Anecdotes of Franklin.

21

ANOTHER.

Edible Birds' Nests.

22

....

be some species of animal substance,
which is frequently found on the beach;
while the Author of the account of
the Embassy to China, believes that
the nests are formed of the remnants
of the food of the swallows, which
consists of insects; and he affirms,
that this bird is occupied in building
two whole months.
But it appears
most credible, that the mucilaginous
substance of which these nests are
formed, is an animal elaboration; and
not, as is generally supposed, obtained
from the ocean.

In the middle of the last century, when some doubts were expressed as to the propriety of erecting a new episcopal church in Philadelphia, Dr. Franklin delivered an opinion upon it in his characteristic manner. To build a new church in a growing place,' said he, is not properly dividing, but multiplying, and will really be a means of increasing the number of those who worship God in that way. Many who cannot now be accommodated in the church, go to other places, or stay at home; and if we had another church, many who go to other places, or stay at home, would go to church. I had for several years, nailed against the wall of my house, a pigeon-box that would hold six pair: and though they bred as fast as my neighbour's pigeons, I never had more than six pair, the old and strong driving out the young and weak, and obliging them to seek new habitations. At length, I put up an additional box, with apartments for entertaining twelve pair more, and it was soon filled with inhabitants by the overflowing of my first box, and of others in the neigh-valuable. The white sort (says Marsbourhood. This I take to be a parallel case with the building of a church here.'

Edible Birds' Nests.

MR. EDITOR,

On the dissection of one of these birds by Sir E. Home, he discovered a set of secretory organs peculiar to itself, by which there is little doubt the mucilaginous matter of these nests is elaborated. The nests adhere to each other, and to the rock on which they are built. Their size is that of a goose's egg, and of a semicircular form. When dressed, they dissolve into a kind of jelly, of which the flavour is said to be peculiarly delicious. They are distinguished into two kinds, of which the one is white, and the other black, the former being considerably the more

den) sells in China at the rate of 1000 or 1500 Spanish dollars the pekul; the black is usually disposed of at Batavia, for 20 dollars the same weight, where it is chiefly converted into glue, of which it makes a very superior kind. The difference between the two, has

SIR,-If you should think the follow-by some been supposed to be owing ing account of the Edible Bird's Nest, of sufficient importance for your pages, I shall be glad to see it inserted. Sir, yours, &c.

Edinburgh, 12th Nov. 1820.

D. P.

to the mixture of the feathers of the birds with the viscous substance of which the nests are formed, and this they deduce from the experiment of steeping the black nests for a short time in hot water, when they are said to become, in a great degree, white. Among the natives, I have heard some few assert, that they are the work of a different species of bird. It was suggested to me, that the white might probably be the recent nests in which they were taken, and the black such as had been used for a number of years successively. This opinion appearing plausible, I was particular in my inquiries as to that point, and I learnt what seemed much to corroborate it. When the natives prepare to take the nests, they enter into the caves with torches; and, forming ladders, according to the usual mode, (of a single bamboo notched,) they ascend, and pull down

23

The Moralizer.-No. 4.

the nests, which adhere in numbers
together firm to the side and top of
the rock. They informed me, that
the more frequently and regularly the
cave is stripped, the greater propor-
tion of white nests they are sure to
find, and that on this experience they
often make a practice of beating
down and destroying the old nests, in
larger quantities than they trouble
themselves to carry away, in order
that they may find white nests next
season in their room. The birds dur-
ing the building time, are seen in
large flocks on the beach, collecting
in their bills the foam which is thrown
up by the surf, of which there is little
doubt that they construct their nests,
after it has undergone, perhaps, a pre-
paration from a commixture with
their saliva, or other secretion with
which nature has provided them for
that purpose.
This little bird fre-
quenting the caverns and rocks of
Java, furnish an article of commerce,
the annual value of which exceeds
half a million of Spanish dollars.

24

and consequently less remarkable, this sensation invariably abates. Thus we find those offenders who are most familiar with vice, to be least susceptible of shame. Encouragement wipes the conscious blush of remorse from the cheek of emboldened impiety; attention ceases to be attracted by a repetition of crimes, which have lost the recommendation of novelty; vice appears less disgusting the more freely it is practised; successful iniquity banishes the timidity of apprehension; and the breast of the sinner is made impervious to any principles, but those of audacious impiety. In all civilized communities immoral practices are discountenanced, as well by the instituted laws of that community, as by the general example of its best members; and this circumstance imposes on the practical advocates of infidelity, the necessity of concealing their sentiments, and disguising their purposes. Nor is this the only consideration which arrays them in the specious mask of dissimulation. There are few but would be shocked by the glaring deformities, which a display of such characters must exhibit. Multitudes who would survey the unveiled disclosure of so monstrous an anomaly with feelings of aversion and ridicule, and regard it either as the result of pride or the evidence of imbecility, are the first to be inveigled in the toils of sophistry, and sacrificed at the shrine of atheism. Thus has the odious form of vice been concealed under the spotless garb of truth, and Satan himself been transformed into an angel of light. The ignorant and delusion, have embraced the alluring unwary have surveyed the pleasing phantom, and have either been converted into professed profligates, or have assumed the appearance of virtue, and have, in their turn, beguiled thousands of their unfortunate admirers into the paths of destruction and death. But there is an eye which And in reference to their appear-sible, and which moves through mazes penetrates professions the most plauance, when drawn from their retreat,

THE MORALIZER.-No. 4.
Saturday, October 7th, 1820.

Dissimulare etiam sperasti, perfide, tantum Posse nefas? VIRGIL. It has always been an invariable, though tacit, argument against vice, that it is naturally solicitous of concealment, and that its connection with the sensation of shame, is an establish

ed evidence of its essential and radical turpitude. Milton has well described the behaviour of our primogenitors, after the original transgression, on the approach of their Judge

"The voice of God they heard, "Now walking in the garden, by soft winds Brought to their ears, while day declined; they heard, "And from his presence hid themselves among

"The thickest trees

he adds

"Love was not in their looks, either to God "Or to each other; but apparent guilt,

“And shame, and perturbation, and despair." The feeling of shame, however, will be found to be exclusively the result of singularity; hence, in proportion as depravity becomes more common,

the most mysterious; in consulting which, iniquity cannot triumph, and innocence need not fear: by whose deciously punished than secret treachery, sion open hostility shall be less rigorwhen death shall tear from the pale visage of the trembling offender, the delusive vizard, expose on his forehead the mark of the beast, and

25

The Moralizer.-No. 4.

usher him into futurity, with a ten-posed rarities.

fold weight of guilt on his accursed
head.

"Nam veræ voces tum demum pectore ab imo
· Eliciuntur; et eripitur persona, mane tres.”

86

Will. Legume was the only son of parents, whose information and whose circumstances contributed to furnish him with a liberal education. His father occupied two conspicuous offices, being at the same time clerk and collector of the taxes in the parish where he resided. He was a man of considerable intelligence, and unusual sobriety; having been heard to swear but once, and that when he was interrupted in an attempt to demonstrate his affinity to Susanna, wife of *** ****, parish-clerk, whose memoirs, written by himself, have been perused with so much interest, in the works of A. Pope, Esq. His son William, by a voice naturally good, and a disposition unusually facetious, became the favourite of the squire, who, before his hopeful client had seen seventeen summers, sent him with a recommendatory letter to the manager of one of the London theatres. Elate with expectation, and glowing with gratitude, Will. repaired to the metropolis; and was not a little mortified, on his arrival, at missing his credentials. Pride prohibited his return; whilst emulation encouraged his stay; and in the prosecution of a scheme, with the success of which he had identified all his hopes of satisfaction and comfort, he resolved that personal negligence should not constitute the cause of his disappointment. But in vain was his attendance regular, and his address respectful. After fruitless solicitations, and repeated delays, he resigned all hope of obtaining a situation, for which he had anxiously applied, and on which he had confidently calculated. In the orchestra of a neighbouring church, where he occupied a weekly station, the propriety of his behaviour, and the melody of his voice, introduced him to the notice, and eventually into the service, of a childless widower; whose foibles he so artfully flattered, and whose affections he so fully won, as to be appointed one of his executors on the death of his master, with a legacy of £300. He now commenced trade, rose early, lived frugally, dressed neatly; printed cards, bowed to customers, and exNo. 23.-VOL. III.

26

His attention was re

warded, and his credit increased. In
twelve months he doubled his capital;
and in nine successive years, found
himself in circumstances sufficiently
easy, to justify him in disposing of his
shop and business. He then devoted
his time to reading, and employed his
abilities in investigation. He studied
polemical publications, and discoursed
on controverted points; read Hobbes's
Leviathan with admiration, was en-
raptured with the sentiments of Hume's
History and Essays, and could repeat
more than one fourth of Creech's Lu-
cretius. The fund of argument with
which these obnoxious productions
had supplied him, was not designed
for concealment. He regularly fre-
quented a coffee-house, and daily
made proselytes. His advocates at
length became so numerous, and his
sentiments so notorious, that he quitted
his accustomed rendezvous, and formed
a club at another end of the town, of
which he was constituted the presi-
dent. Here infidelity usurped the
power of reason; and atheism was
invested with the ensigns of virtue.
Scepticism was denominated unpreju-
diced inquiry; and Christianity sub-
jected to senseless derision.
surest road to the esteem of these un-
hallowed deriders of sacred subjects,
was an unsolicited insult on the scrip-
tures, or an indirect sarcasm on reli-
gion,—

The

Quem dixére chaos, rudis indigestaque moles.

But Will. to his mortification, soon perceived his principles utterly incapable, either of imparting moral excellence, or of ensuring uninterrupted prosperity. In the short space of three years, he saw two of his associates transported for felony, two lodged in the Fleet for debt, and one hung for forgery. After the execution of this unhappy miscreant, he evidently became the subject of much mental dejection; was often alone, and seldom accessible. At length his total confinement to his apartment, during the course of a great part of the morning, excited alarming apprehensions. No reply was made to loud and reiterated applications for admission: at length the door was burst open, and the unfortunate champion of specious infidelity, was found stretched on the sofa, an inanimate corpse. On the table was a bottle of laudaC

27

Shocking Instance of Cannibalism in New Zealand.

num, and a slip of paper, with this sentence in his own hand-writing:

Hic jacet

GULIELMUS LEGUNE;

qui, si modò quantum sibi consuluit, Deum coluisset, nunquam in extremo fato ita destitutus esset.

SHOCKING INSTANCE OF CANNIBALISM,

IN NEW ZEALAND.

ALTHOUGH We copy the following article from the Literary Gazette, we have been in possession of the melancholy fact upwards of three months. This horrible tale was told, at the late Methodist Conference held in Liverpool, by Mr. Samuel Leigh, a Wesleyan Missionary, who at that time had lately returned to England from New Zealand, &c.

Our readiness to comply with a request which was then made to us, not to give immediate publicity to the relation, furnishes the reason why we did not at that time insert this, and several anecdotes of a similar description and character, in the pages of the Imperial Magazine. Its public appearance, however, having rendered the request inefficacious on the part of those who solicited, cancels, we conceive, the obligation on ours. We state these circumstances, that the parties concerned may not think we have treated their request with disrespect.

an axe.

28

savage-looking man, of gigantic stature, entirely naked, and armed with Mr. Leigh, though somewhat intimidated, manifested no symptoms lad. The cook, for such was the ocof fear, but boldly demanded to see the cupation of this terrific monster, then held him up by his feet. He appeared to be about fourteen years of age, and was about half roasted. Mr. Leigh returned to the village, where he found several hundreds of the natives seated in a circle, with a quantity of coomery (a sort of sweet potatoe) before them, and waiting for the roasted body of the youth. In this company were shewn to him the parents of the child, expecting to share in the horrid feast. After reasoning with them for about half an hour on the inhumanity and wickedness of their conduct, he prevailed on them to give up the boy to be interred, and thus prevented them from consummating the most cruel, unnatural, and diabolical act, of which human nature is capable."

Mr. Leigh, on rescuing the body from their hands, found, on examination, that it was in a mutilated state; it having no head, and only one arm. He then informed the savages, that he must have the absent parts, especially the head, as the body was 64 no good without the head." Finding him both resolute and persevering, they, after some time, reluctantly procured the head, and gave it up. Having ob

"ONE day, while Mr. Leigh was walk-tained this, he then urged similar ining on the beach, conversing with a quiries respecting the arm, and insistnative chief, his attention was arrested ed on having it restored. This, they by a great number of people on a neigh- soon gave him to understand, was imbouring-hill. He inquired the cause of possible; and on being pressed closely such a concourse, and being told that on the ground of the asserted imposthey were roasting a lad, and had as-sibility, they put their fingers to their sembled to eat him, he immediately open months, to signify that this part proceeded to the place, in order to as- had been already eaten. With regard certain the truth of this appalling rela- to the intestines, we do not recollect tion. Having arrived at the village that Mr. Leigh made any particular where the people were collected, he remark. asked to see the boy. The natives appeared much agitated at his presence, and particularly at his request, as if conscious of their guilt; and it was only after a very urgent solicitation that they directed him towards a large fire at some distance, where they said he would find him. As he was going to this place, he passed by the bloody spot on which the head of this unhappy victim had been cut off; and on approaching the fire, he was not a little startled at the sudden appearance of a

It furthermore appears, from the account given by Mr. Leigh, that with these horrid repasts the barbarians of New Zealand were but too well acquainted. They had so far polished cannibalism into refinement, that they could distinguish the most delicate portion in the human body, from the parts which were less palatable to the savage epicure. They informed him, that the most delicious morsel was a particular part of the arm, to which they directed his attention.