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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


CAPTAIN  COLES  S  NEW  IRON  TURRET-SHIP-OF-WAR. 


KNOWLEDGE 

FOR    THE    TIME: 

a 


READING,  REFERENCE,  AND  CONVERSATION  ON  SUBJECTS  OF  LIVING 
INTEREST,  USEFUL   CURIOSITY,  AND  AMUSING   RESEARCH  : 

HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION. 
PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION. 
DIGNITIES  AND  DISTINCTIONS. 
CHANGES  IN  LAWS. 
MEASURE  AND  VALUE. 
PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE. 
LIFE  AND  HEALTH. 
RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT. 


3fUustratf&  from  fyt  tjrst  anti  latest 


BY  JOHN  TIMES,  F.S.A. 

AUTHOR  OF  CURIOSITIES  OF  LONDON,  THINGS  NOT  GENERALLY  KNOWN, 
ETC. 


LONDON: 
Lockwood  and  Co.,  7  Stationers'-hall  Court. 


M  DCCCLXIV. 


TO  THE  READER. 


THE  great  value  of  contemporary  History — that  is,  history 
written  by  actual  witnesses  of  the  events  which  they  narrate, 
— is  now  beginning  to  be  appreciated  by  general  readers.  The 
improved  character  of  the  journalism  of  the  present  day  is  the 
best  evidence  of  this  advancement,  which  has  been  a  work  of 
no  ordinary  labour.  Truth  is  not  of  such  easy  acquisition  as  is 
generally  supposed  ;  and  the  chances  of  obtaining  unprejudiced 
accounts  of  events  are  rarely  improved  by  distance  from  the  time 
at  which  they  happen.  In  proportion  as  freedom  of  thought 
is  enlarged,  and  liberty  of  conscience,  and  liberty  of  will,  are 
increased,  will  be  the  amount  of  trustworthiness  in  the  written 
records  of  contemporaries.  It  is  the  rarity  of  these  high  privileges 
in  chroniclers  of  past  events  which  has  led  to  so  many  obscurities  in 
the  world's  history,  and  warpings  in  the  judgment  of  its  writers; 
to  trust  some  of  whom  has  been  compared  to  reading  with 
"  coloured  spectacles."  And,  one  of  the  features  of  our  times  is 
to  be  ever  taking  stock  of  the  amount  of  truth  in  past  history;  to 
set  readers  on  the  tenters  of  doubt,  and  to  make  them  suspicious 
of  perversions ;  and  to  encourage  a  whitewashing  of  black  repu- 
tations which  sometimes  strays  into  an  extreme  equally  as  un- 
serviceable to  truth  as  that  from  which  the  writer  started. 

It  is,  however,  with  the  view  of  correcting  the  Past  by  the  light 
of  the  Present,  and  directing  attention  to  many  salient  points  of 
Knowledge  for  the  Time,  that  the  present  volume  is  offered  to 
the  public.  Its  aim  may  be  considered  great  in  proportion  to  the 
limited  means  employed;  but,  to  extend  what  is,  in  homely 
phrase,  termed  a  right  understanding,  the  contents  of  the  volume 
are  of  a  mixed  character,  the  Author  having  due  respect  for  the 

b 


M358807 


iv  TO   THE   READER. 

emphatic  words  of  Dr.  Arnold :  "  Preserve  proportion  in  your 
reading,  keep  your  views  of  Men  and  Things  extensive,  and  depend 
upon  it  a  mixed  knowledge  is  not  a  superficial  one :  as  far  as  it  goes, 
the  views  that  it  gives  are  true ;  but  he  who  reads  deeply  in  one 
class  of  writers  only,  gets  views  which  are  almost  sure  to  be  per- 
verted, and  which  are  not  only  narrow  but  false." 

Throughout  the  Work,  the  Author  has  endeavoured  to  avail 
himself  of  the  most  reliable  views  of  leading  writers  on  Events  of 
the  Day ;  and  by  seizing  new  points  of  Knowledge  and  sources 
of  Information,  to  present,  in  a  classified  form,  such  an  assemblage 
of  Facts  and  Opinions  as  may  be  impressed  with  warmth  and 
quickness  upon  the  memory,  and  assist  in  the  formation  of  a  good 
general  judgment,  or  direct  still  further  a-field. 

In  this  Manual  of  abstracts,  abridgments,  and  summaries— 
considerably  over  Three  Hundred  in  number — illustrations  by 
way  of  Anecdote  occur  in  every  page.  Wordiness  has  been 
avoided  as  unfitted  for  a  book  which  has  for  its  object  not  the 
waste  but  the  economy  of  time  and  thought,  and  the  diffusion  of 
concise  notions  upon  subjects  of  living  Interest,  useful  Curiosity, 
and  amusing  Research. 

The  accompanying  Table  of  Contents  will,  at  a  single  glance, 
show  the  variety  as  well  as  the  practical  character  of  the  subjects 
illustrated ;  the  aim  being  to  render  the  work  alike  serviceable  to 
the  reader  of  a  journal  of  the  day,  as  well  as  to  the  student  who 
reads  to  "  reject  what  is  no  longer  essential."  The  Author  has 
endeavoured  to  keep  pace  withathe  progress  of  Information ;  and 
in  the  selection  of  new  accessions,  some  have  been  inserted  more 
to  stimulate  curiosity  and  promote  investigation  than  as  things  to 
be  taken  for  granted.  The  best  and  latest  Authorities  have  been 
consulted,  and  the  improved  journalism  of  our  time  has  been 
made  available;  for,  "when  a  river  of  gold  is  running  by  your 
door,  why  not  put  out  your  hat,  and  take  a  dip  ?"* 

The  Author  has  already  published  several  volumes  of  «  Things 
not  generally  Known,"  which  he  is  anxious  to  supplement  with 
the  present  Manual  of  Knowledge  for  the  Time. 


*  Douglas  Jerrold. 


THE  FRONTISPIECE. 


CAPTAIN  COLES'S  IRON  TURRET-SHIP-OF-WAR. 

THE  precise  and  best  mode  of  constructing  Iron  Ships-of-  War,  so 
as  to  carry  heavy  guns,  is  an  interesting  problem,  which  Captain 
Coles  believes  he  has  already  satisfactorily  solved  in  his  Turret 
ship,  wherein  he  proposes  to  protect  the  guns  by  turrets.  Cap- 
tain Coles  offered  to  the  Admiralty  so  long  ago  as  1855  to  con- 
struct a  vessel  on  this  principle,  having  a  double  bottom ;  light 
draught  of  water,  with  the  power  of  giving  an  increased  im- 
mersion when  under  fire ;  sharp  at  both  ends ;  a  formidable 
prow  ;  her  rudder  and  screw  protected  by  a  projection  of  iron ; 
the  turret  being  hemispherical,  and  not  a  turn-table,  which  was 
unnecessary,  as  this  vessel  was  designed  for  attacking  stationary 
forts  in  the  Black  Sea. 

Captain  Coles  contributed  to  the  International  Exhibition  models 
of  his  ship ;  admitting  (he  states)  from  7  to  8  degrees  depression. 
In  two  this  is  obtained  by  the  deck  on  each  side  of  the  turret 
sloping  at  the  necessary  angle,  to  admit  of  the  required  depres- 
sion ;  in  the  other  two  it  is  obtained  by  the  centre  of  the  deck  on 
which  the  turret  is  surmounted  being  raised  sufficiently  to  en- 
able the  shot,  when  the  gun  is  depressed,  to  pass  clear  of  the 
outer  edge  of  the  deck.  A  drawing  published  in  1860,  of  the 
midship  section  from  which  these  models  were  made,  also  gives 
a  section  of  the  Warrior,  by  which  it  will  be  seen  that  supposing 
the  guns  of  each  to  be  10  feet  out  of  water,  and  to  have  the 
usual  depressions  of  guns  in  the  Navy  (7  degrees),  the  Warrior  s 
guns  on  the  broadside  will  throw  the  shot  19  feet  further  from 
the  side  than  the  shield  ship  with  her  guns  placed  in  the  centre, 
that  being  the  distance  of  the  latter  from  the  edge  of  the  ship: 
thus,  with  the  same  depression,  the  shield  ship  will  have  a 
greater  advantage,  this  being  an  important  merit  of  the  invention, 


vi  THE  FRONTISPIECE. 

which  Captain  Coles  has  already  applied  to  the  Royal  Sovereign. 
The  construction  of  these  turrets,  the  guns,  and  the  turn-tables 
on  which  they  are  placed,  with  the  machinery  to  work  [them,  is 
very  interesting  ;  but  its  details  would  occupy  more  space  than  is 
at  our  command.  (See  Times,  Sept.]8,  1863.) 

Captain  Coles,  in  a  communication  to  the  Times,  dated  No- 
vember, 4,  1863,  thus  urges  the  application  of  the  turret  to  sea- 
going vessels,  and  quotes  the  opinion  of  the  present  Contractor  of 
the  Navy  on  the  advantages  his  (Captain  Coles)  system  must 
have  over  the  old  one,  in  strength,  height  out  of  water,  and  sta- 
bility, and  consequent  adaptation  for  sea-going  ships.  The  Cap- 
tain states: 

"  I  believe  I  have  already  shown  that  on  my  system  of  a  re- 
volving turret,  a  heavier  broadside  can  be  thrown  than  from  ships 
armed  on  the  broadside  ;  but  it  possesses  this  further  advantage, 
that  my  turrets  can  be  adapted  to  the  heaviest  description  of  ord- 
nance ;  indeed,  no  other  plan  has  yet  been  put  in  practice,  while  it 
is  impossible^  to  adapt  the  broadside  ships  to  them,  without  the 
enlargement  of  the  ports,  which  would  destructively  weaken  the 
ships,  and  leave  the  guns'  crew  exposed  to  rifles,  grape-shot  or 
shells."  Captain  Coles  then  quotes  the  armaments  of  the  Prince 
Albert  (now  constructing  at  Millwall,)  and  the  Warrior,  and 
shows  that  although  the  broadside  of  the  Prince  Albert  is  nomi- 
nally reduced  to  1120  Ibs.  (still  in  excess  of  the  Warriors  if 
compared  with  tonnage)  ;  it  still  gives  this  great  advantage,  that 
whereas  late  experiments  have  demonstrated  that  4^-inch  plates 
can  be  made  to  resist  68-pounder  and  no-pounder  shot,  they 
have  also  shown  that  the  300 -pounder  smashes  them  when  formed 
into  a  "Warrior  target"  with  the  greatest  ease.  The  Prince 
Albert,  therefore,  can  smash  the  Warrior,  though  the  Warrior 
carries  no  gun  that  can  injure  her ;  nor  can  she,  as  a  broadside 
ship,  be  altered  to  carry  heavier  guns. 

The  Engraving  represents  Captain  Coles's  Ship  cleared  for 
action,  and  the  bulwarks  down. 


CONTENTS. 


I. — HlSTORICO-POLITICAL    INFORMATION,   I — 56: 

Politics  not  yet  a  Science, — The  Philosopher  and  the  Historian,  i. — 
Whig  and  Tory  Ministries,  2. — Protectionists, — Rats,  and  Ratting, — 
The  Heir  to  the  British  Throne  always  in  Opposition,  4. — Legiti- 
macy and  Government, — "  The  Fourth  Estate,"  5. — Writing  for  the 
Press, — Shorthand  Writers,  7. — The  Worth  of  Popular  Opinion,  8. 
— Machiavelism, — Free-speaking,  9. — Speakers  of  the  Houses  of 
Parliament,  10. — The  National  Conscience,  1 1. — "The  Nation  of 
Shopkeepers,"  12. — Results  of  Revolutions,  13. — Worth  of  a  Re- 
public,— "Safe  Men,"  14.  —  Church  Preferment,  —  Peace  States- 
manship,— The  Burial  of  Sir  John  Moore,  15. — The  Ancestors  of 
Washington,  16. — The  "  Star-spangled  Banner," — Ancestry  of  Pre- 
sident Adams,  18. — The  Irish  Union,  19. — The  House  of  Bona- 
parte, 20. — Invasion  of  England  projected  by  Napoleon  I.,  21. — Fate 
of  the  Due  d'Enghien,  24. — Last  Moments  of  Mr.  Pitt,  25. — What 
drove  George  III.  mad,  -27. — Predictions  of  the  Downfal  of  Napo- 
leon I.,  29. — Wellington  predicts  the  Peninsular  Compaign,  30. — 
The  Battle  of  Waterloo,  31. — Wellington's  Defence  of  the  Waterloo 
Campaign,  32. — Lord  Castlereagh  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  33. — 
The  Cato-street  Conspiracy,  34. — Money  Panic  of  1832,  36. — A 
great  Sufferer  by  Revolutions,  —  Origin  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law 
League,  37. — Wellington's  Military  Administration,  38. — Gustavus 
III.  of  Sweden,  39. — Fall  of  Louis  Philippe,  40. — The  Chartists  in 
1848,  41. — Revival  of  the  French  Emperorship,  43. — French  Coup 
d'Etat  Predictions, — Statesmanship  of  Lord  Melbourne,  44. — Un- 
graceful Observance,  45. — The  Partition  of  Poland,  46. — The  Inva- 
sion of  England,  47. — What  a  Militia  can  do,  48. — Whiteboys,  49. 
— Naval  Heroes, — How  Russia  is  bound  to  Germany,  50. — Count  Ca- 
vour's  Estimate  of  Napoleon  III.,  51. — The  Mutiny  at  the  Nore,  52. — 
Catholic  Emancipation  and  Sir  Robert  Peel, — The  House  of  Coburg,  5  3. 
— A  few  Years  of  the  World's  Changes,  55. — Noteworthy  Pensions,  56. 

II.— PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION,  57 — 84: 

How  the  Earth  was  peopled,  57. — Revelations  of  Geology,  58. — The 
Stone  Age,  59. — What  are  Celtes  ?  60. — Roman  Civilization  of 
Britain,  61. — Roman  Roads  and  British  Railways,  62. — Domestic 
Life  of  the  Saxons,  64. — Love  of  Freedom,  65. — The  Despot  deceived, 


viii  CONTENTS. 


— True  Source  of  Civilization,  66. — The  Lowest  Civilization, — Why 
do  we  shake  Hands  ?  67. — Various  Modes  of  Salutation,  68. — What 
is  Comfort  ?  69. — What  is  Luxury  ? — What  do  we  know  of  Life  ?  70. 
— The  truest  Patriot  the  greatest  Hero, — The  old  Philosophers,  71. 
— Glory  of  the  Past,  72. — Wild  Oats, — How  Shyness  spoils  Enjoy- 
ment, 73. — "  Custom,  the  Queen  of  the  World,"  74.— Ancient 
Guilds  and  Modern  Benefit  Clubs, — The  Oxford  Man  and  the  Cam- 
bridge Man,  75. — "Great  Events  from  Little  Causes  spring,"  76. 
— Great  Britain  on  the  Map  of  the  World,  80. — Ancient  and 
Modern  London,— Potatoes  the  national  food  of  the  Irish,  81. — 
Irish-speaking  Population, — Our  Colonial  Empire,  82. — The  English 
People,  84. 

Ill — DIGNITIES  AND  DISTINCTIONS,  85 — 102: 

Worth  of  Heraldry,  85.— Heralds'  College,  86.— The  Shamrock,— Irish 
Titles  of  Honour,  87. — The  Scotch  Thistle,  88.— King  and  Queen,  89. 
— Title  of  Majesty,  and  the  Royal "  We,"  90. — "  Dieu  et  Mon  Droit," 
— Plume  and  Motto  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  91. — Victoria,  92. — 
English  Crowns, — the  Imperial  State  Crown,  93. — Queen's  Mes- 
sengers,— Presents  and  Letters  to  the  Queen,  95. — The  Prince  of 
Waterloo, — The  See  of  London,  96. — Expense  of  Baronetcy  and 
Knighthood,  97. —  The  Aristocracy,  98.  —  Precedence  in  Parlia- 
ment,— Sale  of  Seats  in  Parliament, — Placemen  in  Parliament,  99. 
— New  Peers,  —  The  Russells,  —  Political  Cunning,  100.  —  The 
Union- Jack, — Field -Marshal,  101. — Change  of  Surname,  102. 

IV. — CHANGES  IN  LAWS,  104—144: 

The  Statute  Law  and  the  Common  Law,  104. — Curiosities  of  the  Statute 
Law,  105. — Secret  of  Success  at  the  Bar, — Queen's  Serjeants,  Queen's 
Counsel,  and  Serjeants-at-Law,  107. — Do  not  make  your  Son  an 
Attorney, — Appellate  Jurisdiction  of  the  House  of  Lords,  108. — 
Payment  of  an  advocate, — Utter-Barristers,  109. — What  was  Special 
Pleading?  — What  is  Evidence?  no.— What  is  Trial?— Trial  by 
Jury,  in. — Attendance  of  Jurors, — The  Law  of  Libel,  113. — In- 
duction of  a  Rector,  115. — Benefit  of  Clergy, — The  King's  Book,  r  16. 
Compulsory  Attendance  at  Church,  117. — The  Mark  of  the  Cross, 
— Marriage-Law  of  England,  118. — Marriage  Fines,  119. — Irregular 
Marriages,  120.  —  Solemnization  of  Marriage,  123. —  The  Law  of 
Copyright,  124. — Holding  over  after  Lease, —  Abolition  of  the  Hop 
Duty,  125. — Customs  of  Gavelkind, — Treasure  Trove,  1-26. — Prin- 
cipal and  Agent, — Legal  Hints,  129. — Vitiating  a  Sale,  130.— Law 
of  Gardens, — Giving  a  Servant  a  Character,  131. — Deodands,  132. 
Arrest  of  the  Body  after  Death, — The  Duty  of  making  a  Will,  133. — 
Don't  make  your  own  Will,  134. —  Bridewell,  135. —  Cockfight- 
ing,  136.  —  Ignorance  and  Irresponsibility,  —  Ticket  -  of  -  Leave 
Men,  137. — Cupar  and  Jedburgh  Justice, — What  is  to  be  done  with 
our  Convicts,  138.  —  The  Game  Laws, — The  Pillory,  139. — 


CONTENTS.  ix 


Death- Warrants, — Pardons,  140. — Origin  of  the  Judge's  Black  Cap, 
— The  Last  English  Gibbet,  141. — Public  Executions,  142. 

V.— MEASURE  AND  VALUE,  146 — 169: 

Numbers  descriptive  of  Distance, — Precocious  Mental  Calculation,  146. — 
The  Roman  Foot,  147. — The  Peruvian  Quipus,  418. — Distances 
measured, — Uniformity  of  .Weights  and  Measures,  149. — Trinity 
High-water  Mark, — Origin  of  Rent,  150. — Curiosities  of  the  Exche- 
quer, 151. — What  becomes  of  the  Public  Revenue,  153. — Queen 
Anne's  Bounty,  154. — Ecclesiastical  Fees, — Burying  Gold  and  Silver, 
155. — Results  of  Gold-seeking,  157. — What  becomes  of  the  Pre- 
cious Metals?  158. — Tribute-money,  159. — The  First  Lottery, — 
Coinage  of  a  Sovereign,  160. — Wear  and  Tear  of  the  Coinage, — 
Counterfeit  Coin,  161. — Standard  Gold, — Interest  of  Money,  162. — 
Interest  of  Money  in  India, —  Origin  of  Insurance,  163. — Stock- 
brokers, 164. — Tampering  with  Public  Credit, — Overspeculation, 
165. — Value  of  Horses, — Friendly  Societies,  166. — Wages  heightened 
by  Improvement  in  Machinery,  167. — Giving  Employment,— Never 
sign  an  Accommodation  Bill,  168. — A  Year's  Wills,  169. 

VI. — PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE,  171 — 232: 

What  human  Science  has  accomplished, — Changes  in  Social  Science,  171. 
— Discoverers  not  Inventors,  172. — Science  of  Roger  Bacon,  173. 
— The  One  Science,  174.— Sun-force,  175. — "The  Seeds  of  Inven- 
tion," 176. — The  Object  of  Patents, — Theory  and  Practice, — Watt 
and  Telford,  177.  — Practical  Science, — Mechanical  Arts,  178. — 
Force  of  Running  Water,— Correlation  of  Physical  Forces,— Oil  on 
Waves,  1 80. — Spontaneous  Generation, — Guano, — What  is  Perspec- 
tive? 181. — The  Stereoscope, — Burning  Lenses,  182. — How  to  wear 
Spectacles, — Vicissitudes  of  Mining,  183. — Uses  of  Mineralogy,  185. 
— Our  Coal  Resources, — The  Deepest  Mine,  186. — Iron  as  a  Building 
Material,  189. — Concrete,  not  new, — Sheathing  Ships  with  Copper, 
190. — Copper  Smelting, — Antiquity  of  Brass, — Brilliancy  of  the 
Diamond,  191. — Philosophy  of  Gunpowder, — New  Pear-flavouring, 
192. — Methylated  Spirit,  193. — What  is  Phosphate  of  Lime? — 
What  is  Wood? — How  long  will  Wood  last?  194. — The  Safety 
Match,  195. — Pottery, — Wedgwood,  196. — Imposing  Mechanical 
Effects,  197 — Horse-power, — The  First  Practical  Steam-boat,  198. — 
Effect  of  Heavy  Seas  upon  Large  Vessels,  199. — The  Railway, — Ac- 
cidents on  Railways,  200. — Railways  and  Invasions,  202. — What  the 
English  owe  to  naturalized  Foreigners,  203. — Geological  Growth, 
204. — The  Earth  and  Man  compared, — Why  the  Earth  is  presumed 
to  be  Solid, — "Implements  in  the  Drift,"  205. — The  Centre  of  the 
Earth,  206. — The  Cooling  of  the  Earth,  207. — Identity  of  Heat  and 
Motion,  208 — Universal  Source  of  Heat,  209. — Inequalities  of  the 
Earth's  Surface,  210. — Chemistry  of  the  Sea,  212. — The  Sea:  its 
Perils,  213. — Limitations  of  Astronomy,  214.  —  Distance  of  the  Earth 


CONTENTS. 


from  the  Sun,  215. — Blue  Colour  of  the  Sky,  216. — Beauty  of  the 
Sky,  217. — High  Temperatures  in  Balloon  Ascents, — Value  of  Me- 
teorological Observations,  Telegraph,  and  Forecasts,  218. — Weather 
Signs,  220. — Barometer  for  Farmers,  222. — Icebergs  and  the  Wea- 
ther, 223.  —  St.  Swithun :  his  true  History,  224.  —  Rainfall  in 
London,  225. — The  Force  of  Lightning,  226. — Effect  of  Moon- 
light,— Contemporary  Inventions  and  Discoveries,  227. — The  Bayonet, 
228.  — Loot, —  Telegram,  — Archaeology  and  Manufactures,  229.  — 
Good  Art  should  be  Cheap,  230. — Imitative  Jewellery,  231. — French 
Enamel,  232. 

VII. — LIFE  AND  HEALTH,  233 — 266: 

Periods  and  Conditions  of  Life, — Age  of  the  People,  233. —  The  Human 
Heart, — The  Sense  of  Hearing,  234. — Care  of  the  Teeth, — On 
Blindness,  235. — Sleeping  and  Dreaming,  236. — Position  in  Sleeping, 
— Hair  suddenly  changing  Colour,  237. — Consumption  not  hopeless, 
238. — Change  of  Climate, — Perfumes,  239. — Cure  for  Yellow  Fever, 
—  Nature's  Ventilation,  240. — Artificial  Ventilation, — Worth  of 
Fresh  Air,  241. — Town  and  Country,  243. — Recreations  of  the 
People, — The  Druids  and  their  Healing  Art,  244. — Remedies  for 
Cancer,  245. — Improved  Surgery, — Restoration  of  a  Fractured  Leg, 
246. — The  Original  "Dr.  Sangrado," — False  Arts  advancing  true, 
247. —  Brief  History  of  Medicine,  248. — What  has  Science  done  for 
Medicine?  249. — Element  of  Physic  in  Medical  Practice,  250. — 
Physicians'  Fees, — Prevention  of  Pitting  in  Small-pox,  251. — Un- 
derneath the  Skin,  252. — Relations  of  Mind  and  Organization,  253. 
— Deville,  the  Phrenologist,  254. — "Seeing  is  believing,"  255. — 
Causes  of  Insanity,  256. — Brain-Disease,  257. — The  Half-mad,  258. 
— Motives  for  Suicide, — Remedy  for  Poisoning,  259. — New  Remedy 
for  Wounds, — Compensation  for  Wounds, — The  Best  Physician,  260. 
— The  Uncertainty  of  Human  Life,  262. 

VIII. — RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT,  266—286: 

Moveable  Feasts, — Christmas,  266. — Doubt  about  Religion,  267. — Our 
Age  of  Doubt,  270. — A  Hint  to  Sceptics, — What  is  Egyptology  ?  271. 
— Jerusalem  and  Nimroud,  272. — What  is  Rationalism  ?  J2 7 3. — 
What  is  Theology?  274. — Religious  Forebodings,  275.— Folly  of 
Atheism, — The  First  Congregational  Church  in  England,  276. — 
Innate  Ideas,  and  Pre-existence  of  Souls,  277.— Sabbath  of  Profes- 
sional Men,  278. — "In  the  Beginning,"  279. — The  last  Religious 
Martyrs  in  England, — Liberty  of  Conscience,  281. — Awful  Judg- 
ments,— Christian  Education, — The  Book  of  Psalms,  283. — The 
Book  of  Job,  285. 

APPENDIX.. 
Great  Precedence  Question 287 


KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


Information, 


Politics  not  yet  a  Science. 

MR.  BUCKLE,  in  his  thoughtful  History  of  Civilization,  re- 
marks: "  In  the  present  state  of  knowledge,  Politics,  so  far  from 
being  a  science,  is  one  of  the  most  backward  of  all  the  arts ;  and 
the  only  safe  course  for  the  legislator  is  to  look  upon  his  craft  as 
consisting  in  the  adaptation  of  temporary  contrivances  to  tem- 
porary emergencies.  His  business  is  to  follow  the  age,  and  not 
at  all  to  attempt  to  lead  it.  He  should  be  satisfied  with  studying 
what  is  passing  around  him,  and  should  modify  his  schemes, 
not  according  to  the  notions  he  has  inherited  from  his  fathers, 
but  according  to  the  actual  exigencies  of  his  own  time.  For  he 
may  rely  upon  it  that  the  movements  of  society  have  now  become 
so  rapid  that  the  wants  of  one  generation  are  no  measure  of  the 
wants  of  another ;  and  that  men,  urged  by  a  sense  of  their  own 
progress,  are  growing  weary  of  idle  talk  about  the  wisdom  of 
their  ancestors,  and  are  fast  discarding  those  trite  and  sleepy 
maxims  which  have  hitherto  imposed  upon  them,  but  by  which 
they  will  not  consent  to  be  much  longer  troubled." 

The  Philosopher  and  the  Historian. 

u  I  have  read  somewhere  or  other,"  says  Lord  Bolingbroke, 
"  in  Dionysius  Halicarnassus,  I  think,  that  History  is  Philosophy 
teaching  by  Example." 

Walter  Savage  Landor  has  thus  distinguished  the  respective 
labours  of  the  Philosopher  and  the  Historian.  "  There  are,"  Mr 
Landor  writes,  "  quiet  hours  and  places  in  which  a  taper  may  be 
carried  steadily,  and  show  the  way  along  the  ground ;  but  you 
must  stand  a  tip-toe  and  raise  a  blazing  torch  above  your  head,  if 

B 


KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


you  would  bring  to  our  vision  the  obscure  and  time-worn  figures 
depicted  on  the  lofty  vaults  of  antiquity.  The  philosopher  shows 
everything  in  one  clear  light ;  the  historian  loves  strong  reflections 
and  deep  shadows,  but,  above  all,  prominent  and  moving  cha- 
racters." 

In  writing  of  the  Past,  it  behoves  us  to  bear  in  mind,  that  while 
actions  are  always  to  be  judged  by  the  immutable  standard  of 
right  and  wrong,  the  judgment  which  we  pass  upon  men  must  be 
qualified  by  considerations  of  age,  country,  situation,  and  other 
incidental  circumstances;  and  it  will  then  be  found,  that  he  who  is 
most  charitable  in  his  judgment,  is  generally  the  least  unjust. 

It  is  curious  to  find  one  of  the  silken  barons  of  civilization  and 
refinement,  writing  as  follows.  The  polite  Earl  of  Chesterfield 
says:  "  I  am  provoked  at  the  contempt  which  most  historians 
show  for  humanity  in  general:  one  would  think  by  them  that  the 
whole  human  species  consisted  but  of  about  a  hundred  and  fifty 
people,  called  and  dignified  (commonly  very  undeservedly  too) 
by  the  titles  of  emperors,  kings,  popes,  generals,  and  ministers." 

Sir  Humphry  Davy  has  written  thus  plainly  in  the  same  vein : 
"In  the  common  history  of  the  world,  as  compiled  by  authors  in 
general,  almost  all  the  great  changes  of  nations  are  confounded 
with  changes  in  their  dynasties ;  and  events  are  usually  referred 
either  to  sovereigns,  chiefs,  heroes,  or  their  armies,  which  do,  in 
fact,  originate  entirely  from  different  causes,  either  of  an  intel- 
lectual or  moral  nature.  Governments  depend  far  more  than  is 
generally  supposed  upon  the  opinion  of  "the  people  and  the  spirit 
of  the  age  and  nation.  It  sometimes  happens  that  a  gigantic 
mind  possesses  supreme  power,  and  rises  superior  to  the  age  in 
which  he  is  born:  such  was  Alfred  in  England,  and  Peter  in 
Russia.  Such  instances  are,  however,  very  rare ;  and  in  general 
it  is  neither  amongst  sovereigns  nor  the  higher  classes  of  society 
that  the  great  improvers  and  benefactors  of  mankind  are  to  be 
found." — Consolations  in  Travel,  pp.  34,  35. 

Whig  and  Tory  Ministries. 

The  domestic  history  of  England  during  the  reign  of  Anne, 
is  that  of  the  great  struggles  between  Whig  and  Tory ;  and  Earl 
Stanhope,  in  his  History  of  England,  thus  points  out  a  number  of 
precisely  parallel  lines  of  policy,  and  instances  of  unscrupulous 
resort  to  the  same  censurable  set  of  weapons  of  party  warfare,  in 
the  Tories  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne  and  the  Whigs  of  the 
reign  of  William  IV. 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.         3 

"  At  that  period  the  two  great  contending  parties  were  distinguished,  as 
at  present,  by  the  nicknames  of  Whig  and  Tory.  But  it  is  very  remark- 
able that  in  Queen  Anne's  reign  the  relative  meaning  of  these  terms  was 
not  only  different  but  opposite  to  that  which  they  bore  at  the  accession  of 
William  IV.  In  theory,  indeed,  the  main  principle  of  each  continues  the 
same.  The  leading  principle  of  the  Tories  is  the  dread  of  popular  licen- 
tiousness. The  leading  principle  of  the  Whigs  is  the  dread  of  royal  en- 
croachment. It  may  thence,  perhaps,  be  deduced  that  good  and  wise  men 
would  attach  themselves  either  to  the  Whig  or  to  the  Tory  party,  accord- 
ing as  there  seemed  to  be  the  greater  danger  at  that  particular  period 
from  despotism  or  from  democracy.  The  same  person  who  would  have 
been  a  Whig  in  1712  would  have  been  a  Tory  in  1830.  For,  on  exa- 
mination, it  will  be  found  that,  in  nearly  all  particulars,  a  modern  Tory 
resembles  a  Whig  of  Queen  Anne's  reign,  and  a  Tory  of  Queen  Anne's 
reign  a  modern  Whig. 

"  First,  as  to  the  Tories.  The  Tories  of  Queen  Anne's  reign  pursued 
a  most  unceasing  opposition  to  a  just  and  glorious  war  against  France. 
They  treated  the  great  General  of  the  age  as  their  peculiar  adversary.  To 
our  recent  enemies,  the  French,  their  policy  was  supple  and  crouching. 
They  had  an  indifference,  or  even  an  aversion,  to  our  old  allies  the  Dutch. 
They  had  a  political  leaning  towards  the  Roman  Catholics  at  home.  They 
were  supported  by  the  Roman  Catholics  in  their  elections.  They  had  a 
love  of  triennial  parliaments  in  preference  to  septennial.  They  attempted 
to  abolish  the  protecting  duties  and  restrictions  of  commerce.  They  wished 
to  favour  our  trade  with  France  at  the  expense  of  our  trade  with  Portugal. 
They  were  supported  by  a  faction  whose  war-cry  was  'Repeal  of  the 
Union,'  in  a  sister  kingdom.  To  serve  a  temporary  purpose  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  they  had  recourse  (for  the  first  time  in  our  annals)  to  a  large  and 
overwhelming  creation  of  peers.  Like  the  Whigs  in  May,  1831,  they 
chose  the  moment  of  the  highest  popular  passion  and  excitement  to  dis- 
solve the  House  of  Commons,  hoping  to  avail  themselves  of  a  short-lived 
cry  for  the  purpose  of  permanent  delusion.  The  Whigs  of  Queen  Anne's 
time,  on  the  other  hand,  supported  that  splendid  war  which  led  to  such 
victories  as  Ramillies  and  Blenheim.  They  had  for  a  leader  the  great 
man  who  gained  those  victories.  They  advocated  the  old  principles  of 
trade.  They  prolonged  the  duration  of  parliaments.  They  took  their 
stand  on  the  principles  of  the  Revolution  of  r688.  They  raised  the  cry 
of  '  No  Popery.'  They  loudly  inveighed  against  the  subserviency  to  France, 
the  desertion  of  our  old  allies,  the  outrage  wrought  upon  the  peers,  the 
deceptions  practised  upon  the  sovereign,  and  the  other  measures  of  the  Tory 
administration. 

"  Such  were  the  Tories  and  such  were  the  Whigs  of  Queen  Anne.  Can 
it  be  doubted  that,  at  the  accession  of  William  IV.,  Harley  and  St.  John 
would  have  been  called  Whigs  j  Somers  and  Stanhope,  Tories  ?  Would 
not  the  October  Club  have  loudly  cheered  the  measures  of  Lord  Grey, 
and  the  Kit-Cat  find  itself  renewed  in  the  Carlton  ?" 

B2 


4  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

The  defence  of  the  Whigs  against  these  imputations  seems  to 
be  founded  upon  the  famous  Jesuitical  principle,  that  the  end 
justifies  the  means.  They  do  not  deny  the  facts,  but  they  assert, 
that  while  the  Tories  of  1713  resorted  to  such  modes  of  further- 
ing the  interests  of  arbitrary  power,  they  have  employed  them  in 
advancing  the  progress  and  securing  the  ascendancy  of  the  demo- 
cracy. 

Protectionists. 

This  name  was  given  to  that  section  of  the  Conservative  party 
which  opposed  the  repeal  of  the  Corn-laws,  and  which  separated 
from  Sir  Robert  Peel  in  1846.  A  "  Society  for  the  Protection  of 
Agriculture,"  and  to  counteract  the  efforts  of  the  Anti-Corn  Law 
League,  gave  the  name  to  the  party.  Lord  George  Bentinck  was 
their  leader  from  1846  till  his  death  on  September  21,  1848.  The 
administration  under  Lord  Derby  not  proposing  the  restoration 
ot  the  corn-laws,  this  society  was  dissolved  February  7,  1853. 

Rats,  and  Ratting. 

James,  in  his  Military  Dictionary,  1816,  states: — 
"  Rats  are  sometimes  used  in.  military  operations,  particularly  for  set- 
ting fire  to  magazines  of  gunpowder.  On  these  occasions,  a  lighted  match 
is  tied  to  the  tail  of  the  animal.  Marshal  Vauban  recommends,  therefore, 
that  the  walls  of  powder-magazines  should  be  made  very  thick,  and  the 
passages  for  light  and  wind  so  narrow  as  not  to  admit  them  (the  rats)." 

The  expression  to  rat  is  a  figurative  term  applied  to  those 
who  at  the  moment  of  a  division  desert  or  abandon  any  parti- 
cular party  or  side  of  a  question.  The  term  itself  comes  from 
the  well-known  circumstance  of  rats  running  away  from  decayed 
or  falling  buildings. — Notes  and  Queries,  2  S.,  No.  68. 

The  Heir  to  the  British  Throne  always  in 
Opposition. 

Horace  Walpole  somewhere  remarks,  as  a  peculiarity  in  the 
history  of  the  Hanover  family,  that  the  heir-apparent  has  always 
been  in  opposition  to  the  reigning  monarch.  The  fact  is  true 
enough  ;  but  it  is  not  a  peculiarity  in  the  House  of  Hanover.  It 
is  an  infirmity  of  human  nature,  to  be  found,  more  or  less,  in 
every  analogous  case  of  private  life ;  but  our  political  system  de- 
velopes  it  with  peculiar  force  and  more  remarkable  effects  in  the 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.        5 

Royal  Family.  Those  who  cannot  obtain  the  favours  of  the  father 
will  endeavour  to  conciliate  the  good  wishes  of  the  son ;  and  all 
arts  are  employed,  and  few  are  necessary,  to  seduce  the  heir- 
apparent  into  the  exciting  and  amusing  game  of  political  oppo- 
sition. He  is  naturally  apt  enough  to  dislike  what  he  considers  a 
present  thraldom,  and  to  anticipate,  by  his  influence  over  a  faction, 
the  plenitude  of  his  future  power.  This  was  the  mainspring  of 
the  most  serious  part  of  the  political  troubles  of  the  last  century : 
let  us,  however,  hope  that  it  will  never  be  revived ;  and  this  we 
are  encouraged  to  hope  from  our  improved  Constitution,  as  well 
as  from  the  improved  education  of  our  Royal  Family. 

Legitimacy  and  Government. 

It  is  an  unguarded  idea  of  some  public  writers  that  "the 
Sovereign  holds  her  crown  not  by  hereditary  descent  but  by  the 
will  of  the  nation."  This  doctrine  is  too  frequently  stated  in  and 
out  of  Parliament ;  and  without  qualification  or  explanation  it 
would  be  apt  to  breed  mischief  in  the  minds  of  an  ignorant  and 
excited  multitude,  if  the  instinctive  feelings  of  common  sense  did 
not  invariably  correct  the  popular  errors  of  theorists. 

"  They  who  have  studied  the  Constitution  attentively  hold  that 
her  Majesty  reigns  by  hereditary  right,  though  her  predecessor  in 
1688  received  the  Crown  at  the  hands  of  a  free  nation.  To  refer 
to  the  right  of  election,  which  can  be  exercised  only  during  a 
revolution,  and  to  be  silent  on  hereditary  right,  is  to  lower  the 
Regal  dignity  to  the  precarious  office  of  the  judges  when  they 
held  their  patents  durante  beneplacito.  Suppose  a  nation  so  divided 
that  one  casting  vote  would  carry  a  plebiscite,  changing  the  form 
of  government,  or  the  dynasty,  and  there  would  be  a  practical 
illustration  of  a  principle — if  principle  at  all — which,  when  taken 
as  a  broad  palpable  fact,  is  undeniable  in  the  founder  of  a  dynasty, 
but  when  erected  into  a  legal  theory  it  becomes  neither  more  nor 
less  than  a  permanent  code  of  revolution.  Hence  the  successor  of 
that  founder,  if  his  power  be  not  supported  by  military  despo- 
tism, is  invariably  a  staunch  advocate  of  his  indefeasible  hereditary 
right,  though  originally  derived  from  the  consent  of  the  nation." — 
Saturday  Review. 

"  The  Fourth  Estate." 

The  Press  has  been  described  as  the  Fourth  Estate  of  the  realm  j 
but  it  is  not  so.  If  we  remember  rightly,  it  was  Lord  Stanley  who 
characterized  it  as  a  second  representation  ot  the  Third  Estate. 


KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


This  is  nearer  the  mark,  though  it  is  not  exactly  true,  seeing 
that  the  press  represents,  or  professes  to  represent,  all  the  three 
estates.  Its  influence  on  the  State  is  a  fact  either  not  acknow- 
ledged at  all  or  acknowledged  as  an  evil  to  be  held  in  check  by 
stringent  laws  and  safeguards.  Its  place  of  power  is  not  defined 
by  any  written  Constitution,  and  its  acts  are  in  our  day  controlled, 
for  the  most  part,  by  no  written  statute,  but  only  by  its  own 
good  sense.  In  its  modes  of  expression,  the  newspaper  press  of 
our  country  usually  keeps  far  within  the  bounds  which  the  law 
prescribes ;  it  voluntarily  prescribes  for  itself  a  law  which  has  no 
authority  save  that  of  taste.  There  is  not  a  greater  power  under 
the  Constitution  than  this  press,  which  is  indeed  the  source  of 
power  to  much  besides  itself.  What  would  public  meetings  be 
without  the  press  ?  Within  the  present  century  the  method  of 
influencing  public  opinion  by  means  of  great  gatherings  of  the 
people  under  the  direction  of  leagues  and  associations  has  been 
perfected.  It  is  a  method  which  derives  its  momentum  from  the 
multiplication  of  reports!  It  is  a  matter  of  indifference  to  an 
orator  what  or  where  is  his  audience,  provided  through  the  re- 
porters he  can  address  all  England.  The  Press  has  thus  neutra- 
lized one  of  the  evils  of  democracy  as  it  was  known  in  the  olden 
time.  A  democratic  Assembly  meant  a  rabble,  a  packed  mul- 
titude of  noisy  citizens  into  which  the  more  quiet  and  thoughtful 
class  of  people  did  not  care  to  venture.  In  the  democratic 
Assemblies  now  every  man  in  England  virtually  sits.  We  have 
good  seats,  for  we  are  at  our  own  firesides  with  the  newspapers 
in  our  hands.  In  the  quiet  of  our  chosen  retreats  we  listen  to 
the  "  cheers,"  and  the  "  hear,  hear,"  and  the  laughter  which  the 
speech  of  the  orator  evokes,  and  we  can  calmly  measure  the  words 
of  the  demagogue.  Upon  the  very  manner  of  public  speaking, 
too,  we  imagine  that  the  system  of  newspaper  reporting  has  had 
some  effect.  If  we  may  judge  by  the  very  imperfect  reports 
which  we  have  of  speeches  delivered  in  the  last  century,  orators 
were  then  more  inflated  and  inflammatory  in  their  style  than  they 
are  now,  the  momentary  impression  which  they  created  was 
beyond  anything  we  can  now  conceive,  and  if  eloquence  is  to  be 
judged  from  its  immediate  effect  they  were  greater  masters  of  the 
art  than  any  we  can  now  boast  of.  If  this  appears  a  hard  thing 
to  say,  when  we  have  such  orators  among  us  as  Lord  Derby ., 
Mr.  Gladstone,  Mr.  Bright,  and  Mr.  Disraeli,  let  us  remember 
the  other  side  of  the  question — let  us  take  into  account  that  our 
contemporary  first-class  orators  speak  with  the  full  knowledge 
that  in  cool  blood  their  speeches  will  be  read  word  for  word 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.          7 

on  the  morrow.  They  know  right  well  that  much  of  the  bom- 
bast which  might  safely  be  addressed  to  an  admiring  and  heated 
audience  will  expose  them  only  to  ridicule  when  it  is  reduced  to 
print.  Insensibly  a  more  sober  standard  of  oratory  is  thus  esta- 
blished, to  the  great  gain  of  our  deliberative  assemblies,  and  acting 
as  some  check  upon  rhetorical  demagogues. — Times. 

Writing  for  the  Press. 

The  organization  of  a  great  Newspaper  establishment  is  a  re- 
markable result  of  practical  ability  profiting  by  accumulated 
experience ;  but  an  account  of  the  progress  and  development  of 
the  system  is  as  tedious  as  a  history  of  the  iron  manufacture  or 
of  the  cotton  trade.  A  readable  narrative  must  include  matters 
of  more  human  interest  than  tables  of  figures  which  represent 
the  successive  numbers  of  copies  and  of  advertisements;  and 
although  newspapers,  like  power-looms,  may  not  have  sprung 
into  existence  of  themselves,  the  names  of  their  obscure  founders 
and  managers  are  deservedly  forgotten.  Mr.  Perry's  name  is  still 
known  in  consequence  of  his  connexion  with  the  old  Whig  party; 
Mr.  Stuart  enjoys  a  parasitic  fame  as  the  employer  of  Coleridge 
and  of  Mackintosh  ;  and  the  late  Mr.  Walter  exhibited  an  effec- 
tive sagacity  in  the  conduct  of  his  business  which  places  him  on 
a  level  with  the  Arkwrights  and  Boltons  of  manufacturing  history. 
It  would  not  be  worth  while  to  extend  the  list  of  able  editors 
and  spirited  proprietors.  Successful  men  of  business  must  be  con- 
tented to  make  their  own  fortunes  and  to  benefit  the  world  at 
large,  without  desiring  the  supererogatory  reward  of  posthumous 
fame.  When  the  gods,  in  Schiller's  apologue,  had  given  away 
the  earth  and  the  sea,  they  reserved  the  barren  sky  for  the  portion- 
less poet ;  and  ever  since,  the  lightest  touch  of  genius,  the  smallest 
act  which  indicated  inherent  greatness,  has  been  found  to  retain  its 
place  in  the  memory  of  men  long  after  capitalists  and  mechanical 
inventors  have  joined  the  multitude  of  the  dead ;  abierunt  ad 
plures.  The  clever  lecturer  who  employs  himself  in  diffusing 
information  on  the  mechanism  of  watches  probably  finds  the 
attention  of  his  audience  flag  when  he  attempts  to  delineate  the 
qualities  and  virtues  of  deceased  generations  of  watchmakers.— 
Saturday  Review. 

Shorthand  Writers. 

Stenography,  or  the  art  of  short  writing,  is  generally  stated 
to  have  been  invented  by  Xenophon,  the  historian ;  first  practised 


8  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

by  Pythagoras ;  and  reduced  to  a  system  by  the  poet,  Ennius.  To 
this  art  we  owe  full  reports  of  the  proceedings  in  Parliament. 
The  system  of  Gurney  was  employed  for  this  purpose  ;  shorthand 
notes  upon  which  were  found  among  the  Egerton  MSS. 

The  shorthand-writer  of  the  House  of  Commons  states  in  his 
Evidence  before  the  Select  Committee  on  Private  Bill  Legislation 
that  he  receives  two  guineas  a-day  for  attendance  before  com- 
mittees to  take  notes  of  the  evidence,  and  gd.  per  folio  of  72 
words  for  making  a  copy  from  his  notes.  In  1862,  he  received 
for  business  thus  done  for  the  committees  on  private  Bills  66677., 
consisting  of  i682/.  for  attendance  fees  and  49857.  for  the  tran- 
scripts ;  this  does  not  include  the  charges  in  respect  of  committees 
on  public  matters.  He  is  appointed  for  the  House  of  Lords  also. 
So  much  of  the  business  as  he  cannot  execute  by  his  own  establish- 
ment he  transfers  to  other  shorthand  writers  on  rather  lower  terms, 
but  he  himself  keeps  a  staff  of  ten  shorthand  writers.  Each  of 
these  has  at  least  one  clerk  who  can  read  his  shorthand;  but 
the  most  efficient  course  is  found  to  be  that  he  have  two  such 
clerks,  each  of  whom  (and  himself  also),  taking  in  hand  a  portion 
of  the  notes,  dictates  to  quick  writers,  so  that  the  mode  of  tran- 
scribing is  by  writing  from  dictation,  and  not  by  copying.  There 
is  a  great  strain  and  pressure  in  order  to  get  the  transcript  to  the 
law-stationers  in  time  for  the  requisite  number  of  copies  to  be 
ready  when  the  committee  meet  next  morning.  In  the  height  of 
the  session,  the  witness  mentions,  he  provides  refreshments  for 
about  fifty  persons  employed  at  his  office  during  the  evening, 
many  of  them  until  midnight,  and  often  later. 

The  Worth  of  Popular  Opinion. 

Popular  Opinion  is  generally  founded  on  the  most  prominent 
and  the  most  striking,  but  for  that  reason,  often  the  most  superfi- 
cial feature  in  the  interesting  object  of  which  a  knowledge  is  pre- 
tended. That  Cromwell  had  a  wart  on  his  nose ;  that  Byron 
had  a  club-foot,  which  gave  him  more  anxiety  than  the  critiques 
on  his  poems;  that  the  head  of  Pericles  was  too  long,  for  which 
reason  the  sculptors  always  made  his  bust  helmeted,  while  that  of 
Julius  Caesar  was  bald,  which  made  it  doubly  grateful  to  that 
great  commander  to  have  his  brow  encompassed  with  an  oaken 
wreath,  or  the  coveted  kingly  diadem ;  such  prominent  and  super- 
ficial accessories  of  personal  appearance,  in  the  case  of  well- 
known  characters,  will  often  be  familiar  to  thousands  who  know 
nothing  more  of  the  persons  so  curiously  characterized.  But 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.         9 

these,  so  far  as  they  go,  are  true ;  they  are  accurate  knowledge, 
not  mere  opinion.  Even  vulgar  opinion  is  not  so  often  altogether 
false  as  it  is  partial  and  inadequate,  and  therefore  unjust.  Of 
Mahomet,  for  instance,  everybody  knows  that  he  was  the  prophet 
of  an  intolerant  religion,  which  its  most  sincere  professors  have 
always  most  zealously  propagated  with  the  sword.  This  is  quite 
true ;  but  it  is  far  from  embracing  the  whole  truth  with  regard 
to  the  religion  of  the  Koran ;  and  he  who  with  the  inconsiderate 
haste  of  popular  logic,  uses  this  accurate  knowledge  about  a 
fraction  of  a  thing,  as  if  it  were  the  just  appreciation  of  the 
whole,  falls  not  the  less  certainly  into  the  region  of  mere  de- 
lusion ;  for  though  the  thing  that  he  believes  is  true,  it  is  not 
true  as  he  gives  it  currency.  He  is  in  fact  doing  a  thing  in 
the  region  of  ideas  which  is  equivalent  to  passing  a  farthing 
for  a  guinea ;  an  act  whereby  he  swindles  the  public  and  him- 
self very  nearly  as  much  as  if  he  were  to  pass  off  a  piece  of 
painted  pasteboard  for  the  same  value. — Professor  Blackie  ; 
Edinburgh  Essays,  1856. 

Machiavelism. 

It  has  been  well  said  of  Machiavelli,  that  he  has  the  credit  or 
discredit  of  having  been  the  first  to  erect  into  a  science,  and  reduce 
it  to  theory,  the  art  of  obtaining  absolute  power  by  deception  and 
cruelty ;  and  of  maintaining  it  afterwards  by  the  simulation  of 
leniency  and  virtue.  In  political  history,  he  was  the  first  who 
gave  at  once  a  general  and  a  luminous  development  of  great  events 
in  their  causes  and  connexion. 

Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  in  his  History  of  the  World,  says : — "  The 
doctrine  which  Machiavel  taught  unto  Caesar  Borgia,  to  employ 
men  in  mischievous  actions,  and  afterwards  to  destroy  them  when 
they  have  performed  the  mischief,  was  not  of  his  own  invention. 
All  ages  have  given  us  examples  of  this  goodly  policy ;  the  latter 
having  been  apt  scholars  in  this  lesson  to  the  more  ancient,  as 
the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  here  in  England  can  bear  witness; 
and  therein  especially  the  Lord  Cromwell,  who  perished  by  the 
same  unjust  law  that  himself  had  devised  for  the  taking  away  of 
another  man's  life." 

Free-speaking. 

Archbishop  Whately,  in  his  very  able  Lecture  on  Egypt,  refer- 
ring to  the  writers  on  Public  Affairs  at  home,  reprehends  the 
practice  of  exaggerating,  with  keen  delight,  every  evil  that  they 


10  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

can  find,  inventing  such  as  do  not  exist,  and  keeping  out  of  sight 
what  is  good.  An  Eastern  despot,  reading  the  productions  of  one 
of  these  writers,  would  say  that,  with  all  our  precautions,  we  are 
the  worst  governed  people  on  earth;  and  that  our  law-courts 
and  public  offices  are  merely  a  complicated  machinery  for  oppress- 
ing the  mass  of  the  people ;  that  our  Houses  of  Lords  and  Com- 
mons are  utterly  mismanaged,  our  public  men  striving  to  repress 
merit,  and  that  our  best  plan  would  be  to  sweep  away  all  those, 
as,  with  less  trouble,  matters  might  go  on  better,  and  could  not 
go  on  worse.  Charges  of  this  nature  cannot  be  brought  publicly 
forward  in  the  Turkish  Empire.  In  Cairo,  a  man  was  beheaded 
because  he  made  too  free  a  use  of  his  tongue.  He  was  told 
not  to  be  speaking  of  the  insurrection  in  Syria,  and  had  dared 
to  be  chatting  of  the  news ;  and  there  are  other  countries,  also, 
where  because  such  charges  are  true,  it  would  not  be  safe  to 
circulate  them.  But  these  writers  do  not  mean  half  what  they  set 
forth.  They  heighten  their  descriptions  to  display  their  eloquence ; 
but  the  tendency  of  such  publications  is  always  towards  revolu- 
tion, and  the  practical  effect  on  the  minds  of  the  people  is  to 
render  them  incredulous.  They  understand  that  these  overwrought 
representations  are  for  effect,  and  they  go  about  their  business  with 
an  impression  that  the  whole  is  unreal.  If  one  of  these  writers 
were  visited  himself  with  a  horrible  dream  that  he  was  a  peasant 
under  an  Oriental  despot,  that  he  was  taxed  at  the  will  of  the 
Sovereign,  and  had  to  pay  the  assessment  in  produce,  valued  at 
half  the  market-price,  that  he  was  compelled  to  work  and  re- 
ceive four-fifths  of  his  low  wages  in  food  consisting  of  hard,  sour 
biscuit — let  him  then  dream  that  he  had  spoken  against  the 
Ministry,  and  that  he  finds  himself  bastinadoed  till  he  confesses 
that  he  brought  false  charges ;  that  his  grown-up  son  had  been 
dragged  off  for  a  soldier,  and  himself  deprived  of  his  only  support, 
and  he  would  be  inclined  to  doubt  whether  ours  is  the  worst 
system  of  Government. 

Speakers  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament. 

The  late  Sir  George  Cornewall  Lewis,  in  a  communication 
which  appeared  in  Notes  and  Queries,  in  the  week  of  the  author's 
lamented  death,  states  the  following : 

"  In  modern  legislative  chambers  it  has  been  customary  for  the  Chamber 
to  appoint  one  of  its  own  members  as  president.  In  the  English  House  of 
Lords  the  Lord  Chancellor  is  President  by  virtue  of  his  office.  Although 
a  member  of  the  executive  Government,  and  holding  his  office  at  the 
pleasure  of  the  Crown,  he  is  nevertheless  a  high  judicial  officer,  and  is 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.        11 

deemed  to  carry  his  judicial  impartiality  into  the  performance  of  his  presi- 
dential functions.  In  general,  however,  the  president  of  a  legislative 
chamber  is  not,  according  to  modern  practice,  a  member  of  the  executive 
Government.  He  is  an  independent  member  of  the  legislature,  who  is 
appointed  by  the  chamber,  and  holds  his  office  at  its  pleasure,  such  as 
the  Speaker  of  the  English  House  of  Commons. 

"  The  principal  functions  of  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons 
were  not  originally  (as  the  title  of  his  office  indicates)  what  they  are  at 
present.  The  House  of  Commons  were  at  first  a  set  of  delegates  summoned 
by  the  Crown  to  negotiate  with  it  concerning  the  payment  of  taxes.  They 
might  take  advantage  of  the  position  of  superiority  which  they  temporarily 
occupied  to  remonstrate  with  the  Crown  about  certain  grievances,  upon 
which  they  were  generally  agreed.  In  this  state  of  things  it  was  important 
that  they  should  have  an  organ  and  spokesman  with  sufficient  ability  and 
knowledge  to  state  their  views,  and  with  sufficient  courage  to  contend 
against  the  displeasure  of  the  Crown.  The  helpless  condition  of  a  large 
body  which  is  called  upon  to  conduct  a  negotiation  without  any  appointed 
organ  is  well  described  by  Livy.  When  the  Roman  plebeians  seceded  to 
the  Mount  Aventine,  after  the  Decemvirate,  the  Senate  sent  three  ambas- 
sadors to  confer  with  them,  and  to  propose  three  questions.  '  Non  defuit,' 
says  Livy,  *  quid  responderetur ;  deerat  qui  daret  responsum,  nullodum 
certo  duce,  nee  satis  audentibus  singulis  invidiae  se  offerre'  (iii.  50).  Since 
the  Revolution  of  1688,  and  the  increased  power  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, the  functions  of  the  Speaker  have  undergone  a  change.  His  chief 
function  has  been  no  longer  to  speak  on  behalf  of  the  House  $  that  which 
was  previously  his  accessary  has  become  his  principal  duty.  He  has  been 
simply  chairman  of  the  House,  with  the  function  of  regulating  its  proceed- 
ings, of  putting  the  question,  and  of  maintaining  order.  The  Speaker  of 
the  House  of  Commons  is  now  virtually  disqualified  by  his  office  from 
speaking ;  but  as  their  debates  have  become  more  important,  his  office 
of  moderator  of  these  debates  has  acquired  additional  importance. 

"  The  position  of  the  Speaker  of  the  Irish  House  of  Commons  was  similar 
to  that  of  the  Speaker  of  the  English  House  (see  Lord  Mountmorres's  History 
of  the  Irish  Parliament,  vol.  i.  p.  71 — 79)  j  but  in  Scotland  the  three  estates 
sat  as  one  House  $  there  was  no  separate  House  of  Commons,  and  the  Lord 
Chancellor  presided  over  the  entire  assembly."  (See  Robertson's  History 
of  Scotland,  b.  I,  vol.  i.  p.  276,  ed.  1821.) 

The  National  Conscience. 

When  we  come  to  the  proofs  from  fact  and  historical  expe- 
rience, we  might  appeal  to  a  singular  case  in  the  records  of  our 
Exchequer,  viz.,  that  for  much  more  than  a  century  back,  our 
Gazette  and  other  public  advertisers  have  acknowledged  a  series  of 
anonymous  remittances  from  those  who,  at  some  time  or  other, 
had  appropriated  public  money.  We  understand  that  no  corre- 


12  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

spending  fact  can  be  cited  from  foreign  records.  Now,  this  is  a 
direct  instance  of  that  compunction  which  our  travelled  friend 
insisted  on.  But  we  choose  rather  to  throw  ourselves  upon  the 
general  history  of  Great  Britain :  upon  the  spirit  of  her  policy, 
domestic  or  foreign ;  and  upon  the  universal  principles  of  her  public 
morality.  Take  the  case  of  public  debts,  and  the  fulfilment  of  con- 
tracts to  those  who  could  not  have  compelled  the  fulfilment ;  we 
first  set  this  precedent.  All  nations  have  now  learned  that  honesty 
in  such  cases  is  eventually  the  best  policy;  but  this  they  learned 
from  our  experience,  and  not  till  nearly  all  of  them  had  tried  the 
other  policy.  We  it  was  who,  under  the  most  trying  circum* 
stances  of  war,  maintained  the  sanctity  from  taxation  of  all  foreign 
investments  in  our  funds.  Our  conduct  with  regard  to  slaves, 
whether  in  the  case  of  slavery  or  of  the  Slave  Trade — how  prudent 
it  may  always  have  been  we  need  not  inquire — as  to  its  moral 
principles  they  went  so  far  ahead  of  European  standards  that  we 
were  neither  comprehended  nor  believed.  The  perfection  of 
romance  was  ascribed  to  us  by  all  who  did  not  reproach  us  with 
the  perfection  of  Jesuitical  knavery ;  by  many  our  motto  was  sup- 
posed to  be  no  longer  the  old  one  of  divide  et  impera,  but  annihila  et 
appropria.  Finally,  looking  back  to  our  dreadful  conflicts  with  the 
three  conquering  despots  of  modern  history,  Philip  II.  of  Spain, 
Louis  XIV.,  and  Napoleon;  we  may  incontestably  boast  of  having 
been  single  in  maintaining  the  general  equities  of  Europe  by  war 
upon  a  colossal  scale,  and  by  our  counsels  in  the  general  congresses 
of  Christendom. — De  Quincey. 

cc  The  Nation  of  Shopkeepers" 

In  the  Praeludia  to  the  Chronicon  Albeldense,  attributed  to  Bul- 
cidius,  Bishop  of  Salamanca,  a  Spanish  writer  at  the  end  of 
the  ninth  century,  we  find  the  following  singular  refutation  of  an 
ungraceful  compliment  hitherto  paid  to  us  by  our  Gallic  neigh- 
bours. In  a  paragraph  headed  De  Proprietatibus  Gentium,  we  see 
the  tables  turned  in  our  favour: — "  i.  Sapientia  Graecorum;  2. 
Fortia  Gothorum ;  3.  Consilia  Ghaldaeorum  ;  4.  Superbia  Roman- 
orum ;  5.  Ferocitas  Francorum ;  6.  Ira  Britannorum ;  7.  Libido 
Scotorum;  8.  Duritia  Saxonum;  9.  Cupiditas  Persarum;  10. 
Invidia  Judaeorum;  n.  Pax  ^thiopum;  12.  Commercia  Gallo- 
rum !"  This  discovery  seems  to  be  invested  with  an  additional 
interest  at  a  time  when  our  Allies  very  handsomely  acknowledge 
that  they  have  hitherto  laboured  under  a  mistake  in  their  estimate 
of  our  national  peculiarities. 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.       13 
Results  of  Revolutions. 

Sir  George  Cornewall  Lewis,  in  his  last  work,  On  the  Best  Form 
of  Government,  has  this  summary :  "  There  are  some  rare  cases 
in  which  a  nation  has  profited  by  a  revolution.  Such  was  the 
English  Revolution  of  1688,  in  which  the  form  of  the  Govern- 
ment underwent  no  alteration,  and  the  person  of  the  King  was 
alone  changed.  It  was  the  very  minimum  of  a  revolution ;  it 
was  remarkable  for  the  absence  of  those  accompaniments  which 
make  a  revolution  perilous,  and  which  subsequently  draw  upon 
it  a  vindictive  reactionary  movement.  The  late  Italian  revolution 
has  likewise  been  successful ;  by  it  the  Italian  people  have  gained  a 
better  government  and  have  improved  their  political  condition. 
It  was  brought  about  by  foreign  intervention  ;  but  its  success  has 
been  mainly  owing  to  the  moderation  of  the  leaders  in  whom 
the  people  had  the  wisdom  to  confide,  and  who  have  steadily 
refrained  from  all  revolutionary  excesses.  The  history  of  forcible 
attempts  to  improve  governments  is  not,  however,  cheering. 
Looking  back  upon  the  course  of  revolutionary  movements, 
and  upon  the  character  of  their  consequences,  the  practical  con- 
clusion which  I  draw  is  that  it  is  the  part  of  wisdom  and  prudence 
to  acquiesce  in  any  form  of  government  which  is  tolerably  well 
administered,  and  affords  tolerable  security  to  person  and  pro- 
perty. I  would  not,  indeed,  yield  to  apathetic  despair,  or 
acquiesce  in  the  persuasion  that  a  merely  tolerable  government 
is  incapable  of  improvement.  I  would  form  an  individual  model, 
suited  to  the  character,  disposition,  wants,  and  circumstances  of 
the  country,  and  I  would  make  all  exertions,  whether  by  action 
or  by  writing,  within  the  limits  of  the  existing  law,  for  amelio- 
rating its  existing  condition  and  bringing  it  nearer  to  the  model 
selected  for  imitation;  but  I  should  consider  the  problem  of 
the  best  form  of  government  as  purely  ideal,  and  as  uncon- 
nected with  practice,  and  should  abstain  from  taking  a  ticket  in 
the  lottery  of  revolution,  unless  there  was  a  well-founded  expecta- 
tion that  it  would  come  out  a  prize." 

Sir  William  Hamilton  has  well  observed  that  "  No  revolution 
in  public  opinion  is  the  work  of  an  individual,  of  a  single  cause, 
or  of  a  day.  When  the  crisis  has  arrived,  the  catastrophe  must 
ensue ;  but  the  agents  through  whom  it  is  apparently  accom- 
plished, though  they  may  accelerate,  cannot  originate  its  occur- 
rence. Who  believes  that  but  for  Luther  or  Zwingli  the  Re- 
formation would  not  have  been  ?  Their  individual,  their  personal 
energy  and  zeal,  perhaps,  hastened  by  a  year  or  two  the  event 


14  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

but  had  the  public  mind  not  been  already  ripe  for  their  revolt, 
the  fate  of  Luther  and  Zwingli,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  would 
have  been  that  of  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague  in  the  fifteenth. 
Woe  to  the  revolutionist  who  is  not  himself  a  creature  of  the 
revolution !  If  he  anticipate,  he  is  lost ;  for  it  requires,  what 
no  individual  can  supply,  a  long  and  powerful  counter-sympathy 
in  a  nation  to  untwine  the  ties  of  custom  which  bind  a  people 
to  the  established  and  the  old." 

Worth  of  a  Republic. 

Mr.  Baron  Alderson  is  described  as  having  a  temper  too  c-ihn 
for  the  stormy  floor  of  the  House  of  Commons ;  but  he  studied 
politics  as  a  science,  from  a  safe  distance ;  and  his  letters  contain 
his  opinions  on  some  points  expressed  with  a  very  deliberate  care. 
To  Mrs.  Opie,  who  had  been  writing  against  Republics  and  Re- 
publican Government,  he  says :  "  I  entirely  agree  with  your  view 
of  a  Republic.  As  long  as  men  are  so  wicked,  it  is  an  impossi- 
bility for  it  to  be  a  lasting  government,  for  it  does  not  govern, 
but  obey.  America  is  no  exception  to  this  rule.  In  the  first 
place,  at  its  commencement,  I  believe  it  was  a  remarkably  moral 
population  ;  and  so  the  evils  would  not  at  first  appear  And,  since 
that  time,  the  immensity  of  its  territory  has  enabled  its  most 
active  and  least  self-restrained  population  to  expand  itself  with 
less  inconvenience.  But  will  the  thing  last  ?  When  the  wilder- 
ness is  peopled,  will  not  the  wickedness,  which  is  now  ex- 
pended on  the  Indians  and  the  weak  without  observation, 
become  intolerable,  and  a  government  strong  enough  to  pro- 
tect, be  the  result?  Such  a  one,  I  think,  will  hardly  be  a 
republic,  but,  I  fear,  a  despotism,  for  men  always  run  into 
extremes.  Lynch  law  is,  in  fact,  an  ill-regulated  despotism." 

"Safe  Men." 

Dean  Hook,  in  his  Lives  of  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury,  has 
the  following  judicious  observations  upon  appointments  of  this 
practically  useful  class : 

"  Among  the  archbishops,"  says  the  Dean,  "  there  are  a  few  eminent 
rulers  distinguished  as  much  for  their  transcendent  abilities  as  for  their 
exalted  station  in  society  5  but  as  a  general  rule  they  have  not  been  men 
of  the  highest  class  of  mind.  In  all  ages  the  tendency  has  very  properly 
been,  whether  by  election  or  nomination,  to  appoint  *  safe  men  j'  and  as 
genius  is  generally  innovating  and  often  eccentric,  the  safe  men  are  those 
who,  with  certain  high  qualifications,  do  not  rise  much  above  the  intellec- 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.       15 

tual  average  of  their  contemporaries.  They  are  practical  men  rather  than 
philosophers  and  theorists,  and  their  impulse  is  not  to  perfection  but  quieta 
non  mo'uere.  From  this  very  circumstance  their  history  is  the  more  in- 
structive 5  and,  if  few  among  the  archbishops  have  left  the  impress  of  their 
mind  upon  the  age  in  which  they  lived,  we  may  in  their  biography  read 
the  character  of  the  times  which  they  fairly  represent.  In  a  missionary 
age  we  find  them  zealous  but  not  enthusiastic ;  on  the  revival  of  learning, 
whether  in  Anglo-Saxon  times  or  in  the  fifteenth  century,  they  were  men 
of  learning,  although  only  a  few  have  been  distinguished  as  authors. 
When  the  mind  of  the  laity  was  devoted  to  the  camp  or  the  chase,  and 
prelates  were  called  to  the  administration  of  public  affairs,  they  displayed 
the  ordinary  tact  and  diplomatic  skill  of  professional  statesmen,  and  the 
necessary  acumen  of  judges  ;  at  the  Reformation,  instead  of  being  leaders, 
they  were  the  cautious  followers  of  bolder  spirits ;  at  the  epoch  of  the 
Revolution  they  were  anti-Jacobites  rather  than  Whigs  5  in  a  latirudi- 
narian  age  they  have  been,  if  feeble  as  governors,  bright  examples  of  Chris- 
tian moderation  and  charity." 

Church  Preferment. 

Lord  Chancellor  Thurlow,  on  reading  Horsley's  Letters  to  Dr. 
Priestley,  at  once  obtained  for  the  author  a  Stall  at  Gloucester, 
saying  that  "  those  who  supported  the  Church  should  be  supported 
by  it." 

Peace  Statesmanship. 

There  is  nothing  more  wholesome  for  both  the  people  and  their 
rulers,  than  to  dwell  upon  the  excellence  of  those  statesmen  whose 
lives  have  been  spent  in  the  useful,  the  sacred,  work  of  Peace.  The 
thoughtless  vulgar  are  ever  prone  to  magnify  the  brilliant  exploits 
of  arms,  which  dazzle  ordinary  understandings,  and  prevent  any 
account  being  taken  of  the  cost  and  the  crime  that  are  so  often  hid 
in  the  guise  of  success.  All  merit  of  that  shining  kind  is  sure  of 
passing  current  for  more  than  it  is  really  worth ;  and  the  eye  is 
turned  indifferently  upon,  or  even  scornfully  from,  the  unpretend- 
ing virtue  of  the  true  friend  to  his  species,  the  minister  who  de- 
votes all  his  cares  to  stay  the  worst  of  crimes  that  can  be  com- 
mitted, the  last  of  calamities  that  can  be  endured  by  man. 

The  Burial  of  Sir  John  Moore. 

It  had  been  generally  supposed  that  the  interment  of  General 
Sir  John  Moore,  who  fell  at  the  Battle  of  Corunna,  in  1809,  took 
place  during  the  night ;  a  mistake  which,  doubtless,  arose  from 
the  justly-admired  lines  by  Wolfe  becoming  more  widely  known 
and  remembered  than  the  official  account  of  this  solemn  event  in 


16  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

the  Narrative  of  the  Campaign,  by  the  brother  of  Sir  JohnMoore* 
In  Wolfe's  monody,  the  hero  is  represented  to  have  been  buried 
By  the  struggling  moonbeam's  misty  light, 

And  the  lanterns  dimly  burning, — 

an  error  of  description  which  has,  doubtless,  been  extended  by 
many  pictorial  illustrations  of  the  sad  scene,  "  darkly  at  dead  ot 
night."  The  Rev.  J.  H.  Symons,  who  was  chaplain  to  the 
brigade  of  Guards  attached  to  the  army  under  Moore's  command, 
and  who  attended  the  hero  in  his  last  moments,  relates  that  during 
the  battle  Moore  was  conveyed  from  the  field  into  the  quarters 
on  the  quay  at  Corunna,  where  he  was  laid  on  a  mattress  upon 
the  floor,  and  the  chaplain  remained  with  him  till  his  death.  During 
the  night,  the  body  was  removed  to  the  quarters  of  Colonel  Graham, 
in  the  citadel,  by  the  officers  of  his  staff ;  whence  it  was  borne  by 
them,  assisted  by  Mr.  Symons,  the  chaplain,  to  the  grave  which  had 
been  prepared  for  it  on  one  of  the  bastions  of  the  citadel.  It  being 
now  daylight,  the  enemy  had  discovered  that  the  troops  had  been 
withdrawing  and  embarking  during  the  night ;  a  fire  was  soon 
opened  by  them,  upon  the  ships  which  were  still  in  the  harbour ; 
the  funeral  service  was,  therefore,  performed  without  delay,  under 
the  fire  of  the  enemy's  guns ;  and,  there  being  no  means  to  provide 
a  coffin,  the  body  of  the  general, 

With  his  martial  cloak  around  him, 

was  deposited  in  the  earth,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Symons  reading  the 
funeral  service. 

The  Ancestors  of  Washington. 

While  America  feels  a  just  pride  in  having  given  birth  to 
George  Washington,  it  is  something  for  England  to  know  that 
his  ancestors  lived  for  generations  upon  her  soil.  His  great-grand- 
father emigrated  about  1657,  having  previously  lived  in  North- 
amptonshire. The  Washingtons  were  a  Northern  family,  who 
lived  some  time  in  Durham,  and  also  in  Lancashire,  whence 
they  came  to  Northamptonshire.  The  uncle  of  the  first  Law- 
rence Washington  was  Sir  Thomas  Kitson,  one  of  the  great 
merchants,  who,  in  the  reigns  of  Henry  VII.  and  VIII.,  developed 
the  wool-trade  of  the  country,  which  depended  mainly  on  the 
growth  of  wool,  and  the  creation  of  sheep-farms  in  the  midland 
counties.  That  he  might  superintend  his  uncle's  transactions  with 
the  sheep  proprietors,  Lawrence  Washington  settled  in  North- 
amptonshire, leaving  his  own  profession  of  a  barrister.  He  soon 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.       17 


became  Mayor  of  Northampton,  and  at  the  dissolution  of  the 
monasteries,  being  identified  with  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  he  gained  a  grant  of  some  monastic  land,  including  Sul- 
grave.  In  the  parish  of  Brington  is  situated  Althorp,  the  seat 
of  the  Spencers :  the  Lady  Spencer  of  that  day  was  herself  a 
Kitson,  daughter  of  Washington's  uncle,  and  the  Spencers  were 
great  promoters  of  the  sheep-farming  movement.  Thus,  then, 
there  was  a  very  plain  connexion  between  the  Washingtons  and 
the  Spencers. 

For  three  generations  the  Washingtons  remained  at  Sulgrave, 
taking  rank  among  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  the  county.  Then 
their  fortunes  failed:  they  were  obliged  to  part  with  Sulgrave,  and 
retired  to  Brington,  under,  as  it  were,  the  wing  of  the  Spencer 
family.  From  this  depression  the  Washingtons  recovered  by  a 
singular  marriage.  The  eldest  son  of  the  family  had  married 
the  half-sister  of  George  Villiers,  Duke  of  Buckingham,  which 
at  this  time  was  not  an  alliance  above  the  pretensions  of  the 
Washingtons:  they  rose  into  great  prosperity.  The  emigrant, 
above  all  others  of  the  family,  continued  to  be  on  intimate 
terms  with  the  Spencers,  down  to  the  very  eve  of  the  Civil  War ; 
he  was  knighted  by  James  I.  in  1623,  and  in  the  Civil  War  took 
the  side  of  the  king.  The  emigrant  who  left  England  in  1657, 
we  leave  to  be  traced  by  historians  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic. 

u  George  Washington,  without  the  genius  of  Julius  Caesar 
or  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  has  a  far  purer  fame,  as  his  ambition 
was  of  a  higher  and  a  holier  nature.  Instead  of  seeking  to 
raise  his  own  name,  or  seize  supreme  power,  he  devoted  his  whole 
talents,  military  and  civil,  to  the  establishment  of  the  indepen- 
dence and  the  perpetuity  of  the  liberties  of  his  own  country. 
In  modern  history  no  man  has  done  such  great  things  without  the 
soil  of  selfishness  or  the  stain  of  a  grovelling  ambition.  Caesar, 
Cromwell,  Napoleon,  attained  a  higher  elevation,  but  the  love  ot 
dominion  was  the  spur  that  drove  them  on.  John  Hampden, 
William  Russell,  Algernon  Sidney,  may  have  had  motives  as  pure, 
and  an  ambition  as  sustained,  but  they  fell.  To  George  Washing- 
ton alone,  in  modern  times,  has  it  been  given  to  accomplish  a 
wonderful  revolution,  and  yet  to  remain  to  all  future  times  the 
theme  of  a  people's  gratitude,  and  an  example  of  virtuous  and 
beneficent  power." — Earl  Russell's  Life  and  Times  of  Charles 
James  Fox. 


18  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


The  "  Star-spangled  Banner"  of  the  United  States. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  understand  little  of  the  proper 
form,  proportion  of  size,  number  of  stripes  even,  of  their  own 
national  flag,  the  "  Star-spangled  Banner." 

The  standard  for  the  army  is  fixed  at  six  feet  and  six  inches,  by 
four  feet  and  four  inches  ;  the  number  of  stripes  is  thirteen — viz., 
seven  red  and  six  white.  It  will  be  perceived  that  the  flag  is 
just  one-half  longer  than  it  is  broad,  and  that  its  proportions  are 
perfect  when  properly  carried  out.  The  first  stripe  at  the  top  is 
red,  the  next  white,  and  so  down  alternately,  which  makes  the 
last  stripe  red.  The  blue  field  for  the  stars  is  the  width  and  square 
of  the  first  seven  stripes — viz.,  four  red  and  three  white.  These 
seven  stripes  extend  from  the  side  of  the  field  to  the  extremity  of 
the  flag  ;  the  next  stripe  is  white,  extending  the  entire  length  of 
it,  and  directly  under  the  field ;  then  follow  the  remaining  stripes 
alternately.  The  number  of  stars  on  the  field  is  now  thirty-one, 
and  the  Army  and  Navy  add  another  star  on  the  admission  of 
a  new  State  into  our  glorious  union.  In  some  respects,  the 
<l  Banner"  resembles  the  flag  of  the  Sandwich  Islands. — American 
journal. 

Ancestry  of  President  Adams. 

John  Adams,  second  President  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
is  commonly  but  erroneously  represented  to  have  been  the  son  of  a 
cobbler.  Now,  he  was  the  son  of  a  clergyman.  His  descent  would 
have  graced  any  Court  in  Europe.  He  was  descended  from  one 
of  the  oldest  families  in  Devonshire  and  Gloucestershire,  one  of 
whom  sat  as  an  English  Baron  in  the  Parliaments  of  Edward  the 
First.  His  father,  Adam  Fitzherbert,  was  lineally  descended  from 
the  ancient  Counts  de  Vermandois.  Lord  ap- Adam's  wife  (the 
ancestress  of  this  second  President  of  America)  was  the  daughter 
and  sole  heiress  of  John  Lord  de  Gournay,  of  Beverston  Castle, 
Gloucestershire,  the  representative  of  the  ancient  House  of 
Harpitre  de  Gournai,  a  branch  of  the  great  house  of  "  Yvery," 
which  was  connected  with  every  Sovereign  house  in  Europe.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  find  a  higher  descent.  The '  late  Mr. 
Edward  Adams,  M.P.,  of  Middleton  Hall,  Carmarthenshire,  was 
a  descendant  of  the  elder  branch  of  this  family;  and  Mr.  Anthony 
Davis,  of  Misbourne  House,  Chalfont  Saint  Giles,  Bucks,  is  its 
representative. 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.        19 
The  Irish  Union. 

It  was  after  the  exhaustion  caused  by  the  Rebellion  in  Ireland, 
that  Pitt  brought  forward  his  project  of  the  U  nion,  and  Lord 
Gornwallis  successfully  accomplished  it.  Mr.  Massey  describes 
at  great  length  the  means  by  which,  in  Castlereagh's  phrase,  u  the 
fee  simple  of  Irish  corruption  was  bought;"  and  the  Irish  Parlia- 
ment, like  Tarpeia,  perished  beneath  the  weight  of  stipulated 
bribery.  No  person  acquainted  in  the  least  with  history,  or  having 
any  regard  for  Ireland,  will  fail  to  rejoice  at  the  success  of  a 
measure  which  relieved  her  instantly  from  a  worthless  Legislature, 
and  by  incorporating  her  with  Great  Britain  assured  her  the 
prospect  of  just  government.  But  the  delay  in  the  grant  of 
Catholic  Emancipation,  which  Pitt  had  intended  to  accompany 
the  Union,  retarded  for  many  years  its  benefits ;  and  another  part 
of  the  Minister's  scheme,  a  State  provision  for  the  Catholic  priest- 
hood, remains  to  this  day  unaccomplished.  Pitt  incurred  a  heavy 
responsibility  on  this  account.  It  appears  certain  from  the  Castle- 
reagh  correspondence  that  the  Irish  Catholics  supported  the  Union 
on  something  like  an  implied  pledge  that  they  should  obtain  their 
political  rights ;  and  on  this  ground,  and  on  that,  besides,  of  the 
State  necessity  for  emancipation,  Pitt  can  hardly  escape  the  censure 
of  history  for  not  having  insisted  more  strongly  in  carrying  out 
his  policy  as  a  whole,  and  especially  for  having,  in  1805,  consented 
not  to  press  the  subject  on  the  King  when  he  formed  his  second 
brief  Administration.  It  is  doubtful,  however,  Mr.  Massey 
observes,  whether  Pitt  could  at  any  period  have  extorted  com- 
pliance from  George  III.,  or,  indeed,  from  the  people  of  England; 
and,  though  his  conduct  in  this  matter  was  not  chivalrous  as  an 
individual,  he  may  have  conceived,  as  a  public  man,  that  he  had 
satisfied  honour  by  his  resigning  in  1801,  and  that  afterwards  he 
would  have  not  been  justified  in  depriving  the  country  of  his 
services  for  the  sake  of  a  policy  impracticable  at  the  moment. — 
Times  review  of  Massey  'j  Hist.  England. 

The  published  Correspondence  of  Lord  Cornwallis  gives,  with 
painful  minuteness,  the  details  of  management  and  bribery  by 
which  the  Union  between  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  was  carried 
to  a  conclusion ;  but  most  readers  of  the  history  of  the  period  are 
satisfied  with  knowing  that  the  Union  was  a  political  necessity,  that 
the  parties  to  be  dealt  with  in  effecting  it — the  Irish  Parliament 
and  its  patrons — were  utterly  corrupt,  and  that  persuasion  was 
the  only  method  which  it  was  possible  to  employ.  The  result 
was  inevitable.  The  Government  bid  hieh,  and  as  it  bid  the 

C2 


20  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

vendors  raised  their  prices,  and  still  the  Government  bid  higher. 
At  last  the  owners  of  seats  were  gorged  with  the  sum  of  I5,ooo/. 
for  each  disfranchised  borough,  and  the  whole  amount  of  com- 
pensation thus  extorted  reached  the  magnificent  figure  of 
i,26o,ooo/.  We  can  hardly  be  thankful  enough  that  Lord 
Grey's  Government  had  the  firmness  to  resist  the  application  of 
so  inconvenient  a  precedent  in  the  Reform  Bill  of  1832. 

The  House  of  Bonaparte. 

The  Moniteur  in  1862  contained  five  columns  on  the  pedigree 
of  Bonaparte,  from  Anno  Domini  1 1 70,  when  the  first  of  that 
name  headed  an  Italian  league  at  Treviso  against  the  German 
invaders  under  Frederic  Barbarossa.  John  Bonaparte  signs  a 
treaty  at  Constance  on  behalf  of  Italy,  and  writes  himself  consul, 
being  in  fact  le  premier  consul  of  his  race,  in  1 182.  Two  centuries 
after  the  Bonaparte  escutcheon  on  their  house  in  St.  Andrew's- 
square,  at  Treviso,  is  ordered  to  be  broken  by  Venice ;  and  440 
years  afterwards  that  republic  is  suppressed  by  a  Bonaparte  at  the 
treaty  of  Campo  Formio.  Details  are  given  of  the  family's 
removal  to  Florence,  San  Miniato,  and  Corsica;  of  the  sack  of 
Rome,  at  which  Jacopo  Bonaparte  assisted  in  1520,  and  of  a 
comedy,  La  Fedova,  from  the  pen  of  another  about  the  same 
period.  Muratori's  Antiquitates  Italica,  vols.  8,  9,  and  1 2,  folio, 
contain  numerous  diplomatic  documents  signed  by  members  of 
this  stirring  house,  ever  active  in  all  the  revolutions  of  mediaeval 
Italy.  The  Moniteur  becomes  quite  an  enthusiast  about  the  land 
that  produced  this  chosen  race.  The  oddest  revelation  is  the 
fact,  that  Mala-parte  was  the  original  name  before  1170,  just  as 
it  was  of  the  Bolognese  family  Malatesta,  the  change  having  been 
voted  by  popular  acclaim  in  public  assembly  at  Treviso.  So  far 
the  Moniteur.  But  it  might  be  added  that  the  Beauharnais  family, 
through  which  the  present  Emperor  comes,  had  undergone  a 
precisely  similar  change  of  name  at  the  request  of  Marie 
Antoinette.  That  house  had  been  known  for  ages  in  Poitou  as 
Seigneurs  de  Bellescouilles,  an  appellation  not  quite  fitting  the 
Court  at  Versailles,  and  altered  accordingly.  It  is  rather  re- 
markable that  Napoleon  I.,  in  the  Moniteur  of  22nd  Messidor,  an 
XIII.,  1805,  had  scouted  all  idea  of  ancestry,  and  ordered  a 
formal  declaration  to  be  inserted  that  his  house  dated  from 
Marengo,  quoting  the  lines  of  La  Fontaine — ft  Rien  n'est 
dangereux  qu'un  sot  ami,"  meaning  the  person  who  had  drawn 
out  his  pedigree. 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.       21 

The  Register  of  the  Imperial  family  is  a  large  folio  volume,  bound  in 
red  velvet,  and  having  at  the  corners  ornaments  of  silver-gilt,  with  the 
family  cipher  <  N '  in  the  centre.  It  was  commenced  in  1806,  and  the 
first  entry  made  was  the  adoption  of  Prince  Eugene  by  the  Emperor.  The 
second,  made  the  same  year,  relates  to  the  adoption  of  the  Princess 
Stephanie  de  Beauharnais,  who  died  Grand  Duchess  of  Baden,  and  who 
was  cousin  of  the  Empress  Josephine.  Next  comes  the  marriage  of  the 
Emperor  Napoleon  I.  j  then  several  certificates  of  the  birth  of  Princes  of 
the  family,  and  lastly  of  the  King  of  Rome,  which  closes  the  series  of 
the  certificates  inscribed  under  the  reign  of  the  First  Emperor.  This 
register  was  confided  to  the  care  of  Count  Regnault  de  Saint- Jean-d'Angely, 
Minister  and  Councillor  of  State,  and  Secretary  of  the  Imperial  family. 
It  was  to  him,  under  the  First  Empire,  as  it  is  now  to  the  Minister  of  State 
under  the  Second,  that  was  reserved  the  duty  of  drawing  up  the  proces 
•verbaux  of  the  great  acts  relative  to  Napoleon.  At  the  fall  of  the  First 
Empire,  Count  Regnault  de  Saint- Jean-d'Angely  carefully  preserved  the 
book,  which  at  his  death  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Countess,  his  widow. 
That  lady  handed  it  over  to  the  President  of  the  Republic  when  Louis 
Napoleon  was  called  by  universal  suffrage  to  the  Imperial  throne. 

A  Correspondent  of  the  Literary  Gazette  writes :  "  I  have  been 
afforded  an  opportunity  of  examining  many  of  the  letters  of 
Napoleon  which  figure  in  the  Imperial  collection ;  and  I  assure 
you  that  the  commission  charged  with  the  duty  of  saying  what 
should  and  what  should  not  be  published,  had  a  most  arduous 
task  to  perform.  For  of  all  the  '  cramped  pieces  of  penmanship' 
that  were  ever  seen  his  are  the  most  cramped  and  unintelligible. 
The  manner  in  which  the  letters  are  formed  would  frighten  a 
writing-master  into  fits,  and  the  lines  never  run  straight,  whilst 
not  unfrequently  they  come  into  collision.  And  what  is  singular 
is  that  a  great  many  of  the  words  are  grossly  misspelt,  and  that 
others  are  only  half-written.  O  vanity  of  human  genius !  O 
triumph  for  dull  little  schoolboys !  The  man  who  conquered 
more  kingdoms  than  Alexander  knew  not  orthography !" 

Invasion  of  England  projected  by  Napoleon  I. 

The  pth  volume  of  the  Correspondance  de  Napoleon  /.,  published 
at  Paris,  in  1862,  brings  to  light,  for  the  first  time,  the  whole  of 
his  schemes  for  invading  England,  which  he  planned  in  1803, 
when  he  led  a  mighty  host  to  Boulogne,  in  the  hope  of  repeating 
the  scene  of  the  Conquest.  The  following  passage  in  this  volume 
shows  how  Napoleon  struggled  to  remove  his  inferiority  in  fleets : 

"  Collect  3000  workmen  at  Antwerp.  Wood,  iron,  and  materials  can 
be  brought  there  from  the  North.  War  is  no  impediment  to  shipbuilding 


KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


at  Antwerp.  If  we  are  three  years  at  war,  we  must  build  there  not  less 
than  25  ships  of  the  line.  Anywhere  else  this  would  be  impossible.  We 
must  have  a  powerful  fleet  5  and  we  should  not  have  less  than  TOO  ships 
of  the  line.  We  must  also  commence  building  frigates  and  smaller  vessels. 
St.  Domingo  cost  us  2,ooo,ooof.  a  month ;  the  English  having  captured  it, 
this  sum  must  be  appropriated  to  the  increase  of  our  navy." 

Such  were  the  conditions  of  this  attack ;  and  such  the  forces 
with  which  Napoleon  expected  "  to  conquer  the  world  in  Lon- 
don ;"  and  his  letters  to  Soult,  to  Bruix,  to  Deeres  must  convince 
the  reader  that  he  was  in  earnest  in  his  scheme  of  "  planting  the 
tricolour  on  the  Tower."  The  problem  for  Napoleon  to  solve 
was  how  to  transport  across  the  Channel  an  army  of  150,000 
men,  with  horses,  cannon,  baggage,  and  equipments,  in  spite  of 
the  naval  superiority  of  England.  In  these  first  preparations  we 
must  allow  he  succeeded  beyond  our  worst  expectations.  Within 
fourteen  months  from  the  commencement  of  the  war  he  had 
gathered  within  ten  leagues  of  our  coast,  and  had  placed  beyond 
the  power  of  attack,  a"  flotilla  mounting  2000  guns,  and  able  to 
transport  his  superb  army,  which,  though  numbering  150,000 
men,  could  embark  in  less  than  a  single  tide,  and  were  fully 
trained  for  a  naval  encounter. 

So  far,  at  least,  as  regards  the  Government,  it  must  be  confessed 
that  our  preparations  to  meet  this  attack  were  unequal  to  the 
danger.  In  the  Channel  especially — the  point  menaced — the  naval 
arrangements  made  by  the  Admiralty  were  very  faulty  and  even 
ridiculous.  Such  a  Power  as  England  should  never  have  allowed 
the  flotilla  to  assemble  at  Boulogne  at.  all ;  and  when  it  had 
assembled  it  should  have  been  assailed  by  a  mass  of  gunboats  and 
light  vessels,  which  we  might  have  sent  out  in  enormous  numbers. 
Yet  the  Admiralty  persisted  in  encountering  the  flotilla  with  18 
and  1 2 -pounder  frigates,  which  drew  too  much  water  to  close 
the  shore,  and,  at  long  range,  were  no  match  for  their  powerfully 
armed,  though  small  antagonists;  the  result  was  that  on  no 
occasion  were  we  able  to  damage  the  enemy  seriously,  and  that 
on  some  we  suffered  severely. 

In  England  as  well  as  in  France  it  was  thought  that  the  flotilla 
was  to  risk  the  passage  unaided,  its  heavy  armament  suggesting 
the  notion  that  Napoleon  believed  it  a  match  for  our  fleet  in  the 
narrow  strait  between  Dover  and  Calais.  We  now  know,  how- 
ever, that  this  was  an  error,  and  that  Napoleon  never  intended  to 
embark  unless  supported  by  a  covering  squadron,  which,  having 
for  a  time  the  command  of  the  Channel,  would  completely  protect 
the  flotilla  and  the  army.  In  order  to  have  the  mastery  of  the 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.       23 

Channel  for  the  forty-eight  hours  required  for  the  transit,  the 
problem  was  so  to  manoeuvre  his  fleets  as  to  bring  a  superior  force 
off  Boulogne,  in  spite  of  the  numerous  English  squadrons  which 
watched  or  blockaded  them  in  all  their  harbours.  He  devised 
a  twofold  scheme  for  this  end,  adapted  to  the  circumstances  of 
the  seaboard,  and  which  experience  proved  to  be  feasible. 

This  volume,  however,  proves  sufficiently  that,  brilliant  as 
were  Napoleon's  designs,  he  could  not  inspire  Villeneuve  and 
Ganteaume  with  the  daring  energy  of  Nelson  and  Cochrane,  or 
make  British  seamen  of  his  sailors.  The  want  of  discipline,  the 
timidity,  and  the  inexperience,  of  which  there  are  proofs,  explain 
how  Napoleon's  deep-laid  designs  were  brought  to  an  end  on  the 
day  of  Trafalgar. 

However,  in  1805,  Napoleon  renewed  his  invasion  scheme,  the 
details  of  which  he  thus  narrates  in  the  nth  volume  of  his  Cor- 
respondance)  1863 : 

"  I  wished  to  bring  together  forty  or  fifty  sail  of  the  line  by  operating 
their  junction  fromToulon,  Cadiz,  Ferrol,  and  Brest;  to  move  them  all 
together  to  Boulogne  j  to  be  there  for  a  fortnight  master  of  the  Channel ; 
to  have  150,000  men  and  10,000  horses  encamped  on  the  coast,  with  a 
flotilla  of  nearly  4000  vessels,  and  then,  upon  the  arrival  of  my  fleet,  to 

embark  for  England  and  seize  London To  secure  a  prospect 

of  success  it  was  necessary  to  collect  150,000  men  at  Boulogne,  with  the 
flotilla,  and  an  immense  materiel,  to  embark  the  whole,  yet  to  conceal 
my  plan.  I  accomplished  this  though  it  appeared  impossible,  and  I  did 
so  by  reversing  what  seemed  probable." 

Thus,  in  the  spring  of  1805  Napoleon  collected  within  ten 
leagues  of  our  shores  a  flotilla  of  nearly  4000  vessels,  which, 
moored  under  the  batteries  of  Boulogne,  and  armed  with  very 
heavy  cannon,  had  long  repelled  our  attempts  to  destroy  them. 
Encamped  around  lay  the  veteran  legions  which  had  been  selected 
for  the  descent,  and  had  been  trained  with  such  care  to  embark 
and  expedite  the  passage,  that  Napoleon  writes,  <(  150,000  men 
with  a  due  proportion  of  guns  and  horses  could  within  four  tides 
effect  a  landing." 

His  plan  was  marked  with  much  ingenuity.  The  aspect  of  an 
armed  flotilla  induced  our  Admiralty  to  think  that  Napoleon 
relied  on  it  alone  to  cross ;  and  they  felt  assured  that  when  at 
sea,  three  or  four  ships  would  suffice  to  destroy  it.  Accordingly, 
our  Channel  fleet  was  reduced  to  a  force  of  not  more  than  six  sail ; 
and  the  mass  of  the  British  Navy  was  employed  either  in  blockad- 
ing the  enemy's  squadrons  or  in  distant  expeditions  on  the  ocean. 
Could,  therefore,  one  of  the  blockaded  fleets  effect  its  junction 


24  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

with  another,  and  penetrate  into  the  unguarded  Channel,  a  tem- 
porary ascendancy  at  sea  might  be  gained,  under  cover  of  which 
the  flotilla  could  cross  and  ferry  over  the  French  army. 

It  is  only  in  this  volume  that  we  see  how  nearly  Napoleon's 
design  succeeded  so  far  as  regards  the  descent,  and  also  what 
were  the  causes  of  its  failure.  Whatever  we  may  think  of  his 
project  as  a  whole,  it  must  be  allowed  that  in  August,  1805, 
when  Villeneuve  put  to  sea  from  Ferrol,  the  Emperor  had  good 
reason  to  expect  that  his  Admirals  would  fulfil  their  mission : — 

*'The  squadrons  of  Nelson  and  Calder  have  joined  the  fleet  off  Brest, 
and  Ccrnival/is  has  been  foolish  enough  to  send  twenty  sail  to  blockade  the 
French  fleet  off  Ferrol.  On  the  l^th  of  August — that  is,  three  days  after  our 
squadron  left  Ferrol,  Calder  left  Brest  jor  Ferrol  'with  a  northerly  ivind.  What 
a  chance  was  there  for  Villeneuve  !  He  could  either,  by  keeping  a  'wide 
offing,  avoid  Calder,  reach  Brest,  and  fall  upon  Carnival/is,  or  ivith  his  thirty 
sail-of-t  he-line  beat  Calder"s  twenty,  and  acquire  a  decided  preponderance.  So 
much  for  the  English,  whose  combinations  are  so  talked  of." 

In  England  the  Whigs  laughed  at  the  idea  of  the  invasion  as 
a  ministerial  bugbear.  "  Can  anything  equal,"  says  Lord  Gren- 
ville  in  1804,  "the  ridicule  of  Pitt  riding  about  from  Downing- 
street  to  Wimbledon,  and  from  Wimbledon  to  Cox-heath,  to 
inspect  military  carriages,  impregnable  batteries,  and  Lord 
Chatham's  reviews  ?  Can  he  possibly  be  serious  in  expecting 
Bonaparte  now  ?"  So  also  wrote  Fox  a  year  afterwards — "  The 
alarm  of  invasion  here  was  most  certainly  a  groundless  one,  and 
raised  for  some  political  purpose  by  the  Ministers."  Whatever 
the  Whigs  might  then  think,  there  is  no  doubt  now  as  to 
Bonaparte's  intentions.  "  Let  us  be  masters  of  the  Channel  for 
six  hours,  and  we  are  masters  of  the  world,"  are  his  famous 
words.  His  design  to  invade  this  country  was  never  relinquished, 
was  cherished  as  the  darling  scheme  of  his  life,  until  within  a 
month  or  two  before  Pitt's  death,  when  the  battle  of  Trafalgar 
destroyed  his  hopes  for  ever. — Selected  and  abridged  from  reviews 
in  the  Times. 

Fate  of  the  Due  d'Enghien. 

While  the  First  Consul  was  meditating  the  descent  upon 
England,  in  1804,  his  life  and  government  were  imperilled  by 
the  conspiracy  of  Georges,  Moreau,  and  Pichegru.  The  Due 
d'Enghien,  as  is  well  known,  was  the  innocent  victim  of  this 
affair,  having  been  arrested  on  neutral  territory,  and  shot  in  a 
ditch,  without  a  trial,  in  order  to  strike  the  Bourbons  with  terror. 
While  the  printed  account  shows  that  the  plot  was  a  formidable 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.       25 

one,  that  the  death  of  Napoleon  and  a  counter-revolution  were 
really  not  remote  contingencies,  and  that  there  were  some  slight 
grounds  to  suspect  an  intrigue  between  Dumouriez  and  the 
Duke,  it  also  impliedly  acquits  that  Prince  of  any  share  in  the 
main  conspiracy,  and  throws  the  guilt  of  his  cruel  fate  exclusively 
on  the  First  Consul.  From  the  list  of  charges  against  the  Duke, 
entirely  in  Napoleon's  writing,  it  is  plain  that  he  did  not  possess 
any  proofs,  sufficient  even  for  the  tribunal  of  Vincennes  to  convict 
the  prisoner  of  a  design  against  his  life. 

These  monstrous  charges  speak  for  themselves,  and  accord 
well  with  the  midnight  dungeon,  the  irresponsible  conclave,  the 
undefended  prisoner,  and  the  grave  dug  before  the  trial  for  the 
victim  !  Moreover,  the  volume  of  Napoleon's  Correspondance  in 
which  these  details  are  given,  has  not  a  trace  of  the  alleged  over- 
rapidity  of  Savary,  of  the  suppression  of  the  Prince's  letter  by 
Talleyrand,  of  the  order  said  to  have  been  given  to  Real  to 
suspend  the  execution  after  the  sentence,  and  to  await  the  result 
of  a  regular  examination — of  the  hundred  and  one  excuses,  in 
short,  which  have  been  urged  for  Napoleon  by  his  apologists. 
On  the  contrary,  from  the  following  letter  we  infer  that  he 
wished  to  avoid  discussion  about  a  purpose  already  determined, 
and  that  he  feared  lest  public  opinion  should  condemn  his  design 
on  the  Due  d'Enghien.  It  is  addressed  to  the  Commandant  of 
Vincennes: — 

"  A  person,  whose  name  is  to  remain  unknown,  will  be  brought  to  the 
fortress  confided  to  your  care  ;  you  are  to  put  him  in  a  vacant  cell,  and  to 
take  every  precaution  for  his  safe  keeping.  The  intention  of  the  Govern- 
ment is  to  keep  all  proceedings  concerning  him  most  secret.  No  question  is  to 
be  put  to  him  as  to  who  he  is,  or  why  he  is  detained.  Even  you  are  not  to 
know  who  the  prisoner  is.  No  one  is  to  communicate  with  him  but 
yourself  j  no  one  else  is  to  see  him  until  fresh  orders.  He  will  probably 
arrive  this  night." 

Napoleon's  Government,  though  very  despotic,  was  not,  how- 
ever, usually  cruel ;  and  this  great  crime  which,  perhaps,  was 
caused  by  the  haunting  dread  of  an  assassin's  arm,  was  an  excep- 
tion to  its  general  tenor. — Times  rrvie<w. 

Last  Moments  of  Mr.  Pitt. 

The  news  of  Austerlitz  was  the  last  blow  which  killed  Pitt. 
The  gout,  which*  had  hitherto  confined  its  attacks  to  his  extre- 
mities, assailed  some  vital  organ.  He  was  not  without  hopes  of 
getting  better.  Lord  Wellesley  found  him  in  high  spirits,  though 
before  the  interview  was  over  Pitt  fainted  in  his  presence.  His 


KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


last  moments  are  described  by  the  Hon.  James  Stanhope,  who 
was  present  in  the  room  when  he  died ;  so  that  at  last  we  seem  to 
have  authentic  information  of  a  scene  which  has  hitherto  been 
very  imperfectly  described.  u  I  remained  the  whole  of  Wednes- 
day night  with  Mr.  Pitt,"  says  Mr.  Stanhope  in  a  paper  drawn 
up  by  him,  and  of  which  Earl  Stanhope  has  availed  himself  in 
his  Life  of  Pitt.  "  His  mind  seemed  fixed  on  the  affairs  of  the 
country,  and  he  expressed  his  thoughts  aloud,  though  sometimes 
incoherently.  He  spoke  a  good  deal  concerning  a  private  letter 
from  Lord  Harrowby,  and  frequently  inquired  the  direction  of 
the  wind ;  then  said,  answering  himself,  '  East ;  ah  !  that  will 
do ;  that  will  bring  him  quick.'  At  other  times  he  seemed  to  be 
in  conversation  with  a  messenger,  and  sometimes  cried  out '  Hear, 
hear,'  as  if  in  the  House  of  Commons.  During  the  time  he  did 
not  speak  he  moaned  considerably,  crying,  <  Oh,  dear !  Oh, 
Lord  !'  Towards  twelve  the  rattles  came  in  his  throat,  and  pro- 
claimed approaching  dissolution At  about  half-past  two 

he  ceased  moaning.  .."...  I  feared  he  was  dying ;  but  shortly 
afterwards,  with  a  much  clearer  voice  than  he  spoke  in  before, 
and  in  a  tone  I  never  shall  forget, '  Oh,  my  country !  how  I  leave 
my  country  !'  [referring,  as  it  was  natural  for  him  to  do,  to  the 
disastrous  state  of  the  continental  war  produced  by  the  battle  of 
Austerlitz.]  From  that  time  he  never  spoke  or  moved,  and  at 
half-past  four  expired  without  a  groan  or  struggle,"  23rd  January, 
1806.  He  received  the  Sacrament  from  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln. 
Mr.  Pitt  gave  his  watch  to  his  servant,  who  handed  it  over  to 
Mr.  Dundas,  M.P.,  more  than  twenty  years  after  Mr.  Pitt's 
death.  That  watch,  a  mourning-ring,  and  box  containing  the 
hair,  were  bequeathed  to  the  Rt.  Hon.  R.  N.  Hamilton  ;  and  the 
watch  is  now  preserved  in  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum,  at  Cambridge. 
"Pitt  is  the  most  forgiving  and  easy-tempered  of  men,"  says  Lord 
Malmesbury.  "  He  is  the  most  upright  political  character  I  ever 
knew  or  heard  of,"  says  Wilberforce.  "  I  never  once  saw  him 
out  of  temper,"  says  George  Rose.  One  day,  when  the  con- 
versation turned  upon  the  quality  most  needed  in  a  Prime  Mini- 
ster, and  one  said  "  Eloquence,"  another  "  Knowledge,"  and  a 
third  "  Toil,"  Pitt  said,  "  No ;  Patience."  It  was  an  answer 
worthy  of  the  great  statesman,  and  recalls  that  of  Newton,  who 
said  that  he  owed  his  splendid  discoveries  to  the  power  of  fixed 
attention.  Pitt  was  wonderfully  patient,  and  this  which  is  com- 
monly regarded  as  a  slow  virtue  he  combined  with  uncommon 
readiness  and  rapidity  of  thought.  "What  an  extraordinary 
man  Pitt  is  !"  said  Adam  Smith  j  "  he  makes  me  understand  my 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.        27 


own  ideas  better  than  before."  The  Marquis  Wellesley  has  left 
this  character  of  Pitt — a  man  of  princely  hospitality  and  amiable 
nature : 

"  In  all  places,  and  at  all  times,  his  constant  delight  was  society.  There 
he  shone  with  a  degree  of  calm  and  steady  lustre  which  often  astonished 
me  more  than  his  most  splendid  efforts  in  Parliament.  His  manners  were 
perfectly  plain,  without  any  affectation ;  not  only  was  he  without  presump- 
tion or  arrogance,  or  any  air  of  authority,  but  he  seemed  utterly  unconscious 
of  his  own  superiority,  and  much  more  disposed  to  listen  than  to  talk. 
He  never  betrayed  any  symptom  of  anxiety  to  usurp  the  lead  or  to  display 
his  own  powers,  but  rather  inclined  to  draw  forth  others,  and  to  take 
merely  an  equal  share  in  the  general  conversation :  then  he  plunged  heed- 
lessly into  the  mirth  of  the  hour,  with  no  other  care  than  to  promote  the 
general  good  humour  and  happiness  of  the  company.  His  wit  was  quick 
and  ready,  but  it  was  rather  lively  than  sharp,  and  never  envenomed  with 
the  least  taint  of  malignity;  so  that,  instead  of  exciting  admiration  or  terror, 
it  was  an  additional  ingredient  in  the  common  enjoyment.  He  was 
endowed,  beyond  any  man  of  his  time  whom  I  knew,  with  a  gay  and  social 
heart.  With  these  qualities,  he  was  the  life  and  soul  of  his  own  society  ; 
his  appearance  dispelled  all  care  j  his  brow  was  never  clouded,  even  in  the 
severest  public  trials ;  and  joy,  and  hope,  and  confidence,  beamed  from  his 
countenance  in  every  crisis  of  difficulty  and  danger." — Communicated  to  the 
Quarterly  Re-vieiv. 

This  was  <e  the  Heaven-born  Minister."  This  was  "  the  pilot 
to  weather  the  storm."  This  is  he  who  stands  forth  as  the 
greatest  of  our  statesmen,  and  the  story  of  whose  life,  as  fitly  told 
by  Lord  Stanhope,  will  have  undying  interest  throughout  the 
world. 

Who  would  have  supposed  forty  years  ago  that  a  day  was 
coming  when  a  Frenchman  would  unhesitatingly  write  the  apology 
— we  had  almost  said  the  panegyric — of  William  Pitt — ce  Pitt, 
as  the  members  of  the  Jacobin  Club  used  to  call  him  ?  And  yet 
such  is  the  case.  By  way  of  preface  to  a  translation  of  Lord 
Stanhope's  last  work,  M.  Guizot  has  given  a  very  good  estimate 
both  of  the  political  relation  in  which  England  stands  to  France, 
and  also  of  the  character  of  the  great  British  statesman.  He 
conclusively  shows  that  Pitt  was  positively  opposed  to  a  war  with 
France,  and  did  all  he  could  to  prevent  the  inevitable  catastrophe. 

What  drove  George  the  Third  mad. 

How  strange  is  it  to  find,  upon  a  close  examination  of  the 
biography  of  Mr.  Pitt,  that  early  in  the  present  century,  the 
mention  of  the  measure  which  twenty-eight  years  later  became 


KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


the  law  of  the  land,  had  the  effect  of  disturbing  the  reason  of  the 
Sovereign :  yet  so  it  was.  "  Pitt  had  become  in  a  manner  pledged 
on  the  union  of  the  Irish  with  the  British  Legislature  to  provide 
for  what  has  since  been  called  the  Emancipation  of  the  Catholics. 
The  probability  is,  that  from  the  first  he  had  underrated  the 
King's  repugnance  to  the  measure;  but  it  has  been  suggested 
that  had  there  been  no  treachery  in  the  camp,  and  had  he  been 
the  first  to  broach  the  subject  to  George  III.,  he  might  have  had 
his  own  way,  and  carried  the  acquiescence  of  the  King.  As  it 
was,  Lord  Loughborough  had,  contrary  to  all  rule,  made  the  King 
aware  of  Pitt's  intentions,  and  had,  for  his  own  selfish  purposes, 
sought  to  strengthen  His  Majesty  in  a  most  absurd  view  of  his 
duty.  So  it  happened  that  instead  of  Pitt  breaking  the  subject 
to  the  King,  the  King,  in  a  fit  of  impatience,  breaks  out  upon 
Dundas.  Referring  to  Lord  Gastlereagh,  who  had  recently  come 
from  Dublin,  he  said,  "  What  is  it  that  this  young  lord  has 
brought  over  which  they  .are  going  to  throw  at  my  head  ?  .  .  . 
The  most  Jacobinical  thing  I  ever  heard  of !  I  shall  reckon  any 
man  my  personal  enemy  who  proposes  any  such  measure."  "  Your 
Majesty,"  replied  Dundas, "  will  find  among  those  who  are  friendly 
to  that  measure  some  whom  you  never  supposed  to  be  your 
enemies."  The  time  for  action  had  evidently  come:  it  was 
necessary  for  Pitt  to  break  the  silence ;  he  wrote  to  the  King 
explaining  his  views,  and  pointing  out  that  if  they  were  not  ac- 
ceptable it  would  be  necessary  for  him  to  resign.  Pitt  did  resign ; 
his  successor  was  appointed,  but  before  the  formal  transfer  of 
office  could  take  place,  the  King  went  mad,  and  it  was  this 
Catholic  question  that  drove  him  mad.  He  recovered  in  a  fort- 
night and  told  his  physician  to  write  to  Pitt, "  Tell  him  I  am  now 
quite  well — quite  recovered  from  my  illness ;  but  what  has  he 
not  to  answer  for  who  is  the  cause  of  my  having  been  ill  at  all  ?" 
Pitt  was  deeply  touched,  and  at  once  conveyed  an  assurance  to 
the  King  through  the  same  physician  that  never  again  during  the 
King's  reign  would  he  bring  forward  the  Catholic  question.  Pre- 
vious to  that  illness,  Pitt  had  two  clear  alternatives  before  him 
— "  Either  I  shall  relieve  the  Catholics,  or  I  shall  resign," — and 
he  resigned  accordingly.  But  after  the  illness  all  was  changed. 
Any  one  attempting  to  relieve  the  Catholics  would  incur  the  risk 
of  the  King's  derangement.  There  was  but  a  choice  of  evils,  and 
it  was  natural  that  Pitt  should  regard  it  as  the  lesser  evil  to 
postpone  indefinitely  the  settlement  of  the  Catholic  claims,  which, 
nevertheless,  he  regarded  as  of  the  utmost  importance." — Times 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.       29 

The  Rt.  Hon.  George  Rose,  when  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
had  frequent  conversations  with  George  III.,  whom  he  occasion- 
ally received  at  his  house  at  Cuffnells.  Evidently  the  King 
took  the  lion's  share  in  every  dialogue.  His  remarks  and  his 
gossip  must  have  been  often  amusing,  and  not  always  uninstruc- 
tive.  He  invariably  turned  the  conversation  to  personal  subjects, 
and  he  commented  freely  on  the  numerous  politicians  whom  he 
had  in  his  time  employed  and  baffled.  He  had  a  peculiar  dis- 
like to  Lord  Melville,  he  resented  Lord  Grenville's  pride,  and  he 
accurately  described  Lord  Auckland  as  an  inveterate  intriguer. 
Of  himself  he  said  that  he  seldom  forgot  and  never  forgave,  but 
that  he  always  tried  to  believe  the  best  of  every  man  until  he  had 
proved  his  demerit.  Many,  he  added,  improved  when  they  found 
that  they  had  received  more  than  justice ;  but  it  never  occurred 
to  him  that  his  own  opinion  might  not  form  an  accurate  and  suf- 
ficient standard  of  merit. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  time,  George  III.,  notwith- 
standing the  continuance  of  some  delusions,  was  perfectly  com- 
petent to  understand  the  state  of  affairs,  and  there  was  every 
reason  to  suppose  that  he  would  become  convalescent  before 
his  son  could  take  his  seat  as  Regent.  For  the  remainder  of  his 
reign,  his  Ministers  and  his  subjects  regarded  his  occasional  in- 
sanity as  one  of  the  ordinary  contingencies  of  the  Constitution. 
Mr.  Pitt,  during  his  second  *Administration,  sometimes  obtained 
from  the  physicians  a  written  certificate  of  the  King's  competence 
before  he  entered  his  presence  for  the  transaction  of  business. 

Predictions  of  the  Downfal  of  Napoleon  /. 

Brialmont  and  Gleig,  in  their  Memoirs  of  Wellington ,  relate 
— Mr.  Pitt  received,  during  dinner,  when  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley 
and  other  eminent  persons  were  present,  intelligence  of  the  capi- 
tulation of  Mack,  at  Ulm.  and  the  march  of  the  Emperor  upon 
Vienna.  One  of  the  friends  of  the  Prime  Minister,  on  hearing 
of  the  reverse,  exclaimed,  li  All  is  lost !  there  are  no  other 
means  of  opposing  Napoleon."  "  You  are  mistaken,"  said  Pitt, 
"  there  is  yet  hope,  if  I  can  succeed  in  stirring  up  a  national 
war  in  Europe — a  war  which  ought  to  begin  in  Spain.  Yes, 
gentlemen,  Spain  will  be  the  first  nation  in  which  that  war  of 
patriotism  shall  be  lighted  up  which  can  alone  deliver  Europe." 

At  a  moment  when  the  prestige  of  the  Empire  was  accepted 
everywhere,  Wellington  not  only  expressed  doubts  as  to  the 
stability  of  that  edifice,  which  seemed  as  if  it  must  endure  for 


80  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

ages,  but  pointed  out  distinctly  the  causes  which  must  operate  to 
throw  it  down,  and  the  means  by  which  its  fall  might  be  hastened. 
From  that  hour,  whilst  prosecuting  the  war  in  Spain,  he  took 
care  as  much  as  possible,  to  regulate  his  own  proceedings  accord- 
ing to  the  general  state  of  Europe.  Something  told  him  that  the 
little  army  on  the  Mondego  had  a  mighty  part  to  play  in  the 
sanguinary  drama  which  agitated  the  world;  and  that  not  the 
fate  of  the  Peninsula  alone  was  at  stake,  nor  yet  the  question  of 
England's  supremacy,  but  the  independence  and  liberty  of  all 
nations,  menaced  by  the  ambition  of  one  man. 

in  December,  1811,  Wellington  wrote  to  Lord  William 
Bentinck :  "  I  have  long  considered  it  probable  that  we  shall  see 
a  general  resistance  throughout  Europe  to  the  horrible  and  base 
tyranny  of  Bonaparte,  and  that  we  shall  be  called  upon  to  play 
a  leading  part  in  the  drama,  as  counsellors  as  well  as  actors." 

In  a  letter  to  Lord  Liverpool,  in  i8[i,  Wellington  wrote:  "I 
am  convinced,  that  if  we  can  only  hold  out  a  little  longer,  we  shall 
see  the  world  emancipated."  And  to  Dumouriez,  July,  1811: 
a  It  is  impossible  that  Europe  can  much  longer  submit  to  the 
debasing  tyranny  which  oppresses  it." 

Brialmont  and  Gleig  summarily  observe :  "  It  may  truly  be 
said  that  the  Duke  foretold  in  succession,  the  final  success  of  the 
war  in  Spain — the  influence  which  that  war  would  exercise  over 
public  opinion  in  other  nations — the  general  rising  of  Europe 
against  Bonaparte — the  fall  of  the  Empire — the  disastrous  cam- 
paign in  Russia — and  the  awakening  of  the  public  spirit  in 
Germany." 

When,  in  1807,  Haydon  dined  with  Sir  George  and  Lady 
Beaumont,  he  met  there  Humphry  Davy,  who  was  very  enter- 
taining, and  made  a  remark  which  turned  out  a  singularly  suc- 
cessful prophecy ;  he  said, il  Napoleon  will  certainly  come  in  con- 
tact with  Russia,  by  pressing  forward  in  Poland,  and  there, 
probably,  will  begin  his  destruction."  This  was  said  five  years 
before  it  happened. 

Lord  Mulgrave,  afterwards  Marquis  of  Normanby,  first  raised 
Haydon's  enthusiasm  for  Wellington  by  saying,  one  day,  at  table, 
"  If  you  live  to  see  it,  he  will  be  a  second  Marlborough." 

Wellington  predicts  the  Peninsular  Campaign. 

The  following  is  illustrative  of  the  prophetic  perception  of 
Wellington  at  the  outset  of  the  contest : — "  He  dined  in  Harley- 
street  one  day  in  June,  1808,  just  before  he  set  out  in  command 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.       31 

of  the  expedition  which  was  assembling  in  Cork  harbour.  The 
ladies  had  withdrawn,  and  he  sat  tete-a-tete  with  his  host,  and 
was  silent.  On  being  asked  what  he  was  thinking  of,  he  replied, 
<  To  tell  you  the  truth,  I  was  thinking  of  the  French  whom  I 
am  going  to  fight.  I  have  never  seen  them  since  the  campaign 
in  Flanders,  when  they  were  already  capital  soldiers ;  and  a  dozen 
years  of  successes  must  have  made  them  still  better.  They  have 
beaten  all  the  world,  and  are  supposed  to  be  invincible.  They  have 
besides,  it  seems ,  a  new  system,  which  has  out -manoeuvred  and  over- 
whelmed all  the  armies  of  Europe.  But  no  matter,  my  die  is  cast. 
They  may  overwhelm,  but  I  do  not  think  they  will  out-manoeuvre 
me.  In  thefrst  place,  I  am  not  afraid  of  them,  as  everybody  else 
seems  to  be  •  and  secondly,  if  what  I  hear  of  their  system  of 
manoeuvres  be  true,  I  think  it  a  false  one  against  troops  steady 
enough — as  I  hope  mine  are — to  receive  them  with  the  bayonet. 
I  suspect  that  all  the  continental  armies  were  more  than  half 
beaten  before  the  battle  began.  I,  at  least,  will  not  be  frightened 
beforehand.' " 

The  Battle  of  Waterloo. 

M.  Thiers,  in  the  soth  volume  of  his  Histoire  du  Consulat  et 
de  I'Empire,  presents  to  his  reader  a  tissue  of  intellectual  illu- 
sions in  his  extraordinary  account  of  the  last  struggle  of  Napoleon 
in  Belgium.  Common  sense  and  history  agree  that  that  effort 
bears  many  traces  of  his  hero's  genius,  though  marked  by  one 
characteristic  mistake,  and  that  it  was  baffled  by  the  ability  of 
his  antagonists,  who  crushed  him  at  last  by  superior  numbers. 
This  volume,  however,  has  been  written  to  prove  that  in  every 
move  in  this  famous  contest  Napoleon  was  an  infallible  com- 
mander ;  that  victory  must  have  crowned  his  standards  had  his 
inspiration  been  only  understood ;  and  that  his  final  overthrow 
was  due,  not  to  Wellington's  skill  or  Blucher's  daring — not  to 
British  heroism  or  Prussian  valour,  but  to  the  errors  and  fears 
of  his  subordinates.  Deserting  the  region  of  fact  and  circum- 
stance, M.  Thiers  leads  us  into  a  dream-land,  where  the  Emperor, 
like  a  strategic  Providence,  holds  his  puny  foes  in  the  hollow  of  his 
hand,  and  predestinates  his  legions  to  conquest — where  the  French 
army  performs  prodigies  beyond  the  energies  of  mortal  men — 
where  but  for  Ney,  D'Erlon,  and  Grouchy,  the  downfal  of  its 
adversaries  was  certain — and  where  the  inability  of  these  satellites 
to  launch  the  bolts  of  military  fate  was  the  only  cause  of  the  final 
issue.  The  above  and  the  following  remarks  are  from  The  Times 
review, — 


32  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

Why  the  issue  of  this  campaign  was  so  different  from  that  of 
many  of  its  splendid  forerunners  may  be  accounted  for  with  per- 
fect certainty.  The  Duke  and  Blucher  were  different  men,  of 
greater  ability,  and  better  united  than  the  Generals  of  any  pre- 
vious coalition,  and  the  large  majority  of  their  troops  were  capable 
of  heroic  exertions.  The  Duke  was  not  the  man  to  allow  an 
accident  of  time  to  ruin  an  ally,  and  at  the  crisis  of  the  cam- 
paign, on  the  1 6th,  he  baffled  the  Emperor  by  his  tactical  skill 
and  the  intrepidity  of  his  British  infantry.  Of  the  subsequent 
moves  by  which  he  won  the  greatest  battle  of  modern  times,  it 
is  enough  to  say  that  they ,  defy  criticism,  while  the  heroism  of 
two-thirds  of  his  army  has  not  been  surpassed  in  military  annals. 
As  for  the  Prussian  troops,  their  stand  at  Ligny  and  their  sub- 
sequent rally  and  advance  to  Waterloo,  are  worthy  of  the  highest 
commendation ;  and  Blucher's  celebrated  march  from  Wavre  is 
said  to  have  wrung  from  Napoleon  himself  the  admission  that  a  it 
was  a  flash  of  genius."  It  was  this  combination  of  talent  and 
valour,  unlike  anything  he  had  encountered  before,  that  brought 
the  superior  numbers  of  the  allies  to  bear  upon  Napoleon  at  last, 
and  involved  him  and  his  army  in  ruin. 

As  for  the  armies  that  met  in  this  bloody  strife,  we  English- 
men think  it  enough  to  say  that,  except  the  Belgian  and  Nassau 
levies,  they  all  did  their  duty  like  soldiers.  The  weak  falsetto  of 
M.  Thiers  detracts  from  the  manhood  of  that  dauntless  cavalry 
a  who  rode  round  our  squares  like  their  own,"  and  from  the  re- 
nown of  that  veteran  infantry  "  who  bore  nine  rounds  before  they 
staggered."  Nor  will  the  heroism  of  Ligny  be  forgotten,  nor  the 
glory  of  England  at  Waterloo  fade,  because  an  historian  chooses 
to  write  that  the  Prussian  army  "  was  well  beaten,"  and  that  the 
"  English,  excellent  in  defence,  are  very  mediocre  on  the  offen- 
sive." At  this  time,  surely,  a  French  historian  might  describe 
the  campaign  of  1815  with  a  candid  regard  to  truth  alone,  and 
without  pandering  to 'the  ignoble  worship  of  military  despotism. 

Wellington's  Defence  of  the  Waterloo  Campaign. 

Wellington  would  never  have  fought  at  Waterloo  unless  cer- 
tain of  the  aid  of  Blucher;  it  is  idle,  therefore,  to  speculate 
on  the  chance  of  what  the  event  of  the  day  might  have  been  had 
this  support  been  unexpectedly  wanting.  French  writers  assert 
that  he  must  have  been  crushed ;  but  the  Duke  held  a  different 
opinion.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Gleig  tells  us  that — 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.       33 

"  After  dinner  the  conversation  turned  on  the  Waterloo  cam- 
paign, when  Croker  alluded  to  the  criticisms  of  the  French 
military  writers,  some  of  whom  contended  that  the  Duke  had 
fought  the  battle  in  a  position  full  of  difficulty,  because  he  had 
no  practicable  retreat.  The  Duke  said :  *  At  all  events,  they 
failed  in  putting  it  to  the  test.  The  road  to  Brussels  was  prac- 
ticable every  yard  for  such  a  purpose.  I  knew  every  foot  of  the 
ground  beyond  the  forest  and  through  it.  The  forest  on  each 
s.de  of  the  chaussee  was  open  enough  for  infantry,  cavalry,  and 
even  for  artillery,  and  very  defensible.  Had  I  retreated  through 
it,  could  they  have  followed  me  ?  The  Prussians  were  on  their 
flank,  and  would  have  been  on  their  rear.  The  co-operation  of  the 
Prussians  in  thz  operations  I  undertook  was  part  of  my  plan,  and 
I  was  not  deceived.  But  I  never  contemplated  a  retreat  on  Brussels. 
Had  I  been  forced  from  my  position,  I  should  have  retreated  to  my 
right ,  towards  the  coast,  the  shipping,  and  my  resources.  I  had 
placed  Hill  where  he  could  have  lent  me  important  assistance  in 
many  contingencies,  and  that  might  have  been  one.  And,  again,  I 
ask,  if  I  had  retreated  on  my  right,  would  Napoleon  have  ven- 
tured to  have  followed  me  ?  The  Prussians,  already  on  his  flank, 
would  have  been  on  his  rear.  But  my  plan  was  to  keep  my  ground 
till  the  Prussians  appeared,  and  then  to  attack  the  French  position  ,- 
and  I  executed  my  plan.' " 

It  matters  little  whether  it  be  a  pleasing  tradition  or  an  his- 
torical lact,  but  it  was  commonly  said  that  after  the  Peace,  which 
crowned  the  immortal  services  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  that 
great  general,  on  seeing  the  playing-fields  at  Eton,  said,  there  had 
been  won  the  crowning  victory  of  Waterloo. 

Lord  Castlereagh  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna. 

By  the  publication  of  the  Supplementary  Despatches  of  the  Duke 
of  Wellington,  vol.  ix.,  the  reputation  of  Lord  Castlereagh  will 
profit  by  such  of  his  letters  as  had  not  appeared  before.  A  writer 
in  the  Saturday  Review  remarks: — 

"  Contemporaries  saw  that  many  small  States  were  crushed  by 
the  arrangements  of  Vienna,  and  that  one  or  two  of  the  larger 
monarchies,  especially  that  of  Russia,  were  sensibly  strengthened. 
Therefore  they  concluded  that  the  aim  and  end  of  the  Congress 
of  Vienna  was  to  aggrandise  the  greater  monarchies,  and  that  the 
English  Minister,  biassed  by  political  prejudices  or  dazzled  by 
royal  condescension,  had  unworthily  lent  himself  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  that  object.  As  the  confidential  correspondence  of 

D 


34  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

that  period  makes  its  appearance  bit  by  bit,  we  are  learning  to 
form  a  juster  estimate  of  what  Lord  Castlereagh  effected  at  the 
Congress.  It  is  hard  to  set  limits  to  the  evils  which  would  have 
been  the  result  of  greater  facility  or  less  caution  on  the  part  of 
the  English  plenipotentiary.  That  Alexander  would,  but  for 
Lord  Castlereagh's  obstinate  resistance,  have  absorbed  the  whole 
of  Poland  into  the  Russian  empire,  and  that  Prussia  would  have 
indemnified  herself  by  the  annexation  of  the  whole  of  Saxony, 
appears  certain ;  and  that  France  and  Austria  would  have 
plunged  Europe  back  into  war,  in  their  efforts  to  resist,  seems 
not  improbable.  The  greediness  of  the  Powers  who  had  met  to 
divide  the  spoil  threatened  incessantly  to  bring  them  into  collision ; 
and  it  was  on  Lord  Castlereagh  that  the  ungracious  task  of 
moderating  their  extravagant  pretensions  fell.  If  he  had  failed, 
and  the  Congress  had  come  to  the  abrupt  and  angry  close  which 
seemed  more  than  once  inevitable,  Napoleon's  return  would  have 
been  safe  and  easy.  It  was  hard,  but  it  was  unavoidable,  that 
those  who  only  saw  the  result  in  a  considerable  accession  to 
Alexander's  frontier,  should  have  accused  Lord  Castlereagh  of 
being  his  tool,  when  he  had  been,  in  reality,  resisting  Alexander's 
pretensions  up  to  the  very  brink  of  war." 

This  late  justice  to  the  eminent  diplomatic  services  of  Lord 
Castlereagh,  reaches  us  some  forty  years  after  his  death;  thus 
giving  the  lie  to  the  coarse  and  unfeeling  ribaldry  of  the  so-called 
*'  Liberal,"  upon  the  awful  termination  of  the  statesman's  life. 

The  Cato-street  Conspiracy. 

Early  in  the  year  1820 — a  period  of  popular  discontent — a  set 
of  desperate  men  banded  themselves  together  with  a  view  to 
effect  a  revolution  by  sanguinary  means,  almost  as  complete  in  its 
plan  of  extermination  as  the  Gunpowder  Plot.  The  leader  was 
one  Arthur  Thistlewood,  who  had  been  a  soldier,  had  been  in- 
volved in  a  trial  for  sedition,  but  acquitted,  and  had  afterwards 
suffered  a  year's  imprisonment  for  sending  a  challenge  to  the 
minister,  Lord  Sidmouth.  Thistlewood  was  joined  by  several 
other  Radicals,  and  their  meetings  in  Gray's-Inn -lane  were  known 
to  the  spies  Oliver  and  Edwards,  employed  by  the  Government. 
Their  first  design  was  to  assassinate  the  Ministers,  each  in  his 
own  house ;  but  their  plot  was  changed,  and  Thistlewood  and 
his  fellow  conspirators  arranged  to  meet  at  Cato-street,  Edge- 
ware-road,  and  to  proceed  from  thence  to  butcher  the  Ministers 
assembled  at  a  Cabinet  dinner,  on  Feb.  23rd,  at  Lord  Harrowby's, 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.       35 

39,  Grosvenor-square,  where  Thistlewood  proposed,  as  "a 
rare  haul,  to  murder  them  all  together."  Some  of  the  conspi- 
rators were  to  watch  Lord  Harrowby's  house ;  one  was  to  call 
and  deliver  a  despatch -box  at  the  door,  the  others  were  then  to 
rush  in  and  murder  the  Ministers  as  they  sat  at  dinner  ;  and,  as 
special  trophies,  to  bring  away  with  them  the  heads  of  Lords 
Sidmouth  and  Castlereagh,  in  two  bags  provided  for  the  purpose ! 
They  were  then  to  fire  the  cavalry-barracks ;  and  the  Bank  and 
Tower  were  to  be  taken  by  the  people,  who,  it  was  hoped, 
would  rise  upon  the  spread  of  the  news. 

This  plot  was,  however,  revealed  to  the  Ministers  by  Edwards, 
who  had  joined  the  conspirators  as  a  spy.  Still  no  notice  was 
apparently  taken.  The  preparations  for  dinner  went  on  at  Lord 
Harrowby's  till  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  but  the  guests  did  not 
arrive.  The  Archbishop  of  Y  ork,  who  lived  next  door,  happened 
to  give  a  dinner-party  at  the  same  hour,  and  the  amval  of  the 
carriages  deceived  those  of  the  conspirators  who  were  on  the 
watch  in  the  street,  till  it  was  too  late  to  give  warning  to  their 
comrades  who  had  assembled  at  Cato-street,  in  a  loft  over  a 
stable,  accessible  only  by  a  ladder.  Here,  while  the  traitors  were 
arming  themselves  by  the  light  of  one  or  two  candles,  a  party 
of  Bow-street  officers  entered  the  stable,  when  Smithers,  the  first 
of  them  who  mounted  the  ladder,  and  attempted  to  seize 
Thistlewood,  was  run  by  him  through  the  body,  and  instantly 
fell ;  whilst,  the  lights  being  extinguished,  a  few  shots  were  ex- 
changed in  the  darkness  and  confusion,  and  Thistlewood  and 
several  of  his  companions  escaped  through  a  window  at  the  back 
of  the  premises ;  nine  were  taken  that  evening  with  their  arms  and 
ammunition,  and  the  intelligence  conveyed  to  the  Ministers,  who, 
having  dined  at  home,  met  at  Lord  Liverpool's  to  await  the 
result  of  what  the  Bow-street  officers  had  done.  A  reward  of 
IODO/.  was  immediately  offered  for  the  apprehension  of  Thistle- 
wood,  and  he  was  captured  before  eight  o'clock  next  morning 
while  in  bed  at  a  friend's  house,  No.  8,  White-street,  Little 
Moorfields.  The  conspirators  were  sent  to  the  Tower,  and  were 
the  last  persons  imprisoned  in  that  fortress.  On  April  2oth, 
Thistlewood  was  condemned  to  death  after  three  days'  trial ;  and 
on  May  ist,  he  and  his  four  principal  accomplices,  Ings,  Brunt, 
Tidd,  and  Davidson,  who  had  been  severally  tried  and  convicted, 
were  hanged  at  the  Old  Bailey,  and  their  heads  cut  off.  The 
remaining  six  pleaded  guilty ;  one  was  pardoned,  and  five  were 
transported  for  life. 

J>2 


36  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

Southey  relates  this  touching  anecdote  of  Thistlewood's  last 
hours : — 

"When  the  desperate  and  atrocious  traitor  Thistlewood  was  on  the 
scaffold,  his  demeanour  was  that  of  a  man  who  was  resolved  boldly  to  meet 
the  fate  he  had  deserved ;  in  the  few  words  which  were  exchanged  between 
him  and  his  fellow-criminals,  he  observed,  that  the  grand  question  whether 
or  not  the  soul  was  immortal  would  soon  be  solved  for  them.  No  expression 
of  hope  escaped  him  j  no  breathing  of  repentance,  no  spark  of  grace,  ap- 
peared. Yet  (it  is  a  fact  which,  whether  it  be  more  consolatory  or  awful, 
ought  to  be  known),  on  the  night  after  the  sentence,  and  preceding  his 
execution,  while  he  supposed  that  the  person  who  was  appointed  to  watch 
him  in  his  cell  was  asleep,  this  miserable  man  was  seen  by  that  person  re- 
peatedly to  rise  upon  his  knees,  and  heard  repeatedly  calling  upon  Christ 
his  Saviour  to  have  mercy  upon  him,  and  to  forgive  him  his  sins." — The 
Doctor,  chap.  Ixxi. 

The  selection  of  Cato-  street  for  the  conspirators'  meeting  was 
accidental ;  and  the  street  itself  is  associated  but  indirectly  in 
name  with  the  Roman  patriot  and  philosopher.  To  efface  re- 
collection of  the  conspiracy  of  the  low  and  desperate  politicians 
of  1820,  Cato-street  has  been  changed  to  Homer-street. 

Money  Panic  0/1832. 

When,  in  May,  1832,  the  Duke  of  Wellington  was  very 
unpopular  as  a  minister,  and  it  <was  believed  that  he  had 
formed  a  Cabinet  which,  it  was  thought,  would  add  to  his  un- 
popularity, a  few  agitators  got  up  "  a  run  upon  the  Bank  of 
England,"  by  means  of  placarding  the  streets  of  London  with  the 
emphatic  words : — 


advice  which  was  followed  to  a  prodigious  extent.  On  Monday, 
May  14,  (the  bills  having  been  profusely  posted  on  Sunday !)  the 
run  upon  the  Bank  for  coin  was  so  incessant,  that  in  a  few  hours 
upwards  of  half  a  million  was  carried  off:  we  remember  a  trades- 
man in  the  Strand  bringing  home,  in  a  hackney-coach,  2000  sove- 
reigns. Mr.  Doubleday,  in  his  Life  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  states  the 
placards  to  have  been  "  the  device  of  four  gentlemen,  two  of 
whom  were  elected  members  of  the  Reformed  Parliament. 
Each  put  down  2c/. ;  and  the  sum  was  expended  in  printing 
housands  of  these  terrible  missives,  which  were  eagerly  circu- 
ated,  and  were  speedily  seen  upon  every  wall  in  London.  The 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.        37 

effect  is  hardly  to  be  described.  It  was  electric."  The  agent  was 
a  tradesman  of  kindred  politics,  in  business  towards  the  east  end 
of  Oxford-street ;  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  he  executed  the 
order  completely. 

A  Great  Sufferer  by  Revolutions. 

King  Louis  of  Bavaria,  who  abdicated  after  an  insurrection  in 
1848,  has  seen  his  family  extensively  affected  by  the  dynastic 
changes  which  have  taken  place  since  1859.  His  second  son  is 
Otho,  the  ex- King  of  Greece,  born  on  the  ist  of  June,  1815  ;  his 
third,  Luitpold,  is  married  to  the  daughter  of  the  Grand  Duke 
of  Tuscany ;  one  of  his  daughters  to  the  Duke  of  Modena ;  and 
one  of  his  grandsons,  or  his  youngest  son  Adalbert,  was  to  have 
succeeded  Otho  on  the  throne  of  Greece.  Lastly,  the  Queen  of 
Naples  and  her  sister,  the  Countess  deTrani,  belong  to  a  collateral 
branch  of  the  Royal  family,  that  of  Maximilian,  Duke  of  Bavaria. 
The  House  of  Wittelsbach  has  therefore  suffered  most  materially 
from  the  revolutions  of  Germany,  Italy,  and  Greece,  and  its 
members  might  give  a  second  representation  of  the  famous 
dinner  at  Venice  mentioned  in  Voltaire's  Candlde. — Le  Temps. 

Origin  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League. 

The  first  hint  of  this  great  political  Association  is  to  be  found 
in  the  writings  of  the  very  individual  whose  labours  tended  so 
much  to  crown  its  efforts  with  success.  In  the  well-known 
pamphlet,  entitled  England,  Ireland,  and  America,  by  a  Manchester 
Manufacturer,  Mr.  Cobden  says : 

"  Whilst  agriculture  can  boast  almost  as  many  associations  as 
there  are  British  counties,  whilst  every  city  in  the  kingdom  con- 
tains its  botanical,  phrenological,  or  mechanical  institutions,  and 
these  again  possess  their  periodical  journals  (and  not  merely  these, 
for  even  war  sends  forth  its  United  Service  Magazine) — we  pos- 
sess no  association  of  traders,  united  together,  for  the  common 
object  of  enlightening  the  world  upon  a  question  so  little  under- 
stood, and  so  loaded  with  obloquy,  as  free-trade. 

"  We  have  our  Banksian,  our  Linnasan,  our  Hunterian  Societies, 
and  why  should  not  at  least  our  greatest  commercial  and  manu- 
facturing towns  possess  their  Smithian  Societies,  devoted  to  the 
purpose  of  promulgating  the  beneficent  truths  of  the  i  Wealth  of 
Nations'  ?  Such  institutions,  by  promoting  a  correspondence 
with  similar  societies  that  would  probably  be  organized  abroad 
(for  it  is  our  example  in  questions  affecting  commerce  that 


33  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

strangers  follow),  might  contribute  to  the  spread  of  liberal  and 
just  views  of  political  science,  and  thus  tend  to  ameliorate  the 
restrictive  policy  of  foreign  governments  through  the  legitimate 
i:  fl.ience  of  the  opinions  of  its  people. 

u  Nor  would  such  societies  be  fruitless  at  home.  Prizes  might 
bj  offered  for  the  best  essay  on  the  corn  question,  or  lecturers 
might  be  sent  to  enlighten  the  agriculturists,  and  to  invite  discus- 
sion upon  a  subject  so  difficult  and  of  such  paramount  interest  to  all" 

The  pamphlet  from  which  the  preceding  extract  is  taken,  was 
published  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1^35,  about  four  years 
before  the  formation  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League,  and  at  a 
time  when,  owing  to  the  very  low  price  of  grain,  and  the  pros- 
perity of  the  manufacturing  districts,  the  question  of  the  Corn- 
laws  scarcely  attracted  the  slightest  attention,  either  in  Manchester 
or  in  any  other  pail  of  the  country. 

Wellington's  Military  Administration. 

Much  misconception  exists  with  respect  to  the  military  adminis- 
tration of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  who  was,  at  the  close  of  his 
life,  commander-in-chief  of  the  army.  He  is  said  to  have  been 
wedded  to  "  Brown  Bess,"  but  he  is  known  to  have  encouraged 
the  introduction  of  the  Minie  ;  and  several  of  the  reforms  exe- 
cuted by  Lord  Herbert  had  been  discussed  by  the  Duke  with 
approval.  The  celebrated  letter  of  1847  shows  what  were  the 
thoughts  of  this  great  man  in  reference  to  our  national  defences, 
and  they  are  not  perhaps  the  least  valuable  legacy  which  Welling- 
ton has  bequeathed  to  England.  The  following  scheme  of  de- 
tence  by  the  Duke,  which'  Mr.  Gleig  for  the  first  time  published, 
is  not  perhaps  the  less  interesting  because  it  has  been  in  part  ac- 
complished : — 

"  He  considered  the  Channel  Islands — Jersey,  Guernsey,  and  Alderney — 
to  be  the  key  of  our  outer  line  of  defence.  In  each  of  these  he  required 
that  a  harbour  of  refuge  should  be  constructed  of  sufficient  capacity  and 
depth  of  water  to  receive  a  stout  squadron  ;  and  then,  with  Portsmouth 
well  guarded  on  one  flank  and  Plymouth  on  the  other,  he  held  that  Eng- 
land would  be  perfectly  safe  from  invasion  on  a  large  scale.  ...  If  Go- 
vernment gave  him  the  Channel  Islands,  Seaford,  Portsmouth,  and  Plymouth, 
all  completely  fortified,  and  ready  to  receive  respectively  their  squadrons,  then 
he  was  satisfied  that,  though  it  might  be  impossible  to  prevent  marauding 
parties  from  landing  here  or  there,  England  would  be  placed  beyond  the 
risk  of  invasion  on  such  a  scale  as  to  endanger  her  existence,  or  even  to 
put  the  capital  in  jeopardy Establishing  then  an  outer  line  of  de- 
fence, he  asked  for  men  and  materhl  wherewith  to  meet  an  enemy  if  lie 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.       39 

succeeded  in  breaking  through  that  line.  He  would  be  satisfied  with  an 
addition  of  20,000  men  to  the  regular  army,  provided  such  a  force  of  Militia 
'were  raised  as  ivould  enable  him  to  dispose  of  70,000  men  among  the  prin- 
cipal fortresses  and  arsenals  of  the  kingdom ;  keeping  at  the  same  time  two 
corps  of  50,000  men  in  hand,  one  in  the  neighbourhood  of  London,  the 
other  near  Dublin.  He  should  thus  have  open  to  him  all  the  great  lines 
of  railway,  which  would  enable  him  to  meet  with  rapidity  any  danger, 
from  whatever  side  of  the  capital  it  might  threaten." 

If  we  read  Volunteers  for  Militia,  we  shall  see  that  Welling- 
ton's plan  of  defence  is  nearly  that  contemplated  in  1863. 

Gustavus  III.  of  Sweden. 

In  a  paper  contributed  to  the  Royal  Society  of  Literature,  Dr, 
Hermann  has  traced  the  eventful  history  of  the  Swedish  monarch 
with  great  skill,  from  the  period  when  he  ascended  the  throne, 
in  1771,  to  his  assassination  by  Ankerstrom  at  the  masked  ball  in 
1792.  Dr.  Hermann  shows  that  Gustavus  united  in  his  own 
person  and  character  most  of  those  qualities,  intellectual  and  moral, 
which  distinguished  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
Thus,  like  Catherine  of  Russia  and  Frederick  the  Great,  though 
not  to  the  same  extent,  he  was  a  believer  in  those  doctrines  whose 
chief  expositors  were  Voltaire  and  the  Encyclopaedists ;  while, 
in  the  government  of  his  country,  he  was  ever  striving  after  a 
system  of  optimism,  which,  however  beautiful  in  theory,  is  wholly 
impracticable.  The  reign  of  Gustavus  is  chiefly  remarkable  for 
the  spirit  with  which  he  broke  down  a  tyranny  of  certain  noble 
families,  which  had  long  usurped  nearly  the  whole  of  the  royal 
prerogative,  and  had  thrown  the  monarch  into  the  background ; 
lor  the  zeal  with  which  he  carried  out  many  reforms  of  the 
greatest  benefit  to  the  more  indigent  classes  of  his  people ;  for 
the  remarkable  rashness  with  which,  unsupported  by  a  single 
other  European  power,  he  rushed  madly  into  a  war  with  the 
Russian  Empress;  and  for  the  extraordinary  victory  in  which, 
at  the  close  of  his  second  campaign,  in  July,  1791,  he  destroyed 
the  entire  Russian  fleet,  in  the  Bay  of  Swbborg,  and  captured  no 
less  than  1412  Russian  cannon. 

The  assassin,  Ankerstrom,  was  discovered  and  executed  :  in  his 
character  and  in  his  last  moments,  a  striking  similarity  may  be 
traced  to  Bellingham,  who  assassinated  Mr.  Perceval  in  1812: 
both  expressed  the  same  fanatical  satisfaction  at  the  perpetration 
of  the  crime,  and  the  same  presumptuous  confidence  of  pardon 
from  the  Almighty. 


40  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

Gustavus,  in  his  parting  moments,  strictly  forbad,  for  ffty  years, 
the  opening  of  the  chests  at  Upsal,  in  which  his  papers  were  de- 
posited ;  and  the  injunction  was  strictly  obeyed.  On  March  30, 
1842,  the  chests  were  opened,  in  the  presence  of  many  spec- 
tators ;  but  in  neither  was  found,  as  was  expected,  any  clue  to 
the  conspiracy  of  which  Ankerstrom  was  the  agent ;  but  the 
king's  autograph  instructions  do  not  refer  to  any  papers  later 
than  1788,  when  the  bequest  was  made.  The  Swedish  instruc- 
tions, in  Gustavus's  handwriting,  prove  that  the  king  enjoyed  the 
reputation  of  being  a  great  author  without  even  knowing  how 
to  spell. — See  Curiosities  of  'History ,  p.  107. 

Fall  of  Louis- Philippe. 

Sir  John  Herschel,  in  a  paper  on  Humboldt's  Kosmos,  in  the 
Edinburgh  Review,  January,  1848,  has  the  following  sentence, 
which  reads  strangely  now,  for  it  was  given  to  the  public  just 
before  the  catastrophe  which  overthrew  the  throne  of  Louis- 
Philippe,  and  led  in  a  few  months  to  the  Italian  and  Hungarian 
wars.  Herschel's  words  are :  "  A  great  and  wondrous  attempt 
is  making  in  civilized  Europe  at  the  present  time — neither  more 
nor  less  than  to  stave  off,  ad  infinitum,  the  tremendous  visitation 
of  war."  The  retrospect  has  been  thus  sketched: 

Seventeen  years  Louis-Philippe  sat  on  his  elective  throne : 
great  increase  of  wealth  and  physical  progress  were  the  results 
of  his  reign  at  home,  peace  preserved  abroad,  and  foreign  policy 
alike  successful ;  yet  the  King  was  not  popular  at  home.  He 
was  hated  alike  by  the  Legitimist  party,  in  whose  eyes  he  was 
but  a  usurper,  and  by  the  revolutionists,  who  sighed  for  entire 
emancipation  from  kingly  rule.  Besides,  there  are  deep  and  dark 
stains  upon  the  reign  of  the  "  Napoleon  of  Peace,''  as  Louis 
Philippe  liked  to  be  called.  His  reign  was  a  period  of  corrup- 
tion in  high  places,  of  jealousy  and  illiberal  restriction  towards 
his  own  subjects,  of  a  fraudulent  and  heartless  policy  towards 
the  allies  of  his  country,  whose  good  will  he  more  especially  for- 
feited by  his  over-reaching  conduct  in  regard  to  the  marriage  of 
the  Due  de  Montpensier  to  a  Spanish  princess.  His  downfal 
was  long  predicted  by  the  leading  journalists  of  England,  where 
public  opinion  is  unfettered  by  arbitrary  laws.  In  France,  too,  it 
was  understood  that  Louis- Philippe  was,  in  great  measure,  re- 
strained in  his  views  by  his  sister,  Madame  Adelaide,  who  died 
Dec.  30, 1 847.  "  Then  it  came  to  pass  that  the  heart  of  the  nation 


HISTORICO-POLITIGAL  INFORMATION.        41 

became  alienated  from  their  king  ;  and  when  a  trifling  disturbance 
in  February,  1848,  was  aggravated  into  a  popular  riot  through 
the  audacity  of  a  few  ultra-republicans,  Louis-Philippe  felt  that 
he  stood  alone  and  unsupported  as  a  constitutional  king,  both  at 
home  and  abroad,  and  that  the  soldiery  were  his  only  means  of 
defence.  He  shrank  from  employing  their  bayonets  against  his 
people :  he  fell  in  consequence,  and  his  house  fell  with  him.  The 
King  fled  in  disguise  from  Paris  to  the  coast  of  Normandy,  and 
taking  ship  again  found  a  safe  refuge  on  the  shores  of  England, 
to  which  his  family  had  already  made  their  escape.  He  landed  at 
Newhaven,  March  3rd,  1848.  The  Queen  of  England — who,  in 
1843,  had  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  Louis  Philippe  at  the  Cha- 
teau d'Eu,  his  royal  residence  near  Dieppe,  and  who  had  enter-  • 
tained  him  in  the  following  year  at  Windsor,  and  conferred  on  him 
the  order  of  the  Garter — immediately  assigned  Claremont,  near 
Esher,  as  a  residence  for  himself  and  his  exiled  family.  From  the 
time  of  his  arrival  in  England,  his  health  began  visibly  to  decline: 
he  died  on  the  26th  of  August,  1850,  in  the  presence  of  Queen 
Amelie  and  his  family,  having  dictated  to  them  the  conclusion 
of  his  memoirs,  and  having  received  the  last  rites  and  sacraments 
of  the  church  at  the  hands  of  his  chaplain.  He  was  buried  on 
the  following  2nd  of  September  at  the  Roman  Catholic  chapel 
at  Weybridge,  Surrey,  and  an  inscription  was  placed  upon  his 
coffin,  stating  that  his  ashes  remain  there,  Donee  Deo  adjuvante 
in  patriam  avitos  inter  cineres  transferantur"  (Saturday  Review). 
They  have  not  been  removed ! 

The  Chartists  in  1848. 

The  Tenth  of  April,  1848,  is  a  noted  day  in  our  political 
calendar,  from  its  presenting  a  remarkable  instance  of  napping  in 
the  bud  apparent  danger  to  the  peace  of  the  country  by  means 
at  once  constitutional  and  reassuring  public  safety.  It  was  on 
this  day  that  the  Chartists,  as  they  were  called,  from  developing 
their  proposed  alterations  in  the  representative  system,  through  "  the 
People's  Charter,"  made  in  the  metropolis  a  great  demonstration 
of  their  numbers :  thus  hinting  at  the  physical  force  which  they 
possessed,  but  probably  without  any  serious  design  against  the 
public  peace.  On  this  day  the  Chartists  met,  about  25,000  in 
number,  on  Kennington  Common,  whence  it  had  been  intended 
to  march  in  procession  to  the  House  of  Commons  with  the 
Charter  petition ;  but  the  authorities  having  intimated  that  the 


42  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

procession  would  be  prevented  by  force  if  attempted,  it  was 
abandoned.  Nevertheless,  the  assembling  of  the  quasi  politicians 
from  the  north,  by  marching  through  the  streets  to  the  place 
of  meeting,  had  an  imposing  effect.  Great  preparations  were 
made  to  guard  against  any  mischief;  the  shops  were  shut  in  the 
principal  thoroughfares ;  bodies  of  horse  and  foot  police,  assisted 
by  masses  of  special  constables,  were  posted  at  the  approaches 
to  the  Thames  bridges ;  a  large  force  of  the  regular  troops  was 
stationed  out  of  sight  in  convenient  spots ;  two  regiments  of 
the  line  were  kept  ready  at  Millbank  Penitentiary ;  1200  infantry 
at  Deptford,  and  30  pieces  of  heavy  field  ordnance  were  ready  at 
the  Tower,  to  be  transported  by  hired  steamers  to  any  required 
point.  The  Meeting  was  held,  but  was  brought  to  "  a  ridicu- 
lous issue,  by  the  unity  and  resolution  of  the  Metropolis,  backed 
by  the  judicious  measures  of  the  Government,  and  the  masterly 
military  precautions  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington." 

"On  our  famous  loth  of  April,  his  peculiar  genius  was  exerted  to  the 
unspeakable  advantage  of  peace  and  order.  So  effective  were  his  prepara- 
tions that  the  most  serious  insurrection  could  have  been  successfully  encoun- 
tered, and  yet  every  source  of  provocation  and  alarm  was  removed  by  the 
dispositions  adopted.  No  military  display  was  anywhere  to  be  seen.  The 
troops  and  the  cannon  were  all  at  their  posts,  but  neither  shako  nor  bayonet 
was  visible ;  and  for  all  that  met  the  eye,  it  might  have  been  concluded 
that  the  peace  of  the  metropolis  was  still  entrusted  to  the  keeping  of  its 
own  citizens.  As  an  instance,  however,  of  his  forecast  against  the  worst, 
on  this  memorable  occasion,  it  may  be  observed  that  orders  were  given  to 
the  commissioned  officers  of  artillery  to  take  the  discharge  of  their  pieces 
on  themselves.  The  Duke  knew  that  a  cannon-shot  too  much  or  too 
little  might  change  the  aspect  of  the  day  ;  and  he  provided  by  these  re- 
markable instructions,  both  for  imperturbable  forbearance  as  long  as  for- 
bearance was  best,  and  for  unshrinking  action  when  the  moment  for  action 
came." — Memoir ;  Times,  Sept.  15-16,  1852. 

The  Chartists'  Petition  was  presented  to  the  Commons,  on  the 
above  day,  signed,  it  was  stated,  by  5,706,000  persons.  The 
principal  points  of  the  Charter  were  universal  suffrage,  vote  by 
ballot,  annual  parliaments,  the  division  of  the  country  into  equal 
electoral  districts,  the  abolition  of  property  qualification  in  mem- 
bers, and  paying  them  for  their  services.  Chartism  and  the 
People's  Charter  grew  out  of  the  shortcomings  of  the  Reform 
Act.  The  Chartists  then  divided  into  the  Physical  Force  and 
the  Moral  Force  Chartists;  and  then  arose  the  Complete  Suf- 
fragists; the  latter  principally  from  the  Middle  Classes,  the 
former  from  the  working-classes  ;  though  their  objects  were  very 
similar. 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.       43 
Revival  of  the  French  Emperorship. 

Soon  after  the  breaking-out  of  the  French  Revolution,  in  1848, 
the  Count  d'Orsay  called  at  the  office  of  the  Lady's  Newspaper, 
in  the  Strand,  and  besought  the  proprietor,  Mr.  Landells,  to 
engrave  in  that  journal  a  portrait  which  he  (the  Count)  had 
sketched  of  Louis  Napoleon.  The  proprietor  hesitated,  when 
the  Cqunt  told  him  it  was  the  Prince's  intention  to  go  over  to 
France;  and  he  added,  emphatically,  "the  English  people  do 
not  understand  him ;  but,  take  my  word  for  it,  if  he  once  goes 
over  to  France,  the  French  people  (will  never  get  rid  of  him" 
This  prediction  has  been  strictly  verified:  the  assertion  was  equally 
correct,  that  the  English  people  did  not  understand  the  Emperor. 

Mr.  B.  Ferrey,  in  a  communication  to  Notes  and  Queries,  3rd  S., 
remarks : — t(  For  a  considerable  time,  Napoleon  was  held  up  to 
ridicule  by  the  Press  of  England  ;  yet  there  were  some  who  then 
foretold  his  coming  greatness,  while  the  multitude  charged  him 
with  folly  and  rashness.  Mr.  William  Brockedon,  author  of 
Passes  of  the  Alps,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  the  Prince's 
habits,  used  to  say,  at  the  period  when  the  Prince,  amidst  much 
derision,  was  aspiring  to  become  the  President  of  the  French 
Republic, — '  Mark  my  words,  that  man  is  not  the  fool  people 
take  him  for :  he  only  waits  an  opportunity  to  show  himself  one 
of  the  most  able  men  in  Europe;'  justifying  this  prediction  by 
relating  a  discussion  he  had  heard  at  a  public  meeting,  between 
the  Prince  and  some  civil  engineers,  respecting  a  projected  railway 
across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  in  which  the  former  displayed 
great  ability,  showing  an  amount  of  scientific  knowledge  which 
amazed  everybody  present ;  not  only  stating  his  case  with  clear- 
ness, but  combating  all  objections  in  a  most  masterly  way." 

The  newspapers  of  London,  with  one  "  base  exception,"  con- 
demned the  French  choice ;  and  after  Louis  Napoleon  had  taken 
the  first  step  towards  the  establishment  of  his  rule,  the  journalists 
foretold  h's  speedy  failure :  the  "base  exception,"  the  Morning 
Post)  predicted  the  reverse,  and  maintained  Louis  Napoleon  to 
be  the  only  man  capable  of  rescuing  France  from  the  throes  of 
revolution.  We  happen  to  know  that  for  another  journal  of 
very  extensive  circulation,  chiefly  among  the  influential  classes, 
a  leading  article  of  similar  tone  and  confidence  to  that  of  the 
Morning  Post,  was  written  by  the  Editor,  but  omitted  by  desire 
of  the  Proprietor,  and  an  article  of  opposite  tone  substituted:  the 
advocacy  would  have  been  too  bold  a  step  for  the  time. 

The  career  of  Louis  Napoleon  has  betn  well  des:ribed  as  a 


44  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

great  rervieval  in  the  fortunes  of  France,  the  accomplishment  of 
which  has  been  the  result  of  a  far-seeing  estimate  of  the  French 
character ;  thus  sketched  by  a  master  hand : 

"  Louis  Bonaparte  seems  to  have  had  the  key  of  the  mystery.  It  may 
be  that,  as  in  the  human  subject,  one  part  of  the  system  acts  upon  another, 
so  that  a  disorder  of  the  brain  may  affect  other  seemingly  unconnected 
organs,  so  political  discontent,  even  though  without  any  just  cause,  may 
deaden  the  enterprise  of  a  people.  How  else  could  it  be  that  France,  with 
a  citizen  King,  a  philosophical  Minister,  and  the  alliance  of  a  nation  of 
shopkeepers,  could  not  be  made  to  feel  that  her  greatness  must  henceforth 
be  dependent  on  her  mercantile  enterprise  ?  While  she  saw  not  only  Eng- 
land and  America,  but  the  German  States,  making  long  strides  to  the 
attainment  of  wealth,  she  lagged  behind,  and  encouraged  among  the  rising 
generation  the  delusion  that  business  was  unworthy  of  a  warlike  and  gifted 
people.  That  this  generation  has  thoroughly  unlearnt  the  doctrines  which 
were  fashionable  in  its  youth,  is  certainly  among  the  achievements  of 
Napoleon  III.  If  we  look  back  to  the  days  of  Louis  Philippe,  when, 
though  even  Germany  had  its  railways  and  its  electric  telegraph,  we  jjlted 
out  of  Paris  in  the  diligence  and  saw  the  old  semaphores  at  work,  we  shall 
be  able  to  appreciate  the  change  which  ten  years  of  Imperialism  have  made." 
— Times,  Jan.  29,  1862. 

French  Coup  d'Etat  Predictions. 

The  late  Baron  Alderson,  in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Opie,  written  just 
after  the  intelligence  of  the  Coup  d'Etat  had  arrived,  hazards  rather 
a  curious  speculation  with  regard  to  the  probable  issue  of  this 
unexpected  crisis.  He  was  just  on  the  point  of  starting  for  Paris 
when  the  news  reached  him,  and  put  an  end  to  the  expedition : 

"  I  was  going  there  [he  writes  to  Mrs.  Opie],  but  of  course  do 
not  dream  of  it  now.  They  seem  in  a  bad  way.  A  nation  so 
unfit  for  freedom — if  that  be  freedom  which  requires  those  who 
love  it  to  bejirst  wise  and  good — does  not  exist.  The  Celts  seem 
to  me  to  be  '  a  bad  lot.'  I  suppose  it  will  end  in  Louis  Napoleon's 
becoming  dictator,  and  then  (not  unlikely),  being  shot  by  an 
assassin,  and  the  game  will  begin  over  again  then.  The  fear  is, 
that  the  Praetorian  guards  will  make  him  go  to  war  for  their  own 
profit.  It  is  a  fearful  crisis,  I  think :  and  the  best  that  can  happen 
will  be  for  him  to  be  made  King  or  Emperor,  and  hold  his 
ground  in  spite  of  conscience,  oaths,  and  faith  which  he  pledged 
to  the  Republic." 

Statesmanship  of  Lord  Melbourne. 

Sir  Bulwer  Lytton,  in  an  eloquent  lecture  upon  the  historical 
and  intellectual  associations  of  Hertfordshire,  pays  this  willing 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.       45 

tribute  to  the  character  of  Viscount.  Melbourne;  referring  to  "the 
fair  park  of  Brocket,  which  our  posterity  will  find  historical  as 
the  favourite  residence  of  one  who,  if  not  among  the  greatest 
Ministers  who  have  swayed  this  country,  was  one  of  the  most 
accomplished  and  honourable  men  who  ever  attained  to  the  sum- 
mit of  constitutional  ambition.  And  it  is  a  striking  anecdote  of 
Lord  Melbourne,  that  he  once  said  in  my  own  hearing — *  He 
rejoiced  to  have  been  Prime  Minister,  for  he  had  thus  learnt  that 
men  were  much  better,  much  more  swayed  by  conscience  and 
honour,  than  he  had  before  supposed;'  a  saying  honouiable  to 
the  Minister,  and  honourable  still  more  to  the  public  virtue  of 
Englishmen." 

Lord  Melbourne  was  proverbially  a  good-natured  man;  but  in 
his  preferences  he  acted  with  a  sense  of  duty  more  stringent  than 
might  have  been  expected.  It  appears  that  Lord  John  Russell 
had  applied  to  Lord  Melbourne  for  some  provision  for  one  of 
the  sons  of  the  poet  Moore;  and  here  is  the  Premier's  very 
judicious  reply: — 

"  MY  DEAR  JOHN; — I  return  you  Moore's  letter.  I  shall  be  ready  to  do 
what  you  like  about  it  when  we  have  the  means.  I  think  whatever  is 
done  should  be  done  for  Moore  himself.  This  is  more  distinct,  direcc, 
and  intelligible.  Making  a  small  provision  for  young  men  is  hardly  justifi- 
able ;  and  it  is  of  all  things  the  most  prejudicial  to  themselves.  They 
think  what  they  have  much  larger  than  it  really  is ;  and  they  make  no 
exertion.  The  young  should  never  hear  any  language  but  this  :  *  You 
have  your  own  way  to  make,  and  it  depends  upon  your  own  exertions 
whether  you  starve  or  not.' — Believe  me,  &c. 

"  MELBOURNE." 

Ungraceful  Observance. 

Mr.Torrens  M'Cullagh,  in  his  Life  of  Sir  James  Graham,  relates 
the  following  instance  of  want  of  graciousness  in  this  unpopular 
statesman.  In  1837,  on  the  death  of  King  William,  Lord  John 
Russell  came  to  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Commons  charged  with 
a  Message  from  the  Queen.  Hats  were  immediately  ordered  offj 
and  even  the  Speaker  announced  from  the  chair  that  members 
must  be  uncovered.  Every  one  present  complied  with  the  injunc- 
tion except  Sir  James  Graham,  who  continued  to  wear  his  hat 
until  the  first  words  of  the  Message  were  pronounced.  His  doing 
so  was  the  subject  of  some  unpleasant  remarks  in  the  newspapers ; 
and  at  the  meeting  of  the  House  next  day  he  rose  to  explain  that 
in  not  taking  off  his  hat  until  the  word  Regina  was  uttered  he 
but  followed  the  old  and  established  custom — a  custom  which 


46  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

he  deemed  better  than  that  observed  by  everybody  else  in  the 
House.  The  Speaker  then  said  that  Sir  James  Graham  was  quite 
right,  that  he  was  strictly  within  rule  in  not  uncovering  until  the 
initiatory  word  of  the  Message  was  delivered.  If  Sir  James 
Graham  had  the  letter  of  the  law  on  his  side,  still  there  was  a 
stiffness  in  his  conduct  which,  considering  that  the  message  came 
from  a  young  Queen,  and  was  her  first  message  to  her  faithful 
Commons,  was  not  over  attractive. 

The  Partition  of  Poland. 

Some  twenty  years  before  the  dismemberment  of  Poland,  this 
disgraceful  act  was  foretold  by  Lord  Chesterfield,  in  Letter 
CCCIV.,  dated  Dec.  25,  1753,  commencing  with  "The  first 
squabble  in  Europe  that  I  foresee,  will  be  about  the  crown  of 
Poland."  The  leading  data  of  the  fall  of  Poland  will  show  how 
far  this  prediction  was  realized.  Poland  was  dismembered  by  the 
Emperor  of  Germany,  the  Empress  of  Russia,  and  the  King  of 
Prussia,  who  seized  the  most  valuable  territories  in  1772. 

At  the  bottom  of  the  Convention  signed  on  the  i7th  Feb.,  1772, 
we  read  this  declaration  of  the  Empress  Queen  Maria-Theresa  of 
Austria,  dated  the  4th  March,  1772:  "Placet,  since  so  many 
learned  personages  will  that  it  should  be  so ;  but  long  after  my 
death  it  will  be  seen  what  will  be  the  result  of  having  thus 
trampled  under  foot  all  that  has  been  hitherto  held  to  be  just  and 
sacred." 

The  royal  and  imperial  spoliators,  on  various  pretexts,  poured 
their  armies  into  the  country  in  1792.  The  brave  Poles,  under 
Poniatowski  and  Kosciusko,  several  times  contended  against 
superior  armies,  but  in  the  end  were  defeated.  Then  followed 
the  battle  of  Warsaw,  Oct.  13,  1794;  and  Suwarrow's  butchery 
of  30,000  Poles,  of  all  ages  and  conditions,  in  cold  blood.  We 
can  scarcely  believe  such  wholesale  atrocities  to  have  been  per- 
petrated upon  European  soil  within  seventy  years  of  the  time  we 
are  writing.  Poland  was  finally  partitioned  and  its  political  exist- 
ence annihilated  in  1795.  The  transaction,  in  its  earlier  stage, 
is  detailed  in  the  Annual  Register  for  1771,  1772,  and  1773,  sup- 
posed to  have  been  written  by  Edmund  Burke.  Professor 
Smythe  says,  diffidently :  — «  After  all,  the  situation  of  Poland 
was  such  as  almost  to  afford  an  exception  (perhaps  a  single  ex- 
ception) in  the  history  of  mankind  to  those  general  rules  of  justice 
that  are  so  essential  to  the  great  community  of  nations.  I  speak 
with  great  hesitation,  and  you  must  consider  the  point  yourselves; 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.       47 

I  do  not  profess  to  have  thoroughly  considered  it  myself." — 
(Lectures  on  Modern  History.}  Sir  James  Mackintosh  contributed 
to  the  Edinburgh  Review  a  valuable  paper  on  Poland. 

The  'Invasion  of  England* 

In  contemplating  the  possibility  of  an  Invasion,  we  have  some 
right  to  count  upon  the  changes  which  modern  civilization  has 
introduced  into  the  methods  of  warfare.  It  is  not  improbable 
that,  if  it  entered  into  the  French  Emperor's  plans  to  invade  Eng- 
land, he  would  make  the  attempt  upon  several  points  at  once. 
The  campaign  which  he  sketched  out  for  the  use  of  the  allied 
generals  in  the  Crimea,  and  which  they  rejected  as  impracticable, 
was  based  upon  this  principle.  His  forces  were  to  be  distributed 
at  various  points  on  the  circumference  of  a  circle,  of  which  the 
enemy  was  to  occupy  the  centre.  The  enemy  was  to  have  all 
the  advantage  of  concentration  ;  he  and  his  allies  were  to  have 
all  the  weakness  of  division.  It  is  a  mode  of  fighting  which  is 
rather  at  variance  with  the  old  Napoleonic  ideas,  and  which 
would  require  an  overwhelming  force  to  give  it  effect.  As  in 
military  numeration  the  rule  of  addition  is  somewhat  at  fault, — 
two  and  two  do  not  always  make  four,  and  200,000  men  cannot 
be  computed  as  ten  times  stronger  than  20,000 — we  may  rest  assured 
that  for  the  successful  invasion  of  England,  whether  the  attack 
be  made  by  a  single  armament  or  by  several,  a  tremendous  force 
must  be  necessary ;  and  preparations,  which  will  prevent  us  from 
being  taken  altogether  by  surprise,  must  be  some  time  in  progress. 

We  shall  have  a  little  time  to  prepare.  There  is  no  necessity 
for  our  arming  to  the  teeth,  and  standing  to  our  guns,  as  if  the 
Philistines  were  upon  us ;  for  there  is  no  need  to  play  the  fire- 
engines  before  the  fire  breaks  out ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  if  we 
delay  our  defences  on  the  plea  of  saving  our  money  till  the  danger 
actually  comes,  when  we  shall  be  able  to  spend  it  without  stint, 
"  it  is  as  if,  for  a  security  against  fire,  you  laid  by  your  money  at 
interest,  to  be  expended  in  making  engines  and  organizing  a 
proper  fire  brigade  as  soon  as  the  conflagration  commences."  Sir 
John  Burgoyne  adds,  by  way  of  practical  illustration,  that  10,000 
additional  British  infantry  would  have  taken  Sebastopol  before 
the  month  of  December,  1854,  and  saved  all  the  sufferings  of  the 
winter  campaign ;  "  but  not  all  the  boasted  wealth  of  England 
could  supply  the  British  infantry  required." — (Military  Opinions.} 

*  This  paper  relates  to  the  Invasion  Tactics,  as  illustrated  by  Sir  John 
Burgoyne :  the  Paper  at  page  21-24  refers  to  the  project  of  Napoleon  I. 


48  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


Suppose  the  descent  to  have  taken  place  where  it  was  least 
expected.  Sir  John  Burgoyne  attributes  to  the  invading  force  the 
power  of  landing  with  marvellous  rapidity.  People  imagine  that 
because,  after  long  training  on  a  particular  beach,  Napoleon  could 
embark  100,000  soldiers  in  a  space  of  time  measured  by  minutes, 
the  process  of  debarkation  on  an  unknown  shore  must  be  pro- 
portionately rapid.  Perhaps  no  nation  can  do  these  things  more 
quickly  than  our  French  friends,  but  they  sometimes  exaggerate. 
On  landing  in  the  Crimea,  where  there  was  no  resistance,  they 
indeed  succeeded  in  throwing  6oco  men  on  shore  in  about  twenty- 
two  minutes ;  and  at  the  end  of  nearly  seven  hours  (namely  a 
little  before  two  o'clock)  Marshal  St.  Arnaud  sent  word  to  Lord 
Raglan  that  the  disembarkation  was  complete.  But  observe  that 
here  were  seven  hours  required  to  land  23,600  men  without  op- 
position, and  the  fact  was  that  the  whole  of  these  French  troops 
had  really  not  landed  in  the  time  specified.  The  Special  Corre- 
spondent of  the  Times  stated  that  the  French  were  not  more  ad- 
vanced than  ourselves  in  the  disembarkation,  which  was  earned 
on  long  after  sunset.  More  than  this,  Sir  John  Burgoyne  asks 
us  to  consider  what  would  have  been  the  effect  of  following  St. 
Arnaud's  proposal  to  land  at  the  mouth  of  the  Katcha.  He  raises 
before  us  a  vision  of  boats  closely  packed,  and  rowing  on  shore  in 
the  proper  order  at  the  rate  of  about  two  miles  an  hour.  From 
the  first  they  are  exposed  to  the  fire  of  artillery,  and  for  the  last 
^oo  yards  to  a  fire  of  musketry  which  they  are  unable  to  return. 
Even  a  small  force  could,  in  such  circumstances,  have  punished 
the  allies  severely,  although  ultimately  they  might  have  been 
unable  to  prevent  a  landing.  If  so,  it  really  seems  to  us  that  the 
invasion  of  our  island,  though  perfectly  possible,  is  not  likely  to 
be  the  simple  stepping  on  shore  which  some  of  our  military  men 
seem  to  regard  as  within  the  bounds  of  possibility.- — Times  re- 
"vievu  of  Sir  John  Burgoyne's  "Military  Opinions" 

What  a  Militia  can  do. 

Lord  Macaulay,  in  his  epitome  of  the  arguments  that  were 
used  in  the  year  1697,  against  the  maintenance  of  a  standing 
army  in  England,  says,  illustratively : — 

"Some  people,  indeed,  talked  as  if  a  militia  could  achieve 
nothing  great.  But  that  base  doctrine  was  refuted  by  all  ancient 
and  modern  history.  What  was  the  Lacedaemonian  phalanx  in 
the  best  days  of  Lacedaemon  ?  What  was  the  Roman  Legion 
in  the  best  days  of  Rome  ?  What  were  the  armies  that  con- 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.       49 

nuered  at  Cressy,  at  Poictiers,  at  Agincourt,  at  Halidon,  or  at 
Flodden  ?  What  was  that  mighty  array  which  Elizabeth  reviewed 
at  Tilbury  ?*  In  the  I4th,  i.cjth,  and  i6th  centuries  Englishmen 
who  did  not  live  by  the  trade  of  war  had  made  war  with  suc- 
cess and  glory.  Were  the  English  of  the  i;th  century  so 
degenerate  that  they  could  not  be  trusted  to  play  the  men  for 
their  own  homesteads  and  parish  churches  ?" 

Gibbon,  the  historian,  who  at  one  part  of  his  life  was  a  captain 
in  the  Hampshire  regiment  of  militia,  remained  ever  after  sensible 
of  a  benefit  from  it,  which  he  testifies  as  follows : 

"  It  made  me  an  Englishman,  and  a  soldier.  In  this  powerful  service 
I  imbibed  the  rudiments  of  the  language  and  science  of  tactics,  which 
opened  a  new  field  of  study  and  observation.  The  discipline  and  evolutions 
of  a  modern  battalion  gave  me  a  clearer  notion  of  the  phalanx  and  the 
legion j  and  the  captain  of  the  Hampshire  grenadiers,  (the  reader  may 
smile,)  has  not  been  useless  to  the  historian  of  the  Roman  Empire." — 
Miscellaneous  Workst  vol.  i.  p.  136. 

White-Boys. 

These  ferocious  rioters  in  the  south  of  Ireland,  early  in  the  reign 
of  George  III.,  were  known  by  the  above  name,  because,  as  a 
mark  among  themselves  in  their  attacks,  they  frequently  wore  a 
shirt  over  their  clothes.  Lord  Chesterfield  writes  in  1765,  to  the 
Bishop  of  Waterford: — "I  see  that  you  are  in  fear  again  from 
your  White-Boys,  and  have  destroyed  a  good  many  of  them ;  but 
I  believe  that  if  the  military  force  had  killed  half  as  many  land- 
lords it  would  have  contributed  more  effectually  to  restore  quiet, 


*  We  have  now  learned  from  Mr.  Motley's  researches  to  estimate  more 
correctly  the  worth  of  the  army  at  Tilbury.  "  There  were,"  he  says 
(History  of  the  United  Netherlands,  vol.  ii.  p.  515  et  seq.),  "patriotism, 
loyalty,  courage,  and  enthusiasm  in  abundance  ;"  but  "  there  were  no 
fortresses,  no  regular  army,  no  population  trained  to  any  weapon."  "  OB 
the  5th  of  August  no  army  had  been  assembled — not  even  the  body- 
guard of  the  Queen — and  Leicester,  with  4000  men,  unprovided  with  a 
barrel  of  beer  or  a  loaf  of  bread,  was  about  commencing  his  entrenched 
camp  at  Tilbury.  On  the  6th  of  August  the  Armada  was  in  Calais  Roads, 
expecting  Alexander  Farnese  to  lead  his  troops  upon  London."  Good  for- 
tune and  gallant  sailors  saved  us  from  this  calamity ;  but  the  undisciplined 
mob  which  was  assembled  under  an  incompetent  commander  on  shore 
would  have  done  little  to  avert  it ;  and  we  have  in  this  case  a  sufficient 
proof  of  the  difficulty  of  improvising  an  army  in  an  interval  of  "diplomatic 
Correspondence." — Quarterly  Rc-vitiv,  No.  223. 

E 


50  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

The  poor  people  in  Ireland  are  used  worse  than  negroes  by  their 
lords  and  masters,  and  their  deputies  of  deputies  of  deputies." 

Naval  Heroes. 

The  register  of  the  church  of  Burnham  Thorpe  contains  the 
entry  of  Lord  Nelson's  birth ;  with  a  note  by  his  father  recording 
the  investiture  of  Nelson  with  the  order  of  the  Bath,  his  rear- 
admiralship,  and  creation  as  Lord  Nelson  of  the  Nile,  and  of 
Burnham  Thorpe.  It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  three  great 
contemporaneous  admirals  were  all  born  in  one  small  village  of 
Norfolk— the  village  of  Cockthorpe,  which  hardly  contains  more 
than  six  houses.  The  admirals  are  Sir  Cloudesley  Shovel,  Sir 
Christopher  Minors,  and  Sir  James  Narborough ;  it  is  also  re- 
markable that  this  small  village  and  the  village  of  Burnham 
Thorpe  should  have  produced  four  such  great  men. — Proc.  Nor- 
folk and  Norwich  Archaeological  Society. 

How  Russia  is  bound  to  Germany. 

In  his  last  Will,  Peter  the  Great  said  that  Russia  must  en- 
deavour to  increase  her  influence  in  Germany  "by  means  of 
marriages,  dowries,  and  annuities;"  and  that  the  value  of  the 
advice  has  been  properly  appreciated  by  his  successors,  the  Morgen 
Post,  in  1863,  thus  shows: — 

"  Prussia  was  bound  to  Russia  by  means  of  the  marriage  of  Nicholas  I. 
with  Alexandra,  the  daughter  of  Frederic  William  III.,  and  it  may  with 
truth  be  said  that  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  King  of  Prussia  obeyed 
the  behests  of  his  imperious  son-in-law.  Wurtemberg  is  bound  to 
Russia  by  three  ties.  The  first  wife  of  William  I.  was  Catherine  of 
Russia  j  the  Crown  Princess  of  Wurtemberg  is  Olga  Nicolajevna  j  and 
one  of  the  King's  nieces  is  the  Grand  Duchess  Helen,  widow  of 
the  Grand  Duke  Michael.  The  Grand  Duke  of  Oldenburg  is  a  member 
of  the  Russian  dynasty.  The  Grand  Duchess  Helen  Paulovna  (one  of 
the  sisters  of  the  Emperor  Nicholas)  was  married  to  the  hereditary 
Grand  Duke  of  Mecklenburg-Schwerin.  Prince  George  of  Mecklenburg- 
Strelitz  married  the  Grand  Duchess  Catherine  Michaelovna  in  1851. 
The  mother  of  the  present  Grand  Duke  -of  Saxe- Weimar  was  Maria 
Paulovna,  another  sister  of  the  Emperor  Nicholas.  The  Grand  Duke 
Constantine,  at  present  Stattholder  in  Poland,  is  married  to  a  Princess 
of  the  House  of  Saxe- Altenburg.  The  late  Grand  Duke  Constantine,  the 
uncle  of  the  last-mentioned  Prince,  was  married  to  Anna  Theodorovna,  a 
Princess  of  Saxe-Coburg.  The  wife  of  the  Emperor  Alexander  II.  ic  a 
scion  of  the  Grand  Ducal  House  of  Hesse-Darmstadt.  Prince  Frederick, 
the  heir- presumptive  to  the  throne  of  Hesse-Cassel,  was  married  to 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.       51 

Alexandra,  the  daughter  of  the  late  Emperor  Nicholas.  The  wife  of  the 
Grand  Duke  Michael,  who  is  now  Stattholder  in  the  Caucasus,  is  Olga 
Theodorovna  of  Baden-Baden.  The  first  wife  of  Duke  Adolphus  of  Nassau 
was  the  Grand  Duchess  Elizabeth  Michaelovna.  The  Dowager-Qiaeen  of 
the  Netherlands,  the  mother  of  King  William  III.,  is  a  Princess  of  the 
House  of  Russia.  The  Russian  dynasty  is  connected  with  Bavaria  by  means 
of  the  Leuchtenbergs,  and  with  Hanover  by  means  of  Queen  Maria 
Alexandrine,  who  is  the  sister  of  the  above-mentioned  Grand  Duchesc 
Constantine." 

Count  Cavour' s  Estimate  of  Napoleon  III. 

Of  the  character  and  policy  of  Louis  Napoleon,  Cavour  was 
accustomed  to  speak  with  much  freedom.  No  one  had  better 
opportunities  than  Cavour  of  sounding  their  depths.  He  was  the 
oniy  living  man  who  had  ventured  to  grapple  with  him  face  to  face, 
and  who  had  used  him  for  his  purpose.  The  estimate  he  had 
formed  of  his  capacity  was  not  a  high  one ;  but  he  fully  admitted 
his  fertility  of  resource,  his  physical  and  moral  courage,  and  his 
knowledge  of  the  people  he  governs.  "  He  has  no  definite  policy," 
he  remarked  to  an  English  friend.  "  He  has  a  number  of  poli- 
tical ideas  floating  in  his  mind,  none  of  them  matured.  They 
would  seem  to  be  convictions  founded  upon  instinct.  He  will  not 
steadily  pursue  any  single  idea  if  a  serious  object  presents  itself, 
but  will  give  way  and  take  up  another.  This  is  the  mot 
denigme  to  his  policy.  It  is  by  steadily  keeping  this  in  view  that 
I  have  succeeded  in  thwarting  his  designs,  or  in  inducing  him  to 
adopt  a  measure.  The  only  principle — if  principle  it  can  be  called 
— which  connects  together  these  various  ideas  is  the  establish- 
ment of  his  dynasty,  and  the  conviction  that  the  best  way  to  se- 
cure it  is  by  feeding  the  national  vanity  of  the  French  people. 
He  found  France,  after  the  fall  of  the  Orleanist  and  Republican 
Governments,  holding  but  a  second  place  among  the  great 
Powers ;  he  has  raised  her  to  the  very  first.  Look  at  his  wars, 
look  at  his  foreign  policy ;  he  has  never  gone  one  step  beyond 
what  was  absolutely  necessary  to  obtain  this  one  object.  The 
principle  ostentatiously  put  forward  in  the  first  instance  has  been 
forgotten  or  discarded  as  soon  as  his  immediate  end  has  been  ac- 
complished. It  was  so  in  the  war  with  Russia;  it  has  been  so 
in  the  war  with  Austria.  In  the  Crimea  he  was  satisfied  with 
the  success  of  his  army  in  the  capture  of  Sebastopol,  which  took 
from  the  English  troops  the  glory  they  had  earned  by  their  devo- 
tion and  courage,  and  to  which  they  would  have  added  had  the 
war  continued.  In  the  struggle  with  Austria,  he  was  astounded 

E2 


52  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

by  the  greatness  of  the  victories  of  Magenta  and  Solferino.  The 
military  glory  of  France  had  been  satiated,  and  he  thought  no 
more  of  the  liberty  of  Italy,  of  that  free  and  united  nation  which 
he  was  to  have  called  into  existence  from  the  Alps  to  the 
Adriatic. 

"  It  is  this  uncertain  policy  guided  by  dynastic  and  selfish 
considerations,  which  makes  him  so  dangerous  to  you,  and  which 
renders  it  necessary  that  you  should  ever  be  on  your  guard.  Not 
that  he  is  hostile  to  England,  or  that  he  has  any  definite  design 
against  her.  On  the  contrary,  he  has  much  affection  for  your 
country.  He  is  a  man  of  generous  impulses,  and  has  strong  feelings 
of  gratitude  towards  those  who  have  served  and  befriended  him. 
At  the  bottom  of  his  heart  he  is  greatly  attached  to  Italy.  His 
earliest  recollections  are  bound  up  with  her.  He  is  to  this  day  a 
carbonaro  in  his  desire  for  Italian  freedom  and  hatred  of  Austria. 
He  has  not  forgotten  the  kindness  and  hospitality  shown  to  him 
when  an  exile  in  England.  He  admires  your  institutions  and 
the  character  of  the  English  people.  But  all  this  is  as  nothing 
when  compared  with  the  maintenance  of  his  dynasty,  the  estab- 
lishment of  which  he  looks  upon  almost  in  the  light  of  a  religious 
obligation.  If  the  moment  came  when  he  thought  a  sacrifice 
necessary  to  sustain  it,  however  great  that  sacrifice  might  be,  how- 
ever painful  or  repugnant  to  his  feelings,  he  would  make  it.  No 
one  has  had  better  opportunities  of  knowing  him  than  I  have.  He 
has  talked  to  me  with  the  greatest  openness  of  his  future  plans. 
But  he  has  invariably  assured  me  at  the  same  time  that  his  first 
object  was  to  maintain  peace  and  good  understanding  with  Eng- 
land. I  believe,"  he  solemnly  added,  "  that,  from  policy,  as  well 
as  from  affection,  such  are  his  views ;  and  that  only  in  a  moment 
of  the  utmost  emergency,  when  he  was  convinced  that  his  in- 
fluence in  France  depended  upon  it,  would  he  depart  from  them. 
But  that  moment  may  come,  and  you  would  be  madmen  if  you 
were  not  prepared  for  it." — Quarterly  Review ,  No.  222. 

The  Mutiny  at  the  Nore. 

In  1797,  when  Capt.  William  Linder  had  the  Thetis,  and  was 
returning  to  England,  having  on  board  the  "  Prussian  subsidy," 
amounting  to  nearly  half  a  million  sterling,  he  was  taken  prisoner 
by  the  mutineer  William  Parker,  and  detained,  with  his  vessel 
and  valuable  cargo,  for  a  week  at  the  Nore.  The  rebel,  little 
suspecting  the  prize  he  had  within  his  grasp,  credited  the  assertion 
of  Capt.  Linder  that  the  aid  would  shortly  arrive,  and  that  he 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION.       53 

was  to  be  the  medium  of  its  transmission  to  this  country.  By 
this  ruse,  and  a  promise  of  assistance  by  which  Parker  decided 
that  he  would  take  the  grand  fleet  into  Brest,  he  obtained  a 
pass  (it  is  believed  the  only  one  given)  from  William  Parker, 
and  arrived  safely  with  his  immense  treasure  at  the  Tower,  where 
he  immediately  landed  his  golden  cargo,  and  forthwith  proceede-t 
to  the  Admiralty, — also  giving  information  to  the  minister,  Mr. 
Pitt,  of  his  fortunate  escape,  which,  had  it  been  otherwise,  would 
certainly  have  turned  the  tide  of  success  of  Old  England  at  that 
time.  Mr.  Pitt  generously  offered  him  a  commission ;  but  Capt. 
Linder  having  a  fine  vessel  of  his  own,  and  a  noble  and  inde- 
pendent spirit,  which  he  retained  to  the  last,  respectfully  declined ; 
nor  could  he  be  induced  in  after  years  to  solicit  for  any  recom- 
pense or  popularity.  He  died  in  1862,  May  21,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-seven. — Athenaeum. 

Catholic  Emancipation  and  Sir  Robert  Peel. 

It  having  been  stated,  in  a  leading  article  of  a  journal,  April  14, 
1862,  that  the  Liberal  party  forced  upon  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
and  Sir  Robert  Peel  that  concession  to  the  cause  of  Catholic 
emancipation  "  which  Sir  Robert  Peel  declares  he  entirely  dis- 
approved to  the  latest  day  of  his  life,"  drew  from  the  present  Sir 
Robert  Peel  the  following  corrective  reply: 

"  I  do  not  know  upon  what  authority  that  statement  is  made, 
but,  so  far  from  disapproving  the  measure,  Sir  Robert  Peel  has 
distinctly  stated  that  in  passing  Catholic  Emancipation  he  acted  on 
a  deep  conviction  that  the  measure  was  not  only  conducive  to  the 
general  welfare,  but  imperatively  necessary  to  avert  from  the 
Church,  and  from  the  interest  of  institutions  connected  with  the 
Church,  an  imminent  and  increasing  danger." 

The  House  of  Coburg. 

Some  fifty  years  ago,  a  young  prince  of  a  then  obscure  German 
House  was  serving  under  the  Emperor  Alexander  in  the  great 
war  against  Napoleon.  He  was  brave,  handsome,  clever,  and,  as 
events  have  proved,  possessed  of  prudence  beyond  the  ordinary 
lot  of  princes  or  private  men.  In  1814  he  accompanied  the  Allied 
Sovereigns  to  England,  and  there  his  accomplishments  attracted 
the  attention  and  engaged  the  affection  of  the  heiress  to  the  Eng- 
lish throne,  the  Princess  Charlotte  of  Wales.  They  were  married, 
and  though  an  untimely  death  was  destined  soon  to  sever  the 
union,  yet  from  that  time  the  star  of  the  successful  young  officer 


54  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

and  of  the  House  of  Coburg  has  been  in  the  ascendant.  From 
the  vantage-ground  of  a  near  connexion  with  the  British  Royal 
Family  they  have  been  able  to  advance  to  a  position  in  Europe 
almost  beyond  the  dreams  of  German  ambition.  The  Coburgs 
have  spread  far  and  wide,  and  filled  the  lands  with  their  race. 

They  have  created  a  new  Royal  House  in  England.  The 
Queen  is  a  daughter  of  Leopold's  sister ;  her  children  are  the 
children  of  Leopold's  nephew.  The  Coburgs  reign  in  Portugal ; 
they  are  connected  with  the  royal  though  fallen  House  of  Orleans, 
and  more  or  less  closely  related  to  the  principal  families  of  their 
own  country.  Prince  Leopold  himself  has  for  thirty  years 
governed  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  minor  States  of  Europe, 
and  his  eldest  son  is  wedded  to  an  Archduchess  of  the  Imperial 
House  of  Austria.  Jea"lousy  and  detraction  have  followed  these 
remarkable  successes,  but  the  Coburgs  can  afford  to  smile  when 
their  rivals  sneer,  for  they  have  the  solid  rewards  of  skill,  pru- 
dence, and  that  adaptability  to  all  countries  and  positions  which 
has  distinguished  the  more  able  members  of  their  family.  It 
may  be  added,  as  the  last  memorable  events  in  their  annals,  that 
two  of  them  have  successively  had  the  refusal  of  the  Crown  of 
Greece. 

The  talents  of  the  Coburgs  have  been  conspicuous.  King 
Leopold,  the  late  Prince  Consort,  and  the  present  Duke  of  Saxe- 
Coburg-Gotha,  have  been  men  much  above  the  ordinary  standard. 
They  have  had  great  opportunities,  and  they  have  known  how  to 
use  them.  Neither  the  Prince  Consort  nor  the  King  of  Portugal 
could,  without  offence,  have  taken  a  share  in  the  politics  of  Eng- 
land and  Portugal  unless  they  had  been  gifted  with  much  prudence 
and  circumspection.  No  one  who  studies  their  history  will  believe 
that  they  and  their  kinsmen  have  merely  had  greatness  thrust  upon 
them.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  they  owe 
all  to  the  excellent  start  which  Prince  Leopold's  good  fortune  gave 
their  House.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  elevation  of  the  young 
soldier  to  the  highest  station  in  England,  the  Coburgs,  instead 
of  planting  dynasties  everywhere,  might  have  been  no  more  than 
any  other  of  the  five-and-thirty  German  reigning  families,  or  the 
multitude  of  Princely  and  Serene,  but  mediatized  personages  who 
are  scattered  through  the  land.  But  when  Leopold  became  an 
English  prince,  and  his  sister  was  the  mother  of  the  heiress  pre- 
sumptive to  the  British  throne,  the  path  to  greatness  was  open  to 
the  enterprise  of  the  family.  How  much  one  success  leads  to 
another  in  princely  life  has  been  shown  in  their  history,  and  we 
have  adverted  to  it  because,  if  report  speak  true,  another  family, 


HISTORICO-POLITICAL  INFORMATION,        55 

which,  a  few  years  since,  was  of  hardly  more  account  in  Europe, 
is  at  this  moment  entering  on  a  similar  career. — Times. 

A  Few  Tears  of  the  Worlds  Changes. 

Little  more  than  a  dozen  years  have  elapsed  since  there  were 
witnessed  in  Europe  events  so  stirring  that  they  constitute  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  epochs  in  the  history  of  the  world.  Since  then 
France  has  undergone  three  revolutions — the  fall  of  the  constitu- 
tional monarchy,  the  stormy  interlude  of  a  democratic  republic, 
and  the  restoration  of  a  military  empire.  The  old  rulers  of  Lom- 
bardy,  of  Tuscany,  and  of  Naples  have  disappeared,  and  the  map 
of  the  world  has  been  altered  in  order  to  admit  of  the  introduction 
of  the  kingdom  of  Italy.  Austria,  long  the  haughtiest  representa- 
tive of  the  principle  of  absolute  monarchy,  has  commenced  the 
experiment  of  constitutional  government,  and  Russia  has  laid  the 
foundation  of  a  new  political  and  social  existence  in  recognising 
the  value  of  free  labour,  and  abolishing  the  institution  of  serfdom. 
China  has  opened  her  ports  to  our  merchants  and  her  capital  to 
our  ambassadors.  We  ourselves  have  twice  gone  through  the 
calamities  of  war  in  the  siege  of  Sebastopol  and  the  suppression  of 
the  Indian  revolt,  and  we  have  been  twice  reminded  this  evening 
that  the  great  republic  which  boasted  a  superb  exemption  from 
the  perils  and  the  evils  which  beset  ancient  states  and  monarchical 
forms  of  government,  has  been  violently  rent  in  twain,  and  what- 
ever may  be  the  issue  of  that  struggle  in  which  we  see  at  present 
only  a  lavish  expenditure  of  blood  and  treasure,  still  there  is  no 
dispassionate  bystander  who  can  believe  that  the  union  can  ever 
be  restored,  and  no  far-sighted  politician  who  can  suppose  that 
the  curse  of  slavery  can  long  survive  that  separation  of  which  it  is 
the  most  ostensible,  though  not  the  only,  nor  perhaps  the  most 
powerful  cause.  Such  important  events,  all  leading  to  effects  so 
vast  and  so  permanent  in  their  relation  to  the  advancement  of 
the  human  race,  have  probably  never  before  occurred  within  so 
short  a  space  of  time. — Speech  of  Sir  E.  Buliver  Lytton. 

We  may  supplement  the  above  by  the  following  strange  passage 
in  the  career  of  Louis  Napoleon,  three-and-twenty  years  since : 

A  correspondent  of  The  Reader  writes  : — "  It  was  at  Vimereux,  the  site 
of  the  old  camp  of  Boulogne,  that  Charles  Louis  Bonaparte,  now  Emperor 
of  the  French,  landed  on  his  famous  adventure  of  the  5th  of  August,  1840. 
I  was  in  Boulogne  when  he  reached  that  town,  at  about  5.30  a.m.,  with 
about  sixty  followers.  In  proceeding  to  the  beach  to  bathe,  I  was  startled 
by  the  appearance  of  a  rabble,  some  of  whom  were  clothed  as  English 


5G  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

footmen  and  grooms,  and  some  as  French  soldiers.  In  the  midst  of  this 
somewhat  boozy  battalion  the  then  pretender,  now  the  Emperor  of  the 
French,  marched,  closely  encircled  by  adherents.  I  followed  him  and 
them  to  the  barracks ;  and  never  did  I  see  a  more  careworn  or  crestfallen 
set  of  conspirators.  In  all  fifty-six  persons,  eight  horses,  and  two  carriages 
had  embarked  at  Margate  aboard  the  steamer,  which  was  now  cruising  in 
the  offing  of  Boulogne  after  landing  its  human  freight.  When  the  enter- 
prise at  the  barracks  failed,  the  present  Emperor  of  the  French,  with  eleven 
of  his  adherents,  got  into  a  boat  with  a  view  to  escape  j  but  they  allowed 
the  oars  to  be  taken  from  them  by  one  Guillaume  Tutelet,  a  bather.  The 
boat  subsequently  capsized,  and  the  present  Emperor  of  the  French  swam 
for  the  steamer,  the  City  of  Edinburgh,  which  was  at  some  distance.  In 
this  attempt  he  failed,  and  was  forced  to  cling  to  a  buoy  till  he  was  picked 
up  and  placed  in  safety  by  the  English  captain.  But  he  did  not  long  re- 
main thus,  for  the  Lieutenant  du  Port  collected  his  force,  and  boarded 
the  steamer,  bringing  her,  with  his  prisoner,  close  to  the  Quai  la 
Douane." 

Noteworthy  Pensions. 

The  finance  accounts  for  1862  give,  as  usual,  a  rather  serious 
list  of  Pensions  charged  upon  the  Consolidated  Fund,  and  there- 
fore not  otherwise  stated  than  in  these  accounts. 

"Among  the  larger  entries  are  five  ex-Chancellors  of  England  receiving 
5OOO/.  a  year  each,  two  ex-Chancellors  of  Ireland  with  36927.,  four  retired 
English  judges  with  35oo/.,  two  Irish  with  24007.,  and  five  County  Court 
judges  dividing  46007.  between  them.  But  these  are  pensions  earned  by 
personal  service  ;  perhaps  not  so  much  can  be  said  of  some  others.  The 
Earl  of  Ellenborough  has  a  compensation  annuity  of  77007.  as  chief  clerk 
of  the  Court  of  Queen's  Bench ;  the  Rev.  T.  Thurlow,  40287.  as  clerk 
of  the  hanaper,  in  addition  to  73527.  as  patentee  of  bankrupts.  Viscount 
Avonmore  receives  41997.  as  late  registrar  of  the  Irish  Court  of  Chancery  j 
the  Earl  of  Roden  26987.  as  late  auditor-general  of  the  Irish  Exchequer. 
But  these  pensions  will  come  to  an  end  ;  even  that  cannot  be  said  of  some 
others.  There  is  above  23,ooo7.  a  year  paid  in  perpetual  pensions,  payable 
as  long  at  least  as  there  shall  be  an  Earl  Amherst  or  Nelson,  a  Lord 
Ro  Jney,  a  Viscount  Exmouth,  an  heir  of  William  Penn,  or  of  the  Duke 
of  Schomberg,  and  so  forth.  Of  the  limited  number  of  first-class  pensions 
of  2O007.  a  year  to  statesmen  who  have  been  in  high  office,  and  who  claim 
the  pensions,  only  two  are  now  payable — viz.,  to  Lord  Glenelg  and  Mr. 
Disraeli ;  Sir  G.  Grey's  is  suspended,  he  being  again  in  office.  Several 
pensions  ceased  in  the  course  of  the  year ;  among  them  that  to  the  family 
of  George  Canning,  and  that  to  the  door-keeper  of  the  Irish  House  of 
Lords  j  but  the  housekeeper  still  lives  to  receive  her  annual  compensation 
for  loss  of  emoluments  by  the  Union." 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  57 


of  CiMlia&m* 


How  the  Earth  was  peopled. 

THE  record  of  the  actual  origines  of  the  human  race,  as  com- 
municated by  God  Himself,  tells  us  that  one  spot  was  selected, 
for  the  purpose  in  question,  by  Creative  Power  ;  and  that  to  one 
aboriginal  pair  was  consigned  the  office  and  destiny  of  replenishing 
the  earth.  The  same  record,  moreover,  informs  us,  that,  when 
the  earth  was  corrupt  before  God,  through  the  wickedness  of  their 
posterity,  the  whole  race  was  destroyed,  save  the  family  of  one 
man  ;  and  that,  of  the  three  sons  of  that  one  man  <waj  the  (whole 
earth  overspread.  And,  lastly,  we  have  this  account  confirmed 
to  us  by  the  testimony  of  an  inspired  servant  of  God,  who  has 
declared,  that  He  hath  made,  of  one  blood  y  all  nations  of  'men  ,  for  to 
dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

Now,  according  to  this  account,  Noah  may  be  considered,  for 
the  purposes  of  ethnological  inquiry,  as  the  sole  forefather  of  the 
existing  race  of  man.  Of  antediluvian  men,  all,  except  Noah,  are 
entirely  out  of  the  question.  Of  the  remarkable  physical  varieties 
of  complexion,  stature,  or  temperament,  among  the  races  before 
the  Flood  (if  any  such  varieties  existed),  we  are  profoundly 
ignorant.  We  do  read,  it  is  true,  that  there  were  giants  in 
those  days  ;  but  the  meaning  of  this  term  seems  very  doubtful. 
It  is  most  generally  understood  to  indicate  a  gigantic  scale  of 
iniquity,  licentiousness,  and  violence,  rather  than  of  corporeal  bulk 
and  might.  At  all  events,  Noah  himself,  and  his  three  sons,  were 
the  only  males  spared  from  the  general  destruction:  and  the 
mother  of  these  three  sons,  together  with  their  three  respective 
wives,  the  only  females  ;  eight  persons  in  all.  And,  so  far  as  race 
or  family  are  concerned,  the  sons  are  clearly  identified  with  their 
father.  It  is,  indeed,  just  possible  that  all  these  four  females 
may  have  been  of  so  many  different  tribes  or  races.  But  this 
surmise  is  wholly  gratuitous,  and  very  far  from  probable.  And, 
even  were  it  admitted,  it  could  not  affect  any  argument  respecting 
the  origin  of  the  present  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  without  assuming 
the  falsehood  of  that  part  of  the  sacred  narrative  which  traces 
them  all,  Noah  and  his  whole  family  included,  to  one  and  the 
same  common  parentage. 


58  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

Since  the  days  of  the  patriarch  upwards  of  4000  years  have 
elapsed,  and  we  now  find  the  earth  inhabited  by  at  least  eight 
hundred  millions  of  souls.  And,  so  it  is,  that  these  vast  multi- 
tudes exhibit,  fait  bin  certain  limits,  almost  every  imaginable  variety 
of  form,  of  constitution,  and  of  stature. — English  Review,  No.  2- 

Nevertheless,  the  Unity  of  the  Human  Race  is  a  much-vexed 
question  among  ethnologists.  Mr.  Dunn  is  convinced  of  the 
original  unity  of  the  human  species,  and,  after  adducing  the  best 
ethnological  evidence  attainable,  he  earnestly  appeals  to  the  philolo- 
gists to  help  him.  Admiral  Fitzroy  reduces  mankind  to  one,  or, 
at  least,  to  three  types ;  and  these  three  varieties  he  reverently 
ascribes  to  the  three  sons  of  Noah,  with  the  help  of  the  hypothesis 
that  they  may  have  been  the  sons  of  different  mothers.  On  the 
other  hand,  Mr.  Crauruixl,  President  of  the  Ethnological  Society, 
admits  of  no  compromise  with  orthodoxy,  maintaining  that  the 
hypothesis  of  the  unity  of  our  race  is  without  foundation.  There 
are,  he  says,  some  forty  races  of  men,  which  to  pack  into  the  five 
pigeon-holes  of  Cuvier  and  Blumenbach,  or  the  seven  of  Prichard, 
would  produce  confusion  instead  of  order.  The  supposition  of 
a  single  race  peopling  all  countries  by  migration  he  holds  to  be 
<l  monstrous,"  and  contradictory  to  the  fact  that  some  of  them 
to  this  day  do  not  know  how  to  use  or  construct  a  canoe. 
Migration,  he  contends,  is  the  achievement  of  races  possessed 
of  resources  in  food  and  means  of  transport.  It  is  to  little  pur- 
pose that  Admiral  Fitzroy  dwells  on  the  capacities  of  rafts, 
double  canoes,  and  ocean  currents.  Mr.  Craufurd  is  incredulous 
as  ever,  and  fights  for  his  forty  Adams  with  unchecked  vivacity, 
kicking  a  tremendous  hole  in  the  "frail  canoe,"  and  leaving 
the  ocean  currents  to  deal  with  it  more  oceanico. 

Revelations  of  Geology. 

Geology  attests  that  man  was  the  last  of  created  beings  in  this 
planet.  If  her  data  be  consistent  and  true,  and  worthy  of  scien- 
tific consideration,  she  affords  conclusive  evidence  that,  as  we 
are  told  in  Scripture,  he  cannot  have  occupied  the  earth  longer 
than  6000  years.  (Hitchcock,  Religion  of  Geology.} 

Sir  Isaac  Newton's  sagacious  intellect  had  arrived  at  a  similar 
conclusion  from  different  premisses,  and  long  before  the  geologist 
had  made  his  researches  and  discoveries.  "  He  appeared,"  said 
one  who  conversed  with  him,  not  long  before  his  death,  and 
has  carefully  recorded  what  he  justly  styles  "  a  remarkable  and 
curious  conversation,"  "  to  be  very  clearly  of  opinion,  that  the  in- 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  59 

habitants  of  this  world  were  of  short  date ;  and  alleged  as  one 
reason  for  that  opinion,  that  all  arts — as  letters,  ships,  printing, 
the  needle,  &c. — were  discovered  within  the  memory  of  history, 
which  could  not  have  happened  if  the  world  had  been  eternal ;  and 
that  there  were  visible  marks  of  ruin  upon  it,  which  could  not 
have  been  effected  by  a  flood  only." — Brewsters  Life  of  Newton. 

The  Stone  Age. 

Admiral  Fitzroy  adduces  the  following  striking  facts  strongly 
bearing  on  the  great  geological  inquiry  of  "  Flint  Tools,"  and 
« Implements  in  the  Drift." 

Tierra  del  Fuego,  with  its  innumerable  islands  and  rocky  islets, 
like  mountain  ranges  half  sunk  in  ocean,  combines  every  variety  of 
aspect — storm-beaten  rocky  summits,  several  thousand  feet  above 
the  sea — glaciers  so  extensive  that  the  eye  cannot  trace  their  limits 
— densely  wooded  hillsides — grand  cascades  and  sheltered  sandy 
coves, — altogether  such  a  combination  of  Swiss,  Norwegian,  and 
Greenland  scenery  as  can  hardly  be  realized  or  believed  to  exist 
near  Cape  Horn.  Yet,  even  there — by  lake-like  waters,  though 
so  near  the  wildest  of  oceans — thousands  of  satages  exist,  and 
migrate  in  bark  canoes ! 

In  1830  four  of  those  aborigines  were  brought  to  England.  In 
1833  three  of  them  were  restored  to  their  native  places  (one 
having  died).  They  had  then  acquired  enough  of  our  language 
to  talk  about  common  things.  From  their  information  and  our 
own  sight  are  the  following  facts: — The  natives  of  Tierra  del 
Fuego  use  stone  tools,  flint  knives,  arrow  and  spear  heads  of  flint 
or  volcanic  glass,  for  cutting  bark  for  canoes,  flesh,  blubber, 
sinews,  and  spears,  knocking  shell-fish  off  rocks,  breaking  large 
shells,  killing  guanacoes  (in  time  of  deep  snow),  and  for  weapons. 
In  every  sheltered  cove  where  wigwams  are  placed,  heaps  of  re- 
fuse— shells  and  stones,  offal  and  bones — are  invariably  found. 
Often  they  appear  very  old,  being  covered  deeply  with  wind- 
driven  sand,  or  water-washed  soil,  on  which  there  is  a  growth  of 
vegetation.  These  are  like  the  "  kitchen  middens"  of  the  so-called 
"  stone  age"  in  Scandinavia. 

No  human  bones  would  be  found  in  them  (unless  dogs  had 
dragged  some  there),  because  the  dead  bodies  are  sunk  in  deep 
water  with  large  stones,  or  burnt.  These  heaps  are  from  six  to 
ten  feet  high,  and  from  ten  or  twenty  to  more  than  fifty  yards  in 
length.  All  savages  in  the  present  day  use  stone  tools,  not  only  in 
Tierra  del  Fuego,  but  in  Australia,  Polynesia,  Northernmost 


GO  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


America,  and  Arctic  Asia.  In  any  former  ages  of  the  world, 
wherever  savages  spread,  as  radiating  from  some  centre,  similar 
habits  and  means  of  existence  must  have  been  prevalent ;  therefore 
asual  discovery  of  such  traces  of  human  migration,  buried  in  or 
under  masses  of  water-moved  detritus,  may  seem  scarcely  suffi- 
cient to  define  a  so-called  "  stone  age." 

What  are  Celtes  ? 

Celtes  are  certain  ancient  instruments,  of  a  wedge-like  form,  of 
which  several  have  been  discovered  in  different  parts  of  Great 
Britain.  Antiquaries  have  generally  attributed  them  to  the  Celtae, 
but,  not  agreeing  as  to  their  use,  distinguish  them  by  the  above 
unmeaning  appellation.  Mr.  Whitaker,  however,  is  of  opinion 
that  they  were  British  battle-axes,  and  in  this  he  has  been  generally 
followed.  Such  is  the  statement  in  the  eighth  or  last  edition  of 
the  Encyclopedia  Britannica. 

The  Welsh  etymologists,  Owen  and  Spurrell,  furnish  an  ancient 
Cambro-British  word  celt,  a  flint-stone.  M.  Worsae  (Primeval 
Antiq.,  p.  26)  confines  the  term  to  those  instruments  of  bronze 
which  have  a  hollow  socket  to  receive  a  wooden  handle; 
the  other  forms  being  called  paalstabs  on  the  Continent  In  the 
a  Latin  Vulgate,"  our  translators  have  rendered  "  an  iron  pen " 
in  the  book  of  job,  chap.  xix.  v.  24,  there  translated  celte. 

But  the  origin  and  application  are  variously  explained  among 
antiquarian  writers.  The  Abbe  Cochet  states,  in  a  letter  to  the 
French  journals,  1863,  that  hatchets  are  found  almost  all  over 
Europe.  They  are  common  in  France,  and  are  generally  found  in 
groups.  Some  of  them  have  been  analysed,  and  found  to  be 
composed  of  fourteen  parts  of  tin  and  eighty- six  of  copper.  The 
bronze  is  the  same  as  that  of  an  antique  poniard  brought  from 
Egypt  and  analysed  by  Vauquelin,  from  which  it  would  appear 
that  the  composition  of  ancient  Gallic  bronze  came  from  Egypt. 
Archasologists  generally  attribute  hatchets  of  this  kind  to  the  Celts 
and  Gauls,  and  give  them  the  general  name  of  Celtic. 

In  opposition  to  this  statement,  it  is,  however,  maintained  that 
"  the  word  is  not  derived  from  its  use  by  the  Celts  or  Kelts,  but 
from  the  Latin  word  ( celtis,'  which  means  chisel,  or  hatchet." 
Dr.  Smith  (Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Antiquities)  obtains 
the  term  from  "  ceites,  an  old  Latin  word  tor  a  chisel,  pro- 
bably derived  from  cselo,  to  engrave."  Mr.  Wright  (in  The 
Celt,  Roman,  and  Saxon)  says  that  Hearne  first  applied  the 
word  to  such  implements  in  bronze -,  believing  them  to  be 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  61 

"Roman  celtes,  or  chisels;"  and  that  "subsequent  writers,  as- 
cribing these  instruments  to  the  Britons,  have  retained  the  name, 
forgetting  its  origin,  and  have  applied  it  indiscriminately  not  only 
to  other  implements  of  bronze  but  even  to  the  analogous  instru- 
ments of  stone."  Mr.  Wright  objects  to  the  term,  "as  too 
generally  implying  that  things  to  which  it  is  applied  are  Celtic ;" 
and  it  is  now  generally  allowed  that  there  is  no  connexion  be- 
tween this  word  and  the  name  of  the  nation  (Celtas). — (Abridged 
from  Notes  and  Queries,  No.  203).  Fcsbroke  (Encyclopedia  of 
Antiquities,  p.  286)  has  an  excellent  column  of  authorities  upon 
the  subject,  which  is  still  hotly  contested.  An  admirable  paper 
was  read  to  the  Archaeological  Institute,  in  1849,  by  Mr.  James 
Yates,  illustrating  "  The  Use  of  Bronze  Celts  in  Military  Ope- 
rations," with  several  woodcuts. — See  the  Archaeological  Journal, 
December,  1849,  pages  363-392.  See  also  "Notes  on  Bronze 
Weapons,"  by  A.  W.  Franks,  F.S.A.,  Archxologia,  vol.  xxxvi., 
pp.  326-331 :  and  Papers  by  Mr.  John  Evans,  F.S.A.;  Arcbao- 
logia,  vol.  xxxviii.  p.  280 ;  also,  vol.  xxxix.  p.  57.  The  subject  is 
of  immediate  interest  in  illustration  of  "The  Antiquity  of  Man." 

Roman  Civilization  of  Britain. 

If  the  commencement  of  the  Roman  rule  in  England  was? 
say,  fifty  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ  (or  1910  years  ago) 
and  each  generation  lasted  on  the  average  thirty  years — rather  a 
high  rate  of  vitality  probably  in  the  Early  and  Middle  Ages — 
we  find  that  about  sixty-four  generations  have  gone  to  dust  since 
then.  The  archaeological  information  obtained  of  late  years 
shows  that  at  the  time  of  the  Roman  invasion  there  was  a  larger 
amount  of  civilization  in  Ancient  Britain  than  has  been  generally 
supposed :  that  in  addition  to  the  knowledge  of  the  old  inhabi- 
tants in  agriculture,  in  the  training  and  rearing  of"  horses,  cows, 
and  other  domestic  animals,  they  were  able  to  work  in  mines,  had 
skill  in  the  construction  of  war-chariots  and  other  carriages,  and 
in  the  manufacture  of  metals ;  and  there  is  evidence  that  cheese 
and  other  British  manufactures  and  materials  were  exported  to 
certain  parts  of  the  Continent,  probably  in  British  vessels.  The 
ancient  coinage  of  this  period  is  well  worthy  of  attention.  To 
what  country  may  the  style  of  art  be  traced  ?  To  what  .people 
do  we  owe  the  mysterious  circle  of  Stonehenge  ?  Mr.  Fergusson 
and  others  say  to  the  Buddhists  rather  than  to  the  Druids. 

In  connexion  with  the  Ancient  British  period,  it  would  seem 
that  probably  2000  years  before  the  Roman  times  there  had  been 


62  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

in  Great  Britain  a  certain  degree  of  civilization,  which  from 
various  causes  declined  in  extent.  If  Stonehenge  may  be  con- 
sidered as  of  the  same  antiquity  as  similar  remains  in  various  parts 
of  the  East— which  are  reckoned  by  good  authorities  to  be 
4000  years  old — we  had  in  this  country  a  degree  of  civilization 
which  was  contemporary  with  the  prosperous  period  of  the 
Egyptian  empire ;  and,  in  times  more  immediately  preceding  the 
Roman  occupation,  we  know  that  Britain  was  the  grand  source 
of  Druidical  illumination  (whatever  relation  that  may  have  had 
to  a  true  civilization)  to  the  whole  of  Continental  Europe. 

That  the  Ancient  Britons,  even  after  they  were  conquered  by 
the  Romans,  had  still  a  strength  considered  dangerous,  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  upwards .  of  forty  barbarian  legions  which  had 
followed  the  Roman  standards  were  settled  chiefly  upon  the 
northern  and  eastern  coasts ;  and  it  is  supposed  that  a  force  of 
about  19,200  Roman  foot  and  1700  horse  was  required  to 
secure  peace,  and  the  carrying  out  of  certain  laws  in  the  island. 
It  is  calculated  by  some  writers  that  a  revenue  of  not  less  than 
2,ooo,ooo/.  a  year  was  raised  by  the  conquerors  of  Britain  from 
the  land-tax,  pasture-tax,  and  customs,  besides  legacy  duties,  and 
those  levied  on  the  sale  of  slaves,  auctions  of  goods,  &c. ;  and  it 
may  be  remarked  that  these  customs  were  levied  by  the  Roman 
governors  in  lieu  of  direct  tribute,  to  which,  it  seems,  the  spirit  of 
the  Britons  would  not  submit. — The  Builder,  1860. 

Roman  Roads  and  British  Railways. 

We  have  no  means  of  estimating  the  cost  of  a  mile  of  Roman 
road  by  any  audited  account  of  expenses,  and  it  is  not  easy  to 
make  a  comparison  of  labour.  Its  cost  is  vaguely  calculated  as 
insignificant  by  the  side  of  that  of  our  leviathan  railways.  The 
following  is  stated  to  be  the  average  cost  of  a  mile  of  railway : 

Land 6ooo/. 

Earthwork         .......  goco/. 

Tunnelling SOOQ/. 

Masonry 3OOO/. 

Viaduct  and  large  Bridges  .....  3ooo/. 

Permanent  Iron  Road         ,  5OOO/. 

Stations  4<DOO/. 

Law  expenses,  Engineering,  Surveying,  &c.  .         .  3ooo/. 

32,ooo/. 
If  this  be  multiplied  by  5000,  which  was  the  aggregate  length  of 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  63 

British  railways  in  1851  (now  it  is  nearly  12,000),  and  we  have  the 
almost  fabulous  amount  of  160  millions,  a  sum  fully  equal  to  ten 
times  the  revenue  of  all  the  Roman  provinces  in  the  time  of 
Augustus. 

In  estimating  the  value  of  a  Roman  road,  we  have  to  deduct 
78oo/.  a  mile  for  land  and  law:  every  mile  of  railway  cost 
6ooo/.  for  land,  whereas  the  Roman  road-makers  cut  through 
the  country  without  asking  the  price,  and  dispensed  with  all 
juries  for  assessing  damages.  Next,  we  must  deduct  4Ooo/.  for 
stations ;  the  Roman  mutationes  were  but  hovels  where  horses  were 
changed ;  and  lastly,  is  to  be  deducted  5ooo/.  for  iron,  before  we 
come  to  the  materials  the  Romans  were  enabled  to  use  ;  in  other 
words,  the  materials  of  the  Roman  road  and  labour  would  not  be 
more  than  half  the  cost  of  our  railways,  from  the  mere  fact  of 
certain  expenses  being  absent,  which  they  could  not  understand ; 
but,  although  inferior  to  the  Britons  of  the  nineteenth  century 
in  the  art  of  spending  money,  if  judged  by  the  present  state  of  the 
science,  they  could  not  be  despicable  engineers — their  levels  were 
chosen  on  different  principles,  but  their  lines  of  roads  passed 
through  the  same  countries,  and  generally  in  the  same  direc- 
tion, as  our  railways.  A  diagram  taken  from  an  article  of  the 
Quarterly  Review,  exhibiting  a  general  view  of  the  direction  of 
the  principal  Roman  roads  in  England,  shows  that  on  com- 
paring one  or  two  of  our  principal  lines,  we  shall  find  that  the 
Great  Western,  e.g.,  supplies  the  place,  with  a  little  deviation  near 
Reading,  of  the  Roman  iter  from  London  to  Bath  and  Bristol ; 
the  Liverpool  and  Manchester,  and  on  to  Leeds  and  York, 
replace  the  northern  Watling -street ;  the  Eastern  Counties  follows 
a  Roman  way,  and  so  of  the  rest. 

In  boasting  of  the  gigantic  steps  which  the  art  of  road-making 
has  taken  in  our  time,  we  cannot  afford  to  depreciate  either  the 
genius  or  the  magnificence  of  the  ancient  Romans  in  this  matter. 
If  we  have  our  railway  under  the  cliffs  of  Dover,  Trajan  had  his 
road  under  2000  feet  of  perpendicular  cliff  along  the  Ister;  if  we 
have  our  12,000  miles  of  rails,  the  Romans  had  their  4000  miles  of 
chosen  road,  reaching  from  one  extremity  of  the  empire  to  the 
other ;  if  we  have  our  leviathan  bridges  and  viaducts,  the  Ro- 
mans had  theirs  over  greater  rivers  and  wider  vales  than  we  have 
to  deal  with ;  and,  finally,  if  we  had  our  glass  bazaar,  one-third  of 
a  mile  long,  in  Hyde  Park,  they  had  a  golden  palace,  which  reached 
a  whole  mile  on  the  Esquiline  Hill.  If  we  rise  superior  and  look 
down  upon  the  works  of  the  Romans,  it  is  not  so  much  that  we 
have  gained  in  unskilful  labour,  as  in  science.  Without  the  iron 


64  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

and  the  science,  their  works  would  be  as  great  as  ours ;  it  is  in 
mental  rather  than  in  any  physical  energies,  that  we  have  the  pre- 
eminence. 

We  may  acquire  some  idea  of  this  branch  of  Roman  economy 
from  the  following  details :  —From  the  wall  of  Antonius  to  Rome, 
and  from  thence  to  Jerusalem,  that  is,  from  the  north-west  to 
the  south-east  point  of  the  empire,  was  measured  a  distance  of 
3740  English  miles;  of  this  distance  85  miles  only  were  sea- 
passages,  the  rest  was  the  road  of  polished  silex.  Posts  were  esta- 
blished along  these  lines  of  high  road,  so  that  a  hundred  miles  a 
day  might  be  with  ease  accomplished.  A  fact  related  by  Pliny 
affords  an  example  of  the  quickest  travelling  in  a  carriage  in  an- 
cient times.  Tiberius  Nero,  with  three  carriages,  accomplished 
a  journey  of  200  miles  in  twenty-four  hours,  when  he  went  to 
see  his  brother  Drusus,  who  was  sick  in  Germany. — Rev.  R. 
Burgess,  B.D. 

Domestic  Life  of  the  Saxons. 

Were  it  possible  for  an  archaeologist  to  report  the  gossip  of  the 
Saxon  hinds  over  their  ale  or  mead,  we  should  have  learnt  more 
of  their  daily  life  from  such  a  specimen  of  their  conversation  than 
from  all  the  cautious  inferences  from  manuscripts  and  records. 
Let  us  conceive  the  presence  of  a  modern  reporter  in  the  mead- 
hall  of  Hrothgar,  and  we  may  be  certain  that  his  literal  transcript 
of  a  single  hour's  talk  there  would  be  worth  all  that  we  can  now 
learn  from  the  Romance  of  Beowulf.  "  Then,"  says  the  poem, 
"  there  was  for  the  sons  of  the  Geats  (Beowulf  and  his  followers 
altogether),  a  bench  cleared  in  the  beer-hall ;  there  the  bold 
spirit,  free  from  quarrel,  went  to  sit ;  the  thane  observed  his 
office,  he  that  in  his  hand  bare  the  twisted  ale-cup ;  he  poured  the 
bright  sweet  liquor ;  meanwhile  the  poet  sang  serene  in  Heorot 
(the  name  of  Hrothgar's  palace) ;  there  was  joy  of  heroes."  Al- 
though our  conceptions  of  the  scene  are  faint  and  vague,  the 
antiquary  is  enabled  to  represent  certain  items  as  "  the  twisted 
ale-cup,"  a  favourite  fashion  of  our  forefathers,  many  of  whose 
ale-cups,  as  discovered  in  their  barrows  or  graves,  are  incapable 
of  standing  upright,  implying  that  their  proprietors  were  thirsty 
souls,  and  that  it  was  not,  as  we  supposed,  the  Prince  Regent 
who  first  invented  tumblers.  From  the  mead-hall  and  the  other 
Saxon  houses  of  the  period,  we  also  get  the  type  of  the  modern 
English  mansion,  with  its  enceinte  and  its  lodge-gate,  as  distin- 
guished from  its  hall-door.  The  early  Saxon  house  was  the 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  65 

whole  enclosure,  at  the  gate  of  which — the  ostium  domus — beggars 
assembled  for  alms,  and  the  porter  received  the  arms  of  strangers. 
The  whole  mass  enclosed  within  this  wall  constituted  the  burgh, 
or  tun,  and  the  hall,  with  its  duru,  or  door  par  excellence,  was 
the  chief  of  its  edifices.  Around  it  were  grouped  the  sleeping 
chambers,  or  bowers,  as  they  were  designated  till  a  late  age,  with 
the  subordinate  offices.  Mr.  Wright  (in  his  able  work  on  the 
Domestic  Life  of  the  Middle  Ages}  draws  many  of  his  inferences 
from  the  description  of  the  mead-hall  of  Hrothgar,  and  adds  that 
he  believes  Bulwer's  description  of  the  Saxonized  Roman  house 
inhabited  by  Hilda  is  substantially  correct.  Still,  though  we  can 
identify  to  this  day  the  Saxon  derivatives  of  many  of  our  houses 
and  much  of  our  crockery-ware,  this  helps  us  little  as  regards  the 
sentiments  of  the  originators  of  these  familiar  types.  They  have 
left  us  some  memorials  of  their  manners ;  but,  substantially  speak- 
ing, their  sentiments  on  a  great  variety  of  subjects  are  lost  to  us, 
and  there  is  little  trace  of  them,  even  in  their  barrows  and  sepul- 
chral surroundings. — Times  review. 

Love  of  Freedom. 

There  is  something  absolutely  touching  in  the  simplicity  of  the 
following  incident,  derived  from  Aelfric's  Colloquium,  composed  in 
the  eleventh  century.  A  teacher  examines  a  ploughman  on  the 
subject  of  his  occupation.  "  What  sayest  thou,  ploughman ; 
how  dost  thou  perform  thy  work  ?"  "  O,  my  lord,"  he  answers, 
"  I  labour  excessively :  I  go  out  at  dawn  of  day,  driving  my  oxen 
to  the  field,  and  yoke  them  to  the  plough :  there  is  no  weather  so 
severe  that  I  dare  rest  at  home,  for  fear  of  my  lord  ;  but  having 
yoked  my  oxen,  and  fastened  the  share  and  coulter  to  the  plough, 
every  day  I  must  plough  a  whole  field  (acre  ?)  or  more."  The 
teacher  again  asks,  "  Hast  thou  any  companion  ?"  (t  I  have  a  boy 
who  urges  the  oxen  with  a  goad,  and  who  is  now  hoarse  with 
cold  and  shouting."  "  What  more  doest  thou  in  the  day  ?" 
"Truly,  I  do  more  yet.  I  must  fill  the  oxen's  mangers  with 
hay,  and  water  them,  and  carry  away  their  dung."  "  O,  it  is  a 
sore  vexation  !"  "  Yea,  it  is  great  vexation ;  because  lam  not  free." 

The  Anglo-Saxon  clergy  went  so  far  as  to  make  the  giving  of 
Freedom  an  Atonement  for  all  Sins,  by  encouraging  the  manu- 
mission of  theows  gratuitously,  as  an  action  of  merit  in  the  eyes 
of  the  church.  Among  the  early  benefactors  of  the  abbey  of 
Ramsey,  it  is  recorded  that  Athelstan  Mannesone  manumitted 
thirteen  men  in  every  thirty,  "  for  the  salvation  of  his  soul,"  taking 

F 


66  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

them  as  the  lot  fell  upon  them,  and  (<  placing  them  in  the  open 
road,  so  that  they  were  at  liberty  to  go  where  they  would.'' 
Many,  indeed,  were  freed,  from  feelings  of  piety.  Thus  it  ap- 
pears from  the  celebrated  "  Exeter  book"  in  the  cathedral,  that, 
at  Exeter,  on  the  day  when  they  removed  the  bodies  of  bishops 
Osbern  and  Leofric  from  the  old  minster  to  the  new  one, 
William,  bishop  of  Exeter,  "  proclaimed  Wulfree  Pig  free  and 
sackless  of  the  land  at  Teigtune,"  and  "  freed  him  for  the  love  of 
God  and  of  St.  Marie,  and  of  all  Christ's  saints,  and  for  the  re- 
demption of  the  bishops'  souls  and  his  own."  Sometimes  a 
man  who  had  no  theow  of  his  own,  bought  one  of  another  per- 
son, in  order  to  emancipate  him,  "  for  the  love  of  God  and  the 
redemption  of  his  soul."  Such  were  the  fruits  that  ripened  from 
Roman  teaching  in  the  olden  time  ! — Arcbaologia,  vol.  xxx, 

The  Despot  deceived. 

Nothing  can  be  more  erroneous  than  the  notion  that  the  despot, 
though  he  may  himself  oppress  his  people,  can  prevent  others 
from  doing  the  same.  He  is  cheated  by  his  subordinates,  and 
they  cheat  the  people. — Archbishop  Whately. 

True  Source  of  Civilization. 

The  killing  of  animals  for  food  is,  after  all,  merely  the  re- 
source of  the  savage,  and  domesticated  animals  and  cultivated 
plants  are  indispensable  to  the  earliest  advances  of  civilization.  It 
may  be  safely  averred,  says  Mr.  Craufurd,  that  no  people  ever 
attained  any  great  civilization  without,  for  example,  the  posses- 
sion of  some  cereal,  and  without  having  domesticated  the  horse, 
or  the  ox,  or  the  buffalo.  No  evidence  exists  of  a  people  emerging 
from  barbarism  whose  food  consisted  of  the  cocoa-nut,  the  banana, 
the  date,  the  bread-fruit,  sago,  the  potato,  the  yam,  or  the  batata. 
Such  articles  are  too  easily  produced,  require  too  little  skill  and 
ingenuity  to  raise ;  and  when  they  fail,  there  is  nothing  to  fall 
back  upon — nothing  between  the  people  cultivating  them  and 
starvation.  The  higher,  too,  the  cereal  the  better,  wheat  standing 
at  the  top  of  the  list  in  temperate  regions,  and  rice  in  warm  ones. 
Thus,  the  cereals  of  Egypt,  nurtured  by  the  mud  of  the  Nile, 
created  a  respectable  civilization  among  a  very  inferior  race.  It 
was  because  the  Egyptians,  says  Mr.  Craufurd,  besides  the  date, 
possessed  wheat,  barley,  pulse,  and  the  ox,  and  that  nature 
dressed  and  irrigated  their  country,  that  the  Egyptians  became 
numerous  and  civilized. 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  67 


The  Lowest  Civilization. 

The  South  Sea  Islanders  who  scalded  their  fingers  in  Captain 
Cook's  tea-kettle,  and  to  whom  pottery  and  warm  water  were 
luxuries  also,  were  certainly  low  in  the  scale  of  civilization,  but 
they  were  not  nearly  so  low  as  the  Terra  del  Fuegans  at  this 
moment.  Mr.  Darwin  describes  the  state  of  these  wretched 
creatures  as  the  extreme  of  misery,  and  as  affording  him  the 
most  curious  and  interesting  spectacle  he  had  ever  beheld.  "  I 
could  not  have  believed,"  says  he,  "  how  wide  was  the  difference 
between  savage  and  civilized  men."  Their  land,  we  should  re- 
member, is  a  land  of  rain,  sleet,  snow,  and  storms,  unsheltered 
from  the  cold  of  the  South  Pole,  and  one  thick  murky  mass  of 
forest.  The  "  climate  (where  gale  succeeds  gale,  with  rain,  hail, 
and  sleet)  seems  blacker  than  anywhere  else.  In  the  Straits  of 
Magellan,  looking  due  south  from  Port  Famine,  the  distant 
channels  between  the  mountains  appear,  from  their  gloominess,  to 
lead  beyond  the  confines  of  the  world."  In  this  terrestrial  limbo 
live  human  beings  who  are  clad,  for  this  inclement  temperature, 
in  a  single  otter-skin,  which  they  lace  across  their  breast  by  strings, 
and,  according  as  the  wind  blows,  shift  from  side  to  side.  He 
pictures  the  state  of  these  poor  creatures  at  night,  some  half-a- 
dozen  of  them  sleeping  together  naked  on  the  wet  ground  coiled 
up  like  animals.  "  Whenever  it  is  low  water  they  must  rise  to 
pick  shellfish  from  the  rocks;  and  the  women,  winter  and  summer, 
either  dive  to  collect  sea-eggs,  or  sit  patiently  in  their  canoes,  and 
with  a  baited  hair-line  jerk  out  small  fish.  If  a  seal  is  killed,  or 
the  floating  carcass  of  a  putrid  whale  is  discovered,  they  are  feasts. 
Such  miserable  food  is  assisted  by  a  few  tasteless  berries  and 
fungi."  Mr.  Snow,  who  brings  us  our  latest  reports  from  the 
Fuegans,  visited  them  in  1855.  At  present,  however,  their  con- 
dition in  the  scale  of  humanity  is  almost  as  low  as  it  can  be  ;  for 
though  they  possess  the  capacity  of  kindling  a  fire  by  the  friction 
of  two  sticks  (an  accomplishment  of  which,  by  the  way,  all 
savages  that  we  know  of  are  capable),  and  though  they  can  form 
canoes  by  hollowing  out  logs  of  wood,  they  cultivate  no  plant 
and  domesticate  no  animal,  and  have,  as  we  see,  no  other  art  of 
civilized  life. — Times  journal. 

Why  do  we  shake  Hands* 

"It  is,"  replies  Dr.  Humphry,  in  his  clever  volume,  The 
Human  Foot  and  the  Human  Hard,  "  a  very  old-fashioned  way  of 


68  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

indicating  friendship.  Jehu  said  to  Jehonadab,  <  Is  thine  heart 
right  as  my  heart  is  with  thine  heart  ?  If  it  be,  give  me  thine 
hand.'  It  is  not  merely  an  old-fashioned  custom ;  it  is  a  strictly 
natural  one,  and,  as  usual  in  such  cases,  we  may  find  a  physio- 
logical reason,  if  we  will  only  take  the  pains  to  search  for  it.  The 
animals  cultivate  friendship  by  the  sense  of  touch,  as  well  as  by 
the  senses  of  smell,  hearing,  and  sight ;  and  for  this  purpose  they 
employ  the  most  sensitive  parts  of  their  bodies.  They  rub  their 
noses  together,  or  they  lick  one  another  with  their  tongues.  Now, 
the  hand  is  a  part  of  the  human  body  in  which  the  sense  of  touch 
is  highly  developed;  and,  after  the  manner  of  the  animals,  we 
not  only  like  to  see  and  hear  our  friend  (we  do  not  usually  smell 
him,  though  Isaac,  when  his  eyes  were  dim,  resorted  to  this  sense 
as  a  means  of  recognition),  we  also  touch  him,  and  promote  the 
kindly  feelings  by  the  contact  and  reciprocal  pressure  of  the  sen- 
sitive hands.  Observe,  too,  how  this  principle  is  illustrated  by 
another  of  our  modes  of  greeting.  When  we  wish  to  determine 
whether  a  substance  be  perfectly  smooth,  and  are  not  quite  satisfied 
with  the  information  conveyed  by  the  fingers,  we  apply  it  to  the 
lips  and  rub  it  gently  upon  them.  We  do  so,  because  we  know 
by  experience  that  the  sense  of  touch  is  more  acutely  developed 
in  the  lips  than  in  the  hands.  Accordingly,  when  we  wish  to  re- 
ciprocate the  warmer  feelings,  we  are  not  content  with  the  contact 
of  the  hands,  and  we  bring  the  lips  into  the  service.  A  shake  of 
hands  suffices  for  friendship,  in  undemonstrative  England  at 
least ;  but  a  kiss  is  the  token  of  a  more  tender  affection." 

Dr.  Humphry  is  no  friend  to  Palmistry ;  for,  he  observes : 
<f  You  will  estimate  the  value  of  the  science  of  Cheiromancy 
when  you  hear  that  equal  furrows  upon  the  lower  joint  of  the 
thumb  argue  riches  and  possessions  ;  but  a  line  surrounding  the 
middle  joint  portends  hanging.  The  nails,  also,  come  in  for 
their  share  of  attention :  and  we  are  informed  that,  when  short, 
they  imply  goodness ;  when  long  and  narrow,  steadiness  but 
dulness ;  when  curved,  rapacity.  Black  spots  upon  them  are  un- 
lucky; white  are  fortunate.  Even  at  the  present  day  Gipsies 
practise  the  art  when  they  can  find  sufficient  credulity  to  en- 
courage them." 

Various  Modes  of  Salutation. 

Of  all  the  different  modes  of  salutation  in  various  countries, 
there  is  none  so  graceful  as  that  which  prevails  in  Syria.  At  New 
Guinea  the  fashion  is  certainly  picturesque ;  for  they  place  upon 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  69 

their  hands  the  leaves  of  trees  as  symbols  of  peace  and  friendship. 
An  Ethiopian  takes  the  robe  of  another  and  ties  it  about  his  own 
waist,  leaving  his  friend  partially  naked.  In  a  cold  climate  this 
would  not  be  very  agreeable.  Sometimes  it  is  usual  for  persons 
to  place  themselves  naked  before  those  whom  they  salute  as  a 
sign  of  humility.  This  custom  was  put  in  practice  before  Sir 
Joseph  Banks  when  he  received  the  visit  of  two  Otaheitan  females. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  Philippine  Islands  take  the  hand  or  foot  of 
him  they  salute,  and  gently  rub  their  face  with  it,  which  is  at  all 
events  more  agreeable  than  the  salute  of  the  Laplanders,  who 
have  a  habit  of  rubbing  noses,  applying  their  own  proboscis  with 
some  degree  of  force  to  that  of  the  person  they  desire  to  salute. 
The  salute  with  which  you  are  greeted  in  Syria  is  at  once  most 
graceful  and  flattering ;  the  hand  is  raised  with  a  quick  but  gentle 
motion,  to  the  heart,  to  the  lips,  and  to  the  head,  to  intimate 
that  the  person  saluting  is  willing  to  serve  you,  to  think  for  you, 
to  speak  for  you,  and  to  act  for  you. — Farley 's  Syria. 

What  is  Comfort  ? 

Could  any  one  really  be  satisfied  with  the  attainment  and 
diffusion  of  any  conceivable  amount  of  Comfort  ?  Or  do  the 
whole  series  of  influences  which  the  popular  sentiment  almost 
deifies  really  affect  very  deeply  the  standing  calamities  and  the 
standing  complaints  of  life  ?  It  is  not  difficult  to  bring  the  ques- 
tion to  a  fair  test.  If  all  the  causes  which  we  see  at  work  around 
us  were  to  continue  to  operate  for  an  indefinite  length  of  time  in  the 
utmost  vigour,  they  would  probably  not  raise  the  average  standard 
of  comfort  for  the  whole  population  above  the  point  at  which 
the  average  of  the  better- paid  professional  classes  stands  at  pre- 
sent. The  wildest  dreams  of  the  most  sanguine  believer  in  pro- 
gress on  Christian  principles  would  be  more  than  realized  if  he 
ever  saw  ordinary  day-labourers  as  well  off  and  as  intelligent  as 
ordinary  lawyers,  doctors,  and  merchants  are  at  present.  Take, 
then,  one  reasonably  prosperous  person  of  this  kind,  and  see 
whether  he  is  in  such  an  entirely  satisfactory  condition.  It  is  clear 
that  he  is  not.  He  neither  knows  whence  he  comes  nor  whither 
he  is  going,  nor  for  what  purpose  he  lives ;  or  at  least  his  know- 
Jedge  upon  these  subjects  is  so  indefinite,  so  much  involved  in 
metaphors  and  mysteries,  that  it  is  little  more  than  enough  to 
make  visible  the  darkness  in  which  he  stands.  He  passes  through 
life  in  a  round  of  occupations  which  often  fatigue  and  hardly  ever 
satisfy  large  portions  of  his  mind ;  and  the  very  comforts  which 


70  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

have  been  provided  for  him  by  so  infinite  a  multiplicity  of  social 
devices,  as  often  as  not  operate  to  choke  and  strangle  his  energies. 
We  need  not  detail  the  features  of  a  familiar  picture.  Every 
one  knows  the  gloomy  side  of  life,  and  though  it  is  not  the 
whole  truth,  it  is  right  that  its  existence  should  be  recognised. 
It  is  an  insulting  affectation  to  keep  it  out  of  sight,  and  to  persist 
in  crying  up  progress  and  improvement  as  if  there  was  no  un- 
dying worm  and  unquenchable  fire. — Saturday  Review. 

What  is  Luxury  ? 

Luxury  is  the  indefinite  and  comprehensive  term  of  reproach 
with  which  the  vulgar,  in  all  ages,  brand  whatever  is  beyond  their 
own  tastes  and  habits.  What  is  luxury  to  one  is  but  refine- 
ment and  civilization  to  others.  The  higher  orders  mingle  up 
with  their  disgust  at  the  boorish  and  noisy  pastimes  of  the  lower, 
a  kind  of  latent  feeling  of  1.heir  immorality:  the  lower  revenge  them- 
selves  by  considering  as  things  absolutely  sinful  the  more  splendid 
entertainments  and  elegant  festivities  of  their  superiors  in  wealth 
and  refinement. — Quarterly  Review* 

What  do  we  know  of  Life  ? 

The  condition  of  our  life  is  that  we  stand  on  a  narrow  strip 
of  the  shore,  waiting  till  the  tide,  which  has  washed  away  hundreds 
of  millions  of  our  fellows,  shall  wash  away  us  also  into  a  country 
of  which  there  are  no  charts,  and  from  which  there  is  no  return. 
What  little  we  know  about  that  unseen  world  comes  to  this — 
that  it  contains  extremes  of  good  and  evil,  awful  and  mysterious 
beyond  all  human  expression  or  conception,  and  that  those  tre- 
mendous possibilities  are  connected  with  our  conduct  here.  It 
is  surely  wiser  and  more  manly  to  walk  silently  by  the  shore  of 
that  silent  sea,  than  to  boast  with  puerile  exultation  over  the  little 
sand-castles  which  we  have  employed  our  short  leisure  in  building 
up.  Life  can  never  be  matter  of  exultation,  nor  can  the  progress 
of  arts  and  sciences  ever  really  fill  the  heart  of  a  man  who  has  i 
heart  to  be  filled.  In  its  relation  to  what  is  to  be  hereafter,  there 
is,  no  doubt,  no  human  occupation  which  is  not  awful  and  sacred, 
for  such  occupations  are  the  work  which  is  here  given  us  to  do — 
our  portion  in  the  days  of  our  vanity.  But  their  intrinsic  value  is 
like  that  of  schoolboys'  lessons.  They  are  worth  just  nothing  at 
all,  except  as  a  discipline  and  a  task.  It  is  right  that  man  should 
rejoice  in  his  own  works,  but  it  is  very  wrong  to  allow  them  for 
one  instant  to  obscure  that  eternity  from  which  alone  they  derive 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  71 

their  importance.  Steam-engines  and  cotton-mills  have  their  great- 
ness, but  life  and  death  are  greater  and  older.  Men  lived,  and 
died,  and  sorrowed,  and  rejoiced  before  these  things  were  known, 
and  they  could  do  so  again.  Why  mankind  was  created  at  all, 
why  we  still  continue  to  exist,  what  has  become  of  that  vast  multi- 
tude which  has  passed,  with  more  or  less  sin  and  misery,  through 
this  mysterious  earth,  and  what  will  become  of  those  vaster  mul- 
titudes which  are  treading  and  will  tread  the  same  wonderful 
path  ? — these  are  the  great  insoluble  problems  which  ought  to  be 
seldom  mentioned,  but  never  for  an  instant  forgotten.  Strange 
as  it  may  appear  to  popular  lecturers,  they  really  do  make  it 
seem  rather  unimportant  whether,  on  an  average,  there  is  or  is 
not  a  little  more  or  less  good  nature,  a  little  more  or  less  comfort, 
and  a  little  more  or  less  knowledge  in  the  world.  Men  live  and 
die  in  India,  and  China,  and  Africa,  as  well  as  in  England  and 
France ;  and  where  there  is  life  and  death  there  are  the  great  essen- 
tials of  existence,  and  the  eternal  problems  which  they  involve. 
This  page  of  beautiful  philosophy  is  from  the  Saturday  Review. 

The  truest  Patriot  the  greatest  Hero. 

Is  he  not  in  reality  the  truest  patriot  who  fills  up  his  station 
m  private  life  well ;  he  who  loves  and  promotes  peace  both  public 
and  private,  who  knowing  that  his  country's  prosperity  depends 
much  more  on  its  virtues  than  its  arms,  resolves  that  his  indi- 
vidual endeavours  shall  not  be  wanting  to  promote  this  desirable 
end  ?  And  is  he  not  the  greatest  hero  who  is  able  to  despise  public 
honour  for  the  sake  of  private  usefulness,  he  who  has  learnt  to 
subdue  his  own  inclinations,  to  deny  himself  those  gratifications 
which  are  inconsistent  with  virtue  and  piety,  who  has  conquered 
his  passions  and  brought  them  low  even  as  a  child  that  is  weaned : 
is  not  such  a  man  greater  than  he  that  taketh  a  city,  sheddeth 
blood  as  it  were  water,  or  calls  for  the  thundering  applause  of 
assembled  multitudes  ?  But  if  persons  in  general  held  these  senti- 
ments, if  utility  were  substituted  for  show,  and  religious  useful- 
ness for  worldly  activity,  how  very  little  our  public  men  would 
have  to  do  !  Truly  they  would  be  driven  to  turn  their  swords  into 
ploughshares,  and  study  the  Gospel  instead  of  the  statutes. 

The  old  Philosophers. 

Horace  Walpole,  who  possessed  great  knowledge  of  life,  though 
himself  disfigured  by  arrogant  conceil  s,  has  left  this  satirical  view 
of  the  wisdom  of  the  ancient  philosophers : 


72  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

"  I  thought  that  philosophers  were  virtuous,  upright  men,  who  loved 
wisdom,  and  were  above  the  little  passions  and  foibles  of  humanity.  I 
thought  they  assumed  that  proud  title  as  an  earnest  to  the  world,  that  they 
intended  to  be  something  more  than  mortal ;  that  they  engaged  them- 
selves to  be  patterns  of  excellence,  and  would  utter  no  opinion,  would 
pronounce  no  decision,  but  what  they  believed  the  quintessence  of  truth  j 
that  they  always  acted  without  prejudice  and  respect  of  persons.  Indeed, 
we  know  that  the  ancient  philosophers  were  a  ridiculous  composition  of 
arrogance,  disputation,  and  contradictions !  that  some  of  them  acted  against 
all  ideas  of  decency;  that  others  affected  to  doubt  of  their  own  senses ;  that 
some,  for  venting  unintelligible  nonsense,  pretended  to  think  themselves 
superior  to  kings ;  that  they  gave  themselves  airs  of  accounting  for  all  that 
we  do  and  do  not  see — and  yet,  that  no  two  of  them  agreed  in  a  single 
hypothesis;  that  one  thought  fire,  another  water,  the  origin  of  all  things  j 
and  that  some  were  even  so  absurd  and  impious  as  to  displace  God,  and 
enthrone  matter  in  his  place.  I  do  not  mean  to  disparage  such  wise  men, 
for  we  are  really  obliged  to  them :  they  anticipated  and  helped  us  off  with 
an  exceeding  deal  of  nonsense,  through  which  we  might  possibly  have 
passed  if  they  had  not  prevented  us." 

Glory  of  the  Past. 

To  be  honoured  and  even  privileged  by  the  laws,  opinions, 
and  inveterate  usages  of  our  country,  growing  out  of  the  preju- 
dice of  ages,  has  nothing  to  provoke  horror  and  indignation  in  any 
man.  Even  to  be  too  tenacious  of  those  privileges  is  not  abso- 
lutely a  crime.  The  strong  struggle  in  every  individual  to  pre- 
serve possession  of  what  he  has  found  to  belong  to  him,  and  to 
distinguish  him,  is  one  of  the  securities  against  injustice  and  des- 
potism implanted  in  our  nature.  It  operates  as  an  instinct  to 
secure  property,  and  to  preserve  communities  in  a  settled  state. 
What  is  there  to  shock  in  this  ?  Nobility  is  a  graceful  ornament 
to  the  civil  order.  It  is  the  Corinthian  capital  of  polished  society. 
Omnes  bon't  nobilitati  semper  fa-vemus  was  the  saying  of  a  wise 
and  good  man.  It  is,  indeed  ^n?  side  of  a  liberal  and  benevolent 
mind  to  incline  to  it  with  s  me  jort  of  partial  propensity.  He 
feels  no  ennobling  principle  in  his  own  heart  who  wishes  to 
level  all  the  artificial  institutions  which  have  been  adopted  for 
giving  a  body  to  opinion  and  permanence  to  fugitive  esteem. 
It  is  a  sour,  malignant,  and  envious  disposition,  without  taste 
for  the  reality,  or  for  any  image  or  representation  of 'virtue,  that 
sees  with  joy  the  unmerited  fall  of  what  had  long  flourished  in 
splendour  and  in  honour.  I  do  not  like  to  see  anything  destroyed, 
any  void  produced  in  society,  any  ruin  on  the  face  of  the  land. 
— Burke. 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  73 


Wild  Oats. 

We  are  more  familiar  with  Wild  Oats  in  a  moral  than  in  a  bota- 
nical sense ;  yet  in  the  latter  it  is  an  article  of  no  small  curiosity. 
For  one  thing,  it  has  a  semi-inherent  power  of  moving  from  one 
place  to  another.  Let  a  head  of  it  be  laid  down  in  a  moistened 
state  upon  a  table,  and  left  there  for  the  night,  and  next  morning 
it'  will  be  found  to  have  walked  off.  The  locomotive  power 
resides  in  the  peculiar  hard  awn,  or  spike,  which  sets  the  grain 
a-tumbling  over  and  over  sideways.  A  very  large  and  coarse 
kind  of  wild  oats,  brought  many  years  ago  from  Otaheite,  was 
found  to  have  the  ambulatory  character  in  uncommon  perfec- 
tion. When  ordinary  oats  is  allowed  by  neglect  to  degene- 
rate, it  acquires  this  among  other  characteristics  of  wild  oats.— 
R.  Chambers. 

How  Shyness  spoils  Enjoyment. 

Mr.  Arthur  Helps  writes  upon  this  everyday  hindrance  to 
happiness :  "  I  believe  if  most  young  persons  were  to  tell  us  what 
they  had  suffered  from  shyness  upon  their  entrance  into  society, 
it  would  well  deserve  to  be  placed  next  to-want  of  truth  as  a  hin- 
drance to  the  enjoyment  of  society.  Now,  admitting  that  there 
is  a  certain  degree  of  graceful  modesty  mixed  up  with  this  shy- 
ness, very  becoming  in  the  young,  there  is  at  the  same  time  a 
great  deal  of  needless  care  about  what  others  think  and  say.  In 
fact,  it  proceeds  from  a  painful  egotism,  sharpened  by  needless 
self-examinations  and  foolish  imaginations,  in  which  the  shy 
youth  or  maiden  is  tormented  by  his  or  her  personality,  and  is 
haunted  by  imagining  that  he  or  she  is  the  centre  of  the  circle — the 
observed  of  all  observers.  The  great  cause  of  this  shyness  is  not 
sufficiently  accustoming  children  to  society,  or  making  them  sup- 
pose that  their  conduct  in  it  is  a  matter  of  extreme  importance, 
and  especially  in  urging  them  from  their  earliest  youth  by  this 
most  injurious  of  all  sayings, '  If  you  do  this  or  that,  what  v/ill  be 
said,  what  will  be  thought  of  you  ?'  Thus  referring  the  child 
not  to  religion,  not  to  wisdom,  not  to  virtue,  not  even  to  the 
opinion  of  those  whose  opinion  ought  to  have  weight,  but  to  the 
opinion  of  whatever  society  he  may  chance  to  come  into.  I  often 
think  the  parent,  guardian,  or  teacher,  who  has  happily  omitted 
to  instil  this  vile  prudential  consideration,  or  enabled  the  child  to 
resist  it,  even  if  he,  the  teacher,  has  omitted  much  good  advice 
and  guidance,  has  still  done  better  than  that  teacher  or  parent 


74  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

who  has  filled  the  child  to  the  brim  with  good  moral  consider- 
ations, and  yet  has  allowed  this  one  piece  of  arrant  worldliness  to 
creep  in." 

"  Custom,  the  Queen  of  the  World? 

Sir  William  Hamilton,  in  his  Metaphysical  Essays,  has  the 
following  passage  characterizing  this  universal  rule : — 

"Man  is  by  nature  a  social  animal.  *  He  is  more  political,'  says 
Aristotle,  'than  any  bee  or  ant.'  But  the  existence  of  society,  from  a 
family  to  a  state,  supposes  a  certain  harmony  of  sentiment  among  its 
members ;  and  nature  has,  accordingly,  wisely  implanted  in  us  a  tendency 
to  assimilate  in  opinions  and  habits  of  thought  to  those  with  whom  we  live 
and  act.  There  is  thus,  in  every  society  great  or  small,  a  certain  gravita- 
tion of  opinions  towards  a  common  centre.  As  in  our  natural  body,  every 
part  has  a  necessary  sympathy  with  every  other,  and  all  together  form,  by 
their  harmonious  conspiration,  a  healthy  whole ;  so,  in  the  social  body, 
there  is  always  a  strong  predisposition,  in  each  of  its  members,  to  act  and 
think  in  unison  with  the  rest.  This  universal  sympathy,  or  fellow-feeling, 
of  our  social  nature,  is  the  principle  of  the  different  spirit  dominant  in 
different  ages,  countries,  ranks,  sexes,  and  periods  of  life.  It  is  the  cause 
why  fashions,  why  political  and  religious  enthusiasm,  why  moral  example, 
either  for  good  or  evil,  spread  so  rapidly  and  exert  so  powerful  an  in- 
fluence. As  men  are  naturally  prone  to  imitate  others,  they  consequently 
regard,  as  important  or  insignificant,  as  honourable  or  disgraceful,  as  true 
or  false,  as  good  or  bad,  what  those  around  them  consider  in  the  same  light. 
They  love  and  hate  what  they  see  others  desire  and  eschew.  This  is  not 
to  be  regretted  ;  it  is  natural,  and  consequently  it  is  right.  Indeed,  were 
it  otherwise,  society  could  not  subsist,  for  nothing  can  be  more  apparent 
than  that  mankind  in  general,  destined  as  they  are  to  occupations  in- 
compatible with  intellectual  cultivation,  are  wholly  incapable  of  forming 
opinions  for  themselves  on  many  of  the  most  important  objects  of  human 
consideration. 

"If  such,  however,  be  the  intentions  of  nature  with  respect  to  the  unen- 
lightened classes,  it  is  manifest  that  a  heavier  obligation  is  thereby  laid  on 
those  who  enjoy  the  advantages  of  intellectual  cultivation,  to  examine  with 
diligence  and  impartiality  the  foundations  of  those  opinions  which  have  any 
connexion  with  the  welfare  of  mankind.  If  the  multitude  must  be  led, 
it  is  of  consequence  that  it  be  led  by  enlightened  conductors.  That  the 
great  multitude  of  mankind  are  by  natural  disposition  only  what  others  are, 
is  a  fact  at  all  times  so  obtrusive  that  it  could  not  escape  observation  from 
the  moment  a  reflective  eye  was  first  turned  upon  man.  'The  whole 
conduct  of  Cambyses,'  says  Herodotus,  the  father  of  history,  <  towards  the 
Egyptian  gods,  sanctuaries,  and  priests,  convinces  me  that  this  king  was  in 
the  highest  degree  insane,  for  otherwise  he  would  not  have  insulted  the 
worship  and  holy  things  of  the  Egyptians.  If  any  one  should  accord  to  all 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  75 

men  the  permission  to  make  free  choice  of  the  best  among  all  customs, 
undoubtedly  each  would  choose  his  own.  That  this  would  certainly  happen 
can  be  shown  by  many  examples,  and  among  others  by  the  following.  The 
King  Darius  once  asked  the  Greeks  who  were  resident  in  his  court,  at 
what  price  they  could  be  induced  to  devour  their  dead  parents.  The 
Greeks  answered,  that  to  this  no  price  could  bribe  them.  Thereupon  the 
king  asked  some  Indians  who  were  in  the  habit  of  eating  their  dead  parents, 
what  they  would  take  not  to  eat  but  to  burn  them ;  and  the  Indians 
answered  even  as  the  Greeks  had  done.'  Herodotus  concludes  this  narra- 
tive with  the  observation,  that  '  Pindar  had  justly  entitled  Custom — the 
Queen  of  the  World.'" 

Ancient  Guilds  and  Modern  Benefit  Clubs. 

The  guilds  in  our  mediaeval  towns,  in  the  opinion  of  Mr.  T. 
Wright,  F.S.A.,  were  derived  from  the  municipal  system  of  the 
Romans.  We  know  that  such  guilds  existed  in  the  Roman 
towns,  and  with  much  the  same  objects.  All  people  have,  at 
all  times,  placed  great  importance  in  the  ceremonies  attending 
the  interment  of  the  dead ;  and  the  process  of  burial  among  the 
Romans  was  one  of  great  expense,  which  could  be  met  by  families 
which  were  wealthy,  but  it  must  have  been  very  onerous,  falling 
all  at  once,  on  men  of  very  limited  means  ;  to  avoid  the  incon- 
venience of  which  they  clubbed  together,  in  a  spirit  which  exists 
to  the  same  degree  in  modern  times ;  so  that  the  expense  on  each 
occasion,  instead  of  falling  upon  one,  was  distributed  among 
the  members  of  the  club.  This  was  the  great  object  of  the 
Roman  guilds,  and  the  second  seems  to  have  been  drinking  and 
sociality.  People  clubbed  together  to  be  merry  while  alive,  and 
to  be  buried  when  dead.  While  they  still  remained  attached 
to  their  old  customs  in  burial,  they  were  now  taught  the  duty 
of  investing  money  in  the  foundation  of  obits,  or  perpetual  prayers 
for  the  dead ;  but  this  being  looked  upon  as  a  superstitious  usage, 
was  the  cause  of  their  dissolution  after  the  Reformation.  In  the 
successive  changes  of  society,  they  embi  aced  from  time  to  time 
other  objects ;  but  the  two  grand  objects  of  the  Roman,  Saxon, 
or  Mediaeval  guilds,  seemed  to  have  been  alike  the  respectable 
burial  of  their  deceased  members,  and  the  promoting  of  convivial 
intercourse— the  leading  features  of  a  modern  Benefit  Society. 

The  Oxford  Man  and  the  Cambridge  Man. 

If  stated  very  briefly,  the  chief  difference  may  be  said  to  be 
that  the  Cambridge  man  is  more  practical.  Whether  there  is 
something  in  the  method  of  training  pursued,  or  whether  the 


76  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

different  degrees  of  importance  assigned  to  the  various  branches 
of  education  may  be  the  cause,  or  whether  the  pitting  of  man 
against  man  in  examination  may  operate  still  more  powerfully, 
the  fact  soon  forces  itself  on  the  attention  of  all  close  observers. 
If  two  school-friends  part,  and  meet  again  after  spending  a  year 
at  the  respective  universities,  they  are  soon  conscious  that  they  no 
longer  work  exactly  in  the  same  way.  The  Cambridge  student 
has  learned  to  regard  everything  as  a  task  which  he  must  honestly 
and  steadily  get  through.  To  do  it,  and  not  to  think  about  it, 
is  his  aim.  Still  less  does  he  occupy  himself  with  thinking  about 
doing  it.  He  is  too  busy  and  methodical  for  the  agreeable  but 
delusive  pleasure  of  secondary  reflection.  He  has  to  master  a 
subject,  and  all  he  cares  is  to  master  it,  and  to  go  through  it,  so 
that  he  may  satisfy  the  practical  test  of  being  examined  in  it  and 
answering  creditably.  .When  he  leaves  college  and  commences 
a  profession,  he  works  in  the  same  way.  A  law  student  from 
Cambridge,  for  instance,  has  generally  no  very  romantic  views 
either  of  his  profession  or  of  himself.  Here  is  a  very  complex, 
confused,  various  piece  of  learning  which  he  has  undertaken  to 
acquire.  To  do  the  thing  well,  he  must  work  hard,  and  must 
utterly  disbelieve  that  any  knowledge  will  come  unless  it  is  pain- 
fully obtained.  He  must  cultivate  a  legal  memory,  note  carefully 
up  all  that  he  thinks  he  ought  to  know,  and  prepare  himself  to  be 
able  to  pass  an  imaginary  examination  at  the  shortest  possible 
notice.  The  Oxford  student,  on  the  other  hand,  is  more  inclined 
to  speculate  about  law,  to  dally  with  its  details,  and  to  despise 
its  confusion.  Cambridge  men,  so  to  speak,  approach  law  in  a 
humble  attitude,  and  are  consequently,  perhaps,  as  a  rule,  better 
lawyers  after  the  received  English  fashion.  A  boating  man  who 
has  shaved  through  a  pass  at  Cambridge,  will  probably  read  law 
precisely  in  the  same  way  as  a  boating  man  who  has  shaved 
through  a  pass  at  Oxford.  But  if  we  compare  the  general  body 
of  men  who  have  taken  fair  degrees  or  been  accustomed  to  read, 
we  shall  find  that  there  is  a  difference  in  the  manner  in  which  the 
one  and  the  other  set  approach  a  subject  like  law,  and  that 
difference  may  fairly  be  described  by  saying  that  the  Cambridge 
manner  is  the  more  practical. — Saturday  Review. 

<f  Great  Events  from  Little  Causes  spring" 

Exemplifications  of  this  poetic  saw  are  very  numerous  in  the 
highways  and  byeways  of  History,  ancient  and  modern  ;  all  tend- 
ing to  show  the  springs  which  have  set  the  world  in  motion,  and 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  77 

how  the  most  trivial  circumstances  have  occasioned  the  subver- 
sion of  empires,  and  erected  new  ones  in  their  stead.  Infinite 
are  the  consequences  which  follow  from  a  single,  and  often 
apparently  a  very  insignificant,  circumstance.  Paley  himself  nar- 
rowly escaped  being  a  baker ;  here  was  a  decision  upon  which 
hung  in  one  scale,  perhaps,  the  immortal  interests  of  thousands, 
and  in  the  other,  the  gratification  of  the  taste  of  the  good  people 
of  Giggleswick  for  hot  rolls.  Cromwell  was  near  being  strangled 
in  his  cradle  by  a  monkey ;  here  was  this  wretched  ape  wielding 
in  his  paws  the  destiny  of  nations.  Then,  again,  how  different 
in  their  kind,  as  well  as  in  their  magnitude,  are  these  conse- 
quences from  anything  that  might  have  been,  a  priori,  expected. 
Henry  VIII.  is  smitten  with  the  beauty  of  a  girl  of  eighteen,  and 
ere  long — 

"  The  Reformation  beams  from  Bullen's  eyes." 

The  Mission  of  St.  Augustine  is  one  of  the  most  striking  instances 
in  all  history  of  the  vast  results  which  may  flow  from  a  very 
small  beginning, — of  the  immense  effects  produced  by  a  single 
thought  in  the  heart  of  a  single  man,  carried  out  conscientiously, 
deliberately,  and  fearlessly.  Nothing  in  itself  could  seem  more 
trivial  than  the  meeting  of  Gregory  with  the  three  Yorkshire 
boys  in  the  market-place  at  Rome ;  yet  this  roused  a  feeling  in 
his  mind  which  he  never  lost;  and  through  all  the  obstacles 
which  were  thrown  first  in  his  own  way,  and  then  in  that  of 
Augustine,  his  highest  desire  concerning  it  was  more  than  realised. 
From  Canterbury,  the  first  English  Christian  city — from  Kent, 
the  first  English  Christian  kingdom — has  by  degrees  arisen  the 
whole  constitution  of  Church  and  State  in  England,  which  now 
binds  together  the  whole  British  empire.  And  from  the  Chris- 
tianity here  established  has  flowed,  by  direct  consequences,  first, 
the  Christianity  of  Germany —then,  after  a  long  interval,  of  North 
America — and,  lastly,  we  may  trust,  in  time,  of  all  India  and  all 
Australasia. — Stanley's  Historical  Memoirs  of  Canterbury. 

Wars  have  frequently  been  brought  about  by  trivial  causes. 
In  the  cathedral  of  Modena,  in  the  marble  tower  called  "La 
Ghirlandina,"  is  kept  the  old  worm-eaten  wooden  bucket  which 
was  the  cause  of  the  civil  war,  or  rather  affray,  between  the 
Modenese  and  Bolognese,  in  the  time  of  Frederic  II.,  Nov.  15, 
1325.  It  was  long  suspended  by  the  chain  which  fastened  the 
gate  of  Bologna,  through  which  the  Modenese  forced  their  pas- 
sage, and  seized  the  prize,  which  was  deposited  in  the  cathedral 
by  the  victors,  the  Geminiani,  as  a  trophy  of  the  defeat  of  the 


78  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

Petronii,  with  wonderful  triumph.  The  event  is  the  subject  of 
Tassoni's  Secchia  Rapita,  or  Rape  of  the  Bucket,  the  first  modern 
mock-heroic  poem. 

When  the  palace  of  the  Trianon  was  building  for  Louis  XIV., 
at  the  end  of  the  park  of  Versailles,  the  monarch  went  to  in- 
spect the  work,  accompanied  by  Louvois,  secretary-at-war,  and 
superintendent  of  the -building:  Louis  remarked  that  one  of  the 
windows  was  out  of  shape,  and  smaller  than  the  rest,  which 
Louvois  denied.  The  king  had  the  window  measured,  and  finding 
that  he  had  judged  rightly,  treated  Louvois  with  contumely  before 
the  whole  court.  This  treatment  so  incensed  the  minister,  that 
when  he  returned  home,  he  was  heard  to  say,  that  he  would  find 
better  employment  for  a  monarch  than  that  of  insulting  his 
favourites.  Louvois  was  as  good  as  his  word,  for  by  his  insolence 
and  haughtiness  he  insulted  the  other  powers,  and  occasioned  the 
bloody  war  of  1688. 

An  instance  pregnant  with  mightier  results  could  not,  perhaps, 
be  quoted  than  the  following : — When  many  Puritans  emigrated, 
or  were  about  to  emigrate,  to  America,  in  1637,  Cromwell,  either 
despairing  of  his  fortunes  at  home,  or  indignant  at  the  rule  of 
government  which  prevailed,  resolved  to  quit  his  native  country, 
in  search  of  those  civil  and  religious  privileges  of  which  he  could 
freely  partake  in  the  New  World.  Eight  ships  were  lying  in  the 
Thames,  ready  to  sail :  in  one  of  them,  says  Hume,  (quoting 
Mather  and  other  authorities,)  were  embarked  Hazelrig,  Hamp- 
den,  Pym,  and  Cromwell.  A  proclamation  was  issued,  and  the 
vessels  were  detained  by  Order  in  Council.  The  King  had,  in- 
deed, cause  to  rue  the  exercise  of  his  authority.  In  the  same 
year,  Hampden's  memorable  trial — the  great  cause  of  Ship-money 
— occurred.  What  events  rapidly  followed ! 

At  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  when  the  Protestant 
religion  was  restored,  the  question  whether  there  should  be  SaintP' 
Days  in  the  Calendar  was  considered  by  the  Convocation,  .«*d. 
sharply  and  fully  debated.  The  Saints'  Days  were  carried  only  by 
a  single  vote :  59  members  voted  for  Saints'  Days,  58  for  omit- 
ting them. — Literary  Remains  of  H.  Fynes  Clinton. 

Bishop  Burnet  relates  that  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  passed 
by  a  mere  mistake;  that  one  peer  was  counted  for  ten,  and 
that  made  a  majority  for  the  measure. — Earl  Stanhope's  Speech, 
1856. 

The  House  of  Brunswick  and  the  Casting  Vote. — Sir  Arthur 
Owen,  bart.,  of  Orielton,  in  the  county  of  Pembroke,  is  the 
individual  who  is  asserted  to  have  given  the  casting  vote  which 
placed  the  Brunswick  dynasty  on  the  throne  of  England.  A 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  79 

lady,  in  1856,  residing  at  Haverfordwest,  remembered  her  grand- 
mother, who  was  staying  at  Orielton,  at  the  time  when  Sir 
Arthur  Owen  rode  to  London  on  Ahorseback,  for  the  purpose  of 
recording  his  vote :  he  arrived  at  the  precise  juncture  when  his 
single  vote  caused  the  scale  to  preponderate  in  favour  of  the 
descendants  of  the  Electress  Sophia.  (/.  Pa-vin  Phillips,  Ha*ver- 
fordwest.— Notes  and  Queries,  2nd  S.  No.  31.  Another  account, 
which  Mr.  Phillips  thinks  the  correct  one,  states  that  Sir  Arthur 
Owen  made  the  number  even ;  and  that  it  was  Mr.  Griffith  Rice, 
M.P.  for  Carmarthenshire,  who  gave  the  casting  vote.  (See 
Debrett's  Baronetage,  1824.) 

The  Discovery  of  America  is  referred  to  by  Humboldt  as  a 
"wonderful  concatenation  of  trivial  circumstances  which  un- 
deniably exercised  an  influence  on  the  course  of  the  world's 
destiny:" 

Washington  Irving  has  justly  observed  that  if  Columbus  had  resisted 
the  counsel  of  Martin  Alonzo  Pinzon,  and  continued  to  steer  westward,  he 
would  have  entered  the  Gulf  Stream  and  been  borne  to  Florida,  and  from 
thence,  probably,  to  Cape  Hatteras  and  Virginia, — a  circumstance  of  incal- 
culable importance,  since  it  might  have  been  the  means  of  giving  to  the 
United  States  of  North  America  a  Catholic  Spanish  population,  in  the  place 
of  the  Protestant  English  one  by  which  those  regions  were  subsequently 
colonised.  "It  seems  to  me  like  an  inspiration,"  said  Pinzon  to  the 
Admiral,  "  that  my  heart  dictates  to  me  that  we  ought  to  steer  in  a  dif- 
ferent direction."  It  was  on  the  strength  of  this  circumstance  that  in  the 
celebrated  lawsuit  which  Pinzon  carried  on  against  the  heirs  of  Columbus, 
between  1513  and  1515,  he  maintained  that  the  discovery  of  America  was 
alone  due  to  him.  This  inspiration  Pinzon  owed,  as  related  by  an  old 
sailor  of  Moguez,  at  the  same  trial,  to  the  flight  of  a  flock  of  parrots  which  he 
had  observed  in  the  evening  flying  towards  the  south-west,  in  order,  as  he 
might  well  have  conjectured,  to  roost  on  trees  on  the  land.  Never  has  a 
flight  of  bird*  been  attended  by  more  important  results.  It  may  even  be  said 
that  it  has  decided  the  first  colonization  in  the  New  Continent,  and  the 
original  of  the  Roman  and  Germanic  races  of  men- 

The  Act  to  recharter  the  first  Bank  of  the  United  States  was 
defeated  by  the  casting  vote  of  Vice-president  Clinton  (ex-qfficio 
President  of  the  Senate),  and  the  Tariff  Act  of  1846  was  ordered 
to  be  engrossed  by  the  casting  vote  of  Vice-president  Dallas. 

That  the  Past  is  the  Guide  for  the  Present  is  thus  argued: — 
Every  political  treatise  referring  to  events  which  have  en- 
grossed the  attention  of  the  day,  either  as  modifications  or  as 
changes  of  our  social  system,  must  be  valuable  in  later  years.  It 
must  necessarily  recommend  or  condemn  measures  on  account  of 


80  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

their  probable  operation  in  the  time  to  come ;  it  must  in  some 
degree  be  a  prophecy,  or  else  it  is  practically  worthless.  The 
politician  studies  the  past  merely  as  his  guide  for  the  future.  If 
he  is  learned,  wise,  and  at  all  an  adept  in  the  science  which  he 
professes — than  which  no  other  is  of  so  momentous  an  import — 
he  will  consider  past  history  as  the  barometer  which  must  guide 
him  in  predicating  the  approach  either  of  a  tempest  or  a  calm. 
Temporary  clamour  or  occasional  obstruction  will  not  tead  him 
to  forsake  clear  principles  of  action,  or  to  recommend  a  grand 
constitutional  remedy  in  the  case  of  a  trifling  local  disease.  He 
must  look  forward  beyond  the  sphere  of  immediate  action — reso- 
lute in  this  belief,  that  one  false  step,  however  small,  may  upset 
the  equilibrium  of  the  State. — Blackwood's  Magazine,  1850. 

Great  Britain  on  the  Map  of  the  World. 

We  see  two  little  spots  huddled  up  in  a  corner,  awkwardly 
shot  off  to  a  side,  as  it  were,  yet  facing  the  great  sea,  on  the  very 
verge  of  the  great  waste  of  waters,  with  nothing  to  protect  them : 
not  like  Greece,  or  Italy,  or  Egypt,  in  a  Mediterranean  bounded 
by  a  surrounding  shore,  to  be  coasted  by  timid  mariners,  but  on 
the  very  edge  and  verge  of  the  great  ocean,  looking  out  westward 
to  the  expanse.  If  she  launch  at  all,  she  must  launch  with  the 
fearless  heart  that  is  ready  to  brave  old  ocean, — to  take  him 
with  his  gigantic  western  waves — to  face  his  winds  and  hurri- 
canes— his  summer  heats  of  the  dead-still  tropics— his  winter 
blasts — his  fairy  'icebergs — his  fogs  like  palpable  darkness — his 
hail-blasts  and  his  snow.  Britain  has  done  so.  From  her  island- 
home,  she  has  sailed  east  and  west,  north  and  south.  She  has 
gone  outwardly,  and  planted  empires.  The  States  themselves, 
now  her  compeer,  were  an  offshoot  from  her  island  territory.  Her 
destiny  is  to  plant  out  nations,  and  the  spirit  of  colonization  is 
the  genius  that  presides  over  her  career.  She  plants  out  Canada, 
Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  the  Cape.  Ceylon  and  the  Mau- 
ritius she  occupies  for  trade.  India  she  covers  with  a  network  of 
law,  framed  and  woven  in  her  Anglo-Saxon  loom.  She  clutches 
China,  and  begins  at  last  to  break  up  the  celestial  solecism.  She 
lays  hold  of  Borneo,  and  straightway  piratical  prahus  are  seen 
wrecked  and  stranded  on  the  shore,  or  blown  to  fragments  in  the 
air.  She  raises  an  impregnable  fortress  at  the  entrance  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  another  in  its  centre,  as  security  to  her  sea- 
borne trade.  She  does  the  same  in  embryo  at  the  entrance  to  the 
Red  Sea.  Westward  from  Newfoundland,  she  traverses  a  con- 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  81 

tinent,  and  there,  in  the  Pacific,  Vancouver's  Island,  which  may 
one  day  become  the  New  Great  Britain  of  new  Anglo-Saxon  en- 
terprise, destined  to  carry  civilization  to  the  innumerable  islands 
of  the  great  sea — bears  the  union-jack  for  its  island  banner,  and 
acknowledges  the  sovereignty  of  the  British  Crown.  At  Singa- 
pore, she  has  provisionally  made  herself  mistress  of  the  Straits  of 
Malacca ;  and  thousands  of  miles  away  on  the  other  hand,  at  the 
Falkland  Islands,  near  to  the  Land  of  Fire,  the  British  mariner 
may  hear  the  voice  of  praise  issuing  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  tongue. 
In  addition  to  this,  she  has  representatives  at  every  court,  and 
consuls  at  every  sea-port.  Her  cruisers  bear  her  flag  on  every 
navigable  sea.  Europeans,  Asiatics,  Africans,  Americans,  and 
Australians,  are  found  wearing  her  uniform,  eating  her  bread 
bearing  her  arms,  and  contributing  to  extend  her  dominion. — 
North  British  Re-view. 


Ancient  and  Modern  London. 

It  is  interesting,  beyond  a  merely  antiquarian  point  of  view,  to 
trace  the  progress  of  London  from  a  walled  town,  covering  about 
700  acres,  with  a  population  half  mercantile,  half  military,  living 
in  a  labyrinth  of  courts  and  alleys,  the  majority  being,  as  appears 
from  an  old  proclamation,  "  heaped  up  together y  and  in  a  sort,  half 
smothered."  Let  us  compare  this  with  the  majestic  city  of  our 
day,  spreading  over  more  than  120  square  miles,  and  containing 
2600  miles  of  streets,  flanked  by  360,000  inhabited  houses,  with 
a  population  of  3,000,000,  and  an  assessed  rental  of  i3,ooo,oop/. 

Modern  London  embraces  important  portions  of  the  four 
adjacent  counties,  and  has  swallowed  up  not  only  the  old  district, 
which  is  still  designated  "  the  City,"  and  its  ancient  suburbs,  but 
numberless  places  formerly  existing  as  distinct  towns,  villages, 
and  hamlets,  which  in  days  gone  by  had  their  separate  systems 
of  local  government.  Under  the  present  regulations,  the  Central 
Criminal  Court  district  extends  over  an  area  of  more  than  700 
square  miles,  including  all  Middlesex,  and  parts  of  Surrey,  Kent, 
Essex,  and  Hertfordshire ;  which  is  also  about  the  area  of  the 
Metropolitan  Police  District. — Alexander  Pulling;  Law  Maga- 
zine, N.S.,  No.  xxviii. 

Potatoes  the  national  food  of  the  Irish. 

There  is  one  instance,  and  only  one,  of  a  great  European 
people  possessing  a  very  cheap  national  food.  In  Ireland  the 

6 


82  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

labouring  classes  have  for  more  than  two  hundred  years  been 
principally  fed  by  potatoes,  which  were  introduced  into  their 
country  late  in  the  sixteenth  or  early  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
Now,  the  peculiarity  of  the  potato  is,  that  until  the  appearance 
of  the  late  disease,  it  was,  and  perhaps  still  is,  cheaper  than  any 
other  food  equally  wholesome.  If  we  compare  its  reproductive 
power  with  the  amount  of  nutriment  contained  in  it,  we  find  that 
one  acre  of  average  land  sown  with  potatoes  will  support  twice 
as  many  persons  as  the  same  quantity  of  land  sown  with  wheat. 
The  consequence  is,  that  in  a  country  where  men  live  on  potatoes, 
the  population  will,  if  other  things  are  tolerably  equal,  increase 
twice  as  fast  as  in  a  country  where  they  live  on  wheat.  And  so 
it  has  actually  occurred:  until  a  few  years  ago,  the  population  in 
Ireland,  in  round  numbers,  increased  annually  three  per  cent.; 


the  population  of  England,  during  the  same  period  increasing  one 
and  a  half  per  cent. — Buckles  History  of  Civilization. 


Irish-speaking  Population. 

There  were  in  Ireland  at  the  time  of  the  Census  of  1861, 
1,105,536  persons  who  spoke  Irish.  163,275  of  them  spoke  Irish 
only;  the  other  942,261  spoke  both  Irish  and  English.  Of  those 
who  spoke  Irish  only,  3,075  were  in  the  civic  districts  and  160,200 
in  the  rural  districts.  That  the  number  is  declining  is  obvious  from 
the  circumstance  that  the  proportion  under  20  years  of  age  was 
less  than  a  third.  77,818  were  in  Connaught  (in  a  population  of 
less  than  a  million),  62,039  in  Munster,  23,180  in  Ulster,  only 
238  in  all  Leinster. 

Our  Colonial  Empire. 

The  Colonies  of  Great  Britain  comprise  altogether  3,350,000 
square  miles,  and  cost  us  for  management  3,350,0007.  per  annum, 
or  just  about  a  pound  a  mile.  They  have  an  aggregate  revenue 
of  n,ooo,ooo/.,  and  owe  among  them  27,ooo,ooo/.,  or  just  two 
years  and  a  half's  income.  They  import  goods  to  the  amount  of 
6~o,ooo,opo/.  yearly  —half  from  ourselves,  and  half  from  all  the  rest 
of  the  world.  They  export  produce  to  the  value  of  5O,ooo,ooe/., 
of  which  three-fifths  come  to  this  kingdom ;  and  all  this  is  done 
by  a  population  which  is  under  10,000,000  in  the  aggregate,  and 
of  which  only  5,000,000  are  whites.  Add  to  these  figures, 
says  the  Spectator,  900,000  square  miles  for  India,  and  200,000,000 
of  people  with  a  trade  of  7i,ooo,ooo/.,  and  we  have  a  result  that 
the  Queen  reign*  ever  nearly  one-third  of  the  land  of  the  earthy  and 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  83 

nearly  a  fourth  of  its  population.  If  a  British  vizier  under  the 
Emperor  should,  as  it  seems  probable,  rule  China,  Englishmen 
will  directly  control  more  than  half  the  human  race  ! 

Our  Colonies  may  be  grouped  or  classed  as  North  American, 
Australian,  Mediterranean,  Atlantic,  West  Indian,  Eastern,  and 
African.  In  extent  of  territory  no  Colonies  approach  those  of 
Australia.  The  palm  of  debt  belongs  to  Canada,  that  of  cost  to 
the  Mediterranean  settlements,  that  of  commerce  to  the  Austra- 
lian Colonies  again.  This  great  show  of  trade  is  owing  to  the 
precious  character  of  their  produce.  Of  the  gross  exports  of 
50,ooo,ooo/.  they  claim  22,ooo,ooo/.,  and  cost  little "  or  nothing 
for  garrisons  all  the  while.  In  1860,  25o,ooo/.  paid  the  entire 
military  expenditure  on  this  group  of  our  dependencies  ;  but  New 
Zealand,  which  only  stood  at  ioo,ooo/.  then,  is  probably  not 
managed  for  that  figure  now.  We  can  see  but  little  trace  of  its 
gold-fields  in  the  return  before  us,  which  throws  all  the  weight 
upon  New  South  Wales  and  Victoria.  The  former  of  these  set- 
tlements exported  in  1860  produce  to  the  value  of  5,ooo,ooo/. ; 
the  latter  (and  here  come  the  gold-ships)  no  less  than  13,000,0007. 
worth  of  goods.  Three-fourths  of  this,  too,  came  to  England, 
whereas  in  the  export-trade  of  New  South  Wales  three-fourths 
went  to  foreign  countries.  Victoria  also  imported  very  largely 
from  us,  as  did  the  other  Colonies  of  the  group,  standing,  in  the 
whole,  for  more  than  half  the  sum  total  of  this  column. 

Taking  population  and  area  into  consideration,  the  trade  done 
by  the  West  Indies  is  not  a  bad  one.  There  are  but  54,000  white 
people  in  all  these  islands,  yet  they  export  goods  to  the  value 
of  6,ooo,ooo/.,  and  import  about  the  same.  Most  of  the  settle- 
ments are  somewhat  in  debt — Jamaica  above  the  others ;  but  even 
Jamaica  does  not  owe  three  years'  income,  whereas  Canada  owes 
eight.  The  total  revenue  of  the  West  Indian  Colonies  in  1860 
was  not  quite  a  million ;  the  total  debt  was  not  quite  a  million 
and  a  half.  But  the  most  curious  specimen  in  the  return  is  Heli- 
goland. The  area  of  this  British  Colony  is  one-third  of  a  square 
mile.  On  that  territory  a  population  of  2,172  souls  maintains 
itself,  and  buys  i3,ooo/.  worth  of  foreign  produce  every  year. 
Heligoland  has  also  a  revenue ;  but  Heligoland  has  a  public  debt 
likewise,  and  is  behind  the  world  to  the  extent  of  nearly  5,ooo/. 

The  contrast  of  the  statistics  of  India  with  these  Colonial  totals 
will  develope  some  remarkable  facts.  The  mere  area  of  India, 
large  as  it  is,  scarcely  exceeds  one-fourth  of  the  gross  area  of  the 
Colonies,  but  it  is  infinitely  more  populous  and  wealthy.  Its 
900,000  square  miles  contain  fifteen  times  as  many  inhabitants  as 
all  the  rest  of  the  Colonies  together ;  its  annual  revenue  is  four 

G  2 


84  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

times  as  great ;  its  public  debt  four  times  as  heavy.  But  its  com- 
merce is  wonderful.  The  exports  of  all  the  Colonies,  even  includ- 
ing the  produce  of  the  gold-fields,  amount  to  5o,ooo,ooo/.  only, 
and  to  no  more  than  27,ooo,ooo/.  apart  from  the  exports  of 
Australia.  India,  however,  exported  in  1860  goods  to  the  value 
of  34,ooo,ooo/.,  of  which  i5,ooo,ooo/.  worth  came  to  us;  and 
purchased  in  return  22,ooo,ooo/.  worth  from  us,  and  i2,ooo,ooo/. 
worth  from  other  countries.  Add  to  this,  that  its  cost  is  nothing. 
Under  every  item  of  charge,  military  as  well  as  civil,  the  return  in 
the  case  of  India  is  nil.  Where  the  rest  of  the  Colonies  figure 
for  upwards  of  3,ooo,ooo/.  in  the  way  of  cost,  India  makes  no 
demand  whatever.  That  great  Empire  could  supply  us  with 
almost  everything  we  want.  It  could  send  us  tea  and  silk  when 
China  fails ;  and  if  there  can  be  any  adequate  substitute  for  the 
American  cotton-fields,  ft  is  in  India  that  we  must  seek  it.  It 
supplies  us,  too,  with  the  invaluable  advantage  of  a  sphere  of 
action  and  an  honourable  career  for  our  adventurous  youth,  and 
all  this  it  does  without  costing  us  a  farthing,  and  without  costing 
its  own  people  more  than  they  receive  in  value. — Parliamentary 
Return,  1863. 

The  English  People. 

Mr.  Craufurd,  the  ethnologist,  has,  in  these  few  sentences,  de- 
scribed the  people  of  England:  "  They  are,"  he  tells  us,  "  among 
the  most  mixed  people  in  the  world :  but  the  admixtures  always 
having  been  of  high  order,  no  deterioration  has  resulted.  Teutonic 
invasions  appear  to  have  been  early  made  on  the  coasts  of  Britain, 
and  the  people  who  offered  so  brave  a  resistance  to  Caesar  were 
probably  German  settlers.  The  Romans,  for  four  centuries,  occu- 
pied all  the  best  parts  of  the  land,  leaving  the  remains  of  the  primi- 
tive peoples  in  the  sterile  and  mountainous  districts,  which  it  would 
have  been  difficult  to  subdue,  and  unprofitable  to  keep  in  subjuga- 
tion. The  Romans,  accompanied  by  few  women,  necessarily  in- 
termarried with  the  British.  After  them  came  the  Teutonic  Jutes, 
Saxons,  Angles,  Frisians,  Danes,  and  Norwegians — the  latter  came 
over  by  mere  boatloads ;  but  in  the  course  of  several  generations 
they  attained,  by  their  superior  valour — for  in  number  they  never 
approached  that  of  the  original  inhabitants — to  the  position  of  in- 
vaders, and  spread  their  own  language  and  institutions  over  the 
land.  The  Normans  came  next,  but  they  were  too  few  in  num- 
ber to  overthrow  the  Saxon  element ;  and  all  they  have  accom- 
plished has  been  to  add  considerably  to  the  Saxon  vocabulary. 
We  are  not  then,  as  a  race,  exclusively  Britons,  or  exclusively 
Saxon,  but  a  great  deal  more  of  the  former  than  the  latter." 


DIGNITIES  AND  DISTINCTIONS.  85 


anir 


Worth  of  Heraldry. 

THE  only  individuals  who  affect  to  sneer  at  heraldic  pursuits 
and  studies  are  those  of  apocryphal  gentility,  or  whose  ancestral 
reminiscences  are  associated  with  the  rope  sinister,  or  some  such 
distinctive  badge.  Heraldry  is,  however,  a  branch  of  the  hiero- 
glyphical  language,  and  the  only  branch  which  has  been  handed 
down  to  us  with  a  recognised  key.  It  in  many  cases  represents 
the  very  names  of  persons,  their  birth,  family,  and  alliances ;  in 
others  it  illustrates  their  ranks  and  titles ;  and  in  all  is,  or  rather 
*was,  a  faithful  record  of  their  illustrious  deeds,  represented  by 
signs  imitative  and  conventional.  Taking  this  view  of  the  ques- 
tion, it  is  evident  that  it  is  capable  of  vast  improvements :  in  fact, 
a  well-emblazoned  shield  might  be  made  practically  to  represent, 
at  a  single  glance,  a  synopsis  of  biography,  chronology,  and  history. 
Insignia  of  individuals  and  races,  which  are  of  a  kindred  character 
with  heraldry,  at  least  in  its  original  form  and  design,  may  be 
recognised  among  the  nations  of  antiquity,  and  may  perhaps  be 
carried  back  to  the  primeval  ages  of  Egyptian  history.  The 
Israelites,  from  their  long  captivity  familiarized  with  such  objects, 
naturally  adopted  them  as  distinguishing  characteristics ;  and  Sir 
W.  Drummond  believed  that  the  twelve  tribes  adopted  the  signs 
of  the  zodiac  as  their  respective  ensigns ;  "  nor,"  as  has  been 
observed,  "  does  the  supposed  allusion  to  those  signs  by  Jacob 
imply  anything  impious,  magical,  or  offensive  to  the  Deity." 

The  heraldry  (?)  of  the  heroic  ages  may  be  traced  in  the  pages 
of  Homer  and  ^schylus  ;  and  in  the  succeeding  generations  we 
have  testimony  of  the  adoption  of  a  sort  of  armorial  bearings  by 
the  princes  of  Greece.  Omitting  Nicias,  Lamachus,  Alcibiades, 
and  others  on  record,  we  will  merely  observe  that  the  arms  of 
Niochorus,  who  slew  Lysander,  were  a  dragon,  thus  realizing  the 
prediction  of  the  oracle, 

Fly  from  Oplites'  watery  strand  ; 
The  earth-born  serpent  too  beware. 

Nor  were  mottos  by  any  means  unfrequent.  The  shield  which 
Demosthenes  so  pusillanimously  threw  away  was  inscribed  "  To 
good  Fortune." 


86  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

The  animals  which  are  frequently  represented  within  shields  on 
the  Roman  vases  sufficiently  establish  the  fact,  that  this  usage 
was  common  amongst  that  great  people ;  and  the  striking  example 
of  a  goat,  on  a  specimen  in  the  British  Museum,  might,  by 
analogy,  without  any  great  stretch  of  imagination,  be  ascribed  to 
the  family  of  Caprus  ! 

Students  of  heraldry  are  commonly  great  enthusiasts ;  so  that, 
in  its  pursuit,  they  are  apt  to  depreciate  more  important  subjects. 
We  remember  to  have  heard  an  amateur  herald,  who  had  filled 
all  his  windows  with  arms  of  his  own  painting,  condemn  Mr. 
Salt's  collection  of  Egyptian  Antiquities  in  terms  of  unmistakeable 
contempt ! 

Heralds3  College. 

The  corporation  of  the  College  of  Arms  consists  of  13  officers 
— namely,  three  Kings  of  Arms  (Gaiter,  Clarenceux,  and 
Norroy),  and,  we  believe,  six  heralds  and  four  pursuivants. 
According  to  a  Parliamentary  Return,  the  most  onerous  of  their 
duties  is  the  preservation  and  safe  custody  of  the  vast  mass  of 
records  and  evidences  which  relate  to  the  genealogical  history, 
pedigrees,  and  arms  of  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  England,  from 
the  earliest  period  to  the  present  time.  These  officers  have  no 
Government  grant,  but  they  are  household  servants  of  the  Crown, 
under  the  Earl  Marshal ;  and  their  duty  as  such  consists  in  the 
ordering  and  conducting  all  public  funerals,  such  State  ceremo- 
nials as  coronations,  and  other  ceremonials  where  the  person  of  the 
Sovereign  is  more  immediately  concerned.  For  these  services 
they  receive  salaries,  the  aggregate  amount  of  which  to  the  13 
officers  is  252!.  i8s*  per  annum.  In  their  capacity  of  household 
servants  they  also  receive  certain  fees  on  the  creation  of  dignities 
and  upon  the  installation  of  Knights  of  the  Garter,  paid  by  the 
persons  on  whom  such  honours  are  conferred.  A  herald  and  a 
pursuivant  answer  all  public  inquiries,  make  such  searches  as  may 
be  required,  and  give  official  extracts  from  records ;  the  fees  re- 
ceived for  such  searches  and  extracts  amounted  to  94/.  in  1861. 
From  all  these  sources,  therefore,  they  received  6oo/.  in  that  year. 
The  officers  of  arms  are  the  agents  through  whom  applications 
are  made  to  the  Earl  Marshal  (acting  in  this  behalf  on  the  part  of 
the  Crown)  for  the  registration  of  armorial  bearings,  or  the  soli- 
citation of  the  Royal  licence  for  a  change  of  name,  or  change  of 
name  and  arms.  For  the  one  case  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the 
officers  of  arms  to  see  that  no  memorial  be  presented  to  the  Earl 
Marshal  by  any  individual  not  occupying  a  fit  station  in  life  for 
such  distinction  j  and  in  the  other  that  no  petition  be;  through 


DIGNITIES  AND  DISTINCTIONS.  87 

them,  presented  to  the  Crown,  the  allegations  of  which  have  not 
been,  before  such  presentation,  fully  established,  inasmuch  as  the 
Crown  accepts  and  endorses  such  allegations,  and  directs  the  Earl 
Marshal  to  make  them  matter  of  record.  The  number  of  these 
patents  and  grants  of  arms  or  change  of  name  or  arms  has  been 
869  in  the  period  from  1850  to  1862  inclusive.  The  fees  taken 
upon  them  are : — For  grants  on  voluntary  applications,  667.  IQJ. 
and  io/.  stamp  duty;  under  Royal  licences,  667.  LOS.  and 
48/.  17^.  6d.  for  exemplifications,  3/.  los.  of  which  goes  to  the 
Home-office ;  for  grants  of  supporters,  ££/. ;  for  grants  to  wives 
or  spinsters,  537.  and  io7.  stamp  duty ;  'for  grants  of  quarterings, 
427.  IQJ.  and  io7.  stamp  duty;  for  grants  of  crests,  427.  TOJ.  and 
io7.  stamp  duty;  and  for  change  of  name,  447.  13*.,  whereof 
io7.  2s.  6d.  goes  to  the  Home-office. 

The  Shamrock. 

Mrs.  Lankester  describes  the  Wood-sorrel  (Oxalis  acetosella) 
as  easily  recognised  by  its  three  delicately-green  leaflets  with 
longish  stalks,  marked  with  a  darkish  crescent  in  the  centre, 
veined,  and  its  lovely  white  flowers  which  at  first  sight  resemble 
the  wood-anemone.  There  are  few  walks  or  shady  woods  where, 
in  the  early  spring,  the  bright  half-folded  green  leaves  of  this 
pretty  little  plant  may  not  be  found.  The  tiny  white  flowers 
with  their  delicate  purple  veins  are  called,  by  the  Welsh,  «  fairy 
bells,"  and  are  believed  to  ring  the  merry  peals  which  call  the 
elves  to  "  moonlight  dancing  and  revelry."  Among  the  Druids  its 
triple  leaflets  were  regarded  as  a  mysterious  symbol  of  a  Trinity, 
the  full  meaning  of  which  was  involved  in  darkness.  So,  too, 
St.  Patrick  chose  this  leaf  as  his  symbol  to  illustrate  the  doctrine 
he  sought  to  teach,  and  converted  many  by  the  apt  use  of  an 
illustration  derived  from  a  plant  already  sacred  in  the  eyes  of  his 
hearers.  The  original  shamrock  was  undoubtedly  the  Oxalis, 
though  the  name  became  applied  to  all  sorts  of  trefoiled  plants. 

It  is,  however,  suspected  that  any  three-leaved  plant  may  be 
called  the  shamrock,  the  wood-sorrel  no  more  undoubtedly  than 
the  Dutch  clover,  all  leaves  of  this  kind  having  been  beheld  with 
superstitious  veneration,  as  possessing— 

The  holy  trefoil's  charm. 

Irish  Titles  of  Honour. 

Titles  of  honour  are  still  borne  by  the  representatives  of  some 
of  the  old  Milesian  families  in  Ireland.  Some  of  these  titles  have 


88  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

become  extinct  in  course  of  time,  such  as  the  M'Carty  More,  the 
White  Knight,  the  O'Sullivan  Bear,  the  O'Moore,  &c.,  and  some 
have  been  merged  in  peerages.  The  O'Bryens  in  the  titles  of 
Thomond  (now  extinct)  and  Inchiquin,  the  O'Neills  in  an  Earldom 
(extinct),  the  O'Callaghan  in  Lord  Lismore,  and  the  descendant 
and  representative  of  the  O'Byrnes  in  Lord  de  Tabley.  But  the 
following  titles  are  still  preserved  and  generally  acknowledged  :— 

These  are  the  O'Donoghue  of  the  Glens,  the  O'Conor  Don,  the  Knight 
of  Kerry,  the  Knight  of  Glen,  the  O'Grady,  the  M'Gillicuddy  of  the 
Reeks;  and  the  M'Dermot,  Prince  of  Coolvain.  The  two  first  of  these 
represent  Irish  constituencies,  and  it  is  believed  are  the  only  Irish  chief- 
tains who  have  adhered  to  the  national  religion ;  all  the  others  are  Protes- 
tants. Indeed,  it  is  a  curious  circumstance  that  while  we  see  the  O'Neills, 
the  O'Briens,  the  O'Callaghans,  the  O'Byrnes,  indeed  almost  all  the  lineal 
descendants  of  the  old  Irish  families,  staunch  Protestants  (some  of  them 
even  Orangemen  ;  the  late  Lord  O'Neill  was  Grand  Master  of  the  Orange- 
men) ;  we  find,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  leading  Roman  Catholic 
nobility  and  gentry  in  Ireland  are  mostly  of  English  and  Protestant  extrac- 
tion. Thus  the  Brownes,  Earls  of  Kenmare,  came  over  originally  in  the 
reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth;  and  being  Protestants  obtained  large  grants  of  the 
O'Donoghue  property  in  Kerry,  forfeited  by  Roderick  O'Donoghue,  in  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  by  Geoffrey  O'Donoghue,  "  dead  in  rebellion,"  in 
the  reign  of  her  successor.  The  Earls  of  Kenmare  are  now,  as  is  well 
known,  at  the  head  of  the  Irish  Roman  Catholic  peerage,  and  so  of  the 
Dillons,  Plunkets,  Burkes,  Nugents,  Prestons,  and  other  Irish  Roman 
Catholic  families  of  importance ;  they  are  all,  with  few  exceptions,  of 
English  and  Protestant  descent,  while  we  have  seen  that  the  descendants 
of  the  native  Irish  are  almost  all  Protestants. 

The  Scotch  Thistle. 

Many  different  species  have  been  dignified  with  the  name  of 
Scotch  Thistle.  It  is  probable,  say  some  authorities,  that  a  com- 
mon species,  such  as  Carduus  lanceolatus^  is  most  deserving  the 
name.  Some  have  fixed  on  doubtful  native  species,  such  as 
Silybum  Marianum  and  Qnopordum  Acantkinm.  Neither  of  these 
is,  however,  reconcilable  with  history.  S.  Marianum  is  appro- 
priated by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  who  say  the  white  mark- 
ing on  the  foliage  is  commemorative  of  the  milk  of  the  Virgin 
Mary.  O.  Acantbium  is  not  only,  like  the  last,  a  doubtful  ori- 
ginal species  to  Scotland,  but,  like  C.  lanceolatus,  of  much  too 
great  a  height ;  for  one  historian  says  that,  after  the  landing  of 
Queen  Scota,  she  reviewed  her  troops ;  and,  being  fatigued,  re- 
tired ;  and,  on  sitting  down,  was  pricked  by  a  thistle ;  from 
which  circumstance  she  adopted  it  as  the  arms  of  her  new 


DIGNITIES  AND  DISTINCTIONS.  89 

country,  with  the  motto,  Nemo  me  impune  laces  sit.  Another 
says,  on  the  eve  of  an  attack  by  the  Danes,  one  of  the  enemy 
having  trod  on  a  thistle,  cried  out  with  pain,  which  gave  inti- 
mation to  the  Scots  of  their  near  presence;  and  hence  the  thistle 
became  dignified  as  the  arms  of  the  country.  With  these  two 
exceptions,  we  meet  with  no  other  reference  to  a  matter  of  equal 
importance,  in  an  historical  point  of  view,  with  that  of  the  legends 
in  connexion  with  the  Coronation  Stone,  which  all  historians  have 
treated  on  with  great  minuteness. 

However,  if  any  reliance  may  be  placed  on  the  authorities 
above  given,  it  is  quite  clear  that  it  must  have  been  a  low-grow- 
ing species  like  Cn'tvus  acaule ;  for,  whether  we  take  into  con- 
sideration the  accident  to  the  Queen  or  the  bare-footed  Dane, 
or  the  configuration  of  the  flower-head  itself,  it  more  closely  re- 
sembles the  representations  we  find  on  many  of  the  sculptured 
stones  than  either  of  the  others.  Some  have  supposed  it  to  be 
Carduus  acanthoides ;  but  this,  as  well  as  all  the  rest,  is  less  for- 
midably furnished  with  those  strong  spiny  scales  with  which  the 
receptacle  of  Silybum  Marianum  is  so  amply  provided.  This  cir- 
cumstance agrees  with  the  sculptured  representations  found  on 
the  oldest  parts  of  Stirling  Castle,  Linlithgow  Palace,  or  Holyrood 
House,  especially  with  one  on  the  top  of  a  garden  doorway  oppo- 
site the  new  fountain,  in  front  of  the  entrance  to  the  latter,  which 
is  more  like  the  head  of  Cynara  Scolymus,  the  globe  artichoke,  a 
native  of  the  South  of  Europe,  than  any  thistle  in  the  world. 
Uncertain  as  the  Scotch  are  regarding  the  species  of  their  national 
emblem,  or  even  of  its  being  a  native,  they  are  no  more  so  than 
the  English  are  regarding  the  species  of  rose  they  have  adopted. 
No  double  rose  existed  in  Britain  at  the  period  it  was  introduced 
into  the  national  escutcheon  ;  therefore,  it  must  have  been  bor- 
rowed from  the  French ;  who  even,  in  their  turn,  cannot  now 
tell  what  species  of  iris  their  fleur-de-lis  is  meant  to  represent. 
Nor  are  the  Irish  agreed  as  to  whether  their  shamrock  is  derived 
from  a  series  of  Trifolium,  or  from  Oxalis  acetosella.  The  ancient 
Britons,  as  the  Welsh  call  themselves,  have  adopted  the  leek, 
Allium  porum>  a  native  of  Switzerland. — Scottish  Farmer. 

King  and  Queen. 

It  is  curious  to  find  Lord  Buckhurst  and  Recorder  Fleetwood 
engaged  in  a  conversation  on  the  excellency  of  the  regal  dignity 
of  a  King,  as  they  rode  from  London  to  Windsor  in  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth,  (1575,)  in  the  company  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  who 
travelled  according  to  his  own  pompous  notions,  with  divers 


90  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

knights  and  noble  gentlemen,  and  a  princely  cavalcade  of  atten- 
dants. Mr.  Recorder,  riding  between  my  Lord  of  Leicester  and 
Lord  Buckhurst,  as  they  passed  <(  alonge  by  Saint  James's  walles," 
began  the  debate ;  when  the  great  lawyer  laid  down  :* 

"  I  doe  read  that  this  worde  Kinge  is  a  Saxon  terme,  and  doe  originallye 
comme  and  growe  out  of  this  ould  Saxon  word  cyning,  which  doth  signefie 
a  cuninge,  a  wyse,  a  virtuous,  a  polleticque,  and  a  prudent  person,  fitt  to 
governe  as  well  in  peace  as  in  warres ;  and  this  word  Queene,  in  the  same 
tongue,  is  in  effect  of  the  same  force,  referringe  the  same  to  the  female 
sex,  and  therefore  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  crowne  of  England  is  not 
alwayes  bound  especiallye  to  be  governed  by  the  male  ;  but  yf  there  wante 
.heyres  males,  then  ought  it  to  descend  to  the  heyres  females,  as  it  appeareth 
by  the  judgmente  given  jtouchinge  the  dawghters  of  Zelophehad  (xxvi. 
33  Numbers),  and  as  it  did  in  the  tyme  of  the  Bryttons  descend  upon 
Queen  Cordelia,  who  was  queene  of  this  realme  before  the  Incarnation  of 
Christ  805  years,  even  at  that  tyme  that  the  good  King  Ozias  did  repayer 
the  cittye  of  Jerusalem,  which  was  in  the  yeare  of  the  worlde  3358.  This 
-Cordelia  was  dawghter  of  Kinge  Leire,  who  buylded  the  auntient  cittye  of 
Leicester;  yea,  and  is  it  a  most  true  and  playne  matter,  that  the  crowne  of 
England  maye  descend  and  come  to  the  female  dawghter,  where  there 
lacketh  heyre  male,  as  it  did  untoMawde  the  Empresse,  who  was  dawghter 
to  Kinge  Henrye  the  First,  and  by  the  meane  that  William,  Mary,  and 
Richard,  the  children  of  the  same  King  Henry  the  First,  were  drowned  in 
the  seas  by  shipwracke,  it  soe  fell  out  the  said  Mawde  the  Empresse  became 
sole  heyre,  and  notwithstandinge  an  ynterruption  made  by  Kinge  Stephen 
•the  intruder  (for  that  is  his  proper  addition  in  the  antient  chronicles),  yett 
the  judgmente  fell  out  for  her  parte,  and  she  and  her  posteritye,  even  to 
this  daye,  have  justlye  and  most  rightfullye  enjoyed  the  crowne  without 
any  enterclayme  of  anye  person  that  ever  hath  bine  heard  of."  To  this 
Leicester  replies :  "I  see  that  this  is  a  greate  and  good  proofe  that, the 
female  hath  had  and  enjoyed  the  crowne  of  England  by  just  and  lawfull 
tytle,"  &c. — Archaeology  xxxvii. 

Title  of  Majesty,  and  the  Royal  "  We." 

It  is  a  common  error  to  suppose  Charles  V.  to  have  been  the 
originator  of  this  sovereign  title.  Its  earliest  use  is  to  denote  the 
dignity  of  the  Roman  people.  Thence  the  Emperors  borrowed 
it  as  the  representatives  of  the  people,  in  accordance  with  the 
Lex  Regia.  They  were  called  "  Majestas  Augusta,"  and  even 
*e  Regia  Majestas."  In  later  times  this  title  was  applied  to  the 
Emperor  Louis  the  Pious ;  and  Charles  the  Bald  assumes  it  in 
one  of  his  charters.  It  is  also  found  attributed  to  some  of  the 
Popes.  Charles  V.  at  most  gave  it  fixity  and  continuance,  instead 

*  In  the  Itinerarium  ad  Windsor* 


DIGNITIES  AND  DISTINCTIONS.  [91 

of  its  being  adopted  and  discontinued  by  turns.  Francis  I.  of 
France,  at  the  interview  with  Henry  VIII.  of  England,  on  the 
.Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,  addressed  the  latter  as  « Your 
Majesty,"  1520.  James  I.  coupled  with  this  title  the  term, 
«  Sacred,"  and  "  Most  Excellent  Majesty." 

The  royal  u  We"  represents,  or  was  supposed  originally  to  re- 
present, the  source  of  the  national  power,  glory,  and  intellect,  in 
the  august  power  of  the  Sovereign.  "  Le  Roi  le  veut" — the  King 
will  have  it  so — sounded  as  arrogantly  as  it  was  meant  to  sound 
in  the  royal  Norman  mouth.  It  is  a  mere  form,  now  that  royalty 
in  England  has  been  relieved  of  responsibility.  In  haughtiness  of 
expression  it  was  matched  by  the  old  French  formula  at  the  end 
of  a  decree :  "For  such  is  our  good  pleasure."  The  royal  sub- 
scription in  Spain  is  "  Yo,  el  Re,"  7,  the  King.  The  first  "  King's 
speech"  ever  delivered  was  by  Henry  I.,  in  1 107.  Exactly  a  cen- 
tury later,  King  John  first  assumed  the  royal  "We:"  it  had 
never  before  been  employed  in  England.  The  same  monarch  was 
the  first  English  King  who  claimed  for  England  the  sovereignty 
of  the  seas.  "  Grace,"  and  "  my  Liege"  were  the  ordinary  titles 
by  which  our  Henry  VI.  was  addressed.  "  Excellent  Grace" 
was  given  to  Henry  VI.,  who  was  not  the  one,  nor  yet  had  the 
other.  Edward  IV.  was  "Most  High  and  Mighty  Prince.'' 
Henry  VII.  was  the  first  English  Highness. 

"  Dieu  et  Mon  Droit." 

The  earliest  notice  that  has  been  found  of  the  Sovereign's  pre- 
sent motto,  "  Dieu  et  mon  Droit,"  is  in  the  i3th  Henry  VI., 
J435>  when  a  gown,  embroidered  with  silver  crowns,  and  with 
the  motto  "  Dieu  et  mon  Droit,"  is  mentioned  in  a  roll  at  Carlton- 
ride. — Sir  Harris  Nicolas;  Archaologia,  vol.  xxxi. 

Plume  and  Motto  of  the  Prince  of  Wales. 

Dr.  Doran,  F.S.A.,  has  thus  briefly  told  their  history,  profiting 
in  his  inquiry  by  the  researches  of  Sir  Harris  Nicolas : — "  Old 
Randall  Holmes  solved  the  difficulty  in  his  summary  way,  by 
asserting  that  the  ostrich  feathers  were  the  blazon  on  the  war- 
banner  of  the  ancient  Britons.  The  only  thing  that  in  any  way 
resembles  the  triple  feathers  in  ancient  British  heraldry  is  to  be 
found  on  the  azure  shield  of  arms  of  King  Roderick  Mawr,  on 
which  the  tails  of  that  monarch's  three  lions  are  seen  coming 
between  their  legs,  and  turning  over  their  backs,  with  the  gentle 
fall  of  the  tips,  like  the  graceful  bend  of  the  feathers  in  the  Prince's 


KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


badge.  The  feathers  themselves,  however,  do  not  appear  in  con- 
nexion with  our  Princes  of  Wales  until  after  the  battle  in  which 
the  blind  King  of  Bohemia  lost  his  life.  The  crest  of  the  Bohe- 
mian monarch  was  an  eagle's  wing  ;  as  for  the  motto  of  Ich  d'ten, 
it  was  assumed  by  the  Prince  to  characterize  his  humility,  in 
accordance  with  a  fashion  followed  to  a  late  period  even  by  prin- 
cesses— Elizabeth  of  York,  for  instance,  took  that  of  "  Humble 
and  Reverent."  Edward  of  Woodstock,  therefore,  did  not  adopt 
either  the  badge  or  the  legend  of  the  dead  King  of  Bohemia ;  such 
is  the  conclusion  at  which  nearly  all  persons  who  have  examined 
into  this  difficult  question  have  arrived.  Nevertheless,  John, 
Count  of  Luxemburg,  was  the  original  style  and  title  of  him  who 
was  elected  King  of  Bohemia,  and  fell  so  bravely  and  unnecessarily 
at  Cressy.  Now,  the  ostrich  feather  (was  a  distinction  of  Luxem- 
burg ;  and  it  is  from  such  origin  that  the  Princes  of  Wales  derive 
the  graceful  plumes,  which  are  their  distinguishing  badge,  but  not 
their  crest.  This  much  is  stated  by  Sir  H.  Nicolas,  in  the  Archxo- 
logia  (xxxi.  252)  ;  and  Mr.  D'Eyncourt  (Gent.  Mag.  xxxvi.  621) 
suggests  that  the  King  of  Bohemia's  crest  looks  more  like  ostrich 
feathers  than  a  vulture's  wing.  The  question  may  be  considered 
as  having  been  set  at  rest  by  John  de  Ardern.  He  was  a  phy- 
sician, contemporary  with  the  Black  Prince ;  and  in  a  manuscript 
of  his  in  the  Sloane  Collection  (76  fo.  61),  Ardern  distinctly  states 
that  the  Prince  derived  the  feathers  from  the  blind  King.  In  the 
directions  given  in  this  will  for  the  funeral  procession,  banners 
bearing  the  arms  of  France  and  England  quarterly,  and  others 
with  the  ostrich-plume,  are  respectively  described  as  those  of  war 
and  peace.  The  ostrich  symbolised  Justice,  its  feathers  being 
nearly  all  of  equal  length." 

Victoria. 

The  first  time  this  name  occurs  in  English  history  is  as  belong- 
ing to  a  "Mastres  (Mistress)  Victoria,"  who  was  one  of  the 
attendants,  "  Gentylwomen,"  upon  Queen  Katherine,  when  she 
accompanied  her  husband,  Henry  VIII.,  to  the  gorgeous  meeting 
of  the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold  (June,  1520).  Each  gentyl- 
woman  was  allowed  "  a  woman,  ij  men  servantes,  and  ijj  horses." 
And  the  Queen  had  265  of  all  ranks,  and  they  in  turn  had  999, 
making  the  total  number  1260  persons.  The  King's  retinue 
amounted  to  4544  ;  Wolsey  had  above  400. 


DIGNITIES  AND  DISTINCTIONS.  93 


English  Crowns. 

The  crowns  worn  in  former  times  by  the  kings  of  England 
have  varied  much  in  form  and  material.  The  Saxon  kings  had  a 
crown  consisting  of  a  simple  fillet  of  gold.  Egbert  improved  its 
appearance  by  placing  on  the  fillet  a  row  of  points  or  rays ;  and 
after  him,  Edmond  Ironside  tipped  these  points  with  pearl; 
William  the  Conqueror  had  on  his  coronet  points  and  leaves 
placed  alternately,  each  point  being  tipped  with  three  pearls,  while 
the  whole  crown  was  surmounted  with  a  cross.  William  Rufus 
discontinued  the  leaves.  Henry  I.  had  a  row  of 'fleur-de-lis ;  from 
this  time  to  Edward  III.  the  crown  was  variously  ornamented  with 
points  and  fleur-de-lis,  placed  alternately ;  but  this  monarch  en- 
riched his  crown  with  fleur-de-lis  and  crosses  alternately,  as  at 
present.  Edward  IV.  was  the  first  who  wore  a  close  crown,  with 
two  arches  of  gold,  embellished  with  pearls  ;  and  the  same  form, 
with  trifling  variations,  has  been  continued  to  the  present  day. 
The  English  crown,  called  the  "  St.  Edward's  crown,"  was  made 
in  imitation  of  the  ancient  crown  said  to  be  worn  by  that  monarch, 
kept  in  Westminster  Abbey  till  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  Wars  in 
England,  when,  with  the  rest  of  the  regalia,  it  was  seized  and  sold 
in  1642.  A  new  crown  was  prepared  for  the  coronation  of 
Charles  II.:  it  is  set  with  pearls  and  precious  stones,  as  diamonds, 
rubies,  emeralds,  sapphires ;  it  has  a  mound  of  gold  on  the  top, 
enriched  with  a  fillet  of  the  same  metal,  covered  also  with  precious 
stones ;  the  cap  is  of  purple  velvet,  lined  with  white  silk,  and 
turned  up  with  ermine. 

The  Imperial  State  Crown. 

Professor  Tennant,  the  well-known  mineralogist,  thus  minutely 
describes  the  Imperial  State  Crown  of  Her  Majesty  Queen  Victoria, 
which  was  made  by  Messrs.  Rundell  and  Bridge  in  the  year  1838, 
with  jewels  taken  from  old  Crowns,  and  others  furnished  by  com- 
mand of  her  Majesty: 

The  Crown  consists  of  diamonds,  pearls,  rubies,  sapphires,  and  emeralds, 
set  in  silver  and  gold  ;  it  has  a  crimson  velvet  cap  with  ermine  border,  and 
is  lined  with  white  silk.  Its  gross  weight  is  39  oz.  5  dwts.  troy.  The 
lower  part  of  the  band,  above  the  ermine  border,  consists  of  a  row  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty-nine  pearls,  and  the  upper  part  of  the  band  a  row  of 
one  hundred  and  twelve  pearls,  between  which,  in  front  of  the  Crown,  is 
a  large  sapphire  (partly  drilled),  purchased  for  the  Crown  by  His  Majesty 
King  George  the  Fourth.  At  the  back  is  a  sapphire  of  smaller  size,  and 
six  other  sapphires  (three  on  each  side),  between  which  are  eight  emeralds. 


KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


Above  and  below  the  seven  sapphires  are  fourteen  diamonds,  and 
around  the  eight  emeralds  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  diamonds.  Be- 
tween the  emeralds  and  sapphires  are  sixteen  trefoil  ornaments,  containing 
one  hundred  and  sixty  diamonds.  Above  the  band  are  eight  sapphires 
surmounted  by  eight  diamonds,  between  which  are  eight  festoons  consisting 
of  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  diamonds. 

In  front  of  the  Crown,  and  in  the  centre  of  a  diamond  Maltese  cross,  is 
the  famous  ruby  said  to  have  been  given  to  Edward  Prince  of  Wales,  son 
of  Edward  the  Third,  called  the  Black  Prince,  by  Don  Pedro,  King  of 
Castile,  after  the  battle  of  Najera,  near  Vittoria,  A.D.  1367.  This  ruby 
was  worn  in  the  helmet  of  Henry  the  Fifth  at  the  battle  of  Agincourt, 
A.D.  1415.  It  is  pierced  quite  through  after  the  Eastern  custom,  the  upper 
part  of  the  piercing  being  filled  up  by  a  small  ruby.  Around  this  ruby,  to 
form  the  cross,  are  seventy-five  brilliant  diamonds.  Three  other  Maltese 
crosses,  forming  the  two  sides  and  back  of  the  Crown,  have  emerald  centres, 
and  contain  respectively  one  hundred  and  thirty-two,  one  hundred  and 
twenty-  four,  and  one  hundred  and  thirty  brilliant  diamonds. 

Between  the  four  Maltese  crosses  are  four  ornaments  in  the  form  of  the 
French  fleur-de-lis,  with  four  rubies  in  the  centres,  and  surrounded  by  rose 
diamonds,  containing  respectively  eighty-five,  eighty-six,  and  eighty-seven 
rose  diamonds. 

From  the  Maltese  crosses  issue  four  imperial  arches  composed  of  oak- 
leaves  and  acorns  ;  the  leaves  containing  seven  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
rose,  table,  and  brilliant  diamonds  j  thirty-two  pearls  forming  the  acorns, 
set  in  cups  containing  fifty-four  rose  diamonds  and  one  table  diamond.  The 
total  number  of  diamonds  in  the  arches  and  acorns  is  one  hundred  and 
eight  brilliants,  one  hundred  and  sixteen  table,  and  five  hundred  and  fifty- 
nine  rose  diamonds. 

From  the  upper  part  of  the  arches  are  suspended  four  large  pendent  pear- 
shaped  pearls,  with  rose  diamond  caps,  containing  twelve  rose  diamonds, 
and  stems  containing  twenty-four  very  small  rose  diamonds.  Above  the  arch 
stands  the  mound,  containing  in  the  lower  hemisphere  three  hundred  and 
four  brilliants,  and  in  the  upper  two  hundred  and  forty-four  brilliants  j  the 
zone  and  arc  being  composed  of  thirty-three  rose  diamonds.  The  cross  on 
the  summit  has  a  rose-cut  sapphire  in  the  centre,  surrounded  by  four  large 
brilliants,  and  one  hundred  and  eight  smaller  brilliants. 

The  following  is  the  summary  of  jewels  comprised  in  the  Crown  :  — 


I  Large  ruby,  irregularly  polished. 

I  Large  broad-spread  sapphire. 
16  Sapphires. 
II  Emeralds. 

4  Rubies. 


1 363  Brilliant  diamonds. 
1273  Rose  diamonds. 

147  Table  diamonds. 
4  Drop-shaped  pearls. 

273  Pearls. 


It  is  difficult  to  declare  what  is  the  precise  value  of  the  jewels 
in  the  Queen's  crown ;  but  it  is  confidently  affirmed  that, 
unlike  most  other  princely  crowns  in  Europe,  whether  of  kings, 
emperors,  or  grand  dukes,  all  the  jewels  in  the  British  crown 


DIGNITIES  AND  DISTINCTIONS.  95 

are  really  precious  stones ;  whereas  in  other  state  crowns  valuable 
stones  have  been  replaced  by  coloured  glass,  and  the  consequence 
is  that  their  estimated  value  is  far  beyond  what  such  crown  jewels 
are  really  worth. 

Queen's  Messengers. 

The  Queen's  foreign-service  Messengers  are  fifteen  in  number. 
The  first  three  for  service  are  obliged  to  be  in  attendance  at  the 
Foreign-office.  Formerly  there  was  no  distinction  between  them 
and  the  home-service  messengers ;  they  were  all  under  the  Lord 
Chamberlain,  and  their  connexion  with  his  office  is  said  to  be  the 
origin  of  the  silver  greyhound  pendent  from  their  badge.  At  a 
later  period  they  were  transferred  to  the  Secretaries  of  State,  and 
took  journeys  abroad  indifferently  in  their  turn,  but  in  1824  there 
was  a  separation  into  home  and  foreign  service.  Lord  Malmesbury 
reduced  the  number  of  foreign -service  messengers  from  eighteen 
to  fifteen ;  and  these  are  found  quite  sufficient,  owing  to  the  greater 
speed  with  which  journeys  are  now  performed,  and  the  intro- 
duction of  the  electric  telegraph  rendering  many  journeys  unne- 
cessary. The  Queen's  messengers  formerly  had  very  small  salaries, 
only  6o/.  a  year,  but  made  large  profits  by  mileage  and  other  allow- 
ances when  employed.  The  situation  .was  worth  Soo/.  or  QOC/. 
a  year  ;  it  has  been  altered  to  a  salary  of  525/.  and  the  travelling 
expenses.  This  was  considered  by  the  messengers  too  great  a 
reduction  of  their  income.  Earl  Russell  has  introduced  a  new  plan, 
giving  them  salaries  of  4OO/.  a  year  and  i/.  a  day  for  their  personal 
expenses  while  employed  abroad,  besides  their  travelling  expenses. 
Queen's  messengers  are  treated  with  great  kindness  and  conside- 
ration abroad ;  they  are  usually  invited  to  the  Minister's  table. 
They  are  examined  on  appointment  by  the  Civil  Service  Com- 
missioners: the  qualifications  required  are  an  age  between  twenty- 
five  and  thirty-five,  some  knowledge  of  French,  German,  or  Italian, 
and  ability  to  ride  on  horseback.  The  home-service  messengers 
occupy  a  very  inferior  position. 

Presents  and  Letters  to  the  §>ueen. 

The  resolution  of  the  Royal  Family  to  decline  all  presents  was 
conveyed,  in  1847,  to  a  gentleman  at  Sheffield,  in  the  following 
official  letter  from  Sir  Denis  Le  Marchant :— «  Whitehall,  Oct.  5, 
1847:  In  the  absence  of  Secretary  Sir  George  Grey,  I  have  to 
acknowledge  the  receipt  of  a  small  box,  containing  a  gold  bijou, 
sent  by  you  to  the  Queen,  as  a  present  for  his  Royal  Highness  the 
Prince  of  Wales  j  but,  in  consequence  of  the  very  great  number 


96  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


of  presents  of  this  nature  which  have  been  offered  to  her  Majesty, 
it  has  been  found  absolutely  necessary,  to  avoid  the  possibility  of 
giving  individual  offence,  that  her  Majesty  should  decline  presents 
generally,  and  the  box  is  therefore  declined."  [This  rule  is  not, 
however,  invariably  observed.] 

Again,  it  is  contrary  to  established  rule  for  the  Lord  Cham- 
berlain to  receive  any  letter  addressed  to  Her  Majesty,  if  the  same 
be  sealed. 

Sir  G.  B.Phipps  explains  in  a  letter  the  absence  of  her  Majesty's 
name  from  the  subscription-list  for  the  widow  of  the  late  Captain 
Harrison,  of  the  Great  Eastern.  He  states:  "  It  is  contrary  to 
established  rule  for  her  Majesty  the  Queen,  or  the  Prince  Consort, 
to  join  a  subscription  for  a  private  individual." 

The  Prince  of  Waterloo. 

It  will  be  recollected  that,  in  1815,  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
received  the  grant  of  Prince  of  Waterloo,  which  was  understood 
to  have  been  given  to  his  Grace  and  to  his  direct  descendants. 
After  the  death  of  the  Duke  in  1852,  the  question  of  succession 
to  the  title  was  discussed  in  the  Belgian  House  of  Representatives, 
when,  in  reply  to  a  request  for  information  upon  the  subject,  M. 
Frere-Oban  stated  that,  upon  inquiry,  he  had  learned  that  the 
direct  line  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  was  not  extinct ;  for 
although  the  rights  claimed  by  his  son  were  contested,  because  at 
the  time  of  his  birth  the  system  of  registration  was  imperfect  or 
irregular,  yet  it  had  subsequently  been  proved  by  other  means, 
and  particularly  by  an  inscription  in  a  family  Bible,  that  the  pre- 
sent Duke  was  the  legitimate  offspring  of  the  first  Prince  of 
Waterloo,  and  as  such  was  entitled  to  be  recognised  as  one 
of  the  drect  lineal  descendants  who  were  included  in  the 
original  g.ant. 

The  See  of  London. 

It  may  not  be  generally  known  that  the  See  of  London  was 
archiepiscopal  in  the  time  of  the  ancient  Britons,  before  the  mission 
of  August  ne.  In  the  thousand  years  which  intervened  between 
his  era  and  that  of  the  Reformation,  the  See  of  London  numbered 
no  less  than  eighty  prelates,  the  most  distinguished  of  U'hom  were 
St.  Dunstan,  Warham,  Courtenay,  and  Bonner,  the  last  of  whom 
was  deprived  by  King  Edward  VI.,  and  again,  after  his  tempo- 
rary restoration  under  Queen  Mary,  by  Elizabeth.  The  reformed 
list  commences  with  Bishop  Ridley,  who  was  burnt  at  Oxford 
under  Queen  Mary;  and  from  whom  the  present  occupant  of  the 
See,  Dr.  'fait,  is  twenty-eighth  in  descent.  Among  those  pre- 


DIGNITIES  AND  DISTINCTIONS.  97 

lates  occur  the  names  of  Grindal,  Bancroft,  Abbott,  Laud,  Juxon, 
and  Sheldon,  all  of  whom  were  eventually  promoted  to  arch- 
bishoprics— Grindal  to  York,  and  the  rest  to  Canterbury.  One 
prelate  before  the  Reformation,  Bishop  Tonstal,  and  one  since 
that  time,  Bishop  Montaigne,  were  translated  from  London  to 
the  wealthier  See  of  Durham  ;  but  from  Dr.  Sheldon,  who  held 
the  See  after  the  Restoration,  down  to  Dr.  Howley,  the  imme- 
diate predecessor  of  Bishop  Blomfield,  not  a  single  instance  occurs 
either  of  a  translation  from  the  See  of  London,  or  of  a  direct  ap- 
pointment to  the  bishopric,  except  by  translation  from  another 
see.  The  Diocese  of  London,  until  the  last  few  years,  com- 
prised the  counties  of  Essex  and  Middlesex.  By  a  recent  enact- 
ment, however,  the  former  county  has  been  transferred  to  the 
diocese  of  Rochester,  in  exchange  for  the  parishes  of  Charlton, 
Woolwich,  Deptford,  Greenwich,  and  other  suburban  d.stricts 
in  the  county  of  Kent.  To  these  at  the  next  avoidance  of  the 
See  of  Winchester  will  be  added  the  whole  of  Southwark,  Lam- 
beth, Clapham,  Wandsworth,  Tooting,  and  Battersea,  together 
with  one  or  two  adjoining  districts  in  the  county  of  Surrey. 

"Expense  of  Baronetcy  and  Knighthood. 

The  fees  chargeable  on  a  Baronetcy  in  the  Heralds'-office  are 
reported  by  Sir  C.  G.  Young,  Garter  King-at-Arms,  to  amount 
to  2 1/.  28.  3d.  (payable  to  the  Heralds'  College),  besides  which 
there  is  a  sum  of  \^L  28.  4d.,  "incidental  to  the  creation  of  a 
baronet,"  and  payable  for  the  necessary  certificate  of  his  arms 
and  pedigree  registered  in  the  college,  so  that  the  sum  total  pay- 
able to  the  Heralds'-office  is  367.  48.  7d.  The  newly-created 
baronet,  it  would  appear,  is  further  mulcted  by  the  Crown-office 
in  the  sum  total  of  257/.  95.  id.,  of  which  i2O/.  is  for  stamps, 
nearly  58/.  for  the  royal  household,  and  2i/.  for  the  heralds. 

The  Knight  Bachelor  is  required  to  pay  a  fee  of  p/.  8s.  3d. 
if  the  dignity  is  conferred  by  the  Sovereign;  gl.  133.  6d.  if  it  is 
conferred  by  patent ;  and  i8/.  153.  2d.  when  the  knighthood  is 
conferred  prior  to  the  admission  into  the  Order  of  the  Bath  as  a 
G.C.B.  This  is  in  the  Heralds'-office.  In  the  Crown-office  a 
sum  of  i55/.  i2S.  iod.  is  exacted,  of  which  3o/.  is  for  stamps  and 
697.  195.  4d.  for  the  royal  household.  As  regards  the  Order  of 
the  Bath,  there  are  no  fees  chargeable  by  the  Heralds'  College, 
except  on  the  preliminary  grade  of  common  Knighthood  already- 
described. 

The  roDes,  collars,  and  badges  for  the  Knights  of  the  several 
Orders  are  also  very  costly.  The  sum  of  46257.  ics.  7d.  was 
charged  for  items,  including  four  silver  boxes  for  the  great  seal  of 

H 


KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


the  Order  of  the  Garter  for  the  Sultan  and  the  King  of  Sardinia, 
repairs  of  collars,  ribands,  stationery,  &c.  The  complete  robes, 
of  the  Order  of  the  Garter  for  the  King  of  Sardinia  cost  34  6/.,  and 
the  same  for  the  Sultan  (excepting  the  silver  under-dress),  2797. 
Two  mantles  of  the  Garter  and  one  of  the  Thistle  cost  ipo/. 
The  banner  of  the  King  of  Sardinia  in  St.  George's  Chapel  is 
charged  by  the  herald  painter  at  2"tl.  175.  6d.  The  gold- 
smith charges  23787.  for  140  new  military  companions'  badges, 
at  1 67.  QS.  yd.  each;  1957.  for  fifteen  new  civil  commanders' 
badges,  at  i^/.  each  ;  3O2/.  for  130  new  civil  companions' 
badges  at  io7.  is.  p^d.  each ;  1577.  for  nine  new  silver  enamelled 
stars  (G.C.B.),  at  177.  -LOS.  each;  26i7.  for  eighteen  new  military 
K.C.B.  stars,  at  147.  ros. ;  and  2957.  for  re-enamelling  and  "making 
as  new"  twelve  collars  and  eighty-eight  badges, besides  other  items. 
These  honours  have,  on  some  occasions,  been  made  as  profitable 
to  the  Sovereign  as  to  his  officers  of  State.  James  I.  became  the 
subject  of  much  ridicule,  not  quite  unmerited,  for  putting  honours 
to  sale.  He  created  the  order  of  baronet,  which  he  disposed  of 
for  a  sum  of  money ;  and  it  seems  that  he  sold  common  knight- 
hood as  low  as  thirty  pounds,  at  least  it  was  so  reported.  In  the 
old  play  of  Eastward  Hoe,  one  of  the  characters  says :  t(  I  know 
the  man  well :  he  is  one  of  my  thirty-pound  knights." 

The  Aristocracy. 

Mr.  Lothair  Bucher,  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Philological 
Society,  Berlin,  1 858,  writes : 

"One  may  safely  affirm  beforehand  that  the  word  ARISTOCRACY  has 
been  part  and  parcel  of  the  English  language  from  a  very  early  period.  But 
the  Attorney-General  in  Home  Tooke's  trial  (1795)  in  enumerating  the 
new  opinions  propagated  by  the  friends  of  the  accused,  and  the  new 
terms  in  which  they  conveyed  those  opinions,  says — 'To  the  rich  was 
given  the  name  Aristocracy  ,•*  and  in  considering  this  application  of  the 
term  as  a  new  one,  he  is  evidently  quite  correct." 

"  Now,"  writes  a  critic  in  the  Saturday  Review,  "  Aristocracy  is  the 
name  of  a  particular  form  of  Government ;  it  is  an  abuse  of  language  to 
apply  it  to  a  class  of  people.  Yet,  when  one  says — '  the  Government  of 
Berne  was  an  aristocracy,'  it  is  a  very  slight  change  to  speak  of '  the  aristo- 
cracy of  Berne,'  meaning  the  patrician  order,  or  its  members.  The  word 
was  doubtless  brought  into  use  in  England  because  the  class  which  it  was 
intended  to  stigmatize  as  an  '  aristocracy '  was  a  class  more  extensive  than 
the  '  nobility,'  in  the  English  use  of  that  word.  Now  the  name  has  ceased 
to  be  a  stigma.  The  words  *  aristocrat,'  *  aristocratic,'  *  aristocracy,'  are 
often  used  in  a  complimentary  way.  But,  to  our  taste  at  least,  there  is 
always  a  smack  of  vulgarity  about  them." 


DIGNITIES  AND   DISTINCTIONS.  99 


Precedence  in  Parliament. 

To  the  readers  of  the  reports  of  parliamentary  debates,  in  the 
newspapers,  it  may  be  useful  to  state,  upon  the  authority  of  Mr. 
May,  that  "  in  the  Commons  no  places  are  particularly  allotted  to 
members  ;  but  it  is  the  custom  for  the  front  bench  on  the  right 
hand  of  the  (Speaker's)  chair  to  be  appropriated  for  the  members 
of  the  Administration,  which  is  called  the  Treasury  or  Privy 
Councillors'  Bench.  The  front  bench  on  the  opposite  side  is 
usually  reserved  for  the  leading  members  of  the  Opposition 
who  have  served  in  high  offices  of  State ;  but  other  members 
occasionally  sit  there,  especially  when  they  have  any  motion  to 
offer  to  the  House.  And  on  the  opening  of  a  new  Parliament, 
the  members  for  the  city  of  London  claim  the  privilege  of  sitting 
on  the  Treasury  or  Privy  Councillors'  Bench." — May,  on  the 
Practice  and  Law  of  Parliament. 

Sale  of  Seats  in  Parliament. 

The  smaller  boroughs  having  been  from  the  earliest  period 
under  the  command  of  neighbouring  peers  and  gentlemen,  or 
sometimes  of  the  Crown,  were  first  observed  to  be  attempted  by 
rich  capitalists  in  the  general  elections  of  1747  and  1755:  though 
the  prevalence  of  bribery  in  a  less  degree  is  attested  by  the  statute- 
book,  and  the  journals  of  Parliament  from  the  Revolution,  it 
seemed  not  to  have  broken  the  flood-gates  till  the  end  of  the 
reign  of  George  II.,  or  rather  perhaps  the  first  part  of  the  next. 
The  sale  at  least  of  seats  in  Parliament,  like  any  other  transferable 
property,  is  never  mentioned  in  any  book  that  the  writer  remem- 
bers to  have  seen  of  an  earlier  date  than  1760.  The  country  gen- 
tlemen had  long  endeavoured  to  protect  their  ascendancy  by  ex- 
cluding the  rest  of  the  community  from  Parliament.  This  was  the 
principle  of  the  Bill,  which,  after  being  repeatedly  attempted,  passed 
into  a  law  during  the  long  administration  of  Anne,  requiring  every 
member  of  the  Commons,  except  those  for  the  Universities,  to  pos- 
sess, as  a  qualification  for  his  seat,  a  landed  estate,  above  all  incum- 
brance,  of  3oo/.  a-year.  The  law  was,  however,  notoriously 
evaded;  and  was  abolished  in  1858,  by  the  Act  21  Viet.  cap.  26. 

Placemen  in  Parliament, 

In  1694  a  bill  passed  both  Houses  "touching  free  and  impar- 
tial proceedings  in  Parliament,"  against  the  eligibility  of  Place- 
men. On  its  discussion  Mr.  Harley,  afterwards  Earl  of  Oxford, 

H  2 


100  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

remarked,  that t(  in  the  ist  of  James  I.,  the  Chancellor,  studious 
of  the  good  of  the  kingdom,  sent  down  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons a  list  of  the  members  in  office,  and  they  were  turned  out  of 
the  House,  and  new  members  chosen."  King  William,  however, 
refused  his  sanction  to  this  Act.  "A  Dutchman  (says  Mr. 
Burgh)  comes  over  to  Britain  on  pretence  of  delivering  us  from 
slavery,  and  makes  it  one  of  his  first  works  to  plunge  us  into  the 
very  vice  which  has  enslaved  all  the  nations  of  the  world  that  have 
ever  lost  their  liberties.  When  the  Parliament  passed  a  bill  for 
incapacitating  certain  persons  who  might  be  supposed  obvious  to 
Court  influence,  our  glorious  Deliverer  refused  the  royal  assent." 

'  New  Peers. 

Nothing  is  more  plausible  than  to  talk  of  strengthening  an 
order  by  making  it  more  popular  in  its  constitution,  &c. ;  but 
practically,  we  know  that  in  early  days  in  England  nothing  was 
so  ttwpopular  as  a  batch  of  bran-new  potentates.  The  proofs  are 
abundant.  When  James  I.  began  scattering  coronets  ("  crownets" 
they  called  them  in  old  times),  a  wag  issued  a  pamphlet  which 
professed  to  teach  people  "  How  to  remember  the  names  of  the 
Nobility." — Hannay. 

The  Russells. 

Hereditary  likeness  is  one  of  the  commonest  phenomena  in  tt 
world,  and  is  an  index  of  the  moral  resemblance  which  makes 
character  of  a  particular  class  run  through  a  line,  and  thus,  in  free 
countries  like  ours,  produces  hereditary  politics  and  affects  the 
fortunes  of  the  State,  as  was  the  case  at  Rome.  t{  A  Russell," 
says  Niebuhr,  very  justly,  "  could  not  be  an  absolutist ;  the  thing 
would  be  monstrous."  This  conviction  is,  no  doubt,  one  excellent 
reason  why  Liberals  glorify  the  race  with  such  constancy. — 
Hannay.  [Is  not  this  the  reason  why  Lord  John  Russell,  when 
raised  to  the  Peerage  in  1861,  preferred  to  the  Earl  of  Ludlow 
the  title  of  Earl  Russell1?  He  would  not  part  with  the  glory.] 

Political  Cunning. 

The  obtaining  of  the  same  ends  by  opposite  means  is  exemplified 
as  follows : — Jack  Cade,  when  he  wanted  to  be  popular,  called 
himself  a  Mortimer,  and  said  his  wife  was  a  Lacy !  The  great 
Napoleon,  to  win  the  Continent,  on  the  contrary,  professed  that 
he  belonged  to  the  canaille,  though  he  knew,  and  his  brother 
Joseph,  and  all  of  them  well  knew,  that  the  Buonapartes  were 
good  Italian  nobility. — Hannay. 


DIGNITIES  AND  DISTINCTIONS.  101 


The  Union-Jack. 

The  term  "Union-jack"  is  one  which  is  partly  of  obvious 
signification,  and  in  part  somewhat  perplexing.  The  "Union" 
between  England  and  Scotland,  to  which  the  flag  owed  its  origin, 
evidently  supplied  the  first  half  of  the  compound  title  borne  by 
the  flag  itself.  But  the  expression  "jack"  involves  some  diffi- 
culty. Several  solutions  of  this  difficulty  have  been  submitted, 
but,  with  a  single  exception  only,  they  are  by  far  too  subtle  to  be 
considered  satisfactory.  A  learned  and  judicious  antiquary  has 
recorded  it  as  his  opinion,  that  the  flag  of  the  Union  received  the 
title  of  "Union -jack"  from  the  circumstance  of  the  union  between 
England  and  Scotland  having  taken  place  in  the  reign  of  King 
James,  by  whose  command  the  new  flag  was  introduced.  The 
name  of  the  king  in  French, "  Jaques"  would  have  been  certainly 
used  in  heraldic  documents:  the  union  flag  of  king  "Jaques" 
would  very  naturally  be  called  after  the  name  of  its  royal  author, 
Jaques'  union,  or  union  Jaques,  and  so  by  a  simple  process  we 
arrive  at  wnion-jack.  This  suggestion  of  the  late  Sir  Harris 
Nicolas  may  be  accepted  without  any  hesitation;  and  the  term 
"jack v  having  once  been  recognised  as  the  title  of  a  flag,  it  is 
easy  enough  to  trace  its  application  to  several  flags.  Thus  the 
old  white  flag  with  the  red  cross  is  now  called  the  "  St.  George's 
jack ;"  and  English  seamen  are  in  the  habit  of  designating  the 
national  ensigns  of  other  countries  as  the  "jacks"  of  France, 
Russia,  &c. 

We  quote  this  sensible  view  from  the  Art  Journal.  The  paper 
by  Sir  Harris  Nicolas  above  referred  to  will  be  found  in  the  Naval 
and  Military  Magazine  for  1827  ;  and  with  engravings,  in  Brayley's 
Historic  and  Graphic  Illustrator. 

Field- Marshal. 

The  title  of  Field-Marshal  is  one  of  comparatively  modern  date, 
having  been  first  created  only  so  far  back  as  the  reign  of  George  I. 
In  the  London  Gazette  for  the  month  of  January,  1736,  we  find 
it  announced  that  "  His  Majesty  has  been  pleased  to  erect  a  new 
post  of  honour,  under  the  title  of  Marshal  of  the  Armies  of  Great 
Britain,  and  to  confer  the  same  on  the  Duke  of  Argyll  and  the 
Earl  of  Orkney,  as  the  two  eldest  generals  in  the  service."  The 
•corresponding  title  up  to  that  time  would  seem  to  have  been  that 
of  "  captain-general,"  which  was  subsequently  revived,  as  a 
distinction,  in  the  person  of  William  Duke  of  Cumberland,  just 
previous  to  the  Rebellion  of  '45,  and  again  in  that  of  the  late  Duke 


102  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

of  York  in  1799.  The  title  of  field-marshal  has  been  but  spar- 
ingly conferred — only  about  thirty  individuals, exclusive  of  royalty, 
having  been  gazetted  as  field-marshals  during  upwards  of  1 20  years. 

Change  of  Surname. 

The  usage  at  the  Home  Office  in  dealing  with  applications  for 
Change  of  Name  has  been  thus  stated  by  the  Secretary,  Sir 
George  Grey,  there  being  no  written  law  on  the  subject : 

"  About  two  hundred  years  ago,  the  practice  of  applying  for  permission  to 
change  names  arose  5  and  in  ^i  783,  in  consequence  of  the  frequency  of  the 
request,  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  put  some  check  on  it.  A  regula- 
tion was,  therefore,  made  that  all  cases  should  be  referred  to  the  College  of 
Arms.  That  reference  is  not,  however,  necessarily  decisive,  as  it  is  in- 
tended only  for  the  information  of  the  department.  That  usage  has  been 
universally  adopted,  subject  to  the  modification  introduced  by  Sir  Robert 
Peel,  that  where  there  are  no  plausible  grounds  for  an  application,  and  it  is 
obviously  the  mere  result  of  whim  or  caprice,  it  should  be  at  once  declined, 
without  any  reference  to  the  College  of  Arms,  leaving  it  to  the  applicant  to 
change  his  name  on  his  own  responsibility." 

Now,  Sir  Robert  Peel  died  in  1850,  in  which  year  a  gentleman  named 
Laurie  obtained  two  royal  licences  to  change  his  name ;  first  to  Northdate> 
and  then  to  Nuthall,  "  in  compliance  with  the  will  of  the  late  Catherine 
Jack,  spinster,  of  Sloane-street."  In  1851  a  lady  named  Braham  was  per- 
mitted by  royal  licence  to  assume  the  name  of  Medows,  on  the  plea  that 
she  was  "  the  co-heiress  expectant"  of  her  aged  grandmother,  who  was 
so  called.  In  1852  a  gentleman  named  Rust  was  granted  a  royal  licence 
to  assume  his  wife's  maiden  name,  D'Eye,  "out  of  respect  to  her  memory." 
In  1853  a  Mr.  Penny  was  allowed  to  assume  the  name  of  Harwood,  "  by 
wish  of  his  mother,  out  of  respect  to  his  grandmother."  In  1854  Thomas 
Clugas,  of  Guernsey,  was  permitted  by  royal  licence  "  to  use  his  paternal 
name  of  Clucas."  In  1855  a  Miss  Galston  was  allowed  to  assume  the 
name  of  Stepney,  "  out  of  respect  to  her  maternal  ancestors  in  general." 
It  is  difficult  to  conceive  more  trifling  grounds  than  these  on  which  royal 
licences  have  been  granted  in  the  above-quoted  instances. 

The  authorities  are,  however,  divided  in  their  opinions.  The 
Lord  Chancellor  (in  1863)  refused  to  recognise  officially  a  change 
of  name,  because  the  applicant  had  not  obtained  the  royal  licence 
to  bear  that  name,  and  the  arms  connected  with  it ;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Home  Department  has 
declared  that  such  a  licence  is  unnecessary,  and  that  a  name  can 
be  legally  assumed  without  it.  But  the  claim  to  the  new  name 
assumed  can  only  be  established  "  by  usage  of  such  a  length  of 
time  as  to  give  the  change  a  permanent  character,"  a  reservation 
which  has  clogged  the  undoubted  right  of  every  Englishman  to 
assume  any  name  he  pleases,  provided  the  assumption  be  made 


DIGNITIES  AND   DISTINCTIONS.  103 

bonafde,  and  with  reasonable  publicity,  while  it  has  the  effect  of 
placing  everybody  at  the  mercy  of  any  ill-conditioned  official  who 
may  take  pleasure  in  obstructing  him  and  opposing  him. 

Reference  to  the  London  Gazette  proves  that  Royal  licences 
have  hitherto  been  constantly  issued  from  capricious  motives,  and 
on  no  fixed  principle  whatever.  Doubtless,  in  many  cases,  they 
have  been  granted  in  furtherance  of  testamentary  conditions  con- 
nected with  property ;  but  they  have  been  quite  as  often  granted 
merely  to  enable  applicants  to  avoid  names  which  were  distasteful 
to  them,  and  to  assume  others  which  were  more  agreeable  to  them. 

As  the  qualification  which  Sir  George  Grey  and  the  Lord 
Chancellor  appear  desirous  of  affixing  to  the  right  to  change  name, 
without  the  assistance  of  a  Royal  licence,  virtually  cancels  that 
right  altogether  in  a  vast  number  of  cases,  it  becomes,  in  conse- 
quence, highly  important  that  the  rules  by  which  those  indulgences 
are  obtainable,  and  the  amount  of  the  fees  which  must  be  paid  for 
them,  should  be  exactly  made  known. 

A  Parliamentary  Return  states  that  since  1850  415  applications  have 
been  made  for  royal  licence  for  a  change  of  name,  and  398  licences  have 
been  granted.  There  is  a  stamp  duty  of  507.  on  every  such  licence  if  the 
change  of  name  is  made  in  compliance  with  the  injunction  of  any  will  or 
settlement,  and  of  io7.  if  the  application  is  voluntary.  The  fees  payable 
are  stated  to  be  io/.  2s.  6d.  on  a  change  of  name  only  ;  137.  I2s.  6d.  on  a 
change  of  name  and  arms  j  and  i7.  "js.  6d.  for  every  additional  name  in- 
serted in  a  licence ;  which  fees  are  paid  into  the  Exchequer.  But  the  return 
is  described  as  being  made  only  "so  far  as  relates  to  the  Home  Secretary's 
office,"  and  therefore  does  not  appear  to  include  fees  at  the  Heralds' 
College. 

To  conclude — it  does  not  appear  that  the  Queen  either  claims 
or  exercises  any  special  prerogative  whatever  connected  with  the 
subject  of  change  of  surname ;  or  that  a  Royal  licence  is  anything 
more  than  the  recognition  in  the  highest  quarter  of  a  voluntary 
act  already  accomplished.  Its  recipient  is  not  even  compelled  to 
bear  for  a  day  the  surname  which  it  authorizes  him  to  assume ; 
nor  are  other  people  enjoined  by  it  to  recognise  him  by  that  name, 
if  they  are  not  inclined  to  do  so.  The  case  of  the  Right  Hon. 
R.  C.  Dundas,  who  in  1836  obtained  a  Royal  licence,  in  com- 
pliance with  the  conditions  of  a  Will  by  which  he  inherited  a  con- 
siderable estate,  to  bear  the  name  of  Christopher  only,  and  who, 
in  spite  of  that  licence  and  without  either  procuring  its  revocat  on 
or  obtaining  the  grant  of  a  fresh  one,  has  since  sat  in  Parliament 
under  the  surname  of  Nisbet,  and  who  now  bears  the  surname  of 
Hamilton,  assumed  proprio  motu,  completely  establishes  this  point. 


104  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


n 


The  Statute  Law  and  the  Common  Law. 

Lord  Chancellor  Westbury,  in  the  House  of  Peers,  in  the 
Session  of  1863,  made  the  following  statement  with  reference  to 
the  revision  and  expurgation  of  the  Statute  Law,  from  the  earliest 
commencement  of  our  legislation  down  to  the  beginning  of  the 
1 7th  century — the  legislation,  in  fact,  of  about  500  years. 

The  Laws  are  divided  into  Written  and  Unwritten  law.  The 
written  is  the  statute  law,  and  the  decision  of  the  judges  consti- 
tutes the  unwritten  law  of  the  land.  The  Statute  Law*  is  in  a 
great  measure  supplemental  to  the  Common  Law,  and  a  know- 
ledge of  the  common  is  necessary  in  order  to  enable  a  man  to  read 
and  understand  the  statute  law.  The  Common  Law  is  only 
traditionary — it  is  supposed  to  reside  in  the  breasts  of  the  judges ; 
accordingly,  when  it  is  necessary  to  ascertain  it  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  their  lordships  require  the  attendance  of  the  judges,  who 
are  called  upon  to  declare  what  that  law  is.  In  like  manner,  in 
the  great  court  of  equity  to  which  belongs  that  large  portion  of 
natural  justice  which  is  repudiated  by  the  common  law,  the  judges 
have  the  power  of  determining  what  constitutes  the  rudiments  of 
that  law.  This  is,  undoubtedly,  a  dangerous  and  a  difficult  trust. 
It  is  little  less  than  legislative  power,  because  the  sources  of  com- 
mon law  are  of  the  most  varied  character.  It  is  probably  derived 
in  a  great  measure  from  customs  and  usages,  recorded  only  in  the 
memory  of  man ;  it  is  partly  derived,  no  doubt,  from  old  rules 
embodied  in  acts  of  which  no  record  now  exists.  It  is  partly 
made  up  of  relics  of  the  old  Roman  jurisprudence  which  remained 
so  long  throughout  the  land ;  and  it  is  partly  the  result  of  customs 
and  maxims,  handed  down  from  one  generation  to  another.  The 
sources  were  so  varied  in  ancient  times  that  the  custom  of  declar- 
ing the  law  also  varied.  In  the  old  time  it  was  impossible  to  know 
what  the  law  was.  The  judges  were  not  only  legislators,  but  the 
worst  of  legislators — legislators  ex  post  facto.  Accordingly,  at  an 
early  period,  it  became  necessary  for  the  protection  of  liberty,  in 
order  to  get  some  kind  of  approach  to  uniformity,  constancy,  and 

*  The  Statutes  were  inscribed  in  Latin  to  the  time  of  Edward  I.  (1272) ; 
in  Norman-French  to  about  the  time  of  Richard  111.  (1483)5  and  subse- 
quently in  the  English  language. 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  105 

regularity  in  the  law,  that  the  grounds  and  reasons  of  the  judges' 
decisions  should  be  given.  At  first  an  attempt  was  made  to  do 
so  by  entering  the  reasons  for  the  judgments  in  the  rolls  of  the 
court ;  and  our  court  rolls,  preserved  from  the  time  of  Richard  I., 
contain  repeatedly  the  reasons  for  the  decisions  and  sentences. 
At  the  latter  end  of  the  reign  of  Edward  II.,  or  in  the  beginning 
of  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  the  practice  of  reporting  the  decisions 
of  the  judges  began,  and  from  that  period  down  we  have  a  series 
of  judicial  reports  of  those  decisions.  That  was  a  great  security 
for  the  people,  because  it  was  an  approach  to  certainty  in  the  law. 
The  origin  and  reason  of  it  was  a  distinctive  peculiarity  in  the 
English  mind — namely,  the  love  of  precedent,  a  love  of  appealing 
to  precedent  rather  than  indulging  in  abstract  reasoning.  This 
was  the  only  mode  in  which  the  law  was  recorded,  and  the  only 
mode  in  which  it  became  known.  These  reports  were  kept  for  a 
considerable  period  of  time  under  the  superintendence  of  the 
judges  themselves,  and  great  care  was  taken  in  sifting  and  ascer- 
taining the  grounds  of  the  decision.  The  evil  was,  therefore,  com- 
paratively little ;  but  in  course  of  time,  as  the  reports  multiplied 
and  as  the  personal  superintendence  and  care  of  the  judges  were 
withdrawn,  great  complaints  began  to  arise ;  and  so  much  incon- 
venience was  felt  that,  as  early  as  the  time  of  Lord  Bacon,  it 
became  a  subject  of  general  dissatisfaction  which  attracted  his 
attention,  and  led  to  his  compiling  and  publishing  his  celebrated 
book  for  the  amendment  of  the  law  of  England.  The  Lord 
Chancellor,  in  his  revision  and  expurgation,  proposed  to  do  little, 
if  anything  at  all,  more  than  revive  the  proposal  of  Bacon.  "The 
wisdom  and  excellence  of  that  proposal  has  been  admitted  from 
age  to  age ;  and  the  fact  that  nothing  has  been  done  to  give  effect 
to  it  we  must  attribute  to  the  singular  inertia  that  characterized 
the  English  Legislature." 

Curiosities  of  the  Statute  Law.* 

Most  people  have  a  confused  idea  that  as  new  laws  are  made 
old  ones  are  repealed  ;  and  that  the  Statute-Book,  bulky  as  it  is, 
contains  nothing  but  what  every  Englishman  is  bound  to  know 
and  observe.  Such,  however,  is  not  the  case :  for  the  old  laws, 
instead  of  being  cleared  away  to  admit  the  new  ones,  have  been 
allowed  to  remain,  so  that  nine-tenths  of  this  Statute-Law  is 
really  not  law  at  all ;  and  if  the  Statute-Book  were  freed  from 
the  enactments  which  have  become  obsolete,  or  ceased  to  be  in 


*  Selected  and  condensed  from  the  Times,  June  13,  1863. 


106  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

force  without  being  specifically  repealed,  it  would  be  reduced 
from  forty  to  four  or  five  volumes.  Enough  of  confusion,  pro- 
lixity, and  repetition  would  still  remain  within  this  compass  to 
exercise  the  wits  and  fill  the  pockets  of  the  lawyers ;  but  the 
perusal  of  it  would  no  longer  occupy  a  lifetime,  and  this  excuse 
for  our  ignorance  of  it  would  be  very  much  weakened. 

To  show  the  necessity  of  the  revision  of  our  Statute-Book,  we 
shall  quote  from  the  schedule  of  the  Bill  presented  by  the  Lord 
Chancellor  to  the  House- of  Lords  in  the  Session  of  1863,  a 
few  samples  of  useless  or  inoperative  enactments,  to  show  how 
curiously  the  history  of  a  bygone  age  is  reflected  in  its  legislation. 

Here  in  the  midst  of  provisions  confirming  or  modifying  feudal  privileges 
and  liabilities  is,  "The  Sentence  of  Curse  given  by  the  Bishops  against  the 
Breakers  of  the  Charters."  No  less  out  of  place  in  the  Statute-book,  ac- 
cording to  modern  notions,  is  "  The  Award  made  between  the  King  and 
his  Commons  at  Kenilworth."  Next,  we  light  upon  enactments  prescrib- 
ing "  The  Remedy  if  a  Distress  be  impounded  in  a  Castle  or  Fortress,"  and 
prohibiting  the  custom  of  distraining  upon  one  foreigner  for  the  debt  of 
another.  By  the  famous  Statute  Circumspecte  Agat'n  laymen  are  restrained 
from  laying  violent  hands  on  a  clerk,  while  other  Acts  warn  "  men  of 
religion  "  against  aggression  on  their  lay  neighbours.  Then  we  come  to  a 
whole  series  of  sumptuary  laws,  and  laws  for  the  encouragement  or  disci- 
pline of  particular  trades.  Bread  and  ale  are  placed  under  special  protec- 
tion j  butchers  and  cooks  are  forbidden  to  buy  flesh  of  Jews,  and  sell  the 
same  to  Christians ;  exporters  of  wool  are  to  give  surety  to  import  silver  in 
return  }  iron  is  not  to  be  exported  at  all ;  "  no  shoemaker  shall  be  a 
tanner,  nor  any  tanner  a  shoemaker 5"  yet  (by  a  later  Statute)  "shoe- 
makers may  tan  leather  till  the  next  Parliament ;"  all  merchandises  of  a 
certain  kind  are  to  be  carried  to  Calais  j  gowns  and  mantles  are  to  be  worn 
of  a  specified  length  j  salmon,  herring,  and  eels  are  to  be  packed  in  a  spe- 
cified manner ;  long-bows  are  not  to  cost  more  than  a  specified  sum  ;  calves 
are  not  to  be  killed  at  the  will  of  their  owners  ;  the  "  breade  of  horsys  "  is 
subjected  to  State  control ;  and  "  the  stuffynge  of  feather-bedds  "  does  not 
escape  the  vigilance  of  Parliament.  Most  of  these  Acts,  and  a  very  large 
per-centage  of  all  those  which  are  proposed  for  repeal,  have  reference  to  a 
state  of  society  which  has  little  in  common  with  our  own.  Instead  of 
.enacting  that  "every  one  may  put  his  child  to  school,"  we  debate  now-a- 
days  as  to  whether  he  should  not  be  compelled  to  do  so  ;  and,  instead  of 
fixing  the  rate  of  workmen's  wages  by  Act  of  Parliament,  we  tolerate  a 
liberty  of  combination  which  sometimes  enables  them  to  exact  more  than 
the  market  value  of  their  labour.  If  the  habit  of  "telling  slanderous 
Lyes  of  the  Great  Men  of  the  Realm "  is  not  quite  extinct,  it  is  no 
longer  checked  by  penalties,  and  we  are  content  to  leave  "  fonde  and  fan- 
tasticale  Prophesies  "  to  refute  themselves. 

The  expurgation  by  which  it  was  proposed  to  rid  the  Statute- 
book  of  this  lumber  was  originated  some  250  years  ago,  by  Bacon, 
as  stated  in  pp.  104 — 105;  but  the  statutes  which  he 'marked, 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  107 

before  the  Restoration  or  the  Revolution,  before  the  Union  of 
Scotland  or  Ireland,  before  the  abolition  of  the  feudal  tenures, 
before  the  passing  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  still  encumber  the 
Statute-book ;  and  the  plain,  sensible,  and  unanswerable  sug- 
gestions which  he  threw  out  for  the  heroic  work  of  consolidating 
the  statutes  have  remained  without  effect.  Each  succeeding  gene- 
ration has  employed  itself  in  adding  something  more  to  that  mass 
of  evil  which  the  great  philosopher  felt  and  denounced.  If  the 
mind  of  Bacon  was  shocked  at  the  tangled  labyrinth  of  our  Statute 
Law  in  the  reign  of  James  I.,  if  Sir  Matthew  Hale  occupied  his 
mind  with  the  same  subject  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  what 
would  they  have  said  could  they  have  foreseen  the  10,000  statutes 
passed  in  the  reign  of  George  III.,  and  the  Ossa  which  the 
industry  of  the  last  forty-five  years  has  piled  upon  the  shoulders  of 
that  mighty  Pelion  ? 

Secret  of  Success  at  the  Ear. 

Sir  Thomas  Buxton  relates  that  he  once  asked  Sir  James  Scar- 
lett what  was  the  secret  of  his  pre-eminent  success  as  an  advocate 
He  replied  that  he  took  care  to  press  home  the  one  principal  point 
of  the  case,  without  paying  much  attention  to  the  others.  He  also 
said  that  he  knew  the  secret  of  being  short.  "  I  find,''  said  he, 
"  that  when  I  exceed  half  an  hour  I  am  always  doing  mischief  to 
my  client ;  if  I  drive  into  the  heads  of  the  jury  important  matter, 
I  drive  out  matter  more  important  that  I  had  previously  lodged 
there." 

Queen's  Serjeants,  Queen's  Counsel,  and 
Serjeants-at-Law. 

To  remove  certain  doubts  of  very  recent  growth  (cast  upon  a 
matter  previously  deemed  plain  enough),  the  following  statement 
is  the  result  of  a  very  careful  inquiry : — Queen's  Serjeants  are  sworn 
to  "  serve  and  counsel  the  Queen  and  duly  to  minister  the  Queen's 
affairs,  and  sue  the  Queen's  process  after  the  course  of  the  law  and 
after  their  cunning,  and  they  are  to  take  no  fee  of  any  one  against 
the  Queen."  Queen's  counsel,  as  distinguished  from  Queen's  ser- 
jeants,  are  appointed  by  Letters  Patent  under  the  Great  Seal, 
giving  them  precedence  "  in  our  courts  as  elsewhere."  The  oath 
administered  to  Queen's  counsel  is  precisely  the  same  as  the  oath 
administered  to  Queen's  Serjeants.  Next  after  Queen's  counsel 
come  serjeants-at-law,  who,  on  taking  their  degree,  swear  that 
they  shall  "  serve  the  Queen's  people  and  truly  counsel  them  that 
retain  them,  after  their  cunning."  Sometimes  a  serjeant-at-law < 


103  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

applies  for  a  (t  Patent  of  Precedence,"  which  gives  him  precedence 
next  after  the  last  of  the  Queen's  counsel  previously  appointed. 
No  oath  is  administered  on  the  grant  of  a  patent  of  precedence,  as 
it  implies  no  special  service  or  duty  to  the  Grown. 

Do  not  make  your  Son  an  Attorney. 

Apart  from  the  heavy  expenses  which  must,  even  under  the 
most  favourable  circumstances,  attend  the  introduction  of  a  youth 
into  the  legal  profession,  the  fact  must  never  be  lost  sight  of  that 
the  examination  which  articled  clerks  are  now  called  upon  to  pass 
before  they  can  be  admitted  is  of  such  a  rigorous  nature  that  per- 
haps not  one  in  ten  of  the  established  practising  attorneys  could 
undergo  the  ordeal.  Then,  if  we  consider  that  the  legal  profes- 
sion is  at  the  present  moment  vastly  overstocked,  and  reflect  upon 
the  fact  of  numbers  of  clever  young  men,  who  finding  it  impos- 
sible to  beat  out  a  connexion  for  themselves,  either  make  for  one 
of  the  colonies,  or  settle  down  at  home  in  managing  clerkships, 
at  salaries  scarcely  equal  to  the  remuneration  paid  to  skilled  me- 
chanics, there  is  quite  enough  to  make  us  hesitate  before  placing 
our  sons  in  law  offices.  Nor  must  the  fact  be  overlooked,  that 
the  tendency  of  our  legislation  has  been,  and  will  continue  to  be, 
to  simplify  legal  procedure  as  much  as  possible ;  to  lower  the 
scale  of  fees  payable  to  attorneys  and  solicitors,  and  even  to  dis- 
pense in  many  instances,  with  the  necessity  for  employing  profes- 
sional men  at  all. — S.  Warren,  Q.C. 

Appellate  Jurisdiction  of  the  House  of  Lords. 

The  proper  constitution  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Appeal 
justifies  the  utmost  solicitude  of  the  legislature  and  the  country. 
The  difficulties  surrounding  its  reconstruction  were  found  too 
great  to  admit  of  solution  during  the  session  of  1856,  unex- 
pectedly complicated  as  they  were  by  the  creation  of  that  very 
distinguished  judge,  Baron  Parke,  a  peer  for  life  only,  as  Lord 
Wensleydale.  The  greatest  constitutional  lawyers  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  supported  by  a  considerable  majority  of  peers,  declared 
that  the  Grown  had  no  power  to  create  a  peer  for  life  only,  with 
a  right  to  sit  and  vote  in  that  house  ;  that  such  an  act  was  illegal, 
and  that  the  very  essence  of  the  British  peerage  consisted  in  its 
hereditary  character.  Issuing  out  of  these  discussions  a  Bill  for 
reconstructing  the  appellate  jurisdiction  was  sent  down  from  the 
Lords  to  the  Commons,  but  so  late  in  the  session  that  they  de- 
clined then  to  entertain  it.  Whatever  may  be  the  ultimate  fete 
of  this  measure,  it  is  still  practicable,  even  without  adopting  its 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  ]09 

special  machinery,  to  preserve  the  appellate  jurisdiction  of  the 
House  of  Lords — itself  an  object  of  the  highest  importance — by 
providing  for  more  assistance  from  the  legal  and  equitable  judicial 
force  of  the  country.  In  the  meantime  a  well-earned  hereditary 
peerage  was  conferred  on  Lord  Wensleydale,  under  which  he 
took  his  seat  before  the  session  closed. — Blackstones  Commentaries , 
edited  by  Warren. 

Payment  of  an  Advocate. 

In  1863,  Chief  Justice  Erie  gave  judgment  in  the  case  of  Ken- 
nedy v.  Broun,  which  involved  the  right  of  the  plaintiff,  a  bar- 
rister, to  recover  the  sum  of  2O,ooo/.,  alleged  to  have  been  pro- 
mised by  Mrs.  Broun,  then  Mrs.  Swinfen,  for  professional  services 
rendered  in  the  matter  of  the  Swinfen  estates ;  the  trial  at  War- 
wick having  been  compromised  by  Lord  Chelmsford,  then  Sir 
Frederick  Thesiger.  An  action  was  brought  by  Mr.  Kennedy  to 
recover  the  2O,ooo/.  in  question,  and  a  verdict  was  given  in  his 
favour.  A  rule  was  obtained  to  set  aside  that  verdict  and  enter  it 
for  the  defendant.  The  Chief  Justice,  in  a  most  elaborate  judg- 
ment, said  that  the  relation  of  the  parties,  as  advocate  and  client, 
incapacitated  the  latter  from  making  any  promise  of  remuneration 
which  could  be  recovered  as  a  debt.  The  payment  to  an  advo- 
cate was  as  honorarium,  not  merces — and  the  opinion  of  all  the 
judges,  from  the  days  of  Justinian  to  the  present  time,  supported 
that  view.  The  rule  for  a  new  trial  to  enter  the  verdict  for  the 
defendants  was  therefore  absolute.  This  of  course  quashed  Mr. 
Kennedy's  claim. 

Utter-Barristers. 

"The  term 'Utter-Barrister'  occurs  for  the  first  time  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  VIII.  It  is  mentioned  in  the  <  Orders  and  Cus- 
toms '  of  the  Middle  Temple,  where  it  is  applied  to  one  who, 
having  continued  in  the  house  for  five  or  six  years,  and  profited  in 
the  study  of  the  law,  has  been  called  by  the  benchers  <  to  plead, 
argue,  and  dispute  some  doubtful  matter  before  certain  of  the 
benchers,'  which  <  manner  of  argument  or  disputations  is  called 
motyng  •  and  this  making  of  Utter-Barristers  is  as  a  preferment  or 
degree  given  him  for  his  learning.'  " 

Fifty  years  ago  no  junior  barrister  presumed  to  carry  a  bag  in 
the  Court  of  Chancery,  unless  one  had  been  presented  to  him  by 
the  King's  counsel,  who,  when  a  junior  was  advancing  in  prac- 
tice, took  an  opportunity  of  complimenting  him  on  his  increase  oft 
business,  and  giving  him  his  own  bag  to  carry  home  his  papers.  It 


110  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

was  then  a  distinction  to  carry  a  bag,  and  a  proof  that  a  junior 
was  rising  in  his  own  profession. 

What  was  Special  Pleading  ? 

From  a  period  of  very  remote  antiquity  down  to  the  passing  of 
the  Common  Law  Procedure  Act,  1852,  the  pleadings  in  our 
Law  Courts  were  of  a  highly  artificial  character,  and  had  been 
elaborated,  by  the  care  of  judges  and  practitioners  during  many 
successive  centuries,  into  a  regular  system  or  science,  called  plead- 
ing^ or  more  properly,  special  pleading,  which  constituted  a  d.s- 
tinct  branch  of  the  Lafa,  with  treatises  and  professors  of  its  own. 
It  was  a  system  highly  rated  by  our  ancient  lawyers,  and  had  at 
least  the  merit  of  developing  the  point  in  controversy  with  the 
severest  precision.  But  its  strictness  and  subtlety  were  a  frequent 
subject  of  complaint ;  and  one  object  of  the  Common  Law  Pro- 
cedure Act,  1852,  was  to  relax  and  simplify  its  rules.  Whether 
the  effect  of  this  will  be  to  impair  its  value  or  not  in  other  re- 
spects, experience  alone  can  decide. — Stephen's  Commentaries,  note. 

Lord  Campbell  studied,  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  the  mysteries  of 
special  pleading,  under  the  guidance  of  Mr.  Tidd,  through  whom 
he  traced  his  legal  pedigree  up  to  the  celebrated  Tom  Warren, 
father  of  this  wondrous  art.  Tom  Warren  begat  Serjeant  Run- 
nington,  Serjeant  Runnington  begat  Tidd,  Tidd  begat  Campbell, 
and  Campbell  begat  Dundas  and  Vaughan  Williams.  "  Tidd," 
writes  his  grateful  pupil,  "  lived  to  see  four  sons  sitting  together 
in  the  House  of  Lords— Lord  Lyndhurst,  Lord  Denman,  Lord 
Cottenham,  and  Lord  Campbell.  To  the  unspeakable  advantage 
of  having  been  three  years  his  pupil,  I  chiefly  ascribe  my  success 
at  the  bar." 

What  is  Evidence  ? 

Mr.  Stephen,  in  his  able  Treatise  on  the  Criminal  Law  of 
England,  gives  the  follow  definitions  of  Evidence : 

All  the  facts  with  which  we  are  acquainted,  visible  or  invisible,  internal 
or  external,  are  connected  together  in  a  vast  series  of  sequences  which  we 
call  cause  and  effect j  and  the  constitution  of  things  is  such,  that  men  are 
able  to  infer  from  one  fact  the  existence,  either  past  or  future,  of  other 
facts.  For  instance,  we  infer  from  a  footmark  on  soft  ground  that  a  foot 
has  been  impressed  upon  it.  From  the  fact  that  a  man  is  planting  his  foot 
on  soft  ground,  we  infer  that  if  he  completes  that  motion  a  footmark  will 
appear.  Any  specific  fact,  or  set  of  facts,  employed  for  the  purpose  of  in- 
ferring therefrom  the  existence  of  any  other  fact,  is  said  to  be  evidence  of 
the  fact.  Suppose  the  question  is  whether  John  Smith  is  living  or  dead  : 
A  says,  "I  knew  John  Smith,  and  I  saw  him  die."  B  says,  ««I  knew 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  Ill 

John  Smith.  I  saw  him  in  bed;  he  looked  very  ill.  I  shortly  afterwards 
Heard  he  was  dead,  and  saw  a  funeral  procession,  which  I  attended,  and 
which  every  one  said  was  his  funeral,  leave  his  house  and  go  to  the  church- 
yard, where  I  saw  a  coffin  buried  with  his  name  on  it."  C  says,  "  Z  told 
me  that  he  heard  from  X  that  John  Smith  was  dead."  D  says,  "I  had 
a  dream  that  John  Smith  was  dead."  Each  of  these  facts,  if  used  for  the 
purpose  of  supporting  the  inference  that  John  Smith  was  really  dead,  would 
be  evidence  of  his  death.  The  assertions  of  A  and  B  would,  under  ordinary 
circumstances,  be  convincing  ;  that  of  C  far  from  satisfactory,  and  that  of  D 
altogether  idle,  except  to  a  very  superstitious  person.  This  would  be 
usually  expressed  by  saying  that  the  assertions  of  A  and  B  would  be  good 
evidence,  that  of  C  weak  evidence,  and  that  of  D  no  evidence  at  all  of  the 
fact  of  the  death.  But  this  is  not  quite  a  correct  way  of  speaking ;  whe- 
ther one  fact  is  evidence  of  another,  depends  on  the  way  in  which  it  is 
used.  If  people  usually  believed  in  dreams,  the  assertion  that  a  man  had 
dreamt  of  John  Smith's  death  would  be  evidence  of  his  death.  Whether 
or  not  it  would  be  wise  to  allow  it  to  be  evidence  of  his  death,  would  de-  • 
pend  on  the  further  question,  whether  in  point  of  fact  the  practice  of 
inferring  the  truth  of  the  dream  from  the  fact  of  its  occurrence,  usually 
produced  true  belief. 

It  would,  unquestionably,  aid  the  ends  of  justice  if  the  real 
nature  of  evidence  were  better  understood ;  which  can  only  be 
assisted  by  the  right  use  of  reason. 

What  is  Trial? 

The  decision  of  fact,  which  constitutes  in  every  civilized 
country  the  chief  business  of  courts  of  justice ;  for  experience 
will  abundantly  show  that  above  a  hundred  of  our  lawsuits  arise 
from  disputed  facts,  for  one  where  the  law  is  doubted. 

About  twenty  days  in  the  year,  says  Blackstone,  are  sufficient 
in  Westminster  Hall  to  settle,  upon  solemn  argument,  every  de- 
murrer or  point  of  law  that  arises  throughout  the  nation ;  but 
two  months  are  annually  spent  in  deciding  the  truth  of  facts 
before  six  distinct  tribunals,  exclusive  of  Middlesex  and  London, 
•  which  afford  a  supply  of  causes  much  more  than  equivalent  to 
any  two  of  the  largest  circuits.  (3  Bl.  Com.  320.)  The  state  of 
things  in  our  own  days  is  substantially  the  same. — Stephen's 
Commentaries. 

Trial  by  Jury. 

In  England,  when  the  aspect  of  the  French  Revolution  divided 
our  public  men  into  factions — in  the  evil  time,  when  statesmen 
had  talked  complacently  "  of  a  vigour  beyond  the  law,"  when 
judges  had  tortured  free  speech  into  sedition,  and  when  open 
violence  and  secret  art  were  sapping  the  liberties  we  prize  most 


112  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

dearly,  English  juries,  with  the  approbation  of  the  country,  in- ' 
terposed  frequently  against  political  wrong,  and  vindicated  the 
good  cause  that  elsewhere  had  been  abandoned.  As  for  the 
loyalty  and  good  sense  of  the  nation  as  a  whole,  the  mode  in 
which  it  obeyed  the  Government  attests  this  in  a  remarkable  way ; 
and  though,  of  course,  the  Revolution  in  France  stirred  up  some 
elements  of  disorder  here,  they  were  as  nothing  among  the  great 
mass  of  Englishmen.  This  truth  is  urged  by  Mr.  Massey  with 
more  force  than  by  any  other  historian,  and  it  deserves  to  be  put 
prominently  forward,  as  several  writers  have  asserted  the  contrary. 
In  his  very  instructive  summary  of  the  state  of  English  opinion 
at  this  period,  he  says  : 

"  Because  freedom  had  been  abused  at  Paris,  the  liberties  of 
Englishmen  were  assailed.  The  press  was  put  under  restraint ; 
legions  of  spies  were  let  loose  upon  the  country,  and  no  man 
could  speak  his  mind  in  safety,  or  even  do  the  most  harmless  act 
without  fear  of  question.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the  old  English 
feeling  was  aroused,  and  that  the  State  trials  of  1794  were  re- 
garded with  an  intensity  of  interest  which  had  not  been  equalled 
since  that  of  the  Seven  Bishops.  The  public  safety  at  that  time 
depended  on  the  trial  by  jury,  and  men  were  satisfied  that 
their  liberties  were  safe  when  it  appeared  that  the  great  institu- 
tion which  had  so  often  sustained  them  was  still  sound  and  un- 
shaken. .  .  .  Happily  the  prosecutions  failed,  and  from  their 
failure  was  derived  that  security  which  but  for  these  trials  would 
not  have  been  ascertained. — Times  review  ofMasseys  History  of 
England. 

That  sound  and  experienced  judge,  Sir  John  Coleridge,  in  a 
lecture  delivered  by  him  at  the  Athenseum,  Exeter,  stated  that 

He  had  been  a  judge  for  an  unusually  long  period,  and  he  should  ever  regard 
with  admiration  the  manner  in  which  juries  discharged  their  duties.  Again 
and  again  he  had  reason  to  marvel  at  their  patience,  and  again  and  again  he 
had  observed  questions  put  by  a  jury  which  had  been  omitted  by  counsel  and 
judge,  the  answer  to  which  had  thrown  a  light  that  had  guided  them  to  the. 
truth  of  the  whole  matter.  He  had  often  thought  if  he  had  the  appointment 
of  the  magistrates  in  the  country,  that  he  would  appoint  those  gentlemen  who 
had  served  on  petty  juries  on  the  Crown  side  for  two  assizes  at  least j  for  he 
was  sure  that  a  more  practical  knowledge  of  criminal  law  was  learnt  in 
that  way  than  could  be  acquired  by  several  months  of  careful  reading.  One 
thing  should  always  be  remembered,  that  stupid  verdicts  were  no  arguments 
against  the  institution,  for  no  human  institution,  however  wise  in  itself, 
could  be  expected  to  work  perfectly.  Let  them  improve  their  jurymen  by 
raising  the  character  of  their  national  education  j  let  them  introduce  into 
their  panels  all  classes  who  by  law  were  liable  to  serve  ;  and  when  they 
had  done  that,  and  not  till  then,  if  they  found  it  to  fail,  let  them  condemn 
the  institution.  They  lived  under  a  law  which,  though  far  from  perfect, 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  113 

was  framed  in  a  wise  and  just  spirit.  They  could  not  possibly  overrate  the 
blessing  which  they  possessed,  yet  it  was  so  much  a  matter  of  course  that 
they  were  apt  to  think  as  little  of  it  as  they  did  of  the  sun  that  shone  upon 
them  from  Heaven. 

Attendance  of  Jurors. 

The  law  on  this  subject  has  been  thus  concisely  explained  by 
Mr.  Under-Sheriff  Burchell.  At  the  present  period,  persons  who 
claim  to  be  excused  from  attending  as  jurors  should  get  their 
names  removed  from  the  jury-list.  In  July,  within  the  first  week, 
the  Clerk  of  the  Peace  is  to  issue  his  warrant  to  the  high  con- 
stable for  the  overseers  to  prepare  and  make  out  a  list  of  persons 
qualified  as  jurors.  For  three  weeks  in  September  the  list  is  to  be 
exhibited  on  the  doors  of  churches  and  chapels,  with  a  notification 
where  objections  are  to  be  heard.  Within  the  last  seven  days  of 
September  the  justices  are  to  hold  a  petty  sessions  to  hear  objec- 
tions. If  persons  having  exemptions  do  not  attend  to  the  subject, 
they  may  be  returned  and  be  liable  to  serve  until  the  list  is  cor- 
rected in  the  September  following.  Some  complaints  are  made  ol 
persons  being  returned  by  parish  officers  who  had  either  removed 
or  been  dead  for  years.  The  law  as  stated  prevails  throughout 
the  counties  of  England. 

The  Law  of  Libel. 

It  would  be  useless  to  attempt  to  define,  within  our  limit,  the 
principles  of  the  Law  of  Libel — it  would  be  attended  with  fruit- 
less results ;  but  we  may  be  permitted  to  give  such  an  outline 
of  the  subject  as  may  be  useful  for  reflection  and  research,  if  not 
for  immediate  practice.  Now  that  the  old  saying,  "  The  greater 
truth  the  greater  libel,"  is  no  longer  applicable  even  to  indictments 
for  defamation,  the  popular  idea  of  what  is  and  what  is  not  action- 
able is  correct,  so  far  as  it  goes.  It  is  now  generally  understood 
that  a  false  and  malicious  attack  upon  another  man's  character  is 
in  all  cases  illegal ;  that  a  somewhat  less  offensive  imputation  than 
would  support  an  action  for  mere  words  will  render  its  author 
liable  in  damages  if  it  be  conveyed  in  writing,  but  that  the  law 
deems  all  statements  of  this  kind  to  be  justifiable  which  can  be 
shown  to  be  true.  For  the  ordinary  intercourse  of  life  these  rules 
and  cautions  are  sufficient.  No  one  can  speak  ill  of  his  neighbour 
with  impunity,  unless  he  is  prepared  to  make  good  his  \vords  to 
the  letter ;  or,  at  least,  to  prove  that  they  were  spoken  without 
malice  or  on  a  lawful  occasion.  With  regard  to  the  Press,  it  has 
been  proclaimed  again  and  again  from  the  judicial  Bench,  that 
"  fair  comments"  in  a  journal  or  periodical  are  not  within  the  Law 

i 


114  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

of  Libel ;  but,  then,  what  is  to  be  the  test  of  "  fairness"  ?  It  is 
quite  possible  that  a  journalist's  comments  may  be  made  bondfde 
and  out  of  a  regard  for  the  public  welfare,  and  yet  may  be  incapable 
in  their  very  nature  of  legal  proof.  In  the  case  of  Campbell  v. 
Spottiswoode,  the  former  obtained  a  verdict  against  the  printer  of 
the  Saturday  Review  for  an  alleged  calumny  against  himself  as  editor 
and  part-proprietor  of  the  British  Standard  and  Ensign.  The 
defendant's  counsel  relied  at  the  trial,  and  in  his  argument  before 
the  Court  of  Queen's  Bench,  on  the  "  general  privilege"  of  all  who 
discuss  public  questions  without  actual  malice.  The  Lord  Chief 
Justice  and  the  Court  decided  against  him,  on  the  ground  that 
there  is  no  such  general  privilege ;  and  that  the  imputation  of  base 
motives  throws  upon  a  public  critic,  as  it  would  upon  a  private 
detractor,  the  necessity  of  bringing  them  home  to  the  party 
maligned.  According  to  this  doctrine,  the  jury  is  not  to  be  allowed 
to  compare  the  comments  with  the  evidence  before  the  writer,  and 
to  say  whether  they  were  "fair"  and  justified  by  appearances. 
Nothing  short  of  their,  being  strictly  true  in  fact,  and  proved  to 
be  so  in  open  court,  will  relieve  the  latter  of  his  liability. 

Nevertheless,  we  have  the  authority  of  the  Lord  Chief  Justice 
(Erie)  of  the  Common  Pleas  (Turnbull  v.  Bird,  1861),  for  the 
principle  that  very  strong  and  injurious  language,  if  provoked  and 
employed  "  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  the  truth,"  "  without 
any  corrupt  motive,"  may  be  innocent  in  the  view  of  the  law.  We 
have  the  sanction  of  the  same  eminent  Judge  that  "  a  man  may 
publish  defamatory  matter  in  defence  either  of  his  private  or  his 
public  rights.  Every  subject  of  this  realm  has  a  right  to  comment 
upon  the  acts  of  public  men,  for  they  concern  him  as  such  subject ; 
but  he  must  not  make  his  commentary  a  cloak  for  malice.  Such 
a  commentary,  however  libellous,  is  justifiable  if  the  defendant 
honestly  believes  that  he  is  writing  what  is  fair  and  just ;  but  if  he 
makes  wilful  misrepresentation,  or  misstatement  that  might  have 
been  avoided  by  ordinary  care,  his  protection  ceases."  We  find 
it  assumed  by  Chief  Justice  Erie,  and  stated  in  plain  terms  by  Mr. 
Justice  Willes,  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  "privilege  of  fair 
discussion  on  a  matter  of  public  interest,"  though  two  of  the 
learned  Judges  of  the  Queen's  Bench  were  at  much  pains  to  show 
that  a  right  belonging  to  all  her  Majesty's  subjects  cannot  properly 
be  called  a  "  privilege."  Moreover,  we  have  the  general  but  most 
emphatic  testimony  of  Lord  Ellenborough,  that  where  the  "object" 
is  "to  correct  misrepresentations  of  fact,  to  refute  sophistical 
reasoning,  to  expose  a  vicious  taste  in  literature,  or  to  censure 
what  is  hostile  to  morality,"  there  can  be  no  libel. 

In  a  case  against  the  Lincolnshire  Chronicle, the  Judge,  Mr.  Justice 
Coleridge,  laid  down  the  law  as  follows : 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  115 

"  In  discussing  the  public  conduct  of  a  public  man,  a  journalist  might 
certainly  use  the  most  unceremonious  freedom,  and  juries  should  not  be 
nice  in  criticising  the  language  in  which  the  censure  might  be  conveyed, 
if  they  could  see  that  the  motive  and  spirit  of  the  whole  were  public  and 
honest.  On  the  other  hand,  no  newspaper  was  justified  in  commenting 
upon  the  private  life  even  of  a  public  man  ;  but  the  present  appeared  to  be 
an  intermediate  case.  The  plaintiff"  filled  a  public  situation,  but  it  could 
hardly  be  said  that  the  paragraph  was  merely  a  comment  upon  his  conduct 
as  ald'erman,  neither  did  it  relate  to  a  strictly  private  matter.  The  most 
objectionable  paragraph  appeared  to  him  to  be  that  which  imputed  to  the 
plaintiff '  confused  notions  on  the  important  matters  of  meum  and  tuum^  but 
the  jury  must  look  at  the  whole,  and  say  whether  in  their  opinion  it  ex- 
ceeded the  bounds  of  fair  comment  upon  the  conduct  of  a  person  rilling  the 
position  which  the  plaintiff  filled.  The  jury  found  a  verdict  for  the 
defendant." 

But,  by  the  judicial  dicta  in  Campbell  v.  Spottiswoode,  no 
greater  latitude  is  allowed  in  comments  on  public  topics  than  in 
remarks  on  private  affairs.  Any  theoretical  indulgence  to  the 
former,  whether  it  be  called  privilege  or  not,  is  a  worthless  boon 
if  truth,  or  rather  legal  demonstration,  is  to  be  the  only  test  of 
"  libel  or  no  libel"  for  literary  critiques.  As  Mr.Bovill  well  pointed 
out,  no  privilege  is  wanted  where  truth  can  be  successfully  pleaded. 
On  the  other  hand,  no  privilege  is  demanded  where  malice  can  be 
established  against  the  writer,  or  inferred  by  the  jury  from  the  tone 
and  spirit  of  the  composition.  It  is  where  a  public  critic,  with  the 
best  and  purest  intentions,  has  injured  the  good  name  of  a  public 
man  that  the  question  arises.  The  great  difficulty  is  to  render 
the  Press  harmless  to  individuals,  and  yet  to  leave  it  powerful  for 
good. — Abridged  from  the  Times. 

With  regard  to  the  propagation  of  Libel,  "  it  may  be  some 
doubt  in  the  eye  of  morality,  whether  the  purchaser  ot  a  satirical 
libel  does  not  share  in  the  guilt  of  the  author  ;  and  whether  the 
pleasure  in  reading  it  is  not  of  a  criminal  sort,  and  a  proof  of  the 
malignity  of  human  nature.  There  would  be  no  thieves  nor  stolen 
goods,  experience  tells  us,  if  there  were  no  receivers ;  and  no 
scurrilous  writings  nor  libellous  prints  would  be  published,  to  cor- 
rupt the  ear  or  gratify  the  impudence  of  the  eye,  if  there  were  no 
purchasers."  These  sentiments  are  from  Bayle's  Essay  on  Defa- 
matory Libels ;  and  we  remember  Lord  Brougham  to  have  once 
expressed  himself  in  almost  the  identical  words  of  Bayle,  in  a 
speech  on  the  Newspaper  Stamp  Duty. 

Induction  of  a  Rector. 

The  ceremony  of  inducting  a  clergyman  to  his  benefice  is 
briefly  as  follows :  the  instance  being  the  induction  of  the  Rev. 

I  2 


116  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

Pascoe  Grenfell  Hill,  Feb.  9,  1863,  to  the  benefice  of  the  united 
parishes  of  St.  Edmund  the  King  and  St.  Nicholas,  Lombard- 
street.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Hill  brought  with  him  the  Rev.  J.  Lupton, 
who  performed  the  office  of  induction.  The  reverend  Chaplain, 
therefore,  accompanied  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hill,  proceeded  to  the 
church-door  in  Lombard-street,  and  the  Clerk  having  put  the 
key  into  the  lock  of  the  door,  the  Chaplain  took  Mr.  Hill's 
right  hand,  and  placing  it  on  the  key  thus  inserted  in  the  lock, 
said,  holding  the  archdeacon's  mandate  in  his  hand,  "By  virtue 
of  this  instrument,  I,  James  Lupton,  Rector  of  St.  Michael's, 
Queenhithe,  induct  you  into  the  real,  actual,  and  corporal  posses- 
sion of  the  United  Rectory  of  St.  Edmund  the  King  and  Martyr 
with  St.  Nicholas  Aeons,  with  all  its  fruits,  members,  and  appur- 
tenances." The  new  Rector  then  opened  the  church  door,  and 
having  entered  the  church,  shut  himself  in,  and  then  pulled  one  of 
the  bell?,  so  as  to  assure  the  public  that  he  was  in  the  church  and 
had  taken  possession  of  it.  He  then  returned  to  the  church-door, 
opened  it,  and  let  his  friends  and  the  officials  in. 

Benefit  of  Clergy. 

The  privilege  of  Benefit  of  Clergy, — Privilegium  Clericale— 
arose  in  the  pious  regard  paid  by  Christian  princes  to  the  Church 
in  its  infant  state,  and  consisted  of — ist,  an  exemption  of  places 
consecrated  to  religious  duties  from  criminal  arrests,  which  was 
the  foundation  of  sanctuaries ;  2nd,  exemption  of  the  persons  of 
clergymen  from  criminal  process  before  the  secular  judge,  in  par- 
ticular cases,  which  was  the  original  meaning  of  the  privilegium 
clericale.  In  the  course  of  time,  however,  the  benefit  of  clergy  ex- 
tended to  every  one  who  could  read,  for  such  was  the  ignorance 
of  those  periods,  that  this  was  thought  a  great  proof  of  learning ; 
and  it  was  enacted,  that  from  the  scarcity  of  clergy  in  the  reaim 
of  England,  there  should  be  a  prerogative  allowed  to  the  clergy, 
that  if  any  man  who  could  read  were  to  be  condemned  to  death, 
the  bishop  of  the  diocese  might,  if  he  would,  claim  him  as  a 
clerk,  and  dispose  of  him  in  some  places  of  the  clergy  as  he  might 
deem  meet ;  but  if  the  bishop  would  not  demand  him,  or  if  the 
prisoner  could  not  read,  then  he  was  to  be  put  to  death.  3  Ed- 
ward I.,  1274. — Benefit  of  Clergy  was  abolished  by  statute 
;th  and  8th  George  IV.,  c.  28. 

The  King's  Book. 

"The  King's  Book,"  so  frequently  mentioned  in  connexion 
with  the  value  of  church  livings,  is  the  Return  of  the  Comm.s- 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  117 

sioners  appointed  under  26  Henry  VIII.,  c.  3,  to  value  the  first- 
fruits  and  tenths  bestowed  by  that  Act  upon  the  King.  The 
valuation  then  made  is  still  in  force,  and  the  record  containing  it  is 
that  commonly  known  as  the  Kings'  Book  (the  Valor  Ecclesias- 
ticusy  &c.)  which  has  been  printed  by  the  Record  Commission. 

Compulsory  Attendance  at  Church. 

We  do  not  find  any  very  early  regulations  made  to  enforce  the 
observation  of  festivals  among  Christians.  The  Middle  Ages 
are  somewhat  more  prolific.  Attendance  at  church  on  the  prin- 
c;pal  festivals  was  made  a  subject  of  inquiry,  about  A.D.  900,  in 
Abbot  Regino's  articles ;  and  by  that  of  Clovishoff,  in  905,  the 
clergy  are  enjoined  to  be  more  diligent  in  teaching,  and  the  people 
to  be  more  regular  in  their  attendance.  This  observance  is  also 
enjoined  by  the  laws  of  Canute,  about  1032,  which  decree  "all 
divine  rites  and  offices,  let  every  one  studiously  keep  and  observe ; 
the  feast-days  and  the  fasts,  let  him  celebrate  with  the  utmost 
ceremony."  After  the  Conquest,  the  synod  of  Exeter,  1287,  in- 
cludes the  "  festival  days,"  with  the  Lord's  days,  among  those 
when  the  people  ought  specially  to  attend  the  churches.  And 
Ascension  Day,  the  feast  of  Corpus  Christi,  the  high  feast  of  the 
Assumption  of  our  blessed  Lady,  and  All  Saints'  Day,  are  in- 
cluded with  the  Lord's  days,  in  the  2yth  Henry  VI.  (1450)  in 
the  list  of  days  whereon  the  holding  of  fairs  is  prohibited. 

The  Acts  by  which  at  the  Reformation  it  was  attempted  to 
secure  the  due  attendance  of  the  people  upon  the  remodelled  ser- 
vices include  l<  the  other  days  ordained  and  used  to  be  kept  as 
holidays."  But  the  application  of  their  provisions  to  the  attend- 
ance upon  other  holidays  than  Sundays,  seems  to  have  been  pretty 
soon  dropped.  The  statute  of  James  the  First,  re-enacting  the 
penalty  of  is.  for  default  in  attendance  at  church,  is  limited  to 
Sundays ;  and  the  latter  day  alone  is  mentioned  in  the  Acts  of 
William  and  Mary,  and  George  III.;  by  which  exceptions  in 
favour  of  dissenters  from  the  Church  of  England  were  introduced. 
Mr.  Neale,  however,  cites  several  cases  which  appear  to  settle  that 
the  ecclesiastical  courts  have  not  the  power  to  compel  any  person 
to  attend  his  parish  church,  because  they  have  no  right  to  decide 
the  bounds  of  parishes. 

The  repeal  of  the  Act  enjoining  attendance  at  church  on  the 
£th  of  November,  so  far  as  Roman  Catholics  are  concerned,  by 
the  7  and  8  Victoria,  c.  102,  removing  the  penalties  to  which 
they  stood  exposed  up  to  the  year  1844,  must  be  looked  upon 
more  as  a  piece  of  consistency  in  legislation  than  as  the  removal 
ot  a  possible  grievance.  And  a  somewhat  similar  remark  may 


118  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

be  made  in  respect  to  members  of  the  Church  of  England, 
upon  the  total  repeal  of  the  ist  of  Elizabeth,  so  far  as  concerns 
the  penalty  of  is.,  for  non-attendance  at  church  on  holidays. 
As  the  statute  of  James  applies  solely  to  Sundays,  there  is  HOW 
no  civil  punishment  left  for  this  neglect :  though  it  would  appear 
to  remain  punishable,  under  the  £th  and  6th  of  Edward  VI.,  by 
ecclesiastical  censures. — Neales  Feasts  and  Fasts,  p.  307. 

Among  the  recent  cases  of  prosecution,  in  a  Treatise  on  Sir 
Matthew  Kale's  History  of  the  Pleas  of  the  Crown,  by  Professor 
Amos,  the  following  passage  occurs  under  "Repealed  Statutes:" 

"  In  the  year  1817,  at  the  Spring  Assizes  for  Bedford,  Sir  Mon- 
tague Burgoyne  was  prosecuted  for  having  been  absent  from  his 
parish  church  for  several  months :  the  action  was  defeated  by 
proof  of  the  defendant  having  been  indisposed.  In  the  Report 
of  Prison  Inspectors  to  the  House  of  Lords,  in  1841,  it  appeared 
that  in  1830,  ten  persons  were  in  prison  for  recusancy  in  not 
attending  their  parish  churches.  A  mother  was  prosecuted  by 
her  own  son." 

The  Mark  of  the  Cross. 

The  old  Danish  laws  made  it  obligatory  upon  those  who  could 
not  write  to  affix  their  bomxrke  (house-mark) ;  and  the  Russians 
required  a  mark,  or  a  cross.  The  probable  reason  why  the  cross 
was  always  used  in  the  Middle  Ages  in  the  testing  of  ecclesiastical 
charters  was  not  only  that  it  was  a  sacred  symbol,  but  that  Jus- 
tinian had  decreed  it  should  have  the  strength  of  an  oath. — B. 
Williams,  F.S.A.',  Archaeologia,  xxxvii.  p.  384. 

Sir  Henry  Spelman  tells  us  that  "  The  Saxons  in  their  deeds 
observed  no  set  forme,  but  used  honest  and  perspicuous  words  to 
express  the  thing  intended  with  all  brevity,  yet  not  wanting  the 
essential  parts  of  a  deed :  as  the  names  of  the  donor  and  donee, 
the  consideration,  the  certainty  of  the  thing  given,  the  limitation 
of  the  estate,  the  reservation  if  any  were,  and  the  names  of  the 
witnesses,  which  always  were  many,  some  for  the  one  part,  and 
some  for  the  other.  As  for  dating,  it  was  not  usual  amongst  them. 
Seals  they  used  not  at  all,  other  than  (the  common  seal  of  Chris- 
tianity) the  sign  of  the  Cross,  which  they,  and  all  nations  follow- 
ing the  Greek  and  Roman  Church,  accompted  the  most  solemn 
and  inviolable  manner  of  confirming." 

Marriage-Law  of  England. 

On  the  1 7th  of  March,  1835,  Dr.  Lushington,  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  stated  the  history  and  principle  of  the  Marriage 
Law  of  England  thus — "  By  the  ancient  law  of  this  country  as 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  119 

to  marriages,  a  marriage  was  good  if  celebrated  in  the  presence 
of  two  witnesses,  though  without  the  intervention  of  a  priest. 
But  then  came  the  decision  of  the  Council  of  Trent  rendering  the 
solemnization  by  a  priest  necessary.  At  the  Reformation  we  re- 
fused to  accept  the  provision  of  the  Council  of  Trent ;  and  in 
consequence,  the  question  was  reduced  to  this  state — that  a  mar- 
riage by  civil  contract  was  valid.  But  there  was  this  extraordi- 
nary anomaly  in  the  law,  that  the  practice  of  some  of  our  civil 
courts  required,  in  certain  instances  and  for  some  purposes,  that 
the  marriage  should  be  celebrated  in  a  particular  form.  It  turned 
out  that  a  marriage  by  civil  contract  was  valid  for  some  purposes, 
while  for  others — such  as  the  descent  of  the  real  property  to  the 
heirs  of  the  marriage — it  was  invalid.  Thus,  a  man  in  the  pre- 
sence of  a  witness,  accepting  a  woman  for  his  wife,  per  *verba.  de 
pr<esenti,  the  marriage  was  valid,  as  I  have  said,  for  some  pur- 
poses, but  for  others  to  make  it  valid  it  was  necessary  that  it 
should  be  celebrated  in  facie  ecclesite.  This  was  the  state  of  the 
law  till  the  passing  of  the  Marriage  Act  in  1754." 

"  Marriage,  in  its  origin,  (says  Lord  Stowell,)  is  a  contract  of 
natural  law :  it  may  exist  between  two  individuals  of  different 
sexes  although  no  third  person  existed  in  the  world,  as  happened 
in  the  case  of  the  common  ancestors  of  mankind.  In  civil  society 
it  becomes  a  civil  contract,  regulated  and  prescribed  by  law,  and 
endowed  with  civil  consequences.  In  most  civilized  countries, 
acting  under  a  sense  of  the  force  of  sacred  obligations,  it  has  had 
the  sanction  of  religion  superadded.  It  then  becomes  a  religious 
as  well  as  a  natural  and  civil  contract ;  for  it  is  a  great  mistake 
to  suppose  that,  because  it  is  the  one,  it  may  not  likewise  be  the 
other." — (2  Hagg.  Cons.  Rep.  63.) 

Marriage  Fines. 

In  the  feudal  times,  the  lord  might  object  to  the  marriage  of  a 
bondman's  daughter  with  a  stranger,  even  of  her  own  condition ; 
and  by  marriage  with  a  freeman  she  became  free  during  coverture, 
if  not  free  for  ever ;  this  and  the  lord's  approval  of  her  marriage 
being  purchasable  by  fine.  At  Swincombe,  in  Oxfordshire,  the 
bondman  could  not  get  a  husband  for  his  daughter,  and  could  not 
take  to  himself  a  wife,  without  the  lord's  permission. 

Although  a  fine  used  to  be  paid  by  a  freeman  in  the  occupation 
of  bond-land,  on  the  marriage  of  his  daughter,  there  was  no  more 
degradation  in  such  a  fine  than  there  now  is  in  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury's  charge  for  a  marriage-licence.  At  Southfleet, 
Friendsbury,  Wouidham,  and  other  places  in  their  neighbourhood, 
a  tenant  who  wished  to  give  his  daughter  in  marriage  had  to  an- 


120  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


nounce  the  marriage  to  the  warden  or  bailiff  of  the  village,  and 
to  invite  him  to  the  wedding ;  the  girl  could  not  be  married  to 
any  one  out  of  the  manor  without  the  lord's  good -will ;  an  heiress 
could  not  be  married  even  to  a  neighbour  without  the  lord's  con- 
sent. A  tenant  at  Headington,  Oxon,  paid  no  fine  on  the  mar- 
riage of  his  daughter  within  the  manor — he  paid  two  shillings  for 
leave  to  give  her  in  marriage  to  a  stranger ;  but  we  are  told  that 
payment  was  on  account  of  the  chattels  which  might  be  removed 
out  of  the  manor  with  her.  When  we  consider  the  lord  of  a 
manor  to  be  the  patron  and  protector  of  all  within  it,  there  seems 
to  be  nothing  very  offensive  in  this  arrogation  of  assent  to  the 
marriage  of  his  tenant's  daughter. 

Irregular  Marriages. 

Little  more  than  a  century  ago,  a  common  notion  prevailed 
that  the  performance  of  the  marriage  ceremony  by  a  person  in 
holy  orders  rendered  it  sacred  and  indissoluble,  without  regard 
to  any  other  condition.*  Hence  arose  the  scandals  and  indecencies 
of  the  Fleet  Marriages,  />.,  marriages  performed  in  the  Fleet 
prison,  'and  its  neighbourhood,  by  a  set  of  drunken,  swearing 
parsons,  and  their  myrmidons,  who  wore  black  coats,  and  pre- 
tended to  be  clerks  and  registrars  to  the  F leet.  Those  malpractices 
were  put  an  end  to  by  the  Marriage  Act  of  1754:  the  register- 
books  were  purchased  by  Government  in  1821,  and  deposited  in 
the  Bishop  of  London's  Registry.  A  similar  abuse  flourished 
at  May  Fair,  until  it  was  abolished  by  the  Acf  of  1754,  when  the 
register-books  were  deposited  in  St.  George's  church,  Hanover- 
square. 

The  "Border  Marriages"  were  also  of  this  class  of  abuses, 
and  arose  from  nothing  formerly  having  been  necessary  in  Scot- 
land to  constitute  a  man  and  woman  husband  and  wife  save  a 
declaration  of  consent  by  the  parties  before  witnesses,  or  even 
such  a  declaration  in  writing  without  any  witnesses :  a  marriage 
which  was  considered  binding  in  all  respects.  Still,  a  marriage  in 
Scotland,  not  celebrated  by  a  clergyman,  except  these  "  Border 
Marriages,"  was  rarely  or  never  heard  of.  They  were  performed 
at  Lamberton  toll-bar,  about  three  miles  north  of  Berwick-upon- 
Tweed ;  and  at  Gretna  Green,  the  nearest  locality  accessible  to 
strangers  actually  within  the  territory  of  Scotland.*  The  pre- 
liminaries of  such  a  marriage  used  to  be  a  long  purse  in  hand  or 
in  prospect,  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  heavy  posting  expenses, 
and  bribes  to  secure  speed.  In  the  course  of  time,  facility  of  tra- 

*  See  Things  not  generally  Knoivny  First  Series,  pp.  120 — lar.  Popular 
Errors  Explained)  p.  207. 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  121 

veiling  by  railway,  and  of  obtaining  licensed  carriages  from  the 
stands  in  towns,  increased ;  and  the  farm-servants  and  the  ser- 
vants generally  in  the  Border  counties  began  to  avail  themselves 
of  what  was  deemed  a  lawful  practice  by  their  superiors  from 
other  places.  During  the  holidays  for  farm-servants,  at  Whit- 
suntide and  Martinmas,  the  times  of  the  statute-hirings,  parties 
generally  under  the  influence  of  drink,  and  too  often  tipsy,  would 
hire  carriages  in  Carlisle,  and  drive,  by  the  two  or  three  couples 
in  a  carriage,  over  the  Border  to  get  married  in  Scotland ;  they 
would  live  together  for  two  or  three  days,  then  go  to  their  ser- 
vices, and  perhaps  never  again  think  of  their  having  been 
married  at  all;  or  not  till  circumstances  might  arise  making 
it  worth  the  while  of  one  of  the  parties  to  claim  conjugal 
rights,  with  a  view  to  participation  in  an  inheritance  of  pro- 
perty— a  not  uncommon  accident  among  the  natives  of  the 
Border  Counties. 

Under  this  state  of  affairs,  at  the  Spring  A  [.sizes  at  Carlisle,  in 
1856,  there  were  three  trials  for  bigamy ;  upon  the  increase  of 
which  crime  the  Judge  made  some  serious  remarks  to  the  Grand 
Jury,  in  his  charge.  A  magistrate  of  Cumberland,  having  leisure 
time,  and  a  sufficient  acquaintance  with  the  Marriage  Laws  of 
England  and  Scotland,  to  avoid  falling  into  any  gross  error,  set 
to  work  to  frame  Petitions  to  Parliament  and  the  Home  Secre- 
tary, reciting  that  such  petitions  were  from  the  Magistrates  of 
Cumberland,  charged  with  the  suppression  of  vice  and  immorality 
in  their  county ;  that  a  state  of  irregularity  which  had  formerly 
been  permitted  in  the  Law  of  Marriage  had  grown  into  an  abuse, 
under  a  change  of  circumstances ;  that  the  Petitioners  thought 
that  the  young  people  of  their  county  acted  more  out  of  levity 
and  under  excitement,  than  from  any  real  want  of  good  principle ; 
and  that  they  submitted  the  exigencies  of  the  case  might  be  met 
by  requiring  all  parties,  not  being  natives  of  Scotland,  and  wishing 
to  be  married  in  Scotland,  to  acquire  domicile  in  Scotland,  by  a 
residence  of  a  fixed  number  of  days,  prior  to  being  considered 
entitled  to  the  privilege  of  the  laws  relating  to  marriage  in  Scot- 
land ;  and  prayed  that  the  parties  petitioned  would  authorize  such 
measures,  &c.  The  Bench  of  Magistrates  mostly  approved  of 
the  petitions,  one  alone  declining  to  sign.  The  clerical  magis- 
trates generally  abstained  from  signing,  urging  that  if  they  did 
sign,  it  might  be  objected  that  they  had  been  instigated  through 
interested  motives.  The  petitions  were  signed  by  all  the  lay 
magistrates  attending  the  Session  at  Whitehaven,  and  were  for- 
warded to  London  for  presentation ;  the  Hon.  Charles  Howard 
taking  charge  of  the  petition  to  the  Commons,  but  with  mis- 
givings as  to  its  success ;  his  only  hope  being  that  the  substance 


122  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

of  it  might  be  passed  in  a  clause  of  the  Dissenters'  Marriage  Bill, 
then  before  the  House.  Nor  was  the  Home  Secretary,  Sir  George 
Grey,  more  sanguine:  he  promised  to  look  over  the  petition,  adding 
the  state  of  the  feeling  of  the  House  was  such  that  it  could  not 
be  made  a  Government  measure. 

The  petition  to  the  Lords  was  taken  charge  of  by  Lord 
Brougham,  who  was  selected  because,  at  the  commencement  of 
the  Session  squibbing  speeches  had  passed  between  him,  with 
Lord  Campbell  on  his  side,  and  Lord  Aberdeen  joined  by  Lord 
Minto,  relative  to  the  laws  of  Scottish  marriages.  Such  had 
also  been  the  case  in  several  sessions  prior  to  the  one  of  1856: 
bills  had  been  threatened  to  be  introduced  for  altering  the  laws 
of  marriage  in  Scotland  entirely ;  but  always,  after  Easter,  the 
matter  had  been  dropped. 

At  the  above  interview,  Lord  Brougham  entered  upon  the  state 
of  the  case  with  the  Cumberland  magistrate,  who  knew  before- 
hand that  a  civil  marriage  between  English  in  Scotland  was  not 
deemed  valid  for  the  inheritance  of  the  offspring  of  real  estate  in 
England.*  Lord  Brougham  confirmed  this  knowledge  by  citing 
instances  in  which  real  estates  in  England  had  not  passed  to  the 
issue  by  marriages  in  Scotland ;  and  he  also  mentioned  that  chil- 
dren born  before  marriage  could  be  legitimized  to  the  inheritance 
of  estate  and  title  in  Scotland,  by  the  subsequent  marriage  of  the 
mother  to  the  father ;  and  Lord  Brougham  named,  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  an  instance  of  the  fact.  His  Lordship  added  that  the 
Law  of  Scotland  ought  to  be  changed,  and  must  be  changed, 
when  it  was  replied  that  his  Lordship  would  find  that  the  object 
of  the  magistrates  of  Cumberland  was  not  to  change  the  Laws 
of  Scotland,  but  to  oblige  natives  of  England  to  obey  the  Laws 
of  England.  We  mention  this  to  show  how  widely  the  ideas 
were  astray  from  the  real  object  in  view. 

A  Bill  founded  on  the  principle  of  the  petitions  was  introduced 
by  Lord  Brougham :  it  was  quickly  supported  by  petitions  signed 
at  large  meetings  convened  in  the  Border  Counties ;  at  one  of 
which,  in  Carlisle,  a  solicitor  mentioned  an  instance  wherein 
clients  of  his  own  had  not  only  been  married,  but,  in  the  woman's 
opinion  (she  having  succeeded  to  some  property),  bad  been  divorced 
in  the  course  of  two  or  three  days,  by  one  of  the  officiating 
tnarriers  of  Gretna.  One  of  these  marriers,  Murray,  of  Gretna, 
admitted  that  he  had  married  between  700  and  800  couple  in  a 
recent  year ;  and  as  there  were  two  or  three  other  carriers  in 
good  practice,  the  number  of  couples  married  at  Sark  toll-bar, 


*  In  some  cases  where  parties  had  been  married  at  Gretna,  the  marriage 
used  to  be  repeated,  as  soon  as  they  returned  to  England,  in  a  church. 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS. 


123 


and  at  Gretna,  may  safely  be  estimated  at  upwards  of  1000  in  the 
year.* 

When  the  Bill  came  to  its  critical  point  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  the  Lord  Advocate  for  Scotland  stated  that  "  seeing 
that  it  did  not  interfere  with  the  Law  of  Scotland,  he  should  not 
object  to  its  progress."  Thus,  the  Bill  went  through  its  third 
reading,  and  passed,  within  three  months  from  its  introduction; 
and  thus  was  a  stop  put  to  a  state  of  affairs  threatening  the  rapid 
demoralization  of  the  lower  classes  in  the  Border  Counties  and 
North- Western  parts  of  England.f 

Solemnization  of  Marriage. 

The  great  facilities  for  Marriage  afforded  by  the  present  state 
of  the  law  will  be  apparent  from  the  following  recapitulation  of 
the  various  forms  and  authorities,  from  the  2oth  Annual  Report 
of  the  Registrar- General: 

"  Marriages  may  be  solemnized- 


I.  According    to    the    rites    of   the 
Established  Church. 


In   registered    places    of  worship 
not  of  the  Established  Church. 


3.  In  the  District  Register  Office. 


Authority. 

'i.  Special  licence  from  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury. 

2.  Licence  from  a  Surrogate,  &c. 

3.  Publication  of  banns. 

4.  Certificate     from     the     Superin- 

tendent Registrar. 
'  I.  Licence  from  the  Superintendent 

Registrar. 

2.  Certificate  from  the  Superin- 
tendent Registrar. 

1.  Licence  from  the  Superintendent 

Registrar. 

2.  Certificate  from  the  Superinten- 

dent Registrar. 

r.  Licence  from  the  Superintendent 
Registrar. 

2.  Certificate  from  the  Superinten- 
dent Registrar. 

"By  the  English  law  as  it  stood  before  the  passing  of  the  Act  of  6  and 
7  Will.  IV.,  c.  85,  no  marriage  could  be  lawfully  solemnized  (except  where 
both  the  parties  were  Quakers  or  Jews  respectively)  in  any  other  place  than 

*  In  1815  the  number  of  marriages  celebrated  at  Gretna  was  stated  in 
Brewster's  Edinburgh  Encyclopedia,  at  65,  which  produced  about  TOOO/.  at 
the  rate  of  fifteen  guineas  each  :  Murray,  however,  charged  as  low  a  fee  as 
sixpence  each. 

t  For  the  details  of  these  successful  steps  for  the  abolition  of  the  Gretna 
Green  marriages,  the  writer  is  indebted  to  the  obliging  courtesy  of  a  Corre- 
spondent who  took  an  active  part  in  the  measure. 


Between 
Jews. 


Quakers  and   between 


124  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

a  church  or  public  chapel  wherein  banns  might  be  published,  unless  by 
special  licence  from  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  This  law  was  enforced 
by  severe  penalties ;  and  if  any  persons  intermarried  without  licence  from  a 
competent  authority,  or  without  the  previous  publication  of  banns,  the  mar- 
riage was  null  and  void  to  all  intents  and  purposes.  Thus  all  persons  ^vvith 
the  exception  of  Jews  and  Quakers),  whether  conforming  to  the  Church  of 
England  or  not,  were  compelled  to  resort  to  the  Established  Church  in 
order  to  have  their  marriages  lawfully  solemnized.  The  boon  conferred 
upon  Roman  Catholics  and  Dissenters  generally  by  the  amended  law  of 
1836,  which  enables  them  to  marry  in  their  own  places  of  worship  and 
according  to  their  own  forms,  may  well  be  appreciated.  The  Act  of  1856, 
besides  abolishing  the  objectionable  practice  of  reading  notices  of  marriage 
before  boards  of  guardians,  has  sanctioned  marriage  out  of  the  district  in  the 
'usual  place  of  worship'  of  one  of  the  parties,  and  reduced  the  interval 
between  the  giving  of  notice  of  marriage  by  licence  and  the  grant  of  the 
licence  from  seven  days  to  one  clear  day." 

'The  Law  of  Copyright. 

The  Publishers'  Circular  gives  the  following  summary  of  fects 
respecting  the  Copyright  Laws : — In  our  own  country,  the  copy- 
right lasts  42  years  absolutely  for  the  author's  life,  and  seven  years 
after  his  death.  In  Greece  and  in  Sardinia  it  lasts  only  15  years 
from  the  date  of  publication.  In  the  Roman  States  it  extends  to 
12  years  after  the  author's  death.  In  Russia  it  lasts  for  25  years 
after  the  author's  death,  and  for  ten  years  more  if  a  new  edition 
has  been  published  in  the  last  five  years  of  the  first  tenn.  In 
Belgium  and  Sweden  it  lasts  20  years  after  the  author's  death, 
with  a  provision  in  Sweden,  that,  should  the  representative  of  the 
author  neglect  to  continue  the  publication,  the  copyright  falls  to 
the  State.  In  France  it  lasts  for  the  benefit  of  children  or  widow 
(that  is,  to  the  widow  if  she  be  what  is  called  in  France  en  com- 
munaute  de  biens,  a  peculiar  arrangement  in  French  marriage 
settlements,  which  establishes  between  husband  and  wife  a  perfect 
community  in  each  other's  property)  30  years  after  the  author's 
death,  but  to  other  representatives  only  10  years.  In  Spain  it 
lasts  50  years,  reckoning  from  the  author's  death.  In  Austria, 
Bavaria,  Portugal,  Prussia,  Saxony,  the  Kingdom  of  the  Two 
Sicilies,  Wurtemberg,  and  the  States  of  the  Germanic  Confede- 
ration, it  lasts  30  years  from  the  author's  death,  to  all  his  heirs 
and  assigns  without  distinction ;  and  in  Denmark,  so  recently  as 
1858,  it  lasted  an  indefinite  period,  provided  the  work  was  kept 
in  print ;  now,  however,  it  is  restricted  to  a  period  of  30  years 
after  the  author's  death,  with  a  provision  that  republication  by 
others  is  permitted  when  five  years  have  elapsed  in  which  a  work 
has  been  out  of  print.  In  the  United  States,  copyright  lasts  for 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  125 

28  years,  and  an  extension  of  14  years  granted  to  the  author  if  he 
lives,  or  to  his  widow,  children,  and  grandchildren.  With  regard 
to  lectures,  sermons,  &c.,  the  law  of  France  appears  to  be  that 
professors  and  preachers  have  the  sole  right  of  reproducing  their 
lectures  and  sermons  in  print ;  but  that  advocates  and  political 
speakers,  while  they  alone  have  the  right  to  publish  their  speeches 
in  a  collective  or  separate  form,  cannot  prevent  their  being  pub- 
lished in  the  journals  of  the  time  as  news. 

Holding  over  after  Lease. 

The  doctrine  is  well  established — viz.,  that  where  a  tenant  by 
lease  holds  over  after  the  determination  of  the  term,  and  pays  rent, 
he  becomes  a  tenant  from  year  to  year,  under  all  the  conditions  of 
the  expired  lease  consistent  'with  such  a  tenancy.  Baron  Watson 
remarks — "  It  is  important  that  no  doubt  should  be  thrown  upon 
a  question  of  such  very  general  importance,  as  a  great  many  of 
the  houses  in  London  and  throughout  the  country  are  occupied  by 
tenants  holding  over." 

Abolition  of  the  Hop  Duty. 

The  1 5th  September,  1862,  dates  the  freedom  of  English  Hops 
from  Excise  impost,  and  the  abolition  of  Customs  duties  upon 
foreign  Hops.  Time  alone  can  show  the  effect  so  serious  a  change 
will  have  on  the  average  prices  of  a  produce  of  increasing  im- 
portance throughout  the  world.  The  general  opinion  is  that 
under  perfect  freedom  of  trade  hops  will  vary  in  price  in  each 
d.strict  of  production  only  in  proportion  to  their  quality  and  the 
cost  of  transport ;  and  that  consumers  will  find  prices  more  uni- 
formly even  than  has  hitherto  been  known,  since  the  simultaneous 
failure  in  the  crop  at  home  and  abroad  is  beyond  probability. 

This  tax  was  tirst  imposed  by  Mr.  Harley  in  the  year  1711; 
and  its  removal  will  make  the  hopgrower  in  future  free  from  those 
heavy  losses  which  the  Duty  inflicted  on  him  in  years  of  large  crops 
and  small  prices.  Hopgrowing  has  now  become  a  simple  farming 
operation,  left  to  natural  causes.  It  might  be  that,  owing  to  the 
costly  nature  of  the  production  and  the  precarious  nature  of  the 
crop,  it  would  always  remain  a  somewhat  more  speculative  branch 
of  business  than  any  other  branch  of  farming.  It  is,  however, 
thought  that  the  supply  of  hops  will  be  more  abundant,  and,  above 
all,  more  steady  and  uniform  from  year  to  year.  The  consequence 
will  be  that  the  beer  we  drink  will  be  more  wholesome.  Eurton, 
in  his  Anatomy  of  Melancholy ',  says:  "Beer  made  without  hops 
is  productive  of  heaviness  and  melancholy ;  but  that  well  hopped 
is  an  antidote  to  it." 


126  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


Customs  of  Gavelkind. 

The  well-known  treatise,  entitled  "The  Common  Law  ot 
Kent ;  or  the  Customs  of  Gavelkind,  with  the  Decisions  con- 
cerning Borough-English/'  by  Thomas  Robinson,  with  additions 
by  J.  D.  Norwood,  comprehends  everything  relating  to  the 
subject,  embracing  all  that  is  useful  in  Somner,  Tayler,  and  Lam- 
barde,  as  well  as  a  full  account  of  both  tenure  and  custumal.  The 
work  contains  chapters  on  the  etymology  and  significations  of  the 
word  Gavelkind ;  on  the  antiquity  and  universality  of  partible 
descents  in  England  ;  on  the  places  out  of  Kent  where  the  custom 
of  gavelkind  may  be  alleged  and  maintained ;  on  the  manner  of 
pleading  the  custom,  and  the  difference  between  that  and  other 
counties,  and  between  the  general  and  special  customs ;  on  what 
lands  and  tenements  in  Kent  are  of  the  nature  of  gavelkind ;  of 
the  effect  of  the  alteration  of  the  tenure  and  of  the  disgavelling 
statutes ;  on  the  nature  of  gavelkind  in  reference  to  descent  and 
partition,  and  the  remedy  for  and  against  parceners  by  the  custom ; 
on  the  special  customs  incident  to  gavelkind  lands  in  Kent,  tenancy 
by  the  courtesy ;  of  dower,  of  customary  wardship,  and  of  aliena- 
tion by  any  infant  tenant  in  gavelkind ;  the  father  to  the  bough 
and  the  son  to  the  plough,  and  the  custumal  of  Kent  with  prece- 
dents. The  principal  peculiarities  which  distinguish  socage  lands 
subject  to  the  custom  of  gavelkind  from  free  or  common  socage 
are — i.  That  the  lands  descend  to  all  males  in  equal  degree,  in 
equal  shares.  2.  That  the  husband  is  tenant  by  the  courtesy  of 
his  deceased  wife's  lands,  whether  there  were  issue  born  alive  or 
not.  3.  That  the  widow  is  dowable  of  one-half  instead  of  the 
third.  4.  That  an  infant  may  alien  by  feoffment  at  the  age  of 
fifteen.  5.  That  upon  a  conviction  of  felony,  there  is  no  escheat 
by  reason  of  corruption  of  blood ;  corruption  of  blood  only  occurs 
now  in  cases  of  treason,  petit  treason,  and  murder — see  54  G.  3, 
c.  145.  These  peculiarities  do  not  recommend  themselves  as 
possessing  so  great  advantages  as  to  induce  us  to  continue  a 
system  of  law  in  Kent  different  from  the  rest  of  England.  One 
of  its  great  disadvantages  is  the  difficulty  of  deducing  the  title, 
on  account  of  the  complicated  subdivisions  of  the  estate. 

Treasure  Trove. 

Treasure  Trove  (from  the  French  trouver,  to  find,  trouve, 
found)  is  the  law  by  which  money,  or  other  treasure,  found  hidden, 
is  adjudicated  to  the  legal  claimant. 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  127 

In  1863,  Mr.  F.  Peel,  (one  of  the  Secretaries  to  the  Treasury,) 
stated  in  Parliament : 

It  was  by  no  means  an  unreasonable  or  absurd  law  that  when  an  article 
of  gold  or  silver,  belonging  to  an  unknown  owner,  was  found,  it  should  be 
held  to  be  the  property  of  the  Crown.  The  rights  of  the  Crown  in  that 
respect  were  not,  however,  rigidly  enforced.  The  articles  found  were 
usually  returned  to  the  person  who  was  declared  to  have  the  best  claim  to 
them ;  or,  if  they  were  of  historical  interest,  they  were  deposited  in  the 
British  Museum  or  some  local  collection,  and  their  intrinsic  value  was  paid 
to  the  finder.  What  the  Treasury  desired  was  to  obtain  speedy  information 
of  the  discovery  of  any  treasure  trove.  The  Circular  which  was  issued 
some  time  ago  was  intended  to  instruct  the  finders  of  any  treasures  how  to 
communicate  with  the  Crown  on  the  subject.*  That  Circular  was  sub- 
sequently withdrawn  because  it  laid  claim  to  antiquities  which  were  not 
exactly  treasures  and  did  not  belong  to  the  Crown,  and  because  it  di- 
rected a  reference  to  the  wrong  tribunal  in  cases  of  dispute.  The  draught 
of  another  circular  was  prepared  j  but  so  many  difficulties  beset  the  subject 
that  it  was  not  deemed  advisable  to  issue  it.  If  occasion  should  arise  for  a 
new  order  it  would  of  course  be  made,  but  there  appeared  to  be  no  necessity 
for  one  at  present. 

Sometimes,  the  right  to  the  property  is  confirmed  by  the  special 
conditions  of  the  holding  of  the  property  whereon  it  is  found. 
Thus,  at  the  above  date,  Lord  Palmerston  related  in  Parliament 
that  about  two  years  ago  some  workmen,  when  digging  a  drain  on 
one  of  his  farms,  found  a  gold  torque,  which  his  Lordship  pur- 
chased of  the  man  who  discovered  it,  the  value  being  about  3c/. 
Lord  Palmerston,  however,  had  an  investigation  made  of  the 
original  grant  of  the  farm  several  centuries  ago,  and  ascertained 
that  it  conferred  on  the  grantee  all  the  treasure-trove  on  the  pro- 
perty ;  wherefore  his  Lordship  felt  entitled  to  keep  the  relic  in 
question. 

In  January,  1863,  eleven  pounds'  weight  of  ancient  gold  orna- 
ments were  ploughed  up  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Hastings,  and 


*  This  Treasury  Minute  of  July  16,  1861,  directs  that  the  superin- 
tendents and  inspectors  of  police  shall  be  authorized  to  receive  treasure- 
trove  from  the  finders,  and  shall  transmit  it  to  the  Solicitor  of  the  Trea- 
sury, who  will  ascertain  at  the  Mint  the  real  intrinsic  or  metallic  value  of 
the  treasure,  and  the  amount  will  then  be  remitted  to  the  finder.  Cases 
will  no  doubt  occur  in  which  rare  and  valuable  coins  will  be  disposed  of  at 
a  higher  price  than  their  bullion  value,  but  they  will  then  find  their  way 
into  some  collection,  either  public  or  private,  and  will  not  be  melted  down. 
It  should  be  generally  known  that  treasure-trove  is  not  claimed  peremp- 
torily by  the  Crown,  nor  is  there  any  occasion  for  the  finder  to  sell  it  to 
the  nearest  silversmith  under  the  apprehension  that  it  would  have  to  be 
given  up  without  compensation. 


128  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

were  sold  as  old  brass,  to  a  man  who  had  been  a  Californian  gold- 
digger,  and  recognised  the  metal  as  solid  gold.  He  was  taken 
into  custody,  but  discharged,  the  magistrates  having  no  jurisdiction 
in  the  matter,  the  power  of  making  such  an  investigation  being 
vested,  according  to  an  old  statute,  (4th  Edward  I.)  in  the  coroner ; 
the  jury  returning  a  verdict  that  the  gold,  (value  about  s^o/.) 
the  owner  or  owners  not  being  known,  was  the  property  of  the 
Queen,  and  that  the  persons  accused  had  concealed  the  finding 
from  the  Queen  and  the  coroner.'  This  discovery  of  gold  orna- 
ments, and  their  almost  total  destruction,  render  it  desirable  that 
the  law  of  Treasure-trove  should  be  made  clear  to  popular  com- 
prehension :  that  if  it  is  not  just,  as  seems  to  be  the  common 
impression,  it  should  be  amended,  and  the  practice  of  the  Crown, 
in  exercising  its  conventional  rights,  defined.  At  any  rate,  so  long 
as  finders  do  not  know  that  they  will  receive  full  value  for  dis- 
coveries, and  have  not  confidence  in  their  appraisement,  it  is  in  vain 
to  expect  country-folk  wiU  yield  Treasure-trove  to  an  authority 
they  contemn.  In  some  parts  a  belief  is  held  that  such  discoveries 
entail  condign  punishment  upon  the  finders :  it  was  formerly  a 
capital  offence ;  it  is  now  a  misdemeanour,  punishable  by  fine  and 
imprisonment. 

It  is  difficult  to  make  the  peasantry  comprehend  manorial  rights. 
A  man  who  finds  a  treasure  in  his  own  ground,  and  that  treasure 
one  which  can  have  no  living  owner,  naturally  looks  on  himself 
as  its  rightful  possessor.  He  has  probably  never  heard  of  King 
Edward's  law  of  Treasure-trove,  and  a  natural  sense  of  justice  does 
not  guide  him  rightly  in  the  matter.  If  a  liberal  reward  were 
given — nearly  the  metal  value  of  the  trouvaille — it  is  quite  possible 
that  we  might  have  become  possessed  of  many  precious  relics 
which  now  are  broken  up  and  consigned  to  the  melting-pot. 

In  France,  the  right  is  more  practically  understood.  Thus,  in 
July,  1863,  a  pot  of  louis-d'ors  was  found  in  the  Rue  Lafayette, 
in  Paris,  when  the  following  adjustment  was  made. 

One  of  the  labourers  while  at  work,  struck  his  pick  on  to  an  earthen 
jar,  which  broke,  and  out  of  which  rolled  several  pieces  of  gold.  The 
other  workmen  hearing  the  sound,  rushed  round  the  spot,  probably  to  ob- 
tain a  share  of  the  treasure,  when  the  latter  cried  out  "  Stop  !  Form  a  ring 
around  me,  and  then  let  no  one  move."  The  others  obeyed.  He  then 
quietly  picked  up  the  pieces  of  gold,  which  he  placed  in  his  hat,  and,  taking 
up  the  broken  jar  which  contained  the  remainder,  he  stood  in  the  midst  of 
the  circle,  and  said,  "  Now  call  a  sergent-de-ville  to  accompany  me  to  the 
nearest  police-office,  where  I  will  deposit  the  money."  This  was  done, 
and  the  prize  was  found  to  consist  of  978  gold  louis-d'or  of  twenty-four 
livres  each,  bearing  the  effigies  of  Louis  XV.  and  XVI.,  the  whole  amount- 
ing to  more  than  a.-^ooof.  The  whole  was  forwarded  to  the  Prefecture  of 
Police,  where  it  was  to  remain  during  the  inquiry  to  discover  the  legitimate 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  129 

owners  of  the  property.  It  is  only  after  that  has  been  done  that  the  share, 
attributed  by  law  to  the  finder  of  a  treasure,  will  be  paid  to  the  lucky 
workman. 

Principal  and  Agent. 

There  is  a  well-known  case  involving  this  point,  in  which 
the  late  Lord  Abinger  differed  from  the  rest  of  the  Court  of 
Exchequer:  a  plaintiff  had  employed  an  agent  to  let  a  house  for 
him,  and  the  defendant  asked  the  agent "  if  there  was  any  objection 
to  the  house;"  to  which  the  agent  in  perfect  good  faith  answered, 
there  was  not.  It  turned  out,  however,  that  the  adjoining  pre- 
mises were  of  a  disreputable  character,  of  which  the  plaintiff  was 
aware,  although  his  agent  was  not.  The  defendant,  on  the  dis- 
covery of  the  objection,  refused  to  fulfil  his  written  contract  to 
take  the  house  ;  and  the  question  was,  whether  he  was  liable  for 
a  breach  of  the  agreement.  Lord  Abinger  thought  he  was  not, 
but  the  rest  of  the  Court  thought  he  was,  and  so  judgment  was 
given  for  the  plaintiff.  Upon  merely  technical  grounds,  perhaps, 
the  majority  of  the  learned  Barons  were  right ;  but  no  one  can 
read  the  masterly  opinion  of  Lord  Abinger  without  feeling  that 
the  law  ought  to  be  as  he  laid  it  down,  and  on  the  broad  and  simple 
ground  that  in  such  a  case  the  knowledge  of  the  principal  should 
be  held  to  be  the  knowledge  of  the  agent. 

Legal  Hints. 

Although  no  book  ever  was  or  ever  can  be  written  to  enable  a 
man  to  dispense  with  the  assistance  of  a  lawyer  in  cases  where  a 
knowledge  of  the  law  is  practically  required,  attention  to  certain 
hints  may  save  him  from  many  a  scrape.  Of  this  kind  are  the 
following  from  Lord  St.  Leonards's  Handy-Book:  You  should  be 
cautious  whom  you  employ  as  an  auctioneer,  for  any  loss  by  his 
insolvency  would  fall  upon  you ;  he  is  your  agent.  We  may  add, 
however,  that  he  is  the  agent  of  both  parties,  buyer  and  seller ; 
and  for  that  reason  his  signature  satisfies  the  Statute  of  Frauds, 
and  binds  both.  Again,  you  may  employ  one  person  to  bid  tor 
you  at  an  auction  when  you  sell  property,  to  prevent  its  going 
beneath  its  value  ;  but  you  must  not  employ  more  than  one,  for 
that  would  be.  considered  unfair  puffing.  Never  bid  for  a  lease- 
hold estate  clogged  with  the  condition  that  the  production  of  a 
receipt  for  the  last  half-year's  rent  shall  be  accepted  as  proof  that 
all  the  lessee's  covenants  were  performed  up  to  that  period ;  for 
there  may  have  been  a  prior  breach  of  covenant,  and  the  landlord 
may  not  have  waived  his  right  of  entry  for  the  forfeiture.  Do 
not  take  possession  of  an  estate  until  objections  to  the  title  are 

K 


330  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

removed,  for  such  a  step  would  in  some  cases  be  held  to  be  an 
acceptance  of  the  title.  Before  you  enter  an  auction-room  make 
up  your  mind  as  to  price,  and  do  not  be  led  away  by  the  per- 
suasions of  the  auctioneer,  who  is  the  agent  of  the  seller,  or  the 
biddings  of  others.  Do  not  sign  a  contract  tendered  to  you  by 
the  auctioneer,  unless  a  reciprocal  contract  is  signed  and  delivered 
to  you  at  the  same  time  by  him.  In  writing  about  the  sale  or 
purchase  of  an  estate,  you  should  always  cautiously  declare  your 
oner  not  to  be  final,  lest  the  other  party  should,  by  accepting  the 
terms  you  mention  in  your  letter,  not  intending  them  to  be  final, 
entrap  you  into  a  binding  contract.  Mind  your  fire  insurances. 
Very  few  policies  against  fire,  says  Lord  St.  Leonards,  are  so 
framed  as  to  render  the  company  legally  liable.  If  you  have  added 
an  Arnot's  stove,  or  made  any  other  important  change  in  your 
mode  of  heating  your  house  since  your  policy,  you  should  call 
upon  the  Company  to  admit  the  validity  of  your  policy  by  an 
endorsement  on  it. 

Vitiating  a  Sale. 

It  is  rather  startling  to  hear  an  ex-Lord  Chancellor  saying, 
"  Thus  I  have  told  you  what  truths  you  must  disclose.  I  shall 
now  tell  you  what  falsehoods  you  may  utter  in  regard  to  your 
estate."  Of  course  it  is  not  meant  that  morally  any  falsehood 
may  be  told,  but  only  that  there  are  some  which  do  not,  at  Law 
or  in  Equity,  vitiate  the  contract  of  sale.  And  it  is  curious  to 
see  the  distinctions  taken  in  these  falsehoods.  They  remind  us 
of  the  difference  in  Roman  Catholic  theology  between  venial  and 
mortal  sins.  Thus,  you  may  falsely  praise,  that  is,  puff,  your 
property.  You  may  describe  it  as  uncommonly  rich  water- 
meadow,  although  it  is  imperfectly  watered'.  In  selling  an 
advowson  you  may  falsely  state  that  an  avoidance  of  the  living 
is  likely  to  occur  soon.  You  may  say,  as  a  mere  puff,  that  your 
house  is  fit  for  a  respectable  family ;  but  you  may  not  say,  in 
answer  to  inquiries,  contrary  to  the  fact,  that  the  house  is  not 
damp.  And  you  must  disclose  a  right  of  sporting  or  of  common 
over  your  estate,  or  a  right  to  dig  mines  under  it.  The  reason 
of  such  distinctions  as  given  by  the  law — <valeat  quantum — is, 
that  some  statements  are  cautions  to  purchasers  to  make  inquiries 
for  themselves,  and  that  concealments,  to  be  material,  must  be  of 
something  that  the  party  concealing  is  bound  to  state.  Although 
Lord  St.  Leonards  (in  \nsHandy-Book  of  Property  La<w)  does  not 
allude  to  the  point,  we  might,  had  we  space,  while  upon  this 
S'ibject,  enlighten  our  readers  by  a  set  of  cases  in  which  the  law 
relating  to  bugs  is  elaborately  laid  down,  and  explain  to  them  in 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  131 

what  instances  the  presence  of  these  domestic  nuisances  in  incon- 
venient numbers  does  or  does  not  affect  a  contract  for  taking  a 
house.  But  we  must  be  content  to  refer  them  to  the  leading 
authorities  in  the  pleasant  volumes  of  Meeson  and  Welsby,  where 
they  will  find  the  law  fully  expounded. — Saturday  Review. 

Law  of  Gardens. 

Some  persons,  when  leaving  a  place,  finding  they  could  not 
remove  the  trees  and  shrubs,  have  them  cut  down ;  but  they  were 
actionable,  for  the  law  prohibits  waste  with  malevolent  intentions. 
The  decision  given  in  the  case  of  Buckland  ru.  Butterfield  esta- 
blishes this  point ;  for  "  a  tenant  is  liable  to  pay  for  the  waste,  if 
he  cuts  down  or  destroys,"  &c.  And  it  has  also  been  decided 
by  Lord  Denman,  Mr.  Justice  Littledale,  and  Mr.  Justice  Parke, 
that  a  tenant  could  not  remove  a  border  of  box,  planted  in  the 
garden  by  himself ;  but  that  it  belonged  to  the  landlord,  in  the 
absence  of  any  agreement  to  the  contrary.  In  the  course  of  the 
argument  the  counsel  for  the  tenant  asked,  "  Could  not  the  tenant 
remove  flowers  which  he  had  planted  in  the  ground  ?"  Mr.  Justice 
Littledale  instantly  said,  «  No." 

Giving  a  Servant  a  Character. 

The  giving  a  Character  to  a  Servant  is  one  of  the  most  ordinary 
communications  which  a  member  of  society  is  called  on  to  make ; 
and,  as  the  learned  Mr.  Starkie  observes,  is  a  duty  of  great  im- 
portance to  the  interests  of  the  public  ;  and  in  respect  of  that 
duty  a  person  offends  grievously  against  the  interests  of  the  com- 
munity in  giving  a  good  character  where  it  is  not  deserved,  or 
against  justice  and  humanity  in  either  injuriously  refusing  to  give 
a  character,  or  in  designedly  misrepresenting  "  one  to  the  detri- 
ment ot  the  individual." 

The  following  Rules  are  suggested  for  the  consideration  of 
masters  and  mistresses  not  acquainted  with  the  law  in  such  cases : 

Rule  i.  No  magistrate  has  any  jurisdiction  touching  the  character  of  a 
domestic  servant ;  and  the  common  threat  of  a  master  or  mistress  being 
summoned  for  not  giving  a  character  is  absurd. 

Rule  2.  It  has  been  clearly  decided  that  a  character  honestly  and  bond 
fide  given  by  a  master  or  mistress  to  any  person  making  the  usual  inquiry, 
is  a  privileged  communication  j  and  unless  inconsistent  with  truth,  or  actual 
malice  can  be  proved  by  evidence,  no  damages  can  be  sustained.  But  it 
must  be  carefully  borne  in  mind  that,  however  truly  or  honestly  the  cha- 
racter may  be  given,  an  action  at  law  can  be  brought  against  the  master  or 
mistress,  and  the  ladies  of  the  family  put  to  the  anxiety  of  appearing  in 
court,  as  well  as  the  lady  to  whom  the  character  was  given.  And,  although 
K2 


139  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

the  servant  may  be  immediately  defeated,  and  the  case  stopped  by  the  judge, 
you  will  find  yourself  some  fifty  or  sixty  pounds  out  of  pocket  by  your 
victory. 

Rule  3.  The  only  safe  course,  when  a  master  or  mistress  cannot  in  sin- 
cerity and  truth  recommend  a  servant,  is  to  decline  answering  any  ques- 
tions on  the  subject,  and  the  following  form  of  written  answer  may  prove 
useful  :  "  Mrs.  A.  presents  her  compliments  to  Mrs.  B.,  and  in  reply  to 
her  note  requesting  the  character  of  Ann  C ,  trusts  she  will  kindly  ex- 
cuse Mrs.  A.  declining  to  answer  any  questions  on  the  subject."  Address 
and  date.  A  copy  should  be  kept. 

In  the  case  of  Carrol  v.  Bird,  the  courts  of  law  have  decided 
that  neither  master  nor  mistress  is  bound  to  give  a  character,  and 
that  no  action  will  lie  against  them  for  refusing.  The  cases  also 
of  Taylor  *v.  Hawkins  are  well  worthy  of  notice.  It  must,  how- 
ever, be  repeated,  that  both  justice  and  humanity  claim  from  a 
master  and  mistress  their  kindest  care  and  consideration  for  the 
character  of  their  servants,  more  particularly  female  servants ;  but 
it  is  confidently  believed  that  if  the  above  rules  were  better  known 
and  more  generally  acted  on,  all  good  and  honest  servants  would 
be  gainers. — Times,  April  19,  1860. 

It  may  be  useful  to  mention  here  that  in  the  Court  of  Exchequer, 
a  cook,  formerly  in  the  sendee  of  Col.  Sibthorp,  M.P.,  brought 
an  action  against  him  for  an  alleged  libel  in  a  letter  to  a  lady  who 
had  applied  to  him  for  the  character  of  the  cook,  but  which  was 
not  satisfactory  to  the  lady.  It  was  submitted  the  Colonel's  letter 
being  proved  a  privileged  communication,  the  action  could  not  be 
maintained  without  proof  of  express  malice  on  the  part  of  the 
defendant,  of  which  there  was  not  the  slightest  evidence;  the 
judge  concurred  in  this  view,  and  the  plaintiff  was  accordingly 
nonsuited. 

Deodands. 

Within  memory,  when  an  accident  occurred,  it  was  custo- 
mary to  inflict  a  kind  of  fine  or  penalty  thus :  supposing  a  boy 
was  run  over  by  a  vehicle,  the  verdict  was  recorded  "  Accidental 
death,  with  a  deodand  of  one  shilling  upon  the  cart."  In  the 
Liber  Albus  (27  Henry  III.),  we  read  that  a  man  fell  from  a  boat 
into  the  Thames,  and  was  drowned  ;  no  one  was  held  in  suspicion 
as  to  the  same ;  the  judgment  was  "  Misadventure,"  and  the 
value  of  the  boat,  45.  yd.,  was  exacted  as  a  deodand,  payable  to 
the  king.  [See  'Things  not  generally  known,  First  Series,  p.  173.] 
The  deodandum  (Deo  dandum,  given  to  God)  of  our  jurisprudence 
may  be  reckoned  among  the  mysterious  things  of  history.  The 
deodand  is  philanthropic,  it  is  religious,  and  it  is  so  far  clerical, 
that  its  value,  when  levied,  was  handed  over  to  the  clergy,  Fleta, 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  133 

a  commentator  on  English  law,  temp.  Edward  I.,  says  that  the 
deodand  is  to  be  sold,  and  the  price  distributed  to  the  poor,  for 
the  soul  of  the  king,  his  ancestors,  and  all  faithful  people  departed 
this  life.  Yet  it  was  not  ecclesiastical:  it  cannot  be  recovered  by 
suit  in  the  courts  of  canon  law,  but  only  in  the  courts  of  the  king's 
coroner,  either  for  counties,  or  for  all  England.  This  ancient 
custom  was  abolished  by  act  gth  and  icth  Viet.,  cap.  62,  which 
enacts  that  subsequent  to  September  ist,  1846,  there  shall  be  no 
forfeiture  ot  chattels  in  respect  of  homicide. 

Arrest  of  the  Body  after  Death. 

It  was  <long  erroneously  believed  that  the  body  of  a  debtor 
might  be  taken  in  execution,  in  this  country,  after  his  or  her  death. 
Such,  however,  was  the  practice  in  Prussia,  till  its  abolition  by  the 
Code  Frcderique. 

The  above  idle  notion  we  remember  to  have  been  repeated  in 
connexion  with  the  pecuniary  embarrassments  of  Sheridan,  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  in  1816.  It  may  have  been  fostered  through  the 
mis-reading  of  an  account  of  a  sheriff's  officer  arresting  the  dying 
man  in  his  bed ;  "  he  would  have  carried  him  off  in  his  blankets, 
had  not  Dr.  Bain  assured  him  it  was  too  probable  his  prisoner 
would  expire  on  the  way  to  the  lock-up  house ! "  After  Sheridan's 
death,  the  removal  of  his  remains  from  Savile-row  to  Mr.  Peter 
Moore's  house,  in  George-street,  Westminster,  to  be  near  the 
Abbey  for  interment,  more  probably  led  to  the  story  that  the 
body  was  removed  to  escape  arrest. 

The  Duty  of  making  a  Will. 

When  in  1859,  Lord  Northwick's  collection  of  pictures  was 
about  to  be  disposed  of  by  auction,  at  Thirlestane-house,  Chelten- 
ham, we  paid  a  visit  to  the  gallery,  and  great  was  our  regret  at 
the  thought  of  the  dispersion  of  so  extensive  a  collection,  which 
had  long  been  the  pride  of  Cheltenham,  and  had  been  to  that 
thriving  town  what  the  National  Gallery  is  to  the  metropolis. 
Lord  North  wick  had  collected  these  pictures  during  a  life  ex- 
tending for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  beyond  the  average 
term  allotted  to  man.  Until  within  a  year  or  two  of  Lord  North- 
wick's  death,  in  1859,  he  spent  much  of  his  time  every  day  among 
his  pictures,  and  took  great  delight  in  pointing  out  their  beauties 
to  any  intelligent  visitor.  The  collection,  and  another  at  Campden, 
were  swept  away  by  sale,  which  realized  nearly  ioo,ooo/.  Upon 
our  visit  to  the  Thirlestane  Gallery,  much  as  we  were  gratified 
with  the  pictures,  we  became  impressed  with  the  futility  of  de- 


134  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

voting  a  long  life  to  their  collection,  without  providing  against 
their  dispersion  ;  and  subsequently  to  the  sale,  there  appeared  in 
the  Morning  Post  the  following  remarks,  which  more  fully  bespeak 
our  own  feelings  upon  the  subject : 

We  contemplate  the  dispersion  of  these  pictures  with  two  painful  reflec- 
tions, which,  by  way  of  caution  or  suggestion  to  other  collectors,  we  wish 
to  impress  upon  the  public.  The  first  is  the  comparative  uselessness  of 
collecting  works  of  art  without  some  provision  for  their  preservation.  The 
purpose  of  a  life  is  dissipated,  and  a  new  illustration  is  given  to  the  preacher's 
moral,  "  Panitas  •vanitatis  est  omnia  vanitas.'"  Undoubtedly,  he  who  col- 
lects treasures  of  art  in  the  way  Lord  North  wick  did,  and  gives  the  public 
the  benefit  of  them  during  his  life,  does  a  great  service  in  his  day  and  gene- 
ration ;  but  it  is  impossible  not  to  remember  how  much  greater  a  service 
he  renders  who  not  only  forms  a  collection  but  provides  for  its  perpetuity. 
In  the  next  place,  see  the  duty  of  making  a  Will.  These  collections  are 
dispersed  because  they  form  a  portion  of  the  personalty  of  the  deceased,  and 
there  being  no  instructions  as  to  their  disposal,  there  is  no  choice  but  to  sell 
them,  and  appropriate  their  proceeds  among  the  heirs-at-law.  Next  to  the 
mischief  of  making  an  unfair  Will  is  that  of  making  none  at  all.  Had 
Lord  Northwick  ordered  by  Will  the  sale  of  his  pictures,  however  dis- 
appointed the  world  might  have  been,  it  would  have  been  felt  that  he  had 
a  right  to  do  as  he  liked.  But  dying  intestate,  the  sale  follows  as  a  matter 
of  course,  and  the  results  of  a  long  life  and  large  fortune  devoted  to  works 
of  art  are  just  nowhere.  A  gallery  of  pictures  left  to  a  family  or  to  the 
public  is  an  offering  at  the  shrine  of  art  ;  but,  sold  by  auction,  and  dis- 
persed among  innumerable  private  purchasers,  is  sheer  vanity  and  labour 
lost. 

Don't  make  your  own  Will*. 

Lord  St.  Leonards,  in  his  Handy- Book  of  Property  Lanv,  says: 
"  I  am  somewhat  unwilling  to  give  you  any  instructions  for  making 
your  Will,  without  the  assistance  of  your  professional  adviser ; 
and  I  would  particularly  warn  you  against  the  use  of  printed 
forms,  which  have  misled  many  men.  They  are  as  dangerous  as 
the  country  schoolmaster  or  the  vestry-clerk.  It  is  quite  shock- 
ing to  reflect  upon  the  litigation  which  has  been  occasioned  by 
men  making  their  own  Wills  or  employing  incompetent  persons  to 
do  so.  To  save  a  few  guineas  in  their  lifetime,  men  leave  behind 
them  a  Will  which  it  may  cost  hundreds  of  pounds  to  have  ex- 
pounded by  the  courts  before  the  various  claimants  will  desist 
from  litigation.  Looking  at  this  as  a  simple  money  transaction, 
lawyers  might  well  be  in  despair  if  every  man's  Will  were  prepared 
by  a  competent  person.  To  put  off  making  your  Will  until  the 
hand  of  death  is  upon  you,  evinces  either  cowardice  or  a  shameful 
neglect  of  your  temporal  concerns.  Lest,  however,  such  a  mo- 
ment should  arrive,  I  must  arm  you  in  some  measure  against  it 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  135 

a  If  you  wish  to  tie  up  your  property  in  your  family  you  really 
must  not  make  your  own  will.  It  were  better  to  die  without  a 
will,  than  to  make  one  which  will  waste  your  estate  in  litigation 
to  discover  its  meaning.  The  words  "  children,"  "  issue,"  "  heirs 
of  the  body,"  or  u  heirs,"  sometimes  operate  to  give  the  parent 
the  entire  disposition  of  the  estate,  although  the  testator  did  not 
mean  any  such  thing.  They  are  seldom  used  by  a  man  who 
makes  his  own  will  without  leading  to  a  lawsuit.  And  now  an 
operation  has  been  given  to  like  words  by  the  new  statute,  which 
I  could  not  explain  to  you  without  you  possessed  more  know- 
ledge of  law  than  I  give  you  credit  for.  It  were  useless  for  me 
to  show  how  to  make  a  strict  settlement  of  your  property,  and 
therefore  I  will  not  try.  I  could,  without  difficulty,  run  over  the 
names  of  many  judges  and  lawyers  of  note,  whose  wills  made  by 
themselves  have  been  set  aside,  or  construed  so  as  to  defeat  every 
intention  which  they  ever  had.  It  is  not  even  a  profound  know- 
ledge of  law  which  will  capacitate  a  man  to  make  his  own  will, 
unless  he  has  been  in  the  habit  of  making  the  wills  of  others. 
Besides,  notwithstanding  that  fees  are  purely  honorary,  yet  it  is 
almost  proverbial  that  a  lawyer  never  does  anything  well  for  which 
he  is  not  fee'd,  Lord  Mansfield  told  a  story  of  himself,  that  feel- 
ing this  influence,  he  once,  when  about  to  attend  on  some  profes- 
sional business  of  his  own,  took  several  guineas  out  of  his  purse 
and  put  them  into  his  waistcoat  pocket,  as  a  fee  for  his  labour." 

Bridewell. 

This  name,  from  a  well  dedicated  to  St.  Bridget,  or  St.  Bride, 
between  Fleet-street  and  the  Thames,  was  given  to  a  palace  built 
there,  and  which,  soon  after,  became  a  House  of  Correction,  in 
the  reign  of  Queen  Mary.  Hence,  places  of  confinement  in  other 
parts,  in  which  employment  and  penitentiary  amendment  were 
leading  objects,  were  called  Bridewells. 

The  greater  part  of  the  City  of  London  Bridewell  was  taken  down  in 
1863;  committals  are  now  made  to  the  City  prison  at  Hollowly,  but  re- 
fractory City  apprentices  are  still  committed  to  Bridewell  by  the  Chamber- 
lain, this  jurisdiction  being  preserved  by  the  Court  of  Chancery.  The 
number  of  committals  rarely  exceeds  25  annually  ;  nevertheless  the  power 
of  committal  which  the  present  Chamberlain  has  most  praisevvorthily  as- 
serted and  successfully  maintains,  acts  as  a  terror  to  evil-doers,  and  keeps 
in  restraint  3000  of  these  lads  of  the  City. 

By  a  document  lately  discovered  in  the  State-Paper  Office,  it  appears 
that  in  the  Bridewell  of  London  were  imprisoned  the  members  of  the 
Congregational  Church  first  formed  after  the  accession  of  Elizabeth  }  they 
were  committed  to  the  custody  of  the  gaoler,  May  20,  1567. 


136  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


Cockfighting. 

British  cocks  are  mentioned  by  Cxsar ;  but  the  first  notice  of 
English  cockfighting  is  by  Fitzstephen,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II.; 
and  it  was  a  fashionable  sport  from  temp.  Edward  1 1 1.  almost  to  our 
time.  Henry  VIII.  added  a  cockpit  to  Whitehall  Palace,  where 
James  I.  went  to  see  the  sport  twice  a  week.  There  were  also 
cockpits  in  Drury-lane,  Shoe-lane,  Jewin-street,  Cripplegate,  and 
"  behind  Gray's  Inn  ;"  and  several  lanes,  courts,  and  alleys  are 
named  from  having  been  the  sites  of  cockpits.  The  original  name 
of  the  pit  in  our  theatres  was  the  cock-pit,  which  seems  to  imply 
that  cockfighting  had  been  their  original  destination.  One  of  our 
oldest  London  theatres  was  called  the  Cockpit;  this  was  the 
Phoenix  in  Drury-lane,  the  site  ot  which  was  Cockpit-alley,  now 
corruptly  written  Pitt-place.  Southwark  has  several  cockpit 
sites.  The  cockpit  in.  St.  James's-park,  leading  from  Birdcage- 
walk  into  Dart  mouth -street,  was  only  taken  down  in  1816,  but 
had  been  deserted  long  before.  Howell,  in  1657,  described 
"  cockfighting,  a  sport  peculiar  to  the  English,  and  so  is  bear  and 
bull  baitings,  there  being  not  such  dangerous  dogs  and  cocks 
anywhere."  Hogarth's  print  best  illustrates  the  brutal  refine- 
ment of  the  cockfighting  of  the  last  century;  and  Cowper's 
"  Cockfighter's  Garland,"  greatly  tended  to  keep  down  this 
modem  barbarism,  which  is  punishable  by  statute.  It  was,  not 
many  years  since,  greatly  indulged  in  through  Staffordshire ;  and 
"  Wednesbury  (Wedgbury)  cockings"  and  their  ribald  songs 
were  a  disgrace  to  our  times. 

Cockfighting  was,  in  fact,  the  great  national  amusement,  par- 
ticularly in  the  north  of  England,  and  Berwick-upon-Tweed  was 
among  the  places  most  celebrated  for  it.  Some  ninety  years  ago, 
in  the  north  of  England,  when  a  cockfighting  was  about  to  take 
place,  the  parties  were  in  want  of  an  adept  in  putting  on  the  spurs : 
a  person  present  was  recognised  by  an  acquaintance,  who  ex- 
claimed, "  Here  comes  a  Berwick  man ;  he  knows  how  to  do 
it."  Cockfighting  is  now  legally  a  misdemeanor ;  and  on  the 
1,5th  of  April,  1857,  at  the  Liverpool  Police  Court,  James 
Clark,  a  publican,'  in  Houghton- street,  was  fined  5/.  and  costs 
for  permitting  cockfighting  in  his  house. 

In  the  autumn  of  1862,  several  persons  were  convicted  by  the 
magistrates  at  Barnsley,  for  cockfighting,  under  the  Act,  which 
inflicts  a  fine  on  any  one  assisting  at  a  cockfight,  in  a  place  used 
for  the  purpose.  This  is  an  absurd  condition,  and  is  a  blunder  of 
the  Act-framer.  Now,  the  place  used  for  the  purpose  of  thisfgbt 
was  an  old  quarry  j  but  the  magistrates  held  that  any  place  where 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  137 


a  cockfight  took  place  was  a  place  used  for  the  purpose,  the  fact 
of  the  fight  being  the  evidence  of  the  use.  The  case  came  by 
appeal  before  the  Court  of  Queen's  Bench,  when  the  Judges  de- 
cided, in  accordance  with  a  ruled  case,  there  must  be  some  evi- 
dence of  general  use,  if  on  a  piece  of  waste  ground,  and  that  one 
act  would  only  prove  the  use  when  it  was  a  place  over  which  a 
man  had  some  control.  The  judgment  was  therefore  reversed. 
At  Bradford,  within  a  few  days  of  this  decision,  William  Speight 
and  J.  Holroyd  were  fined  3/.  each  for  cruelty  in  having  set  game- 
cocks to  fight ;  twelve  other  persons,  resident  in  various  parts  of 
the  Riding,  were  fined  IDS.  each. 

On  June  24th,  1863,  before  a  bench  of  magistrates  at  Lough- 
borough,  the  Marquis  of  Hastings,  and  three  of  his  gamekeepers, 
were  charged,  on  behalf  of  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of 
Cruelty  to  Animals,  with  causing  a  cock  to  be  cruelly  tortured. 
It  was  proved  in  evidence  that  three  weeks  before,  the  Marquis  of 
Hastings  had  "  some  good  cockfighting"  at  Donington  Hall,  on 
a  Sunday  !  They  fought  six  pairs  of  cocks,  six  cocks  were  killed, 
all  had  steel  spurs  on,  and  the  Marquis  was  one  of  the  persons 
who  put  the  cocks  together  to  fight ;  the  other  persons  accused 
being  spectators.  Lord  Hastings  admitted  that  the  fight  had 
taken  place,  but  denied  that  there  had  been  any  cruelty  used  in 
the  sense  of  the  words  of  the  information.  His  Lordship  was, 
however,  convicted  in  the  penalty  of  5/.,  and  his  three  keepers  in 
2/.  each. 

Ignorance  and  Irresponsibility. 

Sir  John  Bowring  states  that  he  remembers  a  murder  occurring 
in  Ceylon,  and  on  the  murderer  being  brought  to  trial,  it  was  found 
utterly  impossible  to  make  him  comprehend  that  he  had  committed 
any  sin  whatever  in  revenging  himself  upon  one  by  whom  he 
thought  he  had  been  injured.  The  consequence  was  that  the 
Judge  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  murderer  could  not  be  held 
responsible  for  his  crime.  So  ignorant  was  this  man  that  he  could 
not  count  up  to  the  number  of  five,  losing  himself  always  at  three. 

Ticket-of-Leave  Men. 

Archbishop  Whately,  who  always  handles  a  practical  subject 
in  a  masculine  way,  annihilates  the  English  Ticket-of-leave  sys- 
tem with  a  single  sentence: — "  What  should  we  think  of  a  right, 
encouraged  by  a  Secretary  of  State,  to  go  every  day  to  a  mena- 
gerie and  let  out  by  mere  rotation  one  animal  from  a  cage  without 
inquiring  whether  he  released  a  monkey  or  a  tiger  ?"  The  Arch- 


138  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

bishop  proposes  that  all  sentences  beyond  fifteen  years  should  be 
irreversible,  except  by  an  Act  of  Parliament,  specifying  the  names, 
offences,  and  previous  committals  of  the  prisoners  pardoned. 

Cupar  and  Jedburgh  Justice. 

It  is  an  odd  circumstance  that  Lord  Campbell,  to  whom  both 
as  judge  and  legislator  the  law  of  England  owes  so  much,  was 
born  at  a  place  which  gives  its  name,  "  Cupar  justice,"  to  the 
peculiar  system  of  law  which  hangs  a  man  first  and  tries  him  after- 
wards ;  and  that  he  had  his  country  residence  (Hartrigge-house, 
Roxburghshire)  in  the  neighbourhood  of  another  town  which  gave 
the  name  of  "  Jedburgh  justice"  to  an  equally  summary  code,  the 
great  principle  of  wh.ch  is,  "  Hang  all  or  save  all." 

What  is  to  be  done  with  our  Convicts. 

Transportation  having  had  a  fair  and  patient  trial,  and  having 
altogether  failed  as  a  punishment,  and  having  no  colony  fitted  and 
willing  to  receive  the  sweepings  of  our  gaols,  the  alternative  to 
which  we  are  compelled  is  to  keep  our  convicts  at  home,  and  to 
make  the  best  of  them,  by  making  them  self-supporting.  Or,  in 
the  forcible  words  of  the  late  Mr.  Charles  Pearson,  City  Solicitor: 

If  the  honest  millions,  as  they  pass  through  life,  can,  and  do,  during 
what  is  recognised  as  the  producing  age,  not  only  provide  for  their  own 
wants,  but  create  a  large  surplus,  by  which  the  non-producing  classes  are 
supported  and  the  institutions  of  society  are  maintained,  it  surely  ought  not 
to  be  endured  that  any  portion  of  the  same  race  and  of  the  producing  age 
should  be  permitted  to  renounce  their  allegiance  to  the  funda- 
mental law  of  their  existence,  and  declare  in  practice,  that  by  the  sweat  of 
the  face  of  other  men,  they  will  eat  of  earth's  choicest  fruits. 

The  only  rational,  merciful,  and  effectual  corrective  of  such  offenders 
agiinst  all  laws,  human  and  divine,  is  to  classify  and  place  them  in  secure 
prisons,  surrounded  by  lofty  and  substantial  walls  j  to  subject  them,  week  by 
week,  to  seventy,  or  at  least  sixty,  hours  of  useful  and  profitable  work  j  to 
allow  them  sixty,  or  at  most  seventy,  hours  for  food,  rest,  cleanliness,  and 
their  other  bodily  requirements  j  to  give  them  twenty-eight  hours  with 
means  and  opportunities  for  mental  and  spiritual  instruction,  and  for  the 

public  and  private  worship  of  God If  any  Government,  having 

thus  placed  at  its  disposal  annually  the  hundred  millions  of  hours  of  confis- 
cated labour,  which  30,000  criminals  would  yield,  cannot  make  the  class 
not  only  self-supporting,  but  productive  of  a  surplus  for  the  future  benefit 
of  those  who  produce  it,  such  a  Government  would  be  pronounced  by  men 
of  business  unfit  to  be  at  the  head  of  a  great  manufacturing  and  commercial 
people. 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  339 

^he  Game  Laws. 

In  1834,  Mr.  Henry  Warburton,  in  Parliament,  denounced  the 
Game  Laws  as  they  then  existed,  in  this  remarkable  illustra- 
tion : — "  I  have  read  in  Mariner's  account  of  the  Tonga  islands, 
that  there  the  rats  were  preserved  as  game ;  and,  though  every- 
body might  eat  rats,  nobody  was  allowed  to  kill  them  but  some- 
body descended  from  their  gods  or  their  kings.  This  is  the  only 
country  and  the  only  case  I  know  of  which  furnishes  anything  like 
a  parallel  to  our  game  laws." 

The  Pillory. 

The  Pillory  (Fr.  pilori,  probably  from  Lat.  pi/a,  a  pillar)  was 
a  mode  of  punishment  by  a  public  exposure  of  the  offender  long 
used  in  most  countries  of  Europe.  No  punishment  has  been 
inflicted  in  so  many  different  ways  as  that  or  the  pillory.  Some- 
times the  machine  was  constructed  so  that  several  criminals  might 
be  pilloried  at  the  same  time  ;  but  it  was  commonly  capable  of 
holding  but  one  at  once.  Francis  Douce,  in  his  Illustrations  of 
Sba&espeare,  vol.  i.,  p.  146,  gives  six  representations  of  distinct 
varieties  of  this  instrument.  These  varieties  are  all  reducible, 
however,  to  the  simplest  form  of  the  pillory.  It  consisted  of  a 
wooden  frame  or  screen  raised  on  a  pillar  or  post  several  feet  from 
the  ground,  and  behind  which  the  culprit  stood  supported  on  a 
platform,  his  head  and  hands  being  thrust  through  holes  in  the 
screen,  so  as  to  be  exposed  in  front.  This  screen,  in  the  more 
complicated  forms  of  the  instrument,  consisted  of  a  perforated 
iron  circle  or  carcan  (hence  the  name  given  to  the  pillory  in 
French),  which  secured  the  hands  and  heads  of  several  persons  at 
the  same  time. 

The  Pillory  seems  to  have  existed  in  England  before  the  Con- 
quest, in  the  shape  of  the  stretchneck,  in  which  the  head  only  of 
the  criminal  was  confined  j  but  it  was  usually  constructed  for 
the  head  and  hands.  It  was  used  for  punishing  all  sorts  of 
cheats ;  as,  bakers  for  making  bread  of  light  weight ;  fraudulent 
corn,  coal,  and  cattle  dealers;  cutters  of  purses;  sellers  of  sham 
gold  rings ;  forgers  of  letters,  bonds,  and  deeds ;  users  of  un- 
stamped measures,  &c.  It  was  also  a  Star  Chamber  punishment; 
and  from  the  time  of  Titus  Gates  to  its  abolition,  the  pillory  was 
a  common  punishment  for  perjury.  The  usual  places  where  the  pil- 
lory was  pitched  were  the  Royal  Exchange,  the  Old  Bailey, Temple 
Bar,  Lincoln's-Inn  Fields,  Charing  Cross,  New  Palace  Yard,  and 
Tyburn.  About  the  year  1812,  the  writer  remembers  to  have 
seen  four  men  in  the  p.llory,  at  the  north  end  of  Fleet-market 


140  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

(Holborn-bridge).  The  last  person  who  stood  in  the  pillory  in 
London,  was  Peter  James  Bossy,  for  perjury,  in  the  Old  Bailey, 
June  23,  1830.  A  pillory  is  still  standing  at  Coleshill,  in  War- 
wickshire ;  and  in  an  unused  chancel  of  Rye  church,  Sussex,  is  a 
pillory,  last  used  in  1813.  The  pillory  was  abolished  in  Great 
Britain  in  1837,  by  stat.  i  Viet.,  c.  23 ;  and  in  France  in  1832. 

Death-  Warrants. — Pardons. 

Although  we  occasionally  read  in  the  public  journals  of 
the  issue  of  the  usual  Death-warrant  for  the  execution  of  a 
criminal,  there  is  (except  in  the  case  of  a  peer  of  the  realm)  no 
such  thing  as  a  death-warrant  ever  signed  by  the  Crown  or  by 
any  one  or  more  of  the  officers  of  the  Grown;  the  only  authority 
for  the  execution  of  a  criminal  convicted  of  a  capital  crime  being 
the  verbal  sentence  pronounced  upon  him  in  open  court,  which 
sentence  the  Sheriff  is  bound  to  take  cognizance  of  and  execute 
without  any  further  authority.  It  is  true  that  a  written  calendar 
of  the  offences  and  punishments  of  the  prisoners  is  made  out  and 
signed  by  the  Judge,  of  which  a  copy  is  delivered  to  the  Sheriff ; 
but  this  is  only  a  memorandum  and  not  an  official  document,  and 
it  is  optional  with  the  Judge  to  sign  it  or  not. 

The  false  notion  of  there  being  such  a  document  as  a  Death- 
warrant  for  the  execution  of  a  criminal  has  been  fostered  to  our 
own  time  by  the  frequent  reference  of  writers  ot  note  to  its  ex- 
istence. Sir  Nathaniel  Wraxall  says  of  Dr.  Dodd's  case  in 

I777— 

"  /  have  beard  Lord  Sackville  recount  the  circumstances  that 
took  place  in  the  council  held  on  the  occasion,  at  which  the  King 
assisted.  To  the  firmness  of  the  Lord  Chief- Justice,  Dodd's  exe- 
cution was  due :  for,  no  sooner  had  he  pronounced  his  decided 
opinion  that  no  mercy  ought  to  be  extended,  than  the  King, 
taking  up  the  pen,  signed  the  death-warrant." 

This  is  flatly  contradicted  in  the  Quarterly  Review,  No.  57, 
as  follows: — Lord  Sackville  never  could  have  told  him  any  such 
thing — the  King  never  signs  any  death-warrant — his  pleasure  on 
the  Recorder's  report  is  in  ordinary  cases  verbally,  and  in  fatal 
cases  silently,  signified — and  it  is  always  guided  by  the  opinion  of 
the  legal  members  of  the  Privy  Council. 

This  popular  error  of  the  Death-warrant  is  fully  explained, 
from  an  accredited  legal  source,  in  Things  not  generally  known, 
First  Series,  p.  172. 

It  is  erroneously  supposed  that  the  Sovereign  can  save  a  life 
that  has  been  declared  forfeit  by  the  law ;  but  the  Sovereign's 
sign-manual  to  a  pardon  is  ot  no  effect  unless  it  be  countersigned 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS. 


(that  is,  sanctioned)  by  a  responsible  minister.  —  y.  Doran,  F.S.A.; 
Last  journals  of  Horace  Walpole,  vol.  i. 

Origin  of  the  Judge's  Black  Cap. 

The  practice  of  our  Judges  in  putting  on  a  Black  Cap  when 
they  condemn  a  criminal  to  death  will  be  found,  on  consideration, 
to  have  a  deep  and  sad  significance.  Covering  the  head  was  in 
ancient  days  a  sign  of  mourning.  "  Haman  hastened  to  his  house, 
mourning  and  having  his  head  covered."  (Esther  vi.  12).  In 
like  manner  Demosthenes,  when  insulted  by  the  populace,  went 
home  with  his  head  covered.  "  And  David  .  .  .  wept  as  he  went 
up,  and  had  his  head  covered  ;  .  .  .  and  all  the  people  that  was 
with  him  covered  every  man  his  head,  and  they  went  up,  weeping  as 
they  went  up."  (2  S  imuel  xv.  ~o.)  Darius,  too,  covered  his  head 
on  learning  the  death  of  his  Queen.  But  among  ourselves  we 
find  traces  of  a  similar  mode  of  expressing  grief  at  funerals.  The 
mourners  had  the  hood  "  drawn  forward  over  the  head."  (Fos- 
broke,  Encyc.  of  Antiq.^  p.  95  1  ).  Indeed,  the  hood  drawn  forward 
thus  over  the  head  is  still  part  of  the  mourning  habiliment  of 
women  when  they  follow  the  corpse.  And  w.th  this  it  should  be 
borne  in  mind  that,  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  Chaucer,  the  most 
usual  colour  of  mourning  was  black.  Atropos  also,  who  held  the 
fatal  scissors  which  cut  short  the  life  of  man,  was  clothed  in  black. 
When,  therefore,  the  Judge  puts  on  the  black  cap,  it  is  a  very 
significant  as  well  as  solemn  procedure.  He  puts  on  mourning, 
for  he  is  about  to  pronounce  the  forfeit  of  a  life.  And,  accord- 
ingly, the  act  itself,  the  putting  on  ot  the  black  cap,  is  generally 
understood  to  be  Significant.  It  intimates  that  the  Judge  is  about 
to  pronounce  no  merely  registered  or  supposition  sentence  ;  in 
the  very  formula  of  condemnation  he  has  put  himself  in  mourning 
for  the  convicted  culprit,  as  for  a  dead  man.  The  criminal  is  then 
left  for  execution,  and,  unless  mercy  exerts  its  sovereign  preroga- 
tive, suffers  the  sentence  of  the  law.  The  mourning  cap  expressly 
indicates  his  doom.  —  Notes  and  Queries. 

The  last  English  Gibbet. 

In  March,  1856,  the  last  Gibbet  erected  in  England  was  demo- 
lished by  the  workmen  employed  by  the  contractors  making  docks 
for  the  North-Eastern  Railway  Company  upon  the  Tyne.  The 
person  who  was  gibbeted  at  that  place  was  a  pitman,  convicted 
at  the  Durham  Midsummer  Assizes  of  1832.  So  great  was  the 
horror  and  disgust  of  all  parties  with  the  sight  of  the  body  of  the 
poor  wretch  dangling  in  chains  by  the  side  of  a  public  road,  that 


142  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

great  gratitude  was  expressed  when  the  pitmen  took  it  down  one 
dark  night.  It  is  a  gratifying  fact,  showing  the  progress  of  civi- 
lization among  the  mining  population,  that,  though  there  have 
been  several  strikes  among  them  since  1832,  none  of  those  strikes 
have  been  marked  by  a  repetition  of  the  fearful  acts  ot  violence  of 
that  year.  At  one  of  the  great  meetings  of  pitmen  held  in  the 
spring  of  1832  the  Marquis  of  Londonderry  attended  on  horse- 
back to  remonstrate  with  them.  But  he  had  a  company  of  soldiers 
with  him,  which  were  hiding  in  the  valley.  This  was  known  to 
the  pitmen,  and  the  pitman  that  held  his  horse's  head  as  he  spoke 
had  a  loaded  pistol  up  his  sleeve,  in  case  the  Marquis  should  wave 
the  soldiers  to  come  up,  to  blow  the  Marquis's  brains  out.  For- 
tunately, the  good  feeling  and  kind  heart  of  the  nobleman  pre- 
vailed, and  that  emergency  did  not  arise. 

Public  Executions. 

It  is  the  grossest  and  most  illogical  of  assumptions  to  conclude, 
without  a  particle  of  attempted  proof,  that  Public  Executions 
produce  only  brutalizing  effects  upon  the  spectators.  It  is  just 
as  fair  to  assume  that  their  results  even  on  the  spectators  are 
edifying.  But  these  results  are  only  remote  and  indirect,  and 
comparatively  unimportant.  Public  executions  are  to  be  justified 
on  other  grounds  than  their  effects  on  bystanders.  They  are 
designed  not  only  to  prevent  possible  murder  but  to  avenge 
actual  murder.  They  are  great  retributive  acts  ;  they  represent 
and  embody  the  last  and  most  solemn  and  weightiest  impersona- 
tion of  Eternal  Justice.  An  execution  is  retaliatory,  and  is  to  be 
defended  as  such.  As  we  no  longer  hang  men  for  other  crimes 
than  that  of  murder,  life  for  life  becomes  a  social  necessity.  Any 
other  punishment  than  that  of  death  is  incommensurate  with  the 
crime  ;  and  we  cannot  afford  to  place  the  sanctity  of  human  life 
and  the  safety  of  our  spoons  under  the  same  sanctions.  —  Saturday 


On  the  other  hand,  it  is  maintained  that  executions  ought  never 
to  be  made  a  spectacle  for  the  multitude,  who,  if  they  can  bear 
the  sight,  always  regard  it  as  a  pastime  ;  nor  for  the  curiosity  of 
those  who  shudder  while  they  gratify  it. 

In  neither  of  these  views  is  the  effect  of  a  public  execution  upon 
the  criminal  taken  into  account.  This  effect,  as  instanced  at  the 
execution  of  the  Mannings  for  murder,  in  1849,  was  thus  forcibly 
urged  by  Sir  Francis  Head  : 

The  merciful  object  of  every  punishment  which  the  law  inflicts,  is  not 
so  much  to  revenge  the  past  crime  as  to  prevent  its  recurrence.  Now, 
Mrs.  Manning's  last  moments  clearly  explain,  or  rather  indisputably  prove, 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  143 

the  benefit  which  society  practically  derives  from  a  public  execution.  She 
had  courage  enough — as  she  sat  smiling  by  his  side — to  plan  the  murder  of 
"her  best  friend  ;"  to  dig  his  grave  ;  to  prepare  vitriol  and  lime  to  burn 
his  body;  to  blow  his  brains  out;  to  bury  him  in  her  own  kitchen.  She 
had  resolution  enough — almost  before  he  was  cold — to  go  to  his  lodgings 
to  obtain  his  property.  Her  self-possession  before  the  police  authorities  at 
Edinburgh  was  unexampled ;  her  hardness  of  heart  on  her  trial,  as  well  as 
in  prison,  most  extraordinary.  And  yet  this  bold,  courageous  woman,  who 
after  the  murder,  and  with  her  hands  stained  with  blood,  had  said  to  her 
husband,  "  I  think  no  more  of  what  I  have  done  than  if  I  had  shot  the 
cat  that  is  on  the  wall!"  afterwards  triumphantly  adding,  "I  have  the 
nerve  of  a  horse !"  did  not  dare  to  face  the  indescribable  terrors  of  a  public 
execution  !  She  did  not  fear  death  in  private ;  on  the  contrary,  she  almost 
succeeded  in  gradually,  with  her  own  hands,  strangling  herself;  but  her 
obdurate  heart  quailed  at  the  idea  of  beholding  in  fearful  array  before  her, 
the  uplifted  horrid  faces  of  the  London  mob  ;  and  accordingly,  as  her  last 
act,  "she  drew  from  her  pocket  a  black  silk  handkerchief,  requested  that 
she  might  be  blindfolded  with  it ;  and,  having  a  black  silk  veil  fastened 
over  her  head,  so  as  completely  to  conceal  her  features  from  public  gaze, 
she  was  conducted  in  slow  and  solemn  procession  towards  the  drop;"  and 
as  for  a  few  fleeting  moments  she  stood  with  bandaged  eyes  beneath  the 
gibbet,  how  unanswerably  did  the  picture  mutely  expound  the  terror  which 
the  wicked  very  naturally  have  of  being  publicly  hanged  before  the  scum 
and  refuse  of  society  !  "  The  whistlings — the  imitations  of  Punch — the 
brutal  jokes  and  indecent  delight  of  the  thieves,  low  prostitutes,  ruffians, 
and  vagabonds,"  so  graphically  described  by  Mr.  Charles  Dickens,  were — 
by  her  own  showing — not  only  the  most  fearful  portion  of  her  sentence, 
but,  under  Providence,  these  coarse  ingredients  may  possibly  have  effected 
that  momentary  repentance  which  the  mild  but  fervent  exhortations  of  the 
chaplain  had  failed  to  produce. 

Many  men,  neither  sentimental  nor  enthusiastic,  nor  even  phi- 
lanthropists, however,  conclude  that  though  public  executions 
under  the  present  system  are  deterring,  to  a  certain  extent,  yet  they 
are  exceedingly  brutalizing  and  calculated  to  harden  and  deprave 
the  spectators.  Sir  George  Bowyer,  M.P.,  has  said : 

The  problem  remains  unsolved  how  the  terror  of  capital  punishments  is 
to  be  purified  from  the  abominable  accessories  and  consequences  which 
Dickens  and  Thackeray  have  so  vividly  and  usefully  described.  I  am  not 
one  of  th'jse  who  think  that  capital  punishments  are  either  unlawful  or 
inexpedient.  The  passage  in  Holy  Writ  which  says  that  the  civil  ruler 
beats  the  sword  to  be  a  terror  to  evil-doers,  points  out  with  infallible 
authority  both  the  lawfulness  and  the  use  of  the  extreme  penalty.  But 
still  I  must  admit  that  this  dreadful  prerogative  of  Sovereignty — the  power 
of  life  and  death — may  be,  and  is  in  this  country,  exercised  in  such  a  way, 
thut  one  might  almost  doubt  whether  the  moral  pestilence  which  it  spreads 
did  not  counterbalance  the  security  that  it  affords  to  society. 

The  Committee  of  the  House  of  Lords  on  Capital  Punishment  were  so 
convinced  or  the  evil  effects  of  the  present  mode  or  carrying  into  effec 


KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


capital  punishments,  that  they  recommended  that  executions  should  in 
future  take  place  within  the  prison,  and  in  the  presence  only  of  official  and 
selected  witnesses.  But  this  opinion  does  not  solve  the  difficulty.  Mr. 
George  Augustus  Sala  truly  says  that  private  executions  would  not  be 
tolerated  in  the  present  state  of  society.  Besides,  certainly  the  terror  pro- 
duced by  the  sight  of  death  cannot  be  equalled  by  the  sound  of  a  bell  or 
the  hoisting  of  a  black  flag,  which  the  Lords'  Committee  propose  ;  and 
these  forms  would  soon  lose  any  impressiveness.  The  sight  of  death  is, 
indeed,  most  awful  to  human  nature  : 

"  -  O  sight 
Of  terror,  foul  and  ugly  to  behold, 
Horrid  to  think  —  how  horrible  to  feel  !" 

The  knowledge  that  a  criminal  had  been  put  to  death  would  no  doubt  be 
less  terrible  to  the  criminal  and  dangerous  population  if  they  were  prevented 
from  seeing  the  execution.  If  the  plan  of  private  executions  be  rejecceJ, 
what  can  be  done  to  give  a  character  to  public  executions  more  wholesome 
than  that  justly  condemned  by  the  committee  ? 

The  cold,  business-like  formality  of  a  public  execution  is  then  referred 
to  :  beyond  a  glimpse  of  the  chaplain's  surplice  there  is  nothing  to  remind 
the  spectators  of  the  awful  and  sacred  character  with  which  the  Christian 
religion  invests  death.  The  people  see  a  man  strangled,  and  that  is  all.- 

Archdeacon  Bickersteth  evidently  felt  this  when  he  said  before  the 
Lords'  Committee,  "  I  would  suggest  that  the  churches  might  be  opened. 
There  might  be  a  service  at  the  time,  and  perhaps  a  prayer  for 
the  criminal."  This  is  a  very  pregnant  hint.  At  the  execution  of  three 
men  at  Dundalk  a  few  years  ago,  when  the  criminals  came  on  the  scaffold, 
all  the  people  knelt  and  prayed  for  them  at  the  request  of  the  priest. 
Those  who  were  there  describe  the  scene  as  most  solemn  and  honourable 
to  the  Irish  character.  The  prisoners  confessed  their  guilt  and  declared 
their  penitence.  An  account  describing  a  late  execution  for  murder  at 
Ancona,  says  that  the  prisoner  knelt  on  the  scaffold  and  repeated  the 
Litany,  the  crowd  making  the  reponses.  A  friend  of  mine  who  was  at  an 
execution  for  murder  in  Rome,  told  me  that  the  thousands  of  spectators 
round  the  scaffold  recited  the  Mtsertre  and  De  Profundh  in  a  loud  voice. 
How  different  this  is  from  "  levity,  jeering,  laughing,  hooting,  whistling, 
low  jesting,  and  indecent  ribaldry"  described  before  the  Committee!  This 
contrast  surely  suggests  that  the  people  in  England  should  be  better  taught 
than  they  are,  and  that  it  is  by  religious  influences  that  executions  can  be 
purified  from  their  abominable  and  loathsome  effects.  The  people  should 
be  made  to  feel  that  they  are,  so  to  speak,  attending  a  death-bed  scene  of 
the  most  frightful  and  appalling  kind,  and  not  the  mere  slaughter  of  a 
biped  without  feathers. 

Sir  George  Bowyer  then  relates  how  the  problem  is  solved  in 
Italy,  where,  in  every  city  is  a  religious  society  of  laymen,  called 
"  the  Confraternity  of  Death,"  or  of  Mercy,  whose  duty  it  is  to 
attend  criminals  before  and  at  their  execution  : 

The  exposition   of  the   blessed  sacrament  for  the  forty  hours'  prayer 


CHANGES  IN  LAWS.  145 

commences  in  the  churches,  and  the  people  attend  in  great  numbers 
during  the  whole  day,  and  even  sometimes  during  the  night.  The 
prisoner  is  taken  to  the  place  of  execution  (usually  outside  the  town)  in  the 
following  manner: — First  the  great  black  cross  and  banner  of  the  Confra- 
ternity is  seen  slowly  advancing,  followed  by  the  members  walking  two 
and  two  in  their  black  cassocks  and  their  hoods  over  their  faces,  with 
apertures  for  their  eyes.  As  they  proceed  along  the  streets  they  recite  the 
Penitential  Psalms  aloud.  They  are  followed  by  the  litter  for  the  dead 
body,  carried  by  four  of  their  number  j  and  then  comes  the  convict,  assisted 
by  the  clergy  and  brethren.  At  the  scaffold  the  Confraternity  stand  round 
and  continue  their  devotions  until  the  prisoner  is  dead,  and  then  they 
remove  the  body  in  the  same  funeral  procession. 

These  facts,  it  must  be  admitted,  are  very  suggestive ;  but,  how 
far  such  ceremonies  are  adapted  for  a  Protestant  country  is  ex- 
tremely questionable. 

That  experienced  judge,  Baron  Alderson,  in  his  answers  given 
to  a  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons,  looked  on  the  deter- 
ring effect  of  punishment,  such  as  it  was,  as  more  indispensable 
than  the  reforming: — 

"  It  is  desirable — I  do  not  know  whether  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
State— to  make  all  criminals  better  if  possible ;  but  I  think  this 
object  is  to  be  held  subservient  to  that  of  preventing  crime  by  the 
example  of  punishment ;  and  on  no  other  principle  that  I  can 
perceive  is  it  possible  to  defend  capital  punishments,  which  can 
hardly  be  said  to  have  any  tendency  to  make  the  individual 
criminals  better,  though  I  think  they  have  a  strong  effect  in 
repressing  crime." 

The  latest  evidence  upon  the  subject  is — that  in  September, 
1863,  the  Association  for  the  Promotion  of  Social  Science,  hold- 
ing its  second  session  at  Ghent,  discussed  at  great  length  the  sub- 
ject of  punishment  of  death.  The  abolition  was  finally  voted  by 
a  great  majority.  In  the  course  of  the  debate  a  member  read  a 
list  of  167  convicts  sentenced  to  death,  of  whom  161  had  been 
present  at  capital  executions ;  and  he  concluded  from  this  fact, 
that  the  witnessing  capital  punishment  is  not  efficacious  in  the 
suppression  of  crime. 


146  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


Numbers  descriptive  of  Distance. 

BEFORE  the  introduction  of  railways  we  scarcely  possessed  any 
standard  by  which  an  idea  could  be  formed  of  the  distances  and 
movements  of  the  planets  by  comparison  with  those  which  exist 
on  the  terrestrial  globe.  Thus,  the  mean  distance  of  the  moon 
trom  the  earth  is  about  237,000  miles.  A  steam-carriage  on  a 
railway,  proceeding  uninterruptedly,  at  the  rate  of  25  miles  an 
hour,  would  run  237,000  miles  in  i  year,  4  weeks,  and  2  days. 
This  falls  within  the  limits  of  our  conception.  We  may  imagine 
something  analogous  to  this,  supposing  a  carriage,  or  rather 
a  succession  of  carriages,  to  be  kept  constantly  at  work  for 
rat'.ier  more  than  two  years,  and  working  12  hours  per  day. 
But  our  powers  of  imagination  fail  us  in  estimating  a  distance 
equal  to  that  of  the  earth  from  the  sun,  namely,  ninety -Jive 
millions  of  miles.*  Our  steam-carriage  illustration  is  here  no  longer 
available,  since  it  falls  far  beyond  the  boundaries  of  probability. 
Proceeding  uninterruptedly  at  twenty-five  miles  an  hour,  it  would 
require  433  years  to  move  over  a  space  equal  to  ninety-five 
millions  of  miles. — Dr.  Lardner. 

Precocious  Mental  Calculation. 

A  rare  exceptional  instance  of  this  faculty  being  cultivated  and 
matured  for  a  highly-useful  purpose,  is  presented  in  the  case  of 
Mr.  Bidder,  the  eminent  civil  engineer,  known  in  his  childhood  as 
"  the  Calculating  Boy."  (See  a  portrait  in  the  Boys  Own  Book.) 

George  Parkes  Bidder,  when  six  years  old,  used  to  amuse  him- 
self by  counting  up  to  TOO,  then  to  1000,  then  to  1,000,000:  by 
degrees,  he  accustomed  himself  to  contemplate  the  relations  of 
high  numbers,  and  used  to  build  up  peas,  marbles,  and  shot,  into 
squares,  cubes,  and  other  regular  figures.  He  invented  processes 
of  his  own,  distinct  from  those  given  in  books  of  arithmetic,  and 
could  solve  all  the  usual  questions  mentally  more  rapidly  than 
other  boys  with  the  aid  of  pen  and  paper.  When  he  became 
eminent  as  a  civil  engineer,  he  was  wont  to  embarrass  and  baffle 
the  parliamentary  counsel  on  contested  railway  bills,  by  confuting 
their  statements  of  figures  almost  before  the  words  were  out  of 

*  It  is  now  shown  to  be  91,328,600  miles. 


MEASURE  AND  VALUE.  147 

their  mouths.  In  1856,  he  gave  to  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engi- 
neers an  interesting  account  of  this  singular  arithmetical  faculty 
—so  far,  at  least,  as  to  show  that  memory  has  less  to  do  with  it 
than  is  generally  supposed :  the  processes  are  actually  worked  out 
seriatim,  but  with  a  rapidity  almost  inconceivable.  They  are 
accomplished  mentally  by  occupying  the  mind  simultaneously 
with  the  double  task  of  computing  and  registering.  The  first — 
computing — is  executive,  or  reasoning,  and  is  that  portion  of  the 
process,  which,  whilst  it  is  the  most  active,  is  not  that  which 
causes  the  greatest  strain  upon  the  mind.  The  result  is  recorded 
by  the  second  faculty,  registering,  which  is  the  real  strain  upon 
the  mind,  and  that  by  which  alone  the  power  of  Mental  Calcu- 
lation is  limited. 

Experience  has  shown  that,  up  to  a  certain  point,  the  power  of 
registering  is  as  rapid  as  thought  j  but  the  difficulty  increases,  in 
a  very  high  ratio,  in  reference  to  the  number  and  extent  of  im- 
pressions to  be  registered,  until  a  point  is  reached,,  the  registering 
of  which,  in  the  mind  and  by  writing,  are  exactly  balanced. 
Below  that  point,  mental  registration  is  preferable ;  above  it?  that 
by  writing  will  be  as  quick,  and  more  certain. 

All  the  rules  employed  by  Mr.  Bidder  were  invented  by  him, 
and  are  only  methods  of  so  arranging  calculation  as  to  facilitate 
the  power  of  registration:  in  fact,  he  thus  arrives  at  a  sort  of 
natural  algebra,  using  actual  numbers  in  the  place  of  symbols. 
When  he  first  began  to  deal  with  numbers  (in  his  6th  year),  he 
had  not  learned  to  read,  and  certainly  long  after  that  time  he  was 
taught  the  symbolical  numbers  from  the  face  of  a  watch. 

A  brief  outline  of  Mr.  Bidder's  method  is  given  in  the  Tear- 
Book  of  Facts,  1857,  pp.  149-152.  The  paper,  in  extenso,  has 
been  edited  and  'published  by  Mr.  Charles  Manby,  F.R.S., 
Honorary  Secretary  to  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers. 

The  Roman  Foot. 

The  late  celebrated  architect  and  antiquary,  Luigi  Canina? 
made  a  great  number  of  inquiries  as  to  the  length  of  the  ancient 
Roman  foot.  He  measured  very  carefully  the  Antonine  and 
Trajan  columns,  and  found  them  (exclusive  of  their  pedestals  and 
some  pieces  let  in  to  repair  them)  exactly  alike.  This  height, 
which  was  known  to  have  been  100  Roman  feet,  was  measured 
with  extreme  care  by  means  of  rods  of  wood  carefully  dried,  and 
found  to  be  exactly  29*635  French  metres.  Measuring  chains 
were  then  constructed  of  this  length,  and  the  Roman  miles  (mille 
passuum)  carefully  measured  down  the  Appian  Way  as  far  as  the 
twelfth  mile,  and  were  found  to  correspond  with  the  traditional! 

L  2 


148  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

sites  of  the  milestones.  The  great  length  of  these  measurements 
being  such  an  extensive  check,  their  accuracy  was  at  once 
accepted  by  the  Roman  archaeologists  as  the  best  authority 
known.  This  would  make  the  ancient  Roman  foot  11*66753 
English  inches  ;  and  the  mile  4861-41  English  feet;  being  about 
one-eleventh  less  than  our  English  mile  of  5280  feet.  For  rough 
reckoning  the  antiquary  may  deduct  one-eleventh  from  Roman 
miles  to  bring  them  into  English ;  or  may  add  one-tenth  to 
English  miles  to  bring  them  into  Roman  ;  the  ratio  being  10 :  1 1, 
but  inversely.  There  is  a  common  error  in  supposing  the  Roman 
mile,  or  mille  passuum,  was  1000  paces,  or  single  steps.  This  is 
not  the  case :  the  military  passus  consisted  of  two  steps  (gressus), 
or  about  5  feet  Roman. — Notes  and  Queries* 

The  Peruvian  Quipus. 

The  well-known  contrivance  of  the  Quipus,  or  method  of 
counting  and  even  recording  events  by  means  of  cords,  was 
equally  ingenious  and  original.  The  quipus  of  the  Peruvians 
were  of  twisted  wool,  and  consisted  of  a  thick  cord,  with  threads 
more  or  less  fine,  attached  to  the  main  part.  The  smaller  lines 
were  covered  with  knots,  either  single  or  double.  The  size  of 
the  quipus  varies  much,  sometimes  the  main  cord  being  five  or  six 
yards  long,  and  at  others  not  more  than  a  foot ;  the  branches 
rarely  exceeding  a  yard  in  length,  and  being  sometimes  shorter. 
In  the  neighbourhood  of  Lurin,  on  the  coast  of  Peru,  a  quipu 
was  found  which  weighed  twelve  pounds.  The  different  colours 
of  the  threads  had  different  meanings :  thus,  the  red  signified  a 
soldier,  or  war ;  the  yellow  gold ;  the  white,  silver,  or  peace,  £c. 
In  the  system  of  arithmetic,  a  single  knot  signified  10,  two  single 
knots  20,  a  double  knot  100,  a  triple  knot  1000,  and  so  on  to 
higher  numbers.  But  not  only  the  colour  and  mode  of  combin- 
ing the  knots,  but  also  the  laying-up  of  the  strands  of  the  cord, 
and  the  distances  of  the  threads  apart,  were  of  great  importance 
in  reading  the  quipus.  It  is  probable  that  in  the  earliest  times 
this  ingenious  contrivance  was  merely  used  for  enumeration,  as 
the  shepherd  notches  the  number  of  his  sheep  on  a  stick  ;  but  in 
the  course  of  time  the  science  was  so  much  improved  that  the 
initiated  were  able  to  knot  historical  records,  laws,  and  decrees, 
so  that  the  great  events  of  the  empire  were  transmitted  to  posterity; 
and,  to  some  extent,  the  quipus  supplied  the  place  of  chronicles 
and  national  archives.  The  registry  of  tributes,  the  census  of 
populations,  the  lists  of  arms,  of  soldiers,  and  of  stores,  the  sup- 
plies of  maize,  clothes,  shoes,  £c.,  in  the  storehouses,  were  all 
specified  with  admirable  exactness  by  the  quipus ;  and  in  every 


MEASURE  AND  VALUE.  149 

• • — 

town  of  any  importance,  there  was  an  officer,  called  the  quipu 
camayoc,  to  knot  and  decipher  these  documents. — Markhams 
Visit  to  Peru. 

Distances  measured. 

Many  people  hear  of  distances  in  thousands  of  yards — a  usual 
measure  of  artillery  distances — and  have  very  little  power  of 
reducing  them  at  once  to  miles.  Now,  tour  miles  are  ten  yards 
for  each  mile  above  7000  yards,  whence  the  following  rule :  the 
number  of  thousands  multiplied  by  4  and  divided  by  7  give  miles 
and  sevenths  for  quotient  and  remainder,  with  only  at  the  rate  of 
ten  yards  to  a  mile  in  excess.  Thus  1 2,000  yards  is  48  7ths  of  a 
mile,  or  6  miles  and  6  7ths  of  a  mile:  not  70  yards  too  great. 
Again,  people  measure  speed  by  miles  per  hour,  the  mile  and  the 
hour  being  too  long  for  the  judgment  of  distance  and  time.  Take 
half  as  much  again  as  the  number  of  miles  per  hour,  and  you 
have  the  number  of  feet  per  second,  too  great  by  one  in  30.  Thus 
1 6  miles  an  hour  is  16  -f-  8,  or  24  feet  per  second,  too  much  by 
24-30ths  of  a  foot. — Athenaeum,  No.  1854. 

Uniformity  of  Weights  and  Measures. 

A  collection  of  the  Weights  and  Measures  of  the  various 
countries  of  the  world,  made,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Inter- 
national Association,  for  obtaining  a  uniform  Decimal  System  of 
Measures,  Weights,  and  Coins,  was  among  the  curiosities  of  the 
International  Exhibition  of  1862.  Few  persons  are  perhaps 
aware  of  the  extraordinary  diversities  in  weights  and  measures, 
and  in  their  use,  which  exist  in  our  own  country.  The  price  or 
corn,  for  instance,  will  be  quoted  in  at  least  fifteen  different  ways 
in  as  many  different  localities;  at  so  much  per  ctwt.,  per  barrel, 
per  quarter,  per  bushel,  per  load,  per  bag,  per  weight,  per  boll,  per 
coomb,  per  hobbet,  per  winch,  per  Dwindle,  per  strike,  per  measure, 
per  stone.  The  word  bushel  is  in  some  places  used  for  a  measure, 
in  others  for  a  weight,  and  this  weight  is  by  no  means  the  same 
in  all  places.  In  different  English  towns  the  bushel  means — 
168  Ibs.,  73^  Ibs.,  62  Ibs.,  80  Ibs.,  75  Ibs.,  72  Ibs.,  70  Ibs.,  65  Ibs., 
64  Ibs.,  63  Ibs.,  5  quarters,  144  quarts,  488  Ibs.,  and  in  Man- 
chester, while  a  bushel  of  English  wheat  is  60  Ibs.,  a  bushel  of 
American  wheat  is  70  Ibs.  The  meaning  of  a  stone  is  almost 
equally  various.  An  acre  of  land  expresses  seven  different  quan- 
tities. These  variations  in  measurement  must  be  highly  incon- 
venient, and  prejudicial  to  trade ;  and  the  labours  of  the  above- 
named  Association  are  directed  to  bringing  about  a  uniformity, 
which  seems  greatly  called  for.  The  metrical  system  employed 


250  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

in  France  is  that  which  is  advocated.  This  has  been  already 
established  in  Belgium,  Holland,  Sardinia,  Lombardy,  Greece, 
Spain,  Portugal,  and  many  other  parts  of  the  world.  Great  Bri- 
tain and  the  American  States  still  adhere  to  their  old  systems. 

Trinity  High-water  Mark. 

Trinity  High-water  Mark  is  placed  in  various  parts  of  London, 
as  described  in  the  Register  of  Tides  in  the  River  Thames,  printed 
by  order  of  the  Honourable  Court  of  Commissioners,  of  the  26th 
of  October,  1 849  ;  and  every  bench-mark  in  London  is  shown  in 
feet  and  decimals  of  feet  above  an  oblate  spheroidal  datum  plane, 
decreasing  in  radii  towards  the  north  pole  from  the  centre  of 
gravity  between  the  parallels  of  latitude  at  London  and  Liverpool, 
about  2*02  feet,  or  24^  inches,  which  is  evidently  worthy  of  con- 
sideration, at  a  rate  of  2  feet  to  the  mile  in  40  miles  of  sewer. 
The  difference  at  Liverpool  is  also  given  in  the  aforesaid  Report ; 
and  this  may  prove  of  public  utility  if  reported  on  by  the  engineer 
employed  in  the  levelling  of  the  main  drainage  of  London.  The 
Ravensbourne  drainage  is  a  specimen  of  such  levelling.  The  ap- 
proximate mean  water  at  Liverpool  is  12^  feet  below  the  level  of 
Trinity  High- Water  at  London,  as  described  identical  with  the 
level  of  the  datum  plane  of  the  Ordnance  survey  of  London,  which 
is  also  12!  feet  below  the  level  of  Trinity  High- Water  mark. 

Origin  of  Rent. 

The  want  of  intelligent  workmen,  without  the  concurrence  of 
other  causes,  might  have  destroyed  the  old  English  predial  polity, 
if  that  system  had  not  failed  through  its  own  nature  ;  having  been 
essentially  rude  and  awkward  and  uncommercial.  Under  the 
Plantagenets,  service  could  in  general  be  reduced  to  money  at  the 
discretion  of  the  lord  or  the  option  of  the  tenant.  The  service 
often  cost  the  tenant  more  than  it  was  worth — he  found  it  cheaper 
to  pay  than  to  work :  on  the  other  hand,  money  must  have  been 
at  all  times  welcome  to  the  lord,  and  he  did  not  at  all  times  re- 
quire labour.  In  the  course  of  time  agricultural  service  went  out 
of  use  altogether,  and  money  was  regularly  tendered  and  accepted 
instead  of  it :  so  that  the  improved  rent,  as  it  has  been  called,  now 
paid  by  a  farmer,  appears  to  be  a  compound — historically  con- 
sidered— of  the  ancient  mail  or  gable,  and  of  a  great  variety  of 
petty  charges,  which  were  originally  compensations  for  tributes  of 
corn,  malt,  poultry,  bacon,  and  eggs — or  fines  for  the  non-per- 
formance of  acts  of  tillage,  carriage,  porterage,  and  the  like.  The 
elements  of  rent  were  recognised  in  Scotland  longer  than  in  Eng- 


MEASURE  AND  VALUE.  151 


land,  because  petty  charges  subsisted  in  Scotland  for  some  time 
after  they  had  been  abandoned  in  England.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  David  Deans — the  tough  true-blue  Pres- 
byterian fanner — still  paid  "  mail  duties,  kain,  arriage,  carriage, 
dry  multure,  lock,  govvpen,  and  knaveship,  and  all  the  various 
exactions  now  commuted  for  money,  and  summed  up  in  the  em- 
phatic word  RENT." — Heart  of  Mid-Lothian,  chap.  viii.  j  Law 
Magazine,  N.  S.,  No.  27. 

Curiosities  of  the  Exchequer. 

Mr.  Foss,  in  his  Lives  of  the  Judges,  tells  us  that  the  Court  of 
Exchequer  was  anciently  sometimes  called  Curia  Regis  ad  Scacca- 
rium  •  and  its  name  was  derived  from  the  table  at  which  it  sat, 
which  was  "  a  four-cornered  board,  about  ten  feet  long  arid  five 
feet  broad,  fitted  in  manner  of  a  table  to  sit  about,  on  every  side 
whereof  is  a  standing  ledge  or  border,  four  fingers  broad.  Upon 
this  board  is  laid  a  cloth  bought  in  Easter  Term,  which  is  of  black 
colour,  rowed  with  strokes,  distant  about  a  foot  or  span,  like  a 
chess-board.  On  the  spaces  of  this  Scaccarium,  or  chequered 
cloth,  counters  were  ranged,  with  denoting  marks,  for  checking 
the  computations." 

In  the  old  Court  of  Exchequer,  at  Westminster,  before  the 
coronation  of  King  George  IV.,  might  be  seen  the  chequered 
vloth  which  covered  the  table  of  that  Court.  This  table,  at  which 
sat  the  officers  of  the  Court,  and  the  king's  counsel,  was  ten  or 
twelve  feet  square,  and  was  covered  with  a  woollen  cloth,  the 
groundwork  of  which  was  white,  with  a  very  dark  blue  chequered 
pattern  over  it ;  the  dark  stripes  being  about  three  inches  wide, 
leaving  between  them  white  squares  of  about  four  inches  across. 

Again,  the  cover  on  the  table  of  the  Exchequer  Court  in 
Dublin  is  composed  of  a  thick  woollen  substance  made  in  squares 
of  black  and  white,  resembling  a  chess-board. 

The  origin  of  the  word  Scaccarium  (whence  Exchequer)  is 
not  certain.  Madox,  the  historical  authority  upon  the  subject, 
considers  the  most  likely  derivation  to  be  from  Scaccus,  or  Scaccum, 
a  chess-board,  or  the  ludus  Scaccarium,  the  game  of  chess.  He 
then  refers  to  the  chequered  cloth  mentioned  by  Foss ;  adding, 
"  from  the  Latin  Scaccarium  cometh  the  French  Eschequier,  or 
Exchequier,  (Exchiquer,}  and  the  English  name  from  the  French. 

Mr.  G.  A.  Sala,  in  a  communication  to  Notes  and  Queries, 
3rd  S.  No.  8 1,  however,  traces  exchequer  to  the  Italian  Zecca, 
treasury  or  mint;  whence,  also,  he  derives  the  word  cheque; 
remembering  that  in  old  time  our  goldsmiths  were  Lombards  and 
Venetians. 


152  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

However  this  may  be,  the  forms  by  which  accounts  were  kept 
in  the  Exchequer,  and  receipts  given  for  moneys  paid  by  "  the 
King's  debtors"  in  those  days,  when  few  persons  knew  how  to 
write  and  cipher,  and  "  double  entry"  was  unknown,  were  strictly 
observed  down  to  a  period  scarcely  thirty  years  ago.  The  rude 
wooden  "  tallies"  that  were  prepared  as  quittances  for  payment, 
and  stowed  away  in  the  Exchequer  as  entries  of  receipt,  were  still 
maintained  in  their  sham  employment  until  finally  abolished  by  an 
Act  passed  in  1834.  The  officials  who  superintended,  or  were 
supposed  to  superintend,  the  operation  of  cutting,  delivering,  and 
keeping  the  tallies  were  paid  by  fees  on  all  receipts ;  and  as  the 
national  revenue  augmented  their  incomes  became  enormous.  A 
u  Tallier,"  or,  as  the  name  became  latterly,  "  Teller,"  of  the 
Exchequer  enjoyed  at  last  an  income  from  his  sinecure  office  of 
more  than  3o,ooo/.  per  annum. 

The  Tally  was  a  slip  bf  willow-wood,  cut  to  a  length  propor- 
tioned to  the  magnitude  of  the  pecuniary  transaction  it  was  in» 
tended  to  record.  Its  indications  were  rendered  by  notches, 
which  signified  various  sums,  according  to  their  size  and  shape.* 

When  fabricated  the  instrument  indicated  this  meaning.  A  large  notch 
of  an  inch  and  a  half  in  width  signified  rooo/. ;  a  smaller  notch,  one  inch  in 
width,  signified  ioo/.  ;  one  of  half-an-inch  signified  2O/.  j  a  notch  in  the 
wood  slanting  to  the  right  signified  io/.  (in  combination  this  notch  was 
placed  before  the  so/,  notch)}  small  notches  signified  i/.  each  j  a  cut 
sloping  to  the  right  signified  los.  (in  combination  placed  before  the  i/. 
marks)  ;  slight  indentations,  or  jags,  in  the  wood  signified  shillings  ;  strokes 
with  ink  on  tally  signified  pence  j  a  round  hole,  or  dot,  signified  a  half- 
penny j  a  farthing  was  written  in  figures. 

When  split  in  two  lengthwise  across  the  notches,  each  section  of  the 
tally,  of  course,  corresponded  exactly.  One  half' was  then  delivered  to  the 
party  paying  money,  as  a  receipt,  and  the  other  kept  by  the  officers  of  the 
department,  as  a  check  or  record  of  the  transaction.  On  neither  side  was 
the  slightest  value  attached  to  the  tally;  but  down  to  1834  no  payment 
could  be  made  into  the  Exchequer  without  summoning  the  officers  of  thjs 
Tally,  who  gravely  notched  and  split  the  willow  wand,  and  handed  over 
the  Exchequer  half  to  be  placed  in  careful  custody.  The  absurdity  came  to 
an  end  in  that  year ;  but  by  way  of  farewell  ceremony,  is  reported  CD 
have  burnt  down  the  Parliament  Houses ;  certain  furnace  flues  having  become 
overheated  by  burning  a  lumbering  mass  of  Exchequer  tallies.  Nor  was 
the  tally  the  only  idle  formality  observed  when  payments  were  made  into 
the  Exchequer.  Centuries  ago  the  Royal  moneys  were  actually  received 
and  kept  in  that  department j  but  for  a  long  while  past  the  actual  cash  has 
been  lodged  in  the  Bank  of  England,  where  it  is  more  safely  guarded,  and 
more  conveniently  administered.  Nevertheless,  every  sum  received  on 

*  Abridged  (with  interpolations)  from  a  communication  to  the  Illus- 
trated London  Ntivs,  1857. 


MEASURE  AND  VALUE.  153 

Exchequer  account  was  still  nominally  brought  to  the  Exchequer  Office; 
and  for  that  purpose  a  Bank  clerk  regularly  attended  every  day  with  a 
bundle  of  cancelled  notes,  which  were  solemnly  counted  over  and  checked, 
and  deposited  as  a  precious  trust  in  a  massive  iron  chest  secured  with  three 
keys,  each  in  the  custody  of  different  officers. 

The  tally  in  course  of  time  failed  to  satisfy  the  payers  of  money  to  Ex- 
chequer account,  and  a  written  quittance  became  necessary.  This  also  in, 
its  turn  grew  obsolete  in  form  and  language,  but  was  in  like  manner  pre- 
served in  all  its  antique  unintelligibility  until  the  Act  of  1834. 

Such  was  the  (t  tally''  system  of  olden  time,  and,  undoubtedly, 
it  in  some  way  is  involved  in  the  origination  of  what  is  known  as 
the  "tally  shop"  system  of  to-day. 

Formerly,  in  the  Exchequer  business,  the  collectors  and  re- 
ceivers charged  with  the  receipt  of  public  moneys  from  the  tax- 
payers were  required  to  find  sureties  for  their  honesty.  These 
security  bonds  were  valid  only  for  a  year,  and,  therefore,  annually 
renewed,  to  the  great  profit  of  the  law  and  other  officers  of  the 
Crown.  When  each  collector  had  duly  settled  his  account,  and 
paid-in  all  the  proper  moneys  into  the  Exchequer,  for  any  year,  he 
received  back  his  bond,  signifying  a  discharge  from  all  further 
liability,  and  this  was  called  getting  his  quietus.  The  practice  and 
the  term  are  now  disused,  but  they  evidently  constituted  the  point 
of  Hamlet's  allusion : — 

When  he  himself  might  his  quietus  make 

With  a  bare  bodkin. 

What  becomes  of  the  Public  Revenue. 

Of  the  seventy  millions  of  the  Revenue  more  than  one-third  is 
disposed  of  by  the  interest  of  the  National  Debt,  a  charge  not 
liable  to  any  important  variation.  It  was  less  by  89,4 12/.  in  1862 
than  in  the  year  before.  But  the  difference  is  very  slight  on  such 
a  sum  as  26,142,6067.  The  armed  force  of  the  country  is  the 
next  great  channel  of  expenditure.  The  Army  in  1862  absorbed 
15,570,8697.,  an  increase  of  399,0007.  over  its  cost  in  the  previous 
year.  The  Navy  required  12,598,0427.  in  the  same  period,  or 
733,6267.  less  than  in  1861.  Together  they  account  for  more 
than  28,ooo,opo7.  of  the  public  expenditure.  The  naval  and 
military  operations  in  China  figure  in  both  years  of  this  return, 
In  i86u  they  drew  from  the  Exchequer  3,043,8967.;  and  in  1862 
a  further  sum  of  1,230,0007.  The  votes  of  money  for  fortifications 
rose  suddenly  from  50,0007.  in  1861  to  970,0007.  in  1862.  There 
are  small  variations,  both  of  reduction  and  increase,  dispersed 
through  an  immense  number  of  items,  but  when  the  gross  sum 
they  absorb  is  reckoned  up,  the  difference  between  one  year  and 
another  is  scarcely  worth  noting. 


KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


Queen  Annes  Bounty. 

The  origin  of  this  revenue,  which  is  considered  to  effect  little 
compared  with  what  might  be  accomplished  under  improved 
management,  is  as  follows.  We  know  that  in  olden  times  the 
Romish  Pontiff  had  the  "  tenths"  of  the  net  annual  income  of 
good  livings,  as  well  as  first-fruits.  When  the  Pope  and  Henry 
VIII.  quarrelled,  and  the  Papal  supremacy  was  subverted,  not 
only  was  the  supremacy  in  ecclesiastical  affairs  transferred  from  the 
Pope  of  Rome  to  England's  supreme  ruler,  but  also  the  tenths 
and  first-fruits  likewise.  At  length  Queen  Anne  came  to  the 
throne,  when  (with  the  consent  of  her  Parliament)  she  nobly  re- 
fused to  receive  what  the  Church  should  enjoy,  and  placed  the 
income  under  the  direction  of  a  Board  called  "  the  Governors  of 
Queen  Anne's  Bounty.."  Their  revenue  for  the  improvement  of 
poor  livings  is  considerable,  but  it  might  be  largely  increased. 
The  Pope  would  have  had  the  real  present  value,  and  not  that  of 
centuries  since ;  yet,  strange  to  say,  while  some  old  benefices  have 
been  freed  from  payment  no  new  rich  livings  have  since  been  in- 
cluded, and  all  the  old  ones  are  rated  according  to  the  absurd 
scale  of  assessment  made  in  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.  To  illus- 
trate this  the  writer  compiled  the  following,  some  time  since : — 


Benefice. 

Diocese. 

Value  in  King's 
Books. 

Value  in  Clergy 
List. 

I.  Stanhope 

Durham     . 

£67     6     8 

£4848      O      O 

2.  Whitchurch 

Lichfield 

8   17     O 

14=8      o      O 

3.  Halsall    

Chester 

IA     II        C 

2  COO      O      O 

4.  Croston  

Manchester 

3111    o 

1050    o    o 

<v  Edgmond              .  ... 

Lichfield     .. 

4.6    8    o 

2600    o    o 

6.  Houghton-le-Spring 
7.  Bingham 

Durham  
Lincoln 

124    o    o 

4-4.      7      O 

1600    o    o 

I  ^03      O      O 

^347       '       I 

£'6,559    °    ° 

Thus,  seven  benefices  which  now  pay  only  347.  as  tenths  to  the 
fund,  would,  if  rated  according  to  the  present  net  value,  furnish 
1 6oo/.  annually.  If  this  were  altered,  and  a  graduated  scale  of 
taxation  upon  all  valuable  livings  adopted,  we  should  soon  see  a 
more  equitable  and  less  objectionable  management  of  ecclesiastical 
affairs.  If  all  the  rich  clergy  regularly  assisted  the  poor  benefices, 
would  not  the  rich  laity  do  the  same  ? 

We  quote  the  above  from  a  communication  to  the  T/ww,  1862. 
It  has  been  significantly  remarked  that  a  Report  of  the  Receipts 
and  Expenditure  of  the  Bounty  is  desirable. 


MEASURE  AND  VALUE.  155 


Ecclesiastical  Fees. 

A  Return  issued  in  1863,  gives  a  curious  list  of  Fees  payable  by 
members  of  the  sacred  profession.  The  Bishop  of  Lichfield  had 
to  pay  624/.  on  his  appointment  to  that  see ;  the  Bishop  of  Bath 
and  Wells  4507.  on  his  translation  from  Sodor  and  Man.  To  this 
prelate  the  Attorney-General,  or"  his  office,"  presented  a  demand 
for  nearly  3o/.;  the  Secretary  of  State  (including  stamp),  23/.;  a 
mysterious  impersonality,  "the  Petty  Bag-office,"  absorbed*  i6;/. 
"When  the  Bishop  had  his  audience  of  Her  Majesty  the  homage 
fees  were  94/.,  and  the  Court  Circular  charged  a  guinea  for  its  line 
and  a  half  of  history.  The  bill  winds  up  with  an  item  of  2i/.  for 
<(  passing  documents  through  the  various  offices."  Bishop  Baring's 
u  homage"  on  translation  from  Gloucester  to  Durham  cost  him 
only  2 1/.  6s.  8d.  The  Bishops  of  Chester  and  Lichfield  add  an 
item  of  1 1/.  2S.  and  i2/.  for  gloves.  The  fees  on  the  consecra- 
tion of  a  church  or  churchyard  are  heavy,  but  it  is  noticeable 
as  a  rule  that  the  bishops  waive  the  customary  payment  to  them- 
selves. 

Burying  Gold  and  Silver. 

The  practice  of  burying  treasure  in  the  earth  has  uniformly 
prevailed  in  all  countries  harassed  by  intestine  commotions,  or 
exposed  to  foreign  invasions.  Of  sums  so  deposited  a  very  con- 
siderable proportion  has  been  altogether  lost ;  and  this  has,  no 
doubt,  been  one  of  the  principal  means  by  which  the  stock  of  the 
precious  metals  has  been  kept  down  to  its  present  level.  Every 
one  is  aware  that,  during  the  Middle  Ages,  treasure-trove,  or 
money  dug  from  the  ground,  formed  no  inconsiderable  part  of 
the  revenues  of  this  and  other  countries.  And  though  the  bury- 
ing of  money  has  long  ceased  in  Great  Britain,  such  has  not  been 
the  case  with  our  neighbours.  Wakefield  tells  us  that,  down  to 
1812,  the  practice  was  common  in  Ireland;  and  though  much 
fallen  off,  it  still  continues  to  this  day  to  be  occasionally  resorted 
to  in  that  part  of  the  kingdom.  It  has  always  prevailed,  more 
or  less,  in  almost  every  part  of  the  Continent.  The  anarchy  and 
brigandage  that  accompanied  the  Revolution  of  1789  made  the 
practice  be  carried  to  an  extraordinary  extent  in  France ;  and 
there,  owing  to  various  causes,  it  still  maintains  a  broad  and  firm 
footing.  Dupuynode,  in  1853,  estimated  the  sum  at  40  millions 
thus  rendered  sterile.  Yet,  we  doubt  whether  the  burying  of 
treasure  be  at  present  as  prevalent  in  France  as  in  many  parts  of 
Germany,  and  in  Hungary,  Russia,  Italy,  Spain,  and  European 
Turkey.  The  feeling  of  insecurity  that  has  prevailed  in  all  these 


156  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

countries,  especially  since  1848,  has  given  a  stimulus  to  this  prac- 
tice. Of  the  many  millions  that  were  distributed  among  the 
countries  round  the  Black  Sea,  during  the  late  campaigns  in  that 
quarter,  the  greater  portion  is  believed  to  be  as  much  withdrawn 
from  circulation  as  if  it  had  never  been  dug  from  the  mine. 

It  is  impossible,  of  course,  to  form  any  estimate  of  the  sums 
that  are  thus  annually,  as  it  were,  placed  in  mortmain.  They  are 
always  greater  when  wars  or  revolutionary  disturbances  are  in 
progress ;  when  their  occurrence  is  anticipated,  or  but  little  con- 
fidence is  placed  in  the  permanence  of  existing  institutions.  There 
can,  at  all  events,  be  no  question  that  the  sums  which  have  been 
disposed  of  in  the  way  now  stated  in  the  different  Continental 
countries  of  late  years  have  been  enormous — greater,  perhaps, 
than  those  absorbed  by  any  of  the  usual  channels  of  expenditure. 
But  the  practice  has  been  carried  to  a  greater  extent  in  India, 
Persia,  Turkey  in  Asia,  and  other  eastern  countries,  than  anywhere 
in  the  western  world.  Despotism  and  a  want  of  security  have 
always  prevailed  in  these  countries.  The  inhabitants  have  been, 
in  consequence,  accustomed  to  regard  the  money  they  have  com- 
mitted to  the  earth  as  their  only  real  wealth,  and  have  availed 
themselves  of  every  opportunity  to  place  portions  of  their  means 
beyond  the  grasp  of  their  avaricious  and  tyrannical  masters.  And 
as  many  of  the  hoards  so  deposited  will  never  be  brought  to  light, 
the  practice  has,  undoubtedly,  been  a  principal  cause  of  the  con- 
stant flow  of  bullion  to  the  East. 

Bernier, "  that  most  curious  traveller,"  as  he  is  called  by  Gibbon, 
has  some  remarks  on  this  subject,  in  which  he  calls  the  empire  of 
the  Mogul  an  abyss  of  gold  and  silver,  which  the  people  buried 
to  escape  the  injustice  and  exactions  to  which  they  were  exposed. 
At  a  later  date,  Mr.  Luke  Scrafton  refers  to  the  same  practice, 
u  In  India,''  he  says,  "  the  Hindoos  bury  their  dead  under-ground, 
often  with  such  secresy  as  not  to  trust  their  own  children  with 
the  knowledge  of  it;  and  it  is  amazing  what  they  will  suffer 
rather  than  betray  it.  When  their  tyrants  have  tried  all  manner 
of  corporal  punishments  upon  them,  and  that  fails,  resentment 
prevailing  over  the  love  of  lite,  they  frequently  rip  up  their  bowels, 
or  poison  themselves,  and  carry  the  secret  to  their  graves.  And 
the  sums  lost  in  this  manner  in  some  measure  account  why  the 
silver  of  India  does  not  appear  to  increase,  though  there  are  such 
quantities  continually  coming  into  it,  and  none  going  out." 

The  comparative  security  that  was  lately  enjoyed  by  the  natives 
in  most  parts  of  India  may  have  done  something  to  lessen  this 
habit,  in  the  countries  directly  under  the  Company's  government ; 
but  there  was  in  Oude,  and  many  other  parts  of  India,  previous 
to  the  late  insurrection,  a  good  deal  of  disorder,  oppression,  and 


MEASURE  AND  VALUE.  157 

robbery.  And  since  that  unfortunate  outbreak,  insecurity  and 
disorders  of  all  sorts  have  immeasurably  increased,  and  have  pro- 
portionally stimulated  the  practice  of  hoarding.  The  rebellion  in 
China  led  to  similar  effects ;  and  we  have  been  assured  by  those 
who,  from  experience  and  observation  are  well  qualified  to  form 
an  opinion  on  such  a  subject,  that  it  may  be  moderately  estimated 
that  in  India  and  China,  during  the  half-dozen  years  ending  with 
1857,  a  sum  of  not  less  than  i  oo,ooo,ooo/.  sterling  has  been  con- 
signed to  the  earth. — J.  R.  Maccullocb;  Ency.  Brit.,  1859. 

Thirty  years  ago,  hoarding  coin  went  on  in  England  to  a  con- 
siderable extent,  and  greatly  augmented  the  scarcity,  and  conse- 
quently the  value,  of  the  precious  metals.  Even  the  old  practice 
of  making  a  stocking  was  by  no  means  given  up  in  rural  districts. 
A  writer  in  the  Quarterly  Review,  1832,  states,  (i  We  ourselves, 
but  a  few  days  back,  personally  witnessed  an  old  crone,  the  wife 
of  a  small  and  apparently  poor  farmer,  in  a  wild  pastoral  district, 
bring  no  less  than  three  hundred  sovereigns  in  a  bag  to  a  neigh- 
bouring attorney,  to  be  placed  by  him  in  security ;  her  treasure 
having  accumulated  till  she  was  afraid  to  keep  it  longer  at  home. 
Such  examples  are  by  no  means  so  rare  as  may  be  imagined.  The 
failures  of  so  many  country  banks  in  1825  destroyed  the  con- 
fidence of  country-people  in  the  bank-notes  of  the  present  banks, 
and  causes  their  preference  for  gold.  The  failure  of  many 
attorneys,  ao  well  as  of  country  banks,  which  received  and  gave 
interest  on  deposits,  and,  (with  the  exception  of  the  savings'- 
banks,  which  are  very  limited  in  the  amount  of  the  deposits  they 
allow,)  the  total  absence,  in  the  rural  districts  of  England,  of  any 
safe  and  accessible  depositaries  for  the  savings  of  the  economical, 
such  as  the  invaluable  Scotch  banks,  have  tended  most  injuriously 
to  discourage  economy ;  and  where  that  principle  was  strongly 
ingrafted,  have  converted  it  into  a  practice  of  hoarding — have 
caused  it  to  stagnate  in  unprofitable  masses,  which,  spread  through 
proper  channels,  would  have  stimulated  new  industry  and  new 
accumulations,  and  added  both  to  the  wealth  of  the  owner,  and  to 
the  general  stock." 

Results  of  Gold-seeking. 

The  question  as  to  the  probable  continuation,  increase,  or  dimi- 
nution of  the  Supply  of  Gold  is  of  the  greatest  interest ;  though 
nothing  but  the  vaguest  conjectures  can  be  offered  respecting  it. 
Though  gold  be  very  generally  distributed,  it  is  extremely  doubtful 
whether  there  be  many  places  in  which  the  deposits  are  so  rich 
and  so  extensive  as  in  California  and  Australia ;  and  even  in  these 
the  produce  is  either  stationary,  or  has  begun  to  decline.  The 


158  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

myriads  of  adventurers  that  are  attracted  to  prolific  diggings  can 
hardly  fail,  in  no  very  lengthened  period,  to  rifle  the  richest  beds. 
And  when  this  is  done — when  the  excitement  caused  by  the 
original  discovery  is  worn  off,  and  the  great  prizes  in  the  gigantic 
lottery  recur  only  at  distant  intervals, — then,  unless  some  new  and 
equally  promising  discoveries  should  be  made,  a  serious  check 
will  be  given  to  the  gold-seeking  mania.  The  process  of  quartz- 
crushing  is  believed  to  produce  only  moderate  profits,  and  is  not 
of  a  kind  to  collect  crowds  of  competitors.  The  few  fortunes 
that  have  been  realized  in  California  and  Australia  have  not  been 
made  by  the  diggers,  but  by  the  merchants  and  others  who  have 
supplied  their  real  or  imaginary  wants,  or  bought  their  gold-dust 
and  nuggets  on  advantageous  terms.  Of  those  engaged  on  their 
own  account  in  the  search  of  gold,  very  tew  have  retired  from 
the  pursuit  with  anything  like  a  real  competence.  The  great 
majority  have  hardly  realized  the  wages  current  in  the  districts 
before  the  deposits  were  discovered ;  and  the  conviction  seems  to 
be  everywhere  gaining  ground,  that  more  is  to  be  made  by  culti- 
vating the  surface  of  the  earth  than  by  digging  in  its  bowels,  or 
crushing  its  rocks. — J.  R.  Macculloch;  Ency.  Brit.,  1859. 

What  becomes  of  the  Precious  Metals  ? 

The  indestructibility  of  Gold  is  one  of  its  many  characteristics, 
and  some  very  curious  questions  arise  from  the  fact.  We  know 
that  at  a  very  early  period  of  the  history  of  the  human  race, 
gold  was  discovered  in  very  large  quantities,  and  was  used  for 
a  variety  of  ornamental  and  useful  purposes.  Among  the  latter 
may  be  named  its  employment  as  a  medium  of  exchange,  not 
exactly  in  the  form  of  money,  but  nearly  approaching  to  it. 
Pieces  of  the  precious  metal  were  cut  into  certain  lengths  and 
were  stamped  with  figures  denoting  their  weight,  and  these  circu- 
lated freely  among  the  buyers  and  sellers  of  those  remote  and 
primitive  times.  What  was  known  as  a  talent  of  gold  weighed, 
it  is  supposed,  125  Ibs.,  and  Dr.  Adam  Clarke  estimates  that  the 
revenue  of  King  Solomon  in  gold,  was  equal  in  value  to  about 
4,683,37^7.  sterling.  To  some  extent  this  estimate  is  confirmed 
by  the  Bible ;  for  it  is  stated  in  the  book  of  Kings  that  "  the  weight 
of  gold  that  came  to  Solomon  in  one  year,  was  six  hundred  and 
three  score  and  six  talents  of  gold,"  without  reference  to  silver, 
which  the  same  authority  states,  "was  nothing  accounted  of  in 
the  days  of  Solomon."  According  to  Calmet,  the  precious  metals 
expended  by  the  same  monarch  in  building  Jerusalem  and  the 
Temple,  amounted  in  value  to  eight  hundred  millions  of  pounds 
sterling,  and  the  questions  naturally  suggest  themselves  as  to 


MEASURE  AND  VALUE.  159 

where  this  enormous  amount  of  material  came  from,  and  what 
has  become  of  it  also. 

It  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to  know  that  the  precious  metals 
did  actually  exist  in  very  large  quantities ;  and  there  is  little  doubt 
that  they  had  been  accumulating  almost  from  the  period  of  the 
creation  of  man.  The  early  history  of  the  Jews  abounds  with 
statements  as  to  the  uses  to  which  gold  was  put.  The  subsequent 
conquests  of  Rome  doubtlessly  led  to  its  absorption  at  one  time 
of  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  accumulated  mineral  wealth  of 
the  world. 

It  is  also  plain  that  the  Romans  could  not  employ  the  precious 
metals  for  domestic  purposes,  or  at  least  not  to  any  considerable 
extent.  Watches,  spoons,  and  plate  were  the  inventions  of  much 
later  times.  Since  it  is  clear  that  many  hundreds  of  tons  of  gold 
found  their  way  to  Rome  during  its  prosperous  time,  and  equally 
clear  that  gold  is  indestructible,  we  may  well  inquire,  "  What  has 
become  of  the  vast  treasures  ?"  Was  it,  after  the  decline  and  fall 
of  Rome,  distributed  among  other  nations  ?  Were  large  quantities 
of  the  precious  metals  buried  in  the  earth,  which  still  holds  them 
in  its  keeping? 

Amidst  a  multitude  of  suggestive  replies  there  remains  the  un- 
doubted fact  that  gold  is  indestructible.  Who  shall  say,  in  short, 
in  the  presence  of  the  certain  knowledge  we  have,  that  war,  con- 
quest, and  spoliation  have  been  the  rule  among  nations  for  centu- 
ries past,  that  some  of  the  "  talents"  of  King  Solomon,  are  not 
existing  at  this  moment  in  the  shape  of  sovereigns,  in  the  pockets 
of  the  subjects  of  Queen  Victoria  ?  Or,  who  will  have  the  hardi- 
hood to  assert  that  the  very  watch-guard,  or  trinket  he  or  she 
may  wear,  is  not  a  bond  fide  part  of  the  treasure  forwarded  by 
the  Queen  of  Sheba  to  Solomon  the  wise  ? 

The  fact  seems  to  be  clearly  demonstrable  that  much  of  the 
gold  and  silver  spoken  of  in  Scripture  and  in  ancient  profane  his- 
tory is  in  active  circulation  at  this  hour  amongst  the  inhabitants 
of  the  globe. — Mechanics'  Magazine. 

Tribute-money. 

The  coins  of  the  British  Prince  Cunobelin  were  not  only 
stamped  with  the  figures  of  animals,  but  with  the  word 
TASCIO,  which  signified  TASK,  TAX,  and  TRIBUTE.  The  pay- 
ment of  them  into  the  Exchequer  acquitted  the  subject  of  duties 
on  merchandise,  and  was  also  a  commutation  of  personal  ser- 
vices. "  I  have  thought,"  says  the  learned  Camden,  "  that  in 
old  time  there  was  a  certain  sort  of  money  coined  on  purpose  for 
this  use,  seeing,  in  Scripture,  it  is  called  tribute-money  •  and  I  am 
the  more  confirmed  in  this  opinion,  because,  in  some  of  the  British 


1GO  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

pieces,  there  is  the  Mint-master  stamping  the  money  with  TASCIO, 
which  among  the  Britons  meant  the  tribute-money." 

The  First  Lottery. 

The  first  Lottery  in  England  of  which  we  have  any  account, 
took  place  in  1569,  the  proposals  for  which  were  published  in 
1567  and  1568.  It  consisted  of  10,000  lots  often  shillings  each: 
there  were  no  blanks,  and  the  prizes  consisted  chiefly  of  plate. 
There  were  then  only  three  lottery-offices  in  London.  The  lot- 
tery was  drawn  at  the  west  door  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral ;  and 
the  profits  were  intended  for  the  repair  of  the  havens  of  the  king- 
dom, and  other  public  works.  M.  Greillier  considers  this  number 
of  lots  much  underrated,  and  raises  them  to  400,000  ;  and  he  ar- 
rives at  that  conclusion  because  the  drawing  was  continued  un- 
interruptedly both  day  and  night,  between  the  nth  of  January 
and  the  6th  of  May.  The  first  Lottery  for  sums  of  money  took 
place  in  1630. 

Coinage  of  a  Sovereign. 

The  number  of  operations  necessary  for  the  conversion  of  an 
Ingot  of  Gold  into  Sovereigns  is  greater  than  most  persons  are 
aware  of.  In  the  first  instance  it  is  melted  ;  in  the  second  it  is 
cast  into  bars ;  in  the  third  the  bars  are  rolled ;  in  the  fourth  they 
are  cut  into  short  lengths ;  in  the  fifth  they  are  annealed  in  copper 
pans ;  in  the  sixth  they  are  flattened  into  fillets ;  in  the  seventh  the 
fillets  are  adjusted ;  in  the  eighth  they  are  punched,  and  blanks 
produced ;  in  the  ninth  the  blanks  are  weighed  singly  by  automa- 
ton balances ;  in  the  tenth  the  blanks  are  marked,  or  have  their 
edges  raised  ;  in  the  eleventh  they  are  annealed  in  cast-iron  pans ; 
in  the  twelfth  they  are  blanched  in  an  acid  bath ;  in  the  thirteenth 
they  are  washed  in  cold  water ;  in  the  fourteenth  they  are  dried 
in  hot  beech-wood  saw-dust ;  in  the  fifteenth  they  are  muffled  ; 
and  in  the  sixteenth  stamped  on  both  sides,  milled  on  their  edges, 
and  made  perfect  for  circulation  !  Thus  sixteen  operations,  sepa- 
rate and  distinct  from  each  other,  have  to  be  performed  in  the 
production  of  sovereigns  from  an  ingot.  But  the  ingot  will  be 
after  all  only  partly  converted  ;  the  perforated  "  fillets,"  amount- 
ing in  weight  to  nearly  half  that  of  the  original  ingot,  must  be 
returned  to  the  crucible,  recast  into  bars,  and  these  bars  passed 
through  the  routine  processes  above  enumerated.  The  fillets 
resulting  from  this  second  crop  of  sovereigns  will  again  have  to 
be  melted,  and  yet  again  and  again,  if  the  ingot  is  to  be  made  to 
yield  all  its  value  in  coin  ;  and  thus  the  sixteen  operations  will  be 
multiplied  before  the  last  sovereign  is  obtained  from  the  precious 
wedge  of  gold. — Mechanics'  Magazine. 


MEASURE  AND  VALUE.  161 


Wear  and  Tear  of  the  Coinage* 

It  has  been  discovered  by  the  Mint  authorities  that  the  intel- 
ligent or  intelligible  life  of  coins  is  much  shorter  than  it  was  prior 
to  the  introduction  of  the  railway  system  and  cheap  travelling. 
People  move  about  now  more  frequently  than  they  used,  and  so 
does  money.  Whether  the  former  wear  out  sooner  from  their 
greater  activity  is  a  problem  for  social  economists,  but  that  the 
latter  does  is  certain.  Towards  the  close  of  the  last  century  care- 
ful experiments  deduced  the  fact  that  deterioration  among  ten- 
year-old  silver  coins  of  the  various  denominations  was  as  follows : 
— Crowns,  3^  per  cent.;  half-crowns,  10  per  cent.;  shillings,  24! 
per  cent.;  and  sixpences,  38  2-ioths  per  cent.  Now,  the  loss  is 
nearly  as  follows  on  coins  of  the  same  age : — Crowns,  5  percent.; 
half-crowns,  12  percent.;  shillings,  30  per  cent.;  sixpences,  45 
per  cent.;  and  threepences,  over  fifty  per  cent.  This  increase  is 
evidently  due  to  "  fast  living,"  so  to  speak,  and  the  weakest  indi- 
viduals ;  or,  at  any  rate,  the  smallest,  suffer  most  from  its  conse- 
quences. The  gold  coinage  does  not  deteriorate  in  anything  like 
the  same  ratio,  and  this  from  obvious  causes.  It  is  not  subjected 
to  anything  like  the  same  course  of  treatment.  It  moves  in  higher 
and  more  circumscribed  circles,  is  only  a  legal  tender  when  of  legal 
weight,  and  is  therefore  nursed  with  more  care  under  the  porte- 
monnaie  system.  Of  copper  and  bronze  moneys,  pence  and  half- 
pence suffer  the  most  rapid  deterioration,  farthings  being  the 
longest  lived  of  the  three  denominations.  They  are  all  tokens  of 
value  merely,  and  their  shortcomings  are  less  noticed,  and,  indeed, 
of  far  less  consequence  to  the  public. — Mechanics  Magazine. 

Counterfeit  Coin. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  the  method  first  employed  in  the 
manufacture  of  money  was  that  of  pouring  fluid  bullion  into 
earthen  moulds  previously  impressed  by  some  rude  artist  with 
the  device  intended  to  be  represented  on  the  coin ;  and  that  (as 
now  in  some  remote  localities  of  Central  India)  a  small  cylindrical 
vessel,  forming  a  smelting-furnace,  a  pair  of  tongs,  a  cutting-tool 
or  file,  and  a  pair  of  scales,  constituted  the  entire  apparatus  for  a 
mint.  It  is  not  a  little  singular  that  the  casting  process  is  that 
resorted  to  by  counterfeiters  up  to  this  day.  The  customary 
mode  adopted  for  the  production  of  spurious  money  at  present  is 
precisely  identical,  indeed,  with  that  employed  in  the  manufacture 
of  genuine  coin  by  the  monarchs  and  the  moneyers — as  the  fabri- 
cators of  money  were  then  termed — of  the  Heptarchy,  only  that 

M 


162  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

the  coiners  of  to-day  use  appliances  superior  to  those  of  the  tenth 
century.  A  private  coiner  of  the  nineteenth  century,  whether  in 
Birmingham  or  London,  expends  very  little  in  the  purchase  of  his 
plant  of  machinery.  He  provides  himself  with  a  pennyworth  of 
plaster  of  Paris,  which  he  converts  into  a  mould ;  making  a  genuine 
coin  serve  as  the  medium  for  impressing  the  material  when  in  a 
soft  state  with  the  devices — the  obverse  and  reverse.  If  he  cannot 
steal  pint  measures  from  a  publican,  he  will  have  to  invest  a 
portion  of  his  capital  in  Britannia-metal  spoons  at  a  shilling  a 
dozen,  and  these  he  will  break  up  and  melt  in  an  earthen  pipkin, 
purchasable  for  another  penny.  With  a  tobacco-pipe  for  a  ladle 
he  will  take  up  sufficient  of  the  fused  metal  to  create  a  florin,  say, 
and  this  he  will  pour  into  the  moulds.  As  soon  as  these  are  filled, 
and  the  base  compound  has  become  solidified,  the  moulds  are 
separated,  and  any  defects  observable  in  the  graining  or  milling  of 
the  edge  are  made  good  with  a  file  or  some  other  implement 
adapted  to  the  nefarious  purpose.  If,  after  this,  a  clever  confede- 
rate can  finish  the  work  by  depositing  a  coat  of  silver  (by  galvanic 
agency),  so  much  the  better  for  the  manufacturer,  his  chance  of 
uttering  being  thus  much  enhanced. — Mechanics'  Magazine. 

Standard  Gold. 

In  1855,  an  alteration  was  made  in  the  quality  of  gold  marked 
in  Goldsmiths'  Hall,  it  being  represented  to  the  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  that  it  would  be  advantageous  alike  to  the  manu- 
facturer and  the  public :  instead  of  there  being  only  two  different 
standards,  there  are  now  five — viz.,  22,  18,  15,  12,  and  9  carats. 
If,  on  the  purchase  of  a  watch,  the  cases,  instead  of  having  the 
mark  of  "  18  carat,"  the  gold  of  which  would  be  worth  675.  per 
oz.,  should  be  marked  only  "  12  carat,"  the  gold  is  worth  only 
453.  per  oz.,  and  the  purchaser  has  been  legally  robbed  of  the  dif- 
ference in  value,  which,  supposing  the  cases  to  weigh  i  oz.  10  dwts., 
would  be  333. 

When  purchasing  a  gold  watch,  therefore,  see  that  the  cases 
are  marked  (<  18  carat ;"  if  they  are  not  so  marked,  do  not  make 
the  purchase. 

Interest  of  Money. 

Among  the  curiosities  of  the  Exchequer,  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  about  the  year  185 7,  there  were  paid  into  its  account  the  pro- 
ceeds of  a  lottery  prize,  drawn  in  the  reign  of  George  II.,  but 
which  had  remained  unclaimed  for  102  years.  The  original 
amount  of  the  prize  was  4907.,  to  which  in  the  course  of  a  cen- 
tury there  had  been  added  1499^  8s.  for  interest.  The  sum  of 


MEASURE  AND  VALUE.  163 

l.  8s.  was  therefore  handed  over  for  the  public  service;  but 
even  now  we  have  no  doubt  that  if  the  purchaser  of  the  ticket, 
warned  by  this  announcement  of  the  fact,  can  come  forward  and 
prove  his  claim,  the  money  will  be  honourably  refunded  to  him 
from  the  Exchequer. 

Interest  of  Money  in  India. 

In  the  Institutes  of  Menu,  which  were  drawn  up  about  B.C. 
900,  the  lowest  legal  interest  for  money  is  fixed  at  15  per  cent., 
the  highest  at  60  per  cent.  Nor  is  this  to  be  considered  a  mere 
ancient  law  now  fallen  into  disuse.  So  far  from  that,  the  Insti- 
tutes of  Menu  are  still  the  basis  of  Indian  jurisprudence;  and  we 
know,  on  very  good  authority,  that  in  1810,  the  interest  paid  for 
the  use  of  money  varied  from  36  to  60  per  cent. ;  Ward  places 
it  at  75  per  cent.,  and  this  without  the  lender  incurring  any  extra- 
ordinary risk. 

Origin  of  Insurance. 

Mr.  G.  F.  Smith,  in  a  paper  read  to  the  Institute  of  Actuaries,  is 
of  opinion  that  the  earliest  direct  mention  of  Marine  Insurance  is  in 
an  ordinance  of  the  City  of  Barcelona,  of  the  year  1433,  in  which 
it  is  ordered  that  no  vessel  should  be  insured  for  more  than  three- 
quarters  of  its  value ;  that  no  merchandise  belonging  to  foreigners 
should  be  insured  at  Barcelona,  unless  freighted  on  board  a  ship 
belonging  to  the  King  of  Arragon ;  and  that  merchandise  belong- 
ing to  Arragonese  subjects  on  board  vessels  belonging  to  other 
countries  should  only  be  insured  for  half  its  value.  It  appears 
most  probable  that  the  inventors  of  Marine  Insurance  were  the 
Italians,  who,  as  is  well  known,  were  the  leading  commercial 
nation  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries.  It  was  in 
Venice  that  the  first  Bank  was  established,  and  that  a  funded  debt, 
transferable  from  hand  to  hand,  was  first  introduced.  Bills  of 
exchange,  if  not  invented  in  Italy,  were  used  extensively  by  the 
Lombard  merchants  and  money-dealers ;  and  book-keeping  by 
double  entry  is  of  Italian  origin ;  as  is  also  the  phrase,  "  Policy  of 
Assurance." 

After  the  Great  Fire,  Assurance  Offices  were  set  up.  One  of 
these  is  described,  in  Phillips's  World  of  Words,  under  the  heading 
"Phoenix  Insurance  Office,  the  first  office  that  was  set  up  in 
London  for  the  insuring  of  houses  from  accidents  by  fire,  so  called 
from  its  emblem  or  device :  the  rate  for  ensuring  100  pounds  on 
a  brick  house,  is  6  shillings  for  i  year,  12  shillings  for  2  years,  15 
shillings  for  3  years,  19  shillings  and  sixpence  for  four  years,  i 
pound  10  shillings  for  seven  years,  and  2  pounds  i  shilling  for 

M  2 


164  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

eleven  years :  the  number  of  houses  so  insured  since  Anno  Dom. 
1 68 1  is  ten  thousand."  A  second  is  mentioned  as  the  "  Friendly 
Society,  one  of  the  offices  settled  in  London  for  the  insuring  of 
houses  from  casualties  by  fire:  the  reward  or  consideration-money 
paid  for  insuring  to  the  value  of  100  pounds  in  this  office,  is  i 
shilling  4  pence  per  annum  for  seven  years.  The  device  of  it  is 
a  sheaf  of  arrows,  and  the  number  of  houses  insured  since  A.D. 
1684  is  12,500." 

Stockbrokers. 

Stock-jobbing  or  broking  was  contemporaneous  with  the  crea- 
tion of  our  National  Debt,  in  the  reign  of  William  III.,  1695,  and 
gave  rise  to  that  class  of  money-dealers  who  have  the  exclusive 
entree  to  the  Royal.  Exchange.  "William,"  says  Mr.  Francis, 
in  his  work  on  the  Stock  Exchange,  "  had  already  tried  his  power 
in  the  creation  of  a  national  debt :  jobbing  in  the  English  funds 
and  East  India  stock  succeeded ;  and  the  Royal  Exchange 
became  what  the  Stock  Exchange  has  been  since  1700 — the  ren- 
dezvous of  those  who,  having  money,  hoped  to  increase  it,  and  of 
that  yet  more  numerous  and  pretending  class,  who,  having  none 
themselves,  try  to  gain  it  from  those  who  have." 

In  the  course  of  the  Session  of  1771,  a  Bill  was  brought  into 
the  House  of  Commons,  "  for  the  more  effectually  preventing  the 
infamous  practice  of  Stock -jobbing."  It  passed  the  committee, 
but  was  not  further  proceeded  in. 

Lord  Chatham,  in  the  previous  year,  1770,  had,  in  Parliament, 
denounced  "the  Monied  Interest  as  a  set  of  men  in  the  City  of 
London,  who  are  known  to  live  in  riot  and  luxury  upon  the 
plunder  of  the  ignorant,  the  innocent,  the  helpless.  Whether 
they  be  the  miserable  jobbers  of  'Change-alley,  or  the  lofty 
Asiatic  plunderers  of  Leadenhall-street,  they  are  equally  de- 
testable  By  the  monied  interest  I  mean  that  blood-sucker, 

that  muck-worm,  which  calls  itself  the  friend  of  Government — 
that  pretends  to  serve  this  or  that  administration,  and  may  be 
purchased  on  the  same  terms  by  any  administration — that  advances 
money  to  Government,  and  takes  special  care  of  its  own  emolu- 
ments. Under  this  description  I  include  the  whole  race  of  com- 
missaries, jobbers,  contractors,  clothiers,  and  remitters." 

In  the  South  Sea  year,  patriots  were  made  or  marred  by  job- 
bing :  "  from  the  Alley  to  the  House,"  said  Walpole,  "  is  like  a 
path  of  ants." 

Yet,  it  is  an  established  fact,  that,  abroad  and  at  home,  all 
parties  having  large  financial  operations,  approach  the  London 
Stock  Exchange  with  more  confidence  than  any  other  money- 
market  in  the  world. 


MEASURE  AND  VALUE.  165 


Tampering  with  Public  Credit. 

Thirty  years  ago,  it  was  wisely  said  by  a  writer  in  the  Quarterly 
Review :  "  It  is  physically  impossible  to  carry  on  the  commerce 
of  the  civilized  world  by  the  aid  of  a  purely  metallic  currency —no, 
not  though  our  gold  and  silver  coins  were  every  tenth  year  de- 
based to  a  tenth !  Why,  in  London  alone,  five  millions  of  money 
are  daily  exchanged  at  the  clearing-house,  in  the  course  of  a  few 
hours.  We  should  like  to  see  the  attempt  to  bring  this  infinity 
of  transactions  to  a  settlement  in  coined  money.  Credit  money, 
in  some  shape  or  other,  always  has,  and  must  have,  performed  the 
part  of  a  circulating  medium  to  a  very  considerable  extent.  And 
(by  one  of  those  wonderful  compensatory  processes  which  so 
frequently  claim  the  admiration  of  every  investigator  of  civil  as 
well  as  of  physical  economy,)  there  is  in  the  nature  of  credit  an 
elasticity  which  causes  it,  (when  left  unshackled  by  la<w,  to  adapt 
itself  to  the  necessities  of  commerce,  and  the  legitimate  demands 
of  the  market,  Well  may  the  productive  classes  exclaim  to  those 
who  persist  in  legislating  on  the  subject,  and  are  not  content  with 
determining  who  may  and  who  may  not  give  credit  to  another, 
what  kind  of  monied  obligations  shall,  or  shall  not,  be  allowed  to 
circulate— that  is,  to  be  taken  in  exchange  for  goods  at  the  option 
of  the  parties, — well  might  they  exclaim,  as  the  merchants  of  Paris 
did  to  the  minister  of  Louis,  when  he  asked  what  his  master 
could  do  for  them — "  Laissez-nous  faire," — "  Leave  us  alone,  to 
surround  ourselves  with  those  precautions  which  experience  will 
suggest,  and  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  put  in  execution." 

'Over-speculation. 

During  the  prevalence  of  a  speculative  mania  there  is  not  one 
person  in  ten  among  the  English  public  that  can  be  induced  to 
weigh  any  arguments  or  facts  that  run  counter  to  their  fancies ; 
but  by  the  small  proportion  capable  of  giving  heed,  the  following 
resume  of  British  banking  experience  during  the  twelve  years  from 
1846  to  1857  will  be  considered  valuable. 

In  1858  an  interesting  paper  was  published  by  Messrs.  Waterlow 
and  Sons,  under  the  ominous  title  of  British  Losses  by  Bank 
Failures,  and  extending  from  1820  to  1857.  ^n  the  great  mania 
for  the  establishment  of  new  banks,  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to 
call  attention  to  the  general  facts  proved  in  this  document. 
Omitting,  then,  the  years  previous  to  1846,  which  may  perhaps 
be  consideied  to  be  out  of  date,  and  taking  the  twelve  years  from 
184610  1857  inclusive,  it  appears  that  the  liabilities  of  the  private 


166  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

banks  which  suspended  payment  amounted  to  6,7oo,coo/.,  and 
those  of  the  joint-stock  banks  to  4O,8oo,ooo/.,  making  a  grand 
total  of  47,50o,ooo/.  To  this,  moreover,  must  be  added  another 
i,5oo,ooo/.  tor  some  banks,  the  liabilities  of  which  are  not  men- 
tioned. 

Value  of  Horses. 

As  an  example  of  the  large  sums  produced  by  the  sale  of  first- 
rate  Horses,  we  may  quote  the  following  prices  from  the  sale  of 
the  stud  of  the  late  Earl  of  Pembroke,  at  Paris,  in  1862.  The 
condition  of  the  horses  was  so  good  that,  in  spite  of  their  being 
aged,  some  of  them  sold  for  more  money  than  Lord  Pembroke 
paid  for  them  years  previously.  Thus,  a  pair  of  bay  carriage-horses, 
aged  respectively  13*  and  14,  bought  at  Anderson's  seven  years 
ago  for  4OO/.,  fetched  6oo/. ;  and  another  pair,  which  had  been 
bought  at  the  same  place  for  6oo/.,  fetched  io88/. !  Never  was 
the  policy  of  buying  a  good  thing,  and  taking  care  of  it,  more 
practically  proved  than  at  this  sale.  Elis,a  brown  carriage-horse, 
more  than  16  years  old,  sold  for  too/. ;  Pilot,  a  bay,  upwards  of 
15  years  old,  fetched  22O/. ;  Papillon,  j  4  years  old,  384^ ;  Abeille, 
13  years  old,  2OO/. ;  Grasshopper,  a  chestnut  cob,  13  years  old, 
I28/.;  Zouave,  a  grey  carriage-horse,  12  years  old,  3047.;  Cal- 
thorpe,  a  bay  carriage -horse,  12  years  old,  28  o/.;  Sebastopol,  a 
grey  carriage-horse,  1 1  years  old,  240/. ;  Pigeon,  a  brown  phaeton- 
horse,  9  years  old,  i4o/. ;  Solferino,  a  bay  carriage- horse,  16  hands 
high,  and  7  years  old,  6401. ;  and  Glaucus,  a  bay  carriage-horse, 
6  years  old,  448^ 

Friendly  Societies. 

The  repeated  failures  of  Friendly  Societies  to  effect  the  object 
for  which  they  were  projected,  prove  how  the  best  intentions 
may  be  defeated  through  want  of  proper  foresight  and  calculation 
of  probabilities,  which  so  often  reduce  to  certainty  results  which, 
to  unthinking  minds,  appear  mere  chances. 

In  1863,  Mr.  Tidd  Pratt,  the  Registrar,  reported :  Sixty- five 
societies  have  been  dissolved  in  the  course  of  the  year.  The  causes 
of  such  societies  not  being  able  to  meet  the  claims  of  the  members 
are  to  be  found  in  incorrect  tables  for  the  contributions,  small 
number  of  members,  insecure  investment  of  funds,  and  unneces- 
sary expenses  of  management,  which  actually,  in  some  instances, 
take  los.  out  of  every  i/.  subscribed.  Most  of  these  societies  still 
hold  their  meetings  at  public-houses,  with  the  landlords  for  trea- 
surers ;  and  the  members  are  required  by  the  rules  of  most  of  the 
old  societies  to  spend  a  monthly  sum  in  beer  "  for  the  good  of  the 
house,"  which  amount  is  generally  taken  from  the  box,  whether 


MEASURE  AND  VALUE.  167 

the  members  have  or  have  not  paid  their  contributions ;  and  in 
many  instances  the  money  is  not  repaid  to  the  society.  In  the 
correspondence  of  the  year  it  is  stated,  in  a  letter  to  the  Registrar 
respecting  the  affairs  ot  a  society,  that  it  has  spent  nearly  I3OO/. 
of  the  funds  "  for  the  good  of  the  house."  There  is  generally  a 
strong  party  in  favour  of  it.  One  letter  states  that  a  female 
friendly  society  will  be  obliged  to  break  up  unless  they  are  allowed 
to  have  an  annual  feast  and  music ;  and  an  objector  who  is  con- 
tending with  the  managers  against  any  such  application  of  the 
trust-funds  writes: — "I  can  do  nothing  with  them  unless  you 
assist  me  by  sending  a  very  saucy  letter  to  the  stewards."  Some- 
times the  law  is  evaded  by  paying  an  extravagant  rent  for  the 
room,  the  excess  being  really  allowed  in  beer. 

The  Registrar  considers  it  to  be  proved  by  thirty-five  years' 
experience  that  some  further  provisions  are  necessary  to  secure  to 
working  men  that  they  shall  not  be  required  to  subscribe  to  these 
societies  more  than  is  necessary,  and  that  they  shall  be  certain  of 
obtaining  the  benefits  paid  for.  Returns  which  have  been  obtained 
from  only  128  unions  show  about  1150  inmates  in  their  work- 
houses who  have  been  members  of  friendly  societies  which  have 
been  broken  up  or  dissolved. 

Wages  heightened  by  Improvement  in  Machinery. 

It  is  stated,  in  a  Report  of  the  Commissioners  appointed  in 
1832  to  inquire  concerning  the  employment  of  women  and  chil- 
dren in  factories,  that "  in  the  cotton-mill  of  Messrs.  Houldsworth, 
in  Glasgow,  a  spinner  employed  on  a  mule  of  336  spindles,  and 
spinning  cotton  120  hanks  to  the  pound,  produced  in  1823,  work- 
ing 74^  hours  a  week,  46  pounds  of  yarn,  his  net  weekly  wages  for 
which  amounted  to  273.  7d.  Ten  years  later,  the  rate  of  wages 
having  in  the 'meantime  been  reduced  13  per  cent.,  and  the  time 
of  working  having  been  lessened  to  69  hours,  the  spinner  was 
enabled  by  the  greater  perfection  of  the  machinery  to  produce  on 
a  mule  of  the  same  number  of  spindles,  53^  pounds  of  yarn  of  the 
same  fineness,  and  his  net  weekly  earnings  were  advanced  from 
278.  7d.  to  295.  lod."  Similar  results  from  similar  circumstances 
were  experienced  in  the  Manchester  factories.  The  cheapening 
of  the  article  produced  by  help  of  machinery  increases  the  demand 
for  the  article ;  and  there  being  consequently  a  need  for  an  in- 
creased number  of  workmen,  the  elevation  of  wages  follows  as  a 
matter  of  course.  Nor  is  this  the  only  benefit  which  the  working- 
man  derives  in  the  case,  for  he  shares  with  the  community  in  ac- 
quiring a  greater  command  over  the  necessities  which  machinery 
is  concerned  in  producing. — G.  R.  Porter. 


168  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


Giving  Employment. — Indirect  Taxation. 

Mr.  Babbage  relates  the  following  illustrative  anecdote: 
An  Irish  proprietor,  whose  country  residence  was  much  fre- 
quented by  beggars,  resolved  to  establish  a  test  for  discriminating 
between  the  idle  and  the  industrious,  and  also  to  obtain  some 
small  return  for  the  alms  he  was  in  the  habit  of  bestowing.  He 
accordingly  added  to  the  pump,  by  which  the  upper  part  of  his 
house  was  supplied  with  water,  a  piece  of  mechanism  so  contrived, 
that  at  the  end  of  a  certain  number  of  strokes  of  the  pump-handle, 
a  penny  fell  out  from  an  aperture  to  repay  the  labourer  for  his 
work.  This  was  so  arranged,  that  labourers  who  continued  at 
the  work  obtained  very  nearly  the  usual  daily  wages  of  labour  in 
that  part  of  the  country.  The  idlest  of  the  vagabonds  of  course 
refused  this  new  labour-test ;  but  the  greater  part  of  the  beggars, 
whose  constant  tale  was  that  "  they  could  not  earn  a  fair  day's 
wages  for  a  fair  days  work?  after  earning  a  few  pence,  usually 
went  away  cursing  the  hardness  of  their  taskmaster. 

Never  sign  an  Accommodation  Bill. 

Nothing  is  more  deceptive  than  imaginary  wealth.  "  We  are 
apt,"  says  Sir  E.  B.  Lytton,  "  to  rely  upon  future  prospects,  and 
become'  really  expensive  while  we  are  only  rich  in  possibility. 
We  live  up  to  our  expectations,  not  to  our  possessions,  and 
make  a  figure  proportionable  to  what  we  may  be,  not  what  we 
are.  We  outrun  our  present  income,  as  not  doubting  to  disburse 
ourselves  out  of  the  profits  of  some  future  place,  project,  or  re- 
version we  have  in  view." 

By  no  means  is  this  artificial  state  of  living  more  nourished 
than  what  are  familiarly  called  "  bill  transactions."  This  has 
been  illustrated  in  novels  and  tales,  but  never  more  to  the  pur- 
pose than  in  the  following  passage  in  Pisistratus  Caxton.  "  To 
sign  an  Accommodation  Bill,  and  still  more,  to  renew  one  when 
due,  is  opening  an  account  with  ruin.  One  always  begins  by 
being  security  for  a  friend.  The  discredit  of  the  thing  is  familiar- 
ized to  one's  mind  by  the  false  show  of  generous  confidence  in 
another.  Then,  what  you  have  done  for  a  friend,  a  friend 
should  do  for  you — a  hundred  or  two  would  be  useful  now — 
you  are  sure  to  repay  it  in  three  months.  To  youth  the  future 
seems  safe  as  the  Bank  of  England,  and  distant  as  the  peaks  of 
Himalaya.  You  pledge  your  honour  that  in  three  months  you 
will  release  your  friend.  The  three  months  expire.  To  release 
one  friend,  you  catch  hold  of  another — the  bill  is  renewed,  pre- 


MEASURE  AND  VALUE.  1C9 

mium  and  interest  thrown  into  the  next  pay-day — soon  the 
amount  multiplies,  and  with  it  the  honour  dwindles — your  name 
circulates  from  hand  to  hand  on  the  back  of  doubtful  paper, — 
your  name,  which,  in  all  money  transactions,  should  grow  higher 
and  higher  each  year  you  live,  falling  down  every  month  like  the 
shares  in  a  swindling  speculation.  You  begin  by  what  you  call 
trusting  a  friend,  that  is,  aiding  him  to  self-destruction — buying 
him  arsenic  to  clear  his  complexion, — you  end  by  dragging  all 
near  you  into  your  own  abyss,  as  a  drowning  man  would  catch  at 
his  own  brother." 

A  Year's  Wills. 

The  Registrar-  General  has  drawn  from  a  calendar  of  the  Wills 
and  Adminstrations  of  the  year  1858,  the  following  interesting 
calculations.  2 1 0,9 7 2  adults  died  in  the  twelvemonth,  and  30,823 
persons  left  personal  property  behind  them;  21,653  nac^  made 
their  Wills;  the  other  9170  had  made  none,  and  letters  of  ad- 
ministration had  to  be  taken  out.  89  persons  with  more  than 
io,ooo/.  (one  worth  ioo,ooo/.)  died  without  making  a  Will.  The 
aggregate  amount  of  property  left  by  all  these  persons  is  esti- 
mated at  71,860,7927.,  averaging  23317.  each.  Distinguishing 
between  the  men  and  the  women,  we  find  that  102,049  adult  men 
died  in  the  year,  and  21,454  left  personal  property — for  one  who 
left  any,  four  leaving  none ;  108,923  adult  women  died,  and  9369 
left  personal  property.  The  average  amount  left  by  the  men  vas 
2 75 1/. ;  by  the  women,  I37I/.  Omitting  now  any  estimate  for 
the  first  ten  days  of  the  year,  and  dealing  only  with  the  actual 
Wills  and  administrations  of  the  rest  of  the  twelvemonth,  the  per- 
sonal property  of  those  who  died  leaving  any,  29,979  in  number, 
amounted  to  69,893,3807.,  of  which  57,396,3507.  was  left  by  the 
men,  and  12,497,0307.  by  women.  The  stream  of  wealth  flowed 
thus:— 

Persons.  Dying  worth  Left 

22,513  Less  than  iooo/. 5,762,88^7. 

6277  iooo/.  but  less  than  io,ooo/....2o,oio,5co7. 

1020  io,ooo/.  but  less  than  50, ooo/.... 2 1, 960,0007. 

102  5o,oooA  but  less  than  ioo,ooo/....7,ioo,ooo7. 

67  Above  ioo,ooo7. I5,o6o,ooo7. 

^9)979  69,893,3807. 

Only  one  property  was  sworn  as  high  as  900,0007.  and  under 
1,000,000;  1935  were  under  2o7.  The  property  divides  nearly 
equally  at  2O,ooo7.  About  35,000,0007.  belonged  to  29,392  per- 
sons, none  having  more  than  2o,ooo7.,  and  the  other  35,000,0007. 


170  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

belonged  to  587  persons,  fifty  times  fewer  than  the  former  com- 
pany. Of  those  who  left  above  ioo,ooo./,  37  were  described  as 
esquires,  a  term  which  would  include  men  who  had  made  their 
fortunes  by  trade  or  commerce ;  ten  were  titled  personages,  five 
were  bankers,  four  merchants,  three  clergymen,  one  cotton  manu- 
facturer, one  corn  merchant,  one  hotel-keeper ;  one  was  in  the  navy, 
one  in  the  Indian  army,  one  in  the  Indian  Civil  Service,  one  was  a 
spinster.  Three  medical  men  left  more  than  5<p,ooo/.  A  person 
described  when  he  made  his  will  as  a  commercial  clerk  left  above 
3O,ooo/. ;  17  "labourers  and  mechanics"  above  iooo/.  Of  75 
lawyers,  15  died  without  making  their  Wills.  The  foregoing  state- 
ments, which  must  be  taken  as  approximations  rather  than  an 
absolute  accuracy,  relate  to  England  alone.  In  the  year  ending 
March  31,  1859,  legacy-duty  was  paid  in  the  United  Kingdom 
on  62,44 1,6 1 1/.,  Dut  that  does  not  include  property  passing  from 
husband  to  wife  or  the  converse,  no  legacy-duty  being  then  pay- 
able; succession-duty  on  real  property  was  paid  upon  29,242,6307., 
and,  estimating  that  to  be  taxed  to  the  next  successor  at  half  its 
saleable  value,  it  will  amount  to  58,485,2  6o/.  On  this  assumption 
1 23,926,87 1/.  passed  by  death  to  another  generation  of  successors. 
It  i«  certainly  a  remarkable  fact,  that  (upon  an  average)  on  every 
death,  including  alike  men,  women,  and  children,  more  than  ioo/. 
of  property  paying  legacy-duty,  and  perhaps  iS)/.  of  property  of 
every  kind,  is  left  for  the  benefit  of  successors  in  the  United 
Kingdom.—  Times. 

The  extraordinary  circumstances  under  which  Wills  are  some- 
times made  have  given  rise  to  the  following  suggestive  remarks  by 
an  able  writer  in  the  Saturday  Review : — 

"If  the  matter  is  considered  in  reference  to  general  principles, there  is  no 
more  curious  power  in  the  world  than  the  right  which  people  exercise  by 
Will  of  legislating  after  they  are  dead  and  gone,  without  restraint  and  with- 
out appeal;  and  it. is  perhaps  even  more  singular  that  they  exercise  this 
power  without  being  subject  to  any  formalities  whatever  except  the  presence 
of  two  witnesses.  To  sell  a  house  or  a  field  is  a  matter  which  requires  care 
and  inquiry,  and  the  circumstances  ensure  a  certain  degree  of  notoriety. 
But  property  of  any  amount  may  be  disposed  of  in  any  way  that  caprice 
may  dictate  by  an  instrument  which  may  be  executed  under  any  circum- 
stances, and  kept  in  any  custody.  No  one  but  the  testator  need  know  its 
contents,  and  he  may,  and  often  does,  prepare  it  with  the  most  wanton 
caprice,  and  leave  it  in  the  most  absurd  depository  to  take  its  chance  of  loss 
or  discovery  as  it  may  happen.  It  is  well  worth  consideration  whether  the 
unlimited  power  which  the  law  of  England  confers  of  making  whatever 
Wills  a  testator  chooses  ought  not  to  be  qualified  by  some  special  provisions 
as  to  the  manner  in  which  such  wills  should  be  made." 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  171 


0f  Some*. 


What  human  Science  has  accomplished. 

IF  we  reflect  on  the  extreme  feebleness  of  the  natural  means  by 
the  help  of  which  so  many  great  problems  have  been  attacked  and 
solved ;  if  we  consider  that  to  obtain  and  measure  the  greater  part 
of  the  quantities  now  forming  the  basis  of  astronomical  computa- 
tion, man  has  had  greatly  to  improve  the  most  delicate  of  his 
organs,  to  add  immensely  to  the  power  of  his  eye ;  if  we  remark 
that  it  was  not  less  requisite  for  him  to  discover  methods  adapted 
to  measuring  very  long  intervals  of  time,  up  to  the  precision  of 
tenths  of  seconds ;  to  combat  against  the  most  microscopic  effects 
that  constant  variations  of  temperature  produce  in  metals,  and  . 
therefore  in  all  instruments;  to  guard  against  the  innumerable 
illusions  that  a  cold  or  hot  atmosphere,  dry  or  humid,  tranquil  or 
agitated,  impresses  on  the  medium  through  which  the  observations 
have  inevitably  to  be  made ;  the  feeble  being  resumes  all  his  advan- 
tage :  by  the  side  of  such  wonderful  labours  of  the  mind,  what 
signifies  the  weakness,  the  fragility  of  our  body ;  what  signify  the 
dimensions  of  the  planet,  our  residence,  the  grain  of  sand  on  which 
it  has  happened  to  us  to  appear  for  a  few  moments  ! — Arago. 

Changes  in  Social  Science. 

The  conquests  of  science  over  the  realms  of  matter  in  our  day 
would  scarcely  have  affected  Bacon  with  greater  surprise  than  the 
change  in  what  we  may  call  the  social  position  of  science.  There 
was  a  time,  not  so  very  far  removed  from  his  own,  when  scientific 
truth  was  worshipped,  it  at  all,  with  closed  doors  and  in  muffled 
accents.  Science,  like  religion,  had  her  age  of  persecution  and  her 
"church  in  the  catacombs;"  she,  too,  had  heroes,  and  martyrs, 
and  confessors  of  her  own,  and  won  her  way  to  popularity 
through  an  ordeal  ot  shame  and  suffering,  the  history  of  which 
remains  to  be  written.  The  philosopher  of  the  Middle  Ages 
shunned  the  haunts  of  men ;  his  cmcible  was  heated  in  some 
secret  or  underground  chamber ;  his  knowledge  was  a  forbidden 
lore,  and  if  it  showed  itself  in  the  command  of  new  powers,  was 
ascribed,  not  to  inspiration  from  on  high,  but  to  dealings  with  an 
agent  which  even  modern  credulity  so  often  proclaims  as  the 
source  of  intellectual  mastery.  From  these  fiery  trials  science 


172  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

has  emerged  without  even  a  scar  upon  her.  Militant  she  still  is, 
but  she  is  also  triumphant,  and  vies  with  the  learning  of  "  letters," 
which  was  never  branded  with  the  like  infamy,  in  the  number  and 
dignity  of  her  votaries.  The  change  which  has  come  over  her 
social  status  has  reacted  on  her  doctrines.  There  are  no  longer 
any  "  mysteries"  of  science ;  "  problems,"  and  even  "  apparent 
contradictions,"  remain,  but  mysteries,  with  everything  else  that 
savours  of  the  occult  and  esoteric,  are  exploded,  and  not  many 
difficulties  are  admitted. — Times. 

Discoverers  not  Inventors. 

Although  Galileo  only  discovered  the  moons  of  Jupiter,  we 
often  and  unconsciously  think  of  him  as  if  he  had  been  their 
creator,  and  had  first  set  them  to  play  their  untiring  game  of  hide- 
and-seek  round  the  stately  planet ;  and  so  also  in  no  irreverent 
spirit  we  call  the  laws  which  Kepler  divined  to  regulate  certain 
movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  "  Kepler's  Laws,"  although  he 
disclaimed  the  title,  grandly  affirming  that  God,  whose  laws  they 
were,  had  waited  some  thousand  years  before  one  man,  even 
Kepler,  had  discerned  them.  And  so  again,  notwithstanding  our 
conviction  that  the  star  Neptune  has  been  shining  in  the  sky  since 
what  we  shall  be  content  to  call  "  the  beginning,"  and  that  all  the 
tiny  planets  which  have  so  rapidly  been  added  to  our  astronomi- 
cal catalogues  are  probably  as  old  as  the  sun^  we  cannot  help  feeling 
as  if  Adams,  Leverrier,  Hind,  and  their  brethren,  had  just  planted 
those  lights  in  the  sky,  and  that  midnight  should  be  sensibly  less 
dark  because  of  their  addition  to  the  heavens. 

"When  we  work  as  transformationalists  we  are  like  sculptors, 
not  evolving  a  pre-existent  statue  from  a  concealing  mass,  but 
bestowing  a  statue  on  a  block  of  marble.  The  hollow  screw  is 
Archimedes'  screw ;  the  condensing  steam-engine,  Watt's  engine ; 
the  railway  locomotive,  Stephenson's  locomotive;  the  electric 
telegraph,  Oersted's  telegraph;  the  Crystal  Palace,  Fox  and 
Paxton's  palace.  Yet  as  implied  in  what  has  been  already  said, 
we  treat  discoverers  as  if  they  were  inventors,  and  to  make  amends 
we  call  inventors  discoverers.  And  although,  in  strictness  of 
speech,  it  is  inadmissible  to  speak  of  Watt,  as  accomplished  men 
are  frequently  found  doing,  as  the  discoverer  of  the  steam-engine, 
and  only  Sancho  Panza  thought  of  invoking  blessings  on  the  man 
who  first  invented  sleep,  still  the  popular  confusion  between  the 
discoverer  and  the  inventor  shows  how  difficult  it  is  to  assign  the 
one  higher  praise  than  the  other. — Prof.  George  Wilson. 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  173 


Science  of  Roger  Bacon. 

Roger  Bacon,  writing  about  the  year  1260,  that  is,  six  hundred 
years  ago,  says : — "  I  call  that  Experimental  Science  which  neglects 
argumentation ;  for  the  strongest  arguments  prove  nothing  as  long 
as  the  conclusions  are  not  verified  by  experience.  Experimental 
science  does  not  receive  truth  at  the  hands  of  superior  sciences. 
It  is  itself  mistress,  and  other  sciences  are  its  servants.  It  has,  in 
truth,  the  right  to  command  all  sciences,  since  it  alone  certifies 
and  sanctions  their  results.  Experimental  science  is,  therefore, 
the  queen  of  sciences  and  the  limit  of  all  speculation.''  The 
features  in  Bacon's  writings  that  have  caused  his  name  to  be 
handed  down  as  a  founder  of  physical  science  are  very  obvious. 
He  doubts  wisely  and  has  a  profound  reverence  for  facts.  The 
theory  of  a  vacuum  has  come  to  him  on  the  highest  authority, 
but  its  difficulties  distress  him.  He  speaks  of  experimental  phi- 
losophy as  more  perfect  than  all  the  natural  sciences;  "for  it 
teaches  us  to  test  by  trial  the  noble  conclusions  of  all  the  sciences, 
which,  in  the  others,  are  either  proved  by  logical  arguments  or  are 
examined  into  on  the  imperfect  evidence  of  nature  ;  and  this  is  its 
prerogative." 

"As  a  workman  in  the  laboratory,  and  with  lenses,  he  himself  discovers 
the  existence  of  explosive  compounds,  confirms  the  tradition  of  history  as 
to  the  effect  of  burning  glasses,  and  understands  the  principle  of  the  camera. 
He  points  out  the  faultiness  of  Caesar's  calendar.  His  views  of  the  limits 
of  medicine  are  excellent.  '  For,  whereas  a  healthy  rule  of  life  depends 
upon  what  is  eaten  and  drank,  on  the  hours  of  sleep  and  waking,  of  exer- 
cise and  rest,  on  climate  and  the  temper  of  the  mind,  and  that  all  these 
should  be  observed  from  childhood  in  the  constitution  they  fit,  scarcely  any 
man  cares  to  take  thought  of  these  things,  nay,  not  even  physicians,  such 
at  least  as  we  have  met  with.'  Contrast  this  and  his  critical  approval  of 
the  use  of  charms  to  delude  credulous  patients  into  health  with  the  science 
ridiculed  in  the  Malade  Imagmaire^  and  the  advantage  will  not  be  found  on 
the  side  of  the  seventeenth  century.  But,  even  in  physical  science,  Bacon's 
splendid  powers  of  generalization  prevail  over  the  habit  of  analysis,  and  he 
is  rather  a  prophet  than  a  teacher.  He  believes  that  the  period  of  human 
life  may  be  prolonged  many  years  by  a  sound  system  of  dietetics  ;  and  the 
averages  of  life  in  our  own  century  confirm  him.  He  believes  that 
*  engines  of  navigation  may  be  made  without  oarsmen,  so  that  the  greatest 
river  and  sea-ships  with  only  one  man  to  steer  them,  may  sail  swifter  than 
if  they  were  fully  manned.  Moreover,  chariots,'  he  thinks,  'may  be 
made  so  as  to  be  moved  with  incalculable  torce  without  any  beast  drawing 
them.'  'And  such  things  might  be  made  to  infinity,  as,  for  instance, 
bridges  to  traverse  rivers  without  pillars  or  any  buttress.'  He  even  knows 
a  wise  man  who  has  determined  to  construct  a  flying  machine  j  but  Bacon's 


174-  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

tone  on  this  subject  is  a  little  less  confident.  That  he  himself  hoped  for 
much  that  has  since  been  proved  impossible — for  the  art  of  increasing  gold, 
and  for  the  discovery  of  an  elixir  of  life — cannot  of  course  be  questioned. 
Bacon  summed  up  the  science  of  his  times,  and  the  analogies  which  guided 
him  in  his  estimate  of  the  laws  of  motion  could  not  teach  him  to  antici- 
pate by  five  hundred  years  the  individuality  of  the  elements,  or  to  under- 
stand the  texture  of  the  human  body.  His  error,  after  all,  was  chiefly  that 
he  believed  in  Thought  as  a  conqueror,  and  expected  to  establish  her 
kingdom  on  the  ruins  of  the  thrones  of  the  visible  world." — Saturday 
Review. 

The  One  Science. 

In  an  able  summary  in  the  Times  of  the  contents  of  Sir  Henry 
Holland's  Essays  on  Scientific  and  other  Subjects,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing suggestive  passages : — t(  The  sciences  are  so  interlacing  and 
coalescing  that  it  would  seem  as  if  in  a  year  or  two  we  should 
only  have  one  huge  science  embracing  all ;  or,  at  least,  what  are 
now  regarded  as  separate  sciences  should  be  considerably  reduced 
in  number.  This  is  more  or  less  implied  in  the  controversy  on 
the  "  Correlation  of  Forces."  The  question  is, — Are  there  really 
"  Forces"  in  nature  ?  Or  should  we  not  rather  say  that  there  is 
but  one  force  appearing  under  different  forms  ?  Among  these 
forces  may  be  mentioned  light.  The  undulatory  theory  of  the 
transmission  of  light  is  as  old  as  Huyghens,  but  its  universal 
acceptance  is  an  incident  of  our  own  day ;  and  it  is  in  our  own 
day  that  radiant  heat  has  been  discovered  to  be  subject  to  those 
great  physical  laws  which  are  the  basis  of  the  undulatory  theory. 
Here,  then,  we  find  in  our  time,  within  the  last  few  years,  that 
the  three  great  sciences  of  optics,  of  acoustics,  and  of  heat,  reduce 
their  principal  facts  to  the  same  formula.  Or  again,  take  this 
science  of  optics  in  another  relation.  It  has  within  the  last  few 
years  proved  itself  to  be  the  most  delicate  instrument  of  chemistry. 
By  the  aid  of  a  little  starch  the  chemist  can  detect  the  millionth 
part  of  iodine  in  solution.  Mr.  Faraday  has  found  that  a  strong 
ruby  tint  is  given  to  a  fluid  by  a  proportion  of  gold  not  exceeding 
the  half-millionth  part  in  weight.  These  are  wonderful  results  of 
ordinary  chemical  analysis ;  but  what  are  they  in  comparison 
with  the  results  obtained  through  the  analysis  of  the  spectrum  ? 
By  means  of  it  chymists  have  been  able  to  detect  in  a  compound 
i-7o,ooo,oooth  part  of  a  grain  of  lithium,  and  the  i  - 1 8o,ooo,oooth 
part  of  a  grain  of  sodium,  the  metal  of  common  salt.  The  method 
of  the  analysis  is  very  simple.  If  a  little  sodium,  for  instance,  be 
burnt  in  a  flame,  and  during  the  process  of  this  burning  the  rays 
be  made  to  pass  through  a  prism,  then  in  a  certain  defined  portion 
of  the  spectrum  beyond  there  will  appear  a  thin  yellow  line,  so 
vivid  that  it  will  show  even  when  the  sodium  has  been  reduced 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  175 

to  the  i-i8o,ooo,oooth  part  of  a  grain.  By  help  of  the  same 
analysis  we  pass  on  to  astronomy,  and  discover  the  chemistry  of 
the  eun,  the  moon,  and  the  stars.  In  the  photosphere,  or  luminous 
atmosphere  surrounding  the  body  of  the  sun,  there  has  in  this  way 
been  discovered  no  less  than  six  known  metals. 

u  In  these  few  examples  we  indicate  roughly  but  sufficiently  the 
intimate  connexion  of  the  physical  sciences,  and  the  necessity 
which  is  imposed  on  the  student  in  the  present  day  to  know  all  if 
he  would  understand  one.  It  has  been  said  that  he  who  has  seen 
but  one  work  of  ancient  art  has  seen  none,  while  he  who  has  seen 
all  has  seen  but  one.  We  may  say  the  same  of  science.  To  know 
one  is  to  know  none,  and  to  know  all  is  to  know  but  one." 


Sun-force. 

Daily  the  conviction  deepens  among  those  who  have  studied 
the  matter,  that  with  a  few  exceptions  all  the  physical  powers 
which  man  wields  as  movers  or  transformers  of  matter  are  mo- 
difications of  Sun-force.  It  was  bestowed  upon  antediluvian 
plants,  and  they  locked  it  up  for  a  season  in  the  woody  tissue 
which  it  enabled  them  to  weave,  and  afterwards  time  changed 
that  into  coal ;  and  the  steam-engine  which  we  complacently  call 
ours,  and  claim  patents  for,  burns  that  coal  into  lever-force  and 
steam-hammer  power,  and  is  in  truth  a  sun-engine.  And  the 
plants  of  our  own  day  receive  as  liberally  from  the  sun,  and  con- 
dense his  force  into  the  charcoal  which  we  extract  from  them, 
and  expend  in  smelting  metallic  ores.  With  the  smelted  metals 
we  make  voltaic  batteries,  and  magnets,  and  telegraph  wires; 
and  call  the  modified  sun-force  electricity  and  magnetism,  and 
say  it  is  ours,  and  ask  if  we  may  not  do  what  we  like  with  our 
own. 

And  again,  the  plants  we  cultivate  concentrate  Sun-force  in 
grass,  hay,  oats,  wheat,  and  other  fibres  and  grains,  which  seem 
only  suitable  to  feed  cattle  and  beasts  of  burden  with.  But  by 
and  by  a  Spanish  bull- fighter  is  transfixed  by  this  force,  through 
the  horns  of  a  bull,  and  dies  unaware  of  his  classical  fate, 
pierced  to  the  heart  by  an  arrow  from  Apollo  the  Sun -god's 
bosv.  On  English  commons  prizes  are  run  for,  by  steeds  which 
are  truly  coursers  of  the  sun,  for  his  force  is  swelling  in  their 
muscles  and  throbbing  in  their  veins,  and  horse-power  is  but 
another  name  for  sun-power.  Nor  is  it  otherwise  with  their 
riders ;  for  they  too  have  been  fed  upon  light,  and  made  strong 
with  fruits  and  flesh  which  have  been  nourished  by  the  sun.  His 
heat  warms  their  blood,  his  light  shines  in  their  eyes ;  they  cannot 


176  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

deal  a  blow  which  is  not  a  coup-de-sokil,  a  veritable  sun-stroke  j 
nor  express  a  thought  without  help  from  him. 

In  grave  earnestness,  let  me  remind  you,  that  as  force  cannot  be 
annihilated  any  more  than  matter,  but  can  only  be  changed  in  its 
mode  of  manifestation,  so  it  appears  beyond  doubt  that  the  force 
generated  by  the  sun,  and  conveyed  by  his  rays  in  the  guise  of 
heat,  light,  and  chemical  power,  to  the  earth,  is  not  extinguished 
there,  but  only  changes  its  form.  It  apparently  disappears  when 
it  falls  upon  plants,  which  never  grow  without  it ;  but  we  cannot 
doubt  that  it  is  working  in  a  new  shape  in  their  organs  and  tissues, 
and  reappears  in  the  heat  and  light  which  they  give  out  when  they 
are  burned.  This  heat,  which  is  sun-heat  at  second  hand,  we 
again  seem  to  lose  when  we  use  plants  as  fuel  in  our  boiler-fur- 
naces ;  but  it  has  only  -disguised  itself,  without  loss  of  power,  in 
the  elasticity  of  the  steam,  and  will  again  seem  lost,  when  it  is 
translated  into  the  momentum  of  the  heavy  piston,  and  the  whirl- 
ing power  of  a  million  of  wheels. 

The  second-hand  heat  of  the  sun  appears  equally  lost  when 
vegetable  fuel  is  expended  in  reducing  metals  ;  but  oxidize  these 
metals  in  a  galvanic  battery,  and  it  will  reappear  as  chemical  force, 
as  electricity,  as  magnetism,  as  heat  the  most  intense ;  and,  in  the 
electro-carbon  light,  will  return  almost  to  the  condition  of  sun- 
shine again. — Prof.  George  Wilson. 

"  The  Seeds  of  Invention:3 

Sir  William  Armstrong  maintains,  as  a  half-truth,  that  Inven- 
tion is  the  fruit  of  the  circumstances  that  call  for  it  almost  more 
than  of  the  mind  from  which  it  springs.  In  a  sense  it  is  true,  as 
Sir  William  Armstrong  says,  that  u  the  seeds  of  invention  exist, 
as  it  were,  in  the  air,  ready  to  germinate  whenever  suitable  con- 
ditions arise ;"  but  it  depends  not  the  less  on  the  genius  of  indi- 
vidual inventors  to  determine  whether  the  germination  shall  happen 
in  one  century  or  the  next.  The  history  of  the  locomotive  is 
itself  the  strongest  argument  against  relying  too  much  on  these 
floating  seeds  of  invention  and  favouring  circumstances,  and  taking 
too  little  account  of  inventors.  If  the  Killingworth  brakesman 
had  died  in  his  youth,  it  is  scarcely  too  much  to  say  that  we 
should  probably  not  yet  be  travelling  by  steam.  We  owe  it  to 
George  Stephenson's  keen  insight  and  resolute  temper  that  the 
locomotive  was  forced  upon  an  unbelieving  world,  no  one  can  say 
how  long  before  circumstances  would  otherwise  have  called  it 
into  existence.  The  seed  had  been  floating,  it  is  true,  and  had 
been  in  a  manner  detected  centuries  before ;  but  it  remained  with- 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  177 

out  life,  not  because  the  occasion  had  not  called  it  forth,  but 
because  the  right  man  had  not  ansen. 

The  Object  of  Patents. 

The  recklessness  with  which  Patents  are  issued,  and  the  dis- 
honesty on  the  part  of  the  State  in  selling  the  same  article  to  two 
or  more  persons,  and  then  coolly  leaving  them  to  litigation  for  the 
possession  of  it,  cannot  be  too  strongly  reprehended.  The  common 
sense  of  the  question  is  summed  up  by  Dr.  Percy,  in  these  words : 
"  I  cordially  subscribe,"  says  the  Doctor,  "  to  the  opinions 
expressed  by  Mr.  Grove,  Q.C. — namely,  that  the  real  object  of 
Patent  Law  was  '  to  reward  not  trivial  inventions,  which  stop  the 
way  to  greater  improvements,  but  substantial  boons  to  the  public; 
not  changes  such  as  any  experimentalist  makes  a  score  a  day  in 
his  laboratory,  but  substantial  practical  discoveries,  developed  into 
an  available  form.' " 

The  law  with  respect  to  Patents  has  been  greatly  simplified  and  improved 
by  the  statute  15  and  16  Viet.  c.  83:  the  fees  payable  for  a  Patent  have 
been  reduced,  and  the  payment  of  spread  over  several  years.  One  Patent 
now  suffices  for  the  United  Kingdom,  and  is  no  longer  void,  as  formerly, 
for  trifling  inaccuracies  in  the  Specification,  as  these  may  be  now  dis- 
claimed. 

Before  quitting  the  subject  of  Patents  it  may,  perhaps,  be 
serviceable  to  call  attention  to  the  admirable  Abridgments  of  Spe- 
cifications now  publishing  by  the  Patent  Commissioners.  In  a 
few  minutes  one  can  get  exact  information  there  which  cannot 
otherwise  be  obtained  in  as  many  hours.  These  Abridgments 
are  in  the  form  of  small  8vo  volumes. 

Hereafter  we  hope  to  see  provided  out  of  the  revenues  of  the  Patent- 
office,  a  public  library  and  museum,  to  constitute  a  historical  and  educa- 
tional institution  for  the  benefit  and  instruction  of  the  skilled  workman  of 
the  kingdom.  Exact  models  of  machinery  are  to  be  exhibited  in  the  sub- 
jects, showing  the  progressive  steps  of  improvement. 

Theory  and  Practice. — Watt  and  Telford. 

James  Watt  was  a  highly  accomplished  theorist,  on  every 
point  on  which  he  worked ;  yet  his  name  has  been  frequently 
cited,  as  a  proof  that  theory  could  be  dispensed  with.  And  his 
career,  when  compared  with  that  of  Telford,  will  illustrate 
theory  applied  to  practice,  as  distinguished  from  practice  alone, 
however  acute.  It  is  impossible  to  contemplate  the  career 
of  Telford  without  a  feeling  of  high  interest,  created  by  the 
comparison  of  his  apparently  inadequate  education  with  his 
startling  successes.  Looking  at  the  individual  himself,  there  is 

N 


178  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

everything  for  his  age  to  admire ;  and  as  long  as  his  structures 
last,  each  of  them  is  the  monumentum,  but  not  are  perennius. 
The  time  will  come  when  his  name  shall  be  like  that  of  the 
builder  of  the  old  London  bridge,  who  was,  no  doubt,  the  Tel- 
ford  of  the  day, — a  stimulus  to  his  contemporaries,  useful  and 
honoured,  but  not  the  remembered  of  succeeding  ages.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  discoveries  of  Watt,  though  equally  startling  in 
what  is  called  the  practical  point  of  view,  have  the  mind  of  the 
discoverer  impressed  upon  them,  and  have  been,  and  must  be,  the 
guide  of  his  successors,  not  merely  to  repetitions  of  what  he  did 
himself,  but  to  the  enlargement  of  ideas,  and  the  conversion  of 
principles  into  forms  useful  in  art.  Take  away  the  honourable 
qualities  which  enabled  the  two  men  to  outstrip  their  contempo- 
raries, each  in  his  line;  qualities  which  are  the  properties  of  the 
individual  minds,  and  consider  what  is  left,  namely  their  modes  of 
proceeding :  consider  the  effect  of  these  two  modes  on  men  in 
general,  and  there  is  nothing  in  that  of  Telford  which  would  raise 
a  workman  above  a  workman ;  while  in  that  of  Watt  there  is 
the  vital  principle  to  which  we  owe  all  the  mechanical  triumphs 
of  civilization,  and  all  the  theoretical  successes  of  philosophy.— 
Penny  Cyclopedia. 

Practical  Science. — Mechanical  Arts. 

It  seems  impossible  to  exclude  from  a  review,  however  slight, 
of  contemporary  progress  in  the  exact  Sciences,  the  advantages 
which  have  accrued  to  them,  both  directly,  and  as  it  were  re- 
flexively,  by  the  astonishing  progress  of  the  Mechanical  Arts.  The 
causes,  indeed,  which  called  them  forth  are  somewhat  different 
from  those  which  are  active  in  more  abstract,  thougTi  scarcely 
more  difficult,  studies.  Increasing  national  wealth,  numbers,  and 
enterprise,  are  stimulants  unlike  the  laurels,  or  even  the  gold 
medals,  of  academies,  and  the  quiet  applause  of  a  few  studious 
men.  But  the  result  is  not  less  real,  and  the  advance  of  know- 
ledge scarcely  more  indirect.  The  masterpieces  of  civil  engineer- 
ing— the  steam-engine,  the  locomotive-engine,  and  the  tubular 
bridge — are  only  experiments  on  the  powers  of  nature  on  a 
gigantic  scale,  and  are  not  to  be  compassed  without  inductive 
skill,  as  remarkable  and  as  truly  philosophic  as  any  effort  which 
the  man  of  science  exerts,  save  only  the  origination  of  great 
theories,  of  which  one  or  two  in  a  hundred  years  may  be  con- 
sidered as  a  liberal  allowance.  Whilst,  then,  we  claim  for  Watt 
a  place  amongst  the  eminent  contributors  to  the  progress  of  science 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  we  must  reserve  a  similar  claim  for  the 
Stephensons  and  the  Brunels  of  the  present ;  and  whilst  we  are 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  179 

proud  of  the  changes  wrought  by  the  increase  of  knowledge 
during  the  last  twenty-five  years  on  the  face  of  society,  we  must 
recollect  that  these  very  changes,  and  the  inventions  which  have 
occasioned  them,  have  stamped  perhaps  the  most  characteristic 
feature — its  intense  practicalness — on  the  science  itself  of  the 
same  period. 

It  has  long  been  the  fashion  of  one  party  to  lament  <(  the  De- 
cline of  Science"  in  England ;  whilst  another  section  has  gravely 
declared  that  Science  in  this  country  is  but  the  growth  of  yester- 
day, having  been  imported  from  Germany,  and  tenderly  nurtured 
by  the  magnates  of  the  realm.  In  the  House  of  Commons,  in 
the  Session  of  1863,  a  member  stood  up,  and,  with  exultation, 
announced  that  Science  had  at  length  found  its  way  into  that 
democratic  assembly  through  the  individual  exertions  and  influ- 
ence of  one  now  no  more.  From  the  language  which  this  scion 
of  a  great  house  employed  it  might  be  inferred  that  Science  had 
been  previously  almost  unknown  in  England.  The  member,  no 
doubt,  spoke  according  to  his  knowledge ;  but  it  possibly  escaped 
his  memory  that  a  man  named  Isaac  Newton  once  existed. 
Without  justly  exposing  ourselves  to  the  charge  of  presumption, 
we  might  also  boast  of  a  few  other  names  of  distinction  among 
the  dead  as  well  as  the  living. 

There  is  another  point  upon  which  the  public  appear  to  be 
much  misinformed — namely,  that  Science  is  in  the  receipt  of  large 
sums  from  the  State.  The  annual  amount  voted  out  of  the  taxes 
for  Science  and  Art  is  unquestionably  large ;  but  it  should  be 
borne  in  mind  that,  comparatively,  only  a  small  portion  is  really 
devoted  to  Science,  while  Art  takes  the  lion's  share.  Let  it  be 
so  by  all  means.  True  Science  to  be  worth  anything  must  never 
become  the  creature  of  State  bounty.  We  want  no  Institute 
with  its  salaried  members  and  its  eternal  jobbing.  We  need  no 
patronizing  Mecaenas,  whether  from  the  high-born  or  the  self- 
exalted.  What  Science  earnestly  desires  is  to  be  let  alone,  that 
she  may  follow  her  destined  course  quietly,  modestly,  and  with- 
out molestation.  She  especially  loathes  the  Pythonic  embrace  of 
meddiesome  persons  who,  knowing  nothing  of  her,  yet  profess  an 
intimate  acquaintance  with  her  and  a  tender  regard  for  her  wel- 
fare, solely  with  the  object  of  puffing  themselves  into  notoriety. 
She  disdains  them  utterly. — Times  journal. 

We  hear  much,  too,  of  "  Science  and  Art"  now-a-days  coupled 
together,  as  if  the  strongest  affinity  existed  between  them ;  al- 
though no  two  things  can  be  more  unlike  each  other.  The 
Arctic  Circle  and  the  Torrid  Zone  cannot  be  wider  apart  or  in 
stronger  contrast ;  for  Science  is  frigidly  logical,  and  Art  hotly 
emotional. 

N2 


180  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


Force  of  Running  Water. 

It  has  been  proved  by  experiment,  that  the  rapidity  at  the 
bottom  of  a  stream  is  everywhere  less  than  in  any  part  above  it, 
and  is  greatest  at  the  surface.  Also,  that  in  the  middle  of  the 
stream  the  particles  at  the  top  move  swifter  than  those  at  the 
sides.  This  slowness  of  the  lowest  and  side  currents  is  produced 
by  friction,  and  when  the  rapidity  is  sufficiently  great,  the  soil 
composing  the  sides  and  bottom  gives  way.  If  the  water  flows 
at  the  rate  of  three  inches  per  second,  it  will  tear  up  fine  clay ;  six 
inches  per  second,  fine  sand ;  twelve  inches  per  second,  fine  gravel ; 
and  three  feet  per  second,  stones  of  the  size  of  an  egg. — Lyelfs 
Geology. 

Correlation  of  Physical  Forces. 

Of  late  years  experimental  philosophers  have  been  occupied  with 
the  investigation  of  a  profound  problem.  Formerly,  the  most 
brilliant  phenomena  of  nature  were  attributed  to  the  existence  of 
imponderable  fluids.  But  the  Correlation  of  heat,  light,  electri- 
city, magnetism,  and  chemical  affinity,  as  varying  manifestations 
of  force,  attributable  to  modifications  of  motion  in  matter,  now 
employs  our  subtlest  thinkers — Faraday  and  Grove,  Wheatstone 
and  De  la  Rive.  These  researches  extend  even  to  the  confines  of 
the  moral  phenomena.  The  chemistry  of  nature  differs  from 
that  of  the  laboratory,  and  the  difference  has  been  attributed,  not 
simply  to  organization,  but  to  the  vital  force— a  power  found  only 
in  living  organisms.  Yet,  at  length,  the  laboratory  of  Hoffman 
imitates  the  processes  of  nature,  especially  in  plants,  and  produces 
some  of  the  most  delicate  of  the  perfumes  of  flowers  and  fruits, 
and  even  seems  on  the  very  verge  of  the  manufacture  of  some  of 
its  greatest  treasures— such  as  quinine.  Some  are  staggered  by 
the  steady  march  of  scientific  research  into  the  most  sacred  sanc- 
tuaries of  life,  and  recoil  from  investigations  which  trace  the 
growth  of  the  cell  in  the  ovary  into  the  perfect  man ;  as  though 
mystery  were  essential  to  faith ;  or,  if  it  were  so,  as  though  there 
is  the  slightest  risk  that  in  ages  to  come  man  will  have  so  stolen 
the  sacred  fruit  that  no  mystery  will  remain  to  be  solved.— Sir 
James  Kay  Shuttlewortb  on  Public  Education. 

The  Effect  of  Oil  in  stilling  Waves. 

It  was  thought  that  this  old  idea  had.  been  completely  dis- 
proved by  experiment ;  but,  according  to  the  Saturday  Review, 
the  very  contrary  has  been  the  result  of  recent  experiments,  in 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  181 

course  of  which,  at  all  events,  waves  on  a  pond,  generated  by  the 
wind,  were  completely  stilled  to  a  "  glassy  smoothness"  by  means 
of  a  film  of  oil  scarcely  more  than  the  7,ooo,oooth  part  of  an  inch 
in  thickness,  and  exhibiting  the  most  brilliant  zones  of  iridescent 
colours  from  its  extreme  thinness.  The  modus  operandi  is  be- 
lieved to  consist  simply  in  the  wind  ceasing  to  have  a  hold  upon 
the  water  by  the  intervention  of  the  oil,  which  slips  along  the 
surface  'with  the  wind,  so  that  the  oil  must  be  applied  to  wind- 
ward, and  it  moves  to  leeward,  smoothing  the  surface  as  it  goes ! 

Spontaneous  Generation. 

Of  all  errors  upon  the  formation  of  beings,  the  most  absurd  is 
Spontaneous  Generation.  Yet  it  is  one  of  the  most  popular.  If 
this  theory  is  admissible  for  inferior  beings,  such  as  intestinal 
worms,  infusoria,  or  polypi,  why  not  for  superior  beings  ?  The 
difficulty  becomes  an  impossibility  in  both  cases.  Can  it  be  ima- 
gined that  an  organized  body,  of  which  all  the  parts  are  intimately 
connected,  with  an  admirably  contrived  correlation,  so  full  of 
profound  wisdom,  is  produced  by  a  blind  assemblage  of  physical 
elements  ?  The  organized  body  must  have  derived  its  existence 
from  elements  of  which  it  was  destitute !  Then  motion  might 
proceed  from  inertia,  sensibility  from  insensibility,  life  from 
death ! 

Guano. 

In  Mr.  Ross'  translation  of  Dr.  Tschudi's  Travels  in  Peru, 
1 847,  we  are  informed  that  the  correct  orthographyis  Huanu,  and 
not  Guano.  He  states  that  it  is  a  term  in  the  Quichua  dialect, 
meaning  "  animal  dung."  As  the  word  is  now  generally  used  it 
is  an  abbreviation  of  Pishu  Huanu,  bird  dung.  "  The  Spaniards," 
he  says,  "have  converted  the  final  syllable  nu  into  no.  The 
European  orthography  Guano,  followed  also  in  Spanish  America, 
is  quite  erroneous^  for  the  Quichua  language  is  deficient  in  the 
letter  G,  as  it  is  in  several  other  consonants.  The  H,  in  the 
common  formation  of  the  word,  is  strongly  aspirated,  whence  the 
error  of  the  orthography  of  the  Spaniards,  who  have  sadly  cor- 
rupted the  language  of  the  Autochthones  of  Peru. 

What  is  Perspective  ? 

Perspective  is  the  science  which  furnishes  us  with  the  laws  by 
which  we  can  give  the  apparent,  as  geometry  those  by  which  we 
can  give  the  real,  forms  of  objects.  These  laws  are  obvious 
without  rules  to  thoughtful,  artistic  common- sense — but,  to  many, 


182  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

books  on  the  subject  will  always  be  useful,  if  not  indispensable. 
The  science  was  called  perspective,  or  seeing  through,  from  an 
impression  that  the  correct  foreshortening  of  objects  could  be 
gained  by  viewing  and  tracing  them  through  a  pane  of  glass. 
This  plan  only  ensures  correctness  when  the  plane  of  the  eye  is 
parallel  to  that  of  the  medium  upon  which  the  drawing  is  made. 
A  picture  in  perspective  is  simply  a  plane  parallel  to  the  plane  of 
the  eye  intersecting  the  rays  that  come  from  the  surface  of  the 
objects  represented.  The  points  of  these  rays  at  the  places  of 
their  several  intersections  combine  to  form  the  true  perspective 
representation.  This  was  the  art  that  Mantegna  made  so  much 
of  at  Padua ;  and  that  with  which  Bellini,  the  painter  of  the 
National  Gallery  «  Doge,"  delighted  the  Venetians.  Without 
much  semi- scientific  pedantry,  the  whole  science  may  be  under- 
stood by  balancing  a  half-crown  on  the  top  of  the  forefinger  of 
your  right  hand.  Hold  it  up  so  that  its  broad  plane  is  parallel  to 
the  eye's  plane ;  put  it  nearer  or  further,  and  it  seems  to  increase 
or  diminish  in  size.  Turn  it  obliquely,  and  it  appears  an  oval ; 
put  the  edge  on  a  line  with  the  eye,  and  it  appears  a  mere  thin 
straight  line.  A  sphere  is  the  only  geometric  form  that  undergoes 
no  perspective  changes.  The  eye  is  able  to  take  in  any  given 
space  set  at  an  angle  of  under  sixty  degrees.  When  both  eyes 
view  a  scene,  instead  of  the  circle  one  eye  sees,  we  have  an  ellipse 
formed  by  the  continuation  of  the  two  circles  of  vision, — the 
point  of  sight  being  opposite  the  centre  of  the  space  between  the 
two  eyes.  Perspective  is  of  great  use  in  Art;  but  the  books 
upon  it  are  too  abstruse,  and  imply  a  knowledge  of  mathematics. 
[This  common -sense  explanation  is  from  the  pen  of  Professor 
Wallace,  M.A.,  in  the  first  number  of  a  journal  edited  by  him 
and  entitled  The  Public  Instructor.] 

The  Stereoscope. 

Till  the  discovery  of  the  Stereoscope,  naturalists  were  puzzled 
to  account  for  a  single  image  resulting  from  double  'vision ;  and 
Gall  and  Spurzheim  endeavoured  to  explain  it  by  the  supposition 
that  one  eye  only  was  active  at  a  time,  the  other  only  admitting 
light,  and  that  Nature  had  given  us  two  merely  to  provide  against 
the  accidental  loss  of  one. — Leslie's  Handbook. 

Burning  Lenses. 

The  danger  from  Lenses,  when  the  heat  of  the  sun  is  powerful, 
is  well  known.  As  an  illustration,  we  may  relate  an  instance 
which  occurred  on  the  premises  of  Messrs.  Negretti  and  Zambra, 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  183 

philosophical  instrument  makers,  in  Hatton  Garden.  There  was 
a  smell  of  fire,  but  it  could  nowhere  be  detected,  until  a  person 
entered  the  shop  from  the  street  with  the  startling  information 
that  the  window  was  on  fire,  and  such  was  really  the  fact :  a  large 
reading- lens  hanging  in  the  window  exposed  to  the  sun,  its  focus 
happening  to  be  just  within  range  of  the  woodwork  of  the  window 
fittings,  set  fire  to  them,  and  no  doubt  in  a  very  few  seconds  some 
serious  damage  would  have  been  caused.  Is  it  not  possible  that 
in  tropical  climates,  when  vessels  are  becalmed,  they  may  be  set 
on  fire  by  the  eye-deck  lights  everywhere  observable  on  ships' 
decks;  or, nearer  home,  in  warehouses,  &c.,  where  such  means  of 
lighting  is  resorted  to  ?  The  matter  merits  serious  consideration 
and  should  serve  as  a  caution. 

How  to  wear  Spectacles. 

In  the  proper  use  of  Spectacles  there  is  no  circumstance  of 
more  importance  than  their  position  on  the  head.  They  should 
be  worn  so  that  the  glasses  may  come  as  close  to  the  eye  as  pos- 
sible without  touching  the  eyelashes ;  they  must  also  be  placed 
so  that  the  glasses  may  be  parallel  to  the  paper  when  held  in  an 
easy  position.  To  accomplish  this,  let  the  sides  of  the  spectacles 
bear  upon  the  swell  of  the  head,  about  midway  between  the  top 
of  it  and  the  ear ;  the  eyes  will  then  look  directly  through  the 
glasses  to  the  paper,  and  make  the  most  advantageous  use  of  them, 
instead  of  looking  obliquely  through  them  to  the  paper,  as  in  nu- 
merous cases,  where  persons  place  the  sides  of  their  spectacles  in 
contact  with,  or  very  near,  their  ears— in  which  position  they  pro- 
duce a  distorted  image  on  the  retina.  The  sides  of  the  spectacles 
should  also  be  placed  at  an  equal  height  upon  the  head ;  and  the 
hands  being  applied  to  the  points  of  the  sides,  will  generally  direct 
their  equal  height,  as  well  as  allow  of  their  opening  to  the  full 
extent  without  injury. — Adams  on  the  Human  Eye, 

Vicissitudes  of  Mining. 

Although  the  thoughts  of  men  have  been  turned  to  the  mineral 
conditions  of  these  islands  for  more  than  two  thousand  years ;  and 
in  that  period  the  art  of  Mining  has  improved ;  and  the  engineering 
appliances  which  have  been  brought  to  bear  upon  the  ventilation  and 
tne  draining  of  mines,  are  fine  examples  of  mechanical  ingenuity, — 
the  science  of  Mining,  however,  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have,  as  yet, 
any  existence.  In  1856,  Mr.  John  Taylor,  who  must  be  regarded 
as  a  good  authority,  stated  before  a  Committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  "  That  there  were  no  greater  facilities  for  ascertaining 


184  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

the  productive  character  of  a  mine  now  than  formerly.  The  dit- 
ference  was  simply  in  improved  machinery.  Our  knowledge  was 
not  greater  than  that  of  our  forefathers."  Whatever  was  said  in 
18.^6,  is  true  at  the  present  moment. 

The  psychological  influences  of  subterranean  toil  form  a  strange 
but  interesting  subject  of  study.  These  and  the  effects  of  that 
continued  uncertainly  as  to  the  reward  which  labours  of  the 
severest  kind  are  to  receive,  are  distinguishingly  marked  on  every 
miner.  In  occult  powers  they  are  believers ;  and  when,  about  a 
century  since,  the  "  Divining  Rod"  was  introduced  into  Cornwall 
as  a  means  for  finding  mineral  lodes,  it  was  eagerly  seized  upon; 
and,  to  the  present  day,  several  families  are  supposed  to  possess 
remarkable  powers  as  diviners,  or,  as  they  are  commonly  called, 
<(  dowsers." 

Mr.  Rawlinson  observes  that  the  existence  of  (l  diviners,"  or 
<f  dowsers,"  for  finding  out  the  mineral  lodes  was  a  serious  re- 
flection upon  the  present  age ;  yet  it  was  a  curious  fact,  that  a 
French  adventurer,  who  was  supposed  to  have  been  successful  in 
finding  water-beds  in  Africa,  was  introduced  to  the  Government 
during  the  Crimean  war^  and  was  sent  out  to  trace,  by  the 
divining-rod,  water  in  that  locality. 

The  most  elementary  laws  of  science  are  still  a  book  sealed  to 
the  large  majority  of  miners,  and  while  they  are,  of  all  men,  them- 
selves the  most  theoretical,  they  always  meet  any  attempt  to  ex- 
plain phenomena  upon  the  evidences  of  inductive  research,  by 
pronouncing  the  explanation  to  be  a  "  theory,"  which  is  ot  no 
value  to  a  t(  practical." 

Mr.  Wallace,  himself  a  miner,  says :  "  The  impossibility  of 
arriving  at  any  knowledge  of  practical  value  respecting  ore  deposits 
in  veins,  is  avowed  by  those  who,  with  singular  inconsistency, 
attach  the  greatest  importance  to  individual  experience.  Even 
some  occupying  high  distinction  as  directors  or  proprietors  of 
mines,  affirm,  without  qualification,  that  it  is  impossible  to  see 
through  solid  rocks. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  amongst  the  miners  there  is  an  entire 
absence  of  any  method  by  which  a  knowledge  may  be  obtained 
of  the  causes  leading  to  the  production  of  mineral  deposits ;  while 
the  speculations  of  those  philosophers  who  will  not  endure  the 
toil  of  subterranean  investigations  are  wild,  and  are  consequently 
valueless. 

The  natural  consequence  of  this  imperfect  knowledge  is,  that 
all  mining  speculations  are  necessarily  attended  with  much  un- 
certainty. From  time  to  time  a  most  productive  mine  is  disco- 
vered. The  Devon  Great  Consols,  first  known  as  Huel  Maria, 
has  paid  826/.  dividends  upon  every  share,  one  pound  only  being 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  185 

paid  for  shares  now  worth  4Qc/.  each.  Upon  the  shares  of  South 
Caradoc,  near  Liskeard,  the  trifling  sum  of  25^.  only  was  ever 
paid;  the  price  of  these  shares,  in  1862,  was  39O/. ;  and  39i/. 
profit  had  been  paid  on  every  share. 

There  are  other  examples  of  great  success  in  mining.  Such 
results  as  these  are  laid  hold  of  by  designing  men,  and  used  to 
bait  the  hooks  by  which  those  who  are  in  a  hurry  to  be  rich  are 
caught.  Permission  to  search  for  minerals  is  obtained  from  the 
possessor  of  the  land  near  to  some  productive  mine.  A  few  trials 
are  probably  made,  and  then  comes  the  formation  of  a  company 
to  work  "  Huel  Chance"  (or  some  more  attractive  name  is 
adopted),  through  which  the  lodes  from  the  fortunate  neighbour 
are  shown,  by  the  aid  of  a  parallel  ruler,  to  run. 

Mr.  Rawlinson  states,  with  regard  to  the  pecuniary  losses  in- 
curred in  mining  speculations,  that  some  years  ago,  whilst  holding 
an  official  inquiry  in  Cornwall,  he  was  brought  into  connexion 
with  several  of  the  large  mining  adventurers  of  that  district;  and 
they  stated  it  as  their  opinion  that,  if  the  value  of  all  the  ore  mines 
in  Cornwall,  and  the  cost  of  working  them  were  compared,  the 
statement  would  stand  as  something  like  25  j.  paid  for  every  pound's 
worth  of  ore  obtained. 

Statistics  show  that  about  350,000  persons  are  employed  in  the 
production  of  minerals,  to  the  value  of  nearly  35  millions  per 
annum,  which  gives,  as  the  production  of  each  miner,  not  more 
than  2/.  per  week,  an  amount  so  small  that  we  can  hardly  con- 
ceive it  possible  that  it  would  remunerate  the  large  capital  which  is 
invested  in  these  mines. — See  Mr.  Robert  Hunt's  valuable  Report, 
1862. 

Uses  of  Mineralogy. 

Professor  Tennant  states  there  have  been  already  described  500 
minerals,  more  than  half  which  number  are  found  in  the  British 
Isles  ;  whilst  more  than  450  are  found  in  our  colonies.  In  the  In- 
ternational Exhibition  of  1862,  our  vast  colonial  mineral  wealth 
was  shown  in  remarkable  specimens  of  gold,  silver,  copper,  precious 
stones,  £c.,  many  of  which  had  been  found  by  working  miners 
who  had  been  sent  out  from  this  country.  Yet,  miners  are 
generally  ignorant  of  the  value  of  minerals,  which  they  reject  as 
not  worth  collection :  now,  the  gold  they  collect  is  worth  4/.  per 
ounce ;  but  rough  stones  are  often  rejected,  which  are  worth  5o/. 
per  ounce,  and  some  5oo/.  per  ounce — they  are  diamonds.  Mr. 
Tennant  believes  that,  in  many  of  our  colonies,  these  minerals 
are  thrown  away,  whereas  a  little  knowledge  of  the  use  of  the 
blowpipe  would  enable  miners  to  distinguish  one  substance  from 
another. 


186  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

Our  Coal  Resources. — The  Deepest  Mine. 

Professor  Morris  describes  the  carboniferous  series  of  rocks  in 
England  which  contain  Coal  as  deposited  above  the  old  red  sand- 
stone, or  what  have  been  called  the  Devonian  rocks,  and  several 
thousand  feet  in  thickness,  though  the  coal  measures  are  of  much 
more  limited  depth,  and  the  mines  of  coal  vary  from  thirty  feet  to 
only  two  inches  thick.  The  distribution  of  Coal  in  England  is 
much  greater  than  in  any  country  in  Europe ;  though  in  the 
United  States  of  America,  near  Pittsburg,  the  beds  of  coal  extend 
over  a  vast  area,  and  one  is  of  great  thickness.  The  quantity  of 
coal  that  is  raised  from  the  pits  in  this  country,  however,  exceeds 
that  from  all  the  other 'coal -fields  in  the  world.*  The  probable 
duration  of  coal  in  England  has  formed  an  interesting  subject  of 
speculation  with  some  geologists,  who  have  estimated  the  period 
variously  at  from  300  to  1000  years.  Sir  William  Armstrong,  at 
the  Meeting  of  the  British  Association,  in  1863,  estimated  the 
minimum  period  of  the  northern  coal-field  at  200  year.s  ;  but 
Mr.  N.  Wood,  the  great  coal-viewer  of  the  North,  is  of  opinion 
that  of  the  northern  coal-field  no  conjecture,  of  practical  utility, 
can  yet  be  formed,  as  more  than  one  half  of  the  basin,  lying 
under  the  sea,  has  not  yet  been  explored. 

Sir  William  Armstrong's  remark,  however,  was  misunderstood, 


*  There  are  two  distinct  theories  respecting  the  formation  of  coal,  though 
all  agree  that  it  is  of  vegetable  origin.  This  is  proved  by  the  trees  and 
plants  found  in  the  substance  of  coal,  by  the  vegetable  remains  imbedded 
in  the  accompanying  strata,  and  by  microscopical  examination.  The  plants 
most  abundant  are  ferns,  some  of  which  were  of  gigantic  size.  These  are 
supposed  to  have  composed  two-thirds  of  the  mass  of  most  coal.  Large 
trees  are  sometimes  discovered  growing  upright  in  the  shale  that  lies  be- 
neath and  above  a  seam  of  coal.  The  vegetation  from  which  coal  has 
been  formed,  according  to  the  views  of  some  geologists,  grew  on  the  places 
where  it  is  found,  and  they  consider  it  to  have  been  composed  of  decayed 
beds  of  peat  which  grew  in  succession  one  over  the  other,  and  that  by  the 
compression  of  the  whole,  when  submerged,  and  by  the  accompanying 
action  of  heat,  these  vegetable  beds  were  converted  into  coal.  Other 
geologists  imagine  that  it  was  produced  by  the  accumulation  of  drift  wood 
brought  down  by  great  rivers,  similar  to  the  present  accumulation  of  drift 
wood  on  the  coast  of  Mexico  brought  down  by  the  great  American  rivers. 
There  are  geological  facts  adduced  in  support  of  both  theories.  Ireland 
presents  the  remarkable  geological  feature  of  an  immense  area  of  carboni- 
ferous rocks  without  coal,  that  valuable  portion  of  the  deposit  having,  it  is 
supposed,  been  swept  away  by  some  of  the  denudations  to  which  the  sur- 
face of  the  globe  has  been  exposed  in  the  early  periods  of  its  history. — 
Prof.  Morris. 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  187 

and  thought  to  refer  to  the  coal  supply  of  the  whole  kingdom, 
whereas  he  limited  the  remark  to  the  coal-field  of  Durham  and 
Northumberland.  This  misapprehension  re-opened  the  question 
of  the  exhaustion  of  our  coal  resources,  and  led  to  the  communi- 
cation of  some  valuable  evidence  to  the  Times  journal.  Thus, 
Mr.  E.  Hull,  of  the  Geological  Survey,  states  as  the  result  of  a 
series  of  investigations  of  the  British  coal-fields,  that  adopting  the 
limit  of  depth  at  4000  feet,  he  found  there  to  be  enough  workable 
coal,  at  the  rate  of  consumption  for  that  year,  (about  71,000,000 
tons,)  for  nearly  TOOO  years  ;  and  even  if  the  consumption  should 
ultimately  reach  100,000,000  of  tons,  that  supply  could  be  main- 
tained for  700  or  800  years. 

With  respect  to  the  assumed  depth,  4000  feet,  Mr.  Hull  adds: 

"Already  a  depth  of  nearly  1000  yards  has  been  reached  in  a  Belgian 
colliery,  and  coal  is  now  being  extracted  from  depths  of  700  and  800  yards 
in  Lancashire.  Even  with  the  vertical  limit  of  4000  feet,  I  have  since 
found  reason  to  believe  that  the  estimate  I  arrived  at  in  the  case  of  the 
South  Wales  coal-field  was  rather  under  than  over  the  truth.  In  that  coal- 
basin  alone,  with  an  area  of  906  square  miles,  I  calculated  that  the  rate  of 
consumption  for  1859,  of  9^  millions  of  tons,  could  be  maintained  for 
1600  years  ;  but  it  is  only  right  to  state,  that  Mr.  H.  Vivian,  M.P.,  in  a 
pamphlet  published  by  him  in  1861,  controverts  this  view,  and  arrives  at 
the  conclusion  that  '  South  Wales  could  supply  all  England  with  coal  for 
500  years,  and  her  own  consumption  for  5000.' 

"  As  regards  the  absolute  quantity  of  mineral  fuel  in  this  island,  it  may 
be  considered  as  practically  inexhaustible.  The  seams  of  coal  outcrop  in 
our  coal-fields,  and  descend  under  the  Permian  and  Triassic  formations  to 
depths  exceeding  10,000  feet.  The  question  of  the  available  supply  is 
therefore  one  depending  on  the  rapidity  of  production  and  the  limit  of 
depth." 

Dr.  Buckland,  in  1841,  dwelt  upon  the  wanton  waste  of  coal 
at  the  pits,  which,  in  1836,  he  had  maintained  would  finally 
"  exhaust  the  Newcastle  coal-field  at  a  period  earlier  by  at  least 
one-third  than  that  to  which  it  would  last  if  wisely  economized." 
The  waste  has,  however,  been  much  abated. 

Mr.  Robert  Hunt,  however,  maintains  the  consumption  to  be 
greatly  understated.  He  says : 

"  All  calculations  on  the  probable  duration  of  our  coal-fields  have  been 
founded  on  the  very  erroneous  data  which  supposes  that  not  more  than 
36,000,000  of  coals  are  raised  annually.  We  know  that  more  than  sixty- 
six  millions  of  coals  are  now  annually  produced,  and  the  demands  upon  our 
resources  are  rapidly  increasing. 

Sir  William  Amstrong  himself  quotes  Mr.  Hunt  as  showing 
"  that  at  the  end  of  1861  the  quantity  of  coal  raised  in  the  United 
Kingdom  had  reached  the  enormous  total  of  eighty-six  millions  of 


188  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

tons,  and  that  the  average  annual  increase  of  the  eight  preceding 
years  amounted  to  2f  millions  of  tons." 

If,  therefore,  Dr.  Buckland's  remarks  were  important  in  1836 
(when  his  Bridgewater  Treatise  was  first  published),  and  of 
"greater  force"  in  1858,  how  much  more  must  they  be  worthy 
of  most  serious  consideration  in  1863. — Communication  to  the 
Times  by  Mr.  Frank  Buckland.  Another  Correspondent,  however, 
adds  this  consolation : 

"There  may  yet  remain  plenty  of  coal  in  the  world.  Three-fourths  of 
the  globe  are  covered  with  water,  and  what  geologist  shall  presume  to  de- 
clare that  there  are  no  vast  deposits  of  coal  deep  below  the  ocean  bed  ?  We 
have  been  up  and  down  below  the  waters  several  times,  and  we  shall  pro- 
bably sink  again  ;  but  then.the  bed  of  the  Atlantic  may  become  dry  land 
and  peopled  with  our  successors.  Change  is  the  law  of  the  universe.  The 
moon  is  stated  to  be  approximating  to  the  earth  at  the  rate  of  a  fraction  of 
an  inch  in  a  century  or  so,  and  may  one  day  come  tumbling  upon  us.  The 
whole  of  the  solar  system  seems  to  be  travelling — some  report  at  the  slow 
rate  of  47,000  miles  an  hour — towards  an  unknown  region  of  infinite 
space.  Great  Britain,  therefore,  has  no  reason  to  complain  if  she  shares 
the  common  fate  of  all  things,  whether  in  the  heavens  above  or  on  the 
earth  beneath." 

Monkwearmouth,  Sunderland,  is  the  deepest  coal-mine  in  all 
England ;  the  coal  being  won  at  nearly  two  miles'  distance  from 
the  shaft,  and  upwards  of  1900  feet,  or  more  than  five  times  the 
height  of  St.  Paul's,  below  the  surface  of  the  green  fields  and 
trees  above.  The  pit  employs  nearly  300  hands,  and  yields  between 
r;oo  and  600  tons  of  domestic  coal  per  day ;  every  few  seconds, 
the  tall  cage  shoots  up  out  of  the  gloom  of  the  shaft,  and  the  tubs, 
like  miniature  railway-waggons,  holding  nearly  half  a  ton  each, 
are  brought  to  the  bank,  and  wheeled  away  in  different  directions. 
Not  for  a  single  instant  does  the  work  stop :  it  is  coal — coal  every- 
where beneath  and  around ;  the  very  atmosphere  is  made  gloomy 
with  its  fine  particles  ;  and  all  this,  seen  amid  clanking  of  chains, 
roaring  of  steam,  and  the  rapid  activity  and  whirl  of  hurried 
business,  make  it  one  of  the  most  curious  and  interesting  scenes 
imaginable. 

The  dangers  of  the  working  are  thus  detailed.  The  boys  in 
charge  of  the  trams  cany  the  "  Davy,"  the  wire-gauze  of  which 
is  far  less  liable  to  injury  than  the  glass  shade  of  the  "  Geordie," 
or  Stephenson  lamp ;  and  with  these  the  lads  may  safely  pass  the 
"  goafs"  or  worked-out  seams,  in  which,  though  built  up  as  far 
as  possible,  gas  always  lurks,  though  the  invisible  enemy  around 
them  is  so  thick  that  the  gas  will  light  inside  their  lamps  and 
burn  with  a  ghastly  blue  flame.  Beyond  this  steep  incline  or 
bank  there  is  still  nearly  a  mile  to  be  traversed  to  the  "  in-bye" — 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  189 

the  face  of  the  working,  the  spot  from  which  the  coals  are  actually 
won :  where,  too,  the  gas  has  its  head-quarters,  and  has  to  be 
watched  and  guarded  against  every  hour  and  minute  of  the  day 
and  night,  for  the  work  of  a  mine  never  stops,  and  day  and  night 
are  meaningless  terms  in  such  eternal  gloom  and  silence.  The 
heat  at  the  bottom  of  the  bank,  indeed  in  all  parts  of  the  mine,  is 
very  great  in  the  extreme  depths  of  Monkwearmouth.  It  is 
seldom  less  than  84  or  85  deg.,  and  at  the  workings  often  over 
90  deg.  So  great  is  the  heat,  in  fact,  that  the  men  nearly  always 
work  almost  naked,  and  in  some  cases  absolutely  so.  The  heat 
certainly  does  not  arise  from  want  of  proper  ventilation,  which 
seems  ample.  Not  much  bratticing  is  used  to  convey  the  a  r 
through  the  workings,  and  it  is  almost  entirely  confined  to  the 
places  where  the  coal  is  won.  In  fact,  as  far  as  human  ingenuity, 
skill,  or  experience  can  go,  the  pit  is  made  safe  from  gas  at  least. 
Its  only  risk  seems  to  be  from  shaft  accidents  or  inundation,  to 
both  of  which  more  or  less  all  colleries  in  this  district  and  near  to 
the  sea  are,  to  say  the  least,  equally  exposed  and  equally  pro- 
tected against,  as  far  as  it  is  possible  to  do  it. 

Iron  as  a  Building  Material. 

The  late  Professor  Cockerell,  in  a  lecture  on  Architecture,  at  the 
Royal  Academy,  observed  upon  the  early  employment  of  this 
material  in  building: 

The  progress  of  architecture  depends  as  much  on  discovery  of 
new  materials  and  new  methods  of  build  ng  as  on  taste.  Iron 
was  used  by  Tubal  Cain  as  a  subsidiary  material.  It  has  been 
employed  in  build  ng  ever  since ;  but  never  in  solid  and  in  the 
gross  as  a  constituent  part  of  the  substance  of  building  before  Mr. 
Rennie  employed  it  as  voussoirs  in  the  Southwark  Bridge.  Sir 
Robert  Smirke  has  nobly  followed  in  applying  iron  in  trabeation, 
and  so  has  Mr.  S.  Smirke  in  the  new  reading-rpom  of  the 
British  Museum,  and  others  ;  but  the  engineers  have  kept  ahead 
of  the  architects,  from  Mr.  Rennie  to  Messrs.  Stephenson,  in 
displaying  the  powers  of  iron. 

Iron  has  been  cited  in  Deuteronomy  as  the  essential  and  last 
fruit  of  the  promised  land.  Our  interiors,  as  halls  and  churches, 
will  assume  new  development  and  grandeur  by  iron,  since  we 
have  seen  200  feet  span  at  Birmingham  without  abutment,  and 
150  feet  at  Paris  in  still  more  enduring  structure.  The  Pantheon 
of  Rome,  Sta.  Sophia,  St.  Peter's,  the  Baths,  and  the  great  R;d,ng- 
house  at  Moscow,  will  hide  their  glories ;  and  iron  will  hence- 
forward dispense  with  pillars  and  clerestory,  flying-buttresses  arid 
abutments,  and  roof  our  churches  in  bold  and  single  spans.  With 


190  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

all  due  reverence  for  antiquity  and  precedent,  we  ought  to  open 
our  eyes  to  the  reconciliation  of  this  new  material  and  its  peculiar 
faculties  with  the  laws  of  proportion  and  taste ;  and  this  is  a 
problem  worthy  of  the  best  spirits,  both  as  to  the  form  of  roofs 
or  ceilings,  and  the  form  of  supports,  which,  in  iron,  with  i-4oth 
part  of  substance  of  stone,  will  give  equal  strength  of  support. 

Iron  may  be  termed  the  osteology  of  building.  Hitherto  the 
architectural  system  has  proceeded  on  statics  and  equipoise  of 
molecules,  as  if  the  human  frame  were  built  without  bones.  Now 
our  buildings  will  have  bones,  giving  unity  and  strength  which 
never  before  existed.  The  nervures  of  the  Gothic  will  now  be  in 
uniform  and  single  arcs,  erected  at  once :  the  library  at  St.  Gene- 
vie  ve,  by  Mons.  Arbrusfce,  exhibits  an  experiment  in  this  way. 

Concrete,  not  new. 

Professor  Cockerell  observes: — Concrete  is  a  novelty  charac- 
teristic of  the  nineteenth  century,  or  rather  a  resuscitation  of 
ancient  practice,  as  shown  by  quoting  Philibert  de  1'Orme;  but 
in  the  bridge  of  Alma,  at  Paris,  concrete  has  taken  a  new  and 
admirable  development,  where  three  arches  of  about  140  feet  span 
are  cast  on  the  centreing,  forming  one  vast  stone  from  pier  to  pier. 
The  only  voussoirs  used  are  in  the  face  of  the  arches.  A  peculiar 
cement  and  hard  fragmented  stone  has  effected  this  with  vast 
economy  of  cost  and  time,  and  promises  well.  The  so-called 
Temple  of  Peace  at  Rome  is  ceiled  and  vaulted  with  a  similar 
concrete.  The  coffering  was  previously  moulded  in  all  its  detail 
upon  the  centreing,  and  then  covered  with  grosser  concrete,  so 
that  on  removal  of  centreing  all  was  finished.  A  vast  fragment 
now  lies  in  the  middle  of  the  Temple,  and  at  Tivoli  we  find  that 
Adrian  employed  the  same  simple  process. 

Sheathing  Ships  with  Copper. 

From  an  old  pamphlet  we  learn  that :— "  Mr.  Pepys,  a  scientific 
man,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Second,  suggested  the  great  im- 
portance of  Sheathing  Ships  with  Copper,  and  urged  the  advan- 
tages with  sound  and  persuasive  arguments ;  and  says,  in  some 
despair,  <  I  wish  it  were  tried  on  one  ship.'  But  this  experiment 
was  delayed  for  nearly  a  century ;  and  when  it  was  tried,  al- 
though it  answered  beyond  expectation,  yet  the  prejudice  against 
innovation  was  so  strong,  that  in  Admiral  Keppel's  fleet,  1778, 
there  was  only  one  coppered  ship." 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  191 


Copper-smelting. 

A  prodigious  quantity  of  copper  is  obtained  from  Lake  Supe- 
rior. Mr.  Petherick,  the  well-known  mining  engineer,  informed 
Dr.  Percy  that  at  Minnesota,  in  1854,  not  fewer  than  forty  men 
were  engaged  during  twelve  months  in  cutting  up  a  single  mass 
of  native  copper,  weighing  about  500  tons  !  The  native  copper 
at  Lake  Superior  in  some  places  occurs  curiously  intermingled, 
but  generally  not  alloyed,  with  native  silver.  The  following  anec- 
dote is  recounted  of  the  value  of  the  gold  in  the  residue  from  some 
South  American  copper-ores,  and  which  was  communicated  to 
Dr.  Percy  by  Dr.  Lyon  Playfair.  At  certain  large  chemical 
works  where  sulphate  of  copper  was  prepared  by  dissolving  cop- 
per in  sulphuric  acid,  an  insoluble  residue  was  produced  in  the 
process,  which  had  been  put  aside  from  time  to  time,  and  had 
fortunately  not  been  thrown  away.  A  small  sum  was  offered  by 
certain  persons  for  this  residue,  which  had  not  previously  been 
regarded  as  of  much  value.  Suspicion  was  excited,  especially  by 
the  quarter  from  which  the  offer  proceeded,  and  it  was  declined ; 
whereupon  the  residue  was  examined,  and  was  found  to  contain 
7  oo/.- worth  of  gold  ! 

Antiquity  of  Brass. 

Dr.  Percy,  the  able  metallurgist,  extracts  from  history  the  re- 
markable inference  that  the  orichalcum  of  Cicero,  and  which 
closely  resembled  gold,  was  really  Brass;  this  alloy  of  copper  and 
zinc  being  the  only  metallic  substance  which  it  is  possible  to 
conceive  the  ancients  could  have  so  mistaken.  The  modification 
of  brass  which  is  termed  "  Muntz's  metal,"  has  been  the  subject 
of  one  of  the  most  lucrative  patents  known:  when  its  well- 
known  proprietor  died,  his  property  was  sworn  under  6oo,ooo/. 

Brilliancy  of  the  Diamond. 

The  cause  of  the  wonderful  Brilliancy  of  the  Diamond  is  not 
popularly  known.  It  has  no  inherent  luminous  power;  it  is 
simply  transparent,  like  common  glass,  and  yet,  if  the  latter  were 
cut  into  the  form  of  a  brilliant,  it  could  no  more  be  mistaken  for 
a  real  one  than  for  a  sapphire  or  an  emerald.  The  secret,  there- 
fore, of  the  brilliancy  of  the  diamond  must  lie  in  something  other 
than  its  clearness  or  its  transparency.  It  is  owing  to  its  great  re- 
fractive power.  When  rays  of  white  light  pass  through  trans- 
parent substances  thev  are  refracted,  or  bent  out  of  their  former 


192  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

course,  and  under  certain  circumstances  are  separated  into  their 
constituent  elements,  and  dispersed  in  the  form  of  the  well- 
known  prismatic  colours.  The  cut  drops  of  glass  chandeliers 
show  a  familiar  example  of  these  properties.  Now,  the  degree  in 
which  this  effect  is  produced  by  any  substance  depends  on  the 
refractive  power  it  possesses,  and  it  so  happens  that  the  diamond 
has  this  power  in  an  extraordinarily  high  degree,  its  index  of  re- 
fraction being  2*47,  while  that  of  glass,  or  rock  crystal,  is  only 
about  1*6,  and  of  water  1-3.  The  effect  of  this  great  refractive 
capability,  particularly  when  aided  by  judicious  cutting,  is,  in- 
stead of  allowing  the  light  to  pass  through,  to  throw  it  about, 
backwards  and  forwards  in  the  body  of  the  stone,  and  ultimately 
to  dart  it  out  again  in  all  sorts  of  directions,  and  in  the  most  bril- 
liant array  of  mingled  colours ;  and  this  is  the  marvellous  effect 
that  meets  the  eye.  Sir  David  Brewster  has  shown  that  the  play 
of  colours  is  enhanced  by  the  small  dispersive  power  of  the  dia- 
mond, in  comparison  with  its  refractive  properties. 

The  general  value  of  diamonds  has  been  rising  of  late  years ; 
for,  though  the  production  is  not  scanty,  the  demand,  owing  to 
general  prosperity,  and  the  extension  of  ornament  to  wider  classes 
in  society,  is  largely  on  the  increase. — Mr.  Pole;  Macmillan's 
Magazine. 

Philosophy  of  Gunpowder. 

It  may  be  well  to  have  one  word,  as  transmutation ,  to  indicate 
chemical  molecular  change,  and  another,  as  transformation,  to 
indicate  mechanical  molecular  change ;  but,  as  industrialists,  we 
must  hesitate  to  marvel  more  at  the  one  than  the  other.  How 
cheerfully  they  labour  to  a  common  end,  like  twin  brother  and 
sister ;  the  one  strong  by  measurable  strength,  the  other  by  im- 
measurable fascinating  power,  we  see  in  the  case  of  that  great 
world-changer,  that  emblem  of  war,  and  minister  of  peace,  Gun- 
powder. It  needs  the  strong  brother  to  fell  the  oaks,  and  with  a 
hint  from  his  twin  to  burn  them  into  charcoal.  It  needs  his  stout 
arms  to  quarry  the  sulphur,  and  bring  the  saltpetre  from  India; 
to  crush  them  into  grains,  and  grind  them  together.  But  it  also 
needs  his  weird  sister,  in  whose  palm  he  lays  the  innocent  dust,  to 
breathe  upon  it  before  the  Alps  are  tunnelled,  or  Sebastopol  lies 
in  ruins. — Prof.  George  Wilson. 

New  Pear-favouring. 

The  new  P^r-flavouring  is  derived  from  an  alcoholic  solution 
of  pure  acetate  of  amyloxide,  considerable  quantities  of  which  are 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  193 

manufactured  by  some  distillers,  and  sold  to  confectioners,  who 
employ  it  chiefly  in  making  Pear-drops,  which  are  merely  barley- 
sugar,  flavoured  with  this  oil.  There  is,  also,  an  Apple-oil,  which, 
according  to  analysis,  is  nothing  but  valerianate  of  amyloxide. 

Methylated  Spirit. 

Methylene  is  a  highly  volatile  and  inflammable  liquid  produced 
from  the  destructive  distillation  of  wood ;  whence  Methylated 
Spirit,  or  wood  spirit.  It  is  permitted  to  be  used,  duty  free,  in 
arts  and  manufactures.  Hitherto,  no  effort  to  obtain  a  potable 
spirit  from  methylated  alcohol  has  succeeded.  A  patent  has  been 
granted  for  a  process  which  professes  not  only  to  accomplish  this 
object,  but  to  render  wood  spirit  itself  potable,  and  that,  too,  at  a 
cost  almost  nominal ;  and  it  has  afforded  matter  for  earnest  dis- 
cussion among  some  of  our  leading  pharmacologists,  who,  anxious 
to  preserve  the  integrity  of  medicinal  preparations,  have  not  un- 
reasonably been  alarmed  by  the  assertion  that  wood  spirit  can  be 
so  far  defecated  as  to  render  it  almost  indistinguishable  from  vinous 
alcohol,  and  by  the  exhibition  of  specimens  of  such  spirit  which 
might  be  used,  instead  of  spirits  of  wine,  for  pharmaceutical  pur- 
poses. But  after  a  series  of  experiments,  Mr.  Phillips,  of  the 
Revenue  Laboratory,  has  not  been  able  by  the  process  indicated 
to  render  either  methylated  or  wood  spirit  potable,  although  it 
was  submitted  to  numerous  successive  distillations,  which  from 
their  costliness  could  not  be  applied  profitably  on  a  commercial 
scale. 

O  ne  of  the  latest  Acts  passed,  Session  1 863,was  to  reduce  the  duty 
on  rum.  It  recites  that  by  the  Act  i8th  and  iQth  Victoria,  cap.  38, 
spirit  of  wine  was  allowed  to  be  methylated  duty  free ;  and  that 
it  is  expedient  to  allow  foreign  and  colonial  rum  to  be  methylated, 
on  payment  of  reduced  duty.  Rum  may  now  be  "  methylated" 
in  the  Customs'  warehouse ;  but  the  wood  naphtha,  or  methylic 
alcohol,  or  other  article  to  be  mixed  with  the  rum,  is  to  be  pro- 
vided by  the  Inland  Revenue  Commissioners ;  and  the  mixture  is 
to  be  denominated  "  methylated  spirits,"  and  such  spirits  may  be 
exported. 

Meanwhile,  the  Inland  Revenue  returns  in  1863  showed  a 
decreased  consumption  of  spirit,  from  the  fact  of  methylated 
spirit  taking  the  place  of  duty-paid  or  pure  spirit.  Of  the  one 
article  of  spirit  of  nitre,  very  little  is  sold  which  is  not  distilled 
from  "methylated  finish."  This  increased  quantity  of  sweet 
spirit  of  nitre  sold  is  not  taken  medicinally,  but  is  extensively  used 
in  the  adulteration  of  potable  spirits. 


194  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


What  is  'Phosphate  of  Lime? 

Phosphate  of  Lime,  a  minute  constituent  of  all  fertile  soils  and 
of  most  waters,  is  of  great  value  to  the  ivory-turner,  the  manure- 
maker,  the  potter,  the  silver-assayer,  the  drug-manufacturer,  the 
dyer,  and  the  lucifer-match  maker.  It  reaches  all  of  them  in  the 
shape  of  the  bones  of  dead  animals ;  dead  cattle  from  our  farms, 
dead  horses  from  the  Pampas  of  South  America,  dead  walrusses 
from  the  Arctic  icebergs,  dead  whales  from  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
dead  men  even  from  fields  of  battle.  Land  and  sea-plants  have, 
as  it  were,  milked  this  essential  constituent  of  their  frames,  drop 
by  drop,  from  the  breast  of  nature.  Animals  of  all  classes,  from 
the  lowest  to  the  highest,  have  robbed  plants  of  their  hard-gotten 
gains,  and  made  their  bones  strong  with  the  precious  substance. 
Finally,  the  chartered  robber  man  has  robbed  them  all,  claiming 
even  the  relics  of  his  brethren,  and  obtaining  in  a  handful  of  bone- 
dust  the  phosphate  of  tons  of  rock  and  water. — Prof.  G.  Wilson. 

What  is  Wood? 

Its  chief  ingredients,  charcoal  and  water,  are  uncostly  and 
abundant ;  but  in  themselves  they  are  useless  to  the  carpenter, 
and  he  cannot  change  them  into  timber.  So  he  calls  to  remem- 
brance that  his  great  grandfather  planted  an  acorn,  which  has 
turned  its  first  small  capital  to  so  excellent  account  that  now  it  is 
a  timber-merchant  on  a  large  scale,  and  will  contract  with  you  to 
build  a  ship  of  war  out  of  oak  of  its  own  making.  It  is  with 
other  trees  as  with  this  ancestral  oak.  Each,  with  its  republic 
of  industrious  roots  and  leaves,  is  a  joint-stock  company  with 
limited  liability,  engaging  to  furnish  you  with  pine-stems  for 
masts,  fir- wood  for  planking,  logwood  for  dyeing,  cork-bark  for 
bottling,  oak-bark  for  tanning,  walnut  for  tables,  rosewood  for 
picture-frames,  satinwood  for  looking-glasses,  willow  for  cradles, 
mahogany  for  wardrobes,  ebony  for  will-chests,  elm-tree  for 
coffins. — Those  trees  form  the  Worshipful  Company  of  Wood- 
makers,  an  ancient  guild. — Ibid. 

How  long  will  Wood  last  ? 

Cedar-wood  will  last  1000  years.  The  oil  of  cedar- wood, 
mixed  with  oil  of  creosote  and  forced  into  timber  by  means  of  a 
pump,  will  be  found  highly  preservative  of  all  timber  for  ship- 
building and  breakwaters.  In  very  old  buildings,  the  timbers 
where  they  have  been  whitewashed,  are  often  found  in  the  highest 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  195 

state  of  preservation.  In  olden  days  they  cut  the  timber  in  the 
winter  season,  when  the  sap  was  most  out  of  it;  but  now,  for 
the  use  of  tanners,  it  is  felled  in  summer ;  the  result  of  which  is, 
that  it  shrinks,  chaps,  and  decays,  sooner  than  it  otherwise  would. 
The  wood  of  the  walnut-tree  is  very  durable,  and  so  is  that  of 
the  horse-chesnut-tree.  Many  very  ancient  barns  about  Graves- 
end  are  built  entirely  of  the  last.  In  preparing  wood  for  ship- 
building, &c.,  it  is  best  to  lay  it  in  a  "  running  stream"  for  a  few 
days  only,  to  extract  the  sap  that  remains  in  it,  and  then  dry  it 
in  the  sun  or  air,  by  which  it  neither  chaps,  casts,  nor  cleaves. 
The  use  of  linseed-oil,  tar,  or  such  oleaginous  matter,  tends  much 
to  the  preservation  of  wood.  Hesiod  prescribes  u  smoking" 
timber  in  order  to  preserve  it : — 

"  Temonem  in  fumo  poneres." 
Virgil  advised  the  same  method  :— 

"  Et  suspensa  focis  exploret  Robora  fumus." 

Others  have  advised  the  oil  of  smoke !  [pyroligneous  acid  ?]  The 
solid  stems  of  trees  most  subject  to  decay,  are  commonly  found 
in  the  Irish  u  peat-bogs,"  in  such  excellent  preservation,  that  they 
are  esteemed  equal  to  any  timber  for  substantial  buildings ;  the 
peat  being  highly  antiseptic  and  preservative.  Larix  (which  can 
be  procured  in  blocks  of  any  size  from  Dantzig)  is  the  best  kind 
of  wood  for  breakwaters,  harbours,  &c.  It  is  capable  of  resist- 
ing the  weather  for  a  length  of  time  in  those  situations. — Corre- 
spondent of  the  Builder. 

The  Safety  Ma+ch. 

The  statistics  of  London  Fires  in  one  year  (1858)  show  that, 
out  of  the  IT  14  fires  forming  the  total  of  serious  conflagrations, 
the  following  proportion  was  occasioned  by  the  usual  contrivances 
for  procuring  flame,  viz. : 

Children  playing  with  lucifers  .         .  •  .  .13 

Lucifer  matches  accidentally  ignited  »,  •  .       7 

„  „      making  .         .  .  .  .       3 

„  „      careless  use  of          *  «.  .  .     17 

39 

In  the  first  of  these  instances  the  sacrifice  of  life  and  wholesale 
destruction  of  property  were  traced  principally  to  the  fact  of 
children  inserting  lucifer  matches  into  various  nooks  and  crevices, 
where  an  accidental  concussion  had  produced  their  ignition.  The 
next  in  the  series  of  casualties  are  accidents  resulting  from  the 
sudden  ignition  of  boxes  or  bundles  of  phosphorized  matches.  The 

O  2 


196  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

necessity  as  well  as  the  possibility  of  removing  the  fatal  cause  of 
these  accidents  has  long  been  felt ;  and  by  the  following  con- 
trivance such  occurrences,  which  hitherto  have  led  to  so  many 
terrible  disasters,  may  be  completely  obviated.  This  invention, 
which  has  reached  us  from  France,  consists  of  a  match  which 
cannot  ignite  by  friction  with  ordinary  substances,  but  which 
bursts  into  flame  when  struck  upon  a  chemically-prepared  sub- 
stance, owing  to  the  peculiar  action  occurring  between  the  two 
bodies  which  are  thus  brought  into  contact.  Without  the  pre- 
pared strip,  the  matches  may  be  struck  or  trodden  upon  without 
the  possibility  of  ignition.  The  advantage  of  having  these  articles 
tipped  with  a  material  which  is  not  inflammable  per  se  is  suffi- 
ciently obvious,  not  only  to  careful  housewives,  but  to  the  owners 
of  large  establishments  where  the  ordinary  rt  lucifers "  are  now 
used,  and,  we  are  afraid,  often  left  carelessly  about. 

The  reputed  inventor  of  the  Lucifer  Match  died  in  1859,  in 
Stockton,  aged  seventy-eight.  The  Gateshead  Observer  adds  to 
this  announcement: — "In  the  year  1852  (August),  correcting 
the  history  of  <  matches'  in  the  <  Jurors'  Reports'  (Great  Exhi- 
bition), we  stated,  says  our  authority,  that  <  A  quarter  of  a  century 
ago,  Mr.  John  Walker,  of  Stockton-upon-Tees,  then  (as  now) 
carrying  on  the  business  of  chemist  and  druggist  in  that  town,  was 
preparing  some  lighting  mixture  for  his  own  use.  By  the  acci- 
dental friction  on  the  hearth  of  a  match  dipped  in  the  mixture,  a 
light  was  obtained.  The  hint  was  not  thrown  away.  Mr.  Walker 
commenced  the  sale  of  friction-matches :  this  was  in  April,  1827.' 
Dr.  Faraday,  it  is  said,  first  brought  the  discovery  into  general 
notice." 

Pottery. — Wedgwood. 

There  are  three  conditions  locally  necessary  to  the  manufacture 
of  Earthenware :  the  first  is  the  presence  of  coals,  the  second  is 
the  existence  of  beds  of  clay  and  the  accessibility  of  other  materials 
of  minor  importance,  and  the  third  is  the  requisite  labour.  The 
great  Wedgwood  found  these  conditions  to  be  mainly  fulfilled  in 
the  part  of  North  Staffordshire  now  called  Stoke-upon-Trent,  and 
with  an  enterprise,  an  industry,  and  a  perseverance  which  is  appre- 
ciated there,  set  on  foot  a  manufacture  which  has  now  become  a 
staple,  and  employs,  directly  or  indirectly,  upwards  of  100,000  of 
the  population  of  this  country,  and  which  is  at  this  time  one  of 
the  most  important  articles  of  our  commercial  interchange. 

Where  there  is  coal  there  is  generally  iron,  and  iron  works  and 
earthenware  manufactories  naturally  and  unavoidably  engender 
smoke  ;  but  although  the  inhabitants  of  the  Potteries  have  refused 
to  accept  any  compulsory  measure,  which,  if  recklessly  carried 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  197 

out,  might  completely  annihilate  their  trade  and  deprive  of  em- 
ployment the  vast  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  district,  yet 
there  is  no  place  where  greater  efforts  have  been  made  by  private 
individuals  voluntarily  to  adopt  measures  for  the  suppression  of 
what  they  admit  to  be  an  evil,  not  in  any  degree  to  the  extent  set 
forth. 

The  first  use  of  flint  in  pottery  has  been  thus  explained.  A 
potter  named  A  stbury,  travelling  to  London,  perceived  something 
amiss  with  one  of  his  horse's  eyes,  when  an  ostler  at  Dunstable 
said  he  could  cure  him,  and  for  that  purpose  put  a  common  black 
flint  into  the  fire.  The  potter  observing  it  when  taken  out  to  be 
of  a  fine  white,  immediately  conceived  the  idea  of  improving  his 
ware  by  the  addition  of  this  material  to  the  clay. 

Imposing  Mechanical  Effects. 

Mechanical  force,  when  exerted  even  as  a  motive-power,  can 
be  employed  by  man  on  many  a  grand  scale.  The  movements  of 
massive  pieces  of  machinery,  even  though  moving  aimlessly,  still 
more  when  working  for  a  purpose,  always  awaken  in  us  the  idea  of 
power ;  and  often  also  create  emotions  of  awe  and  sublimity  akin 
to  those  which  are  begotten  by  the  spectacle  of  great  natural 
phenomena.  The  sweep  of  a  railway  train  across  the  country, 
and  the  dash  of  a  war-steamer  against  the  waves  with  which  it 
measures  its  strength,  never  become  paltry  pageants,  even  though 
we  are  ignorant  of  the  errands  on  which  these  swift  coursers  are 
bound.  Still  more  striking  are  those  actions  of  machinery  which 
involve  not  only  swift  irresistible  motion,  but  also  transformation 
of  the  materials  on  which  the  moving  force  is  exerted.  Take,  for 
example,  a  cotton-mill,  which  some  never  tire  of  representing  as 
dreary  and  prosaic.  In  the  basement  story  revolves  an  immense 
steam-engine,  unresting  and  unhasting  as  a  star,  in  its  stately, 
orderly  movements.  It  stretches  its  strong  iron  arms  in  every 
direction  throughout  the  building ;  and  into  whatever  chamber 
you  enter,  as  you  climb  stair  after  stair,  you  find  its  million  hands 
in  motion,  and  its  fingers,  which  are  as  skilful  as  they  are  nimble, 
busy  at  work.  They  pick  cotton  and  cleanse  it,  card  it,  rove  it, 
twist  it,  spin  it,  dye  it,  and  weave  it.  They  will  work  any  pat- 
tern you  select,  and  in  as  many  colours  as  you  choose  ;  and  do 
all  with  such  celerity,  dexterity,  unexhausted  energy,  and  skill, 
that  you  begin  to  see  what  was  prefigured  in  the  legend  of  Michael 
Scott,  and  his  u  Sabbathless "  demons  (as  Charles  Lamb  would 
have  called  them),  to  whom  the  most  hateful  of  all  things  was 
rest,  and  ropemaking,  though  it  were  of  sand,  more  welcome  than 
idleness.  For  our  own  part,  we  gaze  with  untiring  wonder  and  ad- 


198  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

miration  on  the  steam  Agathodaemons  of  a  cotton -mill,the  embodi- 
ments, all  of  them,  of  a  few  very  simple  statical  and  dynamical  laws; 
and  yet  able,  with  the  speed  of  race-horses,  to  transform  a  raw 
material,  originally  as  cheap  as  thistle-down,  into  endless  useful 
and  beautiful  fabrics.  Michael  Scott,  had  he  lived  to  see  them, 
would  have  dismissed  his  demons  and  broken  his  wand. — Prof. 
George  Wilsonl* 

Horse-power. 

In  speaking  of  the  power,  or  force  which  an  engine  exerts,  it  is 
necessary  to  have  some  measure  of  force,  or  standard  of  inference. 
That  used  in  this  country  is  a  Horse-power,  a  force  equal  to  that 
which  the  average  strength  of  a  horse  was  believed  capable  of  ex- 
erting. This  has  been. estimated  at  33,000  Ib.  avoirdupois  weight, 
raised  one  foot  high  in  a  minute.  There  have  been  different  esti- 
mates as  to  the  real  power  of  horses ;  and  it  is  now  considered 
that  taking  the  most  advantageous  rate,  for  using  horse-power, 
the  medium  power  of  that  animal  is  equal  to  22,000  Ib.  raised  one 
foot  high  per  minute.  However,  the  other  33,000  Ib.  is  taken  as 
the  standard,  and  is  what  is  meant  when  a  horse-power  is  spoken 
of.  In  comparing  the  power  of  a  steam-engine  with  that  of 
horses  applied  to  do  the  same  work,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  engine  horse-power  is  33,000  Ib.  raised  one  foot  per  minute ; 
the  real  horse-power  only  22,000  Ib. ;  and  that  the  engine  will 
work  unceasingly  for  twenty-four  hours,  while  the  horse  works 
at  that  rate  only  eight  hours.  The  engine  works  three  times  as 
long  as  the  horse  ;  hence,  to  do  the  same  work  in  a  day  as  the 
engine  of  one  horse-power,  4-5  horses  would  be  required  (33,000 
X  3=99,000 ;  99,000-^22,000=4*5).  The  power  of  a  man  may 
be  estimated  at  one- fifth  of  the  real  power  of  a  horse,  or  44,000  Ib. 
raised  one  foot  per  minute. — Hugo  Reid  on  the  Steam-Engine. 

The  First  Practical  Steam-boat. 

Mr.  Macquorn  Rankine,  in  supporting  the  opinion  of  Mr. 
Benet  Woodcroft,  that  the  title  of  the  "  first  practical  steamboat" 
is  due  to  that  vessel  in  which  the  double-acting  cranked  steam- 
engine — in  short,  Watt's  rotative  engine — was  first  applied  to 
drive  the  propeller, — proceeds  on  the  principle,  that  to  constitute 
a  "  practical "  machine,  that  machine  must  be  capable,  not  merely 
ot  working  well  during  a  series  of  experiments,  but  of  continuing  to 


*  This  and  the  other  abstracts  in  the  present  section  by  Prof.  Georgt 
Wilson,  are  from  a  valuable  paper  by  that  able  writer,  on  the  Physical 
Sciences  which  form  the  Basis  of  Technology. 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  199 

work  well  for  years,  with  ordinary  care  in  its  management  and  re- 
pairs. Such  certainly  never  was,  and  never  could  have  been  the  case, 
with  any  steam-boat  in  which  the  wheels  were  made  to  turn  by  means 
of  chains  and  rachet- work — a  sort  of  mechanism  which  may  answer 
its  purpose  during  an  experiment,  but  which  must  rapidly  wear 
itself  out  by  shocks  and  rattling.  Such  an  engine  is  not  a  "  prac- 
tical steam-engine;"  and  a  vessel  driven  by  it  is  not  a  "  practical 
steam-boat."  Hence  the  importance  which  Mr.  Rankine  is  dis- 
posed to  ascribe  to  the  first  actual  use  of  a  permanently  efficient 
rotative  steam-engine  to  drive  a  vessel. 

It  may  be  true  that  as  an  original  inventor,  Symington  ought 
to  be  ranked  below  his  predecessors ;  because  his  steam-boat  of 
1 80 1  was  only  a  new  combination  of  parts  which  had  pre- 
viously been  invented  separately  by  others — the  paddle-wheel, 
by  some  unknown  mechanic  of  remote  antiquity ;  the  applica- 
tion of  steam  to  drive  vessels,  by  a  series  of  inventors,  comprising 
Papin,  Hulls,  D.  Bernouilli,  Jouffroy,  Miller,  and  Taylor ;  and 
the  rotative  steam-engine  by  Watt :  still,  the  merit  of  having 
first  used  a  "  practical  steam-engine"  to  drive  a  vessel  is  due  to 
Symington. — Communicated  to  the  Literary  and  Philosophical  So- 
ciety of  Manchester )  1863. 

Effect  of  Heavy  Seas  upon  Large  Vessels. 

Professor  Tennant,  in  considering  the  effect  of  heavy  seas  upon 
vessels  of  400  to  600  feet  long,  remarks  that  the  waves  of  the 
Atlantic  are  stated,  by  some  captains  of  American  <  liners,"  to 
attain  an  elevation  of  20  feet,  with  a  length  of  160  feet,  and  a  ve- 
locity of  25  to  30  miles  per  hour.  Dr.  Scoresby,  in  his  paper  on 
Atlantic  waves,  gives  about  the  same  mean  elevation  for  the 
waves  in  rather  a  hard  gale  a-head ;  on  one  occasion,  with  a  hard 
gale  and  heavy  squalls,  some  few  waves  attained  a  height  of  43 
feet,  with  a  length  of  nearly  600  feet,  and  a  velocity  exceeding  30 
miles  an  hour.  Other  authorities  assume  even  more  than  those 
heights  and  distances.  The  amount  of  strength,  to  resist  the  im- 
pact of  such  waves,  must  vary  with  the  length  and  size  of  a  ship, 
and  the  materials  of  which  it  was  constructed ;  and  as  the  ex- 
perience of  the  Britannia  Bridge  shows,  that  a  weight  of  460  tons, 
at  a  velocity  of  30  miles  per  hour,  could  be  borne  by  a  cellular 
tube  of  460  feet  span,  it  was  demonstrated,  that  by  the  use  of 
iron,  almost  any  amount  of  strength  could  be  given  to  a  vessel ; 
and  as  stability  could  be  imparted  by  proper  proportions,  efficient 
vessels  could  be  built  of  any  dimensions,  as  has  been  exemplified 
by  the  Great  Britain,  which  after  remaining  ashore  on  rocks  for 
several  months,  had  been  got  off  without  serious  injury.  • 


200  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


The  Railway. 

<f  Depend  upon  it,  whenever  this  new  mode  of  travelling  comes 
into  operation,  we  shall  become  altogether  a  faster  people,"  was 
the  vaticination  of  a  common-sense  observer  some  thirty  years 
since ;  and  experience  has  proved  the  soundness  of  the  opinion. 
Increased  facility  of  moving  from  place  to  place  must,  more  or 
less,  affect  every  one  except  the  recluse  shut  up  in  his  chamber 
from  choice,  or  the  less  fortunate  one  prostrated  on  the  bed  of 
suffering,  or  age — 

"  Lies  he  not  bedrid  ?     And  again  does  nothing 
But  what  he  did,  being  childish." — Shakspeare. 

This  quickening  of  locomotion  has  multiplied  our  desires  by 
adding  to  the  means  of  gratifying  them ;  a  greater  number  of  in- 
cidents and  opportunities  of  observation  is  thus  gained ;  but, 
being  crowded  into  the  same  length  of  existence,  the  wear  and 
tear  becomes  greater  ;  the  knife  wears  out  the  sheath  ;  and  men 
grow  old  before  they  reach  mid-age ;  or  rather,  the  finer  portions 
of  existence  are  lost,  and  the  residue  approaches  a  caput  mortuum. 

Meanwhile,  the  Railway  is  yet  an  incomplete  invention  ;  and  it 
is  contended  that  our  passenger-trains  are  deficient  in  the  requi- 
site accommodation  for  the  comfort  and  even  health  of  the  pas- 
sengers, who  are  still  exposed  to  an  unnecessary  vibration  which, 
in  the  course  of  continual  travelling,  produces  nervous  diseases. 
Mr.  Bridges  Adams,  the  engineer,  and  therefore  a  practical  autho- 
rity upon  the  subject,  maintains  that  the  railway  companies  are  so 
fettered  in  their  operations  as  to  be  unable  to  make  feasible 
improvements :  were  these  restrictions  removed,  Mr.  Adams 
contends  the  public  would  receive  the  advantage  in  many  forms, 
in  easier  and  cheaper  transit,  and  in  reciprocal  relations  of  town 
and  country,  such  as  involve  a  revolution  in  our  national  eco- 
mies.  The  same  acute  writer  anticipates  the  time  when  our 
towns  shall  have  their  railway-streets,  which  may  become  a  fact 
at  no  very  distant  future.  London  has  already  its  subterranean 
railway  ;  above,  the  air  is  grilled  with  the  electric-wire  railway ; 
and  the  street-  system  is  being  commenced  upon  the  banks  of  the 
Thames,  and  the  stream  is  already  bridged  with  viaducts. 

Occidents  on  Railways. 

The  question  of  Railway  Accidents  involves  the  whole  question 
of  railway  management  in  detail.  Accidents  may  be  called  the 
weak  points  of  the  system,  where  imperfection  is  manifested, 
where  failure  crops  out,  and  where  the  line  of  demarcation  may 
be  drawn  between  the  practicable  and  the  impracticable.  "  If 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  201 

the  road  is  perfect,"  says  Captain  Huish,  u  if  the  engine  is  per- 
fect, it  the  carriages  are  perfect,  and  I  will  go  on  to  say,  if  the 
signalman  is  perfect,  and  if  everything  about  the  railway  is  per- 
fect, almost  any  amount  of  speed  that  can  be  got  out  of  an 
engine  may  be  done  with  safety.  But  we  deal  not  with  theoretical 
excellence,  but  with  practical  facts,  and  none  of  these  things  are 
perfect ;  and  in  a  large  machine  like  a  railway  they  cannot  always 
be  kept  perfect." 

Safety  to  life  and  limb  is  of  course  the  most  important  con- 
sideration in  the  working  of  railway  traffic.  Yet  the  problem  is 
substantially  this : — There  are  upwards  of  one  hundred  and  forty 
millions  of  passengers  and  seventy  million  tons  of  goods  per  annum 
conveyed  over  our  railways;  assumed  that  all  these  must  be 
transported  by  railway,  what  is  the  best  way  to  do  it  ?  It  must 
at  the  best  be  by  a  species  of  compromise  ;  there  must  be  a  limit 
to  tentative  measures,  there  must  be  a  risk.  "If  you  do  not  go 
at  all,"  says  Mr.  Seymour  Clarke,  "  there  is  no  risk  of  an  acci- 
dent ;  if  you  go  one  mile  an  hour  it  is  more  risky  than  if  you  stand 
still ;  it  is  a  natural  attendant  upon  all  travelling,  that  there  is  a 
liability  to  accident  of  some  sort."  And,  again,  Mr.  Locke  thinks 
"  that  where  you  have  the  certainty  of  inflicting  an  inconvenience 
on  the  public  by  a  prospective  advantage  in  the  saving  of  an  acci- 
dent, you  should  be  very  careful  how  you  entail  perpetually  recur- 
ring inconvenience  for  the  sake  of  preventing  an  accident  which 
may  never  arise." 

The  Evidence  adduced  before  the  Select  Committee  of  the  House 
of  Commons  on  railway  accidents  in  1858,  from  which  the  fore- 
going extracts  have  been  made,  has  led  the  committee  to  the  con- 
clusion, that  accidents  on  railways  arise  from  three  causes — in- 
attention of  servants ;  defective  material,  either  in  the  works  or 
the  rolling  stock ;  and  excessive  speed. 

Of  the  accidents  reported  to  the  Board  of  Trade  that  happened  in  1857, 
there  appears  to  have  been  twice  as  many  by  collision  between  trains  as  by 
running  off  the  rails  ;  and  of  the  accidents  by  collision,  five-sixths  took 
place  between  passenger-trains  and  goods  trains  j  and  only  about  one- 
sixth  between  passenger-trains  one  against  another.  It  further  appears 
that  a  very  small  proportion,  not  above  one  in  twenty,  of  the  accidents  re- 
ported, have  directly  arisen  from  excessive  speed,  but  in  every  case  in  con- 
junction with  imperfections  in  the  permanent  way.  It  may  be  observed 
that  the  greater  proportion,  if  not  all  of  these  accidents,  may  be  traced 
primarily  to  the  crowding  of  trains,  timed  for  unequal  speeds,  and  the  want 
of  punctuality,  which  involve  the  risk  of  every  kind  of  accident  as  a  con- 
sequence : — by  a  want  of  perfect  manifestation  or  apprehension  of  signals, 
or  by  excessive  speeds.  As  tentative  measures,  the  free  use  of  the  electric 
telegraph  for  giving  intelligence  of  the  exact  relative  positions  and  circum- 
stances of  trains  on  the  line,  and  the  use  of  the  most  powerful  brakes  for 


202  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

bringing  up  the  trains  in  the  shortest  practicable  distance,  are  probably  of 
the  most  urgent  necessity.  Perfect  brakes  are  also  indisputably  promotive 
of  safety  in  working  traffic  and  in  compensating  for  unavoidable  irregula- 
rities. With  the  usual  amount  of  braking  power,  a  train  at  50  miles  per 
hour  may  not  be  stopped  within  900  or  1200  yards.  An  instantaneous 
brake  is  not  of  course  what  is  wanted  j  on  the  contrary,  a  length  of  200 
yards  appears  to  be  the  shortest  desirable  space  within  which  a  train  at  50 
or  60  miles  per  hour  should  be  stopped,  so  that  the  process  of  retardation 
should  not  be  accompanied  by  risk  of  carriages  riding  over  each  other,  or 
of  violence  to  the  passengers.  This  appears  to  have  been  accomplished  by 
powerful  systems  of  train-brakes.  Steam-brakes  applied  to  the  locomotives 
and  extended  to  the  tenders,  and  even  to  the  brake-vans,  have  been  found 
beneficial  and  capable  of  stopping  a  train  within  half  the  usual  distance. — 
Encyclopaedia  Britannicay  8th  edit. 

Railways  and  Invasions. 

The  Volunteer  Review  at  Brighton,  in  1862,  afforded  a  good 
practical  demonstration  of  the  facility  with  which  troops  might 
be  moved  towards  a  threatened  point  on  the  particular  railway 
which  would  be  most  likely  to  be  required  for  such  a  duty  in  an 
actual  case  of  emergency.  On  the  morning  of  the  review,  6922 
Volunteers  were  despatched  from  London-bridge  in  2  hours 
and  41  minutes,  and  5170  from  the  Victoria  Station  in  2  hours 
and  20  minutes,  without  difficulty.  They  were  conveyed  in  16 
trains,  each  composed  of  an  engine  and  tender  and  22  vehicles, 
and  each  carrying  on  an  average  20  officers  and  735  men ;  and 
they  reached  Brighton  in  an  average  of  2  hours  and  28  minutes 
from  the  time  of  starting.  The  Company  had  also  to  provide  for 
the  Easter  Monday  traffic,  and  to  convey  upwards  of  2000  Vo- 
lunteers along  the  south  coast  from  the  several  stations  on  their 
own  line.  Indeed,  the  total  number  of  passengers  who  travelled 
upon  the  London,  Brighton,  and  South  Coast  Railway  on  that 
day  was  132,202,  including  Volunteers  and  the  holders  of  season 
and  return  tickets. 

The  vast  power  which  the  railways  of  this  country  place  at  the 
disposal  of  the  Government  for  the  transport  of  troops  is  little 
known.  It  is  in  practice  limited  only  by  the  number  of  troops 
that  are  forthcoming ;  and  railway  organization  is  highly  favour- 
able for  the  concentration  of  all  its  energies  upon  this  object 
whenever  it  is  worth  while  to  interfere  with  the  ordinary  traffic. 

Connected  with  the  Brighton  Railway  system  alone  there  are 
145  locomotive  engines,  1858  carriages  or  passenger  vehicles,  and 
2588  waggons  and  trucks  or  merchandise  vehicles,  for  working 
240  miles:  on  the  South-Eastern  there  are  179  engines,  972  car- 
riages, and  2535  waggons,  for  286  miles;  and  on  the  South- 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  203 

"Western,  177  engines,  850  carriages,  and  3488  trucks,  for  444 
miles.  These  numbers  might  be  increased  to  any  amount,  if 
increase  were  required,  at  a  day's  notice,  by  aid  from  the  gigantic 
resources  of  the  more  extensive  systems  north  of  London.  Ex- 
cursion traffic  is  more  difficult  to  manage  in  many  respects  than 
military  traffic.  A  word  from  the  commanding-officer  procures 
an  amount  of  order  in  the  one  case  which  barriers  and  policemen 
foil  to  do  in  the  other.  A  hundred  thousand  men  may  at  any 
time  be  conveyed  without  fatigue  from  London  to  Brighton  in  a 
single  day,  and  they  may  further  be  transported  along  the  coast 
from  point  to  point,  to  Portsmouth  and  Weymouth  on  the  west, 
and  to  Dover  on  the  east,  without  break  of  gauge.  They  may 
also  be  brought  from  the  north  through  London,  and  from  the 
north,  via  Reading,  without  coming  to  London  at  all ;  and,  in- 
deed, the  means  of  communication  thus  afforded  are  of  so  much 
importance  to  successful  defence,  that  the  railway  system  deter- 
mines to  a  great  extent  in  this  country,  as  it  has  notably  done  in 
America,  the  strategic  lines  along  which  offensive  operations  must 
be  carried  on,  and  defensive  movements  effected.—-Quarterfy  &?- 
view,  No.  223. 

What  the  English  owe  to  naturalized  Foreigners. 

The  industry  of  England  owes  much  to  the  foreigners  who 
have  from  time  to  time  become  settled  and  naturalized  amongst 
us.  Dr.  Percy  has  stated,  in  his  Metallurgy ,  that  we  are  indebted 
to  German  miners,  introduced  into  England  by  the  wisdom  of 
Elizabeth,  for  the  early  development  of  our  mineral  resources. 
It  also  appears  that  the  Dutch  were  our  principal  instructors  in 
civil  and  mechanical  engineering ;  draining  extensive  marsh  and 
fen  lands  along  the  east  coast  in  the  reign  of  James  I.,  and  erecting 
for  us  pumping-engines  and  mill-machinery  of  various  kinds. 
Many  of  the  Flemings,  driven  from  their  own  country  by  the 
Duke  of  Alva,  sought  and  found  an  asylum  in  England,  bringing 
with  them  their  skill  in  dyeing,  cloth-working,  and  horticulture ; 
while  the  thousands  who  flocked  into  the  kingdom  on  the  revo- 
cation of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  by  Louis  XIV.,  introduced  the  arts 
of  manufacturing  in  glass,  silk,  velvet,  lace,  and  cambric,  which 
have  since  become  established  branches  of  industry.  The  reli- 
gious persecutions  in  Belgium  and  France  not  only  banished  from 
those  countries  free  Protestant  thought,  but  at  the  same  time 
expelled  the  best  industrial  skill,  and  England  eventually  obtained 
the  benefit  of  both. 

Our  mechanical  proficiency,  however,  has  been  a  comparatively 
recent  growth.  Like  many  others  of  our  national  qualities,  it  has 


204.  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

come  out  suddenly  and  unexpectedly.  But,  though  late  learners, 
we  have  been  so  apt  that  we  have  already  outstripped  our  teachers ; 
and  there  is  scarcely  a  branch  of  manufacture  in  which  we  have 
not  come  up  to,  if  indeed  we  have  not  surpassed,  the  most 
advanced  continental  nations. 

The  invention  of  the  steam-engine,  towards  the  end  of  last 
century,  had  the  effect  of  giving  an  extraordinary  impetus  to  im- 
provement, particularly  in  various  branches  of  iron  manufacture  ; 
and  we  began  to  export  machines,  engines,  and  ironwork  to 
France,  Germany,  and  the  Low  Countries,  whence  we  had 
before  imported  them.  Although  this  great  invention  was  per- 
fected by  Watt,  much  of  the  preliminary  investigation  in  con- 
nexion with  the  subject  had  been  conducted  by  eminent  French 
refugees:  as  by  Desaugliers,  the  author  of  the  well-known 
Course  of  Experimental  Philosophy,  and  by  Denis  Papin,  for  some 
time  Curator  of  the  Royal  Society,  whose  many  ingenious  appli- 
cations of  steam-power  prove  him  to  have  been  a  person  of  great 
and  original  ability.  But  the  most  remarkable  of  these  early 
inventors  was  unquestionably  Thomas  Savery — also  said  to  have 
been  a  French  refugee,  though  very  little  is  known  of  him  per- 
sonally— who  is  entitled  to  the  distinguished  merit  of  having 
invented  and  constructed  the  first  working  steam-engine.  All 
these  men  paved  the  way  for  Watt,  who  placed  the  copestone  on 
the  work  of  which  the  distinguished  Frenchmen  had  in  a  great 
measure  laid  the  foundations. 

Many  other  men  of  eminence,  descendants  of  the  refugees, 
might  be  named,  who  have  from  time  to  time  added  greatly  to 
pur  scientific  and  productive  resources.  Amongst  names  which 
incidentally  occur  to  us  are  those  of  Dollond  the  optician  ;  and 
Fourdrinier,  the  inventor  of  the  paper-making  machine.  Passing 
over  these,  many  were  the  emigres  who  flocked  over  to  England 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  great  French  Revolution  of  1789,  and  who 
maintained  themselves  by  teaching  the  practice  of  art,  and  by 
other  industrial  pursuits.  Of  these,  perhaps,  the  most  distin- 
guished was  Marc  Isambard  Brunei,  who  for  the  greater  part  of 
his  life  followed  the  profession  of  an  engineer,  leaving  behind  him 
a  son  as  illustrious  as  himself, — Isambard  Kingdom  Brunei,  the 
engineer  of  the  Great  Western  and  other  railways,  the  designer 
of  the  Great  Eastern  steam-ship,  and  the  architect  ot  many  im- 
portant public  works. — Abridged  from  the  Quarterly  Review, 
No.  223. 

Geological  Growth. 

Geologists  who  are  familiar  with  the  idea  of  Geological  phe- 
nomena worked  out  through  periods  of  inconceivable  duration 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  205 

will,  perhaps,  be  able  to  appreciate  Mr.  E.  B.  Hunt's  argument  on 
the  growth  and  chronology  of  the  great  Florida  reet.  After 
stating  the  dimensions  of  the  reef,  Mr.  Hunt  proceeds :  "  Taking 
the  rate  at  twenty-four  years  to  the  foot,  we  shall  have  for  the  total 
time  24  X  250  X  900,  on  the  data,  as  stated ;  or  we  find  the  total 
period  of  5,400,000  years  as  that  required  for  the  growth  of  the 
entire  coral  limestone  formation  of  Florida." 


cc Implements  in  the  Drift" 

We  have  already,  at  page  59,  referred  to  these  important 
evidences,  in  connexion  with  the  mode  of  life  of  the  present  inha- 
bitants of  Tierra  del  Fuego.  The  geological  inference  must, 
however,  be  drawn  with  extreme  caution,  which  induces  us  to 
return  to  the  subject. 

The  period  of  time  long  before  history  was,  for  convenience 
we  designate  the  <(  Stone  Age."  We  gather  from  manifold  evi- 
dence that  during  this  period  metals  were  unknown.  Wherever 
their  use  was  introduced,  there  the  "  Stone  Age"  virtually  ended. 
The  recent  discovery  of  the  flint  instruments  of  the  drift  seems  to 
carry  the  "Stone  Age  "  back  to  a  period  of  which,  till  very  lately, 
we  had  no  idea.  The  interval  between  the  time  when  men 
fashioned  these  thousands  of  implements  already  found  in  the  drift, 
and  the  earliest  examples  of  the  second  "  Stone  Age"  so  to  speak, 
as  the  Danish  "  kjokkenmbdding,"  or  the  oldest  Swiss  "  pfahlbau," 
must  be  long  indeed. 

It  by  no  means  follows  that  all  the  men  who  have  used  stone 
weapons  must  necessarily  have  been  savages.  At  least,  a  consi- 
deration of  the  every-day  life  of  the  Swiss  "  pfahlbauten"  would 
refute  such  a  proposition.  There  was  progress  even  in  the  "  Stone 
Age,"  and  the  iron  swords  of  the  Gauls  of  Brennus  probably  dif- 
fered less  from  the  finest-tempered  Damascus  blade  than  do  the 
flint  implements  of  the  drift  from  those  ot  Denmark ;  or,  to  come 
nearer  home,  from  the  stone  relics  of  our  Channel  Islands.  There 
may  have  been  an  all-pervading  "  Stone  Age,"  but  universality  is 
not  implied  in  the  term.  The  people  of  the  lands  now  Hungary 
and  Transylvania  seem  to  have  used  copper  implements,  preceding 
those  of  bronze,  when  the  men  ot  the  West  were  fashioning  their 
flints. 

The  present  state  of  the  tribes  of  Tierra  del  Fuego  is  their 
"  Stone  Age,"  and,  if  ever  they  become  a  nation  hereafter,  they  will 
probably  collect  in  their  museums  the  humble  implements  of  their 
earliest  culture. 

The  above  observations  were  communicated  to  the  Times, 


206  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

April  30,  1863  :  it  is  but  a  glimpse  of  a  great  subject,  but  is  so 
suggestive  as  to  be  entitled  to  attention. 

The  Earth  and  Man  compared. 

If  it  were  possible  for  man  to  construct  a  globe  800  feet,  or 
twice  the  height  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  in  diameter,  and  to  place 
upon  any  one  point  of  its  surface  an  atom  ^^th  of  an  inch  in 
diameter,  and  ^Yoth  part  of  an  inch  in  height,  it  would  correctly 
denote  the  proportion  man^  bears  to  the  earth  upon  which  he 
stands. 

Why  the  Earth  is  presumed  to  be  solid. 

Besides  the  confirmation  of  some  of  the  most  material  points 
of  the  theory  of  gravitation  which  results  from  the  experiment  of 
"  Weighing  the  Earth,"*  it  furnishes  a  presumption  of  the 
strongest  kind  that  the  earth  is  solid  to  the  centre,  and  not,  as 
many  have  supposed  in  every  age,  a  hollow  shell.  The  mean 
density,  5!,  is  very  much  greater  than  that  of  the  substances 
which  abound  at  the  surface.  All  common  rocks  are  under  3, 
and  nothing  under  the  ores  of  the  heaviest  metals  comes  up  to  gf . 
The  earth  is  as  massive  as  if  it  were  all  composed  of  silver  ore, 
from  the  centre  to  the  circumference,  so  that  there  must  be  an 
increase  of  density  towards  the  centre.  If  those  who  think  the 
earth  to  be  a  shell  were  to  presume  that  its  solidity  ceased  at 
500  miles  below  the  surface,  they  would  then  be  compelled  to 
give  to  the  terrestrial  matter,  one  part  with  another,  a  density 
greater  than  that  of  mercury,  in  order  that  the  whole  shell,  the 
hollow  part  included,  might  have  the  mean  density  which  is  found 
by  this  experiment. — Penny  Cyclopaedia. 

The  Centre  of  the  Earth. 

Lt.-Col.  Sir  Henry  James  writes  to  the  Athenaeum  as  follows  :» — 
In  verifying  on  a  globe  the  interesting  fact  stated  by  Sir  John 
Herschel,  in  his  Outlines  of  Astronomy ',  and  by  Sir  Charles  Lyell, 
in  his  Principles  of  Geology  y  that  the  central  point  of  the  hemi- 
sphere which  contains  the  maximum  of  land,  falls  very  nearly 
upon  London,  or  more  exactly  upon  Falmouth,  our  most  western 
port  of  departure  for  all  parts  of  the  habitable  globe,  it  occurred 
to  me  to  inquire  what  would  be  the  central  point  of  that  portion 
of  the  globe  which  should  include  the  whole  of  Europe,  Asia, 

*  Described  and  illustrated  in  Things  not  generally  Known.  First 
Series. 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  207 

Africa,  and  America ;  and  I  found  that  the  point  lies  in  lat. 
23°  3°'  on  tne  northern  tropical  line,  and  in  15°  E.  long.,  near  a 
place  called  Chad  in  Africa,  about  700  miles  south  of  Tripoli. 
But  the  portion  of  the  globe  which,  from  this  point  as  a  centre, 
includes  the  so-called  four  quarters  of  the  world  is  as  near  as 
possible  two-thirds  of  the  surface  of  the  sphere ;  and  I  found  that 
by  projecting  this  portion  of  the  sphere  upon  a  plane  drawn 
parallel  to  the  great  circle  of  which  the  above  defined  centre  was 
in  the  pole  and  at  20°  from  it,  and  from  a  point  in  the  prolonga- 
tion of  the  axis  of  this  great  circle  distant  one-half  of  the  radius 
from  the  surface  of  the  sphere,  that  the  whole  of  the  four  quarters 
of  the  globe  could  be  represented  on  one  strictly  geometrical  pro- 
jection. I  have  had  this  projection  made  by  Mr.  J.  O'Farrell, 
one  of  the  highly  intelligent  assistants  of  the  Ordnance  Survey.  I 
believe  this  is  the  first  time  that  two- thirds  of  a  sphere  has  been 
presented  to  the  eye  at  one  view. 

The  Cooling  of  the  Earth. 

It  is  a  generally  received  belief  among  geologists,  that  the  centre 
of  the  earth  is  occupied  by  incandescent  fluid  matter,  which  is 
gradually  but  constantly  losing  its  heat.  Adopting  this  theory, 
which  rests  on  mere  conjecture,  Professor  William  Thomson,  in 
a  paper  published  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Edinburgh,  endeavours  to  fix  the  date  of  the  first  consolidation  of 
the  globe,  supposed  to  have  been  once  in  a  state  of  perfect  lique- 
faction. It  is  estimated  that  the  temperature  increases  as  we  de- 
scend towards  the  centre  of  the  earth,  at  the  average  rate  of  one 
degree  of  Fahrenheit  per  50  British  feet,  or  105  degrees  per  mile. 
Our  author  admits  the  temperature  of  melting  rock  to  be  7000 
degrees ;  supposing,  therefore,  the  surface  of  the  earth  to  have 
been  in  a  fluid  state,  its  consolidation,  he  thinks,  cannot  have 
taken  place  less  than  20,000,000  years  ago,  since  we  should  other- 
wise have  more  underground  heat  than  we  actually  have ;  nor 
more  than  400,000,000  years  ago,  because  in  that  case  we  should 
have  much  less.  This,  it  must  be  allowed,  is  rather  a  wide  range, 
and  is  a  curious  instance  of  the  strange  results  which  calculation 
affords  when  applied  to  a  gratuitous  hypothesis.  Compared  with 
the  earth's  radius,  which  is  3958  miles,  the  depths  to  which  we 
have  been  able  to  penetrate  are  utterly  insignificant,  and  can  afford 
no  reliable  data  whatever ;  the  more  so,  as  by  Professor  Thomson's 
own  admission,  the  rate  of  increase  of  temperature  decreases  pro- 
gressively. 

Our  author,  moreover,  in  the  course  of  his  arguments,  meets 
with  difficulties,  the  importance  of  which  does  not  seem  to  have 


208  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

escaped  him,  since  he  endeavonrs  to  remove  them  by  some  rather 
doubtful  assertions.  To  those,  for  instance,  who  would  object 
to  the  supposition  that  any  natural  action  could  possibly  produce 
at  one  instant,  and  maintain  for  ever  after,  a  7000  degrees'  lower- 
ing of  the  surface  temperature  of  the  earth,  he  replies : — "  I  answer 
by  saying,  wnat  I  think  cannot  be  denied,  that  a  large  mass  of 
rock  exposed  freely  to  our  air  and  sky  will,  after  it  once  becomes 
crusted  over,  present  in  a  few  hours,  or  a  few  days,  or  at  the  most 
a  few  weeks,  a  surface  so  cool  that  it  can  be  walked  over  with 
impunity."  Now  we  do  confess  ourselves  very  much  inclined  to 
deny  such  a  proposition.  What  kind  of  mass  does  our  author 
mean?  Is  it  a  small  mass  ?  then  he  need  but  visit  a  gun  foundry, 
where  he  will  find  pieces  of  ordnance  still  hot  though  cast  several 
days  before.  Or  is  it  a  large  mass,  like  a  mountain  ?  The  nearest 
approach  to  it  would  be  lava,  which  remains  hot  for  weeks  after 
the  eruption,  and  for  any  larger  mass  there  is  no  evidence  either  in 
existence  or  possible.  But  the  immense  difficulty  of  the  subject 
may  be  inferred  from  the  fact,  that  Professor  Thomson  himself 
further  down  makes  an  admission  which  is  fatal  to  his  own  view, 
viz.,  that  "  if  at  any  time  the  earth  were  in  the  condition  of  a  thin 
solid  shell  of,  suppose,  50  or  TOO  feet  thick  of  granite,  enclosing  a 
continuous  melted  mass  of  20  per  cent,  less  specific  gravity  in  its 
upper  parts,  where  the  pressure  is  small,  this  condition  cannot 
have  lasted  many  minutes,  since  the  rigidity  of  a  solid  shell  of 
superficial  extent  so  vast  in  comparison  with  its  thickness  must 
be  as  nothing,  and  the  slightest  disturbance  would  cause  some 
part  to  bend  down,  crack,  and  allow  the  liquid  to  run  out  over 
the  solid."  What  then,  we  may  ask,  becomes  of  the  liquid  theory 
altogether  ? — Galignanis  Messenger. 

Identity  of  Heat  and  Motion. 

George  Stephenson's  remark,  that  the  sun  is  the  agent  that  drives 
our  locomotives,  has  attained  a  wider  and  more  definite  meaning 
from  modern  investigations.  It  is  now  known,  not  only  that  heat 
and  motion  are  mysteriously  related,  but  that  they  are  the  same 
thing.  From  the  researches  of  Mayer  and  Joule,  Thomson  and 
Rankine,  it  is  ascertained  that  so  much  heat  can  be  converted  into 
so  much  motion,  and  the  motion  reconverted  into  the  original 
quantity  of  heat.  Sir  William  Armstrong  says  that  a  degree  of 
Fahrenheit  in  a  pound  of  water  is  the  same  thing  as  the  force  re- 
quired to  lift  772  pounds  a  foot  high,  thus  testifying  to  the  final 
and  exact  establishment  of  the  largest  generalization  which  modem 
science  has  made ;  and  among  the  many  fruits  which  cannot  but 
flow  from  the  discovery,  one  of  the  earliest  is  its  application,  by 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  209 

Sir  William  Armstrong  himself,  to  test  the  waste  of  power  in 
artillery  practice,  by  observing  the  heat  called  forth  in  the  shot. 
Every  degree  of  temperature  added  to  the  projectile  is  part  of  the 
force  intended  to  destroy  the  target ;  and  if  it  is  asked  what  ma- 
terial makes  the  most  effective  cannon-ball,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
ascertain  what  substance  will  keep  coolest  when  it  strikes  the  mark. 
It  is  observable  that  the  convertibility  of  heat  and  motion  opens  up 
a  new  light  into  the  ultimate  constitution  of  mattei.  The  mar- 
vellous experiments  of  Professor  Tyndall  on  the  power  of  the 
minutest  films  of  gas  and  vapour  to  absorb  heat,  as  a  dark  glass 
stops  light,  are  equally  interesting  as  valuable  contributions  to 
meteorology,  and  as  a  new  mode  of  probing  the  molecular  condi- 
tion of  the  gases  themselves.  The  laws  of  the  variation  of  at- 
mospheric temperature  were  unfathomable  until  it  was  discovered 
that  the  habitable  quality  of  the  earth  depends  on  the  floating 
vapour  which  clothes  it,  and  which  keeps  it  warm  in  exactly  the 
same  way  as  the  coverings  by  which  we  protect  our  bodies  from 
the  inclemency  of  the  weather  ;  but  the  significance  of  these  ex- 
periments goes  far  beyond  the  limits  of  a  single  branch  of 
science,  and  again  we  seem  to  be  hovering  on  the  verge  of  large 
revelations  as  to  the  ultimate  arrangement  of  the  particles  of 
matter. 

It  is  in  the  development  of  new  powers  of  testing  the  infinitesi- 
mal, and  carrying  research  immeasurably  beyond  the  coarse  limits 
of  microscopic  vision,  that  the  strength  of  recent  effort  has  been 
displayed.  The  most  startling  result  of  this  form  of  investigation 
is  the  insight  which  has  been  gained  into  the  materials  and  the 
condition  of  the  luminous  atmosphere  of  the  sun.  It  could 
scarcely  have  been  anticipated  that  the  nature  of  a  body  separated 
from  us  by  millions  of  miles  should  have  been  discovered  by  ex- 
periments which  deal  with  qualities  hidden  in  the  inconceivably  mi- 
nute dimensions  which  express  the  form  and  distances  of  what,  for 
want  of  better  knowledge,  may  still  be  termed  the  ultimate  atoms 
of  material  substances  ;  and  yet  it  was  by  testing  the  light- stopping 
power  of  thin  films  of  different  vapours,  that  philosophers  have 
felt  themselves  entitled  to  say  that  some  of  the  same  substances 
which  we  are  familiar  with  on  earth  have  contributed  to  the  at- 
mosphere ot  the  sun. — Saturday  Review. 

Universal  Source  of  Heat. 

Dr.  Percy,  in  his  very  able  Treatise  on  Metallurgy,  gives  an 
explanation  of  the  principle  that  the  sun  is  really  the  source  of 
the  heat-producing  power  of  all  fuel ;  and  we  are  inevitably  re- 
minded of  the  question  with  which  George  Stephenson  puzzled 

p 


210  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

Buckland.  "  Now,  Buckland,''  saidStephenson,as  they  were  looking 
at  a  train  in  motion,  "  can  you  tell  me  what  is  the  power  that  is 
driving  that  train  ?"  "  Well,"  said  the  other,  "  I  suppose  it  is 
one  of  your  big  engines."  u  But  what  drives  the  engine  ?"  u  Oh ! 
very  likely  a  canny  Newcastle  driver."  "  What  do  you  say  to 
the  light  of  the  sun  ?"  <(  How  can  that  be?"  asked  the  Doctor. 
t(  It  is  nothing  else,"  said  the  engineer :  u  it  is  light  bottled  up  in  the 
earth  for  tens  of  thousands  of  years ;  light,  absorbed  by  plants  and 
vegetables,  being  necessary  for  the  condensation  of  carbon  during 
the  process  of  their  growth,  if  it  be  not  carbon  in  another  form, 
— and  now,  after  being  buried  in  the  earth  for  long  ages  in  fields 
of  coal,  that  latent  light  is  again  brought  forth  and  liberated,  made 
to  work,  as  in  that  locomotive,  for  great  human  purposes."  Dr. 
Percy  explains  the  process  by  which  this  light  or  heat  is  stored, 
and  discusses  the  question  of  fuel  in  all  its  forms  and  branches. 
We  find  under  this  head,  inter  multa  alia,  an  account  of  the 
manufacture  of  the  peat-bricks  in  South  Bavaria,  which  have  for 
some  years  past  been  used  for  the  boilers  of  locomotives ;  again, 
an  explanation  of  the  failure  of  Mr.  Vignoles's  process  of  manu- 
facturing iron  in  Ireland  by  means  of  peat  charcoal,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  value  of  the  raw  material  so  much  exceeding  his 
estimate ;  besides  an  elaborate  discussion  on  that  litigated  ques- 
tion so  differently  judged  by  different  tribunals,  and  still  unde- 
cided— "  What  is  or  is  not  coal  ?" 

Inequalities  of  the  Earth's  Surface. 

The  earth  is  a  spherical  body,  or,  more  correctly,  an  elliptic 
spheroid.  Its  surface,  therefore,  may  be  considered  equidistant 
from  its  centre  point  within,  and  of  uniform  curvature.  This  is 
so  as  regards  the  ocean,  which  is 

"  Unchangeable  save  to  its  wild  waves'  play  ;" 

but  the  surface  of  the  land  is  very  diversified.  In  parts  it  is 
spread  out  into  plains ;  in  others,  into  easy  undulations.  Here 
and  there  it  rises  into  hills,  with  valleys  and  extensive  basins  be- 
tween them ;  while  at  places  chains  of  mountains  appear  at  vary- 
ing altitudes,  some  of  which  penetrate  the  clouds. 

Although  the  irregularities  of  the  small  portion  of  land  which 
we  can  see  at  one  view  seem  very  considerable,  and  more  espe- 
cially the  largest  mountains,  yet  these  protuberances  are  insigni- 
ficant when  compared  to  the  magnitude  of  the  earth  itself. 

Mount  Everest,  in  Nepaul,  is  the  loftiest  point  of  the  Himalaya 
chain,  and  the  highest  mountain  in  the  world  It  rises  29,002 
feet — equal  to  5-49  miles, — above  the  level  of  the  sea.  This 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  211 

height  is  only  I— ) part  of  the  earth's  diameter; 

V    5*49    /  J44i 

or  equal  to  i  inch  placed  on  a  globe  (  —  — =  J  120  feet  in  dia- 
meter. It  therefore  bears  the  same  proportion  to  the  diameter  of 
the  earth  that  a  grain  of  sand,  the  ninetieth  part  of  an  inch  in 

diameter,  does  to  a  globe  f  —  — =  J  16  inches  in  diameter. 

<(  If  we  would  construct  a  correct  model  of  our  earth,  with  its 
seas,  continents,  and  mountains,  on  a  globe  16  inches  in  diameter, 
the  whole  of  the  land,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  prominent 
points  and  ridges,  must  be  comprised  on  it  within  the  thickness 
of  thin  writing  paper ;  and  the  highest  hills  would  be  represented 
by  the  smallest  visible  grains  of  sand."* 

Astronomers  have  measured  the  distances  and  weighed  the 
masses  of  the  planets,  yet  the  height  of  the  atmosphere  and  the 
depths  of  the  ocean  are  unsolved  problems.  The  bottom  of  "  blue 
water"  is  almost  as  unknown  to  us  as  the  interior  of  the  earth.  It 
is  a  common  opinion  that  the  greatest  depths  of  the  sea  are  about 
equal  to  the  greatest  heights  of  the  mountains.  Attempts  have 
been  repeatedly  made  to  sound  out  its  depths,  but  no  reliance  can 
be  placed  on  any  reports  of  soundings  beyond  8000  or  10,000  feet. 
One  ran  out  his  sounding-line  34,000  feet,  and  did  not  touch 
bottom ;  another  39,000  feet  with  the  same  result ;  one  reported 
bottom  at  49,000  feet,  another  at  50,000  feet.  But  there  are  no 
such  depths.  There  are  currents  and  counter-currents  in  the 
ocean,  as  in  the  air,  which  operate  upon  the  bight  of  the  sounding- 
line,  and  cause  it  to  run  out  after  the  weight  has  reached  the 
bottom,  so  that  the  shock  cannot  be  felt. 

The  oceanic  circulation  is  as  complete  as  that  of  the  atmosphere, 
and  is  possibly  subject  to,  or  governed  by,  the  same  laws ;  and 
there  appears  to  be  a  law  of  descent  through  t(  blue  water,"  the 
same  as  there  is  a  law  of  ascent  through  "  blue  air."  The  one 
increases  in  density  downwards  as  the  other  decreases  in  density 
upwards  ;  and  the  development  of  this  law  proves  that  the  sea  is 
not  so  deep  as  reports  made  it. 

There  is  a  set  of  currents  in  the  sea  by  which  its  waters  are 
conveyed  from  place  to  place  through  regular  and  certain  channels, 
traversing  from  one  ocean  to  the  other  with  the  regularity  of  the 
machinery  of  a  watch.  The  chief  motive  power  of  marine  cur- 
rents is  caused  by  heat.  But  an  active  agency  in  the  system  ot 
circulation  is  derived  from  the  salts  of  the  sea-water?  by  winds, 

*  Herschel's  Outlines  oj  Astronomy* 
P  2 


212  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

marine  plants,  and  animals.    These  give  the  ocean  great  dyna- 
mical force. 

The  only  reliable  deep-sea  soundings  are  those  obtained  by 
Brooke's  plummet ;  and  the  greatest  depths  at  which  the  bottom 
of  the  sea  has  been  reached  with  this  plummet  are  in  the  North 
Atlantic  Ocean,  and  do  not  show  it  to  be  deeper  than  25,000  feet, 
the  deepest  place  being  immediately  to  the  south  of  the  Grand 
Banks  of  Newfoundland.  Thus,  from  the  top  of  Mount  Everest 
to  the  deepest  reliable  sea  bottom  reached  by  sounding,  we  have  a 

vertical  height  of  nearly  10^  miles,  equal  to  (  —      —  j rd 

part  of  the  earth's  diameter. — The  Builder. 

Chemistry  of  the  Sea. 

The  specific  gravity  of  Sea-water  varies  of  course  with  the  pro- 
portion of  salts  and  the  degree  of  heat  it  receives  from  the  sun,  or 
by  the  intermixture  of  currents  of  various  temperatures  ;  but  in 
our  own  latitudes  it. is  about  1*028 — thai  is,  a  given  volume  of 
pure  distilled  water  weighing  1000  grains,  the  same  volume  of  sea- 
water  weighs  1028  grains.  Many  useful  substances  are  daily 
extracted  from  the  sea  for  the  use  of  man,  among  which  we  may 
mention  pure  water  for  the  use  of  ships,  salt,  iodine,  bromine,  &c. 
Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  purify  sea-water  in  order  to 
render  it  potable,  not  only  for  supplying  ships,  but  for  the  use  of 
maritime  towns  and  villages,  where  pump- water  is  often  brackish, 
and  where  the  inhabitants  are  frequently  obliged  to  have  recourse 
to  rain-water.  Now,  when  sea- water  is  submitted  to  congelation, 
it  abandons  its  salt  almost  completely — a  fact  which  appears  to 
have  been  discovered  many  years  ago  by  Chevalier  Lorgna,  who 
found  that  a  mixture  of  three  parts  of  pounded  ice  and  two  parts 
of  common  salt  produced  a  cold  of  about  4°  below  the  zero  of 
a  Fahrenheit  thermometer,  and  that  such  a  mixture  caused  sea- 
water  to  freeze  rapidly.  A  mixture  of  various  chemical  salts  in 
proper  proportions  produces  a  similar  degree  of  cold.  Lately,  the 
cold  produced  by  the  evaporation  of  ether  has  been  proposed  for 
the  same  purpose.  The  purification  is  complete  if  the  ice  thus 
formed  be  melted  and  frozen  again.  In  the  Polar  regions  the  ice 
formed  from  salt-water  is  more  or  less  opaque,  except  it  be  in 
very  small  pieces,  when  it  transmits  light  of  a  bluish  green  shade. 
When  melted,  it  produces  sometimes  perfectly  fresh  water,  and 
at  other  times  water  slightly  brackish.  The  fresh-water  ice  re- 
sulting from  rain  or  melted  snow,  as  seen  floating  in  the  Arctic 
seas,  is  distinguished  from  the  salt-water  ice  by  its  black  appear- 
ance, especially  when  in  small  pieces,  and  by  its  transparency  when 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  £13 

removed  from  the  water  into  the  air.  Its  transparency  is  so  great, 
when  compared  with  sea-ice,  that  Dr.  Scoresby  used  to  amuse  his 
sailors  by  cutting  large  lenses  out  of  this  fresh- water  ice,  and  using 
them  as  burning-glasses  to  light  the  men's  pipes.  Their  astonish- 
ment was  increased  by  observing  that  the  ice  did  not  melt,  while 
the  solar  rays  emerging  from  it  were  so  hot  that  the  hand  could 
not  be  kept  more  than  a  second  or  two  at  the  focus. — Macmillans 
Magazine. 

The  Sea :  its  Perils. 

On  the  surface  of  the  globe  there  is  nowhere  to  be  found  so 
inhospitable  a  desert  as  the  "  wide  blue  sea."  At  any  distance 
from  land  there  is  nothing  in  it  tor  man  to  eat,  nothing  in  it  that 
he  can  drink.  His  tiny  foot  no  sooner  rests  upon  it,  than  he  sinks 
into  his  grave :  it  grows  neither  flowers  nor  fruits  ;  it  offers  mono- 
tony to  the  mind,  restless  motion  to  the  body ;  and  when,  besides 
all  this,  one  reflects  that  it  is  to  the  most  fickle  of  the  elements, 
the  wind,  that  vessels  of  all  sizes  are  to  supplicate  for  assistance 
in  sailing  in  every  direction  to  their  various  destinations,  it  would 
almost  seem  that  the  ocean  was  divested  of  its  charms,  and 
armed  with  storms,  to  prevent  our  being  persuaded  to  enter  its 
dominions. 

But  though  the  situation  of  a  vessel  in  a  heavy  gale  of  wind 
appears  indescribably  terrific,  yet,  practically  speaking,  its  security 
is  so  great,  that  it  is  truly  said  that  ships  seldom  or  never  founder 
in  deep  water,  except  from  accident  or  inattention.  How  ships 
manage  to  get  across  that  still  region,  that  ideal  line,  which  sepa- 
rates the  opposite  trade-winds  from  each  hemisphere ;  how  a 
small  box  of  men  manages,  unlabelled,  to  be  buffeted  for  months 
up  one  side  of  a  wave  and  down  another  ;  how  they  ever  get  out 
of  the  abysses  into  which  they  sink ;  and  how,  after  such  pitching 
and  tossing,  they  reach  in  safety  the  very  harbour  in  their  native 
country  from  which  they  originally  departed— can  and  ought  only 
to  be  accounted  for,  by  acknowledging  how  truly  it  has  been 
written,  that  "the  Spirit  of  God  moves  upon  the  face  of  the 
waters." 

It  is  not,  therefore,  from  the  ocean  itself  that  man  has  so  much 
to  fear :  the  earth  and  the  water  each  afford  to  man  a  life  of  con- 
siderable security,  yet  there  exists  between  these  two  elements  an 
everlasting  war,  into  which  no  passing  vessel  can  enter  with  im- 
punity ;  for  of  all  the  terrors  of  this  world,  there  is  surely  no  one 
greater  than  that  of  being  on  a  lee- shore  in  a  gale  of  wind,  and  in 
shallow  water.  On  this  account  it  is  natural  enough  that  the  fear 
of  land  is  as  strong  in  the  sailor's  heart  as  is  his  attachment  to  it ; 
and  when,  homeward  bound,  he  day  after  day  approaches  his 


214  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

own  latitude,  his  love  and  his  fears  of  his  native  shores  increase  as 
the  distance  between  them  diminishes.  Two  fates,  the  most  op- 
posite in  their  extremes,  are  shortly  to  await  him.  The  sailor-boy 
fancifully  pictures  to  himself  that  in  a  few  short  hours  he  will  be 
once  again  nestling  in  his  mother's  arms.  The  able  seaman  better 
knows  that  it  may  be  decreed  for  him,  as  it  has  been  for  thou- 
sands, that  in  gaining  his  point  he  shall  lose  its  object — that  Eng- 
land, with  all  its  virtue,  may  fade  before  his  eyes,  and, 

"  While  he  sinks  without  an  arm  to  save, 
His  country  blooms,  a  garden  and  a  grave." 

Nor  can  it  be  regarded  as  improbable  that  in  the  beds  of  the 
present  seas  the  edifices  and  works  of  nations,  whose  history  is 
altogether  unknown  to  existing  generations,  are  embedded  and 
preserved : 

"  What  wealth  untold, 

Far  down  and  shining  through  their  stillness  lies ; 
They  have  the  starry  gems,  the  burning  gold, 

Won  from  a  thousand  royal  argosies. 
Yet  more — the  depths  have  more — their  waves  have  roll'd 

Above  the  cities  of  a  world  gone  by; 
Sand  hath  fill'd  up  the  palaces  of  old, 

Sea- weed  o'ergrown  the  halls  of  revelry." 


Limitations  of  Astronomy. 

These  limitations  are  great.  Ages  before  the  existence  of 
scientific  astronomy,  the  question  was  put  to  the  patriarch  Job, 
"  Canst  thou  bind  the  sweet  influences  of  Pleiades,  or  loose  the 
bands  of  Orion ;  canst  thou  bring  forth  Mazzaroth  in  his  season  ? 
or  canst  thou  guide  Arcturus  with  his  sons  ?"  And  when  Job  in 
his  heart,  if  not  with  his  lips,  answered  the  Almighty,  No,  he 
answered  for  all  his  successors  as  well  as  for  himself.  Astro- 
nomical problems  accumulate  unsolved  on  our  hands,  because  we 
cannot,  as  mechanicians,  chemists,  or  physiologists,  experiment 
upon  the  stars.  Are  they  built  of  the  same  materials  as  our 
planet  ?  Are  they  inhabited  ?  Are  Saturn's  rings  solid  or  liquid  ? 
Has  the  moon  an  atmosphere?  Are  the  atmospheres  of  the 
planets  like  ours  ?  Are  the  light  and  heat  of  the  sun  begotten 
of  combustion  ?  and  what  is  the  fuel  which  feeds  his  unquenchable 
fires  ?  These  are  but  a  few  of  the  questions  which  we  ask,  and 
variously  answer,  but  leave  in  reality  unanswered,  after  all.  A 
war  of  words  regarding  the  revolution  of  the  moon  round  her 
axis  may  go  on  to  the  end  of  time,  because  we  cannot  throw  our 
satellite  out  of  gearing,  or  bring  her  to  a  momentary  stand-still ; 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  215 

and  the  problem  of  the  habitability  of  the  stars  awaits  in  vain  an 
experimentum  cruets. 

The  astronomer,  accordingly,  must  be  content  to  be  the  chro- 
nicler of  a  spectacle,  in  which,  except  as  an  on -looker,  he  takes  no 
part.  Like  the  sailor  at  the  mast-head  in  his  solitary  night-watch, 
he  must  see,  as  he  sails  through  space  in  his  small  earthly  bark, 
that  nothing  escapes  his  view  within  the  vast  visible  firmament. 
But  he  stands,  as  it  were,  with  folded  arms,  occupied  solely  in 
wistfully  gazing  over  the  illimitable  ocean,  where  the  nearest  vessel, 
like  his  own,  is  far  beyond  summons  or  signal,  and  the  greatest 
appears  but  as  a  speck  on  the  distant  horizon.  His  course  lies 
out  of  the  track  of  every  other  vessel ;  and  year  after  year  he 
repeats  the  same  voyage,  without  ever  practically  altering  his  re- 
lation to  the  innumerable  fleets  which  navigate  those  seas. — 
Professor  George  Wilson,  on  the  Physical  Sciences ,  &c. 

Distance  of  the  Earth  from  the  Sun. 

Mr.  Hind,  the  astronomer,  in  a  communication  to  the  Times, 
September  17,  1863,  observes:  "  It  may  occasion  surprise  to 
many  who  are  accustomed  to  read  of  the  precision  now  attained 
in  the  science  and  practice  of  Astronomy,  when  it  is  stated  that 
there  are  strong  grounds  for  supposing  the  generally  received 
value  of  that  great  unit  of  celestial  measures  — the  mean  Distance 
of  the  Earth  from  the  Sun — to  be  materially  in  error ;  and  that,  in 
fact,  we  are  nearer  to  the  central  luminary  by  some  4,000,000 
miles  than  for  many  years  past  has  been  commonly  believed.  The 
results  of  various  researches  during  the  last  ten  years  appear,  how- 
ever, to  point  to  the  same  conclusion." 

Mr.  Hind  then  proceeds  to  describe  the  actual  state  of  our 
knowledge  respecting  it,  extending  through  two  entire  columns 
of  the  above  Journal.  We  have  only  space  for  the  results : 

"To  recapitulate  briefly:  a  diminution  in  the  measure  of  the 
sun's  distance  now  adopted  is  implied  by — ist,  the  theory  of  the 
moon,  as  regards  the  parallactic  equation,  agreeably  to  the  re- 
searches of  Professor  Hansen  and  the  Astronomer  Royal ;  2nd,  the 
lunar  equation  in  the  theory  of  the  earth,  newly  investigated  by 
M.  Le  Verrier ;  3rd,  the  excess  in  the  motion  of  the  node  of  the 
orbit  of  Venus  beyond  what  can  be  due  to  the  received  values  of 
the  planetary  masses ;  4th,  the  similar  excess  in  the  motion  of  the 
perihelion  of  Mars,  also  detected  within  the  past  few  years  by  the 
same  mathematician ;  5th,  the  experiments  of  M.  Foucault  on 
the  velocity  of  light ;  and  6th,  the  results  of  observations  of  Mars 
when  near  the  earth  about  the  opposition  of  1862. 

"  Subjoined  are  a  few  of  the  numerical  changes  which  will  fol- 


216  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

low  upon  the  substitution  of  M.  Le  Verrier's  solar  parallax  (8"'95) 
for  that  of  Professor  Encke,  on  which  reliange  has  so  long  been 
placed.  The  earth's  mean  distance  from  the  sun  becomes 
91,328,600  miles,  being  a  reduction  of  4,036,000.  The  circum- 
ference of  her  orbit,  599,194,000  miles,  being  a  diminution  of 
25,360,000.  Her  mean  hourly  velocity,  65,460  miles.  The 
diameter  of  the  sun  850,  i  oo  miles,  which  is  smaller  by  nearly 
38,000.  The  distances,  velocities,  and  dimensions  of  all  the 
members  of  the  planetary  system  of  course  require  similar  cor- 
rections if  we  wish  to  express  them  in  miles ;  in  the  case  of 
Neptune,  the  mean  distance  is  diminished  by  30  times  the  amount 
of  correction  to  that  of  the  earth,  or  about  122,000,000  miles. 
The  velocity  of  light  is  decreased  by  nearly  8000  miles  per  second, 
and  becomes  183,470  if  based  upon  astronomical  data  alone. 
These  numbers  will  illustrate  the  great  importance  that  attaches 
to  a  precise  knowledge  of  the  sun's  parallax,  in  our  appreciation 
of  the  various  distances  and  dimensions  in  the  solar  system. 

"  The  evidence  which  has  been  adduced  since  the  publication  of 
M.  Le  Verrier's  investigations,  would  rather  induce  us  to  adopt 
a  diminished  measure  of  the  earth's  distance  from  the  sun,  as  the 
most  probable  solution  of  the  difficulty. 

"  M.  Leon  Foucault,  of  Paris,  has  succeeded  in  measuring  the  absolute 
velocity  of  light  by  means  of  the  *  turning  mirror' — an  experimental  de- 
termination of  no  little  interest  and  significance.  He  concludes  that  it 
cannot  differ  much  from  298,000,000  of  French  metres  per  second,  or 
185,170  English  miles,  which  is  a  notable  diminution  upon  the  velocity 
previously  derived  from  astronomical  data  alone.  The  time  which  light 
requires  to  travel  from  the  sun  to  the  earth  is  known  with  great  precision; 
at  the  mean  distance  of  the  latter  it  is  rather  less  than  8'  18 ',  and  if 
this  number  be  combined  with  M.  Foucault's  measure  of  the  velocity,  it 
will  be  evident  that  the  received  distance  is  too  great  by  about  one-thirtieth 
part — that  light,  in  fact,  has  not  so  far  to  travel  before  it  reaches  the 
earth  as  generally  supposed.  The  corresponding  solar  parallax  is  8'  86", 
which  approaches  much  nearer  to  M.  Le  Verrier's  theoretical  value  than 
to  the  one  depending  on  the  transits  of  1761  and  1769.  So  curious  a  cor- 
roboration  of  the  former  deserves  especial  remark." 

Blue  Colour  of  the  Sky. 

Mr.  Glaisher,  in  his  Report  of  Scientific  Balloon  ascents  made 
by  him  and  Mr.  Coxwell,  in  1863,  remarks  that  the  Colour  of  the 
Sky  in  1862  was  of  a  deeper  blue  generally  than  in  1863.  On  the 
3ist  of  March  the  sky  was  of  a  deep  Prussian  blue,  and  on  the 
1 8th  of  April  it  was  of  a  faint  blue  only,  exhibiting  another  great 
contrast  to  the  appearance  of  last  year.  Sir  Isaac  Newton  con- 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  217 

siders  this  colour  as  a  "  blue  ot  the  first  order,  though  very  faint 
and  little,  for  all  vapours,  when  they  begin  to  condense  and  coalesce 
into  small  parcels,  become  first  of  that  bigness,  whereby  such  an 
azure  must  be  reflected."  Professor  Clausius  considers  the  vapours 
to  be  vesicles  or  bladders,  and  ascribes  the  blue  colour  of  the  first 
order  to  reflection  from  the  thin  pellicle  of  water.  In  reference 
to  these  opinions  the  following  facts  are  important: — i.  The 
azure  colour  of  the  sky,  though  resembling  the  blue  of  the  first 
order  when  the  sky  is  viewed  from  the  earth's  surface,  becomes, 
as  observed  by  Mr.  Glaisher  in  his  balloon  ascents,  an  exceedingly 
deep  Prussian  blue,  as  we  ascend  to  the  height  of  five  or  six  miles, 
which  is  a  deep  blue  of  the  second  or  third  order.  2.  The 
maximum  polarizing  angle  of  the  atmosphere  being  45  deg.  is 
that  of  air,  and  not  that  of  water,  which  is  55  deg.  3.  At  the 
greatest  height  to  which  Mr.  Glaisher  ascended — namely,  at  the 
height  of  five,  six,  and  seven  miles,  where  the  blue  is  the  brightest — 
"  the  air  is  almost  deprived  of  moisture." 

Hence  it  follows  that  the  exceedingly  deep  Prussian  blue  cannot 
be  produced  by  vesicles  of  water,  but  must  be  caused  by  reflection 
from  the  molecules  of  air,  whose  polarizing  angle  is  45  deg.  The 
faint  blue  which  the  sky  exhibits  at  the  earth's  surface  is  therefore 
not  the  blue  of  the  first  order,  and  is  merely  the  blue  of  the 
second  or  third  order,  rendered  paler  by  the  lighi:  reflected  from 
the  aqueous  vapour  in  the  lower  regions  of  the  atmosphere." 

Mr.  Glaisher  speaks  of  the  curious  changes  in  colour  that  he 
and  Mr.  Coxwell  experienced  in  ascending,  and  remarked  that 
they  could  now  easily  go  a  mile  higher  without  turning  quite  so 
blue  as  before.  In  one  descent  they  very  nearly  got  into  the  sea, 
and  only  escaped  that  fate  by  coming  down  at  the  rate  of  four 
miles  in  two  minutes. 

Beauty  of  the  Sky. 

It  is  a  strange  thing  how  little  in  general  people  know  about 
the  Sky.  It  is  the  part  of  creation  in  which  Nature  has  done  more 
for  the  sake  of  pleasing  man,  more  for  the  sole  and  evident  pur- 
pose of  talking  to  him  and  teaching  him,  than  in  any  other  of  her 
works,  and  it  is  just  the  part  in  which  we  least  attend  to  her. 
There  are  not  many  of  her  other  works  in  which  some  more 
material  or  essential  purpose  than  the  mere  pleasing  of  man  is  not 
answered  by  every  part  of  their  organization ;  but  every  essential 
purpose  of  the  sky  might,  as  far  as  we  know,  be  answered,  if  once 
in  three  days,  or  thereabouts,  a  great  black  ugly  rain -cloud  were 
broken  up  over  the  blue,  and  everything  well  watered,  and  so  all 
left  blue  again  till  next  time,  with  perhaps  a  film  of  morning  and 


218  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

evening  mist  for  dew.  But,  instead  of  this,  there  is  not  a  moment 
of  any  day  of  our  lives  when  Nature  is  not  producing  scene  after 
scene,  picture  after  picture,  glory  after  glory,  and  working  still 
upon  such  exquisite  and  constant  principles  of  the  most  perfect 
beauty,  that  it  is  quite  certain  it  is  all  done  for  us,  and  intended 
for  our  perpetual  pleasure. — John  Ruskin. 

Influence  of  High  Temperatures  in  Balloon  Ascents. 

Professor  Owen  has  remarked  the  importance  of  the  in- 
fluences of  very  high  distances  on  the  human  frame,  which  is 
adapted  of  course  to  a  very  different  medium.  The  fact  which 
Mr.  Glaisher  mentions  as  to  his  feeling  a  greater  power  of  resist- 
ing the  influence  of  very  high  temperatures  is  interesting  in  phy- 
siology, and  in  relation  to  the  series  of  facts  with  which  we  are 
acquainted.  We  know  that  our  lungs  adapt  themselves  to  atmo- 
spheres of  different  degrees  of  gravity,  so  that  there  are  people 
who  live  habitually  on  high  mountains,  and  feel  no  such  difficulty 
in  breathing  as  is  felt  at  once  when  the  inhabitant  of  a  plain  or 
low  country  comes  up  to  these  elevations.  Now  that  depends 
upon  the  greater  proportion  of  the  minute  cells  of  the  lungs  whieh 
are  open  and  receive  an  attenuated  atmosphere,  in  proportion  to 
the  minute  cells  that  are  occupied  by  a  quantity  of  mucus.  Those 
on  the  plain  do  not  make  so  large  a  use  of  their  breathing  appa- 
ratus as  those  who  live  at  great  altitudes.  Hence  more  cells, 
occupied  by  mucus,  will  be  taken  up,  and  opened  to  free  course 
and  play ;  and  Professor  Owen  has  no  doubt  that  is  the  solution 
of  the  interesting  fact  mentioned  by  Mr.  Glaisher.  Physiologists 
are  all  agreed  that  one  condition  of  longevity  is  the  capacity  of 
the  chest;  and  therefore  it  is  hoped  the  increased  breathing  capa- 
city acquired  by  Mr.  Glaisher  and  Mr.  Coxwell  will  tend  to  the 
prolongation  of  their  lives. 

Value  of  Meteorological  Observations,  Telegraphy, 
and  Forecasts. 

The  establishment  of  a  Meteorological  Department  by  the 
Board  of  Trade  is  understood  to  have  originated  with  the  late 
Prince  Consort,  who  suggested  that  the  more  methodical  obser- 
vation of  the  phenomena  of  the  Weather  might  be  rendered  con- 
ducive to  the  saving  of  many  valuable  lives.  The  plan  had  worked 
to  February,  1861,  when  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trade 
wrote  to  the  Royal  Society  concerning  the  new  features  which 
the  operations  of  the  Meteorological  Department  had  assumed ; 
and  expressing  an  anxiety  to  know  whether  the  science  of  meteor- 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  219 

ology  was  now  in  such  a  state  as  to  admit  of  a  permanent  reliable 
system  of  storm -signals  and  daily  weather  forecasts  ;  also,  whether 
the  progress  and  useful  application  of  meteorological  science  would 
be  more  efficiently  promoted  by  devoting  the  money  voted  by 
Parliament  to  the  original  objects  contemplated — viz.,  the  collec- 
tion, tabulation,  and  discussion  of  meteorological  phenomena,  or 
by  devoting  it  to  the  system  of  telegraphy  and  weather  forecasts. 
The  Secretary  of  the  Royal  Society,  after  the  lapse  of  a  month, 
replied,  on  behalf  of  the  President  and  Council,  to  the  effect  that 
they  were  assured  by  Admiral  Fitzroy  that  the  original  objects 
for  which  the  Meteorological  Department  was  formed  were  still 
kept  in  view.  "  In  the  forewarnings  of  storms,"  adds  Dr.  Sharpey, 
"  much  must  as  yet  undoubtedly  be  viewed  as  in  a  great  measure 
tentative ;  but  there  is  one  class  of  cases  on  which  such  premoni- 
tory information  is  entitled  to  be  regarded  as  resting  on  more 
assured  scientific  relations.  Admiral  Fitzroy  considers  that  he 
has  satisfactorily  established  the  occasional  occurrence  of  storms 
of  a  cyclonic  character,  of  very  limited  diameter,  not  much  ex- 
ceeding perhaps  that  of  the  British  islands  themselves,  and  origi- 
nating in  their  vicinity.  The  practice  of  forewarning  is  specially 
suited  to  such  storms.  They  are  characterized  by  great  violence, 
and  by  frequent  and  rapid  changes  in  the  direction  of  the  wind. 
The  key  to  their  comprehension  is  supplied  by  the  telegraphic 
reports,  which  convey  to  the  central  office  a  knowledge  of  the 
various  simultaneous  directions  of  the  wind  in  different  localities ; 
and,  when  once  comprehended,  they  are  particularly  suited  for 
forewarning,  inasmuch  as,  in  its  general  course,  the  advance  of 
the  cyclone  is  steady  in  direction  and  moderate  in  rate. 

"  In  connexion  with  this  subject  the  President  and  Council  revert 
with  satisfaction  to  a  reply  by  Sir  John  Herschel  to  the  Royal 
Commission  on  Lights,  Buoys,  and  Beacons,  that l  the  most  im- 
portant meteorological  information  which  could  be  telegraphed 
would  be  information  first  received  by  telegraph  of  a  cyclone 
actually  in  progress  at  a  great  distance,  and  working  its  way  to- 
wards the  locality.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  progress  of  a 
cyclone  may  be  telegraphed,  and  might  secure  many  a  ship  from 
danger  by  forewarning.'  It  is  obvious  that  this  remark,  which 
refers  to  the  approach  of  a  distant  cyclone,  is  equally  applicable 
to  cyclones  originating  in  or  near  our  islands,  the  existence  of 
which  has  been  made  known  by  the  system  of  telegraphy  which 
Admiral  Fitzroy  has  established. 

(t  With  respect  to  the  '  forecasts  of  the  state  of  the  weather,' 
which  are  published  in  the  newspapers,  the  President  and  Council 
learn  from  Admiral  Fitzroy  that  they  really  occasion  no  cost  to 
Government,  and  scarcely  fall,  therefore,  within  the  questions  sub- 


220  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

mitted  for  reply ;  moreover,  the  President  and  Council  have  no 
data  whereon  to  rest  a  conclusion  in  regard  to  the  degree  of  re- 
liance to  which  these  last-named  forecasts  may  be  entitled." 

Weather  Signs. 

A  few  of  the  more  marked  Signs  of  Weather — useful  alike  to 
seaman,  farmer,  and  gardener,  are  the  following : 

Whether  clear  or  cloudy — a  rosy  sky  at  sunset  presages  fine  weather  :  — 
a  red  sky  in  the  morning  bad  weather,  or  much  wind  (perhaps  rain): — a 
grey  sky  in  the  morning,  fine  weather : — a  high  dawn,  wind  : — a  low 
dawn,  fair  weather. 

Soft-  looking  or  delicate  clouds  foretell  fine  weather,  with  moderate  or 
light  breezes  : — hard  edged,  oily-looking  clouds, — wind.  A  dark,  gloomy, 
blue  sky  is  windy ; — but  a  light  bright  blue  sky  indicates  fine  weather. 
Generally,  the  softer  clouds  look,  the  less  wind  (but  perhaps  more  rain) 
may  be  expected; — and  the  harder,  more  "greasy,"  rolled,  tufted,  or 
ragged, — the  stronger  the  coming  wind  will  prove.  Also — a  bright  yellow 
sky  at  sunset  presages  wind  ;'a  pale  yellow,  wet: — and  thus  by  the  preva- 
lence  of  red,  yellow,  or  grey  tints,  the  coming  weather  may  be  foretold 
very  nearly : — indeed,  if  aided  by  instruments,  almost  exactly. 

Small  inky-looking  clouds  foretell  rain  : — light  scud  clouds  driving 
across  heavy  masses  show  wind  and  rain,  but  if  alone,  may  indicate  wind 
only. 

High  upper  clouds  crossing  the  sun,  moon,  or  stars,  in  a  direction  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  the  lower  clouds,  or  the  wind  then  felt  below,  foretell 
a  change  of  wind. 

After  fine  clear  weather,  the  first  signs  in  the  sky  of  a  coming  change 
are  usually  light  streaks,  curls,  wisps,  or  mottled  patches  of  white  distant 
clouds,  which  increase  and  are  followed  by  an  overcasting  of  murky 
vapour  that  grows  into  cloudiness.  This  appearance,  more  or  less  oily  or 
watery,  as  wind  or  rain  will  prevail,  is  an  infallible  sign. 

Usually  the  higher  and  more  distant  such  clouds  seem  to  be,  the  more 
gradual  but  general  the  coming  change  of  weather  will  prove. 

Light,  delicate,  quiet  tints  or  colours,  with  soft,  undefined  forms  of  clouds, 
indicate  and  accompany  fine  weather ;  but  gaudy,  or  unusual  hues,  with 
hard,  definitely  outlined  clouds,  foretell  rain  and  probably  strong  wind. 
Misty  clouds  forming,  or  hanging  on  heights,  show  wind  and  rain  coming 
— if  they  remain,  increase,  or  descend.  If  they  rise  or  disperse,  the 
weather  will  improve  or  become  fine. 

When  sea  birds  fly  out  early  and  far  to  seaward,  moderate  wind  and  fair 
weather  may  be  expected. 

When  they  hang  about  the  land,  or  over  it,  sometimes  flying  inland, 
expect  a  strong  wind  with  stormy  weather.  As  many  creatures  besides 
birds  are  affected  by  the  approach  of  rain  or  wind,  such  indications  should 
not  be  slighted  by  an  observer  who  wishes  to  foresee  weather  or  compare 
its  variations.  There  are  other  signs  of  a  coming  change  in  the  weather 
known  less  generally  than  may  be  desirable,  and  therefore  worth  notice  j 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  221 

such  as,  when  birds  of  long  flight,  rooks,  swallows,  or  others,  hang  about 
home  and  rly  up  and  down  or  low,  rain  or  wind  may  be  expected.  Also 
when  animals  seek  sheltered  places,  instead  of  spreading  over  their  usual 
range;  when  pigs  carry  straw  to  their  sties;  when  smoke  from  chimneys 
does  not  ascend  readily  (or  straight  upwards  during  calm),  an  unfavourable 
change  is  probable. 

Dew  is  an  indication  of  fine  weather,  so  is  fog.  Neither  of  these  two 
formations  occur  under  an  overcast  sky,  or  when  there  is  much  wind.  One 
sees  fog  occasionally  rolled  away  as  it  were  by  wind,  but  seldom  or 
never  formed  while  it  is  blowing. 

Remarkable  clearness  of  atmosphere  near  the  horizon  :  distant  objects, 
such  as  hills  unusually  visible,  or  raised  (by  refraction),  and  what  is  called 
"  a  good  hearing  day,"  may  be  mentioned  among  signs  of  wet,  if  not  wind, 
to  be  expected. 

More  than  usual  twinkling  of  the  stars;  indistinctness  or  apparent  mul- 
tiplication of  the  moon's  horns  ;  halos  ;  "  winddogs,"  and  the  rainbow ; 
are  more  or  less  significant  of  increasing  wind,  if  not  approaching  rain,  with 
or  without  wind. 

Mr.  Glaisher  remarks,  in  the  account  of  one  of  his  recent 
balloon  ascents : — "  It  would  also  seem  that,  when  the  sky  is  over- 
cast and  no  rain  falling,  the  Sun  is  shining  on  its  upper  surface, 
and  both  these  conclusions  agree  with  all  my  own  experiences. 
That  double  strata  or  layers  of  clouds  are  indications  of  rain  is 
shown  by  my  recent  observations  ;  but  it  is  one  of  those  facts 
which  have  so  far  attracted  the  attention  of  some  observers  of 
nature  as  even  to  have  passed  into  proverbs.  My  friend,  Mr. 
Sopwith,  tells  me  that  in  the  mining  districts,  where  he  has  resided 
so  much,  it  is  a  common  saying  that  *  it  will  be  rain  to-day ;  the 
clouds  is  twee  ply  thick ;'  by  which,  in  their  homely  phrase,  they 
clearly  express  that  their  expectations  of  rain  are  based  on  the 
observance  of  one  range  of  clouds  flying  in  the  air  at  a  higher 
elevation  than  another." 

It  has  been  well  observed  that  thp  old  lunar  theory,  still  im- 
plicitly received  by  coantry-folks,  and  held  by  many  ladies  as  a 
fact  of  direct  experience — the  theory  that  weather  is  apt  to  change 
at  the  moon's  quarters,  clearly  applies  rather  to  the  earth  than  to 
any  particular  spot  on  it.  And  all  the  various  complicated  form^ 
of  that  theory,  invented  to  supply  its  apparent  failures — such  as 
that  a  change  from  fine  to  wet  may  be  expected  if  the  new  quarter 
is  entered  on  after  midnight,  and  vice  -versa  for  a  post- meridian 
change, — are  liable  to  the  same  objection. 

The  late  Marshal  Bugeaud,  says  the  Emancipation^  when  only  a  cap- 
tain, during  the  Spanish  campaign  under  Napoleon  I.,  once  read  in  a 
manuscript  which  by  chance  fell  into  his  hands,  that  from  observations 
made  in  England  and  Florence  during  a  period  of  fifty  years,  the  following 


KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


law  respecting  the  Weather  had  been  proved  true  : — '  Eleven  times  out  of 
twelve  the  weather  remains  the  same  during  the  whole  moon  as  it  is  on 
the  fifth  day,  if  it  continues  unchanged  over  the  sixth  day  j  and  nine  times 
out  of  twelve  like  the  fourth  day,  if  the  sixth  resembles  the  fourth.'  From 
1815  to  1830  M.  Bugeaud  devoted  his  attention  to  agriculture;  and  guided 
by  the  law  just  mentioned,  avoided  the  losses  in  hay  time  and  vintage 
which  many  of  his  neighbours  experienced.  When  Governor  of  Algiers, 
he  never  entered  on  a  campaign  till  after  the  sixth  day  of  the  moon.  His 
neighbours  at  Excideuil  and  his  lieutenants  in  Algeria  would  often  exclaim, 
4  How  lucky  he  is  in  the  weather.'  What  they  regarded  as  mere  chance 
was  the  result  of  observation.  In  counting  the  fourth  and  sixth  days,  he 
was  particular  in  beginning  from  the  exact  time  of  new  moon,  and  added 
three-quarters  of  an  hour  for  each  day  for  the  greater  length  of  the  lunar  • 
as  compared  with  the  solar  day. 

Mr.  Shepherd,  C.E.,  appears  to  prefer  the  planet  Jupiter  to  the 
moon,  and  has  discovered  an  elaborate  law  for  the  variations  of 
our  English  weather,  except  so  far  as  the  principle  is  affected  by 
comets. 

Mr.  Shepherd  is  not  quite  without  even  higher  authority.  Sir 
John  Herschel  has  publicly  intimated  his  suspicion  that  the 
periodic  expansion  in  the  Sun's  spots  had  some  close  connexion 
with  the  extraordinarily  wet  summer  of  1860,  and  in  his  article 
on  Meteorology  in  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  the  same  eminent 
authority  has  connected  this  periodic  change  in  the  Sun's  spots, 
which  takes  place  in  about  twelve  years,  with  the  periodic  time  of 
Jupiter's  revolution  round  the  sun  (which  is  nearly  the  same  in 
length),  so  that  here  we  have  an  eminent  astronomer  half  conced- 
ing the  same  very  dubious  principle — that  causes  which  affect 
equally,  if  not  the  whole  earth,  at  least  all  places  which,  in  the 
diurnal  rotation,  are  brought  into  the  same  relative  position 
towards  the  sun  or  the  planet,  are  the  principal  influences  which 
determine  our  local  weather. 

Yet,  if  this  be  so,  how  does  it  happen  that  the  year  1860,  which 
was  abnormally  wet  in  Europe,  was  abnormally  dry  in  many  other 
parts  of  the  world  ?  If  Mr.  Shepherd  be  right  in  connecting  this 
fact  with  the  orbital  position  of  Jupiter,  or  Sir  John  Herschel  in 
connecting  it  with  the  large  spots  on  the  Sun,  it  would  scarcely 
have  merely  affected  the  local  distribution  of  heat ;  or,  if  it  could, 
the  means  by  which  these  causes  rob  England  to  burn  India 
remain  as  dark  as  before. — Paper  in  the  Spectator  newspaper. 

Barometer  for  Farmers. 

In  one  of  his  letters,  Humboldt  says  that  a  Barometer  should 
be  considered  as  necessary  on  a  farm  as  a  plough :  but  farmers 
generally  prefer  to  trust  in  the  moon  and  other  exploded  nonsense 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  223 

to  purchasing  a  reliable  instrument  that  would  repay  them  tenfold. 
A  substitute,  called  Leoni's  Prognosticator,  consists  of  a  vial  full  of 
a  clear  liquid,  in  which  swims  a  snowy  substance.  In  fine  weather 
that  substance  lies  on  the  bottom,  but  before  a  storm  it  rises  to 
the  surface,  with  a  tendency  to  the  side  opposite  the  quarter  from 
which  the  storm  is  coming.  The  substances  used  are  kept  secret. 
An  ordinary  barometer  indicates  the  density  of  the  atmosphere. 
Leoni's  instrument  evidently  indicates  its  electric  state,  and  for 
that  reason  we  are  of  opinion  that  it  is  a  better  instrument  to 
prognosticate  the  weather.  The  following  is  a  substitute  that 
will  not  cost  more  than  is.,  and  for  aught  we  know  it  may  be 
the  identical  thing  itself.  Dissolve  some  camphor  in  alcohol  and 
throw  into  the  solution  some  soda ;  the  camphor  will  be  precipi- 
tated in  snowy  flakes;  collect  these  by  passing  the  mixture 
through  a  filter  and  put  them  in  a  vial  with  clear  alcohol,  in 
which  as  much  camphor  as  it  would  take  has  been  dissolved. 
Cork  it,  place  it  where  it  will  not  be  disturbed,  and  examine  it 
every  morning  and  night.  This  is  tenned  a  Storm-glass. 

Icebergs  and  the  Weather. 

The  intimate  relation  existing  between  the  Climates  of  par- 
ticular seasons,  and  the  discharge  of  Icebergs  from  the  great 
Arctic  glaciers  has  long  been  perfectly  understood  and  described 
by  both  British  and  American  naval  officers.  But  the  quantity 
of  ice  annually  released  in  the  shape  of  bergs  is  so  insignificant, 
majestic  as  those  frozen  masses  are,  in  proportion  to  the  quantity 
remaining  behind,  and  to  that  annually  engendered  over  the  vast 
area  of  the  Arctic  continental  icefields,  that  any  difference  in  the 
amount  of  (( average"  annual  discharge  cannot  materially  disturb 
the  balance.  Nor  is  the  disengagement  of  the  bergs,  when  viewed 
on  a  large  scale,  a  process  depending  on  variable  conditions.  The 
slow  downward  descent  of  glaciers  towards  the  ocean  (which  is 
now  fully  recognised  as  the  result  of  a  well-known  law)  is 
dependent  on  forces  of  such  vast  magnitude  and  in  such  constant 
operation  as  to  admit  of  no  perceptible  modification  owing  to 
local  atmospheric  influences. 

What  does  materially  affect  climate,  however,  is  the  variation 
in  the  annual  range,  Equator-wards,  of  the  great  Arctic  currents, 
which  convey  on  their  surface  not  only  the  bergs,  but  the  vast 
compact  fields  of  pack-ice,  extending  over  areas  of  many  thousands 
ot  square  miles,  and  thus  bringing  about  a  reduction  of  tempera- 
ture, infinitely  in  excess  of  that  produced  by  the  bergs. 

The  exceptionally  boisterous  and  rainy  summer  of  1860  was 


224  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

due  to  the  much  increased  southward  range,  along  the  eastern 
and  southern  shores  of  Greenland,  of  the  Spitzbergen  drift,  and 
was  alluded  to  by  Dr.  Wallich,  in  some  observations  published 
by  him  at  the  close  of  that  year. 

St.  Swithun :  his  true  History. 

So  little  is  really  known  of  this  good  Saint,  that  it  is  tedious  to 
wade  through  a  mass  of  more  or  less  probable  conjecture. 

The  facts  of  St.  Swithun's  life  seem  to  be  that  he  was  born  near  Win- 
chester about  the  year  800 — that  he  became  a  monk,  and  afterwards  prior 
of  the  old  abbey  of  that  city,  and  was  chosen  by  King  Ecgberht  the  Bret- 
walda  to  be  tutor  of  his  son  /Ethelwulf,  heir  to  the  throne  of  Wessex. 
From  852  to  863,  when  he  died,  Swithun  was  Bishop  of  Winchester. 
He  distinguished  himself  as  an  architect  by  building  a  bridge  of  stone  and  a 
tower  to  his  cathedral,  and  as  a  Minister  of  State  both  to  ./Ethelwulf  and 
his  successor,  ^thelbald..  In  971,  more  than  a  century  after  his  death, 
he  was  exhumed,  and  "  translated  "  and  beatified  by  his  successor,  the 
famous  Bishop  .^Ethelwold,  in  the  time  of  Archbishop  St.  Dunstan. 
Ridiculing,  with  Godwin  De  Prcesuhbus,  the  idea  taken  up  by  Lord  Camp- 
bell, that  Swithun  was  ^thelwulf  's  "  Chancellor,"  in  the  modern  sense 
of  the  word,  Mr.  Earle  (formerly  Professor  of  Anglo-Saxon  at  Oxford)  claims 
for  him  the  credit  of  having  had  a  great  share  in  the  administration  of  that 
King's  policy,  and  especially  in  the  education  of  his  youngest  son}  the 
Great  Alfred.  Indeed,  he  surmises  that  Swithun  was  Alfred's  companion 
in  his  journey  to  Rome  in  853,  though  the  Saxon  Chronicle  says  nothing 
about  it.  And  he  also  argues  that  yEthelwulf's  much-debated  dedication 
of  the  tenth  of  his  land  as  tithes  to  religious  purposes,  in  the  year  855 
(when  the  Northmen  first  wintered  in  England),  was  due  to  Swithun's 
advice.  "This  was,"  he  says,  "the  culminating  point  of  Swithun's 
policy."  Equally  baseless  is  the  hypothesis  that  Swithun  was  the  "inter- 
mediary," the  "  prudent  counsellor  and  successful  diplomat "  who  averted 
civil  war  when  yEthelwulf  returned  from  his  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  bring- 
ing with  him  as  wife  the  Prankish  Princess  Judith.  It  is  more  certain, 
we  think,  that  Swithun's  name  continued  to  be  held  in  affectionate  reve- 
rence among  the  people  j  and  this  probably  led  to  his  beatification  by 
popular  consent.  The  formal  process  of  canonization  had  not  yet  been 
introduced. — Saturday  Review. 

Mr.  Earle  discusses  the  legend  which  connects  St.  Swithun  with 
forty  days  of  rain,  and  decides  that  it  is  wholly  without  founda- 
tion. Mr.  Howard,  the  meteorologist,  many  years  since,  by  hit- 
observations,  gave  a  sort  of  currency  to  this  notion ;  but  it  had 
since  received  its  quietus  in  the  following  tacts,  from  the  Green- 
wich observations  for  20  years: — It  appears  that  St.  Swithun's  day- 
was  wet  in  1841,  and  there  were  23  rainy  days  up  to  the  24th 
of  August;  1845,  26  rainy  days;  1851,  13  rainy  days;  1853, 
18  rainy  days;  1854,  16  rainy  days;  and  in  1856,  14  rainy  days. 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  225 

In  1842  and  following  years  St.  Swithun's  day  was  [dry,  and  the 
result  was,  in  1842,  12  rainy  days;  in  1843,  22  rainy  days; 
1844,  20  rainy  days;  1846,  21  rainy  days;  1847,  17  rainy  days; 
1848,  31  rainy  days;  1849,  20  rainy  days;  1850,  17  rainy  days; 
1852,  19  rainy  days;  1855,  18  rainy  days;  1857,  14  rainy  days; 
1858,  14  rainy  days ;  1859,  *3  rainv  days  5  an^  in  1860,  29  rainy 
days.  These  figures  show  the  superstition  to  be  founded  on  a 
fallacy,  as  the  average  of  20  years  proves  rain  to  have  fallen  upon 
the  largest  number  of  days  when  St.  Swithun's  day  was  dry. 

No  event,  or  natural  phenomenon  which  could  be  construed 
into  such,  is  alluded  to  by  any  of  the  various  authors  who  wrote 
histories  of  St.  Swithun.  On  the  contrary,  the  weather  seems  to 
have  been  most  propitious  during  his  translation.  How  then  did 
the  popular  notion  about  St.  Swithun's  Day  arise  ?  Most  probably, 
as  Mr.  Earle  remarks,  it  was  derived  from  primeval  pagan  belief 
regarding  the  meteorologically  prophetic  character  of  some  day 
about  the  same  period  of  the  year  as  St.  Swithun's.  Such 
adaptations,  it  is  well  known,  were  frequent  on  the  supplanting 
throughout  Europe  of  heathenism  by  Christianity.  In  confirma- 
tion of  this  view  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  in  various  countries 
of  the  European  continent,  the  same  belief  prevails,  though  dif- 
ferences exist  as  to  the  period  of  the  particular  day  in  question. 
Thus,  in  France,  St.  Medard's  Day,  (June  8,)  and  the  Day  of 
St.  Gervais  and  Protais,  (June  19,)  have  a  similar  character  as- 
cribed to  them.  In  Belgium  they  have  a  rainy  saint,  named 
St.  Godelieve ;  whilst  in  Germany,  among  others,  a  character  of 
this  description  is  ascribed  to  the  day  of  the  Seven  Sleepers. 

Rainfall  in  London. 

Mr.  G.  V.  Vernon  has  communicated  to  the  Literary  and  Phi- 
losophical Society  of  Manchester  a  Paper  on  the  number  of  Days 
on  which  Rain  falls  annually  in  London,  from  observations  made 
during  the  fifty-six  years,  1807-1862.  Howard's  Climate  of 
London  has  been  used  for  the  years  1807  to  1831  ;  the  Philoso- 
phical Transactions  for  the  years  1832  to  1840 ;  and  the  Greenwich 
Observations  for  the  years  1841  to  1862.  During  the  entire  period 
of  fifty-six  years,  no  month  occurred  in  which  rain  did  not  fall. 

The  minimum  number  of  days  occurred  in  1832,  the  cholera 
year,  and  1 834 ;  the  number  of  days  being  86,  82  respectively.  The 
maximum  number  occurred  in  1848,  the  number  being  223  days. 

Taking  the  quarterly  values,  we  find  that  rain  falls  on  the 
greatest  number  of  days  in  autumn,  and  the  least  in  spring. 

Taking  the  means  of  five  yearly  periods,  there  appears  to  be  a 
kind  of  periodicity  in  the  number  of  days  on  which  rain  falls  ; 

Q 


226  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

having  a  maximum  in  1815  to  1817,  and  a  minimum  in  1845  *° 
1847- 

The  Force  of  Lightning. 

A  person  may  be  killed  by  Lightning,  although  the  explosion 
takes  place  at  the  distance  of  twenty  miles,  by  what  is  called  the 
back-stroke.  Suppose  that  the  two  extremities  of  a  cloud,  highly 
charged  with  electricity,  hang  down  towards  the  earth,  they  will 
repel  the  electricity  from  the  earth's  surface,  if  it  be  of  the  same 
kind  with  their  own,  and  will  attract  the  other  kind ;  and  if  a 
discharge  should  suddenly  take  place  at  one  end  of  the  cloud,  the 
equilibrium  will  instantly  be  restored  by  a  flash  at  that  point  of 
the  earth  which  is  under  the  other.  Though  the  back- stroke  is 
often  sufficiently  powerful  to  destroy  life,  it  is  never  so  terrible  in 
its  effects  as  the  direct  shot,  which  is  frequently  of  inconceivable 
intensity.  Instances  have  occurred  in  which  large  masses  of  iron 
and  stone,  and  even,  many  feet  of  a  stone  wall,  have  been  con- 
veyed to  a  considerable  distance  by  a  stroke  of  lightning.  Rocks 
and  the  tops  of  mountains  often  bear  the  marks  of  fusion  from  its 
action,  and  occasionally  vitreous  tubes,  descending  many  feet  into 
banks  of  sand,  mark  the  path  of  the  electric  fluid.  Some  years 
ago,  Dr.  Fielder  exhibited  several  of  these  fulgorites  in  London, 
of  considerable  length,  which  had  been  dug  out  of  the  sandy  plains 
of  Silesia  and  Eastern  Prussia.  One  found  at  Paderborn  was  forty 
feet  long.  Their  ramifications  generally  terminate  in  pools  or 
springs  of  water  below  the  sand,  which  are  supposed  to  determine 
the  course  of  the  electric  fluid.  No  doubt  the  soil  and  substrata 
must  influence  its  direction,  since  it  is  found  by  experience  that 
places  which  have  been  struck  by  lightning  are  often  struck  again. 
A  school-house  in  Lammer-Muir,  in  East  Lothian,  has  been 
struck  three  different  times. — Mrs.  Somerville's  Connexion  of  the 
Sciences. 

The  inquiries  into  the  chances  of  refuge  from  lightning  have 
been  attended  with  saving  results.  Here  is  an  instance : 

A  few  years  since  an  awful  thunderstorm  occurred  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Inkpen,  Berkshire.  Three  men,  named  Martin,  Buxey,  and  Palmer, 
were  employed  in  mowing  grass,  when  a  storm  of  thunder  and  lightning 
broke  over  the  field,  and  one  of  them  suggested  that  they  should  run 
beneath  a  tree ;  Martin  knowing  that  trees  generally  attract  lightning, 
immediately  remarked,  "  We  had  better  go  anywhere  than  under  a  tree." 
Buxey  and  Palmer,  however,  as  the  storm  was  severe,  and  the  hail  was 
falling  heavily  at  the  time,  ran  and  seated  themselves  beneath  a  large 
lime-tree,  but  Martin  walked  off  to  a  cottage,  and  was  safely  sheltered.  In 
about  half-an-hour  after  the  storm  had  abated,  both  Buxey  and  Palmer 
were  found  lying  on  the  grass  beneath  the  tree,  quite  dead  from  the  light- 


PROGRESS  OF  SCIENCE.  227 

ning.     The  clothes  of  Buxey  were  found  to  be  on  fire,  and  the  hair  of 
Palmer  was  much  scorched. 

Effect  of  Moonlight  on  Vegetation. 

It  has  been  demonstrated  that  Moonlight  has  the*power,  per  sf, 
of  awakening  the  Sensitive  Plant,  and  consequently  that  it  pos- 
sesses an  influence  of  some  kind  on  Vegetation.  It  is  true  that 
the  influence  is  very  feeble,  compared  with  that  of  the  sun ;  but 
the  action  is  established,  and  the  question  remains,  what  is  the 
practical  value  of  the  fact  ?  "  It  will  immediately,"  says  Professor 
Lindley,  "  occur  to  the  reader  that  possibly  the  screens  which  are 
drawn  down  over  hothouses  at  night,  to  prevent  loss  of  heat  by 
radiation,  may  produce  some  unappreciated  injury  by  cutting  off 
the  rays  of  the  moon,  which  Nature  intended  to  fall  upon  plants 
as  much  as  the  rays  of  the  sun." 

Even  artificial  light  is  not  wholly  powerless.  Decandolle  suc- 
ceeded in  making  crocuses  expand  by  lamplight ;  and  Dr.  Winn, 
of  Truro,  has  suggested  that  the  oxyhydrogen  lamp  may  be  made 
subservient  to  horticulture  in  the  dark  days  of  winter. 

An  extraordinary  effect  of  Moonlight  upon  the  human  subject 
occured  in  1863.  A  boy,  thirteen  years  of  age,  residing  near 
Peckham  Rye,  was  expelled  his  home  by  his  mother  for  dis- 
obedience. He  ran  away  to  a  corn-field  close  by,  and  on  lying 
down  in  the  open  air,  fell  asleep.  He  slept  throughout  the  night, 
which  was  a  moonlight  one.  Some  labourers  on  their  way  to 
work,  next  morning,  seeing  the  boy  apparently  asleep,  aroused 
him ;  the  lad  opened  his  eyes,  but  declared  he  could  not  see.  He 
was  conveyed  home,  and  medical  advice  was  obtained :  the  sur- 
geon affirmed  that  the  total  loss  of  sight  resulted  from  sleeping  in 
the  moonlight. 


Contemporary  Inventions  and  "Discoveries. 

Mr.  Piesse,  the  well-known  operative  chemist,  has  thus  popularly 
grouped  some  of  the  leading  novelties  of  our  age : 

The  inventions  and  discoveries  of  my  time  may  truly  be  included  among 
some  of  the  greatest  and  most  wonderful  which  the  world  has  seen.  I  have 
not  yet  passed  forty  summers,  but  perfectly  recollect  being  one  of  the 
gaping  crowd  that  first  witnessed  lighting  the  streets  with  gas.  Near  to 
the  Marble  Arch,  at  the  top  of  Oxford-street,  London,  stands  an  iron  post, 
on  which  is  inscribed  "Here  stood  Tyburn  Gate,  1829."  Now  I  well 
remember  this  Oxford-street  turnpike,  and  the  oil-lamps  '  dimly  burning,* 
which  enabled  the  University  coach  and  the  eight-horse  waggons  to  near- 
side the  off-side  gatepost  j  at  that  time  all  Oxford-street  and  the  shops 

Q  2 


228  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

therein  protested  against  *  the  light  of  other  days,'  and  became  illumined 
with  Murdoch's  gas  :  thus  the  oil-lamps  passed  away  for  ever.  Tunneling 
Primrose  Hill  for  the  first  railway  into  London  was  a  fund  of  enjoyment 
to  me  j  there  I  learned  my  first  practical  lesson  in  mineralogy — to  distin- 
guish iron  pyrites  from  real  gold  nuggets,  which  it  at  times  resembles.  One 
morning  the  nqjwspapers  teemed  with  an  account  of  the  late  Duke  of 
Wellington  witnessing  the  first  electric  telegram  from  Drayton,  twelve 
miles  from  London.  People  flocked  to  Paddington,  and  paid  a  shilling  to 
do  the  same ;  of  course  I  was  among  them !  It  appears  to  me  but  the 
other  day  when  every  housewife  kept  her  linen  rags  to  make  tinder.  The 
bunch  of  matches,  like  a  large  fan,  the  flint  and  steel  were  in  every  house. 
What  a  change  has  the  lucifer  produced  ?  After  hearing  Professor  Brande 
one  night  deliver  a  popular  lecture  at  the  Royal  Institution,  the  Secretary 
read  a  letter  received  that  day  from  Paris,  announcing  the  discoveries  of 
Daguerre.  The  assertion  that  the  picture  of  a  camera  could  be  fixed  by 
the  mere  agency  of  light  startled  belief,  yet  from  that  hour  photography 
took  its  rise.  Strange  discoveries  now  crowd  upon  the  memory.  The 
oxyhydrogen  flame  that  burns  the  diamond  and  volatilizes  platinum  5  then 
came  the  Drummond  lime-light  that  is  visible  as  a  star  sixty  miles  away  j 
now  followed  Dobereiner's  lamp  that  ignites  itself  when  you  lift  a  latch. 
Electroplating  becomes  one  of  the  arts  of  the  country.  A  new  force  of 
nature,  actinism,  was  recognised.  Wonderfully  active  principles  of  plants — 
quinine,  morphia,  and  strychnine,  are  discovered.  The  food  of  plants  and 
the  balance  of  organic  nature  are  developed  at  Giessen.  New  metals  are 
discovered  and  are  practically  eliminated  for  the  use  of  manufacturers ;  and 
so  we  thus  come  to  the  present,  when  I  now  write  with  an  aluminium  pen 
made  from  tiles  laid  in  a  wall  when  Constantine  was  crowned  at  York."* 

The  Bayonet. 

Mr.  Akermann,  in  an  elaborate  series  of  "  Notes  on  the  Origin 
and  History  of  the  Bayonet,"  has  been  unable  to  verify  the  state- 
ment that  this  weapon  derives  its  name  from  Bayonne,  the  reputed 
place  of  its  invention.  Voltaire  alludes  to  it  in  the  eighth  book  of 
the  Henriade.  The  results  of  the  inquiry  may  be  thus  briefly 
recited : — That  "  bayonette"  was  the  name  of  a  knife,  which  may 
probably  have  been  so  designated  either  from  its  having  been  the 
peculiar  weapon  of  a  crossbow-man,  or  from  the  individual  who 


*  What  would  the  old  Scotchman  of  the  following  anecdote  say  to  such 
an  age  ? — Sir  Alexander  Ramsay  had  been  constructing  upon  his  estate  in 
Scotland,  a  piece  of  machinery,  which  was  driven  by  a  stream  of  water 
running  through  the  home  farm-yard.  There  were  a  thrashing  machine, 
a  winnowing  machine,  a  circular  saw  for  splitting  trees,  and  other  contri- 
vances. Observing  an  old  man,  who  had  long  been  about  the  place,  look- 
ing very  attentively  at  all  that  was  going  on,  Sir  Alexander  said,  "Won- 
derful things  people  can  do  now,  Robby  ?"  "  Ay,"  said  Robby,  "  indud, 
Sir  Alexander ;  I'm  thinking  if  Solomon  was  alive  now,  he'd  be  thought 
naething  o' ! " — Dean  Ramsay. 


ART-PROGRESS.-  229 


first  adopted  it ;  that  its  first  recorded  use  as  a  weapon  of  war 
occurs  in  the  Memoirs  of  Puysegur,  and  may  be  referred  to  the 
year  1647  ;  that  it  is  first  mentioned  in  England  by  Sir  J.  Turner, 
1670-71 ;  that  it  was  introduced  into  the  English  army  in  the  first 
half  of  the  year  1672  ;  that  before  the  peace  of  Nimwegen  Puy- 
segur had  seen  troops  on  the  Continent  armed  with  bayonets, 
furnished  with  rings,  which  would  go  over  the  muzzles  of  the 
muskets ;  that  in  1686  the  device  of  the  socket-bayonet  was  tested 
before  the  French  king,  and  failed  ;  that  in  1689  Mackay,  by  the 
adoption  of  the  ringed  bayonet,  successfully  opposed  the  High- 
landers at  the  battle  of  Killicrankie ;  lastly,  that  the  bayonet  with 
the  socket  was  in  general  use  in  the  year  1 703. 

William  Cobbett,  who  had  been  a  soldier,  and  carried  the 
bayonet,  used  to  call  it  "  King  George's  Toasting-fork." 

Derivation  of  the  word  Loot. 

This  word,  which  so  often  occurs  in  the  account  of  the  late 
Indian  war,  is  simply  the  Hindustani  for  plunder.  Noun,  "  loot," 
plunder ;  verb, tf  lootna,"  to  plunder.  This  is  one  of  the  many 
examples  of  Hindustani  words  generally  used  in  English  con- 
versation in  India,  which  gradually  came  into  use  at  home,  amongst 
the  oldest  and  most  familiar  of  which  is,  perhaps,  the  slang  term 
"that's  the  cheez,"  for  "that's  the  thing,"  "cheez"  Hindustani  for 
"thing." 

Telegram. 

When  this  Indian  term  was  first  applied  to  our  telegraphic 
messages,  a  considerable  amount  of  learned  disquisition  was  wasted 
in  seeking  its  origin.  Any  one  who  has  been  in  India  must  re- 
member the  curious  pronunciation  by  natives  of  many  English 
proper  names,  as  well  as  of  other  words,  for  which  they  have  no 
translation  in  Hindustani ;  generally  abbreviating  a  long  difficult 
expression,  and  sometimes  even  changing  altogether  the  pronun- 
ciation. On  the  introduction  of  the  telegraph  into  India,  there 
being  no  Hindustani  word,  the  natives  were  obliged  to  attempt 
English,  and  the  easiest  way  they  could  manage  to  pronounce 
telegraphic  message  was  "  telegram."  This  being  an  easy  abbre- 
viation was  at  once  picked  up  and  adopted  by  the  English  in 
India,  and  then  came  home  in  the  same  way  that  we  got  "  loot" 
from  India,  and  now  again  from  China. — Correspondent  of  the 
"Daily  News." 

Archeology  and  Manufactures. 

Archaeology,  far  from  being  a  mere  unprofitable  dilettantism, 
has  a  positive  money-value,  one  appreciable  not  only  by  the 
literary  or  scientific  mind,  but  even  by  those  who  look  exclusively 


230  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

to  material  interests — that  commerce,  in  fine,  no  less  than  history 
or  art,  is  under  obligations  to  archaeology.  In  the  case  of  our 
pottery  and  earthenware  manufacture, — now  an  important  branch 
of  our  national  trade — at  the  time  when  Wedgwood  first  began 
his  operations,  England  was  an  importing  country  with  regard  to 
this  article  of  trade,  drawing  her  supplies  from  Holland,  France, 
and  Germany.  About  the  year  1760,  Wedgwood  established 
himself  in  Staffordshire.  The  models  which  he  selected  for  imi- 
tation were  taken  from  the  antique : — from  the  Portland  Vase, 
Greek  vases,  cameos,  and  old  coins, — but,  above  all,  from  the 
magnificent  collection  of  Etruscan  vases  and  earthenware,  which 
was  purchased  about  that  time  from  Sir  William  Hamilton,  for 
the  British  Museum.  Such  was  the  immediate  improvement  in 
dassical  elegance  and  purity  of  design,  which  the  manufactures 
derived  from  these  sources,  that  within  very  few  years  England 
became  an  exporting  country  in  this  article ;  and  the  trade  was 
steadily  developed,  until,  in  the  year  1857,  the  declared  value  of 
her  exports  nearly  reached  a  million  and  a  half  of  money.  Wedg- 
wood's own  sense  of  his  obligation  to  ancient  models  was  marked 
by  the  name  he  gave  to  the  new  village  formed  around  his  works 
in  Staffordshire,  which  he  called  Etruria,  in  honour  of  them. 
More  recently  the  collection  of  Etruscan  antiquities  made  by  the 
Prince  of  Canino,  and  brought  to  England  by  Signer  Campanari, 
has  marked  another  stage  of  progress  in  this  branch  of  industry ; 
and,  at  this  moment,  the  best  silversmiths  and  jewellers  in  London 
resort  to  the  British  Museum,  to  study  these  models,  and  copy 
them  for  reproduction.  Much  of  the  well-known  Minton-ware 
is  either  copied  from,  or  due  to  the  study  and  imitation  of,  the 
Majolica  ware  of  Mediaeval  Italy;  whilst  the  smaller  objects  of 
Assyrian  art,  brought  from  Nineveh  by  Mr.  Layard,  are  exten- 
sively copied  by  artists,  and  reductions  of  them  made  in  Parian, 
in  marble,  or  in  bronze. — Address  to  the  Cambrian  Archaeological 
Association,  by  Mr.  C.  G.  Wynne,  M.P. 

Good  Art  should  be  cheap. 

There  is  no  hope  of  the  diffusion  of  a  better  taste  till  all  classes 
of  society  are  familiarized  with  the  best  works  of  the  best  artists ; 
and  English  manufactures  will  never  be  generally  improved  in 
design  till  the  purchasers  as  well  as  the  producers  know  how  to 
appreciate  what  is  beautiful,  and  till  a  better  intuitive  taste  pre- 
vails in  the  cottage  as  well  as  in  the  mansion.  So  long  as  it  is 
cheaper ^  to  reproduce  familiar  shapes  and  ornaments,  so  long  will 
it  be  vain  to  expect  sufficient  encouragement  for  improvements  in 
design.  Theorists  may  preach  for  ever  as  to  abstract  beauty,  but 
the  public  will  buy  the  old-fashioned,  tasteless  goods,  if  they  costless. 


ART-PROGRESS  231 


We  do  not  believe  that  a  beautiful  thing  need  be  more  expen- 
sive than  an  ugly  thing.  At  any  rate,  this  is  the  lesson  to  impress 
upon  such  of  our  manufacturers  as  may  be  disposed  to  join  the 
art-movement  of  the  day.  It  is  not  enough  to  design  a  novelty 
in  really  good  taste — it  must  be  at  least  as  cheap  as  the  mon- 
strosity which  it  is  meant  to  supersede,  and,  if  possible,  cheaper. 
Is  it  not  worth  while  to  inquire  whether  there  may  not  be  some 
deeper  reason  than  a  supposed  depraved  taste  for  the  hideous 
colouring,  so  dubious  and  sombre,  of  our  Manchester  goods,  for 
example  ?  To  take  an  instance :  we  believe  that  Hoyle's  Prints, 
famous  throughout  the  world  for  their  slates  and  lilacs,  are  dyed 
of  those  most  unpicturesque  hues  for  no  other  reason  than  that 
they  are  the  most  u  fast"  colours  that  can  be  produced.  If  our 
chemists  could  discover  the  secret  of  making  the  primitive  colours 
equally  "  fast,"  and  if  the  needful  pigments  were  no  dearer,  we 
believe  that  cotton  printing  would  be  revolutionized.  But,  mean- 
while, customers  in  every  market  of  the  world  will  ask  for  Hoyle's 
Fast  Prints,  in  preference  to  the  brightest  and  most  beautiful 
colours,  which,  however  charming  to  the  eye  when  bran-new, 
would  disappear  in  the  first  wash. — Saturday  Review. 

Imitative  Jewellery. 

From  the  profuse  display  of  what  are  designated  "  gold  chains" 
in  the  windows  of  jewellers'  shops,  there  is  evidently  a  large 
demand  for  these  articles,  although  the  purchasers  are  little  aware 
of  the  value  of  the  articles.  The  gold  coin  of  the  realm  is,  in 
technical  language,  22  carats  fine — that  is,  it  consists  of  22  parts 
by  weight  of  fine,  or  pure  gold,  and  2  parts  by  weight  of  copper ; 
and  gold  plate,  &c.,  is  18  carats  fine — that  is,  it  contains  1 8  parts 
by  weight  of  gold  and  6  of  copper  in  the  24.  The  alloy  of  which 
a  large  proportion  of  gold  chains  is  made  contains  only  8  or  10 
parts  by  weight  of  fine  gold  in  the  24  parts,  the  remaining  16  or 
14  parts  being  common  brass.  The  application  of  brass  for  this 
purpose  is  of  comparatively  recent  date,  and  enables  the  manu- 
facturer to  adulterate  gold  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  is  prac- 
ticable with  copper  alone.  This  depends  upon  the  fact  that  brass 
resembles  gold  in  colour,  and  copper  does  not.  The  brassy  gold 
chains  in  question  are  far  inferior  in  colour  to  chains  made  of  gold 
of  1 8  or  22  carats  fine,  and  they  would  hardly  be  tolerated  by 
many  persons  when  seen  side  by  side  with  those  of  the  latter 
description.  They  are  now  manufactured  on  a  very  large  scale 
by  the  aid  of  machinery,  and  so  great  has  been  the  decrease  in 
their  cost  of  production,  that  the  value  of  the  labour  upon  certain 
kinds  of  chains  has  been  reduced  from  308.  to  33.  6d.,  or  even 


232  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME, 

less.  It  is  usual  to  deposit  upon  the  finished  chain  an  exceedingly 
thin  coating  of  pure  gold  by  the  electrotype  process.  This,  of 
course,  is  speedily  worn  off  by  friction,  and  consequently  the  ori- 
ginal fine  colour  of  the  chain  at  the  time  of  purchase  disappears. 
The  propriety  of  this  practice  is  questionable.  If  the  public  like 
cheap  brassy  gold  chains,  and  are  satisfied  with  their  appearance, 
it  is  their  own  affair,  and  no  one  has  a  right  to  say  a  word ;  but, 
in  buying  such  articles,  beware  of  the  small  value  of  the  materials 
in  comparison  with  gold.* 

French  Enamel. 

Among  the  artistic  triumphs  in  the  International  Exhibition  of 
1862  was  the  magnificent  work  in  gold  and  enamel,  by  M.  Payen, 
which  is  stated  to  have  cost  him  several  years'  labour,  or  the  sum 
of  6ooo/.  In  this  work  the  late  Prince  Consort  evinced  consi- 
derable interest  when  he  was  in  Paris ;  and  it  was  mainly  to  the 
Prince's  kind  interference  on  behalf  of  M.  Payen,  that  the  Great 
Seal  of  England  was  sent  to  Paris,  in  order  that  it  might  be  copied 
as  one  of  the  great  seals  of  the  different  nations,  which  form  the 
border  of  the  work.  The  subject  of  the  allegory  is  the  Reward 
of  Genius  and  Industry :  this  is  shown  on  a  large  centre-piece  on 
a  ground  of  blue  enamel ;  and  the  border,  in  which  the  seals  of 
different  countries  are  emblazoned,  is  formed  of  filigree  work  in 
gold.  There  was  besides  in  the  Exhibition  an  immense  variety  of 
works  by  M.  Payen,  including  gold  rings  from  three  francs  to 
three  thousand  francs  each. 


*  In  a  book  published  in  1679,  we  ^n^  these  cautions  on  Gold  and 
Silver  Wares  : — "  Can  you  imagine  that  although  the  buyer  perceive  not  the 
deceit  at  first,  when  the  work  is  newly  sold  and  cunningly  set  off  with  all 
your  skill,  that  he  will  not  perceive  it  in  the  wearing  like  brass  or  copper, 
and  when  sold  again  be  allowed  but  35.  or  35.  6d.  the  ounce  for  the  silver, 
and  but  il.  ros.  or  3/.  the  ounce  for  the  gold,  when  he  paid  55.  the  ounce 
for  the  silver,  and  4/.  the  ounce  for  the  gold,  besides  the  fashion  ?  You 
may  be  sure  he  will  not  only  repent  the  dealing  with  you,  but  publicly  say 
you  are  a  very  cheating  knave  ;  and  say  also,  '  Who  would  buy  such  sort 
of  works,  wherein  is  so  much  deceit,  but  rather  use  any  other  thing  instead 
thereof?'  And  thus  the  people  are  discouraged  to  buy  your  works,  and 
your  trade  decays,  while  you  vainly  think  to  treble  your  profit,  but  instead 
thereof  lose  your  trade.  When  otherwise,  if  your  gold  and  silver  works  be 
of  standard  goodness,  your  customers  will  say,  'Tis  as  good  as  money  in 
their  pockets,  weight  for  weight ;  and  that  they  know  what  they  paid  for 
the  fashion,  which  is  all  the  loss  they  shall  be  at,  and  the  work  wears 
creditable  j  and  they  will  not  repent  of  their  bargain,  but  publicly  com- 
mend it,  whereby  others  will  be  encouraged  to  buy  such  works,  and  so 
your  trade  increases." 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH.  233 


Periods  and  Conditions  of  Life. 

PHYSIOLOGISTS  divide  Human  Life  into  four  periods,  the  em- 
bryonic, immature,  reproductive,  and  sterile  ages :  the  first  termi- 
nating at  birth  ;  the  second  at  puberty,  which  is  achieved  at  15  ; 
the  third  at  45,  after  which  few  mothers  have  children;  and  the 
last  at  100  and  upwards. 

Individual  life  exists  on  such  conditions  that  it  may  at  any 
moment  cease ;  and  the  vital  tenure  varies  not  only  with  every 
change  of  external  circumstances,  but  by  natural  laws  at  every 
year  of  age.  It  is  most  insecure  in  infancy  and  old  age.  At  the 
age  of  puberty— before  the  period  when  the  growth  of  the  body  is 
most  rapid— before  the  age  of  its  greatest  strength — before  the  age 
of  greatest  intellectual  power — it  is  less  assailable  by  death.  The 
chance  of  living  through  a  given  year  increases  from  birth  to  the 
age  of  14  or  15  ;  it  decreases  to  the  age  of  55-8  at  a  slightly 
accelerating  rate ;  after  which  the  vitality  declines  at  a  much  more 
rapid  rate. 

Age  of  the  People. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  very  aged  have  not  in  the 
ten  years  [1851-1861]  increased  in  near  the  same  proportion  as 
the  general  population.  In  1851  there  were  in  England  107,041 
persons  who  had  passed  the  limit  of  "14  years;"  in  1861  the 
number  had  only  increased  to  113,250.  In  1851  215  persons 
were  returned  as  being  above  100  years  old,  but  only  201  persons 
in  1861 — one  in  every  100,000.  Of  this  last  number  146  were 
women,  and  but  55  men — nearly  three  women  to  one  man. 
Only  26  had  never  been  married.  About  a  third  were  found 
living  in  large  towns — 21  in  London,  n  in  Liverpool,  five  in 
Manchester,  one  in  Birmingham,  four  in  Bristol,  one  in  Leeds. 
As  in  1851,  so  in  1861,  these  very  aged  persons  were  not  found 
so  often  in  the  midland  districts  of  the  kingdom  as  in  the  north 
and  the  east,  and  most  of  all  in  the  west.  At  the  last  Census, 
Norfolk  had  among  its  435,000  people  n  above  100  years  old; 
Gloucestershire,  with  485,000  people,  had  eight  centenarians; 
and  Somerset,  with  its  445,000,  had  nine.  Wales,  with  its 
i,ii2,poo,  had  no  less  than '24,  the  same  number  as  Lancashire 
with  its  2,400,000  people,  and  more  than  London  with  its 
2,800,000  inhabitants.  So  far  as  the  occupations  of  these  long- 


234  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

lived  persons  are  given,  the  returns  show  a  majority  engaged 
in  pursuits  that  caused  them  to  be  much  in  the  open  air. 
Three  had  been  farmers,  13  out-door  farm  servants,  five 
labourers,  three  hawkers,  three  seamen,  three  soldiers;  there 
was  a  fisherman,  a  quarrier,  a  waterworks  man,  a  miller.  But 
there  was  also  a  scrivener,  four  shoemakers,  a  baker,  a  grocer,  a 
carpenter,  a  marine-store  dealer,  three  persons  occupied  in  cotton 
manufacture,  two  in.  woollen,  one  in  silk,  one  in  lace.  Of  the 
women  the  returns  commonly  state  only  whether  the  person  is 
wife  or  widow,  but  we  are  told  that  there  were  six  who  had  been 
domestic  servants,  two  nurses,  three  charwomen,  two  washer- 
women, and  a  gipsy.  One  centenarian  was  a  member  of  the 
Household.  Fourteen  are  described  as  land  or  house  proprietors, 
or  independent ;  19  were  passing  their  last  years  in  the  work- 
house. Six  were  blind. — From  the  Census  Report. 

The  Human  Heart. 

If  we  regard  the  construction  of  the  blood-vessels,  and  other 
parts  of  the  circulating  system,  we  find  that  they  are  constructed 
entirely  on  physical  laws.  The  Heart  is  the  mover  which  propels 
the  blood,  and,  after  having  given  the  stroke,  its  fibres  become 
relaxed,  to  receive  a  fresh  supply.  In  this  case  it  is  important 
that  the  fluid  should  not  again  regurgitate  into  its  cavities ;  and 
to  prevent  that,  a  system  of  valves,  not  thicker  than  paper,  has 
been  contrived.  Here  we  see  a  design  identical  with  that  pur- 
sued by  man  in  the  construction  of  his  pump,  or  even,  in  some 
cases,  of  his  floodgates.  The  only  difference  between  the  work 
of  man  and  the  work  of  Nature  is,  that  the  latter  is  executed  in  a 
manner  so  superior,  that  man  feels  that  he  sinks  into  insignificance 
beside  the  Creator. 

That  wonderful  machine,  the  Heart,  goes  night  and  day,  for 
eighty  years  together,  at  the  rate  of  100,000  strokes  for  every 
twenty-four  hours,  having  at  every  stroke  a  great  resistance  to 
overcome.  Now,  each  ventricle  will  contain  at  least  one  ounce 
of  blood ;  the  heart  contracts  4000  times  in  an  hour,  from  which 
it  follows  that  there  pass  through  the  heart  every  hour  4000 
ounces,  or  350  pounds  of  blood.  The  whole  mass  of  blood  is 
said  to  be  about  twenty-five  pounds ;  so  that  a  quantity  equal  to 
the  whole  mass  of  blood  passes  through  the  heart  fourteen  times 
in  one  hour,  which  is  about  once  in  every  four  minutes. 

The  Sense  of  Hearing. 

Mr.  John  Marshall,  in  a  Lecture  on  the  special  organs  of  the 
Sense  of  Hearing,  describes  the  wonderful  arrangements  for  the 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH.  235 

protection  of  these  organs  and  their  adaptation  to  their  office ;  the 
examination  of  their  relative  duties,  in  distinguishing  the  kinds 
and  intensities  of  the  sounds  of  such  exceeding  variety,  produced 
by  inanimate  nature,  by  animals,  and  by  art  (music).  For  the 
appreciation  of  the  pitch  and  quality  of  sounds  Mr.  Marshall  con- 
siders that  we  are  indebted  to  the  delicate  fibrous  structure  of  the 
cochlea ;  for  the  knowledge  of  the  intensity  of  sound  to  the 
tympanum  or  drum,  which,  possessing  the  power  of  tension  and 
relaxation,  thus  acts  a  protective  part ;  while  in  our  knowledge  of 
the  distance  and  direction  of  sound  we  are  guided  by  the  external 
.parts  of  the  ear  and  by  our  experience. 

Care  of  the  Teeth. 

Dr.  J.  H.  Bowditch,  of  the  United  States,  having  examined 
with  a  microscope  the  matter  deposited  on  the  teeth  and  gums 
of  more  than  40  individuals,  selected  from  all  classes  of  society, 
and  in  nearly  every  variety  of  bodily  condition,  has  discovered,  in 
nearly  every  case,  animal  and  vegetable  parasites  in  great  numbers ; 
in  fact,  the  only  persons  whose  mouths  were  found  to  be  entirely 
free  from  these  parasites  cleaned  their  teeth  four  times  daily,  using 
soap  once.  Among  the  agents  applied,  it  was  found  that  tobacco- 
juice  and  smoke  did  not  impair  the .  vitality  of  the  parasites  ;  nor 
did  the  chlorine  tooth-wash,  pulverized  bark,  soda,  ammonia, 
&c.  Soap,  however — pure  white  soap — destroyed  the  parasites 
instantly,  and  is,  therefore,  the  best  specific  for  cleaning  the  teeth. 

It  having  been  asked,  "  Did  the  Greek  surgeons  extract  teeth  ?"  Mr. 
George  Hayes,  the  well-known  dentist,  replied,  that  on  one  of  the  orna- 
ments found  in  an  ancient  building  in  the  Crimea,  is  represented  a  surgeon 
drawing  a  tooth  from  the  mouth  of  one  of  the  barbarian  royalties.  "  This," 
says  Mr.  Hayes,  "  I  think,  establishes  the  fact  that  there  were  then  peri- 
patetics, either  Egyptian  or  Greek  dentists,  who  resorted  to  those  distant 
countries  for  the  purpose  of  practising  their  art.  I  believe  this  is  the  only 
representation  of  a  surgical  operation  to  be  met  with  on  ancient  sculpture." 

Sugar  has  been  proved  injurious  to  the  teeth,  from  its  tendency 
to  combine  with  their  calcareous  basis. 

On  Blindness. 

Many  have  been  the  appeals  to  our  sympathy  with  the  affliction 
of  the  loss  of  sight,  but  neither  has,  perhaps,  exceeded  in  pathos 
the  following  from  an  address  delivered  by  Sir  John  Coleridge, 
at  the  West  of  England  Institution  for  the  Blind : 

u  Conceive  to  yourselves,  for  a  moment,  what  is  the  ordinary 
entertainment  and  conversation  that  passes  around  any  one  of  your 
family  tables ;  how  many  things  we  talk  of  as  matters  of  course, 


236  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

as  to  the  understanding  and  as  to  the  bare  conception  of  which 
sight  is  absolutely  necessary.  Consider  again,  what  an  affliction 
the  loss  of  sight  must  be,  and  that  when  we  talk  of  the  golden 
sun,  the  bright  stars,  the  beautiful  flowers*  the  blush  of  spring, 
the  glow  of  summer,  and  the  ripening  fruit  of  autumn,  we  are 
talking  of  things  of  which  we  do  not  convey  to  the  minds  of 
these  poor  creatures  who  are  born  blind  anything  like  an  adequate 
conception.  There  was  once  a  great  man,  as  we  all  know,  in  this 
country,  a  poet — and  nearly  the  greatest  poet  that  England  has 
ever  had  to  boast  of — who  was  blind ;  and  there  is  a  passage  in 
his  works  which  is  so  true  and  touching  that  it  exactly  describes, 
that  which  I  have  endeavoured^  in  feeble  language,  to  paint. 
Milton  says : 

" c  Thus  with  the  year 

Seasons  return  ;  but  not  to  me  returns 

Day,  or  the  sweet  approach  of  ev'n,  or  morn, 

Or  sight  of  vernal  bloom,  or  summer's  rose, 

Or  flocks,  or  herds,  or  human  face  divine  ; 

But  cloud  instead,  and  ever  during  dark 

Surrounds  me,  from  the  cheerful  ways  of  men 

Cut  off,  and  for  the  book  of  knowledge  fair 

Presented  with  a  universal  blank 

Of  Nature's  works,  to  me  expunged  and  rased. 

And  wisdom  at  one  entrance  quite  shut  out. 

So  much  the  rather  then,  celestial  light, 

Shine  inward,  and  the  mind  through  all  her  powers 

Irradiate  5  there  plant  eyes  5  all  mist  from  thence 

Purge  and  disperse  ;  that  I  may  see  and  tell 

Of  things  invisible  to  mortal  sight.' 

The  great  poet  when  intent  upon  his  work  sought  for  celestial 
light  to  accomplish  it.  And  this  brings  me  to  that  part  of  the 
labours  of  our  institution  upon  which  I  dwell  the  most,  and  which, 
after  all,  is  the  greatest  compensation  we  can  afford  to  the  inmates 
for  the  affliction  they  suffer ;  and  that  is,  the  means  we  provide 
for  them  to  read  the  blessed  Word  of  God,  which  they  can  read 
by  day  as  well  as  by  night,  for  light  in  their  case  is  not  an 
essential." 

Sleeping  and  Dreaming. 

Mr.  A.  E.  Durham,  in  a  discourse  at  the  Royal  Institution,  on 
these  questions,  commenced  by  some  remarks  on  Sleep  considered 
as  pleasant,  irresistible,  and  necessary.  A  Chinese  murderer,  whose 
punishment  was  total  privation  of  sleep,  died  on  the  ninth  day. 
The  amount  of  needful  sleep  varies  in  different  persons,  eight 
hours  being  the  average.  John  Hunter  took  four  hours'  sleep 
and  an  hour's  nap  after  dinner.  General  Elliot  (of  Gibraltar) 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH.  237 

required  only  four  hours.  The  conditions  favouring  sleep  were 
referred  to — e.g.,  silence,  warmth,  sufficient  food,  and,  especially, 
a  quiet  conscience  and  a  mind  at  ease ;  and  various  exceptions 
were  noticed.  Considered  psychologically,  sleep  was  defined  as 
suspended  consciousness,  and  dreaming  as  a  partial  revival  of  con- 
sciousness. Torpor  through  cold,  and  coma  through  disease,  are 
not  sleep.  After  describing  the  structure  of  the  brain,  Mr.  Durham 
stated  that  he  regarded  the  action  of  sleep  as  analogous  to  a  che- 
mical process,  during  which  the  brain  tissue  regains  from  the  blood 
what  it  had  lost  through  the  activity  of  the  mind.  To  enable 
him  to  ascertain  the  condition  of  the  brain  during  sleep,  &c.,  he 
administered  chloroform  to  a  dog,  and,  while  it  was  insensible, 
removed  a  portion  of  the  skull,  substituting  for  it  a  piece  of  glass. 
He  found  thus  that,  when  the  dog  slept,  the  blood-vessels  were 
comparatively  empty,  the  arteries  lost  their  bright  red  colour  and 
assumed  the  blue  colour  of  the  veins,  and  the  brain  tissue  col- 
lapsed, leaving  a  space  within  the  skull  which  was  filled  with 
cerebral  fluid.  When  the  dog  was  awakened  the  blood-vessels 
resumed  their  functions,  and  the  brain  once  more  filled  the 
cavity. 

Position  in  Sleeping. 

It  is  better  to  go  to  sleep  on  the  right  side.  If  one  goes  to 
sleep  on  the  left  side  the  operation  of  emptying  the  stomach  of 
its  contents  is  like  drawing  water  from  a  well.  After  going  to 
sleep  let  the  body  take  its  own  position.  If  you  sleep  on  your 
back,  especially  soon  after  a  hearty  meal,  the  weight  of  the 
digestive  organs  and  that  of  the  food,  resting  upon  the  great  vein 
of  the  body,  near  the  backbone,  compresses  it,  and  arrests  the 
flow  of  the  blood  more  or  less.  If  the  arrest  is  partial,  the  sleep 
is  disturbed,  and  there  are  unpleasant  dreams.  For  persons  who 
eat  three  times  a  day  it  is  amply  sufficient  to  make  the  last  meal 
of  bread-and-butter,  and  a  cup  of  some  warm  drink.  No  one 
can  starve  on  it ;  while  a  perseverance  in  the  habit  soon  begets 
a  vigorous  appetite  for  breakfast,  so  promising  of  a  day  of  comfort. 
—Hall's  Journal  of  Health. 

The  Hair  suddenly  changing  Colour. 

Dr.  Davy  has  read  to  the  British  Association  an  interesting 
paper  "  On  the  Question,  whether  the  Hair  is  or  is  not  subject  to 
Sudden  Changes  of  Colour."  This  he  decides  in  the  negative, 
explaining  away  the  evidence  on  which  the  contrary  belief  has 
become  popular ;  and  also  maintaining  with  regard  to  seemingly 
analogous  phenomena,  such  as  the  becoming  white  of  the  ptar- 


23S  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

migan,  and  many  animals  and  birds  in  winter,  that  it  is  through 
moult  and  not  change  of  colour  in  feather  or  hair. 

Nevertheless,  in  the  biography  of  Montaigne,  the  celebrated  French 
essayist,  we  read  : — "  Among  others  whose  acquaintance  Montaigne  made 
in  the  bath-room,  was  Seigneur  d'Andelot,  formerly  in  the  service  of 
Charles  V.  and  governor  for  him  of  St.  Quentin.  One  side  of  his  beard 
and  one  eyebrow  were  white ;  and  he  related  that  this  change  came  to  him 
in  an  instant.  One  day  as  he  was  sitting  at  home,  with  his  head  leaning 
on  his  hand,  in  profound  grief  at  the  loss  of  a  brother,  executed  by  the 
Duke  of  Alva  as  accomplice  of  Counts  Egmont  and  Home,  when  he 
looked  up  and  uncovered  the  part  which  he  had  clutched  in  his  agony,  the 
people  present  thought  that  flour  had  been  sprinkled  over  him." 

Mr.  D.  P.  Parry,  Staff-surgeon,  at  Aldershott,  writes  the  following  very 
remarkable  account  of  a  case  of  which  he  says  he  made  memoranda  shortly 
after  the  occurrence  : — "  On  February  19,  1858,  the  column  under  General 
Franks,  in  the  south  of  Oude,  was  engaged  with  a  rebel  force  at  the  village 
of  Chanda,  and  several  prisoners  were  taken  ;  one  of  them,  a  Sepoy  of  the 
Bengal  army,  was  brought  before  the  authorities  for  examination,  and  I 
being  present  had  an  opportunity  of  watching  from  the  commencement 
the  fact  I  am  about  to  record.  Divested  of  his  uniform  and  stripped  naked, 
he  was  surrounded  by  the  soldiers,  and  then  first  apparently  became  alive 
to  the  dangers  of  his  position  j  he  trembled  violently,  intense  horror  and 
despair  were  depicted  in  his  countenance,  and  although  he  answered  the 
questions  addressed  to  him,  he  seemed  almost  stupified  with  fear ;  while 
actually  under  observation,  within  the  space  of  half-an-hour,  his  hair  be- 
came grey  on  every  portion  of  his  head,  it  having  been  when  first  seen  by 
us  the  glossy  jet  black  of  the  Bengalee,  aged  about  24.  The  attention  of 
the  bystanders  was  first  attracted  by  the  sergeant,  whose  prisoner  he  was, 
exclaiming,  *  He  is  turning  grey,'  and  I  with  several  other  persons  watched 
its  progress.  Gradually  but  decidedly  the  change  went  on,  and  a  uniform 
greyish  colour  was  completed  within  the  period  above  named." 

Consumption  not  hopeless. 

Sir  Edward  Wilmot,  the  physician,  was,  when  a  youth,  so  far 
gone  in  Consumption,  that  Dr.  Radcliffe,  whom  he  consulted, 
gave  his  friends  no  hope  of  his  recovery,  yet  he  lived  to  the  age 
of  ninety-three ;  upon  which  Dr.  Heberden  notes :  "  This  has 
been  the  case  with  some  others,  who  had  many  symptoms  of 
Consumption  in  youth." 

The  life  of  Sir  Hans  Sloane  was  protracted  by  extraordinary 
means :  when  a  youth,  Sloane  was  attacked  with  spitting  of  blood, 
which  interrupted  his  education  for  three  years ;  but  by  abstinence 
from  wine  and  other  stimulants,  and  continuing,  in  some  measure, 
this  regimen  ever  afterwards,  he  was  enabled  to  prolong  his  life 
to  the  age  of  ninety-three  years ;  exemplifying  the  truth  of  his 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH.  239 

favourite  maxim— that  sobriety,  temperance,  and  moderation,  are 
the  best  preservatives  that  nature  has  granted  to  mankind. 

Change  of  Climate. 

•  The  difference  in  disease  produced  by  change  to  warmer  or 
colder  climate  has  been  thus  ably  illustrated  by  Dr.  Graves: 

We  observe  that  the  English  in  India  suffer  greatly  from  liver  disease ; 
whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  negroes  and  natives  frequently  die  of  phthisis 
(consumption)  in  England.  Monkeys  die  of  consumption,  so  do  lions  and 
tigers.  This  is  a  very  important  fact  in  the  pathology  of  phthisis,  as  tend- 
ing to  prove  that  although  phthisis  is  in  many  instances  distinctly  heredi- 
tary, nevertheless  it  may  be,  and  is,  frequently  acquired.  Nothing  can 
furnish  a  stronger  proof  that  phthisis  may  be  acquired  than  the  instances  I 
have  adduced,  for  I  need  not  tell  you  that  no  lion  or  tiger  is  ever  born  in 
warm  climates  of  a  consumptive  sire,  or  ever  dies  there  of  tubercular  disease. 
An  additional  illustration  of  the  influence  heat  exercises  on  the  size  of  the 
liver  is  afforded  by  the  celebrated  Strasburg  geese.  By  feeding  these  birds 
in  a  particular  way,  and  keeping  them  in  artificial  heat,  the  liver  becomes 
diseased,  grows  to  an  enormous  size,  and  in  this  state  furnishes  the  materials 
of  the  famous  pate,-  How  many  instances  occur  where  our  citizens,  expos- 
ing themselves  to  the  long  continued  operation  of  the  very  same  causes, 
confinement,  overfeeding,  heat,  and  want  of  exercise,  are  affected  by  them 
in  exactly  the  same  way !  How  slight  the  difference  between  the  morbid 
phenomena  displayed  in  the  post-mortem  of  a  city  feaster  and  the  autopsy 
of  an  over-fed  goose. 

Perfumes. 

A  knowledge  of  the  nature  and  operations  of  Perfumes  is  a 
very  proper  thing  to  propagate.  Ignorance  respecting  them  often 
leads  to  mischief.  Dr.  Capellini  relates  the  story  of  a  lady  who 
fancied  that  she  could  not  bear  the  smell  of  a  rose,  and  who  ac- 
cordingly fainted  at  the  sight  of  one,  which  turned  out  to  be  arti- 
ficial !  This  is  rather  an  extreme  case ;  but  minor  mistakes, 
adverse  to  the  use  of  perfumes,  are  very  common.  Many  persons 
suppose  that  they  are  injurious,  because  flowers  left  in  a  bedroom 
by  night,  will  sometimes  cause  headache  and  sickness.  But  this 
is  attributable,  not  to  the  escaping  aroma,  but  to  the  carbonic  acid 
which  the  air  imbibes  from  the  flowers.  On  the  other  hand  Mr. 
Rimmel  contends  that  perfumes  are  beneficial  and  prophylactic  in 
the  highest  degree.  He  reminds  us  that  after  the  Dutch  had  de- 
stroyed, by  speculation,  the  clove-trees  in  the  Island  of  Ternate, 
that  colony  was  visited  by  a  series  of  epidemics,  which  had  been 
kept  off  until  then  by  the  fragrant  smell  of  the  cloves ;  and  in 
more  modern  times,  when  London  and  Paris  were  ravaged  by 
cholera,  there  was  not  a  single  victim  among  the  numerous 
persons  employed  in  the  perfumery  factories  of  either  city. 


240  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


Cure  for  Yellow  Fever. 

A  private  letter  from  Her  Majesty's  Vice-consul  at  Cape  Bolivar 
to  Her  Majesty's  Acting  Consul- General  at  Caracas  states : — 
((  An  old  woman,  named  Mariquita  Orfila,  has  discovered  a  per- 
fect remedy  for  the  black  vomit  and  yellow  fever,  by  means  of 
which  several  persons  have  been  completely  cured  after  a  consul- 
tation of  doctors  had  declared  that  the  cases  were  quite  hopeless, 
and  that  the  patients  must  die  in  a  few  hours.  The  remedy  is  the 
juice  of  the  pounded  leaves  of  the  verbena,  given  in  small  doses 
three  times  a  day,  and  injections  of  the  same  every  two  hours, 
until  the  bowels  are  emptied.  The  verbena  is  a  wild  shrub,  to 
be  found  growing  almost  everywhere,  and  particularly  in  low, 
moist  ground.  All  our  doctors  have  adopted  its  use,  and  now 
few  or  none  die  of  those  late  fearful  diseases.  There  are  two 
kinds  of  it,  male  and  female ;  the  latter  is  most  used." 

Nature's  Ventilation. 

Upon  the  proper  adjustments  of  the  dynamical  forces  which 
keep  up  the  ceaseless  movements  of  the  atmosphere,  the  life  of 
organic  nature  depends.  If  the  air  that  is  breathed  were  riot 
taken  away  and  renewed,  warm-blooded  life  would  cease:  if 
carbon,  and  oxygen,  and  hydrogen,  and  water  were  not  in  due 
quantities  dispensed  by  the  restless  air  to  the  flora  of  the  earth,  all 
vegetation  would  perish  for  lack  of  food.  That  our  planet  may 
be  liable  to  no  such  calamity,  power  has  been  given  to  the  way- 
ward wind,  as  it  "  bloweth  where  it  listeth,"  to  bring  down  from 
the  pure  blue  sky  fresh  supplies  of  life-giving  air  wherever  it  is 
wanted ;  and  to  catch  up  from  the  earth,  wherever  it  may  be 
found,  that  which  has  become  stale ;  to  force  it  up,  there  to  be 
deflagrated  among  the  clouds,  purified  and  renovated  by  processes 
known  only  to  Him  whose  ministers  they  are.  The  slightest 
change  in  the  purity  of  the  atmosphere,  though  it  may  be  too  slight 
for  recognition  by  chemical  analysis  in  the  laboratory,  is  sure  to 
be  detected  by  its  effects  upon  the  nicer  chemistry  of  the  human 
system ;  for  it  is  known  to  be  productive  of  disease  and  death. 
No  chemical  tests  are  sensitive  enough  to  tell  us  what  those 
changes  are ;  but  experience  has  taught  us  the  necessity  of  venti- 
lation in  our  buildings,  of  circulation  through  our  groves.  The 
cry,  in  cities,  for  fresh  air  from  the  mountains  or  the  sea,  reminds 
us  continually  of  the  life-giving  virtues  of  circulation.  Expe- 
rience teaches  that  all  air,  when  pent  up  and  deprived  of  circula- 
tion, becomes  impure  and  poisonous.  In  referring  to  ventilation, 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH.  241 

we  are  never  to  forget  that,  in  order  to  secure  Nature's  pure  air, 
it  is  essential  to  guard  against  the  many  sources  of  its  pollution. 
The  air  which  descends  to  us  is  pure ;  but  it  is  left  to  man  to 
maintain  it  so ;  hence  we  have  to  drain  our  marshes,  empty  foul 
ditches,  remove  cesspools,  and  see  that  our  streets  are  sewered  and 
paved.  The  Deity  has  given  laws  for  the  moral  government  ot 
society ;  but  He  leaves  to  man,  on  whom  He  has  bestowed  intel- 
ligence, the  discovery  and  the  application  of  those  scientific  means 
which  are  necessary  to  health  and  physical  happiness. — Captain 
Maurj. 

Artificial  Ventilation. 

In  Wyman's  Practical  Treatise  on  Ventilation  we  find  these 
curious  results.  In  a  weaving-mill  near  Manchester,  where  the 
ventilation  was  bad,  the  proprietor  caused  a  fan  to  be  mounted. 
The  consequences  soon  became  apparent  in  a  curious  manner.  The 
operatives,  little  remarkable  for  olfactory  refinement,  instead  of 
thanking  their  employer  for  his  attention  to  their  comfort  and 
health,  made  a  formal  complaint  to  him  that  the  ventilator  had 
increased  their  appetites,  and  therefore  entitled  them  to  a  corre- 
sponding increase  of  wages!  By  stopping  the  fan  a  part  of  the 
day,  the  ventilation  and  voracity  of  the  establishment  were  brought 
to  a  medium  standard,  and  complaints  ceased.  The  operatives' 
wages  would  but  just  support  them ;  any  additional  demands  by 
their  stomachs  could  only  be  answered  by  draughts  upon  their 
backs,  which  were  by  no  means  in  a  condition  to  answer  them. 
In  Edinburgh  a  club  was  provided  with  a  dinner  in  a  well  venti- 
lated apartment,  the  air  being  perfumed  as  it  entered,  imitating  in 
succession  the  fragrance  of  lavender  and  the  orange-flower. 
During  dinner  the  members  enjoyed  themselves  as  usual,  but 
were  not  a  little  surprised  at  the  announcement  of  the  provider, 
that  they  had  drunk  three  times  as  much  wine  as  he  had  usually 
provided.  Gentlemen  of  sober,  quiet  habits,  who  usually  con- 
fined themselves  to  a  couple  of  glasses,  were  not  satisfied  with 
less  than  half  a  bottle ;  others,  who  took  half  a  bottle,  now  ex- 
tended their  potations  to  a  bottle  and  a  half.  In  fact,  the  hotel- 
keeper  was  drunk  dry.  That  gentlemen  who  had  indulged  so  freely 
were  not  aware  of  it  at  the  time  is  not  wonderful  j  but  that  they 
felt  no  unpleasant  sensations  the  following  morning,  which  they 
did  not,  is  certainly  quite  so. 

Worth  of  Fresh  Air. 

Among  the  sanitary  enactments  of  the  last  few  years  is  the 
Local  Government  Act,  for  the  better  enforcement  of  ap- 

K 


2-12  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

pliances  for  Public  Health.  An  Office  has  been  established 
specially  for  the  business  of  this  Act,  with  a  well-paid  Secretary 
and  Medical  Inspector:  it  arose  upon  the  cessation  of  the  labours 
of  the  Board  of  Health;  and  the  gain  by  the  change  may  be 
estimated  by  tke  following  Hints  from  an  engineering  Sanitary 
Inspector  of  the  Local  Government  Office: 

Sanitary  work  is  not  necessarily  doing  some  great  thing,  but  consists 
more  in  prompt  and  efficient  attention  to  small  matters.  Fresh  air  is  the 
best  disinfectant,  but  most  people,  even  in  England,  treat  fresh  air  as  if  it 
were  an  evil.  We  shut  it  out  of  our  houses  by  day,  and  confine  foul  air 
in  our  rooms  by  night,  especially  during  the  time  we  use  them  for  sleep. 

An  invalid  takes  a  carriage  airing  with  closed  windows ;  such  a  ride  is, 
however,  in  truth,  a  carriage  poisoning.  If  an  open  carriage  cannot  be 
used  on  any  day  in  the  year  with  safety,  the  individual  had  better  not  use  a 
carriage  ;  and  no  room  should  be  occupied  which  has  not  an  unceasing  flow 
of  fresh  air  through  it — not  necessarily  a  draught,  but  motion.  Open  flues, 
open  doors,  or  open  windows  admit  of  change  of  air  j  not,  however,  always 
with  comfort  to  the  inmates.  But  as  a  room  cannot  be  hermetically  sealed 
up,  provision  ought  to  be  made  for  an  admission  of  fresh  air,  rather  than 
for  the  stealing  in  of  sewer,  drain,  cesspool,  or  sink  gases.  List  up  doers, 
carpet  floors,  paper  window-joints,  and  block  up  fireplaces,  if  contagious 
diseases  are  to  have  their  most  malignant  effects $  ventilate  houses,  by  open 
windows  on  staircases  or  in  corridors  if  possible,  but  by  all  means  ventilate. 
Cold  does  not  kill  so  many  as  foul  air,  although  a  low  temperature  gene- 
rally increases  the  weekly  bills  of  mortality.  But  it  is  the  very  poor  who 
suffer  most.  The  Chinese  say,  "  Fools  and  beggars  only  suffer  from  cold  ; 
the  one  have  not  wit  to  clothe  properly,  the  others  are  too  poor  to  clothe 
sufficiently."  Clothing  ought  to  be  the  protection  against  cold,  not  warm 
and  foul  air.  In  every  house  in  which  typhus  fever  or  small-pox  prevails 
it  will  be  safer  for  the  inhabitants  of  such  houses  to  remove  the  windows 
rather  than  to  keep  them  closed.  An  open  shed  in  a  field  with  warm 
clothing  will  be  better  than  a  closed  room  in  a  town.  I  have  seen  fever 
patients  and  small-pox  patients  treated  beneath  open  sheds  in  the  country 
safely,  and  I  have  heard  experienced  surgeons  remark  that  fresh  air  and  diet 
were  of  more  avail  than  medicine.  I  have  seen  a  British  army  in  hospital 
and  in  the  field  surrounded  by  foul  air,  wasting  away  by  fever.  I  have  seen 
that  army  restored  to  health  by  cleanliness  and  an  admission  of  fresh  air. 
The  air  was  not  cooked  nor  manipulated  by  any  patented  apparatus,  but 
was  admitted  direct  from  the  vast  ocean  of  fresh  air  about  and  above,  by 
slits  in  the  ridge  of  huts  in  the  Crimea,  by  the  removal  of  top  squares  from 
fixed  windows  at  the  great  hospitals  on  the  Bosphorus,  and  by  the  opening 
up  of  flues  wherever  these  could  with  advantage  be  formed  in  those  hos- 
pitals. The  ordinary  atmosphere  of  any  country  freely  admitted  and  un- 
ceasingly changed  is  the  only  safe  medium  in  which  to  breathe.  In  all 
countries  and  under  all  climates  excessive  disease  to  man  comes  from  foul 
air  generated  within  his  dwelling  rather  than  from  any  external  influences. 
The  remedy  against  disease  is,  therefore,  fresh  air.  Infection  is  scarcely 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH.  213 


possible  amid  abundance  of  fresh  air.     Soap  and  water  can  kill  contagion 
if  used  in  time. 

The  intercepting  main  sewers  of  the  metropolis,  if  brought  into  use,  will 
actually  add  to  existing  evils  rather  than  remove  them,  if  these  sewers  only 
pass  away  large  volumes  of  surplus  water  which  now  dilute  the  deposit  in 
many  scores  of  miles  of  secondary  and  branch  sewers  and  drains.  There 
are  hundreds  of  open  sewer  ventilators  within  the  metropolis  sending  out 
unceasingly  thousands  of  cubic  feet  of  sewage  gases  to  the  streets  above. 
All  this  vast  volume  of  gas  might  be  cheaply  disinfected  by  being  made  to 
pass  slowly  through  charcoal,  and  all  foul  sewers  may  either  be  cleansed  or 
be  disinfected  in  time. 

Town  and  Country. 

Sir  E.  B»  Lytton,  in  Blackwood's  Magazine,  .observes:  We 
who  are  lovers  of  the  country  are  not  unnaturally  disposed  to  con- 
sider that  our  preference  argues  some  finer  poetry  of  sentiment  — 
some  steadier  devotion  to  those  ennobling  studies  which  sages 
commend  as  the  fitting  occupations  of  retirement.  But  the  facts 
do  not  justify  that  self-conceit  upon  our  part.  It  was  said  by  a 
philosopher  who  was  charged  with  all  the  cares  of  a  world's  em- 
pire, that  "  there  is  no  such  great  matter  in  retirement.  A  man 
may  be  wise  and  sedate  in  a  crowd  as  well  as  in  a  desert,  and  keep 
the  noise  of  the  world  from  getting  within  him.  In  this  case,  as 
Plato  observes,  the  walls  of  a  town  and  the  enclosure  of  a  sheep- 
fold  may  be  made  the  same  thing."  Certainly,  poets,,  and  true 
poets,  have  lived  by  choice  in  the  dingy  streets  of  great  towns. 
Men  of  science,  engaged  in  reasonings  the  most  abstruse,  on  sub- 
jects the  most  elevating,  have  usually  fixed  their  dwelling-place  in 
bustling  capitals,  as  if  the  din  of  the  streets  without  deepened,  by 
the  force  of  a  contrast,  the  quiet  of  those  solitary  closets  wherein 
they  sat  analysing  the  secret  heart  of  that  nature  whose  every-day 
outward  charms  they  abandoned  to  commonplace  adorers.  On 
the  other  hand,  men  perforce  engaged  in  urban  occupations, 
neither  bards  nor  sages  but  City  clerks  and  traders,  feel  a  yearning 
of  the  heart  towards  a  home  in  the  country ;  loving  rural  nature 
With  so  pure  a  fervour  that,  if  closer  intercourse  is  forbidden,  they 
are  contented  to  go  miles  every  evening  to  kiss  the  skirt  of  her 
robe.  Their  first  object  is  to  live  out  of  London,  if  but  in  a 
suburb ;  to  refresh  their  eyes  with  the  green  of  a  field  ;  to  greet 
the  first  harbinger  of  spring  in  the  primrose  venturing  forth  in 
their  own  tiny  realm  of  garden.  It  is  for  them,  as  a  class,  that 
cities  extend  beyond  their  ancient  bounds ;  while  our  nobles  yet 
clung  to  their  gloomy  halls  in  the  Fleet,  traders  sought  home- 
steads remote  from  their  stalls  and  wares  in  the  pleasing  village  of 
Charing. 

R2 


KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


Recreations  of  the  People. 

The  preservation  ot  open  places  for  the  recreation  of  the  people 
is  watched  with  much  jealousy  by  those  who  take  an  interest  in 
the  assertion  of  popular  rights.  Mr.  J.  S.  Mill,  the  historian,  has 
put  in  this  eloquent  plea  for  their  maintenance : 

There  is  room  in  the  world  no  doubt,  and  even  in  old  countries,  for  an 
immense  increase  ot  population,  supposing  the  arts  of  life  to  go  on  improw 
ing,  and  capital  to  increase.  But  although  it  may  be  innocuous,  I  confess 
I  see  very  little  reason  for  desiring  it.  The  density  of  population  necessary 
to  enable  mankind  to  obtain  in  the  greatest "3 egree  all  the  advantages,  both 
of  co-operation  and  of  social  intercourse,  has  in  all  the  more  populous 
countries  been  attained.  A  population  may  be  too  crowded,  though  all  be 
amply  supplied  with  food  and  raiment.  It  is  not  good  for  man  to  be  kept 
perforce  at  all  times  in  the  presence  of  his  species.  A  world  from  which 
solitude  is  extirpated  is  a  very  poor  ideal.  Solitude,  in  the  sense  of  being 
often  alone,  is  essential  'to  any  depth  of  meditation  or  of  character,  and 
solitude  in  the  presence  of  natural  beauty  and  grandeur,  is  the  cradle  of 
thoughts  and  aspirations  which  are  not  only  good  for  the  individual,  but 
which  society  could  ill  do  without.  Nor  is  there  much  satisfaction  in  con- 
templating the  world  with  nothing  left  to  the  spontaneous  activity  of  nature, 
with  every  rood  of  land  brought  into  cultivation  which  is  capable  of  grow- 
ing food  for  human  beings,  every  flowery  waste  or  natural  pasture  ploughed 
up,  all  quadrupeds  or  birds  which  are  not  domesticated  for  man's  use  exter- 
minated as  his  rivals  for  food  ;  every  hedgerow  or  superfluous  tree  rooted 
out,  and  scarcely  a  place  left  where  a  wild  shrub  or  flower  could  grow  with- 
out being  eradicated  as  a  weed  in  the  name  of  improved  agriculture.  If 
the  earth  must  lose  that  great  portion  of  its  pleasantness  which  it  owes  to 
things  that  the  unlimited  increase  of  wealth  and  population  would  extirpate 
from  it  for  the  mere  purpose  of  enabling  it  to  support  a  larger,  but  not  a 
better  or  happier  population,  I  sincerely  hope,  for  the  sake  of  posterity,  that 
they  will  be  content  to  be  stationary  long  before  necessity  compels  them  to 
do  so. 

This  is  picturesquely  eloquent ;  but  it  may  be  argued  that  a 
public  ((  green"  or  common,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  a  large  town, 
is  often  a  rendezvous  for  the  idle  and  abandoned,  in  their  brutal- 
izing sports :  the  great  city,  like  a  cauldron,  with  more  evils  than 
that  in  Macbeth,  seems  to  boil  over,  and  deposit  its  scum  upon 
the  circumjacent  ground. 

The  Druids  and  their  Healing  Art. 

We  might  expect  to  find,  from  the  universality  of  their  appli- 
cation, remedies  for 

the  thousand  natural  shocks 
'   That  flesh  is  heir  to 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH.  245 

preserved  in  perpetuo.  In  ancient  Britain,  the  Druids  were  the 
depositaries  of  these  secrets. 

Amongst  the  early  Britons,  the  ranks  of  the  priests  were  re- 
cruited from  the  noblest  families :  their  education,  which  often 
extended  over  a  period  of  twenty  years,  comprehended  the  whole 
of  the  sciences  of  the  age ;  and  besides  their  sacred  calling,  they 
were  invested  with  power  to  decide  their  civil  disputes.  Then- 
dwellings  and  temples  were  situated  in  the  thickest  oak-groves, 
which  were  sacred  to  the  Supreme  Deity.  The  acorn,  and  above 
all,  the  parasitical  mistleto,  were  held  in  high  veneration :  the 
latter  was  sought  on  the  sixth  day  of  the  moon,  and  when  found 
was  only  cut  by  a  priest  of  the  highest  rank,  for  it  was  accounted 
a  sovereign  remedy  for  all  diseases.  The  practice  of  the  healing 
art  has  ever  commanded  the  esteem  of  the  rudest  nations :  hence 
it  was  the  obvious  policy  of  the  priests,  or  Druids,  to  study  the 
properties  of  plants.  Of  their  progress  we  have  no  record ;  but 
who  knows  from  what  a  far  antiquity  come  the  traditionary 
virtues  of  many  of  our  native  plants? 

Their  famous  Mistleto,  or  all-heal^  was  considered  a  certain 
cure  in  many  diseases,  an  antidote  to  poison,  and  a  preventive  of 
infection.  And,  we  have,  in  the  present  day,  a  very  old  nostrum, 
named  Heal-all^  the  universal  virtues  of  which  are  described  as 
equalling  the  mistleto  of  our  ancestors. 

Remedies  for  Cancer. 

A  multitude  of  strange  remedies  are  prescribed  for  Cancels. 
When  Lord  Metcalfe,  the  Governor  of  Canada,  was  beset  with 
this  cruel  disease,  Mr.  Kaye,  his  biographer,  tells  us:  " One  cor- 
respondent recommended  Mesmerism,  which  had  cured  Miss 
Martineau ;  another  Hydropathy,  at  the  pure  springs  of  Malvern ; 
a  third,  an  application  of  the  common  dock-leaf ;  a  fourth,  an 
infusion  of  couch-grass;  a  fifth,  the  baths  of  Docherte,  near 
Vienna ;  a  sixth,  the  volcanic  hot-springs  of  Karlsbad ;  a  seventh, 
a  wonderful  plaster  made  of  rose-leaves,  olive-oil,  and  turnip- 
juice  ;  an  eighth,  a  plaster  and  powder,  in  which  some  part  of  a 
young  frog  was  a  principal  ingredient ;  a  ninth,  a  mixture  of  cop- 
peras and  vinegar ;  a  tenth,  an  application  of  pure  ox-gall ;  an 
eleventh,  a  mixture  of  Florence  oil  and  red  precipitate ;  whilst  a 
twelfth  was  certain  of  the  good  effects  of  Homoeopathy,  which 
cured  Charlotte  Elizabeth.  Besides  these  varied  remedies,  many 
men  and  women  with  infallible  recipes,  or  certain  modes  of  treat- 
ment, were  recommended  by  themselves  and  others.  Learned 
Italian  professors,  mysterious  American  women,  erudite  Germans, 
and  obscure  Irish  quacks — all  had  cured  cancers  of  twenty  years' 


246  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

standing,  and  all  were  pressing,  or  pressed  forward,  to  operate  on 
Lord  Metcalfe." 

Improved  Surgery. 

•  The  basis,  and  no  small  portion  of  the  superstructure,  of  scien- 
tific surgery,  was  laid  by  the  famous  Ambroise  Pare,  who  pos- 
sessed the  rare  gift  of  seeing  things  as  they  were,  and  not  as  his 
preconceived  notions  would  have  them  to  be.  Sharing  the 
common  belief  that  gunshot  wounds  were,  by  their  nature,  poi- 
sonous, he  used  to  treat  them  with  boiling  oil ;  but  having  failed 
once  to  apply  the  usual  remedy,  he  was  surprised  to  find  that  his 
patients  were  much  the  better  for  the  omission.  Thereupon,  he 
renounced  the  ordinary  practice,  and  from  that  time  gunshot 
wounds  have  received  a  more  rational  treatment.  Pare  was  the 
first  to  revive  the  practice  known  to  the  Arabians  of  stopping  the 
flow  of  blood  from  arteries  by  tying  them.  The  French  Faculty 
of  Medicine  ridiculed  the  innovation  as  the  system  of  hanging  life 
upon  a  thread,  and  declared  its  preference  for  the  use  of  boiling 
pitch  which  had  stood  the  test  of  so  many  centuries ;  but  wounded 
persons  could  not  be  brought  to  see  the  force  of  such  reasoning. 
Anatomy  was  prosecuted  with  great  assiduity  and  precision  of 
detail  throughout  the  whole  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  the  way 
was  cleared  for  Harvey's  grand  discovery,  which  he  first  publicly 
taught  in  1619. 

John  Hunter  introduced  what  is  probably  the  most  capital  Im- 
provement in  Surgery  ever  effected  by  a  single  man  ;— namely,  the 
practice  in  aneurism  of  tying  the  artery  at  a  distance  from  the 
seat  of  disease.  This  one  suggestion  has  saved  thousands  of  lives ; 
and  both  the  suggestion,  and  the  first  successful  execution  of  it, 
are  entirely  owing  to  John  Hunter,  who,  if  he  had  done  nothing 
else,  would  on  this  account  alone  have  a  right  to  be  classed  among 
the  principal  benefactors  of  mankind. 

Restoration  of  a  Fractured  Leg. 

M.  Flourens  has  communicated  to  the  Paris  Academy  of 
Sciences  a  letter  from  Dr.  Mottet,  giving  an  account  of  the  Resto- 
ration of  a  Fractured  Leg  under  circumstances  of  peculiar  difficulty. 
The  fracture  had  been  occasioned  by  a  fall  of  stones  on  the  limb ; 
it  was  complex,  and  such  that  amputation  presented  peculiar  diffi- 
culties ;  still,  notwithstanding  gangrene  and  other  untoward  cir- 
cumstances, the  fracture,  being  reduced,  was  kept  in  its  normal 
position  by  a  peculiar  apparatus  for  the  space  of  a  year,  at  the  end 
of  which  time  the  bone  was  completely  regenerated,  and  the  limb 
perfectly  cured  without  any  diminution  in  length. 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH.  247 


The  original cc  Dr.  Sangrado" 

Thousands  may  have  enjoyed  the  humour  of  Gil  Bias  without 
suspecting  that  the  genius  of  Dr.  Sangrado  had  any  living  proto- 
type. Yet  such  was  Botal,  who  revolutionized  the  practice  of 
medicine  by  a  freedom  of  bleeding  that  was  quite  unprecedented. 
He  bled  largely  and  repeatedly,  both  young  and  old,  male  and 
female,  in  all  diseases,  whether  low  in  type  or  acute.  "  The  young 
he  bled  freely,  on  account  of  the  rapid  reproduction  of  blood  in 
youth  ;  the  old,  because  he  saw  in  the  practice  a  conduciveness  to 
rejuvenescence.  He  bled  freely  in  low  and  wasting  diseases,  even 
of  a  malignant  nature,  because  a  richer  and  better  blood  was 
formed ;  in  dysentery,  because  he  recognised  in  it  an  affinity  to 
inflammation  of  the  lungs,  in  which  all  physicians  bled ;  in  all 
forms  of  flatulency,  because  of  its  power  to  relieve  obstructions ; 
in  short,  he  had  a  reason  for  bleeding  in  every  special  distemper, 
and  when  reproached  for  the  indiscriminate  routine  of  practice, 
he  argued  that  the  more  water  you  draw  from  a  well  the  purer 
and  better  is  that  which  filters  in.  From  him  originated  the 
system  of  bleeding  in  pregnancy,  which  is  continued  to  this  day." 
Botal  was  a  man  of  happy  despatch,  like  Van  Helmont,  under 
whose  hands,  as  his  biographer  relates,  "  the  sick  never  languished 
long,  being  always  killed  or  cured  in  three  days."  Botal's  patients 
were  probably  more  often  killed  than  cured ;  but  they  did  not 
die  in  vain,  for  his  practice  set  medical  men  observing  and  thinking, 
so  that  good  came  of  it  in  the  end — a  great  consolation  for  his 
victims,  could  they  have  foreseen  it. — Spectator  newspaper. 

False  Arts  advancing  true. 

After  the  death  of  Galen,  Medicine  ceased  to  make  progress. 
Amidst  the  Gothic  invasions  the  medical  sects  "  dwindled  down  to 
individuals,  who  achieved  for  medicine  what  the  monastics  effected 
for  ancient  classic  literature :  they  maintained  it  in  the  condition 
of  a  small  but  continuous  stream,  in  the  midst  of  so  much  charla- 
tanism that  no  man  could  talk  nonsense  so  gross,  or  profess  super- 
natural powers  so  incredible,  but  that  the  ignorance  of  the  com- 
munity would  give  credit  to  his  assertions."  All  through  the  dark 
and  the  Middle  Ages  astrology,  alchemy,  magic,  and  cabalistic 
aits  predominated  ;  all  physical  phenomena  were  ascribed  to  occult 
causes  ;  in  short,  as  Sir  John  Herschel  remarks,  "  If  the  logic  of 
that  gloomy  period  could  be  justly  described  as  <  the  art  of  talking 
un.ntelligibly  on  matters  of  which  we  are  ignorant,'  its  physics 
might,  with  equal  truth,  be  summed  up  in  a  deliberate  preference 


248  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

of  ignorance  to  knowledge  in  matters  of  every  day's  experience 
and  use."  Sometimes,  however,  the  false  arts  served  indirectly  to 
advance  the  true.  Alchemy  led  the  way  to  chemistry,  and  en- 
riched medicine  with  new  remedies,  and  at  least  one  crotchet  of 
scholastic  divinity  may  be  supposed  to  have  done  something  for 
the  progress  of  anatomy ;  for  "  the  skeleton  received,  perhaps,  an 
adventitious  attention  in  consequence  of  the  popular  belief  that,  in 
man,  some  one  particular  bone  existed  of  an  imponderable,  incom- 
bustible, and  indestructible  nature,  around  which,  as  a  nucleus, 
all  other  tissues  and  organs  would  collect  and  re-assume  their 
vital  actions  at  the  resurrection.  Accordingly,  every  bone  was 
tested  by  fire,  for  the  purpose  of  discovering  the  hypothetical  one." 
— Dr.  Meryon's  History  of  Medicine. 

Brief  History  of  Medicine. 

Great  honour  is,  unquestionably,  due  to  those  medical  men  who 
by  their  learning,  counsel,  and  experience,  have  contributed  so  many 
and  great  things  to  the  improvement  of  their  profession.  The  art 
of  healing  may  be  considered  as  a  legacy  left  to  us  by  former  ages 
and  enriched  by  ancient  writers,  and  no  doubt  ordained  by  a  bene- 
volent Creator  for  the  benefit  of  His  creatures,  who,  being  endowed 
Avith  reason,  are  enabled  to  prosecute  Medicine  and  the  collateral 
sciences  with  wonderful  sagacity.  The  impossibility  of  learning 
medicine  properly  by  experience  alone,  implies  the  necessity  of  study, 
ing  both  ancient  and  modern  writers;  but,  in  the  words  ot  Harvey, 
"  men  were  not  to  swear  such  fealty  to  their  mistress  Antiquity, 
as  openly  and  in  sight  of  all  to  deny  and  desert  their  friend  Truth,'1 
Medical  history  unfortunately  affords  many  examples  of  despisers 
of  the  mighty  dead  and  of  eminent  living  authorities.  Paracelsus 
burnt  the  writings  of  Galen  and  Avicenna  before  his  pupils,  and 
proclaimed  himself  the  king  of  medicine.  Hahnemann  much 
resembled  Paracelsus,  for  he  despised  the  inspection  of  dead  bodies, 
and  preferred  the  homoeopathic  doctrine  to  pathology ;  but  both 
had  dared  to  do  <f  aliquid  Gyaris  vel  carcere  dignum."  Hahne- 
mann's  doctrine,  that  numerous  chronic  diseases  originated  in  the 
itch,  was  neither  new,  safe,  nor  true.  Dr.  C.  G.  Zieger  had  many 
years  before  promulgated  the  same  idea  in  a  dissertation  published 
at  Leipsic  in  1 758,  without  boasting,  as  the  other  did,  that  he  was 
engaged  twelve  years  in  the  discoveiy.  False  theories,  however, 
with  scientific  pretensions,  have  flourished  through  many  ages. 
Hence  arose  homoeopathy,  kinesipathy,  table-turning,  and  various 
despicable  "  isms"  of  the  present  day.  But,  happily  for  the  poor, 
at  least,  such  lies  could  not  exist  in  the  schools  of  Harvey,  Baillie, 
and  Hunter.  The  low  condition  of  medicine  at  the  time  of  Linacre, 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH.  249 


and  the  improvement  with  the  aid  of  Henry  VIII.  and  Cardinal 
Wolsey,  may  next  be  mentioned.  Linacre,  the  founder  of  the 
College,  and  Dean  Colet,  the  founder  of  St.  Paul's  School,  of 
grateful  memory  to  the  orator,  were  among  the  first  to  restore 
ancient  learning  to  this  island.  The  College  of  Physicians  having 
been  established,  its  members  were  separated  from  vulgar  empirics; 
but  by  a  new  law  homceo-empirics  may  be  registered,  which  was 
nothing  less  than  legal  homicide,  and  strongly  to  be  protested 
against. — Harveian  Oration,  1863. 

What  has  Science  done  for  Medicine? 

The  practice  of  Medicine  is  full  of  difficulty.  Modern  Science 
has  done  something  to  aid  in  the  diagnosis,  often  the  most  diffi- 
cult part  of  the  physician's  task.  Auscultation  and  the  use  of 
the  microscope  have  substituted  certainty  for  conjecture  in  many 
cases.  But,  for  this  essential  preliminary  of  ascertaining  what  is 
the  matter  with  the  patient,  a  combination  of  faculties  is  often 
needed  which  cannot  be  communicated  in  the  schools.  The  power 
may  be  developed  and  improved  by  use,  and  corrected  by  careful 
observation ;  but  it  is  born  with  certain  men,  and  it  is  not  to  be 
gained  by  teaching  or  study.  Then,  supposing  the  disease  to  be 
ascertained,  it  constantly  happens  that  there  is  little  or  nothing  to 
be  done  that  can  with  any  confidence  be  expected  to  shorten  or 
reduce  the  intensity  of  the  attack.  The  option  lies  between  a 
system  of  slight  palliatives,  almost  or  quite  inoperative,  and  the 
application  of  stronger  remedies  whose  action  is  uncertain.  For- 
tunately, the  effects  of  medicine  in  general  are  far  less  considerable 
than  is  commonly  supposed.  The  statistics  of  hospitals  in  which 
the  most  different  systems  of  treatment  have  been  adopted  do  not, 
indeed,  prove  that  all  the  systems  have  been  equally  good  or  bad; 
but  they  do  show  that  in  many  diseases  there  is  no  known  system 
of  treatment  that  has  any  marked  advantage  over  others.  It  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that,  for  one  case  in  which  the  medicine 
administered  has  been  of  real  use,  there  are  ten  where  the  patients 
would  have  thriven  as  well  or  better  without  it. 

A  further  difficulty  in  medical  practice  has  been  less  noticed  than 
it  deserves  to  be.  All  that  is  known  of  the  effect  of  remedies  is 
the  general  or  average  result  of  a  large  number  of  cases  in  which 
they  have  been  applied.  But  no  two  men  are  exactly  alike  in  the 
manner  of  action  of  their  various  organs.  When  the  chemist  who 
has  once  tried  an  experiment  brings  the  same  substances  together 
under  similar  conditions,  he  is  absolutely  certain  that  they  will 
act  on  each  other  as  they  did  before.  Not  so  is  it  with  the  living 
organism.  The  idiosyncracy  of  each  patient  is  more  or  less  un- 


250  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

known  to  the  physician ;  and  till  the  experiment  has  been  tried, 
he  can  have  no  certainty  as  to  the  result  of  his  treatment.  It  is 
quite  true  that  the  exceptional  cases  that  sometimes  arise  present 
apparent  rather  than  real  anomalies.  There  is  no  reason  to  sup- 
pose that  the  laws  of  physics  have  been  suspended  by  an  inde- 
pendent disturbing  power  when  a  drug  produces  on  a  particular 
patient  an  unusual  effect.  The  conditions  of  the  experiment  have 
doubtless  been  changed  by  some  peculiarity  in  his  organization, 
which  the  present  means  of  science  are  powerless  to  detect. 

The  main  cause  why  medicine  is  still  so  little  advanced  is  to  be 
found  in  the  backward  condition  of  the  science  on  which  it  mainly 
rests.  Physiology,  including  pathology — the  first  taking  cognizance 
of  all  the  vital  functions  of  organized  beings,  the  second  of  the 
disturbance  of  those  functions  by  disease — is  far  from  maintaining 
its  place  in  the  general  march  of  physical  science. — Saturday 
Review. 

The  Element  of  Physic  in  Medical  Practice. 

The  Element  of  Physic  in  Medical  Practice  becomes  con- 
stantly more  simple.  Our  drugs  are  fewer  and  less  complicated.* 
Of  course  it  is  all  otherwise  in  pseudo-medicine.  Here"  specifics" 
are  as  rank  as  weeds.  Here  little  account  is  taken  of  natural 
provisions  for  the  cure  of  disease.  Here  physic  is  everything,  and 
nature  and  the  physician  are  unimportant.  Given  the  symptoms 
of  a  disease  and  a  book  of  "  testings,"  every  old  lady  thinks  herself 
as  competent  a  physician  as  Hahnemann.  Every  disease  and 
symptom  of  disease  has  its  corresponding  remedy,  or  rather  we 
should  say  two  remedies,  for  it  will  nearly  always  be  found  that 
homoeopathic  patients  take  two  medicines,  in  equal  doses  and 
with  equal  frequency.  Homoeopathy  abounds  in  principles.  Its 
great  principle  is  that  of  "  specifics" — that  certain  medicines  have 
the  most  definite  and  designed  relation  to  certain  ailments — are 
the  thing  and  the  only  thing.  Then  there  is  what  we  may  call  the 
alternating  principle,  in  virtue  of  which  two  medicines — each,  we 
suppose,  a  specific  ! — are  so  much  better  than  one.  Upon  these 
two  principles  the  enlightened  patron  of  homoeopathy  is  made  the 
receptacle  of  a  most  unprincipled  amount  of  physic.  We  con- 
clude by  impressing  upon  our  brethren  who  are  studying  medi- 
cine in  the  light  of  reason  and  science,  the  urgency  of  the  duty 

*  Many  years  since,  the  writer  heard  Sir  Lucas  Pepys,  (some  time  Pre- 
sident of  the  College  of  Physicians,)  inquire  of  a  druggist  at  Dorking  what 
use  he  could  possibly  make  of  the  many  drugs  in  his  shop  ;  "  for,"  added  Sir 
Lucas,  "  I  have  only  used  five  or  six  articles  in  all  my  practice." — J.  T. 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH.  251 

that  devolves  upon  them  of  so  using  the  element  of  physic  in 
medical  practice  as  to  make  more  and  more  apparent  the  great 
gulf  that  is  fixed  between  their  practice  and  the  rival  quackeries 
of  the  day.  Let  them  use  medicine  so  that  the  most  undiscerning 
patient  will  perceive  that  it  is  only  one  of  many  means  to  an  end, 
auxiliary  only  to  great  provisions  in  the  body  itself,  and  for  the 
most  part  acting,  not  mysteriously,  like  quinine,  but  sensibly  or 
chemically.  Let  the  form  of  their  drugs  be  unpretentious  and 
inexpensive,  so  that  whatever  the  cost  to  the  patient  may  be,  he 
may  understand  that  he  pays,  not  for  physic,  but  for  the  attention, 
the  skill,  and  the  judgment,  of  the  physician. — Lancet. 

Physicians*  Fees. 

In  the  Court  of  Exchequer  in  January,  1863,  in  an  action 
brought  by  a  physician  to  recover  2i/.  for  services  rendered  to  a 
patient,  it  was  contended  that  as  there  was  no  special  promise  to 
pay,  the  plaintiffcould  not  recover.  Such  was  the  state  of  the  law 
formerly,  physicians  being  presumed  to  attend  for  an  honorarium  ; 
but  an  Act  was  passed  to  enable  registered  physicians  and  surgeons 
to  recover  their  reasonable  charges,  subject  to  such  bye-laws  as 
might  be  passed  by  the  College  of  Physicians.  The  latter  body, 
however,  it  appears,  have  thwarted  the  intention  of  the  Legislature 
by  enacting  that  physicians  shall  not  recover,  even  though  a  con- 
tract existed ;  the  object,  it  seems,  being  to  make  the  payment  of 
physicians'  fees  immediate,  and  to  discourage  credit.  A  verdict 
was  found  for  the  plaintiff  leave  being  granted  to  move  the  Court 
above  on  the  construction  of  the  Medical  Act. 

Attention  has  been  called  to  the  careless  manner  in  which  consulting 
physicians  write  their  prescriptions  ;  more  especially  as  regards  the  dose,  the 
drachm  often  resembling  the  ounce,  and  the  writing  so  generally  blotted  and 
crabbed  that  the  dispensers  are  often  obliged  to  make  guesses,  with  very  little 
light  to  guide  them  to  a  right  conclusion.  The  blame,  whenever  a  mistake 
occurs,  is  always  attached  to  the  chemist  or  assistant,  without  considering 
the  anxiety  and  trouble  they  have  in  deciphering  writing  worse  than  falls 
to  the  lot  of  a  post-office  master.  The  public  have  often  ridiculed  the 
style  of  physicians'  prescriptions,  but  will  be  unable  to  joke  when  a  mistake 
more  serious  than  usual  occurs. 

Prevention  of  Pitting  in  Small-pox. 

This  desirable  end  is  stated  to  have  been  attained  in  the  clinical 
wards  of  the  Royal  Infirmary  at  Edinburgh.  The  application 
consists  of  a  solution  of  india-rubber  in  chloroform,  which  is 
painted  over  the  face  (and  neck  in  women)  when  the  eruption 


252  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

has  become  fully  developed.  When  the  chloroform  has  evapo- 
rated, which  it  very  readily  does,  there  is  left  a  thin  elastic  film 
of  india-rubber  over  the  face.  This  the  patient  feels  to  be  rather 
comfortable  than  otherwise,  inasmuch  as  the  disagreeable  itchiness, 
so  generally  complained  of,  is  almost  entirely  removed,  and,  what 
is  more  important,  "  pitting''  once  so  common,  and  even  now  far 
from  rare,  is  thoroughly  prevented  wherever  the  solution  has 
been  applied.  It  may  be  as  well  to  state  that  india-rubber  is  far 
from  being  very  soluble  in  chloroform ;  so  that,  in  making  the 
solution,  the  india-rubber  must  be  cut  into  small  pieces,  and  chlo- 
roform added  till  it  is  dissolved.  The  medical  gentleman  who 
has  introduced  this  treatment  has  tried  several  other  substances, 
but  found  none  so  generally  useful.  For  instance,  gutta-percha 
was  tried.  It  has  the  advantage  of  being  very  soluble  in  chloro- 
form, and  would  have  been  a  very  admirable  application  but  for 
the  tendency  it  has  to  tear  into  ribands  whenever  the  mouth  is 
used,  or  even  when  the  features  play.  India-rubber,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  pliable  and  elastic,  allowing  free  use  of  the  mouth  with- 
out any  danger  (as  a  rule)  of  its  tearing  off.  If,  however,  from 
some  cause  or  other,  a  portion  is  torn  off,  a  fresh  application  of 
the  solution  by  means  of  a  large  hair-pencil  remedies  the  defect, 
and  the  mask  is  once  more  complete.  Several  patients  who  have 
had  this  india-rubber  mask  applied  concur  in  stating  that  they 
found  it  agreeable  to  wear,  and  their  faces  were  perfectly  free  from 
u  pitting,"  although  other  parts  of  the  body,  such  as  the  arms, 
were  covered.  The  credit  of  this  valuable  invention  and  applica- 
tion belongs  to  Dr.  Smart,  house  physician  to  the  Infirmary. 

Underneath  the  Skin. 

All  over  the  surface  of  our  bodies  there  are  scattered  millions 
of  minute  orifices,  which  open  into  the  delicate  convoluted  tubes 
lying  underneath  the  Skin,  and  are  called  by  anatomists  sudori- 
parous glands.  Each  of  these  tubes,  when  straightened,  measures 
about  a  quarter  of  an  inch;  and  as,  according  to  Erasmus 
Wilson,  whose  figures  we  follow,  there  are  3528  of  these  tubes 
on  every  square  inch  of  the  palm  of  the  hand,  there  must  be  no 
less  than  882  inches  of  tubing  on  such  a  square  inch.  In  some 
parts  of  the  body  the  number  of  tubes  is  even  greater :  in  most 
parts  it  is  less.  Erasmus  Wilson  estimates  that  there  are  2800  on 
every  square  inch,  on  the  average ;  and,  as  the  total  number  of 
such  inches  is  2500,  we  arrive  at  the  astounding  result  that,  spread 
over  the  surface  of  the  body,  there  are  not  less  than  twenty-eight 
miles  of  tubing,  by  means  of  which  liquid  may  be  secreted,  and 
given  off  as  vapour  in  insensible  perspiration,  or  as  water  in  sensible 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH.  253 

perspiration.  In  the  ordinary  circumstances  of  daily  life  the 
amount  of  fluid  which  is  thus  given  off  from  the  skin  (and  lungs) 
during  the  twenty-four  hours  varies  from  iflb.  to5lb. ;  under 
extraordinary  circumstances  the  amount  will,  of  course,  rise  enor- 
mously. Dr.  Southwood  Smith  found  that  the  workmen  in  the 
gasworks  employed  in  making  up  the  fires,  and  other  occupations 
which  subjected  them  to  great  heat,  lost  on  an  average  3lb.  6  oz. 
in  forty-five  minutes ;  and  when  working  for  seventy  minutes  in 
an  unusually  hot  place  their  loss  was  5  Ib.  2  oz.,  and  4  Ib.  14  oz. 
— Blackiuood 's  Magazine. 

Relations  of  Mind  and  Organization. 

We  may  safely  assume,  as  an  established  fact,  that  it  is  only 
through  the  instrumentality  of  the  central  parts  of  the  nervous 
system  that  the  Mind  maintains  its  communication  with  the  ex- 
ternal world.  The  eye  is  necessary  to  sight,  and  the  ear  to  hear- 
ing ;  and  so  with  the  other  organs  of  sense.  But  the  eye  does 
not  see,  and  the  ear  does  not  hear ;  and  if  the  nerve  which  forms 
the  communication  between  any  one  organ  of  sense  and  the 
brain  be  divided,  the  corresponding  sense  is  destroyed.  In  like 
manner  it  is  from  the  brain  that  all  those  impulses  proceed  by 
which  the  mind  influences  the  phenomena  of  the  external  world. 
The  division  of  the  nerves  which  extend  from  the  brain  to  the  larynx 
destroys  the  voice.  The  division  of  the  nerves  of  a  limb  causes  the 
muscles  of  the  limb  to  be  paralysed,  or,  in  other  words,  withdraws 
them  from  the  influence  of  the  v/ill ;  the  division  of  the  spinal  cord 
destroys  at  once  the  sensibility  and  the  power  of  voluntai  y  motion 
in  all  the  parts  below  that  at  which  the  division  has  been  made. 

The  brain  has  a  central  organ,  which  is  a  continuation  of  the 
spinal  cord,  and  to  which  anatomists  have  given  the  name  of 
medulla  oblongata.  In  connexion  with  this  there  are  other  bodies 
placed  in  pairs.  That  each  of  these  bodies  has  its  peculiar  functions 
there  cannot  be  the  smallest  doubt ;  and  it  is,  indeed,  sufficiently 
probable  that  each  of  them  is  not  a  single  organ,  but  a  congeries 
of  organs  having  distinct  and  separate  uses. 

Experimental  physiology,  joined  with  the  observation  of  the 
changes  produced  by  disease,  has  thrown  some  light  on  this 
mysterious  subject.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that,  whatever  it- 
may  do  besides,  one  office  of  the  cerebellum  is  to  combine  the 
action  of  the  voluntary  muscles  for  the  purpose  of  locomotion. 
The  corpora  quadrigemina  are  four  tubercles  which  connect  the 
cerebrum y  cerebellum,  and  medulla  oblongata  to  each  other.  If  one 
of  the  uppermost  of  these  bodies  be  removed,  blindness  of  the 
eye  of  the  opposite  side  is  the  consequence.  If  the  upper  part  ot 


254  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

the  cerebrum  be  removed,  the  animal  becomes  blind,  and  appa- 
rently stupified,  but  not  so  much  so  but  that  he  can  walk  with 
steadiness  and  precision.  The  most  important  part  of  the  whole 
brain  seems  to  be  one  particular  part  of  the  central  organ,  or 
medulla  oblongata.  While  this  remains  entire,  the  animal  retains 
its  sensibility,  breathes,  and  performs  instinctive  motions.  But  if 
this  very  minute  portion  of  the  nervous  system  be  injured,  there 
is  an  end  of  these  several  functions,  and  death  immediately 
ensues. 

These  facts,  and  some  others  of  the  same  kind,  for  a  know- 
ledge of  which  we  are  indebted  to  modern  physiologists,  and 
more  especially  to  M.  Magendie  and  M.  Flourens,  are  satisfac- 
tory as  far  as  they  go ;  and  warrant  the  conclusion  that  there  are 
various  other  organs  in  the  brain,  designed  for  other  purposes,  and 
that  if  we  cannot  point  out  their  locality,  it  is  not  because  such 
organs  do  not  exist,  but  because  our  means  of  research  into  so 
intricate  a  matter  are  very  limited. — Sir  jB*  Brodie's  Psychological; 
Inquiries. 

Devi  lie,  the  Phrenologist. 

In  1817  a  Mr.  Deville,  a  lamp-manufacturer  of  London,  was 
a  member  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Fingineers.  He  had  been 
originally  a  pot-boy,  then  a  journeyman  plasterer,  and  afterwards 
kept  a  shop  for  the  sale  of  plaster  figures,  which  he  cast.  He 
had  risen  to  a  respectable  position  simply  by  the  force  of  his 
natural  powers.  Mr.  Bryan  Donkin,  .a  civil  engineer,  was  an 
early  auditor  of  Gall  at  Vienna,  and  subsequently  a  friend  of 
Spurzheim.  He  was  also,  like  Mr.  Deville,  a  member  of  the 
Institution  of  Civil  Engineers ;  and.  when,  in  1817,  he  with  others 
determined  to  make  a  collection  of  casts  as  records  of  phreno- 
logical facts,  Mr.  Deville  was  applied  to  for  his  assistance,  which 
he  rendered  as  a  matter  of  business  for  three  or  four  years.  In 
1821  he  became  interested  in  phrenology,  and  began  to  form  a 
collection  of  casts  on  his  own  account.  Already,  in  1826,  Spurz- 
heim said  it  was  finer  than  any  he  had  seen  elsewhere.  At  Mr. 
Deville's  death,  in  1846,  this  collection  consisted  of  about  5450 
pieces ;  of  these  3000  were  crania  of  animals,  and  the  remainder 
(2450)  illustrations  of  human  phrenology.  There  were  200  human 
crania,  and  300  casts  of  crania ;  amongst  the  latter,  those  which 
Baron  Cuvier  permitted  Mr.  Deville  to  take  from  all  the  authenti- 
cated human  skulls  in  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Anatomy  of 
Paris.  Mr.  Deville  was  a  practical  observer,  and  possessed  the 
large  number  of  1500  casts  of  heads  taken  by  himself  from 
persons  while  living.  Amongst  these  were  50  casts  of  persons 
remarkably  devoted  to  religion:  40  of  distinguished  painters, 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH.  255 

sculptors,  architects,  &c. ;  30  of  eminent  navigators  and  tra- 
vellers; 80  of  poets,  authors,  and  writers;  70  of  musicians, 
amateurs,  and  composers  of  music;  25  of  pugilists;  150  of 
criminals;  120  pathological  casts  illustrative  of  insanity,  £c. 
Perhaps  the  most  interesting  of  all  are  170  casts  which  illustrate 
the  changes  caused  in  the  cranial  conformation  of  from  60  to  70 
individuals  by  age,  special  devotion  to  one  pursuit,  and  the  like. 
Mr.  Deville's  account  of  some  of  these  has  been  published. 

"  Seeing  is  believing." 

Supreme  disregard  of  the  accuracy  of  the  facts  on  which  its 
conclusions  are  based,  is  one  of  the  marks  of  an  uncultivated 
intellect.  It  is  a  part  of  the  credulousness  continued  from  child- 
hood ;  and  is  seen  in  the  acceptance,  without  misgiving,  of  any 
statement  of  facts  which  is  made  confidently,  and  without  obvious 
motive  for  deceit.  Not  only  in  matters  of  science,  but  in  matters 
of  daily  life,  is  this  credulity  observed.  You  cannot  step  into  an 
omnibus,  or  chat  with  an  acquaintance  at  the  club,  without  hear- 
ing distinct,  positive,  and  important  statements  respecting  the 
intentions  of  public  men, — statements  involving  their  personal 
honour,  perhaps  the  national  safety,  and  uttered  with  an  air  of 
conviction  which  would  be  ludicrous  were  it  not  so  sad ;  yet  if 
you  happen  to  ask  on  what  evidence  the  speaker  relies,  you  find 
perhaps  that  there  is  nothing  better  than  surmise  or  gossip. 

The  object  of  the  foregoing  remarks  is  to  show  how  easily  an 
inference  may  be  mistaken  for  a  fact,  and  how  habitually  men 
declare  they  have  seen  what  they  have  only  inferred.  Seeing  is, 
in  all  cases,  believing ;  but  in  all  cases  we  must  assure  ourselves  of 
(what  we  have  seen,  carefully  discriminating  it  from  what  we  have 
not  seen  but  only  imagined,  and  carefully  ascertaining  whether 
the  facts  seen  by  us  are  all  the  facts  then  present.  It  is  by  no 
means  easy  to  see  accurately  any  series  of  events;  nor,  when  under 
any  strong  emotion,  is  it  easy  to  prevent  the  imagination  from 
usurping  the  place  of  vision.  "  Many  individuals,"  says  Liebig, 
"  overlook  half  the  event  through  carelessness ;  another  adds  to 
what  he  observes  the  creation  of  his  own  imagination ;  whilst  a 
third,  who  sees  sufficiently  distinctly  the  different  parts  of  the 
whole,  confounds  together  things  which  ought  to  be  kept  separate. 
In  the  Gorlitz  trial,  in  Darmstadt,  the  female  attendants  who 
washed  and  clothed  the  body,  observed  on  it  neither  arms  nor 
head;  another  witness  saw  one  arm,  and  a  head  the  size  of  a 
man's  fist;  a  third,  a  physician,  saw  both  arms  and  head  of  the 
usual  size."*  

*  Liebig  :  Letters  on  Chemistry,  p.  28. 


250  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

There  is  no  popular  adage  less  understood  than  that  u  Seeing  is 
believing."  With  an  ill- suppressed  irritation  at  any  expression 
of  scepticism  respecting  things  said  to  have  been  seen,  a  narrator 
asks  whether  or  not  he  may  believe  the  evidence  of  his  own  senses  ? 
That  argument  seems  to  him  final ;  and  it  often  happens  that  his 
opponent,  evading  instead  of  meeting  it,  retorts : — "  No ;  the 
evidence  of  the  senses  is  not  to  be  trusted,  when  they  report  any- 
thing so  absurd  as  that.  I  would  not  believe  such  a  thing  if  I 
were  to  see  it — the  absurdity  is  too  glaring." 

Both  are  wrong.  Seeing  is  believing;  and  he  that  distrusts 
the  evidence  of  his  own  sight,  will  find  a  difficulty  in  bringing 
forward  evidence  more  convincing.  The  fallacy  lies  in  con- 
founding vision  with  inference — in  supposing  that  facts  are  seen 
which  are  only  inferred.  There  can  be  no  mistake  in  trusting  to 
the  evidence  of  sense,  as  far  as  that  goes.  The  mistake  is 
supposing  it  to  go  much  further  than  it  does.  It  is  one  thing  to 
believe  what  you  have  seen,  and  another  to  believe  that  you  have 
seen  all  there  was  to  be  seen. — Blackwoo&s  Magazine. 

Causes  of  Insanity. 

From  an  interesting  Report  on  Lunatic  Asylums  in  Ireland, 
issued  in  1862,  we  find  that  the  moral  Causes  of  Insanity  predo- 
minate in  females,  the  physical  causes  to  a  larger  extent  in  males, 
particularly  intemperance  and  irregularity  of  life.  The  cause  of 
disease  was  ascertained  in  2186  cases :  in  323  it  was  intemperance 
and  irregularity;  in  183,  religious  excitement;  in  115,  love, 
jealousy,  and  seduction.  Thirty-seven  per  cent,  of  the  cases  were 
ascribable  to  hereditary  transmission  and  intemperance  combined. 
W  ith  regard  to  the  hereditary  character  of  insanity,  it  is  observed 
that  mental,  like  bodily  affections,  gradually  wear  out  from  the 
intermixture  of  blood.  There  was  no  case  found  in  Ireland  in 
unbroken  descent  to  the  fourth  generation.  On  the  important 
question  whether  insanity  is  on  the  increase,  there  is  no  certain 
proof  furnished.  We  know  that,  with  fresh  accommodation  for 
the  insane,  fresh,  though  long-existing  cases,  are  presented  for 
admission  into  asylums,  creating  an  apparent  increase  of  lunacy ; 
and  we  know  that  improved  treatment  and  care  have  tended 
materially  to  the  prolongation  of  life  among  lunatics,  and  to  their 
consequent  accumulation.  We  know  also  that  science,  and  even 
public  opinion,  now  accept  as  indicative  of  lunacy  affections  for- 
merly classed  under  a  different  category.  Lunacy,  also,  is  now 
less  concealed  as  a  discreditable  visitation.  Emigration  has  not 
taken  its  proportion  of  lunatics.  But,  insanity  being  in  great 
measure  a  disease  of  intellect— one  connected  with  the  develop- 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH.  257 

ment  of  the  human  mind — it  is  highly  presumable  that,  in  this 
age  of  excitement  and  rapid  advancement  in  arts  and  sciences, 
mental  affections  may  be  more  prevalent  than  before.  In  a 
northern  district  of  Ireland,  during  the  two  months  of  religious 
revivalism,  there  were  more  cases  of  insanity  than  in  the  whole 
preceding  year. 

Brain-Disease. 

Dr.  Forbes  Winslow,  whose  professional  life  has  been  devoted 
to  the  study  of  Insanity,  in  his  work  On  Obscure  Diseases  of  the 
Brain,  and  Disorders  of  the  Mind,  attaches  much  importance  to 
premonitory  ailments,  as  indicative  not  only  of  the  fatal  mischief 
which  will  inevitably  succeed  them  if  neglected,  but  of  the  only 
period  when  remedies  can  be  applied  with  a  fair  chance  of  cure. 
This  period  it  is  difficult  even  to  the  medical  expert  to  detect,  for 
the  aversion  to  own  any  affection  of  the  mind  or  weakness  of  the 
head  is  so  strong,  that  both  patient  and  friends  will  often  repu- 
diate and  ignore  it  altogether ;  yet  there  are  unmistakeable  signs, 
such  as  "  headache  attributed  to  derangement  of  the  stomach, 
vacillation  of  temper,  feebleness  of  purpose,  Mightiness  of  manner, 
irritability,  inaptitude  for  business,  depression  and  exaltation  of 
spirits ;  and  even  weakness  of  sight,  when  the  optician  has  been 
consulted  rather  than  the  physician."  None  of  these  signs,  if 
caused  by  Brain  Disease,  can  exist,  says  Dr.  Winslow,  for  any 
length  of  time  without  seriously  perilling  the  reason  and  endan- 
gering life :  yet  "  it  is  a  well-established  fact  that  seventy,  if 
not  eighty,  per  cent,  of  cases  ot  insanity  admit  of  easy  and  speedy 
cure  if  treated  in  the  early  stage,  provided  there  be  no  strong 
constitutional  predisposition  to  cerebral  and  mental  affections,  or 
existing  cranial  malformation.  And,  even  when  an  hereditary 
taint  exists,  derangement  of  mind  generally  yields  to  the  steady  and 
persevering  administration  of  remedies,  combined  with  judicious 
moral  measures,  provided  the  first  inclinations  of  the  malady  are 
fully  recognised,  and  without  loss  of  time  grappled  with.  A  vast 
and  frightful  amount  of  chronic  and  incurable  insanity  exists  at 
this  moment  in  our  county  and  private  as  lums,  which  can  be 
clearly  traced  to  the  criminal  neglect  of  the  cLsease  in  the  first  or 
iricpient  stage." 

Dr.  Winslow  insists  upon  the  great  importance  of  self-control 
as  a  preventive.  He  says :  "  This  power  is  in  many  instances 
weakened  or  altogether  lost  by  a  voluntary  and  criminal  indul- 
gence in  a  train  of  thought  which  it  was  the  duty  of  the  individual 
in  the^frv/  instance  resolutely  to  battle  with,  control,  and  subdue. 
Nervous  disorders,  as  well  as  insane,  delusive  thoughts,  are  thus 
often  selt-created.  The  morbid  soon  becomes  a  deranged  mind- 


258  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

the  insanity  manifesting  itself  in  an  exaggerated,  extravagant,  and 
perverted  conception  of  a  notion  which  had  originally  some 
semblance  of  truth  for  its  foundation.  The  self-created,  delusive 
idea  may  thus  obtain  a  fearful  influence  over  the  mind,  and 
eventually  lead  to  the  commission  of  criminal  acts."  The  forced 
education  of  youth  frequently  leads  to  mental  alienation.  "  It  is," 
says  Dr.  Winslow,  "  undoubtedly  an  important  element  in  edu- 
cation to  carefully,  steadily  invigorate  and  discipline  the  memory 
in  early  life  ;  but,  in  effecting  this  most  desirable  object,  it  is  our 
duty  to  avoid  mistaking  natural  mental  dulness  for  culpable  idle- 
ness, and  organic  cerebral  incapacity  for  criminal  indifference  to 
intellectual  culture  and  educational  advancement."  Again,  the 
tremendous  strain  that  now  taxes  the  brain-power  of  society  in 
every  direction,  is  an  additional  reason  why  the  voice  of  this 
minister  to  the  mind  diseased  should  be  listened  to  in  time :  in 
the  statistics  of  insanity  the  terrible  fact  is  admitted,  that  there  is 
an  absolute  increase  of  madness  throughout  Europe  and  America. 
Dr.  Winslow  has  assembled  some  very  interesting  instances  of 
retention  of  the  vigour  of  the  mind  in  old  age,  and  arrived  at, 
inter  alia,  these  conclusions:  "  i.  That  an  active  and  vigorous 
condition  of  the  mental  faculties  is  compatible  with  old  age. 
2.  That  a  continuous  and  often  laborious  exercise  of  the  mind  is 
not  only  consistent  with  a  state  of  mental  health,  but  is  apparently 
productive  of  longevity."  It  is  indeed  particularly  satisfactory  to 
be  told  that  even  in  the  worst  types  of  mental  disease  there  are 
some  salient  and  bright  spots  upon  which  the  physician  may  act ; 
and  that  formidable  and  apparently  hopeless  and  incurable  cases 
of  derangement  admit,  it  not  of  cure,  at  least  of  considerable 
alleviation  and  mitigation. 

The  Half-mad. 

The  Commissioners  in  Lunacy  have  reason  to  know  that  there 
are  many,  not  insane,  but  who,  being  conscious  of  a  want  of  power 
of  self-control,  or  of  addiction  to  intemperate  habits,  or  fearing  an 
attack  or  a  recurrence  of  mental  malady,  but  being  in  all  respects 
free  agents,  may  be  desirous  of  residing  as  voluntary  boarders  in 
an  institution  for  the  care  and  treatment  of  persons  of  unsound 
mind,  submitting  to  a  modified  control,  and  conforming  to  the 
general  regulations  of  the  hospital.  There  is  not  in  the  statutes 
for  the  regulation  of  registered  hospitals  any  prohibition  on  such 
persons  being  admitted  as  inmates  on  the  terms  above  suggested ; 
provided  they  contract  alone,  or  jointly  with  others,  to  conform 
to  certain  regulations  expressed  or  referred  to. 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH.  259 

Motives  for  Suicide. 

In  the  Westminster  Review,  New  Series,  No.  23,  we  find  this 
suggestive  return : 

In  the  year  1851,  there  were  3598  suicides  recorded  in  France,  to  each 
of  which  the  presumed  motive  was  affixed.  Out  of  these  no  less  than  800 
are  set  down  to  mental  alienation  ;  and  to  that  number  we  should  add  70 
cases  of  monomania,  39  of  cerebral  fever,  and  54  of  idiocy — all  ranking 
under  the  general  head  of  uncontrollableness — which  will  make  a  total  of 
963,  or  more  than  a  fourth  of  the  whole  cases.  If  we  now  examine  the 
remaining  cases,  we  find  "  domestic  quarrels"  next  in  amount,  being  no  less 
than  385  j  while  grief  for  the  loss  of  children  amounts  to  only  46,  grief  at 
their  ingratitude  or  bad  conduct,  1 6  ;  sudden  anger,  only  I.  Next  in  im- 
portance to  domestic  quarrels  is  the  desire  to  escape  from  physical  suffering  : 
these  amount  to  313.  Debt  and  embarrassment  rank  next — 203.  Want, 
and  the  fear  of  want,  179.  Disgust  at  life — which  may  properly  be  called 
low  spirits — stands  high — 166  ;  shame  and  remorse,  very  low,  only  7. 
Thwarted  love  shows  only  91,  and  jealousy,  25.  Losses  at  play,  6  j  loss  of 
employment,  25. 

Fallacious  as  all  such  figures  must  necessarily  be,  from  the  impossibility  of 
always  assigning  the  real  motive  to  the  act,  they  point  with  sufficient  dis- 
tinctness to  certain  general  conclusions  : — First,  that  insanity  is  the  origin 
of  by  far  the  largest  proportion  of  cases  ;  secondly,  that,  except  the  dread 
of  physical  suffering,  the  other  large  proportions  are  all  of  cases  which  be- 
long to  the  deliberative  kind.  In  literature  it  is  always  passion,  and  pas- 
sion of  vehement  sudden  afflux,  which  determines  suicide  :  the  agonies  of 
despair  or  jealousy,  the  arrowy  pangs  of  remorse,  or  the  dread  apprehension 
of  shame,  are  the  only  motives  which  the  dramatist  or  novelist  ever  con- 
ceives. 

Remedy  for  Poisoning. 

Pouring  cold  water  on  the  face  and  head  appears  to  be  a  good 
remedy  in  case  of  poisoning  by  narcotics.  A  young  woman  acci- 
dentally swallowed  six  drachms  of  a  mixture  of  laudanum  and 
chloroform  with  some  hydrocyanic  acid  in  it.  She  immediately 
vomited  a  portion  of  the  liquid,  and  then  fell  down  in  a  state  of 
coma.  Professor  Harley  being  called  in,  he  administered  hot 
coffee  and  nitric  ether,  and  proceeded  to  effect  artificial  respiration. 
No  great  improvement  was  perceptible,  but  on  the  application  of 
cold  water  to  the  forehead  the  effect  was  magical.  The  patient 
began  to  breathe  more  freely,  and  she  lost  some  blood  from  the 
nose.  As  soon  as  the  affusion  of  cold  water  ceased,  the  coma 
returned,  and  was  again  removed  by  renewing  the  affusion ;  the 
patient  soon  moved  her  arms  and  legs,  and  seemed  anxious  to 
avoid  the  stream  of  water,  as  if  it  caused  her  pain.  This  treat- 

s  2 


KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


ment  was  renewed  at  intervals  until  the  following  day,  and  after 
the  lapse  of  sixty  hours  all  distressing  symptoms  disappeared 
completely. 

New  Remedy  for  Wounds. 

The  Antwerp  Journal  states  that  perchloride  of  iron  combined 
with  collodion  is  a  good  haemostatic  in  the  case  of  wounds,  the 
bites  of  leeches,  &c.  To  prepare  it,  one  part  of  crystallized  per- 
chloride of  iron  is  mixed  with  six  parts  of  collodion.  The  per- 
chloride of  iron  should  be  added  gradually  and  with  care,  otherwise 
such  a  quantity  of  heat  will  be  generated  as  to  cause  the  collodion 
to  boil.  The  composition,  when  well  made,  is  of  a  yellowish  red, 
perfectly  limpid,  and  produces  on  the  skin  a  yellow  pellicle,  which 
retains  great  elasticity. 

Compensation  for  Wounds. 

The  Regulations  under  which  pensions  and  allowances  are 
granted  to  officers  of  the  Army  were  revised  by  a  Royal  Warrant 
issued  towards  the  close  of  1860.  The  loss  of  an  eye  or  limb 
from  injury  received  in  action  will  be  compensated  by  a  gratuity 
in  money  of  one  year's  full  pay  of  his  then  rank  or  staff  appoint- 
ment. He  may  be  recommended  for  a  pension  also,  at  a  rate 
varying  from  ^.oo/.  for  a  lieutenant-general,  to  5o/.  for  a  cornet ; 
and  if  more  than  one  eye  or  limb  be  lost,  he  may  be  recommended 
for  a  pension  for  each.  For  minor  injuries,  "  not  nearly  equal  to 
the  loss  of  a  limb,"  he  may  receive  a  gratuity  varying  from  three 
to  twelve  months  of  his  then  pay.  If  the  injury  shall  be  so 
diminished  as  to  be  "  not  nearly  equal  to  the  loss  of  a  limb,"  at 
the  end  of  five  years,  during  which  the  claimant  must  be  twice 
examined  by  a  medical  board,  the  pension  will  then  be  permanent, 
otherwise  it  will  cease.  No  pension  or  gratuity  for  these  causes 
will  be  granted  unless  the  actual  loss  shall  have  occurred  within 
five  years  after  the  wound  or  injury  was  received.  This  scale  of 
compensation  is  more  liberal  than  by  the  previously  existing 
custom. — Lancet,  1860. 

The  Best  Physician. 

What  chiefly  characterizes  the  most  eminent  physicians,  and 
gives  them  their  real  superiority,  is  not  so  much  the  extent  of  their 
theoretical  knowledge — though  that,  too,  is  often  considerable — 
but  it  is  that  fine  and  delicate  perception  which  they  owe,  partly 
to  experience,  and  partly  to  a  natural  quickness  in  detecting  ana- 
logies and  differences  which  escape  ordinary  observers.  The  pro- 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH.  "261 

cess  which  they  follow,  is  one  of  rapid,  and,  in  some  degree,  un- 
conscious, induction.  And  this  is  the  reason  why  the  greatest 
physiologists  and  chemists,  which  the  medical  profession  pos- 
sesses, are  not,  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  best  curers  of  disease. 
If  medicine  were  a  science,  they  would  always  be  the  best.  But 
medicine  being  still  essentially  an  art,  depends  mainly  upon  quali- 
ties which  each  practitioner  has  to  acquire  for  himself,  and  which 
no  scientific  theory  can  teach.  The  time  for  a  general  theory  has 
not  yet  come,  and  probably  many  generations  will  have  to  elapse 
before  it  does  come.  To  suppose,  therefore,  that  a  theory  of 
disease  should,  as  a  matter  of  education,  precede  the  treatment 
of  disease,  is  not  only  practically  dangerous  but  logically  false. — 
Buckle's  History  of  Civilization,  vol.  ii. 

In  1857,  Sir  John  Forbes,  M.D.,  after  fifty  years  of  profes- 
sional experience,  left,  as  a  legacy  to  his  successors,  the  emphatic 
avowal,  that  Nature  is,  after  all,  the  real  physician — since,  how- 
ever human  ingenuity  may  devise  means  of  alleviation  and  accele- 
ration, it  is  Nature  and  not  Art  which  cures  all  curable  diseases. 
Sir  John  is,  however,  far  from  implying  that  the  art  of  medicine  is 
without  its  use  and  importance,  especially  in  preventing  disease  ; 
but  he  wishes  attention  to  be  more  sedulously  fixed  upon  the 
degree  to  which  nature  can  be  left  entirely  to  herself,  in  order  that 
we  might  know  how,  and  to  what  extent,  art  may  with  advantage 
interfere.  There  are  many  cases  in  which  nature,  left  to  herself, 
will  infallibly  kill  her  patient — say,  for  instance,  in  a  case  of  poi- 
soning— whereas  the  application  of  a  stomach-pump,  or  a  che- 
mical reagent,  arrests  the  evil  at  once. 

Sir  John  Forbes  invites  his  brethren  to  collect  and  classify  the 
evidence  which  shows  how  nature  cures  disease ;  and  the  preju- 
dices which  hamper  the  physician,  he  indicates  in  the  following 
enumeration  of  current  delusions : 

1.  Ignorance  of  the  natural  course  and  progress  of  diseases  which  are 
essentially  slow  and  not  to  be  altered  by  any  artificial  means,  often  leads  the 
friends  of  the  patient  to  be  urgent  with  the  medical  attendant  to  employ 
more  powerful  measures,  or  at  least  to  change  the  means  used,  to  give  more 
frequent  or  more  powerful  doses,  &c. 

2.  Ignorance  of  the  power  of  Nature  to  cure  diseases,  and  an  undue  esti- 
mate of  the  power  of  medicines  to  do  so,  sometimes  almost  compel  practi- 
tioners to  prescribe  remedies  when  they  are  either  useless  or  injurious. 

3.  The  same  ignorance  not  seldom  occasions  dissatisfaction  with,  and 
loss  of  confidence  in,  those  practitioners  who,  from  conscientious  motives, 
and  on  the  justest  grounds  of  Art,  refrain  from  having  recourse  to  measures 
of  undue  activity,  or  from  prescribing  medicines  unnecessarily}  and  leads  to 
the  countenance  and  employment  of  men  who  have  obtained  the  reputation 
of  greater  activity  and  boldness,  through  their  very  ignorance  of  the  true 
character  and  requirements  of  their  art. 


262  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

4.  It  is  the  same  state  of  mind  that  leads  the  public  generally  to  give  ear 
to  the  most  ridiculous  promises  of  charlatans :  also  to  run  after  the  pro- 
fessors and   practisers   of  doctrines   utterly  absurd   and    useless,  as  in  the 
instance  of  Homoeopathy  and  Mesmerism,   or  dangerous,  except  in   the 
proper  cases,  as  in  the  instance  of  Hydropathy. 

5.  Finally,  it  is  the  same  ignorance  of  Nature  and  her  proceedings  that 
often  forces  medical  men  to  multiply  their  visits  and  their  prescriptions  to 
an  extent  not  simply  unnecessary,  but  really  injurious  to  the  patient,  as 
could  be  easily  shown. 

The  sick  man  is  impatient  to  be  well.  Ignorant  of  nature's 
slow  processes,  "  the  strongest  and  most  effective  powers  of  art," 
says  Sir  John,  u  are  usually  employed  for  the  very  purpose  of 
setting  aside  or  counteracting,  or  modifying  in  some  way  or  other, 
the  powers  of  nature.  Generally  speaking,  we  may  even  say  that 
all  the  heroic  arms  of  physic  are  invoked  purposely  to  disturb, 
and  obstruct,  and  overwhelm  the  normal  order  of  the  natural 
processes." 

The  Uncertainty  of  Human  Life. 

Some  men  there  are  who  cannot  bear  the  thought  of  the  Un- 
certainty of  Life ;  since,  were  they  to  entertain  it,  their  worldly 
views  would  be  cut  short,  and  the  prospect  of  fruition,  or  living 
to  enjoy  their  gains,  be  considered  so  insecure,  as  to  lessen,  if  not 
destroy,  the  inducement  to  extraordinary  exertion.  One  of  for- 
tune's favourites,  on  being  reminded  of  the  uncertainty  of  life,  re- 
plied, in  a  confident  tone,  that  had  he  suffered  such  a  thought  to 
possess  him,  he  should  never  have  got  on  in  the  world — the  doubt 
being  to  him  an  unwelcome  intruder.  Every  record  of  human 
character — every  volume  of  reminiscences  that  we  can  take  up — 
almost  every  day's  newspaper, — abounds  with  evidence  of  the 
uncertain  tenure  of  our  existence. 

In  Lord  Cockburn's  Me  mortals,  we  read  of  these  three  remark- 
able deaths.  At  the  close  of  1809,  Dr.  Adam,  of  the  High 
School,  Edinburgh,  died,  after  a  few  days'  illness.  His  ruling 
passion  was  for  teaching.  He  was  in  his  bedchamber :  finding 
that  he  could  not  see,  he  uttered  a  few  words,  which  have  been 
variously  given,  but  all  the  accounts  of  which  mean — "  It  is 
getting  dark,  boys ;  we  must  put  off  the  rest  till  to-morrow." 
It  was  the  darkness  of  death.  On  May  20,  1811,  President 
Blair  had  been  in  court  that  day,  apparently  in  good  health,  and 
had  gone  to  take  his  usual  walk  from  his  house  in  George-square 
round  by  Bruntfield  Links  and  the  Grange,  when  he  was  struck 
with  sudden  illness,  staggered  home,  and  died.  The  day  before 
his  funeral,  another  unlooked-for  occurrence  deepened  the  so- 
lemnity. The  first  Lord  Melville  had  retired  to  rest  in  his  usual 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH.  263 

health,  but  was  found  dead  in  bed  next  morning.  These  two 
early,  attached,  and  illustrious  friends  were  thus  lying  suddenly 
dead,  with  but  a  wall  between  them ;  their  houses,  on  the  north- 
east side  of  George-square,  Edinburgh,  being  next  each  other. 

It  has  always  been  said,  and  never,  so  far  as  the  writer  knows, 
contradicted,  and  he  is  inclined  to  believe  it,  that  a  letter  written 
by  Lord  Melville  was  found  on  his  table  or  in  a  writing-case, 
giving  a  feeling  account  of  his  emotions  at  President  Blair's 
funeral.  It  was  a  fancy-piece,  addressed  to  a  member  of  the 
Government,  with  a  view  to  obtain  some  public  provision  for 
Blair's  family ;  the  writer  had  not  reckoned  on  the  possibility  of 
his  own  demise  before  his  friend's  funeral  took  place. 

Dr.  Granville,  in  his  work  on  Sudden  Death,  has  related  a 
number  of  instances  of  the  uncertainty  of  life,  which  came  to  his 
knowledge  between  the  years  1849  and  1854,  from  which  we 
select  the  following : 

Mr.  Horace  Twiss,  whose  stout  frame  and  laborious  habits 
seemed  to  promise  long  life,  while  sitting  in  the  board-room  of 
one  of  the  Companies  of  which  he  was  a  Director,  and  in  the  act 
of  addressing  the  members,  ceased  to  live,  early  in  May,  1849. 

Not  long  after,  at  Florence,  Harriett  Lady  Pellew  suddenly 
expired  in  her  carriage,  on  the  drive  at  the  Cascine ;  and  at  Paris, 
the  Countess  of  Blessington,  returning  home  from  dinner  at  the 
Duchess  de  Grammont's,  was  seized  with  apoplexy,  and  died 
next  morning,  June  4. 

In  the  same  year,  on  September  9,  the  Grand  Duke  Michael, 
brother  of  Nicholas,  Emperor  of  Russia,  a  prince  of  gigantic 
frame,  while  reviewing  his  troops  at  Warsaw,  fell  from  his  horse, 
and  expired  a  few  hours  after. 

At  Rome,  Richard  Wyatt,  the  sculptor,  was  suddenly  carried 
off  by  apoplexy,  May  27,  1851;  and  on  June  7.  at  Fontaine- 
bleau,  Reynolds,  the  author  of  Miserrimuj,  died  suddenly. 

"  I  must  rise  instantly,  or  I  shall  be  suffocated,"  said  the  wife  of 
a  banker,  on  July  8,  at  Trent  Park :  she  rose,  rushed  to  a  win- 
dow, which  she  threw  open  to  inhale  fresh  air :  it  was  the  last 
breath  she  took  in,  for  she  fell  a  corpse  ! 

In  the  same  year,  Audin,  the  well-known  publisher,  died  sud- 
denly in  his  carnage,  while  travelling  from  Marseilles  to  Avignon ; 
and  Herr  Carl  Sander,  the  celebrated  German  surgeon,  expired 
while  seated  at  his  desk,  writing  a  treatise  on  anatomy. 

On  New  Year's  Day,  1852,  Sir  Charles  Wager  Watson,  of 
Westwratting  Park,  while  riding  briskly  to  meet  the  Suffolk  fox- 
hounds, fell  from  his  horse,  and  on  his  friends  coming  up,  they 
found  him  dead.  On  April  5,  Prince  Schwart/enberg  was  holding 
a  Cabinet  council,  when  he  suddenly  appeared  to  gasp  for  breath, 
and  withdrew :  he  rallied,  and  retired  to  dress  for  dinner,  during 


264  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

which  he  fell  senseless  on  the  floor,  and  died  within  an  hour  from 
his  first  seizure. 

Mr.  Frank  Forster,  the  engineer,  on  April  13,  while  writing  a 
letter,  was  struck  with  apoplexy,  and  almost  immediately  expired. 
A.  N.  Welby  Pugin,  the  architect,  scarcely  of  mature  age,  died 
suddenly  at  Ramsgate,  September  14  ;  and  on  the  same  day,  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  who  had  retired  to  rest  apparently  quite 
well  on  the  previous  night,  died,  it  is  stated  of  apoplexy,  within 
the  brief  space  of  six  or  seven  hours.  Dr.  Granville  states,  from 
the  testimony  of  medical  and  other  near  attendants,  that,  from  the 
very  first  seizure,  when  the  duke  ordered  distinctly  the  apothe- 
cary to  be  fetched  immediately,  down  to  the  last  moment  of  his 
existence,  paralysis  of  the  brain  had  been  complete,  for  no  other 
comprehensible  word  could  he  utter  after  that  direction.  On  the 
day  before,  Dr.  Stokoe,  the  appointed  medical  attendant  to  Na- 
poleon I.,  during  the*  last  years  of  his  exile,  died  suddenly  in  a 
public  room  at  York,  as  he  was  preparing  to  continue  his  journey 
to  London. 

On  March  12,  1853,  Marshal  Haynau,  having  supped  with 
the  prime  minister,  Buol,  retired  to  rest,  when,  just  after  mid- 
night, he  rang  for  a  glass  of  water  ;  when  the  servant  returned, 
his  master  was  gasping  for  breath,  and  soon  after  died.  On  the 
same  night,  the  gallant  Lieutenant- General  Sir  Edward  Kerrison 
was  found  dead  in  his  bed.  And,  not  many  days  after,  Vice- 
Admiral  Zarthmann,  while  walking  in  the  streets  of  Copenhagen, 
complained  of  vertigo,  sank  to  the  ground,  and  expired  in  an  hour. 
On  April  30,  Dr.  Butler,  Dean  of  Peterborough,  while  seated 
at  table  with  his  family,  suddenly  became  insensible,  and  in  ten 
minutes  passed  away,  almost  without  a  struggle.  Maurice 
O'Connell,  the  eldest  son  of  "  the  Liberator,"  appeared  in  his 
usual  health  in  the  House  of  Commons ;  on  the  morrow,  at  mid- 
night, he  breathed  his  last.  On  December  12,  1853,  Dr.  Har- 
rington, Principal  of  Brazenose  College,  Oxford,  having  retired  to 
rest  in  his  usual  health  and  spirits,  was  shortly  after  seized  with 
spasms,  and  died  before  eight  o'clock  next  morning,  in  his  fifty- 
third  year.  On  the  5th  of  the  same  month,  Captain  Warner,  of 
the  "long  range,"  expired  suddenly.  On  a  Sunday  evening  in  the 
same  month,  a  stout  middle-aged  yeoman  was  crossing  Ovington 
Park,  near  Southampton,  on  his  way  to  the  church,  which  he 
never  reached :  the  park-keeper  found  him  seated  with  his  back  to 
a  tree,  his  hat  on,  his  umbrella  under  his  arm — dead — with  no 
appearance  of  convulsion  or  previous  struggle.  Visconti,  the 
architect,  on  December  29,  had  attended  the  first  meeting  of  the 
Imperial  Commission  for  the  Exposition  building  at  Paris,  and 
was  returning  home  in  his  carriage :  on  the  door  being  opened,  he 
was  found  dead. 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH.  265 

One  of  the  most  awfully  sudden  visitations  recorded  in  our 
time  was  the  death  of  Mr.  Justice  Talfourd,  in  his  fifty-eighth 
year,  March  13,  1845,  at  Stafford,  while  delivering  his  charge  to 
the  grand  jury.  He  was  speaking  of  the  increase  of  crime — of 
the  neglects  of  the  rich,  the  ignorance  of  the  poor — of  the  want 
of  a  closer  knowledge  and  more  vital  sympathy  between  class  and 
class — and  of  the  thousand  social  evils  which  arise  from  that  un- 
happy and  unnatural  estrangement  of  human  interests — when  his 
face  flushed  and  he  bent  forward  on  his  desk,  almost  as  if  the 
Judge  were  bowed  in  prayer  by  some  sharp  and  overpowering 
emotion.  A  moment  more,  and  the  bystanders  saw  him  swerve, 
as  if  he  were  already  senseless.  He  was  dying,  calmly  and  hap- 
pily. In  a  few  seconds  he  was  gone — and  all  that  was  mortal  of 
the  poet  was  carried  to  the  Judges'  Chambers  and  there  laid 
down  in  breathless  awe.  "The  people  were  trembling  at  the 
thought  of  coming  before  him ;  but  in  a  minute  his  function 
was  over,  and  he  was  gone  to  his  own  account." 

Respecting  the  frequency  of  these  fatal  occurrences,  Dr.  Gran- 
ville  remarks :  ((  Where  is  the  friend,  where  the  acquaintance,  or 
the  passing  associate  at  a  club,  who  has  not  some  sad  story  of  the 
sort,  or  many  of  them,  to  tell  you,  if  you  once  enter  on  the  dismal 
subject  ?  From  every  quarter  of  the  country,  from  families  whom 
you  knew  to  be  in  the  full  bloom  of  youth,  of  individuals  who 
were  deemed  vigorous  and  in  the  flower  of  manhood,  we  hear  as 
we  meet  in  our  daily  intercourse,  of  some  one  of  them  having 
suddenly  disappeared  from  among  the  living !"  Our  newspapers 
abound  with  such  records  as  the  following. 

In  1837,  a  communication  to  a  Bristol  journal  recorded 

"  The  fearfully  sudden  decease  of  Thomas  Kington,  Esq.,  of  Manilla- 
hall,  Clifton.  Apparently  without  the  slightest  indisposition  he  died  in  his 
counting-house,  Queen-square,  Bristol,  surrounded  by  all  the  accumulations 
of  wealth,  and  the  advantages  accruing  from  the  interests  of  that  wide  range 
of  commerce,  the  Melbourne  and  Australian  trade." 

And,  in  the  Times,  June,  1862  : 

"On  the  igth  inst.,  at  Nine  Elms,  very  suddenly,  Mr.  John  Miller,  on 
the  anniversary  of  his  birth  and  wedding  days,  which  events  he  had  in- 
tended to  celebrate  at  the  Star  and  Garter,  Richmond,  where  he  had  gone 
with  a  few  friends,  but  was  suddenly  attacked  with  illness  on  his  arrival 
there,  and  was  re-conveyed  to  his  own  residence,  where  he  expired  shortly 
afterwards,  aged  fifty." 

In  1862,  Mr.  F.  W.  Gingell,  of  Wood  House,  East  Ham, 
while  sitting  at  dinner  with  the  family,  observed  to  his  father, 
"  I  have  a  presentiment  that  I  shall  die  suddenly:"  at  the  same 
time  his  head  dropped,  and  he  expired. 


266  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


Moveable  Feasts. 

The  following  short  explanation  of  the  Moveable  Feasts  of  the 
Church,  and  their  dependence  on  Easter,  cannot  be  improved : 

"  In  the  English  nomenclature  Easter  Sunday  has  always  the 
six  Sundays  in  Lent  immediately  preceding,  and  the  foe  Sundays 
after  Easter,  immediately  following.  Of  these  the  nearest  to 
Easter  before  and  after  are  Palm  Sunday  and  Low  Sunday ;  the 
faithest  before  and  after  are  Quadragesima  (first  in  Lent),  and 
Rogation  Sunday  (fifth  after  Easter).  Preceding  all  these  are,  in 
reverse  order,  Quinquagesima,  Sexagesima,  Septuagesima :  and 
following  them,  in  direct  order,  are  the  Sunday  after  Ascension 
(Holy  Thursday,  Thursday  five  weeks  after  Easter)  ;  Whit  Sun- 
day and  Trinity  Sunday.  So  that  Easter  Sunday,  as  it  takes  its 
course  through  the  almanacks,  draws  after  it,  as  it  were,  nine  Sun- 
days, and  pushes  eight  before  it,  all  at  fixed  denominations.  Look- 
ing farther  back,  every  Sunday  preceding  Septuagesima,  but  not 
preceding  the  fixed  day  of  Epiphany  (June  6),  is  named  as  of 
Epiphany  or  after  Epiphany :  the  least  number  of  Sundays  after 
Epiphany  is  one,  the  greatest  number  six.  Looking  farther  for- 
wards, all  the  Sundays  following  Trinity  are  named  as  after 
Trinity  in  succession,  until  we  arrive  at  the  nearest  Sunday  (be  it 
before  or  after)  to  the  St.  Andrew's  Day  (November  3oth),  which 
is  the  first  Sunday  in  Advent.  The  least  number  of  Sundays  after 
Trinity  is  twenty-two  ;  the  greatest,  twenty-seven.  From  thence, 
up  to  Christmas  Day,  exclusive,  the  Sundays  are  named  as  in 
Advent,  and  from  Christmas  Day  to  Epiphany,  exclusive,  they 
are  named  as  Christmas  Day,  or  as  the  first  or  second  Sunday 
after  Christmas." — Prof,  de  Morgan's  Book  of  Almanacks. 

Christmas. 

The  celebration  of  Christmas  is  still  rife  among  us.  Its  stream 
of  joy  is  not  narrowed,  but  more  equally  diffused  through  society; 
and  although  much  of  the  custom  of  profuse  hospitality  has  passed 
away,  Christmas  is  yet  universally  recognised  as  a  season  when 
every  Christian  should  show  his  gratitude  to  the  Almighty  for  the 
inestimable  benefits  procured  to  us  by  the  Nativity,  by  an  ample 
display  of  goodwill  towards  our  fellow-men : 


RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT.  267 

"  What  comfort  by  Him  doe  we  winne, 
Who  made  Himself  the  price  of  sinne 

To  make  us  heirs  of  glory  ? 
To  see  this  Babe  all  innocence, 
A  Martyr  borne  in  our  defence — 
Can  man  forget  this  storie  ?" 

Ben  Jensen. 

It  is,  however,  an  error  of  the  day  to  deplore  a  falling-off  in 
Christmas  commemorations;  whereas  the  enjoyment  has  but 
assumed  a  healthier  tone.  The  Past  is  ever  more  picturesque  than 
the  Present.  We  stroll  into  the  Great  Hall  at  Westminster, 
where  our  Plantagenet  kings  feasted  at  Christmas  and  Epiphany : 
it  is,  however,  forsaken  and  dreary ;  and,  looking  up  roofward, 
we  can  scarcely  see  the  louvre  through  which  the  smoke  of  many 
huge  Christmas  fires  has  gone  up ;  or  the  noble  hammer-beams,  or 
the  carved  angels,  and  other  glories  of  this  majestic  roof.  But, 
step  into  Inigo  Jones'  banqueting-house,  at  Whitehall ;  and  there 
you  will  see  the  Lord  High  Almoner  distributing  the  Royal  alms, 
as  he  was  wont  to  do  centuries  since.  At  Windsor  the  Sovereign 
herself  is  superintending  the  distribution  of  her  seasonable  bounty ; 
the  Lord  Steward  fills  the  hungry  prisoner  with  good  things ;  the 
good  cheer  shines  upon  Ragged  Schools  and  other  havens  of 
charity.  The  moderation  observable  in  our  times  is  conformable 
to  the  precept  in  the  Whole  Duty  of  'Man ,  enjoining  us  not  to  make 
the  day  "  an  occasion  of  intemperance  and  disorder,  as  do  too 
many,  who  consider  nothing  in  Christmas  and  other  good  times 
but  the  good  cheer  and  jollity  of  them."  It  is,  however,  one  of 
the  signs  of  the  more  gracious  and  hallowed  tone  that  the  singing 
of  Carols  has  increased  of  late  years  ;  together  with  the  decoration 
of  churches,  and  the  revival  of  several  minor  observances,  which 
tend  to  show  the  universality  of  this  improved  feeling. 

Doubt  about  Religion. 

The  Bishop  of  Oxford,  in  one  of  his  eloquent  Sermons  upon 
the  Temptation  to  Doubt  about  Religion,  thus  describes  one  class  of 
doubts,  and,  by  implication,  of  doubters : 

"  There  are  the  doubts  which  are  the  fruits  of  an  evil  life,  which  come 
forth  as  the  obscene  creatures  of  the  night  come  forth — because  it  is  the 
night ;  because  the  darkness  is  abroad,  and  they  are  the  creatures  of  the 
darkness.  These  are,  for  the  most  part,  self-chosen  doubts,  bred  of  cor- 
ruption and  of  fear  ;  of  a  clinging  to  sin  and  yet  of  a  fear  of  its  punishment ; 
of  a  conscious  resistance  to  the  ways  and  the  works  of  a  God  of  purity  and 
truth  $  of  an  evil  interest  which  men  have  in  finding  revelation  to  be  false, 
because  it  is  a  system  which,  if  true,  is  fatally  opposed  to  them.  Men 
pursued  by  these  doubts  are  a  fearful  spectacle.  The  terrors  which  at  times 


•  268  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

shake  them  are  often  appalling  to  witness ;  and  yet  even  these  are  less 
awful  than  the  forced  grimace  with  which  they  try  to  laugh  them  off; 
vaunting  their  doubts,  like  the  lonely  wanderer  who  sings  noisily  to  conceal 
or  overcome  his  fear  of  the  darkness,  that  they  may,  if  possible,  scatter  by 
the  loudness  of  their  laugh  the  besetting  crowd  of  their  alarms." 

Another  class  of  doubts  the  Bishop  describes  are  those  which 
address  themselves  to  specific  and  clearly-revealed  points  in  the 
revelation,  which  yet,  as  a  whole,  the  doubting  man  does  not  dis- 
believe. Against  these  doubts  he  would  utter  his  warning,  because 
he  believes  that  their  presence,  and  even  their  indulgence,  is  at  this 
moment  by  no  means  rare  ;  because  their  true  character  is  often 
disguised  under  the  most  specious  forms ;  because  the  young, 
and  among  the  young  the  generous,  the  ardent,  the  thoughtful, 
and  the  inquiring,  are  often  their  special  victims ;  and  because  their 
cause  is  one  of  weakness,  both  intellectual  and  spiritual,  while  their 
end,  when  they  triumph,  is  misery  here,  and,  too  often,  everlasting 
loss  hereafter.  Having  observed  that  there  must  be  room  for 
doubts  and  questions  such  as  these,*  the  Bishop  proceeds : 

"  It  may  often  seem  that  these  doubts  are  the  pauses  of  modesty,  and 
these  questions  the  interrogations  of  an  inquiring  faith.  Thus  the  doubts 
are  cherished  and  encouraged  under  the  garb  of  piety,  until  a  habit  is  formed 
in  the  mind  of  subjecting  the  written  word  and  the  authoritative  declara- 
tions of  faith  to  the  scrutiny  of  each  man's  intellectual  faculties ;  and,  ac- 
cording to  their  decision,  of  his  accepting,  modifying,  or  rejecting  them. 
Now,  such  a  mode  of  dealing  with  revelation  is  exceeding  attractive.  It 
promises  to  make  the  faith  so  rational — to  give  every  man  a  reason  for  the 
hope  that  is  in  him — to  be  so  free  from  all  forcing  of  doctrines  on  him, 
that  it  naturally  wins  to  itself  young  and  ardent  minds.  Yet  it  is  against 
this  that  I  would  so  earnestly  warn  you,  and  that  for  the  weightiest  reasons 
— for  no  less  a  reason  than  this,  that  in  its  very  first  principle  it  is  subver- 
sive of  all  true  faith,  and  that  it  is  therefore  in  its  consequences  full  of  ruin 
to  the  soul." 

The  relation  of  the  Christian  revelation  to  nature,  the  Bishop 
thus  intelligibly  points  out : 

"  The  Christian  revelation  teaches  nothing  merely  to  gratify  our  curio- 
sity. In  this  respect  it  is  the  very  opposite  of  nature.  The  handwriting  of 
the  Creator  in  the  works  of  nature  seems  to  be  imprinted  on  them  for  the 
very  purpose  of  stimulating  our  curiosity  and  training  and  rewarding  our 
powers  of  investigation  and  discovery.  In  the  Christian  revelation,  on  the 
contrary,  nothing  is  revealed  for  the  sake  merely  of  its  being  known,  but 


*  The  Bishop  has  elsewhere  observed,  with  respect  to  what  he  terrrs 
"  the  prescriptive  rights  of  the  Church,"  that,  "  there  always  must  be  sub- 
jects upon  which  good  men,  from  the  mere  natural  law  of  the  mind  con- 
templating one  side  of  a  subject  with  greater  interest  than  another,  will 
arrive  at  different  conclusions." 


RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT.  269 

that  the  degree  of  knowledge  given  us  may  in  some  way  or  other  affect 
our  moral  and  spiritual  training." 

An  Undergraduate  of  Oxford,  in  bearing  testimony  to  the  in- 
fluence of  these  Sermons  upon  him  at  the  time  they  were  preached, 
describes  the  Free  Inquiry  of  the  present  day  as  working  in  three 
classes  of  men.  With  some  it  was  hailed  as  a  relief  from  the 
annoyance  of  a  conscience  which  told  them  that  if  the  "old 
paths"  were  the  true  ones,  there  was  certainly  an  ill  look-out  for 
them ;  and  it  was  a  pleasure,  therefore,  to  hear  those  who  ought 
to  know  say  that  the  hard  things  (such  as  eternal  punishment, 
&c.)  which  had  been  told  them  from  their  cradles  were  matters, 
to  say  the  least,  of  considerable  doubt.  With  others  it  was 
adopted  with  the  gratifying  feeling  that  thus  they  showed  them- 
selves t(  wiser  than  their  sires,"  and  as  intellectual  champions  "  in 
the  foremost  files  of  time,"  superior  to  all  old  wives'  fables.  With 
others  it  was  entertained,  in  a  spirit  eager  for  truth,  with  a  painful 
sense  of  perplexity — the  distress  of  men  who  feel  that,  while  they 
have  conscientiously  left  the  old  way  as  a  way  averse  to  all  true 
progress,  they  neither  know  nor  like  to  contemplate  the  issue  of 
the  new. 

Of  these  three  classes  of  "  free  inquirers,"  the  first  two  were  of 
course  contemptible,  but  the  third  could  not  be  passed  by  un- 
heeded ;  and  after  a  vehement  effort  to  stand  up  for  truths  hitherto 
on  his  part  unquestioned,  the  writer  felt  that  he  was  more  or  less 
with  them.  He  then  acknowledges  to  reading  the  Essays  and 
Reviews  through  three  times,  which  gave  him  a  new  freedom, 
with  which  he  felt  self-satisfied:  still,  he  was  miserable  with 
uncertainty,  for  he  had  nothing  beneath  his  feet  but  his  own  pri- 
vate judgment  ;  and  he  asks,  what  was  that  as  regards  the  truth, 
when  he  saw  that  no  two  men  arrived  at  the  same  conclusion  ? 
In  the  midst  of  all  this  he  went,  with  others,  to  hear  these  ser- 
mons: instead  of  hearing  the  Bishop  steer  between  conflicting 
opinions  in  this  matter,  our  Undergraduate  was  influenced  by  these 
sermons  to  feel  that  reverence  must  go  hand-in-hand  with  know- 
ledge, in  order  that  the  true  harmony  may  exist  between  mind 
and  soul ;  that  a  man's  reason  and  judgment  alone  are  a  poor 
support  and  comfort,  and  the  kingdom  of  God  must  be  received 
in  the  spirit  of  a  little  child.* 

The  Bishop  concludes  an  earnest  deprecation  of  the  habit  of 
doubting,  with  the  following  awful  picture  of  the  death-bed  of  a 
victim  to  this  pernicious  practice : 

"It  is  not  from  imagination  ,at  I  have  drawn  this  warning.  I  can  tell 
you  of  an  overshadowed  grave  which  closed  in  on  such  a  struggle  and  such 

*  See  Times,  May  2nd  and  5th,  1863. 


270  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

an  end  as  that  at  which  I  have  glanced.  In  it  was  laid  a  form  which  had 
hardly  reached  the  fulness  of  earliest  manhood.  That  young  man  had 
gone,  young,  ardent,  and  simply  faithful,  to  the  tutelage  of  one,  himself  I 
doubt  not  a  believer,  but  one  who  sought  to  reconcile  the  teaching  of  our 
Church,  in  which  he  ministered,  with  the  dreams  of  Rationalism.  His 
favourite  pupil  learnt  his  lore,  and  it  sufficed  for  his  needs  while  health 
beat  high  in  his  youthful  veins  :  but  on  him  sickness  and  decay  closed 
early  in,  and  as  the  glow  of  health  faded,  the  intellectual  lights  for  which 
he  had  exchanged  the  simplicity  of  faith  began  to  pale ;  whilst  the  viper 
brood  of  doubts  which  almost  unawares  he  had  let  slip  into  his  soul,  crept 
forth  from  their  hiding-places  and  raised  against  him  their  fearfully  enve- 
nomed heads.  And  they  were  too  strong  for  him.  The  teacher  who  had 
suggested  could  not  remove  them  :  and  in  darkness  and  despair  his  victim 
died  before  his  eyes  the  doubter's  death." 

Our  Age  of  Doubt. 

The  intellect  of  the  present  generation  is  usually  acknowledged 
to  have  gone  off  on  quite  a  different  tack  from  that  of  its  pre- 
decessor. Not  belief,  but  doubt,  is  the  present  fashion.  Now, 
belief  and  doubt,  both  of  them,  have  their  uses.  Each  of  them 
has  its  good  and  its  bad  side.  Doubt  is  the  more  daring  and  im- 
pressive ;  but  belief,  even  if  sometimes  rather  illogical,  is  decidedly 
the  more  amiable.  Let  a  negative  system  be  true,  and  a  positive 
system  be  false  ;  still  the  positive  system  will  call  out  some  of  the 
best  qualities  of  our  nature  in  a  way  that  the  negative  system 
cannot.  It  is  certain  that  the  present  generation  is  growing  up  in 
a  spirit  of  greater  independence  and  self-reliance,  of  less  deference 
to  age,  to  tradition,  to  authority  of  all  kinds,  than  was  in  vogue 
twenty  years  since.  The  change  may  be  for  the  better  or  for  the 
worse,  but  the  fact  of  the  change  is  undeniable.  Probably,  if 
minutely  examined,  it  has  both  its  good  and  its  bad  side.  The 
young  men  of  the  present  day  have  gained  something  in  wideness 
of  view,  and  at  least  apparent  worldly  knowledge ;  but  they  have 
certainly  lost  much  that  was  very  attractive  in  their  predecessors. 
On  the  other  hand,  acts  of  petty  persecution  are  doing  all  that  can 
be  done  to  enlist  their  best  feelings  on  the  side  on  which  it  is 
wished  that  they  should  not  be  enlisted.  If  any  man,  especially 
one  of  the  most  conscientious  and  hard-working  officers  of  the 
University,  is  proscribed  and  insulted  on  account  of  his  opinions, 
those  opinions  are  at  once  put  in  an  attractive  light  to  every 
generous  mind.  Men  in  authority  are  slow  to  believe  it,  but 
there  is  no  policy  so  foolish  as  that  of  making  martyrs. — From  the 
Saturday  Review. 

Mr.  Ruskin,  in  his  Modern  Painters,  has  this  striking  passage 
upon  what  he  terms  <(  the  Faithlessness  of  our  Age :" 


RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT.  271 

"  A  Red  Indian,  or  Otaheitan  savage,  has  more  sense  of  a  Divine  exist- 
ence round  him,  or  government  over  him,  than  the  plurality  of  refined 
Londoners  and  Parisians ;  and  those  among  us  who  may  in.  some  sense  be 
said  to  believe  are  divided  almost  without  exception  into  two  broad  classes, 
Romanist  and  Puritan ;  who,  but  for  the  interference  of  the  unbelieving 
portions  of  society,  would,  either  of  them,  reduce  the  other  sect  as  speedily 
as  possible  to  ashes  ;  the  Romanist  having  always  done  so  whenever  he 
could,  from  the  beginning  of  their  separation,  and  the  Puritan  at  this  time 
holding  himself  in  complacent  expectation  of  the  destruction  of  Rome  by 

volcanic  fire Hence  nearly  all  our  powerful  men  in  this  age  of 

the  world  are  unbelievers  :  the  best  of  them  in  doubt  and  misery ;  the 
worst  in  reckless  defiance ;  the  plurality,  in  plodding  hesitation,  doing  as 
well  as  they  can  what  practical  work  lies  ready  in  their  hands.  Most  of 
our  scientific  men  are  in  this  last  class ;  our  popular  authors  either  set 
themselves  definitely  against  all  religious  form,  pleading  for  simple  truth 
and  benevolence,  or  give  themselves  up  to  bitter  and  fruitless  statement  of 
facts,  or  surface-painting,  or  careless  blasphemy,  sad  or  smiling.  Our 
earnest  poels  and  deepest  thinkers  are  doubtful  and  indignant." 

A  Hint  to  Sceptics. 

Reason  is  always  striving,  always  at  a  loss  ;  and  of  necessity,  it 
must  so  come  to  pass,  while  it  is  exercised  about  that  which  is  not 
its  proper  object.  Let  us  be  content  at  last  to  know  God  by  his 
own  methods,  at  least  so  much  of  Him  as  He  is  pleased  to  reveal 
to  us  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  To  apprehend  them  to  be  the 
Word  of  God  is  all  our  reason  has  to  do,  for  all  beyond  it  is  the 
work  of  faith,  which  is  the  seal  of  Heaven  impressed  upon  our 
human  understanding. — Dryden. 

Bishop  Mant,  writing  in  a  more  scientific  age  than  that  in 
which  Dryden  flourished,  says : 

"  Persons  have,  perhaps,  been  sometimes  found  who,  from  their  attach- 
ment to  pursuits  of  science,  and  to  the  acquisition  of  general  knowledge, 
have  appeared  sceptical  upon  the  subject  of  Divine  revelation.  But  others, 
at  least  equally  endowed  with  intellectual  powers,  and  equally  rich  in  intel- 
lectual acquirements,  have  been  serious,  rational,  and  conscientious  believers. 
Amongst  these  may  be  ranked  the  great  apostle,  St.  Paul,  who  has  been 
rarely  surpassed  in  strength  of  understanding,  or  in  the  treasures  of  a  culti- 
vated mind ;  and  in  connexion  with  him  it  may  be  added,  that  *  Luke, 
the  beloved  physician,  whose  praise  is  in  the  Gospel,'  was  professionally 
acquainted  with  the  operations  of  nature,  and  the  effects  of  secondary 
causes,  and  thus  qualified  to  appreciate  the  miraculous  and  supernatural 
character  of  the  works  which  he  has  recorded  as  foundations  of  our  belief." 

What  is  Egyptology  ? 

The  object  of  Egyptology  is  to  render  it  a  sort  of  elevated 
standing -point,  from  which  all  the  realms  of  ethnography  and 


272  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

philology  might  be  surveyed,  and  the  most  distant  and  isolated 
points  brought  within  range  of  view.  This  undertaking  has  been 
attempted  chiefly  by  Bunsen,  who  has  completed  in  five  volumes 
his  work  entitled  jfcgyptens  Stelle  in  der  Weltgeschickte  ("  Egypt's 
Place  in  Universal  History,"  Hamburg,  1845-1 857),  and  has  dis- 
cussed some  of  the  same  subjects  in  a  more  general  and  miscel- 
laneous book,  or  collection  of  treatises,  called  Christianity  and 
Mankind,  their  Beginnings  and  Prospects  (London,  1854).  It  is 
Bunsen's  theory  that  "  the  Egyptian  language  is  the  point  in  uni- 
versal history  at  which  the  creative  energy  of  language  still  shows 
its  original  form,  just  before  it  raises  its  pinions  aloft,  and  assumes 
in  the  world-ruling  nations  an  entirely  different  and  more  spiritual 
form ;  while  in  the  other  races,  according  to  laws  not  yet  explored, 
it  sinks  into  the  atomic,  and  mechanical,  or  at  best  deflects  into 
subordinate  ramifications.'  —  (JEgypten,  i.  338).  Looking  back 
over  a  period  of  more  than  twenty  thousand  years,  this  philo- 
logical speculator  recognises  a  time  when  the  as  yet  undivided 
families  of  Japhet  and  Shem  lived  together  in  a  civilized  state  in 
Northern  Asia.  From  this  undivided  Asiatic  stock  Egypt,  accord- 
ing to  Bunsen,  must  be  a  colony,  gradually  degenerated  into  the 
African  type ;  for  the  old  Egyptian  language  claims  affinity  at 
once  with  the  Aramaic  idioms  in'  immediate  contact  with  it,  and 
with  the  Indo- Germanic  tongues,  with  which  it  has  no  direct 
commerce — (Report  of  the  Brit.  Assoc.,  1847,  p.  280;  jEgypten, 
iv.,  Pref.,  p.  10).  It  must  be  owned  that  these  sweeping  con- 
clusions do  not  rest  upon  philological  inductions  of  the  most 
accurate  kind,  and  are  supported  by  arguments  which  are  some- 
times as  arbitrary  as  they  are  precarious. — Encyclopedia  Britannica, 
8th  edition. 

Jerusalem  and  Nimroud. 

The  greatest  light  which  has  yet  been  thrown  upon  the  archi- 
tectural character  of  the  Palace  of  Solomon,  Mr.  Lewin  (in  his 
Sketch  of  Jerusalem,  published  in  1861)  is  of  opinion  is  derived 
from  the  recent  discoveries  in  and  near  Nineveh ;  Solomon  having 
studiously  copied  the  Assyrian  style. 

<(  Take,  for  instance,  the  north-west  palace  of  Nimroud,  which 
would  almost  seem  to  have  been  the  pattern  after  which  the 
royal  palace  at  Jerusalem  was  built.  Thus  the  Nimroud  Palace  is 
nearly  a  square,  of  about  330  feet  each  way ;  and  the  area  of 
Solomon's  Palace  is  325  feet  by  290  feet.  In  front  at  Nimroud 
was  a  great  hall,  152  feet  long  by  32  feet  wide ;  and  in  front,  at 
Jerusalem,  was  a  hall,  the  house  of  Lebanon,  150  feet  by  75  feet 
The  halls  at  Nimroud  were  supported  by  rows  of  pillars,  not  of 
stone,  but  of  wood ;  and  the  Hall  of  Lebanon  was  supported  by 


RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT.  273 

three  rows  of  cedar  pillars,  fifteen  in  a  row,  making  forty- five  in 
the  whole.  In  the  centre,  at  Nimroud,  was  a  spacious  open  court ; 
and  in  the  centre  at  Jerusalem  was  also  a  court.  On  the  sides, 
at  Nimroud,  were  suites  of  apartments  three  deep,  decreasing  in 
width  as  they  receded  from  the  light  supplied  from  the  great 
court ;  and  at  Jerusalem  were  windows  in  three  rows,  and  light 
against  light  in  three  ranks.  At  Nimroud,  in  the  rear  was  a 
double  suite  of  apartments ;  and  in  the  rear  at  Jerusalem  were 
the  separate  suites  of  the  king  and  the  queen.  At  Nimroud,  the 
interior  walls  were  lined  with  sculptured  slabs ;  and  at  Jerusalem 
the  apartments  were  also  lined  with  stones  carved  in  imitation  of 
trees  and  plants." 

What  is  Rationalism  ? 

Rationalism,  in  its  widest  acceptation,  is  applicable  to  all  who 
follow  the  dictates  of  reason,  whether  in  their  speculative  or  prac- 
tical life.  In  its  more  restricted  signification  it  is  applied  specially 
to  that  system  of  religious  opinion  whose  final  test  of  truth  is 
placed  in  the  direct  assent  of  the  human  consciousness,  whether 
in  the  form  of  logical  deduction,  moral  judgment,  or  religious  in- 
tuition, by  whatever  previous  process  these  faculties  may  have 
been  raised  to  their  assumed  dignity  as  arbitrators. 

The  Bishop  of  Oxford,  in  one  of  his  Charges,  has  thus  elo- 
quently denounced  the  present  dangerous  spirit  of  Rationalism  in 
the  Church  : 

"  Are  there  not,  my  reverend  brethren,  signs  enough  abroad  now  of  special 
danger  to  make  us  drop  our  lesser  differences  and  combine  together  as  one 
man,  striving  earnestly  for  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  Saints  ?  When 
from  within  our  own  encampment  we  hear  voices  declaring  that  our  whole 
belief  in  the  Atonement  wrought  out  for  us  by  the  sacrifice  on  the  Cross  is 
an  ignorant  misconception — that  the  miracles  and  the  prophecies  of  Scrip- 
ture are  part  of  an  irrational  supernaturalism,  which  it  is  the  duty  of  a 
remorseless  criticism  to  expose  and  to  account  for,  by  such  discoveries  as 
that  the  imagination  has  allied  itself  with  the  affections  to  produce  them, 
and  that  they  may  safely  be  brought  down  to  a  natural  Rationalism ; — by 
such  suggestions  as  that  the  description  of  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea  is  the 
latitude  of  poetry — that  the  Avenger  who  slew  the  firstborn  is  the  Bedouin 
host,  akin  nearly  to  Jethro,  and  more  remotely  to  Israel — when  the  history 
of  the  Bible  is  explained  away  by  being  treated  as  a  legend,  and  its  prophecy 
deprived  of  all  supernatural  character  by  being  turned  into  a  history  of  past 
or  present  events — when  we  are  told  that  had  our  Lord  come  to  us  now, 
instead  of  in  the  youth  of  the  world,  the  truth  of  His  Divine  nature  would 
not  have  been  recognised  ;  that  is  to  say,  that  it  was  the  peculiar  stage  in 
which  flesh  and  blood  then  were,  and  not  the  revelation  of  His  Father  who 
was  in  heaven  which  enabled  the  Apostles  to  believe  in  Him — when  in 

T 


274.  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

words,  as  far  as  opinion  is  privately  entertained  is  concerned,  the  liberty  of 
the  English  clergyman  appears  to  be  complete — when  we  are  told  that  men 
may  sign  any  Article  of  the  National  Church,  if  it  is  only  their  own 
opinions  which  are  at  variance  with  them — when  we  are  told  that  they  may 
sign,  solemnly  before  God,  that  they  allow  certain  articles  of  belief,  mean- 
ing thereby  only  that  they  allow  their  existence  as  the  lesser  of  two  great 
evils,  and  that  under  the  Sixth  Article  one  may  literally  or  allegorically,  or 
as  a  parable,  or  as  poetry  or  a  legend,  receive  the  story  of  the  Serpent 
tempting  Eve  and  speaking  in  a  man's  voice ;  and  in  like  manner  the 
arresting  of  the  earth's  motion,  the  water  standing  still,  the  universality  of 
the  Deluge,  the  confusion  of  tongues,  the  taking  up  of  Elijah  corporeally 
into  Heaven,  the  nature  of  Angels,  and  the  miraculous  particulars  of  many 
other  events : — when  Abraham's  great  act  of  obedient  faith  in  not  with- 
holding his  son,  even  his  only  son,  but  offering  him  up  at  the  express 
command  of  God  is  commuted  by  the  gross  ritual  of  Syrian  notes  into  a 
traditional  revelation j  while  the  awe  of  the  Divine  voice  bidding  him  slay 
his  son,  and  his  being  stayed  by  the  angel  from  doing  so,  is  watered  down 
into  an  allegory  meaning  that  the  Father  in  whom  he  trusted  was  better 
pleased  with  mercy  than  with  sacrifice ;  when  it  is  maintained  that  St. 
Stephen,  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  utterances  of  his  martyrdom,  and 
St.  Paul  proving  from  the  history  of  his  people  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ, 
would  naturally  speak  not  only  words  of  truth,  but  after  the  received 
accounts — when,  I  say,  such  words  as  these  are  deliberately  uttered  by  our 
ordained  Clergy,  while  the  slowness  even  of  English  theologians  to  accept 
such  a  treatment  of  God's  revelation  is  scoffed  at  in  such  words  as  the  fol- 
lowing, even  by  those  in  our  Universities  who  no  longer  repeat  fully  the 
Shibboleth  of  the  Reformers,  the  explicitness  of  truth  and  error : — l  He 
who  assents  most  committing  himself  least  to  baseness  being  reckoned  the 
wisest  j'  whilst  those  who  maintained  the  old  truth,  I  trust  with  most  of 
us,  my  brethren,  are  branded  as  Baal's  prophets  and  the  four  hundred 
prophets  of  the  grove  who  cry  out  for  falsehood — whilst,  I  say,  such  words 
as  these  are  heard  from  ordained  men  amongst  us,  and  who  still  keep  their 
places  in  the  National  Church,  is  it  not  a  time  for  us,  if  we  do  hold  openly 
by  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  the  one  inspired  voice  of  God's  written  revelation 
— if  we  do  hold  to  the  ancient  Creeds  as  the  summary  of  the  good  deposit 
- — if  we  believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  very  God  and  very  Man — if  we 
believe  in  His  offering  Himself  on  the  Cross  as  the  one  only  true  and  sufficient 
sacrifice,  satisfaction,  and  atonement  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world — is  it 
not  time  for  us,  laying  aside  our  suspicions  and  our  divisions  about  small 
matters,  to  combine ,  together  in  prayer,  and.  trust,  and  labour,  and  love, 
and  watching,  lest  whilst  we  dispute  needlessly  about  the  lesser  matters  of 
the  law,  we  be  robbed  unawares  of  the  very  foundations  of  the  faith  ?" 

What  is  Theology  ? 

In  the  widest  sense  of  the  word  Theology,  including  both  natural 
and  revealed  theology,  we  have,  among  theologians  who  reject  re- 
velation, the  sy stems cf— (i)  Atheism,  or  that  doctrine  concerning 


RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT.  275 

God  which  rejects  his  existence  altogether.*  (2)  Deism,  or  the 
system  which  teaches  that  God  is  the  Creator  of  all  things,  but 
that,  having  once  created  them  and  impressed  upon  them  certain 
laws  for  the  regulation  of  their  future  existence,  commonly  called 
the  law s  of  nature,  He  has  left  them  to  the  government  of  those 
laws,  and  concerns  Himself  no  more  >v  ith  his  creation ;  or,  in  other 
words,  this  system  acknowledges  the  existence  of  God,  but  denies 
his  providence.  (3)  Theism,  the  system  which  differs  from  Deism 
by  acknowledging  the  providence  of  God.  The  systems  of  Deism 
and  Theism  suppose  the  existence  of  an  Almighty  Creator,  whose 
existence  is  independent  of  the  universe;  but  there  is  another 
system,  according  to  which  the  laws  of  Nature  are  in  themselves 
the  external  self-existent  causes  of  all  the  phenomena  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  there  is  no  causative  principle  external  to  Nature.  This 
system  takes  two  different  forms :  Materialism,  which  makes  all 
the  phenomena  of  Nature  to  result  from  the  physical  constitution 
of  matter  itself;  and  the  various  shades  of  Pantheism,  which 
suppose  an  intelligent  principle  (anima  mund'i)  to  be  inseparably 
connected  with  everything  that  exists,  and  to  pervade  the  whole 
creation. 

Deism  properly  means  belief  in  the  existence  of  a  God,  but  is 
generally  applied  to  all  such  belief  as  goes  no  further,  that  is  to 
say,  to  disbelief  of  revelation.  It  is  always  applied  dyslogistically, 
and  frequently  merely  as  a  term  of  reproach.  But  the  identical 
word,  in  its  Greek  form,  theist,  is  not  a  word  of  disapprobation ; 
and,  consistently  with  established  usage,  may  be  appropriately 
applied  as  opposed  to  atheist,  when  the  latter  term  is  correctly 
used.  For  it  must  be  observed  that  the  term  atheist  has  been  not 
unfrequently  employed  in  the  sense  of  an  unbeliever  in  Christianity, 
though  at  the  same  time  professing  theism. — Penny  Cyclopedia* 

Religious  Forebodings. 

Nearly  sixty  years  since,  Southey  wrote  his  famous  anticipation 
of  Mormonism,  and  of  some  other  matters  as  important  as  Mor- 
monism,  in  a  letter  to  Rickman  (1805),  as  follows : 

"  Here  I  do  not  like  the  prospects  :  sooner  or  later  a  hungry  government 
will  snap  at  the  tithes  5  the  clergy  will  then  become  State  pensioners  or 
parish  pensioners ;  in  the  latter  case  more  odious  to  the  farmers  than  they 
are  now,  in  the  former  the  first  pensioners  to  be  amerced  of  their  stipends. 


*  "  Atheist,  use  thine  eyes  j 
And  having  vlew'd  the  order  of  the  skies, 
Think  (if  thou  canst)  that  matter  blindly  hurl'd 
Without  a  guide,  should  frame  this  wondrous  world." 

Creech. 
T2 


276  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

Meantime,  the  damned  system  of  Calvinism  spreads  like  a  pestilence 
among  the  lower  classes.  I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  the  Calv'mists 
will  be  the  majority  in  less  than  half  a  century ;  we  see  how  catching  the 
distemper  is,  and  do  not  see  any  means  of  stopping  it.  There  is  a  good 
opening  for  a  new  religion,  but  the  founder  must  start  up  in  some  of  the 
darker  parts  of  the  world.  It  is  America's  turn  to  send  out  apostles.  A 
new  one  there  must  be  when  the  old  one  is  worn  out.  I  am  a  believer  in 
the  truth  of  Christianity,  but  truth  will  never  do  for  the  multitude  j  there 
is  an  appetite  for  faith  in  us,  which  if  it  be  not  duly  indulged,  it  turns  to 
green  sickness,  and  feeds  upon  chalk  and  cinders.  The  truth  is,  man  was 
.not  made  for  the  world  alone ;  and  speculations  concerning  the  next  will 
be  found,  at  last,  the  most  interesting  to  all  of  us." 

Folly  of  Atheism. 

Morphology,  in  natural  science,  teaches  us  that  the  whole  animal 
and  vegetable  creation  is  formed  upon  certain  fundamental  types 
and  patterns,  which  can  be  traced  under  various  modifications  and 
transformations  through  all  the  rich  variety  of  things  apparently 
of  most  dissimilar  build.  But  here  and  there  a  scientific  person 
takes  it  into  his  foolish  head  that  there  may  be  a  set  of  moulds 
without  a  moulder,  a  calculated  gradation  of  forms  without  a 
calculator,  an  ordered  world  without  an  ordering  God.  Now, 
this  atheistical  science  conveys  about  as  much  meaning  as  suicidal 
life ;  for  science  is  possible  only  where  there  are  ideas,  and  ideas 
are  only  possible  where  there  is  mind,  and  minds  are  the  offspring 
of  God  ;  and  atheism  itself  is  not  merely  ignorance  and  stupidity- 
it  is  the  purely  nonsensical  and  the  unintelligible. — Professor 
Blackie :  Edinburgh  Essays,  1856. 

The  first  Congregational  Church  in  England. 

In  the  State-Paper  Office  has  been  discovered  a  manuscript, 
showing  that  in  the  Bridewell  of  London*  were  imprisoned  the 
members  of  the  Congregational  Church  first  formed  after  the 
accession  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  They  were  committed  by  the 
Privy  Council  to  the  custody  of  the  gaoler,  May  20,  1567.  It  is, 
no  doubt,  to  this  company  that  Bishop  Grindal  refers,  in  his  letter 
to  Bullinger,  July  n,  1568  : — "  Some  London  citizens,"  he  says, 
t(  with  four  or  five  ministers,  have  openly  separated  from  us ;  and 
ometimes  in  private  houses,  sometimes  in  fields,  and  occasionally 
even  in  ships,  they  have  held  meetings,  and  administered  the 


*  In  Blackfriars  :  originally  the  Palace  of  Bridewell,  and  subsequently  a 
House  of  Correction. 


RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT.  277 

sacraments.  Besides  this,  they  have  ordained  ministers,  elders, 
and  deacons,  after  their  own  way."  The  Rev.  Dr.  Waddmgton 
has  discovered  some  original  papers,  written  by  the  members  of 
this  Church  in  the  Bridewell,  signed  chiefly  by  Christian  women, 
together  with  a  statement  of  the  principles  of  the  sect.  It  appears 
from  these  interesting  records,  which  have  been  kept,  though  in  a 
loose  form,  for  nearly  three  hundred  years,  that  Richard  Fitz,  their 
first  pastor,  died  in  the  prison.  Dr.  Waddington  shows,  by  in- 
disputable evidence,  from  original  papers  in  the  public  archives, 
that  the  succession  of  Congregational  Churches  from  the  above 
period  is  continuous ;  so  that  the  Bridewell  may  be  regarded  as 
the  starting-point  of  Congregationalism  after  the  Reformation ; 
or,  in  other  words,  the  origin  of  the  first  voluntary .  church  in 
England,  after  the  Marian  persecution,  was  contemporaneous  with 
the  Anglican  movement.  And  it  is  as  remarkable  as  it  is  satis- 
factory, that  these  touching  and  simple  memorials  should  have 
been  preserved  by  the  Metropolitan  Bishop,  and  finally  transmitted 
to  the  Royal  Archives. 

Innate  Ideas 3  and  Pre-existence  of  Souls. 

In  the  Second  Series  of  Things  not  Generally  Known,  pp.  147- 
152,  we  have  illustrated  this  doctrine  at  some  length  ;  but  return 
to  it  here  for  the  purpose  of  quoting  an  argument  directly  opposed 
to  the  above  illustrations,  by  the  writer  of  the  eloquent  exposition 
of  Plato,  in  the  Edinburgh  Essays,  1856: 

"  Plato  was  distinguished  from  all  previous  philosophers  by  the 
prominence  which  he  gave  to  the  doctrine  of  innate  ideas.  Now, 
the  current  opinion  in  this  country  certainly  is,  that  these  innate 
ideas  were  a  sort  of  sublime  phantasm  blown  to  the  winds  by 
John  Locke  and  the  inductive  philosophy  of  external  facts  which 
has  been  achieving  such  conquests  in  the  modern  world  from  the 
time  of  Bacon  downwards.  But  the  fact  is,  that  the  doctrine  of 
innate  ideas,  as  taught  by  Plato,  never  was  touched  either  by 
Locke  or  Bacon ;  and  never  can  be  touched  in  substantiate  by 
any  thinker  who  believes  that  he  has  thoughts,  and  that  these 
tli oughts  have  their  roots  in  a  simple  sovereign  and  plastic  prin- 
ciple which  he  calls  his  soul.  No  doubt  there  are  some  pleasant 
imaginations  floating  with  irridescent  colours  round  the  border- 
hud  of  this  Platonic  philosophy,  which  may  be  blown  to  the  wind 
by  the  puff  of  any  cheek,  without  special  inflation  from  Locke  or 
Bacon.  When  the  great  thinker,  for  instance,  pushes  his  argu- 
ment tor  the  independence  of  mind  so  far  as  to  seem  to  assert,  in 
positive  terms,  the  existence  of  ideas  in  the  human  soul  in  ready- 
made  panoply  transferred  from  a  previous  state  of  existence  into 


278  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

the  present,  this  must  be  regarded  as  a  trick  of  the  poet  imma- 
nent in  the  philosopher,  ever  ready  to  mistake  a  beautiful  analogy 
for  a  substantial  argument.  Wordsworth,  as  a  philosophic  poet, 
was  certainly  more  at  liberty  to  illustrate  this  pleasant  fancy  than 
Plato  as  a  practical  philosopher.*  Reminiscence,  as  explained  by 
Socrates  in  the  Menon  and  elsewhere,  is  not  a  fact,  if  the  word  be 
taken  in  its  natural  and  obvious  sense ;  it  is  not  true  that  a  person 
studying  mathematics,  for  instance,  when  the  truth  of  any  pro- 
found relation  of  quantity  or  number  flashes  upon  his  mind,  is 
recollecting  anything  that  he  ever  knew  before  in  a  previous  state 
of  existence  ;  the  simple  fact  is,  that  he  recognises  the  evolution 
of  this  truth  from  other  truths  of  which  he  finds  himself  in  pos- 
session, as  a  consequence  that  cannot  be  avoided  when  once  his 
mind  is  set  to  work  in  a  certain  direction.  As  certainly  as  a 
sportsman's  dog  will  raise  game  when  it  comes  near  the  spot  where 
the  bird  is  lying,  and  the  scent  begins  to  tell  on  his  eager  organ,  so 
certainly  will  an  idea  lurking  in  a  man's  mind  be  hunted  out  into 
startled  consciousness  by  a  Socratic  questioner.  But  the  simile 
limps,  like  all  similes,  in  one  point :  the  hidden  idea  is  not  lying 
in  the  soul,  like  the  bird  in  the  heather,  ready-made ;  it  must  be 
shaped,  moulded,  and  evolved,  by  a  long  and  sometimes  a  very 
painful  process.  All  that  we  can  legitimately  say,  therefore,  is, 
that  there  lies  in  every  normal  human  soul  the  dormant  capacity 
of  acknowledging  every  necessary  truth  ;  and  that  this  capacity  is 
not  borrowed  trom  without.  In  this  sense,  and  this  sense  only, 
are  innate  ideas  true  ;  and  in  this  sense,  unquestionably,  they  are 
very  far  removed  from  what  may  be  called  a  reminiscence." 

The  Sabbath  for  Professional  Men. 

Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  used  to  say,  "he  will  never  make  a 
painter  who  looks  for  the  Sunday  with  pleasure  for  an  idle  day;" 
and  Sir  Joshua's  journals  afford  indisputable  proofs  that  it  was  his 
habit  to  receive  sitters  on  Sundays  as  well  as  on  other  days.  This 
was  naturally  displeasing  to  Dr.  Johnson ;  and  we  are  told  by 
Boswell,  that  he  (Johnson)  made  three  requests  of  Sir  Joshua,  a 
short  time  before  his  death :  one  was  to  forgive  him  thirty  pounds 
which  he  had  borrowed  of  him ;  another  was,  that  Sir  Joshua 
would  carefully  read  the  Scriptures ;  and  lastly,  that  he  would 
abstain  from  using  his  pencil  on  the  Sabbath-day :  to  all  of  these 
requests  Reynolds  gave  a  willing  assent,  and  kept  his  word. 

The  lax  practice  of  working  on  the  Sabbath  is,  we  fear,  too 
common.  That  it  is  a  short-sighted  practice  there  can  be  no 


*  See  the  beautiful  poem  entitled,  "  Intimations  of  Immortality.' 


RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT.  279 

doubt.    With  respect  to  it,  the  Hon.  B.  F.  Butler,  of  New  York, 
recently  made  the  following  statement : 

"  If  I  may  be  permitted  to  refer  to  my  own  experience,  I  can  truly  say 
that,  although  often  severely  pressed,  and  sometimes  for  years  together,  by 
professional  occupations  and  official  duties,  I  cannot  call  to  mind  more 
than  half  a  dozen  cases  during  the  twenty-seven  years  which  have  elapsed 
since  my  admission  to  the  Bar,  in  which  J  have  found  it  necessary  to  devote 
any  portion  of  the  Sabbath  to  professional  or  official  studies  or  labours.  Of 
these  instances  only  two,  I  believe,  occurred  during  my  connexion  with 
the  Government  at  Washington,  one  of  which  was  a  case  of  mercy  as  well 
as  of  necessity,  and  neither  of  which  prevented  my  regular  attendance  at 
the  house  of  God.  The  course  I  have  pursued  has  sometimes  compelled  me 
to  rise  on  the  ensuing  day  somewhat  earlier  than  my  wont  j  but  an  occa- 
sional inconvenience  of  this  kind  is  of  small  account  when  compared  with 
the  preservation  of  a  useful  habit.  I  am  therefore  able  to  testify  that  it  is 
not  necessary  to  the  ordinary  duties  of  professional  life,  that  men  should 
encroach  upon  the  Sabbath  j  and  that  the  cases  of  necessity  or  of  mercy, 
in  which  professional  labour  can  be  required  on  that  day,  are  few  and  far 
between." 

"In  the  Beginning" 

That  the  vast  and  unknown  Antiquity  of  the  Earth,  compared 
with  the  6000  years  of  its  supposed  existence  is  but  as  yesterday, 
is  the  first  great  startling  fact  which  the  researches  of  Geology 
have  brought  to  light  within  the  last  thirty  years.  "  With  rare 
exceptions,"  says  Archdeacon  Pratt,  t(  this  is  become,  like  the 
motion  of  the  earth,  the  universal  creed.  The  prejudice  of  long- 
standing interpretation  and  ignorance  of  the  records  which  the 
earth  carries  in  its  own  bosom  regarding  its  past  history,  had 
shut  up  us  and  our  forefathers  for  ages,  in  the  notion  that  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  were  but  six  days  older  than  the  human 
race.  But  science  reveals  new  phenomena,  opens  up  new  ideas, 
and  creates  new  demands.  The  torch  of  nature  and  reason  sheds 
its  light  upon  the  letter  of  Scripture." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Chalmers  was  the  first  to  supply  this  new  read- 
ing in  his  Natural  Theology,  vol.  i.  p.  251,  as  follows: — "  Between 
the  initial  act  and  the  details  of  Genesis,  the  world,  for  aught  we 
know,  might  have  been  the  theatre  of  many  revolutions,  the  traces 
of  which  geology  may  still  investigate,  and  to  which  she,  in  fact, 
has  confidently  appealed  as  the  vestiges  of  so  many  continents 
that  have  now  passed  away." 

uln  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  earth;  the  earth 
was  ^without  form  and  'void,  and  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of 
the  deep"  is  seen  to  refer  to  the  first  calling  of  matter  into  exis- 
tence, and  to  a  state  of  emptiness  and  waste  into  which  the  earth 


280  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

long  after  fell,  ere  God  prepared  it  as  the  residence  of  the  most 
perfect  of  His  creatures. 

This  commentary  and  explanation  was  adopted  by  the  late 
Rev.  Dr.  Buckland,  in  his  Bridgewater  Treatise  : 

"  The  word  beginning"  he  says,  "  as  applied  by  Moses,  in  the  first  verse 
of  the  Book  of  Genesis,  expresses  an  undefined  period  of  time,  which  was 
antecedent  to  the  last  great  change  that  affected  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
and  to  the  creation  of  its  present  animal  and  vegetable  inhabitants,  during 
which  period  a  long  series  of  operations  may  have  been  going  on  j  which, 
as  they  are  only  connected  with  the  history  of  the  human  race,  are  passed 
over  in  silence  by  the  sacred  historian,  whose  only  concern  was  barely  to 
state  that  the  matter  of  the  universe  is  not  eternal  and  self-existent,  but 
was  originally  created  by  the  power  of  the  Almighty.  The  Mosaic  narra- 
tive commences  with  a  declaration  that,  '  in  the  beginning  God  created  the 
heaven  and  the  earth?  These  few  words  of  Genesis  may  be  fairly  appealed 
to  by  the  geologist  as  containing  a  brief  statement  of  the  creation  of  the 
material  elements,  at  a  time  distinctly  preceding  the  operations  of  the  first 
day  j  it  is  nowhere  affirmed  that  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth  in 
the  first  day,  but  in  the  beginning ;  this  beginning  may  have  been  an  epoch 
at  an  immeasured  distance,  followed  by  periods  of  undefined  duration, 
during  which  all  the  physical  operations  disclosed  by  geology  were  going 
on. 

"The  first  verse  of  Genesis,  therefore,  seems  explicitly  to  assert  the 
creation  of  the  universe  j  the  heaven,  including  the  sidereal  systems  and 
the  earth,  more  especially  specifying  our  planet,  as  the  subsequent  scene  of 
the  operations  of  the  six  days  about  to  be  described  ;  no  information  is 
given  as  to  events  which  may  have  occurred  upon  this  earth,  unconnected 
with  the  history  of  man,  between  the  creation  of  its  component  matter 
recorded  in  the  first  verse,  and  the  era  at  which  its  history  is  resumed  in 
the  second  verse ;  nor  is  any  limit  fixed  to  the  time  during  which  these 
intermediate  events  may  have  been  going  on  5  millions  of  millions  of  years 
may  have  occupied  the  indefinite  interval  between  the  beginning  in  which 
God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth,  and  the  evening  or  commencement 
of  the  first  day  of  the  Mosaic  narrative. 

"The  second  verse  may  describe  the  condition  of  the  earth  on  the 
evening  of  this  first  day  j  for  in  the  Jewish  mode  of  computation  used  by 
Moses,  each  day  is  reckoned  from  the  beginning  of  one  evening  to  the 
beginning  of  another  evening.  This  first  evening  may  be  considered  as 
the  termination  of  the  indefinite  period  which  followed  the  primeval  crea- 
tion announced  in  the  first  verse,  and  as  the  commencement  of  the  first 
of  the  six  succeeding  days  in  which  the  earth  was  to  be  filled  up  and 
peopled  in  a  manner  fit  for  the  reception  of  mankind.  We  have  in  this 
second  verse  a  distinct  mention  of  the  earth  and  waters,  as  already  existing 
and  involved  in  darkness  ;  their  condition  also  is  described  as  a  state  of  con- 
fusion and  emptiness  (tohu  bohu\  words  which  are  usually  interpreted  by  the 
vague  and  indefinite  Greek  term  chaos,  and  which  may  be  geologically 
considered  as  designating  the  wreck  and  ruins  of  a  former  world.  At  this 
intermediate  period  of  time,  the  preceding  undefined  geological  periods  had 


RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT.  281 

terminated,  a  new  series  of  events  commenced,  and  the  work  of  the  first 
morning  of  this  new  creation  was  the  calling  forth  of  light  from  a  tem- 
porary darkness,  which  had  overspread  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  earth." 

Such  was  the  modified  diluvial  theory  in  which  Dr.  Buckland 
brought  the' weight  of  his  authority  to  support  the  views  now 
generally  received. 

The  last  Religious  Martyrs  in  England. 

In  the  seventeenth  century,  as  theology  became  more  reason- 
able it  became  less  confident,  and  therefore  more  merciful.  Seven- 
teen years  after  the  publication  of  Hooker's  Ecclesiastical  Polity , 
two  men  were  publicly  burned  by  the  English  bishops  for  hold- 
ing heretical  opinions.  These  were  Legat,  burned  by  King, 
Bishop  of  London ;  and  Wightman,  by  Neyle,  of  Lichfield. 
They  suffered  in  1611.  "  But  this,"  says  Buckle,  "  was  the  last 
gasp  of  expiring  bigotry ;  and  since  that  memorable  day,  the  soil 
of  England  has  never  been  stained  by  the  blood  of  a  man  who 
has  suffered  for  his  religious  creed." 

"It  should  be  mentioned,  to  the  honour  of  the  Court  of  Chancery,  that 
late  in  the  sixteenth  and  early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  its  powers  were 
exerted  against  the  exaction  of  those  cruel  laws  by  which  the  Church  of 
England  was  allowed  to  persecute  men  who  differed  from  its  own  views." 
—See  Lord  Campbeirs  Chancellory  vol.  ii. 

Liberty  of  Conscience. 

The  principle  of  perfect  respect  for  Liberty  of  Conscience  is  the 
last,  the  hardest,  the  most  precious  conquest  of  humanity  over 
itself.  On  its  maintenance  depends  the  only  real  assurance  which 
the  world  can  have  even  of  revealed  truth ;  for  where  would  be 
the  assurance  even  of  revealed  truth  in  a  world  of  mental  slaves  ? 
England  seems  chosen  as  the  guardian  of  liberty  of  conscience  in 
Europe  at  the  present  time.  To  guard  it  faithfully  is  her  best 
tribute  to  Heaven — her  best  title  to  the  respect  of  all  that  is  good 
and  noble  in  the  world.  That  she  has  guarded  it  well  will  be 
her  glorious  epitaph,  when,  in  the  revolutions  of  empire, her  power 
and  wealth  shall  have  become  a  legend  of  the  past.  Distance  and 
climate  do  not  change  principle.  The  conscience  of  the  Hindoo 
is  conscience,  however  clouded,  though  declaimers  may  pretend 
that  good  is  evil  and  evil  good,  by  the  law  of  the  prophet  and  the 
institutes  of  Menu.  If  it  were  not  so,  it  would  be  vain  to  offer 
him  a  purer  religion,  for  he  would  be  incapable  of  seeing  that  our 
religion  is  purer  than  his  own.  Double,  treble  the  number  of 
your  missionaries  and  vour  bishons  Speed  in  every  way  the 


282  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

apostolic  work  of  Christian  love.  But  the  sword  is  forbidden ; 
and  not  only  the  sword,  but  every  influence  that  can  compel  or 
induce  the  heathen  to  offer  to  the  God  of  Truth  the  unholy 
tribute  of  a  hypocritical  profession — the  unclean  sacrifice  of  a  lie. 
— Saturday  Review. 

Awful  Judgments. 

There  cannot  be  a  more  impious  abuse  of  the  authority  of  the 
name  of  God  than  its  employment  in  solemn  asseveration  of  the 
truth  of  that  which  the  utterer  knows  to  be  a  lie.  Such  wicked- 
ness has  been  marked  with  divine  vengeance ;  and  Dr.  Watts  has 
sought  to  impress  this  fact  upon  the  minds  of  children,  in  one  of 
his  "  Divine  Songs,"  telling  us  how 

Ananias  was  struck  dead, 
Caught  with  a  lie  upon  his  tongue. 

An  instance  of  this  heinous  sin  is  recorded  upon  the  Market- 
cross  at  Devizes,  in  Wiltshire,  in  these  words : — 

a  The  Mayor  and  Corporation  of  Devizes  avail  themselves  of 
the  stability  of  this  building,  to  transmit  to  future  time,  the  record 
of  an  awful  event,  which  occurred  in  this  market-place  in  the 
year  1753;  hoping  that  such  record  may  serve  as  a  salutary 
warning  against  the  danger  of  impiously  invoking  Divine  ven- 
geance, or  of  calling  on  the  holy  name  of  God  to  conceal  the 
devices  of  falsehood  and  fraud. 

«  On  Thursday,  the  2$th  of  January,  1753,  Ruth  Pierce,  of 
Potterne,  in  this  county,  agreed  with  three  other  women  to  buy 
a  sack  of  wheat  in  the  market,  each  paying  her  due  proportion 
towards  the  same ;  one  of  these  women,  in  collecting  the  several 
quotas  of  money,  discovered  a  deficiency,  and  demanded  of  Ruth 
Pierce  the  sum  which  was  wanting  to  make  good  the  amount ; 
Ruth  Pierce  protested  that  she  had  paid  her  share,  and  said,  She 
<wished  she  might  drop  down  deadj  if  she  had  not.  She  rashly  re- 
peated this  awful  wish,  when,  to  the  consternation  and  terror  of 
the  surrounding  multitude,  she  instantly  fell  down,  and  expired, 
having  the  money  concealed  in  her  hand." 

It  is  not  long  since,  in  one  of  the  parish  churches  of  Canter- 
bury, the  officiating  minister  alluded  to  an  awful  instance  of  the 
interposition  of  the  Almighty,  which  was  presented  a  few  miles 
from  the  above  city.  A  woman  who  was  accused  of  theft  posi- 
tively denied  it,  and  in  her  protestations  solemnly  appealed  to  God 
in  testification  of  her  innocence,  and  wished  she  might  be  struck 
dead  if  guilty.  She  had  no  sooner  used  the  expression  than  she 
fell  a  lifeless  corpse.  The  articles  imputed  to  her  as  having  been 
stolen  were  afterwards  found  in  her  house. 


RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT.  283 


Christian  Education. 

If  we  look  to  the  nature  of  the  human  mind  itself,  if  we  con- 
sider its  longings,  how  comprehensive  is  its  range,  how  great  its 
capabilities,  how  little  its  best  and  highest  faculties  are  satisfied 
with  the  objects  that  are  placed  before  us  upon  earth,  how  many 
marks  this  dispensation  bears  of  being  a  temporary,  and,  as  it 
were,  an  initiatory  dispensation,  is  it  not  monstrous  to  pretend 
that  we  are  giving  to  the  human  being  such  a  cultivation  as  befits 
his  nature  and  his  destiny,  when  we  put  out  of  sight  all  the  higher 
and  more  permanent  purposes  for  which  he  lives,  arid  confine  our 
provision  to  matters  which,  however  valuable  (and  valuable  they 
are  in  their  own  place),  yet  of  themselves  bear  only  upon  earthly 
ends  ?  Is  it  not  a  fraud  upon  ourselves  and  our  fellow-creatures  ? 
is  it  not  playing  and  paltering  with  words  ?  is  it  not  giving  stones 
to  those  who  ask  for  bread,  if,  when  man,  so  endowed  as  he  is, 
and  with  such  high  necessities,  demands  of  his  fellow-men  that 
he  may  be  rightly  trained,  we  impart  to  him,  under  the  name  of 
an  adequate  education,  that  which  has  no  reference  to  his  most 
essential  capacities  and  wants,  and  which  limits  the  immortal  crea- 
ture to  objects  that  perish  in  the  use  ? — W.  E.  Gladstone. 

On  the  whole  subject  of  National  Education,  how  enlarged 
and  liberal  are  the  views  taken  by  the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  in  one  of 
his  recent  Sermons.  "  Our  National  Education  is  at  this  moment 
surrounded  by  many  difficulties.  Among  the  chief  of  these  are 
those  which  spring  from  the  relations  of  our  Church  and  State. 
There  is  no  use  in  disguising  from  ourselves  the  fact  that  these 
questions  exist,  and  some  of  them  press  for  settlement.  I  believe 
it  to  be  the  more  manly  and  the  more  Christian  way  freely  to 
admit  their  existence,  and  to  lend  our  aid  with  all  honesty  in 
working  out  their  true  solution.  We  cannot,  of  course,  concede 
one  of  our  principles.  We  must  teach  the  truth  as  we  have  re- 
ceived it  —  whole,  unmixed,  uncompromised.  But  this  point 
secured,  whatever  we  can  do  we  ought  to  do,  by  a  kindly  regard 
to  the  feelings  of  others,  by  an  allowable  co-operation  and  all 
lawful  concession,  to  loose  the  hard  knot  which  discord  has  tied, 
and  unite  the  hearts  of  this  people  in  the  mighty  work  of  edu- 
cating its  youth  to  do  good  service  to  our  God,  and  to  maintain 
truth  and  righteousness  throughout  his  world." 

The  Book  of  Psalms. 

On  the  Psalms,  that  inexhaustible  treasury  of  divine  wisdom 
and  prophetic  inspiration,  Hooker  asks : 


284  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 


"  What  is  there  necessary  for  man  to  know  which  the  Psalms  are  not 
able  to  teach  ?  They  are  to  beginners  an  easy  and  familiar  introduction — 
a  mighty  augmentation  of  all  virtue  and  knowledge  j  in  such  as  are  entered 
before,  a  strong  confirmation  to  the  most  perfect  amongst  others.  Heroical 
magnanimity,  exquisite  justice,  grave  moderation,  exact  wisdom,  repentance 
unfeigned,  unwearied  patience,  the  mysteries  of  God,  the  sufferings  of 
Christ,  the  terrors  of  wrath,  the  comforts  of  grace,  the  works  of  Provi- 
dence over  this  world,  and  the  promised  joy  of  the  world  which  is  to  come, 
all  good  necessarily  to  be  either  known,  or  done,  or  had — this  one  celestial 
fountain  yieldeth.  Let  there  be  any  grief  or  disease  incident  to  the  soul  of 
man — any  wound  or  sickness  named,  for  which  there  is  not  in  this  trea- 
sure-house a  present  comfortable  remedy  at  all  times  ready  to  be  found." 

With  what  satisfaction  the  pious  Bishop  Home  composed  his 
Commentary  on  these  sacred  lyrics  of  the  Sweet  Singer  of  Israel, 
may  be  judged  from  the  following  passage  from  the  Commen- 
tator's Preface : 

"  Could  the  author  flatter  himself  that  any  one  would  have  the  pleasure 
in  reading  the  following  exposition  which  he  hath  had  in  writing  it,  he 
would  not  fear  the  loss  of  his  labour.  The  employment  detached  him 
from  the  bustle  and  hurry  of  life,  the  din  of  politics,  and  the  noise  of 
folly.  Vanity  and  vexation  flew  away  for  a  season  j  care  and  disquietude 
came  not  near  his  dwelling.  He  arose  fresh  as  the  morning  to  his  task  ; 
the  silence  of  the  night  invited  him  to  pursue  it  ;  and  he  can  truly  say  that 
food  and  rest  were  not  preferred  before  it.  Every  Psalm  improved  infi- 
nitely on  his  acquaintance  with  it,  and  no  one  gave  him  uneasiness  but  the 
last  j  for  then  he  grieved  that  his  work  was  done.  Happier  hours  than 
those  which  have  been  spent  in  these  meditations  on  the  Songs  of  Sion,  he 
never  expects  to  see  in  this  world.  Very  pleasantly  did  they  pass,  and 
move  smoothly  and  swiftly  along ;  for  when  thus  engaged,  he  counted  no 
time.  They  are  gone,  but  have  left  a  relish  and  a  fragrance  on  the  mind, 
and  the  remembrance  of  them  is  sweet." 

Elsewhere  the  Bishop  thus  characterizes  the  Psalms : 

"  Calculated  alike  to  profit  and  to  please,  they  inform  the  understanding, 
elevate  the  affections,  and  entertain  the  imagination.  Indited  under  the 
influence  of  Him  to  whom  all  hearts  are  known,  and  all  events  foreknown, 
they  suit  mankind  in  all  situations  j  grateful  as  the  manna  which  de- 
scended from  above,  and  conformed  itself  to  every  palate,  The  fairest 
productions  of  human  wit,  after  a  few  perusals,  like  gathered  flowers, 
wither  in  our  hands  and  lose  their  fragrancy ;  but  these  unfading  plants  of 
Paradise  become,  as  we  are  accustomed  to  them,  still  more  and  more  beau- 
tiful. Their  bloom  appears  to  be  daily  heightened  j  fresh  odours  are 
emitted  and  new  sweets  extracted  from  them.  He  who  hath  once  tasted 
their  excellences  will  desire  to  taste  them  yet  again  j  and  he  who  tastes 
them  oftenest  will  relish  them  best." 

The  pure  and  sweet  feeling  with  which  this  excellent  prelate 
dwells  on  his  past  labours,  if  labours  they  can  be  called,  could 
scarcely  have  been  greater,  had  he  foreseen  the  immense  circula- 


RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT.  285 

tion  which  his  work  enjoys,  and  the  universal  esteem  in  which  it 
is  held. 

A  more  recent  Commentator  concludes  his  remarks  on  the  last 
Psalm  with  these  touching  words :  "  I  shall  never  again  so  dwell 
upon  them  on  earth.  My  God !  prepare  me  for  heaven,  and 
for  joining  there  in  the  songs  of  the  redeemed  in  the  high  services 
of  eternity." 

The  Book  of  Job. 

Diversified  are  the  opinions  of  the  most  learned  critics  concern- 
ing the  author  of  the  Book  of  Job,  the  period  at  which  it  was 
written,  in  what  part  of  the  world  the  events  there  recorded  oc- 
curred ;  and,  though  last  not  the  least  difficult  and  perplexing, 
whether  the  whole  composition  may  not  be  regarded  rather  as 
allegorical  than  natural  and  true.  Dr.  Mason  Good  observes  of 
this  poem,  in  his  Introductory  Dissertation  on  the  Book  of  Job : — 

<c  It  is  the  most  extraordinary  composition  of  any  age  or  country,  and 
has  an  equal  claim  to  the  attention  of  the  theologian,  the  scholar,  the 
antiquary,  and  the  zoologist — to  the  man  of  taste,  of  genius,  and  of  reli- 
gion. Amidst  the  books  of  the  Bible  it  stands  alone,  and  though  its 
sacred  character  is  sufficiently  attested  both  by  the  Jewish  and  Christian 
Scriptures,  it  is  isolated  in  its  language,  in  its  manner,  and  in  its  matter. 
Nothing  can  be  purer  than  its  morality,  nothing  sublimer  than  its  philo- 
sophy, nothing  simpler  than  its  ritual,  nothing  more  majestic  than  its 
creed." 

Perhaps  all  our  readers  may  not  be  aware  that,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  first  two  chapters  and  the  last  ten  verses,  the  book 
is  poetic — it  is  everywhere  reducible  to  the  hemistich  form ;  but 
whether  it  is  to  be  considered  as  dramatic  or  epic  has  not  been 
determined.  That  Moses  was  the  author  of  this  sublime  com- 
position seems  now  almost  universally  agreed  upon  by  learned 
commentators.  The  work  itself,  moreover,  possesses  internal 
evidence  to  the  truth  of  this  statement,  many  parts  of  it  harmo- 
nizing with  his  acknowledged  writings.  Dr.  Mason  Good  con- 
tends that — 

"  In  his  style  the  author  appears  to  have  been  equally  master  of  the 
simple  and  the  sublime — to  have  been  minutely  and  elaborately  acquainted 
with  the  astronomy,  natural  history,  and  general  science  of  his  age — to 
have  been  a  Hebrew  by  birth  and  native  language,  and  an  Arabian  by 
long  residence  and  local  study  ;  and  finally,  that  he  must  have  flourished 
and  composed  the  work  before  the  Egyptian  Exody.  Now  it  is  obvious 
that  every  one  of  these  features  is  consummated  in  Moses,  and  in  Moses 
alone ;  and  that  the  whole  of  them  gives  us  his  complete  lineaments  and 
character ;  whence  there  can  be  no  longer  any  difficulty  in  determining  as 
to  the  real  author  of  the  poem.  Instructed  in  all  the  learning  of  Egypt, 


286  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

it  appears  little  doYibtful  that  he  composed  it  during  some  part  of  his  forty 
years'  residence  with  the  hospitable  Jethro,  in  that  district  of  Idumaea  which 
was  named  Midian." 

Against  the  supposition  that  Moses  was  the  author  of  the 
Book  of  Job,  it  has  been  alleged  that  the  word  "  Jehovah"  fre- 
quently occurs  in  it — a  word  which  was  first  revealed  to  Moses 
by  the  Almighty,  preparatory  to  his  undertaking  the  deliverance 
of  the  Hebrew  nation.  But,  although  we  are  told  that  this  term 
was  communicated  to  Moses  for  the  first  time  in  Exodus  vi.  3, 
we  yet  find  it  used  nearly  thirty  times  in  the  Book  of  Ge- 
nesis ;  we  may,  therefore,  with  Dr.  Mason  Good,  suppose  that 
he  was  in  possession  of  this  name  long  before  the  promulgation 
of  this  poem ;  and  the -novelty  of  the  communication  might  have 
induced  him  at  once  to  exchange  whatever  term  he  had  antece- 
dently employed  for  this  new  and  consecrated  term. 

It  seems  now  to  be  universally  agreed  upon  that  the  land  of 
Arabia  Petraea,  on  the  south-western  coast  of  the  lake  Asphaltites, 
in  a  line  between  Egypt  and  Philistia,  surrounded  by  Kedar,, 
Teman,  and  Midian,  all  of  which  are  districts  of  Arabia  Petraea, 
situated  in  Idumaea,  is  the  land  of  Edom  or  Esau.  With  regard 
to  the  supposition  of  some  learned  authors,  that  the  book  is  wholly 
allegorical,  Dr.  Chalmers  does  not  concur  in  such  a  conjecture. 
He  appears  to  have  thoroughly  studied  the  arguments  both  for 
and  against  such  a  theory,  and  to  have  decided  against  it.  He  is 
conclusively  of  opinion  that  Job  was  a  real  character,  and  that 
the  history  recorded  of  him  is  a  statement  of  facts.  u- There  is," 
says  our  author,  "a  very  distinct  scriptural  testimony  for  the 
inspiration  of  his  book  in  i  Cor.  iii.  19." 

Uz,  where  Job  lived,  was  Edom.  a  We  disclaim,"  says  Dr. 
Chalmers,  "  all  consent  to  this  being  an  allegorical  and  not  a 
literal  history ;  and  we  found  our  disclaimer  on  the  subsequent 
references  in  the  Bible  to  Job  as  to  a  real  personage ;  as  in  James, 
v.  n,  and  still  more  in  Ezekiel  xiv.  14 — 20,  where  he  is  ranked 
with  Noah  and  Daniel,  whose  reality  no  one  doubts.  Would 
the  prophet  have  thus  mixed  a  fictitious  with  real  and  historical 
characters  ?" 

It  is  also  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  history  of  Job,  although 
much  altered  from  the  original,  is  still  well  known  among  the 
Asiatics.  Though  our  author  does  not  consider  Job's  history,  as 
a  whole,  as  being  allegorical,  yet  he  thinks  the  transcendental  or 
supernatural  parts  of  it  may  be  so ;  and  he  compares  these  pas- 
sages with  those  in  i  Kings  xxii.  19 ;  Zech.  iii.  i ;  and  Rev.  xii., 
all  of  them  representations  more  or  less  resembling  similar  ones  in 
J  ob. — Times  journal. 


APPENDIX. 


Great  Precedence  Question. 

The  great  question  relative  to  precedence  which  agitated  the 
cities  of  Dublin  and  Edinburgh  in  1863,  arose  at  the  presentation 
of  addresses  to  the  Queen  at  Windsor  by  the  respective  corpo- 
rations of  those  two  cities,  on  the  occasion  of  the  marriage  of 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  when  the  corporation  of  Dublin  was  given 
precedence,  under  protest  on  the  part  of  the  corporation  of  Edin- 
burgh. 

The  question  was  subsequently  referred  to  the  chief  Irish  heraldic 
authority,  the  Ulster  King  of  Arms,  Sir  Bernard  Burke,  LL.D., 
and  the  report  which  Ulster  thereupon  wrote  was  ordered  by 
the  House  of  Commons  to  be  printed.  Ulster  begins  by  stating 
that 

"The  claim  of  Edinburgh  to  the  higher  precedence  is  made  to 
rest  on  the  following  reasons: — "  i.  The  Scottish  Act  of  Union 
being  earlier  in  date  than  the  Irish  Act  of  Union.  2.  The  arms 
of  Scotland  being  quartered  in  the  royal  shield  before  the  arms  of 
Ireland.  3.  By  the  Acts  of  Union  of  Scotland  and  Ireland,  the 
Peers  of  Scotland  taking  rank  before  the  Peers  of  Ireland." 

However,  i(  Dublin  founds  its  claim  to  precedence  on  broader 
and  more  intelligible  grounds;  viz. — i.  Prescriptive  right  of 
Dublin  as  second  city  in  the  dominion  of  England  from  the  reign 
of  King  Henry  II.,  a  right  unaffected  in  any  way  by  the  Acts  of 
Union.  2.  Greater  antiquity  of  the  city  of  Dublin.  3.  Greater 
antiquity  of  the  charters  of  incorporation  of  the  city  of  Dublin. 
4.  Seat  of  Government  and  the  Viceroyalty  being  still  retained  in 
Dublin.  5.  Greater  and  more  dignified  privileges  of  the  corpora- 
tion of  Dublin." 

Ulster  then  shows  that  the  quartering  of  the  royal  arms,  which 
were  capriciously  varied  at  different  periods,  proves  nothing  in 
favour  of  Edinburgh ;  and  that,  by  her  Act  of  Union,  Scotland 
was  amalgamated  with  England  as  Great  Britain ;  while  Ireland, 
though  united,  preserved  in  her  union  a  quasi  separate  position, 
being  still  a  viceroyalty,  with  a  vice-king  and  court,  having  their 
capital  in  Dublin. 

He  concludes  by  urging  that,  from  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Cor- 
poration of  Dublin  being  privileged  to  present  their  addresses  to 
the  Sovereign  on  the  throne  at  St.  James's,  Edinburgh  not  having 
that  privilege, — and  from  the  immense  antiquity  of  the  city  of 
Dublin,  Dublin  is  clearly  entitled  to  precedence. 


288  KNOWLEDGE  FOR  THE  TIME. 

Sir  George  Grey  transmitted  this  report  of  Ulster  to  Garter- 
King-of-Arms,  Sir  Charles  Young,  D.C.L.,  F.S.A.;  Garter 
gave  an  opinion,  which  was  also  ordered  by  the  House  of  Com- 
mons to  be  printed.  Garter,  in  his  opinion,  inclines  in  favour  of 
Edinburgh,  on  the  grounds — ist,  That  Scotland  occupies  the 
second  quarter  in  the  royal  shield ;  2nd,  that  England  itself  be- 
came on  the  accession  of  James  I.  an  "appanage  of  the  Scottish 
crown ;"  3rd,  that  as  the  peers  of  Scotland  were  given  special 
precedence  by  the  Irish  Act  of  Union,  all  other  precedence  fol- 
lowed "by  analogy ;"  and  4th,  that  the  Mayor  of  Dublin  was 
not  "  Lord"  Mayor  till  1665,  while  Maitlar.d  avers  that  the  style 
of  "  Lord"  Provost  was  enjoyed  by  the  chief  magistrate  of  Edin- 
burgh in  1609. 

A  remark  of  Sir -George  Grey's  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
wrongly  reported,  led  to  the  belief  that  this  opinion  of  Garter 
was  to  decide  the  question.  But,  on  the  contrary,  the  discus- 
sion was  continued. 

Ulster  gave,  in  reply  to  Garter,  a  second  opinion,  which  was 
ordered  by  the  House  of  Commons  to  be  printed.  In  his  further 
observations  Ulster  commences  by  saying  :  "  The  point  at  issue 
is  not  a  question  of  nationalities,  or  of  the  relative  superiority  of 
Ireland  over  Scotland,  or  Scotland  over  Ireland.  That  question, 
a  very  invidious  one,  is  not  now  raised,  and  will,  I  trust,  never  be : 
the  only  result  which  could  arise  from  such  a  discussion  would 
be  to  wound  the  feelings  and  love  of  country  of  one  or  other  of 
two  very  sensitive  peoples The  only  question  to  be  deter- 
mined is  simply  which  of  the  two  corporations  has  the  higher 
precedence  ? — a  right  to  be  determined  by  municipal  charters, 
royal  grants,  and  other  legal  evidence."  Ulster  then  still  insists  on 
the  far  longer  existence  of  Dublin.  He  repudiates  the  idea  alto- 
gether that  England  was  an  "  appanage"  of  Scotland,  any  more 
than  France  was  an  appanage  of  Navarre,  when  Henry  IV.,  King 
of  the  latter  country,  inherited  the  crown  of  France.  Appanage 
has  not  that  meaning.  Garter  is  wrong  as  to  the  date  of  the  Mayor 
of  Dublin  being  "Lord"  Mayor  in  1665:  he  was  made  so  by 
Charles  I.  2pth  July,  1642,  while  the  Provost  was  not  "Lord" 
Provost  till  1667.  Ulster  concludes  for  Dublin,  on  the  greater 
antiquity  of  Dublin's  charters  over  those  of  Edinburgh,  on  it  being 
contrary  to  all  law  to  construe  acts  of  Parliament  "  by  analogy," 
and  on  the  undoubted  fact,  that  George  IV.  conferred  in  1821  on 
Dublin,  which  Sir  Robert  Peel  emphatically  styled  "  the  second 
city  of  the  Empire,"  the  exclusive  (except  as  to  the  city  of  London) 
honour  of  presenting  addresses  to  the  Sovereign  on  the  throne  at 
Windsor  or  St.  James's. 

With  these  observations  of  Ulster  the  question  rests  in  abeyance 


INDEX. 


ACCIDENTS  on  Railways,  200. 
Accommodation    Bill,    never    sign, 

1 68. 

Adams,  President,  Ancestry  of,  18. 
Advocate,  Payment  of,  109. 
Age  of  the  People,  -233. 
Air,  Fresh,  Worth  of,  241. 
America,  Discovery  of,  79. 
Ancestors  of  Washington,  16. 
Ancestry  of  President  Adams,  18. 
Anti-Corn  Law  League,  Origin  of, 

37- 
Appellate  Jurisdiction  of  the  House 

of  Lords,  1 08. 

Archaeology  and  Manufactures,  229. 
Aristocracy,  the  word,  99. 
Armstrong,  Sir  W.,  on  "Seeds  of 

Invention,"  176. 
Arrest  of  the  Body    after   Death, 

133- 

Art,  Good  and  Cheap,  230. 

Arts,  False,  advancing  True,  247. 

Astronomy,  Limitations  of,  213. 

Atheism,  Folly  of,  2  76. 

Attorney,  do  not  make  your  Son, 
108. 

Augustine,  St.,  Mission  of,  77. 

Bacon,  Roger,  Science  of,  173. 

Balloon  Ascents,  High  Tempera- 
tures in,  218. 

BANK  Failures,  Losses  by,  165. 
Bar,  Success  at,  Secret  of,  107. 
Barometer  for  Farmers,  222. 
Baronetcy,  Expense  of,  97. 
Bayonet,  History  of  the,  228. 
Benefit  of  Clergy,  116. 


Bidder,  Mr.  George,  C.E.,  146. 

Blindness,  on,  235. 

Bonaparte,  the  House  of,  20. 

Border  Marriages,  120. 

Bowyer,  Sir  George,  on  Public  Exe- 
cutions, 143,  144. 

Brain  Disease,  Dr.  Forbes  Winslow 
on,  257. 

Brass,  Antiquity  of,  191. 

Bridewell  of  the  City  of  London, 

135- 

Britain,  Great,  on  the  World's 
Map,  80. 

Britain,  Roman  Civilization  of,  61. 

Brodie,  Sir  B.,  on  Mind  and  Orga- 
nization, 253. 

Brunswick,  House  of,  and  Casting 
Vote,  78. 

Burial  of  Sir  John  Moore,  15. 

Burying  Gold  and  Silver,  155. 

CALCULATION,  Mental,  Precocious, 
146. 

Cambridge  Man,  76. 

Cancer,  Remedies  for,  245. 

Catholic  Emancipation  and  Sir  Ro- 
bert Peel,  53. 

Castlereagh,  Lord,  at  the  Congress 
of  Vienna,  33. 

Cato-street  Conspiracy,  the,  34. 

Cavour's  Estimate  of  Napoleon  III., 

5*- 

Celtes,  what  are  they  ?  6a 
Centre  of  the  Earth,  206. 
Change  of  Surname,  102. 
Changes,  a  few  of  the  World's,  55. 
Chartists,  the,  in  1848,  41. 


U 


290 


INDEX. 


Christmas,  Past  and  Present,  266. 
Church,    Compulsory    Attendance 

3^117. 

Civilization,  the  Lowest,  67. 
Civilization,  true  Source  of,  66. 
Crown,  the  Imperial  State,  93. 
Coal-mine,  deepest  in  England,  188. 
Coal  Resources,  our,  185 — 189. 
Coal,  Theory  of,  185. 
Coburg,  House  of,  53. 
Cockfighting,  Law  against,  1 36. 
Coin,  Counterfeit,  161. 
Coinage,  Wear  and  Tear  of,  l6r. 
Coleridge,   Sir   John,  on  Trial   by 


Jury,  IF2. 
olonia 


Colonial  Empire,  British,  82. 
Comfort,  what  is  it  ?  69. 
Common  Law,  104. 
Concrete  not  new,  190. 
Congregational    Church,     First    in 

England,  276. 
Conscience,  Liberty  of,  281. 
Conscience,  the  National,  n. 
Consumption  not  hopeless,  238. 
Convicts,  What  is  to  be  done  with 

our,  138. 

Cooling  of  the  Earth,  207. 
Copper-sheathingShips*  bottoms,  190 
Copper-smelting,  191. 
Copyright,  the  Law  of,  r24- 
Correlation  of  Physical  Forces,  180. 
Coup  d'Etat  Predictions,  44. 
Cross,  Mark  of  the,  1 1 8. 
Crowns,  English,  93. 
Curiosities  of  the  Exchequer,  151. 
Curiosities  of  the  Statute  Law,  1 05 . 
"  Custom,  the  Queen  of  the  World," 

74- 

DEATH-BED  of  the  Doubting,  269. 
Death-Warrants,  140. 
Deodands,  Law  of,  132. 
Despot  deceived,  66. 
Deville,  the  Phrenologist,  254. 
Diamond,  Brilliancy  of,  191. 
"  Dieu  et  mon  Droit,"  91. 
Distances  measured,  149. 
Discoverers,  not  Inventors,  172. 
Doubt,  our  Age  of,  270. 


Doubt  about  Religion,  267. 
Druids,  and  their  Healing  Art,  245. 

EARTH,  Cooling  of  the,  207. 

Earth  and  Man  compared,  206. 

Earth,  how  it  was  peopled,  57. 

Earth,  Centre  of  the,  206. 

Earth,  Distance  of,  from  the  Sun, 
215. 

Earth's  Surface,  Inequalities  of,  210. 

Earth,  why  presumed  to  be  Solid, 
206. 

Education,  Christian,  283. 

Egyptology,  what  is  it  ?  271. 

Eloquence  of  the  Day,  6. 

Employment,  giving,  168. 

Enamel,  French,  232. 

Enghien,  the  Duke  of,  24. 

English  People,  the,  84. 

English,  what  they  owe  to  Natu- 
ralized Foreigners,  203. 

Evidence,  what  is  it?  no. 

Exchequer,  Curiosities  of,  151. 

Executions,  Public,  142. 

FEASTS,  Moveable,  266. 
Fees,  Ecclesiastical,  153. 
Field-Marshal,  the  rank,  101. 
Fitzroy,  Admiral,  on  the  Weather, 

218. 

Flint,  use  of,  in  Pottery,  107. 
Foot,  the  Roman,  147. 
"  Fourth  Estate,  the,"  5.' 
Fractured  Leg,  how  restored,  246. 
Freedom,  Love  of,  65. 
Free-speaking,  Whately  on,  9. 
French  Emperorship,  Revival  of,  4  3. 
Friendly  Societies'  Laws,  166. 

GAME  LAWS,  the,  1 39. 
Gardens,  Law  of,  131. 
Gavelkind  Customs,  126. 
Geology,  Revelations  of,  58. 
George  III.,  what  drove  him  mad, 

27. 

Gibbet,  the  Last  in  England,  141. 
Glory  of  the  Past,  72. 
Gold  and  Silver,  burying,  155-157. 
Gold  seeking,  Results  of,  157. 


INDEX. 


291 


Gold,  Standard,  162. 

"  Great  Events  from  Little  Causes 

spring,"  76. 

Gretna  Green  Marriages,  120. 
Growth,  Geological,  704. 
Guilds,  Ancient  and  Modern  Benefit 

Clubs,  75. 

Gunpowder,  Philosophy  of,  192. 
Gustavus  III.  of  Sweden,  38.    . 

HAIR   suddenly   changing    Colour, 

237- 

Half-mad,  the,  258. 
Hands,  why  do  we  shake?  67. 
Head,  Sir  F.,  on  Public  Executions, 

142. 

Hearing,  Sense  of,  234. 
Heart,  the  Human,  234. 
Heat  and  Motion,  Identity  of,  208. 
Heat,  Universal  Source  of,  209. 
Heir  to  the  British  Throne  always 

in  Opposition,  4. 
Heralds'  College,  86. 
Heraldry,  Worth  of,  85. 
Hoarding  Money,  157. 
Holding  over  after  Lease,  125. 
Hop  Duty,  Abolition  of,  125. 
Horse-power,  calculation  of,  198. 
Horses,  Value  of,  166. 

ICEBERGS  and  the  Weather,  223. 

Ignorance  and  Irresponsibility,  137- 

Imitative  Gold  Chains,  232. 

Imperial  State  Crown,  the  93. 

"Implements  in  the  Drift,"  205. 

"  In  the  Beginning,"  279. 

Innate  Ideas  and  Pre-existence  of 
Souls,  277. 

Insanity,  Causes  of,  256. 

Insurance,  Origin  of,  163. 

Insurance  Policies,  130. 

Invasion  of  England,  47. 

Invasion  of  England  projected  by 
Napoleon  I.,  21. 

Invasions  and  Railways,  202. 

Inventions  and  Discoveries,  con- 
temporary, 227. 

Irish,  the,  and  Potatoes,  8 1. 

Irish-speaking  Population,  8 1. 


Irish  Titles  of  Honour,  87. 

Irish  Union,  the,  19. 

Iron  as  a  Building  Material,  189. 

ERUSALEM  and  Nimroud,  272. 
ewellery,  Imitative,  231. 
ob,  the  Book  of,  285. 
udge's  Black  Cap,  origin  of,  141. 
udgments,  Awful,  282. 
urors,  Attendance  of,  113. 
ustice,  Cupar  and  Jedburgh,  138. 
ury,  Trial  by,  in. 

KING'S-BOOK,  the,  116. 
King  and  Queen,  So. 
Knighthood,  Expense  of,  97. 

LAW,  Statute  and  Common,  104. 

Legal  Hints,  129. 

Legitimacy  and  Government,  5. 

Lenses,  Burning,  182. 

Leonard's,  St.,  Lord,  his  Handy- 
Book,  129. 

Leopold,  King  of  the  Belgians,  54. 

Libel,  the  Law  of,  113. 

Libel,  Propagation  of,  115. 

Liberty  of  Conscience,  281. 

Life,  Periods  and  Conditions  of,  233. 

Life,  Uncertainty  of,  262. 

Life,  What  do  we  know  of  it,  70. 

Light,  Velocity  of,  how  measured 
216. 

Lightning,  Death  by,  226. 

Lightning,  Force  of,  226. 

Lime,  Phosphate  of,  what  is  it  ?  194. 

London,  Ancient  and  Modern,  8l. 

London,  the  See  of,  96. 

Loot,  derivation  of,  229. 

Lottery,  the  First,  160. 

Louis  Philippe,  Fall  of,  40. 

Lucifer  Match,  Safety,  195. 

Luxury,  what  is  it  ?  70. 

MACHIAVELISM,  9. 
Majesty,  title  of,  90. 
Marriage  Fines,  119. 
Marriage  Law  of  England,  118. 
Marriage,  Solemnization  of,  123. 
Marriages,  Irregular,  120. 


292 


INDEX. 


Martyrs,  Religious,  Last,  in  Eng- 
land, 281. 

May  Fair  Marriages,  120. 

Mechanical  Arts,  the,  178. 

Mechanical  Effects,  Imposing,  107. 

Medicine,  brief  History  of,  248. 

Medicine,  what  has  Science  done 
for  it  ?  249. 

Melbourne,  Lord,  Statesmanship 
of,  44. 

Metals,  Precious,  What  becomes 
of,  158.  ^ 

Meteorological  Observations,  Value 
of,  218. 

Methylated  Spirit,  193. 

Militia,  what  it  can  do,  48 

Mind  and  Organization,  Relations 
of,  253. 

Mineralogy,  Uses  of,  185. 

Mining,  Vicissitudes  of,  183 — 185. 

Ministries,  Whig  and  Tory,  2. 

Money,  Interest  of,  162,  163. 

Money  Panic  of  1832,  36. 

Moonlight  and  Blindness,  227. 

Moonlight,  Effect  of,  on  Vegeta- 
tion, 227. 

Moore,  Sir  John,  Burial  of,  15. 

Moveable  Feasts,  266. 

Mutiny  at  the  Nore,  52. 

NAPOLEON  I.,  Downfal  of,  pre- 
dicted, 29. 

Napoleon  III.,  Estimate  of,  by 
Count  Cavour,  51. 

Napoleon  III.,  early  Life  of,  43. 

"Nation  of  Shopkeepers,"  12. 

National  Conscience,  n. 

Nature's  Ventilation,  240. 

Naval  Heroes,  50. 

North  wick,  Lord,  his  Pictures,  133. 

Numbers  descriptive  of  Distance, 
146. 

OBSERVANCE,  Ungraceful,  45. 
Oil,   Effect   of,  in  stilling  Waves, 

1 80. 

Opinion,  Popular,  Worth  of,  8. 
Over-Speculation,  165. 
Oxford,  Bishop  of,  on  Rationalism, 

273- 


Oxford,    Bishop    of,    on    Religious 

Doubt,  267 — 270. 
Oxford  Man  and  Cambridge  Man, 

75- 

PARDON,  Queen's,  140. 

Parliament,  Placemen  in,  99. 

Parliament,  Precedence  in,  99. 

Parliament,  Seats  in,  sold,  99. 

Parliament,  Speakers  of,  10. 

Partition  of  Poland,  46. 

Past,  the  Guide  for  the  Present,  79. 

Patents,  Object  of,  177. 

Patriot,  the  truest,  the  greatest 
Hero,  71. 

Peace  Statesmanship,  15. 

Pear-flavouring,  New,  192. 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  and  Catholic 
Emancipation,  59. 

Peers,  New,  100. 

Pensions,  Noteworthy,  56. 

Perfumes,  Nature  of,  239. 

Perspective,  what  is  it  ?  181. 

Philosopher  and  Historian,  the,  I. 

Philosophers,  the  old,  71. 

Physic,  Element  of,  in  Medical  Prac- 
tice, 250. 

Physician,  the  best,  260. 

Physicians'  Fees,  251. 

Pillory,  the,  in  England,  239. 

Pitt,  Mr.,  Last  Moments  of,  25. 

Pitting  in  Small-pox  prevented, 
251. 

Poisoning,  Remedy  for,  259. 

Poland,  the  Partition  of,  46. 

Political  Cunning,  100. 

Politics  not  yet  a  Science,  i . 

Popular  Opinion,  Worth  of,  8. 

Potatoes  the  national  food  of  the 
Irish,  8l. 

Pottery,  Manufacture  of,  196. 

Precedence  of  Dublin  and  Edin- 
burgh, 287. 

Preferment,  Church,  15. 

Press,  Power  of  the,  6. 

Press,  Writing  for  the,  6. 

Principal  and  Agent,  129. 

Protectionist  Party,  4. 

Psalms,  the  Book  of,  283. 


INDEX. 


293 


Punishment,   Baron  Alderson   on, 
H5- 

QUEEN  ANNE'S  Bounty,  154. 

Queen's  Messengers,  95. 

Queen's  Serjeants,  Queen's  Counsel, 

and  Serjeants-at-Law,  107. 
Qi^een,  Presents  and  Letters  to,  95. 
Queen's  State  Crown,  93. 
Quietus  and  Bodkin,  153. 
Quipus,  the  Peruvian,  148. 

RAILWAY  Accidents,  200. 
Railway,  Social  Effect  of  the,  200. 
Railways,     British,     and     Roman 

Roads,  62. 

Railways  and  Invasions,  102. 
Rain,  and  St.  Swithun,  224. 
Rainfall  in  London,  225. 
Rainy  Saints'  Days,  225. 
Rationalism,  what  is  it  ?  273- 
Rats  and  Ratting,  Political,  4. 
Recreations  of  the  People,  244. 
Rector,  Induction  of,  115. 
Religion,  Doubt  about,  267 — 270. 
Religious  Forebodings,  275- 
Rent,  Origin  of,  150. 
Republic,  Worth  of  a,  14. 
Revenue,  Public,  what  becomes  of, 

153- 

Revolutions,  Great  Sufferer  by,  37. 
Revolutions,  Results  of,  13. 
Roman  Civilization  of  Britain,  61. 
Roman  Roads  and  British  Railways, 

62. 

Russell  Family,  the,  100. 
Russia,    how    bound   to   Germany, 

50. 

SABBATH    for    Professional    Men, 

278. 

"Safe  Men"  for  Office,  14. 
Safety  Match,  the,  195. 
Salutation,  Various  Modes  of,  68. 
"  Sangrado,  Dr.,"  original  of,  247. 
Sanitary  Hints,  242. 
Saxons,  Domestic  Life  of,  64. 
Sceptics,  Hint  to,  271. 
Science,  the  One,  174. 


Science,  Practical,  178. 
Science,  Social,  Changes  in,  171. 
Science,  what  has  it  accomplished  ? 

171. 

Scotch  Thistle,  88. 
Sea,  Chemistry  of,  212. 
Seas,    Heavy,  and    Large  Vessels, 

199. 

Sea,  its  Perils,  2"  13. 
"  Seeds  of  Invention,"  176. 
"  Seeing  is  believing,"  255. 
Servants'  Characters,  131. 
Shamrock,  the,  87. 
Ships,  Sheathing  with  Copper,  190. 
Shorthand  Writers,  7. 
Shyness,  how  it  spoils  Enjoyment, 

79- 

Sky,  Beauty  of  the,  217. 

Sky,  Blue  Colour  of,  216. 

Sleeping  and  Dreaming,  236. 

Sleeping,  Position  in,  237. 

Souls,  Pre-existence  of,  277. 

Sovereign,  Coinage  of,  160. 

Speakers  of  the  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment, IO. 

Special  Pleading,  what  was  it  ?  1 10. 

Spectacles,  How  to  wear,  183. 

Spirit,  Methylated,  193. 

Spontaneous  Generation,  181. 

"  Star-spangled  Banner"  of  the 
United  States,  1 8. 

Statute  Law,  104. 

Steam-boat,  the  First,  198. 

Stereoscope,  the,  182. 

Stockbrokers,  164. 

Stone  Age,  the,  59,  205. 

Storm  Glass,  223. 

Sudden  Deaths,  various,  262-265. 

Suicides,  Motives  for,  259. 

Sun-force,  on,  175. 

Sun,  Distance  of,  from  the  Earth, 
215. 

Surgery,  Improved,  246. 

Surname,  Change  of,  102. 

Swithun,  St.,  his  true  history,  224. 

TALLY,  antiquity  of  the,  152. 
Teeth,  Care  of  the,  234. 
Telegram,  Origin  of,  229. 


294 


INDEX. 


Theology,  what  is  it?  274. 

Theory  and  Practice,  177. 

Thistle,  the  Scotch,  88. 

Ticket-of-Leave  Men,  137. 

Tory  Ministry,  2. 

Town  and  Country  Air,  243. 

Treasure-Trove,  Usage  of,  126-129. 

Trial,  what  is  it?  in. 

Trial  by  Jury,  in. 

Tribute-money,  159. 

Trinity  High-Water  Mark,  150. 

UNDERNEATH  the  Skin,  253. 
Union,  the  Irish,  19. 
Union-Jack,  the,  101. 
Utter-Barristers,  109. 

VENTILATION,  Artificial,  241. 

Victoria,  92. 

Vienna  Congress,  Lord  Castlereagh 

.at,  33. 

Vitiating  a  Sale,  130. 
Votes,  memorable,  78. 

WAGES  heightened  by  Machinery, 

167. 
Wales,  Prince    of,  his   Plume  and 

Motto,  91. 
Wars  by  trivial  Causes,  77. 


Washington,  Ancestors  of,  16. 

Water,  Running  Force  of,  180. 

Waterloo,  Battle  of,  31,  32. 

Waterloo,  Prince  of,  96. 

Watt  and  Telford  compared,  177. 

"  We,"  the  Royal,  90. 

Weather  Signs,  various,  220-222. 

Weights  and  Measures,  Uniformity 
of,  149. 

Wellington's  Defence  of  the  Wa- 
terloo Campaign,  32. 

Wellington's  Military  Administra- 
tion, 38. 

Wellington  predicts  the  Peninsular 
Campaign,  30. 

Whig  and  Tory  Ministries,  2. 

Whiteboys,  49. 

Wild  Oats,  73. 

Will,  Duty  of  Making,  133. 

Will,  Don't  make  your  own,  134. 

Wills,  making  of,  1 70. 

Wills,  a  Year's,  169. 

Wood,  how  long  will  it  last  ?  194. 

Wood,  what  is  it  ?  194. 

Wounds,  Compensation  for,  260. 

Wounds,  New  Remedy  for,  260. 

YELLOW  Fever,  Cure  for,  240. 


THE  END. 


Savill  and  Edwards,  Printers,  4,  Chandos-street,  Covent-garden. 


COMPANION  VOLUME  TO  "THINGS  NOT  GENERALLY  KNOWN." 


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Things    to  be  Remembered 
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rmfr 


By  JOHN  TIMES,  E.S.A., 

Author  of  "  Things  not  Generally  Known." 


CONTENTS. 


TIME: 

Poetry  of  Time. 
Time— Past,  Present,  and  Future. 

Measurement  of  Time. 

Sun-dials  and  the  Hour-glass. 

Celebrated  Clocks  and  Watches. 

Early  Rising. 
Art  of  Employing  Time. 

Value  of  Method. 

Habits  of  the  Great  Duke  of 

Wellington. 

LIFE  AND  LENGTH  OF  DATS  : 
First  Twenty  years  of  Life. 

What  is  a  Generation  ? 
Average  Duration  of  Life. 

What  is  Memory  ? 

Consolation  in  Growing  Old. 

Historic  Traditions  through  Few 

Links. 

Longevity  in  Families. 
Longevity  and  Localities. 

Longevity  of  Classes. 

Future  Earthly  Existence  of  the 

Human  Race. 

THE  SCHOOL  OF  LIFE  : 

What  is  Education  ? 
Teaching  Young  Children. 

Education  at  Home. 

Business  of  Education. 

Classical  Education. 

School  Reform. 

Unsound  Teaching. 

Self-Formation.        "  Cramming." 

Mathematics.        Aristotle. 

Geology  in  Education. 


The  best  Education. 

Books  for  the  Young. 

Dictionary  English. 

What  is  Argument  ? 

English  Style.  Art  of  Writing. 

BUSINESS-LIFE : 
Want  of  a  Pursuit.  Worth  of  Energy. 

Choice  of  a  Profession. 

Official  Life  and  Qualifications. 

Public  Speaking — Contemporary 

Orators. 

Men  of  Business. 

Security  of  Character. 

Eminent  Engineers  and  Mechanicians. 

Scientific  Farming. 

How  Large  Fortunes  are  made. 

Civic  Worthies  of  the  Present  Century. 

Working  Authors  and  Artists. 

Wear  and  Tear  of  Public  Life. 

HOME  TRAITS  : 

Love  of  Home.        Family  Portraits. 
How  to  Keep  Friends. 

THE  SPIBIT  OF  THE  AGE: 

Progress  of  Knowledge. 

Time  and  Improvement. 

Evil  Influences.    Worldly  Morality. 

Speaking  the  Truth. 

Restlessness  and  Enterprise. 

Marvels  of  the  Universe. 

WOBLD-KNOWLEDGB : 

Predictions  of  Success. 

Management  of  Time. 

Ease  of  Mind.    The  Good  Man's  Life. 


Things  to  be  Remembered  in  Daily  Life. 


CRITICAL  OPINIONS  OP  THE  ABOVE  WOEK. 

"  Another  of  Mr.  Timbs's  useful  books.  It  is  full  of  information,  carefully 
compiled.  Anecdotes  are  interspersed,  bearing  happily  upon  each  topic." — 
London  Review. 

"  Mr.  Timbs's  personal  experiences  and  recollections  are  peculiarly  valuable, 
as  embodying  the  observations  of  an  acute,  intelligent,  and  cultivated  mind.  As 
a  companion  to  Things  not  Generally  Known,  by  the  same  painstaking  Author, 
Things  to  be  Remembered  must  certainly  become  equally  popular.  More  reflec- 
tive, and  more  original,  and  not  less  truthful  in  its  deductions,  Things  to  be 
Remembered  carries  with  it  an  air  of  vitality  which  augurs  well  for  perpetuation. 
It  cannot  fail  to  find  many  grateful  readers." — Observer. 

"  Things  to  be  Remembered  is  crammed  with  information,  and  written  with 
consecutiveness,  care,  and  sometimes  real  eloquence.  Equally  interesting  and 
instructive  with  its  predecessor,  Things  not  generally  Known,  the  present  Things 
to  be  Remembered  is  much  More  reflective  in  its  character,  and  will  most  likely 
possess  a  special  charm  for  many  readers  on  this  account.  It  has  our  most 
cordial  commendation." — Sunday  Times. 

"A  pleasant  companion,  and  the  number  of  useful  hints  it  contains  should 
make  every  reader  grateful  to  the  painstaking  and  thoughtful  compiler.  It  is  an 
excellent  present  for  young  people,  or  town  lending-libraries." — The  Era. 

"  Mr.  Timbs's  volume  may  be  found  a  useful  companion  to  a  distressed  littera- 
teur who  wants  an  opening  anecdote  for  an  article  upon  the  last  social  topic  of 
the  day." — Parthenon. 

"  This  is  perhaps  the  most  reflective  of  all  Mr.  Timbs's  many  useful  books. 
We  have  no  doubt  that  as  a  companion  volume  to  Things  not  Generally  Known, 
this  of  Things  to  be  Remembered  in  Daily  Life  will  be  as  popularly  received  as  its 
predecessor.  We  cordially  recommend  the  book." — The  Builder. 

"  Here  we  have  our  indefatigable  friend  pouring  out  the  contents  of  his  well- 
filled  note-books,  and  richly-stored  memory,  upon  those  vast  themes,  Time  and 
Human  Life,  which,  as  he  well  observes,  are  '  great  matters  for  so  small  a  book.' 
And,  while  Mr.  Timbs  claims  for  this  volume  the  merit  of  being  more  reflective 
than  its  predecessors,  those  who  read  it  will  add  to  that  merit— that  it  is  equally 
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The  author  sets  down  many  of  the  results  of  the  experience  of  a  long  life,  in 
which  truthful  observation  has  been  the  cardinal  aim.  In  the  sections  devoted 
to  '  The  School  of  Life,'  and  '  The  Spirit  of  the  Age,'  the  calm  and  mature  judg- 
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phical sketches  which  it  contains  are  of  great  interest Things  to  be 

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salient  points  of  history;  such  historic  incidents  and  classical  quotations  as  are 
often  employed  by  public  writers;  and  the  Popular  Errors  of  History,  in  the  section 
of  '  Historic  Doubts.'  By  these  means  the  work  presents,  in  picturesque  forms, 
many  hundred  Events  and  Incidents,  Sayings  and  Origins,  and  noteworthy 
instances  of  Human  Action. 

'  We  can  conceive  no  more  amusing  book  for  the  drawing-room,  or  one  more 
useful  for  the  school-room. '—ART  JOURNAL. 

Popular   Errors  Explained  and    Illustrated.     By 

JOHN  TIMES,  F.S.A.    Sixth  Thousand.    Fcap.  2s.  6d.  cloth. 
'  We  know  of  few  better  books  for  young  persons:  it  is  instructive,  entertaining, 
and  reliable.    This  book   cannot  but  enhance  the  author's  repute  for  curious 
research,  and  entertaining  as  well  as  instructive  writing.'— BUILDKR. 

'  A  work  which  ninety-nine  persons  out  of  every  hundred  would  take  up  when- 
ever it  came  in  their  way,  and  would  always  learn  something  from.' 

ENGLISH  CHURCHMAN. 

The  Year-Book  of  Facts  in  Science  and  Art,  Ex- 
hibiting the  most  important  Improvements  and  Discoveries  of  the 
Past  Year  in  Mechanics  and  the  Useful  Arts,  Natural  Philosophy. 
Electricity,  Chemistry,  Zoology  and  Botany,  Geology  and  Miner- 
alogy, Meteorology  and  Astronomy.  By  JOHN  TIMES,  F.S.A.  With 
fine  Engraved  Frontispiece  and  Vignette.  Fcap.  5s.  cloth. 
<Jg?°  This  work,  published  annually,  records  the  proceedings  of  the  principal 

Scientific  Societies,  and  is  indispensable  for  such  as  wish  to  possess  a  faithful  picture 

of  the  latest  novelties  of  Science  and  the  Arts. 
'  Ably  and  honestly  compiled.'— ATHENAEUM. 


Catalogue  of  Popular  Works. 


JOHN  TIMBS'S  POPULAK  WORKS— continued. 
THE  INTERNATIONAL  EXHIBITION. 

The  Industry,  Science,  and  Art   of   the  Age;    or, 

the  International  Exhibition  of  1862,  Popularly  Described  from 
its  Origin  to  its  Close;  including  Details  of  the  Principal  Objects 
and  Articles  Exhibited.  By  JoHH  TIMES,  F.S.A.,  Author  of 
'  Curiosities  of  Science,'  &c.  In  a  closely-printed  volume,  pp.  362, 
price  6s.  cloth  elegant ;  illustrated  with  a  fine  Photograph  from 
negatives  specially  retained  for  this  work  by  the  London  Stereo- 
scopic Company. 

•A  very  timely,  useful,  and  interesting  compendium  and  memento  of  the  Exhibi- 
tion of  1882.'— BUILDER. 

4  Here  is  just  aamuch  preserved  about  the  Exhibition  as,  when  it  has  been  swept 
away,  any  one  would  care  to  know.' — MORNING  ADVEKTISER. 

School-days  of  Eminent  Men.     Containing  Sketches 

of  the  Progress  of  Education  in  England,  from  the  reign  of  King 
Alfred  to  that  of  Queen  Victoria ;  and  School  and  College  Lives  of 
the  most  celebrated  British  Authors,  Poets,  and  Philosophers; 
Inventors  and  Discoverers  ;  Divines,  Heroes,  Statesmen,  and  Legis- 
lators. By  JOHN  TIMES,  F.S.A.  Second  Edition,  entirely  Revised 
an>l  partly  Re-written.  AVith  a  Frontispiece  by  John  Gilbert, 
13  Views  of  Public  Schools,  and  20  Portraits  by  Harvey.  Fcap. 
5s.  handsomely  bound  in  cloth. 

<J^>  Extensively  used,  and  specially  adapted  for  a  Prize-Book  at  Schools. 

4  The  idea  is  a  happy  one,  and  its  execution  equally  so.  It  is  a  book  to  interest  all 
boys,  but  more  especially  those  of  Westminster,  Eton,  Harrow,  Rugby,  and  Win- 
chester ;  for  of  these,  as  of  many  other  schools  of  high  repute,  the  accounts  are  full 
and  interesting.'—  NOTES  AKD  QUEKIES. 

Stories  of  Inventors  and  Discoverers  in  Science  and 

Useful  Arts.  By  JOHN  TIMES,  F.S.A.  Second  Edition.  "With 
numerous  Illustrations.  Fcap.  5s.  cloth. 

'  Another  interesting  and  well-collected  book,  ranging  from  Archimedes  and 
Roger  Bacon  to  the  Stephensons.' — AriiENvrrii. 

'  This  last  book  is,  we  think,  Mr.  Timbs's  best.' — NATIONAL  MAGAZINE. 

4  These  stories  by  Mr.  Timbs  are  as  marvellous  as  the  Arabian  Nights'  Entertain- 
ments, and  are  wrought  into  a  volume  of  great  interest  and  worth.'— ATLAS. 

Painting  PopularlyExplained,withHistorical  Sketches 

of  the  Progress  of  the  Art.  By  THOMAS  JOHN  GTTLLICK,  Painter, 
and  JOHN  TIMES,  F.S.A.  "With  a  Frontispiece  and  Vignette,  in 
small  8vo.  pp.  336,  price  6s.  cloth. 

ggp"  This  work  has  been  adopted  as  a  Prize-Book  in  the  Schools  of  Art  at  South 
Kensington. 

4  We  can  heartily  recommend  this  volume  to  all  who  are  desirous  of  understanding 
what  they  admire'in  a  good  painting.'— DAILY  NEWS. 

Something   for  Everybody;  and  a  Garland. for  the 

Year.  By  JOHN  TIMES,  F.S.A.,  Author  of '  Things  Not  Generally 
Known,'  &c.  With  a  Coloured  Title,  post  8vo.  5s.  cloth. 

•  This  volume  abounds  with  diverting  and  suggestive  extracts.  It  seems  to  us 
particularly  well  adapted  for  parochial  lending  libraries.'— SATURDAY  REVIEW, 
Auaust  31.  18<;i. 

4  Full  of  odd,  quaint,  out-of-the-way  bits  of  information  upon  all  imaginable 
subjects  is  this  amusing  volume,  wherein  Mr.  Timbs  discourses  upon  domestic,  rural, 
metropolitan,  and  social  life;  interesting  nooks  of  English  localities:  time-honoured 
customs  and  old-world  observances;  and,  we  need  haraly  add,  Mr.  Timbs  discourses 
well  and  pleasantly  upon  all.'— NOTES  AAD  QUEKJKS,  July  20, 1861. 


Lockwood  and  Co's 


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of  nearly  Four  Thousand  Aids  to  Reflection,  Quotations  of  Maxims, 
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'  The  quotations  are  perfect  gems ;  their  selection  evinces  sound  judgment  and  an 
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The  Philosophy  of  William  Shakespeare ;  delineating, 

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Daily  Companion :   being  a  Collection  of  upwards  of  Two  Thousand 

Reflective  and  Spiritual  Passages,  remarkable  for  their  Sublimity, 

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arranged  in  Eighty-two  Sections,  each  comprising  a  different  theme 

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Authors.'    Third  Edition,  fcap.  8vo.  cloth,  gilt  edges,  536  pp.,  6s. 

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but  all,  perhaps,  may  not  be  equally  adapted  to  the  purposes  of  meditation  iind 

reflection.     Those,  therefore,  who  are  in  the  constant  habit  of  consulting  the  Bible 

will  not  object  to  a  selection  of  some  of  its  most  sublime  and  impressive  passages, 

arranged  and  classed  ready  at  once  to  meet  the  eye.' — EXTKACT  F.UOM  PKEFACE. 


Events  to  be  Remembered  in  the  History  of  England. 

Forming  a  Series  of  interesting  Narratives,  extracted  from  the  Paces 
of  Contemporary  Chronicles  or  Modern  Historians,  of  the  most  Re- 
markable Occurrences  in  each  Reign ;  with  Reviews  of  the  Manners, 
Domestic  Habits ,  Amusements,  Costumes,  &c.  &c.,  of  the  People, 
Chronological  Table,  &c.  By  CHARLES  SELBY.  Twenty-fifth 
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<@~  Great  care  has  been  taken  to  render  this  book  unobjectionable  to  the  most 
fastidious,  by  excluding  everything  that  could  not  be  read  aloud  in  schools  and 
families,  and  by  abstinence  from  all  party  spirit,  alike  in  politics  as  in  religion. 


Catalogue  of  Popular  Works. 


WORKS  BY   THE   AUTHOR   OF  'A  TRAP 
TO  CATCH  A  SUNBEAM.' 

'  In  telling  a  simple  story,  and  in  the  management  of  dialogue,  the  Author  is 
excelled  by  few  writers  of  the  present  day.'— LITEUAKV  GAZETTE. 

A  Trap  to  Catch  a  Sunbeam.    Thirty-fifth  Edition, 

price  Is. 

'  Aide,  toi,  et  le.  del  t'aidcra,  is  the  moral  of  this  pleasant  and  interesting  story,  to 
•which  we  assign  in  this  Gazette  a  place  immediately  after  Charles  Dickens,  as  its 
due,  for  many  passages  not  unworthy  of  him,  and  for  a  general  scheme  quite  in 
unison  with  his  best  feelings  towards  the  lowly  and  depressed.' — LITERARY  GAZETTE. 

A  Cheap  Edition  of  the  above  popular  story  has  been  prepared 
for  distribution.   Sold  only  in  packets  price  Is.  6d.  containing  12  copies. 

Also,  by  the  same  Author, 

'  COMING  HOME  ; '  a  New  Tale  for  all  Readers,  price  Is. 
OLD  JOLLIFFE  ;  not  a  Goblin  Story.    Is. 
The  SEQUEL  to  OLD  JOLLIFFE.    Is. 
The  HOUSE  on  the  ROCK.    Is. 
'  ONLY ; '  a  Tale  for  Younz  and  Old.    Is. 
The  CLOUD  with  the  SILVER 'LINING.    Is. 
The  STAR  in  the  DESERT.    Is. 

AMY'S  KITCHEN,  a  VILLAGE  ROMANCE  :  a  New  Story.    Is. 
The   DREAM    CHINTZ.       With    Illustrations   by  James    Godwin. 

2s.  6d.  with  a  beautiful  fancy  cover. 
'  A  MERRY  CHRISTMAS.'    6d. 
SIBERT'S  WOLD.    Second  Edition,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

Sunbeam  Stories.     A  Selection  of  the   Tales  by  the 

Author  of  'A  Trap  to  Catch  a  Sunbeam,'  &c.  &c.  In  one  volume, 
price  5s.  cloth  elegant,  or  5s.  6d.  gilt  edges.  Illustrated  by  John 
Absolon  and  Henry  Anelay. 

CONTEXTS : 


A  Trap  to  Catch  a  Sunbeam. 

Old,  Jolliffe. 

The  Sequel  to  Old  Jolliffe. 


The  Star  in  the  Desert. 

'Only.' 

'  A  Merry  Christmas.' 


Minnie's  Love :  a  Novel.     By  the  Author  of  <  A  Trap 

to  Catch  a  Sunbeam.'    In  1  vol.  post  8vo.  10s.  6d.  cloth. 

'  An  extremely  pleasant,  sunshiny  volume.'— CFITIC. 

'  "  Minnie's  Love  "  adds  to  the  reputation  of  the  Author  of  "  A  Trap  to  Catch  a 
Sunbeam."  '—.ATLAS. 

'  NYe  were  first  surprised,  then  pleased,  next  delighted,  and  finally  enthralled  by 
the  story.' — MORMS&  HERALD. 

Little  Sunshine :    a  Tale  to  be  Read  to  very  Young 

Children.  By  the  Author  of  '  A  Trap  to  Catch  a  Sunbeam.'  In 
square  16mo.  coloured  borders,  engraved  Frontispiece  and  Vig- 
nette, fancy  boards,  price  2s. 

'  YOUIIET  people  will  read  it  with  avidity.'— CmusTtAx  WITNESS. 
'Just  the  thing  to  rivet  the  attention  of  children.'— STAMFORD  MERCURY. 
'Printed  in  the  sumptuous  manner  that  children  like  best.'—  BRADFORD  OBSERVES. 
'  As  pleasing  a  child's  book  as  we  recollect  seeing.' — PLYMOUTH  HLKALD. 


Lockwood  and  Co.'s 


BOOKS  FOR  NURSERY  OR  MATERNAL 
TUITION. 

La  Bagatelle :  Intended  to  introduce  Children  of  Five 
or  Six  Years  old  to  some  knowledge  of  the  French  Language. 
Revised  by  Madame  N.  L.  New  and  Cheaper  Edition,  much  im- 
proved, and  embellished  with  entirely  new  cuts.  18mo.  bound  and 
lettered,  price  2s.  6d. 

'  A  well-known  little  book,  revised,  improved,  and  adorned  with  some  very  pretty 
new  pictures.    It  is,  indeed,  French  made  very  easy  for  very  little  children.' 

THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  TEACHER. 

'  A  very  nice  book  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  children;  likely  to  command  their 
attention  by  its  beautiful  embellishmeHts.'— PAPERS  FOR  THE  SCHOOLMASTER. 

Chickseed  without  Chickweed :  being  very  Easy  and 

Entertaining  Lessons,  for  Little  Children.  A  Book  for  every 
Mother.  New  Edition,  with  Frontispiece  by  Anelay,  12mo.  cloth,  Is. 

Peter  Parley's  Book  of  Poetry,  With  numerous  En- 
gravings. New  Edition,  I6mo.  cloth,  Is.  6d. 

Cobwebs   to    Catch   Flies;    or,    Dialogues  and  Short 

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CHEAP   AND    ENTERTAINING   BOOKS 
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The  Story  of  the  Three  Bears.     17th  Edition.    With 

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Woodman.    With  Illustrations,  oblong,  6d.  sewed. 

An  Hour  at  Bearwood;  or,  The  Wolf  and  the  Seven 

Kids.    With  Illustrations,  oblong,  6d.  sewed. 

The  Three  Bears  and  their  Stories;  being  the  above 

Stories  in  1  vol.  With  numerous  Illustrations,  oblong,  2s.  cloth, 
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The   Ugly   Duck.     By  HANS  ANDERSEN.      Versified; 

and  dedicated  to  the  Readers  of '  The  Three  Bears.5  Four  Illustra- 
tions by  Weigall,  oblong,  6d.  sewed. 


The  Lessons   of  My  Farm:    A  Book   for  Amateur 

Agriculturists:  being  an  Introduction  to  Farm  Practice  in  the 
Culture  of  Crops,  the  Feeding  of  Cattle,  Management  of  the  Dairy, 
Poultry,  Pigs,  and  in  the  Keeping  of  Farm-work  Records.  By 
ROBERT  SCOTT  BURN,  one  of  the  Authors  of  'Book  of  Farm 
Buildings.'  With  numerous  Illustrations,  fcap.  6s.  cloth. 


Catalogue  of  Popular  Works 


The  Fables  of  Babrius.    Translated  into  English  Verse 

from  the  Text  of  Sir  G.  Cornewall  Lewis.  By  the  Rev.  JAMES 
DAVIES,  some  time  Scholar  of  Lincoln  Coll.  Oxford.  Fcap.  cloth 
antique,  elegantly  printed,  price  6s. 

1  "  Who  was  Babrius  ?  "  The  reply  may  not  improbably  startle  the  reader. 
Babrius  was  the  real,  original  ./Esop.'  Nothing  is  so  fabulous  about  the  fables  of  our 
childhood  as  their  reputed  authorship.'— DAILY  NEWS. 

'  The  yEsop  of  our  boyhood  is  dethroned,  and  his  sceptre  taken  from  him,  by  no 
less  a  disenchanter  than  Her  Majesty's  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Home  Department. 
.  .  .  Here  stands  the  fact  that  ^Esop  was  not  the  author  of  the  world-famed  fables, 
but  that  the  real  fabricator  was  one  Babrius.  ...  So  Babrius  has  been  finally  setup 
to  rule  over  the  realm  of  early  fables,  and  ^Esop  passes  into  the  category  of  myths 
or  plagiarists,  according  to  the  evidence.' — ILLUSTRATED  LONDON  NEWS. 

'  A  fable-book  which  is  admirably  adapted  to  take  the  place  of  the  imperfect 
collections  of  ^Esopian  wisdom  which  have  hitherto  held  the  first  place  in  our 
juvenile  libraries.'— HEREFORD  TIMES. 

Every  Man's  Own  Lawyer:  A  Handy-Book  of  the 

Principles  of  Law  and  Equity.  By  a  BARRISTER.  1  Second  Edition, 
in  1  vol.  12mo.  cloth,  price  6s.  8d.  (Saved  at  every  Consultation), 
post  free.  Comprising,  the  Rights  and  Wrongs  of  Individuals,  Mer- 
cantile and  Commercial  Law,  Criminal  Law,  Parish  Law,  County 
Court  Law,  Game  Laws ;  the  Laws  of 


BANKRUPTCY. 

BETS  AND  WAGERS. 

BILLS  OF  EXCHANGE. 

CONTRACTS. 

COPYRIGHTS  AND  PATENTS. 


Landlord  and  Tenant. 

Master  and  Servant. 
Husband  and  Wife. 
Executors  and  Trustees. 
Guardian  and  Ward. 
Married  Women  and  In- 

fants. 

Partners  and  Agents. 
Lender  and  Borrower. 
Debtor  and  Creditor. 
Purchaser  and  Vendor. 
.Joint  Stock  Companies. 
Hallway  Companies. 


I.vsu  RANGES 

LIBEL  AND  SLANDER. 

MARRIAGE  AND  DIVORCE. 

MERCHANT  SHIPPING. 

MORTGAGES. 

Also  Law  for 
Gas  Companies. 
Friendly  Societies. 
Clergymen. 
Medical  Practitioners. 
Bankers. 
Surgeons. 

Authors  and  Artists. 
Publishers. 
Farmers. 
Contractors. 
Sportsmen. 
Gamekeepers. 
Farriers  and  Horsedealers. 


SETTLEMENTS. 
TRESPASS,  NUISANCES,  ETC. 
WARRANTY. 

WILLS  AND  AGREEMENTS. 
ETC.    ETC. 


Auctioneers.House  Agents. 

Tradesmen. 

Innkeepers,  &c. 

Bakers,  Millers,  &c. 

Pawnbrokers. 

Printers. 

Surveyors, 

Carriers. 

Constables. 

Brokers. 

Seamen. 

Soldiers. 

&c.      &c. 


Science  Elucidative  of  Scripture,  and  not  antago- 

nistic to  it.  Being  a  Series  of  Essays  on—  1.  Alleged  Discrepancies  ; 
2.  The  Theories  of  the  Geologists  nd  Figure  of  the  Earth  ;  3.  The 
Mosaic  Cosmogony;  4  Miracles  in  general  —  Views  of  Hume  and 
Powell;  5.  The  Miracle  of  Joshua—  Views  of  Dr.  Colenso:  The 
Supernaturally  Impossible  ;  6.  The  Age  of  the  Fixed  Stars—  •  heir 
Distances  and  Masses.  By  Professor  J.  R.  YOUNG,  Author  of  '  A 
Course  of  Elementary  Mathematics,'  &c.  &c.  Fcap.  Svo.  price  5s. 
cloth  kttered. 

'  A  scholarlike  and  orthodox  little  volume,  ably  handling  those  scientific  difficul- 
ties, started  by  certain  writers  of  the  pre>ent  period,  as  opposing  serious  objections 
to  certain  portions  of  the  Bible.  The  shallow  but  dangerous  theories  of  Dr.  Colenso 
are  treated  by  Mr.  Young  in  a  calm  but  clever  manner  ....  Every  unbiassed 
reader  of  average  understanding,  after  perusal  of  the  volume,  must  be  satisfied  that 
the  author  has  succeeded  in  vindicating  its  title.'—  MOR.VING  ADVKRTISEK. 

'  Professor  Young's  examination  of  the  early  verses  of  Genesis,  in  connection  with 
modern  scientific  hypotheses,  is  excellent.'—  ENGLISH  CHURCHMAN-. 

'  Distinguished  by  the  true  spirit  of  scientific  inquiry,  by  great  knowledge,  by 
keen  logical  ability,  and  by  a  stj  le  peculiarly  clear,  easy,  and  energetic.' 


'  No  one  can  rise  from  its  perusal  without  being  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the 
singular  weakness  of  modern  scepticism.'  —  BAPTIST  MAGAZINE. 


Catalogue  of  Popular  Works. 


WORKS  BY  THE  REV.  WM.  HARRISON, 

BECTOK  OF  BIKCH. 

The  Tongue  of  Time ;  or,  The  Language  of  a  Church 

Clock.  By  WILLIAM  HARRISON,  A.M.  of  Brazenose  Collece,  Ox- 
ford; Domestic  Chaplain  to  H.  R.  H.  the  Duke  of  Cambridge; 
Rector  of  Birch,  Essex.  Sixth  Edition,  with  beautiful  Frontispiece, 
fcp.  3s.  cloth,  gilt  edges. 

The  Shepherd  and  his  Sheep ;  An  Exposition  of  the 

Twenty-third  Psalm.    Second  Edition,  enlarged,  fcp.  2s.  6d.  cloth. 

Consecrated   Thoughts ;    or,   A  Few  Notes   from  a 

Christian  Harp.    Second  Edition,  corrected,  fcp.  2s.  6d.  cloth. 

Sermons  on  the   Commandments;   Preached  in  the 

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&c.,  from  various  Authors,  suitable  for  the  bereaved  Christian. 
Second  Edition,  fcp.  4s.  6d.  cloth. 


Sidney  Grey ;  a  Tale  of  School  Life.     By  the  Author 

of  '  Mia  and  Charlie.'    Second  Edition,  with  Six  beautiful  Illustra- 
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Do  you  Give  it  Up  ?  A  Collection  of  the  most  Amusing 

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pendix, containing  Tables  of  Interest,  Salaries,  Commission,  &c. 
24mo.  Is.  6d.  cloth,  or  2s.  strongly  bound  in  leather. 
8^=  Indispensable  to  every  housekeeper. 

CHEAP  AND  PORTABLE  LITERATURE. 

The  Pocket  English  Classics.     32mo.  neatly  printed, 

in  Illuminated  Wrappers,  price  Sixpence  each. 
The  following  are  now  ready : — 
THE  VICAR  OF  WAKEFIELD.         j  COLERIDGE'S  ANCIENT  MARINER. 


GOLDSMITH'S  POETICAL  WORKS. 

FALCONER'S  SHIPWRECK. 

RASSELAS. 

STERNE'S  SENTIMENTAL  JOURNEY. 

LOCKE  ON  THE  UNDERSTANDING. 


THOMSON'S  SEASONS,  ,  COWPER'S  TASK. 


WALTON'S    COMPLETE    ANGLER, 

PART  I. 
WALTON'S     COMPLETE    ANGLER, 

PART  II. 
ELIZABETH:  OR,  THE  EXILES. 


INCHBALD'S  NATURE  AND  ART. 
BLOOMFIELD'S  FARMER'S  BOY. 
SCOTT'S  LADY  OP  THE  LAKE. 
SCOTT'S  LAY. 


POPE'S  ESSAY  AND  BLAIB'S  GRAVE 
GRAY  AND  COLLINS. 
GAY'S  FABLES. 
PAUL  AND  VIRGINIA. 


Catalogue  of  Popular  Works. 


DELAMOTTE'S  WORKS 

ON  ILLUMINATION,    ALPHABETS,    &c. 
A  Primer  of  the  Art  of  Illumination,  for  the  use  of 

Beginners,  with  a  Rudimentary  Treatise  on  the  Art,  Practical 
Directions  for  its  Exercise,  and  numerous  Examples  taken  from 
Illuminated  MSS.,  and  beautifully  printed  in  gold  and  colours.  By 
P.  DELAMOTTE.  Small  4to.  price  9s.  cloth  antique. 

'A  handy  book,  beautifully  illustrated  ;  the  text  of  which  is  well  written,  and 

calculated  to  be  useful The  examples  of  ancient  MSS.  recommended  to  the 

student,  which,  with  much  good  sense,  the  author  chooses  from  collections  accessible 
to  all,  are  selected  with  judgment  and  knowledge,  as  well  as  taste.' — ATHEN.ECM. 

'Modestly  called  a  Primer,  this  little  book  has  a  good  title  to  be  esteemed  a 
manual  and  guide-book  in  the  study  and  practice  of  the  different  styles  of  letter- 
ing used  by  the  artistic  transcribers  of  past  centuries An  amateur  may  with  this 

silent  preceptor  learn  the  whole  art  and  mystery  of  illumination.' — SPECTATOR. 

'  The  volume  is  very  beautifully  got  up,  and  we  can  heartily  recommend  it  to  the 
notice  of  those  who  wish  to  become  proficient  in  the  art.'— ENGLISH  CHTJECHMAN. 

'  AVe  are  able  to  recommend  Mr.  Delamotte's  treatise.  The  letterpress  is  modestly 
but  judiciously  written  ;  and  the  illustrations,  which  are  numerous  and  well  chosen, 
are  beautifully  printed  in  gold  and  colours.'— ECCLESIOLOGIST. 

The  Book  of  Ornamental    Alphabets,  Ancient  and 

Mediaeval,  from  the  Eighth  Century,  with  Numerals.    Including 
Gothic,  Church-Text,  large  and  small ;  German,  Italian,  Arabesque. 
Initials  for  Illumination,  Monograms,  Crosses,  &c.,  &c.,  for  the  use 
of  Architectural  and  Engineering  Draughtsmen,  Missal  Painters, 
Masons,  Decorative  Painters,  Lithographers,  Engravers,  Carvers, 
&c.  &c.    Collected  and  Engraved  by  P.  DELAMOTTE,  and  printed  in 
Colours.    Pourth  Edition,  royal  8vo.  oblong,  price  4s.  cloth. 
*  A  well-known  engraver  and  draughtsman  has  enrolled  in  this  useful  book  the 
result  of  many  years'  study  and  research.    For  those  \vho  insert  enamelled  sen- 
tences round  gilded  chalices,  who  blazon  shop  legends  over  shop-doors,  who  letter 
church  walls  with  pithy  sentences  from  the  Decalogue,  this  book  will  be  Ubeful. 
Mr.  Delamotte's  book  was  wanted.'— ATHEXJEUM. 

Examples  of  Modern  Alphabets,  Plain  and  Ornamen- 
tal. Including  German,  Old  English,  Saxon,'  Italic,  Perspective. 
Greek,  Hebrew,  Court  Hand,  Engrossing,  Tuscan,  Riband,  Gothic, 
Rustic,  and  Arabesque,  with  several  original  Designs,  and  Numerals. 
Collected  and  Engraved  by  P.  DELAMOTTE,  and  printed  in  Colours. 
Royal  8vo.  oblong,  price  4s.  cloth. 

'  To  artists  of  all  classes,  but  more  especially  to  architects  and  engravers,  this  very 
handsome  book  will  be  invaluable.  There  is  comprised  in  it  every  possible  shape 
into  which  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  and  numerals  can  be  formed,  and  the  talent 
which  has  been  expended  in  the  conception  of  the  various  plain  and  ornamental 
letters  is  wonderful.'— STANDARD. 

Mediaeval  Alphabet  and  Initials  for  Illuminators. 

By  P.  G.  DELAMOTTE.  Containing  21  Plates,  and  Illumiratcd.  Title, 
printed  in  Gold  and  Colours.  With  an  Introduction  by  J.  WILLIS 
BEOOKS.  Small  4to.  6s.  cloth  gilt. 

1  A  volume  in  which  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  eome  forth  glorified  in  gilding  and 
all  the  colours  of  the  prism  interwoven  and  intertwined  and  intermingled,  some- 
times with  a  .sort  of  rainbow  arabesque.  A  poem  emblazoned  in  these  characters 
would  be  only  comparable  to  one  of  those  delicious  love  letters  symbolised  in  a 
bunch  of  flowers  well  selected  and  cleverly  arranged.' — SUIT. 

The  Embroiderer's  Book  of  Design,  containing  Initials, 

Emblems,  Cyphers.  Monograms,  Ornamental  Borders,  Ecclesiastical 
Devices,  Mediaeval  and  Modern  Alphabets  and  National  Emblems. 
By  P.  DELAMOTTE.  Printed  in  Colours.  Oblong  royal  8vo.  2s.  6d. 
in  ornamental  boards. 


LocJcwood  and  Co.'s 


THE  GERMAN  LANGUAGE—  continued. 

Dr.  Falck  Lebahn's  Popular   Series   of  German 

School-  Books. 

1  As  an  educational  writer  in  the  German  tongue.  Dr.  Lebahn  stands  alone;  none 
other  has  made  even  a  distant  approach  to  Mm.  The  magnitude  and  value  of  his 
services  have  been  acknowledged  by  the  Public  Press  to  an  extent  and  with  a  unanimity 
of  which  there  is  no  example.  —  BRITISH  STANDAKD. 

Lebahn's  First  German    Course.       Second  Edition. 

Crown  8vo.  2s.  6d.  cloth. 
'It  is  hardly  possible  to  have  a  simpler  or  better  book  for  beginners  in  German.' 

ATHEN/EI:M. 

'  It  is  really  what  it  professes  to  be—  a  simple,  clear,  and  concise  introduction  to 
the  German  language;  one,  too,  which  will  be  equally  useful  to  the  self-instructing 
student  and  the  member  of  a  German  class.'—  CJUTIC. 

Lebahn's  German  Language  in  One  Volume.    Sixth 

Edition,  containing'  —  1«.  A  Practical  Grammar,  with  Exercises  to 
every  Rule.  II.  Undine  ;  a  Tale  :  by  DE  LA  MOTTE  FOUQUE,  with 
Explanatory  Notes  of  all  difficult  words  and  phrases.  III.  A 
Vocabulary  of  4500  "Words,  synonymous  in  English  and  German. 
Crown  Svo.  8s.  cloth.  With  Key,  10s.  6d.  Key  separate,  2s.  6d. 
'  This  is  the  best  German  grammar  that  has  yet  been  published.' 

MORNING  POST. 

'  Had  we  to  re  commence  the  study  of  German,  of  all  the  German  grammars 
whi<'h  we  have  examined—  and  they  are  not  a  few  —  we  should  unhesitatingly  say, 
Falck  Lebahn's  is  the  book  for  us.'—  EDUCATIONAL  TIMES. 

Lebahn's  Edition  of  Schmid's  Henry  Von  Eichen- 

fels.    "With  Vocabulary  and  Familiar  Dialogues.     Sixth  Edition. 
Crown  Svo.  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

1  Equally  with  Mr.  Lebahn's  previous  publications,  excellently  adapted  to  assist 
self-exercise  in  the  German  language.'  —  SrECTATOR. 

'  Mr.  Lebahn  has  done  his  work  in  his  usual  clever,  painstaking,  and  (to  the 
student)  profitable  style.'—  CHUKCH  AND  STATE  GAZETTE. 

Lebahn's  First  German  Reader.     Fourth  Edition. 

Crown  Svo.  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

'  An  excellent  elementary  work.'  —  SUNDAY  TIMES. 
'Like  all  Lebahn's  works,  most  thoroughly  practical.'  —  BRITANNIA. 
'  An  admirable  book  for  beginners,  which  indeed  may  be  used  without  a  master.* 

LEADER. 

Lebahn's  German  Classics  ;  with  Notes  and  Complete 

Vocabularies.    Crown  Svo.  price  3s.  6d.  each,  cloth  :  — 

PETER  SCHLEMIHL,  the  Shadowless  Man.    By  CHAMISSO. 

EGMONT.    A  Tragedy,  in  Five  Acts,  by  GOETHE. 

WILHELM  TELL.    A  Drama,  in  Five  Acts,  by  SCHILLEB. 

GOETZ  VON  BERLICHINGEN.    A  Drama.    By  GOETHE. 

PAGENSTRE1CHE,  a  Pace's  Frolics.    A  Comedy,  by  KoTZEBUB. 

EMILIA  GA  LOTTI.    A  Tragedy,  hi  Five  Acts,  by  LESSUTO, 

UNDINE.    A  Tale,  by  FOUQUE. 

SELECTIONS  from  the  GERMAN  POETS. 

'These  editions  are  prepared  for  the  use  of  learners  who  read  without  a  master  : 
and  they  will  be  found  convenient  for  that  purpose.  In  each,  the  text  is  followed 
by  a  glossary,  whei«?/n  not  only  the  sense  of  every  particular  phrase,  but  also  the 
dictionary  meaning  of  most  of  the  several  words,  is  given  in  good  Enclish.  With 
such  aids,  a  student  will  find  no  difficulty  in  these  masterpieces.'  —  ATI!EN.EUM. 

Lebahn's  German  Copy-Book  :  being  a  Series  of  Exer- 

cises in  German  Penmanship,  beautifully  engraved  on  Steel.    4to. 
2s.  6d.  sewed. 


Catalogue  of  Educational  Works.  13 


THE    GERMAN    LANGUAGE— continued. 

Lebahn's  Exercises  in  German.     Crown  8vo.  3s.  6d. 

cloth. 

1  A  volume  of  "  Exercises  in  German,"  including  in  itself  all  the  vocabularies 
they  require.  The  book  is  well  planned  ;  the  selections  for  translation  from  German 
into  English,  or  from  English  into  German,  being  sometimes  curiously  well  suited 
to  the  purpose  for  which  they  are  taken.'— EXAHIXER. 

Lebahn's  Self-Instructor  in  German.     Crown  8vo. 

6s.  6d.  cloth. 

'  One  of  the  most  amusing  elementary  reading-books  that  ever  passed  under  our 
hands.'— JOHN  BULL. 
'  The  student  could  have  no  guide  superior  to  Mr.  Lebahn.' 

LITEEAET  GAZETTE. 

Nicholson  and  Rowbotham's  Practical  System  of 

Algebra.  Designed  for  the  use  of  Schools  and  Private  Students. 
Seventh  Edition,  12mo.  300  pages,  3s.  6d.  bound. 

Technical   Memory.      The   Historical  Lines  of   Dr. 

GREY'S  Technical  Memory.  With  various  additions,  chiefly  as  they 
apply  to  Modern  History.  Sixth  Edition,  Is.  sewed. 

O'Gorman's  Intuitive  Calculations ;   the  most  Concise 

Methods  ever  published.  Designed  for  the  use  of  all  classes  — 
Bankers,  Brewers,  Engineers.  Land  Surveyors,  Manufacturers, 
Merchants,  Wine  and  Spirit  Merchants,  Timber  Merchants,  Pro- 
fessors, Teachers,  &c.  With  an  Appendix  on  Decimal  Computation, 
Coins,  and  Currency.  By  DANIEL  O'GoRMAN.  22nd  Edition, 
revised.  30th  thousand,  crown  8vo.  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

O'Gorman's    Original    and    Comprehensive    System 

of  Self-instructing  Book-keeping  by  Single  and  Double  Entry.  New 
Edition,  8vo.  price  5s.  cloth. 

O'Gorman's  Prince    of  Wales' s   New   Table-Book, 

compiled  from  the  '  Intuitive  Calculations  ;'  embracing  all  the 
Tables  in  Money,  Weights,  and  Measures,  necessary  for  the  Arith- 
metician :  with  Tables  of  Decimal  Coins.  New  Edition,  Sd.  stitched. 

Marcus'  Latin  Grammar. — A  Latin  Grammar.     By 

the  Rev.  LEWIS  MARCUS,  M.A.,  Queen's  College,  Camb  idge,  In- 
cumbent of  St.  Paul's,  Finsbury,  and  formerly  Head  Master  of  the 
Grammar  School,  Holbeach.  12mo.  2s.  6d.  cloth. 

Marcus'  Elementary  Latin.   A  Delectus  of  Progressive 

Exercises  in  Construing  and  Composition,  adapted  to  the  Rules  of 
Syntax.  By  the  Rev.  L.  MARCUS,  M.A.,  Author  of  'A  Latin 
Grammar.'  12mo.  2s.  6d.  cloth. 

Chronological  Tables  of  Contemporary  Sovereigns, 

Dates,  Battles,  Treaties,  &c.  Forming  an  easy  Artificial  Memory 
for  the  Study  of  Universal  History,  from  the  Christian  Era  to 
the  Present  Time.  By  S.  M.  RUPFJN.  2nd  Edition,  4to.  3s.  6d. 
cloth  limp. 

Events  to  be  Remembered  in  the  History  of  Eng- 
land. By  CHARLES  SELBT.  Twenty-fifth  (School)  Edition.  12mo. 
2s.  6d.  cloth. 


LocJcwood  and  Co.'s 


\    OBLIQUE  BRIDGF.S.    With  13 large  Folding  Plates.    ByGEOROEW. 
.  Inst.  C.E.    Second  Edition,  corrected  by  W.  H.  BA 


WORKS    IN    ENGINEERING,    ARCHITECTURE, 
MECHANICS,    SCIENCE,    &c. 

THE   YEAR- BOOK  of  FACTS  in  SCIENCE  and   ART. 
Exhibiting  the  most  important  improvements  and   Discoveries   of  the   past 
year  in  Mechanics  and  the  Useful  Arts,  Natural  Philosophy,  Electricity,  Chemistry, 
Zoology  and  Botany,  Geology  and  Mineralogy,  Meteorology  and  Astronomy.    By 
JOHN  TiMBs,F.S.A.    (Published  Annually.) 

8^"  This  work  records  the  proceedings  of  the  principal  scientific  societies,  and  is 
indispensable  for  such  as  wish  to  possess  a  faithful  picture  of  the  latest  novelties  of 
science  and  the  arts. 

AIDE-MEMOIRE  to  the  MILITARY  SCIENCES  ;   framed 
from  Contributions  of  Officers  of  the  different  Services,  and  edited  by  a  Com- 
mittee of  the  Corps  of  Royal  Kngineers.   3  vols.  royal  8vo.  upwards  of  500  Engravings 
and  Woodcuts,  in  extra  cloth  boards,  and  lettered,  44. 10s.  :  or  may  be  had  in  six 
separate  parts,  paper  boards. 

'THE    HIGH -PRESSURE    STEAM-ENGINE.      By    Dr. 

JL  ERNST  ALBAN,  Practical  Machine  Maker,  Plau,  Mecklenburg.  Translated 
from  the  German,  by  WILLIAM  POLE,  C.E.,  F.R.A.S.,  Assoc.  Inst.  C.E.  8vo.  with 
28  fine  Plates,  16s.  6d.  cloth. 

PRACTICAL     and     THEORETICAL      ESSAY    on 

Plates.    By  GEOROE  W.  BPCK, 

, RLOW,  M.  Inst.  C.E.    Imperial 

8vo.  12s.  cloth. 

fFHE  PRACTICAL  RAILWAY  ENGINEER.  By  G.  DRYS- 

JL  DALE  DEMPSEY,  Civil  Engineer.  Fourth  Edition,  revised  and  greatly  extended. 
With  71  double  quarto  Plates,  72  Woodcuts,  and  Portrait  of  G.  .STEPHENSON.  One 
large  vol.  4to.  £2.  12s.  6d.  cloth. 

AN  IRON  SHIP-BUILDING;  with  Practical  Examples  and 

W  Details,  in  Twenty-four  Plates,  together  with  Text  containing  Descriptions, 
Explanations,  and  General  Remarks.  By  JOHN  GRANTHAM,  C.E.,  Consulting  Engi- 
neer, and  Naval  Architect.  Second  Edition,  Atlas  of  Plates,  with  separate  Text,  £1. 5s. 

A    TREATISE  on  the    PRINCIPLES  and  PRACTICE  of 

riL    LEVELLING.    By  FREDERICK  W.  SIMMS,  M.  Inst.  C.E.    Fourth  Edition, 
with  the  Addition  of  Mr.  Law's  Practical  Examples  for  setting  out  Railway  Curves, 
and  Mr.  Trautwine's  Field  Practice  of  Laying  out  Circular  Curves.    With  7  Platea 
and  numerous  Woodcuts,  8vo.  8s.  6<l.  cloth. 
QiP  Trautwine  on  Laying  out  Circular  Curves  is  also  sold  separately,  price  5s.  sewed. 

PRACTICAL  TUNNELLING.   By  FREDERICK  w.  SIMMS, 

L  M.  Inst.  C.E.  Second  Edition,  with  Additions  by  W.  DAVIS  HASKOLL,  C.E. 
Imperial  8vo.,  numerous  Woodcuts  and  16  Folding  Plates,  £1.  Is.  cloth. 

TABLES  for  the  PURCHASING  of  ESTATES,  Annuities, 

Advowsons.  &c.,  and  for  the  Renewing  of  Leases  :  also  for  Valuing  Reversionary 
tes,  Deferred  Annuities,  next  Presentations,  &c.  By  WILLIAM  INWOOD,  Architect, 
enteenth  Edition,  with  considerable  additions.  12mo.  cloth,  7s. 

THE    STUDENT'S    GUIDE  to   the  PRACTICE   of 
DESIGNING,  MEASURING,    and    VALUING  ARTIFICERS'   WORK; 
with  43  Plates  and  Woodcuts.    Edited  by  EDWARD  DOBSON,  Architect  and  Surveyor. 
Second  Edition,  with  Additions  on  Design,  by  E.  LACV  GARBETT,  Architect.    One  Vol. 
8vo.  extra  cloth,  9s. 

GENERAL   TEXT-BOOK,   for    the  Constant  Use  and 

_  Reference  #f  Architects,  Engineers,  Surveyors,  Solicitors,  Auctioneers,  Land 
Agents,  and  Stewards.  By  EDWAKD  RYDE,  Civil  Engineer  and  Laud  Surveyor;  to 
which  are  added  several  Chapters  on  Agriculture  and  Landed  Property.  By  Professor 
DONALDSON.  One  large  thick  vol.  Svo.with  numerous  Engravings,  £1.  8s.  cloth. 

fTHE   ELEMENTARY    PRINCIPLES    of  CARPENTRY. 

I  By  THOMAS  TREDOOLD,  Civil  Engineer.  Illustrated  by  Fifty-three  Engravings, 
a  Portrait  of  the  Author,  and  several  Woodcuts.  Fourth  Edition.  Edited  by  PsiEa 
BARLOW,  F.R.S.  One  large  Volume,  4to.  £2. 2s.  in  extra  cloth. 

HINTS  to  YOUNG  ARCHITECTS.    By  GEORGE  WIGHT- 
WICK,  Architect,  Author  of  "  The  Palace  of  Architecture,"  &c.   Second  Edition, 
witn,  numerous  Woodcuts,  8vo.  extra  cloth,  7s. 


Esta 
Seve 


A 


Catalogue  of  Scientific  Works  1 5 

WOBKS  IN  ENGINEERING,   &c.— continued. 

THE  OPERATIVE   MECHANIC'S    WORKSHOP   COM 
PAXIOX:  comprising  a  great  variety  of  the  most  useful  Rules  in  Mechanical 
Science,  with  numerous    Tables  of  Practical  Data  and  Calculated  Results.    By  W. 
TEMTLETON,  Author  of  '  The  Engineer's  Common-Place  Book,'  &c.  Seventh  Edition, 
with  1 1  Plates.    12mo.  price  5s.  bound  and  lettered. 

rFHEORY  of  COMPOUND  INTEREST  and  ANNUITIES, 

JL  with  TABLES  of  LOGARITHMS  for  the  more  difficult  computations  of  In- 
terest, Discount,  Annuities,  &c.,  in  all  their  Applications  and  Uses  for  Mercantile  and 
State  Purposes.  By  F.  THOMAN,  of  the  Societt?  Credit  Mobilier,  Paris.  12mo.  cloth, 
price  5s. 

THE  ENGINEER'S,  ARCHITECT'S,  and  CONTRAC- 
TOR'S POCKET  BOOK  (.LOCKWOOD  and  Co.'s,  formerly  WEALE'S),  published 
Annually.  With  DIARY  of  K VENTS  and  DATA  connected  with  Engineering,  Architec- 
ture, and  the  kindred  Sciences.  The  present  year's  Volume  is  much  improved  by 
the  addition  of  various  useful  articles.  With  8  Copperplates,  and  numerous  Wood"- 
cuts,  in  roan  tuck,  gilt  edges,  6s. 

THE  BUILDER'S   and  CONTRACTOR'S   PRICE  BOOK 
(LOCKWOOD  and  Co.'s.  formerly  WEALE'S),  published  Annually.    Containing  the 
latest  prices  for  work  in  all  branches  of  the  Building  Trade,  with  items  numbered  for 
easy  reference.    12mo.  cloth  boards,  lettered,  4s. 

THE  TIMBER   MERCHANT'S   and   BUILDER'S   COM- 
PANIOX.    Containing  new  and  copious  TABLES,  &c.    By  WILLIAM  DOWSING, 
Timber  Merchant,  Hull.    Second  Edition,  revised.    Crown  8vo.  3s.  cloth. 

A    SYNOPSIS  of  PRACTICAL  PHILOSOPHY.     Alpha- 
betically   Arranged.      Designed    as    a   Manual   for    Travellers,    Architects, 
Surveyors,  Engineers,  Students,  Xaval  <  >fficers,  and  other  Scientific  lien.    By  the 
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for  Carpenters,  founded  on  the  late  PETFR  XTCHOLSON'S  standard  work.    A  Xew 
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i 6  Lockwood  and  Cols  Catalogue 

New  Book  by  one  of  the  Contributors  to  l  The  Reason 
Why'  Series,  and  Assistant  Editor  of  l  The  Dic- 
tionary of  Daily  Wants."1 

Now  ready,  1  vol.  crown  8vo.  pp.  384,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

The    Historical    Finger-Post :    A    Handy    Book    of 

Terms,  Phrases,  Epithets,  Cognomens,  Allusions,  &c.,  in  connection 
with  Universal  History.  By  EDWARD  SHELTON,  Assistant  Editor 
of  '  The  Dictionary  of  Daily  Wants,'  &c.  &c. 

8§g=  This  book  will  be  found  to  contain  nearly  three  thousand  explanatory 
articles,  some  idea  of  the  varied  nature  of  which  may  be  gathered  from  the  follow- 
ing list  of  its  sections:  — 

SECTION  1.  Wars,  Battles, Naval  and  Military  Expeditions,  &c.  2.  Conspiracies, 
Plots,  Revolts,  Tumults,  Riots,  Insurrections,  &c.  3.  Factions,  Political  Parties, 
Secret  Societies,  Cliques,  Coteries,  &c.  4.  Dynasties,  Royal  Houses,  Noble  and 
Illustrious  Families,  &c.  5.  Empires,  Territories,  Divisions,  Forms  of  Government, 
&c.  6.  Dignities,  Titles,  Officers  of  State  and  Honour,  &c.  7.  Treaties,  Conven- 
tions, Leagues,  Convocations,  Councils,  Deliberative  Assemblies,  &c.  8.  Religious 
Sects  and  Denominations,  Ecclesiastical  Orders,  Divisions,  &c.  9.  Philosophies, 
Systems,  Doctrines,  &c.  10.  "Laws,  Enactments,  Codes,  Constitutions,  &o.  11. 
Places,  Provinces,  Districts,  Territories,  &e.  12.  Races,  Peoples,  Classes,  Tribes, 
&c.  13.  Military  Organisations.  14.  Superstitions,  Fables,  Traditions,  &c.  15. 
Romance,  Legend,  Imaginary  and  Mysterious  Personages.  16.  Personal  Epithets, 
Surnames,  Distinguishing  Titles,  &c.  17.  National  Epithets;  Political,  Classical, 
and  Social  Allusions.  18.  Memorable  Sayings,  Mottoes,  Party  Cries,  National 
Songs,  Hymns,  &c.  19.  Books  of  Faith,  Records,  Remarkable  Publications,  &c. 
20.  Literature,  Art,  Science,  Discoveries,  Inventions,  &c.  21.  Insignia,  Emblems, 
Orders  of  Knighthood,  &c.  22.  National  Institutions,  Customs,  me.  23.  Objects  of 
Curiosity,  Interest,  and  Wonder.  24.  Epochs,  Anniversaries,  Sports,  &c.  25. 
Prisons,  Punishments,  Penalties,  Taxes,  &c.  26.  Parliamentary  Terms,  I/egal  and 
Commercial  Phrases,  &c.  (The  whole  rendered  available  for  instant  reference  by 
the  addition  of  a  copious  Index,) 

Opinions  of  the  Press. 

'  A  handy  little  volume,  which  will  supply  the  place  of  "  Haydn's  Dictionary  of 
Dates"  to  many  persons  who  cannot  afford  that  work.  Moreover,  it  contains  some 
things  that  Haydn's  book  does  not.' — BOOKSELLER. 

'It  is  to  the  historical  student  and  antiquarian  what  "  Enquire  Within  "  is  to  the 
practical  housewife— not  dispensing  with  stores  of  hard-acquired  and  well-digested 
knowledge,  but  giving  that  little  aid  which,  in  moments  of  hurry  and  business,  is  the 
true  economiser  of  time.1 — VOLUNTEER  SERVICE  GAZETTE. 

'  The  idlest  reader  would  find  it  convenient  to  have  it  within  reach.' 

PUBLISHER^'  CIRCULAR. 

'  Really  a  very  useful  work  ;  and,  at  the  present  day.  when  everybody  is  expected 
to  be  up  in  everything,  as  good  a  handy-book  for  cramming  on  the  current  subjects 
of  conversation  as  any  that  we  know.  About  3000  subjects  have  all  their  place  iu 
this  extraordinary  collection,  and  although  tersely  given,  the  account  of  each  is 
sufficient  for  ordinary  purposes.' —  ERA. 

'  A  very  desirable  companion,  as  containing  a  variety  of  information,  much  of 
which  could  only  be  got  by  diligent  inquiry  and  research.  .  .  .  Deserves  a  place  as 
a  book  of  reference  on  the  shelves  of  the  study  or  library.' 

NAVAL  AXD  MILITARY  GAZETTE. 

'  This  is  a  most  useful  book,  but  its  title  does  not  do  it  justice.  A  finger-post  only 
points  to  what  you  want  to  arrive  at,  but  in  these  pages  are  contained  the  very 
objects  themselves.  It  is  a  very  excellent  collection,  and  we  strongly  recommend 
it  to  our  readers  as  a  cheap  mine  of  useful  information.' 

JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE. 

'  The  scope  of  the  work  is  comprehensive  ;  its  compilation  must  have  required 
immense  care  ;  and  to  persons  who  in  miscellaneous  reading  stumble  on  references 
to  historical  events,  the  details  of  which  they  would  be  glad  to  understand,  it  will 
prove  a  book  always  ready  for  use,  and  so  arranged  as  to  be  turned  to  account 
without  the  slightest  difficulty.'— SUNDAY  TIMES. 

'  Mr.  Shelton  deserves  well  of  those  who  really  wish  to  understand  what  they 
read.'— SPECTATOR. 

'  Mr.  Shelton's  idea  is  good,  and  exceedingly  well  carried  out.  .  .  .  The  "  His- 
torical Finger-Post "  must  be  seen  to  be  appreciated.' — ART  JOURNAL. 

'  This  most  useful  and  admirably  arranged  handy-book  will  in  most  cases  greatly 
lighten  the  labour  of  investigation,  and  obviate  a  long  and  tedious  search  through 
voluminous  publications.' — WEEKLY  TIMES. 

PRINTED  B?  SPOTTISWOODB  AND  CO.,  NEW-STREET  SQWA.BE,  LOKDOH 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


SEP  2  2  1966  3  3 
RECEIVED 

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LOAN  DEPT. 


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LD  21A-60m-10,'65 
(F7763slO)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


U.C.  BERKELEY  L1BRARIES_ 


CD313SEfi51 


1C17431S 


•ex 

I 


I