212 Voyages and Travels-Remarks on England. science and philosophic knowledge in England; poleon had the basin dug, and every thing here which it takes occasion to compare, pretty fully, is his work. Yet notwithstanding all these with the progress of the same liberal studies in works, it is still difficult to enter or go out of the Germany. We are glad to see our country take harbour; it may be easily imagined, therefore, the lead in such matters, and become the object how much time it would have taken for so many of comparison. It is at the same time honour-vessels to go out singly. All the flat-bottomed able and beneficial for England, as it contributes boats were built in the port and the river, where to support that reputation, on which depends they remained: two-hundred-thousand men enmuch of that jealousy which so strongly excites camped on the heights. Of all these mighty prethe envy and jealousy of our rivals. parations, the only vestiges now left, are the remains of the fortifications, the works of the harbour, which are not kept in repair, and a couple of half rotten flat-bottomed boats. This is all that remains of that vast undertaking, which cost France above three hundred millions of livres ! VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. REMARKS UPON ENGLAND, extracted from the Journal of Their Imperial Highnesses the The question whether the landing in EngArchdukes John and Lewis of Austria. land would have been possible, has been freOn our arrival, (says the traveller who keeps quently discussed, and answered both in the nethe journal) on the 21st of October 1815, at gative and the affirmative. So much is certain, Boulogne, we took up our abode at the hotel d'An-that it would have encountered great obstacles. gleterre. Our first business was to inquire after the captain of the royal yacht, which was intended for our passage. The yacht lay in the road, and our departure was fixed for the next morning; but a storm arose during the night, which obliged the vessels to leave the road. Thus we found ourselves obliged to put off our departure for a day, which we employed in viewing the environs. The embarkation could not have taken place unperceived; the vessels must have gone out of the port one after another, placed themselves in a line in the road to attempt the passage, during which they must have resisted the English fleet, to land afterwards on a rocky coast. Whoever knows the advantages which a large ship has at sea over small vessels, cannot doubt the issue of the battle. To this must be added, that days on which there is no wind, are rare; and that such a one must have been chosen to deprive the British fleet in some measure of its advantages; lastly, the passage on a stormy day, in open vessels, would have been difficult. The port is formed by the little river Lianne and a newly dug basin. Two dams, or moles, extend into the sea; the eastern one is prolonged by an arm to a wooden battery, resting on piles, and on the western is a battery close to the dam. The steep coast is formed by a line of hills, From all these considerations it appears, that the chalky strata of which are quite visible. A only a kind of miracle could have rendered the sand-bank extends into the sea, and this circum-landing in England possible; and what immense stance made the prolongation of the two stone piers necessary, to facilitate the passage out, and to prevent the entrance from being choaked up. At low water the vessels lie on dry ground. A sand-bank is above the water for an extent of a bove two hundred toises. The women at this If the ruin of England was Napoleon's object time collect shells upon it. The high tide brings in this enterprise, he wholly failed in attaining the water to the height of 14 feet in the port, it, because the extraordinary armaments to and against the eastern pier. We were witness-which he compelled his adversary, proved fatal s of the difficulty of the entrance. A ship that could not make it with the wind, was forced to put back into the open sea. Boulogne contains 13,000 inhabitants. The town is irregularly built, on the slope of the hills, on the right bank of the Lianne. The houses are built of a greyish stone, which, together with the dry neighbouring hills, gives it a gloomy and mournful appearance. Trade and fishing are the chief employment of the inhabitants; the herring fishery is very considerable, and brings in, as we were assured, a million and a half of francs annually. It is carried on in the channel, along the English coast. Packet-boats sail for Dover daily, and this passage is preferred to that from Calais. The remains of Napoleon's eamp are still visible. On the east coast of the harbour are fortifications and batteries, which cover each other, and from which this coast obtained the name of the iron coast. On the northern extreme eminence of Boulogne was placed the principal telegraph, which communicated with others along the coast. The scaffolding for the pyramid, which was to be erected, is still standing. Napoleon reviewed his troops on the beach. The western hills are fortified. On both sides are redoubts, which, at high water, are washed all round by the waves: they are of stone, and are erected in many places along the coast. Na difficulties would have occurred in the country itself! Of these no one can form an accurate idea who has not seen and examined England. This, however, is not the place to enter into particulars on this subject. to himself in Portugal and Spain. It seems as if he had felt the obstacles to the execution of his plan, as he eagerly seized an opportunity to em ploy his forces in another quarter, where he might reasonably expect better success. There were several packet-boats in the harbour, two of which sailed at noon with a favourable wind. We envied their swelling sails, while etiquette obliged us to wait for our yacht. At length, at four o'clock, it appeared in the road; but the captain would not sail till the next morning, because the wind had become stormy, and because, as he said, he had received orders to land us at Dover by day-light. October 22. The fine morning promised us a happy passage. The white chalky cliffs of the coast of England soon presented themselves to our view. At ten o'clock in the forenoon we went on board of our yacht, which was a handsome little vessel. As it was the property of the Admiralty, it was elegantly fitted up. It contained a drawing-room, dining-room, and a kitchen. The two former had pannels of mahogany, ornamented with gilding, and the furniture of the drawing-room was of blue satin. end of it was a handsome stove of polished steel, and at the other end a lamp, which threw its light on the pilot's compass. Two adjoining rooms contained every requisite for sea-sick pas At one [February 7. 1818. sengers. The rudder was put in motion by means of a little wheel. A plentiful breakfast was prepared in the dining-room, but nobody would venture to touch it, for fear of sea-sick ness. We weighed anchor: the sky was serene. There being some wind, all the sails were spread. During the passage over, one does not lose sight of the two opposite shores. At three o'clock we arrived in Dover-roads. The almost black houses give the town a melancholy appearance. As it was low water, it was necessary to use the long boat to go into the port The quays, and the whole shores, were covered with a multitude of people. The first impression that is experienced in this country, is not to be described. One fancies oneself transported into a new world; nothing resembles what one has seen elsewhere. Buildings, carriages, horses, people, dresses, features, every thing is different from what one has been used to see. In the common people is observed a certain elegance, both in their form and dress; their features, even when large numbers stand together, retain an expression of composure and cheerfulness. The carriages prepared for us conveyed us to the inn from which we enjoyed the prospect of the harbour. It was covered with many vessels. At low water it is dry. The entrance is narrow, and is impeded by a sand-bank, so that one can only enter with the tide. We visited the new citadel. The town lies on the sea, and at the entrance of a valley. The old castle of Dover stands upon the east, and the citadel on the west, both on the chalk hills. We were struck with the handsome bricks of which the citadel is built. The very obliging captain of engineers who was our attendant, informed us, that the clay of which the bricks are made, is mixed with the ashes of coals; this was confirmed to us in London. The chalk found here is made into lime for building. The prospect from the eminence is magnificent; one can plainly distinguish the coasts of Boulogne aud Calais. Oct. 23. We left Dover at nine o'clock. The post horses are excellent, the roads admirable, the postilions steady, and the travelling extremely quick. The country is much better cultivated than France, which gives it a pleasing appearance, though, properly speaking, it is not beautiful. The chalky soil is mixed with gravel. Before almost all the houses, are seen little flower beds, with southern plants and flowers, which remain uncovered during winter, and give a favourable idea of the mildness of the climate. There are numerous windmills, water being scarce. Numerous country-houses, in a peculiar and pleasant style of architecture, are surrounded with little parks: meadows of the most brilliant green, pretty flocks, fields surrounded with green hedges, and planted with trees, render the landscape pleasing and pictu resque. Canterbury, sixteen miles from Dover, is the first stage. The city lies in a valley, and its fine cathedral rises magnificently above the houAs we had resolved not to stop, we put off the view of the city till our return. The postoffice is at the same time an inn, which is often the case in England as in Germany. ses. As we proceeded, we were struck with the number of turnpikes, at which travellers must pay. They consist of two small houses, between which the road is closed by a gate; on each side February 7. 1818.]. Remarks on England-Memoirs relating to European and Asiatic Turkey. is a narrow way for foot passengers, and in the middle a scale, which shews the weight of the carriages. The repair of the roads is undertaken by private persons, who pay a certain sum to the government, and are authorised, by act of parliament, to take toll, for the purpose of keeping the roads in order. The breadth of the roads is just sufficient for two carriages to go abreast, and on both sides are foot-paths raised two or three feet. The roads are kept in good repair with gravel, It was dark when we reached Dartford, and we arrived in London at eight o'clock in the evening. The house of the duke of St A***, where we lodged, is agreeably situated in the handsomest part of Westminster, near the parks. Every thing had been provided which could make our residence pleasant and convenient. The succeeding days, to the 3d of November, were employed partly in visits of ceremony and others, and partly in collecting information for our intended tour through the provinces, for which we were not sufficiently prepared; we also dressed ourselves in the English fashion, that we might be able to walk about the city more at our ease. On the 3d of November at eight o'clock in the forenoon, we left London. The suburbs of this capital are continually extending. Houses and streets are built on speculation, and easily find inhabitants. When you leave the suburbs, you see villages before you. Sometimes the country rises, and the hills, covered with mansions and gardens, give it a very picturesque appearance. From this side, too, when the weather is clear, there must be the finest prospect of London. The road, which only a year ago led over a pretty steep hill, is now nearly level; the hill has been cut through, and by these means the road is made considerably shorter, and much less fatiguing for the horses. Another road passes over this artificial defile, by means of a bridge, 60 or 70 feet high. The country is every where well cultivated. Gravel and chalk occur frequently. The latter is strewed upon the fields to make the soil more loose. • Chipping-Barnet is the first stage, and St Alban's the second: we alighted at the White Hart, a very good inn, where we found, as is every where the case in England, very clean apartments, and good provision, as well as polite and obliging treatment. The abbey of St Alban's is a building remarkable for its antiquity. The church stands upon an eminence, and was built at three different periods, for which reason it appears very irregular. The Anglo-Saxons are said to have begun the work; the second period is Gothic, and the third near the reformation. Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth, when they were obliged to leave London on account of the plague, held their public courts of justice in this church. It contains the tomb also of the patron saint of England. On a little eminence to the south of St Alban's stood the old Roman town of Verulamium, of which some ruins may still be traced. In a neighbouring valley near a rivulet, is situated Mr Woglam's manufactory for spinning silk. The machinery is like that for spinning cotton. The silk passes through twelve operations. All the machines are put in motion by water. We found in the whole process two new improvements: by means of one, the machine stands still of itself, as soon as a thread breaks upon a reel; and by means of the other, the silk is divided upon the spindle more equally than in the usual mode. The owner of the manufactory, which employs a hundred and twenty persons, 243 arms under the Sultan Orchan, and his immediate successors, and conjectured what might soon be the fate of Constantinople itself, they We arrived pretty late in the evening at sent a deputation to the sultan at Bursa, in Asia Beech-wood, a beautiful seat of Sir **** Se- Minor, carrying a present of 14,000 sequins, and bright. The owner is a great agriculturist, who begging, that when his victorious arms had ta gave us a particular account of the agricultural ken possession of the seat of the Greek empire, processes followed in England, and particularly the caloyers might be left in the full enjoyment those employed by himself. As soon as the wheat of their religious privileges, and in the exclusive is got in, the field is ploughed, then it is harrow-possession of Mount Athos. The Turk accepted ed, that the weeds may shoot in spring; it is the bribe, promised all they wished, and gave afterwards ploughed again three times; the last them a charter, which is said to be still preserv time it is manured, and in June sown with tur- ed among the archives at Chariess, the metro. nips, which stand during the winter. The sheep polis of the peninsula. The Turkish sultans graze off a part, and the other part is used suc- however, have since made this faithless body pay cessively to feed the cattle in their stalls. This dearly for their treachery to their own Christian repeated ploughing, after the weeds have shot, monarch ----; and instead of being for ever cleanses the land admirably. In the second year exempted from tribute, as they had expected, they sow barley or oats, mixed with clover; in they now pay annually 113,000 piastres to the the third and fourth the clover is cut, and in the Porte, besides occasional contributions in time fifth wheat is sown again: but as in this manner of war, and other demands; one of which, in the same field would bear clover too, the half is the preceding month, amounted to forty-eight often sown with oats, white clover (trifolium re- purses, or 24,000 piastres. In consequence of pens) and rye grass. The turnips of Beechwood these perpetual extortions, the convents have gow to an enormous size. Sir **** Sebright been obliged to borrow large sums, for which told us, that he had once sent his sister nineteen they give from four to eight per cent. according partridges in the hollow of a turnip. to the urgency of the moment, or the piety of Continued the lender. The general debt is supposed to amount to a million of piastres, or nearly eight thousand pounds sterling." p. 274. Memoirs relating to European and Asiatic The readers of this work will find it highly As they cannot raise even the interest of this sum, a bankruptcy is likely to ensue. The po pulation of the peninsula is not clearly ascer tained. "It pays charatch, or capitation-tax, for 5000; but the actual number of resident calaycrs, including the labourers, workmen, hermits, is calculated at 6000."---,' The temporal affairs o fthe Holy Mountain are thus managed: the twenty monasteries (which constitute its religious republic) are divided into four classes, of five each, according to their respective sizes, and one convent of each class, by rotation, an nually sends a deputy to Chariess, This council of four deputies settles all the business of the peninsula, and regulates the proportion of money which each convent is to give on extraordinary contributions. Their office is annual; they live with no external pomp, and they receive but a trifling salary for their trouble.” It appears from a preceding chapter, that among the other inquiries valuable to literature and the arts, undertaken under the auspices of Lord Elgin, a strict examination was instituted through all the libraries, mosques, schools, colleges, convents, &c. within the influence of the anibassador, to discover such ancient MSS. and works of classical research, as have long been thought to be preserved in those receptacles. After sifting the establishments at Constantinople to little purpose, Professor Carlyle and Dr Hunt sailed, on the 3d of March 1801, with the design of investigating the libraries of the Greek convents in the peninsula of Athos, in Macedonia. Contrary winds obliged them to land in Asia; they traversed the Troad, ascended mount Ida, viewed the ruins of Assos, and finally arrived at the convent of Batopaidi on mount Athos. It resembles a fortress more than a monastery. The lofty walls are flanked with towers, and many cannon appear in the embrazures. The monks, however, were polite and hospitable, and with them our travellers remained five days. Before particularizing any of the circumstances related of this convent, and its Athoan brethren, it may be worth while to lay before our readers "Ifit sometimes hides a criminal who has fled a general view of the remarkable district itself, from public justice; yet that eriminal most proof which we may well say Chariess is the capi-bably reforms bis life, in a residence so well caltal, since it is the only town in the peninsula, and situated near its centre. Of the early history of the religious community of Athos, little is certainly known. They pretend to great antiquity, and refer their foundation to Constantine the Great, Arcadius, and Honorius; but no records exist anterior to the time of Nicephorus Phocas, who reigned in the year 961. "When the crafty caloyers (monks, says our author) adverted to the progress of the Turkish The chief benefits derived from this hive of drones (who subsist on the precarious donations of pilgrims, and on the alms collected by travelling brethren in Russia, Moldavia, Walla chia, and other countries professing the Greek creed,) is its helping to preserve the language of Greece from being superseded by that of her conquerors, and checking the defection of Christians to Mahometanism, in European and Asi atic Turkey. Almost all the Greek Didascaloi, schoolmasters, and the higher orders of their clergy, are selected from this place; and Dr Hunt proceeds: culated to bring his mind to reflection. The oath of a person who becomes a caloyer on Mount. Athos, is very solemn and simple; it implies an absolute renunciation of the world, enjoining the person who makes it to consider himself as quite dead to its concerns. Some are so conscientiously observant of this vow, that they never afterwards use their family name, never correspond with any of their relatives or former friends, and decline informing strangers from what country or situation of life they have retired! By the 24.4 Remarks on England-Memoirs on Navigation. [February 7. 1818. rules of the institution, every convent on Mount | and horror found it filled with piles of skulls of tain. Eugenius, who translated the Æneid into Athos, and indeed throughout the whole Turkish empire, is ordered to shew hospitality to stran gers who present themselves at their gate, whether they be Greeks, Heretics, or Infidels; nor are they permitted to ask for payment from any pilgrim, or other visitor, for the provisions which they may give them." Within the holy precincts of this monastic territory, not only is no woman allowed to enter, (gens eterna, in qua nemo nascitur) but all fe male animals are rigorously prohibited, and cows, ewes, she-goats, and even hens, are ba nished from their sanctified abodes. Some of the monks, indeed, asserted that no she creature could live three days in the atmosphere of Mount Athos, but our travellers doubted the fact, as they saw pigeons, swallows, and other birds, breeding under the noses of the fraternity, besides the vermin, which were abundantly pro lific about their persons and cells Milk, butter, cheese, and eggs, are imported from Thasos and Lemnos, or from Macedonia, across the Isthmus. Greek hexameter verse, and was afterwards creted bishop of Chersonesus by the Empress Catherine was forty years ago master of an academy at Batopaidi, from which he retired in disgust, and it has since fallen into decay, from having two hundred students of respectable families from Greece Germany. Venice and Russia. We shall conclude with one extract more, clo sed by an anecdote of considerable pungency. such monks and caloyers as have died within the walls of the convent. A little church dedicated to all the saints, is placed over this awful repo sitory of mortality. By the canons of the order, no caloyer or monk can eat meat except in case of great and extreme illness. He must also abstain from eggs, oil, and fish, on all Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The food on those days is restricted to bread, salted olives, and vegetable soup. This is made of dried pease, The whole country now presented a beautiful beans, or other pulse; onions and leeks: the appearance, looking like a garden, and adorned latter grow to a most extraordinary size. The with hawthorns, roses, and the Judas tree. In a Hegoumenos (prior or abbot) assured us they retired vale, surrounded by forests, is the little sometimes weighed an oke, or 2 lbs. avoirdupois, convent of Constamoneta. In their church we each. Our inquiries respecting the library of found a manuscript copy of schylus, The Sethe convent were always evaded, and at length ven Chiefs at Thebes, and part of Hesiod. we were told that that the manuscripts were Though the sun was setting, and the road to the merely rituals and liturgies of the Greek church, next monastery long and dangerous, yet we reand in very bad condition. On pressing our resolved to proceed rather than pass the night with quest to be admitted to see them, and adding so rude and inhospitable a body of caloyers, as we that it had been the primary object of our visit, found at Constamoneta. Their Hegoumenos, or we were shewn into a room where these old tat- abbot, is a native of Maina, the ancient Eleuthetered volumes were thrown together in the grea-ro-Laconia. A beggar, passing some months ago The whole twenty convents were visited by test confusion, mostly without beginning or end, by the door of this convent, asked the accustomthe British scholars. They contain, according worm-eaten, damaged by mice, and mouldy with ed alms of bread and wine: on which the porter to their classification, from 40 or 50 to 500 monks damp, Assisted by three of those whom I have told him, that the abbot had strictly forbidden in each, and bear the following names,--Bato- mentioned (three of the best informed monks) him to distribute any more, as the convent was paidi, Coutloumoussi, Pantocratoras, Slavronike- we took an accurate catalogue, examining each poor, and scarcely able to support its own memta, Iveron, Philotheo, Santa Laura, Caracalla, mutilated volume separately and minutely. We bers. In the course of conversation, the beggar Xeropotama, St Paul, Dionyno, St Gregorio, found copies of the New Testament not older asked him how the convent became so poor, and Simopetra, Xenophou, Docheiriou, Lografou, than the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and a on the porter's not being able to give a satisfacChiliantari, St Bazil, Sphighmenon, Constamo-variety of theological works, of Chrysostom, Basil, tory answer, he replied, I will inform you. There neta. There are, besides, numerous and filthy Gregory of Nazienzen, and others, and an infini- were two brothers who dwelt in this convent at hermitages. The reception at Balopaidi, where ty of liturgies, canons, and church histories. The its first foundation, and on them its happiness there are 250 priests and friars within the walls, only interesting manuscripts we saw were two solely depended. Your tyrannical abbot forced and 250 more in the farms, gardens, and vine- tragedies of Eschylus, the Iliad, a copy of that one of them into exile, the other soon fled, and yards, without, may serve as a sample of the very ancient poem the Batrachomyomachia; the with them your prosperity. But be assured, that whole, and of the manners and customs of the works of Demosthenes, Athenæus, Lysias, Ga- until you recal your elder brother, you will condistrict :len, some parts of Aristotle, Hippocrates, and tinue poor. What were their names? said the Plato; two copies of the Apocalypse, and the wondering caloyer: The expelled brother, repliJewish History of Josephus; but none of them ed the beggar, was called Aid, and the name bore marks of remote antiquity." of him who followed was Anola (Give, and it shall be given unto you. Luke vi. 38.) M. DE ROSSEL, of the Royal Academy of Sci- "The behaviour of the monks in general was hospitable and and polite; and during our residence of five days among them, they seemed to regret, that the concourse of uncivilized and The libraries of other convents were similarly noisy pilgrims, assembled for the holy week, pre- unproductive: not one of them producing a co vented them from being more attentive to us. py of any inedited fragment of a classical author. On Easter day there were about fifteen hundred When the learned Greeks fied from Constantipeople, who dined in the court-yard of this con- nople in 1453, they took with them to western vent, principally Albanian, Bulgarian, and Wal- Europe their most valuable MSS. those which they lachian Greeks. It appears, as soon as the op-left were probably secreted in monasteries; but pressed Christian peasants in the neighbouring from this search it appears, either that ConstanTurkish provinces have saved a little money, or tinople and Mount Athos are not the conserva-terest proportionate to the advantages we derive when pirates and freebooters have made a suc- tors of these desired treasures, or that they are from them, what art deserves, more than Navigacessful sally, they set out on a pilgrimage to this still (which does not prima facie appear to be tion, to fix our attention? It is that which estab holy mountain, where they not only get a plena- the case) hid from the longing eyes of European lishes an easy commmunication between the most ry absolution, by giving up part of their gains, investigation Some of these convents had MSS. distant nations, which introduces civilization abut enjoy the luxury of hearing a perpetual din in the Servian and Illyric dialects, chiefly per-mong the most barbarous people, and enables us of bells, and the sight of splendid churches, pic-taining to the church. to participate in the riches which Nature produtures of saints, and wonder-working reliques. The country possessed by this monastic socie-ces in every part of the earth. No other art calls Our principal object being to examine ty, is wild and beautiful. Mountain torrents, and forth more largely the faculties of man, it teachthe ancient MSS. we found we could not have forests, and shrubs, and flowers, variegate its fea-es him to brave numberless dangers, and gives arrived at a more unpropitious moment. The tures. But it is not our purpose to enter into him the means of surmounting them; it enlarges attention of the whole convent was directed to these details, nor even to remark upon the ho- his ideas in shewing him Nature, under all her the different caravans of pilgrims, who were ar- noured beards of the caloyers, one of which grow- aspects, and humanity in all its conditions, from riving at every instant; they were in general ing on the face of a certain Father Joachim, ri- savage life to the highest degree of civilisation. well mounted, each of them armed with a mus- valled the leeks of Batopaidi, for it reached" ket, a pair of pistols, and a sword. After dinner, bout an inch below his knees!" This venerable their mirth became extremely noisy, and my com- caloyer, by the way, had travelled as a mendipanion, Mr Carlyle, who wished much to know cant of his order over almost all European Turthe subject of their songs, found they were very key, and the shores of the Black Sea. On diffesimilar to the old border songs in England, derent visits to the Fanal at Constantinople, he scribing either the petty wars of neighbouring agas, or the successful opposition on the part of the Albanians to pashas sent from the Turkish a had paid his homage to twenty-four patriarchs: namely, fourteen grand patriarchs of the Greek church, four of Alexandria, and six of Jerusalem; such is the rapid succession to those envied dig"In one of our rambles near the monastery, nities. Our countrymen met two of the ex-pawe went to a small building, and to our surprise } triarchs among the residents of the Holy Moun court. The men who have the most contributed to. perfect it are almost all our contemporaries, and it will be permitted to touch but slightly on ancient times, without dreading the reproach of having committed an historical infidelity. We know that the navigation of the ancients, confined to the coasts of the Mediterranean, never extended much beyond them; in effect, what could it be previous to the use of the compass, when they yet dared not altogether to lose sight of land? The maritime states of Italy, charged to co February 7. 1818.] duct our fathers to the Holy Land, established factories on the coasts which their armies had conquered; and commerce, as well as navigation, acquired new strength. The Italian merchants penetrated in the course of the crusades into the eastern countries, and prepared new sources of commerce. lumbus, who aspired after unknown lands, and pression, seemed very easy; it was this point, was about to isolate himself, as it were, from the however, which most exercised the sagacity of rest of the world, would necessarily be destitute the learned. of this kind of comparison. He turned his eyes Newton, in discovering the laws of universal towards the heavens, and conceived the idea of gravitation, taught the means of calculating ascomparing the position of his vessel, lost in the tronomical tables; henceforward it was easy to vast extent of the seas, to the position of the predict the places which the planets ought, at The travels of Marco Paulo, which approaches stars. The first idea of referring each point of each instant, to occupy in the heavens; and renearly to the period of the last crusade of St the surface of the globe to that which corres- duce to practice the method of the distances of Louis, marks the first epoch of modern geogra-ponds with it in the celestial sphere, is due to the moon from the sun and stars, which he had phy. Although the names of the nations, provin- Hipparchus. Ptolemy afterwards adopted it in indicated as the best means of obtaining the laces, and towns, are strangely disfigured in the his Geography, and ranged the places mention- titude at sea. The best instruments known are relations which we have of them, the places the ed therein by their latitude and longitude. Chris- also due to the genius of Newton; it was he most distinguished by their position or their im- topher Columbus, in applying this to navigation, who had the first idea of adapting mirrors to portance, are still recognizable. The isle of Ci- has so intimately allied this great art to astro-those which serve to measure these distances. pangu, for instance, can be no other than that of nomy, that nothing henceforward can separate This invention was afterwards executed by Had. Japan; for it is said, that it is placed to the cast- them, and seamen will for ever seek in the hea-ley with the greatest success; the instrument ward of the coasts of China. The geographers of vens the position which they occupy on the which this latter has invented, is, if we except the day consequently placed this discovery far earth. some slight modifications, the same which is still beyond the spot where Ptolemy had fixed the The voyages which Christopher Columbus in general use. eastern boundaries of the known world of the an-made, subsequent to the first, completed the discients. covery of that chain of islands which traverses the mouth of the gulph of Mexico, and that of a portion of the coasts which encircle them. It is also from the period of these great navigations that the Spaniards date their establishment in the New World. It was nearly about this period of travels of Marco Paulo that the compass was first used. Its origin is uncertain; various nations pretend to the honour of this fine invention; but the most probable opinion is, that it comes to us from the Chinese, who had long been acquainted with it. gations. The art of watch-making, scarcely risen from its cradle, could no longer confine itself to the regulation of the occupations of our lives; it dared to time the movements of the celestial bodies. It made such great progress. that it directly attacked the problem of longitude, and its success far exceeded our expectations. The marine watches, (time keepers,) which they construct at present, preserve, for entire months, the hour of the first meridian. Similar successes caused a general movement in navigation. The Portuguese resumed the proThe use of the compass gave to navigators ject of penetrating into India, and finished by es the means of directing themselves in all wea- tablishing themselves there. Thence they purAs soon as the mariners had the means of dethers, and inspired them with the courage neces- sued their discoveries as far as the isles of Sun-termining with precision their situation on the sary to quit the coast. They first sought the di- da and the Moluccas on one hand, and on the globe, they delayed not to lay down the position rection which they ought to follow, in repairing other as far as China and Japan. France and of the places on the coasts which they had ocfrom one place to another: they afterwards in- England engaged some Italians in their service, casion to visit. Navigation underwent a second vented methods calculated to give them the re-who opened to them the road of extended navi- revolution; it was no longer solely destined to lative position of their vessels with these two support industry and commerce; it took a more places. This first step removed the art from its elevated flight, and contributed to the progress long infancy. Commerce assumed a new flight; of human knowledge. Hydrography, on which and, towards the end of the fourteenth century, the safety of vessels peculiarly depended, was it extended itself beyond the Mediterranean; on the first object of its cares. The most learned the coasts of Portugal; of France; and even inmen undertook voyages by sea, and mariners culto Flanders. The Italians, soon the most skilful tivated the sciences. The voyages of La Caille, navigators of Europe, instructed the other naand of Maskelyne, introduce the practice of astions by their lessons and by their example. tronomical observations into navigation; and other voyages, undertaken to observe the passage of Venus over the sun's disk, accelerated the progress of astronomy itself. The services which navigation has rendered, extend to all the branches of our acquirements. I still behold the place which Bougainville, whose name cannot be pronounced without awakening sentiments of affection, occupied in this assembly. He is the first Frenchman who made the voyage round the world, and his name is allied to a great number of very important discoveries. It was not until after his voyage, that Harrison constructed the first marine time-keeper. The Portuguese were the first to profit by them; the vessels of their nation which discovered the coasts of Africa, as far as Sierra-Leone, were conducted by Italians. They were not long ere they were able to conduct them themselves, and they advanced along the coasts of Guinea, of Benin, and of Congo; at length, Bartholomew Diaz doubled the Cape of Good Hope in 1486; but he arrested his course when he was on the eve of penetrating into the Indian seas. The sciences were, at this period, still in their infancy among all the people of Europe. Astronomy had only begun to be cultivated in Germany in the first years of the fifteenth century. In the time of Christopher Columbus, it must have been in the state in which we find it in the books of Ptolemy. It required to be enlightened by a long train of observations previous to its present state of perfection; and thus it remained more than a century in the same state. Tycho Brahe prepared, by his observations,---the best which had till then been made---the Discovery of the Laws of Kepler; Newton at length appeared, and submitted the movements of the heavenly bodies to the combinations of geometry, and the calculations of analysis. His genius rendered to the science the same service which that of Columbus had rendered to the art two centuries before; and navigation perfected itself at the same time as astronomy. We are now come to that grand epoch which has changed the face of the world; the glory of having operated this great change was still re- The mariners obtained the latitude by the meserved for the Italians. Italy produced Christo-ridional height of the stars, which, in the com- Fleurien tried, in 1768, two of these new timepher Columbus, who, by the force of his genius, mencement, they observed with the astrolabe. keepers, executed in France by Ferdinand Bereffected, in the art of navigation, a revolution, The use of less imperfect instruments was after-thoud, and he established the proof of their utilithe influence of which has extended itself to every wards introduced, but none of them approached ty. To him we owe the first application of them part of human knowledge. those which are now in common use. which was made to geography, and the first rules which were given to navigators for their use. Who, among us, does not recal to mind the immense services which Borda has rendered to the science? Equally skilful as a seaman and as a geometrician, he has procured to navigation the History informs us, it was in placing China As to the longitude, they calculated it by the aud Cipangu, of which Marco Paulo had spoken, space which the vessel had made, and they were beyond the most eastern land of Ptolemy, that deficient in the means of observing it. History, Christopher Columbus persuaded himself that he however, mentions an eclipse observed by Chrisshould have but a third of the circumference of topher Columbus; but, it appears, that no navithe globe to traverse, if he bent his course in a gator imitated him. It is known that the longi-reflecting repeating circle; and to astronomy acontrary direction to that of Marco Paulo, that tude is measured by the diurnal movement of the is to say, if he directed his course straight west-earth, and that it can be calculated in time as ward. Thus reduced, the distance was still up- well as in degrees; in this case it is equal to wards of two thousand leagues, and surpassed the the difference of hours which are reckoned at the It would have seemed that navigation, after means of navigation at this period. The naviga-same instant in the spot where the vessel actual- having been enriched with so many instruments, tors were wont, as we are told, to compare their ly is, and in the first meridian. The only ques-and such a variety of rigorous methods, could proposition on the open sea, with that of the places tion, then, was, to ascertain these two hours. ceed no further. But the mind of man, capable which they were desirous of attaining; but Co-The problem, thus reduced to its simplest ex-of distinguishing the degree of perfection which nother instrument, which, in very small dimensions, has, by its exacutude, surpassed the greatest instruments till then known. 246 his works are deficient in, always makes new efforts to attain it. Geometry has unmasked, in its profound works, the last secrets of the science; and it is sufficient to designate it. Have not, also, all the geometricians and astronomers, assembled in this place, contributed, either by their learned works, by the most delicate operations of geodosy, or by equally ice astronomical observations, to give to the re ́sults of the science a precision previously unknown? It is to their combined works that navigation owes the perfection which it has attained in our days. But I must not terminate what I have to say, without recalling the labours of the most illustrious navigators who have advanced our geographical knowledge. The voyages of the immortal Cook are those, where, for the first time, we gathered the fruits of the efforts made upwards of two centuries, for the perfection of the sciences. His vessel offers us the type of the tie which unites all the human sciences, and of the alliance which those who cultivate them ought to contract Navigators, astronomers, naturalists, all united to concur to the same end; and the names of Banks and Forster, are associated by history with that of Cook, whose glory they shared. This great navigator has brought us acquainted with the greater part of the Voyages and Travels. coasts and of the island of the great ocean; the ice of the two poles alone arrested his discoveries. The voyages of Vancouver and of Flinders, although less brilliant, possesses not a less interest; and they have enriched geography with a greater number of useful discoveries. France, in which we have successfully perfected the art of navigation, undertook a second voyage round the world, shortly after Cook's last voyage. The desire of knowing the sources which commerce might find on the north-western coasts of America, and on those of Tartary, gave rise to the voyage of La Perouse The instructions which this skilful navigator received, relative to savage nations, shew the extent of the acquiremeuts of the monarch who had dictated them. "Occupy yourself," says he to him," in conciliating their friendship; prescribe to your companions in the voyage, to live in good intelligence with them; treat them gently; seek to ameliorate their condition in teaching them to cultivate the plants and trees you carry to them; but, above all, do not make known the superiority of our arms, except for your own safety. 1 shall regard it as one of your most brilliant successes, if the voyage can be terminated without costing the life of a single man." The first part of his voyage, published after his own journals, has preserved to us the fine survey [February 7. 1818.. of the coasts of Tartary, and has enriched hydrography with some very precious charts. Three years elapsed without any news of him arriving; the resolution was taken to send in search of La Perouse. The king charged M, de Entrecasteaux to follow his course, and to restore him to his country, as well as his companions. The coasts which La Perouse was to have reconnoitred were visited with the greater care, as they were obliged to observe them narrowly, in order not to suffer any evidence to escape which might announce the presence of our unfortunate countrymen. Unhappily, these researches had no other result than to sink our hopes for ever. It is but too probable that the two vessels of La Perouse encountered, during the night, one of those rocks which abound in the great ocean, between the tropics, and that they perished there together. All the means by which navigation had been enriched in these latter times, were employed during the voyage of M. de Entrecasteaux. He completed our knowledge of a great extent of coast, and procured a collection of charts, remarkable by their exactitude. This voyage, undertaken in 1791, was terminated during the storms of the revolution: the misfortunes of the times retarded the publication, and it only ap peared in 1809. SONNET BY G. F. ZAPFI, Angelo. Sculptur'd in stone, what Giant form sits here, Excelling all renown'd that Art affords, Whose lips so pregnant and alive appear, Poetry. The streams, which through them once their mazes wound, And now no longer make their murm'ring sound; On the Colossal Statue of Moses by Michael The lakes, refusing to the thirsty flocks The wish'd-for draughts, resisting, firm as rocks; The anxious shepherd, who, with pity mov'd, Looks on the cattle whom he e'er has lov'd, And strikes the ice; but soon the weak'ning blow Shews he must cease, and all his task forego. Far other scenes that on th' expanse appear Than thirsty flocks or weary hunted deer; The glassy surface spread on every side, Bends to the skait or forms the easy slide; Crowds fly along, the sportive race is run, By many lost, and by as many won: That I, unconscious, listen for his words? Well does his flowing beard declare the name, And double rays of glory on his brow, Of Moses,---such as from the Mount he came, His face yet beaming with celestial glow: Such was he, when the vast and sounding wave Round him retir'd rebuk'd,--such when it flow'd O'er the Egyptian host,—a whelming grave! And you his flock to a base Calf have bow'd; Have rais'd its image equal to this, sublime, Which to have worship'd had been less a crime. ON THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE YEAR. The sky which lowers black, the winds which drive The shepherd to his cot, the storms which strive And cover all things with their lovely white; The which droops and lies upon the plain, sires; The mazy dance, the song, the bursting cries At leisure, wond'ring how bright Nature's chang'd; Nature herself, who smil'd in fair array; G. J. B. LINES Addressed to my Sister, on the 21st Anniver sary of her Birthday. When thou wert in thine infancy, In that gay round of life's young hours; This was the blithest day we knew, Which in thy book of years display'd Another spotless leaf to view, Where all life's passing scenes were laid. Those days of childhood now are fled; Thy years of youth have glided on: The book of time again is spread; Its leaves are turn'd to twenty-one. Come, let us trace the record through, Up to this age of perfect youth: How spotless is the tablet's hue; How bright with innocence and truth. Fair written in thine early age; Here artlessness and mirth are seen; Improvement, industry, and care; Her name to live unfading there. Thy guide in childhood, hope in youth; |