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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/77141-0.txt b/77141-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d1931c --- /dev/null +++ b/77141-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,859 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77141 *** + + + + + THE PENNY MAGAZINE + + OF THE + + Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + 31.] PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. [September 29, 1832 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + BRITISH MUSEUM.--No. 6. + + [Illustration: The Portland or Barberini Vase.] + +One of the proudest ornaments of the Museum is the beautiful and +celebrated Portland, or, as it used to be called, Barberini Vase. It +stands on a table in the middle of the small ante-room at the head of +the stairs leading to the gallery of antiquities. This vase is in every +respect among the most exquisite productions of art. It is undoubtedly a +work of Grecian genius, and is fortunately still as perfect as when it +left the hands of its fabricator. Its dimensions are small, its height +being only about ten, and its diameter at the broadest part only six +inches. But its shape is very elegant, the swell of the lower and +central portion diminishing gradually to a narrow neck, and that again +gracefully opening towards the lip, like an unfolding flower. It is +supported by two handles, inserted at the concave or narrow part. The +material is a dark but transparent blue substance, undoubtedly a sort of +vitrified paste, of glass, although long supposed to be some species of +stone. Upon this the figures, formed of a delicate opaque white +substance, are laid in bas-relief; and so firmly are they united to the +ground upon which they are thus fixed, that they seem rather to have +grown out of it, and to be a part of itself, than to be fastened on by +art. It is difficult, indeed, to conceive by what process the union +between the two substances was effected. They must of course have been +first brought into contact when both were in a soft state, and then +apparently they were run together by heat. If the action of fire, +however, was employed for this purpose, it has not injured the finest +line in any of the figures. Every stroke is as sharp and unbroken as in +the most finished delineations that were ever drawn by the pencil, or +cut by the graver, or struck from the die. Of the scene represented no +satisfactory explanation has yet been given, and therefore any +description of the figures would be little better than a catalogue of +unconnected particulars. But we may say in general that they are +fashioned with admirable grace and animation, and are full of expression +in every look and attitude. It is impossible not to feel that there is +great dramatic force and pathos in the sketch, even without being able +to interpret it completely. The Portland vase was discovered about the +middle of the sixteenth century, enclosed in a sarcophagus, within the +monument of the Emperor Alexander Severus and his mother Julia Mamæa, +commonly called the Monte del Grano, about two miles and a half from +Rome, on the Frescati road. The sarcophagus itself, which is a very +noble work of art, is still in Rome, and the vase also remained for more +than two centuries in the palace of the Barberini family in the same +city, of which it was considered to form one of the chief ornaments. At +last it fell into the hands of Sir William Hamilton, from whom it was +purchased nearly forty years ago by the Duke of Portland. A mould of the +Barberini vase was taken at Rome before it came into the possession of +Sir William Hamilton, by the gem-engraver Pechler; and from this the +late Mr. Tassie, the celebrated modeller, took sixty casts in plaster of +Paris, and then broke the mould. Some very beautiful imitations of it +have also been fabricated by the Wedgewoods, in which not only the +shape, but the colour of the original has been attempted to be +preserved. Modern art, however, cannot imitate the vitrified appearance +of the material in the ancient vase. + + + --------------------- + + + ON THE QUADRATURE OF THE CIRCLE. + +We have undertaken this article, because we have reason to know, that +there are still some persons who, from ignorance of the real question, +are turning their attention to this useless and exploded problem, and +deceiving themselves and their neighbours into the belief that they have +succeeded in doing that which has been repeatedly shown to be +impossible. By the _rectification_ of a circle is meant the finding of a +straight line which shall be equal in length to the circumference of a +given circle, or the two ends of which when bent round it should exactly +meet; by the _quadrature_ of a circle is meant the finding a square +which shall be equal in surface to a given circle, that is, to the whole +space contained inside its circumference. There is no difficulty in +doing these problems in a manner more than sufficiently correct for all +useful purposes. If, for example, we take a circle as large as the +earth’s orbit, and an atom as small as the smallest insect which a +microscope ever showed in a drop of water, nothing would be more easy +than to find the circumference of this circle so nearly, that the error +committed should be less than the length of that atom. The problem which +has puzzled so many generations, is the finding what is called a +_geometrical_ quadrature of the circle. What this is we proceed to +explain. It is the object of geometry to find out, by reasoning, all +truths which relate to the various figures which a draughtsman can +construct. Not that these figures are precisely the objects of +geometrical reasoning; for a geometrical line has no breadth or +thickness, but only length, while the line we draw with a pencil has a +small degree both of breadth and thickness. It is agreed by geometers to +take as little for granted as possible, and to make all their +propositions arise out of the smallest number of simple truths. It is +also agreed to imagine the existence of as few figures as possible. It +was therefore the practice of the ancient geometers to assume no +problems except the following:--1. A straight line can be drawn from one +point to another. 2. A straight line, when finished, can afterwards be +made longer. 3. A circle can be drawn with any point as a centre, and +any line as a radius. All lines, except the straight line and circle, +and afterwards the conic sections, were called _mechanical_, as +distinguished from geometrical lines; and if any problem arose, the +first attempt was always to solve it geometrically, and only when that +failed, were mechanical means resorted to, or were other curves +constructed, the construction of which _once granted_, solved the +problem. The names geometrical and mechanical, as applied to distinguish +one sort of solution from another, may be improper; but that is not the +question. When a man asserts that he has found a _geometrical_ +quadrature of the circle, he either does or does not use the word in the +sense of the ancient geometers. If he does, and his solution is correct, +he has certainly solved the problem; but that no one has yet done this +is universally admitted. If he does _not_ use the word geometrical in +the ancient signification, his solution has nothing to do with the +problem which has hitherto remained unsolved. Many ways have been +discovered of finding the area of a circle, which take something more +for granted than the use of the ruler and compasses only, and any +person, with a reasonable knowledge of mathematics, might add a dozen to +the number in a couple of hours. So much for the geometrical solution of +the problem. + +It was proved long before the Christian era, that the circumferences of +two different circles are to one another as the radii, that is, whatever +number of times one circumference contains its radius, the other +circumference contains its radius as many times, or whatever fraction +one radius is of its circumference, the same fraction is the other +radius of its circumference. From this it follows, that if any number of +circles were taken, having for radii a foot, a yard, a mile, &c., +whatever number of feet and parts of feet would go round the first, the +same number of miles and similar parts of miles would go round the +third, and so on. Hence it became a question of importance to discover +what was the number of units and parts of units contained in the +circumference of a circle whose radius was the unit. Again, it was +proved that the number of square feet and parts of square feet in a +circle of one foot radius, was the same as the number of square miles +and similar parts of square miles contained in the circle of one mile +radius. Archimedes showed that a circle of one foot in radius contained +nearly 3 square feet and ⅐ of a square foot, which does not differ from +the truth by so much as ⅕ of a square inch, and gives the circle too +great by about its three-thousandth part. An ancient measure of the +Hindoos makes it 3 square feet and 177 parts out of 1250 of a square +foot. This is much nearer to the truth, differing from it by about +one-thousandth part of a square inch, but still a little too much. +Metius, who flourished in the beginning of the seventeenth century, +found that if a square foot be divided into 113 parts, the circle of one +foot radius contains about 355 of these parts; a result of surprising +accuracy when the simplicity of the numbers is considered; it is too +great by about the fifty-thousandth part of a square inch. These numbers +may be very easily recollected, since, when put together, they give the +first three odd numbers, each repeated twice; thus, 113355. + +The following simple rules will enable every one of our readers to find +the circumference of a circle. If any one of them would go direct round +the world, he would by means of them, if the earth were a perfect +sphere, be able to tell the length of his journey within less than four +yards. From them the word _inch_ may be taken out, and any other unit +substituted. + +To find the length of the circumference of a circle, multiply the number +of _inches_ in the diameter (or twice the radius) by 355, and divide the +product by 113. The result is the number of _inches_ in the +circumference. + +To find the area, or surface of a circle, multiply the number of +_inches_ in the radius by itself, and that product by 355; divide the +result by 113, the quotient of which is the number of square _inches_ in +the area. + +We might go on to describe still more accurate methods; it will be +sufficient to say, that the latest of them gives the area of a circle +true to 127 decimal places, as it is called; that is, if the radius be +1000, &c. feet, the ciphers being 127 in number, the area of the circle +will be obtained without an error of a square foot. + +Still this is only an approximation, and however nearly the +circumference of a circle has been obtained, it has never been obtained +exactly. Numberless attempts have been made to find the exact ratio of +the circumference to the diameter, but without success; the reason +being, as was afterwards proved, that the thing is impossible. We can +now demonstrate that the ratio of the circumference to the diameter +cannot be _accurately_ expressed in numbers; all we can do with numbers +is, to express it as nearly as we please. Thus, using decimals, we may +say that the circumference of a circle whose diameter is 1 is greater +than 3 and less than 4; greater than 3·1 and less than 3·2; greater than +3·14 and less than 3·15, and so on, assigning nearer and nearer +fractions, between which it must lie, but never coming to an exact +result. Almost every projector who imagines he can solve this problem, +is sure to produce some number or fraction as the _exact_ ratio of the +circumference to the diameter; and it is observable that the less his +knowledge of geometry, the more easily does he overcome the difficulty, +and the more obstinately does he believe himself in the right. Some have +been found hardy enough to deny the common propositions of geometry, in +order to establish their own conclusion on this point. Others, totally +ignorant of geometry, hearing that a circle could not be _exactly_ +measured, have imagined that the word _exact_ was used in the sense in +which a carpenter would take it, who, very properly for his purpose, +considers two rods to be of exactly the same length, when they do not +differ to the naked eye. These usually cut a circle out in wood, measure +it with a bit of string, pronounce their result to be perfectly +accurate, and are very much surprised that an ungrateful world does not +perceive their claim to one of the first places in the ranks of science. +We shall give some anecdotes connected with this subject, principally +extracted from Montucla’s History of the Mathematics. + +In 1585, a Spanish friar published his quadrature of the circle. His +preface is a dialogue between himself and the circle, who thanks him in +most affectionate terms for having solved the problem. The circle, +however, did not in this case attend to the maxim, “Know thyself,” any +more than some of its squares have since done, for the pretended +quadrature was utterly wrong. The author of it was a modest man, and +ascribed all the honour to the Virgin Mary. Another Knight of the Round +Shield found out by his method that the first book of Euclid was all a +mistake. About the same time a merchant of Rochelle discovered not only +the quadrature of the circle, but with it, and depending upon it, a +method of converting Jews, Pagans, and Mahometans to Christianity. In +1671, an anonymous writer published a treatise with the following title: +‘Demonstration of the Divine Theorem of the quadrature of the circle, of +the bisection of the angle, and of the perpetual motion, and the +connexion of this theorem with the Vision of Ezekiel and the Revelation +of St. John.’ A certain Cluver found out that this problem depended upon +another, which he expressed thus: “Construere mundum divinæ menti +analogum.” The literal translation of this (the _sense_ is unknown) is, +“To build a world resembling the divine mind.” But the most singular +person was one Richard White, an English Jesuit, who, having once +undertaken to square the circle, was afterwards convinced by argument +that he was in the wrong which never happened to any other of this class +of speculators, except perhaps to one Mathulon, a Frenchman of Lyons. +This man offered to give a thousand crowns to any one who would detect +an error in his solution. It was done to his satisfaction, but he +refused to pay the money, and a court of justice decided that it should +be given to the poor. So late as 1750 an Englishman, Henry Sullamar, +found out the area of the circle by means of the number 666 mentioned in +the Revelations. But in 1753, a Captain in the French Guards, did more +for in squaring the circle, which he did with a piece of turf, he hit +upon what he thought was a most obvious connexion between this and the +doctrines of original sin and the Trinity. He offered to bet three +hundred thousand francs that he was right, and actually deposited ten +thousand of them. A young lady, and several other persons easily won the +wager, and brought actions for the money; but the courts declared that +the bet was void. + +Such are a few of the most remarkable aberrations of the human mind on +this problem. They show, in the most convincing manner, that presumption +is rarely confined to one subject in the same mind, and that a man who, +without studying a science, conceives himself to be more knowing than +those who have passed their lives in the pursuit of it, must previously +have brought himself to believe that he is almost a God, and is but one +step removed from taking the government of the universe out of the hands +of its Creator, and arranging it according to his own improved notions. + +With regard to a geometrical solution, and the possibility or +impossibility of it, we shall now say a few words. We have already +observed that an arithmetical solution is certainly impossible, that is, +there is no number or fraction which _exactly_ represents the +circumference of the circle where the radius is a unit. In 1668, James +Gregory, a well-known name in geometry, asserted that a _geometrical_ +quadrature was impossible, that is, no use of the ruler and compasses +could give a square of exactly the same dimensions as a given circle. Of +this he published his demonstration, which was attacked by Huyghens, +another geometer of the same time. The dispute has interested +mathematicians so little for the last century and a half, that few of +them seem to have cared which was right. The _historians_ of mathematics +have, of course, been obliged to give an opinion, and yet Montucla and +Dr. Hutton both forbear to decide the question, each being apparently +somewhat inclined to believe that J. Gregory was right. The +demonstration of the latter appears to us to render it extremely +probable that the geometrical quadrature is impossible; but we will not +venture a positive opinion where such respectable authorities have +declined to give one. But we would recommend any one who imagines he can +give this solution, to learn geometry, to examine the demonstration of +J. Gregory, which he will find in the library of the British Museum, and +find out the error; and it deserves some attention, since neither +Montucla nor Hutton, both very well informed mathematicians, would +positively say it was false. + +We would not have entered upon this subject at such length, if it were +not that there appear, from time to time, pretended solutions of this +problem. To any one who is ignorant of geometry, we would recommend to +be sure of two things before he undertakes it; first, that he has an +imagination which will set common sense at defiance, for without this he +will never out-herod Herod so far as to produce any thing worthy of +notice, after the instances which we have mentioned; secondly, that he +has his own good opinion to a very great degree, for otherwise his peace +of mind will be disturbed, either by the neglect or ridicule which it +will be his fate to meet with. To one who understands geometry, and who +imagines himself to be the person destined by Providence to work this +wonder, we have not a word to say; if the study of Euclid has not been +sufficient to teach him more sense, or at least to induce him to wait +until he knows more, we should almost rival him in absurdity, if we +thought him a proper subject for the language of common sense. + + + --------------------- + + + THE BANANA, OR PLANTAIN. + + [Illustration: The Banana, or Plantain Tree, with Cocoa-Nut Trees in + the back-ground.] + +The banana, or plantain, forms a principal article of food to a great +portion of mankind within and near the tropics, offering its produce +indifferently to the inhabitants of equinoctial Asia and America, of +tropical Africa, and of the islands of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. +Wherever the mean heat of the year exceeds 75° of Fahrenheit, the banana +is one of the most important and interesting objects for the cultivation +of man. All hot countries appear equally to favour the growth of its +fruit; and it has even been cultivated in Cuba, in situations where the +thermometer descends to 45° of Fahrenheit. + +The tree which bears this useful fruit is of considerable size: it rises +with an herbaceous stalk, about five or six inches in diameter at the +surface of the ground, but tapering upwards to the height of fifteen or +twenty feet. The leaves are in a cluster at the top; they are very +large, being about six feet long and two feet broad: the middle rib is +strong, but the rest of the leaf is tender, and apt to be torn by the +wind. The leaves grow with great rapidity after the stalk has attained +its proper height. The spike of flowers rises from the centre of the +leaves to the height of about four feet. At first the flowers are +inclosed in a sheath, but, as they come to maturity, that drops off. The +fruit is about an inch in diameter, eight or nine inches long, and bent +a little on one side. As it ripens it turns yellow; and when ripe, it is +filled with a pulp of a luscious sweet taste. + +The banana is not known in an uncultivated state. The wildest tribes of +South America, who depend upon this fruit for their subsistence, +propagate the plant by suckers. Eight or nine months after the sucker +has been planted, the banana begins to form its clusters; and the fruit +may be collected in the tenth and eleventh months. When the stalk is +cut, the fruit of which has ripened, a sprout is put forth, which again +bears fruit in three months. The whole labour of cultivation which is +required for a plantation of bananas is to cut the stalks laden with +ripe fruit, and to give the plants a slight nourishment, once or twice a +year, by digging round the roots. A spot of a little more than a +thousand square feet will contain from thirty to forty banana plants. A +cluster of bananas, produced on a single plant, often contains from one +hundred and sixty to one hundred and eighty fruits, and weighs from +seventy to eighty pounds. But reckoning the weight of a cluster only at +forty pounds, such a plantation would produce more than four thousand +pounds of nutritive substance. M. Humboldt calculates that as +thirty-three pounds of wheat and ninety-nine pounds of potatoes require +the same space as that in which four thousand pounds of bananas are +grown, the produce of bananas is consequently to that of wheat as 133:1, +and to that of potatoes as 44:1. + +The facility with which the banana can be cultivated has doubtless +contributed to arrest the progress of improvement in tropical regions. +In the new continent civilization first commenced on the mountains, in a +soil of inferior fertility. Necessity awakens industry, and industry +calls forth the intellectual powers of the human race. When these are +developed, man does not sit in a cabin, gathering the fruits of his +little patch of bananas, asking no greater luxuries, and proposing no +higher ends of life than to eat and to sleep. He subdues to his use all +the treasures of the earth by his labour and his skill; and he carries +his industry forward to its utmost limits, by the consideration that he +has active duties to perform. The idleness of the poor Indian keeps him, +where he has been for ages, little elevated above the inferior +animal;--the industry of the European, under his colder skies, and with +a less fertile soil, has surrounded him with all the blessings of +society--its comforts, its affections, its virtues, and its intellectual +riches. + + + --------------------- + + + FALLS OF THE CLYDE. + + [Illustration: View of Corra Linn.] + +The river Clyde in the neighbourhood of the town of Lanark presents, +according to the testimony of all travellers, some of the most romantic +and picturesque scenery in the world. We shall confine ourselves at +present to a short notice of the Linns or falls which have been so much +celebrated. The word _Linn_, we may remark, is the Gaelic _Leum_, and +signifies merely a fall or leap.[1] Its application to a cataract, or +fall of water, is general throughout Scotland. Burns has introduced the +word with very happy effect in his humorous and well-known song of +Duncan Grey, where, in describing the perplexity and despair of the +rejected suitor, he says-- + + “Duncan sighed baith out and in, + Grat his een baith bleer’d and blin’, + Spak o’ loupin’ owre a linn; + Ha, ha, the wooin’ o’t.” + +“_Spak o’ loupin’ owre a linn_,” writes one of his correspondents, the +Honourable A. Erskine, to the poet, “is a line of itself that should +make you immortal.” But to return to the linns on the Clyde. The first +precipice over which the river rushes, on its way from the hills, is +situated about two miles above Lanark--and is known by the name of +Bonnington Linn. It is a perpendicular rock of about twenty, or, as some +authorities state, thirty feet in height, over which the water after +having approached its brink in a broad sheet, smooth as a mirror, and +reflecting the forests that clothe its margin, tumbles impetuously into +a deep hollow or basin, where it is instantly ground into froth. A dense +mist continually hovers over this boiling cauldron. From this point +downwards the channel of the river assumes a chaotic appearance; instead +of the quiet and outspread waters above the fall, we have now a confined +and angry torrent forcing its way with the noise of thunder between +steep and meeting rocks, and over incessant impediments. The scenery on +both sides, however, is exquisitely rich and beautiful. A walk of about +half a mile, which may be said almost to overhang the river, leads to +the second and most famous of the falls, that called Corra Linn, from +the castle of Corra, now in ruins, which stands in its neighbourhood. +“The tremendous rocks around,” says the report on the parish of Lanark, +published in Sir John Sinclair’s Statistical Account of Scotland, “the +old castle upon the opposite bank, a corn-mill on the rock below, the +furious and impatient stream foaming over the rock, the horrid chasm and +abyss underneath your feet, heightened by the hollow murmur of the +water, and the screams of wild birds, form a spectacle at once +tremendous and pleasing. A summer-house or pavilion, is situated on a +high rocky bank, that overlooks the linn, built by Sir James Carmichael, +of Bonnington, in 1708. From its uppermost room it affords a very +striking prospect of the fall; for, all at once, on throwing your eyes +towards a mirror, on the opposite side of the room from the fall, you +see the whole tremendous cataract pouring as it were upon your head. The +Corra Linn, by measurement, is eighty-four feet in height. The river +does not rush over it in one uniform sheet like Bonnington Linn, but in +three different, though almost imperceptible, precipitate leaps. On the +southern bank, and when the sun shines, a rainbow is perpetually seen +forming itself upon the mist and fogs, arising from the violent dashing +of the waters,”--as Byron has beautifully sung of the Cataract of +Velino, in Italy:-- + + ⸻“On the verge, + From side to side beneath the glittering morn, + An Iris sits, amidst the infernal surge, + Like Hope upon a death-bed, and, unworn + Its steady dyes, while all around is torn + By the distracted waters, bears serene + Its brilliant hues with all their beams unshorn; + Resembling, ’mid the torture of the scene, + Love watching Madness with unalterable mien.” + +A short distance below Corra Linn is another fall called Dundaff Linn, +the appearance of which is also very beautiful, though it is only about +three feet and a half high. About three miles farther down, and a +considerable way past the town of Lanark, is the last of the falls, that +called Stonebyres Linn. It is a precipice, or rather a succession of +three precipices, making together a height of sixty-four feet. The same +general features of rugged rocks, here appearing in all their dreary +bareness, there concealed by trees and shrubs, of wild birds winging +their flight over the bounding cataract and mingling their screams with +its roar, and of cultivated nature in its most luxuriant beauty +contending all around with the sublimity of the untamed torrent, which +belong to Corra Linn, mark that of Stonebyres also, though with some +diminution of the romantic effect. A peculiar phenomenon which is to be +seen here, is that of the incessant endeavours of the salmon, in the +spawning season, to mount the lofty barrier by which they now find their +migration from the sea for the first time opposed. Their efforts, it is +almost needless to say, are quite unavailing. It is also stated that the +horse muscle, the pearl oyster, and some other species of fish, which +are found in great numbers below this fall, are never seen above it. +Trouts, however, have been observed to spring up the small ascent of +Dundaff Linn apparently without difficulty. + +----- + +Footnote 1: + + The word has also been derived from the Welsh _Linn_, signifying “a + lake” or “water.” This root is likewise found in the Greek language, + and its proper signification seems to be, “water.” + + + --------------------- + + + COWPER’S LINES ON THE RECEIPT OF HIS MOTHER’S PICTURE. + + Oh that those lips had language! Life has passed + With me but roughly since I heard thee last. + Those lips are thine,--thine own sweet smile I see + The same that oft in childhood solaced me; + Voice only fails, else how distinct they say, + “Grieve not, my child; chase all thy fears away!” + The meek intelligence of those dear eyes + (Blest be the art that can immortalize, + The art that baffles Time’s tyrannic claim + To quench it) here shines on me still the same. + + Faithful remembrancer of one so dear, + O welcome guest, though unexpected here! + Who bidst me honour with an artless song, + Affectionate, a mother lost so long. + I will obey, not willingly alone, + But gladly, as the precept were her own: + And, while that face renews my filial grief, + Fancy shall weave a charm for my relief, + Shall steep me in Elysian reverie, + A momentary dream, that thou art she. + + My mother! when I learnt that thou wast dead, + Say, wast thou conscious of the tears I shed? + Hover’d thy spirit o’er thy sorrowing son, + Wretch even then, life’s journey just begun? + Perhaps thou gav’st me, though unfelt, a kiss; + Perhaps a tear, if souls can weep in bliss, + Ah, that maternal smile! it answers--Yes. + I heard the bell tolled on thy burial day, + I saw the hearse that bore thee slow away, + And, turning from my nursery window, drew + A long, long sigh, and wept a last adieu! + But was it such? It was.--Where thou art gone, + Adieus and farewells are a sound unknown, + May I but meet thee on that peaceful shore, + The parting word shall pass my lips no more! + Thy maidens, grieved themselves at my concern, + Oft gave me promise of thy quick return; + What ardently I wished, I long believed, + And disappointed still, was still deceived. + By expectation every day beguiled, + Dupe of to-morrow even from a child. + Thus many a sad to-morrow came and went, + Till all my stock of infant sorrow spent, + I learned, at last, submission to my lot, + But, though I less deplored thee, ne’er forgot. + + Where once we dwelt, our name is heard no more, + Children not thine have trod my nursery floor; + And where the gardener Robin, day by day, + Drew me to school along the public way, + Delighted with my bauble coach, and wrapt + In scarlet mantle warm, and velvet cap, + ’Tis now become a history little known, + That once we called the pastoral house our own. + Short-lived possession! but the record fair, + That memory keeps of all thy kindness there, + Still outlives many a storm, that has effaced + A thousand other themes less deeply traced. + Thy nightly visits to my chamber made + That thou mightst know me safe and warmly laid; + Thy morning bounties ere I left my home, + The biscuit, or confectionary plum; + The fragrant waters on my cheeks bestowed + By thy own hand, till fresh they shone and glowed, + All this, and more endearing still than all, + Thy constant flow of love, that knew no fall, + Ne’er roughened by those cataracts and breaks + That humour interposed too often makes; + All this, still legible in memory’s page, + And still to be so to my latest age, + Adds joy to duty, makes me glad to pay + Such honours to thee as my numbers may; + Perhaps a frail memorial, but sincere; + Not scorn’d in heaven, though little noticed here. + + Could Time, his flight reversed, restore the hours, + When, playing with thy vesture’s tissued flowers, + The violet, the pink, and jessamine, + I pricked them into paper with a pin, + (And thou wast happier than myself the while, + Wouldst softly speak, and stroke my head, and smile,) + Could those few pleasant hours again appear, + Might one wish bring them, would I wish them here? + I would not trust my heart,--the dear delight + Seems so to be desired, perhaps I might. + But no, what here we call our life is such, + So little to be loved, and thou so much, + That I should ill requite thee to constrain + Thy unbound spirit into bonds again. + + Thou, as a gallant bark from Albion’s coast, + The storms all weathered, and the ocean crossed, + Shoots into port at some well favoured isle, + Where spices breathe, and brighter seasons smile, + There sits quiescent on the floods, that show + Her beauteous form reflected clear below, + While airs impregnated with incense play + Around her, fanning light her streamers gay; + So thou, with sails how swift! hast reached the shore, + “Where tempests never beat, nor billows roar;” + And thy loved consort on the dangerous tide + Of life, long since has anchored by thy side. + But me, scarce hoping to attain that rest, + Always from port withheld, always distressed-- + Me howling blasts drive devious, tempest-tossed, + Sails ripped, seams opening wide, and compass lost, + And day by day some current’s thwarting force + Sets me more distant from a prosperous course. + Yet O! the thought, that thou art safe, and he! + That thought is joy, arrive what may to me. + My boast is not that I deduce my birth + From loins enthroned, and rulers of the earth; + But higher far my proud pretensions rise-- + The son of parents passed into the skies. + + And now farewell--Time unrevoked has run + His wonted course, yet what I wished is done. + By contemplation’s help, not sought in vain, + I seem to have lived my childhood o’er again; + To have renewed the joys that once were mine, + Without the sin of violating thine; + And, while the wings of fancy still are free, + And I can view this mimic show of thee, + Time has but half succeeded in his theft-- + Thyself removed, thy power to soothe me left. + + + --------------------- + + + THE WEEK. + +September 29.--This day, popularly called Michaelmas, has been observed +in the Christian Church, at least since towards the close of the fifth +century, as the “Feast of St. Michael and All Angels.” St. Michael has +always enjoyed the reputation of preeminence over all the other angels +and archangels--and some theologians, indeed, have held that he is the +only archangel. The reverence paid to this name was equally great under +the Jewish dispensation as it has been since the introduction of +Christianity. The churches dedicated to St. Michael, in conformity to +this notion of his superior dignity, have been usually erected upon +elevated ground; that of St. Michael’s Mount, in Cornwall, is quoted as +an instance in this country. Michaelmas is now observed in England +principally as one of the four regular quarter days on which rents are +paid: but both here and in other parts of Christendom the day was +anciently, among all classes, one of distinguished hospitality and +festive enjoyment. Our custom of dining on goose at Michaelmas has given +occasion to the expenditure of a great deal of antiquarian ingenuity in +the attempt to trace its origin: but it seems to have arisen merely from +the circumstance of the bird being naturally in season at this time of +the year. Evidence has been produced of its existence so far back as +about the middle of the fifteenth century, and it may possibly be much +older. The old poet Gascoigne, in the work called his ‘Posies,’ +published in 1575, thus alludes to this and other similar customs, which +appear to have originated in the same way:-- + + “And when the tenants come + To pay their quarter’s rent, + They bring some fowl at Midsummer, + A dish of fish in Lent; + At Christmas a capon, + At Michaelmas a goose, + And somewhat else at New-year’s tide, + For fear their lease fly loose.” + +September 29.--The anniversary of the birth of Nelson. Horatio Nelson +was born in 1758, at the parsonage-house of Burnham-Thorpe, in Norfolk, +of which parish his father was rector. He went to sea at the age of +twelve, as a midshipman. In 1777 he was made a lieutenant, and in 1779 a +post-captain. He now went out to the West Indies in command of the +Hinchinbroke, and distinguished himself by several gallant exploits on +that station. While here he married Mrs. Nesbit, the widow of a +physician, by whom however he had no family. But the most splendid part +of Nelson’s career commenced with the war of 1793. It would be +altogether impossible for us here to present even the most rapid recital +of the numerous actions in which he bore a part from this date till his +death. Among many bright names which illuminate this part of the naval +history of England, his shines the brightest of all. Wherever the cannon +thundered on the deep, it might be said, there was Nelson. When early in +1798 he presented his claim for a pension, in consequence of the recent +loss of his right arm in an attack on Teneriffe, he stated in his +memorial that he had been present in more than a hundred engagements. On +occasion of his receiving that wound, which nearly proved fatal, he came +home for a short time to England; and Mr. Southey, by whom the story of +the hero’s life has been told with singular fascination, relates the +following anecdote in illustration of the popular feeling with which he +was regarded, which we transcribe as equally honourable to all the +parties concerned:-- + +“His sufferings from the lost limb were long and painful. A nerve had +been taken up in one of the ligatures at the time of the operation; and +the ligature, according to the practice of the French surgeons, was of +silk instead of waxed thread: this produced a constant irritation and +discharge; and the ends of the ligature being pulled every day, in hopes +of bringing it away, occasioned fresh agony. He had scarcely any +intermission of pain, day or night, for three months after his return to +England. Lady Nelson, at his earnest request, attended the dressing his +arm, till she had acquired sufficient resolution and skill to dress it +herself. One night, during this state of suffering, after a day of +constant pain, Nelson retired early to bed; in hope of enjoying some +respite by means of laudanum. He was at that time lodging in Bond +Street; and the family was soon disturbed by a mob knocking loudly and +violently at the door. The news of Duncan’s victory had been made +public, and the house was not illuminated. But when the mob were told +that Admiral Nelson lay there in bed, badly wounded, the foremost of +them made answer, ‘You shall hear no more from us to-night:’ and, in +fact, the feeling of respect and sympathy was communicated from one to +another with such effect, that, under the confusion of such a night, the +house was not molested again.” + +Nelson’s two greatest victories, as all our readers know, were those of +the Nile and of Trafalgar. The first was gained on the 1st of August, +1798, and effected the complete destruction of the enemy’s force, all +their ships, except two, being either captured or sunk. For this +brilliant achievement he was elevated to the peerage by the title of +Baron Nelson of the Nile. The battle of Trafalgar was fought on the 21st +of October, 1805; and there this renowned captain fell amidst the blaze +of the most splendid triumph ever gained upon the seas. In reference to +Nelson’s character as an officer, Mr. Southey says, “Never was any +commander more beloved. He governed men by their reason and their +affections: they knew that he was incapable of caprice or tyranny; and +they obeyed him with alacrity and joy; because he possessed their +confidence as well as their love. ‘Our Nel,’ they used to say, ‘is as +brave as a lion, and as gentle as a lamb.’ Severe discipline he +detested, though he had been bred in a severe school; he never inflicted +corporal punishment, if it were possible to avoid it; and when compelled +to enforce it, he who was familiar with wounds and death suffered like a +woman. In his whole life Nelson was never known to act unkindly towards +an officer. If he was asked to prosecute one for ill-behaviour, he used +to answer: ‘That there was no occasion for him to ruin a poor devil, who +was sufficiently his own enemy to ruin himself.’ ... To his midshipmen +he ever showed the most winning kindness, encouraging the diffident, +tempering the hasty, counselling and befriending both.” + +It is to be lamented that the private character of this gallant officer +was in his later years, deeply stained by an infatuated attachment, +which not only separated him from his wife, who ill deserved this +desertion, but also hurried him on one occasion, in order to gratify the +profligate and heartless woman who had obtained so unfortunate an +ascendancy over him, into the perpetration of an act, as foreign, we may +safely say, to his real nature, as it was opposed to humanity and to +justice. + + [Illustration: Horatio Lord Nelson.] + +October 3.--The birth-day of Dr. John Tillotson, one of the most eminent +of the English prelates. He was the son of Robert Tillotson, a clothier +of Sowerby, near Halifax, in Yorkshire, and here he was born in 1630. +His father, who was a rigid presbyterian, educated him in his own +principles. After having studied for some years at Clare Hall in the +University of Cambridge, young Tillotson became tutor in the family of +Prideaux, Cromwell’s Attorney-General. He had also taken orders as a +preacher among the Presbyterians; but, on the passing of the Act of +Uniformity soon after the King’s return, he submitted, and was presented +to the rectory of Cheshunt in Hertfordshire. Although, however, he had +thus conformed to the Established Church, he attached himself to that +party in it which was most favourably disposed to the communion he had +left; not perhaps the most common course with those who pass over from +one denomination, whether religious or political, to another. In 1664 he +married Miss French, daughter of Dr. French, Canon of Christ Church, and +of Robina, the sister of Oliver Cromwell. He had already obtained great +distinction as a pulpit-orator, and had been chosen to the honourable +office of preacher to the society of Lincoln’s Inn, from which so many +eminent men have stepped to the highest preferments in the church. Soon +after he was also made Dean of Canterbury and one of the Prebendaries of +St. Paul’s. It was while he was residing at his deanery in 1677 that the +incident occurred which first introduced him to the Prince of Orange. +About the end of that year the Prince arrived in Canterbury from London, +accompanied by his wife the Princess Mary, to whom he had just been +united, and whom he was conducting to Holland. They had been hurried +from London (in order to withdraw them from the entertainments and other +marks of respect which the public enthusiasm was eager to bestow upon +them) in such haste, that when they reached Canterbury they found +themselves so scantily supplied with money that they were obliged to +apply for a loan to the corporation. After deliberating upon the matter, +however, that body declined advancing the required sum. In this +emergency, Dr. Tillotson hastily collected all the plate as well as cash +which he possessed or could borrow from his friends, and making his way +with it to the Prince’s attendant, Mr. Bentinck, (afterwards Duke of +Portland,) requested that he would accept of it for the service of his +master. The Prince was extremely gratified by this proof of attachment, +and Dr. Tillotson was immediately introduced to their Highnesses. On the +Revolution, King William appointed him his Clerk of the Closet, and soon +after allowed him to exchange the deanery of Canterbury for that of St. +Paul’s. On the deposition of Archbishop Sancroft in 1691 for refusing to +take the oaths of allegiance to the new sovereign, Tillotson was +reluctantly prevailed upon to accept the See of Canterbury. His +elevation, in the peculiar circumstances in which it took place, exposed +him to a great deal of bitter obloquy from the high-church party, the +virulence of whose animosity was not diminished by the liberality and +toleration of his demeanour in his high office, and the desire he +manifested rather to conciliate the adversaries of the establishment by +the removal of all unnecessary barriers of separation, than to retain +what occasioned their conscientious opposition for the mere sake of +abiding by whatever had once been adopted, and attempting to preserve a +formal and useless consistency. He was carried off by an attack of +paralysis after an illness of five days, on the 24th of November, 1694, +having held the primacy only about three years, during which short +space, however, he had become completely wearied and disgusted with its +cares and troubles. Archbishop Tillotson’s Sermons, commonly printed in +three volumes folio, or in ten volumes octavo, are still perhaps more +popular and more generally read than those of any other of our old +theological writers, except perhaps Dr. South, &c. They are written +rather in an easy than in a very polished style, and have no pretensions +to eloquence of the highest sort; but they are marked by a manly +character both of expression and of thought, and by very considerable +powers of argument and persuasion. The author, as has been already +noticed, was one of the most favourite preachers of his day. + + + --------------------- + + + ⁂ By the accidental substitution of one cut for another, we gave, in + No. 28, a view described as the “Remains of the Parthenon,” which is + really a representation of the Temple of Apollo Epicurius, near + Phygalia, and which was intended to accompany an account of the + Phygalian Marbles in the British Museum. We shall add a view of the + Parthenon to the next article on the Elgin Marbles. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + ⁂ The Office of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge is at + 59, Lincoln’s Inn Fields. + + LONDON:--CHARLES KNIGHT, PALL-MALL EAST. + + _Shopkeepers and Hawkers may be supplied Wholesale by the following + Booksellers, of whom, also, any of the previous Numbers may be had:--_ + + _London_, GROOMBRIDGE, Panyer Alley, Paternoster Row. + _Bath_, SIMMS. + _Birmingham_, DRAKE. + _Bristol_, WESTLEY and Co. + _Carlisle_, THURNAM; and SCOTT. + _Derby_, WILKINS and SON. + _Doncaster_, BROOKE and CO. + _Exeter_, BALLE. + _Falmouth_, PHILIP. + _Hull_, STEPHENSON. + _Leeds_, BAINES and NEWSOME. + _Lincoln_, BROOKE and SONS. + _Liverpool_, WILLMER and SMITH. + _Manchester_, ROBINSON; and WEBB and SIMMS. + _Newcastle-upon-Tyne_, CHARNLEY. + _Norwich_, JARROLD and SON. + _Nottingham_, WRIGHT. + _Oxford_, SLATTER. + _Portsea_, HORSEY, Jun. + _Sheffield_, RIDGE. + _Worcester_, DEIGHTON. + _Dublin_, WAKEMAN. + _Edinburgh_, OLIVER and BOYD. + _Glasgow_, ATKINSON and CO. + + Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES, Duke Street, Lambeth. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + Transcriber’s Notes + + +This file uses _underscores_ to indicate italic text. New original cover +art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. Itemized +changes from the original text: + + • p. 256: Added period after picture caption “Horatio Lord Nelson.” + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77141 *** diff --git a/77141-h/77141-h.htm b/77141-h/77141-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..31a65ae --- /dev/null +++ b/77141-h/77141-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1219 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> + <head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title>The Penny Magazine, September 29, 1832 | Project Gutenberg</title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + body { margin-left: 8%; margin-right: 10%; } + h1 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.4em; } + h2 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2em; } + .pageno { right: 1%; font-size: x-small; background-color: inherit; color: silver; + text-indent: 0em; text-align: right; position: absolute; + border: thin solid silver; padding: .1em .2em; font-style: normal; + font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; 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} + .colophon-right {float:right; } + .colophon-left, .colophon-right {width:48%;text-align:left; } + .clear {clear:both; } + .illo-wide {width:100%; } + div.linegroup > :last-child { margin-bottom: 0; } + .shrink {font-size:90%; } + </style> + </head> + <body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77141 ***</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_249'>249</span> + <h1 class='c000' title='The Penny Magazine, September 29, 1832'>THE PENNY MAGAZINE</h1> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div><span class='small'>OF THE</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div><span class='large'>Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class="full"> +<div class="masthead"> +<div class="masthead-right">[<span class='sc'>September</span> 29, 1832</div> +<div class="masthead-left">31.]</div> +<div class="masthead-centre">PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY.</div> +<hr class="full"> +</div> + +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>BRITISH MUSEUM.—No. 6.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='illo-wide'> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<a href='images/british-museum-full.jpg'><img src='images/british-museum-inline.png' alt='' class='ig001'></a> +<div class='ic001'> +<p>[The Portland or Barberini Vase.]</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c003'>One of the proudest ornaments of the Museum is the +beautiful and celebrated Portland, or, as it used to be +called, Barberini Vase. It stands on a table in the +middle of the small ante-room at the head of the stairs +leading to the gallery of antiquities. This vase is in +every respect among the most exquisite productions of +art. It is undoubtedly a work of Grecian genius, and is +fortunately still as perfect as when it left the hands of +its fabricator. Its dimensions are small, its height being +only about ten, and its diameter at the broadest part +only six inches. But its shape is very elegant, the swell +of the lower and central portion diminishing gradually +<span class='pageno' id='Page_250'>250</span>to a narrow neck, and that again gracefully opening +towards the lip, like an unfolding flower. It is supported +by two handles, inserted at the concave or narrow +part. The material is a dark but transparent +blue substance, undoubtedly a sort of vitrified paste, +of glass, although long supposed to be some species +of stone. Upon this the figures, formed of a delicate +opaque white substance, are laid in bas-relief; and +so firmly are they united to the ground upon which they +are thus fixed, that they seem rather to have grown out +of it, and to be a part of itself, than to be fastened on by +art. It is difficult, indeed, to conceive by what process +the union between the two substances was effected. +They must of course have been first brought into contact +when both were in a soft state, and then apparently +they were run together by heat. If the action of +fire, however, was employed for this purpose, it has +not injured the finest line in any of the figures. Every +stroke is as sharp and unbroken as in the most finished +delineations that were ever drawn by the pencil, or +cut by the graver, or struck from the die. Of the scene +represented no satisfactory explanation has yet been +given, and therefore any description of the figures would +be little better than a catalogue of unconnected particulars. +But we may say in general that they are fashioned +with admirable grace and animation, and are full of expression +in every look and attitude. It is impossible not +to feel that there is great dramatic force and pathos in +the sketch, even without being able to interpret it completely. +The Portland vase was discovered about the +middle of the sixteenth century, enclosed in a sarcophagus, +within the monument of the Emperor Alexander +Severus and his mother Julia Mamæa, commonly +called the Monte del Grano, about two miles and a half +from Rome, on the Frescati road. The sarcophagus +itself, which is a very noble work of art, is still in Rome, +and the vase also remained for more than two centuries +in the palace of the Barberini family in the same city, of +which it was considered to form one of the chief ornaments. +At last it fell into the hands of Sir William Hamilton, +from whom it was purchased nearly forty years ago +by the Duke of Portland. A mould of the Barberini +vase was taken at Rome before it came into the possession +of Sir William Hamilton, by the gem-engraver Pechler; +and from this the late Mr. Tassie, the celebrated modeller, +took sixty casts in plaster of Paris, and then broke +the mould. Some very beautiful imitations of it have +also been fabricated by the Wedgewoods, in which not +only the shape, but the colour of the original has been +attempted to be preserved. Modern art, however, cannot +imitate the vitrified appearance of the material in the +ancient vase.</p> + +<div class='c004'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>ON THE QUADRATURE OF THE CIRCLE.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c003'>We have undertaken this article, because we have +reason to know, that there are still some persons who, from +ignorance of the real question, are turning their attention +to this useless and exploded problem, and deceiving themselves +and their neighbours into the belief that they have +succeeded in doing that which has been repeatedly shown +to be impossible. By the <i>rectification</i> of a circle is meant +the finding of a straight line which shall be equal in +length to the circumference of a given circle, or the two +ends of which when bent round it should exactly meet; +by the <i>quadrature</i> of a circle is meant the finding a square +which shall be equal in surface to a given circle, that is, +to the whole space contained inside its circumference. +There is no difficulty in doing these problems in a manner +more than sufficiently correct for all useful purposes. +If, for example, we take a circle as large as the earth’s +orbit, and an atom as small as the smallest insect which +a microscope ever showed in a drop of water, nothing +would be more easy than to find the circumference of +this circle so nearly, that the error committed should be +less than the length of that atom. The problem which +has puzzled so many generations, is the finding what is +called a <i>geometrical</i> quadrature of the circle. What this +is we proceed to explain. It is the object of geometry to +find out, by reasoning, all truths which relate to the +various figures which a draughtsman can construct. +Not that these figures are precisely the objects of geometrical +reasoning; for a geometrical line has no breadth +or thickness, but only length, while the line we draw +with a pencil has a small degree both of breadth and +thickness. It is agreed by geometers to take as little for +granted as possible, and to make all their propositions +arise out of the smallest number of simple truths. It is +also agreed to imagine the existence of as few figures as +possible. It was therefore the practice of the ancient +geometers to assume no problems except the following:—1. +A straight line can be drawn from one point to +another. 2. A straight line, when finished, can afterwards +be made longer. 3. A circle can be drawn with +any point as a centre, and any line as a radius. All +lines, except the straight line and circle, and afterwards +the conic sections, were called <i>mechanical</i>, as distinguished +from geometrical lines; and if any problem +arose, the first attempt was always to solve it geometrically, +and only when that failed, were mechanical means +resorted to, or were other curves constructed, the construction +of which <em>once granted</em>, solved the problem. +The names geometrical and mechanical, as applied to +distinguish one sort of solution from another, may be +improper; but that is not the question. When a man +asserts that he has found a <i>geometrical</i> quadrature of +the circle, he either does or does not use the word in the +sense of the ancient geometers. If he does, and his solution +is correct, he has certainly solved the problem; +but that no one has yet done this is universally admitted. +If he does <em>not</em> use the word geometrical in the +ancient signification, his solution has nothing to do with +the problem which has hitherto remained unsolved. +Many ways have been discovered of finding the area of +a circle, which take something more for granted than +the use of the ruler and compasses only, and any person, +with a reasonable knowledge of mathematics, might add +a dozen to the number in a couple of hours. So much for +the geometrical solution of the problem.</p> + +<p class='c005'>It was proved long before the Christian era, that the +circumferences of two different circles are to one another +as the radii, that is, whatever number of times one circumference +contains its radius, the other circumference +contains its radius as many times, or whatever fraction +one radius is of its circumference, the same fraction is +the other radius of its circumference. From this it +follows, that if any number of circles were taken, having +for radii a foot, a yard, a mile, &c., whatever number of +feet and parts of feet would go round the first, the +same number of miles and similar parts of miles would +go round the third, and so on. Hence it became a +question of importance to discover what was the number +of units and parts of units contained in the circumference +of a circle whose radius was the unit. Again, it +was proved that the number of square feet and parts of +square feet in a circle of one foot radius, was the same +as the number of square miles and similar parts of +square miles contained in the circle of one mile radius. +Archimedes showed that a circle of one foot in radius +contained nearly 3 square feet and ⅐ of a square foot, +which does not differ from the truth by so much as ⅕ of +a square inch, and gives the circle too great by about its +three-thousandth part. An ancient measure of the +Hindoos makes it 3 square feet and 177 parts out of +1250 of a square foot. This is much nearer to the truth, +differing from it by about one-thousandth part of a +square inch, but still a little too much. Metius, who +flourished in the beginning of the seventeenth century, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_251'>251</span>found that if a square foot be divided into 113 parts, the +circle of one foot radius contains about 355 of these +parts; a result of surprising accuracy when the simplicity +of the numbers is considered; it is too great by +about the fifty-thousandth part of a square inch. These +numbers may be very easily recollected, since, when put +together, they give the first three odd numbers, each +repeated twice; thus, 113355.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The following simple rules will enable every one of +our readers to find the circumference of a circle. If any +one of them would go direct round the world, he would +by means of them, if the earth were a perfect sphere, be +able to tell the length of his journey within less than +four yards. From them the word <i>inch</i> may be taken +out, and any other unit substituted.</p> + +<p class='c005'>To find the length of the circumference of a circle, +multiply the number of <i>inches</i> in the diameter (or twice +the radius) by 355, and divide the product by 113. The +result is the number of <i>inches</i> in the circumference.</p> + +<p class='c005'>To find the area, or surface of a circle, multiply the +number of <i>inches</i> in the radius by itself, and that product +by 355; divide the result by 113, the quotient of +which is the number of square <i>inches</i> in the area.</p> + +<p class='c005'>We might go on to describe still more accurate methods; +it will be sufficient to say, that the latest of them +gives the area of a circle true to 127 decimal places, as it +is called; that is, if the radius be 1000, &c. feet, the +ciphers being 127 in number, the area of the circle will +be obtained without an error of a square foot.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Still this is only an approximation, and however +nearly the circumference of a circle has been obtained, +it has never been obtained exactly. Numberless attempts +have been made to find the exact ratio of the circumference +to the diameter, but without success; the reason +being, as was afterwards proved, that the thing is impossible. +We can now demonstrate that the ratio of the +circumference to the diameter cannot be <em>accurately</em> +expressed in numbers; all we can do with numbers is, +to express it as nearly as we please. Thus, using +decimals, we may say that the circumference of a +circle whose diameter is 1 is greater than 3 and less +than 4; greater than 3·1 and less than 3·2; greater +than 3·14 and less than 3·15, and so on, assigning +nearer and nearer fractions, between which it must lie, +but never coming to an exact result. Almost every +projector who imagines he can solve this problem, is +sure to produce some number or fraction as the <i>exact</i> +ratio of the circumference to the diameter; and it is +observable that the less his knowledge of geometry, the +more easily does he overcome the difficulty, and the +more obstinately does he believe himself in the right. +Some have been found hardy enough to deny the common +propositions of geometry, in order to establish their own +conclusion on this point. Others, totally ignorant of +geometry, hearing that a circle could not be <i>exactly</i> +measured, have imagined that the word <i>exact</i> was used +in the sense in which a carpenter would take it, who, +very properly for his purpose, considers two rods to be +of exactly the same length, when they do not differ to +the naked eye. These usually cut a circle out in wood, +measure it with a bit of string, pronounce their result to +be perfectly accurate, and are very much surprised that +an ungrateful world does not perceive their claim to +one of the first places in the ranks of science. We +shall give some anecdotes connected with this subject, +principally extracted from Montucla’s History of the +Mathematics.</p> + +<p class='c005'>In 1585, a Spanish friar published his quadrature of +the circle. His preface is a dialogue between himself +and the circle, who thanks him in most affectionate +terms for having solved the problem. The circle, however, +did not in this case attend to the maxim, “Know +thyself,” any more than some of its squares have since +done, for the pretended quadrature was utterly wrong. +The author of it was a modest man, and ascribed all the +honour to the Virgin Mary. Another Knight of the +Round Shield found out by his method that the first +book of Euclid was all a mistake. About the same time +a merchant of Rochelle discovered not only the quadrature +of the circle, but with it, and depending upon it, a +method of converting Jews, Pagans, and Mahometans to +Christianity. In 1671, an anonymous writer published +a treatise with the following title: ‘Demonstration of the +Divine Theorem of the quadrature of the circle, of the +bisection of the angle, and of the perpetual motion, and +the connexion of this theorem with the Vision of Ezekiel +and the Revelation of St. John.’ A certain Cluver +found out that this problem depended upon another, +which he expressed thus: “Construere mundum divinæ +menti analogum.” The literal translation of this (the +<i>sense</i> is unknown) is, “To build a world resembling the +divine mind.” But the most singular person was one +Richard White, an English Jesuit, who, having once +undertaken to square the circle, was afterwards convinced +by argument that he was in the wrong which never +happened to any other of this class of speculators, except +perhaps to one Mathulon, a Frenchman of Lyons. This +man offered to give a thousand crowns to any one who +would detect an error in his solution. It was done to +his satisfaction, but he refused to pay the money, and a +court of justice decided that it should be given to the +poor. So late as 1750 an Englishman, Henry Sullamar, +found out the area of the circle by means of the number +666 mentioned in the Revelations. But in 1753, a +Captain in the French Guards, did more for in squaring +the circle, which he did with a piece of turf, he hit upon +what he thought was a most obvious connexion between +this and the doctrines of original sin and the Trinity. +He offered to bet three hundred thousand francs that he +was right, and actually deposited ten thousand of them. +A young lady, and several other persons easily won the +wager, and brought actions for the money; but the +courts declared that the bet was void.</p> + +<p class='c005'>Such are a few of the most remarkable aberrations of +the human mind on this problem. They show, in the +most convincing manner, that presumption is rarely confined +to one subject in the same mind, and that a man +who, without studying a science, conceives himself to be +more knowing than those who have passed their lives in +the pursuit of it, must previously have brought himself +to believe that he is almost a God, and is but one step +removed from taking the government of the universe out +of the hands of its Creator, and arranging it according to +his own improved notions.</p> + +<p class='c005'>With regard to a geometrical solution, and the possibility +or impossibility of it, we shall now say a few words. +We have already observed that an arithmetical solution +is certainly impossible, that is, there is no number or +fraction which <i>exactly</i> represents the circumference of +the circle where the radius is a unit. In 1668, James +Gregory, a well-known name in geometry, asserted that +a <i>geometrical</i> quadrature was impossible, that is, no use +of the ruler and compasses could give a square of exactly +the same dimensions as a given circle. Of this he +published his demonstration, which was attacked by +Huyghens, another geometer of the same time. The +dispute has interested mathematicians so little for the +last century and a half, that few of them seem to have +cared which was right. The <em>historians</em> of mathematics +have, of course, been obliged to give an opinion, and +yet Montucla and Dr. Hutton both forbear to decide +the question, each being apparently somewhat inclined +to believe that J. Gregory was right. The demonstration +of the latter appears to us to render it extremely +probable that the geometrical quadrature is impossible; +but we will not venture a positive opinion +where such respectable authorities have declined to +give one. But we would recommend any one who +<span class='pageno' id='Page_252'>252</span>imagines he can give this solution, to learn geometry, to +examine the demonstration of J. Gregory, which he +will find in the library of the British Museum, and +find out the error; and it deserves some attention, +since neither Montucla nor Hutton, both very well +informed mathematicians, would positively say it was +false.</p> + +<p class='c005'>We would not have entered upon this subject at such +length, if it were not that there appear, from time to time, +pretended solutions of this problem. To any one who +is ignorant of geometry, we would recommend to be sure +of two things before he undertakes it; first, that he has +an imagination which will set common sense at defiance, +for without this he will never out-herod Herod so far as +to produce any thing worthy of notice, after the instances +which we have mentioned; secondly, that he has his +own good opinion to a very great degree, for otherwise +his peace of mind will be disturbed, either by the neglect +or ridicule which it will be his fate to meet with. To one +who understands geometry, and who imagines himself to +be the person destined by Providence to work this wonder, +we have not a word to say; if the study of Euclid +has not been sufficient to teach him more sense, or at +least to induce him to wait until he knows more, we +should almost rival him in absurdity, if we thought him +a proper subject for the language of common sense.</p> + +<div class='c004'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>THE BANANA, OR PLANTAIN.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='illo-wide'> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<a href='images/the-banana-full.jpg'><img src='images/the-banana-inline.png' alt='' class='ig001'></a> +<div class='ic001'> +<p>[The Banana, or Plantain Tree, with Cocoa-Nut Trees in the back-ground.]</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c003'>The banana, or plantain, forms a principal article of +food to a great portion of mankind within and near the +tropics, offering its produce indifferently to the inhabitants +of equinoctial Asia and America, of tropical Africa, +and of the islands of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. +Wherever the mean heat of the year exceeds 75° of +Fahrenheit, the banana is one of the most important and +interesting objects for the cultivation of man. All hot +countries appear equally to favour the growth of its fruit; +and it has even been cultivated in Cuba, in situations +where the thermometer descends to 45° of Fahrenheit.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The tree which bears this useful fruit is of considerable +size: it rises with an herbaceous stalk, about five or six +inches in diameter at the surface of the ground, but +tapering upwards to the height of fifteen or twenty feet. +The leaves are in a cluster at the top; they are very +large, being about six feet long and two feet broad: the +middle rib is strong, but the rest of the leaf is tender, +and apt to be torn by the wind. The leaves grow with +great rapidity after the stalk has attained its proper +height. The spike of flowers rises from the centre of +the leaves to the height of about four feet. At first the +flowers are inclosed in a sheath, but, as they come to +maturity, that drops off. The fruit is about an inch in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_253'>253</span>diameter, eight or nine inches long, and bent a little on +one side. As it ripens it turns yellow; and when ripe, +it is filled with a pulp of a luscious sweet taste.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The banana is not known in an uncultivated state. +The wildest tribes of South America, who depend upon +this fruit for their subsistence, propagate the plant by +suckers. Eight or nine months after the sucker has been +planted, the banana begins to form its clusters; and the +fruit may be collected in the tenth and eleventh months. +When the stalk is cut, the fruit of which has ripened, a +sprout is put forth, which again bears fruit in three +months. The whole labour of cultivation which is +required for a plantation of bananas is to cut the stalks +laden with ripe fruit, and to give the plants a slight nourishment, +once or twice a year, by digging round the +roots. A spot of a little more than a thousand square +feet will contain from thirty to forty banana plants. A +cluster of bananas, produced on a single plant, often +contains from one hundred and sixty to one hundred +and eighty fruits, and weighs from seventy to eighty +pounds. But reckoning the weight of a cluster only at +forty pounds, such a plantation would produce more than +four thousand pounds of nutritive substance. M. Humboldt +calculates that as thirty-three pounds of wheat and +ninety-nine pounds of potatoes require the same space as +that in which four thousand pounds of bananas are +grown, the produce of bananas is consequently to that of +wheat as 133:1, and to that of potatoes as 44:1.</p> + +<p class='c005'>The facility with which the banana can be cultivated +has doubtless contributed to arrest the progress of improvement +in tropical regions. In the new continent +civilization first commenced on the mountains, in a soil +of inferior fertility. Necessity awakens industry, and +industry calls forth the intellectual powers of the human +race. When these are developed, man does not sit in +a cabin, gathering the fruits of his little patch of bananas, +asking no greater luxuries, and proposing no higher +ends of life than to eat and to sleep. He subdues to his +use all the treasures of the earth by his labour and his +skill; and he carries his industry forward to its utmost +limits, by the consideration that he has active duties to +perform. The idleness of the poor Indian keeps him, +where he has been for ages, little elevated above the +inferior animal;—the industry of the European, under +his colder skies, and with a less fertile soil, has surrounded +him with all the blessings of society—its +comforts, its affections, its virtues, and its intellectual +riches.</p> + +<div class='c004'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>FALLS OF THE CLYDE.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='illo-wide'> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<a href='images/falls-of-the-clyde-full.jpg'><img src='images/falls-of-the-clyde-inline.png' alt='' class='ig001'></a> +<div class='ic001'> +<p>[View of Corra Linn.]</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c003'>The river Clyde in the neighbourhood of the town of +Lanark presents, according to the testimony of all travellers, +some of the most romantic and picturesque +scenery in the world. We shall confine ourselves at +present to a short notice of the Linns or falls which +have been so much celebrated. The word <i>Linn</i>, we may +remark, is the Gaelic <i>Leum</i>, and signifies merely a fall +or leap.<a id='r1'></a><a href='#f1' class='c006'><sup>[1]</sup></a> Its application to a cataract, or fall of water, is +general throughout Scotland. Burns has introduced the +word with very happy effect in his humorous and well-known +song of Duncan Grey, where, in describing the +perplexity and despair of the rejected suitor, he says—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Duncan sighed baith out and in,</div> + <div class='line'> Grat his een baith bleer’d and blin’,</div> + <div class='line'> Spak o’ loupin’ owre a linn;</div> + <div class='line in12'> Ha, ha, the wooin’ o’t.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>“<i>Spak o’ loupin’ owre a linn</i>,” writes one of his correspondents, +the Honourable A. Erskine, to the poet, +“is a line of itself that should make you immortal.” +But to return to the linns on the Clyde. The first precipice +over which the river rushes, on its way from the +hills, is situated about two miles above Lanark—and is +known by the name of Bonnington Linn. It is a perpendicular +rock of about twenty, or, as some authorities +state, thirty feet in height, over which the water after +<span class='pageno' id='Page_254'>254</span>having approached its brink in a broad sheet, smooth as +a mirror, and reflecting the forests that clothe its margin, +tumbles impetuously into a deep hollow or basin, where +it is instantly ground into froth. A dense mist continually +hovers over this boiling cauldron. From this +point downwards the channel of the river assumes a +chaotic appearance; instead of the quiet and outspread +waters above the fall, we have now a confined and angry +torrent forcing its way with the noise of thunder between +steep and meeting rocks, and over incessant impediments. +The scenery on both sides, however, is exquisitely rich +and beautiful. A walk of about half a mile, which may +be said almost to overhang the river, leads to the second +and most famous of the falls, that called Corra Linn, +from the castle of Corra, now in ruins, which stands in +its neighbourhood. “The tremendous rocks around,” +says the report on the parish of Lanark, published in +Sir John Sinclair’s Statistical Account of Scotland, “the +old castle upon the opposite bank, a corn-mill on the +rock below, the furious and impatient stream foaming over +the rock, the horrid chasm and abyss underneath your feet, +heightened by the hollow murmur of the water, and the +screams of wild birds, form a spectacle at once tremendous +and pleasing. A summer-house or pavilion, is +situated on a high rocky bank, that overlooks the linn, +built by Sir James Carmichael, of Bonnington, in 1708. +From its uppermost room it affords a very striking prospect +of the fall; for, all at once, on throwing your eyes +towards a mirror, on the opposite side of the room from +the fall, you see the whole tremendous cataract pouring +as it were upon your head. The Corra Linn, by measurement, +is eighty-four feet in height. The river does +not rush over it in one uniform sheet like Bonnington +Linn, but in three different, though almost imperceptible, +precipitate leaps. On the southern bank, and when the +sun shines, a rainbow is perpetually seen forming itself +upon the mist and fogs, arising from the violent dashing +of the waters,”—as Byron has beautifully sung of the +Cataract of Velino, in Italy:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>⸻“On the verge,</div> + <div class='line'>From side to side beneath the glittering morn,</div> + <div class='line'>An Iris sits, amidst the infernal surge,</div> + <div class='line'>Like Hope upon a death-bed, and, unworn</div> + <div class='line'>Its steady dyes, while all around is torn</div> + <div class='line'>By the distracted waters, bears serene</div> + <div class='line'>Its brilliant hues with all their beams unshorn;</div> + <div class='line'>Resembling, ’mid the torture of the scene,</div> + <div class='line'>Love watching Madness with unalterable mien.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>A short distance below Corra Linn is another fall +called Dundaff Linn, the appearance of which is also +very beautiful, though it is only about three feet and a +half high. About three miles farther down, and a considerable +way past the town of Lanark, is the last of +the falls, that called Stonebyres Linn. It is a precipice, or +rather a succession of three precipices, making together +a height of sixty-four feet. The same general features of +rugged rocks, here appearing in all their dreary bareness, +there concealed by trees and shrubs, of wild birds +winging their flight over the bounding cataract and +mingling their screams with its roar, and of cultivated +nature in its most luxuriant beauty contending all around +with the sublimity of the untamed torrent, which belong +to Corra Linn, mark that of Stonebyres also, though +with some diminution of the romantic effect. A peculiar +phenomenon which is to be seen here, is that of the +incessant endeavours of the salmon, in the spawning +season, to mount the lofty barrier by which they now find +their migration from the sea for the first time opposed. +Their efforts, it is almost needless to say, are quite +unavailing. It is also stated that the horse muscle, the +pearl oyster, and some other species of fish, which are +found in great numbers below this fall, are never seen +above it. Trouts, however, have been observed to spring +up the small ascent of Dundaff Linn apparently without +difficulty.</p> + +<hr class='c007'> +<div class='footnote' id='f1'> +<p class='c005'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. The word has also been derived from the Welsh <i>Linn</i>, signifying +“a lake” or “water.” This root is likewise found in the Greek +language, and its proper signification seems to be, “water.”</p> +</div> + +<div class='c004'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>COWPER’S LINES ON THE RECEIPT OF HIS MOTHER’S PICTURE.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c004'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in2'>Oh that those lips had language! Life has passed</div> + <div class='line'>With me but roughly since I heard thee last.</div> + <div class='line'>Those lips are thine,—thine own sweet smile I see</div> + <div class='line'>The same that oft in childhood solaced me;</div> + <div class='line'>Voice only fails, else how distinct they say,</div> + <div class='line'>“Grieve not, my child; chase all thy fears away!”</div> + <div class='line'>The meek intelligence of those dear eyes</div> + <div class='line'>(Blest be the art that can immortalize,</div> + <div class='line'>The art that baffles Time’s tyrannic claim</div> + <div class='line'>To quench it) here shines on me still the same.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in2'>Faithful remembrancer of one so dear,</div> + <div class='line'>O welcome guest, though unexpected here!</div> + <div class='line'>Who bidst me honour with an artless song,</div> + <div class='line'>Affectionate, a mother lost so long.</div> + <div class='line'>I will obey, not willingly alone,</div> + <div class='line'>But gladly, as the precept were her own:</div> + <div class='line'>And, while that face renews my filial grief,</div> + <div class='line'>Fancy shall weave a charm for my relief,</div> + <div class='line'>Shall steep me in Elysian reverie,</div> + <div class='line'>A momentary dream, that thou art she.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in2'>My mother! when I learnt that thou wast dead,</div> + <div class='line'>Say, wast thou conscious of the tears I shed?</div> + <div class='line'>Hover’d thy spirit o’er thy sorrowing son,</div> + <div class='line'>Wretch even then, life’s journey just begun?</div> + <div class='line'>Perhaps thou gav’st me, though unfelt, a kiss;</div> + <div class='line'>Perhaps a tear, if souls can weep in bliss,</div> + <div class='line'>Ah, that maternal smile! it answers—Yes.</div> + <div class='line'>I heard the bell tolled on thy burial day,</div> + <div class='line'>I saw the hearse that bore thee slow away,</div> + <div class='line'>And, turning from my nursery window, drew</div> + <div class='line'>A long, long sigh, and wept a last adieu!</div> + <div class='line'>But was it such? It was.—Where thou art gone,</div> + <div class='line'>Adieus and farewells are a sound unknown,</div> + <div class='line'>May I but meet thee on that peaceful shore,</div> + <div class='line'>The parting word shall pass my lips no more!</div> + <div class='line'>Thy maidens, grieved themselves at my concern,</div> + <div class='line'>Oft gave me promise of thy quick return;</div> + <div class='line'>What ardently I wished, I long believed,</div> + <div class='line'>And disappointed still, was still deceived.</div> + <div class='line'>By expectation every day beguiled,</div> + <div class='line'>Dupe of to-morrow even from a child.</div> + <div class='line'>Thus many a sad to-morrow came and went,</div> + <div class='line'>Till all my stock of infant sorrow spent,</div> + <div class='line'>I learned, at last, submission to my lot,</div> + <div class='line'>But, though I less deplored thee, ne’er forgot.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in2'>Where once we dwelt, our name is heard no more,</div> + <div class='line'>Children not thine have trod my nursery floor;</div> + <div class='line'>And where the gardener Robin, day by day,</div> + <div class='line'>Drew me to school along the public way,</div> + <div class='line'>Delighted with my bauble coach, and wrapt</div> + <div class='line'>In scarlet mantle warm, and velvet cap,</div> + <div class='line'>’Tis now become a history little known,</div> + <div class='line'>That once we called the pastoral house our own.</div> + <div class='line'>Short-lived possession! but the record fair,</div> + <div class='line'>That memory keeps of all thy kindness there,</div> + <div class='line'>Still outlives many a storm, that has effaced</div> + <div class='line'>A thousand other themes less deeply traced.</div> + <div class='line'>Thy nightly visits to my chamber made</div> + <div class='line'>That thou mightst know me safe and warmly laid;</div> + <div class='line'>Thy morning bounties ere I left my home,</div> + <div class='line'>The biscuit, or confectionary plum;</div> + <div class='line'>The fragrant waters on my cheeks bestowed</div> + <div class='line'>By thy own hand, till fresh they shone and glowed,</div> + <div class='line'>All this, and more endearing still than all,</div> + <div class='line'>Thy constant flow of love, that knew no fall,</div> + <div class='line'>Ne’er roughened by those cataracts and breaks</div> + <div class='line'>That humour interposed too often makes;</div> + <div class='line'>All this, still legible in memory’s page,</div> + <div class='line'>And still to be so to my latest age,</div> + <div class='line'>Adds joy to duty, makes me glad to pay</div> + <div class='line'>Such honours to thee as my numbers may;</div> + <div class='line'>Perhaps a frail memorial, but sincere;</div> + <div class='line'>Not scorn’d in heaven, though little noticed here.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in2'>Could Time, his flight reversed, restore the hours,</div> + <div class='line'>When, playing with thy vesture’s tissued flowers,</div> + <div class='line'>The violet, the pink, and jessamine,</div> + <div class='line'>I pricked them into paper with a pin,</div> + <div class='line'>(And thou wast happier than myself the while,</div> + <div class='line'>Wouldst softly speak, and stroke my head, and smile,)</div> + <div class='line'>Could those few pleasant hours again appear,</div> + <div class='line'>Might one wish bring them, would I wish them here?</div> + <div class='line'>I would not trust my heart,—the dear delight</div> + <div class='line'>Seems so to be desired, perhaps I might.</div> + <div class='line'>But no, what here we call our life is such,</div> + <div class='line'>So little to be loved, and thou so much,</div> + <div class='line'>That I should ill requite thee to constrain</div> + <div class='line'>Thy unbound spirit into bonds again.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in2'><span class='pageno' id='Page_255'>255</span>Thou, as a gallant bark from Albion’s coast,</div> + <div class='line'>The storms all weathered, and the ocean crossed,</div> + <div class='line'>Shoots into port at some well favoured isle,</div> + <div class='line'>Where spices breathe, and brighter seasons smile,</div> + <div class='line'>There sits quiescent on the floods, that show</div> + <div class='line'>Her beauteous form reflected clear below,</div> + <div class='line'>While airs impregnated with incense play</div> + <div class='line'>Around her, fanning light her streamers gay;</div> + <div class='line'>So thou, with sails how swift! hast reached the shore,</div> + <div class='line'>“Where tempests never beat, nor billows roar;”</div> + <div class='line'>And thy loved consort on the dangerous tide</div> + <div class='line'>Of life, long since has anchored by thy side.</div> + <div class='line'>But me, scarce hoping to attain that rest,</div> + <div class='line'>Always from port withheld, always distressed—</div> + <div class='line'>Me howling blasts drive devious, tempest-tossed,</div> + <div class='line'>Sails ripped, seams opening wide, and compass lost,</div> + <div class='line'>And day by day some current’s thwarting force</div> + <div class='line'>Sets me more distant from a prosperous course.</div> + <div class='line'>Yet O! the thought, that thou art safe, and he!</div> + <div class='line'>That thought is joy, arrive what may to me.</div> + <div class='line'>My boast is not that I deduce my birth</div> + <div class='line'>From loins enthroned, and rulers of the earth;</div> + <div class='line'>But higher far my proud pretensions rise—</div> + <div class='line'>The son of parents passed into the skies.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in2'>And now farewell—Time unrevoked has run</div> + <div class='line'>His wonted course, yet what I wished is done.</div> + <div class='line'>By contemplation’s help, not sought in vain,</div> + <div class='line'>I seem to have lived my childhood o’er again;</div> + <div class='line'>To have renewed the joys that once were mine,</div> + <div class='line'>Without the sin of violating thine;</div> + <div class='line'>And, while the wings of fancy still are free,</div> + <div class='line'>And I can view this mimic show of thee,</div> + <div class='line'>Time has but half succeeded in his theft—</div> + <div class='line'>Thyself removed, thy power to soothe me left.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='c004'></div> +<hr class="divider"> +<div> + <h2 class='c002'>THE WEEK.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c003'>September 29.—This day, popularly called Michaelmas, +has been observed in the Christian Church, at least since +towards the close of the fifth century, as the “Feast of +St. Michael and All Angels.” St. Michael has always +enjoyed the reputation of preeminence over all the other +angels and archangels—and some theologians, indeed, +have held that he is the only archangel. The reverence +paid to this name was equally great under the Jewish +dispensation as it has been since the introduction of +Christianity. The churches dedicated to St. Michael, +in conformity to this notion of his superior dignity, have +been usually erected upon elevated ground; that of St. +Michael’s Mount, in Cornwall, is quoted as an instance in +this country. Michaelmas is now observed in England +principally as one of the four regular quarter days on which +rents are paid: but both here and in other parts of Christendom +the day was anciently, among all classes, one of +distinguished hospitality and festive enjoyment. Our +custom of dining on goose at Michaelmas has given +occasion to the expenditure of a great deal of antiquarian +ingenuity in the attempt to trace its origin: but it seems +to have arisen merely from the circumstance of the bird +being naturally in season at this time of the year. Evidence +has been produced of its existence so far back as +about the middle of the fifteenth century, and it may +possibly be much older. The old poet Gascoigne, in the +work called his ‘Posies,’ published in 1575, thus alludes +to this and other similar customs, which appear to have +originated in the same way:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“And when the tenants come</div> + <div class='line in2'> To pay their quarter’s rent,</div> + <div class='line'> They bring some fowl at Midsummer,</div> + <div class='line in2'> A dish of fish in Lent;</div> + <div class='line'> At Christmas a capon,</div> + <div class='line in2'> At Michaelmas a goose,</div> + <div class='line'> And somewhat else at New-year’s tide,</div> + <div class='line in2'> For fear their lease fly loose.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c005'>September 29.—The anniversary of the birth of Nelson. +Horatio Nelson was born in 1758, at the parsonage-house +of Burnham-Thorpe, in Norfolk, of which +parish his father was rector. He went to sea at the age +of twelve, as a midshipman. In 1777 he was made a +lieutenant, and in 1779 a post-captain. He now went +out to the West Indies in command of the Hinchinbroke, +and distinguished himself by several gallant exploits +on that station. While here he married Mrs. +Nesbit, the widow of a physician, by whom however he +had no family. But the most splendid part of Nelson’s +career commenced with the war of 1793. It would be +altogether impossible for us here to present even the +most rapid recital of the numerous actions in which he +bore a part from this date till his death. Among many +bright names which illuminate this part of the naval +history of England, his shines the brightest of all. +Wherever the cannon thundered on the deep, it might be +said, there was Nelson. When early in 1798 he presented +his claim for a pension, in consequence of the recent loss +of his right arm in an attack on Teneriffe, he stated in +his memorial that he had been present in more than a +hundred engagements. On occasion of his receiving +that wound, which nearly proved fatal, he came home +for a short time to England; and Mr. Southey, by whom +the story of the hero’s life has been told with singular fascination, +relates the following anecdote in illustration of +the popular feeling with which he was regarded, which +we transcribe as equally honourable to all the parties +concerned:—</p> + +<p class='c005'>“His sufferings from the lost limb were long and +painful. A nerve had been taken up in one of the ligatures +at the time of the operation; and the ligature, according +to the practice of the French surgeons, was of silk +instead of waxed thread: this produced a constant irritation +and discharge; and the ends of the ligature being +pulled every day, in hopes of bringing it away, occasioned +fresh agony. He had scarcely any intermission of pain, +day or night, for three months after his return to England. +Lady Nelson, at his earnest request, attended the dressing +his arm, till she had acquired sufficient resolution and +skill to dress it herself. One night, during this state of +suffering, after a day of constant pain, Nelson retired early +to bed; in hope of enjoying some respite by means of laudanum. +He was at that time lodging in Bond Street; +and the family was soon disturbed by a mob knocking +loudly and violently at the door. The news of Duncan’s +victory had been made public, and the house was not +illuminated. But when the mob were told that Admiral +Nelson lay there in bed, badly wounded, the foremost +of them made answer, ‘You shall hear no more +from us to-night:’ and, in fact, the feeling of respect and +sympathy was communicated from one to another with +such effect, that, under the confusion of such a night, the +house was not molested again.”</p> + +<p class='c005'>Nelson’s two greatest victories, as all our readers +know, were those of the Nile and of Trafalgar. The +first was gained on the 1st of August, 1798, and effected +the complete destruction of the enemy’s force, all their +ships, except two, being either captured or sunk. For +this brilliant achievement he was elevated to the peerage +by the title of Baron Nelson of the Nile. The battle of +Trafalgar was fought on the 21st of October, 1805; and +there this renowned captain fell amidst the blaze of the +most splendid triumph ever gained upon the seas. In +reference to Nelson’s character as an officer, Mr. Southey +says, “Never was any commander more beloved. He +governed men by their reason and their affections: they +knew that he was incapable of caprice or tyranny; and +they obeyed him with alacrity and joy; because he +possessed their confidence as well as their love. ‘Our +Nel,’ they used to say, ‘is as brave as a lion, and as +gentle as a lamb.’ Severe discipline he detested, though +he had been bred in a severe school; he never inflicted +corporal punishment, if it were possible to avoid it; and +when compelled to enforce it, he who was familiar with +wounds and death suffered like a woman. In his whole +life Nelson was never known to act unkindly towards an +officer. If he was asked to prosecute one for ill-behaviour, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_256'>256</span>he used to answer: ‘That there was no occasion +for him to ruin a poor devil, who was sufficiently his +own enemy to ruin himself.’ … To his midshipmen +he ever showed the most winning kindness, encouraging +the diffident, tempering the hasty, counselling and befriending +both.”</p> + +<p class='c005'>It is to be lamented that the private character of this +gallant officer was in his later years, deeply stained by +an infatuated attachment, which not only separated him +from his wife, who ill deserved this desertion, but also +hurried him on one occasion, in order to gratify the profligate +and heartless woman who had obtained so unfortunate +an ascendancy over him, into the perpetration of +an act, as foreign, we may safely say, to his real nature, +as it was opposed to humanity and to justice.</p> + +<p class='c005'><a id='tn-lordnelson'></a></p> +<div class='illo-wide'> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<a href='images/the-week-full.jpg'><img src='images/the-week-inline.png' alt='' class='ig001'></a> +<div class='ic001'> +<p>[Horatio Lord Nelson.]</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c005'>October 3.—The birth-day of Dr. John Tillotson, +one of the most eminent of the English prelates. He was +the son of Robert Tillotson, a clothier of Sowerby, near +Halifax, in Yorkshire, and here he was born in 1630. +His father, who was a rigid presbyterian, educated him +in his own principles. After having studied for some +years at Clare Hall in the University of Cambridge, +young Tillotson became tutor in the family of Prideaux, +Cromwell’s Attorney-General. He had also taken orders +as a preacher among the Presbyterians; but, on the +passing of the Act of Uniformity soon after the King’s +return, he submitted, and was presented to the rectory of +Cheshunt in Hertfordshire. Although, however, he had +thus conformed to the Established Church, he attached +himself to that party in it which was most favourably disposed +to the communion he had left; not perhaps the +most common course with those who pass over from one +denomination, whether religious or political, to another. +In 1664 he married Miss French, daughter of Dr. French, +Canon of Christ Church, and of Robina, the sister of +Oliver Cromwell. He had already obtained great distinction +as a pulpit-orator, and had been chosen to the +honourable office of preacher to the society of Lincoln’s +Inn, from which so many eminent men have stepped to +the highest preferments in the church. Soon after he +was also made Dean of Canterbury and one of the Prebendaries +of St. Paul’s. It was while he was residing +at his deanery in 1677 that the incident occurred which +first introduced him to the Prince of Orange. About +the end of that year the Prince arrived in Canterbury +from London, accompanied by his wife the Princess +Mary, to whom he had just been united, and whom he +was conducting to Holland. They had been hurried +from London (in order to withdraw them from the +entertainments and other marks of respect which the +public enthusiasm was eager to bestow upon them) in +such haste, that when they reached Canterbury they +found themselves so scantily supplied with money that +they were obliged to apply for a loan to the corporation. +After deliberating upon the matter, however, that body +declined advancing the required sum. In this emergency, +Dr. Tillotson hastily collected all the plate as well +as cash which he possessed or could borrow from his +friends, and making his way with it to the Prince’s +attendant, Mr. Bentinck, (afterwards Duke of Portland,) +requested that he would accept of it for the service of his +master. The Prince was extremely gratified by this +proof of attachment, and Dr. Tillotson was immediately +introduced to their Highnesses. On the Revolution, +King William appointed him his Clerk of the Closet, +and soon after allowed him to exchange the deanery of +Canterbury for that of St. Paul’s. On the deposition of +Archbishop Sancroft in 1691 for refusing to take the +oaths of allegiance to the new sovereign, Tillotson was +reluctantly prevailed upon to accept the See of Canterbury. +His elevation, in the peculiar circumstances in +which it took place, exposed him to a great deal of bitter +obloquy from the high-church party, the virulence of +whose animosity was not diminished by the liberality +and toleration of his demeanour in his high office, and +the desire he manifested rather to conciliate the adversaries +of the establishment by the removal of all unnecessary +barriers of separation, than to retain what occasioned +their conscientious opposition for the mere sake of abiding +by whatever had once been adopted, and attempting to +preserve a formal and useless consistency. He was +carried off by an attack of paralysis after an illness of +five days, on the 24th of November, 1694, having held +the primacy only about three years, during which short +space, however, he had become completely wearied and +disgusted with its cares and troubles. Archbishop Tillotson’s +Sermons, commonly printed in three volumes +folio, or in ten volumes octavo, are still perhaps more +popular and more generally read than those of any other +of our old theological writers, except perhaps Dr. South, +&c. They are written rather in an easy than in a very +polished style, and have no pretensions to eloquence of +the highest sort; but they are marked by a manly character +both of expression and of thought, and by very +considerable powers of argument and persuasion. The +author, as has been already noticed, was one of the most +favourite preachers of his day.</p> + +<div class='c004'></div> +<hr class="divider"> + +<div class='shrink'> + +<p class='c008'>⁂ By the accidental substitution of one cut for another, we gave, +in No. 28, a view described as the “Remains of the Parthenon,” +which is really a representation of the Temple of Apollo Epicurius, +near Phygalia, and which was intended to accompany an +account of the Phygalian Marbles in the British Museum. We +shall add a view of the Parthenon to the next article on the +Elgin Marbles.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class='c009'> +<div class='colophon'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c010'> + <div>⁂ The Office of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge is at 59, Lincoln’s Inn Fields.</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div>LONDON:—CHARLES KNIGHT, PALL-MALL EAST.</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><i>Shopkeepers and Hawkers may be supplied Wholesale by the following Booksellers, of whom, also, any of the previous Numbers may be had:—</i></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='colophon-left'> + +<div class='lg-container-l'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><i>London</i>, <span class='sc'>Groombridge</span>, Panyer Alley, Paternoster Row.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Bath</i>, <span class='sc'>Simms</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Birmingham</i>, <span class='sc'>Drake</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Bristol</i>, <span class='sc'>Westley</span> and Co.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Carlisle</i>, <span class='sc'>Thurnam</span>; and <span class='sc'>Scott</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Derby</i>, <span class='sc'>Wilkins</span> and <span class='sc'>Son</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Doncaster</i>, <span class='sc'>Brooke</span> and <span class='sc'>Co.</span></div> + <div class='line'><i>Exeter</i>, <span class='sc'>Balle</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Falmouth</i>, <span class='sc'>Philip</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Hull</i>, <span class='sc'>Stephenson</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Leeds</i>, <span class='sc'>Baines</span> and <span class='sc'>Newsome</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Lincoln</i>, <span class='sc'>Brooke</span> and <span class='sc'>Sons</span>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> +<div class='colophon-right'> + +<div class='lg-container-l'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><i>Liverpool</i>, <span class='sc'>Willmer</span> and <span class='sc'>Smith</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Manchester</i>, <span class='sc'>Robinson</span>; and <span class='sc'>Webb</span> and <span class='sc'>Simms</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Newcastle-upon-Tyne</i>, <span class='sc'>Charnley</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Norwich</i>, <span class='sc'>Jarrold</span> and <span class='sc'>Son</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Nottingham</i>, <span class='sc'>Wright</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Oxford</i>, <span class='sc'>Slatter</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Portsea</i>, <span class='sc'>Horsey</span>, Jun.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Sheffield</i>, <span class='sc'>Ridge</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Worcester</i>, <span class='sc'>Deighton</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Dublin</i>, <span class='sc'>Wakeman</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Edinburgh</i>, <span class='sc'>Oliver</span> and <span class='sc'>Boyd</span>.</div> + <div class='line'><i>Glasgow</i>, <span class='sc'>Atkinson</span> and <span class='sc'>Co.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> +<div class='clear'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>Printed by <span class='sc'>William Clowes</span>, Duke Street, Lambeth.</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c001'> +</div> +<div> + +<p class='c011'></p> + +</div> +<div class='transcribers-notes'> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div><span class='xlarge'>Transcriber’s Notes</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c012'>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. Itemized changes from the original text:</p> + <ul class='ul_1'> + <li><a href='#tn-lordnelson'>p. 256</a>: Added period after picture caption “Horatio Lord Nelson.” + </li> + </ul> + +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77141 ***</div> + </body> + <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57e (with regex) on 2025-10-28 09:47:14 GMT --> +</html> diff --git a/77141-h/images/british-museum-full.jpg b/77141-h/images/british-museum-full.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0ac0060 --- /dev/null +++ b/77141-h/images/british-museum-full.jpg diff --git a/77141-h/images/british-museum-inline.png b/77141-h/images/british-museum-inline.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..09504fb --- /dev/null +++ b/77141-h/images/british-museum-inline.png diff --git a/77141-h/images/cover.jpg b/77141-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..83296e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/77141-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/77141-h/images/falls-of-the-clyde-full.jpg b/77141-h/images/falls-of-the-clyde-full.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9a7cc94 --- /dev/null +++ b/77141-h/images/falls-of-the-clyde-full.jpg diff --git a/77141-h/images/falls-of-the-clyde-inline.png b/77141-h/images/falls-of-the-clyde-inline.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c08b39 --- /dev/null +++ b/77141-h/images/falls-of-the-clyde-inline.png diff --git a/77141-h/images/the-banana-full.jpg b/77141-h/images/the-banana-full.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..707d4de --- /dev/null +++ b/77141-h/images/the-banana-full.jpg diff --git a/77141-h/images/the-banana-inline.png b/77141-h/images/the-banana-inline.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..efe2794 --- /dev/null +++ b/77141-h/images/the-banana-inline.png diff --git a/77141-h/images/the-week-full.jpg b/77141-h/images/the-week-full.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6e4e005 --- /dev/null +++ b/77141-h/images/the-week-full.jpg diff --git a/77141-h/images/the-week-inline.png b/77141-h/images/the-week-inline.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..18a4b22 --- /dev/null +++ b/77141-h/images/the-week-inline.png diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c72794 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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