of the London journals towards the close of the year. The +commissioners take for granted that Spain will construct railways from +Madrid to the Portuguese frontier at Badajoz on the one side, and to +the French frontier, near Bayonne, on the other; and they then inquire +how best to reach Badajoz from Lisbon. Three routes present +themselves--one to Santarem, and across the Tagus to Badajoz; another +to Santarem and Coimbra, and so on into Spain by way of Almeida; and a +third to Oporto, and thence by Braganca into Spain. The first of +these, being more directly in the route to Madrid, is preferred by the +commissioners, who estimate the outlay at a million and a quarter +sterling. They discuss the terms on which capitalists might possibly +be induced to come to their aid; and they indulge in a hope that, ten +years hence, Lisbon may be united to Central Europe by a railway, of +which 260 kilometres will cross Portugal to Badajoz, 370 from Badajoz +to Madrid, and about 400 from Madrid to the French frontier, where the +Paris and Bayonne Railway will continue the route. (Five kilometres +are equal to rather more than three English miles.) The Continental +_Bradshaw_ will, we apprehend, have to wait long before these +peninsular trunk-lines find a place in its pages. + +Leaving altogether the countries of Europe, and crossing the +Mediterranean, we find that even Africa is becoming a member of the +great railway system. After a world of trouble, financial and +diplomatic, the present ruler of Egypt has succeeded in giving reality +to a scheme for a railway from Alexandria to the Nile. A glance at a +map of Egypt will shew us that a canal extends from Alexandria to the +Nile, to escape the sanded-up mouths of that famous river. It is +mainly to expedite the overland route, so far as concerns the transit +along this canal, that the railway now in process of construction has +been planned; anything beyond this, it will be for future ages to +develop. The subject of the Isthmus of Suez and its transit has been +frequently treated in this _Journal_, and we will therefore say +nothing more here, than that our friend _Bradshaw_ will, in all +probability, have something to tell us concerning the land of Egypt +before any long time has elapsed. + +Asia will have a spider-line of railway by and by, when the slow-coach +proceedings of the East India Company have given something like form +to the Bombay and Bengal projects; but at present the progress is +miserably slow; and _Bradshaw_ need not lay aside a page for the rich +Orient for many years to come. + +There are a few general considerations respecting the present aspect +of the railway system, interesting not only in themselves, but as +giving a foretaste of what is to come. In the autumn of last year, a +careful statistician calculated that the railways of Europe and +America, as then in operation, extended in the aggregate to 25,350 +miles, the total cost of which was four hundred and fifty millions of +pounds. Of this, the United Kingdom had 7000 miles, costing +L.250,000,000. According to the view here given, the 7000 miles of our +own railways have been constructed at an expense prodigiously greater +than the remaining 18,350 miles in other parts of the world. It needs +no figures to prove that this is the fact. Many of the continental and +American railways are single lines, and so far they have been got up +at a comparatively small cost. But the substantial difference of +expense lies in our plan of leaving railway undertakings to private +parties--rival speculators and jobbers, whose aim has too frequently +been plunder. And how enormous has been that plunder let enriched +engineers and lawyers--let impoverished victims--declare. Shame on the +British legislature, to have tolerated and legalised the railway +villainies of the last ten years; in comparison with which the +enforcements of continental despotisms are angelic innocence! + +Besides being got up in a simple and satisfactory manner, under +government decrees and state responsibility, the continental railways +are evidently more under control than those of the United Kingdom. The +speed of trains is regulated to a moderate and safe degree; on all +hands there seems to be a superior class of officials in charge; and +as the lines have been made at a small cost, the fares paid by +travellers are for the most part very much lower than in this country. +Government interference abroad is, therefore, not altogether a wrong. +Annoying as it may sometimes be, and bad as it avowedly is in +principle, there is in it the spirit of protection against private +oppression. And perhaps the English may by and by discover that +jobbing-companies, with stupendous capital and a monopoly of +conveyance, are capable of doing as tyrannical things as any +continental autocrat! + +If a section of the English public stands disgraced in the eyes of +Europe by its vicious speculation--properly speaking, gambling--in +railway finance, our country is in some degree redeemed from obloquy +by the grandeur of a social melioration which jobbing has not been +able to obstruct. The wide spread of railways over the continent, we +have said, is working a perceptible change in almost all those +arrangements which bear on the daily comforts of life. No engine of a +merely physical kind has ever wrought so powerfully to secure lasting +international peace as the steam-engine. The locomotive is every hour +breaking down barriers of separation between races of men. And as wars +in future could be conducted only by cutting short the journeys by +railway, arresting trains, and ruining great commercial undertakings, +we may expect that nations will pause before rushing into them. +Already, the French railways, which push across the frontier into the +German countries, are visibly relaxing the custom-house and passport +systems. Stopping a whole train at an imaginary boundary to examine +fifteen hundred passports, is beyond even the French capacity for +official minutiae. A hurried glance, or no glance at all--a sham +inspection at the best--is all that the gentlemen with moustaches and +cocked-hats can manage. The very attempt to look at bushels of +passports is becoming an absurdity. And what has to be done in the +twinkling of an eye, will, we have no doubt, soon not be done at all. +Thanks to railways for this vast privilege of free locomotion! + + + + +A NEW PRINCIPLE IN NATURE. + + +It is pretty well known that researches by Matteucci, Du Bois-Reymond, +and others, have made us acquainted with the influence of electricity +and galvanism on the muscular system of animals, and that important +physiological effects have been attributed to this influence, more +than perhaps we are warranted in assuming in the present state of our +knowledge. That an influence is exerted in some way, is clear from the +difference in our feelings in dry and wet weather: it has been +supposed, however, that the effects on the nervous system are not +produced by an accumulation of positive or of negative electricity, +but by the combination of the two producing dynamic electricity. While +these points are undergoing discussion, we have an opportunity of +bringing before our readers the results of investigations bearing on +the general question. + +Most persons are aware of the fact, that a peculiar taste follows the +application of two different metals to the tongue in a popular +galvanic experiment. This taste is caused by the azotic acid formed +from the oxygen and azote of the atmosphere. An electric discharge, +too, is accompanied by a smell, which smell is due to the presence of +what is called ozone; and not long ago M. Schoenbein, of Basel, the +inventor of guncotton, discovered ozone as a principle in the oxygen +of the atmosphere; and it is considered to be the _active_ principle +of that universal constituent. Later researches have brought out a +striking analogy between the properties of ozone and chlorine, and +have led to conclusions as to the dangerous effect which the former +may produce, in certain cases, on the organs of respiration. Some idea +of its energy may be formed from the fact, that mice perish speedily +in air which contains one six-thousandth of ozone. It is always +present in the atmosphere in a greater or lesser degree, in direct +relation with the amount of atmospheric electricity, and appears to +obey the same laws in its variations, finding its maximum in winter +and its minimum in summer. + +Ozone, in scientific language, is described as 'a compound of oxygen +analogous to the peroxide of hydrogen, or, that it is oxygen in an +allotropic state--that is, with the capability of immediate and ready +action impressed upon it.' Besides being produced by electrical +discharges in the atmosphere, it can be obtained artificially by the +passing of what is called the electrical brush into the air from a +moist wooden point, or by electrolyzed water or phosphorus. The +process, when the latter substance is employed, is to put a small +piece, clean scraped, about half an inch long, into a large bottle +which contains just so much of water as to half cover the phosphorus, +and then closing the mouth slightly, to guard against combustion, to +leave it standing for a time in a temperature of about 60 degrees. +Ozone soon begins to be formed, as shewn by the rising of a light +column of smoke from the phosphorus, which, at the same time, becomes +luminous. In five or six hours, the quantity will be abundant, when +the bottle is to be emptied of its contents, washed out, and closed +for use and experiment. + +Whichever way the ozone be produced, it is always identical in its +properties; and these are described as numerous and remarkable. Its +odour is peculiar, resembling that of chlorine, and, when diluted, +cannot be distinguished from what is called the electric smell. When +largely diffused in atmospheric air, it causes unpleasant sensations, +makes respiration difficult, and, by acting powerfully on the mucous +membranes, produces catarrhal effects; and as such air will kill small +animals, it shews that pure ozone must be highly injurious to the +animal economy. It is insoluble in water, is powerfully electromotive, +and is most strikingly energetic in numerous chemical agencies, its +action on nearly all metallic bodies being to carry them at once to +the state of peroxide, or to their highest point of oxidation; it +changes sulphurets into sulphates, instantaneously destroys several +gaseous compounds, and bleaches indigo, thus shewing its analogy with +chlorine. + +In proceeding to the account of his experiments, M. Schoenbein shews, +that gases can be produced by chemical means, which exercise an +oxidizing influence of a powerful nature, especially in their +physiological effects, even when diffused through the atmosphere in +very minute quantities: also, that owing to the immense number of +organic beings on the earth, their daily death and decomposition, an +enormous amount of gases is produced similar to those which can be +obtained by artificial means; and besides these, a quantity of gaseous +or volatile products, 'whose chemical nature,' as the author observes, +'is as yet unknown, but of which we can easily admit that some, at +least, diffused through the air, even in very small quantities, and +breathed with it, exert a most deplorable action on the animal +organism. Hence it follows, that the decomposition of organic matters +ought to be considered as one of the principal causes of the +corruption of the air by miasmatic substances. Now, a continuous +cause, and acting on so vast a scale, would necessarily diffuse +through the atmosphere a considerable mass of miasmatic gases, and +accumulate them till at length it would be completely poisoned, and +rendered incapable of supporting animal life, if nature had not found +the means of destroying these noxious matters in proportion as they +are produced.' + +The question then arises: What are the means employed for this +object? M. Schoenbein believes that he has found it in the action of +ozone, which is continually formed by the electricity of the +atmosphere, and is known to be a most powerful agent of oxidation, +causing serious modifications of organic bodies, and, consequently, of +their physiological action. 'To assure myself,' he pursues, 'that +ozone destroys the miasma arising from the decomposition of animal +matters, I introduced into a balloon containing about 130 pints of +air, a piece of flesh weighing four ounces, taken from a human corpse, +and in a very advanced state of putrefaction. I withdrew it after a +minute; the air in the balloon had acquired a strong and very +repulsive odour, shewing that it was charged with an appreciable +quantity--at least for the smell--of miasm caused by the putrefaction. + +'To produce ozone, I introduced into the infected balloon a stick of +phosphorus an inch long, with water sufficient to half cover it. At +the same time, for the sake of comparison, I placed a similar quantity +of phosphorus and water in another balloon full of pure atmospheric +air. After some minutes, the reaction of ozone in the latter was most +evidently manifested, while no trace of it was yet apparent in the +former, which still gave off an odour of putrefaction. This, however, +disappeared completely at the end of ten or twelve minutes, and +immediately the reaction of the ozone was detected.' + +The conclusion drawn from this experiment is, that the ozone destroyed +the miasm by oxidation, and could only make its presence evident after +the complete destruction of the noxious volatile substances. This +effect is more strikingly shewn by another experiment. + +A balloon of similar capacity to the one above mentioned was charged +as strongly as possible with ozone, and afterwards washed with water. +The same piece of flesh was suspended within it; and the opening being +carefully closed, it was left inside for nine hours before the air of +the balloon presented the least odour of putrefaction. The air was +tested every thirty minutes by an ozonometer, and the proportion of +ozone found to be gradually diminishing; but as long as the paper of +the instrument exhibited the slightest trace of blue, there was no +smell, which only came on as the last signs of ozone disappeared. +Thus, all the miasm given off by the piece of flesh during nine hours +was completely neutralised by the ozone with which the balloon had +been impregnated, so small in quantity as to be but the 6000th part of +a gramme. One balloon filled with ozonified air, would suffice to +disinfect 540 balloons filled with miasmatic air. 'These +considerations,' says M. Schoenbein, 'shew us how little the miasma of +the air are to be appreciated by weight, even when they exist therein +in a quantity very sensible to the smell, and how small is the +proportion of ozone necessary to destroy the miasm produced by the +putrefaction of organic substances, and diffused through the +atmosphere.' + +The presence of ozone in any vessel or in the atmosphere, may be +detected by a test-paper which has been moistened with a solution +composed of 1 part of pure iodide of potassium, 10 parts of starch, +and 100 parts of water, boiled together for a few moments. Paper so +prepared turns immediately blue when exposed to the action of ozone, +the tint being lighter or darker according to the quantity. +Schoenbein's ozonometer consists of 750 slips of dry bibulous paper +prepared in the manner described; and with a scale of tints and +instructions, sufficient to make observations on the ozone of the +atmosphere twice a day for a year. After exposure to the ozone, they +require to be moistened to bring out the colour. + +M. Schoenbein continues: 'We must admit that the electric discharges +which take place incessantly in different parts of the atmosphere, and +causing therein a formation of ozone, purify the air by this means of +organic, or, more generally, oxidizable miasma; and that they have +thus the important office of maintaining it in a state of purity +suitable to animal life. By means of atmospheric electricity, and, +indirectly, nature thus attains on a great scale the object that we +sometimes seek to accomplish in a limited space by fumigations with +chlorine. + +'Here, as in many other cases, we see nature effecting two different +objects at one stroke. For if the oxidizable miasma are destroyed by +atmospheric ozone, they, in turn, cause the latter to disappear, and +we have seen that it is itself a miasm. This is doubtless the reason +why ozone does not accumulate in the atmosphere in greater proportion +than the oxidizable miasma, notwithstanding the constant formation of +one and the other. + +'In all times, the idea has been held, that storms purify the air, and +I do not think that this opinion is ill-founded. We know, in fact, +that storms give rise to a more abundant production of ozone. It is +possible, and even probable, that sometimes, in particular localities, +there may not be a just relation between the ozone and the oxidizable +miasma in the air, and that the latter cannot be completely destroyed. +Hence, in accordance with the chemical nature and physiological +influence of these miasma, they would exert a marked action on the +animal economy, and cause diseases among the greater number of those +who breathe the infected air. But numerous experiments prove that, as +a rule, the air contains free ozone, though in very variable +proportions; from which we may conclude that no oxidizable +miasm--sulphuretted hydrogen, for example--can exist in such an +atmosphere, any more than it could exist in air containing but a trace +of chlorine. + +'I do not know if it be true, as has been advanced by Mr Hunt and +other persons, that ozone is deficient in the atmospheric air when +some wide-spread malady, such as cholera, is raging. In any case, it +would be easy, by means of the prepared paper, to determine the truth +or fallacy of this opinion. + +'There is one fact which should particularly engage the attention of +physicians and physiologists, which is, that, of all seasons, the +winter is distinguished by the greatest proportion of ozone; whence it +follows, that during that season the air contains least of oxidizable +miasma. We can say, therefore, with respect to this class of miasma, +that the air is purer in winter than in summer. + +'All my observations agree in shewing, that the proportion of ozone in +the air increases with the height; if this fact be general, as I am +disposed to believe, we must consider the upper regions of the +atmosphere as purer, with regard to oxidizable miasma, than the lower. + +'The appearance of certain maladies--intermittent fever, for +example--appears to be connected with certain seasons and particular +geographical conditions. It would be worth while to ascertain, by +ozonometric observations, whether these physiological phenomena have +any relation whatever with the proportion of ozone contained in the +air in which they occur. + +'Considering the obscurity which prevails as to the cause of the +greater part of diseases, and the great probability that many among +them owe their origin to the presence of chemical agents dispersed in +the atmosphere, it becomes the duty of medical men and physiologists, +who interest themselves in the progress of their science, to seize +earnestly all the means by which they may hope to arrive at more exact +notions upon the relations which exist between abnormal physiological +phenomena and external circumstances.' + +Such is a summary of M. Schoenbein's views as communicated to the +Medical Society of Basel; and we the more readily accord them the +publicity of our columns, as, apart from the intrinsic value of the +subject, it is one which has for some time excited the interest of +scientific inquirers in this country. During the late visitation of +cholera, reports were frequently spread that the atmosphere was +deficient in ozone. + + + + +ENGLISH SISTERS OF CHARITY. + + +How much real good could yet be done in this old, full, struggling +world of ours, where so many among us have need of help, if each in +his or her small circle could manage just not to leave undone some of +the things that should be done. Little more is wanting to effect this +than the will, or perhaps the mere suggestion. A high influence may at +a time confer a considerable benefit; but very humble means, +systematically exerted, even during a comparatively short season, will +certainly relieve a load of misery. + +In a small village towards the west of England, there dwelt, some +years ago, two maiden gentlewomen, sisters, the daughters of the +deceased rector of the parish. Their father had early in life entered +upon his duties in this retired locality, contentedly abiding there +where fate had placed him, each passing year increasing his interest +in the charge which engrossed all his energies. His moderate stipend, +assisted by a small private fortune, sufficed for his quiet tastes, +and for the few charities required by his flock; it also enabled him +to rear a large family respectably, and to start them creditably on +their working way. + +There was no railway near this village--even the Queen's highway was +at some distance. Fields, meadows, a shady lane, a brook, and the +Welsh mountains for a background, formed the picture of beauty that +attracted the stranger. There was hardly what could be called a +street. The cottages were clustered upon the side of the wooded bank +above the stream, shrouded in gardens of apple-trees; but there was +space near the foot of the hill for a green of rather handsome size, +with a plane-tree in the middle of it, and a few small shops along one +side. Opposite the shops was the inn, the doctor's house, the +market-house, and a public reading-room; and a bylane led from the +green up towards the church--an old, low-walled, steep-roofed +building, with a square, dumpy tower, in which hung a peal of bells, +and where was placed a large, round, clumsy window. A clump of +hardwood trees enclosed the upper end of the church-yard, and extended +to the back of the rector's garden, quite concealing his many-gabled +dwelling. In a still, summer evening, the brook could be heard from +the parlour windows of the rectory, dancing merrily along to its own +music; and at those less pleasant seasons when the foliage was scanty, +it could be seen here and there between the boles of the trees, +sparkling in the sunshine as it rippled on, while glimpses of the rich +plain beyond added to the harmony of the prospect. + +The society of the village and its immediate neighbourhood was of a +humble kind--neither the rich nor the great were members of it; yet +there were wisdom, and prudence, and talent, and good faith to be +found in this little community, where all inclined to live as +brethren, kindly together. It was not a bad school this for the young +to grow up in. The rector's family had here been trained; and when +they grew to rise beyond it, and then passed out upon the wider world, +those of them that were again heard of in their birthplace, did no +discredit to its name: and all passed out, all but two--our two +sisters. It is said adversity must at some time reach us all: it had +been late in visiting them, for they had passed a happy youth in that +quiet parsonage. At last, sorrow came, and they were left alone, the +two extremes of the chain which had bound the little household +together--all the intermediate links had broken; and when, upon their +father's death, they had to quit their long-loved home, they found +themselves verging upon old age, in circumstances that natures less +strictly disciplined would have felt to have been at the least dreary. +The younger sister was slightly deformed, and very delicate; the +elder, though still an active woman, was quite beyond the middle of +life; the income of the two, just L.30--no great elements these of +either usefulness or happiness. Let us see, then, what was made of +them. Some relations pressed the sisters to share their distant home, +but they would not leave the village. They felt as if their work lay +there. The friends they knew best were all around them; the +occupations they had been used to still remained to them; the memory +of all they had loved there clung to them, in the old haunts so doubly +dear to the bereaved who bear affliction patiently. So they moved only +to a cottage a little higher up the hill, yet within view of the +church, and of the dear old house, with its garden, sheltering wood, +and pleasant rivulet; and there they lived in comfort, with enough to +use and much to spare, their cruse never failing them when wanted. It +was a real cottage, which a labourer had left: there was no ornament +about it till they added some. Rude and unfashioned did this +low-thatched cabin pass to them; it was their own hands, with very +little help from their light purse, which made of a mere hovel the +prettiest of rural dwellings--her own hands, indeed; for Sister Anne +alone was the working-bee. Sister Catherine helped by hints and +smiles, and by her nimble needle; but for out-of-doors labour she had +not strength. Sister Anne nailed up the trellised porch, over which +gay creepers were in time to grow. Sister Anne laid out the beds of +flowers, protected by a low paling from the sheep which pastured on +the downs. She planned the tidy bit of garden on one side, and the +little yard behind, where pig and poultry throve; but Sister Catherine +watched the bee-hives near the hawthorn hedge, and plied her busy +fingers by the hour to decorate the inside of their pretty cottage. +They almost acted man and wife in the division of their employments, +and with the best effect. + +It would have astonished any one unaccustomed to the few wants of +simple tastes, and to the many small gains from various trifling +produce which careful industry alone can accumulate, to see the plenty +consequent on skill, order, and neatness. The happiness was a joy +apart, only to be felt by the sort of poetic mind of the truly +benevolent, for it depended not on luxury, or even comfort, or any +purely selfish feeling. It sprang from warm hearts directed by clear +heads, invigorated by religious feelings, and nourished by country +tastes, softened and elevated by the trials of life, till devotion to +their kind became the one intention of their being; for it is as +Sisters of Charity we introduce our heroines to our readers, one of a +wide class in our reformed church, who, unshackled by vows, under no +bondage of conventual forms, with small means, and by their own +exertions and self-sacrifices, do more good in their generation than +can be easily reckoned--treading in the footsteps of their Master, +bearing healing as they move. Every frugal meal was shared with some +one less favoured. No fragments were too small for use in Sister +Anne's most skilful cookery; not a crumb, nor a dreg, nor a drop was +wasted. Many a cup of comfort fed the sick or the weary, made from +what, in richer households, unthrifty servants would have thrown away. +There were always roots to spare from the small garden, herbs for +medicines, eggs for sale, salves, and lotions, and conserves of fruit +or honey. All the poor infants in the parish were neatly clothed in +baby-linen made out of old garments. There were always bundles of +patches to give away, so useful to poor mothers; strips of rag for +hurts; old flannel, and often new; a little collection of rubbish now +and then for the bagman, though very rarely, the breakage being small +where there were so few hands used, and they so careful. + +They gave their time, too; for they were the nurses of all the sick, +the comforters of all the sorrowful, the advisers of all in +difficulty--without parade. They were applied to as of course--it +seemed natural. And they were sociable: they had their little +tea-parties with their acquaintance; they made their little presents +at Christmas-time; they sweetened life throughout their limited +sphere; and all so quietly, that no one guessed the amount of their +influence till it ceased. They preached 'the word' practically, +producing all the charity it taught, inculcating the 'peace on earth, +good-will towards men' which disposes even rude natures to the gentler +feelings, and soothes the chafed murmurer by the tender influence of +that love which is so kind. They were unwearied in their walk of +mercy, though they met with disappointment even among the simple +natures reared in this secluded spot. They bore it meekly; and when +cross or trial came to those around, then could our good sisters carry +comfort to afflicted friends, never pleading quite in vain for the +exercise of that patience which lightens suffering. They were as +mothers to the young, as daughters to the old, of all degree; for they +did not ostentatiously devote themselves to the poor and ignorant +alone--the so-called poor: the poor in spirit, of whatever rank, were +as much their care as were the poor in purse; their charge was all who +needed help--a help they gave simply, lovingly, not as meddlers, but +as sisters bound to a larger family by the breaking of the ties which +had united them to their own peculiar household. + +There was no scenic effect visible along the humble walk of their pure +benevolence, no harsh outlines to mark the course they went, or shew +them to the world as devoted to particular excellence all throughout a +lifetime of painful mortifications. Very noiseless was their quiet +way. In a spirit of thankfulness they accepted their lot, turning its +very bitterness into joy, by gratefully receiving the many pleasures +still vouchsafed them; for it is a happy world, in spite of all its +trials, to those who look aright for happiness. Our sisters found it +and bestowed it. How many blessed their name! How many have had reason +to love the memory of these two unobtrusive women, who, without name, +or station, or show, or peculiarity, or distinction of any kind, were +the types of a class the circle of which even this humble memorial, by +its truth and suggestiveness, may aid in extending--of the true, +simple, earnest, brave, holy Sisters of Charity of our country! + + + + +BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION. + + +I am not sure about bribery and corruption. It may be a bad thing, but +many seem to think otherwise. Much may be said on both sides of the +question. Oh! don't tell me of a worm selling his birthright for a +mess of pottage: I never read of such worms in Buffon, or even in +Pliny. But if they do exist in the human form, the baseness consists +in the sale, not in the _quid pro quo_. A mess of pottage in itself is +a very good thing--I should say, a very respectable thing; and no +exchange can take away from it that character. Still, if what we give +for it is an heirloom, coming from our ancestors and belonging to our +posterity, the transaction is shabby, and not only shabby, but +dishonest. If that is proved, I don't defend the worm. Trample on him +by all means--jump on him. But beware of insulting the mess of +pottage, which is as respectable as when newly out of the pot. Fancy +the sale to have been effected by means of some other equivalent: and +that, by the way, is just what puzzles me. There are numerous other +equivalents, not a whit more respectable in themselves--many far less +so--which not only escape all objurgation, but serve to lift the +identical transaction out of the category of basenesses. This confuses +a brain like mine, even to the length of doubting whether there is any +harm in the thing at all. Let us turn the question over patiently. I +confess I am slow; but 'slow and sure,' you know. + +Bribery and corruption is a universal element in civilised society; +but let us talk in the meantime of political bribery and corruption. +It is the theory of the law--if the law really has a theory--that in +the matter of a parliamentary canvass, every man, as a celebrated +Irish minister expressed it, should stand upon his own bottom. By this +poetical figure, Lord Londonderry meant that the man should depend +upon himself, upon his own merits and character, without having +recourse to any extrinsic means of working upon the judgment of +others. It is likewise the theory of the law, that a man who _suffers_ +his judgment to be indirectly biassed is as bad as the other--and +worse: that he is, in fact, a Worm, unfit to possess his birthright, +of which he should be forthwith deprived. Well, this being premised: +here is the Honourable Tom Snuffleton, who wants to represent our +borough, but having neither merit nor character of any convertible +kind, offers money and gin instead. The substitute is accepted; and +Honourable Tom, slapping his waistcoat several times, congratulates +the free and independent electors on having that day set a glorious +example to the world, by thus exercising their birthright and +upholding their palladium; and the affair is finished amid cheers and +hiccups. + +When I say, however, that the substitute is accepted, I do not mean +that it is accepted by, or can be offered to the whole constituency. +That would be a libel. There are many of the electors who have a soul +above sovereigns, and who, if they could accomplish it, would never +drink anything less than claret. These persons are ambitious of being +noticed by the family of Honourable Tom. They are not hungry, but they +take delight in a dinner in that quarter. They also feel intensely +gratified by having their wives and daughters bowed to from the family +carriage. A thousand considerations like these blind them to the +absence of merit and character on the part of the candidate, and lay +them open to that extrinsic influence which, according to the meaning +of the law, is bribery and corruption. As for the man who takes his +bribe, for the sake of convenience, in the direct, portable, and +exchangeable form of a sovereign, he lays it out in any pleasure or +distinction he, on his part, has a fancy for. If he is a dissolute +person, he spends it in the public-house; if he is a proper-behaved +husband, he gives his wife a new gown; if he is a respectable, serious +individual, he devotes it to the conversion of the Wid-a-wak tribe in +Central Africa, and gloats upon the name of John Higgins in the +subscription-list. In whichever way, however, he may seek to gratify +himself, he is neither better nor worse, so far as I can see, than the +voter of more elegant aspirations: they have both been bribed; they +are both corrupt; they have both sold their birthright. + +This is a homely way of viewing the question, but it suffices. If we +inquire into the motives of a hundred electors, we shall not find ten +of them free from some alloy of self-interest, direct or indirect. In +cases where the candidates are all equally good, equally bad, or +equally indifferent, there may be no practical harm in this; but it is +not a political but a moral question that is before us. The question +is as to the _bribe_. If we are to be excused because of the nature of +the solatium we accept, then should a thief successfully plead that it +was not money he stole, but a masterpiece of Raphael. What I doubt is, +whether they who have not been solely influenced by patriotic motives, +have any right to cast stones at the free and independent elector who +has sold his vote for a sovereign. + +If the common saying be true, that 'every man has his price,' then are +we all open to bribery and corruption; and the only difficulty lies in +ascertaining the weak side of our nature. The distinction in this case +is not between vice and virtue, but between the various positions in +which we are placed. Money will do with some men; others, who would be +shocked at the idea of taking money, will accept of something it has +bought; others, again, who would spurn at both these, will have no +objection to a snug little place for themselves or their dependents. +The English, as a practical, straightforward people, take money--five +to ten pounds being considered a fair thing for a vote, and no shame +about it. The Scotch, as more calculating, like a _situation_; +anything to put sons into, will do--a cadetship in India, a +tide-waitership, a place in the Post-office, or a commission in the +army. From a small Scotch country town, which we have in our eye, as +many as fourteen lads in one year received appointments in the Excise; +everybody knew what for: an election was in expectation. No money, +however, being passed from hand to hand, the fathers of these said +lads would look with horror on such cases of bribery as have given +renown and infamy to Sudbury and St Alban's. + + All men think all men _sinners_ but themselves. + +Happy this consciousness of innocence! How fortunate that we should be +such a virtuous and discreet people! And thus does one's very notions +of what is right become a marketable article. Where neither money nor +place is wanted, a gracious look and an invitation to dinner may have +quite a telling effect. In fact, the more refined men have become, +through the action of circumstances, such as education and position, +the more abstracted and attenuated is the equivalent they demand for +their virtue; till we reach the highest grade of all, whose noble +natures, as they are called, can be seduced only by affection and +gratitude. Now observe: in all these cases the _thing_ is the same, +whether it be crime we have been tempted to commit, or mere +illegality; the only distinction lies in the value of the _quid pro +quo_. But is there a distinction even in that? I doubt the fact. I +don't say there is none, but I doubt it. Value is entirely arbitrary. +One man, at the lower end of the scale, sins for the sake of a pound; +and another, at the higher end, does the same thing for the sake of a +kindness. The two men place the same value on their several +equivalents, and each finds his own irresistible. Are they not both +equally guilty? + +That a refined man is better than a coarse one, I admit. He is +pleasanter, and not only so, but safer. We know his virtue to be +secure from a thousand temptations before which meaner natures fall; +and to a large extent, therefore, we feel him to be worthy of our +trust. He will not betray us for a pound, or a dinner, or a place, or +a coaxing word, or a condescending bow: but we must not go too far +with him for all that. He has his price as surely as the meanest of +his fellows; and let him only come in the way of a temptation he +values as highly as the other values his miserable pound, and down he +goes! Refined natures, therefore, are only comparatively trustworthy; +and, however estimable or admirable they may be under other +circumstances, when they do fail they are as guilty as the rest. It is +a bad thing altogether, bribery and corruption is; and I don't object +to your putting it down when it takes that material form of money you +can so readily get hold of. But what I hate is the cant that is canted +about it by those who have not even the virtue to take their +equivalent on the sly. For it is a remarkable thing, that when this +does not come in a material shape, such as you can count or handle, it +is looked upon by the bribee as no bribe at all! Nay, in some cases he +will glory in his crime, as if it were a virtue; and in all cases he +will turn round upon his fellow-criminal--him of the vulgar sort--call +him a worm, and throw that mess of pottage at him! This refined +evil-doer may be as energetic as he pleases in his actions, but it +would be well if he were a little more quiet in his words. If he looks +within, he will find that the distinction on which he prides himself +is wholly superficial; and that such language is very unbecoming the +lips of one who might more truly, as well as more politely, say to +corruption, thou art my father, and to the worm, thou art my mother +and my sister. + +The main cause of such anomalies I take to be, that there is among us +a general want of earnestness. We do not believe in ourselves, or our +duties, or our destinies. Our life has no theory, and we care only for +outward forms and symbols. Our taste is shocked by the grossness of +vice, but we have no quarrel with the thing itself; and if the people +around us will only preserve a polished, or at least inoffensive +exterior, that is all we demand. Why should we look below the surface +in their case, when we do no such thing in our own? We feel amiable, +genteel, and refined; we detest the appearance of low impropriety, and +would take a good deal of trouble to put it down; we look very kindly +on the world in general, if the low people who are in it would only +become as decorous as ourselves. In the old republics, the case was +different. There men had a theory, even if a bad one, and they stuck +to it through good report and through bad report. The theory was the +spirit of the community, and its members sacrificed to it their whole +individuality. No wonder that such little political unities held +together as if their component parts had been welded, and that they +continued to do so till they came into collision, and, from their +hardness and toughness, rubbed one another out. + +Put down bribery and corruption: that is fair. And more especially put +down open, shameless, and brutal bribery and corruption, for its very +coarseness is, in itself, an additional crime. But no reform is +efficacious that does not come from within; and when refined men wage +war against vulgar vices, let them look sharply to their own. I do not +say, that by taking thought they will be able to do entirely away with +the seductive influence of a bow, or a dinner, or a kind action; and +that, in spite of these, they will do their duty with the stern +resolve of an ancient Spartan. But they will be less likely to yield +to temptation, and the price of their virtue will at least mount +higher and higher, which is as much as we can expect of human nature. +The grand benefit, however, they will derive from the inquisition, is +the lesson of tolerance it will teach. They will refrain, for shame's +sake, from casting stones and calling names. They will see that the +only part of the offence _they_ can notice is vulgarity and ignorance, +and they will quietly try to refine the one and enlighten the other. + + + + +THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM, LIVERPOOL. + + +In a cross street named Colquitt Street, near a fashionable promenade +of Liverpool, will be found the rich, valuable, and interesting museum +which we are about briefly to describe. It is the property of Mr +Joseph Mayer, F.S.A., a townsman of Liverpool, esteemed as much for +his private worth as for his refined classical taste. This gentleman +has been long known as a collector; and by the purchase of an entire +gallery of antiquities, formed by one who travelled long in Egypt and +Nubia, and visited the remains of ancient Carthage, he became +possessed of a museum so extensive that his private residence could +not contain them, and so rare, that the public desired to know more +about them. With the view, therefore, of keeping them together, and +gratifying the many who longed to acquaint themselves with these +interesting relics of an interesting race, this house in Colquitt +Street has been appropriated. For the purpose of meeting the current +expenses of the exhibition, and enabling the proprietor to add to its +contents, a very trifling charge is made for admission, and a book is +kept for the autographs of the visitors. + +The first room entered displays a large collection of Egyptian +_stelae_ and other monuments, while the outer cases and sarcophagi of +several mummies are placed in another apartment. The word _stela_ +means merely a memorial pillar or tombstone; and in this room the +reflective mind will find much food for meditation. We have here the +first elements of all religion brought visibly before us in the +carvings--the recognition of a deity, and the belief in immortality. +More than one of these stelae has upon it the royal cartouch; one of +them has no fewer than four of these elliptical rings with +inscriptions, and two more from which the hieroglyphics have been +erased. This tells a tale, for in the age commemorated, it was a mark +of disgrace to have the name obliterated. Another stela contains the +jackal, or genius of the departed, with propitiatory offerings from +his friends. The curious will learn with interest, that another of +these monuments dates back to the time of Joseph. It has twice +engraved upon it the name Osortosen--perhaps the Pharaoh 'who gave him +to wife Asenath, the daughter of Potiphorah, priest of On,' and raised +the obelisk at Heliopolis, towns thought to be the same. Near to this +is another stela of great beauty, engraved in low relief and +cavo-relievo, coloured. It belongs to Manetho's sixth dynasty, +and is consequently very ancient. One still more so is in +the same collection: it is of the fourth dynasty of that +historian--consequently, of the time when the Pyramids were built. It +is beautifully executed in intaglio and relievo, with the surface +polished. These stelae, of which the collection is very rich, are +composed of various rocks--such as granite, syenite, limestone, the +travertino of the Italians, and sandstone. + +While the tombs of Egypt have furnished these monuments, Karnac is +represented by a portion of its great obelisk, and Rome has supplied a +cinerary urn with cremated bones, several sepulchral tablets, and an +altar. + +In another room on the same floor, we find an extensive collection of +pottery from the tombs of ancient Etruria, and other parts of Italy; +Roman pottery found in Britain; Samian ware, and articles of that +kind, from Pompeii, Carthage, and South America. The central case is +overflowing with riches, containing as it does nearly six hundred +Etruscan vases in terra cotta. It is a subject of doubt among the +learned, whether these painted vessels, so called, are not in reality +Grecian. Bossi, in his great work on Italy, claims the first +manufacture for the Tuscans; but there is a strong argument in favour +of their Grecian origin in the negative evidence obtained from Roman +Italy, where they are not found, and the positive evidence from the +Grecian subjects depicted on the pottery; besides which, the tombs of +the Greek islands of the Archipelago contain them. Their not being met +with in the Asiatic colonies of the Greeks may go merely to shew, that +although the objects might be Grecian, the trade was Etruscan. It is +well known, too, that at Athens the art of making pottery had arrived +at great perfection. That the Tuscans used these as funereal vessels +at a remote period, is fully established; but the custom of depositing +them in sepulchres is not supposed to have originated with that +people, but to have been brought by colonists from Greece Proper. + +In this apartment, there are sepulchral lamps in the same material as +the Etruscan vases, and idols not a few. Besides these, there are +numerous Roman fibulae (a sort of brooch) and bracelets, found at +Treves, and others dug up in England. There are likewise many Roman +antiquities, which have been recently met with at Hoy Lake, near +Liverpool. But we must not attempt to enter into details; let us mount +to the floor above, and notice the contents of the apartments there. + +The first room on the second storey is the Mummy Room; and there rest, +side by side, royal personages and humble individuals, male and +female, who, about four thousand years ago, breathed the air of Egypt. +Except by their cerements, and the inscriptions on the cases, who +could tell which had been the greater? + +The plan adopted for the display of these human mummies--for the +Museum contains the preserved remains of the ibis and hawk, the cat, +and even the dog, a rare subject for the embalmer, besides the bodies +of other inferior animals--is to remove the outer case and covering, +then to place the inner case upon the floor; above it, resting on +supports, the body; and above that again, the lid, enclosing all +within plates of glass, so that the spectator may go round the mummy, +examining it in all directions, and likewise the case, within and +without, on which the hieroglyphics are inscribed. Before we describe +the mummies so laid out, let us explain briefly the process of +embalming. Herodotus is a great authority on this matter, and we +cannot do better than follow him. + +In the first place, the embalmer was a medical practitioner, and +legally pursued his craft. The deceased was taken to his room, and +there the process of preservation was conducted; not, however, till +the agreement had been made between the relatives and the embalmer as +to the style and cost; for there were three methods of embalming, +suitable to different ranks. This having been determined, the operator +began, the relatives having previously retired. In the most expensive +kind of embalming, the brain was extracted without disfiguring the +head, and the intestines were removed by an incision in the side: +these were separated and preserved. The body was now filled with +spices--myrrh cassia, and other perfumes, frankincense excepted; and +the opening was firmly closed. It was now covered with natron for +seventy days; and at the expiration of that time, it was washed and +swathed in linen cloth, dipped in gums and resinous substances, when +it was delivered to the relatives, and by them placed in the mummy +case and sarcophagus. It was finally placed perpendicularly in the +apartment set apart for the dead; so that the Egyptian could view his +ancestors as figured on their coffins; and with the thought that not +only were their portraits there, but their bodies also--for the +Egyptian was a firm believer in immortality, and piously preserved the +body in a fitter state, as he thought, for reunion with the soul, than +if allowed to perish by decay. + +According to the second mode of embalming, no incisions were made upon +the body, but absorbing injections were employed. The natron was used +as before; and after the customary days were passed, the injected +fluid was withdrawn, and with it came the entrails. The body was now +enfolded in the cloth, and returned to the friends. This process cost +twenty minae, the other was a talent. In the third style, that adopted +by the poor, the natron application was almost the only one used; the +body lay for seventy days in this alkaline solution, and was then +accounted fit for preservation. Sometimes the body, enveloped in the +cloth, was covered with bitumen. + +The most interesting mummy in this collection is that of a royal +personage, Amenophis I., the most ancient of the Pharaohs whose name +has yet been found. The case is richly decorated, and the name appears +in three different places--that in the interior being in very large +characters, in a royal cartouch. The spectator seems to hang over this +mummy as if spell-bound. Can this in reality be one of the Pharaohs? +Such is the question; and the inscription, thrice repeated--'Amenophis +I.'--is the answer! This monarch reigned in Egypt about half a century +after the exodus of the Israelites, and 3400 years ago, according to +the chronology of Dr Hales; but others give a remoter period--even in +the days of Joseph. + +Another mummy has the face covered with gold, and the body is +inscribed with the gods of the Amenti, on those regions over which +they were the genii. Thus _Amset_, with a human head, presided over +the stomach and large intestines, and was the judge of Hades; _Hape_, +with the head of a baboon, presided over the small intestines; +_Soumautf_, the third genius, with a jackal's head, was placed over +the region of the thorax, presiding over the heart and lungs; and the +last, _Kebhsnauf_, with the head of a hawk, presided over the +gall-bladder and liver. Besides these, there are other mummies +exhibiting the style of swathing peculiarly Egyptian, in +contradistinction to the Graeco-Egyptian, which differs from the former +in having the limbs separately bandaged, instead of being placed +together and enveloped in one form. There are also fragments of the +human body mummied, one of which contains between the arm and shoulder +a papyrus-roll. And while we are now among the mummies, we must not +forget the vases called canopuses, in which the entrails and other +internal organs were deposited; each bearing upon it the emblem of the +genius presiding over the separately embalmed viscera. On each of +these canopuses, four of which compose a set, an inscription may be +seen. Thus: _Amset_--'I am thy son, a god, loving thee; I have come to +be beside thee, causing to germinate thy head, to fabricate thee with +the words of Phtah, like the brilliancy of the sun for ever.' +_Hape_--'I have come to manifest myself beside thee, to raise thy head +and arms, to reduce thy enemies, to give thee all germination for +ever.' _Soumautf_--'I am thy son, a god, loving thee; I have come to +support my father.' _Kebhsnauf_--'I have come to be beside thee, to +subdue thy form, to submit thy limbs for thee, to lead thy heart to +thee, to give it to thee in the tribunal of thy race, to germinate thy +house with all the other living.' + +In this apartment there are many statues, some in wood, some in stone. +In one of wood there is a recess behind intended for a papyrus +manuscript. There are also specimens of Egyptian Mosaic pavement, and +a monumental tablet, interesting from its having a Greek inscription, +while its style and figure are Egyptian--proving the continuance of +the ancient manner down to the Ptolemaic dynasty. + +The adjoining room contains infinitely more than we can enumerate, +and, like the others, many articles not Egyptian, yet deeply +interesting in themselves. The centre cases will demand our first +attention; and here we have idolets and amulets innumerable; coins of +the Ptolemies, Cleopatra, and others; and jewellery of all +descriptions, from the golden diadem and the royal signet down to the +pottery rings and glass beads worn by the poor. As might be expected +in an Egyptian collection, the _scarabaeus_, or sacred beetle, +frequently meets the eye. Here are scarabaei in gold, cornelion, +chalcedony, heliotrope, torquoise, lapis-lazuli, porphyry, terra +cotta, and other materials; many of them having royal names and +inscriptions engraved. + +Two objects claim our first attention, on account not only of their +value, but their associations. They are placed together in a +glass-case, marked No. 3. One of them is perhaps the most ancient ring +in existence, and is a magnificent signet of pure solid gold. It bears +in a cartouch the royal name of Amenophis I., and has an inscription +on either side. The signet is hung upon a swivel, and has +hieroglyphics on what may be called the reverse. It is a large, heavy +ring, weighing 1 ounce, 6 pennyweights, 12 grains, was worn on the +thumb, and taken from the mummy at Memphis. It was purchased by Mr +Sams at the sale of Mr Salt's collection in the year 1835, for upwards +of L.50, and is highly prized by the present proprietor. Some doubt +still rests upon Egyptian chronology. By certain antiquaries, this +ring is supposed to have been worn by the Pharaoh who ruled over the +land while Joseph was prime-minister; but others, as has been +mentioned, place the reign of Amenophis I. after the departure of the +Israelites. + +The other is a diadem of pure gold, about seven inches in diameter, +taken from the head of a mummy. In the centre, a pyramid rises with a +double cartouch on one side and a single one on the other. Towards +this twelve scarabaei are approaching, six on either side, emblematic +of the increase and decrease of the days in the twelve months; and +between these is a procession of boats, in which are deities and +figures. In the inner side of this diadem the signs of the zodiac are +represented. + +In close proximity to these remarkable objects is another of no less +interest--namely, a pair of earrings of gold, weighing each _half a +shekel_--'And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that +the man took _a golden earring of half a shekel weight_, and two +bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold; and said, Whose +daughter art thou?' Such was the present to Rebekah; and here, before +us, are ornaments similar probably in shape (zone-like), and exactly +similar in weight! + +Among the jewellery in this collection we find several valuable +necklaces in gold, coral, and precious stones. Besides the Egyptian, +there are some of Etruscan origin, taken from the tombs of this +ancient people. We cannot leave this subject without noticing the +beauty and perfection of the filigree-work, executed about 2400 years +ago, and equal to modern workmanship. Some exquisite specimens from +Pompeii are preserved here. + +Turning now to the walls of this apartment, we find glass-cases filled +with vases in terra cotta and eastern alabaster. On some of these are +royal names, gilt and coloured; that of Cheops, the builder of the +great Pyramid, occurs on one. Another of these vessels, or the neck +part of one, is covered with cement, and sealed with three cartouches, +besides having four others painted on it. This, it is thought, may +have contained the precious Theban wine, sealed with the royal signet. +There are many other things taken from the tombs which our space +forbids us to dwell upon; such as idols and figures, papyri and +phylacteries, paint-pots and colours, workman's tools, stone and +wooden pillows or head-rests, and sandals; a patera with pomegranates, +another with barley, the seven-eared wheat of Scripture, bread and +grapes, besides other fruits and dainties which were supplied to the +dead when deposited in the Theban tombs. On a tablet here we find the +name of that Amenophis or Phamenoph, who is celebrated as the Memnon +of the Greeks. We also find bricks as made by the Israelites, and +stamped probably in accordance with the regulations of the revenue +department of old Egypt. There are preserved in this and the adjoining +apartments some beautiful ancient manuscripts, and an exceedingly +valuable collection of books on antiquities, to which the visitor has +access. + +We now ascend to the upper rooms, where in one is a collection of +armour, and in the other, the 'Majolica' Room, specimens of pottery, +as revived in Europe in the fifteenth century by Luca Della Rubbia, +who was born in 1388. He discovered the art of glazing earthenware. In +the former of these rooms, all sorts of weapons and defensive +apparatus are met with--modern, mediaeval, and antique; some are highly +finished, others very rude. In the Majolica Room, there is much matter +for study, and those will fail to appreciate the value of the +collection who have not learned something of the history of the ware. +Here is exhibited a Madonna and Child, of about the year 1420, by +Rubbia himself. It was given to Mr Mayer by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, +when the medal of Roscoe was struck and presented. There are five +plates, made after the patterns of the Moors, about the middle of that +century, at Pessaro, near the Po; and four with portraits, marked +'Majolica Amatorii.' We find several other specimens, shewing the most +curious anachronisms and blunders in design. The 'Temptation,' for +example, is represented as a plate, with the drawing of a town and a +Dutch church. 'Jacob's Dream,' 'Joseph and his Brethren,' 'Alexander +and Darius,' 'Actaeon and Diana,' and such scenes, seem to have been +favourites. The specimens of 'Mezza Majolica,' with raised centres, +scroll-work borders, and embossed figures, are very curious. There are +two dishes, each eighteen inches in diameter, of Raffaelle ware, on +one of which is 'Christ healing the Sick,' and on the other, 'Christ +driving out the Money-changers.' Another, of Calabrian ware, is very +curious: it is of brown clay, glazed, with four handles, and inside +are the figures of two priests officiating at an altar; behind, are +female figures overlooking, but concealed by latticed-work. There is +one object here of local interest, and with it we bring this +description to a close. It is an earthenware map of Crosby, to the +north of Liverpool, made in 1716, at pottery works in Shaws-brow. + + + + +UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. + +STORY OF UNCLE TOM. + + +A former paper on Mrs Stowe's remarkable book, presented a little +episode, the heroine of which was Eliza, a female slave on the estate +of a Mr Shelby in Kentucky. We now turn to the story of Tom himself, +whose transfers from hand to hand afford the authoress an opportunity +of describing the private life and feelings of slave-owners, and the +unwholesome and dangerous condition of society in the south. + +Tom, we have hinted, was jet black in colour, trustworthy and valued +by his master, who was compelled by necessity to part with him to +Haley, a slave-trader. The separation of this honest fellow from his +wife Chloe, and his children, was a sad affair; but as Tom was of a +hopeful temperament, and under strong religious impressions, he did +not repine at the fate he was about to encounter, dreaded as that +usually is by persons in his situation. 'In order to appreciate the +sufferings of the negroes sold south, it must be remembered that all +the instinctive affections of that race are peculiarly strong. Their +local attachments are very abiding. They are not naturally daring and +enterprising, but home-loving and affectionate. Add to this all the +terrors with which ignorance invests the unknown, and add to this, +again, that selling to the south is set before the negro from +childhood as the last severity of punishment. The threat that +terrifies more than whipping or torture of any kind, is the threat of +being sent down river. + +'A missionary among the fugitives in Canada told us, that many of the +fugitives confessed themselves to have escaped from comparatively kind +masters, and that they were induced to brave the perils of escape, in +almost every case, by the desperate horror with which they regarded +being sold south--a doom which was hanging either over themselves or +their husbands, their wives or children. This nerves the African, +naturally patient, timid, and unenterprising, with heroic courage, and +leads him to suffer hunger, cold, pain, the perils of the wilderness, +and the more dread penalties of recapture.' + +After a simple repast in his rude cabin, Tom prepared to start. Chloe +shut and corded his trunk, and getting up, looked gruffly on the +trader who was robbing her of her husband; her tears seemingly turned +to sparks of fire. Tom rose up meekly to follow his new master, and +raised the box on his shoulder. His wife took the baby in her arms, to +go with him as far as the wagon, and the children, crying, trailed on +behind. 'A crowd of all the old and young hands in the place stood +gathered around it, to bid farewell to their old associate. Tom had +been looked up to, both as a head-servant and a Christian teacher, by +all the place, and there was much honest sympathy and grief about him, +particularly among the women. Haley whipped up the horse, and with a +steady, mournful look, fixed to the last on the old place, Tom was +whirled away. Mr Shelby at this time was not at home. He had sold Tom +under the spur of a driving necessity, to get out of the power of a +man he dreaded; and his first feeling, after the consummation of the +bargain, had been that of relief. But his wife's expostulations awoke +his half-slumbering regrets; and Tom's disinterestedness increased the +unpleasantness of his feelings. It was in vain that he said to +himself, that he had a _right_ to do it, that everybody did it, and +that some did it without even the excuse of necessity: he could not +satisfy his own feelings; and that he might not witness the unpleasant +scenes of the consummation, he had gone on a short business tour up +the country, hoping that all would be over before he returned.' + +Haley, with his property, reaches the Mississippi; and on that +magnificent river, a steam-boat, piled high with bales of cotton from +many a plantation, receives the party. 'Partly from confidence +inspired by Mr Shelby's representations, and partly from the +remarkably inoffensive and quiet character of the man, Tom had +insensibly won his way far into the confidence even of such a man as +Haley. At first, he had watched him narrowly through the day, and +never allowed him to sleep at night unfettered; but the uncomplaining +patience and apparent contentment of Tom's manner, led him gradually +to discontinue these restraints; and for some time Tom had enjoyed a +sort of parole of honour, being permitted to come and go freely where +he pleased on the boat. Ever quiet and obliging, and more than ready +to lend a hand in every emergency which occurred among the workmen +below, he had won the good opinion of all the hands, and spent many +hours in helping them with as hearty a good-will as ever he worked on +a Kentucky farm. When there seemed to be nothing for him to do, he +would climb to a nook among the cotton-bales of the upper deck, and +busy himself in studying over his Bible--and it is there we see him +now. For a hundred or more miles above New Orleans, the river is +higher than the surrounding country, and rolls its tremendous volume +between massive levees twenty feet in height. The traveller from the +deck of the steamer, as from some floating castle-top, overlooks the +whole country for miles and miles around. Tom, therefore, had spread +out full before him, in plantation after plantation, a map of the life +to which he was approaching. He saw the distant slaves at their toil; +he saw afar their villages of huts gleaming out in long rows on many a +plantation, distant from the stately mansions and pleasure-grounds of +the master; and as the moving picture passed on, his poor foolish +heart would be turning backward to the Kentucky farm, with its old +shadowy beeches, to the master's house, with its wide, cool halls, and +near by the little cabin, overgrown with the multiflora and bignonia. +There he seemed to see familiar faces of comrades who had grown up +with him from infancy: he saw his busy wife, bustling in her +preparations for his evening meals; he heard the merry laugh of his +boys at their play, and the chirrup of the baby at his knee, and then, +with a start, all faded; and he saw again the cane-brakes and +cypresses of gliding plantations, and heard again the creaking and +groaning of the machinery, all telling him too plainly that all that +phase of life had gone by for ever.' + +An unlooked-for incident raises up a friend. 'Among the passengers on +the boat was a young gentleman of fortune and family, resident in New +Orleans, who bore the name of St Clare. He had with him a daughter +between five and six years of age, together with a lady who seemed to +claim relationship to both, and to have the little one especially +under her charge. Tom had often caught glimpses of this little girl, +for she was one of those busy, tripping creatures, that can be no +more contained in one place than a sunbeam or a summer breeze; nor +was she one that, once seen, could be easily forgotten. Her form was +the perfection of childish beauty, without its usual chubbiness and +squareness of outline.' + +This angelic little creature was attracted by Tom's appearance; and +speaking kindly to him, expressed a hope of serving him, by inducing +her papa to become his purchaser. Tom had just thanked the little lady +for her intentions, when the boat stopped at a landing-place. At its +moving on again, Eva, who leaned imprudently on the railings, fell +overboard. Tom was fortunately standing under her as she fell. 'He saw +her strike the water and sink, and was after her in a moment. A +broad-chested, strong-armed fellow, it was nothing for him to keep +afloat in the water till, in a moment or two, the child rose to the +surface, and he caught her in his arms, and, swimming with her to the +boat-side, handed her up, all dripping, to the grasp of hundreds of +hands, which, as if they had all belonged to one man, were stretched +eagerly out to receive her. A few moments more, and her father bore +her, dripping and senseless, to the ladies' cabin, where, as is usual +in cases of the kind, there ensued a very well-meaning and +kind-hearted strife among the female occupants generally as to who +should do the most things to make a disturbance, and to hinder her +recovery in every way possible.' + +Next day, as the vessel approached New Orleans, Tom sat on the lower +deck, with his arms folded, anxiously from time to time turning his +eyes towards a group on the other side of the boat. 'There stood the +fair Evangeline, a little paler than the day before, but otherwise +exhibiting no traces of the accident which had befallen her. A +graceful, elegantly-formed young man stood by her, carelessly leaning +one elbow on a bale of cotton, while a large pocket-book lay open +before him. It was quite evident, at a glance, that the gentleman was +Eva's father. There was the same noble cast of head, the same large +blue eyes, the same golden-brown hair; yet the expression was wholly +different. In the large, clear blue eyes, though in form and colour +exactly similar, there was wanting that misty, dreamy depth of +expression; all was clear, bold, and bright, but with a light wholly +of this world: the beautifully cut mouth had a proud and somewhat +sarcastic expression, while an air of free-and-easy superiority sat +not ungracefully in every turn and movement of his fine form. He was +listening with a good-humoured, negligent air, half comic, half +contemptuous, to Haley, who was very volubly expatiating on the +quality of the article for which they were bargaining. + +"All the moral and Christian virtues bound in black morocco, +complete!" he said, when Haley had finished. "Well, now, my good +fellow, what's the damage, as they say in Kentucky; in short, what's +to be paid out for this business? How much are you going to cheat me, +now? Out with it!" + +"Wal," said Haley, "if I should say thirteen hundred dollars for that +ar fellow, I shouldn't but just save myself--I shouldn't, now, raily." + +"Papa, do buy him! it's no matter what you pay," whispered Eva softly, +getting up on a package, and putting her arm around her father's neck. +"You have money enough, I know. I want him."' + +Tom was purchased, and paid for. 'Come, Eva,' said St Clare, as he +stepped across the boat to his newly-acquired property. '"Look up, +Tom, and see how you like your new master." Tom looked up. It was not +in nature to look into that gay, young, handsome face without a +feeling of pleasure; and Tom felt the tears start in his eyes as he +said, heartily: "God bless you, mas'r!" + +"Well, I hope he will. What's your name? Tom? Quite as likely to do it +for your asking as mine, from all accounts. Can you drive horses, +Tom?" + +"I've been allays used to horses," said Tom. + +"Well, I think I shall put you in coachy, on condition that you won't +be drunk more than once a week, unless in cases of emergency, Tom." + +'Tom looked surprised, and rather hurt, and said: "I never drink, +mas'r." + +"I've heard that story before, Tom; but then we'll see. It will be a +special accommodation to all concerned if you don't. Never mind, my +boy," he added good-humouredly, seeing Tom still looked grave; "I +don't doubt you mean to do well." + +"I sartin do, mas'r," said Tom. + +"And you shall have good times," said Eva. "Papa is very good to +everybody, only he always will laugh at them." + +"Papa is much obliged to you for his recommendation," said St Clare +laughing, as he turned on his heel and walked away.' + +Augustine St Clare was a wealthy citizen of New Orleans, and possessed +a domestic establishment of great extent and elegance, with a body of +servants in the condition of slaves, to whom he was an indulgent +master. The description of this splendid mansion, with its lounging +and wasteful attendants, its indolent, pretty, and capricious +lady-mistress, and the account of Ophelia, a shrewd New-England +cousin, who managed the household affairs, must be considered the +best, or at least the most amusing portion of the work. The authoress +also dwells with fondness on the character of the gentle Eva, a child +of uncommon talents, but so delicate in health, so ethereal, that +while still on earth, she seems already an angel of paradise leading +and beckoning to Heaven. Eva was kind to everybody--kind even to +Topsy, a negro girl whom St Clare had one day bought out of mere +charity, on seeing her cruelly lashed by her former master and +mistress. Topsy is a fine picture of a brutalised young negro, who +never speaks the truth even by chance, and steals because she cannot +help it. Every one gives up Topsy as utterly irreclaimable--all except +the gentle Eva. Caught in a fresh act of theft, Topsy is led away by +Eva. 'There was a little glass-room at the corner of the veranda, +which St Clare used as a sort of reading-room; and Eva and Topsy +disappeared into this place. + +"What's Eva going about now?" said St Clare; "I mean to see." And +advancing on tiptoe, he lifted up a curtain that covered the +glass-door, and looked in. In a moment, laying his finger on his lips, +he made a silent gesture to Miss Ophelia to come and look. There sat +the two children on the floor, with their side-faces towards them, +Topsy with her usual air of careless drollery and unconcern; but, +opposite to her, Eva, her whole face fervent with feeling, and tears +in her large eyes. + +"What does make you so bad, Topsy? Why won't you try and be good? +Don't you love _anybody_, Topsy?" + +"Donno nothing 'bout love. I loves candy and sich--that's all," said +Topsy. + +"But you love your father and mother?" + +"Never had none, ye know. I telled ye that, Miss Eva." + +"Oh, I know," said Eva sadly; "but hadn't you any brother, or sister, +or aunt, or"---- + +"No, none on 'm--never had nothing nor nobody." + +"But, Topsy, if you'd only try to be good, you might"---- + +"Couldn't never be nothin' but a nigger, if I was ever so good," said +Topsy. "If I could be skinned, and come white, I'd try then." + +"But people can love you, if you are black, Topsy. Miss Ophelia would +love you if you were good." + +'Topsy gave the short, blunt laugh that was her common mode of +expressing incredulity. + +"Don't you think so?" said Eva. + +"No; she can't bar me, 'cause I'm a nigger!--she'd's soon have a toad +touch her. There can't nobody love niggers, and niggers can't do +nothin'. _I_ don't care," said Topsy, beginning to whistle. + +"O Topsy, poor child, _I_ love you," said Eva, with a sudden burst of +feeling, and laying her little thin white hand on Topsy's shoulder--"I +love you because you haven't had any father, or mother, or +friends--because you've been a poor, abused child! I love you, and I +want you to be good. I am very unwell, Topsy, and I think I shan't +live a great while; and it really grieves me to have you be so +naughty. I wish you would try to be good, for my sake; it's only a +little while I shall be with you." + +'The round, keen eyes of the black child were overcast with tears; +large bright drops rolled heavily down, one by one, and fell on the +little white hand. Yes, in that moment a ray of real belief, a ray of +heavenly love, had penetrated the darkness of her heathen soul. She +laid her head down between her knees, and wept and sobbed; while the +beautiful child, bending over her, looked like the picture of some +bright angel stooping to reclaim a sinner. + +"Poor Topsy!" said Eva, "don't you know that Jesus loves all alike? He +is just as willing to love you as me. He loves you just as I do, only +more, because he is better. He will help you to be good, and you can +go to heaven at last, and be an angel for ever, just as much as if you +were white. Only think of it, Topsy; _you_ can be one of those spirits +bright Uncle Tom sings about." + +"O dear Miss Eva!--dear Miss Eva!" said the child, "I will try--I will +try! I never did care nothin' about it before."' + +By such persuasions, Eva had the happiness to see the beginning of +improvement in Topsy, who finally assumed an entirely new character, +and attained a respectable position in society. + +Eva, after this, declined rapidly. Uncle Tom was much in her room. +'The child suffered much from nervous restlessness, and it was a +relief to her to be carried; and it was Tom's greatest delight to +carry her little frail form in his arms, resting on a pillow, now up +and down her room, now out into the veranda; and when the fresh +sea-breezes blew from the lake, and the child felt freshest in the +morning, he would sometimes walk with her under the orange-trees in +the garden, or, sitting down in some of their old seats, sing to her +their favourite old hymns. The desire to do something was not confined +to Tom. Every servant in the establishment shewed the same feeling, +and in their way did what they could.' At length, the moment +of departure of this highly-prized being arrives. 'It is +midnight--strange, mystic hour, when the veil between the frail +present and the eternal future grows thin--then came the messenger!' +St Clare was called, and was up in her room in an instant. 'What was +it he saw that made his heart stand still? Why was no word spoken +between the two? Thou canst say, who hast seen that same expression on +the face dearest to thee--that look, indescribable, hopeless, +unmistakable, that says to thee that thy beloved is no longer thine. + +'On the face of the child, however, there was no ghastly imprint--only +a high and almost sublime expression--the overshadowing presence of +spiritual natures, the dawning of immortal life in that childish soul. + +'They stood there so still, gazing upon her, that even the ticking of +the watch seemed too loud.' Tom arrived with the doctor. The house was +aroused--'lights were seen, footsteps heard, anxious faces thronged +the veranda, and looked tearfully through the glass doors; but St +Clare heard and said nothing; he saw only _that look_ on the face of +the little sleeper. + +"Oh, if she would only wake, and speak once more!" he said; and, +stooping over her, lie spoke in her ear: "Eva, darling!" + +'The large blue eyes unclosed--a smile passed over her face; she tried +to raise her head, and to speak. + +"Do you know me, Eva?" + +"Dear papa," said the child with a last effort, throwing her arms +about his neck. In a moment, they dropped again; and as St Clare +raised his head, he saw a spasm of mortal agony pass over the face: +she struggled for breath, and threw up her little hands. + +"O God, this is dreadful!" he said, turning away in agony, and +wringing Tom's hand, scarce conscious what he was doing. "O Tom, my +boy, it is killing me!" + +'The child lay panting on her pillows, as one exhausted; the large +clear eyes rolled up and fixed. Ah, what said those eyes that spoke so +much of heaven? Earth was passed, and earthly pain; but so solemn, so +mysterious, was the triumphant brightness of that face, that it +checked even the sobs of sorrow. They pressed around her in breathless +stillness. + +"Eva!" said St Clare gently. She did not hear. + +"O Eva, tell us what you see! What is it?" said her father. + +'A bright, a glorious smile passed over her face, and she said, +brokenly: "O love--joy--peace!" gave one sigh, and passed from death +unto life!' + +Previous to the death of the dear Eva, she had induced her father to +promise to emancipate Tom, and he was taking steps to give this +faithful servant his liberty, when a terrible catastrophe occurred. St +Clare was suddenly killed in attempting to appease a quarrel in one of +the coffee-rooms of New Orleans. His family were plunged into grief +and consternation; and by his trustees the whole of the servants in +the establishment, Uncle Tom included, were brought to sale in the +open market. + +'Beneath a splendid dome were men of all nations, moving to and fro +over the marble pave. On every side of the circular area were little +tribunes, or stations, for the use of speakers and auctioneers. Two of +these, on opposite sides of the area, were now occupied by brilliant +and talented gentlemen, enthusiastically forcing up, in English and +French commingled, the bids of connoisseurs in their various wares. A +third one, on the other side, still unoccupied, was surrounded by a +group waiting the moment of sale to begin. And here we may recognise +the St Clare servants, awaiting their turn with anxious and dejected +faces. + +'Tom had been standing wistfully examining the multitude of faces +thronging around him for one whom he would wish to call master; and, +if you should ever be under the necessity, sir, of selecting out of +two hundred men one who was to become your absolute owner and +disposer, you would perhaps realise, just as Tom did, how few there +were that you would feel at all comfortable in being made over to. Tom +saw abundance of men, great, burly, gruff men; little, chirping, dried +men; long-favoured, lank, hard men; and every variety of +stubbed-looking, common-place men, who pick up their fellow-men as one +picks up chips, putting them into the fire or a basket with equal +unconcern, according to their convenience; but he saw no St Clare. + +'A little before the sale commenced, a short, broad, muscular man, in +a checked shirt, considerably open at the bosom, and pantaloons much +the worse for dirt and wear, elbowed his way through the crowd, like +one who is going actively into a business; and, coming up to the +group, began to examine them systematically. From the moment that Tom +saw him approaching, he felt an immediate and revolting horror at him, +that increased as he came near. He was evidently, though short, of +gigantic strength. His round, bullet head, large, light-gray eyes, +with their shaggy, sandy eyebrows, and stiff, wiry, sun-burned hair, +were rather unprepossessing items, it is to be confessed; his large, +coarse mouth was distended with tobacco, the juice of which, from time +to time, he ejected from him with great decision and explosive force; +his hands were immensely large, hairy, sun-burned, freckled, and very +dirty, and garnished with long nails, in a very foul condition. This +man proceeded to a very free personal examination of the lot. He +seized Tom by the jaw, and pulled open his mouth to inspect his teeth; +made him strip up his sleeve to shew his muscle; turned him round, +made him jump and spring, to shew his paces.' Almost immediately, Tom +was ordered to mount the block. 'Tom stepped upon the block, gave a +few anxious looks round; all seemed mingled in a common, indistinct +noise--the clatter of the salesman crying off his qualifications in +French and English, the quick fire of French and English bids; and +almost in a moment came the final thump of the hammer, and the clear +ring on the last syllable of the word "_dollars_," as the auctioneer +announced his price, and Tom was made over.--He had a master! + +'He was pushed from the block; the short, bullet-headed man, seizing +him roughly by the shoulder, pushed him to one side, saying, in a +harsh voice: "Stand there, _you_!"' + +By his new and rude master, Tom was forthwith marched off; put on +board a vessel for a distant cotton-plantation on Red River; stripped +of his decent apparel by his savage owner, and dressed in the meanest +habiliments. The treatment of the poor negro was now most revolting. +He was wrought hard under a burning sun; half-starved; scourged; +loaded with the grossest abuse. All this ends in a rapid decline of +health; and his story terminates with an account of his death, his +last moments being dignified by a strong sentiment of piety, and of +forgiveness towards his inhuman taskmaster. + +We have now presented a sufficiently ample abstract of _Uncle Tom's +Cabin_, a work which will undoubtedly be perused at length by all who +feel deeply on the subject of negro slavery. Of the authoress, Mrs H. +B. Stowe, it may be said, that her chief merit consists in close +observation of character, with a forcible and truth-like power of +delineation. In plot, supposing her to aim at such a thing, she +decidedly fails, and the winding-up of her _dramatis personae_ is +hurried and imperfect. Notwithstanding these defects, however, she has +succeeded in rivetting universal attention, while her aims are in the +highest degree praiseworthy. + + + + +HANDEL IN DUBLIN. + + +If biographers will occasionally make assertions at random, and pass +lightly over important events, because their records are not at hand, +while they give ample development to others, just because the +materials for doing so are more abundant, it is well that there is to +be found here and there an industrious _litterateur_, who will leave +no leaf unturned, and no corner unexplored, if he suspects that any +error has been committed, or any passage of interest slighted, in the +memoirs of a favourite author. + +Mr Mainwaring, the earliest biographer of Handel, and, on his +authority, a host of subsequent writers, took upon them to assert, +without any apparent foundation, that the oratorio of the _Messiah_ +was performed in London in the year 1741, previously to Handel's visit +to Ireland; but that it met with a cold reception, and this was one +cause of his leaving England. Dr Burney, when composing his _History +of Music_, examined all the London newspapers where public amusements +were advertised during 1741 and for several previous years, but found +no mention whatever of this oratorio. He remembered, too, being a +school-boy at Chester when Handel spent a week there, waiting for fair +winds to carry him across the Channel, and taking advantage of the +delay 'to prove some books that had been hastily transcribed, by +trying the choruses which he intended to perform in Ireland.' An +amateur band was mustered for him, and the manuscript choruses thus +verified were those of the _Messiah_. In the absence, therefore, of +stronger evidence to the contrary, Dr Burney believed that Dublin had +the honour of its first performance. An Irish barrister has now proved +this, we think, beyond dispute.[1] His evidence has been drawn from +the newspaper tomes of 1741, preserved in the public libraries of +Dublin, confirmed by the records of the cathedrals and some of the +charitable institutions, and yet more emphatically from some original +letters of this date. He has thus succeeded in doing 'justice to +Ireland,' by securing for it, in all time to come, the distinguished +place which it is entitled to occupy in the history of this great man. +Perhaps we should rather say, he has done justice to England, by +clearing it of the imputation of having 'coldly received' a musical +production to which immortal fame has since been decreed. While the +musical world will thank our author for several new facts particularly +interesting to them, the main attraction for general readers will +probably be found in the glimpses which this volume affords of a _beau +monde_ which has passed away. + +In 1720, a royal academy for the promotion of Italian operas was +founded in London by some of the nobility and gentry under royal +auspices. Handel, Bononcini, and Areosti, were engaged as a +triumvirate of composers; and to Handel was committed the charge of +engaging the singers. But the rivalry between him and Bononcini rose +to strife; the aristocratic patrons took nearly equal sides; and a +furious controversy on their respective merits was carried on for +years. Hence the epigram of Dean Swift-- + + Some say that Signor Bononcini, + Compared to Handel, is a ninny; + Others aver that to him Handel + Is scarcely fit to hold the candle. + Strange that such difference should be + 'Twixt tweedledum and tweedledee! + +When the withdrawal of both his rivals left Handel in sole possession +of the field, he quarrelled with some of his principal performers, and +thereupon ensued new scenes of discord. Ladies of the highest rank +entered with enthusiasm into the strife; and while some flourished +their fans aloft on the side of Faustina, whom Handel had introduced +in order to supersede Cuzzoni, another party, headed by the Countess +of Pembroke, espoused the cause of the depressed songstress, and made +her take an oath on the Holy Gospels, that she would never submit to +accept a lower salary than her rival. The humorous poets of the day +took up the theme, Pope introduced it into his _Dunciad_, and +Arbuthnot published two witty brochures, entitled _Harmony in an +Uproar_, and _The Devil to Pay at St James's_. The result of these and +other contests, in which Handel gradually lost ground, was the +establishment of a rival Opera at Lincoln's Inn Fields. It was +patronised by the Prince of Wales and most of the nobles; and not even +the presence of the king and queen, who continued the steady friends +of Handel, could attract for him an audience at the Haymarket. It +became quite fashionable to decry his compositions as beneath the +notice of musical connoisseurs. Politics, it is said, came to mingle +in the controversy; and those who held by the king's Opera were as +certainly Tories, as those who went to the nobility's were Whigs. Of +course all this was very foolish, and very wrong; yet in our days of +stately conventionality, when perfect impassibility is deemed the +highest style of breeding, there is something refreshing in reading of +such animated scenes in high life. The crowning act of hostility to +Handel, was when the Earl of Middlesex himself assumed the profession +of manager of Italian operas, and engaged the king's theatre, with a +new composer, and a new company. + +Handel had, for some time, been meditating a withdrawal from the +Opera, in order to devote himself exclusively to the composition of +sacred music, of which he had already produced several fine specimens. +He was wont to say, that this was an occupation 'better suited to the +circumstances of a man advancing in years, than that of adapting music +to such vain and trivial words as the musical drama generally consists +of.' The truth was, he had discovered his forte. But the tide of +fashionable feeling ran so strongly against him, that even the +performance of the oratorios of _Saul_ and _Israel in Egypt_ scarcely +paid expenses. Unwilling to submit his forthcoming _Messiah_ also to +the caprices of fashion, and the malignity of party, he wisely +embraced an opportunity which was opened to him of bringing out this +great work in Dublin, under singularly favourable auspices, and +crossed the Channel in November 1741. + +Those who are acquainted with the Irish metropolis--not merely with +the handsome streets and squares eastward, which are now the abodes of +gentility, but with the dirty thoroughfares about the cathedrals--have +observed the large houses which some of them contain, now let in +single rooms to a wretched population, and need scarcely be told that +they were once the abodes of wealth and luxury. Fishamble Street, in +this quarter of the town, is one of the oldest streets in Dublin. +'Under the eastern gable of the ancient cathedral of Christ's Church, +separated and hidden from it by a row of houses, it winds its crooked +course down the hill from Castle Street to the Liffey, as forlorn and +neglected as other old streets in its vicinity. A number of +trunkmakers' shops give it an aspect somewhat peculiar; miserable +alleys open from it on the right and left; a barber's pole or two +overhang the footway; and huxters' shops are frequent, with their +wonted array of articles more useful than ornamental. One would never +guess, looking at this old street, that it was once the festive resort +of the wealthy and refined. It needs an effort of imagination to +conceive of it as having witnessed the gay throng of fashion and +aristocracy; the vice-regal _cortege_; ladies, in hoops and feathers; +and "white-gloved beaux," in bag, and sword, and chapeau; with scores +of liveried footmen and pages; and the press of coaches, and chariots, +and sedan-chairs. Yet such was the scene often presented here in the +eighteenth century.' For see, in an oblique angle of the street, and +somewhat retired from the other houses, is a mean, neglected old +building, with a wooden porch, still known by name as the Fishamble +Street Theatre. This is the remaining part of what was originally 'the +great music-hall,' built by a charitable musical society, 'finished in +the most elegant manner, under the direction of Captain Castell,' and +opened to the public on the 2d October 1741. It was within these walls +that the notes of the _Messiah_ first sounded in the ears of an +enraptured audience, and here that its author entered on a new career +of fame. + +To prepare for the reception of this, his master-work, Handel first +gave a series of musical entertainments, consisting of some of his +earlier oratorios, and other kindred compositions. They commanded a +most distinguished auditory, including the Lord-Lieutenant and his +family, and were crowned with success in a pecuniary point of view, +answering, and indeed exceeding, the composer's highest expectations. +In a letter written at this time to Mr C. Jennens, who had selected +the words of the _Messiah_, and composed those of a cantata which had +been much admired, he describes, in glowing colours, his happy +position, and informs him that he had set the _Messiah_ to music +before he left England--thus inferentially affording additional +evidence that it had not been performed there. Moreover, the +advertisements call it Handel's _new_ oratorio, and boast that it was +composed expressly for the charitable purpose to which the proceeds of +its first performance were consecrated. This is confirmed by reference +to the minutes of one at least of these institutions, in which it +appears that Handel was in correspondence with them before he had +completed his composition. + +The people of Dublin are passionately fond of music, and charitable +musical societies form a peculiar and interesting feature of its +society during the last century. These were academies or clubs, each +of which was attached in the way of patronage to some particular +charity, to which its revenues were consecrated. Whitelaw, in his +_History of Dublin_ (1758), mentions a very aristocratic musical +academy, which held its meetings in the Fishamble Street Hall, under +the presidency of the Earl of Mornington--the Duke of Wellington's +father. His lordship was himself the leader of the band; among the +violoncellos were Lord Bellamont, Sir John Dillon, and Dean Burke; +among the flutes, Lord Lucan; at the harpsichord, Lady Freke; and so +on. Their meetings, we are told, were private, except once a year, +when they performed in public for a charitable purpose, and admitted +all who chose to buy tickets. It does not appear, however, that this +academy was identical with the association that built the hall, and +whose concerts seem to have been much more frequent, as well as its +benevolent designs more extensive. It was called, _par eminence_, The +Charitable Musical Society; the others having distinctive designations +besides. The objects of its benevolence were the prisoners of the +Marshalseas, who were in circumstances similar to those which, many +years afterwards, elicited the benevolent labours of John Howard: +confined often for trifling debts, pining in hopeless misery, and +without food, save that received from the casual hand of charity. This +society made a daily distribution of bread among some of these, while +others were released through their humane exertions. On the 17th of +March 1741, they report, that 'the Committee of the Charitable Musical +Society appointed for this year to visit the Marshalseas in this city, +and release the prisoners confined therein for debt, have already +released 188 miserable persons of both sexes. They offered a +reasonable composition to the creditors, and many of the creditors +being in circumstances almost equally miserable with their debtors, +due regard was paid by the committee to this circumstance.' Their +funds must have improved considerably after the erection of their +Music Hall, which seems to have been the largest room of the kind in +Dublin, and in frequent requisition for public concerts, balls, and +other reunions where it was desirable to assemble a numerous company, +or employ a large orchestra. The hire of the hall on such occasions +would form a handsome addition to the proceeds of their own concerts. + +It was to these funds that the proceeds of the first performance of +the _Messiah_ were devoted, in connection with those of Mercer's +Hospital, an old and still eminent school of surgery--and the Royal +Infirmary, which still exists in Jervis Street as a place for the +immediate reception of persons meeting with sudden accidents. The +performance was duly advertised in _Faulkner's Journal_, with the +additional announcement, that 'many ladies and gentlemen who are +well-wishers to this noble and grand charity, for which this oratorio +was composed, request it as a favour that the ladies who honour this +performance with their presence would be pleased to come without +hoops, as it will greatly increase the charity by making room for more +company.' In another advertisement it is added, that 'the gentlemen +are desired to come without their swords.' + +On the ensuing Saturday, the following account was given of this +memorable festival: 'On Tuesday last (April 13, 1742), Mr Handel's +sacred grand oratorio, the _Messiah_, was performed in the New Musick +Hall in Fishamble Street; the best judges allowed it to be the most +finished piece of musick. Words are wanting to express the exquisite +delight it afforded to the admiring, crowded audience. The sublime, +the grand, and the tender, adapted to the most elevated, majestick, +and moving words, conspired to transport and charm the ravished heart +and ear. It is but just to Mr Handel, that the world should know he +generously gave the money arising from this grand performance to be +equally shared by the Society for Relieving Prisoners, the Charitable +Infirmary, and Mercer's Hospital, for which they will ever gratefully +remember his name; and that the gentlemen of the two choirs, Mr +Dubourg, Mrs Avolio, and Mrs Cibber, who all performed their parts to +admiration, acted also on the same disinterested principle, satisfied +with the deserved applause of the publick, and the conscious pleasure +of promoting such useful and extensive charity. There were above 700 +people in the room, and the sum collected for that noble and pious +charity amounted to about L.400, out of which L.127 goes to each of +the three great and pious charities.' + +Handel remained five months longer in the Irish metropolis, during +which period it is recorded that 'he diverted the thoughts of the +people from every other pursuit.' On his return to London in August +1742, he was warmly received by his former friends; his enemies, too, +were greatly conciliated. His having relinquished all concern with +operatic affairs, and opened for himself a new and undisputed sphere, +removed the old grounds of hostility; while the enthusiastic reception +which he had met in Dublin, had served as an effectual reproach to +those whose malignity had forced him to seek for justice there. +Notwithstanding some difficulties at the outset of his new career at +home, he lived to realise an income of above L.2000 a year, and never +found it necessary or convenient to revisit Ireland; but the custom of +performing his oratorios and cantatas for the benefit of medical +charities was maintained for many years; and it is believed that the +works of no other composer have so largely contributed to the relief +of human suffering. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _An Account of the Visit of Handel to Dublin._ By Horatio +Townsend, Esq. London: Orr & Co. + + + + +ROYAL GARDENING. + + +Gardening has frequently been one of the most exhilarating recreations +of royalty. When Lysander, the Lacedemonian general, brought +magnificent presents to Cyrus, the younger son of Darius, who piqued +himself more on his integrity and politeness than on his rank and +birth, the prince conducted his illustrious guest through his gardens, +and pointed out to him their varied beauties. Lysander, struck with so +fine a prospect, praised the manner in which the grounds were laid +out, the neatness of the walks, the abundance of fruits planted with +an art which knew how to combine the useful with the agreeable; the +beauty of the parterres, and the glowing variety of flowers exhaling +odours universally throughout the delightful scene. 'Everything charms +and transports me in this place,' said Lysander to Cyrus; 'but what +strikes me most is the exquisite taste and elegant industry of the +person who drew the plan of these gardens, and gave it the fine order, +wonderful disposition, and happiness of arrangement which I cannot +sufficiently admire.' Cyrus replied: 'It was I that drew the plan, and +entirely marked it out; and many of the trees which you see were +planted by my own hands.' 'What!' exclaimed Lysander with surprise, +and viewing Cyrus from head to foot--'is it possible, that with those +purple robes and splendid vestments, those strings of jewels and +bracelets of gold, those buskins so richly embroidered; is it possible +that you could play the gardener, and employ your royal hands in +planting trees?' 'Does that surprise you?' said Cyrus. 'I assure you, +that when my health permits, I never sit down to table without having +fatigued myself, either in military exercise, rural labour, or some +other toilsome employment, to which I apply myself with pleasure.' +Lysander, still more amazed, pressed Cyrus by the hand, and said: 'You +are truly happy, and deserve your high fortune, since you unite it +with virtue.' + + + + +UNDER THE PALMS. + +BY CALDER CAMPBELL. + + + Under the palm-trees on India's shore + Ne'er shall I wander at morning or eve; + Hearts there have withered, but still in the core + Of mine springs the memory of feelings that give + Green thoughts in sunshine and bright hopes in gloom; + Friendship, which love's loud emotions becalms: + Oh, happy was I, in those bowers of perfume, + Under the palms! + + Go forth, little children; the wood's insect-hum + Invites ye; expand there, like buds in the sun; + Leave schools and their studies for days that _will_ come, + And let thy first lessons from nature be won! + Teachings hath nature most sage and most sweet-- + The music that swells in the tree-linnet's psalms; + So taught, my young heart learned to prize that retreat + Under the palms! + + The odour of jasmines afloat on the breeze, + That woke in the dawning the birds on each bough; + The frolicsome squirrels, that scampered at case + 'Mid lithe leaves and soft moss that smiled down below: + Heaps piled up of mangoes, all fragrant and rich; + Guavas pink-cored, such a wealth of sweet alms + Presented by bright maids, whose sweet songs bewitch + Under the palms! + + Pale, yellow bananas, with satiny pulp + That tastes like some dainty of sugar and cream; + Blithe-kernelled pomegranates, just gathered to help + A feast fit to serve in the bowers of a dream! + Milk, foaming and snowy; rice, swelling and sweet; + Iced sherbet that cools, and spiced ginger that warms: + Oh, simple our banquet in that dear retreat + Under the palms! + + A tinkling of lutes and a toning of voices-- + Of young maiden voices just fresh from the bath; + A sprinkling of rosewater cool, that rejoices + The scented grass screening our bower from the path; + Trim baskets of melons, new gathered, beside + Fair bunches of blossoms that heal all sick qualms; + And books, when to reading our fancies subside, + Under the palms! + + Or silence at eve when the sun hath gone down, + Or the sound of _one_ cithern makes melody near; + While a beautiful boy, that hath ne'er known a frown, + Softly murmurs a tale of the East in the ear; + Of peris, that cluster round flower-stalks like fruit-- + Of genii, that breathe amid blossoms and balms-- + Of gazelle-eyed houris, that play on sweet lutes + Under the palms! + + Of roses, that nightly unfold their flower-leaves + To welcome the lays of the loved nightingale-- + Of spirits, that home in an Eden of Eves + Where the sun never scorches, the strength never fails! + So singing, so playing, Sleep steals on us all, + Enclasping us gently within her soft arms;-- + Let me dream that the moonbeams still over me fall + Under the palms! + + * * * * * + +Printed and Published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, High Street, Edinburgh. +Also sold by W. S. ORR, Amen Corner, London; D. N. CHAMBERS, 55 West +Nile Street, Glasgow; and J. M'GLASHAN, 50 Upper Sackville Street, +Dublin.--Advertisements for Monthly Parts are requested to be sent to +MAXWELL & CO., 31 Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, London, to whom all +applications respecting their insertion must be made. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 455, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH *** + +***** This file should be named 23226.txt or 23226.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/2/2/23226/ + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Richard J. 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