Silk Mill at Derby.—This mill, situated on the river Derwent, was erected by Sir T. Loombe, who, at a vast expense and great hazard, brought the model from Italy. It is fixed in a large house, six stories high, and consists of 26,586 wheels, with 97,746 movements, all driven by one large water-wheel, fixed on the outside of the house! It goes round three times in one minute, and each time works 78,726 yards of silk thread, so that in twenty-four hours it works 318,496,320 yards of silk thread, under the management of only one regulator! It has been of such service to the silk trade, that Sir Thomas had the benefit of it during his life; but the parliament having allowed him £14,000, as a further reward for his services, he suffered a model of it to be taken. This model now lies in the Record-office at the Tower, for the benefit of the public, any person being allowed to inspect it, so that there are at present several mills of the kind erected in different parts of the kingdom.
Portland Vase.—This is a celebrated funeral vase, which was long in the possession of the Baberini family; but which was some years since purchased for 1000 guineas by the duke of Portland, from whom it has derived its present name. Its height is about ten inches; and its diameter, where broadest, six. There are a variety of figures upon it, of most exquisite workmanship, in bas relief, in white opaque, raised on a ground of deep blue glass, which appears black, except when held against the light. It appears to have been the work of many years; and there are antiquarians who date its production several centuries before the Christian era, since, as has been said, sculpture was declining in excellence in the time of Alexander the Great. Respecting the purpose of this vase, and what the figures on it were meant to represent, there have been various conjectures. We shall, therefore, give a short account of the several figures, without noticing any of the theories or conjectures that have been made about them. In one compartment, three exquisite figures are placed on a ruined column, the capital of which is fallen, and lies at their feet among other disjointed stones: they sit under a tree, on loose piles of stone. The middle figure is a female in a reclining and dying attitude, with an inverted torch in her left hand, the elbow of which supports her as she sinks, while the right hand is raised, and thrown over her drooping head. The figure on her right hand is a man, and that on the left a woman, both supporting themselves on their arms, and apparently thinking intensely. Their backs are to the dying figure, and their faces are turned towards her, but without an attempt to assist her. On another compartment of the vase is a figure coming through a portal, and going down with great timidity into a darker region, where he is received by beautiful female, who stretches forth her hand to help him: between her knees is a large and playful serpent. She sits with her feet towards an aged figure, having one foot sunk into the earth, and the other raised on a column, with his chin resting on his hand. Above the female figure is a Cupid preceding the first figure, and beckoning him to advance. This first figure holds a cloak or garment, which he seems anxious to bring with him, but which adheres to the side of the portal through which he has passed. In this compartment there are two trees, one of which bends over the female figure, and the other over the aged one. On the bottom of the vase, there is another figure on a larger scale than the one we have already mentioned, but not so well finished nor so elevated. This figure points with its finger to its mouth. The dress appears to be curious and cumbersome, and above there is a foliage of a tree. On the head of the figure there is a Phrygian cap: it is not easy to say whether this figure be male or female. On the handles of the vase are represented two aged heads with the ears of a quadruped, and from the middle of the forehead rises a kind of tree without leaves: these figures are, in all probability, mere ornaments, and have no connection with the story represented on the vase.
Murdering Statue.—Kenith, king of Scotland, had slain Cruthlintus the son, and Malcolmus Duffus the king, and kinsman of Fenella: she, to be revenged of the murderer, caused a statue to be framed with admirable art. In one of the hands of it was an apple of gold set full of precious stones, which, whosoever touched, was immediately slain with many darts, which the statue threw or shot at him. Kenith, suspecting nothing, was invited to this place, and being slain in this manner, Fenella escaped over into Ireland.
A Curious Pulpit.—The pulpit of the grand parochial church at Brussels, a curious production of Henry Verbruggen, of Antwerp, is placed in the middle of the nave. At the base are Adam and Eve, large as life, the expelling Angel and Death in the rear! Our first parents, though closely pursued, bear upon their shoulders the terrestrial globe, the cavity of which is filled by the preacher! From the globe rises a tree, whose top extends into a canopy sustaining an Angel, and Truth exhibited as a female genius. Above are the Virgin and the infant Jesus, crushing the serpent’s head with a cross. The steps on either side appear as if cut from trunks of trees, and are accompanied by carvings of the ostrich, eagle, peacock, parrot, &c.
CHAP. LXXXVI.
MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES.—(Continued.)
Extraordinary Echoes, and Whispering Places—Natural Productions resembling Artificial Compositions—Remarkable Lamps—Perpetual Fire—Magical Drum—An Extraordinary Cannon—Curious Account of Old Bread—Substitute for Spectacles—Winter Sleep of Animals and Plants.
Extraordinary Echoes, and Whispering Places.—These are places where a whisper, or other low sound, may be heard from one part to another, to a great distance. They depend on a principle, that the voice, &c. being applied to one end of an arch, easily passes by repeated reflections to the other.
Hence sound is conveyed from one side of a whispering gallery to the opposite one, without being perceived by those who stand in the middle. The form of a whispering-gallery is that of a segment of a sphere, or the like arched figure. All the contrivance in whispering-places is, that near the person who whispers there may be a smooth wall, arched either cylindrically or elliptically. A circular arch will do, but not so well.