The extract records: 'Diodorus SiculusDiodorus Siculus
(1st century BC)
CBD CloseView the register entry >>, in his account of the
marvellous properties of the Lake Asphaltes, fails not to remark the great
singularity of the bitterness of its waters'.
The female narrator and a friend (Mrs Neville) are on a summer evening walk
by the sea with the narrator's two small children, Emma and Elizabeth; as they
walk, they read and converse. They experience what the narrator calls a
'delightful complacency in the works of God spread out before us, and above us,
and around us', and in the divine work of salvation. As the adults read, they
are interrupted by the children asking such questions as '"mamma, what flower
is this? mamma, what shell is that? mamma, what plant is here?"' and answer
them with 'mutual interest'. (5) The adults use natural phenomena to exemplify
their spiritual views. Seeing a derelict cottage in the forest on the way home,
Mrs Neville relates how its former occupant had been a widow who had raised an
orphan there. The widow had instructed the girl in the Christian religion, and
had directed her attention to the scenes of the forest and to other natural
objects, teaching her to see them as productions of divine design.
The narrator describes having travelled with a friend by stagecoach to
London the previous January. On arriving, one of the outside passengers was
angry at the inequity in the amount of luggage that the different passengers
possessed, and had to be led away. The narrator's friend observed that the man
was 'evidently insane' and that his mind 'must have been previously exercised
on the dangerous subjects of equality and fake liberty', and the narrator
agreed (18). The incident leads the narrator to reflect how common it is to
expect effects for which one has not supplied a cause.
Youth's Magazine, 3rd ser. 2 (1829), 25.
Crux
Anon
Genre:
Letter; Afterword
Subjects:
Meteorology, Superstition
The correspondent introduces a diagram of the 'Holy Cross of
St. Thomas
AquinasThomas Aquinas, Saint
(1225–74)
DSB CloseView the register entry >>', comprising Latin sentences which may be read in various
ways. The diagram had been 'found behind every window-shutter in a house at
Frescati, to preserve it from Thunder and Lightning!'. An editorial note
reminds readers that it is not the cross, 'superstitiously reverenced' in Roman
Catholic countries, that is worthy of trust, but Jesus.
Youth's Magazine, 3rd ser. 2 (1829), 26–29.
The Disappointment[1/2]S M G, 'The Disappointment', Youth's Magazine, 3rd ser. 2 (1829), 57–61
Ellen Symonds was disappointed that it was raining, since it meant that she
could not go to the
British
MuseumBritish Museum
CloseView the register entry >> as her father had promised. It transpired that she did not
even know what the British Museum was, and her brother laughed at her,
observing: 'so Ellen you are very unhappy because you cannot go to see
something, and you do not know what—perhaps you expected to be introduced
to a fine collection of wild beasts, or an exhibition of wax-work'. Ellen
discovered that her sisters had gone to their father's study, where they were
discussing 'the curiosities they expected to see' and he was 'explaining
several things to them', but she declined to join them. (27) She wished that
she lived in a country where it never rained, but her mother pointed out the
inconveniences and dangers of such a climate. Ellen's sisters returned, and
Sophia stated that she was glad that they had not gone to the museum that day,
since now she knew 'so much more' about the exhibits that she would be 'doubly
interested' to see them (29).
Observes: 'as the solar light calls forth all the latent powers, and dormant
principles of vegetation contained in the kernel, but which, without such a
stimulus, would neither have struck root downwards, nor borne fruit upwards, so
it is with the light that is intellectual'.
Observes: 'As we cannot judge of the motion of the earth, by any thing
within the earth, but by some radiant and celestial point that is beyond it; so
the wicked by comparing themselves with the wicked, perceive not how far they
are advanced in their inquity'.
Heber 1828Heber, Reginald
1828. Narrative of a Journey Through the Upper Provinces of India from
Calcutta to Bombay 1824–25 (With Notes upon Ceylon): An Account of a
Journey to Madras and the Southern Provinces, 1826, and Letters Written in
India, 2 vols, London: John Murray
CloseView the register entry >>
Relevant illustrations:
wdct.
Subjects:
Ethnography, Imperialism, Natural History
Youth's Magazine, 3rd ser. 2 (1829), 56–57.
Power of the Human Eye. (From Thompson's Southern Africa.)
Anon
Genre:
Extract, Anecdote
Publications extracted:
Thompson 1827Thompson,
George 1827. Travels and Adventures in Southern Africa:
Comprising a View of the Cape Colony, with Observations on the Progress and
Prospects of British Emigrants, London: Henry Colburn
CloseView the register entry >>
Charles and Edward left the room 'with their papa, who had offered to assist
them in some chemical experiments they were anxious to try', but Ellen
continued to be peevish (57). At dinner, her father related to the family that
he had been detained by a gentleman who had travelled thirty miles in the rain
but was nevertheless glad of it as being beneficial to agriculture. After
dinner the family enjoyed 'a geographical game, in which each was expected to
give some account of the country, the name of which was on the card selected'.
When Mrs Symonds took up the card 'Africa' she spoke of 'the intense heat of
the climate, and the distress experienced by travellers, owing to the great
scarcity of water', convincing Ellen of her former folly and causing her to
apologize to her mother. (58)
Observes that '[t]he arts and sciences have arrived at their present state'
by means of 'gradual and diligent labour' (62). Quotes from
Hugh Blair'sBlair, Hugh
(1718–1800)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>SermonsBlair, Hugh
1777–1801. Sermons, 5 vols, Edinburgh: William Creech, and London:
W. Strahan, and T. Cadell.
CloseView the register entry >> the
observation that '[i]dleness, like water, first putrifies by stagnation, and
then sends up noxious vapours to injure the inhabitants of the earth' (64).
Responds to an earlier (February 1827) article in the magazine concerning
the thermometer, in which passing mention was made of the general, though not
universal law in nature 'that heat expands bodies, and cold contracts them'.
Describes, in a lengthy quotation from the third edition of
Neil Arnott'sArnott, Neil
(1788–1874)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>Elements of
PhysicsArnott, Neil
1828. Elements of Physics; or, Natural Philosophy, General and Medical,
Explained Independently of Technical Mathematics, and Containing New
Disquisitions and Practical Suggestions, 2 vols, London: Longman, Rees,
Orme, Brown, and Green, and T. &. G. Underwood
CloseView the register entry >>, the anomalous expansion of water in freezing. The quotation
identifies this as an 'important exception [...] to a general law of nature'
designed to accomplish a specific purpose (66).
The narrator and Mrs Neville went for a ramble with their friend Mrs
Montague's children, Emma and Elizabeth. They were led to discuss 'the various
theories of sympathies and sentiment' as they walked. The children, too, 'had
been philosophizing', gathering a basket full of 'flowers, ferns, mosses,
&c &c.', which they attempted to classify and arrange, but they were
called from their studies to distribute tracts and books to passing
schoolchildren. Looking at the sea, Mrs Neville explained to Emma the
appearance of ships over the horizon, using her ball.
Heber 1828Heber, Reginald
1828. Narrative of a Journey Through the Upper Provinces of India from
Calcutta to Bombay 1824–25 (With Notes upon Ceylon): An Account of a
Journey to Madras and the Southern Provinces, 1826, and Letters Written in
India, 2 vols, London: John Murray
CloseView the register entry >>
Exploration, Education, Physical Geography, Lecturing, Theology of
Nature, Piety
The narrator describes taking his pupils on a winter walk in London.
Observes: 'the houses were all dripping with the melted snow, and old Frost was
gone back to his caves in the North, or to some of his icebergs in the Polar
Sea'. The pupils were pleased to be outdoors, having been 'so long confined in
the house' and having in their winter studies 'dissected all the counties in
England, and all the continents on earth'. (148) Their destination, near the
Strand, was a 'great Nursery' for children aged up to five or six years. In the
centre of the large room was a 'large planisphere, similar to those used for
demonstration by public lecturers' (151). After the master taught the infants
several moral and religious lessons, they sang 'a few verses in praise of the
works of God in creation', the words being held up by a monitor (154). The
narrator reflects on the importance of elementary religious education, and
relates it to millennial hopes.
Despite a religious upbringing, Albert Hamerton was 'a total stranger to the
religion of the heart'. Forming a friendship with a young man 'whose sentiments
upon religious subjects coincided with
Voltaire'sVoltaire, François Marie Arouet de
(1694–1778)
DSB CloseView the register entry >>', he began to neglect his
religious observances. (156) Later, being persuaded to attend church by his
cousin, he reflected on the comfort his mother's religion afforded her, and
contrasted it with his own 'philosophical doubtings', concluding that hers was
the better way (158).
Education, Deformity, Natural Theology, Ancient Authorities,
Mathematics, Endeavour
Describes
Alexander
LaurieLaurie, Alexander (blind student at the Edinburgh Sessional School)
(fl. 1829)
YM3/2/5/4 CloseView the register entry >>, who 'had the misfortune to lose his sight a few days after
his birth' (162). His reasoning faculties were unusually developed, and all he
wanted was 'sufficient data' for their operation, which the school
provided (163). Observes: 'No information ever was communicated to him, whether
in the department of nature, of elementary science, or of art, which was not
carefully treasured up and preserved' (164). Gives an example of his superior
knowledge of the Bible. Laurie was asked by a visitor to the school, 'who
seemed strongly impressed with the opinion that in order to exalt Revelation it
is necessary to maintain that there is no such thing at all as Natural
Religion', whether the ancient philosophers had any knowledge of religion
(164–65). Against the visitor's disapproval, he answered that they did,
and gave a biblical quotation to support it. Laurie made slow progress in
mental arithmetic, but by continued endeavour ultimately achieved signal
success.
Chambers 1728Chambers,
Ephraim 1728. Cyclopædia; or, An Universal Dictionary of
Arts and Sciences: Containing the Definitions of the Terms, and Accounts of the
Things Signify'd Thereby, in the Several Arts, Both Liberal and Mechanical, and
the Several Sciences, Human and Divine, 2 vols, London: James and John
Knapton [and 19 others]
CloseView the register entry >>
Contrasts the gaudy sunflower with the modest camomile, whose 'simple bloom
contains / The welcome, graceful power, / To soothe the fiercest pains, / Of
dark afflictions hour' (177).
Heber 1828Heber, Reginald
1828. Narrative of a Journey Through the Upper Provinces of India from
Calcutta to Bombay 1824–25 (With Notes upon Ceylon): An Account of a
Journey to Madras and the Southern Provinces, 1826, and Letters Written in
India, 2 vols, London: John Murray
CloseView the register entry >>
Relevant illustrations:
wdct.
Subjects:
Ethnography
Youth's Magazine, 3rd ser. 2 (1829), 182–90.
My Little Red Book[1/2]Mary M Sherwood, 'My Little Red Book', Youth's Magazine, 3rd ser. 2 (1829), 218–27
The narrator is one of five teenage sisters, but has alone given her parents
uneasiness about her spiritual condition. She relates: 'Our parents have taken
great pains, from our earliest infancy, to lead us to associate spiritual and
holy ideas with the beautiful and varied works of God' (183). Following a visit
to her godmother in Bath at the age of fourteen, the narrator became vain about
her appearance. In January 1828, their father received a small packet from
London containing little books bound in red morocco, entitled
Daily Food for ChristiansAnon. 1828?. Daily Food for Christians: Being a Promise,
and Another Scriptural Portion, for Every Day in the Year, Together With Verse
of a Hymn, London: Religious Tract Society
CloseView the register entry >>,
which he gave to his daughters on the condition that they read them every time
they sat at their dressing tables. The narrator neglected hers, but her sisters
related the biblical verses they read to the natural scenes outside their
windows.
On a further winter walk, one of the pupils, Henry, observed how cold it
was, and how low the thermometer must be. Edward observed: 'I dare say
Captain ParryParry, Sir William Edward
(1790–1855)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>
feels it to his finger ends, poor man!' (191) The narrator turned the
conversation of his pupils to their minister's recent sermon about winter,
including biblical references to being 'whiter than snow', to the relation of
the seasons to the divine covenant, and to the divine power to make the
'elements insupportable to his creatures'. (191–92) The narrator observes
to the reader: 'So much for theology of nature, my dear children. How sweet are
the lessons which it teaches us!' (192). In their continuing conversation,
Edward was led to discuss, among other things, 'the beetle's wings at the
MicrocosmMicrocosm
CloseView the register entry >>' and 'the
denizens of
Adkins's
travelling menagerieAtkins's Menagerie
CloseView the register entry >>' (194). At
Westminster
AbbeyWestminster Abbey
CloseView the register entry >> they examined the statue of
Isaac NewtonNewton, Sir Isaac
(1642–1727)
DSB CloseView the register entry >>; the
narrator describes the statue, observing: 'Not only a sagacious reader of the
works, but of the word of God, his was the true philosophy'. The narrator urged
upon his pupils the 'comparative unimportance and worthlessness of all human
wisdom [...] when unaccompanied with the wisdom that cometh down from above'.
(197)
Youth's Magazine, 3rd ser. 2 (1829), 214.
The Bahar Peasants
Anon
Genre:
Extract, Miscellaneous
Publications extracted:
Heber 1828Heber, Reginald
1828. Narrative of a Journey Through the Upper Provinces of India from
Calcutta to Bombay 1824–25 (With Notes upon Ceylon): An Account of a
Journey to Madras and the Southern Provinces, 1826, and Letters Written in
India, 2 vols, London: John Murray
CloseView the register entry >>
Mussulman Dandees (The Crew of a Vessel) at Dinner
Anon
Genre:
Extract
Publications extracted:
Heber 1828Heber, Reginald
1828. Narrative of a Journey Through the Upper Provinces of India from
Calcutta to Bombay 1824–25 (With Notes upon Ceylon): An Account of a
Journey to Madras and the Southern Provinces, 1826, and Letters Written in
India, 2 vols, London: John Murray
CloseView the register entry >>
Relevant illustrations:
wdct.
Subjects:
Ethnography, Acclimatization
Youth's Magazine, 3rd ser. 2 (1829), 218–27.
My Little Red Book[2/2]Mary M Sherwood, 'My Little Red Book', Youth's Magazine, 3rd ser. 2 (1829), 182–90
Disease, Epidemiology, Medical Practitioners, Piety,
Psychology
The narrator's father became ill having been soaked in a rain shower, but
the narrator insisted on travelling to Barmouth with her godmother. Her father
becoming much worse, with a 'decided putrid fever', she returned to find that
two of her sisters had become infected by the same contagion and that she could
not be admitted to the house (221). She stayed instead at the neighbouring
cottage of an old woman who was 'by profession a nurse, and was actually at
that time in attendance on her father' (222). In anxiety concerning the health
of her father and sisters, and having meditated on biblical passages from the
'little red book', she became conscious of her religious duty. She was then
'taken ill with a complaint in the head' and her 'life was long despaired of'
before she finally recovered (227).
Contrasts the 'peaceful, and even triumphant' deaths of Christians with
those of self-styled 'men of reason' who 'with all their boasted philosophy,
stand affrighted at the approach of death; and their last hours display either
the despair of an
Altamont'Altamont'
(d. before 1754)
Johnson 1779–81, 10: 84 CloseView the register entry >>, the fearful
forebodings of a
VoltaireVoltaire, François Marie Arouet de
(1694–1778)
DSB CloseView the register entry >>, or the subterfuges of a
HumeHume, David
(1711–76)
DSB CloseView the register entry >>' (245). Recounts
the life of a Scot brought up in London, who was led by friends to deny the
truth of Christianity, and who met with them to read the writings of
Thomas PainePaine, Thomas
(1737–1809)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>.
Observes: 'Thus elevated in his imaginary philosophy and on his own superior
discernment; young and in the enjoyment of health, he was promising himself
length of years'. Having become ill he was visited by 'pious young friends',
but did not take their warnings seriously. (246) In death his deist opinions
provided no comfort, and he finally embraced Christianity.
Heber 1828Heber, Reginald
1828. Narrative of a Journey Through the Upper Provinces of India from
Calcutta to Bombay 1824–25 (With Notes upon Ceylon): An Account of a
Journey to Madras and the Southern Provinces, 1826, and Letters Written in
India, 2 vols, London: John Murray
CloseView the register entry >>
The female narrator relates a recent visit to an intelligent and pious
family, consisting of parents and several teenage children, and urges the
reader to identify from her account an important defect in their domestic
intercourse. When they went for a country walk, the narrator, knowing that her
'companions were students and admirers of nature' and believing that they
'looked "through nature up to nature's God" [...] confidently looked for
improvement and gratification'. However, while they walked through scenes of
natural beauty 'where the botanist might have found subjects for study and
useful remark' no reference was made to these subjects (272). The narrator's
concluding reflections urge the importance of labouring to gain and impart
improvement in daily conversation.
Enumerating several species of 'disturbers of the peace' to his friend
Percy, Arundel describes the 'CONCEITED, whose little
knowledge has filled them with vanity and pride, and who have so much of the
organ of self esteem, as phrenologists would say, that they are for ever on the
watch for holes and blemishes' (275–76).
Youth's Magazine, 3rd ser. 2 (1829), 277–81.
Which is the Most Sagacious Animal in the World? A Dialogue Between
James, Joseph, Henry, John, Edward, and William
Heber 1828Heber, Reginald
1828. Narrative of a Journey Through the Upper Provinces of India from
Calcutta to Bombay 1824–25 (With Notes upon Ceylon): An Account of a
Journey to Madras and the Southern Provinces, 1826, and Letters Written in
India, 2 vols, London: John Murray
CloseView the register entry >>
Observes that the 'collection in the Zoological Garden' is 'yet in its
infancy', but that it contains a few species 'of rare occurrence either in
museums or menageries' (297). The narrator and his pupils observed an emu and
discussed the behaviour of ostriches, relating their conversation to biblical
themes and quotations. Similar conversation was prompted by viewing the
leopards. The narrator disapproves of the humiliating 'raree-show' of the bear
pit (299). The party viewed several species of birds, and again related their
observations to biblical themes and quotations. The narrator observes: 'Thus it
is not only in the beauty, symmetry, colour, sweet voices, or habits of
inferior creatures, that we behold the glory of the Creator; but their very
presence may to a well regulated mind excite emotions of gratitude, raise a
hymn of prise, or bring into the bosom of the mourner some motive for strong
consolation. They ought also to urge us on in the path of duty' (300).
Heber 1828Heber, Reginald
1828. Narrative of a Journey Through the Upper Provinces of India from
Calcutta to Bombay 1824–25 (With Notes upon Ceylon): An Account of a
Journey to Madras and the Southern Provinces, 1826, and Letters Written in
India, 2 vols, London: John Murray
CloseView the register entry >>
Relevant illustrations:
wdct.
Subjects:
Ethnography, Race
Youth's Magazine, 3rd ser. 2 (1829), 318–19.
Sagacity of a Mule. (From Griscom's Year in Europe. America)
Anon
Genre:
Extract, Travelogue, Anecdote
Publications extracted:
Griscom 1823Griscom, John
1823. A Year in Europe Comprising a Journal of Observations in England,
Scotland, Ireland, France, Switzerland, the North of Italy, and Holland, in
1818 and 1819, 2 vols, New York: Collins & Co. and E. Bliss & E.
White; London: William Phillips
CloseView the register entry >>
Subjects:
Animal Behaviour, Wonder
Youth's Magazine, 3rd ser. 2 (1829), 319.
Birds' Nests
Anon
Genre:
Extract, Miscellaneous
Publications extracted:
Horne 1776Horne, George
1776. A Commentary on the Book of Psalms, in which Their Literal, or
Historical Sense, as They Relate to King David, and the People of Israel, is
Illustrated, 2 vols, Oxford: Clarendon Press
CloseView the register entry >>
Heber 1828Heber, Reginald
1828. Narrative of a Journey Through the Upper Provinces of India from
Calcutta to Bombay 1824–25 (With Notes upon Ceylon): An Account of a
Journey to Madras and the Southern Provinces, 1826, and Letters Written in
India, 2 vols, London: John Murray
CloseView the register entry >>
The narrator of this epistolatory travelogue relates to her friend, Harriet,
a journey in Scotland. Staying with a friend's family at the fictional castle
of Norland, she endeavoured to overcome her shyness by 'looking at the thousand
useless toys with which fashionable aparments are furnished', including
'folios, quartos, and octavos, filled with splendid engravings of the canine
race [...]; of horses [...]; of bipeds, from man to monkey; of quadrupeds, from
the elephant to the mole; and of birds, from the eagle to the wren; besides the
costumes of all the world, and ruins and antiquities without end' (328). Later
she 'turned up a book with engravings of the polar regions' and entertained
herself 'with viewing whales, porpoises, and ice bergs' (329).
Youth's Magazine, 3rd ser. 2 (1829), 339–45.
A Satirical Spirit: A Dialogue between Maria and Her Mother
Maria's mother informs her that a satirical disposition often derives from a
superficial knowledge. The young are 'apt to overvalue the little knowledge
they have, and to set down any one who happens to be deficient in these things
as a fair mark of ridicule', though such a person 'may be distinguished for a
knowledge of sciences, of which these profound young judges do not even know
the names'. She also points out how ill a satirical disposition would
'assimilate with the other parts' of the 'great character' of
Isaac NewtonNewton, Sir Isaac
(1642–1727)
DSB CloseView the register entry >>.
(341)
Observes that 'Gospel truths are medicina animæ, the medicine
of the soul', and urges the necessity of applying them. Complains that '[s]ome
contract, as it were, a dropsy in hearing, the more they hear, the more
they desire'.
Heber 1828Heber, Reginald
1828. Narrative of a Journey Through the Upper Provinces of India from
Calcutta to Bombay 1824–25 (With Notes upon Ceylon): An Account of a
Journey to Madras and the Southern Provinces, 1826, and Letters Written in
India, 2 vols, London: John Murray
CloseView the register entry >>
Likens types of human intellect to types of lamp, from those of the hostler
('the little lamp in the dark corner') and the mechanic (the 'small bright lamp
in the shop-window'), through those of the small tradesmen ('long rows of
street lamps') and the 'active and intelligent merchant' (the 'patent lamp'),
to those of the 'highly gifted statesman' ('the lamp which adorned the public
room') and 'the wit, or the poet' (the 'lucid gas-light, the flame of which
might seem to be fed on nothing'). Observes that as the 'flame of the
ArgandArgand, Aimé (François Pierre Aimé)
(1750–1803)
WBI CloseView the register entry >> lamp, when
raised too high, is apt to crack the glass which surrounds it', so some
merchants 'wishing to shine too far, have met with a similar misfortune'.
Suggests an 'analogy between the noxious vapours emitted by impure gas and the
effusions of a corrupt imagination' and wishes 'that some means might be
discovered of subjecting the flames of our poets and fine writers to the action
of lime water that, having deposited all their grosser particles, they might
burn with purity and sweetness'. (406–07)
Asserts: 'The twenty-four letters of the alphabet are capable of being
joined, or combined, as many different ways as are expressed by the figures,
5,852,616,738,497,664,000'.