Imatges de pàgina
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ceeding swell further weakened her. This and another smaller boat were their only apparent means of reaching the shore; yet no one of that number selfishly pressed forward to secure his own safety, until he had discharged the duties of humanity. Scarcely waiting till the captain had finished, seamen and soldiers together exclaimed, "We will -we will!"

As many as she would safely hold, in addition to the females and the wounded and mutilated, descended into the cutter, and, as the surf receded from the wreck, the ropes that confined her were gradually slackened, and she drifted from alongside. The returning swell overtook her, and, rising on its summit, the boat appeared for an instant to stagger. This was a moment of breathless suspense, but the next she passed the breakers, and a shout of joy, answered by us on board, announced her safety and arrival into smooth water. The other boat, on examination, was found so much injured, that to trust ourselves in her would have been utter madness. We had no alternative, therefore, but to await the return of the cutter, or assistance from the land.

Not long were we kept in suspense; presently, numerous catamarans (merely planks lashed together) allured, perhaps, by the hope of plunder; and, at length, two Massulu boats, in one of which the second mate returned from the shore, came alongside. The crew of the cutter had found a hospitable reception at the house of Mr. T., the Honorable Company's commercial resident, who, upon the first intimation of our disaster, had ordered out every boat this remote spot afforded to our assistance. All anxiety as to our personal safety now completely set at rest, how cheerfully did the crew toil all the day through, though not a breath of air tempered the burning heat of that tropical sun, to snatch from the general wreck a portion of the ship's cargo; and the last lingering rays of his light alone warned them to abandon their labours and the wreck.

As we neared the shore, the mate, in whose boat I chanced to be, turned his gaze seaward. "The sun has set," he muttered, half aloud, half to himself,"with a fair promise for the morrow. If the old ship holds together, we shall find work enough in her yet for some days to come.'

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The boats presently entered a sort of channel, the banks of which were, on either side, covered with low jungle,

or studded with the lofty and luxuriant foliage of Asiatic forest trees. "Why, where do you land?" enquired the mate, abruptly.

"Just beyond that bight of land, sir,” replied the man, pointing to a woody eminence, which jutted into the river or channel; "a snug place it is, too, and the black fellows are civil enough."

The boat presently rounded the point he spoke of, and the little village of Hantredee became visible. True, it consisted but of some score of mud huts, and a non-descript pagoda in the rudest style of Hindu architecture; but the pleasant grove behind, and the smooth esplanade in front, sloping gradually to the water's edge, together with the tents hastily erected for our accommodation, and the bustle and hum of the seamen and natives, gave to the scene, at least in my eyes, something infinitely pleasing.

Not a soul now remained on the wreck. Strange as it may appear, our evening's repast on the lawn-like banks of the river, in that remote and almost desolate region, under circumstances so painful, was to me one of peculiar enjoyment. Our ill-assorted viands, too,

hams hastily boiled, an immense cheese, bread from a cask with the head driven in, with wine, beer, and spirits, ad libitum-were in admirable keeping. The evening was delightful; a faint and balmy air just rustled among the trees, and, with the distant solemn booming of the surf, alone broke on the perfect stillness; the features of the land were becoming indistinct and shadowy in the gathering gloom; while seaward, a broad mass of dense clouds, edged with radiant crimson, and surmounted by others of feathery light, yet lingered in the distant west, and the smooth, oily-looking sea caught, from their mingled "gloom and glory," a solemn and tempered light.

It will be easily supposed that, after the fatigues of such a day, we were not long in seeking refreshment in sleep, and that our slumbers were of the soundest description. A little before daylight, however, the rain, penetrating through the canvass of the tents, awoke us. One of those sudden changes of the weather, so frequent in the Indian seas, had taken place. The wind blew with terrific violence, accompanied with thunder, and torrent-like rain, which, at intervals, in squalls perhaps of halfan-hour's duration, continued the whole of the day. To attempt boarding the

wreck in such weather would have been to expose ourselves to certain destruction; and the dense mist that floated on the surface of the water, rendering objects undiscernible at twenty yards distance, greatly heightened the peril of the attempt. Occasional gleams of brightness, indeed, in the atmosphere, discovered to us a black and shapeless mass, now visible above, now ingulphed amidst the furious breakers; but, by night-fall, the beach was completely strewn with fragments of the wreck.

There is little else to relate. Gradu ally the ship broke up; and, by the period the crew quitted the place (sixteen days from the morning of our disaster), hardly a vestige of her remained visible on the reef. It is scarcely necessary to dwell at length as to how we occupied ourselves in this interval. Mr. T., by every assistance in his power, rendered our situation as little irksome as possible; and to his kindness we were indebted for our speedy departure for Calcutta, he having despatched a messenger over land to Mansulipatam, to hire a native brig for our accommodation, in which we happily arrived at Bengal without experiencing any further casualties. B.

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den) and some other lands, including the advowson of Chelsea, were exchanged by William Boston, Prior of St. Peter's Westminster, with Henry VIII. for others then in the hands of the King, formerly part of the property of the Priory of Hurley in Yorkshire, which had been suppressed some time previously; Henry VIII. immediately erecting the manor of Hyde and other lands into a park.

This exchange was in conformity to the system of Henry, who seized every opportunity to exchange lands in distant parts of the country, for the more valuable and available church property in the neighbourhood of the metropolis. Hence we have some means of accounting for the curious manner in which the possessions of certain ecclesiastical and collegiate bodies are scattered over the kingdom.

This park, now so much frequented by all classes, and so fashionable during the spring season, has been used for the purposes of exercise during a very long period. It was especially crowded on May-day by persons of all ranks whose fastidiousness did not forbid their enjoying the innocent amusement of "going-a-maying," a custom now utterly exploded in London certainly, if not elsewhere also, but for the enjoyment of which the numerous hawthorn bushes formerly existing in Hyde Park afforded every temptation and facility.

"Woe," says poor Robin, "woe be to the hawthorn bushes, that be full of blossoms; they are condemned, like a gentleman in a fray, to be rifled of their gay attire by every mechanic." This custom is thus noticed in a newspaper, dated May 1, 1654. "This day was much more observed by people goinga-maying than for divers years past. Great resort to Hyde Park, many hundreds of rich coaches, and gallants in attire; but most shameful powderedhair men, and painted spotted women. Some men played with a silver-ball, and some took other recreations; but his Highness the Lord Protector went not thither, nor any of the Lords of the Council."

That the Lord Protector did sometimes condescend to appear in Hyde Park is certain, for about that time the German Count Oldenburg having presented him with six fine horses, Cromwell resolved, it seems, to display his skill as a charioteer, and attempted to drive them in Hyde Park, taking Lord Treasurer Thurlow with him. But the

horses, less obedient to the reins in his Highness's hands than the "Lords of the Creation" had proved, ran away, and the Protector, himself unprotected, falling under the pole, became entangled, and was involved in very considerable jeopardy, for a pistol, which he carried in his pocket, was discharged by the shock; though, with his usual good fortune, he escaped unhurt. This trivial event was not overlooked by the King's party; amongst others, Sir John Birkenhead (who wrote one of the fugitive political papers of the day called Mercurius Aulicus, printed at Oxford) profited by the occasion, and wrote a satrical poem on this accident, called "The Jolt."

Hyde Park shared the fate of the other Crown lands, and was seized soon after the execution of Charles, but exempted from sale by an Ordinance of Parliament. However, three years afterwards, it was resolved that the whole of it should be brought to the hammer. A preparatory survey was taken in 1652, whence it appears that it then contained about six hundred and twenty acres, valued at only £849 per annum; the deer, with which it continued stocked, estimated at £300; the materials of a lodge at £120; those of a banqueting-house at £125; and the timber at £4,779. The park was divided into several lots, which altogether sold for the sum of £17,068, including the deer and timber.

Some of the purchasers turned to account the inclination of the public for frequenting the park, as is manifested from the following letter, written in 1659:

"I did frequently accompany my Lord H into a field near the town, which they call Hyde Park; the place not unpleasant, and which they use as our course, but with nothing of that order, equipage, and splendour; being such an assemblage of wretched jades and hackney coaches, as next to a regiment of carmen, there is nothing approacheth the resemblance. This park was, it seems, used by the late king and the nobility for the freshness of the air, and the goodly prospect. But it is that which now (beyond all other exercises) they pay for here in England, though it be free for all the world besides; every coach and horse which enters paying for his mouthful, and permission of the publican who has purchased it, for which the entrance is guarded by porters with long staves." Character of England in a letter from

a nobleman to his friend in France. London, 1659.

After the Restoration, when the Crown lands were resumed into the King's hands, this park was replenished with deer, and surrounded by a brick wall, having been, before that time, merely fenced with palings. As in the case of St. James's Park, the public were allowed to resort to it as a place of recreation.

A newspaper, dated January, 1682, contains the following account of some of the amusements of which Hyde Park was the field :

"This day, his Majesty, (Charles II.) with most of the Court, went into Hyde Park, where the guards exercised before the Morocco Ambassador. His Excellency seemed highly pleased with our manner of military discipline. The soldiers were gallantly accoutred, and the officers magnificently. In return, the Ambassador's followers exercised after their manner, which, though strange to us, was most excellently performed, and with most admirable agility, their horses being very tractable and well managed. Some of their performances were throwing of lances, which, with incredible swiftness and agility they would catch again before they fell to the ground. They did, likewise, upon full speed, take off a ring (being hung up for that purpose,) upon the end of their lances, very rarely missing. Scarce ever was seen in the Park SO great an appearance of coaches."

To be concluded in our next.

PARALLEL BETWEEN WELLINGTON AND MARLBOROUGH.

Continued from page 106.

IN sieges, perhaps, Marlborough has the advantage, they were the fashion of the day; but Marlborough, in spite of all the entrares of system, occasionally left fortified places behind him and hastened on to great results. Any man who looks at the state of military system and knowledge at that epoch, must admire and wonder at his hardihood, in face of the received dogmata of the day; yet, with what anxious energy did he attack, and with what skill did he secure Donawerth, after forcing the lines of Schellenberg, not because he was afraid of violating a system by leaving Donawerth behind him, but because he felt that place would be necessary to him to complete his great victory of

Blenheim. When the British army first entered Spain, it had not the means, (nor indeed was the thought much entertained,) to undertake a siege; and it was not until after its great commander had by his genius, seconded by the valour of his troops, taken some of the fortified places from the enemy, and after he had failed at Burgos for want of an organized' materiel,' that adequate means of attack were placed at his disposal. We then saw how well he knew how to use them.

Marlborough almost began his great career by his grand battle of Blenheim -Wellington ended by his grand battle of Waterloo. Marlborough's greatest glories were in the outset: he started almost at once into a great captain, having previously served only a little in the Low Countries, and a short campaign in Ireland.-Wellington's fame went on like a snow-ball from the first, always increasing by successive accumulations, till, by his victory at Waterloo, he crowned his own glory and established the peace of Europe.

Marlborough would, in all probability, have had a continually increasing career of glory to the last, had he not been involved by his Duchess in the violence and whirlpool of party politics, which caused the minister of the day to snatch him away just as he was about to reap, to all appearance, a full harvest.

Such was the feeling of the Allies on the sudden dismissal of Marlborough from the command, that the Duke of Ormond, who succeeded him, was obliged, before he could venture to begin his march to the rear, to send to Marshal Villars, to beg that he would make a movement, and threaten Prince Eugene, so as to cover Ormond's retreat towards Dunquerque, so exasperated was Eugene's army at the defection of the British. This remarkable anecdote has never been made public, but I have it from an old officer, who, in the year 1746, served as aide-de-camp to one of those who commanded a regiment under the Duke of Ormond at the time.

I have in the foregoing hasty and imperfect sketch pursued the parallel of my two heroes. But Waterloo breaks in, and outshines every action of Marlborough, whether we consider its consequences, or the character of the most extraordinary man whom Wellington destroyed there. It was the final stroke of lightning, of which the lowering clouds had first been seen gathering on the lines of Lisbon.

Marlborough never had such an opponent as Buonaparte, who was unquestionably, besides his other astonishing qualities, the greatest captain the Continent of Europe ever produced.

There is one point on which it would be painful to rest, out of respect to the memory of the illustrious dead. I allude to the unsullied purity of the hands of Wellington, as regards that frequent debaser of great minds-money. Here the comparison is all in favour of the hero of the nineteenth century. The failings, however, of Marlborough, were the failings of his day; and, moreover, faction has handed down to us his errors in this particular, exaggerated and blackened with all the malignity of the party which then swayed the councils, and commanded the press of England. United Service Journal.

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THE reign of Stephen was one continued scene of strife and contention; little, therefore, is known of this king, saving that he was a bold and fearless soldier, who in many engagements fought as stoutly as the meanest of his followers, and often perilled his life while fighting for that crown which he had wrested from the rightful heir, or rather which he had possessed himself of by promptness and determination, that took his rival Henry unawares, and compelled him, after a hard struggle, to forego for a while his claim to the throne. Although a soldier, "and a man of war from his youth," no act of cruelty is alleged against this king; and there is every reason to believe that had he been of a vindictive temper, there were many upon whom he could have exercised such a disposition. "He was

of an excellent temper for a soldier," says Baker, "seeing he never killed any enemy in cool blood, as Anthony did Cicero; nor any friend in hot blood, as Alexander did Clytus."

It would be impossible to convey a just description of the state of England during his sway. Battles and skirmishes in every part of the kingdom were of every day occurrence. Hordes of mercenary soldiers swarmed in almost every town, and hundreds of castles and other strongholds were raised and garrisoned by either party. Yet, amidst this scene of anarchy and tumult, not a single act of cruelty, or vice, or unjust oppression is recorded of Stephen.

There is good reason for believing, that had his reign been less stormy, his prudence would have been as manifest as his courage. Of the former quality we have sufficient proof in his having, with such weak friends, maintained his cause against such subtle and powerful enemies. If ever chivalry existed, it flourished during the short reign of Stephen, for, although the leaders of either party were sometimes made prisoners, they were never treated harshly, much less with cruelty, by the victors. Might it not be said, that had this king been less merciful his reign would have been more quiet; for certain it is that mild and temperate monarchs have ever been unpopular, as the histories of every country will shew. Stephen was totally free from the superstition of the times, for upon one occasion he rode into the city of Lincoln, with his crown upon his head, having heard that an opinion prevailed among the citizens that the king who thus entered the city would meet with some terrible disaster. “One special virtue," says the author before quoted, "may be noted in him, that he was not noted for any special vice, whereof, if there had been any in him, writers would not have been silent." He founded several religious houses, among which were those at Coggeshall, and Faversham in Kent; at the latter of which he died, on the 25th October, 1154, at the age of fortynine, having reigned nearly nineteen years. He was tall of stature, well built and muscular, and of a fair complexion, and was not unfitted either in mind or body to govern the kingdom, for which, during his life, he had so stoutly contended.

In his reign lived William of Malmsbury and Geoffry of Monmouth, to whose works many historians in after ages were much indebted. ALPHA.

Fine Arts.

A MORNING AT THE COLOSSEUM.

One morning only did we spend, gentle reader, in viewing this extraordinary and magnificent building, yet that morning was a period marked by us with a white stone in our calendar."

Hunc diem signa meliore lapillo.—PERSIUS. We could agreeably have passed the whole day, yea, and the morrow also, in examining the countless objects which the vast amphitheatre so faithfully presents. We envy not the cold temperament of the man who, after entering the principal gallery, and the magnificent view of London has burst upon him, feels not that intense interest and those vivid emotions of delight which should ever be excited by the potent wand of genius. Art here triumphs, if possible, over nature. With difficulty could we persuade ourselves that we were merely gazing on a pictorial creation-for London, "the city of the heart," in all her bulk, beauty and magnificence, stood palpably before us.Her stately river flowing in graceful majesty, enamelled with countless barques; her streets thronged with myriads of citizens; her venerable temples and public edifices seem to start from the canvass; the din of commerce-the bustle of this emporium of the universe, alone were wanting to complete the reality. Futile would be the attempt to enumerate the objects which come within the scope of our artist's plan: to point out particular parts where all is good would be equally vain; particularly so when a gentleman is at the Exhibition for this purpose; and were it not for his polite attentions and assiduities, many delightful touches would escape the eye of the casual observer.

After revelling in the beauties of the Panorama, both in the first and second galleries, and examining the original Ball, and the imitation of the Cross, taken down from St. Paul's, we enjoyed a delightful view of the adjacent country from the top of the building. We then proceeded to the Saloon, where we were gratified by the exhibition of some models and pieces of Sculpture, the production of modern artists.

The CONSERVATORIES and Swiss COTTAGE next claimed our notice.— Long did we doubt whether we had not been transported by some mischievous elf to a fairy's favoured haunt, where that tiny race are wont by the yellow moonlight to trip round

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