Слике страница
PDF
ePub

Prevention of Small Pox.....Winter Scenes on the Wye.

Rhode Island, in North America. To this inftance, I fhall add fome facts, which have fallen under my own immediate cognizance, during a temporary fojourn in France, and which prove, in my humble opinion, the practicability of a preventative fyftem. The department of the Cote d'Or, contains a commune, ifolated as it were, from the rest of the province, by a range of mountains, which of courfe excludes them in a great meafure from all communication with the neighbouring districts. In this commune, the memory of the oldeft inhabitant cannot furnish a fingle inftance of a perfon infected with the fmall pox amongst them. But, then, the inhabitants no fooner are apprized that the fymptoms of this cruel difeafe have ap peared among their neighbours, than they fcrupulously abftain from all intercourfe with them. In Dijon, no fymptoms of the finall. pox had manifefted

343

railing, fo that the tenants of each refpective divifion could fee and converfe with each other, but were kept at such a diftance as to prevent any poffible communication by contact. One of thefe divifions was occupied by children infected with the finall-pox; the other, by a party who were exempt from all variolous taint. Notwithstanding both parties breathed the fame air, and converfed hourly together, none of the children not previously infected, caught the diforder. A ftronger proof, I apprehend, cannot be furnished of the ultimate practicability of totally eradicating this cruel difeafe, by the adoption of a preventive fyftem, fanctioned by the legislature, and converted into an object of national police.

The

For the Monthly Magazine. PHENOMENA of the WYE, during the Winter of 1797-8.

HE enchanting beauties of the River

Wye, of fuch parts at leaft as lie themselves for a confiderable number of years, when, unfortunately, the wife of between Rofs and Chepstow, are by this an organist and mufic-mafter, refident in time pretty generally known among the that town, received a letter from her lovers of the picturefque. They have fifter, who lived at Aix, informing her acquired a due celebrity from the defcrip-. that he lay dangeroufly ill of the fall tions of GILPIN, and curiofity has been pox. This letter, the mufic-mafter's inflamed by poetry and by profe, by wife kept in her pocket, and not many paintings, prints, and drawings, till days after complained of a violent pain they have been rendered a fubject of uniin her head. A phyfician was immedi- verfal converfation; and an excursion on ately confulted, who, on examining his the Wye has become an effential part of patient, pronounced her illness to be the the education, as it were, of all who affmall-pox; which prognoftication was pire to the reputation of elegance, taste, foon verified. Meanwhile, her husband, and fashion. But artifts in general are a who was in the practice of giving leffons fort of butterfly race-they expand their on the harpsichord, not being willing to wings only in the genial rays of the fun, decreafe his profits by neglecting his when the rofe is in bloom, and zephyrs fcholars during his wife's illnefs, con- play with the foliage of the grove. In tinued to repeat his daily vifits of inftruc- thofe chilling months, when vegetation is tion. In a very short time the contagion at a ftand-when the bleak rock cafts its became general in every family where he long fhadow over fcenes of equal sterility taught; and, from the precincts of the when the rivers are turbid with defcendtown, communicated to the adjacent vil- ing torrents, or locked in icy fetters, and lages; and, in brief, to the district at the mountains are covered with a veil of large; where a confiderable number of fnow, they remain wrapped up in their coperfons fell victims to the virulence of a cons, fhrinking from the blaft, and strandiforder, which, if proper means of pre- gers to the ftern magnificence of Winter. vention had been fpeedily employed, This, in the profeffed artist at least, is would, in all probability, have been con- not very wife. Nature, to be understood, fined to a fingle patient. fhould be ftudied in all her varieties. To know how to cloath her to the best advantage, we muft ftrip her naked. The anatomy, if I may fo exprefs my felf, of woods and hills, is as effential to the landfcape painter, as that of the human form to the hiftorical branch of the art; and the leaflefs grove, the difmantled hill, nay, the very gloom of night itfelf, when nothing is difcernible but the mere outY y

As a farther proof that the progrefs of contagion depends entirely upon the communication by contact, may be adduced the following interefting experiment, made at Paris. In one of the hofpitals of this city, a ward was purpofely fitted up for afcertaining this important point. It was divided into two parts, feparated by a double range of MONTHLY MAG. No. xxxi.

line

[blocks in formation]

line of furrounding mountains, may furnish more important leffons to the obfervant artist, than even the finest pictures of Pouffin and Claud Loraine. With this laft reflection I was particularly impreffed at the latter end of laft Autumn, during a nocturnal walk in the neighbourhood of Builth. The night was dark and comfort lefs-no moon, no ftar in the firmament; and the atmosphere was fo thick with vapours and defcending fhowers, that even the courfe of the river was fcarcely difcernible. In short, nothing was vifible but a fky of moft fullen grey, and one vaft fable mafs of furrounding mountain, skirting on either fide the finuous valley, and prefcribing in every direction the bounds of vifion. Never before was I fo deeply impreffed with the power of mere outline. Here were no diverfities of tint, no varied maffes of light and fhadows: the whole picture confifted of one bold, unbroken, but eternally diverfifying line, and two broad maffes of modified fhade

No light, but rather darkness vifible;" and yet the eye was feafted, and the imagination was filled with mingled impreffions of fublimity and beauty.

[ocr errors]

Neither is it with a view to study only, that thefe diverfities of nature should be confulted: the picturesque of Winter has characteristic charms of its own, with which the generality of artifts feem but little acquainted; but which, neverthelefs, are as worthy of the imitation of the pencil, as the luxuriancy of Summer, or the mellow tints of Autumn. This is diftinguishingly the cafe in rocky and mountainous countries. Where the fcenery, indeed, is more level, and nature deals but little in the great of outline, the gaiety of Spring, the wanton drapery of Summer, or the rich colouring of Autumn, are neceffary to disguise the fame monotony of uninterefting flopes; and the eye fickens at the profpect of leaflefs plantations and level tracts of fnow. But where the permanent parts of the landfcape are well difpofed where the features are bold and prominent, and marked with decifive character-where the wildness of nature is unfubjugated by art-and rocks and mountains, hanging forefts and fudden precipices, deep irriguous vallies and precipitous rivers, dingles, cafcades and headlong torrents mingle in rich diverfity, the charm depends not upon the accidents of tint or decoration: every change of feafon has its correspondent graces, and nakednefs

Sce

itself is but beauty without a veil. nery of this defcription may be compared to thofe fuperior orders of thape and feature which conftitute the perfection of the human form; in which transparent tints and the moft perfect fymmetry are graces of inferior magnitude, and beauty ittelf is the smaller part of loveliness-where the whole countenance beams expreffion, every feature has its animation and character, every line is defcriptive of some kind or elevated paflion, and every glance, every gefture, every motion is eloquent of fympathy and intelligence. Such are the forms that owe not their attractions to the wardrobe-the charms that never cloy-that fade not even in the winter of old age-the fublime of human nature !

Of the character I have defcribed is. the general fcenery in the neighbourhood of the Wye. It abounds with character

In

always picturesque or romantic, and frequently both together. Gardens and pleasure grounds have little to do in the creation of its attractions: diversities of foliage are but fecondary confiderations. Its rocks, its mountains, its dingles, its precipices, conftitute a more permanent and a fuperior charm; and still more the intricate meanders of the river, and the eternal diverfity of its bed and current— here deep, majeftic, flow-there huddling and brawling over a wide expanfe of pebbles-and now again foaming over ragged ftrata of projecting rocks, or eddying round the huge fragments that have rolled from the neighbouring mountains. dry weather this interefting river fhrinks to a comparative rivulet, and the penfive wanderer who faunters by its fide, admiring, through its tranfparent ftream, the fucceffive trata of fand, of gravel, and of rock, over which it flows, has his ear regaled in a few hundred paces with all the varieties of plaintive found, from the fainteft murmurings to the fullen roar. At other times it will fuddenly swell to a boisterous and overwhelming fea; rifing many feet, nay, many yards, in a fingle night, fweeping every thing before it, overwhelming the valleys wherever it finds an opening between the hills, and exhibiting one continued fcene of terrible and tumultuous grandeur. Thefe circumftances produce a charm fo independent of thofe accidents and minuter beauties which conftitute the attraction of less majestic fcenes, that you might even fell every tree, and exterminate every fhrub, without destroying the fublimity, or even the beauty of the fcene: for the river and the mountains would ftill remain, the

The Phenomena of Winter on the Banks of the Wye.

folid features of the landscape would be yet unaltered; and, like the mere sketches and outlines of a fuperior mafter, would command the admiration of every judicious beholder. This being the cafe, it will be readily concluded, that in every feafon of the year, the Wye and the furrounding country have their appropriate

charms.

My firft vifit to these parts was in the middle of Autumn-a feafon, if the weather had been fine, the most favourable of any to the lover of the picturefque; and having feen the country adorned with all the mellow tints of a luxuriant and decaying foliage, it might naturally be expected, that when I afterwards returned, at the latter end of November, I should be fomewhat dissatisfied with the chilling nakedness of Winter. This, however, was fo' far from being the cafe, that I had not been long at my little cottage (fituated on one of the finest curves of this romantic river) before I was convinced that, in fuch a country, Winter has as many varieties as Summer; and that her phenomena, not always lefs beautiful, are certainly more fublime. Heavy falls of fnow, that whitened over the mountains, no fooner began to melt, than the river fwelled to a turbid and boisterous torrent; the rage and awful impetuofity of which cannot be conceived by thofe who are acquainted only with the torpid ferenity of English rivers. The grandeur of this fcene was confiderably heightened by the rains which fucceeded at the clofe of November, and during a confiderable part of the enfuing

month. Such torrents, indeed, as were poured upon us from the clouds, during this feafon, are unprecedented, as far as I can understand, in the memory of man. The effects were proportionate to the

caufe.

The river was repeatedly fwoln, and enraged (twice in particular) to a degree never before remembered, except on the melting of the fevere froft in the month of February 1795: on which occafion, as I understand, was exhibited one of the most tremendous fcenes that ever was beheld. Rails, land-marks, trees innumerable, and even theep and cattle, were borne down by the rapid torrents from the mountains, or whirled away from the meadows and low lands by the infuriated courfe of the river; whole plantations were shattered, and feveral bridges were entirely fwept away. Vaft fhoals of ice, mingling and crashing with the general wreck, increafed the confufion of the fcene, and the din and

[ocr errors]

345

uproar of the torrent; and, in fhort, from the account I have received from my predeceffor in this little farm, (earth quakes and volcanos excepted), a more fublime picture of defolation could hardly be imagined. The inundations of this Winter were not quite fo deftructive in their career. They were not, however, without their fublimity or their terrors; and once in particular, our whole valley feemed threatened, as it were, with an univerfal deluge. Through some of our roads our hories were obliged rather to fwim than to wade; and, though my cot tage ftands higher by feveral yards than the river has ever been known to fwell, even in the most dreadful floods, we were not free from inundation from another quarter: for the water that poured from the mountains, not being able to find sufficient vent through the little dingle that divides my orchard plot, flooded the whole road, fpread itself over the furrounding green, and found its way into all the apartments of the ground floor. At the fame time, a mill that ftands on the Radnorfhire fide of the river, was overwhelmed almost to the very roof, and the inhabitants were obliged to escape to the higher neighbourhood for fafety. In the mean time, the phenomena were very grand; and, wrapped up in a large rough coat, I enjoyed the interefting fcenes from an elevated alcove, which overhangs the river, and commands, at one view, an extenfive reach of its ferpentine meanders above, and a most peculiar and romantic curve below: along the former of which the torrent came pouring in a rapid and majestic courfe, while through the other it huddled along, foaming and dashing and raging against the banks, tumbling from rock to rock with a deafening roar, and whirling, in its impetuous eddies, fragments and limbs and trunks of trees,

which it had torn away in its course. In the mean time, the dim perspective of hill beyond hill, and mountain towering above mountain, in all the varieties of the picturefque and romantic form, the general hazinefs of the atmosphere, the occafional rays of the fun tinging with tranfient glow fome rock or pafture, or hanging wood, and the vast males of heavy vapour failing through the air, completed the fublimity of the scene. Nor is reflection embittered by dwelling upon the confequences of thefe floods: for the ravages they commit are more than compenfated by the good which they diftribute, The wood that is thus born

[ocr errors]

down

[blocks in formation]

down furnishes a fupply of fuel to the
furrounding cottagers; who, on thefe
occafions, plant themselves on the banks
of the river, with hooks in their hands,
mounted upon long poles, and fish for the
logs as they are fwept along. I am cre-
dibly informed that, by means of thefe
heavy floods, and the icicle froft, of
which I am to fpeak hereafter, this fpecies
of log-fifhing has been fo profitable to
the poorer people of the town of Hay,
that there are few of them who are not
by this refource fupplied with a fufficient
quantity of fuel for the confumption of
the whole winter. At the fame time,
wherever the inundation has room to
fpread, a more permanent advantage is
difpenfed to the country at large: a cheap
and invaluable manure is fpread over the
meadows; and encreafing fertility is the
confequence. This advantage, however,
is not without its alloy. Inftead of a
coat of manure, a thick ftratum of peb-
bles and coarfe gravel is fometimes
thrown up by the torrent; and I am in-
formed, that fome meadows belonging
to a farmer in Herefordshire, have been
very materially injured in this manner
during the prefent winter. Circum-
ftances of this kind however are rare;
but the manuring is univerfal; and in
this country, at leaft, where our low lands
are almost uniformly converted into pa-
fture, inundations are always favourable
to the farmer. Nor are our high lands
without their fhare of the benefit: for
the practice of flooding is generally
adopted amongst us, and there is fcarcely
a hill but what, in a wet feafon, may
have its verrows (or fluices) opened
almoft to the very fummit, and be fed
by the fertilizing ftream.
Llyfwen, March 2.

(To be continued.)

For the Monthly Magazine.

J.T.

island, must perceive that this is a mockery. This building has four handfome fronts, all differing a little from each other; the fouth, next the river Liffey, is of Portland stone, in the centre of which is erected a cupola, of very beautiful architecture, terminating upon the top by a finely fculptured figure of commerce leaning upon her bales and her anchor. Every spectator and reader muft agree with me, that this is the most fuperlative job that ever was jobbed, when I relate that this edifice, whose use, intent, and meaning, fhould be a place, or houfe for the collection of taxes, coft above half a million of money: and that more than one half of this building is for no other purpofe than the refidence of the firft and fecond commiffioners of customs, and the two fecretaries in that department; all of whofe apartments have been not only built, but furnished in the most expensive manner: fuch as mahogany doors, large plates of looking glafs, &c. &c. and in fhort, the whole plucked from the public purfe with an audacious and infulting prodigality; and, monftrous as thefe truths muft appear, it is no lefs monftrous than true, that, in order to gratify the inflated ambition of thofe jobbers, many of the offices in this building, neceffary for public utility and convenience, are fo cramped, crowded, and darkened, that one in particular, viz. the ftationary-office, a place filled with paper, &c. has not a gleam of day-light at any time beaming in upon it, but is lighted all the day by a number of burning oil lamps: like a true Irish bull, where there is moft apprehenfion from fire, or candlelight, it is moft to be found. decorum fhould not have expended, at the utmoft, more than 50,00ol. for the building of a custom-house at Dublin, at a time when more than half a million was lavifhed; and fuch a custom-house, &c. &c. as 50,oool. could erect, would be more than adequate to any commerce Dublin can hope to experience, or enjoy, There are many for a century to come. and more abuses attendant upon this waste of public money, which I might animadvert upon, but this is foreign from my purpose.

A TOUR from LONDON to DUBLIN and fome others PARTS of IRELAND; viz. the COUNTIES of KILDARE WICKLOW, made in the SUMMER of

1797.

(Continued from January 1798, page 19.)

Thall mention, is the custom-houfe

HE next public building, which I

of Dublin, an edifice of moft excellent external appearance, and fuch as feems extremely well calculated to answer as an emblem of the firft commercial city in the universe; but alas! unhappy Ireland, the most fuperficial traveller into your

Decent

There is now just finished, another elegant, and, I may fay, a well-conftructed

pile, which contains the courts of public

juftice, or, as has been long the phrafe in Dublin, and not improperly, the FOUR COURTS; as the building contains the courts of chancery, king's bench, common pleas, and exchequer, all opening. into a moft beautiful circular hall, richly

decorated

Tour in Ireland.

decorated by architectural and ftuccoed ornaments, highly picturesque and emblematic of thofe courts of juftice. The hall is covered by a dome, and above that dome rifes a cupola, which, from its defign, forms an external elevation, not only partially beautiful to the building, but generally beautiful to the "tout en femble" of the whole city. This edifice is enriched with fome ftatues, excellently fculptured; the principal of which is a fine figure of Mofes, which stands upon the top of the pediment, over a very chafte and beautiful inverted femi-circular colonnade, or portico, of a fancied order, nearly Corinthian, in the act of difpenfing the law from his book of knowledge. Immediately attached to this building, are all the fubordinate offices dependent upon and belonging to the refpective courts of juftice; but again, as if nothing in this capital was to wear the face of propriety, or confiftency, much lefs of perfection, this noble ftructure is erected within a few feet of the dirtieft and moft filthy part of the river Liffey, upon a piece of the ruined Quay, which is actually like a rotten ditch tumbling piecemeal into the water; and again, an individual of Dublin has brought an ejectment upon the title of the ground upon which the Irish fages of the law have caufed this magnificent ftructure to be erected, and, if I am rightly informed, no question is entertained as to the fuccefs of his fuit.

Trinity college, the univerfity of Dublin, founded by Queen Elizabeth, and governed by a provoft and board of fellows, is well worth the attention of ftrangers it is a fpacious building, neither altogether plain nor gaudy; wherever architecture is introduced, chaftity is preferved. In the interior of this univerfity, two beautiful buildings have lately been erected, each has a portico of columns in the Corinthian order. The one is an amphitheatre for public examinations, in which are fome excellent portraits of literary characters, painted by eminent artists, fome by the late Sir Joshua Reynolds; as alfo a very fine monument to the memory of the late Doctor Baldwin, formerly provoft of this univerfity, executed in Italy, by an Irish fculptor (Hewetfon); it poffeffes much animation, fpirit, and correctnefs: the expence was two thoufand guineas. The other building, which ftands directly oppofite to this, and which is exactly fimilar externally, is a chapel, not yet completely finished in the interior. The li

347

brary is fpacious, grand, and valuable, adorned with many buftos in white marble, of literary characters. There is, in what is called the Anatomy Houfe, which ftands in the park, at the rear of this univerfity, a moft curious and wonderful production of human ingenuity, of no lefs magnitude, labour and fcience, than a cabinet of wax models, large as life, and coloured as in nature, representing all the ftages of woman's womb, from conception to the birth of the child, most exquifitely executed, and long fanctioned by the most able profeffors, as an unri-` valled production of excellence and illuftration. I cannot depart from this feat of learning and fcience, perhaps, not to be claffically or metaphyfically exceeded in Europe, without making an observation, which I declare is not intended difrepectfully, but which ftruck me very forcibly upon the spot; that, for the moit part, the fellows of this university have the broadeft provincial accent that is to be found among any other perfons of rank in that kingdom.

There are in the city of Dublin many public and laudable inftitutions, but fplendid appearances among thofe are few. What is called the Royal Hofpital of Kilmainham (vulgarly, by fome, the Old Men's Hofpital), is a large, plain, brick building, forming a hollow fquare, finely elevated at the western extremity of Dublin, amidst a well planted piece of ground, inhabited by invalid officers and foldiers; for whofe aid, together with a finall penfion from the crown, it was established and founded. In a part of this building, is a commodious fuite of apartments, occupied by the commander in chief of the army in Ireland (for the time being), at which place the chief governor, or lord lieutenant, is frequently entertained. Indeed the Marquis of Buckingham, during a part of his adminiftration, refided at thofe apartments. The next hofpital which claims the attention of a public obferver, is the Blue Coat Hofpital, founded for the maintenance, and education of the fons of decayed free citizens of Dublin; this foundation, however, has been ftrangely perverted; and the children of gentlemen's fervants, French valets, &c. by the intereft ufually incident to thofe fituations, have frequently fuperfeded those of better pretenfions, according to the inftitution. This building, in its defign, is extremely neat, light, and elegant; but while millions are fquandered away in prodigality and corruption, the intended fteeple of

« ПретходнаНастави »