neither observed nor heard anything to excite suspicion, I determined on shaping my course homewards, intending to paddle quietly along. shore, and in the event of reaching Dartmouth Range before daylight, to remain there on the look-out during the remainder of the night: for, as my information did not specify the exact spot of the smuggler, my chance, for what I knew to the contrary, was as good at one place as the other. The weather, moreover, looked threatening, and I wished, in case it freshened, to be sufficiently near my vessel to insure my getting on board shortly after daylight. The galley was accordingly pulled towards Berry Head; on reaching which, my fears of a change of weather appeared about to be realized; for, although there was no wind to speak of at the time, yet a very heavy ground-swell seemed to announce that a gale was not far distant. We had some difficulty in rounding the pitch of the Berry; for (as is almost always the case with headlands) there was rather a heavy sea off it, occasioned by the tide; and we shipped several green seas over the stem head, before we unfortunately accomplished our purpose. On our clearing it the sea ran fairer, and the breeze, that had blown in puff's round the head, as if in pity to warn us not to proceed, died away, and left us to our fate. Our situation was, however, melancholy in the extreme, for all was silent around, save the roar of the breakers inside of us. A solitary star only occasionally gleamed between the heavy clouds that sailed past it. The galley rose slowly and mournfully over the mountain-swell, under her muffled oars; and wet, cold, and weary as I was, it required but little stretch of the imagination to metamorphose the black profile of the flat-topped, elevated, and remarkably formed Berry,-edged beneath with a broad belt of foam, into the white-bordered, sable pall of a gigantic coffin. Indeed, I know not now exactly whether the melancholy catastrophe that shortly after took place gave birth to the idea or not, but it has ever since appeared to me that there was something particularly marked and ominous in our rounding the head. Would to God, for the sake of the unfortunate men then under my command, the warning had been taken! Following the "lay" of the coast, we continued pulling to the westward, with "death," as Jack would say, 66 on one side, and no mercy on the other;" for, on our larboard side we saw nothing but a dirty horizon, and in the opposite direction naught presented itself save breakers and an iron-bound " shore; and even these were occasionally lost sight of, as the boat slowly sank in the deep hollow of the swell that rolled from the south west. At about half-past one,-for my watch had stopped at that time, -we reached the entrance of the sound, that separates the Mewstone from the main. We half threaded the passage; and the "Ay, ay, sir!" of the bowman, to my oft-repeated order of " Keep a good look-out forward!" was still sounding in my ears, when, to my great surprise, the boat struck on something forward, and the bowman at the same moment hastily called out, "There's a rock under the bows, sir!" "Back off all !"-" Jump out, bowman, and shove the boat astern !"-were the orders instantly given. Neither, however, could be obeyed; for the descending swell immediately left the boat suspended by the gripe; and she being of that class appropriately called DEATHS!" instantly fell on her broadside. The next sea, instead of bearing her up, which would in all probability have been the case had she had any bearings, rushed over the starboard quarter, and with the last words of the order-" Throw the ballast-bags overboard!"-on my lips, she sank under me; while, for a second or two, the men forwards appeared high and dry out of the water. It was but for a second or two! She slipped off the rock-sank—and not a splinter of her was ever again seen, that I know of. 66 On first feeling the boat sink under me, I of course knew our case was a desperate one; and that (to make use of a sailor's expression,) "it was every man for himself, and God for us all." My first object was to avoid the grasp of my drowning crew; (more particularly that of the unfortunate marine, whom, but a few seconds before, I had observed comfortably nestled, and apparently fast asleep behind me ;) therefore, while the poor fellow sprang and clang, instinctively, to that part of the boat that was still above water,-probably with an idea of finding footing on the rock,-I seized the strokesman's oar that lay on the water near me, and giving myself what little impetus my sinking footing would admit of, I struck out over the starboard quarter of the boat, in quite the opposite direction. After a few hasty strokes, I ventured to look behind me to see whether the poor dreaded marine was near me, when a scene presented itself, that may have been the unfortunate lot of many to behold, but that few have lived to describe. The Death was gone! The treacherous cause of our misfortune had never shown itself above the water! But, as I rode on the crest of a long, unbroken wave, the sparkling of the sea beneath me, and the wild shrieks that rose from the watery hollow, but too plainly pointed out the fatal spot, and announced that the poor fellows were sinking in each other's convulsive embrace. For a few seconds a sea rose between us and hid the spot from my view; but, on my again getting a glimpse of it, the sparkling of the water was scarcely discernible, and a faint murmur only crept along the surface of the leaden wave. Another sea followed! As it rose between me and heaven, I saw on its black outline a hand clutching at the clouds above it, a faint gurgle followed, the sea rolled sullenly by, and all was dark and silent around me! I had just beheld within a few yards of me the dying struggle of—as I then thought -my whole crew; and everything seemed to announce that my own life was prolonged for only a few short minutes; for, allowing I succeeded in reaching the shore, the surf threatened my destruction on the rocks. And, should a miracle enable me to weather that danger, the precipitous coast promised only a more lingering death at a cliff's foot. Notwithstanding all this, however,-thanks to the Almighty!-my presence of mind never for a moment forsook me. I have already stated, that at my leaving the vessel I had a suit of " Flushing over my ordinary dress of a jacket and trousers, in addition to which, at the time the boat struck, I was enveloped in a large boat-cloak; the latter I had thrown off my shoulders the instant the danger was apparent; and now that I no longer feared being grappled, my first object was to get rid of the former. I accordingly, with the assistance of the oar, (that supported me while doing so,) stripped off my two jackets and waistcoat; and my two pairs of trousers would have followed also, had I not dreaded the probability of the heavy Flushing getting entangled round my ankles in the first place, and in the second, considered that both them and my shoes would preserve me from being cut by the rocks, should I succeed in reaching them. Thus lightened, and with the oar held fore-andaft-wise under my left arm, I struck out boldly for the shore; and after remaining— God only knows how long, in the water-for to me it appeared an age,-I got into the wash of the breakers; and after receiving several heavy blows, and experiencing the good effects of my Flushing fenders, I even tually secured a footing, and scrambled up above the break of the waves. As I lay on the rock panting, breathless, and nearly insensible, the words "Save me, save me, I'm sinking!" appeared to rise with the spray that flew over me. At first, stupified with exertion and fatigue as I was, I fancied that the wild shriek that had accompanied the sinking "death" still rang in my ears; till the repeated cry, with the addition of my own name, aroused me from my state of insensibility, and on glancing my eyes towards the surf, I beheld a man strug gling hard to gain the shore. Never shall I forget the sensation of that moment! I can compare it to nothing but the effects of the most dreadful nightmare. I would have run any risk to endeavour to save the unfor tunate man; but if the simple lifting of a finger could have gained me the Indies-the Indies would have been lost to me, so completely was I rivetted to the spot. At this moment, the oar that had saved my life fortunately floated into the exhausted man's hands; and after a hard struggle he appeared to gain a footing;-he lost it!-again he grasped the rock! The next moment saw him floating at some distance in the foam!— once more he approached, and clung to the shore ! My anxiety was dreadful! rising slowly from the water, and scrambling towards me, the poor fellow's cold embrace informed me I was not the only survivor; while his faltering exclamation of " The poor fellows are all drowned, sir!" too plainly assured me that we alone were saved! - till After a time, we recovered sufficiently to gain the use of our legs; and then, what with stamping on the rock, and flapping our arms across our chests, we contrived to knock a little warmth into ourselves; and that point gained, we commenced our attempt to scale the face of the cliff that hung lowering over our heads. By mutual assistance, and with some difficulty, we succeeded in mounting between twenty or thirty feet; and I had just begun to solace myself with the idea, that the undertaking was not altogether so difficult as from appearances I had been led to suppose it was, when, on reaching out my arms, to catch a fresh hold of the rock before me, I found my eyes had deceived me as to its distance, and falling forwards, I with great difficulty saved myself from pitching headlong into a chasm that yawned beneath me, and through which the sea was dashing violently. In fact, the high land had deceived us. We were only on a rock!!! (To be concluded-in our next.) Manners and Customs. PUBLIC WALKS. IN Austria and France there is scarcely a single town without a commodious public walk, shaded by trees, and furnished with benches. Throughout Switzerland the same remark applies, and there the situation chosen is frequently very picturesque, and the promenade is kept with that neatness for which the Swiss are remarkable. The most beautiful are the Casinne, on the banks of the Arno, at Florence; the China Walk at Naples, possessing one of the most magnificent views in the world; the promenade below the Strada del Po, at Turin, (whence the Alps, clothed in snow, are seen rising in a vast semicircle to the north and west,) and the terrace commanding the lakes and mountains of Savoy; and Chablais, at Lausanne. But Zurich, Berne, Geneva, Basle, Milan, Parma, Modena, Lucca, Padua, and other Swiss and Italian towns, have each their public walks and gardens. Many of their walks have been formed and dedicated to the public by the munificence of individuals, and it seems extraordinary that our wealthy and generous nation, where popularity is of value, and leads to power, should be excelled in these respects even by those who care little for the people, and have no part or lot with them.-Mr. Slaney, M. P. SPORTS OF THE ROMAN CIRCUS. (Abridged from the Rev. Mr. Burton's Antiquities and Curiosities of Rome.) THE exhibition of wild beasts was one of the most popular amusements at Rome. When amphitheatres were introduced, the Circus was not so much used for this purpose as before but still there were hunts in the Circus till a late period. The number of wild beasts killed upon these occasions is truly wonderful; and if the accounts were not well attested, we might be incredulous as to the possibility of so many being supplied. It was in the course of the second Punic war that wild beasts were first exhi hibited at all, as before that time there was a decree of the senate, prohibiting the importation of beasts from Africa. At first they were only shown to the people, and not hunted or killed. The earliest account we have of such an exhibition was u. c. 502, when one hundred and forty-two elephants were produced, which were taken in Sicily. Pliny, who gives us this information, tells us, that he could not ascertain whether they were put to death in the Circus, or merely exhibited there. But these animals had been seen in Rome twenty-three years before, in the triumph of M. C. Dentatus over Pyrrhus. The same author says, that lions first appeared in any number u. c. 652: but these probably were not turned loose. In the year 661, Sylla brought forward one hundred, when he was prætor. In the year 696, besides lions, elephants, bears, &c. one hundred and fifty panthers were shown for the first time. When Pompey dedicated his theatre, there was the greatest exhibition of beasts ever known. There were seventeen elephants, six hundred lions, which were killed in the course of five days; four hundred and ten panthers, &c. &c. A rhinoceros also appeared for the first time; a strange beast, called chaus, or cepos, and a lupus cervarius from Gaul. This was u. c. 701. The art of taming these beasts was carried to such perfection, that M. Antony actually yoked them to his carriage. Cæsar, in his third dictatorship, u. c. 708, showed a vast number of wild beasts, among which were four hundred lions and a cameleopard. The latter animal is thus described by Pliny: "The Ethiopians call it nabis; in the neck it resembles a horse, in the feet and legs an ox, a camel in the head, and in colour it is red with white spots." Dio is still more minute; "This animal resembles a camel, except that it has not the same proportion in its limbs: the hind parts are lower, and it rises gradually from the tail; the fore legs also serve to elevate the rest of the body, and its neck is peculiarly high. In colour it is spotted, like a leopard." A tiger was exhibited for the first time at the dedication of the Theatre of Marcellus, u. c. 743. It was kept in a cage. Claudius afterwards showed four together. Titus exhibited five thousand beasts of various kinds in one day. Adrian had one thousand beasts slaughtered on his birthday; and Commodus killed several thousands with his own hand. The emperor Gordian, besides showing one hundred African beasts, and one thousand bears, in one day, devised a spectacle of quite a new kind: he had a temporary wood planted in the Circus, and turned into it two hundred stags, (cervi palmati,) thirty wild horses, one hundred wild sheep, ten elks, one hundred Cyprian bulls, three hundred ostriches, thirty wild asses, one hundred and fifty wild boars, two hundred ibices, and two hundred deer. He allowed all the people to enter the wood, and take what they pleased. Probus imitated him in his idea of a wood. There were turned in one thousand ostriches, one thousand stags, one thousand boars, one thousand deer, one thousand ibices, wild sheep, and other grazing animals, as many as could be fed or found. The people were then let in, and took what they wished. Every reign would furnish us with incredible accounts. We find mention in Pliny of the boa constrictor: he gives it the name of boɑ, and tells us that Claudius had one killed in the Vatican Circus, in the inside of which a child was found entire. Suetonius mentions another, which measured fifty cubits in length: but this was exhibited in the Forum. Enough has been stated to show that the ancients had much greater acquaintance with the wild beasts of Asia and Africa than the moderns have. The beasts were made to fight either with one another, or with men. The latter were called bestiarii, and occasionally fought without any weapons. Pliny calls them noxii, culprits. Means were used to excite the fury of the wild animals by applying fire, and lashing them with whips. The elephants were intoxicated with wine and incense; but Ælian says, that it was not wine from the grape, but a liquor made from rice and reeds. Cloths were used to irritate the lions and bears; and wild boars had a particular objection to white cloths. Balls were also thrown at them to provoke them. Round three sides of the Circus was a stream of water, called Euripus, the principal object of which was to prevent the elephants and other beasts from coming to the people. Besides the battles in which wild beasts were engaged, there were other sanguinary spectacles, in which gladiators either contended in single combat, or large bodies of horse and foot fought with each other. It appears from the chronicle of Cassiodorus, that athletic games were first exhibited in the year of Rome 567; and Livy tells us the same thing; but by the term athlete we are not to understand simply gladiators, for the same author tells us, that they were introduced seventy-eight years before, u. c. 489. The emperor Gordian had sometimes five hundred pairs of gladiators exhibited in one day, and never less than one hundred and fifty. In Cæsar's games we find five hundred foot and three hundred horse engaged together; and twenty elephants were also introduced; upon which occasion the meta were removed to give more room. From these two examples we may see in what number human victims were sacrificed, that some great man might be popular, and the Roman rabble amused. In the days of Nero or Elagabalus, a lion or an elephant was surely a much nobler animal than a Roman emperor; and it may be doubted whether a gladiator was not much fitter to govern a nation. Nero was not satisfied with having slaves as gladiators, but he made thirty knights destroy each other in that capacity; and at another time four hundred senators and six hundred knights engaged by his order. We read even of women fighting in the Circus. The naval engagements were sometimes exhibited in the Circus Maximus, which could easily be filled with water. Some of the emperors erected buildings on purpose, which were called Naumachic. Two of the largest were built by Cæsar and Augustus. Suetonius, speaking of the former, says, "A lake was dug in the form of a shell, in which Biremes, Triremes, and Quadriremes, representing the Tyrian and Egyptian fleets, engaged, with a vast number of men on board." It was filled up after Caesar's death. The Naumachia of Augustus was on the other side of the Tiber. Caligula constructed one, as did Domitian and others. That of Domitian was on the site of the present Piazza di Spagna. Elagabalus upon one occasion filled the Euripus with wine, and had naval exhibitions performed in it. Stage-plays were but seldom represented in the Circus. That they were so occasionally, we learn from Suetonius, who says, that Augustus had them exhibited there. Arnobius speaking of the general passion for these spectacles complains, that the Priests, the Pontifex Maximus, the Augurs, and even the Vestal Virgins, were in the habit of attending. The eagerness with which all parties flocked to the games, is almost incredible. and Ammianus, who wrote in the fourth century, gives the following lively description of it in his days. "The people spend all their earnings in drinking and gaming, in spectacles, amusements, and shows. The Circus Maximus is their temple, their dwelling-house, their public meeting, and all their hopes. In the fora, the streets, and the squares, multitudes assemble together and dispute, some defending one thing and some another. The oldest take the privilege of their age, and cry out in the temples and fora, that the Republic must fall, if in the approaching games the person whom they support does not win the prize, and first pass the goal. When the wished-for day of the equestrian games arrives, before sun-rise all run headlong to the spot, passing in swiftness the chariots that are to run; upon the success of which their wishes are so divided, that many pass the night without sleep." Lactantius confirms this account, and says, that the people often quarrelled and fought from their great eagerness. These descriptions would be applicable to the Roman people at any period, from the age of Julius Cæsar to the time in which they were written. Pliny makes the Circus Maximus capable of containing 260,000 persons, in which Sextus Rufus agrees with him. Publius Victor estimates the number at 385,000. When the different amusements of the Circus ceased, it would not be easy exactly to define. There is no mention of processions or naumachiæ after the time of Constantine. We know that he forbade the combats of gladiators: but the custom must have been afterwards revived, as Honorius found it necessary to prohibit the combats of gladiators by a special edict. This was about the beginning of the fifth century. The combats of men and beasts seem to have lasted till Justinian's days: but Procopius, speaking of a Circus near the Vatican, mentions it as a place then in disuse, in which he says, formerly single combats were exhibited. This was about the year 546. It is certain that such bloody spectacles existed in the time of Theodoric, about A.D. 500, for we have in Cassiodorus a letter from that king to the consul Maximus, in which he gives an interesting account of them, while he reprobates the custom extremely. It is probable, that the chariot and horse-races continued much longer: the Hippodrome at Constantinople was certainly employed for this purat the time the Venetians took it in 1204. pose Anecdote Gallery. GLUCK AND PICCINI. The passage just quoted from Suetonius THE first opera Gluck composed for the. proves what it was in the time of Caligula; French theatre was the Iphigenie en Aulide The of Racine. He was a whole year in writing the music, studying, during that time, the French language with the utmost care, and endeavouring to build upon its flexible rhythm the melodies of Germany and Italy. In this he was completely successful; but he encountered great opposition from the French musicians and amateurs, who all rose up in arms against the attempt to adapt the strains of their celebrated poet to foreign music. composer, however, was patronized by the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, who had been his pupil in Germany; and his opera, as well as several subsequent ones, were received with enthusiasm. The French were now in raptures with the man whom, a short time before, they would have gladly banished from the kingdom; they said he had discovered the ancient music of the Greeks; and that he was the only musician in Europe who knew how to express the real language of the passions. He was at the zenith of his fame when, in 1776, Piccini arrived. His style was essentially different from that of Gluck; his operas, though possessing many beauties, brilliant melodies, and passages of great elegance and pathos, were deficient in that unity which Gluck made his particular study. Many of the volatile French espoused the cause of the Neapolitan, and a musical war commenced, which lasted several years, being carried on with the usual artillery of pamphlets, epigrams, lampoons, &c. The young were chiefly for Piccini, the old for Gluck. And so zealously was the contest conducted, that no door was opened to a stranger without the question being put to him, "Are you a Piccinist or a Gluckist ?" At length the public got tired of the dispute, and terminated it in the only way in which it ought to have been terminated, by dividing the palm between them. W. G. C. REFRACTORY CANTATRICE. Gabrielli, who was the idol of the Palermatins, one evening, on which a new opera was to be performed, sent word, just as the orchestra was about to begin, the house being crowded, and the viceroy and court present, that she had a headach, and could not perform. Every endeavour of the manager to induce her to fulfil her duty, only rendered her the more obstinate; and even the threat of a dungeon, from the viceroy, had no effect. At length, after exhausting every other method to restore her to reason, a guard seized and conducted her to prison. She told the captain of the guard, with the greatest sang froid," Your viceroy may make me cry, but he shall not make me sing." After remaining two days in confinement, she was released. But while in prison, she feasted the prisoners sumptuously, and on her departure, distributed a large sum amongst the poorer class of them. W. G. C. The Gatherer. Admiral Benbow.-The following lines were cut with a diamond on a square of glass, by Admiral Benbow, in a window of one of the bed-rooms belonging to the house in which the gallant Admiral was born, at Cotton Hill, Shrewsbury: "Then only breathe one prayer for me That voice, and view that smile." - Beauty. Beauty is, after all, a mere matter of opinion; and the utility of the object to which the term is applied, often constitutes with the applicant, its propriety. Having always esteemed the landscape, visible from a favourite shrubbery walk, as really beautiful, I was one day, this summer, annoyed to find it hidden by some linen hung out to dry in the nearest intervening field, and which, internally, I determined was the ugliest object ever presented to human eyes; but I was ere long led to think differently, and to meditate on the different conceptions and standards of beauty, entertained by individuals, according to the various influences of birth, education, profession, and circumstances, by the simple incident of a maid servant entering the walk to deliver a message to me, and exclaiming " How beau tiful that linen looks! did you ever see, Miss, a finer sight?" "So then," I thought, "that has beauty to her, which is positively ugly to me; the application is general, and the inference obvious; wherefore, I will M. L. B. |