The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 17, No. 488, May 7, 1831

"The ship—pitching violently—strained and creaked from end to end: so that, what with the noise of the sea, the rattling of the ropes, and the whistling of the wind, hardly one word of the service could be distinguished. The men, however, understood, by a motion of the captain's hand, when the time came—and the body of our dear little brother was committed to the deep.

"So violent a squall was sweeping past the ship at this moment, that no sound was heard of the usual splash, which made the sailors allege that their young favourite never touched the water at all, but was at once carried off in the gale to his final resting-place!"

THE TOPOGRAPHER

TRAVELLING NOTES IN SOUTH WALES

(For the Mirror.)

 
Either shore
Presents its combination to the view
Of all that interests, delights, enchants;—
Corn-waving fields, and pastures green, and slope,
And swell alternate, summits crown'd with leaf,
And grave-encircled mansions, verdant capes,
The beach, the inn, the farm, the mill, the path,
And tinkling rivulets, and waters wide,
Spreading in lake-like mirrors to the sun.
 

N.T. CARRINGTON.

Swansea Bay:—Scenery and Antiquities of Gower

The coast scenery of the western portion of Glamorgan is of singular beauty. We shall ever recall with delight our recollections of Gower, and we believe the future tourist will thank us for the outline of the more prominent beauties in the circle of the district, which we now give. Let us suppose ourselves at Swansea, and start on an excursion to the Mumbles and Caswell Bay. A road has been formed within these few years to the village of Oystermouth, about five miles from Swansea. It is perfectly level, bounded by a tram-road, and runs close to the sea-beach, forming the western side of Swansea Bay. The encroachments of the sea have been very extensive here; at high water shipping now traverse what was fifty years ago, we are told, a marshy flat, bordered by a wood near the present road, the stumps of which yet appear on the sandy beach. We have several times on riding to low water mark (about three quarters of a mile out) been nearly involved in a quick-sand adventure. Landward, the ground is broken and elevated, and thickly studded with gentlemen's seats the whole distance; many of which are embosomed in wood, and have a beautiful effect. Marino, an extensive new mansion in the Elizabethan or old English style of architecture, belonging to Mr. J.H. Vivian, and Woodlands Castle, the seat of General Warde, which is very picturesque, are particularly deserving of attention. After passing the hamlet of Norton, you near Oystermouth Castle, an extensive and splendid Gothic ruin, in fine preservation, which rears its "ivy-mantled" walls, above an eminence adjoining the road. Some suppose it to have been built by Henry de Newburgh, Earl of Warwick, in Henry the First's reign; others ascribe it on better authority to the Lords Braose, of Gower, in the reign of John; it is now the property of the Duke of Beaufort, whose care in its preservation cannot be too much commended. The inspection of this interesting ruin will repay the traveller:

 
By the grim storm-clouds overcast,
Even like a spectre of the past,—
Of rapine, feudal strife, and blood,
Thou tellest an old, wild, warlike story,
When squadrons on thy ramparts stood,
With spear and shield in martial glory!
 

DELTA.

The walls are very lofty and not much injured by time; the plan of the various chambers, extensive vaults and chambers in the inner courtyard, can be perfectly distinguished. The general form of the castle, which must once have been very strong, is nearly a square, with a projecting gatehouse to the S.E. which is almost perfect. The keep on the eastern side commands a lovely view. About half a mile further is the village of Oystermouth, clustering with its whitewashed roofs along the foot and declivity of a high mass of rock, which juts boldly out into the sea for half a mile, forming the south-eastern extremity of Gower, and terminating Swansea Bay. The village is celebrated as a bathing place, and for its extensive fishery for oysters, with which it supplies Bristol, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, &c. This trade gives occupation to a considerable number of fishermen who are the chief inhabitants of the place; but in the spring and summer, Oystermouth, in consequence of the great beauty of the situation, and its extreme salubrity, is completely filled with strangers, and high rates are obtained for lodgings; the accommodations are mostly indifferent, though the place is improving fast. The prospect from the summit of the rocks is truly exhilarating and beautiful. On one side, the spectator beholds just below him, the Atlantic rushing with all its majesty up the Bristol Channel—rising over the mixon sands into a really mountainous swell—while on the other, Swansea Bay, glittering with the white sails and varied combinations of a crowd of shipping, seems spread out like a vast and beautiful lake; its eastern shores bounded in the distance by the mountainous and woody scenery of Britton-Ferry, Aberavon, Margam, gradually diminishing towards Pyle.

To the north, beyond the town of Swansea, an immense cloud of smoke is seen suspended over the Vales of Tawy and Neath—an abomination in the face of heaven. Such is the Welsh Bay of Naples, which presents this remarkable appearance at this spot. The anchorage aside this range of cliffs affords, except in an east wind, a very secure road for shipping; sometimes in strong weather there are two or three hundred sail lying here. At the termination of the peninsula are two rocky islands called the Mumbles, and on the farthest is a large light-house; for the support of which a rate is levied on all the shipping up and down channel. Below the light-house an immense cavern called "Bob's Cove" can be seen at low water. We were told that the village under the shadow of the rocks, loses sight of the sun for three months in winter, but this is not "quite correct." Let us proceed westward. About a mile from Oystermouth is Newton; where there are several lodging-houses. There have been many instances of great longevity at this village, which is perhaps the healthiest spot on the coast. The road to Caswell Bay, which passes through Newton, is almost impassable for horses; a new one however is talked of. The rocky valley leading to Caswell Bay, which abruptly comes in sight between two projecting rocks, is singularly wild and romantic. The bay is absolutely a mine of the picturesque—the Lullworth Cove of Wales. A day may be spent delightfully among its rocks and caverns—taking care to visit them at low water. A few miles westward is Oxwich Bay, the main attraction of the coast, along the rocky summit of which the pedestrian should "wend his way," with the ocean roaring far beneath him. We will, however, return to Swansea, and endeavour briefly to recall our first excursion into Gower.

Let us fancy ourselves therefore, on a bright April morning, riding along with a friend—a stranger like ourselves—on the high road from Swansea into the interior of the peninsula. After cantering over about seven miles of hill and valley and common, we entered a woody defile, and at last opened, to use a nautical phrase, the "Gower inn," (eight miles) which was built, we were told, expressly for the convenience of tourists. After ascending a tremendous rocky hill, for road it cannot be called, about a mile onwards, Oxwich Bay bursts at last in all its beauty upon our sight. In our inquiries during the day, of the few passengers we met, as to the distance of the village of Penrice, the intended limit of our day's excursion, we were forcibly reminded of the "mile and a bittock" of the north. The country is very thinly populated here: at last we came in sight of the grounds of Penrice Castle, the beautiful mansion of Mr. Talbot, the member for the county; the entrance to the park is between two of the towers belonging to the extensive and picturesque remains of the ancient Castle of Penrice, which stands close to the road. Sixteen miles from Swansea, after "curses not loud but deep" upon Welsh roads, we reached the sequestered village of Penrice, which stands on a wooded eminence of no easy access, overlooking the eastern shore of Oxwich Bay.

(To be continued.)

SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY

ARCANA OF SCIENCE FOR 1831

It has been our invariable practice to notice, by extract only, such works as we are connected with, or to which we have contributed; and in the present case we shall do little more.

Now, the reader need not be here told that the plan of an Annual Register of Inventions and Improvements originated in The Mirror about four years since. Our intention there was to quote an occasional page or two of novelties of popular interest in science and art, and leave more abstruse matters to the journals in which they originally appeared. This plan led us through most of the scientific records of the year, in which we began to perceive that the reduction of all subjects of importance was not compatible within a few pages, and sooner than allow many papers of value to every member of society to be locked under the uninviting denomination of philosophy, we undertook the abridgement and arrangement of such papers, upon the plan of an "Annual Register," intending our volume specially to represent the progress of discovery just as the general "Register" is a contribution to history. The cost of the journals for this purpose proved to be upwards of Twelve Guineas, but this outlay only made us more pleased with the design. A single instance will suffice. The Philosophical Magazine, a work of high character, numbers among its purchasers but few general readers: it contains many mathematical, theoretical, and controversial papers, all of which may advance their object, but are not in a form sufficiently tangible for any but the scientific inquirer. Still, in the same Magazine, there may be papers of practical and directly useful character, and of ready application to the arts and interests of life and society. A person wishing to possess these popular papers must therefore purchase with them a quantity of matter which to him would be unintelligible, and the value of which could only be appreciated by direct study, a task of no small import in these days of cheap literature. That the plan has succeeded, and that its intention has been fully recognised, is borne out by the testimony of a score of our contemporaries. Of their praise we have no disposition to make an idle boast; and our only object in the present notice is to do for ourselves what we could not perhaps expect a weekly or monthly critic to do for us, viz. to quote the subjects of a few of the valuable papers in the present volume, and then leave the reader to form his own conclusions of its intrinsic value.

In Mechanical Science there are 100 closely-printed pages, or 90 articles. Among these are papers on novel applications of the gigantic power of Steam in Navigation and Agriculture, and especially in Railway Carriages; the grand invention of the Air Engine; improvements in Printing; machinery in manufactures; and contributions to experimental as well as practical mechanics.

In Chemical Science there are upwards of 60 New Facts. Among these is a valuable paper on Arsenic, by Dr. Christison, (from the Philosophical Magazine;) a method of ascertaining the vegeto-alkali in Bark; the influence of the Aurora Borealis on the Magnetic Needle; Lieut. Drummond's Plan for illuminating Light Houses by a ball of lime, (from the Philosophical Transactions); Laws of electrical accumulation, and the decomposition of water by atmospheric and ordinary electricity; the new Indigo; the spontaneous inflammation of charcoal; the nitrous atmosphere of Tirhoot, one of the principal districts in India for the manufacture of salt-petre; Discovery of a mass of meteoric iron in Bohemia; the chemical composition of cheese; Berzelius on the power of metallic rods to decompose water after their connexion with the galvanic pile is broken; an alkaline principle in Box-wood; Professor Davy on a new method of detecting metallic poisons; Mr. Bennet's new alloy for the pivot-holes of watches; experiments with Aldini's Fireproof Dresses; Dr. Ure on the composition of Gunpowder, and on Indigo; Dr. Bostock on the spontaneous purification of Thames water; Abstracts of Berzelius' statement of the progress of Chemical Science for 1829; Mr. Broughton on the effects of oxygen gas on various animals, &c.

In Zoology are papers—on the Fern Owl; Mr. Rennie's interesting Notes on the Cleanliness of Animals; Mechanism of the Voice in Singing; the Vision of Birds of Prey; New species of British Snake; Animalculae in Snow; Habits of the Chameleon; Peculiarity of the Negro Stomach; Growth of Spanish Flies; British Pearl Fishery on the Conway; the cause of Goitre; seat of the sense of touch and taste; stones found in the stomach of Pikes; Learned Poodles at Paris; Faculties of Domestic Animals; Increase of Mankind; Larva of the Gad-fly, which deposits its eggs in the bodies of the human species; Luminousness of the Sea, a valuable contribution; Motions in water caused by the respiration of Fishes; Cannibalism in New Guinea; Heron swallowing a Rat; Mr. Vigors on American Quails; Mr. Yarrell's experiments to preserve White Bait; On the fascination of Serpents; Notes on the Zoological Society, &c.