Mr. Crofton Croker says, that Rapparee has much the same meaning as Tory, and that it is derived from an Irish word signifying a half-stick or broken beam, resembling a half-pike, from whence the name was given to such as carried this weapon, and did not belong to the regular troops of either army, but provided themselves, in the best way they could, with pikes, daggers, or skeins, and such instruments of offence as could be readily manufactured. It seems, however, that the Tories, in the reign of Charles the First, received originally some provocation, and that their conduct can be better vindicated than that of the Rapparees of William's days. It is asserted, and with strong claims to belief, that the Irish commanders of the army which supported the cause of James the Second, after his expulsion from England, encouraged, by written protections, the Rapparees to surprise and plunder the straggling and detached parties of William's forces; particularly during the winter, when general hostilities were suspended; by which means they not only harassed them extremely, but accumulated a supply of horses and muskets, that enabled the Irish to bring an additional number of men into the field the ensuing season.

The author of a work intitled The State of the Protestants of Ireland, under the late King James's government, &c., published in 1691, and generally attributed to Dr. William King, Bishop of Derry, and afterwards Archbishop of Dublin, gives the name of Rapparees to the levies made by James the Second, in Ireland, upon his expulsion from England. After expatiating upon James's design, to destroy the Protestant religion, he proceeds to show "King James's actual progress in our destruction ;" and among other measures of James, refers to his disbanding of the old army, which he found at his accession, and collecting a new one. He narrates its effects in Ireland while James remained on the throne, and before the arrival of William and his Dutch army:

But when (he adds) the descent was made by his present majesty into England, things grew yet more troublesome. The Protestants were every where robbed and plundered. The new commissioned officers and their soldiers, under the new name of Rapperies, committed many outrages and devastations on their Protestant neighbours; insomuch that they could not be safe in their houses. If any endeavoured to keep their houses, though merely to secure themselves from the robbers and Tories, immediately they were besieged; and though they surrendered themselves as soon as summoned, having no design to resist authority, and put themselves into the hands of King James's officers, upon promise of freedom, nay, or articles, yet afterward they were imprisoned and prosecuted, as Mr. Price, of Wicklow. Some of them condemned and executed.

The same writer makes it a principal ground of complaint against King James, that the new levies which he raised in Ireland, when the Prince of Orange landed in England, were principally old rebels, Tories, and robbers:

.

All the scum and rascality of the kingdom were made officers; every where the Papists armed and enlisted themselves, and the priests suffered no man to come to mass that did not arm himself with, at least, a skean and a half-pike, [the Rapparees' weapon]. Most of them were the sons or descendants of rebels, in 1641, who had murdered so many Protestants. Many were outlawed and condemned persons, that had lived by torying and robbing. No less than fourteen notorious Tories were officers in Cormuck ô Neal's regiment; and when forty or fifty thousand such were put into arms, without any money to pay them, we must leave the world to judge what apprehensions this must breed in Protestants, and whether they had not reason to fear the destruction that immediately fell on them. They saw their enemies in arms, and their own lives in their power. They saw their goods at the mercy of those thieves, and robbers, and Tories, now armed and authorized, from whom they could scarce keep them, when it was in their power to pursue and hang them.

These last lines contain an evident allusion to the sport of "Tory-hunting."

When a Rapparee became a prisoner he had no hope of mercy; the gallows or a bullet instantly terminated his existence. The necessity, however, as Mr. Crofton Croker observes, is obvious, that no quarter should be given to men who lurked in ambush, ready to spring on their prey at every favourable opportunity, and whose acquaintance with the country enabled them to lie concealed in the most artful and treacherous manner. But to this unfortunate necessity it is to be feared that many innocent persons fell victims; for in those indiscriminating times, very little trouble was taken by either party to ascertain the guilt of an individual, so long as he was obnoxious; and in all probability many of the simple peasantry were punished, as being Rapparees, when they had no title whatever to that distinction. Indeed this is plainly stated to be the case by a contemporary writer, in An Answer to Dr. King's work, already quoted, which is generally attributed to Mr. Charles Leslie, who had rendered himself conspicuous as a staunch supporter of the Protestant interest in Ireland; although, on the accession of William and Mary, he refused to acknowledge their supremacy, and became one of the heads of the non-juring interest. After citing some instances of what he styles the breach of the Articles of Cork and Limerick, he adds:-

But the vast number of poor harmless natives who were daily killed up and down the fields, as they were following their labour, or taken out of their beds and hanged, or shot immediately for Rapparees, is a most terrible scandal to the government, which the Protestants themselves do loudly attest; and many of the country gentlemen, as likewise several officers, even of King William's army, who had more bowels or justice than the rest, did abhor to see what small evidence, or even presumption, was thought sufficient to condemn men for Rapparees, and what sport they made to hang up poor Irish people by dozens, almost without pains to examine them; they hardly thought them humane kind!

The tactics of the Rapparees, if we may use the expression, are exposed in the following passage, from an old writer; it will be seen at once that they had no title whatever to the name and privileges of a fair and open enemy:

When the Rapparees have no mind to show themselves upon the bogs, they commonly sink down between two or three little hills, grown over with long grass; so that you may as soon find a hare as one of them. They conceal their arms thus:-they take off the lock and put it in their pocket, or hide it in some dry place; they stop the mussle close with a cork, and the touch-hole with a small quill, and then throw the piece itself into a running water or pond; you may see an hundred of them without arms, who look like the poorest humblest slaves in the world, and you may search till you are weary before you find one gun; and yet, when they have a mind to do mischief, they can all be ready on an hour's warning, for every one knows where to go and fetch his own arms, though you do not.

This acccount has been ridiculed by some writers, but Mr. Crofton Croker sees no reason to question its accuracy, "as during the years 1793 and 1794, the disaffected in the north of Ireland concealed both themselves and their arms, from the soldiery sent to disperse their meetings, in a similar manner."

In the Military Articles which were agreed upon between the commanders of the English and Irish armies, immediately after the treaty of Limerick, in 1691, it was stipulated on behalf of the "Rapparees or Volunteers," (for it seems that they preferred calling themselves by the latter name,) in the same manner as on behalf of the regular Irish troops, that such as were willing to leave the kingdom of Ireland should have free liberty to embark, and go to any country beyond the seas, England and Scotland excepted,

While the Irish army were embarking, the Lords Justices issued a proclamation, offering pardon to those Rapparees who should come in within a given time, deliver up their arms, take the oath of allegiance, and return quietly to their homes. Those who neglected to do so, might be killed by any one who thought proper and any person who had an arm strong enough to engage in so profitable a trade was to receive the sum of 40s. for every Rapparee's head that he could produce.

The Rapparees, however, (says Mr. O'Driscol,) submitted every where, and without hesitation. They had no idea of continuing the war on their own account, and were now to be seen in great multitudes, traversing the country, and driving their flocks and herds before them, as each party returned to their own homes. They appeared well fed and clothed, and possessed abundance of cattle.

But though as a body they submitted, and their large bands were dispersed, their habits of robbery and plunder were not destroyed, and they continued for some time to violate the laws, by murders and depredations of all kinds. The White Serjeant, Galloping Hogan, Redmond O'Hanlon, Ned of the Hills, and Iron Mac Kabe, are the names and titles by which some of the most noted Rapparee leaders were distinguished. "A History of the Irish Rogues and Rapparees," has long been one of the most popular books among the peasantry of Ireland, and has circulated to an extent that seems almost incredible; we are told, too, that it is not unusual to hear the adventures and escapes of highwaymen and outlaws recited by the lower orders with the greatest minuteness, and dwelt on with a surprising fondness. Redmond O'Hanlon, the Carlingford hero, is often spoken of as the Irish "Rob Roy," and is said to have levied his black mail with as much strictness and precision as his Scottish rival.

RECREATIONS IN NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. No. X.

CENTRE OF GRAVITY.

IN the last article we stated that animals are in the constant habit of so adjusting their centre of gravity, that the line of direction shall fall within the supporting base. But the young philosopher may ask, what becomes of the centre of gravity, and the point of support in a flying bird? To answer this question we must inquire what is meant by flying.

A bird flying in air is similar to a fish swimming in water: the bodies of these animals are well adapted to their respective elements: they are wedge-shaped,

and hence encounter less resistance to their motions:

the fish is buoyed up in water by a bladder containing a peculiar kind of air; and this bladder can, in general, be inflated or exhausted at the will of the animal; it is a cruel experiment to puncture the airbladder with a pin; the air escapes, and the fish, when thrown into water, sinks without the power to rise. The fins of a fish act as oars, and its tail as a rudder. In like manner the bird is furnished with air-cells largely distributed through its body: its bones are without marrow, in order that they may be filled with air in the act of flying. Previous to flight the bird inflates its cells by one or two deep inspirations, spreads out its wings and the feathers of its tail, and springs into the air, which it strikes with all its force with its wings, and is thus impelled forwards. or upwards in an oblique direction. Thus the bird continues alternately closing and extending its wings: elevating them when closed, then opening them and bringing them down forcibly against the air, when they are again closed, and so on: thus the wings act * See Saturday Magazine, Vol. XIII., p. 220.

as oars, and the legs or the tail as the rudder. Hence it will be seen that the bird is supported in air by the air itself, in consequence of certain mechanical actions on the part of the animal, its general lightness and buoyancy, and the resistance of the air to the strokes of the bird's wings. When a bird hovers in the air its wings are widely extended, so that large concave surfaces are presented to the air, whose resistance opposes the fall of the animal.

During the flight of a bird, its head, neck, and legs, come into action, either to preserve, or to shift the position of the centre of gravity; and the facility with which they do this may often be amusingly observed. Thus, the Rev. Gilbert White, in one of his charming Selborne letters, says:—

Owls move in a buoyant manner, as if lighter than the air; they seem to want ballast. There is a peculiarity belonging to ravens that must draw the attention even of striking and cuffing each other on the wing, in a kind of the most incurious-they spend all their leisure time in playful skirmish; and when they move from one place to another, frequently turn on their backs with a loud croak, and seem to be falling to the ground. When this odd gesture betides them, they are scratching themselves with one foot, and thus lose the centre of gravity.

The following figure will show the position of the centre of gravity in a bird, in four of its positions; v when it is flying, м when walking, N when swimming, and R when asleep with its head under its wing, and supported on one leg.

Fig. 1.

M

R

We have already stated that a number of ingenious toys are constructed with especial reference to their centre of gravity. When this is below the point of support, in a figure, it becomes difficult to upset it, and a variety of motions can be imparted to it which appear strange and unnatural. So also by so arranging the internal mechanism of the figure, that the centre of gravity may be constantly shifting communicated, as in the following illustration of a toy within certain limits, a progressive motion may be which tumbles down stairs backwards.

This toy is an Indian invention. It is called by the French a Sautriant, from the French verb sauter, to jump. They also call their tumblers and those men who throw back summersets, Sauteurs. In England this toy is known by the name of the Chinese

tumblers.

Fig. 2.

to

In fig. 2 we have a representation of the internal mechanism of the figure; but we will first refer to fig. 3, in which the secret of the movements consists. A B is a thin piece of wood, in which, in the direction of its thickness, two oblique canals, GC, D F, are channelled. At each end is a receptacle fy, so formed that if the spot c be an axis, and the receptacle y be filled with mercury, the part to the left of c would be heavier than all the wood-work on the right of c, in consequence of which the wood would tip over round the axis passing through

Fig. 3.

H

c. The sides of the receptacles and the canals are closed in with card.

Pieces of wood representing arms are attached to the axis D, and other pieces for legs to the axis c. A head, a jacket, and trousers, are then added, and we get the figure as shown in figs. 2 and 4.

Let us suppose the figure (2) to be on its feet, and mercury in the lower receptacle. The top overbalances backwards; the arms swing back, and the palms come to rest upon the stair, so that the head is lower than the body, but the feet and hands are on the same stair. The mercury in c then flows down to D, which again throws the centre of gravity below the lower axis, and the figure makes another summerset, alighting on its feet at K on the next lower stair.

Fig. 4.

The different parts of the figure are kept together by means of silken strings shown in fig. 4: these strings also serve, by their tension, the additional purpose of helping to overturn the figure in its descent from one stair to another, and to produce a momentum which carries the centre of gravity of the figure beyond the line of direction, so that when the mercury, by flowing to the lower channel, places the figure one step lower, its various parts are held together by the silken threads in the same position as it was on the previous step: and thus by repetitions of these processes, the figure must continue to descend as many steps as are provided for its exhibition.

Some skill is required in constructing this toy, and many niceties of adjustment are necessary: the quantity of mercury must bear a definite relation to the weight and dimensions of the figure. In order to prevent the too rapid descent of the mercury, and consequently of the figure, strings are stretched across the channels to retard the flow. The proper degree of tension of the silken cords is important and requires much attention. Indeed, in this, as in other similar examples, many an anxious hour, and, for aught we know, many an aching head, have contributed to the invention or fabrication of a toy whose only object is juvenile amusement, which being gratified, the toy is broken or thrown aside as worthless, without exciting a single inquiry into the amount of curious skill, ingenuity, and often, no mean powers of invention, which have contributed to its production.

HAPPINESS consists in the multiplicity of agreeable consciousness. A peasant has not a capacity for having equal happiness with a philosopher: they may be equally satisfied, but not equally happy. A small drinking glass and a large one may be equally full, but the larger one holds more than the smaller.-JOHNSON.

MATERIALS FOR THE TOILETTE. ONE of the chief objects of reading is to inform the mind of pleasing and useful facts; to supply it with such a share of wholesome food, necessary to it, as another kind of food is to the tenement of the mind; that both may grow up together in strength and vigour, and fulfil one of the objects for which we were created.

Knowledge bears with it a train of pleasant associations, wherever and however its possessor may be engaged; and if there is one kind of knowledge more useful than another, it is that practical kind of knowledge which applies to common things: so that, in the act of using them, we may be, in imagination, transported to other lands; to the arts of life, which remind us of our national industry and sources of wealth; and of all the means for enjoyment, which cheer and benefit the innumerable inhabitants of the globe. By thus dwelling upon the origin and service of common things, which we constantly use, we may convert many an idle hour into one of useful recreation. To do which, it is not necessary for us to think of rare and costly productions. Our object in this series of papers is to show that the toilette can supply us with many valuable facts, with some science, and with general pleasure. Nor let it be apprehended that the attention necessary to be given by the reader to our account of the "Materials for the Toilette," will draw so largely upon his mind, as to interfere with the attention necessary to the adornment of his person. We see no reason why useful and pleasant thoughts should not accompany the cares of the toilette: we may say that the mind may be reflected from the mirror, as well as the outward features; and we feel assured, that the reader will not the less admire the reflection, if it should beam upon him or her with the bright smile of intelligence.

We are about to begin this series of Papers with what may appear to be a very homely article, viz., Soap: but we may remark that, however homely it may be, it is not necessarily vulgar; he may choose what variety of the article his taste dictates. So with mental pursuits: there is much of what is called polite and refined, which is essentially vulgar and worthless; and there are many things which the overrefined mind would stigmatize as vulgar, which in fact are excellent and useful. But we are quite sure that our readers do not require this hint to walk in the way towards truth.

ON SOAP.

There is a homely, but forcible, expression, (and indeed most homely expressions are forcible,) that "Cleanliness is next to godliness;" meaning thereby that habits of cleanliness, whether in person or domestic arrangements, tend not only to health of body, but to that state of moral feeling, which becomes man as the chief creature of the Almighty. One of the first acts of mental degradation is neglect of the person :-filth and rags are always associated with misery, and often with vice and crime; and this remark applies to nations as well as to individuals; for we find that the nations lowest in the scale of civilization, are those which are deprived of political freedom, of domestic comfort, and of mental culture. A man, even though the most valuable portion of his time be devoted to hard labour, if supplied through such labour with the means of procuring domestic comforts, (provided he have not lost his self-respect by vicious habits,) is necessarily an elevated being. Labour does not degrade him; but, on the contrary, renders him respected and respectable; it makes him valuable to his country and to himself. We seldom see such a man dirty, or his family in rags: he has

that within him, which produces the exalted feeling that he is a free man, possessing and enjoying the rights and dignity of freedom.

In the business of paper-making*, the due supply of rags is ensured by importing them from various parts of the Continent; and among the many varieties of rags so imported, their condition affords pretty clear indications of the state of comfort and cleanliness in particular districts and countries. The linen rags of England are generally very clean; and require little washing, and no bleaching, before they are ground into pulp. The Sicilian rags, on the contrary, are, originally, so dirty, that they are washed in lime before they are fit for the foreign market. Now we have only to compare the moral and political state of the people of Sicily with that of our own country, to be assured of the fact, that, although cleanliness be not classed among the virtues, yet it is at least their handmaid.

We now proceed to notice the manufacture and properties of that very important element in the acquisition of cleanliness;—viz., Soap.

The reader of course knows that, if oil be agitated with water, and then set aside for a short time, the mixture will separate into two distinct strata-the oil being uppermost; and that the one will not combine with the other. But if the oil and water be agitated with a little caustic alkali, such as soda or pearl-ash, (the latter is an impure potash,) the oil and water will not separate :—a compound is formed, which we call Soap.

Soap is a compound, in definite proportions, of certain principles in oils, fats, or resins, united with an alkaline base. When such base is potash or soda, the soap is soluble in water, and is useful as a detergent in washing clothes. Before entering upon the details of soap-making, we will give a short account of the substances, which enter into its composition. The oils have been divided into two great classes, the fixed and volatile. The former are so called because the temperature at which they boil is generally very high, about 600° Fahrenheit; while the latter evaporate at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere, or by heat in which cases they are converted into vapour without change or decomposition. But the fixed oils cannot be brought to the boiling point, or distilled, without being decomposed, and undergoing very complicated changes.

Oils are also divided into animal and vegetable, according as their sources belong to either kingdom. The general properties of all the fixed oils are pretty much the same; so that in describing one class the same characters may be referred to all the rest, These properties have been thus arranged: 1st, the Drying oils, which, by exposure to the air, or by subjection to a certain process, dry into a hard resinous substance; such as linseed, walnut, hemp, castoroils, &c. 2nd. The Greasy oils. 3rd. Concrete oils, or vegetable butters, such as cocoa-nut and palm oils, bees' wax, &c. For the process of making soap and for illumination, animal oils are preferred in this country, as being less costly than the vegetable, which with some exceptions are imported from abroad.

The vegetable fixed oils are obtained chiefly by pressure from certain seeds; such as the almond, the olive, linseed, rape, and many others. Such oils are said to be expressed, because they are obtained by pressing out, and are all lighter than water; whereas some of the essential oils, which are obtained by distillation, and partake of the nature of essences, are heavier than water. The fixed oils are viscid, and almost without taste; their colour is generally yelSee Saturday Magazine, Vol. XIII., p. 117.

low, which can be removed by filtering them through. animal charcoal, or even by exposure to the light; in which latter case the colour is often restored when the oil has been again long in the dark. They congeal at a temperature higher than is required to freeze water; but a few, such as linseed oil, remain liquid at very low temperatures. A few also, such as cocoanut and palm oil, are solid at ordinary temperatures; and hence are called vegetable butters.

If oil be congealed by cold, and then pressed between blotting paper, a dry concrete frothy matter is obtained, called stearine (from a Greek word, signifying tallow); the fluid matter which is separated does not congeal except at a much lower temperature, such as 20°; this fluid is called elain†, (from the Greek for oil). It is this substance which gives fluidity to all oils. The relative proportions of these substances differ in different oils. Cocoa-nut and palm oils are advantageously decomposed for the manufacture of soap and candles, and for supplying fuel to lamps. The stearine supplies the former, and the elaine the latter. Elaine does not thicken or become rancid on exposure to the air; and hence it is well adapted for lubricating the wheels of watches and other delicate machinery; whereas the oils themselves, when exposed to the air, thicken and become rancid, from the production of an acid. A few, such as linseed, nut, poppy, and hempseed oils, become covered with a pellicle, which, being removed and spread upon a surface, hardens into a resinous substance. Such are called drying oils; and their drying quality is much improved by boiling them with a small portion of litharge (Protoxide of Lead). Drying oils mixed with lamp-black, constitute Printers' ink.

Another remarkable property of some of the oils is, that when exposed to the atmosphere, they absorb large quantities of oxygen gas (one of the constituent parts of the atmosphere). Saussure exposed nut oil to oxygen gas; and in ten days it had absorbed sixty times its own bulk, and in three months 145 times its bulk of the gas; the absorption being most rapid in warm weather. In some cases, especially where drying oils are employed, oxygen is absorbed so rapidly, and so much heat is generated during the absorption, that combustible materials, such as lampblack, hemp, cotton, &c., may be ignited thereby. Substances of this kind, moistened with linseed oil, have been known to take fire within twenty-four hours; and this has often been the cause of extensive fires in warehouses and cotton manufactories, where the machinery is oiled by means of hemp or cottonwool steeped in oil. These substances, having probably been thrown aside among combustible materials, have been kindled during the night; and hence the origin of many disastrous conflagrations.

All the oils contain much hydrogen; hence they are all inflammable; when subjected to a high degree of heat they are decomposed, and new substances are formed. The mineral acids also exert a powerful. action on the fixed oils: sulphuric acid blackens them by separating a portion of their carbon; nitric acid renders them thick and white, and when the nitric acid is concentrated, the action is sometimes accompanied with flame.

We have said that soda is the alkali preferred in this country for soap-making. The reason is that, when potash is employed, the soap always remains soft, on account of the great attraction of that alkali for moisture. Soda, on the contrary, has a greater attraction for the carbonic acid of the atmosphere than for its moisture; hence pure caustic soda by exposure to the air becomes converted into carbonate ↑ Sometimes called Olein, from the Latin word for oil.