Soaping and groping, They come with their brooms, And filling, and swilling, and spilling; Inspecting, selecting, rejecting; Charing and airing, hammering and clamouring; And oiling, and soiling, and moiling, and toiling; And creaking, and squeaking, and reeking, and seeking; And racking, and sacking, and smacking, and clacking; And thumping, and bumping, and lumping, and pumping; And wrapping, and strapping, and tapping, and clapping; And heaping, and steeping, and creeping, and sweeping; And wringing, and dinging, and bringing, and singing; And knocking, and rocking, and flocking, and shocking; jamming, and cramming, and slamming, and ramming; And rubbing, and scrubbing, and tubbing, and grubbing; And huddling, and muddling, and puddling, and ruddling;* And patching, and matching, and catching, and snatching; Ruddle--Red chalk for tiled floor. And rushing, and gushing, and slushing, and brushing; And rumbling, and jumbling, and tumbling, and grumbling. Thus, in the manner that I have been telling, May-fever spreads over the whole of the dwelling. CH CHARLES DARWIN, F.R.S. 'HARLES ROBERT DARWIN, Fellow of the Royal Society, the subject of our cartoon, was born at Shrewsbury, February 12, 1809. He is the son of Dr. Robert Waring Darwin, F.R.S. He received his preparatory training at Shrewsbury School (under the care of Dr. Butler) and at Edinburgh, finally proceeding to the University of Cambridge, where he took his B.A. degree in 1831. The great naturalist comes of a distinguished stock. His grandfather on the mother's side was Josiah Wedgwood, the father of the Staffordshire art pottery manufacture. On the father's side, his grandsire was Dr. Erasmus Darwin, author of "Zoonomia;" and it is somewhat curious that Mr. Darwin's father and both his grandfathers were Fellows of the Royal Society. He married in 1839 his cousin, Miss Wedgwood. His first work of importance to scientific knowledge was undertaken in connection with the surveying voyage of H. M.S. Beagle. The vessel was commanded by Captain Fitzroy, R.N., who offered a berth to any naturalist who would accompany him. Darwin volunteered, and was accepted. The Beagle left the shores of England in December, 1831; and, after an absence of nearly four years, she returned in October, 1836. The cruise was of a very extensive character— South America, Australia and New Zealand, the Mauritius, and the Pacific Islands being visited in turn. About three years after the return of the Beagle from her voyage round the world, Darwin published his account of what he had seen-his volume being part of Captain Fitzroy's narrative of this voyage, subsequently reproduced under the title of "Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries visited during the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round this eminent savant arethe World." The other principal works of -"Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle," "The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs," 1842; "Geological Observations on Volcanic Islands," 1845; and "On South America," 1846. Darwin's great book on the "Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection" appeared at the end of the year 1859. Besides the English editions of this remarkable theory, the book has been translated into most of the European languages. "On the Various Contrivances by which Orchids are Fertilized"-praised so highly by Canon Kingsley, in his recent book of travel in the West Indies-was published in 1862; and early last year the long-expected "Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex," made its appearance. The conclusion to which the author came was that, "at a remote period, Man, the wonder and glory of the Universe," and the monkey, had the same parental relations. This theory is at first a little shocking, and has been attacked as violently as it has been stoutly defended. Whatever there is of truth in this startling new theory of Natural Selection, whether it be almost of equal weight with a revelation or completely false in its assumptions, time may prove. Men of eminence, of great learning and great sagacity, can be catalogued both for and against it. We have no space to enter into the abstruse discussion; but it is a simple duty to record here, that for close observation of the various phenomena of natural history, unflagging energy and perseverance in the search after truth, and great intellectual power, no country has produced a more earnest or more able student than the author of the theory of Natural Selection. THE ORDER OF THE GARTER. IT It may safely be asserted, on the same. principle, that we independent Britons though we are-all have a strong respect for those time-honoured distinctions which the Sovereign thinks fit on certain occasions to confer on distinguished subjects. Few men object to being made baronets, and still fewer to being raised to the peerage; but the highest eminence of all is to be installed a K.G. Let there be a vacant Garter, and the excitement of expectation is greater among those most interested than disturbs the whole bar when the woolsack is empty, and the momentous question is abroad as to who is to be the next Lord Chancellor. There is much in the history of this most noble Order of the Garter which is interesting. Although not the most ancient, the Order of the Garter is one of the most famous military orders in Europe. Founded by Edward III., it was established as the crowning point of honour among the valiant knights of those troublous days. Selden says that it exceeds in majesty, honour, and fame all chivalrous orders in the world. Shakspeare almost puts the Garter before the crown in precedence of knightly honour, as witness the passage in that remarkable scene in "Richard III.": K. Rich. Now, by my George, my Garter, and my crown Q. Eliz. Profaned, dishonoured, and the third usurped. K. Rich. I swear Q. Eliz. By nothing: for this is no oath. Thy Garter, blemished, pawned his knightly virtue; Thy George, profaned, hath lost his holy honour; Thy crown, usurped, disgraced his kingly glory. The precise date of the foundation of the Order of the Garter, and the exact circumstances connected with its institution, are not very clearly known. About the Garter, as about most other things venerable and ancient, there hangs much of the mysterious air of tradition. The annals of the order, previous to the fourth year of the reign of Henry V., are lost. Much has thus been left to mere conjecture in connection with the history of the order. Froissart's account of its institution is about as interesting-and perhaps, on the whole, as trustworthy-as that of any other authority. It is contained in the 213th chapter of his "Chronicles," and is entitled "How the King of England founded a Chapel of St. George, and ordained the Feast of the Blue Garter to be annually therein celebrated;" and continues "At this time, Edward, King of England, resolved to rebuild the great castle of Windsor, formerly built and founded by King Arthur, and where was first set up and established the noble Round Table, from whence so many valiant men and knights had issued forth to perform feats of arms and prowess throughout the world. And the said king created an Order of Knights, to consist of himself, his children, and the bravest of his land. They were to be in number forty, and to be called 'Knights of the Blue Garter;' their feast to be kept and solemnized at Windsor annually on St. George's Day. And in order to constitute this festival, the King of England assembled earls, barons, and knights from his whole realm, and signified to them his purpose and great desire to found the same. In this they joyfully concurred; for it appeared to them to be an honourable undertaking, and calculated to nourish affection among them. Then were elected forty knights, known and celebrated as the bravest of all the rest; and they bound themselves to the King under their seals, by oath and fealty, to keep the feast, and obey the ordinances which should be agreed upon and devised. And the King caused a Chapel of St. George to be built and founded within the Castle of Windsor, established canons therein for the service of God, and provided and endowed them with a good and liberal revenue. And in order that the said feast might be promulgated in all countries, the King of England sent his heralds to publish and proclaim the same in France, Scotland, Burgundy, Hainault, Flanders, Brabant, and the German Empire, granting to all knights and esquires who should be willing to come safe conduct until fifteen days after the feast. And there was to be held at this feast a jousting by forty knights within the lists against all comers; and also by forty esquires. And this feast was to be celebrated on St. George's Day next coming, which would be in the year of grace one thousand three hundred and fortyfour, at Windsor Castle. And the Queen of England, accompanied by three hundred ladies and damsels, all noble and gentlewomen, and uniformly apparelled, were to be present." Objections have been made by some writers on the subject to Froissart's testimony. Arguing from the error in the manuscripts of this old chronicler respecting the number of the primary companions of the order, which was not, as Froissart says, forty, but twenty-six, including the sovereign, Elias Ashmole and other historians of the order have inferred that Froissart's chronology is not to be depended upon, and that he has unwittingly confounded the year of the first feast with that of the entertainment of the knights assembled on occasion of the jousts-Windsor being, in both cases, the place of celebration. But a later writer well suggests that a possible mistake of the transcribers of the original manuscript-which may have arisen from the incident that forty knights were said to have been appointed to tilt within the lists-may account for the discrepancy. But, as we said before, the exact facts connected with the original institution of the order must always remain more or less mere matter of surmise and conjecture. We will now pass to some of the theories which have been urged for the adoption of a garter as the symbol of the order. Polydor Vergil was, as far as we have discovered, the first who asserted-possibly upon a vague hint of Mondonus Belvaleti, a Cluniac friar, in the reign of Edward IV., that the foundation had been in honour of the female sex-that the garter of the Queen, or of some lady of the Court, falling off casually while she danced at one of the Court balls, the monarch had taken it from the ground; and observing the smiles of the courtiers at what might have been considered an act of gallantry, had exclaimed, "Honi soit qui mal y pense;" adding that the Garter should soon be held in such high estimation, that they would account themselves happy if permitted to wear it. The object of the King's attention on this occasion has been imagined by Speed, Baker, and Camden-upon the sole authority, as it would seem, of Polydor Vergil-to have been a Countess of Salisbury; and the learned Selden, following in the same dubious track, conjectured that the lady was Joan Plantagenet, the fair maid of Kent, whom he designates Countess of Kent and Salisbury, without adverting to the facts that she did not succeed to the former title until after the death of her brother John, Earl of Kent, in 1351, and that she never had any legal interest in the latter. an The general opinion, however, seems to be that the Garter was intended as emblem of the tie or union of warlike qualities to be employed in the assertion of the founder's claim to the French crown. The motto has been somewhat fancifully conceived as a retort of shame or defiance upon him who should think ill of the enterprise, or of those whom the King had selected as the instruments of its accomplishment; and Windsor Castle being Edward's birthplace, he determined to render it more illustrious by making it the place of celebration for all solemnities connected with the order. But passing on to the more defined history of the order, we come upon some odd facts. |