Page images
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][graphic]

THE HERON,

OR, the anaphah of Lev. xi. 19; Deut. xiv. 18. The original is a disputed name of an unclean bird, which has been also translated kite, woodcock, parrot, and crane. For the first of these, see glede, (Deut. xiv. 13,) an obsolete name for the common kite; the second is rare, and only a momentary visiter in Palestine; the third surely required no prohibition where it was not a resident species, and probably not imported till the reign of Solomon; and as to the crane, we have already shown it to have been likewise exotic, making only a momentary appearance, and rarely in Syria, where it is commonly represented by the African species (grus virgo) of crane. If the Hebrew be derived

from anaph, "to breathe short," or "to sniff through the nostrils, an irritated expression," the most obvious application would be to the goose; a bird not, perhaps, otherwise noticed in the Hebrew Scriptures, though it was constantly eaten in Egypt, was not held unclean by the Jews, and, at some seasons, must have frequented the lakes of Palestine. The heron, though not so constantly hissing, can utter a similar sound of displeasure with much more meaning: the common species (ardea cinerea) is found in Egypt, and is also abundant in the Hauran of Palestine, where it frequents the margins of lakes and pools, and the reedy water-courses in the deep ravines, striking and devouring an immense quantity of fish.-Kitto.

ANECDOTES.

THE GARDENER AT WALMER. WE must not forget the garden, abounding in flowers not rare nor recherché, but rich, luxuriant, and abundant; and the pride of

the lawn, a noble lime-tree, which the Duke declares is the finest in the world, and which, just bursting into flower when we saw it, will now be flinging its luxuriant aroma far and

ANECDOTES.

wide. Still less must we forget the gardener, -the Duke's own especial gardener, for so he certainly is,-a fine, portly, healthy, happy, handsome, elderly man. He was at the battle of Waterloo, and his regiment was disbanded afterwards; and the Duke, for reasons good, doubtless, proposed to him to take the situation of head-gardener at Walmer. He demurred,-as much as a true soldier could presume to do at the decree of his commanding officer; for, by his own especial declaration, he did not know a mossrose from a cabbage; but the Duke was peremptory, and he could but obey orders. "But now," he said, "I get on pretty well." "And like it?" "O yes." "But suppose

[ocr errors]

war were to break out, should you be a soldier again?" "Why, that would depend on the Duke: if he said I must go, of course I must." "But how did you manage when you first came here?" Why, as well as I could; but I was rather awkward." "Perhaps you studied hard; read a good deal?" "No, I did'nt read at all." "You looked about you then?" Why, yes, I did." "And you get on very well?'' Why, yes, but I'm plagued sometimes: the names of the flowers puzzle me sadly." "And what

66

[ocr errors]

does the Duke say to that?" "O, I have him there; for he does'nt know them himself."-Sharpe's London Magazine.

PLANS OF ESCAPE FROM
ST. HELENA.

COUNT MONTHOLON describes two projects of escape for Napoleon, which have not been previously divulged:-" Several vessels arrived from India and the Cape, and almost all the officers of these vessels obtained permission to be presented at Longwood. It was on this occasion that Captain

availed himself of the opportunity to place his services at the disposal of the Emperor, and offered to conduct him wherever he pleased. He said that this feeling was inspired by his strong indignation at the conduct pursued by the English Government, and, above all, at that of Sir Hudson Lowe; an indignation, he added, which was shared by all classes in England, with the exception of a few private friends of the Ministers. The Emperor listened with the kindest interest to this noble and generous offer, but refused to accept it. It was about the same period that one of the officers of the garrison conceived a plan of escape, the success of which was almost certain. His plan was to reach the shore at a point of the coast opposite to JamesTown, which was guarded merely by a post of infantry: small boats alone could approach the shore at this place, but a boat well provided with rowers would have been sufficient to enable the fugitives to reach the vessel appointed to receive them. This

121

But

point was only an hour's walk distant. whether the Emperor at this time had relinquished all idea of desiring to escape, or whether he doubted the sincerity of the offers which were made to him, or the possibility of their success, he refused to accept them."

LORD HILL AT WATERLOO.

SIR DIGBY MACKWORTH, who was on the staff of Lord Hill, has kindly communicated what he witnessed of his General's efforts at the grand crisis of the day. "He placed himself," Sir Digby states, " at the head of his Light Brigade, 52d, 71st, and 95th, and charged the flank of the Imperial Guard, as they were advancing against our Guards. The Light Brigade was lying under the brow of the hill, and gave and received volleys within half pistol-shot distance. Here Lord Hill's horse was shot under him, and, as he ascertained the next morning, was shot in five places. The General was rolled over and severely bruised, but in the mêlée this was unknown to us for about half-an-hour. We knew not what was become of him; we feared he had been killed; and none can tell you the heartfelt joy which we felt when he rejoined us, not seriously hurt." When the tremendous day was over, Lord Hill and his staff again re-occupied the little cottage they left in the morning. His two gallant brothers, Sir Robert Hill, and Colonel Clement Hill, had been removed wounded to Brussels: the party was, nevertheless, nine in number. A soup made by Lord Hill's servant from two fowls was all their refreshment after hours of desperate fighting without a morsel of food. Lord Hill himself was bruised and full of pain. All night long the groans and shrieks of sufferers were the chief sounds that met their ears. It was to them all a night of the greatest misery. The men whom the nations of Europe were about to welcome with acclamations, and to entertain in palaces, could only exchange sigh for sigh with each other in a wretched cottage. Such is war, even to the winners. May a gracious God soon make it cease in all the earth! . . In reading the various accounts of this battle, it is curious to observe the discrepancies as to the time it commenced. Lord Hill has, however, settled this point. On arriving in London, the autumn after the conflict, he passed his first evening at the house of his friend Lord Teignmouth. "Can you tell me," said Lord Teignmouth, "at what time the action commenced?" Lord Hill replied, "I took two watches into action with me. On consulting my stop-watch after the battle was over, I found that the first gun was fired at ten minutes before twelve."-Life of Lord Hill, by Rev. E. Sidney.

MISCELLANY OF EXTRACTS AND CORRESPONDENCE.

DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS IN

INDIA.

I have a

My house is called a bungalow, which I chose as being the most economical. A bungalow is a thatched cottage, with only one ground-story. The floors of the rooms are not made of wood, but a sort of cement which looks like stone. The house stands in the midst of a large field, called a compound, which belongs to me; and the servants' dwellings are scattered around. flower and kitchen garden, fowl-house, and place for goats, kitchen, stable, cowhouse, and a banyan-tree. The pathways through the grass are of fine gravel, and the hedges are composed almost entirely of aloes and cactuses, mixed with a very sweet-smelling flowering shrub, and here and there a bamboo, which is a most beautiful tree, resembling a very tall weeping-willow. The sensitive plant grows wild about the compound, and bears a very pink flower resembling that of red cloves. The banyan-tree is abundant here. Each branch projects stalks downwards, which take root in the earth; and after a few years one tree resembles a cluster, and covers a large space of ground. I have several aloes in my garden which are just flowering. They have thrown up a straight stalk about twenty feet high. A large cactus is now in bloom. It is about ten feet high, and each stem or leaf is thicker round than my leg. This kind bears a very beautiful large white flower, which opens only at night. In my kitchen-garden are the mango, the plantain, Indian corn, pine-apple-trees, and many others. Carpets are not used here, but the floors are covered instead with India matting. In each room is a punkah, which I have before described. We procure water for drinking from a large tank or pond; and, as we cannot purchase meat, I have provided myself with thirty-five ducks, sixty fowls, four goats, and three kids, which last are almost ready to eat: the goats we shall keep for their milk. The Judge made ine a present of a beautiful fawn of the spotted deer, which is becoming very tame. I am just going to join a mutton-club. Four persons enter into partnership, and agree to keep a small flock of sheep; one of which is killed twice a week, and then each partner is provided with a quarter of mutton, and each in turn has the liver, heart, and head. A gentleman yesterday sent me four guinea-fowls, and another has promised me six pigeons as soon as I have a place to keep them in. I have just begun to make a collection of insects, snakes, and butterflies and moths, of the most beautiful kind. The chameleon is very common, and changes its colour according to the temper it is in. I have

which is generally of a brilliant

The

green; but if its anger be roused, it becomes covered with large black spots, and when hungry with white spots. These are the only changes in its colour I have as yet observed: but I have seen others yellow; others, again, black, with yellow spots. It is said that each chameleon has ten different variations of colour. There is to be seen here a light-brown lizard, called the bloodsucker, which is constantly running about the walls in the rooms. Whenever we take up a paper or a book, we are sure to find two or three cockroaches under it; not such cockroaches as you may see in England, but great ones, three or four inches long. grasshoppers come into the house in great numbers, and grow to an uncommon size. You may hear them chirping half a mile off. The ants, of which there are three sorts, are a great nuisance. Every house swarms with them; and unless the legs of tables, drawers, &c., are kept constantly standing in jars of water, they attack the dinner-cloths, and in fact everything they can reach: 1st, there is a very small red ant, whose bite causes a very hard red swelling, which continues very painful for some days; 2d, a great black ant, about the size of an English wasp, which bites, but does not sting; 3d, the white ant, rather larger than the common English ant, which come in a swarm, and in one night will devour a table or a shelf-full of books. You may come down in the morning and find your table and books apparently all right, but no sooner do you touch them than they all crumble away to powder.-Acland's Manners and Customs of India.

THE LATE KING WHEN LORD HIGH ADMIRAL.

I AM aware that many stories were at one time afloat about the rude and uncourteous demeanour of the Duke of Clarence. It may have been so in the early part of his life, considering the vicious education that a youth, at that time, was likely to receive, in common with his companions of the cock-pit, which was not always much improved by a step to the quarter-deck. It is possible that his Royal Highness may have brought with him on shore some portion of such rude qualifications. But, be that as it may, it is well understood, that from the date of his marriage with the amiable Princess Adelaide, (now the QueenDowager,) the meekness of her disposition, and the suavity of her manners, produced the best possible effects on her husband. And I may add, that no one was more conscious than was his Royal Highness of the very defective system of education in a ship of war; and he often spoke to me concerning the

MISCELLANY OF EXTRACTS AND CORRESPONDENCE.

method to be adopted for its improvement, which I know he would have followed up, had he remained longer in the Admiralty. This improvement was in fact shortly after instituted, when the general taste for education began to spread through all classes of society. The introduction of suitable books into the navy, to form what is called the Seaman's Library, was the first step; this was followed by the appointment of well-qualified instructers to all ships of the line and frigates, mostly Chaplains or young men from college: so that officers now, while in pursuit of their professional studies, may at the same time acquire or keep up a knowledge of the classics and mathematics; and seamen's schoolmasters were appointed to all ships, for the instruction of the crews. The result has been, not only that the improvement of the officers of the British navy is most conspicuous in point of knowledge, but the seamen also in propriety of conduct, and decency of manners, within the last twenty or thirty years, so as to keep pace with that progress among the civil classes of society, which the general system of education has had the effect of producing. How very different was the condition of the officers of the navy when Prince William Henry was sent on board the Prince George at the age of thirteen!-for sent he was; the good old King declaring that his son Henry should work his way to promotion from a midshipman, in the same routine as the most friendless youngster in the fleet. He served under Lord Keith, Lord Hood, and Lord Nelson, and was engaged in several actions. When Don Juan de Langara was brought a prisoner on board the Prince George, and was told that a smart young midshipman, whom he had observed very active at his duty on the gangway, was a Prince of the blood, a son of King George III., "Well," he said, "may England be mistress of the sea, when the son of her King is thus engaged in her navy." The extraordinary difference-I may venture to call it improvement-that has taken place in the condition of naval cadets, midshipmen, mates, or by whatever name these young noncommissioned officers may have been designated, is very remarkable, compared with that in the days of his Royal Highness. The numbers of youngsters-many of them sons of the first families-who were in H.M.S. Lion, on her voyage to China with Lord Macartney, had no comforts, much less luxuries, at their mess-table. Of this I had personal experience, as Lord Mark Kerr, Lord William Stuart, and two or three others of that ship, were not satisfied if I did not sometimes descend to the bottom of the ship, on Saturday evenings, to drink to "sweethearts and wives." A bit of cold salt beef and biscuit, with a can of grog, was frequently their repast; the only

123

light a tallow candle, stuck in the neck of a black-bottle, and a parcel of chests serving for seats: the scantiness of their meal was owing to our having no communication with any land on the homeward voyage, except St. Helena, which had nothing to spare; yet these young gentlemen made no complaint, but all were as cheerful and happy as mortals could be. Two thumbed and torn books constituted their library,-" Robinson Crusoe," and "Roderick Random;" and they had not the benefit of either Chaplain or naval instructer: two of these youngsters mentioned, when in command, were not inferior to the best officers in the service. From forty to fifty years after this, I visited the midshipmen's berths in several ships of war. I found them comfortably and neatly fitted up, a display of good earthenware and table utensils, and also a small service of plate; a library of books for information or amusement; generally a Chaplain, and always a naval instructer, and sometimes both. These, however, were ships in harbour; but the foundation was here laid for a comfortable mess at sea. I have mentioned the kind and friendly disposition of the Lord High Admiral; indeed I am not aware of his ever having given offence to any one; and he was particularly attentive to naval officers. Once, however, after he came to the throne, I was not a little mortified to witness a severe reproof-giving, in a full levee-room, to a distinguished flag-officer and most amiable and sensitive nobleman, Admiral Lord de Saumarez. Sir Richard Keats was a particular and early friend and favourite of King William, who, on his death, decided on distinguishing his funeral by inviting a great number of naval officers, and six flag-officers to bear the pall, one of whom was Lord de Saumarez. From some cause or other he failed to attend. On the first levee-day that his Lordship made his appearance at court, the King upbraided him before the whole assembly; and connected the name of Keats with that of De Saumarez in such a way, as to wound his sensitive mind far more deeply than the reproof for his absence. I was waiting in the lobby, when his Lordship came down, and, approaching me in tears, told me how he had been treated, and said he should never recover it; that the King would not listen to his excuse, which was a valid one. I observed to him that the Duke of Clarence, when at the Admiralty, was occasionally thrown off his guard and hasty, but was soon pacified; and my advice to him would be, to ask, the following morning, for an audience, and to request him to accept your apology, and permit you to explain. He did so, and was quite delighted with the manner in which he was received.Sir J. Barrow's Autobiography.

[merged small][graphic]

THE FORDS OF JORDAN.

WE sat for a considerable time on the banks of the river, where we also breakfasted, and discoursed and conversed with one another about the Scripture references to this celebrated stream, and the valley through which it flows, all of which references are minutely accordant with all that is known of its character. When it is said that "Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as thou comest unto Zoar," (Gen. xiii. 10,) it is hinted that this was not the character of the plain in the days of Moses, a great part of it being then desolate, and, in the absence of streamlets of water, incapable of culture, as at the present time.

"Fords," or passages of the Jordan, contiguous to Jericho and other places, are sometimes mentioned; and there are several places now found at which the river, when not particularly flooded, is still passable, though with some difficulty, by men and animals. The general depth and rapidity of the river, showed us the necessity of such a miracle being performed for the passage of the two or three millions of the Israelites, as is mentioned in Joshua, when the "waters which came down from above stood and rose up on an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed and were cut off; and the

people passed over right against Jericho." (Josh. iii. 16.) This miracle seemed to us more than ever possessed of magnitude, and well calculated to bring about the effect ascribed to it," that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty." (Josh. iv. 24.) Looking to the depths of the banks of the river, we clearly saw, as has been frequently noted, that they could not have been overflowed, either during the winter rains, or the melting of the snows on Hermon or Lebanon, or the rise and fall of the winds in the northern lakes of the river, in the sense in which the valley of the Nile is overflowed by the annual rise of that river. According to the Hebrew, it is merely said that the "Jordan fills all his banks;" a form of expression agreeing with present appearances. That of old, as now, however, the rise of the Jordan extended to the thickets on its lowest bank, is evident from the language of Jeremiah, alluding to the dislodgment of the fierce lion from his covert: "Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong." (Jer. xlix. 19.) Such a rise in the river would not be inconsiderable, especially to those called to pass through the violence of its stream. "If in the land of peace wherein thou trustedst they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?" (Jer. xii. 5.) The thickets in the days of Elisha seem, as at present, to have been close to the river; for "when they came to Jordan they cut down

« EelmineJätka »