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 were due to a relatively large number of unfavourable seasons, coupled with the obstructions to trade which were created by the war; while the lower range of prices in the subsequent years was attributable to a series of more prolific seasons, the removal of the adverse influences arising out of a state of war, and the consequent improvement in the processes of manufacture and industry.

The ‘History of Prices’ was completed in six volumes; the third, dealing with the years 1838–9, was published in 1840, the fourth in 1848, and the fifth and sixth, in the compilation of which he was assisted by [q. v.], in 1857, the year before Tooke's death.

The whole work is an admirable analysis of the financial and commercial history of the period which it covers; and the subject was one with which Tooke was peculiarly well fitted to deal, possessing as he did the rather rare combination of a wide practical knowledge of mercantile affairs with considerable powers of reflection and reasoning. Whatever may be thought of his conclusions, the value of his methods of investigation is beyond dispute.

The chief interest of the later volumes lies in their record of the steps by which he gradually severed himself from the supporters of the ‘currency theory,’ who may be regarded as the direct heirs of the bullionists of 1810 and 1819.

The act passed in the latter year was a practical recognition of the evils inseparable from an inconvertible paper currency. But it did not take long to convince the wiser heads in the commercial world that the measure was incomplete. The experience of the great crisis of 1825, followed by those of 1836–9, showed that it was not enough to impose on the Bank of England the liability of payment in gold unless there was also security that the bank had the means of discharging the liability. Both in 1825 and in 1839 the danger of another suspension of cash payments was imminent. But while all were agreed that the management of the currency, so far as it rested with the bank, was unsatisfactory, there was great difference of opinion as to the remedy which should be applied.

Out of the controversy emerged the act of 1844, the main object of which was to prevent the over-issue of notes, and so to regulate their quantity that the volume of the currency should at all times conform in amount to what it would have been under a purely metallic system.

Tooke was resolutely opposed to the provisions of the act, holding them to be either superfluous or mischievous. He did not dispute that the affairs of the bank had been gravely mismanaged; but he attributed this less to the system than to want of prudence in administering it. He thought that by some changes in the management of the bank, coupled with the compulsory maintenance of a much larger reserve of bullion, more satisfactory results would be achieved than under the inelastic system prescribed by the act.

The supporters of the ‘currency theory,’ whose principles were adopted by Peel and embodied in the act, were represented by, baron Overstone [q. v.], [q. v.], and [q. v.] They contended that banks of issue, by the arbitrary extension of their circulation, could produce a direct effect upon prices, and thus stimulate speculation, with the consequent fluctuations and revulsions of credit; that the mere enactment of convertibility on demand was not a sufficient safeguard against these evils; and that the only adequate remedy was to separate the business of issue from that of banking in such a way that the former should regulate itself automatically, and that the discretion of the directors should be confined to the latter alone.

Tooke, on the other hand, reinforced later on by Fullerton and (1805–1860) [q. v.], maintained that a paper currency which was readily convertible on demand must necessarily conform, so far as its permanent value was concerned, to the value of a purely metallic currency; that for this purpose no other regulation was required beyond ready and immediate convertibility; that under these conditions banks had no power of arbitrarily increasing their issues; and that the level of prices was not directly affected by such issues. Before the committee of 1832 Tooke went so far as to state that, according to his experience, a rise or fall of prices had invariably preceded, and could not therefore be caused by, an enlargement or contraction of the circulation.

This brief summary of Tooke's views represents his matured opinions as they took shape between 1840 and 1844, and were defined in his ‘Enquiry into the Currency Principle’ (1844), and as they remained to the end of his life. But in his earlier writings there are many passages inconsistent with his later opinions; and the process of development was very gradual (see, Regulation of Currencies, 2nd edit. p. 18). Overstone also observed before the committee of 1857 that ‘Mr. Tooke is upon


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Author:Charles Malcolm Kennedy

As editor

 * Essays Ethnological and Linguistic (1861)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Author:Charles Malcolm Kennedy


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Rh words sufficiently strong in which to eulogise the zeal and patience displayed by the Pope on this occasion. Paul, however, never lost sight of the advantage of his family. At the time of the Conference he succeeded in getting Novara from the Emperor, for his illegitimate son, Pier Luigi, for whom he had already alienated Parma, and raised it into a Duchy, at the expense of the States of the Church. The implacable jealousy entertained against one another by the two monarchs led to the war breaking out again; Francis I. entered into alliance with the Turks under Barbarossa, and a combined army laid siege to Nice in August, 1543. The Turkish cannons completely destroyed the Convent of Ste. Croix, in which Pope Paul had lodged in 1538, and broke down large portions of the city ramparts. It was then that occurred an incident that has never been forgotten in Nice. Catherine Ségurane, commonly called Malfacia (the misshapen), a washerwoman, was carrying provisions on the wall to some of the defenders, when she saw that the Turks had put up a scaling ladder, and that a captain was leading the party, and had reached the parapet. She rushed at him, beat him on the head with her washing-bat, and thrust down the ladder, which fell with all those on it. Then, hastening to the nearest group of Niçois soldiery, she told them what she had done, and they, electrified by her example, threw open a postern, made a sortie, and drove the Turks back to the shore. According to one version of the story, Catherine gripped the standard in the hand of the Turk, wrenched it from him, and with the butt end thrust him back.

The story first appears in a "Discours sur l'ancien monastère des religieuses de Nice," 1608. Honoré

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212 Pastorelli, the author, merely says that a standard of the Turks was taken from the ensign by a citizeness named Donna Maufaccia, who fought at the Tour des Caïres, where were the Turkish batteries. A second authority, in 1654, Antonio Fighier, says that the event took place on the Feast of Our Lady in August; that the woman seized the staff of the standard and flung it into the moat. Some weeks later the Turks penetrated into the town and carried off 2,500 prisoners to their galleys; but these were retaken by the Sicilian fleet. The war between Charles V. and Francis I. was terminated by the Treaty of Crépy in 1544. By it the House of Savoy recovered all the places in the Duchy taken by the French. Duke Charles III. ordered the complete restoration and remodelling of the defences of the town and castle. In the wars of Louis XIV., Nice was attacked again and again, and in 1706 was taken by the Duke of Berwick. By order of Louis, the castle was then completely destroyed by gunpowder. Thus disappeared this noble fortress after twenty centuries of existence; and now of it almost nothing remains. By the peace of Utrecht in 1713, Nice was restored to Savoy. In 1748 Charles Emanuel of Savoy had the port of Lympia cleared out and made serviceable. It had been choked up for some centuries. It was not till 1860 that the county of Nice was definitely annexed to France. Hitherto the Var had been the boundary between Italy and France, now the delimitation is the Torrent of S. Louis. The natural demarcation is unquestionably the col of La Turbie and the Tête du Chien, and Monaco, about which more presently. I have given but a meagre sketch of the history of

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 this subject of science very like our great artist Mr. Turner upon the subject of art: he has his later manner as well as his middle manner.'

Tooke was one of the earliest supporters of the free-trade movement, which first assumed a definite form in the petition of the merchants of the city of London presented to the House of Commons by (afterwards Baron Ashburton) [q. v.] on 8 May 1820. This document, which contains an admirable statement of the principles of free trade, was drawn up by Tooke; and the circumstances which led to its preparation are described in the sixth volume of the 'History of Prices.' The substantial advances in the direction of free trade made by Lord Liverpool's government, especially after the accession of [q. v.] in 1828, were no doubt largely due to the effect produced by the petition; and it may fairly be claimed for it that it gave the first impulse towards that revision of our commercial policy which was the work of the next half-century.

It was to support the principles of the merchants' petition that Tooke, with Ricardo, Malthus, James Mill, and others, founded the Political Economy Club in April 1821. From the beginning he took a prominent part in its discussions, and continued to attend its meetings till within a few weeks of his death, his last recorded attendance being on 3 Dec. 1857.

Besides giving evidence on economic questions before several parliamentary committees, such as those of 1821 on agricultural depression and on foreign trade, of 1832, 1840, and 1848 on the Bank Acts, Tooke was a prominent member of the factories inquiry commission of 1833. He retired from active business on his own account in 1836, but was governor of the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation from 1840 to 1852, and was also chairman of the St. Katharine's Dock Company.

He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in March 1821, and correspondant de l'Institut de France (Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques) in February 1853. He resided in London at 12 Russell Square, afterwards in Richmond Terrace, and at 31 Spring Gardens, where he died on 26 Feb. 1858. He married, in 1802, Priscilla Combe, by whom he had three sons.

In the year after Tooke's death the Tooke professorship of economic science and statistics at King's College, London, was founded in his memory, the endowment being raised by public subscription. There is a watercolour sketch of Tooke in the office of the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation, and a portrait by Sir Martin Archer Shee is in the possession of his granddaughter, Mrs. Padwick, of the Manor House, Horsham.

 TOOKE, WILLIAM (1744–1820), historian of Russia, born on 29 or 30 Jan. 1744 (old style 18 Jan. 1743), was the second son of Thomas Tooke (1705–1773) of St. John's, Clerkenwell, by his wife Hannah, only daughter of Thomas Mann of St. James's, Clerkenwell, whom he married in 1738. The family claimed connection with Sir [q. v.] and [q. v.] (, Lit. Anecdotes, ix. 164 et seq.).

William was educated at an academy at Islington kept by one John Shield. He soon turned his attention to literature, and in 1767 published an edition of Weever's 'Funeral Monuments' [see ]. In 1769 he issued in two volumes 'The Loves of Othniel and Achsah, translated from the Chaldee.' The 'translation' was merely a blind, and Tooke's object appears to have been to give an account of Chaldee philosophy and religion; he evinces an acquaintance with Hebrew. This was followed in 1772 by an edition of 'Mary Magdalen's Funeral Tears' by [q. v.] In 1771 Tooke obtained letters of ordination both as deacon and priest from Bishop Terrick of London, and received from [q. v.] the offer of the living of West Thurrock, Essex, in the same year. This he declined on being appointed chaplain to the English church at Cronstadt. Three years later, on the resignation of Dr. [q. v.], Tooke was invited by the English merchants at St. Petersburg to succeed him as chaplain there. In this position he made the acquaintance of many members of the Russian nobility and episcopate, and also of the numerous men of letters and scientists of all nationalities whom Catherine II summoned to her court (cf., Autour d'un Trône: Catherine II, 1894, pp. 235 et seq.) He was a regular attendant at the annual diner de tolérance which the empress gave to the clergy of all denominations, and at which Gabriel, the metropolitan of Russia, used to preside (, Life of Catharine II, iii. 119). Among those whose acquaintance Tooke made was the French sculptor Falconet, then engaged on the statue of Peter the Great, and in 1777 he published 'Pieces written by Mons. Falconet and Mons. Diderot on Sculpture … translated from the


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 French by William Tooke, with several additions,' London, 4to. On 5 June 1783 he was elected F.R.S. (, Hist. Royal Society, App. p. lix), and on 14 May 1784 was admitted sizar of Jesus College, Cambridge, but neither resided nor graduated (note from Mr. E. Abbott of Jesus College). Shortly afterwards he became member of the imperial academy of sciences at St. Petersburg and of the free economical society of St. Petersburg. While chaplain at St. Petersburg Tooke made frequent visits to Poland and Germany, some details of which are printed from his letters in Nichols's 'Literary Anecdotes' (ix. 168 et seq.). At Königsberg he made the acquaintance of Kant, the author of the 'Critique of Pure Reason.'

In 1792 Tooke was left a fortune by a maternal uncle, and returned to England to enjoy it and devote himself to literary production. His long residence at St. Petersburg, freedom of access to the imperial library there, and intimacy with Russian men of letters had given him exceptional facilities for the study of Russian history, and he now set to work to publish the results of his researches. He had already translated from the German 'Russia, or a compleat Historical Account of all the Nations which compose that Empire,' London, 4 vols. 1780–1783, 8vo. In 1798 appeared 'The Life of Catharine II, Empress of Russia; an enlarged translation from the French,' 3 vols. 8vo. More than half the work consisted of Tooke's additions. It was followed in 1799 by 'A View of the Russian Empire during the Reign of Catharine II and to the close of the present Century,' 3 vols. 8vo; a second edition appeared in 1800, and was translated into French in six volumes (Paris, 1801). In 1800 Tooke published a 'History of Russia from the Foundation of the Monarchy by Rurik to the Accession of Catharine the Second,' London, 2 vols. 8vo.

These works did not exhaust Tooke's literary activity. In 1795 he produced two volumes of 'Varieties of Literature,' and, encouraged by their success, followed it up in 1798 by a similar venture, 'Selections from Foreign Literary Journals.' He was principal editor, assisted by William Beloe [q. v.] and Robert Nares [q. v.], of the 'New and General Biographical Dictionary,' published in fifteen volumes in 1798; and in the same year he wrote 'Observations on the Expedition of General Bonaparte to the East,' 8vo. A few years later he began a translation in ten volumes of the sermons of the Swiss divine, George Joachim Zollikofer. The first two appeared in 1804 (2nd edit. 1807), two in 1806, two in 1807, and two in 1812; they were followed in 1815 by a translation of the same divine's 'Devotional Exercises and Prayers.' In 1814 Tooke served as chaplain to the lord mayor of London, Sir William Domville, and preached in that capacity several sermons, which were published separately (see Brit. Mus. Cat.) He contributed largely to the 'Monthly Review' and the 'Gentleman's Magazine,' and is credited with the authorship of the memoir of Sir Hans Sloane, written in French, and extant in Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 30066 (Cat. Addit. MSS. 1882, p. 30). His last work was 'Lucian of Samosata, from the Greek, with the Comments and Illustrations of Wieland and others,' London, 1820, 2 vols. 4to.

Tooke resided during his latter years in Great Ormond Street, Bloomsbury, but removed to Guilford Street just before his death, which took place on 17 Nov. 1820. He was buried on the 23rd in St. Pancras new burial-ground. An engraving by J. Collyer, after a portrait by (Sir) Martin Archer Shee, is prefixed to the 'Lucian.' Tooke married, in 1771, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Eyton of Llanganhafal, Denbighshire, by whom he had issue two sons, Thomas [q. v.] and William [q. v.], and a daughter Elizabeth.

[An elaborate account of Tooke is given by his friend, John Nichols [q. v.], in his Literary Anecdotes, ix. 160–80. See also Tooke's Works in the British Museum Library; Gent. Mag. 1814 i. 257, 363, ii. 47, 563, 564, 1816 i. 433, 1820 ii. 466–8, 1839 ii. 605; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1894, ii. 2020.]  TOOKE, WILLIAM (1777–1863), president of the Society of Arts, was the younger son of William Tooke (1744–1820) [q. v.], chaplain to the factory of the Russia Company at St. Petersburg. Thomas Tooke [q. v.] was his elder brother. Born at St. Petersburg on 22 Nov. 1777, William came to England in 1792, and was articled to William Devon, solicitor, in Gray's Inn, with whom he entered into partnership in 1798. Subsequently he was for many years at 39 Bedford Row, in partnership with Charles Parker, and latterly in the firm of Tooke, Son, & Hallowes. In 1825 he took a prominent part in the formation of the St. Katharine's Docks, and was the London agent of George Barker [q. v.], the solicitor of the London and Birmingham railway. He shared in the foundation of the London University (afterwards called University College) in Gower Street, was one of the first council (19 Dec. 1823), and continued his services as treasurer until March 1841. In procuring the charter for the Royal Society of Literature he showed his liberality by refusing any remuneration for


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Fredericksburg, Virginia 1608-1908/5

The Lease of the Market-House Lots — The First Serious Fire — Fredericksburg an Important Center — An Act

Concerning Elections — Half of the Town Destroyed by Fire — Fredericksburg an Important Postal Point — How the Mails were Carried — A

Congressional Investigation — Amendatory Act of 1821 — The Great Fire of 1822 — The Trade of the Town — Contagious Diseases — The

Town in 1841 — Acts of Extension, 1851, 1852, 1858, 1861, &c.

In the year 1789 an enactment was passed by the Legislature empowering the Mayor and Commonalty of the town of Fredericksburg to lease for three lives, or twenty-one years, such unimproved parts of the market-house lots as to them shall seem most proper, and apply the rents arising therefrom for the benefit of the corporation. In the same year an act was passed authorizing the Trustees of the Fredericksburg Academy to raise, by way of lottery, the sum of four thousand pounds to defray the expenses of erecting a building on the academy lands for the purpose of accommodating the professors and the rapidly increasing number of students. We could not learn the result of this latter scheme.

THE FIRST SERIOUS FIRE.

In 1799 the first serious fire the town ever had occurred. It took place in the night time and quite a number of houses were destroyed. By many persons it was supposed to have been the work of an incendiary, but others believed that it was caused by a "wooden chimney or a stove pipe, run through a window or through the side of a wooden house, without being properly protected." The Council decided to meet both views, and offered five hundred dollars for the arrest and conviction of the incendiary, and issued an emphatic condemnation against wooden chimneys and stove pipes projecting through windows or the sides of houses without having them "fire proof." This nuisance was thereby abated.

FREDERICKSBURG AN IMPORTANT CENTER.

As early as 1796 Fredericksburg was an important commercial center, and manufactories of various kinds were in operation. Iron works and mills and other industries were successfully prosecuted, and the trade of the town, in the general merchandise department, was in the hands of public-spirited, energetic merchants; and it would no doubt surprise the merchants of the present day to read the advertisements and note the extent and variety of stocks of goods kept here at that period. The growth and development of the trade was gradual and decided in all departments, the leading article being tobacco, which up to and during the War of 1812 and 1814, was increased heavily and necessitated the employment of vessels of great tonnage to carry it. And, though strange as it may appear to our present population, in those days of prosperity in manufactories, farms and workshops, and when nearly all merchandise and supplies reached our town in said vessels, large three-masted ships were moored at our wharves; and, until large cities sprang up along the coast, that diverted trade by reason of railroad transportation, our leading merchants carried on a direct trade with the West India Islands, as well as with many of the European countries. Our wharves then were a scene of busy activity and the river was crowded with vessels from all quarters of the country.

AN ACT CONCERNING ELECTIONS.

In 1806 an act of the Legislature was passed providing that on the next annual election day for members of the "Common Hall of the Town," which term was used to denote the Common Council, a Mayor and Recorder and eight persons should be elected by ballot to act as Justices of the Peace for the town, who should "continue in office during good behavior." Three of these justices were empowered to hold a hustings court, except in cases of the examination or trial of free persons or slaves charged with felonies, in which case five of the eight justices were necessary to constitute the court. This court had the same power and jurisdiction that the hustings court had under the act of 1781, but the members were ineligible for the Common Council and they had no power to lay a tax for the support of a night watch. At this election the voters were also to elect by ballot twelve persons as members of the Common Council of the town, who were to continue in office for one year and until their successors should be elected and qualified. The powers of the Common Council should be the same as had been previously conferred upon the Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen and Common Council of the town "in Common Hall assembled." The Common Council, at their first meeting, were to elect one of their number to the office of Mayor and another to the office of Recorder. It was the duty of the Mayor to preside over the deliberations of the body, and, in his absence, the Recorder was to discharge that duty. The Mayor, or in his absence, the Recorder, or any two members of the Council, could call a meeting of the body, but it required seven members present to constitute a quorum. After the Council assembled in the first meeting after the election of the members, and elected the proper officers, the body then consisting of the Mayor, Recorder and the other ten members elected as common councilmen, constituted the "Common Hall" of the town, and all ordinances were adopted by that body.

HALF OF THE TOWN DESTROYED BY FIRE.

In the year 1807 Fredericksburg was visited by a terrible conflagration which destroyed nearly one-half of the town. It was in October of that year, when the town was almost depopulated, the citizens, old and young, having left their homes to attend and witness the horse racing just below town, on "Willis's Field" farm. The fire broke out in the dwelling house of Mr. Stannard, which was located on the lot where the residence of Mr. George W. Shepherd now stands, on the north corner of Princess Ann and Lewis streets. A high wind prevailed at the time, the house was inflammable, the weather very dry, and in a short time the fire swept down Main street, the flames leaping from house to house to Henderson's store, on the south corner of Main and Amelia streets; thence down both sides of Main to George street, destroying every building in its track except Henderson's corner, which alone escaped destruction. The Bank of Virginia, which stood on the spot where Shiloh Baptist church (old site) now stands, on Water street, although more than a quarter of a mile from where the fire originated, was the second house to take fire and was entirely consumed. Mr. Stannard, at whose residence the fire started, was lying a corpse in the house at the time of the fire, and his remains were rescued from the flames with great difficulty. Preparations to rebuild the burnt district were at once commenced, and buildings of a more substantial character took the places of those destroyed and prosperity again smiled, upon the town. Yet strange to say the square on the west side of Main street, from Lewis to Amelia, then in the business part of the town, and now in the residential part, although before the fire was lined with buildings, was without a building until some five years ago. A tool chest, saved from destruction in this fire, by the debris of the building falling upon it and covering it up, and which escaped the destruction wrought in town by the Federal soldiers in December, 1862, is now in the possession of Police Officer Charles A. Gore. It was the property of his grandfather, Jacob Gore, who had been working at Mr. Stannard's a few days before the fire occurred and left it there temporarily.

FREDERICKSBURG AN IMPORTANT POSTAL POINT.

Fredericksburg, as early as 1820, was a very important point for mail distribution, and the mail matter of not less than five States was assorted here and sent on to its destination. About the breaking out of the War of 1812 mail matter to Fredericksburg rapidly increased, and continued to increase, for several years, which necessitated a change in the method of transporting the mails from Washington, an increase of pay, and finally scandalous reports were put in circulation which resulted in a congressional investigation. A paper on this investigation, prepared by Henry Castle, Esq., Auditor, from the records in the Post office department, and kindly furnished us, will prove interesting. "The year 1820 had arrived; James Monroe was President and Return J. Meiggs, Jr., of Ohio, was Postmaster General. There were then over three thousand post offices, and the revenues had increased to $1,000,000 per annum, a sum considerable in excess of the expenditures, a feature which seldom characterized the service after that date. It appears from the records that vague rumors of certain irregularities had been afloat throughout the country and in the 'public prints' for some time, and that they finally assumed such a tangible shape that a resolution was introduced into the United States Congress providing for an investigation of the charges. "A committee of the House of Representatives, of which Hon. Elisha Phelps was chairman, proceeded in accordance with instructions of the House, in due form and great deliberation, to investigate the general conduct of the office under Postmaster General Meiggs, and especially the features which had been subjected to more immediate criticism. Mr. Meiggs's service, as Postmaster General, extended from March 17th 1814, to June 26th 1823, a period of more than nine years. The gravest of the charges made against his administration were substantially as follows:-- "First. That he had introduced an irregular financial system which had led to serious losses of the public funds. "Second. That he had illegally and improperly increased the compensation of certain contractors for carrying the mail. "With slow formality and tedious reiteration of assurances of distinguished consideration, the solemn committee of the Honorable House of Representatives, and the Honorable Postmaster General, finally reached a point where questions were asked and answered and a tolerably clear understanding of what had really occurred may be gained. The statement of the Postmaster General, divested of all its superfluities and reduced to its simplest form, showed no dereliction in either case, but read at this late day gives an almost ludicrous insight into the diminutive transactions which then sufficed for this great, free and intelligent Republic. "Postmaster General Meiggs's answer to the second charge was perhaps even more interestingly significant as a revelation of the day of small things. He admitted that he had increased the compensation of contractors for carrying the mails, but justified his action on the ground of an imperious necessity. "The case as he explained it was this: His predecessor in office had about the year 1813, let a contract to certain parties for transporting mail from the Seat of Government at Washington to Fredericksburg, Virginia, a distance of seventy miles. This great mail route, which would now be termed a trunk line, carried substantially the mail for the five States of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The contract provided that these mails should be carried by stage coach in summer and, as the roads were impassable in winter, they were to be carried on horseback. "But," says the Postmaster General, "by the increased popular interest in the war of 1812, correspondence was greatly stimulated and the circulation of the public journals was enormously increased. Consequently, it was found impracticable to transport all this heavy mail for five States, on horseback from Washington to Fredericksburg; therefore contractors were authorized to place a sulky, or curricle service thereon and the remuneration was increased accordingly. "This explanation was apparently satisfactory to the Honorable Committee as it certainly appears very reasonable on its face, and will appeal to man's inherent sense of justice, even in this exacting era. The final action of Congress is not contained in the records, "but it was no doubt exculpatory since, as shown above, Postmaster General Meiggs, continued to discharge the duties in his high office for several years thereafter."

AMENDATORY ACT OF 1821.

Under the previous acts of the Legislature, extending the limits of the town and providing for laying out streets, and the amendments thereto, it was claimed that mistakes had occurred and irregularities had resulted therefrom. In order to correct these mistakes, and provide for the better government of the town, an amendatory act was passed by the Legislature in the year 1821. In that act the Common Council was authorized and empowered to elect the Mayor from their own number or from the body of the citizens, and in case he was elected from the Council, thus creating a vacancy in that body, it was to be filled by the Council. Under this act the Mayor was eligible to reelection from year to year as long as the Council was pleased to elect him, was made custodian of the corporation seal, and was to keep an office in the town where he should transact the public business, and where the citizens could call upon him and present any grievance or complaint they might have to make. When the hustings court was not in session the Mayor was to act as a Justice of the Peace and superintend and control the police and night watch. He was to qualify in ten days after his election, and was to preside at the sittings of the hustings court; and in his absence the Recorder, upon whom all the powers and authority of the Mayor were conferred, was authorized to perform his duties. The Common Council had to regulate and fix the salary of the Mayor, which could not be increased or diminished during his term of office. The .same act extended the jurisdiction of the hustings court to high water mark on the Stafford side of the Rappahannock river, and exempted the citizens of the town from the assessment and payment of all taxes and levies to Spotsylvania county, to which they were subject under the former laws. By the provisions of the act of 1821 the Common Council was authorized to assess and levy a tax on the inhabitants of, and property within, the town for the purpose of repairing and keeping in order the streets and alleys and for other purposes and charges as to them might seem right and proper, and for the improvement, convenience and well being of the town. They were authorized to provide a night watch for the protection of the town and for the "better execution of this duty the power and authority, now exercised by field officers of the militia concerning patrols, shall hereafter be vested in and exercised by the said Mayor, Recorder and Common Council over the militia of the said town," and the militia of the town were, by the same act, exempted from patrol duty beyond the city limits. In order to correct defects in laying out streets under the former acts, by this act a Commission, consisting of John W. Green, John Mundell, George Cox, Silas Wood and David Briggs, was appointed to survey and locate the streets of the town according to existing laws and authentic ancient surveys. This Commission was to locate the streets by metes and bounds, making such alterations as its members might think expedient, with the consent of the proprietors of lots effected by such alterations, but not otherwise. It was also required to mark the boundaries of the streets by stones or otherwise, which were to be designated on the map of the town made by it. These Commissioners were to report their plan, with explanatory notes, to the Common Council, and if approved by that body it was to be taken as the authentic plan of the town. But in making this survey of the streets it was especially provided that if a house should be found, in whole or in part, in the street, it was not to be considered a nuisance or an illegal obstruction of the street, but if such building should perish, or in any manner be destroyed, it was not to be rebuilt so as to encroach upon or obstruct the street.

THE GREAT FIRE OF 1822.

After the great conflagration of 1807, a regular and decided increase in population is noted with a marked improvement in local trade. So things progressed with no unusual or startling calamities to disturb the usual serenity of a prosperous town—not bustling, but active—until the year 1822, when the quiet was disturbed by another serious conflagration. It was not as disastrous as its predecessor was, but it was of such a character as to cause great loss of property, and to retard, to a very great extent, the general prosperity of the town. This fire originated at the corner of Main and George streets, where Mr. Thomas N. Brent's dry goods store now stands, and, curious enough, just where the great fire of 1807 was checked. It was then known as Wellford's corner, because Mr. C. C. Wellford, for a great many years, kept store there. From that corner the fire made its way down Main street totally destroying every building on that side of the street from there to Hanover street, which square was then known as the "Commercial Block," because of the large trade carried on there. With the energy and enterprise so characteristic of the citizens of the town at that day, steps were at once taken to rebuild the burnt district. Soon the street was almost blocked up with building material, laborers were busily at work, clearing away the debris and preparing the foundations for the new buildings. Carpenters and brick masons were in great demand and large numbers flocked to the town from neighboring cities and villages. That part of the town was soon a busy scene and the music of the hammer, the saw and the trowel greeted the ear from early morning until late in the afternoon* And there were soon erected, with an occasional exception, the substantial block of brick buildings which now stand as monuments to the good judgment and excellent workmanship of that early day. The work of rebuilding was speedy and complete, and the character of the new buildings was an improvement upon the old ones they replaced. With the rebuilding of that portion of the town, and the resumption of business by the burnt-out merchants, came an unusual degree of prosperity, and for a long period the general peace and happiness of the people were undisturbed.

THE TRADE OF THE TOWN.

At this time the trade of the town was chiefly of a local character, except the products of the country extending even beyond the Blue Ridge mountains, as from the early years of the town, were brought to market in wagons, and it was no uncommon sight to see daily as many as fifty or sixty four and six-horse teams here at one time from that part of the country. The merchants were men of exalted character and fine business capacity, and the amount of business transacted was, considering the times and circumstances, simply enormous.

CONTAGIOUS DISEASES.

To the credit of the authorities of the town it can be truthfully said that, in all the past, they have been very watchful of and solicitous for the health of the people. At all times, upon reports, or even rumors, that contagious or infectious diseases were prevailing in contiguous communities, they were on the alert, taking every precaution to prevent their introduction here, and it may be said to their credit that such strict observance and enforcement of the laws of health, and temporary quarantines at the proper time, have prevented all kinds of epidemics in the past history of the town. Before the first of the nineteenth century, in 1790, the people of the town were very much excited about the small pox. It was raging in Philadelphia as an epidemic, and the large trade carried on between the two places, altogether by water, made it necessary that numerous vessels should bear the merchandise. In order to prevent the small pox from reaching this place a strict quarantine was established at the mouth of Hazel Run, just below town, and a hospital was located at Sligo. Dr. Brooke and Dr. Ker, two skillful physcians of the town, agreed to attend the sick at the hospital without charge, whether sailors or citizens. The wise precaution taken in establishing the quarantine prevented any case from reaching the town, to the great relief of the citizens generally. In 1792 the same disease broke out in Baltimore and a quarantine was again established at Hazel Run and a hospital at Sligo. The citizens were greatly alarmed, fearing its introduction here either by land or water. The greatest precautions were taken by the health officers, who were nobly assisted by the town authorities, and the disease was kept out as it had been two years before, not a single case having made its appearance in the place. In 1833, it is said by old citizens, a remarkable case of either fright or disease occurred in Fredericksburg, which proved fatal. In that year several parts of the United States were visited and scourged by the Asiatic cholera. The country generally was in great terror, and Fredericksburg came in for her share of excitement. In fact, she may have been more alarmed than other places which were as far removed from the seat of the scourge, because of a prediction that had previously been made, and which made its impression on many people. Rev. Lorenzo Dow, an able, but eccentric, itinerant Methodist minister, when on a visit to the town the year previous to the scourge, it was reported had predicted the appearance of cholera in Fredericksburg. Some people believed the disease would come because Mr. Dow had predicted it, and the excitement ran high, especially among those who believed the prophecy. A Mr. Shelton became dreadfully alarmed and whether from fright or from actually contracting the disease, died in the month of June and the cause of his death was pronounced sporadic or accidental cholera. His was the only case then, and to this day there has been no other, Fredericksburg having enjoyed singular and perfect immunity from epidemics of all kinds.

THE TOWN IN THE YEAR 1841.

In describing the town in 1841, an intelligent visitor says, "Fredericksburg is regularly laid out and compactly built; many of its buildings are brick. The principal public buildings are a courthouse, clerk's office, a jail, a market-house, an orphan asylum, one Episcopal, one Presbyterian, one Methodist, one Baptist and one Reform Baptist church. The town also contains two banks and one male and one female seminary of the higher class. It is supplied with water from the river* by subterraneous pipes and is governed by a Mayor and Common Council. A canal, extending from the town to Fox's mill, a point on the Rappahannock, thirty five miles above, has been commenced and partly completed. "Fredericksburg enjoys considerable trade, chiefly in grain, flour, tobacco, maize, etc., and considerable quantities of gold are exported. Its exports have been computed at over four millions of dollars annually. The falls of the Rappahannock, in the vicinity, afford good water power. There were in 1840, by the United States statistics, seventy-three stores, with a capital of $376,961; two tanneries, paints, drugs, etc., with a capital of $37,000; one grist mill, two printing offices, four semi-weekly newspapers; capital in manufactures, $141,200; five academies, with 256 students, and seven schools, with 156 scholars. The population in 1830, whites, 1,797; slaves, 1,124; free blacks, 387—total, 3,308. The population in 1840 was 3,974." But the commercial prosperity of the town even in 1840 was not equal to its advantages, but it steadily grew and prospered during the next decade. The completion of a canal, extending from the town to a point on the Rappahannock river, a distance of forty miles, railroad facilities and river navigation by sail vessels and steamboats, greatly enlarged her commercial advantages and increased her export trade, and the beginning of the year 1850 found her enjoying a degree of material prosperity, presaging a glorious commercial future. Commencing the year 1850 under circumstances so encouraging, the next decade was expected to exceed in all departments of trade the preceding one. The failure to build a railroad through the section of country from which the bulk of our trade was drawn, and the substitution therefor of a plank road, with the building of the Orange and Alexandria railroad, now the Western, and the advance of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad along the upper line of the Shenandoah Valley, greatly injured the trade of Fredericksburg by diverting from her a large amount of produce, which was formerly brought to town in wagons, and while in 1860 the population had somewhat increased, the general trade of the town was diminished.

THE CORPORATE LIMITS EXTENDED.

In the year 1851 the Legislature passed a bill extending the limits of the town, in accordance with a plan made by Commissioners appointed by the Common Council. That extension embraced the territory we now have within the corporate limits except a portion of the Water Power Company, the survey having been made by Mr. William Slaughter, City Surveyor, in 1850, and reported to the Council by Joseph Sanford, John Minor and John Pritchard, who were appointed a committee by the Council to "enquire into the expediency of extending the limits of the said town." After making a thorough examination, this committee reported back to the body that it was both expedient and desirable that the extension should be made, which report and recommendation were adopted. To carry out this action, the Council appointed Hugh S. Scott, Wm. S. Barton, John James Chew, Joseph Sanford and John Pritchard, and they were instructed and empowered as a Commission, under the provisions of the act of the Legislature, to locate and lay out such streets in the part of the town annexed by the provisions of the bill, as they might think proper, and report back to the Council, with a full plan of their work. But it was provided that none of the new streets reported upon were to be opened unless the Council should decide it necessary, and in that event, if the owners of the lots did not relinquish their claims to the town, damages were to be paid by the Council in such sums as should be ascertained by three disinterested freeholders of Spotsylvania county, who should be appointed by the county court of said county for that purpose. The Commission performed the duties assigned them by the Council, and laid out the new portion of the town into streets, giving a name to each, but many of them were never opened, as they were not needed, and remain closed to this day. The same act made it unnecessary for either the Mayor or Recorder of the town to be present and preside over the hustings court, but made it lawful for any three Justices of the Corporation to hold the court, except, as in the former act, where parties were to be examined or tried for felonies it required that five Justices should be present and preside. In consequence of this provision the court would convene with five Justices when felony cases were to be considered, and after they were disposed of, two of them would be excused and the other three would continue the session until the business of the court was completed. These Justices were appointed by the Governor, on the recommendation of the hustings court, and were among the best citizens and most successful business men of the town, and what they lacked in a knowledge of the law, it is generally agreed they more than made up in good common sense and unyielding integrity. In the following year, 1852, the Legislature passed another amendment to the charter of the town, extending its limits, but this amendment was only made necessary to correct an error in the section of the act of the year before, extending the corporate limits. The metes and bounds were left the same as prescribed in the act of 1851. In 1858 an act was passed by the Legislature enabling the Council to sell real estate for delinquent taxes due the town. It authorized the authorities to sell all real estate within the corporation returned delinquent for the non-payment of taxes and interest, and to make such regulations for affecting the sale and collecting the taxes as they might deem expedient. In case the sale was not made and the taxes remained unpaid, the taxes became a lien on the property and ten per centum was charged thereon until they were paid. The act also provided that if the taxes due on real estate were paid by the tenant, who was not the owner of the property, the amount might be deducted from the rents of the same in settlement with the owner. In cases where the property was owned by non-residents, and was vacant or unimproved, and no levy could be made to satisfy the taxes, the town was authorized to take summary proceedings before any court in the State, on ten days' notice to the parties owning the delinquent property. In 1861 another act was passed by the Legislature, extending the corporate limits of the town. This was done in order to bring certain property within the limits of the town for the purpose of city taxation, according to a previous agreement with the owners of the Fredericksburg Water Power. That agreement was that all mills and manufactories, using the water of that company for power, erected after the completion of the canal, should be liable for, and should pay, city taxes. The extension by this act is described as follows: "Beginning at a point Sixty-seven feet North 64 1/2 degrees east from the northeast cornerstone of the present boundary of said town; and running thence to the Rappahannock river twelve hundred and fifty feet to a stone; thence south 58 1/2 degrees west, four hundred and sixty-six feet to a stone; thence south 13 1/2 degrees west, three hundred and seventy feet to a stone; thence south 35 1/2 degrees east, six hundred and eight feet to a stone; thence south 38 3/4 degrees, two hundred and eighty-five feet to a stone; thence south 25 pounds degrees east, one hundred and forty-four feet to a stone in a line with the present corporation line; thence with said line north 64 pounds degrees east six hundred and eighty feet to the point of beginning, and particularly set out and described in a survey and plat made by Carter M. Braxton, dated the 23rd day of January, 1861, and deposited in the clerk's office of the corporation court of said town."

title: Fredericksburg, Virginia 1608-1908/5


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tom, John Nichols


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tombs, Henry


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tomes, John


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tomkins, John


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tomkins, Martin


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tomkins, Peltro William


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tomkins, Thomas (d.1656)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tomkins, Thomas (1637?-1675)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tomkins, Thomas (1743-1816)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tomkinson, Thomas


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tomkis, Thomas


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tomline, George Pretyman


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tomlins, Frederick Guest


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tomlins, Thomas Edlyne


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tomlinson, Charles


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tomlinson, Nicholas


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tompion, Thomas


text:
Author:Augustus Henry Keane

Works

 * Handbook of the History of the English Language (1878)
 * "Ethnography and Philology of America" (1878) with Alphabetal List of All Known American Tribes and Languages, appendices to H.W. Bates's Central America, West Indies, and South Africa
 * Asia, with Ethnological Appendix (1882)
 * Ethnology of Egyptian Sudan (1884)
 * Ethnology. Cambridge : University Press (1896)
 * Man Past and Present (1899)
 * The Boer States: Land and People (1900)
 * The Gold of Ophir (1901)
 * Central and South America (1901) vol 1, vol 2
 * The World's Peoples (1908)
 * The Early Chartered Companies (A.D. 1296–1858) (with G. Cawston; 1896)

Contributions to EB9

 * (in part)

Contributions to EB1911

 * (in part)

as translator

 * The science of language; linguistics, philology, etymology by Abel Hovelacque, 1843-1896, (1877)
 * Diego Velazquez and his times by Carl Justi, 1832-1912, (1889)
 * Travels in Africa during the years 1875[-1886] by Wilhelm Junker, 1840-1892, (1890) vol 1, vol 2, vol 3
 * History of the English Parliament by Rudolph Gneist, 1816-1895; (1895)
 * The childhood of man by Leo Frobenius, 1873-1938, (1909)

Works about Keane

 * Review of Keane 1896 (2nd revised edition): in The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1, issue 670 (April, 1897)

title: Author:Augustus Henry Keane


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tompson, Richard


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Toms, Peter


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tomson, Laurence


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tomson, Richard


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tonge, Israel


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tooke, George


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tooke, John Horne


text:
The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Korn, Arthur

KORN, kôrn, Arthur, German physicist: b. Breslau, 20 May 1870. He studied at the Breslau and Berlin gymnasiums and, consecutively, at the universities of Freiburg, Leipzig (1886), Paris (1890) and Berlin (1891). He was given degrees and (1890) became private teacher (docent) of physics in Munich (1895), then assistant professor (1903) and professor, and has resided, since 1908, at Charlottenburg. His work consisted of experiment and writing on long-distance photography, the phototelautograph, physical phenomena, mechanics; but he has devoted his best labors to the potential theory and the mathematics of physics. Among his numerous published works are ‘Eine Theorie der Gravitation und der elektrischen Erscheinungen auf Grundlage der Hydrodynamik’ (2d ed., 1896); ‘Ueber Molecular-Funktion’ (1897); ‘Lehrbuch der Potentialtheorie’ (Berlin 1899-1901); ‘Freie und erzwungene Schwingungen’ (1910); ‘Handbuch der Phototelegraphie und Telautographie’ (1911). He has also contributed numerous articles to such journals as Berichte der Bayrischen Akademie der Wissenschaft; Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Sciences; Naturwissenschaftliches Wochenschrift, etc.


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tooke, Thomas


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tooke, William (1744-1820)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tooke, William (1777-1863)


text:
Page:Sophocles - Seven Plays, 1900.djvu/38

4

Ay, and for mine! I am not left out!—And now

He moves this way to promulgate his will

To such as have not heard, nor lightly holds

The thing he bids, but, whoso disobeys,

The citizens shall stone him to the death.

This is the matter, and thou wilt quickly show

If thou art noble, or fallen below thy birth.

. Unhappy one! But what can I herein

Avail to do or undo?

.Wilt thou share

The danger and the labour? Make thy choice.

. Of what wild enterprise? What canst thou mean?

. Wilt thou join hand with mine to lift the dead?

. To bury him, when all have been forbidden?

Is that thy thought?

.To bury my own brother

And thine, even though thou wilt not do thy part.

I will not be a traitress to my kin.

. Fool-hardy girl! against the word of Creon?

. He hath no right to bar me from mine own.

. Ah, sister, think but how our father fell,

Hated of all and lost to fair renown,

Through self-detected crimes—with his own hand,

Self-wreaking, how he dashed out both his eyes:

Then how the mother-wife, sad two-fold name!

With twisted halter bruised her life away;

Last, how in one dire moment our two brothers

With internecine conflict at a blow

Wrought out by fratricide their mutual doom.

Now, left alone, O think how beyond all

Most piteously we twain shall be destroyed,

If in defiance of authority

We traverse the commandment of the King!

We needs must bear in mind we are but women.

Never created to contend with men;

Nay more, made victims of resistless power.

To obey behests more harsh than this to-day.

I, then, imploring those beneath to grant


text:
Author:Harry Robert Kempe

Works

 * (with section Commercial Aspects by Emile Garcke)
 * (with section Commercial Aspects by Emile Garcke)
 * (with section Commercial Aspects by Emile Garcke)

title: Author:Harry Robert Kempe


text:
The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Kornemann, Ernst W. G.

KORNEMANN, kôr'nĕ-män, Ernst W. G., German historian: b. Rosenthal, 11 Oct. 1868. He studied at Giessen (1878-89) and Berlin (1889-92), and took the degree of doctor of philosophy (1891); he was appointed assistant professor teaching under the faculty (1892). He became private teacher (docent) of ancient history at Giessen (1892) and took the degree of professor at Tübingen (1902). With Dr. Lehmann-Haupt, of Liverpool, he established the periodical Klio, dedicated to ancient history, and later took up his residence in Tübingen. He wrote ‘De civibus Romanis in provinciis imperii consistentibus’ (1891); ‘Die historische Schriftstellerei des Consuls Asinius Pollio’ (1896); ‘Zur Geschichte der Graechenzeit’ (1903); ‘Die neue Livius-epitome aus Oxyrhynchus’ (1904); ‘Kaiser Hadrian und der letzte grosse Historiker von Rom’ (1905); ‘Priesterkodex in der Regia und die Entstehung der altrömische Pseudogeschichte’ (1912). Besides numerous articles written for Klio he contributed on classical subjects to the Realencyklopedia of Pauly-Wissowa-Kroll.


text:
Page:Sophocles - Seven Plays, 1900.djvu/39

66–99]

Indulgence, seeing I am enforced in this,

Will yield submission to the powers that rule,

Small wisdom were it to overpass the bound.

. I will not urge you! no! nor if now you list

To help me, will your help afford me joy.

Be what you choose to be! This single hand

Shall bury our lost brother. Glorious

For me to take this labour and to die!

Dear to him will my soul be as we rest

In death, when I have dared this holy crime.

My time for pleasing men will soon be over;

Not so my duty toward the Dead! My home

Yonder will have no end. You, if you will,

May pour contempt on laws revered on High.

. Not from irreverence. But I have no strength

To strive against the citizens’ resolve.

. Thou, make excuses! I will go my way

To raise a burial-mound to my dear brother.

. Oh, hapless maiden, how I fear for thee!

. Waste not your fears on me! Guide your own fortune.

. Ah! yet divulge thine enterprise to none,

But keep the secret close, and so will I.

. O Heavens! Nay, tell! I hate your silence worse;

I had rather you proclaimed it to the world.

. You are ardent in a chilling enterprise.

. I know that I please those whom I would please.

. Yes, if you thrive; but your desire is bootless.

. Well, when I fail I shall be stopt, I trow!

. One should not start upon a hopeless quest.

. Speak in that vein if you would earn my hate

And aye be hated of our lost one. Peace!

Leave my unwisdom to endure this peril;

Fate cannot rob me of a noble death.

. Go, if you must—Not to be checked in folly,

But sure unparalleled in faithful love!


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/271

Rh Nice; but the reader would have no patience with all the petty troubles—great to those who endured them—which afflicted Nice and its vicinity through many centuries. Now it enjoys peace, and thrives, not only as a city, doing a large business, but also as a vestibule to Monte Carlo. The cathedral, that once stood near the castle on the rock, was demolished in 1656, and the present building—a rococo construction in the barbaric taste of that period—was erected below the rocky height. On December 16th, the Bishop Désiré de Palletier was contemplating the dome that was in process of construction, when some of the material fell on his head and killed him. In 1705, on March 16th, a bomb fell in the cathedral and exploded, killing many people. If it had blown the whole church to atoms it would have caused no loss to art.

Curiously enough an accident happened of a somewhat similar character to the church of the Port. The design for this monstrosity was sent by a Turin architect. The cupola was to be of wood, covered with lead. But the clerk of the works, in carrying out the design, substituted stone for wood. The result was that, one Sunday morning, just after the consecration of the church, the cupola fell in. Happily it was during the first mass. The priest at the altar, hearing a cracking above him, bolted into the vestry. An old woman, who was the sole assistant, fled into the porch, and no lives were lost when the whole structure collapsed. Nice has produced some men of note—as Massêna, "L'enfant chéri de la victoire"—whose real name was Menasseh; he was the son of a petty Jewish taverner, and was born in 1756. What a simmering cauldron that was in Europe, which brought to the surface Bernadotte, the

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/271


text:
Page:Sophocles - Seven Plays, 1900.djvu/40

6

Beam of the mounting Sun!

O brightest, fairest ray

Seven-gated Thebè yet hath seen!

Over the vale where Dircè's fountains run

At length thou appearedst, eye of golden Day,

And with incitement of thy radiance keen

Spurredst to faster flight

The man of Argos hurrying from the fight.

Armed at all points the warrior came,

But driven before thy rising flame

He rode, reverting his pale shield,

Headlong from yonder battlefield.

In snow-white panoply, on eagle wing,

He rose, dire ruin on our land to bring,

Roused by the fierce debate

Of Polynices’ hate,

Shrilling sharp menace from his breast,

Sheathed all in steel from crown to heel,

With many a plumèd crest.

Then stooped above the domes,

With lust of carnage fired,

And opening teeth of serried spears

Yawned wide around the gates that guard our homes;

But went, or e’er his hungry jaws had tired

On Theban flesh,—or e’er the Fire-god fierce

Seizing our sacred town

Besmirched and rent her battlemented crown.

Such noise of battle as he fled

About his back the War-god spread;

So writhed to hard -fought victory

The serpent struggling to be free.

High Zeus beheld their stream that proudly rolled

Idly caparisoned with clanking gold:


text:
Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/272

214 saddler's son! Murat issued from a little public house. Augereau, the child of a domestic servant; Masséna, the Hebrew waif and stray. Masséna was gifted by nature with a powerful frame of body, and with indomitable resolution. He was considered the most skilful tactician among Napoleon's generals, and on the field of battle he was remarkable for coolness. He had, moreover, the invaluable quality in a commander of not being dispirited through defeat. His faults were primarily rapacity and avarice. In Italy, when commanding the French army of occupation, he "behaved in such a way," as Miot de Melito informs us, "that the French troops, left without pay in the midst of the immense riches which he appropriated to himself, revolted, and refused to recognise his authority. His pilferings, his shameless avidity, tarnished the laurels with which he had covered himself." He brought down on himself repeatedly the censure of Napoleon. But the greed was born in the bone. He could not keep his fingers off what was of money value, and might be turned into coin. When Bonaparte assumed the command in Italy, he employed Masséna actively on all occasions of importance, and so justly appreciated the brilliancy and military talents he possessed, that he surnamed him "the favoured child of victory." In 1798 he was appointed to the command of the army, which under General Berthier was to occupy Rome and the Papal States. His appointment was as distasteful to the soldiers as to the inhabitants of the subjected country, for they both became victims of his insatiable avarice, and the multiplied complaints made of his peculations at last forced him to resign the command and to return to Paris.

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/272


text:
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Rh Whilst Masséna was in Rome stuffing his pockets, a paper was affixed to the statue of Pasquin, with this dialogue inscribed on it:—

Although Masséna had exposed his person in so many battles without receiving a wound, he had the misfortune to lose an eye whilst in a sporting party, some shot having accidentally struck it. That which redounded most to the fame of Masséna was his gallant defence of Genoa, in 1800, after the garrison had been reduced to eat their boots. The defence had made the Austrian army lose valuable time, and afforded Bonaparte the requisite time to collect sufficient forces to cross the Alps and crush the Austrians at Marengo. After that decisive day, the first Consul who desired to return to France, remitted the command of the troops to Masséna; but only for a while. A certain feeling of hostility reigned between the Republican General and the future Emperor. Masséna was envious of the fame of Napoleon, and resented the distance that separated him from an old comrade in arms. After the coup d'éttat of the 18th Brumaire, he was admitted to the legislative corps, and voted against granting the consulate for life to Napoleon, and persistently sided with the opposition;—not out of principle, for of that Masséna did not possess a particle, but because he was jealous of Napoleon's greatness and increasing power. However, Napoleon could not afford to overlook him when conferring honours, and Masséna was content to accept these, along with the money granted him to

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Hatton v. Wicks

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.

Affirmed.

Bennie L. Turner, Randolph Walker, Walker & Turner, West Point, Mississippi, for Appellant.

Shields Sims, Sims & Sims, Columbus, Mississippi, for Appellee.

Jeffrey C. Smith, Columbus, Mississippi, for Appellee.

Williams, Jolly, and Hill, Circuit Judges. Jolly, Circuit Judge, specially concurring.

title: Hatton v. Wicks


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216 maintain his honours. He was created Duke of Rivoli and Prince of Esslingen. But he was not grateful, and of all the marshals of France he showed himself most eager to rally to the Restoration and to recognise Louis XVIII. He had sufficient keenness to see that Napoleon's star was in decline, and all that he really was solicitous for was to keep .hold of his hoarded treasures. He died at Ruel, his country seat near Paris, in 1817. This upstart family still flourishes on the accumulated plunder, and still retains the titles of Duke of Rivoli and Prince of Esslingen, but is no longer of the Jewish persuasion. The great square at Nice is called after Masséna, but another square bears a far more reputable name that of Garibaldi, who was also a native of Nice, born there on July 4th, 1807. General Marceau's ashes rested for some years at Nice. He fell near Coblenz in 1796, and his body was burnt and transported, as he had desired, to Nice, to lie beside the body of his sister Emma, when it should be her time to depart this life. She died at the age of eighty-one in 1834, and was laid beside the ashes of her brother. Marceau had never been shown the smallest token of love by his mother, and he had been brought up by his sister, to whom he was devotedly attached. His last words were: "Je ne regrette qu'elle. Je lui dois ce que je puis valoir." It is a pity that his wishes were so far disregarded that in 1889 his remains were disinterred and transferred to the Pantheon, at Paris. Nice has produced a poet, the Jasmin of this part of Provence; his name is Rancher, and he was born in

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Hatton v. Wicks/Concurrence Jolly

JOLLY, Circuit Judge, specially concurring.

I fully concur in the result reached by the majority. I write simply to express my opinion that this case should have been affirmed without an opinion because the appellant raises no infringement of a constitutional right of any kind, and to dwell on cases like this trivializes the truly important values and rights protected by the Constitution of the United States of America. That federal courts should be made a forum to challenge or second-guess everyday, mundane, ordinary, nonracial administrative decisions of the state school system demonstrates how pandering to the common cavils of public employees leads to the wasted time, expense and inconvenience of all parties. Most important, however, continued federal court intrusion in cases such as this one seriously skews the proper governmental functions of separate and distinct governmental entities which exist for separate and distinct purposes. It is for these reasons that I think we have paid far too much attention to the case before us.

title: Hatton v. Wicks/Concurrence Jolly


text:
Hatton v. Wicks/Opinion of the Court

[p502] WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge:

This is an unusual case in which an established sixth grade teacher, under contract and who had taught sixth grade at the same school for ten years, was discharged for refusing to accept into her class a thirteen year old "disciplinary problem student" who chose her as his teacher in what the discharged teacher calls a "lineup" of the available teachers. The use of the word "lineup" to describe what actually occurred is, to some extent at least, a stigmatizing overstatement. Appellant Ethel Hatton was an established and qualified school teacher under contract to teach in the Columbus Municipal Separate School District, Columbus, Mississippi. She was called into the office of the principal of her school, appellee Marshall Wicks, together with two other available sixth grade teachers. Also present in the office was the thirteen year old male student and that student's mother. The principal asked the student which of the three teachers he would like to have as his sixth grade teacher, and he chose the appellant. The principal then stated that it was settled and the student would be in appellant's class. When the mother presented the thirteen year old boy for enrollment in appellant's class the next Monday, appellant refused to enroll him.

In the afternoon of the same day, appellant was summoned to appellee's office for a conference. When appellee told her at the conference that she was under an obligation to accept the student in her class, she indicated she would not do so and walked out of the meeting without further discussion.

[p503] Appellee later wrote her a letter granting her a conference with him, setting a date ten days later. She failed to appear at this conference. In the meantime the child had been assigned to another teacher.

Appellant was discharged for these two instances of what the principal and other school authorities call "insubordination". She was afforded hearings before the Superintendent of Schools, and the entire School Board, and then a review by the Department of Education of the State of Mississippi. All three of these tribunals upheld her discharge.

Five years later appellant brought this suit in the United States District Court under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claiming substantive due process of law violations on the ground that the public school authorities did not have the constitutional right under the Fourteenth Amendment to discharge her under the facts outlined above. After a full trial, the district court held that there had been no constitutional violation in her discharge. We affirm.

There is no procedural due process of law challenge in this case. Appellant does not challenge the adequacy of the administrative hearings which she was given in accordance with Mississippi law. She challenges only the result of those hearings which upheld her discharge.

Appellant raises the question of whether there was "substantial evidence" in the administrative proceedings and in the district court to establish the existence of a constitutional due process violation. The issue is not one of "substantial evidence", however. The critical and controlling facts in this case are not in dispute at all. They are as reported above. The sole question which is before us, then, is whether the existence of these facts and these events constitutes a violation of appellant Hatton's civil rights under the due process of law clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. That question obviously is a question of law, a question of the interpretation and application of the Constitution. As such we are not bound to a clearly erroneous standard of review of the findings and conclusions of the district court. ''Ayers v. Western Line Cons. School Dist.'', 691 F.2d 766, 767, 769 (5th Cir.1982).

No issue was raised concerning the motive for appellant's discharge. The finding, not disputed, is that appellant was discharged for insubordination for twice failing to accept the pupil in her class when ordered to do so by the principal. Thus we do not have the typical mixed motive case so we need not inquire whether or not she would have been discharged absent these circumstances. Neither party challenges the finding of the district court that the discharge was for the overt circumstances shown in this case. ''Cf. Van Ooteghem v. Gray,'' 628 F.2d 488, 493 (5th Cir.1980).

Appellant takes the position that she could not be fired for "insubordination" because under Mississippi law insubordination requires "a constant or continuing intentional refusal to obey a direct or implied order, reasonable in nature and given by or with proper authority." ''Sims v. Bd. of Trustees, Holly Springs Municipal Separate School Dist.,'' 414 So. 2d 431 (Miss.1982). Whether or not her actions constituted insubordination under the Mississippi law does not control this case. Mississippi cannot by defining "insubordination" or other grounds for discharge of teachers create or eliminate federal constitutional rights. The federal rights are independent of the state law. It is not amiss, however, to point out that her two refusals to accept this pupil into her class may constitute insubordination under the Mississippi definition. See Jackson v. Hazelhurst Municipal Separate School Dist., 427 So. 2d 134, 136 (Miss.1983).

Whether or not appellant was insubordinate under Mississippi law, the issue before this Court is whether she has established that her discharge under the admitted facts and circumstances of this case constituted a violation of her substantive due process right under the Fourteenth Amendment. The district court concluded that she had not established a violation of such a constitutional right, and we agree.

[p504] The action of the principal may have been somewhat unusual in giving this particular pupil the opportunity to choose which teacher he wished to have in the sixth grade. It should be pointed out, however, that such choice was under the supervision of the principal, who had ruled out two other teachers who otherwise would have been available because their classes were housed in temporary buildings outside the main school building, and the principal felt that this particular pupil might create less problems if he remained in the main school building. Further, while no one disputes appellant's claim that this particular pupil was a "disciplinary problem", he did not constitute such a serious problem that he could not attend regular school classes with other students. After appellant's refusal to accept this student, the student was assigned to another sixth grade class as a regular pupil in that class. Finally, the record reveals that the pupil had rational and sensible reasons for choosing the class of this particular teacher rather than the other two sixth grade teachers who accompanied appellant to the principal's office.

The record reveals that this particular student was being given an opportunity that students generally did not have. But we cannot quarrel with a conclusion of a school administrator that treating a particular student with such care might be to the advantage not only of the pupil but also of the other students in the school as well.

This discussion of the circumstances yields the constitutional answer. This Court would be intruding in the details of the administration of the school if it found a constitutional violation in this case. Appellant was not placed in a lineup. She and two other teachers were simply brought into the principal's room to enable this pupil to decide which class he wanted to go into for the sixth grade. The principal then directed that his choice be implemented, and appellant refused. Later when he attempted to talk to her about it again, she again refused and walked out on him. She makes no showing that she is entitled to any privilege over any other teacher who might have this pupil assigned to her or his classroom. There was not the slightest hint of racial, religious, or gender discrimination, or interference with her free speech or other personal rights. She was simply assigned a pupil for her class who had the right to be assigned to such a class. She refused the assignment twice and was discharged. It must be recognized that under these circumstances a teacher who refuses to carry out her or his obligations in this manner is "interfering with the regular operation of the schools," Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 573, 88 S.C.t. 1731, 1737, 20 L. Ed. 2d 811 (1968), and is engaged in conduct which "materially and substantially impedes the operation or effectiveness of the educational program," Brantley v. Surles, 718 F.2d 1354, 1359 (5th Cir. 1983). Appellant's asserted section 1983 claim must fail.

AFFIRMED.

title: Hatton v. Wicks/Opinion of the Court


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 always be taken from the members of one of two families, the succession in many cases passing from one to the other family alternately. Primogeniture is not necessarily considered.

Before the introduction of letters the Yoruba are said to have employed knotted strings for recording events. Their language, which has been reduced to writing and carefully studied, has penetrated as far E. as Kano in the Hausa country. The best known dialectic varieties are those of Egba, Jebu, Ondo, Ife, Illorin and Oyo (Yoruba proper, called also Nago); but the discrepancies are slight. The most marked feature, a strong tendency towards monosyllabism—produced by phonetic decay—has given rise to the principle of intonation, required to distinguish words originally different but reduced by corruption to the condition of homophones. Besides the tones, of which there are three—high, low and middle—Yoruba has also developed a degree of vocalic harmony, in which the vowels of the affixes are assimilated to that of the root. Inflexion, as in Bantu, is effected chiefly by prefixes; and there is a remarkable power of word-formation by the fusion of several relational elements in a single compound term. The Bible and several other books have been translated into Yoruba, which as a medium of general intercourse in West Africa ranks in importance next to Hausa and Mandingan. The Yoruba religion is that usually known as fetishism.

The Yoruba country extends from Benin on the E. to Dahomey on the W. (where it somewhat overlaps the French frontier), being bounded N. by Borgu and S. by the coast lands of Lagos. It covers about 25,000 sq. m. Most of it is included in the British protectorate of Southern Nigeria. The land is moderately elevated and a large part of it is densely forested. It is well watered; the rivers belong mainly to the coast systems, though some drain to the Niger. The history of Yorubaland, as known to Europeans, does not go back beyond the close of the 17th century. At that time it was a powerful empire, and had indirectly come—through its connexion with Benin and Dahomey—to some extent under European influence. There was also a much slighter Moslem influence. One tradition brought the founder of the nation from Bornu. The Yoruba appear to have inhabited their present country at least as early as 1000. In the 18th century the Yoruba were constantly engaged in warfare with their Dahomeyan neighbours, and in 1738 they captured Kana, the sacred city of the kings of Dahomey. From 1747 to the time of King Gezo (11818) the Dahomeyans paid tribute to Yoruba. It was not until the early years of the 19th century that the Yoruba came as far S. as the sea, when they founded a colony at Lagos. About 1825 the province of Illorin, already permeated by Moslem influences from the north, declared itself independent of the Yoruba, and shortly afterwards Yorubaland was overrun by Fula invaders. From this time (1830–35) the Yoruba empire—there had been six confederate kingdoms—was broken up into a number of comparatively weak states, who warred with one another, with the Dahomeyans and with their Moslem neighbours. The advent of the British at first led to further complications and fighting, but gradually the various tribes gained confidence in the colonial government and sought its services as peacemaker. A treaty placing their country under British protection was signed by the Egba in January 1893, and the subsequent extension of British control over the other portions of Yorubaland met with no opposition.

Though divided into semi-independent states, the Yoruba retain a feeble sense of common nationality. The direct representative of the old Yoruba power is the alafin or king of Oyo occupying the N. and central parts of the whole region. Round this central state, which has lost much of its importance, are grouped the kingdoms of Illorin, Ijesa, Ife and Ondo in the E., Mahin and Jebu in the S. and Egba in the W. The ruler of each of these states has a title characteristic of his office. Thus the chief of Ife bears the title of oni (a term indicating spiritual supremacy). To the oni of Ife or the alafin of Oyo all the other great chiefs announce their succession. The oni, says Sir William MacGregor, is regarded as the fountain of honour, and without his consent no chief can assume the privilege of wearing a crown. The most important of the Yoruba

states is Egba, the ruling chief of which is the alake of Abeokuta (see ).

Yorubaland is a country of comparatively large cities. The alafin resides at Oyo, on a head stream of the Oshun, a place which has succeeded the older capitals, Bohu and Katunga, lying farther N. and destroyed during the wars with the Fula. Oyo is exceeded in size by several other places in Yorubaland, where the inhabitants have grouped themselves together for mutual protection in walled towns. Thus have sprung up the important towns of Abeokuta on the Ogun, due N. of Lagos; Ibadan on a branch of the Omi, 30 m. S. of Oyo; and Illorin, capital of the Illorin state, besides several other towns with a population of some 40,000.

See A. Dalzell, The History of Dahomey (London, 1793); A. B. Ellis, The Yoruba-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa (London, 1894); R. E. Dennett, Nigerian Studies, or the Religions and Political System of the Yoruba (London, 1910); C. F. Harford-Battersby, Niger and Yoruba Routes (London,  1895–96); and and.  YŌSAI [Kikuchi] (1781–1878), Japanese painter, was the son of a samurai named Kawara, of Yedo. He was adopted by the Kikuchi family, who were old hereditary retainers of the Tokugawa clan. When eighteen, he became a pupil of Takata Enjō; but, after studying the principles of the Kanō, Shijō, and Maruyama schools—in the latter, perhaps, under Ozui, a son of Ōkyo—he developed an independent style, having some affinities with that of Tani Bunchō. He was one of the last great painters of Japan; and his illustrated history of Japanese heroes, the Zenken Kojitsu, is a remarkable specimen of his power as a draughtsman in black and white.  YOSEMITE, a famous valley on the W. slope of the Sierra Nevada of California, about 150 m. E. of San Francisco and 4000 ft. above the sea. It is 7 m. long, half a mile to a mile wide, and nearly a mile deep, eroded out of hard massive granite by glacial action. Its precipitous walls present a great variety of forms, and the bottom, a filled-up lake basin, is level and park-like. The most notable of the wall rocks are: El Capitan, 3300 ft. high, a sheer, plain mass of granite; the Three Brothers, North Dome, Glacier Point, the Sentinel, Cathedral, Sentinel Dome and Cloud's Rest, from 2800 to nearly 6000 ft. high; and Half Dome, the noblest of all, which rises at the head of the valley to the height of 4740 ft. These rocks illustrate on a grand scale the action of ice in mountain sculpture. For here five large glaciers united to form the grand trunk glacier that eroded the valley and occupied it as its channel. Its moraines, though mostly obscured by vegetation and weathering, may still be traced; while on the snowy peaks at the headwaters of the Merced a considerable number of small glaciers, once tributary to the main Yosemite glacier, still exist. The Bridal Veil Fall, 900 ft. high, is one of the most interesting features of the lower end of the valley. Towards the upper end the great Yosemite Fall pours from a height of 2600 ft. The valley divides at the head into three branches, the Tenaya, Merced and South Fork canyons. In the main (Merced) branch are the Vernal and Nevada Falls, 400 and 600 ft. high. The Nevada is usually ranked next to the Yosemite among the five main falls of the valley, and is the whitest of all the falls. The Vernal, about half a mile below the Nevada, is famous for its afternoon rainbows. At flood-time it is a nearly regular sheet about 80 ft. wide, changing as it descends from green to purplish-grey and white. In the S. branch, a mile from the head of the main valley, is the Ilhlouette Fall, 600 ft. high, one of the most beautiful of the Yosemite choir.

Considering the great height of the snowy mountains about the valley, the climate of the Yosemite is remarkably mild. The vegetation is rich and luxuriant. The tallest pines are over 200 ft. high; the trunks of some of the oaks are from 6 to 8 ft. in diameter; violets, lilies, golden-rods, ceanothus, manzanita, wild rose and azalea make broad beds and banks of bloom in the spring; and on the warmest parts of the walls flowers blossom in every month of the year.

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Rh 1785, on July 2Oth, two months before due; he was so small that a bon-bon box was extemporised as his cradle. Indeed, it was supposed that he was dead, and he was to have been carried to burial in his bon-bon box, when his father, who was a surgeon, stooping over him, heard a faint sigh, and preparations for the funeral were stopped. He became secretary to the Count de Cessola, president of the Senate of Nice, and then under-secretary of the Tribunal of Commerce, an office he retained till his death in 1843. He wrote songs and composed music to them, also a little vaudeville, and a poem "La Nemaida," which was serio-comic, and turned on a local incident, a dispute between the beadles and sacristans of the church of Ste. Françoise de Paule. His little vaudeville led to his imprisonment. It had been composed for performance before King Charles Felix and his queen, Marie Christine, when they were at Nice at Christmas, 1829. He ventured without authorisation to introduce on the stage his nephew, aged nine, dressed as a peasant, and to set him to play a little piece on the violin. This had not been submitted to the proper authority and allowed; accordingly the Count de Faverger, Governor of Nice, ordered the incarceration of the audacious poet. But this bit of red-tapism was too much, and Rancher was released in a couple of hours. He revenged himself on the governor by a satirical and burlesque song, that ran like wildfire through the town. A street in Nice bears Rancher's name. Nice was the scene of the sacrilegious rascalities of a rogue, Collet, whose story, as he operated at Fréjus and at Draguignan as well as at Nice, may be told. Collet was born at Belley, in the department of Aine,

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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Graydon, John


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Grayle, John


text:
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 The valley was discovered in 1851 by a military company in pursuit of marauding Indians; regular tourist travel began in 1856. The first permanent settler in the valley was Mr J. C. Lamon, who built a cabin in the upper end of it in 1860 and planted gardens and orchards. In 1864 the valley was granted to the state of California by act of Congress on condition that it should be held as a place of public use, resort and recreation inalienable for all time, was re-ceded to the United States by California on the 3rd of March 1905, and is now included in the Yosemite National Park.

 YOUGHAL (pronounced Yawl), a seaport, market town and watering-place of county Cork, Ireland, on the W. side of the Blackwater estuary, and on the Cork & Youghal branch of the Great Southern & Western railway, 26 m. E. of Cork. Pop. (1901) 5393- The collegiate church of St Mary, in the later Decorated style, was erected in the 11th century, but rebuilt in the 13th, and since that time frequently restored. It contains a beautiful monument to the 1st earl of Cork. The college was founded by an earl of Desmond in 1464. There are still a few fragments of the Dominican friary founded in 1269. The Clock Gate (1771) is noticeable, and portions of the old walls are to be seen. Myrtle Grove was formerly the residence of Sir Walter Raleigh. He was mayor of Youghal in 1588–89, and is said to have first cultivated the potato here. The harbour is safe and commodious, but has a bar at the mouth. At the N. extremity of the harbour the river is crossed by a bridge on wooden piles. The principal exports are corn and other agricultural produce; the imports are coal, culm, timber and slate. Coarse earthenware and bricks are manufactured. Fine point-lace commanding high prices is made by the Presentation Sisters. The Blackwater is famous for salmon, and sea-fishing is important. The Strand, the modern portion of the town, has all the attributes of a seaside resort.

Youghal (Eschaill, “the Yew wood”) was made a settlement of the Northmen in the 9th century, and was incorporated by King John in 1209. The Franciscan monastery, founded at Youghal by FitzGerald in 1224, was the earliest house of that order in Ireland. Sir Roger Mortimer landed at Youghal in 1317. The town was plundered by the earl of Desmond in 1579. In 1641 it was garrisoned and defended by the earl of Cork. In 1649 it declared for the parliament, and was occupied as his headquarters by Cromwell. It sent two members to parliament from 1374 till the Union, after that only one down to 1885.  YOUNG, ARTHUR (1741–1820), English writer on agriculture and social economy, second son of the Rev. Arthur Young, rector of Bradfield, in Suffolk, chaplain to Speaker Onslow, was born on the 11th of September 1741. After being at a school at Lavenham, he was in 1758 placed in a mercantile house at Lynn, but showed no taste for commercial pursuits. He published, when only seventeen, a pamphlet On the War in North America, and in 1761 went to London and started a periodical work, entitled The Universal Museum, which was dropped by the advice of Samuel Johnson. He also wrote four novels, and Reflections on the Present State of Affairs at Home and Abroad in 1759. After his father's death in 1739, his mother had given him the direction of the family estate at Bradfield Hall; but the property was small and encumbered with debt. From 1763 to 1766 he devoted himself to farming on his mother's property. In 1765 he married a Miss Allen; but the union is said not to have been happy, though he was of domestic habits and an affectionate father. In 1767 he undertook on his own account the management of a farm in Essex. He engaged in various experiments, and embodied the results of them in A Course of Experimental Agriculture (1770). Though Young's experiments were, in general, unsuccessful, he thus acquired a solid knowledge of agriculture. He had already begun a series of journeys through England and Wales, and gave an account of his observations in books which appeared from 1768 to 1770—A Six Weeks' Tour through the Southern Counties of England and Wales, A Six Months’ Tour through the North of England and the Farmer's Tour through the East of England. He says that these books contained the only extant information relative to the rental, produce and stock of England that was founded on actual examination. They were very favourably received, being translated into most European languages by 1792.

In 1768 he published the Farmer's Letters to the People of England, in 1771 the Farmer's Calendar, which went through a great number of editions, and in 1774 his Political Arithmetic, which was widely translated. About this time Young acted as parliamentary reporter for the Morning Post. He made a tour in Ireland in 1776, publishing his Tour in Ireland in 1780. In 1784 he began the publication of the Annals of Agriculture, which was continued for 45 volumes: this work had many contributors, among whom was George III., writing under the nom de plume of “Ralph Robinson.” Young's first visit to France was made in 1787. Traversing that country in every direction just before and during the first movements of the Revolution, he has given valuable notices of the condition of the people and the conduct of public affairs at that critical juncture. The Travels in France appeared in 2 vols. in 1792. On his return home he was appointed secretary of the Board of Agriculture, then (1793) just formed under the presidency of Sir John Sinclair. In this capacity he gave most valuable assistance in the collection and preparation of agricultural surveys of the English counties. His sight, however, failed, and in 1811 he had an operation for cataract, which proved unsuccessful. He suffered also in his last years from stone. He died on the 20th of April 1820. He left an autobiography in MS., which was edited (1898) by Miss M. Betham-Edwards, and is the main authority for his life; and also the materials for a great work on the “Elements and practice of agriculture.”

Arthur Young was the greatest of all English writers on agriculture; but it is as a social and political observer that he is best known, and his Tour in Ireland and Travels in France are still full of interest and instruction. He saw clearly and exposed unsparingly the causes which retarded the progress of Ireland. He strongly urged the repeal of the penal laws which pressed upon the Catholics; he condemned the restrictions imposed by Great Britain on the commerce of Ireland, and also the perpetual interference of the Irish parliament with industry by prohibitions and bounties. He favoured a legislative union of Ireland with Great Britain, though he did not regard such a measure as absolutely necessary, many of its advantages being otherwise attainable.

The soil of France he found in general superior to that of England, and its produce less. Agriculture was neither as well understood nor as much esteemed as in England. He severely censured the higher classes for their neglect of it. “Banishment (from court) alone will force the French nobility to execute what the English do for pleasure—reside upon and adorn their estates.” Young saw the commencement of violence in the rural districts, and his sympathies began to take the side of the classes suffering from the excesses of the Revolution. This change of attitude was shown by his publication in 1793 of a tract entitled The Example of France a Warning to England. Of the profounder significance of the French outbreak he seems to have had little idea, and thought the crisis would be met by a constitutional adjustment in accordance with the English type. He strongly condemned the metayer system, then widely prevalent in France, as “perpetuating poverty and excluding instruction”—as, in fact, the ruin of the country. Some of his phrases have been often quoted by the advocates of peasant

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218 of worthy and pious parents. He entered the army after having gone through a course of studies, and became sub-lieutenant in 1796, and was at the siege of Brescia. But, disgusted with military service, he deserted and went to Rome. Whilst there he heard of the wreck of a merchant vessel off, Civita Vecchia under a young captain named Tolosant, of Lyons, with the loss of all hands. At once he saw his chance. He forged papers, got a ring cut with the Tolosant arms, and passed himself off as the captain, who had escaped. By this means he deceived a worthy priest, who was steward to Cardinal Fesch; and as the Cardinal was acquainted with the family of Tolosant, he introduced the soi-disant captain to him. The Cardinal at once insisted on Collet taking up his abode with him, and he even presented him to the Pope, who gave the rascal his apostolic benediction. As a friend of Cardinal Fesch, Napoleon's kinsman, and an inmate of his house, Collet made the round of the bankers of Rome, discussed with them schemes for making money, and drew loans from them to the amount of 60,000 francs. Then Collet was invested with a charge to perform some ecclesiastical commissions in Lombardy. He left—disappeared—just as suspicions began to be entertained that he was not what he pretended to be, and turned up at Mondovi. There he gave himself out to be a gentleman of means, and he speedily ingratiated himself into the society of the young bloods there. As Mondovi was a dull town, he proposed to brisk it up by the institution of a theatre and by amateur performances. This proposition was cordially accepted, a committee was appointed, and Collet was named costumier; he was to purchase a complete theatrical wardrobe. All who were to act

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text: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Yosemite

title: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Yosemite


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Graystanes, Robert de


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Greathead, Henry


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Rh were required to pay for their own costumes, and the money was put into Collet's hands to furnish these. All at once the costumier vanished, carrying off with him all the dresses, those of clergy, bishops, generals, civic authorities, with ribbons and crosses of various orders. He next turned up at Sion, in the Vallais, now in the cassock of a priest, and furnished with fictitious letters of Orders. There he presented himself to the bishop, and so ingratiated himself into his favour that the bishop nominated him to one of his best cures, which happened to fall vacant. He was instituted, and for five months said mass, preached, married, baptized, catechised the children, and consoled the dying. Now the church was in a dilapidated condition, and the late rector had begun a collection for its rebuilding. Collet called together the committee of the building project, and learned that the sum already collected was 30,000 francs. He at once volunteered to contribute 50,000 francs to the fund, if he were made treasurer, and suffered to build on to the new church a chapel in which his own mortal remains might repose after his death; for never, never, oh never, would he leave his dear parishioners! A ready consent was given, and the sum collected was put into his hands. An architect was engaged, designs for the new church were procured, the old building was pulled down, the material sold, and the sum produced by the sale was lodged in the hands of Collet. Then he suggested that the mayor and the architect should accompany him to Sion to buy the ornaments and paintings requisite for the new church. Accordingly they departed in a carriage. Chalice, tabernacle, three marble altars, candelabra, were bought, but not paid for. At the recommendation of Collet, the

title: Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/277