LIKE most travellers who take the highroad from London to York, by Derby and Sheffield, I was not aware that any object of interest existed in the vicinity of Chesterfield. But being unavoidably detained there for some days in the latter part of the year 1836, I determined to explore the neighbourhood, in order that my time should not be wholly misspent. Accordingly, on mine host's recommendation, I walked out to view the race-course, which is situated on a common to the north of the town; but meeting with nothing worthy of notice, I strolled towards a neat looking hamlet, with a picturesque windmill on the summit of a hill, which had attracted my attention. There is something so inviting about old country churches, that on entering a strange village, I generally proceed directly to the church; nor did I make the one at Whittington an exception to my usual practice; with its fine old yew trees, and comical looking spire. I was, however, more powerfully attracted, on discovering at the fork of two roads, a public house bearing the sign of the "Cock and Magpie, the Revolution House." I proceeded to inquire of the landlady her good man's reasons for holding out so alarming a sign, in these rampant days of chartism. She pointed to a wretched row of huts a few yards distant, and said, "That is the old Revolution House, but the accommodation was so bad,that this house was built a few years since, and the sign removed; but the Duke's or, as some folk call it, the Plotting Chair,' still remains in the parlour, which is the same as ever it was. I went over to the hut she indicated, and knocked at a little low door, two or three steps below the level of the ground; I was received by a merry, antiquated, but very dirty little cobbler, who had been stitching away at an old shoe, and hammering on his lapstone by turns. I was soon on intimate terms with this small son of St. Crispin, who told me that the Revolution 6 of 1688 was planned in the very room in which we stood; that the Duke (then Earl) of Devonshire, the Earl of Danby, and Mr. John D'Arcy, had, by appointment, met there, which was, in those days, the parlour of a much frequented public-house, known by the name of the "Cock and Pynot,"* and decided on the dethronement of the tyrannical James, and on offering the crown of England to William, Prince of Orange. The premises of the Cock and Pynot, of those days, consisted of the whole front of the cottages represented in the engraving; the second window, to the right of the door, admitted the only light to the plotting parlour. The room itself is small, not more than twelve or thirteen feet square, with a rude wide-throated stone fire-place, a rough badly-jointed floor, apparently unwashed since 1688; the ceiling is low, with joists encrusted with soot, and where the cobwebs appear to have remained undisturbed from the same period. My informant shewed me the chair which the Duke of Devonshire occupied, as president of the meeting, of which the accompanying engraving will give the reader a correct idea. It is mentioned in one of the local histories, that, on the day on which the conspirators resolved on the dethronement of James, they had been following the chase, and that, in the midst of the sport, they separated to meet, as previously arranged, at the Cock and Pynot. While another account states, that they met on Whittington common, but sought shelter from the rain, in that obscure public-house. The little cobbler, who was upwards of eighty years of age, recounted to me, in an original and facetious manner, the great doings of the fifth of November, 1788, when the centenary commemoration of the Revolution took place with considerable pomp. In those days," he said, "he was a rollicking fellow, 66 * Pynot is the provincial name for magpie. There slept the mighty dead! Yet slab, and scroll, and effigy, effacing, Banners were hung on high, When the night-wind passed by. There, too, were chapels shrined,' Worn by the feet of pilgrims that had sought them Year after year, where superstition taught them Pardon and peace to find. Silence was haunting there ;No surpliced priest down that dark nave was sweeping; No watchful verger came on tiptoe creeping, "Passing away, away," Sang a sad voice; the melody repeating; Then came a wondrous sight! ON THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC ON MAN AND ANIMALS, BY JAMES H. FENNELL, Author of "A Natural History of Quadrupeds," &c. (Concluded from page 248.) Birds.-M. Le Cat, who insists that the cochlea of the ear is the organ that perceives harmony, admits that birds, in which class that organ is wanting, are the most musical of all animals, and have an exquisite hearing," because," as he says, "their Mitres, and robes, and shrouds of marble, glim- heads are almost entirely sonorous like a mered Or, argent, azure, sanguine, purpure, shimmered E'en in the depth of night! Then round the finialed spire, Curled a bright flame, o'er tabernacle fretted, Licking the ancient dust in groins cavetted, Through that majestic choir. All in a shrivelled scroll Shrank cassock, hood, and pall, laid by for ever By holy men in sacristy, where never Thenceforth hung alb or stole. Censer, and chalice rich, Almery, paten, taper, shone in flashes, Down fell the sculptured dais, When crochet, cusp, and mask, and reeded moulding, Corbel, and shaft, and architrave, enfolding, On came the billowy blaze. Then sighed a shadowy sound bell, owing to their not being involved in complicated muscles, as are the heads of other animals. Hence, must they necessarily be agitated by the sounds which present themselves. The labyrinth of their ear, being very sonorous, is sufficient for this end. The most simple grot will echo back a musical air; but, if to this excellent disposition of hearing in birds, nature had added the cochlea, they would have been much more sensible of harmonious modulations. They would have had a passion for harmony, which they do not possess, for the musical quality peculiar to birds proceeds less from the delicacy and taste of their ear, than from the disposition of their throat. They, furthermore, in this particular, resemble those musicians who give pleasure to others, without partaking of any From the high loft where organ pipes were glow. themselves." ing In the red fire, a golden radiance throwing On the wide wreck around. "Passing away! away!" Breathed those stupendous diapasons, mourning Each for his fall; as of the tempest warning, Winds sigh at close of day. "Passing away!"-then shook E'en to the ground, an arch, where yet remaining Stood a strong pillar, bound with links, enchaining Letterns to hold "THE BOOK."* "Passing away!-the spire Bowed then his head-then boomed the bells as muffled, M. Marville remarked, that, while a man was playing upon a conch shell, some little birds that were in an aviary, and others that were on trees and bushes, almost tore their throats with singing. Faber says, that a pelican which was kept in the court of the Duke of Bavaria above forty years was fond of human society, and when any one sang or played on an instrument it would stand perfectly still, turn its ear to the place, and, with its head stretched out, seemed to pay the utmost attention. Madame Piozzi, in her "Letters from Deep plunging down where but a moment ruffled, France and Italy," gives an account of a Swept one broad sea of fire! 'Tis said a shattered stone, In that dread night from cemetery riven, Years passed away-unpaved, Unroofed, lay Old St. Paul's; when, thoughtful turning, Fell the glad eye of one with joy discerning, Where was "RESURGAM" graved.† REINELM. The literal meaning of our adopted word, "The Bible." By command of Henry the Eighth, a copy of the English version of the Holy Scriptures was set up and chained securely in St. Paul's cathedral, and other places of worship, according to the reformed religion throughout the kingdom. "Resurgam"-" I shall rise again;" for this incident see Cunningham's Life of Sir Christopher Wren, British Artists, vol. iv. tame pigeon which answered by gesticulation to every note of a harpsichord. As often as she began to play, the pigeon hurried to the concert with every indication of rapturous delight. A false note produced in the bird evident tokens of displeasure, and if frequently repeated, it lost all temper, and tore her hands. Another instance, equally remarkable, of the effect of music on a pigeon is related by Lockman in his reflections upon operas, prefixed to his musical drama of " Rosalinda." Being at the house of a Cheshire gentleman, whose daughter was a fine performer on the harpsichord, he observed a pigeon, which, whenever the young lady played the song of "Speri si," in Handel's opera of Admetus, would descend from an adjacent dovecot to the window at which she sat, and listen with every indication of pleasure till the song was finished, when it uniformly returned to the dovecot. Reptiles.-Scripture contains several passages alluding to the general notion in the East, that serpents are capable of being rendered docile, or at least harmless, by certain charms or incantations. The most remarkable of these texts is that of the 58th Psalm, where the wicked are compared to "the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; which will not hearken to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely;" and that of the eighth chapter of Jeremiah, " I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed." Virgil, in the seventh book of his "Eneidos," notices the effects of music on serpents. Dr. Shaw says, that a belief that venemous serpents might be rendered harmless by songs or muttered words, or by writing sentences, or combinations of numbers upon scrolls of paper, prevailed through all those parts of Barbary where he travelled. In India, at the present day, the serpent-charmers are numerous in every district. Forbes, in his "Oriental Memoirs," appears to attach some credit to their power of alluring the cobra-di-capello, and other snakes, from their hiding-places, by the attraction of music. Johnson, however, in his "Sketches of Indian Field Sports," says, "The professed snake-catchers, in India, are a low caste of Hindoos, wonderfully clever in catching snakes, as well as in practising the art of legerdemain. They pretend to draw them from their holes by a song, and by an instrument somewhat like an Irish bagpipe, on which they play a plaintive tune. The truth is, this is all done to deceive. If ever a snake comes out of a hole at the sound of their music, you may be certain that it is a tame one, trained to it, deprived of its venemous teeth, and put there for the purpose; and this you may prove, as I have often done, by killing the snake and examining it, by which you will exasperate the men exceedingly." Mr. Johnson's account certainly appears the more probable version of this extraordinary story; yet enough remains to surprise, in the wonderful command which these people possess over the reptiles that they have deprived of the power of inflicting an injury, and taught to erect themselves, and make a gentle undulating movement of the head, at certain modulated sounds. There can, we think, be no doubt, that the snake is taught to do this, in the same way that the Italians instruct the bear and the cock to dance. Miss Jane Roberts, in her work entitled "Two Years at Sea," relates, that one day, some Indian snake-charmers having taken a snake out of a bag they had brought, began a rough kind of music, sung in a monotonous tone, and occasionally clapped their hands. The snake raised itself about half its length from the ground, and seemed to keep time to the music, by the motion of its body and head. When the music ceased, it instantly sank down, and the man thrust it into the bag, and produced another, which was in like manner charmed." A gentleman of high station in the Honourable Company's Civil Service at Madras, and a man of undoubted veracity, relates, that a large cobra-di-capello, having taken refuge in a hole of an old wall, he requested a snake-catcher to exhibit the attractive effects of music upon it. This man's dress consisted merely of a small piece of cloth round his loins; and he carried only a musical pipe, and two baskets, one containing tame snakes, and the other empty. Leaving his two baskets on the ground at some distance, the snake-catcher went towards the snake, and began to play the pipe. At the sound of the music the snake came gradually and slowly out of the hole, and when within reach, the snake-catcher dexterously seized the reptile by the tail, and held him at arm's length. The snake, in his rage, darted his head in all directions, to resent the liberty taken with him; but his efforts were in vain; for, while suspended by the tail, the snake has not the power to raise himself up so as to attack his captor's arm. The creature having exhausted himself in vain exertions, the snake-catcher dropped him into the empty basket, and closed the lid. The man then began to play, and, after a short time, on raising the lid of the basket, the snake darted about wildly and attempted to escape; the lid was shut down again quickly, the music still continuing. This was repeated two or three times; and in a very short interval, on the lid being again raised, the snake sat on his tail, dilated his hood, (for this is a hooded snake,) and danced quite as quietly as the tame snakes in the other basket; nor did he again attempt to escape. M. D'Obsonville remarks, that "The cobra-di-capello, more than any other reptile, is attentive to the sound of a sort of flageolet or pipe. The Indian jugglers play a certain monotonous air, slow and unharmonious, which at first seems to create astonishment; presently it advances, stops, rears itself, and extends its hood; sometimes it will remain an hour in that position, and then, by gentle inclinations of the head, indicate that these sounds impress a sense of pleasure on its organs. Of this I have several times been convinced by proofs made on this kind of serpents which have never been trained to that exercise, and particularly upon one that I caught in my garden. I do not, however, deny that some are trained to this exercise; the jugglers, when called to clear a house of them, will sometimes artfully drop one of these, which will immediately appear at the sound of the pipe, to which it has been accustomed." William Jones, Bruce, Greaves, and Chateaubriand, in confirmation of the influence of music upon snakes. The preceding instances of the effects of music on snakes refer only to species inha- Another tribe of reptiles eminent for biting Asia; but we shall find that those their musical taste is the various species of of Africa, of America, and of Europe, are lizards. Pococke, in his "Travels through sensitive to its soft influence. Major Laing, Egypt," tells us, that the "worral," a species in his "Travels into the Interior of Africa,' of lizard, "is said to be affected by music; pp. 245, 246, relates, that "a droll-looking but having procured one alive, I have reason man, who played upon a sort of guitar, the to believe that this is not true." But the body of which was a calabash, commenced late Rev. Lansdown Guilding assures us, a sweet air, and accompanied it with a that "every child in the West Indies is tolerably fair voice. He boasted, that by aware how much the lizards are delighted his music he could cure disease; that he with musical sounds, and how quickly they could make wild beasts tame, and snakes are drawn from distant spots to listen to dance; if the white man did not believe melody. I often whistle to some one of him, he would give him a specimen. Having them, and can easily discern its delight at changed his music to a more lively air, a my rude attempts; its ears are turned in large snake crept from beneath part of the mute attention, its eyes are soon closed, stockading in the yard, and was crossing it and it is totally absorbed and absent. In rapidly, when the man again changed his this state it is, of course, easily destroyed."tune, and playing a little slower, sung, (Magazine of Natural History, 1837, vol. 'Snake, you must stop; you run too fast; vii. p. 583.) Mr. Swainson tells us, that stop at my command, and give the white "the elegant little nimble lizard (Lacerta man service.' The snake was obedient, agilis), although rare in Britain, is found and the musician continued to sing 'Snake, in such abundance in the south of Europe, you must dance, for a white man has come that hundreds, on a fine sunny day, may be to Falaba. Dance, snake, for this is indeed seen in a single walk, basking on the stones a happy day.' The snake twisted itself and walls, or pursuing their search after about, raised its head, curled, leaped, and insects. In Sicily and Malta they are performed various feats, of which I should particularly numerous, and very beautiful. not have supposed a snake capable; and The habit they have of turning the head at the conclusion of which, the musician on one side, and some vague recollection walked out of the yard, followed by the of a story in the Arabian Nights' about reptile, leaving me in no small degree asto- an attentive lizard, first induced us to try nished, and the rest of the company not a what effect the humming of a song would little pleased that a black man had been have upon these creatures, and it was really able to excite the surprise of a white one." most entertaining. The little reptile, inM. Neale, when in North Carolina, suc- stead of running away with its usual swiftceeded in a most surprising degree in taming ness, would remain perfectly still, inclining rattle-snakes; and he ascribed his success its head on one side, as if to catch every entirely to the power of music, and asserted intonation. The softer and more plaintive that a tender melody was sufficient to tran- was the tune, the more intense was the quillize the greatest irritation on the part attention it evinced; and if a whistle was of the reptile. Professor Luigi Metoxa, of substituted for a hum, it would suffer itself Rome, has published an account of some to be approached so near that any one unsingular experiments made by him on acquainted with its astonishing swiftness snakes. Among others, he endeavoured to would fancy he could capture it with his ascertain the truth of the alleged predilec- hand. This curious fact, once discovered, tion of snakes for music and dancing. In often proved a source of much amusement: July, 1822, about noon, he put into a large Often, after a long ramble spent in sketchbox a number of different kinds of snakes, ing or botanising, we used to repose in a all quite lively, with the exception of some shady spot among the rocks, and charm vipers, which were enclosed in a separate those pretty little creatures so successfully, box. As soon as they heard the harmonious that we have known them even to come out tones of an organ, all the non-venemous of their holes, and thus form a little audience. serpents became agitated in an extraordi- On such occasions they sometimes stand nary manner; they attached themselves to remarkably upright on their fore-legs, the the sides of the box, and made every effort hinder ones lying almost flat upon the to escape. The Elaphis and the Coluber ground; the same attitude they also assume Esculapi turned towards the instrument. when reconnoitring, but then the head is The vipers, however, exhibited no symp- never turned on one side as if for the purtoms of sensibility. This experiment was pose of accurately hearing. We made frequently repeated, and always with the similar experiments upon the smaller lizards same results. Besides the authorities I have of Brazil, which more or less exhibited the quoted, I might adduce the evidence of Sir same fondness for musical tunes." |