ページの画像
PDF
ePub

continuance of a truce. The siege was formed on the 18th of March, 1799, but, at last, after losing 3000 men, the French retreated, in the night of the 20th of May, leaving behind them all their heavy artillery, which was immediately mounted upon the walls by Djezzar, and from that period Acre has been the bestfortified town in Syria. In 1831 and 1832 it stood a six months' siege from Ibrahim Pacha, whose cannon destroyed most of what yet existed of the ancient buildings, so that very few remains of antiquity are now to be seen, except in fragments worked up in the walls and forts which the Egyptian conqueror has erected, most of which are said to be bomb-proof, and capable of withstanding the attack of an European force, an assertion the truth of which seems likely to be very soon put to the test.

TILE DORMOUSE, (Mus avellanarius, LINN.)

We have now arrived at the season in which many animals prepare for winter repose, and pass into the peculiar condition called hybernation. The temporary suspension of their usual functions, signified by this term, is not traceable to any particular characters, external or internal, of the species that are liable to this state of lethargy, but must rather be considered as a wise and benevolent provision, by which various animals are enabled to adapt themselves to the state of the temperature around them, and to sleep away a season that is uncongenial to their natures.

Each of the species subject to this remarkable change seeks its appropriate place of hybernation, either in the earth, in caverns and ruinous places, in trunks of trees, or bushes, or in some spot protected from the extreme severity of the weather, for intense cold is productive of nearly the same effects as returning heat in these animals. It accelerates the circulation, and consequently, the respiration, and thus the animal is restored to activity. When a sheltered spot has been selected, it is usually lined with dried herbs, grasses, leaves, and moss, and then (in the case of the dormouse) the animal rolls itself up in a ball-like form, and falls into its customary state of repose.

Hybernation must not be confounded with the state of torpor sometimes produced in animals by severe cold, which stiffens the muscles, and deadens the sensation. Dr. Marshall Hall, who has carefully investigated the phenomena of hybernation, asserts that in those animals on which he experimented he found the sensibility nearly the same as in ordinary sleep. The lightest touch applied to one of the spines of a hedgehog immediately roused it to draw a deep and sonorous inspiration. The gentlest shake of the bat induced repeated inspirations. The power of moving the muscles remains, like the sensibility

of the animal, unimpaired by the state of hybernation. The bat takes wing as readily and actively as ever, when roused from his state of repose, and the hedgehog walks about in his usual manner, without any appearance of feebleness or impaired strength. It must not be supposed that the winter sleep of animals is entered upon at a particular season of the year, and remains perfectly uninterrupted until that season has passed away. It is strictly dependent upon circumstances, and is capable of being interrupted, and even altogether prevented, by regulating the temperature to which these animals are exposed. Thus, dormice may be kept in a cage in a warm room, all the winter long, without falling into the lethargic state, though they will appear more listless and dull than at other seasons of the year. Their sleep is also liable to interruption when in their natural state, either from a sudden return of mild weather, which causes their revivification, and induces them to seek their usual food, &c., or from an accession of cold, such as to cause pain and accelerated respiration, and to make them active in their endeavours to retreat from the cause of their sufferings.

It is a very surprising fact that during their state of hybernation, animals almost wholly cease to breathe. Dr. Hall made an experiment with a bat, which clearly proves this to be the case. He prepared a vessel for the reception of the animal, in which no absorption of air could possibly take place without his being able to ascertain it. The bat remained in this vessel a whole night, and when the air came to be examined it was found precisely the same as the evening before. The bat was then roused to some degree of activity, and immediately there occurred a consumption of air, exactly in proportion to the time the bat remained active. The various experiments made on lethargic animals give us the certainty that they can exist, when in their torpid state, not only in confined portions of air, but in a total abstraction of atmospheric air, and that they can even live for several hours in carbonic acid gas, which causes instant death to an animal in its active state. Spallanzani kept a marmot for four hours in this gas without injury to the animal, while a rat and a bird, placed in it at the same moment, died immediately.

The circulation of the blood in hybernating animals proceeds uninterruptedly, but more slowly, and the blood not being acted on by the air in the process of breathing is what is called venous blood. The heart of the animal, in its active state, is precisely like that of other animals, but when the lethargy ensues it becomes quite altered, and is called veno-contractile.

This phenomenon (says Dr. Hall) is one of the most remarkable presented to me in the animal kingdom. It forms the single exception to the most general rule, amongst animals which possess a double heart. It accounts for the possibility of immersion in water, or a noxious gas, without drowning or asphyxia, and it accounts for the possibility of a suspended respiration, without the feeling of oppression or pain, although sensation be unimpaired. It is, in a word, this peculiar phenomenon which, conjoined with the peculiar effect of sleep in inducing diminished respiration in hybernating animals, constitutes the susceptibility and capability of taking on the hybernating state.

The different species of dormouse present examples of hybernating animals, and are interesting from the elegance of their forms, and the activity of their habits. They belong to the great order rodentia, or gnawers, and occupy an intermediate station between mice and squirrels. The dormouse resembles the squirrel in its favourite haunts, in the situation which it chooses for its nest, in its sudden leaping motion, its feathered tail, and acute black eye. Its food like

[graphic]

a small portion of its easily-acquired food, which consists of grain, &c. The hedge-hog, whose supply of snails and worms would be more difficult to obtain, in seasons of frost and snow, does not awake so frequently; and the bat, which depends upon insects for its nourishment, remains in cold weather more firmly asleep than the other two; and though sensible of warmth, and easily excited, does not appear to rouse itself from a desire to take food.

wise consists of nuts and grain, as well as of other I ferent animals. The dormouse often wakes and takes vegetable productions. In size and form, however, it is inferior to the squirrel, and nearly resembles the field-mouse. The dormouse inhabits woods, thickets, and plantations, and makes a nest of grass, for the reception of its young, on the low forked branches of a spreading bush, or in the recess of a hollow tree. The Common Dormouse is found in England, but not very plentifully. Its haunts and habits are such as we have described above. It is smaller in size than some of the allied species, being little larger than a common mouse. The result of the experiments which have been made on this species seems to prove that the common dormouse is of all animals the most disposed to lethargic habits; that a temperature either too high or too low rouses it; that as soon as it is awakened it takes some food, though moderately; that it passes from its lethargic to its active state in less than half an hour; that the time it takes in waking thoroughly is quick in proportion to the elevation of the temperature. M. Mangili, in examining a dormouse of this species, found that when exposed to a great degree of artificial cold, during its lethargic state, it died in twenty minutes. When opened he found a great quantity of blood in the ventricles of the heart, and in the principal vessels which supply and receive from the lungs. He also found the lungs, the veins of the neck, head, and especially of the brain, considerably distended with blood.

The Loir, or Fat Dormouse, is nearly as large as the squirrel; the cheeks are covered with whitish hair; the mustachios are long; the upper part of the body is ashy-gray brown, the under whitish; the tail is covered with long hairs, of the same colour as the body, and disposed in a similar manner to those of the squirrel. When the cold approaches, the loir rolls itself into a ball, and in this state may be found in winter in hollow trees, or clefts of rocks, or in holes in walls exposed to the south. It may be taken and rolled about without rousing it: nothing, indeed, seems to wake it from its lethargy but gradual heat. If exposed suddenly to the heat of a fire it will soon die. Although apparently insensible, with the eyes closed, and the limbs most curiously folded together, the loir is sensible of pain, and manifests by slight convulsive movements its consciousness of the infliction of a wound or a burn.

This animal is confined to the temperate parts of the continent of Europe, but does not frequent the mountainous regions where the marmot is found. In Italy the loir is used for food, and esteemed a delicacy. The way in which it is taken is by simply preparing a place for its winter-quarters in the wood. This retreat is made large enough to hold a number of the animals, and there they are sure to be found assembled towards the end of autumn. The Roman

epicures were very fond of these animals: they kept and fattened them for their tables in receptacles called gliraria.

There is a species common on the continent called the Garden Dormouse, or Lerot, which very much resembles the loir, but is smaller and thicker. It inhabits gardens, as its name imports, and also finds its way into houses. The food which it selects is the best and choicest fruit, in search of which it mounts the espalier trees with great dexterity. It sometimes makes its bed of moss and leaves, and hybernates in orchards, in the clefts of trees. This species is not eatable, like the loir, but gives a scent resembling

that of the common rat.

Hybernating animals take very little food during their time of repose, but the quantity differs in dif

In lethargic animals in general the vital principle termed irritability has been proved, by a series of delicate and elaborate experiments, to be increased in proportion to the profoundness of the torpor. Were not this the case, as respiration is nearly suspended, vitality would soon cease. Here we have another added proof of the wisdom and design to be found in the works of creation, by which provision has been made for the wants of every living thing, and a guard placed, as it were, to ensure the preservation of the meanest and most insignificant creatures.

Or late years education has become a subject of general care and attention. But there may be excess even in so amiable a feeling as the devotion of a parent to a child; that very devotion may be productive of mischief to its object. No pains are spared in cultivating talents, in giving graces, accomplishments, useful information, deep learning; but it may be a question whether the wholesome training of the feelings is as judiciously attended to as that of the understanding. May not the very importance attached to all concerning the young lead them to think too much of feelings of others, is not one strong motive for controlling themselves? Unless they are early taught to consider the their own, (that most difficult and most necessary of all lessons), utterly neglected?MRS. SULLIVAN.

YOUR devotion may be earnest, but it must be unconstrained and, like other duties, you must make it your pleasure too, or else it will have very little efficacy. By this rule you may joys it is an evidence of their being sincere, but when they best judge of your own heart. Whilst those duties are are a penance it is a sign that your nature maketh some resistance, and whilst that lasteth you can never be entirely secure of yourself.-The Lady's New Year's Gift.

THE province of Maina, at the southern extremity of the Morea, into which the Turks were never able to penetrate, continues in a state of almost primitive barbarism. Their extraordinary notions of justice are whimsically displayed in the following incident:-A Mainote had just been cited before the attorney-general, for killing a man in his province. The man frankly acknowledged the affair, and said that his reason for the act was, that the deceased had killed one of his relations; that through the death of his relative, his clan had been reduced to thirty-five, and that the clan of the deceased, a rival one, was thirty-six in number; he therefore killed the man in question solely with the view of reducing the antagonist's clan to the same number as his own!-COCHRANE's Wanderings in Greece.

A PLAGUE ENCAMPMENT. NOTHING ever thrilled me more than when I once came suddenly, during my wanderings, upon an encampment of the plague smitten. The huts are generally erected on a hill-side, and the tents pitched among them; and you see the families of the infected basking in the sunshine within their prescribed limits, and gazing eagerly at the chance passenger, whom his ignorance of their vicinity may conduct past their temporary dwellings; the children rolling parent hanging out the garments of the patients on the half-naked upon the grass; and the sallow and careworn trees of the neighbourhood. Such was precisely the case with that into which I had unconsciously intruded: and whence I was very hastily dislodged by the shouts of the guard, stationed to enforce the quarantine of the mountain It is difficult to look upon such a scene, and upon such a colony; and the alarmed exclamations of my companions. sky, and to believe in the existence of this frightful scourge! It is the canker at the core of the forest-tree-the serpent in the garden of Eden.-MISS PARDOE'S City of the Sultan.

[blocks in formation]

[Our attention has been directed to a problem contained in the Saturday Magazine, Vol. XII., p. 92, which, in consequence of a typographical error, has embarrassed some of our readers. We here insert the corrected problem.]

h

To draw a right angle, without any other instrument than a straight stick and two or three pegs. Draw the straight line FACB, and make FA, A C, and CB, equal to each other; from c draw the straight line CDd in any direction, make CD equal to CA, and draw the line Dh through the point A; make FE and EA equal to each other; draw the line FG, and make EG equal to EF. The point & will be exactly perpendicular to A, and will be at right angles with AB, and consequently the angle A is a right-angle.

F

A

[ocr errors]

D

B

FISH DECOYS.-The Malay fishermen are of opinion that fish are gifted with the faculty of hearing; for each canoe is provided with a rattle made of a gourd filled with pebblestones, which is struck at intervals against the side of the boat for the purpose of attracting the fish. If fish really possessed the disputed sense, this noise, which can be heard on a calm day at the distance of several miles, must arrest their attention, were they even at the bottom of the sea; but one would suppose that it would have the effect of frightening them away, rather than alluring them to the spot. The Malay evidently entertains a contrary opinion, since he would as soon think of going to sea without his hooks as without his rattle.-EARLE'S Voyage to the Eastern Seas.

COLCHESTER.

COLCHESTER is a very considerable and ancient town in the north-east part of the county of Essex, about fifty-one miles from London, and on the high road to Harwich. The history of this town extends back to a remote period.

It was the capital of a province under the ancient Britons, by the name of Cam-a-laün-uïdun, Latinized The town formed one of the first Camulodunum. settlements of the Romans in this country, and was decorated with numerous buildings, such as a senateAfter this, Colchester became house, a theatre, &c. the chief military post in the county of Essex; and there are still to be traced the lines of fortification in different parts of the county, intended to defend the Romans from the Iceni of Suffolk.

Under the Saxon kings, this town, which had now obtained the name of Colon-ceaster (it being situated on the river Colne), lost some of its importance, partly on account of the increasing influence of London. It afterwards fell into the hands of the Danes, who committed many depredations there; but in the year 921 it again passed into the power of the Saxons, who retained it till the Norman Conquest. At the latter period, the property of the town was chiefly divided between the Crown and the Bishop of London. Under the reign of William Rufus, the town, at the request of the inhabitants, was placed under the governorship of Eudo Dapifer, who soon afterwards built the Castle of Colchester, on the site of the ancient palace.

During the next few reigns, the town received various privileges:-such as the liberty to the townsmen to choose bailiffs from among themselves; freedom from scot and lot; exemption from toll-passage, pontage, and other dues; none of the royal or any other family should lodge within the walls without the consent of the inhabitants, &c. The town was besieged two or three times during the reign of John and of Henry the Third. A very curious record is still in existence, respecting a subsidy which the inhabitants gave to Edward the First to assist him in carryThis subsidy was a fifteenth of the ing on his wars.

townsmen's possessions; and the account relative to
one Roger the Dyer" was as follows:-

66

Roger the Dyer had, on Michaelmas Day, in his treasury
or cupboard, 1 silver buckle, price 18d.; 1 cup of mazer
(maple), pr. 18d. In his chamber, 2 gowns, pr. 20s.;
2 beds, price half a mark; 1 napkin and 1 towel, pr. 2s. In
his house, 1 ewer with a basin, pr. 14d.; 1 and iron, pr. 8d.
In his kitchen, 1 brass pot, pr. 20d.; 1 brass skillet, pr. 6d.;
In his brewhouse, 1
I brass pipkin, 8d.; 1 trivet, pr. 4d.
quarter of oats, pr. 2s.; wood-ashes, pr. half a mark; 1 great
vat for dyeing 2s. 6d. Item 1 cow, pr. 5s.; 1 calf, pr. 2s.;
2 pigs, pr. 2s., each 12d.; 1 sow, pr. 15d.; billet-wood, and
faggots, for firing, pr. 1 mark. Sum= 71s. 5d.: fifteenth
of which, 4s. 9d.

During the reign of Edward the Third, a powerful
baron in the neighbourhood attempted to rob the
burgesses of some of their privileges; but after a
stout contest, he was forced to yield to the law, which
All the
was decidedly in favour of the townsmen.
successive monarchs confirmed, and many of them
As a return for these fa-
enlarged, the privileges which previous charters had
vours, the burgesses on many occasions assisted, by
granted to Colchester.
their purses or by their personal services, the mon-
For instance, for the war
archs in the expensive wars which the latter were so
frequently carrying on.
which Henry the Eighth entered into against the Em-
peror, the burgesses of Colchester agreed to supply-

The nombre of xv hable fotemen, well furnyshed for the warres; whereof three to be archers, everye oone furnyshed with a good bowe in a case, with xxiii good arrowes in a case, a goode sworde and a dagger; and the rest to be billmen, having besydes theyre bills a good sworde and a dagger.

On the destruction of monastic establishments in the reign of Henry the Eighth, the poorer inhabitants of the town suffered greatly from the cessation of that charity which was wont to be shown to them by the religious establishments: this was, indeed, one of the few evils which lessened the great good produced by that change in the religious arrangements of England, and which shortly after gave rise to a poorlaw in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

Charles the First granted the title of Mayor to the bailiff or chief magistrate of Colchester; but it does not appear that this favour won the attachment of the townsmen to the unfortunate king, for throughout the civil war, Colchester furnished large supplies of men, military stores, and money, to the parliamentarian army; and Oliver Cromwell placed great dependence on the support he received from Colchester. After this, the town became, in 1648, the A Royalist army had scene of a desperate conflict between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians. possession of, and defended, the town; while a parAfter a liamentarian army, under Fairfax, besieged it: the mayor and inhabitants of the town being for the assailants rather than for the defenders. siege of seventy-six days, the Royalist garrison, to the amount of upwards of 3000 men, surrendered; their stock of ammunition being reduced to a barrel and a half of powder, and their provisions being nearly exhausted. St. Botolph's Church, together with 183 houses, were destroyed during the siege; and after it the walls were destroyed, and the inhabitants had to pay a fine of 12,0007.

The great plague of 1665 destroyed nearly 5000 Since that period nothing persons in Colchester. of an historical nature need be recorded here, except that various charters and confirmations of pre-existing charters, have been given to the town by successive monarchs.

We must now speak of the situation and aspect of the town. The principal part of Colchester occupies

[graphic]

first obtained that privilege in the twenty-third year of Edward the First; and London in the twenty-sixth. The borough has continued, both before and since the Reform Act, to send two members to parliament.

The chief source of wealth to Colchester arises from the supply of the agriculturists of the neighbourhood with manufactures, in return for the productions of the earth. In former times there were certain manufactures carried on, which have since been discontinued. As long ago as the time of Edward the Third, the woollen manufacture was caried on to a considerable extent at Colchester. In the reign of Elizabeth, some Dutch refugees settled in the town, and introduced what is called bay and say making, being a particular branch of the woollen manufacture. The town, with its liberties, is divided into sixteen The inhabitants considered these persons as interlopers, parishes, eight of which have their churches within and for some time treated them rather roughly; but the ancient walls, four without, and four in the liber- the government interfered, and restored harmony ties. The parish of St. Mary at the walls contains, between the two parties. The Fleming weavers conamong other buildings, the church, which was so much tinued their manufacture with a good deal of spirit injured during the siege, that it was found necessary and success, until the Spanish war in the reign of to rebuild it in the beginning of the last century. It Queen Anne, when it began to decline; after the is a plain building, consisting of a nave, and two aisles, peace of Utrecht in 1728 the Flemings dissolved whose length is seventy feet, exclusive of the chancel, their fraternity; and the manufacture afterwards which is ten feet by fifteen. The church-yard, became insignificant. surrounded by rows of shady lime-trees, forms a favourite place of resort in the summer season.

The oyster-fishery has always been of considerable importance to Colchester. The fish are found in abundance in the Colne, and the management and property of the fishery have been vested in the town ever since the reign of Richard Coeur de Lion. Licences are sometimes granted by the corporation to private persons, allowing them to fish and dredge oysters; and a court of conservancy is occasionally held, to regulate all matters pertaining to the fishery. The manufacture of silk was established at Colchester some years ago, and continues in a respectable, though not very extensive state*.

*See the Saturday Magazine, Vol. VI., p. 199, for an account

of the interesting ruins of St. Botolph's Priory Church.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

t

COLCHESTER.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors][merged small]

LONDON: Published by JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND, and sold by all Booksellers.

N

[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed]

NOWLEDGET
IS
NOT
GOOD

[graphic]

Magazine.

PRICE

[ocr errors]

HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE NOTICE OF CHRIST'S HOSPITAL

[graphic]

d

THE OLD HALL AND WHITTINGTON'S LIBRARY.

have now become very valuable. The revenues accruing from Blackwell Hall were about this time made over to Christ's Hospital by the corporation: this hall was, according to the ideas of those times, intended for the protection of the woollen trade, as

II. In the first article on this subject we gave a brief sketch of the train of circumstances which preceded and were preparatory to the founding, by Edward the Sixth, of the charitable institution of Christ's Hospital: we must now detail the gradual develope-no woollen cloth was allowed to be sold in London ment of the benefits which it was intended to afford.

Within five months after the death of Edward, the buildings belonging to the old Grey Friars' convent were sufficiently restored to accommodate three hundred and forty children, who were admitted in November, 1553 Besides these, two hundred and sixty children were daily fed at Christ Church. During the infancy of the institution, the Hospitals of St. Thomas and Bridewell were so far connected with Christ's Hospital, that the expenses were defrayed out of one common fund; but afterwards, from the necessity of appointing separate boards of governors, and from the particular bequests of individuals, they became three distinct corporations, united with, and yet in some degree independent of, the corporation of London. This separation was so far beneficial, that benevolent persons were enabled to select, from among these charitable institutions, that one which appeared to them most deserving of their bounty. From this time, constant additions were made to the revenue of Christ's Hospital, by donations, bequests, and legacies. Richard Casteller, a shoemaker in Westminster, left lands which, though worth only forty-four pounds per year at that time, VOL. XVII.

until it had been entered at Blackwell Hall. Various fines and penalties, derived from different sources, were also to be payable into the funds of the hospital, so that its revenues assumed a heterogeneous character. Monthly collections were also made in the different city parishes; and the proceeds handed over to the hospital.

[ocr errors]

There have occasionally been complaints made, that the Blue Coat School, as at present managed, does not fulfil the purposes of the original founder, and that it was intended for the poor and destitute only. Such certainly appears to be the case at a cursory examination of the subject; but the Rev. W. Trollope, in his excellent history of the institution, traces the various circumstances which led to gradual changes in the plan of proceeding; changes which seem to show that the spirit, though not the letter, of the founder's intentions has been always observed. The estates originally vested in the hospital were by no means adequate to its support when the number of the inmates became large, and it was necessary, in accepting gifts from other quarters, to attend to the conditions on which those gifts were made, most of which conditions were, that poor persons, coming from

539

« 前へ次へ »