The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 13, No. 377, June 27, 1829
TextTRAVELLING ON THE CONTINENT
The man whom we have known to be surrounded by respect and attachment at home, whose life is honourable and useful within his proper sphere, we have seen with his family drudging along continental roads, painfully disputing with postilions in bad French, insulted by the menials of inns, fretting his time and temper with the miserable creatures who inflict their tedious ignorance under the name of guides, and only happy in reaching any term to the journey which fashion or family entreaty have forced upon him. We are willing, however, to regard such instances as casual, and proving only that travelling, like other pleasures, has its alloys; but stationary residence abroad brings with it other and more serious evils. To the animation of a changing scene of travel, succeeds the tedious idleness of a foreign town, with scanty resources of society, and yet scantier of honourable or useful occupation. Here also we do but describe what we have too frequently seen—the English gentleman, who at home would have been improving his estates, and aiding the public institutions of his country, abandoned to utter insignificance; his mind and resources running waste for want of employment, or, perchance, turned to objects to which even idleness might reasonably be preferred. We have seen such a man loitering along his idle day in streets, promenades, or coffee-houses; or sometimes squandering time and money at the gambling-table, a victim because an idler. The objects of nature and art, which originally interested him, cease altogether to do so.
We admit many exceptions to this picture; but we, nevertheless, draw it as one which will be familiar to all, who have been observers on the continent. One circumstance must further be added to the outline; we mean, the detachment from religious habits, which generally and naturally attends such residence abroad. The means of public worship exist to our countrymen but in few places; and there under circumstances the least propitious to such duties. Days speedily become all alike; or if Sunday be distinguished at all, it is but as the day of the favourite opera, or most splendid ballet of the week. We are not puritanically severe in our notions, and we intend no reproach to the religious or moral habits of other nations. We simply assert, that English families removed from out of the sphere of those proper duties, common to every people, and from all opportunities of public worship or religious example, incur a risk which is very serious in kind, especially to those still young and unformed in character.
Quarterly Review.
RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS
ANCIENT FARRIERY
(For the Mirror.)
The following curious verses are copied from an engraving which the Farriers' Company have lately had taken from an old painting of their pedigree, on vellum, at the George and Vulture Tavern.
If suche may boast as by a subtile arte,
Canne without labour make excessive gayne,
And under name of Misterie imparte,
Unto the worlde the Crafie's but of their brayne.
How muche more doe their praise become men's themes
That bothe by art and labour gett their meanes.
And of all artes that worthe or praise doeth merite,
To none the Marshall Farrier's will submitt,
That bothe by Physicks, arte, force, hands, and spiritt
The Kinge and subject in peace and warre doe fitt,
Many of Tuball boast first Smythe that ever wrought,
But Farriers more do, doe than Tuball ever taught.
Three things there are that Marshalry doe prove
To be a Misterie exceeding farre,
Those wilie Crafte's that many men doe love.
Is unfitt for peace and more unaptt for warre,
For Honor, Anncestrie, and for Utilitie,
Farriers may boast their artes habilitie,
For Honor, view, this anncient Pedigree2
Of Noble Howses, that did beare the name
Of Farriers, and were Earles; as you may see,
That used the arte and did supporte the same,
And to perpetuall honour of the Crafte,
Castells they buylt and to succession left.
For anncestrie of tyme oh! who canne tell
The first beginning of so old a trade,
For Horses were before the Deluge fell,
And cures, and shoes, before that tyme were made,
We need not presse tyme farther then it beares,
A Company have Farriers beene 300 Yeres!!
And in this Cittie London have remayned
Called by the name of Marshall Farriers,
Which title of Kinge Edward the Third was gaynde,
For service done unto him in his warres,
A Maister and two Wardens in skill expert,
The trade to rule and give men their desert.
And for utilitie that cannot be denied,
That many are the Proffitts that arise
To all men by the Farriers arte beside.
To them they are tied, by their necessities,
From the Kinge's steede unto the ploweman's cart,
All stande in neede of Farriers skillfull arte.
In peace at hande the Farriers must be hadde,
For lanncing, healinge, bleedinge, and for shooeinge,
In Warres abroade of hym they wille be gladd
To cure the wounded Horsse, still he is douinge,
In peace or warre abroade, or ellse at home,
To Kinge and Countrie that some good may come.
Loe! thus you heare the Farriers endelesss praise,
God grant it last as many yeres as it hath lasted Daies.
Anno Dni 1612.
G.W
CURIOUS SCRAPS
We read of a beautiful table, "wherein Saturn was of copper, Jupiter of gold, Mars of iron, and the Sun of silver, the eyes were charmed, and the mind instructed by beholding the circles. The Zodiac and all its signs formed with wonderful art, of metals and precious stones."
Was not this an imperfect orrery?
In 1283, say the annals of Dunstable, "We sold our slave by birth, William Pike, with all his family, and received one mark from the buyer." Men must have been cheaper than horses.
In 1340, gunpowder and guns were first invented by Swartz, a monk of Cologne. In 1346, Edward III. had four pieces of cannon, which contributed to gain him the battle of Cressy. Bombs and mortars were invented about this time.
In 1386, the magnificent castle of Windsor was built by Edward III. and his method of conducting the work may serve as a specimen of the condition of the people in that age. Instead of engaging workmen by contracts or wages, he assessed every county in England to send him a certain number of masons, tilers, and carpenters, as if he had been levying an army.
In 1654, the air pump was invented by Otto Guericke, a German.
1406, B.C. Iron first discovered by burning the woods on Mount Ida, in Greece.
720, B.C. The first lunar eclipse on record.
Anaximander, the disciple of Thales, invented maps and globes; born about 610 B.C.
894, B.C. Gold and silver money first coined at Argos, in Greece.
274, A.D. Silk first imported from India.
664, A.D. Glass first invented in England by O. Benalt, a monk.
1284, A.D. The Alphonsine Astronomical Tables constructed, under the patronage of Alphonso X. of Laon and Castile.
1337, A.D. The first comet described with astronomical precision.
The first diving bell we read of was a very large kettle suspended by ropes with the mouth downwards, and planks fixed in the middle of its concavity. Two Greeks at Toledo in 1583, made an experiment with it before Charles V. They descended in it with a lighted candle to a great depth.
The Odyssey was written upon the skin of a serpent.
Formerly pennies were marked with a double cross and crease, so that it might easily be broken into two or four parts.
HALBERT H
THE SKETCH-BOOK
SKETCH OF THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS
By an officer engaged
The Leander, fitted for the flag of Rear-Admiral Milne, was at Spithead, in June, 1816, when Lord Exmouth arrived with a squadron from the Mediterranean, where a dispute had arisen between the Dey of Algiers and his lordship, in consequence of a massacre that took place at Bona, on the persons of foreigners, then under the protection of the British flag.
When the particulars were made known to government, Lord Exmouth was ordered to return to Algiers, and to demand, in the name of the Prince Regent, instant reparation for the insult offered to England. The squadron being still on the war establishment, the crews were discharged, and another expedition was ordered to be equipped with all possible dispatch. The Leander instantly offered her services, and she soon had the satisfaction to hear, that they were graciously accepted, and never was greater joy expressed throughout her crew, than when her Captain (Chetham) announced the determination of the Admiralty, that she was to complete to the war complement; an extra lieutenant (Monk) was appointed, a rendezvous for volunteers opened on the Point at Portsmouth, and in ten days she was ready for sea, with 480 men on board.
The flag of Rear-Admiral Milne was hoisted, and the Leander sailed for Plymouth, where she anchored in two days, and joined part of the squadron intended for the same service: the Queen Charlotte, bearing the flag of Lord Exmouth, soon appeared, and on the 29th of July, the expedition sailed from England with a fine easterly breeze.
The expedition arrived at Gibraltar in eleven days, when it was joined by a Dutch squadron of five frigates and a corvette, under the command of Vice-Admiral Von Capellan; five gun-boats were fitted out and manned by the ships of the line, and two transports were hired to attend with ammunition, &c. All lumber and bulkheads, were landed at the dock-yard; the ships were completed with water, and in all points ready for sea by the 13th of August. The Rear-Admiral shifted his flag into the Impregnable, and on the 14th the combined expedition sailed for Algiers. The Leander was ordered to take a transport in tow, and keep on the Admiral's weather-beam, and the Dutchmen kept to windward of all. We were met by an easterly wind two days after leaving Gibraltar, and on the third day we were joined by the Prometheus, from Algiers, whither she had been dispatched to bring away the British Consul; the Dey, however, was apprized of the expedition and detained him, as well as two boats' crews of the Prometheus, but the Consul's wife and daughter escaped, and got safely on board.
The foul wind prevented the squadron making much way, but the time was employed to advantage in constant exercise at the guns, and the men were brought as near to perfection as they could be; in handling them each man knew his own duty, as well as that of the captain of the gun, fireman, boarder, powder-man, rammer, &c. Each took his turn to the several duties, and continued changing up to the 27th.
The coast of Africa was seen on Monday, and as the day dawned on Tuesday, the 27th, Algiers appeared about ten miles off. The morning was beautifully fine, with a haze which foretold the coming heat: as the morning advanced, the breeze failed us, but at nine o'clock we had neared the town to within about five miles; the long line of batteries were distinctly seen, with the red flag flying in all directions, and the masts of the shipping showed above the walls of the mole. The Severn, with a flag of truce flying, was detached with the terms of the Prince Regent, and this was a most anxious period, for we were in the dark as to the feelings of the Dey, whether the offered terms were such as he could consistently accept, or that left him no alternative but resistance. During this state of suspense, our people were, as usual, exercised at the guns, the boats hoisted out, and prepared for service by signal, and at noon we were ready for action.
The ship's company were piped to dinner, and at one o'clock the captain and officers sat down to theirs in the gun-room, the principal dish of which was a substantial sea pie; wine was pledged in a bumper to a successful attack, and a general expression of hope for an unsuccessful negotiation. At this time, the officer of the watch reported to the captain, that the admiral had made the general telegraph "Are you ready?" Chetham immediately directed that our answer "ready" should be shown, and at the same moment the like signal was flying at the mastheads of the entire squadron. The mess now broke up, each individual of it quietly making arrangements with the other in the event of accident, and we had scarcely reached the deck, when the signal "to bear up" was out, the commander in-chief leading the way, with a fine, steady breeze blowing on the land. We ran in on the admiral's larboard-beam, keeping within two cables' length of him; the long guns were loaded with round and grape, the carronades with grape only; our sail was reduced to the topsails, and topgallant sails, the main-sail furled, and the boats dropped astern in tow. The ships were now steering to their appointed stations, and the gun-boats showing their eagerness, by a crowd of sail, to get alongside the batteries. As we drew towards the shore, the Algerines were observed loading their guns, and a vast number of spectators were assembled on the beach, idly gazing at the approach of the squadron, seemingly quite unconscious of what was about to happen. Far different were appearances at the mouth of the mole as it opened; the row-boats, fully manned, were lying on their oars, quite prepared for the attack, and we fully expected they would attempt to board, should an opportunity offer; each boat had a flag hanging over the stern. A frigate was moored across the mouth of the mole, and a small brig was at anchor outside of her.