The Esquimaux Indians, of whom the above engravings are correct portraits, are now exhibiting in Piccadilly. The distinguished patronage they en joy, and the important place they hold among the fashionable exhibitions of the metropolis, will be a sufficient apology for our notice, which we hope will prove acceptable to our readers. It is only within a few years that the discovery has been made of these singular and interesting people, the inhabitants of the Arctic Regions, who appear to be in a perfect state of nature, and subject to all the privations which can well be imagined. When we contemplate the situation of their country, which presents nothing but an unvaried scene of ice and snow, that has probably been accumulating since the creation, it is almost incredible that beings in the human form can exist in the winter season, which is very long. But the Esquimaux dwell in caves under ground, and do not seem sensible of their desolate existence; in the summer season they have no regular place, but with their families, sledges and dogs (which are the only beast of draught they make use of), pursue one unlimited course of hunting and fishing. They are generally obliged to eat their food, consisting of seal and rein-deer, in its raw state. Their canoes are very light and formed of seal skin upon a small wooden frame, neatly and securely fastened together with the sinews of the rein-deer; their huts and clothing are formed of the seal skin, and their bedding of the rein-deer skin. The implements used by them are skil fully constructed, and their expertness in throwing their darts is surprising. The two individuals, with whose portraits we present our readers, are named Niakungitok and Coonahnik, and are man and wife. They were brought to England by Capt. Hadlock, who exhibited them in America for some time. They have been most successfully taught to read and write, and display an intellect and capacity that are really astonishing; and whenever they return to their own country they will be useful members of society, and may be instrumental in rendering great benefit to their fellow creatures. They are perfectly harmless, inoffensive, and of cheerful tempers, and differ very much from the general disposition of Indians. Capt. Franklin's Narrative, relative to his discoveries in the regions the Esquimaux inhabit, has been already read with admiration and delight; and such is the curiosity excited by it, that from 500 to 700 persons have since visited the Indians, as they are in some degree illustrative of the work, and every one seems anxious to view the natives of a country which has given rise to so many expeditions, and with which we are still so imperfectly acquainted. Should the brave and enterprising Capt. Parry, however, succeed in the finding a North West passage, his success will form a very important feature in the annals of discovery; and add a fresh laurel to the many already acquired by our gallant and hardy countrymen. Some idea may be formed of the frightful regions the Esquimaux inhabit, and of the hardships our brave countrymen must have endured, from the following account of the snow houses of the Esquimaux, where Capt. Franklin wintered, &c. which is taken from his · Narrative," just published: "The winter habitations of the Esquimaux, who visit Churchill, are built of snow, and, judging from one constructed by Augustus to-day, they are very comfortable dwellings. Having selected a spot on the river, where the snow was about two feet deep, and sufficiently compact, he commenced by tracing out a circle twelve feet in diameter. The snow in the interior of the circle was next divided with a broad knife, having a long handle, into slabs three feet long, six inches thick, and two feet deep, being the thickness of the layer of snow. These slabs were tenacious enough to admit of being moved about without breaking, or even losing the sharpness of their angles, and they had a slight degree of curva ture, corresponding with that of the circle from which they were cut. They were piled upon each other exactly like courses of hewn stone around the circle which was traced out, and care was taken to smooth the beds of the different courses with the knife, and to cut them so as to give the wall a slight inclination inwards, by which contrivance the building acquired the properties of a dome, The dome was closed somewhat suddenly and flatly by cutting the upper slabs in a wedgeform, instead of the more rectangular shape of those below. The roof was about eight feet high, and the last aperture was shut up by a small conical piece. The whole was built from within, and each slab was cut so that it retained its position without requiring support until another was placed beside it, the lightness of the slabs greatly facilitating the operation.When the building was covered in, a little loose snow was thrown over it, to close up every chink, and a low door was cut through the walls with the knife. A bed-place was next formed, and neatly faced up with slabs of snow, which was then covered with a thin layer of pine branches, to prevent them from melting by the heat of the body. At each end of the bed a pillar of snow was erected to place a lamp upon, and, lastly, a porch was built before the door,' and a piece of clear ice was placed in an aperture cut in the wall for a window. SPIRIT OF THE Public Journals. SIR RICHARD WHITTINGTON. The City of London has produced no name more likely to last through all time, than that of Sir Richard Whittington. His rise in life forms the subject of a nursery tale, so instructively pleasing, that nurseries and story-telling must cease to exist, and every corner of Old England be divided into rational parallelograms, before we can expect to find a person, grown to the years of maturity, who has not heard of " Whittington and his cat," and, at one time, believed every thing he has been told of their wondrous adventures. It is not, however, on nursery authority alone, that the boy rests his admiration of this prodigy of good fortune; for who, that on a holiday ramble has sauntered to Highgate Hill, has not seen at the bottom of it the identical stone on which Whittington, after running away from his master, sat ruminating on his fate till he heard Bow bells ringing this prophetic peal in his ears: “Turn again, Whittington, Thrice Lord Mayor of London.” The stone, it is true, seems not very old; but it has the words "WHITTINGTON'S STONE" inscribed on it in large letters, and can juvenile credulity require more? The story of Whittington and his cat is not, after all, so remote from possibility as might be imagined. Mr. Southey, in his History of the Brazils, relates, that "the first couple of cats which were carried to Cuyuba, sold for a pound (pound weight) of gold. There was a plague of rats in the settlement, and they (the cats) were purchased as a speculation, which proved an excellent one. Their first kittens produced thirty oilaras each; the next generation were worth twenty; and the price gradually fell as the inhabitants were stocked with these beautiful and useful creatures." In the east, alsc, according to a Persian MS. quoted by Sir William Gore Ouseley, there is an island, which derived its name from a circumstance of the same kind.-In the tenth century, one Keis, the son of a poor widow of Siraf, embarked for India with his sole property, a cat; there he fortunately arrived, at a time when the palace was so infested by mice or rats, that they invaded the king's food, and persons were employed to drive them from the royal banquet. Keis produced his cat, the noxious animats soon disappeared, and magnificent rewards were bestowed on the adventurer of Siraf, who returned to that city, and afterwards, with his mother and brothers, settled in the island, which, from him, has been denominated Keis, or, according to the Persians, Keish." Mr. Collet, an intelligent collector of RELICS, asserts, without hesitation, that the story of Whittington and his Cat is "borrow ed" from this tale of the east; but to adopt this inference would be to admit, that mere resemblance constitutes com munity of fiction. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that there may have been a plague of rats, and that cats may have been worth their weight in gold, more than once since the world began. Although it is just possible, there fore, that the story of Whittington and his Cat, as it exists in nursery records, may have had some foundation in fact, there are few who will not be desirous of a more probable explanation of his extraordinary rise in life. Foote, in his comedy of "the Nabob," makes Sir Mathew Mite offer to the Society of Antiquaries a suggestion on the subject, which is not without ingenuity, whatever degree of truth it may possess.-' "The commerce," says Sir Mathew, "which this worthy merchant carried on was chiefly confined to our coasts; for this purpose he constructed a vessel, which from its agility and lightness he aptly christened a cat. Nay, to this day, gentlemen, all our coals from Newcastle are imported in nothing but cats; from hence it appears, that it was not the whiskered, four-footed, mouse-killing rat, but the coasting, sailing, coal-carrying catthat, gentlemen, was Whittington's cat." We have the authority of Shakspeare for believing, that "the squandering glances of the fool" may often light upon facts that have escaped the penetration of wiser men. Although thrown out at random, this conjecture of Foote's happens to derive strong confirmation from some remarkable facts in the life of Whittington, and of the period in which he lived. It was necessary for a foundation to the fable, that the boy Whittington should be destitute and poor; but that this picture of his youth is wholly ideal, there is the strongest presumptive evidence. In the ordinances of the college which he founded, and which goes by his name, he is stated to have been the son of Sir William Whittington, Knight. It would appear, that there was a connection between this Sir William and the Lords of Whittington, in Derbyshire, but it must have been through some younger branch of the family; for we read, that in 1083 the lordship of Whittington passed into the possession of Guarine de Metz, who had won by his superior prowess the hand of Mollet, or Molde, the sole daughter and heiress of the Lord of Whittington, at a tournament held for the purpose of thus bestowing the lady, at Peveril's Place, or Castle, in the Peak. The posterity of Guarine and Molde assumed the name of Fitzwarren; and there is reason to believe, that it was into this family Sir Richard, the hero of the fable, married, for his wife is stated to have been an Alice Fitzwarren, the daughter of "Hugh Fitzwarren and Dame Molde his wife." When Sir Richard grew up in life, he is said to have been of the Mercer's company; but, like many others who have belongto it, he was not a mercer, but a merchant. In the inscription to his memory in St. Michael's church, he is styled "Flos Mercatorum," "The Flower of Merchants." What the branch of merchandize was in which he engaged, is the point on which conjecture is to decide. While Whittington was yet a boy, into our mines with his 30,000l. But within a few years, he consumed all his money, and rode home upon his light horse." In the print of Whittington by Elstrucke, he is represented with a grimalkin by his side; but Granger, our best historian of portraits, says, that it was substituted for a skull, which originally occupied its place, as the common people did not choose to purchase the print without their favourite traditional emblem. the burning of coal was considered such a public nuisance, that it was prohibit ́ed by an act of Parliament, under pain of death; but it is singular enough. that by the time he had been "thrice Many circumstances thus combine to Lord Mayor of London," (1419) and heighten the probability, that Sir Rialthough there is no trace of any re- chard Whittington, who flourished at peal, in the interim, of the prohibitory the same time with the commencement statute, the importation of coal formed of this trade, was one of those who a considerable branch of the commerce made a fortune by it; and that it was, of the Thames. As early as 1421," as Sir Matthew says, "the coasting, says Mr. Brand, in his History of New- sailing, coal-carrying cat," that was castle, it appears to be a trade of the real instrument of his aggrandizegreat importance, and that a duty of ment. It had only to become a byetwo-pence per chaldron had been im- word, that by a cat and a king he had posed upon it for some time." To ac-made his fortune; and popular invention count for the trade having made such would soon supply all the other lineaprogress, while a statute against it re- ments of the story. mained unrepealed, and of such rigorous operation, that, according to a record in the Tower, a person was once actually executed for offending against it (Sir Everard Home's Dissertations) we must suppose, that the crown had exercised that dispensing power, which it assumed in the earlier periods of our history, and had permitted to the lieges generally the importation of the forbidden commodity; or, what is more probable, because more consistent with the court practices of those days, granted to some favoured individual a lieense to make his fortune, by infringing the law. It would be making a bold leap to a conclusion to say, that Sir Richard Whittington was the individual on whom this privilege was conferred; and yet the supposition is countenanced by a very strong declaration in the foundation charter of Whittington's college. The members of it are directed to remember in their prayers "Richard the Second, and Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, special lords and promoters of the said Richard Whittington;" showing distinctly, that it was to some special privilege or favour conferred on him by these princes, that he was indebted for his rise in life. It is farther extremely worthy of observation, that from the first opening of the coal trade in England, and for ages after, it had a reputation for making fortunes, only exceeded by that of the mines of Golconda and Peru. Even as late as 1649, when Grey wrote his Chorographia of the Coal Trade, it could still excite the most splendid hopes. 66 Some south Gentlemen," says Grey," have, upon great hope of benefit, come into this country to hazard their monies in coal-pits. Master Beaumont, a gentleman of great ingenuity and rare parts, adventured In whatever channel of commerce Sir Richard acquired his wealth, it is certain that he employed it in a very noble manner. We have seen how unbounded was his gratitude to the crown for the favours he had received from it, by the gift which he made to Henry the Fifth, of a sum equal to, at least, half a million of our present money. "Never before," said Whittington, "had subject such a king;" and well did Henry reply," nor king such a subject." But it was not on the court alone that he lavished his treasures. Sir Richard was a liberal benefactor to the city, over which he had so often the honour to preside. At his own expense he built the chapel of Guildhall, and the library of Christ's Hospital; made large additions to the Guildhall and St. Bartholomew's Hospital; and left funds to his executors for entirely rebuilding the prison of Newgate, which was previously in a most ruinous and miserable condition. He, besides, annexed to the church of St. Michael's a college of priests, called after his name, with an alms-house for thirteen poor persons; and to use the words of his executors, in the ordinances of the college, "while he lived had ryghte liberal and large hands to the needy and poor." If ever mortal remains deserved to "rest in peace," those of Sir Richard Whittington demanded this tribute of respect from posterity; yet, strange to say, they have been more, perhaps, than those of most men, the sport of rude and unhallowed hands. In the reign of Edward the Sixth, the Minister of St. Michael's church, to which he had been so liberal a benefactor, in the base hope of finding some riches interred with the corpse, caused the tomb to be broken open; and when disappointed of his golden visions, rather than come away with nothing, he despoiled the body of its leaden covering. In the succeeding reign, the parishioners resolved to restore it; and again were the remains of this eminent man disturbed, in order to be re-clothed in that vesture, of which the previous indignity had deprived them.-Percy Histories, London. Miscellanies. ORGAN AT HAERLEM. The organ in the cathedral church of Haerlem, in Holland, is reckoned to be the first in the world. It contains eight thousand pipes, some of which are thirty-eight feet long and sixteen inch es in diameter, and has sixty-four stops and twelve bellows. The notes of this wonderful instrument can swell from the softest to the sublimest sounds, from the warbling of the distant bird to the awful tone of thunder, until the massy building trembles in all the aisles; it has a stop called the vox humana, which most admirably imitates the human voice. Handel, passing through Haerlem, could not of course resist the sight of the far-famed organ: he procured the keys, &c. and amusing himself some time, at last got into one of his rhapsodies, and rolled along the deep and thundering notes till the very steeple shook: a man passing by entered the church, but was alarmed at the tremendous noise of the instrument and the shaking of the ehurch, that he ran all round the city, and swore the devil had got into the organ. CHARLES II. AND A SAILOR. SO In the reign of Charles II. a sailor who had been robbed of his pay in Wapping, determined to be revenged on the first person he met with. Next day overtaking a gentleman in Stepney Fields, to whom he related his mishaps, he insisted on having his loss made good. The gentleman for some time expostulated with him on the atrocity of such behaviour, but to no purpose; the tar was resolute, and the gentleman dreading the consequences, delivered his purse; but soon after had the sailor taken up, examined, and committed to "One of thy subjects, the other night, robbed me of forty pounds, for which I robbed another of the same sum, who has inhumanly sent me to Newgate, and swears I shall be hanged; therefore for thy own sake save my life, or thou wilt lose one of the best seamen in thy navy. "Thine, JACK SKIFTON." His Majesty on the receipt of the letter, immediately wrote as follows:"Jack Skifton, "For this time, I'll save thee from the gallows; but if, hereafter, thou art guilty of the like, I'll have thee hanged, though the best seaman in my navy. Thine, "CHARLES REX." through his romantic retreat, in company with his Delia (whose real name was Wilmot), when a person rushed out of a thicket, and presenting a pistol to his breast, demanded his money. Shenstone was surprised, and Delia fainted. Money," says he, "is not worth struggling for. You cannot be poorer than I am; therefore, unhappy man, take it (throwing him his purse), and fly as quickly as possible.' man did so: · The he threw his pistol into the water, and in a moment disappeared. Shenstone ordered the footboy, who followed behind them, to pursue the robber at a distance, and observe whither he went. In a short time the boy returned, and informed his master that he followed the man to Hales-Owen, where he lived; that he went to the very door of his house, and peeped through the key-hole; that as soon as the man entered, he threw the purse on the ground, and addressing himself to his wife, "take (says he) the dear-bought price of my honesty then taking two of his children, one on each knee, he said to them, "I have ruined my soul, to keep you from starving;" and immediately burst into a flood of tears. Shenstone inquired after the man's character, and found that he was a labourer, who was reputed honest and industrious, but oppressed by want and a numerous family. He ed down at his feet, and implored went to his house, when the man kneelmercy. Shenstone not only forgave him, but gave him employment as long as he lived. |