possessed this power by inheritance, as a family gift; yet that he could
teach it, and was willing to do so, for no enormous sum - nay, one which
seemed very moderate. I think two gentlemen embraced the offer. One of
them is dead and the other still abroad. The sage also took a price for
the exhibition of his skill, but it was a moderate one, being regulated
by the extent of the perfumes consumed in the ceremony.
There remains much more to ask I understood the witnesses do not like to
bother about, which is very natural. One would like to know a little
more of the Sultan, of the care taken to secure the fidelity of the boy
who was the viewer and on whom so much depended; whether another sage
practising the same feat, as it was said to be hereditary, was ever
known to practise in the city. The truth of a story irreconcilable with
the common course of nature must depend on cross-examination. If we
should find, while at Malta, that we had an opportunity of expiscating
this matter, though at the expense of a voyage to Alexandria, it would
hardly deter me.[473] The girls go to the Chapel Royal this morning at
St. James's. A visit from the Honourable John Forbes, son of my old and
early friend Lord Forbes, who is our fellow-passenger. The ship expects
presently to go to sea. I was very glad to see this young officer and
to hear his news. Drummond and I have been Mends from our infancy.
_October_ 17. - The morning beautiful. To-day I go to look after the
transcripts in the Museum and have a card to see a set of chessmen[474]
thrown up by the sea on the coast of Scotland, which were offered to
sale for £100. The King, Queen, Knights, etc., were in the costume of
the 14th century, the substance ivory or rather the tusk of the morse,
somewhat injured by the salt water in which they had been immersed for
some time.
Sir John Malcolm told us a story about Garrick and his wife. The lady
admired her husband greatly, but blamed him for a taste for low life,
and insisted that he loved better to play Scrub to a low-lifed audience
than one of his superior characters before an audience of taste. On one
particular occasion she was in her box in the theatre. _Richard III_.
was the performance, and Garrick's acting, especially in the night
scene, drew down universal applause. After the play was over Mrs. G.
proposed going home, which Garrick declined, alleging he had some
business in the green-room, which must detain him. In short, the lady
was obliged to acquiesce, and wait the beginning of a new entertainment,
in which was introduced a farmer giving his neighbours an account of the
wonders seen on a visit to London. This character was received with such
peals of applause that Mrs. Garrick began to think it rivalled those
which had been so lately lavished on Richard the Third. At last she
observed her little spaniel dog was making efforts to get towards the
balcony which separated him from the facetious farmer. Then she became
aware of the truth. "How strange," she said, "that a dog should know his
master, and a woman, in the same circumstances, should not recognise her
husband!"
_October 18_. - Sophia had a small but lively party last night, as indeed
she has had every night since we were here - Ladies - [Lady Stafford,]
Lady Louisa Stuart, Lady Montagu, Miss Montagu, Lady [Davy], [Mrs.]
Macleod, and two or three others; Gentlemen - Lord Montagu, Macleod, Lord
Dudley, Rogers [Mackintosh]. A good deal of singing. If Sophia keeps to
early hours she may beat London for small parties as poor Miss White
did, and without much expense. A little address is all that is
necessary. Sir John[475] insists on my meeting this Rammohun Roy;[476] I
am no believer in his wandering knight, so far. The time is gone of
sages who travelled to collect wisdom as well as heroes to reap honour.
Men think and fight for money. I won't see the man if I can help it.
Flatterers are difficult enough to keep at a distance though they be no
renegades. I hate a fellow who begins with throwing away his own
religion, and then affects a prodigious respect for another.
_October 19_. - Captain H. Duncan called with Captain Pigot, a
smart-looking gentlemanlike man, and announces his purpose of sailing on
Monday. I have made my preparations for being on board on Sunday, which
is the day appointed. Captain Duncan told me jocularly never to take a
naval captain's word on shore, and quoted Sir William Scott, who used to
say, waggishly, that there was nothing so accommodating as a naval
captain on shore; but when on board he became a peremptory lion. Henry
Duncan has behaved very kindly, and says he only discharges the wishes
of his service in making me as easy as possible, which is very handsome.
No danger of feud, except about politics, which would be impolite on my
part, and though it bars out one great subject of discourse, it leaves
enough besides. That I might have nothing doubtful, Walter arrives with
his wife, ready to sail, so what little remains must be done without
loss of time. This is our last morning, so I have money to draw for and
pay away. To see our dear Lord Montagu too. The Duchess came yesterday.
I suppose £50 will clear me, with some balance for Gibraltar.
I leave this country uncertain if it has got a total pardon or only a
reprieve. I won't think of it, as I can do no good. It seems to be in
one of those crises by which Providence reduces nations to their
original elements.[477] If I had my health, I should take no worldly
fee, not to be in the bustle; but I am as weak as water, and I shall be
glad when I have put the Mediterranean between the island and me.
_October 21 and 22_. - Spent in taking of farewell and adieus, which had
been put off till now. A melancholy ceremonial, with some a useless one;
yet there are friends whom it sincerely touches one to part with. It is
the cement of life giving way in a moment. Another unpleasant
circumstance is - one is called upon to recollect those whom death or
estrangement has severed, after starting merrily together in the voyage
of life.
_October 23_. - Portsmouth; arrived here in the evening. Found the
_Barham_ will not sail till 26th October, that is Wednesday next. The
girls break loose, mad with the craze of seeing sights, and run the risk
of our losing some of our things and deranging the naval officers, who
offer their services with their natural gallantry. Captain Pigot came to
breakfast, with several other officials. The girls contrived to secure a
sight of the Block manufactory, together with that of the Biscuit, also
invented by Brunel. I think that I have seen the first of these
wonderful [sights] in 1816, or about that time.[478] Sir Thomas Foley
gives an entertainment to the Admiralty, and sends to invite [me]; but I
pleaded health, and remained at home. Neither will I go out
sight-seeing, which madness seems to have seized my womankind. This
ancient town is one of the few in England which is fortified, and which
gives it a peculiar appearance. It is much surrounded with heaths or
thin poor muirs covered with heather, very barren, yet capable of being
converted into rich arable and pasturage. I would [not] desire a better
estate than to have 2000 acres which would be worth 40 shillings an
acre.
_October_ 24. - My womankind are gone out with Walter and Captain Hall. I
wish they would be moderate in their demands on people's complaisance.
They little know how inconvenient are such seizures. A sailor is in
particular a bad refuser, and before he can turn three times round, he
is bound with a triple knot to all kinds of [engagements]. The wind is
west, that is to say contrary, so our sailing on the day after to-morrow
is highly doubtful.
_October_ 25. - A gloomy October day, the wind inflexibly constant in the
west, which is fatal. Sir James Graham proposes to wait upon us after
breakfast. A trouble occurs about my taking an oath before a
master-extraordinary in Chancery; but such cannot easily be found, as
they reside in chambers in town, and rusticate after business, so they
are difficult to catch as an eel. At ten my children set off to the
dockyard, which is a most prodigious effort of machinery, and they are
promised the sight of an anchor in the act of being forged, a most
cyclopean sight. Walter is to call upon the solicitor and appoint him to
be with [me] by twelve.
About the reign of Henry VIII. the French took the pile, as it was
called, of - - ,[479] but were beat off. About the end of the American
war, an individual named John Aitken, or John the Painter, undertook to
set the dockyard on fire, and in some degree accomplished his purpose.
He had no accomplice, and to support himself committed solitary
robberies. Being discovered, he long hung in chains near the outward
fortifications. Last night a deputation of the Literary and
Philosophical Society of [Portsmouth] came to present me with the
honorary freedom of their body, which I accepted with becoming
gratitude. There is little credit in gathering the name of a disabled
invalid. Here I am, going a long and curious tour without ability to
walk a quarter of a mile; quere, what hope of recovery? I think and
think in vain, when attempting to trace the progress of this disease and
so gradually has my health declined, that I believe it has been acting
upon me for ten years, gradually diminishing my strength. My mental
faculties may perhaps recover; my bodily strength cannot return unless
climate has an effect on the human frame which I cannot possibly believe
or comprehend. The safe resolution is, to try no foolish experiments,
but make myself as easy as I can, without suffering myself to be vexed
about what I cannot help. If I sit on the deck and look at Vesuvius, it
will be all I ought to think of.
Having mentioned John the Painter, I may add that it was in this town of
Portsmouth that the Duke of Buckingham was stabbed to death by Felton, a
fanatic of the same kind with the Incendiary, though perpetrator of a
more manly crime. This monster-breeding age can afford both Feltons and
John Aitkens in abundance. Every village supplies them, while in fact a
deep feeling of the coarsest selfishness furnishes the ruling motive,
instead of an affectation of public spirit - that hackneyed affectation
of patriotism, as like the reality as a Birmingham halfpenny to a
guinea.
The girls, I regret to see, have got a senseless custom of talking
politics in all weathers and in all sorts of company. This can do no
good, and may give much offence. Silence can offend no one, and there
are pleasanter or less irritating subjects to talk of. I gave them both
a hint of this, and bid them both remember they were among ordinary
strangers. How little young people reflect what they may win or lose by
a smart reflection imprudently fired off at a venture!
Mr. Barrow of the Admiralty came and told us the whole fleet, _Barham_
excepted, were ordered to the North Sea to help to bully the King of
Holland, and that Captain Pigot, whose motions are of more importance to
us than those of the whole British Navy, sails, as certainly as these
things can be prophesied, on Thursday, 27th October.
_October_ 26. - Here we still are, fixed by the inexorable wind.
Yesterday we asked a few old friends, Mr. and Mrs. Osborne, and two or
three others, to tea and talk. I engaged in a new novel, by Mr.
Smith,[480] called _New Forest_. It is written in an old style,
calculated to meet the popular ideas - somewhat like "Man as he is
not"[481] and that class. The author's opinions seem rather to sit loose
upon him and to be adopted for the nonce and not very well brought out.
His idea of a hero is an American philosopher with all the affected
virtues of a Republican which no man believes in.
This is very tiresome - not to be able to walk abroad for an instant,
but to be kept in this old house which they call "The Fountain," a
mansion made of wood in imitation of a ship. The timbers were well tried
last night during the squall. The barometer has sunk an inch very
suddenly, which seems to argue a change, and probably a deliverance from
port. Sir Michael Seymour, Mr. Harris, Captain Lawrence came to greet us
after breakfast; also Sir James Graham. They were all learned on this
change of weather which seems to be generally expected. I had a good
mess of Tory chat with Mr. Harris. We hope to see his daughters in the
evening. He keeps his courage amid the despair of too many of his party.
About one o'clock our Kofle, as Mungo Park words it, set out, self
excluded, to witness the fleet sailing from the ramparts.
_October_ 27. - The weather is more moderate and there is a chance of our
sailing. We whiled away our time as we could, relieved by several kind
visits. We realised the sense of hopeless expectation described by
Fielding in his Voyage to Lisbon, which identical tract Captain Hall,
who in his eagerness to be kind seems in possession of the wishing-cap
of Fortunatus, was able to provide for us. To-morrow is spoken of as
certainly a day to move.
_October_ 28. - But the wind is as unfavourable as ever and I take a
hobbling morning walk upon the rampart, where I am edified by a
good-natured officer who shows me the place, marked by a buoy, where the
_Royal George_ went down "with twice four hundred men."[482] Its hull
forms a shoal which is still in existence, a neglect scarcely
reconcilable with the splendour of our proceedings where our navy is
concerned. Saw a battle on the rampart between two sailor boys, who
fought like game-cocks. Returned to "The Fountain," to a voluminous
breakfast. Captain Pigot calls, with little hope of sailing to-day. I
made my civil affidavit yesterday to a master extraordinary in Chancery,
which I gave to Sophia last night.
_October_ 29 (The _Barham_). - The weather is changed and I think we
shall sail. Captain Forbes comes with offer of the Admiral Sir Michael
Seymour's barge, but we must pause on our answer. I have had a very
disturbed night. Captain Pigot's summons is at length brought by his own
announcement, and the same time the Admiral's barge attends for our
accommodation and puts us and our baggage on board the _Barham_, a
beautiful ship, a 74 cut down to a 50, and well deserving all the
commendations bestowed on her. The weather a calm which is almost equal
to a favourable wind, so we glide beautifully along by the Isle of Wight
and the outside of the island. We landsfolk feel these queerish
sensations, when, without being in the least sick, we are not quite
well. We dine enormously and take our cot at nine o'clock, when we sleep
undisturbed till seven.
_October_ 30. - Find the Bill of Portland in sight, having run about
forty miles during the night. About the middle of the day turn sea-sick
and retire to my berth for the rest of the evening.
_October_ 31. - A sleepless night and a bilious morning, yet not so very
uncomfortable as the phrase may imply. The bolts clashed, and made me
dream of poor Bran. The wind being nearly completely contrary, we have
by ten o'clock gained Plymouth and of course will stand westward for
Cape Finisterre; terrible tossing and much sea-sickness, beating our
passage against the turn. I may as well say we had a parting visit from
Lady Graham, who came off in a steamer, saluted us in the distance and
gave us by signal her "bon voyage." On Sunday we had prayers and Service
from Mr. Marshall, our Chaplain, a Trinity College youth, who made a
very respectable figure.
FOOTNOTES:
[465] See "Ellandonan Castle," in the _Minstrelsy of the Scottish
Border_, Scott's _Poetical Works_, vol. iv. p. 361.
[466] Now the Bishop of St. Andrews. As has been already said,
Wordsworth arrived on the 19th and left on the 22d September, _i.e._ the
visit lasted from Monday till Thursday. There are no dates in the
Journal between May 25 and October 8, but Wordsworth says, "At noon on
Thursday we left Abbotsford, and on the morning of that day Sir Walter
and I had a serious conversation _tête-à -tête_, when he spoke with
gratitude of the happy life which upon the whole he had led." - Knight's
_Wordsworth_, vol. iii. p. 201.
[467] Wordsworth notes that on placing the volume in his daughter's
hand, Sir Walter said, "I should not have done anything of this kind but
for your father's sake; they are probably the last verses I shall ever
write." - Knight's _Wordsworth_, vol. iii. p. 201.
[468] Lord Brougham.
[469] The introductory address to _Count Robert of Paris_ bears the date
October 15th, 1831.
[470] _Twelfth Night_, Act II. Sc. 3.
[471] See Moore's edition of _Byron's Works_, vol. vii. pp. 43-44, note.
[472] Scott's views received strong confirmation a few days later at
Bristol, where the authorities, through mistaken humanity, hesitated to
order the military to act.
[473] At Malta, accordingly, we find Sir Walter making inquiry regarding
this Arabian conjurer, and writing to Mr. Lockhart, on Nov. 1831, in the
following terms: -
"I have got a key to the conjuring story of Alexandria and Grand Cairo.
I have seen very distinct letters of Sir John Stoddart's son, who
attended three of the formal exhibitions which broke down, though they
were repeated afterwards with success. Young Stoddart is an excellent
Arabian scholar - an advantage which I understand is more imperfectly
enjoyed by Lord Prudhoe and Colonel Felix. Much remains to be explained,
but the boldness of the attempt exceeds anything since the days of the
Automaton chess-player, or the Bottle conjurer. The first time
Shakespeare was evoked he appeared in the complexion of an Arab. This
seems to have been owing to the first syllable of his name, which
resembled the Arabian word _Sheik_, and suggested the idea of an Arabian
chief to the conjurer. A gentleman named Galloway has bought the secret,
and talks of being frightened. There can be little doubt that, having so
far interested himself, it would become his interest to put the conjurer
more up to the questions likely to be asked. So he was more perfect when
consulted by Lord Prudhoe than at first, when he made various blunders,
and when we must needs say _falsum in uno falsum in omnibus_. As all
this will come out one day, I have no wish to mingle in the
controversy.... There are still many things to explain, but I think the
mystery is unearthed completely."
See also Lane's _Egyptians_ for an account of what appears to be the
same man in 1837. Also _Quarterly Review_, No. 117, pp. 196-208, for an
examination of this "Magic Mirror" exhibition.
[474] A hoard of seventy-eight chessmen found in the island of Lewis in
1831. The greater number of the figures were purchased for the British
Museum, and formed the subject of a learned dissertation by Sir
Frederick Madden; see _Archæologia,_ xxiv. Eleven of these very
interesting pieces fell into the hands of Scott's friend, C.K. Sharpe,
and afterwards of Lord Londesborough. More recently these identical
pieces were purchased for the Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh, where
they now are. See _Proc. Soc. Antiq.,_ vol. xxiii.
[475] Sir John Malcolm, who was at this time M.P. for Launceston. His
last public appearance was in London, at a meeting convened for the
purpose of raising a monument of his friend Sir Walter, and his
concluding words were, that when he himself "was gone, his son might be
proud to say that his father had been among the contributors to that
shrine of genius." Sir John was struck down by paralysis on the
following day, and died in May 1833.
[476] The celebrated Brahmin philosopher and theist; born in Bengal
about 1774, died at Stapleton Grove, near Bristol, September 27, 1833.
[477] Sir Walter's fears for the country were also shared by some of the
wisest men in it. The Duke of Wellington, it is well known, was most
desponding, and he anticipated greater horror from a convulsion here
than in any other European nation.
Talleyrand said to the Duke during the Reform Bill troubles, "Duke of
Wellington, you have seen a great deal of the world. Can you point out
to me any one place in Europe where an old man could go to and be quite
sure of being safe and dying in peace?" - Stanhope _Notes_, p. 224.
[478] See Mr. Charles Cowan's privately printed _Reminiscences_ for
Scott's recollections of his visit to Portsmouth in 1816, and his
stories, of the wonders he had seen, to the little boy at his side.
[479] Compare Froude's _History_, vol. iv. p. 424.
[480] Mr. Horace Smith, one of the authors of _Rejected Addresses_.
[481] An anonymous novel, published some years earlier in 4 vols. 12mo.
[482] Cowper's Monody.
NOVEMBER.
_November_ 1. - The night was less dismal than yesterday, and we hold our
course, though with an unfavourable wind, and make, it is said, about
forty miles progress. After all, this sort of navigation recommends the
steamer, which forces its way whether the breeze will or no.
_November_ 2. - Wind as cross as two sticks, with nasty squalls of wind
and rain. We keep dodging about the Lizard and Land's End without ever
getting out of sight of these interesting terminations of Old England.
Keep the deck the whole day though bitter cold. Betake myself to my
berth at nine, though it is liker to my coffin.
_November_ 3. - Sea-sickness has pretty much left us, but the nights are
far from voluptuous, as Lord Stowell says. After breakfast I established
myself in the after-cabin to read and write as well as I can, whereof
this is a bad specimen.
_November_ 4. - The current unfavourable, and the ship pitching a great
deal; yet the vessel on the whole keeps her course, and we get on our
way with hope of reaching Cape Finisterre when it shall please God.
_November_ 5. - We still creep on this petty pace from day to day without
being able to make way, but also without losing any. Meanwhile,
_Fröhlich!_ we become freed from the nausea and disgust of the
sea-sickness and are chirruping merrily. Spend the daylight chiefly on
deck, where the sailors are trained in exercising the great guns on a
new sort of carriage called, from the inventor, Marshall's, which seems
ingenious.
_November_ 6. - No progress to-day; the ship begins to lay her course but
makes no great way. Appetite of the passengers excellent, which we amuse
at the expense of the sea stock. Cold beef and biscuit. I feel myself
very helpless on board, but everybody is ready to assist me.
_November_ 7. - The wind still holds fair, though far from blowing
steadily, but by fits and variably. No object to look at -
"One wide water all around us,
All above us one 'grey' sky."[483]
There are neither birds in the air, fish in the sea, nor objects on face
of the waters. It is odd that though once so great a smoker I now never
think on a cigar; so much the better.
_November_ 8. - As we begin to get southward we feel a milder and more
pleasing temperature, and the wind becomes decidedly favourable when we
have nearly traversed the famous Bay of Biscay. We now get into a sort
of trade wind blowing from the East.
_November_ 9. - This morning run seventy miles from twelve at night. This
is something like going. Till now, bating the rolling and pitching, we
lay
"... as idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean."
_November_ 10. - Wind changes and is both mild and favourable. We pass
Cape Ortegal, see a wild cluster of skerries or naked rocks called
Berlingas rising out of the sea like M'Leod's Maidens off the Isle of
Skye.
_November_ 11. - Wind still more moderate and fair, yet it is about
eleven knots an hour. We pass Oporto and Lisbon in the night. See the
coast of Portugal: a bare wild country, with here and there a church or
convent. If it keeps fair this evening we [make] Gibraltar, which would
be very desirable. Our sailors have been exercised at a species of sword
exercise, which recalls many recollections.
_November_ 12. - The favourable wind gets back to its quarters in the
south-west, and becomes what the Italians call the Sirocco, abominated
for its debilitating qualities. I cannot say I feel them, but I dreamt
dreary dreams all night, which are probably to be imputed to the
Sirocco. After all, it is not an uncomfortable wind to a Caledonian wild
and stern. Ink won't serve.
_November_ 13. - The wind continues unaccommodating all night, and we see
nothing, although we promised ourselves to have seen Gibraltar, or at
least Tangiers, this morning, but we are disappointed of both. Tangiers
reminded me of my old Antiquarian friend Auriol Hay Drummond, who is
Consul there.[484] Certainly if a human voice could have made its hail
heard through a league or two of contending wind and wave, it must have
been Auriol Drummond's. I remember him at a dinner given by some of his
friends when he left Edinburgh, where he discharged a noble part "self
pulling like Captain Crowe 'for dear life, for dear life' against the
whole boat's crew," speaking, that is, against 30 members of a drunken
company and maintaining the predominance. Mons Meg was at that time his
idol. He had a sort of avarice of proper names, and, besides half a
dozen which were his legitimately, he had a claim to be called
_Garvadh_, which uncouth appellation he claimed on no very good
authority to be the ancient name of the Hays - a tale. I loved him
dearly; he had high spirits, a zealous faith, good-humour, and
enthusiasm, and it grieves me that I must pass within ten miles of him
and leave him unsaluted; for mercy-a-ged what a yell of gratitude would
there be! I would put up with a good rough gale which would force us
into Tangiers and keep us there for a week, but the wind is only in
gentle opposition, like a well-drilled spouse. Gibraltar we shall see
this evening, Tangiers becomes out of the question. Captain says we will
lie by during the night, sooner than darkness shall devour such an
object of curiosity, so we must look sharp for the old rock.
_November_ 14. - The horizon is this morning full of remembrances. Cape
St. Vincent, Cape Spartel, Tarifa, Trafalgar - all spirit-stirring
sounds, are within our ken, and recognised with enthusiasm both by the
old sailors whose memory can reinvest them with their terrors, and by
the naval neophytes who hope to emulate the deeds of their fathers. Even
a non-combatant like myself feels his heart beat faster and fuller,
though it is only with the feeling of the unworthy boast of the
substance in the fable, _nos poma natamus_.
I begin to ask myself, Do I feel any symptoms of getting better from the
climate? - which is delicious, - and I cannot reply with the least
consciousness of certainty; I cannot in reason expect it should be
otherwise: the failure of my limbs has been gradual, and it cannot be
expected that an infirmity which at least a year's bad weather gradually
brought on should diminish before a few mild and serene days, but I
think there is some change to the better; I certainly write easier and
my spirits are better. The officers compliment me on this, and I think
justly. The difficulty will be to abstain from working hard, but we will
try. I wrote to Mr. Cadell to-day, and will send my letter ashore to be
put into Gibraltar with the officer who leaves us at that garrison. In
the evening we saw the celebrated fortress, which we had heard of all
our lives, and which there is no possibility of describing well in
words, though the idea I had formed of it from prints, panoramas, and so
forth, proved not very inaccurate. Gibraltar, then, is a peninsula
having a tremendous precipice on the Spanish side - that is, upon the
north, where it is united to the mainland by a low slip of land called
the neutral ground. The fortifications which rise on the rock are
innumerable, and support each other in a manner accounted a model of
modern art; the northern face of the rock itself is hewn into tremendous
subterranean batteries called the hall of Saint George, and so forth,
mounted with guns of a large calibre. But I have heard it would be
difficult to use them, from the effect of the report on the
artillerymen. The west side of the fortress is not so precipitous as
the north, and it is on this it has been usually assailed. It bristles
with guns and batteries, and has at its northern extremity the town of
Gibraltar, which seems from the sea a thriving place, and from thence
declines gradually to Cape Europa, where there is a great number of
remains of old caverns and towers, formerly the habitation or refuge of
the Moors. At a distance, and curving into a bay, lie Algeciras, and the
little Spanish town of Saint Roque, where the Spanish lines were planted
during the siege.[485] From Europa Point the eastern frontier of
Gibraltar runs pretty close to the sea, and arises in a perpendicular
face, and it is called the back of the rock. No thought could be
entertained of attacking it, although every means were used to make the
assault as general as possible. The efforts sustained by such
extraordinary means as the floating batteries were entirely directed
against the defences on the west side, which, if they could have been
continued for a few days with the same fury with which they commenced,
must have worn out the force of the garrison. The assault had continued
for several hours without success on either side, when a private man of
the artillery, his eye on the floating batteries, suddenly called with
ecstasy, "She burns, by G - - !";[486] and first that vessel and then
others were visibly discovered to be on fire, and the besiegers' game
was decidedly up.
We stood into the Bay of Gibraltar and approached the harbour firing a
gun and hoisting a signal for a boat: one accordingly came off - a
man-of-war's boat - but refused to have any communication with us on
account of the quarantine, so we can send no letters ashore, and after
some pourparlers, Mr. L - - , instead of joining his regiment, must
remain on board. We learned an unpleasant piece of news. There has been
a tumult at Bristol and some rioters shot, it is said fifty or sixty. I
would flatter myself that this is rather good news, since it seems to be
no part of a formed insurrection, but an accidental scuffle in which the
mob have had the worst, and which, like Tranent, Manchester, and
Bonnymoor, have always had the effect of quieting the people and
alarming men of property.[487] The Whigs will find it impossible to
permit men to be plundered by a few blackguards called by them the
people, and education and property probably will recover an ascendency
which they have only lost by faintheartedness.
We backed out of the Bay by means of a current to the eastward, which
always runs thence, admiring in our retreat the lighting up the windows
in the town and the various barracks or country seats visible on the
rock. Far as we are from home, the general lighting up of the windows in
the evening reminds us we are still in merry old England, where in
reverse of its ancient law of the curfew, almost every individual,
however humble his station, takes as of right a part of the evening for
enlarging the scope of his industry or of his little pleasures. He trims
his lamp to finish at leisure some part of his task, which seems in such
circumstances almost voluntary, while his wife prepares the little meal
which is to be its legitimate reward. But this happy privilege of
English freemen has ceased. One happiness it is, they will soon learn
their error.
_November_ 15. - I had so much to say about Gibraltar that I omitted all
mention of the Strait, and more distant shores of Spain and Barbary,
which form the extreme of our present horizon; they are highly
interesting. A chain of distant mountains sweep round Gibraltar, bold
peaked, well defined, and deeply indented; the most distinguishable
points occasionally garnished with an old watch-tower to afford
protection against a corsair. The mountains seemed like those of the
first formation, liker, in other words, to the Highlands than those of
the South of Scotland. The chains of hills in Barbary are of the same
character, but more lofty and much more distant, being, I conceive, a
part of the celebrated ridge of Atlas.
Gibraltar is one of the pillars of Hercules, Ceuta on the Moorish side
is well known to be the other; to the westward of a small fortress
garrisoned by the Spaniards is the Hill of Apes, the corresponding
pillar to Gibraltar. There is an extravagant tradition that there was
once a passage under the sea from the one fortress to the other, and
that an adventurous governor, who puzzled his way to Ceuta and back
again, left his gold watch as a prize to him who had the courage to go
to seek it.
We are soon carried by the joint influence of breeze and current to the
African side of the straits, and coast nearly along a wild shore formed
of mountains, like those of Spain, of varied form and outline. No
churches, no villages, no marks of human hand are seen. The chain of
hills show a mockery of cultivation, but it is only wild heath
intermingled with patches of barren sand. I look in vain for cattle or
flocks of sheep, and Anne as vainly entertains hopes of seeing lions and
tigers on a walk to the sea-shore. The land of this wild country seems
to have hardly a name. The Cape which we are doubling has one,
however - the Cape of the Three Points. That we might not be totally
disappointed we saw one or two men engaged apparently in ploughing,
distinguished by their turbans and the long pikes which they carried.
Dr. Liddell says that on former occasions he has seen flocks and
shepherds, but the war with France has probably laid the country waste.
_November_ 16. - When I waked about seven found that we had the town of
Oran twelve or fourteen miles off astern. It is a large place on the
sea-beach, near the bottom of a bay, built close and packed together as
Moorish [towns], from Fez to Timbuctoo, usually are. A considerable hill
runs behind the town, which seems capable of holding 10,000 inhabitants.
The hill up to its eastern summit is secured by three distinct lines of
fortification, made probably by the Spanish when Oran was in their
possession; latterly it belonged to the State of Algiers; but whether it
has yielded to the French or not we have no means of knowing. A French
schooner of eighteen guns seems to blockade the harbour. We show our
colours, and she displays hers, and then resumes her cruise, looking as
if she resumed her blockade. This would infer that the place is not yet
in French hands. However, we have in any event no business with Oran,
whether African or French. Bristol is a more important subject of
consideration, but I cannot learn there are papers on board. One or two
other towns we saw on this dreary coast, otherwise nothing but a hilly
coast covered with shingle and gum cistus.
_November_ 17. - In the morning we are off Algiers, of which Captain
Pigot's complaisance afforded a very satisfactory sight. It is built on
a sloping hill, running down to the sea, and on the water side is
extremely strong; a very strong mole or causeway enlarges the harbour,
by enabling them to include a little rocky island, and mount immense
batteries, with guns of great number and size. It is a wonder, in the
opinion of all judges, that Lord Exmouth's fleet was not altogether cut
to pieces. The place is of little strength to the land; a high turreted
wall of the old fashion is its best defence. When Charles V. attacked
Algiers, he landed in the bay to the east of the town, and marched
behind it. He afterwards reached what is still called the Emperor's
fort, a building more highly situated than any part of the town, and
commanding the wall which surrounds it. The Moors did not destroy this.
When Bourmont landed with the French, unlike Charles V., that general
disembarked to the westward of Algiers, and at the mouth of a small
river; he then marched into the interior, and, fetching a circuit,
presented himself on the northern side of the town. Here the Moors had
laid a simple stratagem for the destruction of the invading army. The
natives had conceived they would rush at once to the fort of the
Emperor, which they therefore mined, and expected to destroy a number of
the enemy by its explosion. This obvious device of war was easily
avoided, and General Bourmont, in possession of the heights, from which
Algiers is commanded, had no difficulty in making himself master of the
place. The French are said now to hold their conquests with difficulty,
owing to a general commotion among the Moorish chiefs, of whom the Bey
was the nominal sovereign. To make war on these wild tribes would be to
incur the disaster of the Emperor Julian; to neglect their aggressions
is scarcely possible.
Algiers has at first an air of diminutiveness inferior to its fame in
ancient and modern times. It rises up from the shore like a wedge,
composed of a large mass of close-packed white houses, piled as thick on
each other as they can stand; white-terraced roofs, and without windows,
so the number of its inhabitants must be immense, in comparison to the
ground the buildings occupy - not less, perhaps, than 30,000 men. Even
from the distance we view it, the place has a singular Oriental look,
very dear to the imagination. The country around Algiers is [of] the
same hilly description with the ground on which the town is situated - a
bold hilly tract. The shores of the bay are studded with villas, and
exhibit enclosures: some used for agriculture, some for gardens, one for
a mosque, with a cemetery around it. It is said they are extremely
fertile; the first example we have seen of the exuberance of the African
soil. The villas, we are told, belong to the Consular Establishment. We
saw our own, who, if at home, put no remembrance upon us. Like the
Cambridge Professor and the elephant, "We were a paltry beast," and he
would not see us, though we drew within cannon [shot], and our fifty
36-pounders might have attracted some attention. The Moors showed their
old cruelty on a late occasion. The crews of two foreign vessels having
fallen into their hands by shipwreck, they murdered two-thirds of them
in cold blood. There are reports of a large body of French cavalry
having shown itself without the town. It is also reported by Lieutenant
Walker,[488] that the Consul hoisted, _comme de raison_, a British flag
at his country house, so our vanity is safe.
We leave Algiers and run along the same kind of heathy, cliffy, barren
reach of hills, terminating in high lines of serrated ridges, and scarce
showing an atom of cultivation, but where the mouth of a river or a
sheltering bay has encouraged the Moors to some species of
fortification.
_November_ 18. - Still we are gliding along the coast of Africa, with a
steady and unruffled gale; the weather delicious. Talk of an island of
wild goats, by name Golita; this species of deer-park is free to every
one for shooting upon - belongs probably to the Algerines or Tunisians,
whom circumstances do not permit to be very scrupulous in asserting
their right of dominion; but Dr. Liddell has himself been present at a
grand _chasse_ of the goats, so the thing is true.
The wild sinuosities of the land make us each moment look to see a body
of Arabian cavalry wheel at full gallop out of one of these valleys,
scour along the beach, and disappear up some other recess of the hills.
In fact we see a few herds, but a red cow is the most formidable monster
we have seen.