The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 13, No. 377, June 27, 1829

Various

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction / Volume 13, No. 377, June 27, 1829

Loch Goil Head

AND RESIDENCE OF CAMPBELL, THE POET

The Engraving represents Loch Goil Head, a small village in Argyleshire, as it name imports, at the end of Loch Goil. It is an exquisite vignette, of Alpine sublimity, and is rendered extremely interesting as the residence of Thomas Campbell, Esq. author of the "Pleasures of Hope," &c. and one of the most celebrated of British poets. His château, or retreat, is represented on the left of the Engraving, and its romantic position has probably inspired many of the soul-stirring compositions of the illustrious resident.

In this parish are the remains of Carrick Castle, which is said to have been built by the Danes. It stands on a rock, and was formerly surrounded

The steam-boat on the lake is an attractive object in such a district as Loch Goil—by associating one of the boasted triumphs of art with the stupendous grandeur of the sublime.

HILLAH ON THE EUPHRATES

The town of Hillah lies in latitude 32 deg. 31 min. 18 sec.; in longitude 12 min. 36 sec. west of Bagdad, and according to Turkish authorities, was built in the fifth century of the Hegira, in the district of the Euphrates, which the Arabs call El-Ared-Babel. Lying on a part of the site of Babylon, nothing was more likely than that it should be built out of a few of the fragments of that great city. The town is pleasantly situated amidst gardens and groves of date trees; and spreads itself on both sides of the river, where it is connected by a miserable wooden bridge, the timbers of which are so rotten, that they tremble under the foot of the passenger. The portion of the town, or as it is usually called, the suburb, on the eastern bank, consists of one principal street or bazaar, reaching from the small defenceless gate by which it is entered from Bagdad, down to the edge of the water; this is deemed the least considerable part of Hillah. On the other side, the inhabitants, Jews, Turks, and Arabs, are much thicker, and the streets and bazaars more numerous.

From the great central bazaar, well filled with merchandize, branch off in various directions minor ranges, amongst which are found the fish and flesh markets. In the former are several varieties, and some of enormous size, resembling the barbel. The fish in question is from 4 to 5 feet long, and is covered with very large, thick scales. The head is about one-third part of the length of the fish. They are said to eat coarse and dry, but are, nevertheless, a favourite food with the inhabitants; and are caught in great quantities near the town, and to a considerable distance above it. The flesh market is sparingly served with meat, for when Sir Robert Ker Porter visited the town, he states that the whole contents of the market appeared to be no more than the dismembered carcasses of two sheep, two goats, and the red, rough filaments of a buffalo. This display was but scant provision for a population of 7,000. The streets are narrow like those of Bagdad; a necessary evil in Eastern climates, to exclude the power of the sun; but they are even more noisome and filthy. In like manner also, they are crowded, but not with so many persons in gay attire. Here are to be seen groups of dark, grim-looking, half-naked Arabs, sitting idly on the sides of the streets, and so numerously, as scarcely to leave room for a single horse to pass; and even a cavalcade in line will not alarm them, so indifferent are they, even when travellers are compelled, at some abrupt turn, almost to ride over them. A few sombre garbed Israelites, and occasionally the Turks, attendant on official duties of the Pashalic in this part of the government, also mingle in the passing or seated crowd; when the solemn, saturnine air of the latter, with their flowing, gaudy apparel, forms a striking contrast to the daring, dirty, independent air of the almost ungarmented, swarthy Arab.

A few paces above the bridge, stands the palace of the governor, and the citadel, which was built by order of Ali Pasha. This imposing fortress, externally, is a handsome, smooth-faced, demi-fortified specimen of modern Turkish architecture, erected with ancient materials. Within is a spacious court, partly shaded with date trees. The whole of the town towards the desert is defended by a pretty deep ditch, overlooked by a proportionate number of brick-built towers (all the spoil of Babylon) flanking the intermediate compartments of wall. In this rampart are three gates.

As far as the eye can reach, both up and down the river, the banks are thickly shaded with groves of dates, displacing, it should seem, the other species of trees, from which Isaiah names this scene "the Brook or Valley of Willows," although the humble races of that graceful tribe, in the osier, &c. are yet the prolific offspring of its shores.

G.L.S

CURIOUS EXTRACTS FROM CURIOUS AUTHORS, FOR CURIOUS READERS

(For the Mirror.)

Hollingshed, who was contemporary with Queen Elizabeth, informs us, "there were very few chimneys (in England in his time) even in the capital towns; the fire was laid to the wall, and the smoke issued out at the roof, or door, or window. The houses were wattled, and plastered over with clay, and all the furniture and utensils were of wood. The people slept on straw pallets, with a log of wood for a pillow."

Cambrensis, Bishop of St. David's, says, "It was the common vice of the English, from their first settlement in Britain, to expose their children and relations to sale;" and it also appears, "that the wife of Earl Godwin, who was sister to Canute, the Danish King of England, made great gain by the trade she made of buying up English youths and maids to sell to Denmark."

Lord Bacon in his Apophthegms, says, "Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester, in a famine, sold all the rich vessels and ornaments of the church, to relieve the poor with bread; and said, 'There was no reason that the dead temples of God should be sumptuously furnished, and the living temples suffer penury.'" Ingulphus tells us, "For want of parchment to draw the deeds upon, great estates were frequently conveyed from one family to another, only by the ceremony of a turf and a stone, delivered before witnesses, and without any written agreement." Andrews, in his History of Great Britain, says, "In France, A.D. 1147, the great vassals emulated and even surpassed the sovereign in pomp and cost of living." As an instance of the wild liberality of the age, we are informed, that Henry the "munificent" Count of Champagne, being applied to by a poor gentleman for a portion to enable him to marry his two daughters: his steward remonstrated to him, "that he had given away every thing," "thou liest," said Henry, "I have thee left;" so he delivered over the steward to the petitioner, who put him into confinement until he gave him 500 livres, a handsome sum in those days.

Bede tells us, "Archbishop Theodore, when (in the seventh century) he gave lectures on medicine at Canterbury, remonstrated against bleeding on the 4th day of the moon, since at that period (he said) the light of the planet and the tides of the ocean were on the increase." Yet Theodore was, for his era, deeply learned.

William of Malmsbury says, "Very highly finished works in gold and silver, were the produce even of our darkest ages. The monks were the best artists. A jewel, now in the museum at Oxford, undoubtedly made by command of, and worn by Alfred the Great, is an existing witness of the height to which the art was carried. Curious reliquaries, finely wrought and set with precious stones, were usually styled throughout Europe, Opera Anglica."

Howel tells us, "In the education of their children, the Anglo-Saxons only sought to render them dauntless and apt for the two most important occupations of their future lives—war and the chase. It was a usual trial of a child's courage, to place him on the sloping roof of a building, and if, without screaming or terror, he held fast, he was styled a stout-herce, or brave boy."

Fitz-Stephen says, "Thomas à Becket lived in such splendour, that besides having silver bits to his horses, he had such numerous guests at his banquets, that he was obliged to have rooms covered with clean hay or straw, in winter, and green boughs or rushes in summer, every day, lest his guests, not finding seats at his tables, should soil their gay clothes by sitting on the floor." He would pay five pounds (equal nearly to fifty pounds of our money) for a single dish of eels. Once riding through London with Henry, the King seeing a wretched, shivering beggar, "It would be a good deed (said he) to give that poor wretch a coat." "True, (said Becket.) and you, sir, may let him have yours." "He shall have yours" said Henry, and after a heavy scuffle, in which they had nearly dismounted each other, Becket proved the weakest, and his coat was allotted to the astonished mendicant.

"When William the Conqueror was crowned at Westminster, the people (says Andrews) within the Abbey shouted, on the crown being placed on his head, the Normans without, thought the noise a signal of revolt, and began to set fire to houses, and massacre the populace, nor were they satisfied that all was well until considerable mischief had been done."

"Dr. Henry, (says Sulivan) who has made a very full collection of the facts mentioned by ancient authors, concerning the provincial government of Britain, supposes its annual revenue amounted to no less than two millions sterling; a sum nearly as great as that which was derived from Egypt, in the time of the father of Cleopatra. But this calculation is built upon the authority of Lipsius. Nor are there perhaps any accounts transmitted by historians, from which the point can be accurately determined. The Britons excelled in agriculture. They exported great quantities of corn, for supplying the armies in other parts of the empire. They had linen and woollen manufactures; as their mines of lead and tin were inexhaustible. And further we know, that Britain, in consequence of her supposed resources, was sometimes reduced to such distress, by the demands of government, as to be obliged to borrow money at an exorbitant interest. In this trade, the best citizens of Rome were not ashamed to engage; and, though prohibited by law, Seneca, whose philosophy, it seems, was not incompatible with the love of money, lent the Britons at one time above three hundred and twenty thousand pounds."

P.T.W

HINTS ON DRINKING

Abridged from Mr. Richards's Treatise on Nervous Disorders

Without any intention of advocating the doctrine, or of commending the reputed practice of the Pythagoreans, ancient or modern, I must be allowed to reprobate the abuse of fermented liquors. Although wine was invented, and its use allowed "to make glad the heart of man," and although a moderate and prudent indulgence in it can never excite reprobation, or cause mischief, still the sin of drunkenness is an extensive and a filthy evil. Not only does it demoralize, debase, and finally destroy its unhappy victim, but it renders him incapable of performing the ordinary duties of his station; constituting him an object of disgust to others, and of pitiable misery to himself. It is well to talk of the Bacchanalian orgies of talented men, and to call them hilarity and glee. The flashes of wit "that were wont to set the table in a roar;" the brilliancy of genius, that casts a charm even over folly and vice; the rank and fame of the individual, no doubt, increased the fascination of his failings; but however bright and wonderful may be the coruscations of his talent, while under the influence of wine, his frame is debilitated, tottering, and imbecile, when the stimulus of the potation has subsided.

But I do not proscribe indiscriminately all stimulus. Those whose occupations are laborious, and who are much exposed to our variable climate, require an absolute stimulus, over and above what they eat. Dr. Franklin advocated a contrary doctrine, and inculcated the fact, that a twopenny loaf was much better for a man than a quart of beer; and he adduces the horse and other beasts of burthen as examples of the inefficacy of the use of fermented liquors. But all this is founded upon decidedly erroneous premises. To enable a hard-working horse to go through his toil with spirit, he must have corn, or some other article subject to fermentation. Now, the horse, as well as many other animals, have stomachs very capacious, and probably adapted to the production of this fermentation. So that corn is, in fact, a powerful fermented stimulus to the beast.

Let us then assume, that stimulus in a certain degree is necessary to sustain the strength and invigorate the frame of the toiling man; and the best proof of its good effect is the comfort and energy which it imparts to its consumer; but if this necessary stimulus be exceeded, then it is abused, and every mouthful in addition becomes ultimately poisonous. The first effect which is produced is upon the internal coat of the stomach, as we may learn from the warmth which we feel. The repetition increases the circulation of the blood, which seems, as it were, to dance through the veins; the pulse becomes quick and full, the eyes sparkle, and the imagination is quickened; in short, the whole frame is excited, as is evinced by every word, look, and action. If the affair end here, well and good; but we will suppose that the potation goes on, and very speedily a new effect is produced. The brain, oppressed by the load of blood thrown up into it, and irritated through its quick sympathy with the stomach; oppressed, also, by the powerful pulsation of the larger arteries about the head, becomes, in a degree, paralyzed. The tongue moves with difficulty, and loses the power of distinct articulation; the limbs become enfeebled and unsteady; the mind is deranged, being either worked up into fury, or reduced to ridiculous puerility, and if the stimulus be pushed farther than this, absolute insensibility ensues. Such is a brief view of the physical progress of a debauch; and it is needless to point out the effect of all this mischief upon the frame which is subjected to it.1

Although we have thus seen that fermented liquors, if taken to excess, become pernicious in their effect, we must not condemn their use, because their abuse is bad. Why should we act and feel as if this bountiful world, brilliant in beauty and overflowing with blessings, was a collection of steel traps and spring guns, set to catch the body and shoot the soul? Is it not much better and wiser to avail ourselves of the many blessings which Providence has placed before us, than to set ourselves to work to detect poison in our drink, and God knows what in our meat? It savours of learning, doubtless, to do all this; but cui bono? where is the real utility which it produces? Our grandfathers and their progenitors were well convinced that a good cup of "sherris-sack" comforted the heart, and aided digestion; and why the same opinion should not govern us, I must leave to the dieteticians to decide.

The moderate use of wine and of malt liquors is exceedingly grateful to our feelings, and abundantly beneficial to our constitution; but ardent spirits are found to be so pernicious to most constitutions, and especially to those: of the inhabitants of crowded towns and cities, that, excepting under peculiar circumstances, it is better to discard them altogether. A glass or two of good wine can never do any harm; neither can a cup of good, genuine, "humming ale." The chemists tell us that the London ale is a horrid and narcotic compound; and so, in truth, by far the largest portion of it is. But there are two or three honest men in the metropolis, who sell genuine Kennet, Nottingham, and Scotch ales, from whom it is very easy to procure it quite pure. If, however, malt liquor does not agree with the stomach, or what is the same thing, is supposed not to agree, it is a very easy matter to substitute wine for it.

A word or two, here, with regard to genuine ale. Half of what is sold under the name of Scotch, Kennet, &c. is manufactured at Bromley, or elsewhere, according to prescriptions adapted to the peculiarities of each kind. This, perhaps, is nothing very enormous; but the publicans "doctor" their beer, after it has left the brewhouse, in a manner that calls loudly for reprehension. Salt of tartar, carbonate of soda, oil of vitriol, and green copperas (sulphate of iron) are some of the articles in common use; and knowing this to be the case, it is really a matter of importance to know where good, pure beer is to be obtained. The best Kennet ale is to be had at Sherwood's, in Vine Street, Piccadilly, or at Chapman's, in Wardour Street; both these dealers have it direct from Butler's, at Kennet, and a very superior article it is. Nottingham ale may be procured in casks at Sansom's, in Dean Street, Red Lion Square; and the best Scotch ale in London, whether in draught or bottle, is at Normington's, in Warren Street, Fitzroy Square.

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1

The reader, who is interested in this subject, will find in Mr. Richards's treatise a candid description of the ill effects of drunkenness, explained with a view to admonish, rather than to censure the sufferer.