Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

I called on my publisher, endeavoured to expostulate, and begged him to retract his assertions. He smiled at my reproaches would not believe in my dissatisfaction, and assured me, with his hand upon his heart, that I was the most fortunate writer" that had appeared within his remembrance.

Thus far, then have I proceeded in my progress to bliss. My fortune is going-my nose is on one side-I have nobody to love-my friends cut me, and I am still universally reckoned the happiest fellow alive!-New Monthly Mag.

The Gatherer.

A snapper up of unconsidered trifles.
SHAKSPEARE.

HANDSOME REWARD.

A CLERGYMAN in the West, who had unfortunately quarrelled with his parishioners, had the misfortune to have a shirt stolen from the hedge where it hung to dry, and he posted handbills offering a reward for the discovery of the offender. Next morning was written at the foot of the copy posted against the church door :

Some thief has stolen the parson's shirt,

To skin naught could be nearer ; The parish will give five hundred pounds To him that steals the wearer

PRAYERS.

IN Flacourt's History of Madagascar is the following sublime prayer, said to be used by the people we call savages :—

"O Eternal! have mercy upon me, because I am passing away. O Infinite, because I am but a speck. O Most Mighty because I am weak. O Source of Life! because I draw nigh to the grave. O Omniscient! because I am in darkness. O All-bounteous! because I am poor. O All-sufficient! because I am nothing." W. C. R. R.

SILENCE.

LYCURGUS ordered no discourse to be current which did not contain in few words a great deal of useful and weighty sense; for in this concise way of speaking is something that flies level to the mark, and does more execution than a whole volley of words shot at random; for silence and premeditation hath such a presence and quickness of mind as to give surprising answers. Lycurgus gave this answer to one, who by all means would have a popular government in Lacedemon: "begin friend and make a

trial in thy own family." King Charilaus being asked why his uncle Lycurgus made so few laws, answered, to men of few words few laws are sufficient. One blamed Heraclitus the orator because that being invited to a feast he had not spoke one word all supper time: Archidamus answered in his vindication," he who can speak well, knows when to speak too."

ORIGIN OF THE TITLE MARQUESS.

MARCHIO a Marquess, was first so called from the government of Marches and Frontier Countries. Such were the Marches of Wales and Scotland, while each continued to be an enemy's country. In Germany they are called Marcgraves. Marquess is originally a French title. The first time we hear of Mar, quesses, Marchioness, is under Charlemagne, who created governors in Gascony under this denomination. first that was so created in England (says Chamberlayne) was Robert Vere, Earl of Oxford, made Marquess of Dublin by Richard II. in the eighth year of P. T. W. his reign.

A METAPHOR.

The

ONE of the morning papers, in a character of the late King, says, "the kind substratum of his disposition remained unchanged." The same writer would doubtless call a fit of passion a volcano, and uneven tempers geological changes. Perhaps he thought of Addison comparing the human mind to a block of marble. It would be difficult to deter

mine for what class of readers such fine writing is intended.

FLATTERY corrupts both the receiver and the giver, and adulation is not of more service to the people than to kings. Burke.

THE LATE KING.

No. 437 CONTAINS

The Last Moments of George the Fourth,

With an Engraving of the Bedchamber in which His Majesty died.

With the present Number are published, Nos. 438 and 439, containing A MEMOIR

OF THE

Life and Reign of George XV.

WITH A PORTRAIT..

Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143. Strand, (near Somerset House,) London; sold by ERNEST Fleischer, 626, New Market, Leipsic; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers.

VOL. XVI.

OF

LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.

SATURDAY, JULY 17, 1830.

No. 441.]

F

[PRICE 2d.

[graphic][subsumed]

ALGIERS.

PEOPLE who season their breakfast-table with the eight-and-forty columns (or pounders) of a double Times or Herald newspaper, will readily appreciate the immediate interest of the annexed Engravings. They are, indeed, pictorial illustrations of their most recent dispatches from the seat of war ;" and, although we have not room to portray the savagery of the Algerines, a brief description of their city will be entertaining to the reader† :—

Algiers is the well known capital of a powerful African kingdom, comprehending the richest portion of ancient Numidia; and its particular site has been held, but on very vague pretensions, to be that of Jol- Cæsarea. It stands, in a cove, on the west side of an extensive bay, compactly rising from the margin of the sea, like the section of a vast amphitheatre; and the effect of its snow-white houses, as contrasted with the beautiful foliage of the romantic hills around, is one of singular interest. The Regency, of which it is the metropolis, extends from the river Mulua on the west, to La Cala on the east, forming a coast line on the north of more than five hundred miles, while to the south it is bounded by the torrid Zahara, in breadths varying from fifty to one hundred miles, and forming one of the fairest portions of the globe. But the "gentle sway" of the Dey of Algiers has not reduced all parts of this tract to obedience: various Nomadic

tribes of Arabs remain refractory to his edicts; and the independent Kabyles of the Sebba Rous, especially the fierce Zwowa families, hold him in contempt. The whole district is finely diversified with mountains and valleys; and under a government which would foster arts, manufactures, and science, is well capable of increasing both its population and

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

age is excellent, although the water is deep; and the bottom being a stiff black mud, is so good, that the anchors are shortly buried, and unless often sighted, occasion much laborious trouble in the purchase. If the ground tackle be good no vessel is likely to drive; but she may founder at her anchors, for the sea which tumbles in with northerly gales is so prodigious, that I hold it almost impossible to ride out a heavy winter's north-easter. Indeed, in the harbour so violent a swell hurries round the mole-head, that unless

ships are well moored, they are certain of breaking adrift; and the Algerines seem to take especial care to secure them, if the absurdity of three or four cables on each bow, and as many on the quarters, will effect it. The danger arising from the heavy waves "rolling home," is a consequence of the abruptness of the coast, for from about twentyfive fathoms depth at the anchorage, it falls to one hundred and twenty just outside it; and at four miles in the offing, I gained no bottom with 650

fathoms of line.

The bay of Algiers has often been the salvation of the town from its enemies,as was the case when the Spanish squadron, under Don Diego de Vera, was destroyed, in May, 1517. Two years afterwards, Moncada's fleet was shattered and dispersed by a furious easterly gale; and in October, 1541, the powerful armada of Charles the Fifth, commanded by Doria himself, sacrificed fifteen ships-of-war, one hundred and forty transports, and eight thousand men, to the rage of the elements. On the last occasion, the Algerines attributed their deliverance to the efficacious supplications of the holy Sîdî Utica ; and after his death, the marabuts persuaded the populace, that a similar storm might be produced, on gency, by merely striking the sea with one of his sacred bones;-it is not un

emer

likely but that they will resort to the experiment in their present dilemma.

The climate is temperate, and tolerably equal. Easterly winds are the most prevalent during the summer months, but those from west to north bring the finest weather. The south winds are oppressive, and the easterly ones loaded with vapour; the land ones, from May till October, generally set off in the evening, and continue until late in the morning; and the harder it blows in the offing from any particular quarter, the fresher will be the land-breeze. All the winds are violent at the equinoxes; but the most destructive storms have happened a few days before or after

the time called by them Al Aàsom, which is from the 25th of February to the 3rd of March; and the sapient Moors dislike going to sea for a fortnight before this period commences, lest they should encounter a preternatural brass galley, which delights in running vessels down!

The town is surrounded by towered walls, upwards of thirty feet in height, and twelve or fourteen feet in thickness: they are built of brick, on a substructure of stone, without faussbraye or outworks; and around them is a dry, shallow ditch, with a dwarf wall on the counterscarp. The S.W. part terminates in a kasibba, or citadel, an octangular edifice on the most elevated spot within the walls, and separated from the houses by a deep moat. The streets are wretchedly narrow: indeed, with the exception of that trending from the Bab-Azoona to the Bab-Alowetta, they are mere lanes. The houses are square, with galleries supported on columns, enclosing a courtyard in the centre, whence light and air are derived, for there are no windows outwards. The roofs are all flat, with the angles terminated by ornamental chimneys; and as the whole is annually whitewashed, the aspect of Algiers is singular and grand. There are six gates, but no public squares of any extent. The chief buildings consist of mosques, bagnios, kasseria (barracks), and the Dey's palace, the latter being in the centre of the city, with a tolerable front of two well-constructed arcades of marble pillars; but the audience hall and courts are exceedingly plain. There are several fountains for the use of the people, copiously supplied from two aqueducts, for which they are obliged to Moassa, one of the Moors expelled from Spain: these might easily be destroyed by a besieger, but as every house is provided with a reservoir, in which rain-water is preserved, it would not occasion much distress.

The city was formerly called Musgunna, by the Moors, from one of their early princes, but was afterwards named, says Leo, Gezeir, "because it lieth near the isles of Minorca, Majorca, and Iviza." This explanation, however, is rather in the spirit of the similitude between Macedon and Monmouth, for there cannot be a question that its present Arabic name was derived from the rocky islet before the town; and the appellation of Al Jezeirat el Gazzi, or "Algiers the warlike," has obtained from the time of Heyradin Barbarossa. The Spaniards of that day differed widely in military energy from those of the present, and

with consummate bravery had constructed a fort on the islet, which, with a garrison of two hundred men, tormented and intimidated Algiers for a period of fifteen years. It fell, however, to the fortunes of Heyradin, after an incessant cannonade of a fortnight, and the heroic governor was carried, desperately wounded, into the town, where he was shortly afterwards bastonaded to death. To prevent the future occupation of such a spot by an enemy, and to form a haven for his galleys, were now the objects of the conqueror. Three years of severe and sorrowful labour, wrung from Christian captives, enabled him to connect the Sit al Kolet, or light-house rock, and the Rab al Bakka, or molehead, with the town, by a pier of extraordinary thickness, and massive construction; and this, by enclosing an area of about ten acres, forms the small and insecure port whence the shores of Europe have been so long insulted. The light-house is separated from the mole by a narrow ditch, over which is a wooden bridge, enfiladed by ten guns. Successive tiers of batteries, rising in formidable array, like the sides of a gigantic three-decker, envelope the edifice; and a tolerably good lantern crowns the summit, at the height of about one hundred and thirty feet above the level of the sea.

The country around Algiers is picturesquely studded with neat villas and gardens, amidst groves of olive-trees and evergreens. In this temperate and delightful region, the soil, where tilled, vies with that of any part of the world; and a rich profusion of exquisite grapes, melons, and other fruits, attests its capability. The eastern side of the bay forms a contrast, for on crossing the river Haratch, neither houses nor plantations cheer the prospect. The adjacent low grounds are well cultivated; and beyond the hills which bound them is the beautiful plain of Mutijah, emphatically termed the garden of Algiers, presenting to the eye a succession of Masserie, or farms, over an extent of forty miles in length, by about fifteen in breadth. This plain, being watered by many springs and rivulets, is exuberantly productive; and besides barley, wheat, rice, maize, henna, flax, and fruit, it yields large quantities of drah, a kind of millet, esteemed as being extremely nutritious for cattle. The agricultural process is primitive and simple; the harvest usually commences at the end of May, and the stubble is burnt before the autumnal rains set in; threshing is performed by the tread of horses.

[merged small][graphic][subsumed]

[This additional Cut will better explain the beautiful form of the Bay. The point of view is from the heights of Cape Caxines, and exhibits the outworks and fortifications of the town.]

The population of the city of Algiers is about eighty-five thousand souls, of whom not more than six thousand are Osmanli; there is a similar number of Jews, and the remainder consists mostly of the native Moors. The very few Franks who arrive, are hardly to be put into the estimate, because they are not permanent; for so turbulent is the aristocracy, and so irregular its exactions, that scarcely any strangers visit the place, except for temporary political or commercial purposes. The English were amongst the earliest foreigners respected by the state, and a John Tupton was appointed consul in 1582, being the first who bore that office abroad. Yet few of our merchants have chosen to reside there, although a brisk traffic in corn, wax, wool, hides, dates, oil, linen, silk, and ostrich feathers, invited them. The French managed much better, and realized great profits by understanding where, how, and when to apply the usanza, as they delicately term the bribe

of business.

[blocks in formation]

THE Earl of Pembroke assumed the regency of Henry III. who was only nine years old.

A guardian and councils of regency were named for Edward III. by the parliament, which deposed his father, the young king being then fifteen, and not assuming the government till three years after.

When Richard II. succeeded, at the age of eleven years, the Duke of Lancaster took upon him the management of the kingdom till the parliament met, which appointed a nominal council to

assist him.

Henry V. on his death-bed named a regent and a guardian for his infant son, Henry VI. then nine months old; but the parliament altered his disposition, and appointed a protector and council, with a special limited authority.

Edward V. at the age of thirteen, was recommended by his father to the care of the Duke of Gloucester, who was declared protector by the privy council.

The statutes of Henry VIII. provided, that the successor -- if a male, under eighteen, or if a female, and under sixteen-should be, till such age, in the governance of his or her natural mother (if approved by the King), and such other councillors as his Majesty should by will, or otherwise, appoint; and he accordingly appointed his sixteen executors to have the government of

« НазадПродовжити »