"What wisdom is there in Homer! With a few omissions, it is the very book for children. I know of no story, except Robinson Crusoe, which fascinates a child so much as Homer. It is all natural, simple, and capable of being understood by a child. And then, how well does he not prepare for all the knowledge of antiquity, without which we cannot now get along! How many thousand things and sayings does the child not understand at once by knowing that great poem! The whole Odyssey is the finest story for a child.

"Have you ever read Pope's Odyssey? [I answered in the negative.]

་་

Well, he replied, you must read some parts of it at least; it is a ridiculous thing, as bad as the French heroes of Greece in periwigs. There is not a breath of antiquity in Pope's translation. He might have changed as much as he liked, and called it a reproduction; but to strip it of its spirit of antiquity, was giving us a corpse instead of a living being. It is a small thing. How totally different is the manner in which the German Voss has handled the subject. He shows at once that he knows and feels the poem is antique, and he means to leave it so. Voss's translation

might certainly be improved in various parts, but he has made Homer a German work, now read by every one: he has done a great thing. You do not imagine it, yet it is a fact, that Voss's translation of Homer has had a great influence upon your own education. I say it, well considering what I say, that the influence of the labours of Voss on the whole German nation will be so great, that other nations will feel and acknowledge it." -pp. 73-75.

We often are astonished at the knowledge of languages which the Germans possess. It is here given as a sentiment by Niebuhr himself, that he could write Latin not only pretty fluently, but as if it had been his own mother tongue, but that on being asked, on finding a Russian Grammar and some Russian books in his library, if he had ever studied that language-his answer was, "Oh yes, I would not leave the whole Slavonic stock of languages untouched; and I wished to understand all the European languages at least. Every one may learn them; it is easy enough if we once know three. I now understand all the languages of Europe pretty well." "Do you speak most of the languages you know?" asked the author. "Yes, nearly all he replied; except the Slavonic idioms, as I told you.

"Whoever has power abuses it; every page of history proves the fact —individual, body, the people, it is all the same; power is abused: and yet some one or somebody must have it. The great problem seems to be to vest it in such a manner that as little mischief can be done as possible. But to effect this, something very different is necessary from merely clipping the wings of power. Injudicious restraint of power leads us to as many evil consequences as unlimited power.

A bad handwriting ought never to be forgiven; it is a shameful indolence: indeed, sending a badly written letter to a fellow-creature is as impudent an act as I know of. Can there be any thing more unpleasant than to open a letter which at once shows that it will require long deciphering? Besides, the effect of the letter is gone if we must spell it. Strange,

we carefully avoid troubling other people even with trifles, or to appear before them in dress which shows negligence or carelessness, and yet nothing is thought of giving the disagreeable trouble of reading a badly written letter. In England, good-breeding requires writing well and legibly; with us (the Germans) it seems as if the contrary principle was acknowledged. Although many people may not have made a brilliant career by their fine handwriting, yet I know that not a few have spoiled theirs by a bad one. The most important petitions are frequently read with no favourable disposition, or entirely thrown aside, merely because they are written so badly.

"Endeavour never to strike out any thing of what you have once written down. Punish yourself by allowing once or twice something to pass, though you see you might give it better; it will accustom you to be more careful in future; and you will not only save much time, but also think more correctly and distinctly. I hardly ever strike out or correct my writing, even in my dispatches to the king. Persons who have never tried to write at once correctly, do not know how easy it is, after all, provided your thoughts are clear and well arranged; and they ought to be so before you put pen to paper."-pp. 82-86.

Our author with Mr. Niebuhr and his son Marcus, on one occasion visited a convent, but the monks appeared greatly alarmed from suspecting the little boy to be a girl, owing, probably, to his long and blond ringlets. The historian, when they hesitated to give permission to enter-" Pray, how do your consciences get over the female fleas, which, I dare say, are in goodly abundance in your convent?" Of Thorwaldsen-he said that he had not that plastic certainty or firmness which distinguishes the ancients in so high a degree. He worked from without, they looked as if they had grown from within.

Niebuhr seems to have been steeped in the knowledge of antiquity, as most of these aphorisms shew. Our last extract is taken at perfect random.

"[On my question, which of the different ways of pronouncing Latin he thought best, he said that he had adopted the Italian pronunciation. On my farther question, why? he said :]

"I have a number of reasons; but in fact the counter question, Why should we not adopt the Italian pronunciation? would be a perfectly good answer. As to the pronunciation of the c, it is clear that the Romans did not pronounce it in the German way, Tsitsero; this is altogether an uncouth northern sound. To pronounce it like Sisero, (with hard s), is equally wrong no inscription or other trace induces us to believe that the Romans used c as equivalent to s. Besides, if we see that each nation pronounces Latin according to the pronunciation of the vernacular tongue, it is preposterous to maintain that one or the other is the correct pronunciation, except the pronunciation of the Italian itself. That the g was not pronounced hard as the German *, seems clear from the fact that most nations pronounce it soft. On the whole, Latin reads much better in the Italian way; and I think many passages of the poets require this

* The German g is pronounced like the English in give.

pronunciation, to receive their full value. People ought to agree to adopt this pronunciation; for it is too ridiculous to find the same language pronounced differently in every country, and subjected to all the caprices of the various idioms. The Spaniards sometimes claim to be, by way of tradition, in possession of the true Roman pronunciation. It is equally preposterous that they whose language is so much more mixed, and whose country was never more than a province, should have retained a better pronunciation than the people of the mother country! Italian is still, in a degree, a Latin dialect."-pp. 163–165.

"[We were on our way home from the cathedral of Assisi, the chief church of the Franciscans-for in Assisi their saint was born, and on the spot where now stands that beautiful minster he experienced his first impulse to devotion-when Mr. Niebuhr said :]

St. Francis was a great man. St. Benedict had just laboured for the moral elevation of the higher classes. It was a necessary consequence of his system. The intention of St. Francis was to labour for the poorest and meanest. Much that now appears extravagant may not have been so in his time; much may have been exaggerated afterwards, and some points in his character may have been actually extravagant. Where is the great man that has not his monomania? Some of his miracles are invented, many may be true. I think they can be accounted for by implicit faith, which he commanded and required. That he could find, when but a young man, so many and such ardent followers, and draw up the rules of his order, so judicious for his age and his particular object, sufficiently shows that he was an extraordinary man. The Evangelium sine glossa is remarkable indeed, and, more than that, is great, far in advance of his age. When dialectics surrounded him everywhere, and the interpretations of the Bible were held far superior to the book itself, he penetrated all these mazes, and required the plain Gospel. He wanted no property but such as the brethren could cultivate. This, however, changed immediately after his death. At the same time rose the order of the Dominicans-an order which received even from its very founder the stamp of persecution, and has gone on with blood and murder through the succeeding centuries. It has frequently happened, indeed, that the Franciscans protected where the Dominicans persecuted.

[I was glad to hear this opinion from his lips, and told him how much I admired the Morning Hymn of St. Francis. I was only sorry that the followers of these great men should immediately exceed the bounds of their veneration, and warp it by superstition, sometimes of repulsive grossness; for, said I, a monk, with whom I walked over the convent of St. Francis on the Capitoline Hill, spoke of his patron saint as if he were at least equal to Christ, telling me some of the most absurd miracles. And this, I continued, reminds me of the nurse in the family of Mr. (then chaplain of the Prussian legation), who one day said: 'It is a great pity the Virgin Mary is not God; it would be much better for us, poor sinners, than it is now when God is God.'

66

St. Francis, said Mr. Niebuhr, was, about a hundred years after his death, actually believed by many to have been the Paracletus, or Comforter. No saint was ever more universally honoured."-pp. 167–170

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ART. XII.—The History and Description of Fossil Fuel, and the Collieries and Coal Trade of Great Britain. By the Author of the Treatise on Manufactures in Metal," in Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia. London: Whittaker and Co. 1835.

We have in the volume now before us, nothing less than a comprehensive, compendious, and popular work on the various kinds of fuel, most abundant in civilized countries, especially on the natural history and geological relations of coal-the means by which it is obtained-its economical uses-and the extent of its sale, as well as the regulation of its vend in this country. It is impossible to glance at the table of contents without being convinced that the research, industry, and talent required in this performance were great, and that it is one eminently calculated to interest the geologist, the collier, the coal-merchant, and the consumer. Indeed, nothing short of holding all these characters at once, or extensive study and observation, could have enabled the author to compile, arrange, digest, and reason upon the very numerous subjects in science, art, economy, and commerce, as he has done in this volume. He gives a summary of geological theories respecting the earth, besides a chapter on fire and fuel; peat and coal come to be treated of, as the principal agents or supporters of combustion, the latter engaging the author, in a scientific point of view, at great, and to us at present unnecessary length.

We pass on to a less theoretical branch, and to the consideration of the means by which coal, the principal species of fuel, in this country, is obtained for consumption. For however interesting to scientific inquirers this fossil may be, it is in the character of fuel that this country will ever most eagerly regard it ; and, indeed, had it not been for this practical benefit, geologists would never have known much about the wonderful character of its formation. In an economical view, then, what would this country have been without its coal? what our manufactures? where our steam? We go on, however, to the manner in which it is obtained; for in words similar to those of a writer who treated of the mineral kingdom near fifty years ago, as quoted by the present author, we say, "We are really concerned for the honour of coal;" and the abundant information collected in his work, will enable us to lay before our readers a pretty extensive account of this species of fuel, under various heads.

It was at one time a prevalent opinion that coal might be found any where in this island, by only going deep enough. But the knowledge of the coal districts is now so complete, that scientific men can pretty accurately describe its localities. There are frequently superficial indications, but the usual and most certain method of ascertaining the mineral contents of any given spot, is by boring. This is done by means of rods and other apparatus, so that at a compa

ratively cheap rate, and without defacing the superficial ground, the order, thickness, and nature of the different substances to any depth are determined. The lowermost rod is at one time like a chisel that cuts the stratum, or at proper intervals it is changed for another which brings up portions of the detritus produced by the action of the former. The diameter of these borings is commonly from 2 to five inches. It is a very interesting process, inasmuch as you watch with the utmost eagerness the indications from below as they alter or advance nearer your desire-as our own experience can bear witness. If workable coal has been found, the next business is to sink the shaft. This is done by digging, and securing the walls of the pit by wood or brick-work as it descends. In the course of this process, springs of water may have to be kept under, and solid rocks blasted by means of powder. The expense attendant on sinking a shaft, depends, of course, upon the depth and nature of the strata requiring to be penetrated. They sometimes cost upwards of 70,000l. previously to being worked, including the machinery requisite for sinking the pit, such as a steam-engine and all its apparatus.

·

"The shaft at present sinking at Monkwearmouth Colliery, near Sunderland, has attained a considerably greater depth than any mine in Great Britain, (or estimating its depth from the level of the sea, than any mine in the world). It was commenced in May, 1826. The upper part of the pit is sunk through the lower magnesian limestone strata, which overlap the south-eastern district of the Great Newcastle Coalfield, and which, including a stratum of freestone sand' at the bottom of the limestone, extended at Monkwearmonth, to the thickness of 330 feet, and discharged towards the bottom of the strata the prodigious quantity of 3000 gallons of water per minute-for the raising of which into an off-take drift, a double-acting steam-engine, working with a power of from 180 to 200 horses, was found necessary. The first unequivocal stratum of the coal formation, viz., a bed of coal 1 inches thick, was not reached till August, 1831, (being about 344 feet below the surface), after which the tremendous influx of water which had so long impeded the sinking operations was stopped back' by the metal tubbing which extended from the above bed of coal to within twentysix yards of the surface. The sinking now proceeded with spirit-still, no valuable bed of coal was reached, although the shaft had passed considerably above 600 feet into the coal measures, and much deeper than had hitherto been found requisite for reaching some of the known seams. It became evident that the miners were in unknown ground. A new 'feeder' of water was encountered at the great depth of 1000 feet, requiring fresh pumps and a fresh outlay of money. The prospects of the owners became unpromising in the eyes of most men, and were denounced as hopeless by many of the coal-viewers! Coal-viewing, however, had as yet been limited to some 200 or 220 fathoms; and the views of the Messrs. Pemberton (the enterprising owners of this colliery) were not to be bounded by such ordinary depths; they considered that the thickness of the coal formation might be vastly greater where protected by the super-incumbent limestone, than where exposed to those