are taken from all ranks of our sex; queens, duchesses, countesses and
ladies; and each size has its peculiar thickness. I was very much
interested by the quickness and expertness with which the splitters did
their part of the business: the workman gently drives a chisel, or thin
wedge, with his mallet into the edge of the block--you see the crack
running slowly along--and then by a certain motion of the chisel he
separates the whole surface as neatly as a carpenter splits a piece of
straight deal into laths. I was surprised at seeing some of these thin
leaves of slate bending considerably while the splitter was forcing them
off; but my uncle says, that all stones have more or less elasticity,
and that a small marble ball will rebound to a considerable height, if
dropped on a hard substance. Some kinds of stone have a disposition to
warp or bend permanently, as he made me recollect was the case in one of
the slabs of marble in the dining-room fire-place at Fernhurst; and, he
says, that the flags in many of the streets of London, are hollow on the
upper surface from their having been originally too thin, and from being
supported only at the edges, they have yielded in the middle.
After the slates are split, they are squared and cut to the various
shapes and sizes used in roofing; this is generally done in a rough but
expeditious manner with a sort of a chopper, but some of the larger and
finer kinds are cut with frame-saws, so as to be precisely of the same
dimensions, and to have nice smooth edges. These are called _milled_
slates, because the saws are worked by a water-mill. Of course, we went
to see this operation: a fine mountain stream turns the wheel which
gives motion to more than a dozen pair of long frame-saws; each pair is
set to the distance required for the length or the breadth of the slate,
so that the parallel sides are cut by the same stroke; and, as the saws
move forward and backward, water is kept constantly dripping into the
cut, and sand is thrown in by boys. The saws, we were told, would make
but slow progress without the assistance of sand--the sharp grains of
which are carried forward by the jagged teeth of the saw, and are thus
made to tear away the slate.
“It is on this principle,” said my uncle, “that precious stones are cut
by a thin circular plate of iron, with emery, or diamond powder. And a
seal engraver’s apparatus is only a sort of lathe, to which he can
attach small copper-wheels that are made to revolve with great rapidity.
To the plain edge of one of these wheels, he applies oil, with a little
diamond powder, which soon cuts into the hardest stone; and thus by the
form and size of the wheel, and the direction in which the stone is
pressed against it, he can accomplish any device either in relief or
intaglio. In all these cases, the particles of sand, emery, or diamond,
bed themselves in the soft metal, and grind away the harder surface
opposed to them; and, what will appear rather singular at first sight,
when two hard substances rub against each other, it is the hardest which
wears away the most. For instance, the highly tempered steel
_knife-edges_, by which some pendulums are suspended, for experimental
purposes, are less liable to wear than the still harder agate planes, on
which they work: for the minute atoms of dust, conveyed by the air,
adhere to the steel, and in the course of time act upon the agate.”
But to return to our mill. Solid blocks, thick enough to make about
twenty slates, are thus sawed first, and afterwards split in the usual
manner. Here also, we saw an immense number of little writing-slates;
they are made from the finest grained part of the quarry; and their
smooth surface is produced by an operation very like that of planing a
board.
The great blocks are carried from the quarry to the mill, and the
slates, when dressed and finished, are also conveyed to the sea-side, by
little waggons on _iron railways_. It is wonderful what a load a horse
will draw in this manner when compared with the utmost work he can do on
the best common road; and yet a railway appears to be a very simple
contrivance. Two parallel lines of flat iron bars are laid along the
road; the horse walks between them, and thus the wheels of the waggon in
rolling along the bars, neither meet with the stones and obstacles which
would impede their motion on a road, nor do they sink into its hollows,
and soft places. The bars are scarcely broader than the rim of the
wheels, which would, therefore, slip off, but for a little raised ledge,
or, as it is called a _flange_, along one edge of each bar. When
railways are intended to carry heavy weights, both going and coming,
they must be laid perfectly level: but at these quarries, as all the
weight goes _down_ to the Port for embarkation, the same horse that
draws several loaded waggons hooked together down hill, can return up
hill with an equal number of empty ones.
From the mill we drove to the Port of Penrhyn, which is just behind this
house, and where all the slates are shipped. A prettier spot cannot be
seen--the sea to the northward--the Strait of Menai--the blue hills of
Wales--the town of Beaumaris, on the opposite coast of Anglesea--and the
quay or pier embosomed by the surrounding high banks, with a few patches
of trees on their summits. The whole harbour was full of vessels waiting
their turn for loading, and the busy appearance of waggons, horses, and
drivers, ships, boats, and sailors, all in motion, presented a most
interesting scene.
Before I go to bed, I must add a curious coincidence that occurred this
evening. My uncle had brought with him, as his travelling book, the Life
of the Lord Keeper Guilford; and, after he had been explaining to me the
history and the importance of rail roads, he opened his book, and I sat
down to my journal. But he had scarcely begun to read, when he came to a
passage describing a road, nicely levelled, and laid with long
boards--to all intents a _railway_: and this was used for conveying
coals from one of the pits at Newcastle, so long ago as the year 1670.
Yet it was not, my uncle remarked, till 1767, that _iron_ railways were
invented. Mr. W. Reynolds of Coalbrook-dale first adopted them; and his
example was quickly followed in all parts of Great Britain, and indeed
all over the world.
One word more, dear mamma, and then I will go to bed; but my uncle has
just read to us such an interesting passage from that same Lord Keeper’s
life, that I really must tell it to you. The children of the family at
Badminton were bred with philosophical care; no inferior servants were
permitted to talk to them for fear of their imbibing some mean
sentiments; and he mentions the following anecdote as a proof of their
high principles. Lord Arthur, who was then little more than five years
old, reproached the Chief Justice Hales with his cruelty in condemning
men to be hanged. The judge told him, that if they were not hanged, they
would continue to kill and steal. “No,” replied the boy, “you should
make them promise upon their honour that they would not.”
What a fine sense of honour that child had!
_June 22nd._--
_Mona Inn._
Mona on Snowdon calls!
Hear, thou king of mountains, hear;
Hark, she speaks from all her strings
Hark, her loudest echo rings;
King of mountains, bend thine ear:
Send thy spirits, send them soon,
Now, when midnight and the moon
Meet upon thy front of snow:
See their gold and ebon rod,
Where the sober sisters nod,
And greet in whispers sage and slow.
Snowdon mark! ’tis magic’s hour;
Now the muttered spell hath power--
Power to rend thy ribs of rock,
And burst thy base with thunder’s shock;
But to thee no ruder spell
Shall Mona use, than those that dwell
In music’s secret cells, and lie
Steeped in the stream of harmony.
Caroline repeated these lines after we had ascended the new road from
the Menai bridge, and were losing sight of the extensive view of Plas
Newydd, the winding straits, and Snowdon proudly towering over the
Caernarvon mountains.
“Well chosen lines,” said my aunt, “Mason’s Caractacus is always
interesting, but particularly so in this once sacred island, where
---- with more than mortal fire
Mighty Mador smote the lyre.”
“Mason gives such a nice touch of mystery to these lines,” said
Caroline, “that I almost feel the magic spell, and expect to see the
mountains whiten with the slow-descending Druids.”
“I wish, uncle, that you would tell me something about the Druids; I am
very fond of the history of those early times.”
“That, probably, arises from your love of fairy tales and fables,
Bertha; for there is much fable, I believe, in all early history: but be
that as it may, we may amuse ourselves with Druidical fable while we
drive along this bare country:--now for your questions.”
“In the first place, then, uncle, what were those mysterious Druids?”
“The Druids were the priests or ministers of the religion of the ancient
Britons. Their worship was devoted chiefly to the sun; but they had, it
is thought, several inferior deities. They offered human victims in
sacrifice, and practised many extraordinary rites; the caverns and
gloomy groves of oak in which they dwelt, and the dread which hung over
their mysterious worship, gave them a terrific influence over the minds
of the people. Music aided superstition in preserving this influence;
for they were attended by bards, whose effusions, supposed to be
inspired, either raised or lulled the passions as they chose. This is
expressed in the address of the chorus in Caractacus to Mador the chief
of bards:--
Mador, thou
Alone shalt lift thy voice; no choral peal
Shall drown thy solemn warblings; thou best know’st
That opiate charm which lulls corporeal sense:
Thou hast the key, great Bard! that best can ope
The portal of the soul; unlock it straight,
And lead the pensive pilgrim on her way
Through the vast regions of futurity.
“The Druids alone had the privilege of wearing white clothes; their
persons were inviolable; and they were exempted from all service and
taxes. What little knowledge there was in those times was entirely
confined to them; so that, besides their priestly duties, the practice
of medicine and the administration of justice were in their hands; and
those who resisted their decrees were placed under a dreadful ban, or
interdict, during which no one dared to speak or look at the culprit.
Thus possessing all the real power of the state, and venerated as the
immediate interpreters of the gods, the children of the highest families
were eagerly made over to them; and even princes were ambitious to
belong to their fraternity. This unbounded influence and their great
riches naturally exciting the jealousy of the Romans, in the reigns of
Claudius and of Nero, they were nearly destroyed; and the oak woods of
Anglesea, or, as it was then called, Mona, the residence of the chief
Druid, were burned. There are still many remains of their temples in
this island, and it is said that some of their caves have been traced,
------------ where underneath
The soil we tread, a hundred secret paths,
Scooped through the living rock in winding maze,
Lead to as many caverns dark and deep.
“You spoke of their riches, papa,” said Mary; “but by what means could
those inhabitants of rocks and woods have acquired any?”
“I think we may conclude that those who possessed such an unlimited
ascendancy over the people must have known how to enrich themselves; and
you may also recollect, that as their principal establishments were in
our best mining districts, it is probable that they supplied the country
with all the tin, copper, and lead that were used. It has been further
suggested that they availed themselves of the famous Parys copper mine
in this island, not only for its valuable produce, but for the purpose
of imposing on the credulity and superstition of their followers; for
the apparent conversion of bits of iron into copper, when steeped in the
strongly saturated water of the mine, as well as the blood-coloured
streams which were thus produced, could have been easily represented as
resulting from the supernatural power of those crafty impostors.”
“You said, uncle, that the worship of the Druids was chiefly directed to
the Sun; from which I suppose they were the fire-worshippers you
mentioned on May-day, who came here from the East.”
In reply, my uncle told me, that “there certainly were some points of
resemblance between the Persian Magi and the Druids of Britain. They
were each forbidden to worship the deity within covered buildings; and
all acts of devotion were confined to open temples or consecrated
forests. Like the Persians, they beheld the Creator in the works of
nature; and gigantic trees and massive rocks, were the symbols of
Almighty power which they most admired.
“The Druids and the Baal worshippers of Asia formed sacred heaps of
stones on the tops of the hills. Many of these are to be found in
Cornwall, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland--and the name which they bear of
_Cairn_, is derived from a Hebrew word descriptive of buildings like the
pyramids of Egypt, or the cone-shaped pagodas of India, which are
supposed to have been emblematical of the rays of the sun.”
I reminded my uncle of the singular temple which cousin Hertford saw in
the Isle of Lewis.
“Yes,” he said, “it is evidently the remains of a great Druidical work;
and Maurice, in his ‘Indian Antiquities,’ observes that Stonehenge, a
model of which I once shewed you, Bertha, plainly alludes in situation,
number of stones, and other circumstances, to the Asiatic Astronomy, and
resembles in every respect the ancient style of temple used by the
Persians before the time of Zoroaster. It was he who first covered in
the Persian temples to preserve the sacred fire; and therefore the
arrival of the colony here, who introduced the fire-worshippers, must
have been in a very early age. But,” he continued, “I must not lead you
into this maze of antiquarian difficulty; it has been a very interesting
object of research to a few learned people, though it can only perplex
the half-informed.”
“But tell me, uncle, is this idea of an eastern colony a very new one?”
“Oh no,” said he, “it has long existed in tradition, and is alluded to
in one of the Druid’s odes in Caractacus.
Hail, thou harp of Phrygian frame!
In years of yore that Cambria bore
From Troy’s sepulchral flame;
With ancient Brute, to Britain’s shore,
The mighty minstrel came.”
I asked then if there were any traces of the Eastern languages amongst
us, besides the few detached words he had once mentioned to me; though I
thought there was but little chance that any could have been preserved
in a country where so many nations had successively settled.
“Yes,” said he, “a celebrated antiquary has proved that there is really
a strong resemblance between the Irish language and the Hebrew, which is
considered the original, or first of all languages. In the Welsh also,
or British, which is of the same nature as the Irish, many words appear
to be of Eastern origin; and a gentleman of Bristol having lately
collected the common old British names of the indigenous plants, has
found several of them to be in sound and sense pure Hebrew.”
“Pray, uncle, what is the meaning of the word Druid--would not that
throw some light on the subject?”
“It is impossible,” he said, “now to determine its original meaning; and
indeed the derivations of that kind of words are in general only
fanciful guesses. By some, Druid has been derived from a Greek word
_drus_, signifying oak; and by others from an old British word _dree_,
which has the same meaning. It has also been supposed to come from a
Saxon word _dryth_, which means magician; and, according to others from
a Celtic word _druis_, a doctor or learned man. There is a curious
circumstance which seems to corroborate its derivation from
oak,--namely, that in every country where the worship of the sun has
prevailed, the oak has been venerated. It is also singular that the two
names by which that tree is still known in Persia and India, had the
same meaning in the ancient British and in Irish, _gaur_ and _bahk_.”
The conversation was interrupted by our arrival at this inn, where my
uncle has determined on passing the night, as we were occupied a much
longer time than he had expected, in examining the magnificent chain
bridge, lately suspended across the straits of Menai. I have made a
little sketch of it for you, dear mamma, which shall be accompanied by
as good a description as I can give; but in the mean time I must tell
you, that this “wonderful piece of work,” as my uncle calls it, is
almost two hundred yards long from pier to pier, and so high above the
water, that large vessels pass under it with all their sails set.
_Holyhead._
_23rd._--Here we arrived this day at eleven; early to-morrow we are to
sail, and in six hours we shall probably arrive in Ireland. What our
immediate operations are to be in Dublin I do not yet know; but my
journal shall be regularly kept for your satisfaction, my dear mamma,
though probably not so much at length as at quiet, peaceful Fernhurst.
On the road from Mona, this morning, we were talking over our travels;
and as we all agreed that they had been delightful, my aunt asked each
of us what was the peculiar circumstance that had made this journey
appear so very agreeable. One suggested that it was the uninterrupted
fine weather; another, the gaiety and good humour of the whole party; a
third said it was the kindness and indulgence of my uncle and aunt; but
Wentworth was decidedly of opinion that it was because “we had not
pushed on in a desperate hurry.”
My aunt agreed that all those circumstances had concurred in promoting
the general cheerfulness; but she thought that some others might be also
mentioned. For instance, there had been no indecision in our plans; the
whole route, and the objects to be seen, had been previously discussed;
the wishes of all had been consulted; and with that happy mixture of
candour and of consideration for others, which constitutes good
breeding, they had been expressed, adopted, or waived, as appeared most
suitable to the general taste. The punctuality of every body had been
another source of satisfaction; as well as the mutual pains to share
with each other every little discovery; and she placed above all, the
disposition to be pleased. “Even here,” she added, “where to most people
the _ennui_ of such a place as Holyhead is only varied by dwelling on
the expected miseries of a voyage, the same happy habits will produce
the same results; out of doors you will, I am sure, find sufficient
objects of interest, and within, we can double the pleasure of our
journey by recalling the principal occurrences; Bertha, indeed, will
have the additional resource of her journal, the scribbling of which has
been her daily, and I fear, her nightly occupation for the past
twelvemonth.”
We soon after walked to the beautiful new pier and light-house, which
have both rendered the harbour so much more safe and convenient than it
was formerly; and then my uncle, Wentworth, and Frederick, proposed
going to the Stack light-house, on the other side of Holyhead Island.
Caroline and I begged very hard to be allowed to accompany them, and at
last my uncle consented, though he thought the walk would be too
fatiguing for us.
We scrambled up the high bare mountain, which rises behind the town; and
certainly no place ever looked more bleak and comfortless. At last the
path unexpectedly led us to an abrupt precipice, at the bottom of which
the sea beat in among the rocks with terrible violence. Indeed I could
scarcely bring myself to look down. We found here a flight of steps,
four hundred, I believe, which are cut in the rock, and which wind along
its face to a sort of platform. We descended very carefully, keeping, as
you may suppose, close to the rock, for the wind was rather high, the
steps narrow, and we were often startled by the flocks of sea-birds that
suddenly bounced up from the cliffs.
From this platform a sort of bridge of ropes extends to the Stack-rock,
on which the light-house stands; the bridge is a hundred feet long; the
sides are of net-work, and a few boards are loosely laid to walk on. It
all moves so much, that I could not help feeling a little afraid; and
once the wind having blown my light gown into the openings of the net
work, I fancied that the guide, who was walking close behind, was
pulling me back; I stopped, and he scolded me for stopping; but my uncle
fortunately heard us, and smiling at my nonsense, he explained the cause
of my alarm.
The poor light-house men are looking forward with great satisfaction to
a new chain bridge which is preparing for this place. It will not only
be more safe and convenient for them in stormy weather and dark nights,
but, by inducing more travellers to visit them, it will help to cheer
their loneliness; and as there is a something in such very wild and
dreary scenes, that touches a stranger’s sympathy, they will no doubt
frequently obtain little presents, which will enable them to indulge in
a few more comforts than they can now afford. In truth this light-house
must be a melancholy abode; the wind always howling above, and the sea
continually roaring below, and sometimes even throwing its spray over
the windows. It was, however, very nice and clean, and as comfortable as
such a place can be: my uncle took us up into what is called the
lantern, and explained the use of the concave metallic reflectors which
are placed behind the lamps for the purpose of increasing the brilliancy
of their light by reflection. He also shewed us the contrivance by which
the light is made to disappear every two minutes, in order that sailors
should be able to distinguish it from all other light-houses in the
Irish channel.
In returning, we observed that the tide had ebbed in the harbour, which
had been so full when we first arrived, that the water came up almost to
the door of the inn. It was now nearly empty; great mud-banks extending
from each side, and leaving only a little winding stream in the middle.
This led to some questions about the cause of the tides, and my uncle
promised that to-morrow, when we are quietly seated on the deck--as
neither of us intend to be seasick--he will endeavour to make me
comprehend the manner in which the moon acts upon the ocean, so as to
raise the waters in one part of the globe while they are depressed in
another.
He then joined in a conversation that had been going on between
Wentworth and Caroline, about the bottom of the sea. He said they were
both greatly mistaken, if they supposed it to be everywhere a flat, even
surface; on the contrary, like all other parts of the crust which
surrounds the globe, it consists of sloping hills and plains, rocks and
mountains. When these approach nearly to the surface of the water, they
are called shoals and banks; and when their summits rise above it, they
become islands. The different strata that compose the coast, may be
often traced to some island at a considerable distance; the shores of
France and England exactly correspond in some places; and to shew the
continuity of the strata, he says it is well known that many springs of
fresh water, which must proceed from the land, rise through the sea from
its bottom. He gave several instances of this, but I recollect only
Bridlington Bay in Yorkshire; and the gulf of Naples, where there is a
spring of hot-water, that bubbles as it comes to the surface. Bituminous
and mineral waters are also found rising through the sea; and near
Cumana, in South America, there is a spring of _naphtha_, which spreads
itself on the waves, and frequently inflames.
When we reached the inn, we found that my aunt and Mary had bought some
beautiful specimens of the green stone of Anglesea: it is called Mona
marble, and is veined something like the verd-antique; but my uncle says
it is not marble, but a species of _serpentine_; and that, like the
green serpentine of Ireland, there is so much _mica_ in it, that large
pieces will not take an even polish.
I had intended to have given you some description of the great causeway
which has been made to connect the little island of Holyhead, with the
great island of Anglesea; but my uncle is waiting to enclose this to
London, and my aunt is almost out of patience at my not going to bed, as
we are to embark very early in the morning.
I must, therefore, abruptly conclude--though this is my last English
letter. Oh! when shall I again embrace you and dear Marianne!
Your ever affectionate
BERTHA MONTAGUE.
INDEX.
The Numerals refer to the Volumes.
Abib, Hebrew month of, ii. 4
Abstraction, iii. 155
Adjutant bird, iii. 30
Agriculture, i. 85, 98
Albacore, i. 7
Albatross, i. 6
Ancient Manuscripts, iii. 182