For when she sought her bed of rest, Her rest was all on thorns; And there another lover stood, Who wore a pair of horns: His little tiny feet were cleft And cloven, like a fawn's; His face and garb were dark and black, His arms, though less than other men's, You might not call them hair; And ever, as the midnight bell Twelve awful strokes had toll'd, "I could a tail unfold!" And so her strength of heart grew less, Red hectic spot was seen : And they who mark'd that crimson light To light us to our tomb: They said 'twas like thy cross, St. Paul's, And so it prov'd—she lost her health, Monthly Magazine. The Selector, the people slept in cellars and vaults, and holes amid the ruins; and it had not unfrequently happened that the wounded were killed in the hospitals. The streets were broken up, so that the rain-water and the sewers stagnated there; and the pestilential vapours which arose were ren. dered more noxious by the dead bodies, which lay rotting amid the ruins. The siege had now endured seven months; scarcely a woman had become pregnant during that time; the very dogs, before hunger consumed them, had ceased to follow after kind, they did not even fawn upon their masters; the almost incessant thunder of artillery seemed to make them sensible of the state of the city; and the unnatural atmosphere affected them as well as human kind. It even affected vegetation. In the gardens within the walls the fruits withered, and scarcely any vegetable could be raised. Within the last three weeks above 500 of the garrison had died in the hospitals; a dysenter was raging and spreading; the sick were lying upon the ground, without beds, almost without food; and there was scarcely fuel to dress the little wheat that remained, and the few horses which were yet unconsumed. Samaniego then adverted with bitterness to the accounts which had been circulated, that abundant supplies had been thrown into the city; and he concluded by saying, "If by these sacrifices, deserving for ever to be the admiration of history, and if by consummating them with the lives of us, who, by the will of Providence, have survived our comrades, the liberty of our country can be secured, happy shall we be in the bosom of eter nity, and in the memory of good men, and happy will our children be among their fellow-countrymen! -Southey's History of the Peninsular War. A DESERTED CITY. WHEN the enemy entered Penafiel, the scene was such as to make them sensible how deep was the feeling of abhorrence which they had excited and deserved. The whole city was deserted; all food, and every thing that could have been serviceable to the invaders, had been either carried away or destroyed. had been left open; the churches alone Every house not seem to have left them open to polluwere closed, that the Portuguese might tion. The very silence of the streets was awful, broken only when the clocks struck; and now and then by the howling of some of those dogs who, though living, as in other Portuguese towns, without an owner, felt a sense of desertion, when they missed the accustomed presence of men. The royal arms upon the public buildings had been covered with black crape, to indicate that, in the absence of the Braganza family, Portugal was as a widow. Of the whole population, one old man was the only living soul who remained in the town. Being in extreme old age, he was either unable to endure the fatigue of flight, or, desirous of ending his days in a manner which he would have regarded as a religious martyrdom : he placed himself. therefore, on a stone seat in the market-place; there the French found him in the act of prayer, while the unsuppressed expression of his strong features and fiery eye told them, in a language not to be misunderstood, that part of his prayer was for God's vengeance upon the invaders of his country. This was in the true spirit of his nation; and that spirit was now in full action. It had reached all ranks and classes. The man of letters had left his beloved studies, the monk his cloister; even women forsook that retirement which is every where congenial to the sex, and belongs there to the habits of the people. But it was not surprising that in a warfare where women were not spared, they should take part. Nuns had been seen working at that battery which defeated the French, in their attempt at crossing the Minho; and here a beautiful lady, whose abode was near Penafiel, had raised some hundred followers; and, in the sure war of destruction which they were carrying on, encouraged them, sword in hand, by her exhortations and her example.-Ibid. ploy ten thousand soldiers for the space of two months to remove the rubbish. The ruins of the Tower of Babel are six miles S. W. of Hilleh. At first sight, they present the appearance of a hill with a castle on the top; the greater portion is covered with a light sandy soil, and it is only in ascending that the traveller discovers he is walking on a vast heap of bricks. This mound, like the Mujillebè, is oblong. The total circumference has been found to be two thousand two hundred and eighty-six feet, which gives to the ruins a much greater extent of base than to the original building. The surplus is very great, when one considers the quantity that must have been removed by the Macedonian soldiers, and how much, in the course of ages, must have been taken by the workmen employed in digging for bricks. The elevation of the mound is irregular: to the west it is one hundred and ninety-eight feet high. On the top is that which looked like a castle in the distance; it is a solid mass of kiln-burnt bricks, thirty-seven feet high, and twenty-eight broad. The bricks, which are of an excellent description, are laid in with a fine and scarcely perceptible cement. At regular intervals, some bricks are omitted so as to leave square apertures through the mass; these may possibly have been intended to procure a free current of air, that should prevent the admission of damp into the brick-work. The summit of the mass is much broken, and the fractures are so made as to carry conviction that violence has been used to reduce it to this state. Distinct from the pile of bricks just THE TOWER OF BABEL. described, and lower down on the north FROM Herodotus we learn that the Tower face of the large mound, is another mass of Babel, or (what was doubtless the exactly similar. Pieces of marble, stones, same,) the Temple of Belus, was a sta- and broken bricks, lie scattered over the dium in length and breadth, σradioν Kaι ruin. The most curious of the fragments TO μNKOS KAι TO Eugos. This, according are several misshapen masses of brickto Rich's computation, which allows five work, quite black, except in a few places hundred feet to the stadium, would give where regular layers of kiln-burnt bricks a circumference of two thousand feet. are discernable; these have certainly The temple consisted of eight turrets been subjected to some fierce heat, as they rising in succession one above the other. are completely molten-a strong preRennel supposes the height to be five hun- sumption that fire was used in the dedred feet. The ascent was on the outside, struction of the tower, which, in parts, and there was a convenient resting-place resembles what the Scriptures prophesied half-way up. 66 This temple was destroyed it should become, a burnt mountain." by Xerxes. Alexander wished to rebuild it, but died before he commenced the undertaking. All that he did was to em * have given the quotation, because I am aware that it is a disputed passage. The trans lating the word unkos "height" instead of « length,” has caused much abuse of Herodotus; but Wesselling's edition of that author's works has repaired his injured fame.-Vide Herod. Wess. p. 85. Note. Travellers who have visited this spot, have been struck with the curious appear ance of these fragments, and, having only seen the black surface, have altogether rejected the idea of their being bricks. In the denunciation respecting Babylon, fire is particularly mentioned as an agent against it. To this, Jere miah evidently alludes, when he says that it should be "as when God over threw Sodom and Gomorrah," on which cities, it is said, the "Lord rained brimstone and fire." Again, "I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him;" and in another place, "Her high gates shall be burned with fire, and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary." Taking into calculation the brick mass on the top of the large mound, the ruins are two hundred and thirty-five feet high, which gives nearly half the height of the tower in its perfect state. Rich thought he could trace four stages, or stories of this building; and the united observations of our party induce the same conviction. Wild beasts appeared to be as numerous here as at the Mujillebè. Mr. Lamb gave up his examination, from seeing an animal crouched in one of the square apertures. I saw another in a similar situation, and the large foot-print of a lion was so fresh, that the beast must have stolen away on our approach. From the summit we had a distinct view of the vast heaps which constitute all that now remains of ancient Babylon; a more complete picture of desolation could not well be imagined. The eye wandered over a barren desert, in which the ruins were nearly the only indication that it had ever been inhabited. It was impossible to behold this scene and not to be reminded how exactly the predictions of Isaiah and Jeremiah have been fulfilled, even in the appearance Babylon was doomed to present; that she should "never be inhabited;" that "the Arabian should not pitch his tent there," that she should become heaps;" that her cities should be "a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness!". Captain Keppel's Travels. BAGDAD. A TRAVELLER coming by water from Bussorah is likely to be much struck with Bagdad on his first arrival. Having been for some time past accustomed to see nothing but a desert-there being no cultivation on that side of the city by which he arrives-he does not observe any change that would warn him of his approach to a populous city. He continues winding up the Tigris through all its numerous head-lands, when this once renowned city of gardens bursts suddenly on his sight. Its first view justifies the idea that he is approaching the residence of the renowned Caliph, Haroun Alraschid, in the height of its splendour; a crowd of early associations rushes across his mind, and seems to reduce to reality scenes which, from boyish recollections, are so blended with magic and fairy lore, that he may for a moment imagine him. self arrived at the city of the enchanters. Bagdad is surrounded by a battlemented wall; the part towards the palace, as was the case in ancient Babylon, is ornamented with glazed tiles of various colours. The graceful minarets, and the beauti fully shaped dornes of the mosques, are sure to attract his eye. One or two of these are gaudily decorated with glazed tiles of blue, white, and yellow, which, formed into a mosaic of flowers, reflect the rays of the sun; the variegated foliage of the trees of these numerous gardens, which most probably have given the name to the city, serve as a beautiful back-ground to the picture. Thus far the traveller is allowed to indulge his reverie; but on entering the walls, his vision is dispelled. The walls are of mud; the streets, which are scarcely wide enough to allow two persons to pass, are so empty, that he could almost fancy the inhabitants had died of the plague; he looks upwardstwo dead walls meet his eyes; he now enters the bazaar, and finds that he has no reason to complain of want of population; a mass of dirty wretches render his road almost impassable; with some difficulty he jostles through a succession of narrow cloistered passages, traversing each other at right angles; the light, which is admitted by holes a foot diameter from the top, gives to the sallow features of the crowd below a truly consumptive appearance, agreeing well with the close, hot, fulsome smell of bad ventilation. The traveller, by this time, has seen sufficient to cure him of the dreams of earlier life; and, on arriving at his destination, he makes a woeful comparison between the reality of the scenes and the picture imagination had drawn. Such, or nearly such, was the impression first made by my arrival in Bagdad.--Ibid. Arts and Sciences. MR. WYNN'S IMPROVEMENTS IN CHURCH CLOCKS. (To the Editor of the Mirror.) SIR,-As you have so far interested yourself in my favour as to publish the paper on my improvements in church-clocks in No. 232 of the MIRROR, I take the liberty to request you to do the same relative to the truth of the rate of going of a church-clock I have just fixed in the per day. Lignum-vitæ 1.22 ... Mahogany ⚫87 per day. 16,000 10,500 23,400 + 11,800 23,500+ 21,800+ 16,500 Dec. 2 to Dec. 4, and gained 7 sec. The clock has been going in the same steady manner since I left it; and neither the ringing of the bells, nor even a hurricane which has since occurred, has had the least effect on it, as measured by a very accurate pendulum gauge. Your scientific readers will no doubt be pleased to hear that I have the means of preventing the force of the wind on the hands, and the rocking of steeples either by the force of the wind or the ringing of bells, from having the least effect on the clock's rate, an object which has long been a desideratum with practical men. I am, Sir, &c. W. WYNN. Dean-street, Soho-square. STRENGTH OF COHESION OF WOOD. THE following results of experiments on the strength of cohesion of wood have been arranged by Mr. Bevan, in a tabular form, and communicated by him to an eminent scientific journal. Mr. B. having occasionally found part of the larger end of the wooden bars drawn out in a cylindrical shape, when the lateral adhesion was less than the longitudinal cohesion, the number of pounds expressive of the cohesion is in these cases short of what is due to the specimen, and in the the table these are expressed by +, as to the other bearing; sometimes the specimen broke during the motion of the weight, and thefore would have separated under a less force with more time: these are marked Cohesion •99 15,500 •40 54 Chestnut (horse)... 61 ...... ⚫61 *79 ............ 11,400 •76 *76 ... 15,000 14,000 of 61 ... 4,500 Ditto Poplar .36 Sallow •70 Sycamore ⚫69 ... 8,200 7,800 14,000 ⚫79 8,000 Monthly Magazine. ENORMOUS FOSSIL VERTEBRA. IT is stated in the last number of the "Philosophical Journal," that in the neighbourhood of Bridport, in Dorsetshire, a short time ago, a labourer, digging for an ingredient used in mortar, found a vertebra of an enormous animal, larger than that of the whale, and supposed to belong to a land animal. This curiosity is in the possession of a gentleman at Bridport, who generously rewarded the finder with ten guineas. Search has been made after the other parts of the The same animal, but without success. perforation for the spinal marrow is stated to be nearly equal in circumference to the body of a man. BALTIMORE PATENT ROOFING. THIS roofing consists of oil-cloth, made with a thick canvass, and is found to be very durable, very water-tight, and easily preserved in order. The roofs which are covered by it should have an inclination 12,100 of at least 6 deg., and the oil-cloth should 10,500 be laid on boards, close together. It is 14,000 also necessary to give it annually a coat 13,100+ of paint-oil. Two or three gallons are 17,600+ sufficient for a house of a common size. 12,400 Floor-cloth and oil-cloth. have in this way 12,300 been used several years with perfect suc14,000 cess.' MR. STEFFEN'S SITOMETER. IT has appeared to Mr. Steffen, that the mode adopted by farmers and corn-dealers, for registering the quantities of grain as it is measured, is very clumsy, and liable to error; and hence he has contrived a convenient little machine for facilitating the operation of marking off the number of measures, and showing at a glance the quantity measured. The machine con. sists of a combination of toothed wheels, enclosed in a small box, with a species of dial plate, and two hands, or pointers, on one of the external faces cf the box. The longer pointer is moved over one division of an outer circle for each measure that is filled; and when as many measures as constitute some incasure of a higher denomination have been filled, the same pointer marks one on an inner circle; and every revolution of the large pointer is counted by a small pointer, so as to exhibit the total quantity measured from the commencement of the operation. Mr. Steffen says his machine cost only a few shillings, though made in brass, and a first attempt. He has named it the Sito. metex. The Gatherer. "I am but a Gatherer ana disposer of other men's stuff."-- Wotton THE following eccentric address to the nobility, gentry, clergy, and public in general, has recently been puhlished in the neighbourhood of Leeds: T. of B having just taken license to let post horses, neat postchaises, careful drivers, &c. and the reason of his (Mr. T.'s) presuming the above, is, that he has purchased the well known old Oak Tree, situate in Leeming-lane, where he intends to carry on the same, as Innkeeper, in May, 1827; and his beginning now is, by way of introduction. His Farm House is very ancient, and, as old people say, was once the largest inn between London and Carlisle, it is just opposite the magnificent ancient Gothic Church, containing a spire, the largest arch and east window in any village Church in the County of York; wherein are deposited the remains of a relative of a Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter; and is thought to be a most pleasing aspect by the admirers of both Church and State. N.B. It is stated, that at the time of the unnatural Rebellion, in 1745, the great and renowned Duke of Cumberland slept in this house, and left decisive proofs of kis royal origin.” |