May 5. SHARK AND BOY. 5th May, 1803, at Ongar Point, on the coast of Java, John Walker, aged 13, boatswain's boy of the Ganges East Indiaman, then lying at anchor, was swiming close to the ship, when he was discovered by a shark, which immediately approached him, and in spite of the exertion of a boat's crew alongside, who instantly endeavoured to intimidate the hungry monster, he seized the unfortunate boy, by including within his mouth the whole of the right leg, and more than half the thigh. He pulled the boy with him beneath the water, in the presence of upwards of 100 men, who were spectators of the scene, and kept him below for nearly two minutes, in which time he had torn off the leg and thigh to the extent above-mentioned. The boy once more made his appearance on the surface of the water, and the shark turned upon his back, with his jaws again extended, to finish his prey, when a lad from the boat struck him with the boat-hook, and by the same instrument laid hold of the boy, and dragged him board. The boy had lost a vast deal of blood; the stump was dreadfully lacerated, and the bone so splintered as to require amputation close to the hip joint. Under all these untoward circumstances, the poor fellow recovered within three months from the date of the opera tion, and the fleet, compassionating his extraordinary case, subscribed upwards up of 280l. for him.* For more than three years previously to 1792 the abolition of the slave trade, carried on from the coast of Africa to the WestIndia islands, by British subjects, was warmly agitated in the parliament of Britain; and a committee of the house of commons appointed to examine witnesses during two successive sessions of parliament, collected a great body of evidence, which was printed for the information of the members. As this formed a large volume in folio, an abridgment of the whole was made and printed also, for the use of the members, and several abridgments of this abridgment were afterwards published throughout the nation. The people, in general, warmly espoused the abolition, and petitions were presented to parliament, from almost every class of persons in the kingdom, praying that this • Bombay Courier. traffic, which they deemed a disgrace to humanity, and a reproach to the name of Christians, might be abolished. In 1792 the house of commons resolved, in a committee of the whole house, that the slave-trade was improper to be continued; but, on account of certain considerations of expediency, determined that its abolition should be gradual, and a bill was passed, permitting the trade, under certain limitations, to be carried on till the 1st of January, 1796, after which it was to be totally prohibited. When this bill was carried to the house of lords, the peers found it inconsistent with their dignity to admit evidence which had not been taken at their own bar; and, as their examination of witnesses could not be closed during the then session of parliament, the bill was necessarily lost for that year. In the mean time the claims of certain parties, whose "vested interests" were likely to be affected by the abolition of the traffic, were represented by the following PETITION To the Right Honorable, &c. "That your petitioners are a numerous body, and, at present, in a very flourishing situation, owing chiefly to the constant visitation of the shipping of your island. dungeons, your petitioners are supplied "That, by hovering round these floating with large quantities of their most favorite food-human flesh. "That your petitioners arenot only sustained, by the carcases of those who have fallen by distempers, but are frequently gratified with rich repasts from the bodies of living negroes, who voluntarily plunge into the abodes of your petioners, preferring instant destruction by their jaws, to the imaginary horrors of a lingering slavery. "That, among the enormous breakers and surfs which roll on the shores of your petitioners, numbers of English boats are destroyed, the crews of which usually fall to their lot, and afford them many a delicious meal; but, above all, that large vessels, crowded with negroes, are sometimes dashed on the rocks and shoals, which abound in the regions of your petitioners, whereby hundreds of human beings, both black and white, are at once precipitated into their element, where the gnawing of human flesh, and the crashing of bones, afford to your petitioners the highest gratı fication which their natures are capable of enjoying. a "Thus benefited, enented as your petitioners are, by this widely-extended traffic, traffic which has never before been molested, it is with the utmost indignation they hear that there are in Britain men, who, under the specious plea of humanity, are endeavouring to accomplish its abolition.-But your petitioners trust that this attempt at innovation, this flourishing of the trumpet of liberty, by which ' more is meant than meets the ear,' will be effectually frustrated. "Should the lower branch of the legislature be so far infatuated by this newfangled humanity as seriously to meditate the destruction of this beneficial commerce, your petitioners have the firmest reliance on the wisdom and fellow-feelings of the lords spiritual and temporal of Great Britain. "Your petitioners know that the truly benevolent will ever be consistent, that they will not sacrifice one part of animated nature to the preservation of another, that they will not suffer sharks to starve, in order that negroes may be happy; yet your petitioners are apprehensive that the baleful influence of this philanthropic mania is already felt, even within the walls of your lordships; wherefore they crave to be heard by counsel, at the bar of your august assembly, when, notwithstanding the wild ravings of fanaticism, they hope to evince that the sustenance of sharks, and the best interests of your ordships, are intimately connected with the traffic in human flesh. "Fearful of becoming tedious, your petitioners have only to add, that, should the abolition take place (which the god of sharks avert!) the prosperity of your petitioners will inevitably be destroyed, and their numbers, by being deprived of their accustomed food, rapidly diminished. But, on the other hand, should your lordships, in your legislative capacity, scorn the feelings of the vulgar, and nobly interfere, either openly, or by procrastination, to preserve this invigorating trade from the ruin that now seems to await it, your petitioners, and their wide-mouthed posterity, as bv nature urged, will ever prey, &c." Heav'n speed the canvass, gallantly unfurl'd "What greater measure can we have, than that we should bring joy to our brother, who, with his dreary eyes, looks to heaven, and round about, and cannot find so much rest as to lay his eyelids close tuned with heavenly accents, and make together; than that thy tongue should be and when he perceives there is such a the very soul to listen for ease and light, thing in the world, and in the order of things, as comfort and joy, to begin to break out from the prison of his sorrows, little and little melt into showers and at the door of sighs and tears, and by refreshment? This is glory to thy voice, and employment fit for the brightest angel. But so have I seen the sun kiss the frozen earth, which was bound up with the images of death, and the colder breath of the north; and then the waters break from their enclosures, and melt with joy, and run ir, useful channels; and the flies do rise again from their little graves in that their joy is within, and that the great walls, and dance awhile in the air, to tell mother of creatures will open the stock of her new refreshment, become useful to mankind, and sing praises to her redeemer: so is the heart of a sorrowful man under the discourses of a wise comforter; he and the fetters and chains of sorrow; he breaks from the despairs of the grave, blesses God, and he blesses thee; and he able is death; but, nothing is life but to feels his life returning; for, to be miserbe comforted; and God is pleased with no music from below, so much as in the of supported orphans, of rejoicing, and thanksgiving songs of relieved widows, comforted and thankful persons."--Jeremy Taylor. MAUSOLEUM OF THE TALBOTS, DORKING CHURCH. As the clock struck four in the afternoon of Thursday, the 31st March last, we left the Spread Eagle, Gracechurchstreet, for the purpose of visiting Boxhill, a romantic spot in the vicinity of Dorking, VOL. 1-10. Surrey. The sky was cloudless, and the sun, which had shone forth for several hours, had so tempered the air, that in spite of a keen easterly wind, we felt happy enough. By "easy roads" we soon got T quit of the eity and suburbs, and passed quietly onward towards our destination. We had resolved on sojourning for the night at Dorking, a place of little note, a peculiar breed of fowls, supposed to have been introduced there by the Romans, because similar ones are mentioned by Columella in his "Husbandry." We alighted at the Red Lion, and realized the pilgrim-poet's description of the "Tabard" -the chambres weren wide, And well we weren esed atte beste. Under the influence of a comfortable fire and a hearty meal, we grew presently mighty merry, and set off for a walk by star-light through the town. The church bells were chiming "Hanover" as we returned, and their music softened and subdued by distance brought forcibly to mind those beautifully descriptive lines of Cowper's How soft the music of those village bells, Falling at intervals upon the ear, In cadence sweet, now dying all away, Now pealing loud again, and louder still, Clear and sonorous as the gale comes on. The evening was passed chiefly in planning our proceedings for the next day, and talking over such matters of interest as arose out of our journey, or were connected with the various objects which we had noticed during our ride, the result of which was the catalogue here inserted: Item. A Pegasus or flying horse, " upstanding, uncovered," with dragon-like wings, and a nose boring the moon, in the paddock of a suburban villa not far distant from Morden -" I would you did but see how it chafes, how it rages, how it takes up the ground, but that's not to the point," as Shakspeare says. Item. The parish church of Morden, which hath no antiquity and little beauty to recommend it. Item. The church of St. Dunstan, at Cheam, wherein lie the remains of Jane, Lady Lumley, a "booke-maker," in those simple days when there were no lawyers. Item. The very romantic town of Ewell, with its pretty church and churchyard. Item. The downs at Epsom, with the windows of the grand grand stand, tand, red-hot in the setting sun. Also, the town itself, • The Stane-street, or Roman-road, from Arundel to Dorking, is said to have passed through the church-yard of this place. and a "very irregular" church, in the cemetery whereof ye may note this strange epitaph : Here lieth the carcase Of honest Charles Parkhurst, Ob. Dec. XX. MDCCIV. Item. The.church of Lered, otherwise Lethorhead, built in old time by an Abbot of Chertsey, with a pretty cross of wood above it. Item. The massy tower of Mickleham, with a wondrous small cone upon it, like unto an ELEPHANT in his night-cap! very neat and sightly withal, and garnished with good store of ivy. Item. A sign-board daintily painted with a jockey azure, and or, on a courser proper, swinging in front of a certain house, known as the "Horse and Groom," where Guthrie compiled some of his works. Item. Burford bridge, a pretty structure with three arches, nigh unto which is a charming house of entertainment called "the Hare and Hounds," and above it the wooded heights of Box-hill, which rose as we rose through the dim twilight, after such solemn fashion that there was something of mystery and fear in the feelings with which we looked upon them. But other than these things saw we little, except only the mean church tower of Dorking, as we entered its long but still street. And so ends the catalogue. We retired to rest, and the "heavy honey-dew of slumber" soon fell on us. I awoke betimes and found the morning cold and cloudy, with occasional gusts of wind. A rookery fronted my window, and for some time I watched its tenants alter nately rising above the tree tops and dropping again suddenly, or wheeling off towards a green hill at no great distance, not indeed "without caws," but certainly with no very apparent motive. Beside the pleasant colloquies of this assembly, my ears were greeted with the clatter of a wheelbarrow jumping over the paved court beneath, and the shrill music of a solitary cock the roof being of slate-stone gives it rather a slovenly appearance. It is screened on the north by gentle slopes, prettily diversified and exhibiting many spots of singular beauty. Against the wall, on this side, I noticed an erection, green with lichens, and scanty tufts of grass, shattered, and fast verging to decay, which I have since learned is a mausoleum of the Talbot family, of Chert Park, near Dorking. The ivy, clustering round one of the massy buttresses supporting the tower, chattered and shivered to the chiding wind as it swept past it, toying with my paper whilst I stood to make the drawing here copied, and I felt the solemnizing influence of the scene which I was endeavouring to transfer to my sketch-book. But the blank air of desolation and solitude investing these mouldering objects-the dark scowling sky, and the sobbing of the elements around me, admitted of no such embodying, though they filled the mind with deep and mysterious musings of "ruin, boundlessness, omnipotence." The iron railings surrounding this burial place, disjointed, and profusely covered with rust-the frac tured pediment and the bald escutcheon, exhibiting but few and faint traces of that gilding which had once covered the greater part of it, and entirely divested of its other tinctures, preached forcibly the pass ing nature of all earthly things, and led the thoughts onward to that changeless state, in which neither moth nor rust corrupteth, and where each hath all, yet none do lack." After breakfast we lost no time in visit ing Box-hill, which had been the main object of our journey; and, quitting the town, proceeded by Deepdene, until a road on our left promised us an opportunity of arriving speedily at our destination. But our expectations were not so soon realized, for after crossing a field or two to our right we found the "romantic mole" interposed between us and the hill, though we lost nothing by our ramble, as it afforded us a fine view of the rising grounds about us, with occasional patches of sunshine resting on them, and transforming the young foliage, as it breathed over it, to a pale primrose hue, which was strikingly contrasted with the warm, intense, ruddy light, tinging the natural veivet of a thatched cottage near at hand, till it flamed out against the dull, cold back-ground, "a glorious thing, and a beautiful." Owing to this mistake of ours we were obliged to retrace our steps beside the river, amusing ourselves with culling simples, and thinking, as we gazed on the sunlit shallows which presented a variety of tints, of these sweet and pleasant verses of the Farmer's boySweet health I seek thee! hither bring The balm that softens human ills, Come on the long-drawn clouds that fling Their shadows o'er the Surry hills; Yon green-topt hills, and far away! Where late, as now I freedom stole, And spent one dear delicious day, On thy wild banks romantic Mole !* Aye there's the scene, beyond the sweep Of London's congregated cloud, The dark brow'd wood, the headlong steep And valley paths, without a crowd! Here,t Thames, I watch thy flowing tidesThy thousand sails am glad to see; But, where the Mole all silent glides, Dwells peace, and peace is wealth to me. We passed the stream by a bridge over the dam of Mr. Dewdney's mill, and after crossing a few fields began to ascend the hill, occasionally halting to look back on the charming scenery below us, till we reached the wood on its summit and threw ourselves down upon the fresh fragrant box, or the mossy sod, covered with violets, to expatiate at our ease on the vast the loftier ridge of Leith-hill, the tower extent of country before bounded by on which forms a conspicuous object. We made our way for some little distance through the wood, till a green walk offered us easier progress, and, after wandering amidst the yew-groves which abound on this delightful spot, came round to that part of the hill immediately above Burford bridge, and looked down on the tranquil Mole, "which, coming to Whitehill, upon which the box-tree grows in great abundance, hides itself, or is rather swallowed up at the foot of it, and for that reason the place is called 'Swallow.'" So, at least, says Camden, though we were not fortunate enough to stumble upon this same "Swallow." There seems to be little doubt that Box-hill and Whitehill are identical, and this mention of it proves the trees upon it to be of earlier origin than those suppose who assign the reign of Charles the Second as the period of their introduction here. After a long and noisy debate, relative to our farther proceedings, we returned round the same side of the hill, though somewhat higher, until we reached a bleak * Boxhill, † Shooter's-hill. |