The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 565 by Various
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Various >> The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 565
The Niger, besides its own ample stream, has a number of tributaries,
equal perhaps in magnitude and importance to those of any other
river on the globe; with the exception of the united streams of the
Mississippi and Missouri. At no great distance above the point where
the Delta commences, the Tshadda, nearly equal in magnitude to itself,
enters it; after watering large and fruitful kingdoms, of which the
names only, and of these but a very few, have reached us. On this
river an extensive commerce and active navigation is said to prevail;
the existence of which is further confirmed by the great importance
attached to Funda, and other cities situated at or near the junction.
It would have been deeply interesting, and have given a new importance
to the river communications of Africa, could we have believed, what
was positively asserted by very credible witnesses, that vessels
by its channel sailed to and from the lake Tchad, and thus held
intercourse with the kingdoms of Loggun and Bornou. It seems certain
that the names Tshadda, Shary, and Tchad, are one and the same. But
the identity of the two first as rivers is what we are precluded from
all possibility of believing, by the circumstance that the Shary of
Loggun and Bornou, which Major Denham saw and sailed upon, was found
by him falling _into_ lake Tchad, while the Tshadda of Lander fell
_into_ the Niger; consequently they are distinct streams, flowing in
opposite directions. It is very probable indeed that their fountains
may be in the same mountain chain, and at no great distance; and even
that some of their branches may approach very near, so that merchants
may, by an easy portage, convey commodities between them. Nay, it
is not quite impossible that they may be united by some connecting
channel, as the Amazons and the Oronooka are; but this seems scarcely
probable.
At no great distance above the Tshadda, enters the Coodonia, a smaller
river, but which Lander had seen flowing through a very fertile and
highly cultivated country. Considerably higher is the Cubbie, a large
stream from the country and city of that name; and higher still the
Quarrama, which has passed by Zirmie and Sackatoo. Between this point
and Timbuctoo, we have no means of knowing whether any or what rivers
fall into the Niger. The tributary which passes that city is of
no great importance; but at the eastern boundary of Bambarra, Park
describes the influx from the south of two great streams, the Maniana
and Nimma; and it seems very doubtful if Caillie was not mistaken
in supposing the latter to be a mere branch of the Niger. The higher
tributaries, descending from the mountains, swell the stream, without
themselves affording any important navigation.--_Edinburgh Review._
* * * * *
NOTES OF A READER.
* * * * *
LAURENCEKIRK SNUFF-BOXES.
[Probably one of the most amusing articles in Mr. Macculloch's
bulky _Dictionary of Commerce_ of 1,150 pages, is the
following account of the manufacture of the celebrated
Laurencekirk snuff-boxes. It is right, however, to explain,
that Mr. Macculloch only mentions these boxes here for the
purpose of giving the following details, not to be met with in
any other publication.]
These beautiful boxes were first manufactured at the village of
Laurencekirk, in Kincardineshire, about forty years since. The
original inventer was a cripple hardly possessed of the power of
locomotion. In place of curtains, his bed (rather a curious workshop)
was surrounded with benches and receptacles for tools, in the
contrivance and use of which he discovered the utmost ingenuity. The
inventer, instead of taking out a patent, confided his secret to a
joiner in the same village, who in a few years amassed a considerable
property; while the other died, as he had lived, in the greatest
poverty. The great difficulty of the manufacture lies in the formation
of the hinge, which in a genuine box is so delicately made as hardly
to be visible. Peculiar, or, as they are called, secret tools are
required in its formation; and though they must have been improved
by time and experience, the mystery attached to their preparation is
still so studiously kept up, that the workmen employed in one shop are
rigorously debarred from having any communication with those employed
in another.
About the beginning of this century, an ingenious individual belonging
to the village of Cumnock, in Ayrshire, of the name of Crawford,
having seen one of the Laurencekirk snuff-boxes, succeeded, after
various attempts, by the assistance of a watchmaker of the same
village, who made the tools, in producing a similar box; and by his
success, not only laid the foundation of his own fortune, but greatly
enriched his native parish and province. For awhile, the Laurencekirk
boxes were most in demand; but Mr. Crawford and his neighbours in
Cumnock not only copied the art, but so improved and perfected it,
that in a very few years, for every box made in the north there were,
probably, twenty made in the south. In 1826, the Cumnock trade was
divided amongst eight master manufacturers, who employed considerably
more than 100 persons. The demand at that time equalled the supply,
and it was calculated that the trade yielded from 7,000_l._ to
8,000_l._ annually,--a large product for a manufacture seemingly
so insignificant, and consisting almost exclusively of the wages of
labour. Plane is the wood in common use, and the cost of the wood in
an ordinary sized box does not exceed 1d.; the paints and varnish are
rated at 2d.; and though something is lost by selecting timber of
the finest colour, the whole expense of the raw material falls
considerably short of 1/2 per cent. on the return it yields!
Snuff-box, like pin making, admits of subdivision of labour; and
in all workshops of any size three classes of persons are
employed--painters, polishers, and joiners. At the period alluded to,
an industrious joiner earned from 30s. to 40s. weekly, a painter from
45s. to 3_l._, and a polisher considerably less than either. When
Mr. Crawford first commenced business he obtained almost any price
he chose to ask; and many instances occurred, in which ordinary sized
snuff-boxes sold at 2_l._ 12s. 6d., and ladies' work-boxes at 25_l_.
But as the trade increased, it became necessary to employ apprentices,
who first became journeymen and then masters; and such have been the
effects of improvement and competition, that articles such as are
specified above, may now be obtained at the respective prices of _six_
and _twenty-five shillings_. While the joiner's part of the art has
remained pretty stationary, that of the painter has been gradually
improving. By means of the _Pentagraph_, which is much employed, the
largest engravings are reduced to the size most convenient for the
workman, without injuring the prints in the slightest degree; and
hence a snuff-box manufacturer, like a Dunfermline weaver, can work to
order by exhibiting on wood his employer's coat of arms, or in short,
any object he may fancy within the range of the pictorial art. Some of
the painters display considerable talent, and as often as they choose
to put forth their strength, produce box-lids, which are really worthy
of being preserved as pictures. At first, nearly the whole subjects
chosen as ornaments, were taken from Burns's poems; and there can be
no doubt, that the "Cotter's Saturday Night," "Tam O'Shanter," "Willie
brewed a peck o' maut," &c. &c., have penetrated in this form into
every quarter of the habitable globe. Now, however, the artists of
Cumnock take a wider range; the studios of Wilkie, and other artists,
have been laid under contribution; landscapes are as often met with as
figures; and there is scarcely a celebrated scene in the country that
is not pictured forth more or less perfectly on the lid of a Cumnock
snuff-box. A few years ago, the art in question was much affected by
the long-continued depression of the weaving business; so much so,
that many left it for some other employment. And some of those who
emigrated, having made a good deal of money, instead of being cooped
up in a workshop, are now thriving proprietors in Upper Canada. But
after a brief interval the trade rallied; and though prices are low,
it is now more flourishing than ever. In Cumnock the number of hands
has increased considerably, and in Mauchline there is one workshop so
extensive that it may almost be compared to a cotton mill or factory.
In other quarters the trade is extending, such as Helensburgh near
Greenock, Catrine, Maxwelltown, Dumfries, &c. The principal markets
for the snuff-boxes are London, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Edinburgh.
At one time large lots of boxes were exported to South America, and
probably are so at present. Cumnock, in a word, in regard to its
staple manufacture, is in that palmy state so well described by a
modern writer:--"the condition most favourable to population is that
of a laborious, frugal people ministering to the demands of opulent
neighbours; because this situation, while it leaves them every
advantage of luxury, exempts them from the evils which accompany its
admission into a country. Of the different kinds of luxury, those are
the most innocent which afford employment to the greatest number of
artists and manufacturers; or those in which the price of the work
bears the greatest proportion to that of the raw material." Some very
wretched imitations of Cumnock boxes have been produced in different
parts of England; but they can deceive no one who ever saw a genuine
box. The hinge, as well as the finishing, is clumsy in the extreme.
[Mr. Macculloch acknowledges himself indebted for this
curious and instructive article to his esteemed friend "John
M'Diarmid, Esq. Editor of the _Dumfries Courier_, one of the
best provincial papers published in the empire."
By the way, what a colossal labour must have been the
preparation of the above Dictionary. How it reminds us of
the words of poor, patient Antony Wood: "What toyle hath been
taken, as no man thinketh, so no man believeth, but he that
hath made the trial." Yet it has often occurred to us that
the compiler, or editor, as he is complimentarily called, is
barely treated with proper respect in these days. What is
all knowledge but a continued accumulation and comparison of
facts, by "following the example of time?" Yet, all this is
not _original_; but we ask, in what does the intellectual
originality of the present day consist? does it add a spark to
the minds of men which they cannot find in the labours of past
ages? New books (we mean new _original_ works) are like dull,
pointless flints; the reader cannot scintillate, strike-fire,
or _steal_ from them; they are mere changes of words, often
at the sacrifice of sense to sound. A flashy novel
would, perhaps, secure the writer more celebrity than Mr.
Macculloch's _Dictionary_ will obtain for him, though his
reputation for talent and industry want not the false glory,
the common-place praise--the dullest outpourings--of a very
dull perception. Perhaps the whole series of the Waverley
Novels might have been written while this Dictionary was in
course of compilation.
We heartily wish that Mr. Macculloch's work may become as
popular as it deserves. It will then enjoy extensive fame. It
would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to acquaint the
reader with its mass of well-arranged materials; its laborious
abstracts, documents, and information upon every point
that bears upon the main subjects, commerce and commercial
navigation, practical, theoretical, and historical.
It deserves to be the library of every counting-house,
manufactory, and workshop in the empire; it is, indeed, a
delightful relief to mere figures, and we should think better
of the man whom we caught dipping into its pages by turns
with his book of accounts: for, with Addison, we have no noble
opinion of a man who is ever poring over his cash-book, and
deriving all his ideas of happiness from its balances.]
* * * * *
COMPARATIVE MORTALITY.
A curious official paper has been circulated, ordered by the House of
Commons, showing the comparative mortality in many large towns, &c.,
of the kingdom, from 1813 up to the present year. Among the towns
included in this comparative calculation of mortality are, Leeds
(town), Bradford, Holbeck, Beeston, Wigan, Preston, Norwich,
Bolton-le-Moors, London, Bury, (Lancashire), Essex, &c. The result of
the investigation of mortality may be concisely stated as follows:--Of
children born there die, in Leeds, 53 per cent. under 5 years of age,
and 62 per cent. under 20 years of age; in Bradford, 47 per cent.
under 5, and 59 per cent. under 20 years of age; in Beeston, 39 per
cent. under 5, and 52 per cent. under 20 years of age; in Holbeck, 50
per cent. under 5, and 62 per cent. under 20 years of age; in Norwich,
42 per cent. under 5, and 50 per cent. under 20 years of age; in
Bolton, 49 per cent. under 5, and 61 per cent. under 20 years of age;
in Wigan, 48 per cent. under 5, and 59 per cent. under 20 years of
age; in London, 38 per cent. under 5, and 46 per cent. under 20 years
of age; in Rutland, 29 per cent. under 5, and 37-1/2 per cent. under
20 years of age, &c. It further appears, that in Essex, Rutland, and
the metropolis, persons live to an advanced age in a greater extent
than others.--_Morning Herald._
* * * * *
LEE, KENT.
The rural village of Lee is situate six miles south of London, on the
south side of Blackheath, and on the road to Maidstone. It is a place
of considerable antiquity; and was originally written _Legheart_, and
in old Latin, _Laga_, i.e. a place which lies sheltered. "The manor
was held of Edward the Confessor by Alwin. William the Conqueror gave
it to his half-brother, Odo, bishop of Baieux, and Earl of Kent, of
whom it was held by Walter de Donay." In the time of the Confessor, it
was valued at 3_l._ and in Domesday at 100_s_. Its extent is somewhat
more than 1,000 acres. Hasted enumerates the successive lords, among
whom were Lord Rivers, who was beheaded at Banbury in 1649; and his
son, Anthony, Earl Rivers, who was beheaded at Pomfret, in 1483. The
manor was purchased by Sir Francis Baring, bart., in 1798.
* * * * *
[Illustration: _Lee Church and Parsonage._]
* * * * *
The picturesque vignette includes the church and parsonage. The Church
is in what is called the pointed style, or rather in humble imitation
of antiquity, for it is a recent structure built on the site of the
walls of the old church, but with the addition of side-aisles. Nearly
two centuries before the erection of the present church, the villagers
reported the old building to be in a state too ruinous to admit of
repair: how long did its stability gainsay their judgment, while they
were laid asleep about the walls. The church was an appendage to the
manor till the time of Charles I., who granted away the fee of the
manor, but reserved the patronage of the church to the crown, where it
continues to this time. It was valued l5 Edward I. at 10 marks; in
the king's books it is at 3_l._ 11s. 8d.; and the yearly tenths at 7s.
2_d_. The parsonage has much of the snug character of the glebe-house;
it was rebuilt in 1636, by the rector, the Rev. Abraham Sherman.
In the church are some monumental _brasses_ and a handsome tomb of
marble and alabaster. One of the former is to the memory of Nicholas
Ansley, or Annesley, Esq. who died in 1593; with the following
inscription:--
When the Quene Elizabeth full five years had rain'd,
Then Nicholas Ansley, whos corps lyes here interred,
At fyve and twenty yeres of age was entertayned
Into her servis, where well himself he caried
In eche man's love till fifty and eight yeres ould,
Being Sergant of the Seller, death him contrould.
Above is an upright figure (on a brass plate,) of the deceased, in
armour, kneeling at a desk. The latter monument is to Brian Annesley,
Esq. (son of Nicholas) gentleman pensioner to Queen Elizabeth. It
consists of an elliptic arch supported by Corinthian columns, and
ornamented with a Mosaic pattern studded with roses. Beneath lie the
effigies of Annesley, in armour, and his wife, in a gown and ruff;
their son, and three daughters.
In the churchyard, among the tombs, is that of Dr. Halley, who
succeeded Flamstead as Astronomer Royal at Greenwich, where he died
in 1741-2: Halley published a treatise on Comets, when he was nineteen
years old; and first applied the barometer to measure heights. Here
also lie William Pate, whom Swift, in his Letters, calls the learned
woollen-draper: Sir Samuel Fludyer, bart., the courtly lord mayor;
Parsons, the comedian, with this quaint epitaph:--
Here Parsons lies, oft on life's busy stage
With nature, reader, hast thou seen him vie;
He science knew, knew manners, knew the age,
Respected knew to live, lamented die.
Bliss, the Astronomer Royal, who died in 1762, is also buried here;
Charnock, the author of _Biographia Navalis_, a _Life of Nelson_,
&c.; the amiable Lord Dacre, who died in 1794; and Mary, his relict,
1808.[5]
[5] Lady Dacre visited her dear lord's tomb daily for several
years; at the foot of the grave she was accustomed to kneel,
and utter a fervent prayer. We can just remember seeing this
devout lady on one of these pilgrimages. She usually rode
from her mansion in the neighbourhood to the churchyard, on a
favourite poney, and wore a large, flapping, drab beaver hat,
and a woollen habit, nearly trailing on the ground. At home
she evinced an eccentric affection for her deceased lord: his
chair was placed, as during his lifetime, at the dinner-table;
and its vacancy seemed to feed his lady's melancholy.
Harris says that Samuel Purchas resided at Lee, and there wrote a
great part of his collection of travels, or "Celebrated Pilgrimages
and Relations of the World."
Among the grateful recollection of Lee we must not omit the
alms-house, chapel, and school-house founded by C. Boone, Esq. in
1638.
* * * * *
THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.
THE VICTIMS OF SUSCEPTIBILITY.
_BY A MODERN PYTHAGOREAN._
Fortune, it has been truly said, is blind, and the same thing may be
alleged of nature; for while there are some to whom the latter goddess
has denied the commonest gifts, either of person or intellect, she
has bestowed the most splendid upon others, with a prodigality which
astonishes and perplexes the world. A beautiful person, and genius
almost superhuman, fell to the share of Milton; nor can it be doubted,
that in these respects the blind goddess was equally kind to the bard
of Avon, whose presence, even judging from the imperfect, and somewhat
apocryphal likenesses handed down to us, was noble to behold, while
his genius more resembled that of a superior nature than of a
human being. The same remark applies to the beautiful, the divine
Raphael,--nor less to Tasso, and various others, whom we might easily
point out.
It will perhaps be deemed presumptuous, after naming those illustrious
characters--those "demigods of fame"--to allude to Augustus Merton,
who, although he obtained the distinction of first wrangler at
Brazennose, Oxford, and carried off a multitude of prizes from that
seat of learning, may yet be thought an inadequate testimony of
the fact with which we set out, more especially when placed in
juxtaposition with the Miltons, the Shakespeares, the Raphaels, and
the Tassos of the world. We discuss not this point. We claim for
him no equality with these august names; and yet, with all such
reservations, do we set him forward as no unmeet proof of the
soundness of our assertion.
Merton was gifted with fine genius, and with a person all but
faultless. In stature he rose to six feet, and was slightly but
elegantly formed; while his whole air bespoke at once the gentleman
and scholar. Those who have seen his fine Spanish countenance, dark
eyes, and rich clustering hair,--the whole communicating dignity,
grace, and interest to his natural melancholy,--will not soon efface
his imposing image from their remembrance. His talents were of a
highly-diversified order. He was a first-rate Grecian and had he
turned his attention exclusively to that language might have contested
the palm with Porson himself; nor do those who are best qualified to
judge hesitate to place him upon an equality with Burney, Young
or Parr. He was also an excellent Latinist, and had a profound
acquaintance with geometry, and the other branches of mathematical
science. For knowledge of the various eastern tongues he was no
unequal match for Lee, of Cambridge; while his acquirements in natural
philosophy, political economy, and metaphysics, were such as
would have fairly entitled him to prelect on these subjects in any
university in Europe. Besides this, he had an exquisite poetical
genius; and, in his very first contest, succeeded in carrying off the
prize of poetry, to the utter discomfiture of many formidable rivals.
But, with all these high acquirements, he was not a happy man. He had
been baptized in the waters of melancholy; and a circumstance which
occurred in the fifth year of his curriculum had a baleful and,
ultimately, a fatal effect upon him, dethroning reason from its lofty
seat, and plunging not him only, but another estimable individual,
in the deepest distress. This circumstance, painful as it is, we
must relate; and, on perusing it, the reader will see that the noble
aspirations, the keen susceptibilities, of the mind do not always lead
to happiness; for, alas! it was such an excess of susceptibility in
his intellect which disturbed so sadly the current of his ideas, and
made him an inmate of St. Luke's.
The weather at the period we speak of was truly melancholy. It was
in the gloomy month of November,--that month in which it is said
the suicidal propensities of the English nation are most strongly
in force. The air was either filled with dull, sluggish, unwholesome
fogs, which hung upon it like a nightmare, or soaked in a constant
drizzle of small, annoying, contemptible rain-drops, which, without
possessing the energy and dignity of a shower, were infinitely more
disagreeable, and found their way to the flesh in spite of all the
protective armoury of great-coats, hessian cloaks, or umbrellas. It
seemed as if a wet blanket were drawn between the sun and the earth.
The atmosphere was always foggy, often perfectly wet, but never
thoroughly dry. It wanted vitality; and every person that breathed it
partook of its own damp, hypochondriac, inanimate character.
It was in the morning of one of those days of fog, gloom, and _ennui_,
that Augustus last sallied out to lounge about the streets of Oxford,
as was his custom, before breakfast. There was a favourite spot in
which he was wont to walk; it was upon the footpath of a very short
street, about the middle of which stood the shop of Jonathan Hookey,
a barber. This street (we forget its name) is not above fifty yards in
length, and opens at each end into a cross street. Now, Merton's walk
extended from one of those cross streets to the other, including, of
course, the whole extent of the short street; he always walked on one
side of this street, viz. on that opposite to the barber's shop. These
particulars may seem trifling, but they are essential to the proper
understanding of the story.
While making these morning perambulations, he had always an air of
deep thought, his arms were crossed, and he kept his eyes constantly
fixed upon the ground, as if deeply engrossed in profound meditation.
It boots not now to inquire on what subjects his thoughts were mostly
employed, but it was unquestionably on themes of deep import, and
concerned not himself only, but the interests of science, learning,
and humanity at large. The morning in question was peculiarly dull and
foggy; but whether it was this or something else, certain it is, that
he felt himself more than usually overpowered. The air oppressed him
like a leaden shroud, and the energies of his soul seemed for once on
the point of sinking beneath the superincumbent burden.
Turn we now to Jonathan Hookey, the barber. In person he differed much
from Merton. His height did not exceed five feet, but, he made amends
for it in breadth; for he was a man of a lusty habit, and sported a
paunch which no London alderman or burgomaster of Amsterdam would look
upon with contempt. Bald was his head, and his nose was not merely
large but immense; but it is idle to grow eloquent upon noses. Has
not Sterne exhausted the theme? have not we ourselves more than once
expatiated upon it? Swakenbergius had a nose, so had Ovidius Naso;
but to neither would Jonathan Hookey's strike its colours, and good
crimson ones they were.