Part 3

"It struck me, that, if a machine were made with eight legs, four only of which should stand upon the ground at one time; if the remaining four were raised up into the body of the machine, and if this body were divided into two parts, sliding, or rather rolling on cylinders, one of the parts, and the legs belonging to it, might in two efforts be projected over the wall by a person in the machine; and the legs belonging to this part might be let down to the ground, and then the other half of the machine might have its legs drawn up, and be projected over the wall, and so on alternately. This idea by degrees developed itself in my mind, so as to make me perceive, that as one half of the machine was always a road for the other half, and that such a machine never rolled upon the ground, a carriage might be made, which should carry a road for itself. It is already certain, that a carriage moving on an iron rail-way may be drawn with a fourth part of the force requisite to draw it on a common road. After having made a number of models of my machine, that should carry and lay down its own road. _I took out a patent to secure to myself the principle_; but the term of my patent has been long since expired, without my having been able to unite to my satisfaction in this machine strength with sufficient lightness, and with regular motion, so as to obtain the advantages I proposed. As an _encouragement to perseverance_, I assure my readers, that I never lost sight of this scheme during _forty years_; that I have made considerably above _one hundred_ working models upon this principle, in a great variety of forms; and that, _although I have not yet been able to accomplish my project, I am still satisfied that it is feasible_."

Justice, however, will not permit us to go to other matters contained in these most entertaining biographical notices, without cautioning the reader not to take the standard of the utility and intelligence of Mr. Edgeworth's mechanical pursuits, from these specimens of his achievements in this line. He effected much of a more useful nature, and appears to have had very considerable talent in his way--but so in fact had _King Corny_.

Mr. Edgeworth's first marriage was the only unsuitable one of the several it was his fortune to make; and not finding his wife cheerful at home, he says, led him to seek cheerful company abroad. In fact, before the death of his father, we find him quite involved in the vortex of dissipation and fashion. His picture of the _beau monde_ of those times is not without its charm. "Among the ladies who visited the Mrs. Blakes, was a Miss Dalton, the famous "Fanny, blooming fair," whom Lord Chesterfield has celebrated. He was ingenious enough to detect the legerdemain tricks of the "celebrated Comus." Miss D. told him that her relation, the famous Sir Francis Blake Delaval, had also discovered these secrets, and believed himself to be the only man in England who possessed them. This brought about an acquaintance, or rather intimacy, between Mr. Edgeworth and Sir Francis, from the description of the incidents of which we derive much amusement. They arranged together the house in Downing street, where Sir Francis lived, for the representation of conjuring tricks.

"The ingenuity of some of the contrivances, that were employed in our deceptions, attracted the notice not only of those who sought mere amusement, but of men of letters and science, who came to our exhibitions. This circumstance was highly grateful to Sir Francis, and advantageous to me. I, by these means, became acquainted with many men of eminence, to whom I could not at any period of my life have otherwise obtained familiar access. Among the number were Dr. Knight, of the British Museum: Dr. Watson; Mr. Wilson; Mr. Espinasse, the electrician; Foote, the author and actor, a man, who, beside his well known humour, possessed a considerable fund of real feeling; Macklin, and all the famous actors of the day. They resorted to a constant table, which was open to men of genius and merit in every department of literature and science.--I cannot say that his guests were always "unelbowed by a player;" but I can truly assert, that none but those who were an honour to the stage, and who were admitted into the best company at other houses, were received at Sir Francis Delaval's.

They got up the tragedy of the Fair Penitent here, to allow the late Duke of York, who afterwards died suddenly at Rome, to play Lothario; and "he was as warm, as hasty, and as much in love, as the fair Calista could possibly wish." A pleasant supper-party, he says, they had at the King's Arms, Covent Garden, after the performance.

"Macklin called for a nightcap, and threw off his wig. This, it was whispered to me, was a signal of his intention to be entertaining. Plays, play-wrights, enunciation, action, every thing belonging to eloquence of every species, was discussed. Angelo, the graceful fencing-master, and Bensley, the actor, were of the party.--Angelo was consulted by Bensley, on what he ought to do with his hands while he was speaking. Angelo told him, that it was impossible to prescribe what he should always do with them; but that it was easy to tell him what should _not_ be done--"he should not put them into his breeches' pockets"--a custom to which poor Bensley was much addicted. Pronunciation was discussed; the faults in our language in this particular were copiously enumerated. "For instance," said Macklin, "_Pare_ me a _pair_ of _pears_." You may take three words out of this sentence, of the same sound, but of different meanings, and I defy any man to pronounce them in such a manner as to discriminate the sounds, or to mark to any ear by his pronunciation the difference between the verb _to pare_, the noun of number, _a pair_, and the fruit, _pear_. The pompous Bensley undertook that Powel, who was remarkable for a good ear, should do this. Bensley, who mouthed prodigiously whilst he spoke, was put behind a curtain, that the motion of his lips might not assist Powel in judging what meaning he intended to express by each of the words as he pronounced them. One of the company was placed behind the curtain, and to him Bensley was previously to communicate, whether he proposed to pronounce the word denoting the action, the noun of number, or the fruit. Bensley failed so often, and so ridiculously, that he became quite angry, and charged Powel with wilful misapprehension. To defend himself, Powel proposed that Holland should try his skill; but Holland had no better success. During these trials, I concerted by signs with Sir Francis, a method of pointing out my meaning, and I offered to try my skill. The audience with difficulty restrained their contempt: but I took my place behind the curtain, and they were soon compelled to acknowledge, that I had a more distinct pronunciation, or that Sir Francis had more acute hearing, than the rest of the company. Out of twenty experiments, I never failed more than two or three times, and in these I failed on purpose, to prevent suspicion. I had made my confederate understand, that when I turned my right foot outward, as it appeared from beneath the curtain, I meant to say _pare_, to cut; when I turned inward, _pair_, a couple; and when it was straight forward, _pear_, the fruit. We kept our own counsel, and won unmerited applause. Amidst such trifling as this, much sound criticism was mixed, which improved my literary taste, and a number of entertaining anecdotes were related, which informed my inexperienced mind with knowledge of the world."

One of the many excellent anecdotes which Mr. Edgeworth introduces relative to the extraordinary man of the town with whom he was now passing his time, we shall give as a sample. Sir Francis had contrived to represent the borough of Andover, in several Parliaments, by practising a series of tricks on his constituents:--but at length, he sustained a reverse of fortune, and his electioneering success terminated.

His attorney's bill was yet to be discharged. It had been running on for many years; and though large sums had been paid on account, a prodigious balance still remained to be adjusted. The affair came before the King's Bench. Among a variety of exorbitant and monstrous charges, there appeared the following article.

"To being thrown out of the window at the George Inn, Andover--to my leg being thereby broken--to surgeon's bill, and loss of time and business--all in the service of Sir F. B. Delaval.--Five hundred pounds.

"When this curious _item_ came to be explained, it appeared, that the attorney had, by way of promoting Sir Francis' interest in the borough, sent cards of invitation to the officers of a regiment in the town, in the name of the mayor and corporation, inviting them to dine and drink his Majesty's health on his birthday. He, at the same time, wrote a similar invitation to the mayor and corporation, in the name of the officers of the regiment. The two companies met, complimented each other, eat a good dinner, drank a hearty bottle of wine to his Majesty's health, and prepared to break up.--The commanding officer of the regiment, being the politest man in company, made a handsome speech to Mr. Mayor, thanking him for his hospitable invitation and entertainment. "No, Colonel," replied the mayor, "it is to you that thanks are due by me and by my brother aldermen for your generous treat to us." The colonel replied with as much warmth as good breeding would allow: the mayor retorted with downright anger, swearing that he would not be choused by the bravest colonel in his Majesty's service.--"Mr. Mayor," said the colonel, "there is no necessity for displaying any vulgar passion on this occasion. Permit me to show you, that I have here your obliging card of invitation."--"Nay, Mr. Colonel, here is no opportunity for bantering, there is your card."

Upon examining the cards, it was observed, that notwithstanding an attempt to disguise it, both cards were written in the same hand by some person, who had designed to make fools of them all. Every eye of the corporation turned spontaneously upon the attorney, who, of course, attended all public meetings. His impudence suddenly gave way, he faltered and betrayed himself so fully by his confusion, that the colonel, in a fit of summary justice, threw him out of the window. For this Sir Francis Delaval was charged five hundred pounds.--Whether he paid the money of not, I forget."

THE PROMPTER.

_It will do for the present._

This common saying does as much mischief in society, as _rum_ or a _pestilence_. If I hear a man, whether a farmer, a mechanic, or any other person, often repeat that saying, and appear to act from the opinion, that _it will do for the present_, I rely on it he is a sloven, a drone, or something worse. I never knew such a man thrive.

A young man setting out in life, is in haste to be married. He wants a house to live in, but is not fully able to build one. Yet his pride requires a large showy house. At last, between poverty and pride, he determines to build a large house, but not to finish it till he is _more able_. He sets up a large two story house, with four rooms in a story--he covers it and paints it: this is a showy house--his pride exults to see passengers stare at his elegant house: but though _pride_ governs the _outside_, _poverty_ reigns _within_--he can finish but two rooms, half finish one or two more--and lay a loose floor above, to spread his corn upon: this elegant mansion house then is a granary--a corn house: the man and a litter of children below--and rats and mice above: but the man says, _it will do for the present_. True, but the man has but twenty or thirty acres of land, or an indifferent trade--his family grows faster than his income--he is not able to finish his house--the covering soon decays and admits water--the house falls to pieces--the man is forced _poor_ into the wilderness, or he and his children loiter about, dependant on the neighbours for subsistence by day labour.

I know one of these _do-for-the-present-farmers_, who never effectually repairs his fences; but when a breach is made, he fills it with a bush that a sheep may remove: if a rail is broke, and another is not at hand, he takes the next billet of wood, inserts one end into the post, and ties up the other with elm or hickory bark--he says, _this will do for the present_. His cattle learn to be unruly--to remedy the evil, fetters, shackles, clogs, yokes, and what he calls _pokes_, are invented--and his cattle and horses are doomed to hobble about their pasture with a hundred weight of wood or iron machines upon their feet and necks. The man himself, in two years, spends time enough in patching up his fences and making fetters, to make a good effectual fence round his whole farm, which would want very little repair in twenty years.

In family affairs, these _do-for-the-present folks_ double their necessary labour. They labour hard to put things _out of order_, and then it requires nearly the same work to put them into order again. A man uses an axe, a hoe, a spade, and throws it down where he uses it; instead of putting it in its proper place, under cover. Exposed to the weather, tools do not last more than half so long, as when kept housed; but this is not all: a sloven leaves the tool where he last used it--or throws it down any where at random: in a few days he wants it again--he has forgot where he left it--he goes to look for it--he spends perhaps half an hour in search of it, or walks a distance to get it: this time is lost, for it breaks in upon some other business--the loss of this small portion of time appears trifling; but slovens and sluts incur such losses every day; and the loss of these little scraps of time determine a man's fortune. Let the Prompter make a little calculation: a farmer, whose family expends one hundred pounds a year, if he can clear ten pounds a year is a thriving man. In order to get his one hundred and ten pounds, suppose he labours ten hours a day: in this case, if he loses an _hour_ every day, in repairing the carelessness of the day before (and every sloven and slut loses more time than this, every day, for want of care and order) he loses a _tenth_ part of his time--a _tenth_ part of his income--this is _eleven pounds_. Such a man cannot thrive--he must grow poorer, for want of _care_, of _order_, of _method_.

So it is with a woman. A neat woman who does business thoroughly, keeps things _in order_, with about _half the labour_ that a slut employs who keeps things for ever _out of order_. If a pail or kettle be used, it is directly made clean, fit for other uses, and put in its place. When it is wanted, it is ready. But a slut uses an article and leaves it _any where_, dirty, unfit for use another time: by and by it is wanted, and cannot be found--"Moll, where did you leave the kettle?" "I han't had the kettle, Nab had it last"--"Nab, did you have the kettle?" "Yes, but it is dirty." So the kettle is found, but it is a half hour's work to fit it for the purpose required; in the mean time, the necessary business must lie by. Yet this woman says, when she does any thing, _it will do for the present_.

I have only to add, that I went to church, on a late cold Sunday, when a neighbouring clergyman officiated. He had spoken to his _fifteenthly_, when the clock struck _one_. Every man was shivering with the cold, and shuffling his feet--the parson took the hint, and broke off with "_this will do for the present_."

STAPLES OF MISSOURI.

1. _Lead._--MISSOURI is famed throughout Europe and America, for the extent and value of her lead mines. She would be able to furnish all the U. States, the West Indies, Mexico, and South America, with that article. In the meantime, the U. States are purchasing lead from England! About $500,000 per annum is usually paid by Americans to Englishmen for lead; last year, however, it was about $300,000. The difference of the policy pursued by the two nations, is the cause of this state of things. In England, foreign lead pays a duty of 26_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._ sterling on every quantity of 100_l._ worth imported; and the lead mines are private property. In America, foreign lead pays but little duty, and the mines are monopolized by the government.

2. _Iron._--Missouri has a great interest in the production of domestic iron. She possesses immense beds of ore, exceedingly rich, and well situated to be worked, and conveniently transported to all parts of the valley of the Mississippi. The waters of the Merrimac, and of the Gasconade are the chief seats of this ore, although it is found in many other parts of the territory, and in such amazing quantities, that it may be considered to be for ever inexhaustible. Missouri could furnish not only herself and immediate neighbours, but the whole valley of the Mississippi with iron and its manufactures, yet she is purchasing these articles from England, Sweden and Russia!

3. _Salt._---The state of Missouri abounds with salt springs. In many places they are almost as common as fresh water springs. They are found in every section of the country, but especially in the Boon's-lick district, and on the waters of Salt River, a branch of the Mississippi. Missouri would be able to furnish an empire with salt, but heretofore she has purchased that article from the Illinois and Kenawha, from Liverpool, St. Ubes, and Turk's Island!--The government monopoly was one cause of this. Since the purchase of Louisiana the government had reserved the salt springs; but in the bill for admitting Missouri into the Union, 12 springs, to be chosen by the Legislature, with four sections of land around each, are to be given to the state; and the remainder will probably be sold out, and become private property. These springs will be a source of wealth to the people, and of revenue to the state. With a judicious system of management, the whole expenses of the state government may possibly be defrayed from the rents and profits accruing from 12 selected springs.

4. _Hemp._--The soil and the climate of Missouri, announce it to be the true country for the production of hemp. Experience establishes the fact. Many farmers have raised it, as well under the Spanish as under the American government. The quantity obtained from an acre is prodigious, and by experiments made at New Orleans, under the auspices of the Governor General, the Baron de Carondelet, it was proved to be equal (the account says superior) in strength and fineness of fibre, to the boasted hemp of Russia. Persons who have looked to the resources of Missouri have always considered hemp as one of its staples, and the encouragement of its growth one of the first objects of our farmers and statesmen.

SPEECH NATURAL TO MAN.

In your paper some time past I saw an account of "a wild woman found in the interior of Java." History furnishes many instances of these "unfortunate commoners of nature," who have been exposed by design or accident. Comparatively few, we fear, have been brought to the domestic hearth; fewer still have been completely civilized. A book of travels, now almost obsolete, states instances of this kind. A race of marauding Tartars, subjects of Russia, frequently attacked Polish villages, and carried off whole families: in conveying their captives home they had to pass the wild and intricate forest of Minsk, in Russian Lithuania, and there these unfortunate mothers lost, and were separated from, their children. In after days, when this stupendous region was traversed for other purposes than the nefarious one above mentioned, several human males were found, in almost as barbarous a state as the native burghers of the forest, to whose ferocious instinct many of these innocents had doubtless fallen a prey.

Peter, the Wild Boy, excited much interest in his day. George the 2d, of England, found him whilst hunting in the woods near Hamelin, in the electorate of Hanover. Peter, when found, ran on all fours, like the quadrupeds amongst whom he had been raised. We might ask, why did the brutes of prey in this as well as other instances, deviate from the voracious instinct planted in their nature? To accident we cannot refer it; and, after wearying our minds with conjecture, we can only end the difficulty by attributing it to that providential care which preserved Daniel in the lion's den. Peter never could be taught to articulate more than two words--his own name and George; but he learned, with facility and correctness, the notes of several tunes.

Lord Monboddo, of eccentric memory, mentions in his narrative respecting Peter, that two children had been found in the same wild state--one in the island of Diego Garcia, and one in the Pyrenees. He also states that two wild children were found in the Dismal Swamp of Virginia.[2] This immense morass is yet, in its inmost recesses, the refuge of wild animals of prey, particularly bears, panthers, and wild cats. During a fire in these swamps, 10 or 12 years ago, numbers were hunted down, who had fled before the rapid flames. A resident in that neighbourhood informed me that he had seen 17 of these animals, some half-burned, hung upon a single tree. In respect to the children noticed by Lord Monboddo, I cannot, in any history of either Virginia or North Carolina, find the least hint of such a circumstance having occurred; nor does the writer specify the period when they were found. Is it not probable that these outcasts from society (admitting the noble author to be rightly informed) were the offspring of aboriginal females, compelled to seek shelter in these swamps from the invading colonist, or from some hostile tribe?--Amongst the innumerable tribes of Indians in Virginia and North Carolina, the _Tuskaroras_ were perhaps most powerful, and most immediately in the vicinity of this large tract. These aborigines were not all dispersed or destroyed until 1803, some of them living peaceably on the reserved lands. The main body of this tribe of Indians had migrated to New York state, and joined the Senecas, (one of the Six Nations,) many years preceding. Is it not probable, I again ask, that the young savages of lord Monboddo did, in fact, inherit the name from their birth? I would ask, as a matter of curiosity, of yourselves, Messrs. Editors, or any of your correspondents, answers to the following questions: When were these children found? Of what age when discovered? By whom found? What became of them? Could they be taught the use of speech?

[2] This great swamp, containing nearly 150,000 acres, lies more in North Carolina than Virginia. It is a marshy region, covered with a thick growth of cypress or juniper, many of which trees are of a prodigious growth. These trees are occasionally intermingled with oak, poplar, and maple. The annual fall of leaves, and the decay of trees, raise the surface above the original soil some feet, this part being completely saturated with water. The improvements in agriculture have done much to drain this vast surface, and many parts are sufficiently dry for the shingle-cutters and stave-makers to pursue their avocations in spots of this dreary region.