SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY.-No. IX. WHEN Addison has got Sir Roger fairly in London, he will not trust him to inferior hands. The 'Spectator,' No. 329, is a genuine morsel of quiet humour. The idea of the good old country squire displaying his historical knowledge, upon the strength of Baker's Chronicle, is highly amusing. Nothing can be happier than his wonder that he did not find the history of the waxwork maid of honour in the State Annals of Queen Elizabeth. "My friend Sir Roger de Coverley told me t' other night, that he had been reading my paper upon Westminster Abbey, in which, says he, there are a great many ingenious fancies. He told me at the same time, that he observed I had promised another paper upon the tombs, and that he should be glad to go and see them with me, not having visited them since he had read history. I could not imagine at first how this No. 744. came into the knight's head, till I recollected that he had been busy all last summer upon Baker's Chronicle, which he has quoted several times in his disputes with Sir Andrew Freeport since his last coming to town. Accordingly I promised to call upon him the next morning, that we might go together to the abbey. As we went up the body of the church, the knight pointed at the trophies upon one of the new monuments, and cried out, A brave man, I warrant him!' Passing afterward by Sir Cloudesley Shovel, he flung his hand that way, and cried, Sir Cloudesley Shovel! a very gallant man.' As we stood before Busby's tomb, the knight uttered himself again after the same manner: Dr. Busby! a great man! he whipped my grandfather; a very great man! I should have gone to him myself, if I had not been a blockhead: a very great man!' "We were immediately conducted into the little chapel on the right hand. Sir Roger, planting himself at our historian's elbow, was very attentive to everything he said, particularly to the account he gave us of the lord who had cut off the King of Morocco's head. Among several other figures, he was very well pleased VOL. XII.-3 I to see the statesman Cecil upon his knees; and concluding them all to be great men, was conducted to the figure which represents that martyr to good housewifery who died by the prick of a needle. Upon our interpreter's telling us that she was maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth, the knight was very inquisitive into her name and family; and after having regarded her finger for some time, I wonder,' says he, that Sir Richard Baker has said nothing of her in his Chronicle.' "We were then conveyed to the two coronation chairs, where my old friend, after having heard that the stone under the most ancient of them, which was brought from Scotland, was called Jacob's pillar, sat himself down in the chair, and, looking like the figure of an old Gothic king, asked our interpreter what authority they had to say that Jacob had ever been in Scotland. The fellow, instead of returning him an answer, told him, that he hoped his honour would pay his forfeit. I could observe Sir Roger a little ruffled upon being thus trepanned; but our guide not insisting upon his demand, the knight soon recovered his good humour, and whispered in my ear, that if Will Wimble were with us, and saw those chairs, it would go hard but he would get a tobacco-stopper out of one or t' other of them. "Sir Roger in the next place laid his hand upon Edward III.'s sword, and, leaning upon the pommel of it, gave us the whole history of the Black Prince, concluding that in Sir Richard Baker's opinion Edward III. was one of the greatest princes that ever sat upon the English throne. "We were then shown Edward the Confessor's tomb; upon which Sir Roger acquainted us that he was the first who touched for the evil: and afterward Henry IV.'s, upon which he shook his head, and told us there was fine reading in the casualties of that reign. "Our conductor then pointed to that monument where there is the figure of one of our English kings without a head; and upon giving us to know that the head, which was of beaten silver, had been stolen away several years since-Some Whig, I'll warrant you,' says Sir Roger: you ought to lock up your kings better; they will carry off the body too, if you don't take care.' "The glorious names of Henry V. and Queen Elizabeth gave the knight great opportunities of shining, and of doing justice to Sir Richard Baker, who, as our knight observed with some surprise, had a great many kings in him, whose monuments he had not seen in the abbey. For my own part, I could not but be pleased to see the knight show such an honest passion for the glory of his country, and such a respectful gratitude to the memory of its princes. "I must not omit that the benevolence of my good old friend, which flows out towards every one he converses with, made him very kind to our interpreter, whom he looked upon as an extraordinary man, for which reason he shook him by the hand at parting, telling him that he should be very glad to see him at his lodgings in Norfolk-buildings, and talk over these matters with him more at leisure." THE LABOUR-ECONOMY OF MINING. THE labour-economy of mines, if such a term may be permitted, that is, the relation existing between the employer and the employed, is very different in different countries; but in most cases it has something about it remarkable and interesting. In the coal and iron districts of England the miners are employed at so much per day, or so much per given measure of ore produced; and in so far the system is analogous to other branches of labour. But in Cornwall a peculiar arrangement is observed, which we shall be better able | to understand by contrasting it with the systems pursued in Saxony and in Hungary. Mr. J. Taylor, the eminent mining-engineer, in a lecture which he gave before the Society of Arts a few years ago, and of which an abstract was afterwards published in the Mining Review,' gave the following account of the Saxony miners. The mines are state property, and are rich in silver, tin, lead, iron, and other metallic ores. The persons engaged are inarshalled with almost the rigour of an army; the officers are brought up and instructed for the purpose, having regular commissions, and each his appropriate rank; the men being directed by them, and the work of each one allotted. At Freiberg a Mining College' affords the means of study in every department connected with the subject, not only to the natives of Saxony, but to all foreigners who wish to avail themselves of its advantages. The supreme direction is intrusted to an individual who has the title of Oberbergamtmann, and who is generally a nobleman of distinction. He is assisted by a council called the Bergamt, to which all subjects of management are referred. This council consists of a certain number of the principal officers, each of whom has his separate duties in the administration. The mining corps is divided into three bodies, the first being the miners, the second the smelters, and the third the foresters, who attend to the supply of timber and fuel to the mines and reduction-works. These three classes wear different uniforms, and there is a very minute subdivision of duties. Thus, in the mining department there are officers superintending the underground works with various degrees of rank; others who manage the machinery; and others again who direct the working of the ores, and the preparing them for the smelting-houses. Upon every operation which may seem to require deliberation, these officers have to report to the Bergamt, or council, and are generally expected to prepare long written descriptions of the matter to be discussed, and which are called 'Acts.' The labouring miners are marshalled into detachments, who relieve each other at regular times, and each man is expected to perform a certain portion of labour allotted by the underground officers under the control of the council. Although this system appears beautiful from its order and strictness, yet Mr. Taylor enumerates many disadvantages attending it. The number of officers is so great as to entail a very heavy expense in relation to the value of the produce of the mines. Another defect is, that the deliberations of the Bergamt are often protracted to such an inconvenient length that fit opportunities for action are lost, and all the inconveniencies of divided opinion are increased. Another point is, that the responsibility is so divided that it almost ceases to be an active principle. Furthermore, the allotment of a certain amount or task of labour to each man limits the active exertions of the most industrious; while the want of the vivifying principle of self-interest throws a sluggishness over the whole. In Hungary, where the mines in like manner belong to the crown, they are divided into four districts, each district having its government and its separate establishment of smelting-houses: but all send their produce to Kremnitz to have the gold and silver separated from the ore and the crude metal coined. The School of Mining contains about two hundred students, who receive their education free of cost, and in some cases are assisted by an annual donation. There are five professors, who deliver lectures on chemistry, metallurgy, mineralogy, mining, mathematics, surveying, and drawing. The course of study lasts three years, besides two years' practice in the mines; after which an examination must be passed in public before a certificate can be obtained. The students wear a neat uniform of dark green cloth turned up with red; the jacket has padded sleeves from the shoulder to the elbow, to protect the arms from the sides of the mines; and behind is a large piece of leather, something like the tails of a coat, strapped round the waist. It is from among these students that the government mining officers are selected. All the government Hungarian mines are under a chief, assisted by a council, and each district has besides this its own Bergamt, or council, composed of the chief mining officers. The number of petty officers is immense, so that the individual responsibility is very small indeed. The working miners are about twenty thousand in number: they each work about eight hours a day; and as, by a very absurd regulation, they are not allowed to earn more than a sum equal to about three shillings per week English, they have acquired a habit of peculation, which the officers find great difficulty in checking; and indeed the officers themselves are paid so badly that they are more likely to yield to temptation than in other parts of Europe. The whole of this system is so badly managed, that, while officers and men are miserably paid, the government is said to gain hardly anything by the mines. Let us contrast these two systems with the admirable one pursued by the tin-miners of Cornwall. The mines are worked at the risk of private individuals, who are generally associated in companies supported by jointstock contributions. They hold the mines by leases granted by the landowner for certain terms; and the mode of working is regulated by covenants suited to the circumstances. The dues or rents are usually a portion of the produce, or of its value in money. The Company, who are the lessees, and who work the mine, are called the adventurers, while the owners of the soil are termed the lords. The whole management of the mine is vested in the adventurers. As each set of adventurers are at liberty to adopt such mode of management as to them may appear most fitting, so there is rather a general coincidence than an absolute uniformity of practice. The most important class of officers, to whom the practical direction is intrusted, are called captains, and are generally selected from the most intelligent workmen. Their duties in large concerns are divided, and a difference of rank is kept up; but the principle of responsibility is never lost sight of, and they are stimulated by the prospect of advancement which is often afforded to them. One captain of the greatest experience usually governs the others, and, with the aid and advice of one of the partners, or of some person appointed as the principal manager, attends to all the business of the concern; while the departments of accounts, of the construction and care of engines, of the purchase of the several articles used, of the ore-dressing, &c., are superintended by persons appointed by the manager and principal captain. These captains of mines have generally a great weight of responsibility on them, and are in most cases intelligent and trustworthy men, well fitted to offer advice as to the best modes of conducting the extensive operations incident to mining. in length, or by the cubic fathom, and is, therefore, like ordinary labour. Tribute is payment for raising and dressing the ore, by means of a certain part of its value when merchantable; and this is the peculiar part of the system which gives such interest to the Cornish mining operations; for the miners, who are to be paid in proportion to the richness of the vein and the quantity of metal actually extracted from it, naturally become quicksighted in the discovery of the ore and in estimating its value; and it is their interest to avail themselves of every improvement that can bring it more cheaply to market. Dressing is performed by other workmen. The tributers, who dig and dress the ore, can seldom afford to dress the coarser parts of that which they raise at their contract price; they, therefore, leave it, and this portion is again let out to persons who agree to dress it at an advanced price. The lots of ore to be dressed, and the works to be carried on, having been marked out for some days, and having been examined by the men, a kind of auction is held by the captains of the mine, in which each lot is put up and bid for by different gangs of men. The work is then offered, at a price usually below that bid at the auction, to the lowest bidder-that is, to the person who will consent to take the smallest share as his remuneration for raising and dressing the whole; and this lowest bidder rarely declines it at the rate proposed. The tribute is estimated on twenty shillings worth of produce, and varies through the wide interval from three pence to fifteen shillings, according to the richness of the ore and the ease of working. The rate of earnings in tribute is very uncertain: if a vein, which was poor when taken, becomes rich, the tributers earn money rapidly; and instances have occurred in which each miner of a gang has earned a hundred pounds in the two months. These extraordinary cases are, perhaps, of more advantage to the owners of the mine than even to the men; for whilst the skill and industry of the workmen are greatly stimulated, the owner himself always derives greater advantage from the improvement of the vein. Mr. Taylor gives a few further particulars on this subject. So efficacious is the tribute system, that it has been doubted whether many of the deep mines of Cornwall could be worked at all except on this system, so great are the difficulties sometimes met with, and so great the energy and stimulus which this healthy competition gives. Each gang or partnership consists of from two to twelve persons. The men pay for every article they use in their work, such as tools, gunpowder, and candles; and they pay at certain rates for the use of the machines that raise the ore to the surface, and the wages of all persons employed in washing and preparing the ores for sale. The mine-owners, therefore, by their capital and the skill of their agents, discover the ore, form the approaches, drain off the water, and ventilate the workings; and then the tributers come in to search out the metallic veins wherever they may exist, and to devise the best modes of producing the greatest quantity of metal in the shortest time. The payments which these men make, cause them to look with a careful eye on all cost incurred by others through whose hands the ores may pass, and thus to tend to a general economy; and the combined keenness and caution to which the system gives rise, are well calculated to lead to discoveries favourable to the interests of the men. Thus much in respect to the owners, lessees, and superintendents of the mines. Now we come to the actual workers; and the arrangements connected with them we shall state nearly in the words of Mr. Babbage. In the Cornish mines almost the whole of the operations both above and below ground are contracted Mr. Taylor has introduced this Cornish system into for in the following manner :-At the end of every two Flintshire, Cardiganshire, Yorkshire, Cumberland, and moaths the work which it is proposed to carry on Ireland; and although he had to contend with many during the next period is marked out. It is of three difficulties at first, the advantages of the arrangement kinds, tutwork, tribute, and dressing. Tutwork con- soon became evident to the men, who did not aftersists in sinking shafts, driving levels, and making ex- wards wish to retrograde to the old system. Mr. cavations: this is paid for by the fathom, in depth or | Taylor thus characterises the general effect of the Cornish system :-" The rate of wages regulates itself by the circumstances that ought to control it-the demand for labour. No one has heard of disagreements between the Cornish miners and their employers -no combinations or unions on the one side or the other exist; nor have turn-outs' or 'strikes' been contemplated or attempted. This plan works with perfect harmony and facility, whether as applied to tutwork or tribute; a great number of men are contracted with in a remarkably short space of time; the judgment of the agents as to the proper prices to be given is checked, and perhaps corrected by the knowledge of the men; all jealousy as to favouritism is avoided, and an evil consequence which might be supposed to follow, namely, heart-burnings among the men who compete with each other, is not at all found to exist." Mr. Babbage, too, thus favourably alludes to the system:-"It would be of great importance if in every large establishment the modes of paying the different persons employed could be so arranged, that each should derive advantage from the success of the whole, and that the profits of the individuals should advance as the factory itself produced profits, without the necessity of making any change in the wages agreed upon. This it is by no means easy to effect, particularly among that class whose daily labour procures for them their daily meal. The system which has long been pursued in working the Cornish mines, although not exactly fulfilling these conditions, yet possesses advantages which make it worthy of attention, as having considerably approached towards them, and as tending to render fully effective the faculties of all engaged in it." stuffing a dried deer-skin and laying it on its back in the field so as to represent a dead animal, which brought all the vultures in the neighbourhood to it directly; they seemed puzzled about the glass eyes not being eatable, and looked quite nonplussed when, instead of guts, they could pull out nothing but the dried grass of the stuffing. The second experiment was to lay a putrid pig in a ravine completely covered up with grass and leaves; and vultures, buzzards, and carrion crows sailed over it repeatedly, and never once found it out, though dogs did. The third experiment was, "I stuck a young pig aud left the blood in sight, and took it bleeding on the track to a place where I hid the pig entirely with grass and leaves. The vultures soon saw the pool of blood, and following the track, devoured the pig in my sight." The experiments of Darwin are equally conclusive on this subject. over one. Ostrich. The most singular circumstance in the history of the Ostrich is, that the male bird sits on the eggs. The female lays a great number of them, but always at an interval of three days each, which, in a warm climate, would, of course, cause all the early laid ones to be addled. The females, therefore, associate together and fill one nest with eggs to the amount, generally, of about twenty-two in each nest. "The Gauchos (the half-wild countrymen of South America) affirm, and there is no reason to doubt their statement, that the male bird alone hatches the eggs, and for some time afterwards accompanies the young. The cock, when on the nest, lies very close; I have, myself, almost ridden It is asserted that, at such times, they are occasionally attack a man on horseback, trying to kick and leap on him. fierce, and even dangerous, and that they have been known to My informer pointed out to me an old man, whom he had seen much terrified by one chasing him. I observe in Burchell's Travels in South Africa, that he remarks having killed a male ostrich, and, the feathers being dirty, it was said by the Hottentots to be a nest bird. I understand that the male emu, in the Zoological Gardens, takes charge of the nest: this habit, therefore, is common to the family. Azara states, (vol. iv., p. 173) that a female, in a state of domestication, laid seventeen eggs each at the interval of three days from one another. If the hen were obliged to hatch her own eggs, before the last was laid the first probably would be addled; but if each laid a few eggs at successive periods, in different nests, and several hens, as is stated to be the case, combined together, then the eggs, in one collection, would be nearly of the same age. If the number of eggs in one of these nests is, as I believe, not greater on an average than the number laid by one female in the season, then there must be as many nests as females, and each cock bird will have its fair share of the labour of incubation: and that, during a period when the females could not sit, on account of not having finished laying. I have before mentioned the great number of huachos, or scattered eggs, so that in one day's hunting the third part were found in this state. It appears odd that so many should be wasted. Does it not arise from the difficulty of several females associating together, and persuading an old cock to undertake the office of incubation? It is evident that there must be some degree of association between, at least, two females; otherwise the eggs would remain scattered over the wide plains at distances far too great to allow of the male collecting them into one nest. Some have believed that the scattered eggs were deposited for the young birds to feed on. This can hardly be the case in America, because the huachos, although oftentimes found addled and putrid, are generally whole." The Condor.-This vulture of the Andes is much more remarkable for his audacity, the enormous strength of his beak, his wings, and his talons, than for his dimensions from point to point of the wings, which only stretch on an average from 8 to 9 feet, which are the usual dimensions of the Lammergeyer or Swiss Vulture. Many persons, of the highest credit, in Quito and the Andes, assured Baron Humboldt that they never killed any that exceeded eleven feet from one wing to the other. It has been said that there was a stuffed one formerly in the Lever Museum in London that was 14 feet, but if true it must have been a great exception. The Irish giant O'Brien, whose skeleton is in the Surgeons' Museum, was 8 feet high, though the Irish in general are no bigger than Englishmen. It is the great strength of the condor that has given rise to the fabulous stories of immense wings. The beak and talons of the condor are certainly of the most enormous force. It is very common to see them attack a young bull and tear out his tongue and eyes. Two condors will dart upon the deer of the Andes, upon the puma and the vicuña. They will even attack a heifer; they pursue it for a long time, wounding it with their beak and talons, until the animal, breathless and overwhelmed with fatigue, thrusts out its tongue, bellowing. The condor then seizes the tongue, a morsel to which it is much attached, then tears out the eyes, &c. In the province of Quito, the mischief done to cattle, but more especially to sheep-Darwin's Journal during the Beagle Voyage. and cows, by this formidable bird, is immense. Sometimes the natives observe him when he is so gorged that he cannot fly, and then dispatch him. Because vultures feed generally upon dead or putrid meat, Humboldt and others always say that the scent must be very acute which enables them to swoop down so to the particular spot, and from such heights that they appeared before mere specks in the sky; but is sight more wonderful than scent? and if not, then sight is the more probable of the two, because the bird is above the earth at a great height, and because we know that the eagle never takes any but living victims, and will not eat putrid meat in confinement if ever sc angry and if the eagle has a telescopic eye, why not other birds? In India, vultures are often seen descending upon the carcasses of piously self-drowned Hindoos floating down the Ganges; and one traveller mentions that they came from all points of the compass to a newly-killed animal, and that during a regular trade-wind. Audubon, the American ornithologist, mentions several experiments, the result of which are conclusive upon this subject. The first was by The Phoenix.-The Phoenix is remarkable as a specimen of fabulous ornithology. This was an eagle of splendid gold and crimson plumage, that came from the woods of Arabia into Egypt only once in some 500 or 600 years. The story of the Phenix arising from its own ashes is, shortly, that it lives five or six hundred years in the wilderness, and when thus advanced in age builds itself a pile of sweet woods and aromatic gums, and firing from its ashes arises a worm, which in time grows up to be again it with the wafting of its own wings, thus destroys itself; while a phoenix. The Pagans believed, and the Christians have adopted the superstition, that men foredoomed, like this fabled bird of lonely existence, always madly prepare the circumstances in which they are destined to perish. TRIBES AND CASTES OF INDIA. THE ROHILLAS. [The Rohillas.] THE Rohillas were gallant soldiers of fortune from the Afghan mountains, who acquired distinction in the Mogul armies, and were rewarded with lands, principally in that fertile district called Rohilcund, which lies between the Ganges and the mountains. Their countrymen, who were very numerous in the imperial armies, followed the fortunes of their chiefs in peace as in war, and they became the rulers of Rohilcund. Mr. Mill, in his History of British India,' says "It is completely proved that their territory was by far the best governed part of India; that the people were protected; that their industry was encouraged; and that the country flourished beyond all parallel." The soil and climate of Rohilcund are very fine, and the sugar, rice, and cotton bear a higher price than the same commodities from any other part of India. Walnuts, strawberries, grapes, apples, thrive by the side of the toddy and date-palms, and the plaintain. In 1772 the united force of the Rohilla leaders was estimated at 80,000 horse and foot; but the independence of each chief rendered it very difficult to effect a union of the military power, and such a combination was only practicable when some common danger threatened the national existence. This was the necessary consequence of the equality of power among the Rohilla leaders. If any one of them could have singly obtained a manifest superiority in military resources, the lesser chieftains might then have been forced more easily into national enterprises; but the independent spirit of the people would have been gone. In 1772 the Rohillas were surrounded by dangers which called forth the national spirit, and united the chieftains for the defence of the country The terrible Mahrattas were pressing upon them from the south, and they were not less apprehensive of an attack from the Subahdar of Oude, who had long been anxious to take possession of their fine country. The Rohillas were no match for either party, and their object was to gain protection against both. At this juncture, after the Rohilla leaders had temporised both with the Mahrattas and the Subahdar, the latter opened negotiations with the English for gaining possession of Rohilcund with the aid of a British force. Tempted by the offer of a large pecuniary indemnity, which was much wanted in the existing state of the East India Company's finances, the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, seconded and "encouraged" the nefarious proposal. The pecuniary part of the bargain was soon arranged, and by it, according to Hastings, "a saving of near one-third of our military expenses would be effected during the period in which the co-operation of our troops was wanted; the stipulation of forty lacs would afford an ample supply to our treasury; the Vizir (Subahdar) would be freed from a troublesome neighbourhood; and his dominions be much more defensible." Two short months only after the treaty had been concluded the Vizir demanded its fulfilment, and on the 17th of April, 1774, the British forces and those of the Vizir entered the Rohilla territory. The Rohilla leaders wrote to the Vizir expressing their anxiety to come to some terms with him, but his demands were so exorbitant that they gallantly resolved to trust to their arms. Early on the morning of April 23rd the English advanced to the attack. The Rohillas showed great bravery and resolution, and exhibited a considerable share of military knowledge; and it was not until after a cannonade of two hours and twenty |