stood a minute or two not knowing which | She would have made an admirable mother way to look; then, recovering his self for the heroines of Augustus's novels. She possession, answered, with a low bow. carried herself to the King's mistresses as There is nothing I would not do for your if they had no existence in that character, Majesty's satisfaction.' This was coming but were only well-behaved, prudent wooff tolerably well; but he did not forgive men; and it was lucky for all parties that the telltale culprit, in whose ear, watching such they really were. The amiableness his opportunity when the King turned round of Mrs. Howard (Lady Suffolk) is wellfrom them, he muttered a bitter reproach, known; and Madame de Walmoden (Lady with a round oath to enforce it; which Yarmouth) is seldom mentioned by her condurst not resent,' continued she, for I had temporaries, says Mr. Jesse," without some drawn it upon myself; and indeed I was tribute to her good-nature and obliging disheartily vexed at my own imprudence"-position." The Queen, therefore, ruled (Letters of Lady M. W. Montague, Vol. I. p. 37.) ( willing subjects on all sides; and her levee presented a curious miscellaneous spectaGeorge I. was a man of a middle height, cle. Caroline was a great lover of books; features somewhat round, and quiet, though and though the reverse of ascetic or bigot, pleasant manners; George II. was a little she did not omit in her studies either phi brisk man, with an aquiline nose, prominent losophy or controversial theology. She eyes, and was restless, though precise. He received company at her toilet, and among was so regular in his habits, that Lord Her- the courtiers and ladies were to be found vey said he seemed to think "his having done a thing to-day an unanswerable reason for doing it to-morrow." He had no taste; was parsimonious, yet could be generous; was a truth-teller, yet destroyed his father's will; loved a joke, especially a practical one on others; did not love his children till they were dead, (he hated, he said, to have them running into his room;) had mistresses, yet was fond of his wife; was a kind of Sir Anthony Absolute in all things; is supposed to have been the original of Fielding's King in "Tom Thumb;" and Lady Mary says, "looked upon all the men and women he saw, as creatures whom he might kick or kiss for his diversion." metaphysicians and clergymen. Mrs. Howard dressed her hair; Dr. Clarke mooted a point about Spinoza; and Lord Hervey enlivened the discussion with a pleasantry : Sir Robert comes, on his way from the King, to bow and say a word, and catch some intimation from a glance;-all make way for him as he enters, and close in again when he goes ;-and in the antechamber is heard some small talk with the lady in waiting, or a scornful laugh from Mrs. Campbell (Miss Bellenden.) Mr. Jesse says, that "the Court of George II. was neither more brilliant nor more lively than that of his predecessors." This can hardly be possible, considering that it This overpowering little gentleman had, had more women, and that there was still however, a wife, taller and gentler, who a remnant of the maids of honor that flou ruled him by her very indulgence, and to rished in his Court when he was Prince of whom he had heart enough to be grateful. Wales. And who has not read of the BelHis mistresses had so little influence, com-lendens and Lapells, of the Meadowses and pared with hers, as to put the courtiers on a wrong scent; and many an astonishment and reproach were vented against them, which they were powerless either to prevent or explain. Sir Robert Walpole's own good nature helped him to discover this secret; for a less indulgent man than himself would hardly have been able to conceive it. It has been well said, that "every man's genius pays a tax to his vices." It may be added, that every man's virtues hold a light to his genius. Be this as it may, Sir Robert made the discovery; and in paying his court in the right place, governed King, mistresses, and all, to the astonishment of the nation. Queen Caroline was a comely, intelligent, liberal German woman, of the quiet order; such as Goethe, or Schiller, or Augustus la Fontaine would have liked. VOL. II. No. II. 20 the Diveses, the witty Miss Pitt, and Sophy Howe, who thought she could not be too giddy and too kind till a broken heart undeceived her? Do they not flourish for ever in the verses of Pope and Gay, and the witty recitals of Horace Walpole? Now Mary Bellenden still visited the Court as Mrs. Campbell; Mary Lepell was surely there, too, as Lady Hervey; Mrs. Howard remained there till she was a widow; and thither came the Chesterfields, and Schultzes, and Earles; and Young, (to look after a mitre, the want of which gives him terrible "Night Thoughts.") It must be owned, however, that there is a falling off. The sprightliest thing we hear of is a frolic of the maids of honor at night-time, in Kensington Gardens, rattling people's windows and catching colds. The King hunts as George II. died at Kensington, aged seventy-eight, after having risen at his usual hour, taken his usual cup of chocolate, and done his customary duty, in ascertaining which way stood the weathercock. Here we shall close our cursory glances at the Courts of England. Mr. Jesse concludes his work with notices of a variety of other people, royal and aulic, but they do not tempt us to say more. ardently as he used to do when he was 1 day in summer he carried that uniform parPrince, taking his whole household with ty, but without his daughters, to dine at him, maids and all, and frightening Lady Richmond; they went in coaches and six in Hervey for the bones of her friend Howard. the middle of the day, with the heavy She had known what it was. Here is a horse-guards kicking up the dust before picture of those days from Pope, answering them-dined, walked an hour in the garden, to both periods:-"I met the Prince with returned in the same dusty parade; and his all his ladies on horseback, coming from Majesty fancied himself the most gallant hunting. Miss Bellenden and Miss Lepell and lively prince in Europe." took me into their protection, contrary to the laws against harboring Papists, and gave me a dinner, with something I liked better, an opportunity of conversation with Mrs. Howard. We all agreed that the life of a maid of honor was of all things the most miserable; and wished that every woman who envied it had a specimen of it. To eat Westphalia ham in a morning; ride over hedges and ditches on borrowed hacks; come home in the heat of the day with a fever, and (what is worse a hundred times) with a red mark on the forehead from an uneasy hat; all this may qualify them to make excellent wives for fox-hunters, and bear abundance of ruddy-complexioned children. As soon as they can wipe off the sweat of the day, they must simper an hour and catch cold in the Princess's apartment; from thence (as Shakspeare has it) to dinner, with what appetite they may; and after that, till midnight, work, walk, or think, which they please. I can easily believe no lone house in Wales, with a mountain and rookery, is more contemplative than this court; and as a proof of it, I need only tell you, Miss Lepell walked with me three or four hours by moon-light, and we met no creature of any quality but the King, who gave audience to the vice-chamberlain, all alone, under the garden-wall." Afterwards, when the Prince was King, we read, in the notes to the "Suffolk Correspondence," of pages and princesses being thrown during these "immoderate huntings;" and lords and ladies being overturned in their chaises. To hunt in a chaise was an old custom. Swift describes his meeting Queen Anne hunting in a chaise, which, he says, she drove herself, and drove "furiously, like Jehu; and is a mighty hunter, like Nimrod." The King never lost his passion for making a noise with his horses, neither did his punctuality forsake him. His last years, Walpole tells us, "passed as regularly as clockwork. At nine at night he had cards. in the apartments of his daughters, the Princesses Amelia and Caroline, with Lady Yarmouth, two or three of the late Queen's ladies, and as many of the most favored officers of his own household. Every Satur THE FOUNDING OF THE BELL. Written for Music. BY CHARLES MACKAY, From Blackwood's Magazine. HARK! how the furnace pants and roars! It glitters in the sun! Now through the ready mould it flows, Unswathe him now. Take off each stay Let chain and pulley run, The clapper on his giant side A nation's joy alone shall be Borne on the gale, deep-toned and clear, Their mortal race have run; Should foemen lift their haughty hand, And dare invade us where we stand, Fast by the altars of our land We'll gather every one; And he shall ring the loud alarm, And as the solemn boom they hear, And to the struggle run; And when the cannon's iron throat That victory is won; While down the wind the banner drops, But of such themes forbear to tell. Hush'd be the alarum gun! Sheath'd be the sword! and may his voice Still may he ring when struggles cease, When rival nations join their hands, PEARLS AND PRECIOUS STONES.-A Russian journal, the Gazette of Commerce, gives a tempting description of an acquisition recently made by the Corps des Mines, in St. Petersburgh, the gift of a munificent merchant, M. Lowerstine. It consists of a remarkable collection of pearls and precious stones-amongst which are more than 500 monstres pearls, valued at upwards of 60,000 roubles. One of these, in particular, is a pearl of prodigious size and incomparable beauty, adhering to its shell. The collection of precious stones, cut and in the rough, of all forms and hues, and the collection of diamonds, are not less extraordinary than that of the pearls. The Emperor has acknowledged the donor's munificence by creating him a Knight of the order of St. Stanislaus, of the third class. Guy of Warwick-A hitherto unknown Ms. of the end of the thirteenth century, in old French, of this renowned tale, has, it is said, been discovered in the Wolfenbuttel library. THE AERONAUT STEAM-ENGINE. From the Athenæum. "How to make a man to fly" is one of the Century of Inventions of that arch-anticipator of all modern inventions, the Marquis of Worcester-" which I have tried," says he, with characteristic naïveté, "with a little boy of ten years old, in a barn ;" an excellent caution and laudable foresight; and then he adds this important element in the experiment-" on an hay mow." So completely does this philosophical mode of proceeding square with our own notions of experimental aeronautics, that we confess we experienced no slight disappointment when the many illustrated newspapers of the day brought forth the plans of this much-talked of Aërial Locomotive Engine, to find that among the various precautions for the safety of passengers, there was no vestige of, nor substitute for, the hay mow of the Marquis of Worcester. We hope this appendage will not be forgotten in the specification. We entreat our readers not to assume from this rather suspicious commencement of our notice, that we have any intention of treating this subject with either levity or ridicule. The air is a highway that interferes with no vested rights, injures no man's park or pleasure ground, and costs nothing for maintenance. We have neither milestones nor turnpikes there; and, free as air, we may roam where we please, unassailed by taxes or tolls. Railways have realized the fable of Jack the Giant-Killer's "seven-leagued boots;" may the "Ariel" soon realize to the public the fable of the "wishing-cap," and with the purse of Fortunatus reward the inventor; and " may we be there to see,"-for we wish all success to the invention and the inventor; and far be it from us to follow the example of those who ridicule what they cannot understand, and condemn what they are unable to appreciate. So much for feelings and intentions,now for the facts. Mr. William Samuel Henson is the inventor of the Aerial Locomotive Steam Engine, for which patents have been taken out, and a bill has been brought into parliament, to authorize the transfer of the patents to more than twelve persons, who are to be incorporated as the Aerial Transit Company. Now, the first question one asks about this machine is, how is it to be supported in the air? We know how a balloon ascends, because it is filled with gas, vapour, or smoke lighter than air, and, of course, like smoke, it ascends and floats in virtue of its small specific gravity. That a balloon should rise in the air, and that it should be rowed forward or propelled by oars or other devices, as a boat is rowed by the watermen, or a steam-boat propelled by the paddles, it is easy enough to understand, provided we get a balloon large enough, a man strong enough, or a steam-engine and fuel light enough to be carried up. This balloon plan of aerial locomotion has often been proposed but never effected. It has an obvious disadvantage; the balloon must be of so monstrous a size to carry the necessary weight, that any degree of success in propelling 308 PROSPECT OF THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE FRENCH COLONIES. so great a bulk at a tolerable speed through the air becomes hopeless. The present plan rests on a totally different principle. It is not sustained in the air by buoyancy, but must be kept up by the continued expenditure of power: to render this as easy as possible, means are adopted to retard the descent by gravity. All our readers are acquainted with the construction of the parachute of a balloon--it is an enormous umbrella, by which a person may descend in tolerable safety from a balloon, in case of danger; the size of the umbrella pressing on the air retards the descent of the weight:--now, this is what Mr. Henson uses. He employs an enormous flat umbrella, or gigantic fan or pair of wings (only they do not move as wings do), to keep the weight from falling rapidly; and so, when his machine is once in the air, it will descend but slowly, and the more slowly as the umbrella is larger-the shape is not, however, round like an unbrella, but flat, and oblong, and horizontal. We may observe at this point, that the size of this umbrella can only retard the descent of the machine, but cannot sustain it. This consideration appears to have altogether escaped our inventors. They say,-"Our umbrella is so large as to expose a foot and a half of surface for every pound of total weight, and therefore, as we have 4,500 square feet of surface, and 3,000 lb. of load to carry, we may safely trust that we can stay aloft." But they surely know that no size of umbrella can do more than retard their fall. By a very simple calculation, based on abundant experiment, we have found that this aerial machine, supposing all their sanguine plans to be realized, must infallibly fall perpendicularly downwards to the earth, somewhere about the rate of thirteen miles an hour, or eighteen feet per second. So much for the powers of the umbrella! But may not the power of the steam-engine be applied to keep the machine up in the air, and so countervail this inconvenient gravitation? Let us see. A weight of 3000 lbs. is descending 18 feet per second-required, the power of steam capable of sustaining it? The answer is, 60 horses' power. Our aerial company propose only 20 horses' power for both propelling and resisting powers; and on this splendid basis rests the Aerial Transit Company! Sic transit gloria, &c. Thus have we lost faith in our aërial friends. We wished to find their plan true and promising-but when we find they have not made such very simple calculations, which a slight knowledge of the element they deal in, and the powers they use, would have suggested, what can we think? what can we hope? We see a want of foresight in their calculation; and in their mechanical devices we do not find those judicious mechanical contrivances, which should favor the hope that the patented ideas of Mr. Henson are in hands likely to bring what merit may lie in them out into practical use. But, do we mean to say, there is no merit in the invention? On the contrary-it has just merit enough to seduce and fascinate the race of schemers and speculators. It has a good idea in it, and indeed more than one, only it does not [JULY, seem to be in hands capable of developing what good is in the idea, in such wise as to bring a practically good thing out of the idea of it. Further-we have seen that there are no means of sustaining the weight of the engine, even were it once at the necessary elevation. Then how is it ever to get there? The plan is this. The machine is to run down an inclined plane, to acquire a certain velocity, and then spreading its wings, is, by the mere velocity acquired, to rise in the air to the necessary height. Now surely these inventors ought to know that all the velocity a body will ever acquire by running down an inclined plane, will never do more than carry it up as high (barring a little loss) as the top of the plane. We are, therefore, disposed to recommend a start from the top of the inclined plane, rather than the bottom. But who will set bounds to human ingenuity? We may yet fly. Watt was ridiculed, Galileo persecuted, and Dr. Lardner and the Edinburgh Review cavilled about the transatlantic steamboats. So doubtless Mr. W. S. Henson, and his friends, think that, as a matter of course, they are martyrs, and we persecutors of unappreciated merit. Eut we abide by our opinion, and are satisfied with its risks. We may fly by and bye-but this is not the machine. We hoped great things and we are disappointed— nascitur ridiculus mus. Parturiunt montes ; PROSPECT OF THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE FRENCH COLONIES.-The French Minister of the Marine and Colonies has printed and distributed the report of the commission appointed by royal ordonnance of 26th May, 1840, for examining the question relative to slavery and the political constitution of the colonies, of which the Duke de the sittings and the documents exhibited. The Broglie is president, together with the minutes of law proposed by the commission for a general and simultaneous emancipation fixes the 1st of January, 1853, for the cessation of slavery in the French colonies. Up to this period the slaves will remain in their present condition, saving certain modifications to be made by royal ordonnance. Civil rights are to be granted to the slaves during the intervening ten years, but they cannot make any appeals to justice without the intervention of the right of possessing ships, boats, fire-arms, guna curator ad hoc. They, however, are not to have powder, or furniture. The enfranchised slaves are not to have the enjoyment of political rights, but such of their children as shall be born free are to be entitled to those privileges. The emancipated slaves are to be bound to engage themselves in the service of one or more planters for five succeeding years, and during this period are not to leave the colony to which they belonged. The rates of wages are to be regulated by a decree of the governor in council. Councils of discipline tory slaves. The indemnity to be granted to the are to be established for the punishment of refracslave-owners is fixed at 150,000,000f. A separate bill is proposed for emancipating children born slaves since the 1st January, 1838, and to be born previous to the period of the general emancipation. PLEASANT MEMORIES, ETC. From Tait's Magazine. Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands. By Mrs. Sigourney. With Illustrations from drawings by Roberts, Turner, Creswick, &c. London: Tilt & Bogue. Ye wis not that ye press the spot Where, with his eagle-eye, For madly 'gainst her native realm And led his flower of chivalry, As to a tournament. He led them on in power and pride; They on the blood-stained heather slept, Graze on, graze on; there's many a rill Bright sparkling through the glade, There's many a wandering stream that flows For Scotia from her hills hath come, To give the mountain breeze the feud And sit them down as one. A charming book is this; made up of pleasant desultory prose sketches; poetic gems; and pretty engravings, not the less attractive that they are chiefly taken from memorable Scottish scenes. But the "Memories" refer to England and France, as well as to Scotland. Mrs. Sigourney believes that there are plenty of satirical, caustic, and gossiping American travellers, that visit and report on Europe, though she should not add to the number; and she accordingly sets out on the principle of dwelling only upon the bright side, and seeing, or at least of commemorating nothing save the good and the beautiful. Her landing at Liverpool was made under very impressive circumstances, as the ship, after a most prosperous voyage, was in imminent danger of being wrecked in St. George's Channel. From Liverpool Mrs. Sigourney entered Scotland by the Lake country and Carlisle; and even at the outset she indited verses to ancient Chester-best of Mrs. Sigourney's poetical Memoto Kendal, the town of Catharine Parr-to Winandermere-and Grasmere and Southey; and the same chain of bright poetic links marks her entire progress through Britain, and in Paris. The work is, however, as a whole, much better adapted to the writer's native land, than to this country; where, unfortunately, few of us have any thing more to learn of Holyrood, and Abbotsford, Stratford, and Westminster Abbey; of Mrs. Fry in Newgate, or Poet Rogers amid his collection of literary and other nick-nacks. Instead of the loftier national themes which Mrs. Sigourney has chosen for the expression of her pleasant memories, we, as a fair sample, copy out the following sweet lines, which have a true relish of Auld langsyne: SHEEP AMONG THE CHEVIOTS. Graze on, graze on, there comes no sound No slogan-cry of gathering clan, No battle-axe, no spear; No belted knight, in armor bright, Doth change the sports of Chevy Chase Ye wis not that ye press the spot Across the marches in his pride And where the stout Earl Douglass rode With fifteen hundred Scottish spears," This will not be considered among the ries, but the theme is less hackneyed than other things of more ambitious character. The Americans, if the most truthful, are certainly also the most outspoken of people. Nothing should be communicated to one of that nation which one does not wish proclaimed on the house-top-made patent to all Europe. Sure we are that Mrs. Southey, who never saw Mrs. Sigourney be ween the eyes, could have had no idea of the following most affecting and confidential communication being made public; yet we know not how to regret that the American lady's failure of what, perhaps falsely, is considered amongst us strict propriety or proper delicacy, has revealed so much of whatever is most beautiful in human nature. She tells, "From Wordsworth I received the first information of Southey's melancholy state of health and intellect, and resigned, though reluctantly, my intention of going to Keswick to see him. . A letter the ensuing spring from his wife, so widely. known by her name of Caroline Bowles as the writer of some of the truest and most pathetic poetry in the language, made me still more regret that the short time which then remained to me in England, rendered it impossible to visit Greta-Hall. I trust I may be forgiven for selecting from one of her more recent letters a few passages," &c |