1109 Mephitic Gases in Mines-No. XI. of the fiery tempest; and who can recount the perturbations of the soul? Some, who having passed through the fiery ordeal, and escaped with the skin of their teeth, have attempted it; but words were lacking, even in these, to describe it to the full. So sudden, so furious, so destructive is the blast, that it arrests the senses; yea, it arrests the whole man, and leaves no place for the exercise of mind, save on awe and terror. Fire simultaneously bursts around the party exposed to this explosion. Above, beneath, around, is one wild flame, like lightning, impetuous in its rush, and in an instant flaming along the galleries, bursting every impediment, and rushing to escape to-day. The galleries, the waste, and the shaft of the mine, all experience its fury, until it meets the atmosphere, and becomes diffused in air. If the face of the party exposed to this fiery hurricane is opposed to its course, it penetrates the mouth and nostrils, enters the lungs, and instantly arrests life; and such is frequently the plenum of this storm of fire, that it reaches the lungs, even when the face is in the same direction, which it instantly and furiously takes on becoming ignited. Where life is not immediately taken away, this fiery shock so completely prostrates the strength of the party, that they fall, like persons shot, insensible to every object around them. This circumstance, awful as it is, sometimes saves the life of the person falling, for, prostrate upon the floor of the mine, he receives less injury from the force of the explosion and returning stroke, than he would otherwise experience in an erect posture. In the instant of the explosion, a plenum forces, like lightning, its irresistible way towards that point in the mine through which a vent will afford it passage to the atmosphere; and as all the galleries of a mine tend towards the shaft, these are generally its route; and along them it carries every substance which it grasps in its course, such as coals, wood, shale, &c. and no sooner has the explosion spent itself, than the vacuum, which is created by this sudden rarefaction and condensation, induces a reaction as furious, and sometimes as fatal, as the explosion itself: and the furious current of this reaction is frequently in a direction exactly contrary to the current of the explosion. Hence, those who were not slain by the fire of the explosion, are wounded and mangled, and sometimes slain outright, by the furious assail of going and returning substances, which are caught up by the action and reaction of elastic fluids in explosion, and 1110 borne along the straitened galleries of mines, and dashed against every object therein, so instantly, that this direful ravage appears simultaneous; it is, in fact, begun, conti. nued, and ended in a moment; and the confined nature of these galleries leaves no chance, if even the party assailed was ever so prompt in his exertions of escape; all he could possibly effort towards safety, would be instantly to prostrate himself upon the floor of the mine. Death often ensues from the effects of this conflict of elements, where the party is not actually slain by the explosion. The going or returning rush of gases, or the vacuum thus created, frequently bursts asunder and detaches huge masses of the roof or sides of the mine, and these in their fall choke up the galleries so effectually, that all communication is cut off between the miners in the mine, and the shaft; or they heap up the loose matter which the galleries of the mine previously contained, so as to prevent all egress. In these instances, men in good health, unhurt, hale and strong, as well as the wounded, are shut out from the light of day—in fact, buried alive; and ere their comrades, by their utmost exertions, can work out their rescue from this awful incarceration, they pine away and die. But where death does not ensue, many of the sufferers are wounded and mangled, so as to become crippled for life, while others, enfeebled by their wounds, drag out existence, rather than live, the remainder of their days. I have observed, in cases of burning amidst explosions in mines, while the body was scorched generally from head to foot, circles remained round the arms, beneath the wristbands of the flannel shirt, round the neck, beneath the collar of the shirt, round the body, beneath the waistband of the drawers, round the legs, beneath the garters, and beneath the soles of the feet, where the skin had a natural appearance, and there all injury from the fire seemed to have been averted by the defence which the slight bandages around these parts of the body afforded. against the action of the explosive flame. If so slight a protection as this sufficed to defend the skin of a person exposed to the flame of a gaseous explosion, I conceive a covering of gauze, or thin silk, worn over the mouth and nostrils during seasons of danger, might, in the event of an explosion, be the means of preventing a sudden irruption of inflamed gas into the lungs, and thus save the lives of the parties wearing them. WM. COLDWELL. King's Square, London, Oct. 9, 1828, 1111 Injustice, Retaliation, and Superstition. INJUSTICE, RETALIATION, AND SUPER STITION, A HIGHLAND TALE. THERE is an extraordinary superstition connected with the M'Alister family. Ages ago, for I have never got a date from a Highlander as to the transactions of long past times, but many generations back, in the days of a chief of great renown in the clan, called M'Alister More, either from his deeds or his stature, there was a skirmish with a neighbouring clan that ended fatally for the M'Alisters, though in the contest at the time they were victorious. A party of their young men set out once upon a foary; they marched over the hills for several hours, and at last descended into a little glen, which was rented as a black cattle farm by a widow woman and her two sons. The sons were absent on some excursion, and had carried most of their servants with them, so that the M'Alisters met with no resistance in their attempts to raise the cattle. They hunted every corner of the glen, secured every beast, and, in spite of the tears of the widow, they drove her herd away. When the sons returned, and heard the story of the raid, they collected a strong party of their friends, and crossing the hills by night, surprised the few M'Alisters who were left in charge of the spoil, vanquished them easily, and recovered their cattle. Such a slight to the power of M'Alister More could not go unpunished. The chief himself headed the band which set out to vindicate the honour of the clan. He marched steadily over the rugged mountains, and arrived towards sunset in the little glen. To oppose the force he brought with him, would have been fruitless, the sons and their few adherents were speedily overpowered, and led bound before him; they were not numerous, but they were gallant and brave, and yielded only to superior strength. M'Alister More was always attended by four-and-twenty bowmen, who acted as his body guard, his jury, his judges, and his executioners. They erected on the instant a gibbet before the door of the wretched mother, and there her sons were hung. Her cottage was built at the foot of a craggy, naked rock, on a strip of green pasture land, and beside a mountain torrent; the gibbet was a few paces from it, on the edge of the shelf; and the setting rays of a bright summer sun fell on the bodies of the widow's sons. They were still warm when she came and stood beside them. She raised her eyes on the stern chief, and his many followers, and slowly and steadily pronounced her curse :- 1112 "Shame, shame on you, M'Alister! You have slain them that took but their own; you have slain them you had injured! You have murdered the fatherless, and spoiled the widow! but He that is righteous shall judge between us, and the curse of God shall cling to you for this for ever. The sun rose on me the proud mother of two handsome boys! he sets on their stiffening bodies!" and she raised her hand as she spoke, towards the gibbet. Her eye kindled, and her form dilated, as she turned again to her vindictive foe. "I suffer now," she said, "but you shall suffer always. You have made me childless, but you and yours shall be heirless for ever. Long may their name last, and wide may their lands be; but never, while the name and the lands continue shall there be a son to the house of M'Alister." The curse of the bereaved widow clung steadily to the house of M'Alister. The lands passed from heir to heir, but no laird had ever been succeeded by a son. Often had the hopes of the clan been raised; often had they thought for years that the punishment of their ancestors' cruelty was to be continued to them no longer-that the spirits of the widow's sons were at length appeased; but M'Alister More was to suffer for ever; the hopes of his house might blossom, but they always faded. It was in the reign of the good Queen Anne that they flourished for the last time; they were blighted then, and for ever. The laird and the lady had had several daughters born to them in succession, and at last a son: he grew up to manhood in safety-the pride of his people, and the darling of his parents; giving promise of every virtue that could adorn his rank. He had been early contracted in marriage to the daughter of another powerful chieftain in the north, and the alliance, which had been equally courted by both families, was concluded immediately on the return of the young laird from his travels. There was a great intercourse in those days with France-most of the young Highland chiefs spent a year or two in that country, many of them were entirely educated there, but that was not the case with the heir of M'Alister; he had only gone abroad to finish his breeding after coming to man's estate. It was shortly before the first rebellion in the 15, to speak as my informant spoke to me-and being young, and of an ardent nature, he was soon attracted to the court of the old Pretender, whose policy it was to gain every Scotch noble, by every means, to his views. The measures he took succeeded with the only son of M'Alister: 1113 Injustice, Retaliation, and Superstition. he returned to his native country, eager for the approaching contest, pledged heart and hand to his exiled sovereign. In the troubles which broke out almost immediately on the death of the queen, he and his father took different sides; the old laird fortified his high tower, and prepared to defend it to the last, against the enemies of the House of Hanover. The young laird bade adieu to his beautiful wife, and, attended by a band of his young clansmen, easily gained to aid a cause so romantic, he secretly left his duchess, and joined the army of the Pretender at Perth. rest. 1114 At length she threw herself upon her bed, exhausted by the eagerness of her feelings, and in the agitation of her ideas she forgot to say her prayers. Yet she slept, and calmly, but her sleep was short. She awakened suddenly, and, starting half up, listened anxiously for some minutes. The wind blew strongly round the old tower, and a thick shower of sleet was driving against the casements; but, in the pauses of the storm, she thought she heard distinctly, though at a distance, the tramp of a horse at his speed. She bent forward and watched the sound. It came nearer The young wife had lived with her hus--it grew louder-it galloped over the hard band, at a small farm on the property, a little way up the glen, a mile or two from the castle. But when her husband deserted her, she was removed by her fatherin-law to his own house, for greater security. Months rolled away, and the various fortunes of the rebels were reported, from time to time, in the remote glen where the chief strength of the M'Alisters lay. News did not travel swiftly then, and often they heard what was little to be relied on, so much did hope or fear magnify any slight success, or any ill-fortune. At last there came a report of a great battle having been fought somewhere in the west country, which had decided the fate of the opposing parties. The young laird and his valiant band had turned the fortune of the day. Argyle was defeated and slain, and the earl of Marr was victorious;-king James had arrived, and was to be crowned at Scone, and all Scotland was his own. It was on a cold, bleak, stormy, November evening, when this news was brought, by a brae Marrman, to the laird's tower. He was wise and prudent, and he would give no ear to a tale so lightly told: but his beautiful daughter-in-law, sanguine for her husband's sake, cherished reports that brightened all her prospects. She retired to her chamber, almost hoping that another day might see it enlivened by his presence, without whom life to her was a dreary blank. She was lodged in a small apartment on the third story of the tower, opening straight from a narrow passage at the head of the winding stairs. It had two small windows, which looked on the paved court-yard of the castle; and beyond, to what was then a bare meadow, and the river. The moon gave little light, and she turned from the gloomy prospect to the ample hearth, on which the bright logs were blazing. Her heart was full, and her mind was so restless, that after her maidens left her, she continued to pace up and down her little chamber, unwilling to retire to No lock was ground, and approached with the swiftness The chevalier de St. George and the (For the Imperial Magazine.) ON CHRISTMAS DAY. LINES ON THE ADVENT, OR NATIVITY OF JESUS. Ye living lustres, all divine, Like gems around the throne of love: Though sweet your bliss, though soft your light, Your purest lustre is but night, Ye prophets, priests, and ancient seers, A greater far than Soerates, He came," the unknown God," was he, Their lying oracles were dumb, Ye bright apostles of the Lamb! And preach'd the cross through fire and blood: Ye confessors who copied Paul, As drops are lost within the sea, Put every lesser light to shame : But ye were glad that he should blaze, Till he arose, the day was night, Though stars had twinkled in the groom, But dimly shone, bis purer morn 1116 Then crown him, crown lim Lord of all! THE SAVIOUR'S STAR. "We have seen his star on the east." Matthew's Gospel. STAR! that with thy silver lamp, Where the son of pride was not; Star! that lit the orient sky, Thou, the Babe of Bethlehem's star! To a scene of such delight; On her holy Saviour-child? Star! that led'st the magi-band, Star! that told our lower earth Star! most favour'd of the train, Star! who would not hail thy rise, THE people who in darkness trod, To chase away the darksome night. To those who sat in death's dark shady vale, The light hath glimmer'd through the sable veil. For unto us a child is born, And unto us a son is given: Whose genial beams eclipse the moon, Whose love descends as dew from heav'n. Me Wonderful shall named be, His government shall never cease; The everlasting Fatber he, The mighty God, the Prince of peace. Upon the throne of David, he Shall sit, and hold perpetual reign; Till all the kingdoms he shall gain. To the Memory of E. S. THE LATE PETer Hervé, esq. Founder of the National Benevolent Institution, &c. Now worth and virtue claim the votive lay, Be it thy task, in humble mournful strains, To render homage to the memory Of him, whose soul with charity imbued, Who wiped the tear of misery from the eye And heaven-inspir'd, he form'd the great design From houseless want, distraction, and despair. This great design, so worthy of himself, He felt incompetent to execute Unaided and alone; he sought and found S. HUGHES. THE FOURTH ODE OF HORACE, Addressed to Lucius Sextus, contains a beautiful Description of Spring, the Shortness of Life, and the Uncertainty of earthly Pleasures. Lib. 1. Ode 4. To Lucius Sextius. "Solvitur acris byems," &c. THE gales of spring dissolve the winter's cold, The nymphs and graces dance with nimble feet, While glowing Vulcan blows his fierce red tires, And labouring Cyclops on their anvils beat. Now is the time to bind our shining hair With myrtle wreaths or flowers of various hues. Now unto Faunus' shady groves repair, And offer lambs or kids as he may chuse. 1118 With equal foot pale death the palace treads, GOSPEL BLESSINGS PROMISED UNDER THE OLD COVENANT.-EZEK, xi. 19, 20. THE voice of mercy hear, To captive Israel sent, In times of deepest woe to cheer The gracious promise given, So highly once belov'd of beaven, To you the Lord will give Its hardness all remove; A gracious, humble mind; With pleasure shall proceed; "My ordinances all, Shall be your chief delight; My own peculiar race, As thus the Lord of old, To captive Israel sent So now to these who pine, Their gracious pardoning God. Exeter, Nov. 1827. |