apt scholar, and had picked up that much Scotch already) "I think you have got your birth-day stockings on!" "An you hae gotten your ball stays," replied she, alluding to my Cumberland corset. "Oh! Oh!" thought I; "quizzing, which I had made the order of the day, wont do here ;" so I changed iny tone. 66 "I now came to the haggis. Gemini! what a horror! It looked like a boiled bagpipe; and when I stuck my knife in it, out gushed such a flood of abomination, that I was almost suffocated. I dispensed with master haggis; but when I came to taste the whiskey, it took me so powerfully by the throat, that I thought it would have suffocated me again. I can compare it to nothing but blue blazes, and gunpowder, fire and smoke :-I now drank a bottle of Bell's ale-nectar and ambrosia! finished my wine, and ordering my horse, paid a very moderate bill, and prepared for my departure. "Well, said I to myself, first impressions are strong. I am now but a few miles in Scotland, and I find civil treatment, moderate charges, good wine, and pretty girls: a man may do well enough here. I took a private lodging at Edinburgh, and made myself comfortable. I lodge and board in the new town, which beats Bath hollow, at a widow M'Clarty's. I took her at first for a poor distressed woman; but she has a fine sideboard of plate, engraved with the arms of the M'Clarty family, as proudly as if she were a duchess; table linen enough to set up a draper's shop, and the most splendid Bible I ever saw in my life, which she is always quoting; besides a very decent library, and handsome furniture. She says she lets lodgings for company's sake, being a lone woman, but that's all my eye. However, she is an uncommonly worthy, good sort of person. "At table, I expected to show off, for the party consisted of two ministers (as they call the parsons) and two young students, one of physic and the other of law; but I could scarcely get in a word edgeways. I began to flash a little about the state of Europe, when the elder minister, who might have been a minister of state for his knowledge, opened upon me, until I was quite dumb-founded. He had history at his finger's ends, and he knew more about the continent than I did about the counting-house, altho' a very uncouth shabby looking chap. The younger parson, too, would quote you all the British poets, and authors, with a facility that astonished me, but all in a broad accent, which proved that he had never crossed the borders. The law fellow seemed to want to talk nothing but Greek and Latin, mathematics, arts, and sciences; but the medical gentleman, an Irishman, was as gay and flighty as you could wish, and seeing how flabergasted I was, he took me under his wing to shew me life. We finished the evening together, and with this I will finish my letter. Edinburgh is a rare place for learning, as you shall bear another time. In the mean while I remain, "Dear John, yours very truly. "PETER PRIG." "P. S. The lace takes finely; vouz m'entendez, as we say in French. Pray take care of my bull-bitch, and pay up my subscription to the club." From Baldwin's London Magazine. CURIOUS HISTORY OF A SOLDIER'S DAUGHTER. Sir,-A few years back, Mrs. Charlotte Smith published some selections from the Causes Celebres of Guiot de Pitaval, to which she gave the very appropriate title of The Romance of Real Life. In the hope that you will find the following little narrative as interesting as the incident which caused its being drawn up is extraordinary, I transmit it to that scarcely any circumstance pourtrayed by the most fertile imagination, may not find its parallel in the actual occurrences which diversify our exist ence. JA AMES GOGGIN was born in the little town of Headfort, in the on, being of opinion with the above-named lady, county of Galway, and kingdom of Ireland he is now about fifty-six years old, of which he has been nearly thirtythree in his Majesty's service. Thirteen he has served as serjeant in the Fifth Dragoon Guards. On the 2d of March, 1810, he received his discharge, as "rheumatic and worn out," and the Irish Pension, (about forty-one pounds per annum, of the currency of that country,) was granted to him. For his character and conduct while a soldier, he has the testimonials of the late much lamented General William Ponsonby; at one period his lieutenant colonel; Colonel William Jones, his major; he can refer also to the Hon. General Robert Taylor and General Brook; and generally to every officer with whom he has served. During the course of the severe service seen by the abovenamed regiment on the continent, under the immediate command of his Royal Highness the Duke of York, Goggin received two gun-shot wounds, and one from a sabre, the effects of which he yet feels. About the year 1786, while recruiting, Goggin intermarried with a girl of respectable connexions and character, belonging to the town of Nenagh, in the county of Tipperary. By her he has had sixteen children. In the year 1793, he left the Cove of Cork with his regiment, and accompanied by his wife, landed at Ostend, of. which place General Stewart, of the 3d Foot, or Old Buffs, was then governor. To this officer Mrs. Goggin was recommended by Colonel (now General) Taylor, to act as cook and housekeeper, in which stations she remained to the period of the evacuation of Ostend by the English force. During this interval, she had frequently the honour to dress the dinner prepared for his Royal Highness the Duke of York, and to be more than once noticed by him. She was then pregnant of her fifth child, the particulars relating to which are hereafter to be mentioned. On the 4th April, 1794, the wife of Goggin was delivered of a female infant, who was baptized the same day, by the name of Mary, agreeably to the rites of the catholic faith. Her moth er's situation rendered it necessary that the infant should be placed out at nurse; and Joanna Maartins, an honest poor working woman of Ostend, took charge of her, at the rate of ten florins (or twenty franks) per month. Mary being then thirteen weeks old. The father and mother finding their child in perfectly good bands, and believing that the British army would speedily re-occupy Ostend, consented, at the evacuation of that place, chiefly in consequence of the earnest entreaty of the foster-mother to leave her behind them. The events of the following campaigns destroyed all hope, in Goggin and his wife, of soon rejoining or recovering their daughter. In the disasters of the times, they lost the whole of their savings in money, and all their baggage. Since then, eleven other children were born to this couple. Frequent change of quarters, heavy expences incident to such change, the illness of the mother, and the father's decreasing strength and impaired health, made retirement indispensable to him, and he procured his discharge as above stated. From this period (1810) up to the present (1816), he has resided partly in the county of Galway, and partly in the county of Tipperary, at Nenagh, with his wife's relations, and where he still remains. The occupation of Ostend by the enemy continuing up to 1814, he remained unable to procure any tidings of his daughter who was left in that town so long back as in 1794. When the successes of the Allies opened the way for correspondence with the continent, Goggin, by letters to such of the inhabitants as he remembered, to the mayor of the place, to the British commandant, in fine, by every means he could himself. devise, or that others recommended, sought to obtain knowledge of his child's situation :-his endeavours were fruitless. The dangerous state of his wife's health, rendered it impossible for him to go over to Ostend immediately, a step which it was his earnest desire to take. At length, some mitigation of his wife's complaints took place: the cor roding reflections of this unhappy couple on the possible fate of their abandoned child, coupled with the fruitlessness of every other mode hitherto attemped to gain information of her, induced Goggin to make one last struggle, cost what it would, to relieve his mind and that of his afflicted wife. He accordingly, with the little means he could muster, left Nenagh the 2d of August, of the present year (1816), and after a long and painful journey by sea and land arrived at Ostend on the 17th of the same month. It may here be incidentally mentioned, that of the sixteen children born to him in various parts of the Continent, England, and Ireland, only one boy, about twelve years old, and the chance of a daughter's existence at Ostend remained to him. The death of this numerous offspring arose, as Goggin states, from the hardships of a military life, and the diseases prevailing in the various quarters during his thirtythree years' service. Her extraordinary fate had interested the whole town for her; whilst her most exemplary demeanour, her industry, her purity of conduct, had confirm ed the partiality of its inhabitants. She who considered herself alone in the world, is now in the arms of a father. She glories in a parent who has sought her out from a far country, with scarcely a chance of success in his research: finally, she feels an elevation in being raised from the condition of an abandoned orphan, to that of the idolized member of a respectable family. The com The whole town of Ostend are quickly apprized of the winding-up of this romantic adventure. panions and friends of Mary Goggin crowd around, and felicitate her-the old man is caressed on all hands, and both, for more than a week, are invited to entertainments at the houses of the most respectable inhabitants.—A word now of the worthy guardian of the orphan Mary. At the period of the Behold then this poor father, with birth of the latter, she was, as is already palpitating heart and trembling steps, stated, "a poor working woman," to approaching, after an interval of twen- whom the promised twenty francs a ty-two years and some months, the month, for the nurture of the child, conresidence of the nurse with whom he stituted almost the sole mean of existhad deposited his infant. Although his ence.-When Goggin and his wife were conscience was clear as to the necessity forced to leave Ostend, she refused to which caused his separation from his accept a trunk, containing clothes and child, still consequences the most alarm- other valuables, as a pledge for their reing to a father's feelings as to its fate, turn, or, in the contrary event, to be takwere to be apprehended. That child en in lieu of the monthly payment; at was a female: to find her poor, brought the same time she solemnly promised up perhaps by public charity, coarse, that she would be a mother to the baby ignorant, and uneducated, was the best entrusted to her care; and well did she he could expect; but the certainty of perform her promise!-As soon as it her early death would be happiness, was ascertained that the English would compared with the circumstances in no more return to Ostend, she redoubwhich she might be found, both as to led her tenderness to the infant, and morals, habits, and connections. With was consequently forced to redouble these feelings, aggravated to mental her exertions for their mutual support. agony, he reaches the well-known hab- While at work herself, she has for itation; he recognizes the woman with years been obliged to diminish her whom he had placed his child; but scanty daily stipend, by paying a pertime and hardship had obliterated all son to take care of the little Mary. A trace of him in her recollection: A more severe trial, however, took place few words of explantion, and she runs when her charge was two years old. out and returns with his daughter! Although of a remarkably plain exteriThe delighted parent finds his child or, she was sought in marriage by well formed, good looking, and even Thomas Vanloo, a carpenter of the accomplished for her situation in life! town. Scandal became busy with her character;-her extraordinary partiality their own,to whom they could not afford for her nurse child was misinterpreted, and the lover hesitated to fulfil his engagement with her, unless, as a proof that the current reports were ill-founded, she would abandon the infant to public charity. This proposition she steadily and peremptorily refused, although a compliance with it would have raised her at once to comparative ease and independence. For some time the marriage was broken off; but at length the lover gave way, and the condition of both nurse and child was instantly ameliorated. What was yet more providential, the husband became nearly as strongly attached to the little being as his wife, and almost equally prodigal of his cares in her regard. At eight years old she had the confluent smallpox, and medical treatment was procured her, at an immense expense for people in their condition. After suffering blindness for a considerable time, the little girl was then restored to sight and health. As she grew up, finding her susceptible of a good education, this worthy couple sent her, for five years, to the best school in the town; for some months to a French academy, to acquire that indispensable language in the then state of affairs; and, to consummate their goodness, and secure her independence in future, they bound her apprentice to a mantua-maker and milliner for five years. Be it remembered, also, that these extraordinary people had, during this time,two girls and two boys of other than the most ordinary education! To form some idea of what sacrifices Vanloo and his wife have made in this matter, it will be necessary to read the paper annexed to this statement, of their disbursements for Mary up to the age of fifteen: from that period, it is their pride and boast to state, that she has abundantly maintained herself, and has no longer been a charge to them, but the contrary. Indeed, the whole town have come forward to attest, before the mayor, their view of the conduct of this estimable couple, and of their precious charge, in an instrument, on the proper stamp, and attested in all due form. The father, Goggin, is now on the point of quitting Ostend; other cares and duties call him home. To quit his daughter is heart-breaking to him; but to quit her without being able to make Vanloo and his wife the repayment of his just debt, or even the slightest renumeration for their benevolent charity to his child, weighs his mind down almost to despair. He, in the recollection and contemplation of H. R. H. the Commander-in-Chief's parental conduct to the army, has some faint hope that H. R. H. may deign to take the case of his old soldier into consideration, and that, thro' his gracious intervention, some means might be found to remove the only impediment to his perfect happiness. ZOOLOGY OF THE SPITZBERGEN WHALE. RRONEOUS opinions have been entertained respecting the Whale (the Balæna Mysticetus) having been of a much larger size in former times than now: from a comparison of the preceding accounts of all credible witnesses, the author says "Hence I conceive we may satisfactorily conclude, that whales of as large size are found now, as at any former pe3F ATHENEUM VOL. 7. riod since the Spitzbergen fishery was discovered; and I may also remark, that where any respectable authority affords actual measurements exceeding 70 feet, it will always be found that the specimen referred to, was not one of the Mysticetus kind, but of the B. Physalis, or the B. Musculus, animals which considerably exceed in length any of the common whales that I have either heard of, or met with. When tal position. Hence the account giv fully grown, therefore, the length of the whale may be stated as varying from 50 to 65, and rarely, if ever, reaching 70 feet; and its greatest circumference from 30 to 40 feet. It is thickest a little behind the fins, or in the middle, between the anterior and posterior extremes of the animal; from whence it gradually tapers in a conical form, towards the tail, and slightly to wards the head. Its form is cylindrical from the neck, to within ten feet of the tail, beyond which it becomes somewhat quadrangular, the greatest ridge being upward, or on the back, and running backward nearly across the middle of the tail. The head has somewhat of a triangular shape. The under-part, the arched outline of which is given by the jaw bones, is flat, and measures 16 to 20 feet in length, and 10 to 12 in breadth. The lips, extending 15 or 20 feet in length, and 5 or 6 in height, and forming the cavity of the mouth, are attached to the under-jaw, and rise from the jaw-bones, at an angle of about 80 degrees, having the appearance, when viewed in front, of the letter U. The The upper jaw, including the crown-bone,' or skull, is bent down at the extremity, so as to shut the front and upper parts of the cavity of the mouth, and is overlapped by the lips in a squamous manner at the sides. When the mouth is open, it presents a cavity as large as a room, and capable of containing a merchant-ship's jollyboat, full of men, being 6 or 8 feet wide, 10 or 12 feet high (in front), and 15 or 16 feet long. The fins, two in number, are placed between one-third and two-fifths of the length of the animal, from the snout, and about two feet behind the angle of the mouth. They are 7 to 9 feet in length, and 4 or 5 in breadth. The part by which they are attached to the body, is somewhat elliptical, and about 2 feet in diameter; the side which strikes the water is nearly flat. The articulation being perfectly spherical, the fins are capable of motion in any direction; but, from the tention of the flesh and skin below, they cannot be raised above the horizon en by some naturalists, that the whale supports its young by its fins, on its back, must be erroneous. The fins, after death, are always hard and stiff; but, in the living animal, it is presumed, from the nature of the internal structure, that they are capable of considerable flexion. The whale bas no dorsal fin. The tail, comprising, in a single surface, 80 or 100 square feet, is a formidable instrument of motion and defence. Its length is only 5 or 6 feet; but its width is 18 to 24 or 26 feet. Its position is horizontal. In its form it is flat and semi-lunar; indented in the middle; the two lobes somewhat pointed, and turned a little backward. Its motions are rapid and universal; its strength immense. The eyes are situated in the sides of the head, about a foot obliquely above and behind the angle of the mouth. They are remarkably small in proportion to the bulk of the animal's body, being little larger than those of an ox. The whale has no external ear; nor can any orifice for the admission of sound be discovered until the skin is removed. On the most elevated part of the head, about 16 feet from the anterior extremity of the jaw, are situated the blow-holes, or spiracles; consisting of two longitudinal apertures 6 or 8 inches in length. These are the proper noзtrils of the whale. A moist vapour, mixed with mucus, is discharged from them, when the animal breathes; but no water accompanies it, unless an expiration of the breath be made under the surface. The mouth, in place of teeth, contains two extensive rows of "fias," or whalebone, which are suspended from the sides of the crown-bone. These series of fins are generally curved longitudinally, although they are sometimes straight, and give an arched form to the roof of the mouth. They are covered immediately by the lips attached to the lower jaw, and enclose the tongue between their lower extremities. Each series or "side of bone," as the whalefishers term it consists of upwards of 300 lamina; the longest are near |
