IN traversing the French coast from north to south, from Dunkirk to the Alps, we find it inhabited successively by Flemings, Normans, Bretons, Basques, or Biscayans, and the men of Languedoc and Provence. Much as these differ in point of origin and language, they remarkably resemble each other in their habits and daily occupations. The whole of the French coast provides seamen for the royal navy, and masters and pilots for merchant vessels, as well as dockyard men for the arsenals; and while the male population is engaged in one or other of these employments, or in the coasting-trade and fisheries, the women, old men and children, remain at home, attending to the culture of the ground and harvestwork. When the return of Winter brings them all together, the old boats are repaired, new ones built, and nets are manufactured. It has been remarked, however, that although the whole line of the French coast supplies seamen, all do not possess the same qualities. The men of Provence and Gascony are the most active and the most intelligent; the Bretons the steadiest, the hardiest, and the stoutest. A French admiral, Grivel, considers the inhabitants of ancient Armorica, now Brittany, to be peculiarly fitted for the sea. The seaman, when ashore, carries into his family habits and manners quite his own. The house he occupies is generally cleaner than those belonging to landsmen of the same rank in life who only till the soil. He wears also on his countenance an expression of seriousness approaching to melancholy, indicating a life exposed to risks and difficulties. The inhabitants of the French coast, from the simple fact of their geographical position, as soon as they cease being employed in the navy or merchant service, engage in one or other of the fisheries. But such as are fishermen by profession are divided into VOL. XIII. two classes, of which the one are attached to the whale and cod fisheries, the other consists of those who fish along the coast and supply the towns that border upon it. The former embark from the ports of French Flanders, Normandy, and most of all, of Brittany; they are engaged during the earlier months of the year, and return in September or October. Such as do return, (for many perish,) generally have four or five hundred francs (from 167. to 207.) in their pockets, to assist them through the Winter. This they may increase by fishing off the coast, or by making nets for those who send out the fishingvessels, working up the raw material with which the latter supply them, and are paid two or three hundred francs for their labour. From these different resources, a family of four or five persons is supported; and though with industry and good management a certain measure of comfort may be thus secured, there can be no laying up of any positive provision against future wants. Such is the condition of the French seaman, whether he serve his country at twenty-seven francs per month, or engage in the merchant service at forty-five francs. Those who fish along the coast, though exposed, perhaps, to fewer risks than those who go to the whale-fishery off Cape Horn, or to the northern codfishery, are worse off in other respects. Landernau, Belle-isle, and some other ports on the coast or Brittany, are the chief stations for the sardine fishery; Cancale, Grandville, and Dieppe, are the same for oyster dredging, and the Channel ports in general for the herring and mackerel fishings. The first of these gives employment to about fifteen hundred boats, each manned with a crew of four,-the master, an experienced seaman, a novice, and a boy. They are engaged, for the most part, about the middle of November, for the following Spring, by merchants who 407 170 give them from fifteen to twenty francs for the whole The men engaged in the oyster-fishery are not thus exposed to the hazard of actual want. These have the article they bring to market always within certain reach, the oysters being attached to the fishing ground, from which they are detached by means of an instrument six feet long, somewhat like a shovel, with a kind of sack behind, made of cord or strips of leather. This, when dragged along the bottom of the sea, collects all that comes in its way. The oyster s found along the whole north coast of France, but s nowhere so plentiful as at Cancale and Grandville. Upwards of a hundred millions are taken up every year, and yet they seem more inexhaustible than ever. The oyster-fishery produces about fifteen millions of francs (about 600,0007.) a-year, and hence diffuses the means of easy subsistence at the two ports we have mentioned, whose population has lately advanced from 3500 to 5000 inhabitants. The oyster-dredgers are, generally speaking, better lodged, clothed, and fed, than any other class of seamen. The fishings are carried on with most activity during Winter; and in spite of the severity of the weather, it is not unusual for the men to spend several successive nights at sea. Next to the Grandville and Cancale fishermen, those of the inhabitants of the coast of France, who seem to live most comfortably, belong to the Flemish and Channel ports; for their superiority in this respect, however, they are indebted not so much to their nets as to other petty branches of industry which they combine with fishing. The Flemings cultivate each a small spot of ground, or engage in the egg trade with England. The fishermen of Cherbourg, Fecamp, and St. Valery, rear pigs for selling to vessels going to sea, or engage in smuggling tobacco and snuff. ocean. The inhabitants have become habituated to the idea that a wrecked vessel is their lawful prey and a godsend. Nay, it is not many years since the inhabitants of Brittany, during storms, would allure ships to the coast by false signals, then plunder the cargoes, and sometimes murder the crews. JUDICIAL COMBATS AND TRIALS BY THE custom of judicial combats, of which traces The judicial combat thus sanctioned by royal authority, was called the "judgment of God!" The Germanic tribes worshipped a deity who delighted in war and slaughter, and so deeply was this ancient creed impressed upon their minds, that it long resisted the influence of Christianity; the Romish clergy sanctioned the profanation of attributing to the Divine Being the character of the heathen deity, because it tended to increase their power by giving them a pretext for interfering in judicial trials. The forms of the legal combat were composed of the customs of savage life, combined with the corruptions of Christianity; religion and law were equally dese crated by being brought to preside in a field of blood. The rules of judicial combat are detailed at great length in the ordinances of various kings during the Middle Ages, but the following summary will be found amply sufficient for general readers. When a plaintiff claimed a possession which the defendent refused to resign, or charged him with a crime which he denied, a challenge was the immediate result. Whichever of them appealed to the combat threw down before his adversary some pledge, usually a glove, which was called the gage of battle, and taking this up was the signal that the challenge was accepted. In later ages it was necessary to have the permission of the king or liege lord before a challenge Unhappily there is one vice common to all the sea- could be given, but at first, the Suzerain had no faring people along the French coast, from Dunkirk right to interfere until called to preside at the combat to Bayonne, and that is the abuse of spirituous or to name a president, and his power was limited to liquors. In Flanders the men make themselves drunk naming the place and time for the contest. When with gin; in Normandy with cyder; in Brittany with the challenge was accepted, each combatant named brandy; in the Landes and in Gascony with wine. certain witnesses, called sponsors, or godfathers, Drunkenness and ignorance are the two great evils "because," says an old historian, "they were about that press down the labouring part of the population to attend a baptism of blood," and these called the of the French coast. Even when drunkenness fails champions their god-children! These sponsors, or to brutalize them, ignorance makes them the victims of seconds as they were subsequently called, were ori credulity and superstition. The hair-breadth and appa-ginally appointed to watch the combat, and see that rently-miraculous escapes of a seaman's life, together with the sublime aspect of the ocean continually present to him, might promote true religion in an enlightened person, but only render the ignorant man childishly superstitious, and engage him in practices not in the slightest degree calculated to improve his moral character. Hence those barbarous manners which from time immemorial have distinguished the shores of the its rules were fairly observed; but they soon began to join in the fight themselves, either to aid or to avenge their principals. Application was next made to the Suzerain to appoint the umpire or president, and the time and place of the combat. A space called the "closefield" was marked out, and surrounded by ropes or palings. At the upper part of this little amphitheatre a gallows or a pile of wood was erected, that the vanquished, if he escaped with life, might be instantly hanged or burned. In front of this were two seats covered with black, for the two combatants. Before entering the lists the combatants attended mass, and received the eucharist in the form prescribed for its administration to persons at the point of death; and so common were such events, that a special service was prepared for the occasion, called "the duellist mass," (missa pro duello,) which may be found in most ancient missals. When the service was concluded, the combatants were led by their god-fathers, accompanied by the heralds and clergy, to their seats in the lists, and a discourse was pronounced, usually by a priest, exhorting them not to tempt Providence if conscious of falsehood or injustice. An oath was administered to each, in which they called to witness, God, the Virgin Mary, the Saints, and especially" that good knight and gentleman St. George," that their causes were just, and that they would not depart from them. They next swore on the Gospels that they had used no sorcery, witchcraft, or magical incantations, and that they had not about them any spell, amulet, or charm. But not satisfied with the oath, the president, called usually "the marshal of the field," caused the combatants to be searched, and at the same time had their arms measured, so that neither should have an unfair advantage by length of weapon. The marshal of the field, attended by the sponsors, then divided as fairly as he could the advantages of ground, sun, and wind, sometimes adding comfitures and other little sweets to serve as refreshments in the battle. The lists were then cleared, and the spectators prohibited from entering them under pain of death; severe penalties were also denounced against any person who should distract or interrupt the combatants by coughing, sneezing, speaking, or making any sound whatever. When these preliminaries were arranged, the marshal gave the signal for combat by dropping his truncheon, and saying to the sponsors, "Let the brave champions go." In the earlier ages every combat was a duel " to the utterance," that is, until one or other of the champions was so disabled as to be unfit for continuing the fight. Defeat was condemnation, and when the subject of charge was a capital crime, the vanquished passed at once from the lists to the gibbet. Judicial combats in France were carried to a greater extent than in any other European country. Not only could a challenge be maintained between the principals of a suit, but either of the parties might challenge one of his adversary's witnesses, or even the judge by whom the cause was tried, if dissatisfied with his decision. Ladies or ecclesiastics fought by proxy; if their champion was overthrown be was condemned to lose his right hand, and this penalty was rigidly enforced, in order that champions should fight as strenuously in the cause of others as they would in their own. Wager of battle was a privilege peculiar to the nobles; those of lower rank were generally compelled to have recourse to ordeal. The most common form of ordeal was the trial by burning. The plaintiff or defendant claiming this form of process, appeared before an ecclesiastical judge and lifted up a bar of red-hot iron in his right hand. The hand was then bandaged and secured by a seal. At the end of three days the seal was broken and the bandage removed; if no marks of burning appeared the patient gained his cause, if otherwise, sentence was pronounced against him. This form was sometimes varied; the party was required to walk barefoot over a certain number of burning ploughshares, or to carry a burning horse-shoe to a given distance; if he did so without manifest injury he was declared to have gained his cause. The trial by boiling water was conducted with great ceremony; a ring was consecrated and thrown into a cauldron of boiling water, and the party had to plunge his naked arm into the vessel and take out the ring without wincing. It was believed that there was more room for artifice in this ordeal than in any other; and it was therefore required that the water should be heated in the presence of competent witnesses, and that it should boil up before the holy ring was thrown into it. The trial by cold water was the most dangerous to the patient. A priest blessed the water in some deep pond or reservoir, into which the party was thrown bound neck and heels. If he floated, it was considered that the consecrated element refused to receive the wretch, and if he sank, he ran a fair chance of being drowned. This was the favourite ordeal in the trial of witches; when any of these unfortunate beings floated, they were hurried to the stake or stoned by the brutal spectators. magne. The judgment of the cross was a form of ordeal patronized by an emperor so enlightened as CharleHe ordained that in certain disputes, especially between children, the parties should hold their hands extended so as to represent a cross, and whoever first let their hands fall, was adjudged to have lost his cause. Many examples of judicial combats are recorded in the old chronicles; we shall extract the description of one which took place in the presence of Louis the Second, king of France, surnamed the Stammerer, about A.D. 878, preserving as well as translation will permit, the style of the original historian. Ingelgerius, Count of Gastinois, was found one morning dead in his bed; one of his relations, named Goutran, accused his widow of the murder, and of other criminalities besides. Nobody appearing as champion for the lady, she summoned to her aid, Ingelgerius, Count of Anjou, whom she had held in her arms at the baptismal font, giving him the name of her husband, although he was not yet more than sixteen years of age. The count readily engaged to support his godmother's quarrel, and a day was fixed for the combat. On the appointed morning the young count heard mass, distributed alms to the poor, made an offering to the church, and fortified himself with the victorious sign of the cross; after which he proceeded to the lists, where Goutran stood prepared for the encounter. The lady of Gastinois was then summoned, and the usual oaths taken; the signal was given, and the champions met. Goutran struck the count so rudely that he cleft his shield in twain, but neither shield nor harness availed against the count's lance; he pierced Goutran through the body and threw him from his horse. The count then dismounted and cut off the head of the accuser, which he presented to the king, who received it as gladly as if it had been a city. The countess was immediately set at liberty, she bent her knee to the king, and then in the presence of the whole court threw her arms round her champion's neck and kissed him. In the reign of William the Conqueror judicial combats appear to have been very common in England, for one of his laws forbids clergymen to fight duels without the previous permission of their bishop. But the feelings of the British people were averse to this barbarism, and, from the eleventh century, courts of law possessed more authority in England than in any other country. THE study of truth is perpetually joined with the love of virtue; for there is no virtue which derives not its original from truth; as, on the contrary, there is no vice which has not its beginning from a lie. Truth is the foundation of all knowledge, and the cement of all societies.CASAUBON. cated to it by means of a winch attacned to one of its axes (1), or more conveniently by the multiplying wheel, K. cc are hollow cylinders of metal, about eighteen inches long, and four inches in diameter. These are called conductors, and are fixed upon glass pillars D D, similar to those which support the glass cylinder, as already described. The pillars DD are not attached permanently to the frame-work of the machine, but are cemented into pieces of wood, one of which is shown at E, moving in a groove, and by means of adjusting screws (H) their positions are regulated as circumstances require. To one of the conductors is attached a cushion or rubber, F, about two inches wide, and nearly equal in length to the glass cylinder, against which it is made gently and uniformly to press, by a slender metallic spring at its back, aided by the adjusting screw H. The cushion is made of soft leather (either red or purple basil are the kinds commonly used), and is stuffed with horse-hair or wool. The former, on account of its greater elasticity, is the most preferable. The other conductor is furnished with a row of fine steel points, projecting about an inch from its side, and so arranged that they may be as close as possible, but without touching it, to the glass cylinder. To the upper side of the cushion F, is sewn a piece of stout green or black silk, slightly stiffened by being oiled. This flap of silk, G, extends from the rubber, across the surface of the cylinder, to within about three-fourths of an inch of the steel points just mentioned. The conductor to which the steel points are attached is commonly called the prime conductor. As shown in the figure, it stands parallel to the cylinder; but in practice it is more convenient to place it at rightangles; in which case the points are fixed to the end nearest the machine, to receive the electricity which is given off at the opposite end. The several parts of the electrical machine being thus arranged, we have no difficulty in understanding its principle, and the conditions on which its efficacy depends. Before, however, it can be pronounced ready for action, it must be ascertained that it is perfectly clean and dry. The glass pillars, which support the cylinder and conductors, must be carefully wiped with an old silk-handkerchief. Dust and other impurities should be removed from every other part of the instrument; and the cushion and silk flap being first cleaned, the former must have a little fresh amalgam spread on it. As the energy of an electrical machine is increased or diminished by the qualities of the amalgam applied to it, we shall here give instructions for making that useful compound. Take equal parts, by weight, of tin and zinc, melt them together in a crucible, or common iron ladle, and pour them upon three parts, by weight, of mercury, in a wooden box, which must be shaken until the metals are cold. When required for use, the amalgam must be pulverized, in a mortar, to a very fine powder, mixed with a small quantity of tallow or hog's lard, (we prefer tallow), and thinly spread on the cushion by means of a blunt knife. Now let us return to the machine, which we suppose to be properly cleaned and amalgamated; but which will disappoint our expectations, when we begin to operate with it, if the atmosphere of the room where it is placed be not warm and comparatively dry. Many persons are in the habit of placing an electrical machine opposite a fire previous to using it,-a plan we have never adopted, and which we consider as injudicious as it is unnecessary. With the utmost care it sometimes happens that by unequally heating the machine, either the cylinder or glass pillars are fractured; whilst there is always the risk of softening the cement, and thus deranging some of the most important parts of the instrument. In cold weather there should be a fire in the room in which we propose to perform electrical experiments, and the whole of the apparatus should be placed in the room, so that it may be all of the same temperature as the surrounding atmosphere. The doors, and especially the windows, of the room, should also be kept closed. At other seasons of the year, unless the external atmosphere is more than ordinarily damp, a fire in the room is not required; but the windows must not be opened. It is by some persons recommended that the glass pillars and ends of the cylinder of the electrical machine should be coated with a resinous composition, resembling sealing-wax. This we consider a defect, rather than an improvement. If the different parts of the instrument are properly proportioned, and judiciously combined, there is no difficulty in rendering it effective; and the less encumbered the glass, or other parts, are with cement or varnish, the more easily can they be kept clean, and the more promptly may the machine be got into action. In its essential arrangements, the plate machine resembles that we have been describing; and with this advantage, that it is more simple in its construetion, more easily excited, and can be cleaned and kept in action with less labour. It is here represented. A is a circular glass plate, say twenty-four inches in diameter, and about one-fourth of an inch thick; made as true as possible, and mounted on an axis passing through its centre, which is supported at each end by a strong frame-work of mahogany, securely fixed to a broad base of the same material. Motion is given to the plate by turning the winch, F. B B are cushions or rubbers, made in the same manner as that for the cylindrical machine, but of a different shape; and there are four of them connected in pairs to the top and bottom of the frame of the instrument, so as to press equally on both sides of the plate. This is effected by means of a spring-frame, centre-pins, and adjustingE E are silk flaps attached to the rubbers, and united at their edges, so as to keep them in their places at the sides of the plate. c is the prime conductor, made of brass, about an inch in diameter, and somewhat of an elliptical form. It extends entirely across the plate, forming a curve at a considerable distance from it, and receives the electricity by pieces returned at each end, which are furnished with steel screws. | points. That part of the conductor most distant from the plate terminates in a large hollow sphere of brass, which has one or more holes in it for connecting the machine with various kinds of apparatus. The conductor is insulated, and sustained in its place by a large rod of glass, D. The plate machine, as here described, is not so well adapted for illustrating the principles of the science of electricity as that of the cylindrical form. By a very trifling alteration, or rather addition, it may, however, be rendered equally useful. But this difference in the construction of the instruments will be better understood, when we have said something about the methods of using them. Ir is a poor philosophy and a narrow religion, which does not recognise God as all in all. Every moment of our lives, we breathe, stand, or move in the temple of the Most High; for the whole universe is that temple. Wherever we go, the testimony to His power, the impress of His hand, are there. Ask of the bright worlds around us. and they shall tell you of Him, whose power launched them as they roll in the everlasting harmony of their circles; on their courses. Ask of the mountains, that lift their heads among and above the clouds; and the bleak summit of one shall seem to call aloud to the snow-clad top of another, in proclaiming their testimony to the Agency, which has laid their deep foundations. Ask of ocean's waters; and the roar of their boundless waves shall chant from shore to shore a hymn of ascription to that Being, who hath said, 'Hitherto shall ye come and no further.' Ask of the rivers; and, as they roil onward to the sea, do they not bear along their ceaseless tribute to the everworking Energy, which struck open their fountains and poured them down throngh the valleys? Ask of every region of the earth, from the burning equator to the icy pole, from the rock-bound coast to the plain covered with its luxuriant vegetation; and you will not find on them all the record of the Creator's presence? Ask of the countless tribes of piants and animals: and shall they not testify to the action of the great Source of Life? Yes, from every portion, from every department of nature, comes the same voice: everywhere we hear Thy name, O God; everywhere we see Thy love. Creation, in all its length and breadth, in all its depth and height, is the manifestation of thy Spirit, and without Thee the world were dark and dead. The universe is to us as the burning bush which the Hebrew leader saw: God is ever present in it, for it burns with His glory, and the ground on which we stand is always holy. How then can we speak of that Presence as peculiarly in the sanctuary, which is abroad through all space and time?-FRANCIS. TAKE heed that thou seek not riches basely, nor attain them by evil means; destroy no man for his wealth, nor take anything from the poor: for the cry and complaint thereof will pierce the heavens. And it is most detestable before God, and most dishonourable before worthy men to wrest anything from the needy and labouring soul. God will never prosper thee in aught, if thou offend therein: but use thy poor neighbours and tenants well, pine not them and their children to add superfluity and needless expenses to thyself. He that hath pity on another man's sorrow, shall be free from it himself; and he that delighteth in, and scorneth the misery of another, shall one time or other fall into it himself. Remember this precept, "He that Lord will recompense him what he hath given." I do not hath mercy on the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and the understand those for poor, which are vagabonds and beggars, but those that labour to live, such as are old and cannot travel, such poor widows and fatherless children as are ordered to be relieved, and the poor tenants that travail to pay their rents, and are driven to poverty by mischance, and not by riot or careless expenses: on such have thou compassion, and God will bless thee for it. Make not the hungry soul sorrowful, defer not thy gift to the needy, for if he curse thee in the bitterness of his soul, his prayer shall be heard of Him that made him.-SIR WALTER RALEIGH, |