Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Alps, continue perpetually to increase in bulk. At certain times, in the ice mountains of Switzerland, there occur fissures, which show the immense thickness of the frozen matter; some of these cracks have measured three or four hundred ells deep. The great islands of ice, in the northern seas bordering upon Hudson's Bay, have been observed to be immersed one hundred fathoms beneath the surface of the sea, and to have risen a fifth or sixth part above the surface, measuring, at the same time, about a mile and a half in diameter. It has been shown by Dr. Lyster, that the marine ice contains some salt, and less air, than common ice, and that it therefore is more difficult of solution. From these premises, he endeavours to account for the perpetual augmentation of those floating islands. By a celebrated experiment of Mr. Boyle, it has been demonstrated that ice evaporates very fast, in severe frosty weather, when the wind blows upon it; and as ice, in a thawing state, is known to contain six times more cold than water, at the same degree of sensible coldness, it is easy to conceive that winds sweeping over islands and continents of ice, perhaps much below northing on Fahrenheit's scale, and rushing thence into our latitudes, must bring most intense degrees of cold along with them. If to this be added the quantity of cold produced by the evaporation of the water, as well as by the solution of ice, it can scarcely be doubted but that the arctic seas are the principal source of the cold of our winters, and that it is brought hither by the regions of the air blowing from the north, and which take an apparently easterly direction, by their coming to a part of the surface of the earth, which moves faster than the latitude from which they originate. Hence, the increase of the ice in the polar regions, by increasing the cold of our climate, adds, at the same time, to the bulk of the glaciers of Italy and Switzerland.

Reasonings of this kind are supported by the greatest names, and countenanced by the authentic reports of the best informed travellers. Mr. Bradley attributes the cold winds and wet weather, which sometimes happen in May and June, to the solution of ice islands accidentally detached and floating from the north. Mr. Barham, about the year 1718, in his voyage from Jamaica to England, in the beginning of June, met with some of those islands, which were involved in such a fog that the ship was in danger of striking against them. One of them measured sixty miles in length.

On the 22d of December, 1789, there was an instance of ice islands having been wafted from the southern polar regions. It was on these islands that the Guardian struck, at the commencement of her passage from the Cape of Good Hope towards Botany Bay. These islands were wrapt in darkness, about one hundred and fifty fathoms long, and above fifty fathoms above the surface of the waves. In the process of solution, a fragment from the summit of one of them broke off, and plunging into the sea, caused a tremendous commotion in the water, and dense smoke all around it.

These facts were strongly urged upon public attention in the autumn of 1817,* as grounds of not only curious and interesting, but likewise of highly important speculation. A supposed change in the temper, and the very character of our seasons, was deemed to have fallen within the observation of even young men, or at least middle-aged men; and upon this supposition, it was not deemed extravagant to anticipate the combined force of the naval world employed in navigating the immense masses of ice into the more southern oceans; while to render the notion more agreeable, and to enliven the minds of such as might think such matters of speculation dull or uninteresting, the project was laid before them in a versified garb, characterising the arctic region.

There in her azure coif, and starry stole,
Grey Twilight sits, and rules the slumbering pole;
Bends the pale moon-beams round the sparkling coast,
And strews, with livid hands, eternal frost !

There, Nymphs! alight, array your dazzling powers,
With sudden march alarm the torpid hours;

On ice-built isles expand a thousand sails,

Hinge the strong helm, and catch the frozen gales ;
The winged rocks to feverish climates guide,
Where fainting zephyrs pant upon the tide;

* See M. Chronicle, 4 Öct, 1817

Pass where to Ceuta Calpe's thunder roars,
And answering echoes shake the kindred shores ;
Pass where with palmy plumes Canary smiles,
And in her silver girdle binds her isles;
Onward, where Niger's dusky Naiad laves
A thousand kingdoms with prolific waves,
Or leads o'er golden sands her threefold train
In steamy channels to the fervid main,

While swarthy nations crowd the sultry coast,
Drink the fresh breeze, and hail the floating frost;
Nymphs! veil'd in mist, the melting treasures steer,
And cool with artic snows the tropic year.
So from the burning line, by monsoons driv'n,
Clouds sail in squadrons o'er the darken'd heav'n,
Wide wastes of sand the gelid gales pervade,
And ocean cools beneath the moving shade.

[blocks in formation]

Mr. Reddock's paper on this subject, at page 13. has elicited the following letter from a literary gentleman, concernmg a dramatic representation in England similar to that which Mr. Reddock instances at Falkirk, and other parts of

North Britain. Such communications are

particularly acceptable; because they show to what extent usages prevail, and wherein they differ in different parts of the country. It will be gratifying to every one who peruses this work, and highly so to the editor, if he is obliged by letters from readers acquainted with customs in their own vicinity, similar to those that they are informed or in other counties, and particularly if they will take the trouble to describe them in every particular. By this means, the Every-Day Book will become what it is designed to be made,—a storehouse of past and present manners and customs. Any customs of any place or season that have not already appeared in the work, are earnestly solicited

from those who have the means of furnishing the information. The only condition stipulated for, as absolutely indispensable to the insertion of a letter respecting facts of this nature, is, that the name and address of the writer be communicated to the editor, who will subjoin such signaturc as the writer may choose his letter should bear to the eye of the public. The various valuable articles of

Darwin.

this kind which have hitherto appeared in the work, however signed by initials or otherwise, have been so authenticated to the editor's private satisfaction, and he is thus enabled to vouch for the genuineness of such contributions.

To the Editor of the Every-Day Book.
Sir,

In your last number appeared a very customs in Scotland, and communicated amusing article touching some usages and from Falkirk. In the description of the boys' play, ingeniously suggested as typical of the Roman invasion under Agricola, we, however, read but a varied edition of what is enacted in other parts besides Scotland, and more particularly in the western counties, by those troops of old Father Christmas boys, which are indeed brief chronicles of the times. I mean, those paper-decorated, brickdust-daubed urchins, 'yclept Mummers. To be sure they do not begin, "Here comes in the king of Macedon;" but we have instead,

"Here comes old Father Christmas, Christmas or Christmas not, I hope old Father Christmas never will be forgot."

And then for the Scottish leader Galgacus,

we find,

"Here comes in St. George, St. George
That man of mighty name,
With sword and buckler by my side
I hope to win the game."
These "western kernes" have it, you see,
Mr. Editor, " down along," to use their
own dialect, with those of the thistle.
Then, too, we have a fight. Oh! how

beautiful to my boyish eyes were their wooden swords and their bullying gait! --then we have a fight, for lo "Here's come I, the Turkish knight, Come from the Soldan's land to fight, And be the foe's blood hot and bold With my sword I'll make it cold.”

A vile Saracenic pun in the very minute of deadly strife. But they fight-the cross is victorious, the crescent o'erthrown, and, as a matter of course, even in our pieces of mock valour, duels we have therein--the doctor is sent for; and he is addressed, paralleling again our players of "Scotia's wild domain," with "Doctor, doctor, can you tell What will make a sick man well?"

[ocr errors]

and thereupon he enumerates cures which would have puzzled Galen, and put Hippocrates to a non-plus;" and he finally agrees, as in the more classical drama of your correspondent, to cure our unbeliever for a certain sum.

The last scene of all that ends this strange eventful history' consists in the entrance of the most diminutive of these Thespians, bearing, as did Æneas of old, his parent upon his shoulders, and reciting this bit of good truth and joculation (permitting the word) by way of epilogue: "Here comes I, little Johnny Jack, With my wife and family at my back, Yet, though my body is but small, I'm the greatest rogue amongst ye all; This is my scrip-so for Christmas cheer If you've any thing to give throw it in here." This may be but an uninteresting tailpiece to your correspondent's clever communication, but still it is one, and makes the picture he so well began of certain usages more full of point.

I doat upon old customs, and I love hearty commemorations, and hence those imics of whom I have written---I mean

the mummers---are my delight, and in the laughter and merriment they create I forget to be a critic, and cannot choose but laugh in the fashion of a Democritus, rather than weep worlds away in the style of a Diogenes.

Little Chelsea, Jan. 4, 1826.

I am, &c. &c.

J. S. jun.

In the preface to Mr. Davies Gilbert's work on "Ancient Christmas Carols," there is an account of Cornish sports,

"metrical play,"

with a description of a which seems to be the same with which is the subject of the preceding letter.

Being on the popular drama, and as the topic arose in Mr. Reddock's communication from Scotland, a whimsical dramatic anecdote, with another of like kin from that part of the kingdom, is here subjoined from a Scottish journal of this month in the year 1823.

New Readings of Burns.

We were lately favoured with the perusal of a Perth play-bill, in which Tam O'Shanter, dramatized, is announced for performance as the afterpiece. A ludicrous mistake has occurred, however, in the classification of the Dramatis PerThe sapient playwright, it would appear, in reading the lines

sonæ.

"Tam had got planted unco richt, Fast by an ingle bleezin' finely, Wi' reaman' swats that drank divinely," very naturally conceiving ream an' swats, from the delectable style of their carousing, to be a brace of Tam's pot companions, actually introduced them as such, as we find in the bill that the characters of "Ream" and "Swats" are to be personated by two of the performers!

This reminds us of an anecdote, connected with the same subject, which had its origin nearer home. Some time ago we chanced to be in the shop of an elderly bookseller, when the conversation turned upon the identity of the characters introduced by Burns in his Tam O'Shanter. The bibliopole, who had spent the early part of his life in this neighbourhood, assured us that, "exceptin' Kerr, he kent every body to leuk at that was mentioned, frae Tam himsel' doun to his mare Maggie." This being the first time we had ever heard Mr. Kerr's cognomen alluded to, in connection with Tam O'Shanter, we expressed considerable surprise. and stated that he undoubtedly must have made a mistake in the name.

"It may

be sae, but its a point easily sattled," said he, raxing down a copy of Burns from the shelf. With "spectacles on nose," he turned up the poem in question. "Ay, ay," said he, in an exulting tone, 66 I thocht I was na that far wrang

"Care mad to see a man sae happy, E'n drowned himself amang the happy." Now, I kent twa or three o' the Kerr's

that leev't in the town-head, but I never could fin' out whilk o' them Burns had in his e’e when he wrote the poem.”•

To Thespian ingenuity we are under an obligation for an invention of great simplicity, which may be useful on many occasions, particularly to literary persons who are too far removed from the press to avail themselves of its advantages in printing short articles for limited distribu

tion.

A Dramatic Printing Apparatus.

Itinerant companies of co edians frequently print their play-bills by the following contrivance: The form of letter is placed on a flat support, having ledges at each side, that rise within about a thirteenth of an inch of the inked surface of the letter. The damped paper is laid upon the letter so disposed, and previously inked, and a roller, covered with woollen cloth, is passed along the ledges over its surface; the use of the ledges is to prevent the roller from rising in too obtuse an angle against the first letters, or going off too abruptly from the last, which would cause the paper to be cut, and the impression to be injured at the beginning and end of the sheet. The roller must be passed across the page, for if it moves in the order of the lines, the paper will bag a little between each, and the impression will be less neat.†

[blocks in formation]

On the 16th and 17th of January, 1809, Mr. Howard observed, that the snow exhibited the beautiful blue and pink shades at sunset which are sometimes observable, and that there was a strong evaporation from its surface. A circular area, of five inches diameter, lost 150 grains troy, from sunset on the 15th to sunrise next morning, and about 50 grains more by the following sunset; the gauge being exposed to a smart breeze on the house top. curious reader may hence compute for himself, the enormous quantity raised in those 24 hours, without any visible lique

[blocks in formation]

The

In the

faction, from an acre of snow: the effects of the load thus given to the air were soon perceptible. On the 17th, a small brilliant meteor descended on the S. E. horizon about 6 p. m. On the 18th, the horns of the crescent were obtuse. though the moon was still conspicuous, On the 19th appeared the Cirrus cloud, followed by the Cirrostratus. afternoon a freezing shower from the eastward glazed the windows, encrusted the walls, and encased the trees, the garments of passengers, and the very plumage of the birds with ice. Birds thus disabled were seen lying on the ground in great Nineteen rooks were taken up alive by numbers in different parts of the country. Wilts. The composition of this frozen one person at Castle Eaton Meadow, shower, examined on a sheet of paper, was no less curious than these effects. It consisted of hollow spherules of ice, filled with water; of transparent globules of hail; and of drops of water at the point of freezing, which became solid on touching the bodies they fell on. The thercated 30,5°. This was at Plaistow. The mometer exposed from the window indishower was followed by a moderate fall of snow.

there were variable winds and frequent From this time to the 24th, falls of snow, which came down on the sleet at intervals. On the 24th a steady 22d in flakes as large as dollars, with rain from W. decided for a thaw. This and the following night proved stormy: the melted snow and rain, making about two inches depth of water on the level, descended suddenly by the rivers, and the country was inundated to a greater extent than in the year 1795. The River Lea continued rising the whole of the 26th, remained stationary during the 27th, and returned into its bed in the course of the

two following days. The various chan country were united in one current, above nels by which it intersects this part of the impetuosity, and did much damage. From a mile in width, which flowed with great breaches in the banks and mounds, the different levels, as they are termed, of embanked pasture land, were filled to the depth of eight or nine feet. The cattle, by great exertions, were preserved, being driven to their upper rooms, were relieved mostly in the stall; and the inhabitants, by boats plying under the windows. The Thames was so full during this time, that no tide was perceptible; happily, however, its bank suffered no injury; and the

recession of the water from the levels proceeded with little interruption till the 23d of February, when it nearly all subsided. No lives were lost in these parts; but several circumstances concurred to render this inundation less mischievous than it might have been, from the great depth o. snow on the country. It was the time of neap tide; the wind blew strongly from the westward, urging the water down the Thames; while moonlight nights, and a temperate atmosphere, were favourable to the poor, whose habitations were filled with water. On the 28th appeared a lunar halo of the largest diameter. On the 29th, after a fine morning, the wind began to blow hard from the south, and during the whole night of the 30th it raged with exc.. sive violence from the west, doing considerable damage. The barometer rose, during this hurricane, onetenth of an inch per hour. The remainder of the noon way stormy and wet, and it

closed with squally weather; which, with the frequent appearance of the rainbow, indicated the approach of a drier atmosphere, a change on few occasions within Mr. Howard's recollection more desirable.

Numerous inundations, consequent on the thaw of the 24th, appear to have prevailed in low and level districts all along the east side of the island: but in no part with more serious destruction of property, public works, and the hopes of the husbandman, than in the fens of Cambridgeshire: where, by some accounts. 60,000, by others above 150,000 acres of land, were laid under deep water, through an extent of 15 miles. It is a fact worth preserving, that about 500 sacks filled with earth, and laid on the banks of the Old Bedford river, at various places, where the waters were then flowing over, proved effectual in saving that part of the country from a general deluge.

[graphic]

Swearing on the Horns at Highgate.

It's a custom at Highgate, that all who go through,
Must be sworn on the horns, sir!-and so, sir, must you!
Bring the horns! shut the door!-now, sir, take off your hat !--
When you come here again, don't forget to mind that!

« ZurückWeiter »