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engage me for a few moments, and as soon as it was performed I walked aft, and leaning my elbow on the taffrel, gave myself up to the recollection of scenes very different from the boyish pantomime I had just been witnessing. Soothed by the low hum of the crew, and by the quiet loveliness of every thing around, my thoughts had travelled far away from the realities of my situation, when I was suddenly startled by a cry from Black Jake, which brought me on the instant back to consciousness.

"Look, look! Massa Scupper," cried he, "Massa Stay is on de main-truck!"

I

A cold shudder ran through my veins at the word. cast my eyes up-it was too true! The adventurous boy, after resting on the royal cross-trees, had been seized with a wish to go still higher, and moved by one of those impulses which sometimes instigate men to place themselves in situations of imminent peril, where no good can result from the exposure, he had climbed the skysail-pole, and, at the moment of my looking up, was actually standing on the main-truck! a small circular piece of wood on the very summit of the loftiest mast, and at a height so great from the deck that my brain turned dizzy as I looked up at him. The reverse of Virgil's line was true in this instance. It was comparatively easy to ascend-but to descend-my head swam round, and my stomach felt sick, at the thought of the perils comprised in that one word. There was nothing above him or around him but empty air-and beneath him nothing but a point, a mere point-a small unstable wheel, that seemed no bigger from the deck than the button on the end of a foil, and the taper skysail-pole itself scarcely larger than the blade. Dreadful temerity! If he should attempt to stoop, what could he take hold of to steady his descent? His feet quite covered up the small and fearful platform upon which he stood, and beneath that, a long, smooth, naked spar, which seemed to bend with his weight, was all that upheld him from destruction. An attempt to get down from that "bad eminence," would be almost certain death; he would inevitably lose his equilibrium, and be precipitated to the deck a crushed and shapeless mass. Such were the thoughts that crowded through my mind as I first raised my eyes, and saw the terrible truth of Jake's exclamation. What was to be done in the pressing and fearful exigency? To hail him, and inform him of the danger, would be but to ensure his ruin. Indeed I fancied that the rash boy already perceived the imminence of his peril; and I half thought I could see his limbs begin to quiver. Every moment I expected to see the dreadful catastrophe. I could not bear to look at him, and yet could not withdraw my gaze. A film came over my eyes, and a faintness over my heart. The atmosphere seemed to grow thick, and tremble and waver like the heated air round a furnace; the mast appeared to totter, and the ship to pass from under my feet. I myself had the sensations of one about to fall from a great height, and in a sudden effort to recover myself, like that of a dreamer who fancies he is shoved from a precipice, I staggered up against the bulwarks.

When my eyes were once turned from the object to which they had been riveted, my sense and consciousness came back. I looked round-the deck was already crowded with people. The intelligence of poor Bob's temerity had spread through the ship like wildfire-and the officers and crew were all crowding to the deck. Every one, as he looked up, turned pale, and his eye became fastened on the truck -like that of a spectator of an execution on the gallows with a stedfast and unblinking, yet abhorrent gaze, as if momently expecting a fatal termination to the suspense. No one made a suggestion-no one spoke. Every feeling, every faculty, seemed absorbed and swallowed up in one deep, intense emotion of agony. Once the first lieutenant seized the trumpet, as if to hail poor Bob, but he had scarce raised it to his lips, when his arm dropped again, and sunk listlessly down beside him, as if from sad consciousness of the inutility of what he had been going to say. Every soul in the ship was now on the spar-deck, and

every eye was fixed on the main-truck.

At this moment there was a stir among the crew about the gangway, and directly after, another face was added to those on the quarter-deck-it was that of the commodore, Bob's father. He had come alongside in a shore-boat, without having been noticed by a single eye, so intense and universal was the interest that had fastened every gaze upon the spot where poor Bob stood trembling on the awful verge of fate. The commodore asked not a question, uttered not a syllable. He was a dark-faced, austere man, and it was thought by some of the midshipmen that he entertained but

little affection for his son. However that might have been it was certain that he treated him with precisely the same strict discipline that he maintained towards the other young officers, or if there was any difference at all, it was not in favour of Bob. Some, who pretended to have studied his character closely, affirmed that he loved his boy too well to spoil him, and that, intending him for the arduous profession in which he had himself risen to fame and eminence, he thought it would be of service to him to experience some of its privations and hardships at the outset.

The arrival of the commodore changed the direction of several eyes, which turned on him, to trace what emotions the danger of his son would occasion. But their scrutiny was foiled. By no outward sign did he show what was passing within. His eye still retained its severe expression, his brow the slight frown which it usually wore, and his lip its haughty curl. Immediately on reaching the deck, he had ordered a marine to hand him a musket, and with this, stepping after, and getting on the look-out block, he raised it to his shoulder, and took a deliberate aim at his son, at the same time hailing him, without a trumpet, in his voice of thunder,

"Robert!" cried he, "jump! jump overboard! or I'll fire at you."

The boy seemed to hesitate, and it was plain that he was tottering, for his arms were thrown out like those of one scarcely able to retain his balance. The commodore raised his voice again, and, in a quicker and more energetic tone, cried,

"Jump! 'tis your only chance for life."

The words were scarcely out of his mouth, before the boy was seen to leave the truck, and spring out into the air. Á sound, between a shriek and a groan, burst from many lips. The father spoke not-sighed not-indeed he did not seem to breathe. For a moment of intense interest a pin might have been heard to drop on deck. With a rush like that of a cannon-ball, the body descended to the water, and before the waves closed over it, twenty stout fellows, among them several officers, had dived from the bulwarks. Another short period of anxious suspense.ensued. He rosehe was alive! his arms were seen to move !-he struck out towards the ship!-and despite the discipline of a man-ofwar, three loud huzzas, an outburst of unfeigned and unrestrainable joy from the hearts of our crew of five hundred men, pealed through the air, and made the welkin ring.

Till this moment, the old commodore had stood unmoved. The eyes that, glistening with joy, now sought his face, saw that it was ashy pale. He attempted to descend the look-out block, but his knees bent under him; he seemed to gasp for breath, and put up his hand, as if to tear open his vest; but before he accomplished his object, he staggered forward, and would have fallen on the deck, had he not been caught by old Black Jake. He was borne into his cabin, where the surgeon attended him, whose utmost skill was required to restore his mind to its usual equability and self-command, in which he at last happily succeeded. As soon as he recovered from the dreadful shock, he sent for Bob, and had a long confidential conference with him; and it was noticed when the little fellow left the cabin that he was in tears.

The next day we sent down our taunt and dashy poles, and replaced them with the stump-to`-gallant masts; and on the third, we weighed anchor, and made sail for Gibraltar.

[CAPTAIN BASIL HALL.]

PERSONS who want experience should be extremely cautious how they depart from those principles which have been received generally, because founded on solid reasons; and how they deviate from those customs which have obtained long, because in their effect they have proved good. thus circumspect should all persons be, who cannot yet have acquired much practical knowledge of the world; lest, instead of becoming what they anxiously wish to become, more beneficial to mankind than those who have preceded mental towards occasioning some of the worst evils that them, they should actually, though inadvertently, be instrucan befall human society.-BISHOP HUNTINgford.

LONDON:

JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICK ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARTS, PRICE SIXPENCE, AND Sold by all Booksellers and Newsvenders in the Kingdom

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PRICE ONE PENNY.

UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.

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VOL. VI.

THE INDIAN SNAKE-CHARMERS.

THE INDIAN SNAKE-CHARMERS. THE jugglers of India have been long celebrated for their extraordinary dexterity, and, by the natives generally, they are supposed to have intercourse with demons. These vagrants are frequently applied to as the bravoes of Spain and Italy formerly were, to get rid of obnoxious persons, whom they contrive to despatch by poison, when well paid for the service, and pretend that their influence with some malignant spirit has produced a signal retribution upon the enemy of their employer, who they boldly assert was no longer fit to live.

The various tribes of vagrants who live by different mountebank arts, though universally despised, are universally dreaded. They are outcasts; and yet the awe which they inspire, gives them a sort of confidence, and obtains for them, under certain circumstances, a forced respect, which renders their social condition far less deplorable than that of the Pariah tribes generally. The most common class among the jugglers, and by far the most harmless, is that of the snake-catchers, who infest the villages and fairs, exhibiting their snakes, and accompanying their movements with a music, if it may be so called, from which all melody is banished, and the most frightful confusion of sounds produced, that jars upon musical nerves worse than the old-fashioned wedding accompaniments of marrow-bones and cleavers in this country, upon the ears of a young bride. They carry their serpents in round wicker baskets with flat bottoms, in which the creatures lie coiled up in a state of lethargy, until roused by the harsh tones of their keepers' flutes. It is astonishing to see how they are affected by the tones of those rude instruments, for no sooner do their charmers begin to blow, than the snakes raise their heads, gradually erect themselves, waving their necks to and fro, as if in a state of ecstasy.

The hooded-snake is always the most prominent, one of which is represented in the print, with the hood spread close by the hand of the man who is holding a pitcher. The rock-snake, held by the person in the opposite corner of the picture is innoxious, but the bite of a hooded-snake is generally fatal; nevertheless, the charmers do not extract the poisonous fangs as is commonly supposed, but exhibit these reptiles with all their powers of mischief unimpaired, and it is the perfect knowledge of their habits that secures them from the danger of being bitten*. The rock-snake is usually from twelve to sixteen feet long, of a sluggish nature, and suffers itself to be handled without making any effort to escape. The man who shows it, ties it round his neck like a lady's boa, and coils it into all sorts of fantastic figures, the creature remaining all the while perfectly passive.

This class of jugglers perform numberless tricks with these reptiles, taking even such as are venomous in their hands, and putting them against their cheeks with perfect impunity. They always pretend that the fangs are extracted, in order to prevent alarm in those before whom they exhibit them. The general opinion concerning these pretenders, is that they possess the power of charming all venomous snakes, and of commanding their perfect obedience. The medium of communication they profess to be the musical instrument, the sound of which appears to infuse into the dumb captives new life and energy. "The same art," says the Abbé Dubois, "seems to have been laid claim to in other ancient nations; witness the allegory of the prophet, where he compares the obstinacy of a hardened

• For a further explanation of this subject, see Saturday Maga

zine, Vol. VI., p. 143.

sinner to a serpent that shuts its ear against the voice of the charmer." The allegory to which this writer refers, is contained in the fourth and fifth verses of the fifty-eighth psalm: " their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, which will not hearken to the voice of the charmers, charming never so wisely."

Whenever a poisonous snake is known to be in the vicinity of a dwelling-house, the snake-charmer is sent for to remove it, and he always undertakes to get rid of the obnoxious intruder for a trifling gratuity, but generally receives the money without abating the nuisance which he is employed to remedy; for it commonly happens that as soon as he approaches the hole where the reptile has taken shelter, it crawls further in. When this is the case the man has his remedy; he resorts to imposture, and thus terminates the business to his employer's entire satisfaction, as well as his own. His mode of proceeding is as follows. He takes one of his tame snakes, which he carries concealed about his person, and having made every one retire from the spot where he is to commence his charm, secretly places the tame snake in the hole, and instantly begins to blow upon the favourite pipe, which the creature no sooner hears than it creeps out, when the impostor seizes it by the neck, receives his stipulated reward, and bears off in triumph the supposed offender. If on the following day, the snake remaining in the hole should happen to show itself, the same farce is repeated, and the man receives his second fee, accompanied by the earnest thanks of the donor.

These jugglers frequently contrive to impose upon the superstitious Hindoos, by persuading them that their houses are infested with snakes. In order to make this appear, they place one or two of their tame ones in some of the crevices of the building. They then enter the house with all the assumed wisdom of the ancient Sages, begin to pipe such music as would scare any other creature but a snake into the deepest recesses of its retreat, and when the reptile appears, they snatch it up, put it immediately into its wicker prison, and thus the enchantment ends. These pretended enchanters will sometimes go into every house in a village, and practise the same deceits, and where imposition is so easy, and impunity so certain, it is no wonder that there are such a number of cheating vagabonds and quacks of all kinds in every part of India. It must be confessed, however, that among the jugglers are frequently to be found persons who perform feats of manual dexterity scarcely credible. They possess an elasticity of body, and a flexibility of limb, far exceeding any thing ever witnessed in colder latitudes. I may mention one or two of their cunning juggles, and then a feat of physical activity which I have witnessed more than once. These people come to your house in broad day-light, and perform their tricks upon the ground before your door; they have no cunningly-planned tables to disguise their art, but only a few implements of their profession contained in a small basket. Being almost entirely naked, they have not those resources common to all conjurors in other countries.

One of their favourite tricks is to take the seed of a mango, which they put into a small pot of earth, about the size of ́an ordinary flower-pot. In a short time the earth is seen to heave, and, after a few seconds, the head of a plant peeps forth. To the astonishment of the beholder it gradually rises, the buds swell, the leaves unfold, the blossom expands, and presented to you, and always turns out to be a the fruit forms, grows, and ripens, when it is plucked

very excellent mango. The impression on the mind of the beholder is so vivid, and the whole effect so overpowering, that he really fancies he sees the various operations of the growth as I have described. The deception is so perfect, that the reality of the thing never for a moment loses its hold upon the imagination, although the palpable fact of the mango-tree being as large as an English oak, whereas the counterfeit does not rise much higher than a currantbush, sufficiently attests the delusion; it is, nevertheless, altogether, a most remarkable deception. The beholder, however, I should say, is never allowed to approach near to the juggler while this operation is going on.

Another very common trick, but less extraordinary, is to cover the ground before your door, to the extent of several feet, with growing flowers. The principal enchanter spreads upon the earth a large coarse cloth, about the size of a sheet, over which he mutters his potent spell; he then suddenly raises it, and the whole space underneath is overspread with flowers, "of all hues and fragrance" peculiar to that fruitful climate. He again spreads the sheet, and raising it after a few moments, there is no longer a flower to be seen.

Upon one occasion, after I had seen this done, a tall stout bamboo, forty feet long, was fixed upright in the ground, sufficiently firm to bear the weight of a heavy man. About five feet from the top there was a transverse pole fastened to the upright bamboo with strong cords, the whole forming a lofty cross. When all was ready, a short active Hindoo, somewhat beyond the middle age, with compact limbs and rigid muscularity of frame, approached the cross, grasped the shaft, and using his hands and feet with equal dexterity, climbed to the cross-bar with the ease and agility of a cat. Placing himself on his back on one of the projecting ends of the transverse pole, he folded his arms, and lay so still that every muscle of his body appeared in a state of complete repose. In a moment he sprang upon his feet without any apparent preparation or perceptible movement of his limbs; he then threw himself horizontally upon the point of the upright bamboo, and spun round with a velocity quite distressing to behold; one while turning on his back, and another on his stomach, changing his position with a quickness and precision that baffles description. He now placed his head upon the extremity of the pole, shook his feet in the air, and raised his arms with the most distressing animation. Whilst he was thus occupied, eight brass balls were severally thrown to him, which he caught and danced into the air one after the other, throwing them in various directions above and round him, when, on a sudden, he sprang upon his feet, standing upright upon a diameter of not more than two inches and a half, and caught every ball, without allowing one to fall to the ground. He next performed the most extraordinary feats upon the cross-pole, having nothing but his arms balance him, throwing a twelve-pound cannon-ball over his head, catching it below his right shoulder, and by the mere muscular force repelling it back again as if it had been ejected from the hand. After suspending himself by the chin, by the toes, and heels, he dropped from the transverse beam to the ground, a height of full thirty feet, and received our benefactions with a graceful salaam.

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One cannot help lamenting, in seeing the singular talents exhibited by the jugglers in India, that they should be invariably such depraved persons; but this is one of the grievous results of those divisions into caste, which is the cause of all the social distractions so notoriously existing among the Hindoo population. J. H. C.

THE ADMIRABLE CRICHTON. PRODIGIES of learning, as they are called, have generally failed to leave behind them satisfactory proofs of their amazing talent. This is instanced in the case of the distinguished person whose portrait is annexed. So regularly has his fame been handed down from age to age, that, even now, when we wish to express the idea of an universal genius, we style the character " An admirable Crichton," and the force of compliment can no further go. But there are very few really authentic documents to illustrate his history, the principal details of which have generally been drawn from the romantic memoir of his life, written by Sir Thomas Urquhart: and if we were allowed to judge of Crichton's mental powers, by the few specimens of his pen which are left to us, we should hesitate to confirm the report of former ages concerning his merits. The times, however, and with them the public tastes, are changed.

During the period in which Crichton flourished, the scholars of Europe were divided into two great classes, the followers of Plato, and those of Aristotle, who puzzled themselves and others amidst the mazes of philosophy; not that Divine philosophy" of which the poet sung:

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As musical as is Apollo's lute,

And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets,
Where no crude surfeit reigns:

but the harsh and crabbed philosophy of the school. men; a thorough acquaintance with the writings of such authors as Thomas Aquinas, and Duns Scotus*, was the test of scholarship in those darker days of European literature. There are other reasons for such a genius as Crichton having been the idol of his own time. His qualities were personally attractive and engaging. Possessed of a handsome countenance and noble figure; though a mere youth, an excellent disputer; a graceful rider, fencer, actor, and musician, it is no wonder that he carried off the palm from his equals in age, and at his early death, (a circumstance highly favourable to youthful fame,) left a title of honour, which, for its comprehensive character, stands without a rival in the annals of biography.

JAMES CRICHTON was born at Eliock castle, in a little island on the lake of Cluny, in Perthshire, in 1560. His father, a person of good family, was Lord Advocate of Scotland; and his uncle was bishop of Dunkeld, having succeeded in that see the famous Gavin Douglas, the translator of Virgil, of whom Sir Walter Scott says:

More proud that in a barb'rous age
He gave rude Scotland Virgil's page,
Than that beneath his sway he held
The bishopric of rich Dunkeld.

The mother of our hero was a Stuart, descended from Robert Duke of Albany, the uncle of Jamnes the First; so that if there was presumption, there was also truth in Crichton's boast, that he was sprung from Scottish kings. When very young he studied hard at the university of St. Andrew's; his masters being Rutherford, whose name is more known through his pupil, than any other source; and Buchanan, one of the most profound men of that or any other age. Crichton was scarcely more than twelve, when he took his degree as Bachelor of Arts; and at fourteen, he became Master of Arts, with distinguished praise. These early honours, however, did not spoil him for future exertions; they rather quickened his zeal, and we soon find him perfecting himself in the various branches of abstruse learning, and gaining the knowledge of eleven different languages. The custom then was, as indeed it *See Saturday Magazine, Vol. I. p. 97.

185-2

is now, to send young men of fortune or promise abroad, that together with a general enlargement of the mind, they might attain useful information for the service of their country and friends, on their return. Endowed by Providence with choice talents, which he had hitherto neither squandered nor abused, the clever and handsome Crichton made his way to Paris, renowned at that period both for learning and gaiety: and very soon, according to the prevailing fashion, he had challenges placarded about in various parts of the city, inviting all such as were well versed in any science, to dispute with him in the college of Navarre, either in prose or verse, on an

[MAY 23,

great feat, to the Louvre, where, before the court, and a number of ladies, he carried away the ring at tilting, fifteen times successively.

Having continued to astonish the French for two years, he travelled to Rome, the focus of all that was entertaining and new in literature, and there lost no time in dispersing about the city copies of the following challenge, the original being in Italian :-" I, James Crichton, a Scot, will answer extempore to all questions, on any subject, which may be proposed;*" and his admirers declare, that, although assailed by envy and malice, he acquitted himself before the Pope and Cardinals in a way which fully answered to his bold pretensions. In Venice, where he soon afterwards arrived, he became acquainted with the learned printer, Aldus Manutius, and (through his kind partiality,) with the other leading scholars in that city, who, desirous of having a public display of their young friend's talents, induced him, in the year 1580, to appear before the Doge and Senate. To see and hear him was to be delighted and amazed; and the unanimous vote of thanks from these high personages was followed by universal popularity, visiters crowding from all quarters into Venice with the hope of catching a glimpse, and hearing the voice of this favourite of nature. He, however, could not remain long at Venice, owing to ill-health, but went to the University at Padua. That city rejoiced at the opportunity of witnessing a spirited disputation, which he maintained against the professors for six hours without resting, and in which he pointed out the errors of Aristotle, making the matters on which he spoke plain to all, and ending with a most witty extempore oration in praise of ignorance! Jealous of the applause with which he had been every where greeted, some carping critics ventured to question the solidity of his attainments; he, therefore, engaged in an active controversy of six days, the issue of which decided every point in his favour, to the confusion of his adversaries.

Crichton now entered lists of a different kind, and leaving oratory for a time, handled with equal grace and effect another weapon, more eloquent than words." There was then in Italy a savage and determined duellist, who knew his own skill, and in the barbarous spirit of the age, had received from the Duke of Mantua a protection, or license, for following his dreadful trade, Crichton, being informed of the Duke's regret on this occasion, and of the murder of three persons in cold blood by the practised fencer, at once offered to fight him for a large sum; a proposal reluctantly acceded to by the Duke, who valued Crichton highly, and dreaded the encounter. But the day came; and, in the sight of an assembled multitude, the elegant and skilful youth showed perfection in his art,-content with guarding and defending; until his enraged antagonist, tired with repeated and ineffective thrusts, began to give him an advantage, which Crichton secured by despatching him with three rapid wounds through his body. To crown the glory of the day, he divided the prize of victory between the widows of those whom the man of blood had slaughtered.

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appointed day. But what provokea the envy and anger of the students in general, was that this young candidate for honour, instead of giving himself up to study in the mean time, or training for his literary combat, did nothing but amuse himself. He tilted, hawked and hunted, rode, played tennis and cards, and performed vocal and instrumental music. Yet when his trial of skill came on, which lasted for nine hours, he met with such complete success against all opponents, that the president of the ful history," by recording the circumstances of our We now approach the end of this "strange eventcollege, with four professors, rising, and acknow-young hero's death. Struck with his various abililedging the wonderful extent of his powers, presented him with a diamond ring and a purse of gold, the spectators joining in loud applause, and styling the young and splendid wrangler, "the admirable Crichton.' After gathering these laurels, instead of yielding to languor, the natural result of great excitement and toil, he went on the day following his

ties, the Duke fixed upon him as tutor to his son, a wild and worthless young man, the charge of whom, however, was so flattering to Crichton, that, to please the court, he immediately wrote a most amusing

sale of Mr. Heber's books, and is now, we believe, in the possession An original copy of the challenge was lately purchased at the of a clergyman at Shrewsbury.

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