Part 2

Was remarkable in his youth for piety; entering a little village, the better sort of inhabitants wished to attend him with a canopy. He answered, "I hear you have no church here. I cannot suffer a canopy of state to be borne over my head in a place where God hath not a consecrated roof to dwell under."

_Sigismund._

Emperor of Germany, being once asked what was the surest method of living happy in the world, replied, "By doing in health those good works you promised to do on the bed of sickness."

JACOBUS.

* * * * *

ARCANA OF SCIENCE.

* * * * *

_Thunder and Lightning._

Conductors affixed to houses should always be pointed, and the point should be kept in a state of cleanliness, and the conductors should terminate in a moist stratum of earth, or in London it might safely be conveyed into the common sewer. It has been objected to the use of pointed conductors, that we invite the lightning to the point; and that is true to a certain extent, and in gunpowder mills the conductor should be placed at some distance from the building. The conducting rod should be of copper or iron, and from half to three-fourths of an inch in diameter, so as not to be readily forced. Its upper end should be elevated about three or four feet above the highest part of the building, and all the metallic parts of the roof should be connected with the rod, which should be continuous throughout. As regards the question of what is the safest situation in a thunder-storm, we should be pretty safe in the middle of a large room in bed; we should be pretty safe among the feathers, which are bad conductors; but as the bell-wires will conduct the electricity into the room, the bed should be removed from them. It would be well to stand at a distance from the chimney on a woollen rug, which is a non-conductor. When out of doors, I scarcely need to say, that you should never stand under a tree; the tree being moist, the electric fluid generally passes down between the bark and the substance of the tree, splitting it in all directions, and the lightning will pass to the best conductor near it; if any unfortunate animal should happen to be under the tree, it will be killed. The safest plan is to go toward the middle of the field, at a distance from any tree, and to stretch yourself out upon the ground, although this is not a very pleasant situation, especially in hard rain. During a thunder-storm, the earth is in a state of electricity as well as the clouds, and the light and heat which are produced at the explosion indicate the annihilation of the two electricities. Sometimes the discharge is only from cloud to cloud, sometimes from the earth to the clouds, and sometimes from the clouds to the earth, as one or other may be in the positive or negative state. The clouds are usually more or less electrical when the vapour, floating about in the atmosphere, is condensed, and the earth being brought into an opposite state of electricity by induction, a discharge takes place, when the clouds approach within a certain distance, and sometimes the electric cloud perches upon a hill, and then discharges itself. The electricity passes through the clouds in a zig-zag direction, and the undulation of the air which it produces is the cause of the noise which we hear, called thunder, which is more or less intense, and of longer or shorter duration, according to the quantity of air acted upon, and the distance of the place where the report is heard from the point of discharge. If the danger be great, we have seldom any opportunity to count the time which elapses between the appearance of the lightning and the report: electrical effects take place at no sensible time; it has been found, that a discharge through a circuit of four miles is instantaneous, whilst sound moves at the rate of about twelve miles in a minute. So that, supposing the lightning to pass through a space of some miles, the explosion will be first heard from the point of the air agitated nearest to the spectator; it will gradually come from the more remote parts of the course of the electricity, and, last of all, will be heard from the very extremity; and the different degrees of the agitation of the air, and the difference of the distance, will account for the different intensities of the sound, and its apparent reverberations and changes. If you can count from two to three seconds between the appearance of the lightning and the sound, there is seldom much danger; and when the interval is a quarter of a minute, you are secure.--_Brande's Lectures.--Lancet._

_New Crane._

A crane for raising weights, on an entirely new principle--that of the application of the lever, assisted by wedges, instead of the usual plan of wheel and pinion, for multiplying power--has recently been constructed at the West India Docks. The power of two men, with the patent crane, is stated to be capable of lifting from 2-1/2 to 3 times the weight lifted through the same space in a given time, by the best constructed cranes on the old principle of wheel machinery.

_Etching on Ivory_.

The usual mode of ornamenting ivory in black, is to engrave the pattern or design, and to fill up the cavities thus produced with hard black varnish. Mr. Cathery has much improved and simplified the process, by covering the ivory with engraver's varnish, and drawing the design with an etching needle; he then pours on a menstruum, composed of 120 grains of fine silver, dissolved in an ounce measure of nitric acid, and diluted with one quart of pure distilled water. After half an hour, more or less, according to the required depth of tint, the liquor is to be poured off, and the surface is to be washed with distilled water, and dried with blotting paper. It is then to be exposed to the light for an hour, after, which the varnish may be removed by oil of turpentine. The design will now appear permanently impressed on the ivory, and of a black or blackish brown colour, which will come to its full tint after exposure for a day or two to the light. Varieties of colour may be given by substituting the salt of gold, platina, copper, &c. for the solution of silver.--_Trans. of the Society of Arts._

_Geology._

Among the fossil bones lately dug from under the lava of the mountain of Boulade, in the neighbourhood of Issoire, in France, none have been discovered belonging to the human body. The same is the case in the other mountains of the vicinity. But, although there are no human bones, in several places, and especially in the mountain of Boutaresa, (which is not far from the mountain of Boulade,) pieces of wood have been discovered, buried under the ancient lava, which observers worthy of credit declare seem to have been fashioned by the hand of man, and to have been cut with a hatchet, although rudely, and as might be expected in the infancy of the arts. Did man exist then, at that remote period when elephants, lions, and tapirs, lived in Europe, with rein-deer and bears? This is an exceedingly difficult question, and one which hitherto does not, by any means, appear to have been satisfactorily resolved.--_New Monthly Magazine_.

* * * * *

THE MONTHS.

The characteristics of November, for the most part, extend through the present month. Wind, rain, and gloom are its attributes; the sun

Scarce spreads through ether the dejected day, Faint are his gleams, and ineffectual shoot His struggling rays, in horizontal lines, Through the thick air; as clothed in cloudy storm, Weak, wan, and broad, he skirts the southern sky; And soon descending, to the long dark night. Wide-shading all, the prostrate world resigns.

Such is the gloomy picture of December, as drawn by the _poet of the year_.

To the contemplatist, and the man who has

No enemy, But winter and rough weather,

the rural walk at this season is equally inviting with any of its predecessors; whilst he who can "suck melancholy from a song," will find melody in its storms and music in its wind. What are more beautiful than the fretwork frostings of rime and hoar spread on the hedges, glistening in the broad sun-beam, and in brilliancy and variety of colours vying with the richest display of oriental splendour--with here and there berries clustering on evergreens, or pendent in solitary beauty, like the "rich jewel in the Aethiop's ear." The winter stillness of animal life is a sublime subject for our meditation. Insects which floated on the gay sunshine of summer and autumn have now retired to their winter quarters, there to remain dormant till regenerated in the enlivening warmth of spring; and even the labours of husbandry are in a state of torpidity.

Within the circuit of gardens and shrubberies Nature, however, reserves the evergreen pride of firs and pines; and even flowers are left to gladden the eye of the winter observer; and the rose, that sweet emblem of our fragile and transitory state, will live and prosper during this month. In the forest, the oak, beech, and hornbeam in part retain their leaves; there, too, is the endless variety of mosses, and lichens, and ivy, spreading and clinging round aged trunks, as if to protect them with their fond warmth, or mantling over the neglected labours of human art, and mocking their proud import.

At this season, too, the social economy of man is wont to ripen into mirth; and in olden time, winter was the summer of hospitality, when the sunshine of Christmas shed its holy light on the hearts and faces of young and old. What the present generation have gained in head, they have lost in heart, and Christmas is almost the only surviving holiday of the calendar. But now, alas! "we live too late in time."

If knowledge be valuable only in the proportion in which it conduces to our happiness, then we have cause to deplore the loss of the wassail-bowl, the sports and wrestlings of the town green, the evening tales, and the elegant pastimes of masque, song, and dance, of our ancestors, which the taste of our times has narrowed into a commercial channel, or pared down to a few formal visits and their insipid returns; and friends, families, and fortunes are often sacrificed in this exchange.

But there are minds so attuned as not to be shut out from

"The gayest, happiest attitudes of things,"

nor to allow their social blaze to be darkened by such narrow conceits; and for a picture of this portion of mankind, we quote Mr. Bucke's _Harmonies_:--

"Awed by the progress of time, winter, ushered into existence by the howling of storms, and the rushing of impetuous torrents, and contemplating, with the satisfaction of a giant, the ruins of the year, still affords ample food for enjoyments, which the vulgar never dream of, if sympathy and association diffuse their attractive spells around us! In the bosom of retirement, how delightful is it to feel exempt from the mean intrigues, the endless difficulties and tumults, which active life ensures, and which retirement enables us so well to contemplate through the telescope of recollection. When seated by the cheerful fire among friends, loving and beloved, our hopes, our wishes, and our pleasures are concentrated; the soul seems imparadised in an enchanted circle; and the world, vain, idle, and offensive as it is, presents nothing to the judgment, and little to the imagination, that can induce the enlightened or the good to regret, that the knowledge they possess of it is chiefly from the report of others, or from the tumultuous murmur, which from a distance invades the tranquillity of their retreat, and operates as a discord in a soft sonata. These are the moments which affect us more than all the harmony of Italy, or all the melody of Scotland--moments, in which we appear almost to emulate the gods in happiness."

"Change," in the quaint language of Feltham, "is the great lord of the universe, and Time is the agent which brings all things under his dominion." This has been demonstrated through our past calendar of monthly characteristics; to which are subjoined, from a still more quaint authority than Feltham, said to be printed in the reign of Henry VII., in a Sarum black-letter missal:

THE MONTHS MORALIZED.

(_From our Correspondent, M.L.B._)

_Januarius._

The fyrst six yeres of mannesbyrth and aege May well be compared to Janyere, For in this moneth, is no strengeth nor courage More than in a chylde of the aege of six yere.

_Februarius._

The other six yeres is like February, In the end thereof beguyneth (1) the Sprynge, That tyme chyldren is moost asst and redy To receyve chastysement, nurture and lernynge.

_Martinus._

March betokeneth the six yeres followynge, Arayeng the erthe with pleasaunt verdure; That season youth thought for nothynge, And wothout thought dooth his sporte and pleasure.

_Aprilis._

The next six yere maketh four-and-twenty, And figured is to jolly Aprill That tyme of pleasures man hath most plenty Fresh, and louying (2) his lustes tofulfyll.

_Maius._

As in the moneth of Maye all thing in mygth (3) So at thirty yeres man is in chief lyking, Pleasaunt and lustie to every mannes sygth, (4) In beauti and strengthe to women pleasynge.

_Junius._

In June, all thyns falleth to rypenesse, And so dooth man at Ihirty-six yere old, And studyetli for to acquyre rychesse. And taketh a wyfe, to keepe his householde.

_Julius._

At forty yere of aege, or elles never Is ony man endewed with wysdome For than forgth (5) his mygth fayleth ever As in July doth every blossome.

_Augustus._

The goodes of the erthe is gadered evermore In August, so at forty-eight yere Man ought to gather some goodes in store To susteyne aege that then draweth nere.

_September._

Let no man thynke, for to gather plenty Yf, at fifty-four yere he have none No more than yf his barne were empty In September when all the come is gone.

_October._

By Octobre betokenyth sixty yere That aege hastely dooth man assayle, Yf he have outgh (6) than (7) it dooth appere To lyve quyetly after his travayle.

_November._

When man is at sixty-six yere olde Which lykened is to bareyne Novembre He waxeth unweldy, (8) sekely (9) and cold Than (7) his soule helth is time to remember.

_December._

The yere by Decembre takelh his ende, And so dooth man at three-score and twelve, Nature with aege wyll hym on message sende Tho tyme is come that he must go hymselve.

_Glossary._

1. Beginneth. 3. Loving. 3. Might 4. Sight. 5. Waste or barren, applied to mind. 6. Aught, anything. 7. Then. 8. Unwieldy. 9. Sickly.

A few words at parting, or rather in closing our calendar. Whilst we have endeavoured to attract by the little emblematic display of art at the head of each month, we have not neglected to direct the attention of our readers to "the good in every thing" which is scattered through each season of the year, by constantly recurring to the beneficence of the OMNIPOTENT BEING--thus enabling them to look

"Through Nature up to Nature's God."

Her study will moderate our joys and griefs, and enable us to carry the principle of "good in every thing" into every relation of social life. Let us learn to cherish in our remembrance that (in the language of the sublime Sterne) "God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb;" and that the storms of the world, like those of nature, will at length clear off, and open to us a prospect unclouded and eternal.

* * * * *

THE SKETCH-BOOK.

No. LII.

* * * * *

THE UNKNOWN REGION.

[For the following _Gulliverian_ sketch we are indebted to a lively volume of whim, humour, and pleasant sentiment, entitled _Snatches from Oblivion_: the work likewise contains some springy versification.--Ed.]

An honourable member of a certain enlightened assembly, who had greatly distinguished himself by his topographical ingenuity and taste for good society, had, in the course of some statistical researches, discovered a part of the globe hitherto unknown, called by the natives Russell Square, and which was considered would be an important acquisition to the English dominions. A council of state was called upon this occasion, who, after six successive meetings, determined upon sending out an expedition, at the head of which was the original discoverer, to reconnoitre, and, if eligible, to take possession of the _terra incognita_ in the name and behalf of the British crown. Unfortunately I was myself at that time engaged in oddity-hunting in another part of the world, and was consequently unable to join the adventurous party, but have learned the whole particulars from the mouth of an intimate friend, who formed a portion of it, and who obliged me with the tie of a cravat of one of the extraordinary inhabitants of the soil. His relation is to the following effect:--

"The conditions of our enterprise having been finally arranged, and our instructions delivered, sealed by the Lords of the Admiralty, after a few months' preparation we were enabled to commence our adventurous career. Prayers having been put up for our safe return, our, wills having been made, and, in case of our never returning from

"'That undiscovered country (Russell Square), From whence (it was dreaded) no traveller returns,'

"our property secured, as well as handsome annuities to our wives and children, we embarked on board the Admiralty yacht from Whitehall Stairs. Here a scene that would have melted the heart of a stoic took place. The difficulties and horrors of our campaign, the melancholy fates of Mungo Park, and Captains Cook and Bowditch, the agonizing consequences of starvation, cannibalism, and vulgarity, which we were likely to encounter in these unknown regions, were depicted in their most vivid and powerful colours. But each of us was a Roman, a Columbus, prepared to stand or fall in the service of his country.

"The vessel left the shores amidst the tears, groans, and perfumed handkerchiefs of the surrounding multitude; so heart-rending were our _adieux_, that three officers of the guards, overcome by the afflicting crisis, went into strong hysterics, and were obliged to have their stay-laces cut. Standing on the poop of the vessel with a white handkerchief in one glove, and a bottle of _Eau de Cologne_ in the other, we waved farewell to our friends, and, as the last vestige of their whiskers disappeared from our sight, a sad presentiment filled our minds that it was for ever. Groups of beings, wearing the form and countenances of men, though most barbarously disguised, occasionally passed us in what we supposed to be canoes, saluting us in an unknown and discordant tone. Our voyage concluded at a point which, we have since been informed, was discovered by a noble lord in a sailing expedition, where he was driven by adverse winds and tides, and baptized by him 'Waterloo Bridge,' after a certain victory supposed to have been obtained by the ancient Britons some time previous to the flood. Having landed, we were immediately surrounded by a native tribe of a warlike and barbarous aspect, being in almost a primitive dress, having only the lower part of their persons covered. The appearance of their skin was most remarkable; it was intersected by blue seams, as if nature had supplied them with a shirt of her own formation--for not the slightest appearance of muslin or cambric was visible. The name of this horde of barbarism is, as we were afterwards informed, in their native _patois_, Scullers, and from the circumstance of their appearing peculiar to the river and its banks, the Professor of Natural History, whom we carried with us, after an elaborate investigation, declared them to be, peculiar to the soil, members of the animal kingdom, of a species between the alligator and crocodile.

"After reference to our geographical charts, we took our seats in our stanhopes, being preceded by our travelling chariots, a detachment of the Lancers, by way of security, two interpreters, a guide, and a surgeon, in case of casualties. By the instructions of the guide we steered in a direction N.E.E., and as we proceeded farther into the country, the barbarity and uncivilization became more apparent. Crossing a swamp called the _Strand_, we arrived at a native settlement called Drury Lane, inhabited by a horde infinitely more barbarous and rude than the tribe by which we were accosted on landing. The _indigites_ of this soil, in ferocity of appearance, exceeded all our previous idea of savage life. They are generally _tattooed_, but the crevices in their skin, instead of variegated colours as the savages of the South Seas, seemed to be filled up by a composition much resembling dirt. They had, however, no tomahawks, nor implements of a warlike description, nor were any of them dressed in skins; although some of them had the hide of a beast hanging from their waist downwards, which appeared their only covering, and we understand is called by them--_leathern apron_.

"Passing by a native wigwam, which we found in our maps defined as _Vinegar Yard_, we were surrounded by a motley and terrific group of the inhabitants, both male and female. Of their sex we were in great doubt, especially of those who carried on their heads a kind of wicker basket, in which were a quantity of fish, of whose _genus_ our naturalist declared himself perfectly ignorant. As we had often heard of the simplicity of man when undefiled by a knowledge of the world, of his hospitality, and his overflowing milk of human kindness, and feeling besides exhausted from the length and difficulties of our journey, we determined upon putting these fabled attributes to the proof. Holding up his stick, as an emblem of peaceable intentions, and backed by the Lancers, our interpreter advanced, and inquired for the hut of their chief, and requested, as we were much exhausted, they would oblige us with a small quantity of their ava, and a few of their native yams. As they seemed unable to detect his meaning, which we endeavoured to make more palpable, by all of us at the same time advancing, simultaneously putting our fingers down our mouths, and rubbing our stomachs, in order to have our urgent necessities immediately gratified.

"Instead of our wants having been anticipated, as we had naturally supposed, the whole tribe immediately set up a discordant yell. Believing that we were still misunderstood, we resolved on asking for food, and assuring them of our peaceable intentions in all the languages we were masters of. One of the Lancers who had, during foreign service, picked up a few expressions of the Cherokee Indians, and also a knowledge of their habits, proposed addressing them. A consultation being held, and the result being favourable, he advanced; and, in the Cherokian language, asked for food, invoked at the same time the great spirit, which he did by spitting on his hands (an Indian custom), and holding up his right foot for the purpose of his auditor kissing it, as a token of conciliation. The person whom he addressed, in an uncouth, but certainly melodious language, answered in these words:

"'Dom hew-er hies, gie us none o' hew-er-jaw.'

"Another, whom I had willingly entreated in my native tongue for a place of shelter, answered in the following couplet, which convinced me of the truth of the supposition of Mr. Thomas Campbell, the intended lecturer of poetry to the London University, that mankind in an aboriginal state is essentially poetical, and express their ideas either in rhythmical or figurative language--

"'Hax hay-bout, An find it hout.'

"Others shouted with a peculiar strength of lungs, _Bedlam! Bedlam! ha! ha!_ These words appeared to be instantly caught up by the surrounding groups, and communicated like wild-fire, amongst the different tribes, which by this time had increased to an alarming magnitude. * * *