YOL. 4.] Varieties-John Adams of Pitcairn's Island.

83 Cursed by unlettered idle youth, distils

prevent the possibility of the birds seeA limpid current from her wounded bark Profuse of nursing sap. When solar beams

ing the decoy-man; and as these birds Parch thirsty human veins, the damasked meads,

feed during the night, all is ready preUnforced, display ten thousand painted flow'rg pared for this sport in the evening. Usefui in potables. Thy little sons

The fowler, placed on the leeward Permit to range the pastures; gladly they Will mow the cowslip posies faintly sweet,

side, sometimes with the help of his From whence thou artificial wines shalt drain

well-trained dog, but always by that of Of icy taste, that in mid fervours best

his better trained decoy-ducks, begins Slake craving thirst, and mitigate the day.

the business of destruction. The latPHILIPS.

ter, directed by his well-known whistle, The taking of wild fowl commences, or excited forward by the floating hempby Act of Parliament, on the 1st of seed, which he strews occasionally upOctober, and the decoy-business is at on the water, entice all the wild-ducks the greatest height about the end of the after them under the netting; and as montb. Great numbers of wild ducks soon as this is observed, the man, or his and other water-fowl are annually caught dog, as the fitness of opportunity may in the extensive marsh lands of Lincoln- direct, is from the rear exposed to the shire in this

way. The decoys now view of the birds, by which they are in use are formed by cutting pipes, or so alarmed, that they dare not offer to tapering ditches, widened and deepened return, and are prevented by the nets as they approach the water, in various from escaping upwards. They, there, semicircular directions, through the fore, press forward, in the utmost conswampy ground into very large pools, fusion, to the end of the pipe, into the which are sheltered by surrounding funnel, or purse nets there prepared to trees or bushes, and situated commonly receive them, while their treacherous in the midst of the solitary marsh. At guides remain behind in conscious sethe narrow points of these ditches, far- curity. Particular spots, or decoys, in thest from the pool, by which they are the fen countries, are let to the fowlers filled with water, the fowlers place their at a rent of from five to thirty pounds funnel nets : from these, the ditch is per annum; and Pennant instances a

} covered by a continual arch of netting, season, in which 31,200 ducks, inclusupported by hoops, to the desired dis- ding teals and wigeons, were sold in tance; and all along both sides, skreens London only, from ten of these decoys, formed of reeds are set up, so as to near Wainfleet in Lincolnshire,

VARIETIES,

W

PITCAIRN'S ISLAND AND CAPT. BLIGH. narrative, he was much affected ; said,

From the Gentleman's Magazine, July 1818. he accompanied him on board the MR. URBAX,

Bounty at Deptford, but he entered in

of ly interested in the short account for the name of Adams not being found rendered of Pitcairn's Island, by Lieu- in the Bounty's list of her crew ; that tenant Shillibeer,* I presuine the few he has a sister living, older than either, lines in addition to this may not be un- who is married to a decent Tradesman acceptable.

at Derby : that he himself has a large Having been informed that John family. I said, “ I sent for you to say, Adams, the last survivor of the Boun- if you will write to your brother in a ty's crew on the Island, had a brother, few days, I think I shall have the I desired to see him : be called on me, means of transmitting it to him ; and is a waterman at Unioo Stairs, wears as you have a large family, will you let the fire coat of the London Assurance, your eldest son go out ?" He thanked and is of course a steady character. me for the offer of sending the letter, On reading to him the Lieutenant's and willingly would have sent his son, * See Atheneum, vol. 2, p. 419.

but an objection would lie with some

From the New Monthly Magazine, August 1818.

THE FATE OF GENIUS.

84 Varieties.

[vol. 4 body else. Now we all know who ter ; we see it the ground-work of evthis somebody else is, and the influence ery good to man. Dolly has on Jobnny Bull.

The letter is gone—and with it several others ; but when I reflect on the surprizing escape of Captain Bligh and his Barge's crew, and of the events that By what a strange fatality a great have followed, I am not surprized that proportion of the writers of antiquity. the whole is a series of interesting cir- were prematurely cut off from existcumstances.

ence. ---Menander was drowned in the Adams's brother proceeded to say, harbour of Piræus, at a time of life when “ We are natives of Hackney, and he had done enough for immortality, but were left orphans, being brought up while the powers of his mind were yet in the poor house." Here it was, then, unimpaired by age, and his genius suffithat they were taught the first princi- ciently ardent to do stillinore. Euripides ples of our holy religion ; here they and Heraclitus were torn to pieces by learned, what it appears Adams in due dogs. Theocritus ended his career by time recollected, the Catechism he had the halter. Empedocles was lost in the been taught to repeat, that excellent crater of Mount Etna.

Hesiod was Catechism which every child should be murdered by bis secret enemies : Architaught also to say ;-and although we lochus and I bycus by banditti. Sappho have been in the present day wondrous threw herself

from a precipice. Æschywise in giving surprisingly quick in. lus perished by the fall of a tortoise. struction to children, yet, i must con- Anacreon (as was to be expected) owed fess, I cannot but feel partial to those his death to the fruit of the vine. Craold-fashioned habits, where the ground- tinus and Terence experienced the same work must have been carefully, atten- fate with Menander ; Seneca and Lutively, and progressively laid. car, were condemned to death by a ty

Another observation I beg to sub- rant, cut their veins, and died repeating mit to your readers, that Adams adopt their own verses ; and Petronius Ar ed and inculcated from that sublime and biter met a similar catastrophe. Luadmirable introduction to our service, cretius, it is said, wrote under the deone of the sentences, and that one the lirium of a philter administered by his most affecting and impressive. No mistress, and destroyed himself from its doubt, in his childhood, he was obliged effects. Poison, though swallowed unto attend with the other children of the der very

different circumstances, cut poor, in this place at church : here then short the days both of Socrates and we may date the impression that was Demosthenes ; and Cicero fell under made, and which, when he came again the proseription of the Triumvirate. to reflect seriously, occurred with full It is truly wonderful that so many men, force on his mind. And permit me to the professed votaries of peace ask those who are in the babit of attend- tirement, should have met with fates so ing public worship in due time, what widely different from that to which the is the impression on our minds, after common casualties of life should seem sitting a few minutes in our Parish to expose them. Church in solemn silence, when the minister begins, and every soul rises, THETHREE EMBLEMS OF UNCERTAINTY. and hears him say : “ I will arise, and In some dull and ill-written letters go to my Father!” When the mind re- by one Wickford, a singular passage Hects on who said it, the occasion, and occurs. Speaking of English politics, our dutiful repetition of it; cold in- and the approach of the Princess from deed must be the heart of him, that England to Holland to espouse William does not glow, with a “ celestial fire.” the Stadtholder, he observes : - but this We

e see the effect in a poor ignorant depends on three things most uncertain, child; we see the benefits arising from viz. the wind, a womun's mind, and a a recollection of those feelings years af- British Parliument !"

and rew

VOL. 4.]

Varieties.

85

The popu

EMULATION.

INSCRIPTION,

Nor ever heart's devoted tide

BOILEAU AND RACINE

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. honours would only have drawn dowA The Jewish doctors report that the vengeance ; but the spirit of the peoTen Commandments were written in ple was not to be totally quenched, such a manner that not one single letter and the actions of this gallant officer more could have had place on the tab- were recorded in all the more secret and lets. It would be well if the laws of safer forms of memorial A pillar in morality were so amply engraved on an open field near Stralsund, bore an the buman heart as to preclude the inscription in German, of which the possibility of immoral thoughts finding following is a translation. an entrance there.

lar attention was too strongly attracted

to it, and it was shortly removed. Aristotle has happily defined emulation to be a certain painful solicitude Who rests this nameless mound beneath, occasioned by there being presented to

Thus rudely pil'd upon the heath?

Naked to winds' and waters' sweep, our notice, and placed within our reach,

Does here some gioomny outcast sleep? in the possession of those who are by

Yet many a footstep, freshly round, nature our fellows, things at once good Marks it as lov'd, as holiest ground! and honourable; not because they be- Stranger ! this mound is all the grave long to thein, but because they do not

Of one who liv'd--as live the brave; also belong to us. In modern practi

More nobly pour'd than when he did :cal systems of education, emulation is Stranger! no stone might dare to tell generally made the main spring, as if His name, who on this red spot fell ! there were not enough of the leaven of These steps are steps of German men,

Who, when the Tyrant's in his den, disquietude in our natures without in

Come crowding round, with midnight tread, oculating it with this dilutement. Em

To vow their vengeance o'er the dead ;ulation, by creating contention and en- Dead? no! that spirit's lighting still.. vy, is a stimulant to the heart rather Soldier ! thou seest the grave of Schill! than the talents; and the effect of such a stimulant is commonly to cramp

and Praise no person's verses but their dwarf the human mind : even allowing own. They assume the character of it all the success which has injudicious- universal critics, and not a ballad esly been ascribed to it, it will but pur- capes their censure. Their powers of chase a little knowledge at the expense versification are good, but their erudiof virtue!

tion very superficial. CHARACTERISTIC TRAITS.

Boileau fancied he possessed a secret Every nation has its traits : the worth knowing in the composition of Spaniard sleeps on every affair of im- poetry ; he always made the second portance ; the Italians fiddle upon eve- line of his couplet before the first, in ry thing; the Germans smoke upon order, as he said, to infuse greater enerevery thing; the French promise every gy and compression by coufining the thing and do nothing: the British isi- sense to narrow limits. It is, perhaps, anders eat upon every thing ; and the the adoption of this plan which has windy subjects of American colocracy given such epigrammatic turns to many talk upon every thing!

passages in his writings.

NATURAL HISTORYWHALES, The exploits of the combined armies Extract of a letter from Stornaway, dated in the campaign of 1814 and 15, have June 22,1818 :---"I had a very fine sight here

yesterday afternoon. No fewer than 209 naturally thrown into the sbade the whales, called the bottle-nose, came into this services to which Germany owed her harbour, when a desperate battle ensued be fame in former wars, and might have, armed with axes, swords, and knives, so that

tween tliem and the inhabitants of the place, under a wiser conduct, owed her inde- I suppose very few of those extraordinary pendence ; but the memory of Schill visitors escaped. I measured some of them is still bonoured as that of the most dis- circumference.”---An immevse schoal of

this morning, above 20 feet long by 15 feet in tinguished and gallant partizan that all Finners, very large whales, have also appear

Are these phenothose wars produced. As he died un

mena connected with the disruption of the der the reign of Buonaparte, all public Greenland ices ?---Gent. Mag.

MAJOR SCHILL.

ed in these northern seas.

Original Poetry.

POETRY.

vol. 4.]

Original Poetry

87

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66

young,

Through".-it is flown--it sails

Made tigers waltz, and breath'd soft airs
In sunbeams all serene,

To dying swans and dancing bears :
In azure fields of air

But bland in pow'r, the “heav'nly maid”
Beyond this stormy scene !

Gives to her noblest rival aid :---
Our watchword and our sign,

Expell’d from rout, “ at home,” and balle
“Through,' brothers, “Through,' shall be Permitted scarce a morning call,
To lead us from the field,

To Music's feast, with joyful hums,
By death to victory !

The exile Conversation comes;

When gas and ladies' eyes illume
Leave earth to vulgar souls,
Heroes must look on high ;

The glories of the Concert-room--
No clods encumber them,

'Tis done---the final crash astounds---
Their path is on the sky !

The thund'ring orchestra resounds,
They head the burning clouds,

Triumphant Music rends the spheres,
The lightnings blaze below---

And conquers all but tongues and ears,
“ Through !” Ties their lovely land---
Above---their laurels grow ! C.R.

In Education's vast Bazaars,
What harps, pianos, and guitars,
Crowd the gay booths by Fashion made
The trinket-shops of every trade!

Imperial on the motley mound
From the European Magazine.

Of toys and tools, sits Music crown'd,
THE PROGRESS OF MUSIC.

Midst cobbling, chalking, hydrostatics,

Pas-seuls, poetics, and pneumatics, [By the author of " Legends of Lampidesa, &c.”] From card-racks, oyster-shells, and awls, N

The nymphs of Fashion's school she calls, The dulcet Virginal she strung,

Such nymphs as once on Thracian ground When stiff in carkanet and caul,

Whirl'd frighted Orpheus round and round,

Then laugh'd to see the minstrel stare,
The spinster of the good old hall,

Who ne'er before saw Walt-ing there,
In pagan shapes erected high
The outworks of the vast goose-pye,

Still triumph, Music !---still renew
While chines of ox and flanks of deer Thy ancient spells and empire due;
Smoked her carousing Sire to cheer ;

Teach brutes the graces, and create
Then in her lattic'd bow'r content,

A soul in things inanimate.
O’er lawn or tapestry she bent,

As sprigs and stones and wood-nymphs danc'd
Or stroll'd through alleys straight and dim, When Orpheus with his iure advanc'd,
'Midst shaven yews and statues grim ;

Now senseless stones in quiet leave,
And if no giant folio told

But nobler miracles achieve :
Of dwarfs and dames and barons old, Bid waltzing nymphs stand still, and then
The soft low-whisp’ring virgipal

Change bowing sprigs to Englishunen.
Came last her drowsy eve to lull.
In coif and bib the grandam yet

From the Literary Panorama, July 1818.
Remembers her long-lost Spinnet,

A WISH.
Where first in hoop and flounce array'd,
Thrice ruffled sleeve and bright brocade,

LINE be the Abbey's wild retreat,
Erect she sat,---'till bows and smiles
Repaid the wonderous gavot's toils,

Where grass should form a verdant seat,
While fresh in pompadour and love,

And field flowers bloom their sceuted pride.
Lac'd bat, wir'd coat, and gold fring’d glove, The Abbey---where the armour'd hall
Her squire, with strange delight amaz'd,
Alike her tune and tent-stitch prais’d.

Should own the painted windows light;

The oak-grown walk where rooks should call,
Rejected Harpsichord !---with thee Returning from their evening fight.
I celebrate my jubilee ;

The river, Jost among the trees;
Full tifty years thy sturdy frame

The torrent rushing down the steep ;
Has been in heart and speech the same:

Groves, where the Summer's sighing breeze
Concise and sharp, but bold and clear

In moonlight night might tempt to sleep. As ancient wit and speech sincere,

There, through the lawny path I'd rove,
Bland emblem too of joy and grief,

Pausing to catch the vista's gleain,
As keen, as varied, and as brief!

Led by the valued youth I love,
How many tears in childhood shed

Or watch the sun's expiring beam.
Have fall'o forgotten on thy head !
How oft returning Pleasure's ray,

Oft on his arm I'd raoge the wood;
Those April drops exhald away!

Or lonely iu the park I'd read;
True type of time !---of joys or cares

Or frequent seek the shaded flock;
Thy polish'd brow no record bears;

Rousing the young deer with my tread.
Yet thou art lov'd, for thou alone

Apd as the moon, in Autump's night,
Art here when youth and mirth are gone ; Silvered the fallen leaves, aod cast
And thu’ungrateful Fashion's doom

Along our path a track of light,
Copsigns thee to a garret’s gloom,

We'd roam, nor fear the howling blast,
Like me, with worn-out tougue and quill--- The leafless trees---the thick strewn path---
Rare servant !---thou shalt serve me still: Mav call unchecker! the thinking sigla
Tby coat the poet's hearth shall cheer, And the loud wind's destructive wrath
And deck bis solitary bier.

May warn us that we both must die !
Now Taste is older, and the reign

But, then !--the rolling orb above,
Of mighty Music comes again,

Aud starry concave, would proclaim
As when in bold Arion's day

That other worlds should see our love,
She taught strange fish a roundelay.-- Aud sanctify the glorious dame !

wide,