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dulge in huschich, a substance not much less deleterious than opium. The use by them of the vapour-bath and its accompaniments, is a great preservative of health and cleanliness. The Egyptians arrive to a great age: Dr. Clot speaks of a man whom he had seen 130 years of age, without any other infirmity than cataract in one eye; and he knows another, now living, at 123 years of age, who enjoys a perfectly sound state of health, and has several children, the eldest of whom is 80, the second 74, the third 3 years old, and the youngest only a few months. This man at the age of 82 cut six teeth, which he was obliged to have immediately extracted, on account of the pain and inconvenience they occasioned

him.

"In his advice to foreigners settling in Egypt, Clot Bey cautions them against the too free use of animal food, and of every kind of stimulating nourishment, of wine and alcoholic liquors. He observes that mortality among the English resident in the country is far greater than that of other foreigners, in consequence of their dogged adherence to their native customs and usages in this respect."

The plague, as endemical, shews itself almost every year at the same time in the Levant, and in the ancient land of the Pharaohs, and as such generally with a subdued intensity. When it appears under its epidemic form, which happens at intervals of six, eight, or ten years, like the Asiatic cholera, it occasions the most horrible ravages wherever it prevails. "The plague is not contagious," says Dr. Clot, "and the great majority of medical men who have studied the malady of late years are of my opinion. This belief, moreover, has always been that of the Mussulmans; never have they avoided the contact of the pestiferous, nor must we suppose this notion of theirs to be the consequence of a ridiculous fatalism, and that from all times an entire people would voluntarily expose themselves to so dreadful an evil, acknowledged to be contagious, when they might so easily protect themselves from it." Dr. Clot has made some original suggestions in regard to ophthalmia, the primary cause of which he conceives to be meteorological, or climatic, or what has hitherto escaped our observation. The different authors that have written upon Egypt have very rarely mentioned in their works calculous derangements; probably either because they had no opportunity to make researches into the subject, or because they did not imagine there existed in Egypt an affection which has been generally supposed to be confined to cold and humid regions. Dr. Clot, as before observed, has operated for calculus in more than 160 cases.

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Mental derangements are very rare in

Egypt: in Cairo, containing about 300,000 inhabitants, there are not more, it appears, than from 30 to 40 persons affected that way. Nervous and rheumatic affections are very rare, and the gout is entirely unknown. Tetanus is seldom met with; and what is very extraordinary, in a region subject to a burning climate, and where animals of the canine species abound, which often suffer much from hunger and thirst, no one instance of hydrophobia, says our author, has been known in men or animals."

Consumption,so general in more northerly latitudes, is exceedingly uncommon in Egypt. Pliny tells us that the Romans were wont to resort thither to be cured of this complaint, or for the purpose of preventing its development. And yet, of the Abyssinians and Negroes who come from warmer regions, a great number die annually of this malady. On the other hand, the northerns, as Turks, Greeks, French, English, Germans, Italians, &c., enjoy the immunity of the natives. "Do not these facts," says Clot Bey, "demonstrate that heat (chaleur) is one of the powerful conditions which prevent the development of this disorder. If I had to give advice to the rich who are languishing, nay dying, in their own country of pulmonary consumption, or to those who are predisposed to it, I should say, instead of travelling to various parts of Europe, and finding little or no benefit therefrom, come to Egypt, which offers you greater chances of ultimate restoration than any other place."

With respect to the security of life and property in the dominions of Mehemet Ali, it is perhaps greater here than in the best governed state of Europe. If we contrast the anarchical state of Egypt in Volney's time, with what it is now, the enlightened labours of the viceroy will appear in a very strong light: nay, he appears on assuming power to have said with Sixtus the Fifth: "I wish, that in my dominions every one should be able to carry his purse in his hand, and even leave his door open of a night, without running any risk.”

The people of Europe may reasonably rejoice at these improvements in the civil and social system of the East. Their fortunes and commercial relations are no longer subjected to a thousand perilous risks. England has now, by the Red Sea, the route to India open and free. Thousands of camels are placed at her disposal, to transport at a low rate from Suez to Cairo her travellers and her merchandise. Mehemet Ali has even shewn, in peace and in war, a ready disposition to protect the interests and to facilitate the concerns of English commerce. Other nations also are admitted to enjoy the benefits which Egypt offers to commerce, and the security which

the viceroy. has provided for exchanges, transactions, and travels.

Lastly, the moral change which the Pacha has wrought among his subjects, is much more extraordinary in itself than all his military, political, commercial, agricultural, and other improvements. He has attacked bigotry and fanaticism at their very source; and by letting in per force the lights of knowledge upon his subjects, he has done more to overturn the empire of a creed essentially adverse to human amelioration, than all its declared enemies put together. This moral improvement will doubtless, in its consequences, if allowed to proceed, be productive of results still more important to the cause of civilization.

Harmlessness of Death.

Death is the same harmless thing that a

poor shepherd suffered yesterday, or a in which you die, in that very night a thoumaid-servant to-day; and at the same time sand creatures die with you, some wise the first will not quiet him, and the folly of men, and many fools; and the wisdom of the latter does not make him unable to die. Bishop Taylor.

Instinct and Reason.

in a bare retentive memory. Through how Brute creatures equal, if not exceed, men many labyrinths of woods, without other clue of thread than natural instinct, doth the hunted hare return to her muce! How doth the little bee, flying into several mea

GEMS FROM PHILOSOPHERS AND dows and gardens, sipping of many cups,

DIVINES.-NO. IV.

"If these little sparks of holy fire which I have heaped up together do not give life to your prepared and already enkindled spirit, yet they will sometimes help to entertain a thought, to actuate a passion, to employ and hallow a fancy."-Bishop Taylor.

"Above Work."

I HAVE always considered this, (says Paley,) as a most unfortunate phraseology. And, as habitual modes of speech have no small effect upon public sentiment, it has a direct tendency to make one portion of mankind envious, and the other idle. The truth is, every man has his work. The kind of work varies, and that is all the difference there is. A great deal of labour exists, beside that of the hands; many species of industry beside bodily operation, equally necessary, requiring equal assiduity, more attention, more anxiety. It is not true, therefore, that men of elevated stations are exempted from work: it is only true that there is assigned to them work of a different kind; whether more easy, or less pleasant, may be questioned; but certainly not less wanted, not less essential to the common good. Were this maxim once properly received as a principle of conduct, it would put men of fortune and rank upon inquiring, what were the opportunities of doing good, (for some, they may depend upon it, there are,) which in a more especial manner belonged to their situation or condition; and were this principle carried into anything like its full effect, or even were this way of thinking sufficiently inculcated, it would completely remove the invidiousness of elevated stations.

Newton's Lost Time.

I don't know what I may seem to the world; but, as to myself, I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of Truth lay all undiscovered before me.

yet never intoxicated, through an ocean of air, steadily steer herself home without help of card or compass! But these cannot play an after-game, and recover what they have forgotten, which is done by the meditation of discourse.-Fuller.

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Pope said a few hours before he died: "There is nothing meritorious but virtue and friendship; and, indeed, friendship is but a part of virtue."-Spence's Anecdotes. Time.

Time speeds away-away-away;
Another hour-another day-
Another month-another year-
Drop from us like the leaflets sear;
Drop like the life-blood from our hearts;
The rose-bloom from the cheek departs,
The tresses from the temples fall,
The eye grows dim, and strange to all.
Time speeds away-away-away;
Like torrent in a stormy day;
He undermines the stately tower,
Uproots the tree, and snaps the flower;
And sweeps from our distracted breast
The friends that loved, the friends that bless'd;
And leaves us weeping on the shore,
To which they can return no more.
Time speeds away-away-away;
No eagle through the skies of day,
No wind along the hills can flee,
So swiftly, or so smooth as he.
Like fiery steed-from stage to stage
He bears us on-from youth to age,
Then plunges in the fearful sea
Of fathomless Eternity.

Knox.

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SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. THE subject of the exclusion of friends is one which has been too much overlooked in our reformed systems of Prison Discipline. Why should we endeavour to make the prison as painful, as torturing, as possible, without the infliction of physical thumbscrews, pulleys, and Spanish-boots? Is the great end for which we say we institute solitary cells, the awakening of moral feelings, and the restoration of its proper tone of innocence, to the corrupted heart,-to be accomplished by forbidding the unfortunate prisoner ever to see or hear the endearing associations of father, mother, wife, or child; or do not the tender, and melting, and purifying ideas their visits would excite, aid the other appliances and connexions with humanity, and a higher principle inculcated by the ministry of God and his medical attendant? Of a verity, we are too inhuman in our projects; too refined in our exclusions of natural instinct from the prison-house. Instead of barring the cell inmate from sunbeams,* and from society, we would plant a wide garden-plot with trees, filled with singing-birds, and pretty, harmless, flowers; we would let him bask in the golden ray, and feast his eye on the shooting leaf; his wife should not be far from him; his child should once * We have seen in several of the newly-erected more or less solitary confinement prisons of England and Scotland, that the cell windows are so constructed as to admit a little light, but exclude the sun! We will not characterize, as we ought, this cruel detail of a cruel system in a Christian land..

more climb upon his knee: God, man, nature, grace, solitude, society, and judgments, mixed with mercy, should all call him back to innocence and purity; and then we might hear at last, that gaol reformations were not Utopian !*

We take this opportunity of expressing our gratitude to Oscar, Crown Prince of Sweden and Norway, for the general tone of real humanity pervading the pages of his pamphlet " On Punishments, and Pri demands, for instance, that mother and sons," lately published at Stockholm. He child shall never be separated; that the prison fare shall not be a starvation torture; that the prisoner's earnings shall not all be swallowed up to reimburse the State; that efforts shall be widely and zealously made by local committees, and general inspectors, to provide honest employment for the discharged victim of crime, poverty, or ignorance; and that, above all, education, poor relief, and Christian love, shall endeavour to prevent, rather than to punish, breaches of the law. Sentiments such as these do Prince Oscar honour, they will flourish when thrones are forgotten, and empty titles shall be no more. They will smooth the pillow of disease and death in this world, and will "go before" to brighter realms, to welcome him to laurels which will never fade, to a crown which shall never be removed from the immortal temples it wreathes and enfolds. "I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”- From an admirable paper in The Foreign Quarterly Review, just published.

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playing off a confederate annoyance upon some stranger guest, invited for the purpose: suppose a resident at the house, for instance, sent an invitation, by the connivance of his lordship, to some tavern companion, a grave, topping shopkeeper in London, to come and pass a few days as a guest at his lordship's table, and to partake of the festivities at Wargrave. The person invited was received with great ceremony, and treated in the most courteous manner throughout the first day. On the second, some one, perhaps Anthony Pasquin, or the younger Edwin, two wicked, witty ministers of his lordship's waggeries, would hatch up some fallacious charge against him, to place him in a ridiculous point of view to the other guests, most of whom were confederates in the hoax. One present would begin, "Pray, Mr. Higginbottom, will you allow me to take wine with you?" "Sir, with great pleasure, but my name is Benson." "You are a wag, sir," was the reply. "Come, let us hob and nob, sir; but 'pon my soul, you are so like Mr. Higginbottom, my neighbour, in Elbow-lane, that-excuse me-I could have almost sworn-." "No, sir, I assure you, I know no gentleman of that name.' ." At this moment a confederate enters, and after bowing, and apologizing for being so late at dinner, begins to tell his lordship the cause of his delay, on the road, when he suddenly exclaims Ah, my old friend Higginbottom! Well, this is a pleasure, indeed!" "Indeed, sir, you have the advantage of me; I am not Mr. Hig-hig-what's his name?" Then a loud laugh at Mr. Benson's expense; when he appeals to his friend who invited him thither; but he has purposely left the table. He then throws himself upon the protection of his lordship, who gravely observes, "Sir, appearances are against you; your friend has disappeared, and I know not what to think." Benson, bewildered, begins to asseverate, that he is identically "John-Jabus-Ben-son ;" when another adds to his embarrassment, by declaring, Why, Higginbottom, you are smoked." "What do you mean, sir ?” “Why, sir, ha, ha, ha-that you are Isaac Higginbottom, mousetrap and nutmeg-grater manufacturer, in Elbow-lane, and the greatest wag in all London.". And these confederate jokers continue their play upon the worthy cit, artfully plying him with wine, until the fumes of the grape, working with his confusion, bemuddle his brain, so that he ultimately forgets whether he is Benson-or Higginbottom."

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Obituary.

SIR THOMAS EDLYNE. TOMLIN.

DIED, on the 1st inst., Sir Thomas Edlyne Tomlin, in his 80th year, the well-known compiler of the Statutes at Large and the

Law Dictionary. The deceased knight was called to the Bar in 1783; he was admitted a bencher of the Inner Temple in 1823, and filled the office of Treasurer to that Society in 1827. His first appointment of note was in May, 1801, as Counsel to the Chief Secretary of Ireland; and at the close of the said year, he was appointed Parliamentary Counsel to the Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland, which he filled until the consolidation of the Treasuries in 1816. In 1818, he was assistant-counsel to the Treasury. For some years after he was called to the Bar, he was editor of the St. James's Chronicle newspaper. For his talents in his profession, the learned gentleman received the merited honour of knighthood in 1814, from George IV., then Prince Regent.— Times.

MRS. MOUNTAIN.

Mountain, the On the 3rd inst., at Hammersmith, Mrs. once charming English singer, at a very advanced age. She made the Haymarket Theatre, in 1782, with very her first appearance as Miss Wilkinson, at great success; and at Covent Garden in 1786, where she became acquainted with Mr. Mountain, leader of the band, to whom she was married, and who survives her. Mr. Mountain is one of the principal second violins belonging to the Philharmonic band. Mrs. Mountain retired from the stage in 1815.-Times.

THE RT. HON. T. P. COURTNEY.

At Torquay, on the 7th instant, whilst bathing, the Right Hon. Thomas Peregrine Courtney, aged 59, formerly Vice-President of the Board of Trade, Commissioner of the Board of Control, and for several years M.P. for Totnes. Mr. Courtney was also a gentleman of high literary attainments: he was an occasional contributor to the Foreign Quarterly and other Reviews; and a short time since, a series of elegant critiques upon Shakspeare's historical plays, from his pen, appeared in the New Monthly Magazine.

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Wages of Members of Parliament.--The catchpenny title of the Black Book is not an idea of our times. In the archives of the corporation of Guildford, in Surrey, is an ancient manuscript called the Black Book, in which is recorded the amount of wages paid to the representatives of the borough, who attended the parliament held at Westminster, in the 35th year of Edward III. They stayed there 28 days, for which they were remunerated at the rate of 12 pence per day. The expenses of the burgesses, Walter Wideland and Roger Lumbard, at the parliament held in the 37th Edward III. amounted in all to 41. 4s. ; and having received a payment in part, of 39s. 6d., on the Sunday after the festival of Corpus Christi, they made a donation to the county of 13s. 4d. for the repair of the Shire-hall. ---Russell's History of Guildford, quoted in Brayley's History of Surrey, a laborious compilation.

Medical Books are the most dangerous that any person can take to perusing-except metaphysical ones ;-for it is, indeed, a less evil to injure the constitution by ignorant treatment, and to induce valetudinarian feelings and habits, than to sophisticate the understanding and poison the mind. Goethe has well said, "He who thinks too much of his body becomes sick; he who does the same by his mind becomes mad." Paper has been made in Belgium from

asparagus ends.

We recommend it to the

cook for lamb cutlets.

Speaking French. It has now been clearly ascertained that the words Anglois, François, j'amois, j'étois, &c., were formerly pronounced the same as moi, toi, &c. The change in pronunciation took place after the marriage of Catherine de Medici, in 1553, when a number of Italians became attached to the French court; these persons could not pronounce the oi, and it became fashionable at court, in deference to the queen, to pronounce it as ai; Voltaire was the first who introduced this system in his writings, after which it became general. Boileau, Racine, and Molière followed the early and correct method.-Foreign Quarterly Review.

Insects in Chalk.-Professor Ehrenberg has ascertained, that a cubic inch of chalk possesses upwards of a million of microscopic animalculæ ; consequently, a pound weight of chalk contains above 10,000,000 of these animalculæ From his researches it appears probable that all the strata of chalk in Europe are the product of microscopic animalculæ, most of them invisible to the naked eye.-Times.

Queen Caroline.-Mr. Wilberforce, in his Diary, observes: "One can't help admiring her spirit, though I fear she has been very profligate."

The Soothing System.-Captain Maconochie, superintendent of Norfolk Island, has lately made an experiment upon the 1850 doubly and trebly convicted felons there, which is worth the attention of the advocates of the silent and separate systems at home. On the occasion of her Majesty's birthday, the Captain ordered fresh pork to be issued, instead of salt meat, rum and sugar to make punch, a play to be acted by the convicts, (whether the Beggar's Opera or Jack Sheppard is not said,) and fireworks to be let off at night. In the morning, the whole 1850 men played at cricket and other games; at dinner every man had a bumper of punch to drink the queen's health, after which, the air was rent by three tremendous shouts, Maconochie standing by and seeing every glass served out. The men then resumed their sports, and in due time the play was acted in the large mess-room, At eight, every man retired peaceably to the barracks. Not a single instance of tumult, disorder, or accident, occurred during the day, nor a single man in confinement that evening or next day. It may be thought that Captain Maconochie had gone too far; that he was incurring a most tremendous risk by letting loose 1850 felons in a small secluded island, with the very trifling means he possessed of resistance; but he had exacted from them, on the previous day, a pledge that decorum should be preserved; and that every man at eight o'clock, when the bugle sounded, would retire to his quarters; he had told them solemnly, that on redeeming their pledge, his future confidence and their welfare would depend; and he had a full reliance that an indulgence never before granted on the island, would not be abused. The event proved that he was not deceived.-Quarterly Review.

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Lightning. A curious instance of the effect of an electric current was lately observed, at Revigny, in France. A man had taken refuge from a violent storm at the entrance of a cave in a rock, when he was struck by lightning, and killed. On examining his body, the buttons of his coat, which were a mixture of pewter, were found melted, each in one half of their extent; and a portion of the metal they had lost was discovered firmly adhering to the soles of the man's shoes.

Oxford.-The groves and gardens at Oxford are the work of Brown; and if ever Cowper's precept of giving "ample space to narrow bounds" was realized, it has been in these delightful gardens. It was said, that when George III. paid his first visit to Oxford, he declared that his dominions did not contain such a specimen of gardening skill; and yet they are comprised within a boundary of four acres !— Dibdin's Reminiscences, vol. i. p. 87.

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