The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 17, No. 491, May 28, 1831

Why is the iron rim of a coach wheel heated before putting on?

Because the expansion of the metal occasioned by the heat, facilitates the operation of putting on the iron, while the contraction which follows, brings the joints of the wooden part together; and thus, binding the whole, gives great strength to the wheel.

Why does a bottle of fresh water, corked and let down 30 or 40 feet into the sea, often come up again with the water saltish, although the cork be still in its place?

Because the cork, when far down, is so squeezed as to allow the water to pass in or out by its sides, but on rising, it resumes its former size.

Why do bubbles rise on a cup of tea when a lump of sugar is dropped into it?

Because the sugar is porous, and the air which filled its pores then escapes to the surface of the tea, and the liquid takes its place.

Why is there an opening in the centre of the upper stone of a corn mill?

Because through this opening the grain is admitted and kept turning round between the stones, and is always tending and travelling outwards, until it escapes as flour from the circumference.

Why does water remain in a vessel which is placed in a sling and made to describe a circle?

Because the water, by its inertia of straightness, or centrifugal (or centre-flying) force, tends more away from the centre of motion towards the bottom of the vessel, than towards the earth by gravity.

Why does a young quadruped walk much sooner than a child?

Because a body is tottering in proportion to its great altitude and narrow base. Now, the child has this latter, and learns to walk but slowly, because of the difficulty, perhaps in ten or twelve months, while the young of quadrupeds, having a broad supporting base, are able to stand, and even to move about almost immediately; but it is the noble prerogative of man to be able to support his towering figure with great firmness, on a very narrow base, and under constant change of attitude.—Arnott.

FINE ARTS

THE ROYAL ACADEMY

(From a Correspondent.)

The exhibition of works of art in the Royal Academy this year is equal to any preceding, except in the department of portraiture; nor is this deficiency by any means extraordinary, when we consider the severe loss the arts have sustained by the death of Sir Thomas Lawrence. We much regret that, out of one thousand two hundred and thirty-four productions, we can only enumerate a very small number for want of space:

No. 11. Dutch Coast—very fine and transparent in the colouring; painted by A. W. Callcott, R. A.

16. A Subject from the Winter's Tale—good. W. H. Worthington.

55. Progress of Civilization—painted for the Mechanics' Institute at Hull. This work is admirably conceived, and reflects great credit on the talents of Mr. H. P. Briggs.

56. Mary Queen of Scots meeting the Earl of Bothwell between Stirling and Edinburgh. Mr. Cooper has treated this subject with his usual care, and appears to have delineated the costume very accurately. The horses are spirited, and finely executed.

62. Portrait of Lady Lyndhurst—painted very much in the manner of Rembrandt, by D. Wilkie, R. A.

65 and 66. Portraits of their Majesties—painted for the Corporation of the Trinity House, by Sir William Beechy.

78. An Italian Family, by C. L. Eastlake, is an interesting picture, and extremely rich in colour.

79. The Maid of Judith waiting outside the tent of Holofernes, till her Mistress had consummated the deed that delivered her country from its invaders: a wonderful production, by Etty.

84. Scene near Hastings. Rev. T. J. Judkin.

86. Interior of a Highlander's House—very fine. Edwin Landseer.

105. Portrait of Miss Eliza Cooper—a chaste and highly-finished production, by Sir M. A. Shee.

Messrs. Pickersgill, Turner, Reinagle, Hilton, Newton, Constable, Good, Daniell, Clint, Kidd, Howard, Phillips, and Elford, have also some excellent pictures in the exhibition.

    May 14, 1831.
    G. W. N.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

BILLINGTON

(Print her name in grand capitals, Mr. Compositor)—Billington returned from Italy! My father, who remembered, I suspect, the beautiful woman more than the accomplished singer, determined to hear again her Mandane; and sorely against my will, I rather think to prevent the chance of my doing mischief at home, forced me to go along with him. With listless and unwilling ears I listened to her and Mrs. Mountain, that second best of English singers throughout "Fair Aurora." Gradually, however, and involuntarily, I became pleased, interested, delighted; and when the encored "Soldier tired" was ended, had I but possessed so much Italian, "Sono anch'io Cantatore" would have burst from my lips with as much fervour and devotedness of resolution as the "Sono anch'io Pittore" of the artist. From this moment never had I three shillings and sixpence in my pocket, and either Billington's or Braham's name in the bills of the night, that I was not to be seen planted in the front row of the pit, looking over the leader's book, and taking the only lessons I ever received in music. The opera over, no farce, however laughable, not even the "Turnpike Gate" with Joe Munden's Crack, had the power to detain me in the house.—My time of imitation was arrived, and I sallied forth to alarm watchmen with the last division of the "Soldier tired," affront my friends by saluting them with "Adieu thou dreary pile," or annoy my father with shouting "The Austrian trumpet's loud alarms" at a moment when, with all the fervour of true John Bull anti-gallicanism, he was lamenting over Ulm and Austerlitz; execrating Mack, pitying Francis and Alexander, and cursing the victorious Napoleon by all his gods.—Harmonicon, No. 41.

SUFFICING REASONS FOR SHAKING

At a charity concert, given some time since in the sister island, one of the reverend directors, or stewards, was shocked at a long shake made by a juvenile chorister in the passage "and they were sore afraid" in the Messiah, and remonstrated with the boy's instructor on the impropriety of such an ornament to such words.

"And is it in regard to the shake you'd be spaking, sir?" replied the master. "Sure and if ye were sore afraid yourself, would not ye be shaking? Ay, I'll be your bail that you would, and shaking in your shoes too! Plase to leave me and my pupil alone: many a one will be coming to-morrow twenty and thirty miles, every inch of it, to hear Master – sing, that would not step out twenty yards to hear you prache."—Ibid.

CALCULATING NOTES.—PAGANINI

Stephen Storace had a remarkably good head for figures. When a boy, his passion for calculation was beyond all belief. Michael Kelly says, he has been known to multiply four figures by four figures, by memory, in three minutes. When young, Kelly tells us, Storace was so astonished that fifty guineas should be paid for singing a song, that he counted the notes in it, and calculated the amount of each at 4s. 10d.

This passion for calculating the value of notes (musical ones) has seized a Parisian dilettante, who, according to the Furet de Londres, has been fixing the price of every note and rest in certain pieces played by Paganini recently, at a concert given at the Opera at Paris, which produced him 16,500 francs. The following is the result:—He performed, during the evening, three pieces, each occupying five pages of music, of about 91 bars to the page. The fifteen pages thus contained 1,365 bars, by which the 16,500 francs are to be divided. The quotient will be 12 francs for each bar, or the proportions will be as follows:—For a semibreve, 12f.; a minim 6f.; a crotchet, 3f.; a quaver, 1f. 50c.; a semiquaver, 15 sous; a demisemiquaver, 7-1/2 sous. And, on the other hand, for a minim rest, 6f.; a crotchet rest, 3f.; &c. There would still remain out of the 16,500 francs, 420, which is exactly the price of such a violin as the Conservatory awards as a prize to its most distinguished pupils.

All this may be play to Paganini, but destruction to less fortunate musicians, for he swallows up all that would otherwise be distributed among many. An English violinist must work many long laborious days and nights before he can scrape together six hundred and eighty-seven pounds sterling—the sum, it seems, which the lucky Italian gets by a single concert!—Ibid.

THE SELECTOR AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS

FREEMASONRY

In a neat volume, called The Freemasons' Pocket Companion, of size to fit the waistcoat pocket, we find the following brief sketch of the History of Freemasonry in England. This little Manual is "By a Brother of the Apollo Lodge, 711, Oxford," who acknowledges his obligation to Oliver and Preston, an article on Masonry, in the Encyclopædia Britannica, &c.:—

In Britain, we are informed that St. Alban, the first martyr for Christianity in this country, was a great patron of the masons, and procured leave from the King or Emperor Carausius for a general meeting or assembly to be held by them, and higher wages to be given them. But we have no good reason, I think, to believe that these masons had much connexion with our fraternity, nor that freemasonry was introduced into Britain before the time of St. Austin, who, with forty more monks, among whom the sciences were preserved, was commissioned by Pope Gregory to baptize Ethelbert, King of Kent. About this time appeared those trading associations of architects who travelled over Europe, patronised by the See of Rome. The difficulty of obtaining expert workmen for the many pious works raised at that time in honour of religion, made it prudent to encourage, by peculiar privileges, those bodies of men, who had devoted themselves to the study and practice of architecture. Accordingly they were allowed to have their own government without opposition, and no others were permitted to work on any building with which they were concerned. They were under regular command, divided into lodges, with a master and wardens in each, and dwelt in an encampment near the building they were employed to erect.

It is not in my power to trace the progress of these lodges of masons in any connected history, but I will proceed with the accounts we have of the masons in England from the time of St. Austin. By them the old cathedral of Canterbury was built, in 600; St. Paul's, London, 604; and St. Peter's, Westminster, 605; with many others. In the year 680 some more expert brethren from France were formed into a lodge, under the direction of Bennet, Abbot of Wirral, who was appointed superintendent of the masons by Kinred, King of Mercia. From this time, however, little is known of the fraternity, until the year 856, when St. Swithin was the superintendent, appointed by Ethelwolf; from which time it gradually improved till the year 872, when King Alfred took the command of it. Upon his death, in 900, when Edward succeeded to the throne, and Ethred, Prince of Mercia, patronised the society, Edward was succeeded, in 924, by his son, Athelstan, whose brother, Edwin, procured from the king a charter for the masons, by which they were empowered to meet annually in a general assembly, and to have power to regulate their own order. And, according to this charter, the first grand lodge of England met at York, in 926. But here it is to be remarked that the grand lodge is not to be understood as the same in those times that it is now; it was not then restricted to the masters and wardens of private lodges, but was open to as many of the fraternity as could attend: for, until late years, the grand lodge as now constituted did not exist, but there was but one family of masons; and any sufficient number of masons met together, with the consent of the civil magistrate, to practise the rites of masonry, without warrant of constitution as a lodge.

On the death of Prince Edwin, Athelstan himself presided over the lodges; but after his decease, we know little of the state of the masons in Britain, except that they were governed by Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 960, and Edward the Confessor in 1041. But in 1066, William the Conqueror appointed Gondulph, Bishop of Rochester, to preside over the society. In 1100, Henry the First patronised them; and in 1135, during the reign of Stephen, the society was under the command of Gilbert de Clare, Marquess of Pembroke.

From the year 1155 to 1199, the fraternity was under the command of the grand master of the knights templars.

In 1199, Peter de Colechurch was appointed grand master; and the society continued to increase and flourish in the successive reigns of Henry III., Edward I., Edward II., and Edward III. This last prince revised the constitutions of the order, and appointed deputies to superintend the fraternity, one of whom was William à Wykeham, afterwards Bishop of Winchester. He continued grand master under the reign of Richard II.; was succeeded by Thomas Fitz Allen, Earl of Surrey, in Henry IV.'s reign; and on Henry V.'s accession, Chichely, Archbishop of Canterbury, presided over the society. We have records of a lodge held at Canterbury, under his patronage, where Thos. Stapylton was master, and the names of the wardens and other brethren are given. This was in 1429, four years after an act of parliament, passed early in the reign of Henry VI., against the meetings of the society, which was caused by the enmity of Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, towards Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the king's uncle, a great patron of the craft. But this act was never enforced, and in 1442 the king was himself initiated, and he patronised the society.

In the meantime, under the auspices of James I. of Scotland, masonry flourished in that country. It had been nursed, during the wars which ravaged Europe, in the humble village of Kilwinning, in the west of the country; from whence it at length burst forth, and communicated its light to the lodges in the south. The records of this lodge actually go back to the beginning of the fifteenth century, as also do those of a lodge in or near Edinburgh. And about this time the Scottish king appointed a fee to be paid by every master to the grand master, who was chosen by the grand lodge. James II. of Scotland made the grand mastership hereditary, and conferred it on the St. Clairs of Roslin, in which family it continued till 1736, when the then representative of the family, being old and childless, resigned it into the hands of the grand lodge, then first established on its present footing, by whom he was re-elected grand master for life.

During the civil wars in England masonry declined; but on the accession of Henry VII., in 1485, it revived again, under the patronage of the grand master of the order of St. John, at Rhodes, who, in 1500, chose King Henry their protector. In 1502 this king presided in person in a lodge of master masons, and proceeded in ample form to lay the foundation of the chapel, at the east end of Westminster Abbey, which bears his name.

The fraternity continued to flourish in the next reigns; and in the reign of Elizabeth, about 1550, Sir Thos. Sackville, then grand master, assembled the general lodge at York, which is said to have roused the jealousy of the queen; and she intended to break up the meeting, but being informed that they did not meddle with politics, she withdrew her orders, and permitted them to meet unmolested. Sackville was succeeded by Sir Thomas Gresham, in the south, who built the Royal Exchange, and by Francis Russell, Earl of Bedford, in the north.