1815.]

Dr. Watkins on a Proclamation respecting Milton.

sonable passages against us and our Government, and most impious endeavours to justify the horrid and unmatchable murther of our late dear father of glorious memory.

"And whereas John Goodwin, late of Coleman-street, London, clerk, hath also published in print a book intitled, The Obstructors of Justice; written in defence of the traitorous sentence against his said late Majesty. And whereas the said John Milton and John Goodwin are both fled, or so obscure themselves, that no endeavours used for their apprehension can take effect, whereby they might be brought to legal tryal, and deservedly receive condign punishment for their treason and offences.

"Now to the end that our good subjects may not be corrupted in their judgments with such wicked and traitorous principles as are dispersed and scattered throughout the before-mentioned books, we, upon the motion of the Commons in Parliament now assembled, do hereby streightly charge and command all and every person and persons whatsoever, who live in any city, borough, or town incorporate, within this our kingdom of England, the dominion of Wales, the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in whose hands any of those books are, or hereafter shall be, that they upon pain of our high displeasure, and the consequence thereof, do forthwith upon the publication of this our command, or within ten days immediately following, deliver, or cause the same to be delivered to the mayor, bailiff, or other chief officer or magistrate of any of the said cities, boroughs, or towns incorporate, where such person or persons so live; or if living out of any city, borough, or town incorporate, then to the next justice of the peace adjoining to his or their dwelling, or place of abode: or if living in either of our Universities, then to the Vice-Chancellor of that University, where he or they do reside.

"And in default of such voluntary delivery, which we do expect in observance of our said command, that then, and after the time before limited is expired, the said chief magistrate of all and every the said cities, boroughs, or towns incorporate, the justices of the peace in their several counties, and the Vice-Chancellors of our said Universities respectively, are hereby commanded to seize and take all and every the books aforesaid, in whose hands or possession soever they shall be found, and certify the names of the offenders to our Privy Council.

"And we do hereby also give special

charge and command to the said chief ma

gistrates, justices of the peace, and vicechancellors, respectively, that they cause the said books that shall be brought so unto any of their hands, or seized or taken as aforesaid, by virtue of this our proclamation, to be delivered to the respective sheriffs of those counties where they respectively live, the first and next assizes that shall after hap

495

pen: and the said sheriffs are hereby also required, in time of holding such assizes, to cause the same to be publicly burnt by the hands of the common hangman.

"And we do further straightway charge and command, that no man hereafter presume to print, vend, sell or disperse any the aforesaid books, upon pain of our heavy displeasure, and of such further punishment, as for their presumption in that behalf, may any way be inflicted upon them by the laws of this realm.

"Given at our Court at White Hall, the 13th day of August, in the twelfth year of our reign, 1660."

When we consider that near two months were suffered to elapse before any thing was done in compliance with the parliamentary resolution, we shall see cause to admire the lenity of the king and his government, rather than to censure either the one or the other for unreasonable severity. It was during this interval that Milton saved his perwhich favour it appears to me, that son and his property; in return for though he continued a sectary in religious matters, his politics underwent a very material change; but the proofs of this I must reserve for another commu

nication.

May 5, 1815.

MR. EDITOR,

J. WATKINS.

ON turning over the pages of your magazine, I was surprised to find that one of your correspondents had found it necessary to solicit the opinion of your readers on the grammatical construction of the adjective in the comparative degree, and that he should find an opponent to argue himself, not only out of temper, but against what appears to me as obvious as any other established grammatical rule can be. If you compare one thing with another, one can only be better than the other by comparison; but if you compare one thing with a number, it may be the best of the species or of the class, and the superlative degree may be admitted with propriety. I perfectly agree with your correspondent in thinking, that in the examples he has given, "the best of the two,"

the worst of the two," &c. are wrong, and that the superlative could not be used without a violation of the generallyreceived and acknowledged rules of propriety. Dr. Campbell observes, "tim the comparative degree implies commonly a comparison of one thing with one thing," and that "consequently it requires to be followed by the singular number." And Mr. Grant, in his very

496

Rev. Mr. Bingley on the Greenland Whale.

excellent treatise on grammar, says, "the superlative compares a thing or an aggregate with its own class, and is employed when more than two are implied; we say, "the wiser of the two," but "the wisest of the three."

[July 1,

sometimes measures 18 or 20 feet in length, and 9 or 10 in breadth: it is a soft spongy body, of white colour, spotted at the sides with black, rounded at the end, and so connected to the under jaw as not to be capable of much motion. The gullet for so huge an animal is very small, seldom exceeding the width of four or five inches. The eyes, which are situated a little way above the corners of the mouth, very near the pectoral fins, and consequently somewhat below the middle of the body, are particularly surprising for such an animal: they are so minute, that an observer is not able to discover them without some attention, since they scarcely exceed in size those of an ox; they are on a small A DESCRIPTION, AND SOME SKETCHES OF convexity, by which, although the space THE HISTORY, OF THE GREAT OR GREEN,

Many examples and opinions might be cited in confirmation of this opinion; but I trust I have said sufficient to moderate the temper, if not to convince, the gentleman who held so opposite an opinion. If you think I have seized the meaning of your correspondent in this hasty letter, your insertion of it will oblige your constant reader Paddington, May 11, 1815.

T. F.

For the New Monthly Magazine.

LAND WHALE.

Balana Mysticetus, of Linnæus.

By the Rev. W. BINGLEY. Description. These, the largest of all known animals, measure from 20 to 30 yards and upwards in length, and their weight has been known to exceed 300,000 pounds! When viewed from a little distance, they have the appearance of an almost shapeless mass; and it is only on approaching, and beholding them more attentively, that we can discover this mass to be an organized body. To a person who looks upon the under part of the whale, the shape appears not much unlike a shoemaker's last. Their thickness is nearly equal to one-fourth part of their length; so that this enormous animated mass is sometimes more than seven yards in height! The head, which is generaliy equal in bulk to onechird of the whole animal, is so convex above as to resemble the segment of an immense sphere, having on the back part, but near its summit, an elevation, in which are situated the orifices of the two spiracles or spout-holes. The jaws are rounded in front: the lower jaw appears swollen underneath, and is broader across the middle than it is in length. No animal whatever has a mouth of such enormous size as this: it extends even as far back as the eyes, and almost to the base of the pectoral fins; or, as we should say of a quadruped, to the shoulders. When the lips are closed, they present a curve, in form not much unlike the letter S reversed, and placed horizontally. In an individual, about 70 feet in length, the mouth was sufficiently large to admit of two persons standing in it without stooping. The tongue

from one to the other is frequently between 15 and 20 feet, the scope of vision is so much enlarged, that the animal is enabled to view objects which present themselves at some distance in front with both its eyes at the same time. The eyes are protected by eye-lids, but these have no eye-lashes, and are so swollen with fatty matter, as in general to have very little motion. The external opening of the ear is likewise very small, and is merely an auditory hole. The pectoral fins are large, as is likewise the tail or caudal fin. In a whale that measured about 70 feet in length, the two lobes of the caudal fin extended upwards sixth part of the whole length of the of 12 feet, or were equal to about oneanimal. The skin is very thick and strong, entirely destitute of hair, and always covered with an oily substance, which issues through the pores, and, when exposed to the rays of the sun, makes its surface appear almost as resplendent as that of polished metal.

The colours of these animals vary much in different individuals: some are entirely black; others are reddish or black above, and white beneath; others again variously mottled with black, or brown and white: they are said to be sometimes seen in the seas near Spitzbergen entirely white. The marks of the wounds they receive almost always become white spots.

It has been already observed, that the mouth of the great whale is of enormous size. This is destitute of teeth, and, food has, attached to the upper jaw, 3 for the purpose of catching and securing horny kind of substance, well known in commerce by the name of whalebone. It is there arranged in thin lamine of blades, some of them of considerable

1815.]

Rev. Mr. Bingley on the Greenland Whale.

length and breadth, and in several rows, encompassing the outer skirts of the jaw like the teeth in other animals: they stand parallel to each other, having one edge towards the circumference of the mouth, and the other towards the centre or cavity, and are very different in size in different parts of the mouth; since the upper jaw does not extend parallel with the under one, but makes an arch, the semidiameter of which is about onefourth part of the length of the jaw. The outer row is composed of the longest blades, and these are in proportion to the different distances between the two jaws, some being 14 or 15 feet long, and 12 or 15 inches broad, but towards the anterior and posterior part of the mouth they are very thick. They rise for half a foot or more, nearly of equal breadth, and afterwards shelve off from their inner side until they come almost to a point at the outer. The exterior of the inner rows are the longest, corresponding at the termination of the declivity of the outer, and becoming shorter and shorter till they scarcely rise above the gum. The inner rows are more close than the outer, and rise almost perpendicularly from the gum, being longitudinally strait, and have less of the declivity than the outer. The blades of the outer row laterally are not quite flat, but make a serpentine line: the outer edge is thicker than the inner. All round the line made by their outer edges runs a small white beard, which is formed along with the whalebone, and wears down with it. The smaller plates are nearly of an equal thickness upon both edges. In all of them the termination is in a fringe of a kind of hair, as if the blade were split into innumerable small fibres; the exterior ones being longer and more strong than the others. The two sides of the mouth are furnished with these rows, meet nearly in a point at the front of the jaw, and spread or recede laterally from each other, as they pass backward. There are generally about 350 blades on each side of the mouth; and of these, in the old animals, more than 200 are sufficiently large to be of use for commercial purposes.

History. The great whales are those principally which are sought for in the northern seas, on account of the oil or blubber which their bodies yield, and the whalebone which is found in their mouths. The muscular powers of these animals are such, that they have been said to move through the water at the rate of more than thirty feet in a second.

497

When near the surface they leave behind them a track or wake, like that made by a large vessel under full sail. It has been calculated that, allowing one of these animals to swim at this rate, and straight forward, and even to repose for twelve hours every day, he might make a voyage round the world, in the line of the equator, in forty-seven days, and swim from pole to pole, along the meridian, in twenty-four days.

Notwithstanding this amazing strength and power the natural disposition of the great whales appears to be peaceful and unoffending. They always endeavour to avoid an attack where it is possible for them to do so; but when wounded, they often plunge with such violence, and strike their tails upon the water with so much strength and fury, that it requires great care to prevent them from upsetting and sinking the boats.

It is stated that these animals, particularly during the breeding season, swim in pairs consisting of a male and female; and it is believed that the same pair will remain constant to each other for many years. The females seldom produce more than one, and never more than two young ones at a birth. These are nourished for about twelve months on milk supplied from teats situated at the under and posterior part of the body of the parent. This milk is, in most respects, like that of the cow, but it contains more cream, and a considerably greater quantity of nutritive matter.

With respect to the natural duration of life of these enormous creatures we are perfectly ignorant, and very probably shall ever continue to be so, since it is altogether impossible that human knowledge or experience should ever be able to develope it with any degree of accuracy. All circumstances considered, there can, however, be little doubt that it extends to much more than a century, though we can scarcely admit the inference of M. de Buffon, that "if a carp has been known to live two centuries, a whale may live ten." The whale-fishers believe that they are able to form some judgment of the age of a whale by the length and appearance of the fibres or beards at the extremities of the blades of whalebone which border its mouth.

From the following account communicated to M. de La Cepede by the French vice-admiral, Pléville-le-Peley, it appears that these animals are pos sessed of some very delicate organs of perception." The whales, off the coast of Newfoundland, in pursuing the cod,

498

On the Introduction of Fire-works on the Stage.

[July 1,

The quantity of food which is necessary for the subsistence of a whale must be great beyond calculation; and yet they live only on the smaller kinds of marine animals. Some of these, how. ever, are so abundant in the seas which they inhabit, that they have only to open their mouth to catch several thousands of them at a time. They suck them in with the sea-water, which they immediately afterwards eject by their spiracles. When the whales wander into seas that contain few of these animals, they are sometimes reduced to a very emaciated state. The seamen of the ship in which Captain Colnett sailed to the South Atlantic, caught a great whale in the torrid zone, near New Spain. It had scarcely oil enough to allow it to float when dead; and when this was taken out, the rest of the body sunk to the bottom almost like a stone.

the capelau, and mackarel, frequently half-pistol shot; and much of the spray interrupted the fishermen in their pur- fell on board the ships. suits; and even sometimes compelled them to quit their station in the midst of their fishing. As I was one day with the fishermen the whales were seen at a distance, and we prepared to retreat; but as there was much putrid water in the hold of the vessel, which had proceeded from the great quantity of fish that we had caught, I ordered this to be previously thrown overboard. A little while afterwards we observed that all the whales were retiring, in consequence of which the boats were enabled to continue without molestation. I reflected on this circumstance, and fancied it possible that the putrid water might have driven them off. Some days afterwards I directed that all the boats should preserve this kind of water, and if the whales again approached, that it should all be thrown into the sea, the men being ready to cut their cables and escape if the animals continued to advance. This second attempt likewise succeeded admirably well. The same thing was afterwards twice or thrice repeated, and always with success, and I am now satisfied that it was this corrupted water alone which drove them off, and which they are able to perceive at a very great distance. This discovery (he continues) is certainly of great importance to all persons who fish here from boats."

The whales, as it is well known, spout water in great quantity from the spiracles or breathing-holes on the top of their head; but this is done more particularly, and much more forcibly, when they are wounded than at any other time. The noise with which it issues has been compared to the rushing of a cataract. This, and the sound of its falling into the sea, is said to be extremely alarming to all who hear it for the first time. It is audible to so vast a distance, that some have asserted it may be heard as far as the report of a cannon; and that the falling back of the water into the ocean sometimes communicates a motion, which is perceptible on the surface to the distance of more than a mile! The water emitted has a most offensive odour. This we find is particularly remarked in the voyage of the unfortunate Perouse, when his vessels were surrounded by a troop of whales in the Bay of Monterey, off the north-western coast of America. Some of the animals were sufficiently bold to approach within the distance of

The flesh of the whale is occasionally eaten by the different inhabitants of the extreme northern countries of Europe and America; but it is in general so coarse, and in other respects so unpalatable, that few of the southern Europeans could be induced to eat of it.

MR. EDITOR,

IT has been for some time to many, as well as myself, a matter of great surprise, that the present very common and dangerous practice of introducing fire on the stages of our national theatres has not been more condemned and disapproved of. There is now scarcely an afterpiece brought forward that, in the words of the play-bill, does not conclude with either a "grand conflagration," or "explosion." Such an exhibition cannot, and never does, fail to occasion the greatest fears, particularly in the female part of the audience, and dispel those looks of sympathy which were before excited by the performance.

A person is naturally led to the theatre in the expectation of enjoying a little rational amusement, which, thanks to the exertions of Mr. Kean and Mist O'Neill, is now to be obtained. The natural feelings which their performances excite in his breast-the downeast spiri of our second Richard, and the penitence and "heart-consuming grief" of a Mrs. Haller-fill him with an indescrib able delight, and call forth all those sentiments of pity which do honour to mankind. But should be by any

Origin of Cock-fighting.