I have been in the earth, I have been in the sea, I have been in the air, I have been in the fire, and can endure unhurt, and with fortitude, greater extremities of heat and cold than any mortal. All the blows in the face I have ever received have never made me move a muscle. I have been crushed, but am sound and whole; and notwithstanding the contempt with which I have been treated (thanks to the present feelings of the age), am more and more respected every day—sought after indeed with eagerness, though seldom long retained. I am the beloved of schoolboys, but as quickly discarded by them. I attend churches and chapels, fairs and markets; yet though a friend and supporter of the Bible and many pious institutions, I am a heathen in religion, nor can I partake of any thing which I buy. Though my letters may be read by every body, I can neither read nor write. I am a proud stickler indeed in the school of aristocracy, for I never move out of my own circle; and with my associates, both male and female, am often nearly squeezed to death, according to the highest forms of fashionable usage.
I have given birth to hundreds of thousands, and with me fortunes invariably expire. My existence may continue for a thousand years, nay, to the very end of time, and yet may be cut short in a moment. But if you destroy me, which it is certainly in your power to do, know that innumerable myriads are at my back, and always ready to replace me.
Though committing no offence, I am liable to transportation without even a trial, but I am always well received after my return from exile. A master of all languages, but speaking none, I find my way in foreign countries without difficulty, for, though speechless, I am eloquent enough in my own way. From my features and head-dress you might suppose that I belonged to some Indian tribe, but I am British and Irish all over, and flourish best upon my own soil. I am an ever-welcome friend to the forlorn, but am myself very poor. I have a mint of money at my back, but am not worth three half-pence. At the moment you are reading this, you will indeed be wretched if you cannot command my services.
And now, having by the unwearied diligence, talent, and influence of Mr Rowland Hill, been enabled to give myself up for the support and encouragement of the Irish Penny Journal, I hereby particularly enjoin it upon all my brethren more and more to patronise that excellent work.
Irish Bravery.—The following instance of Irish bravery, recorded in Falkner’s Journal, March 18, 1760, is too remarkable to be buried in oblivion:—“On Saturday last, arrived at Youghal the ship Good Intent, belonging to Waterford, but last from Bilboa: she was taken the Tuesday before by a French privateer off Ushant, and had on board ten or twelve hands, her lading brandy and iron. The French took away the master (Bongar), and all the men, except five and a boy. On Friday last, four of them (the fifth not consenting) formed a plan to surprise the nine Frenchmen who were navigating the vessel to France, and succeeded therein. Four of the Frenchmen were under deck, three aloft, one at the helm, and the other man near him: three of the Irishmen were under deck, one at the helm, and the fifth hiding. One Brien by surprise tripped up the heels of the Frenchman at the helm, seized his pistol, and discharged it at the other, at the same instant making a signal for his three comrades below to follow his example: they assailed the Frenchmen, and by getting at their broadswords soon compelled them to be quiet; and immediately getting above, shut the hatches. After a desperate cut which one of the Frenchmen received on the arm in defending his head, and another a bruise by throwing the pistol at his head after it was discharged (for he missed him), those above likewise called out for quarter, and yielded up the quarterdeck to the intrepid Mr Brien. Not one of these fellows could read or write; of consequence they knew not how to navigate the ship, but Brien said that as he knew his course was north in general, being near Ushant, he steered at a venture, and the first land he made was near Youghal, where he happily arrived and landed his prisoners, who are now in Youghal gaol.”
MIGRATION OF FISHES.
Amongst the migrations of fishes, I must not neglect those that take place in consequence of the water in the ponds or pools that they inhabit being dried up: some of these are very extraordinary, and prove that when the Creator gave being to these animals, he foresaw the circumstances in which they would be placed, and mercifully provided them with means of escape from dangers to which they were necessarily exposed.
In very dry summers, the fishes that inhabit the above situations are reduced often to the last extremities, and endeavour to relieve themselves by plunging, first their heads, and afterwards their whole bodies, in the mud to a considerable depth; and so, though many in such seasons perish, some are preserved till a rainy one again supplies them with the element so indispensable to their life. Carp, it is known, may be kept and fed a very long time in nets in a damp cellar, a faculty which fits them for retaining their vitality when they bury themselves at such a depth as to shelter them from the heat.
But others, when reduced to this extremity, desert their native pool, and travel in search of another that is better supplied with water. This has long been known of eels, which wind, by night, through the grass in search of water, when so circumstanced. Dr Hancock, in the Zoological Journal, gives an account of a species of fish called by the Indians the Flat-head Hassar, and belonging to a genus of the family of the Siluridans, which is instructed by its Creator, when the pools in which they commonly reside in very dry seasons lose their water, to take the resolution of marching by land in search of others in which the water is not evaporated. These fish grow to about the length of a foot, and travel in large droves with this view; they move by night, and their motion is said to be like that of the two-footed lizard. A strong serrated arm constitutes the first ray of its pectoral fin. Using this as a kind of foot, it should seem they push themselves forwards by means of their elastic tail, moving nearly as fast as a man will leisurely walk. The strong plates which envelope their body probably facilitate their progress in the same manner as those under the body of serpents, which in some degree perform the office of feet. It is affirmed by the Indians that they are furnished with an internal supply of water sufficient for their journey, which seems confirmed by the circumstance that their bodies when taken out of the water, even if wiped dry with a cloth, become instantly moist again. Mr Campbell, a friend of Dr Hancock’s, resident in Essequibo, once fell in with a drove of these animals, which were so numerous that the Indians filled several baskets with them.
Another migrating fish was found by thousands in the ponds and all the fresh waters of Carolina, by Bosc; and as these pools are subject to be dry in summer, the Creator has furnished this fish, as well as one of the flying ones, by means of a membrane which closes its mouth, with the faculty of living out of water, and of travelling by leaps to discover other pools. Bosc often amused himself with their motions when he had placed them on the ground, and he found that they always direct themselves towards the nearest water, which they could not possibly see, and which they must have discovered by some internal index; during their migrations they furnish food to numerous birds and reptiles. They belong to a genus of abdominal fishes, and are called swampines. It is evident from this statement that these fishes are both fitted by their Creator not only to exist, but also move along out of the water, and are directed by the instinct implanted by Him to seek the nearest pool that contains that element; thus furnishing a strong proof of what are called compensating contrivances; neither of these fishes have legs, yet the one can walk and the other leap without them, by other means with which the Supreme Intelligence has endowed it. I may here observe that the serrated bone, or first ray of the pectoral fin, by the assistance of which the flat-head appears to move, is found in other Siluridans, which leads to a conjecture that those may sometimes also move upon land.