The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-11 00:00:00

PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER.

The following paper, containing a succinct, yet inte-
resting account of the rise, progress, and present state of
this national undertaking, which was read at the recent
meeting of the British Association at Plymouth, will,
we are sure, prove interesting to our readers. We ex-
tract it from the Plymouth _Herald :
PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER.

" W. STUART, Esq., Superintendent of this Work, then
read the following paper :
" Gentlemen,—Before I proceed to the immediate sub-
ject of my paper, I may, perhaps, be allowed to state
that from the moment at which I first learned that the
eleventh meeting of the British Association would be held
at Plymouth, I purposed preparing a communication
upon the Breakwater to lay before it, for I readily ima-
gined that a communication respecting that great
national undertaking could not be but well re-
ceived. Had this, however, not been my determina-
tion, I should have felt myself called upon, after
the recent papers which have been presented to
the Association in this and another of its sections,
to make some communication upon the subject ; for,
as the matter now appears before you, the present stone
Breakwater has on the one hand been productive of very
injurious results to this great naval and maritime port,
by causing a deposit within, and consequent loss of depth
of water of about five feet ; and on the other hand, not-
withstanding the great outlay on the part of the Go-
vernment in the construction of that Breakwater, it will
be entirely destroyed by submarine agency. But as to
the correctness of these conclusions I shall presently say
a word. The importance attached to Plymouth as a
naval station, arising from the magnitude of its Dock-
yard, and other causes, gave rise to the Breakwater.
In the early part of the year 1806, the attention of the
Admiralty was directed to the subject, and in the
month of February in that year their Lordships
directed the late Mr. John Rennie, civil engineer, and
the late Mr. Joseph Whidbey, then Master Attendant
at Woolwich Dock-yard, to proceed to Plymouth to
survey the Sound. It is unnecessary that I should say
a word upon the judiciousness of the selection thus made
of the parties who were to plan a Breakwater for Ply-
mouth Sound. Mr. Rennie was then at the head of his
profession, and up to the period of his lamented death,
1821, maintained his well-earned reputation. Mr.Whid-
bey had had considerable experience as a Master in the
navy • had sailed round the word with Vancouver, dur:.
ing which he had made extensive surveys of harbOurs,
tides, &c., and for several years had been Master At-
tendant at Woolwich and Sheerness Dockyards. On the
18th of March, 1806, Messrs. Rennie and Whidbey met
at Plymouth in order to carry out their Lordship's in-
structions, and on the 21st of April they made a joint
Report to the Admiralty with the result of their survey,
and at the same time submitted to them a plan for a stone
Breakwater, and gave their opinions upon several plans
which had been previously proposed for protecting Ply-
mouth Sound and Cawsand Bay, none of which, however,
had been prepared under the directions of the Board ofAd-
miralty. The plan proposed by Messrs. Rennie and
Whidbey consisted of a Pier or Breakwater across Ply-
mouth Sound, of 1,700 yards in length at the top, 1,000
of which at the middle part was to be straight, and 350
yards at each end was to incline to the straight part in
an angle of about 20 degrees, leaving an opening at
either end for the passage of vessels, &c. The top of
the Breakwater was to be ten yards in width at the level
of ten feet above the lower water of an ordinary spring
tide, and to have a slope on the south or sea side, of
three feet horizontal to one foot perpendicular, and on
the north or land side, one and a half horizontal to one
perpendicular. The work was to be constructed by
blocks of stone, thrown promiscuously into the sea, in
the line of the intended Breakwater, leaving them to
find their own base, and the top was to be composed of
a cut stone pier.
This report and plan was very favourably received,
but owing to frequent changes in the Government and
other causes, the commencement of the Breakwater was
delayed, and it was not until the 22d of June, 1811, that
the order of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent in.
Council was issued for that purpose. The necessary
steps were immediately taken to carry out that order,
and in the beginning of 1812, twenty-five acres of lime-
stock rock, situated at Oreston, adjoining the harbour of
Catwater, were purchased for a sum of 10,000/. The
first stone of the work was laid on the 12th of August,
1812, after which vessels continued to discharge their
cargoes, consisting of stones of from half a ton to 7 tons
in weight, upon the line of the direction of the intended
work. By the 30th of March, 1813, a small part of the
Breakwater was visible at low water, and by the 30th of
July following the work was dry at low water to the ex-
tent of about 720 yards. The work progressed so rapidly
that in the month of March, 1814, first-rate ships
of war were enabled to anchor in the Sound, instead of
in Cawsand Bay as they had previously done. In No-
vember 1814, it was determined to bring up the Break-
water to the height of 20 feet above low water of spring
tides, and to finish it with rubble instead of with a cut
stone pier as originally intended. In August, 1815,
1,100 of the 1,700 yards of the intended length of the
Breakwater were brought up above the level of low
water, spring tides. Up to .this time 615,057 tons of
stone had been deposited. The first storm which mate-
rially effected the work, occurred in January 1837 ;
and in the month of November, 1825, another storm
occurred, far exceeding in violence any that had pre-
ceeded it since the work began. The wind blew from the
S.S.E. to S.W. and the tine rose seven feet higher than
the usual flow of spring tides. At this period, 1,241 yards
in length of the Breakwater were completed, of which 796
yards were overturned and deposited upon the northern
slope, during the storm (which lasted only a few hours)
leaving only 445 yards remaining not much damaged at
the east end of the main arm. The slope•as left by the sea on
this occasion from low water upwards was about 5 feet
horizontal to 1 foot perpendicular and in some places ra-
ther more. It was therefore determined in April 1825,
to form the Breakwater regularly from the level of low
water, spring tides, with a casing of rough squared blocks
of granite and limestone on the top and on the exterioror
south side with a slope of 5 to 1, and on the inner or
north side with rough blocks of limestone with a slope of
2to 1. It was also determined to change the centre line
by placing it 39 feet 6 inches to the northward, so as to
leave the great mass of materials to seaward, and to in-
crease the width on the top to 45 feet. I may here remark
that although the Breakwater was so much affected
by this great storm, and considerable damage was sus-
tained by the shipping then in the harbour, yet the
generally received opinion was, that had the Breakwater
not been in existence, the shipping would have sustained
still greater damage, and the lower part of the town of
Plymouth been swept away. In 1830 it was found
necessary still to add to the south side, by depositing
about 60,000 tons of stone as a foreshore, fifty feet
in width from the top of the south slope at low water at
the west end, and 30 feet at the east end of the main

arm. In 1833 it was proposed to complete the extreme
western end of the Breakwater with a circular head of
solid masonry with an inverted arch as the foundation
of an intended lighthouse. In February, 1838, a storm
removed about 8,000 tons of stone from the foreshore at
the west end, and threw them over to the north side, and
disturbed a portion of the masonry, where it was uncon-
nected or in an unfinished state. A further extension
of the foreshore at this part was consequently agreed
upon. Another severe storm in November of the same
year, producing nearly similar results, occasioned the
construction of a buttress not only for the purpose of se:
curing the foot of the south slope, but also to afford
protection to the intended lighthouse, by breaking the
force of the sea, and preventing the stones composing the
foreshore from beating against the lighthouse. The force
of the sea at this part of the work is so consider-
able, that stones of 15 and even twenty tons have been
taken from low water, and carried over the top of the
work. The buttress as, well as the work in progress
round the west-end at the foot of the slope at low water
is composed of granite masonry, dove-tailed horizontally,
and vertically fixed with iron lewes or cramps, the rough
blocks formerly deposited being first removed by the aid
of a diving-bell, to the depth of from 3 to 5 feet below
low water, and the masonry then laid at the above men-
tioned level. It was originally calculated that 2,000,000
tons of stone would be required to construct a Breakwa-
ter according to the plan of Messrs. Rennie and Whid-
bey, but from the various extensions of the work, the
quantity has necessarily increased,i and the total amount
deposited since the commencement of the work on the
12th August 1812, up to the 31st July, 1841, was
3,377,068 tons. The greatest number otton3solstontieles
deposited in any one week amounted t 041 2,, ,and
greatest quantity in any one year to 332, 075.
The estimated cost of the Breakwater, as originally
planned in 1806, was 1,013,9001., but this amount cannot
fairly be brought into comparison with the actual
out-
lay, owing to the frequent alterations which, have taken
se_
place in the mode of executing the work, and the con
for
Tient increase in the quantity of materials required
the purpose. The expenditure upon the whole under-
taking up to this period has nevertheless only amounted
to 1,111,7001.; and the cost of the Breakwater when
completed (including the Lighthouse) will not exceed
1,300,0001. I have mentioned the exact expenditure
upon the work because various erroneous statements
have been put forth in print and otherwise upon the
subject. In a recent publication it is said that three
millions of money have been already expended, and
but a few days since it was stated in the course of the
reading of a paper in this section that three such
Breakwaters would cost six millions of money. The
lighthouse tower intended to be erected on the western
end of the Breakwater was commenced on the 22d of

February last upon an inverted arch, which had been
previously brought up from below low water of spring
tides, and is now in progress. It is to be of granite
14 feet in diameter in the clear, and the centre of the
light will be 55 feet from the top of the Breakwater.
This lighthouse, when completed, will supersede the light
vessel now moored at the west end of the Breakwater,
where it was stationed in 1813, since which time, al-
though strongly fastened, it has more than once broken
adrift. Having now briefly noticed some of the leading
points in the progress of the stone Breakwater, I will
refer to some of Vie Breakwaters which, prior to its
commencenn nt, were nroposed to be constructed of
other materials. One of these was to be of cast iron,
proposed by an offieer of Vie Royal Navy in 1804.
Others, two of stone and ole of woud, Were proposed ii
1811 by Mr. Bentham. His wooden llreakivater was t(
consist of 117 floats of wood of a tr:awnlar or rather
prismatic form ; each float to be 30 feet in breadth and
depth, 60 feet in length, and to be paid over with oil of
tar, and other cheap tar, and to be held in their places
by means of iron chains. Mr. Bentham estimated the
expense of such a floating Breakwater, including moor-
ing chains and fastenings, a.. 201,8251. He submitted
his plan to the Government in 1811, but they neverthe-
less determined. upoja dip construction of a stone Break-
Water. . It isclear, ihdn, that plans for iron and wooden,
as well as for stone Breakwaters for the protection of
Plymouth Sound, were submitted to the Government of
the day prior to the commencement of the present one,
although it has been stated that had a plan for a wooden
Breakwater been submitted to the Government a great
saving to the country might have been effected. Thirty
years have since elapsed, and my own opinion is now, as

it ever has been, that the Government .acted wisely in
determining upon a stone in preference to a wooden
Breakwater for Plymouth Sound.
I will now allude to another and certainly an impor-
tant question, which has been recently mooted in refe-
rence to the results said to have been produced by the
Stone Breakwater on the harbour of Plymouth, I refer
to the accumulation of mud and silt, and consequent loss
of five feet in the depth of water. I exceedingly regret
that I had not an opportunity of being
_present at the
Geological Section, when a paper was read by Mr. Wil-
liam Walker, on " Submarine Geological changes pro-
duced by Pholas at Plymouth," as it was not announced
in the printed Journal of Sectional Proceedings for the
day. It has been asserted that the accumulation has
taken place in the Sound, and that a decrease in the
depth of the water has taken place to the extent
which I have just named, and this is attri-
buted to the erection of the Breakwater. Referring to
the original report of Messrs. Rennie and Whidbey, I
find the following statement, respecting the settlement of
mud and silt, in the Sound :—" From conversing with
pilots, and various other intelligent men w hom ♦re met
at Plymouth, we have reason to believe the depth of
water in the Sound is on the decrease, by the settlement
of mud and silt brought down by the rivers from the in-
terior country, and also by the embankment of the mud
lands within, thus diminishing the ancient receptacles
of the waters of the tide, which both in its flux and re-
flux occasions a powerful scour in its passage through
the Sound."

The fact is, that a recent enclosure of 275 acres of
the backwater of the Catwater above Laira bridge had
just taken place, and it seems evident, I think, from
this observation, that mud and silt was then in the
Sound. On a consideration, however, of the whole
question, whether the plan of a Breakwater, as proposed
by them, would have any material effect upon the Sound,
Messrs. Rennie and Whidbey were of opinion that there
was no possible danger of its becoming more shallow,
and that no further deposition of silt or mud would take
place, except, indeed, immediately without and within
the Breakwater itself, out of which they conceived no in-
jury would accrue. The question now arises, what effect
has the Breakwater had upon Plymouth Sound ? Has
it decreasad the depth of water there ? and, if so, to
the depth of five feet, as alleged ? The question is in-
deed a most important one, and if there be any.truth in
the allegation, it may be fairly asked, " How is it that
the authorities have not investigated the subject ?"
We have already seen that the Breakwater originated
with the Government, and having been constructed
under the immediate direction of the Admiralty, it may
seem strange that their Lordships have not entered
upon the consideration of a subject so vitally affecting
this naval and maritime port. But let me inform you
that their Lordships have not overlooked the sub-
ject, they have had it investigated, and I cannot
but think that, when statements are put forth as to the
filling up of the Plymouth Sound, some reference, at
least, should be made to such investigation. In conse-
quence of a communication, made in July, 1838, to the
naval authorities of this port, to the effect that a deposit
was then going on in the Sound, the Admiralty directed
Mr. James Walker, Civil Engineer, to report fully upon
the subject, and the best means of providing against the
apprehended injury to the anchorage. Mr. Walker,
after a very long and laborious investigation of the sub-
ject, and after having had a minute survey made of
Plymouth Sound, in the progress of which upwards of
2,000 soundings were taken, reported to the Admiralty
in 1840, that, taking the mean of all the soundings that
could be supposed to be affected by the Breakwater,
the result was, that there was but very little increase or
decrease, and that, if there was any decrease of depth
in the Sound (except close to the Breakwater, and which
could produce no practical evil), this was certain,
that if *had taken place it was but small, certainly not
enough tAlkause alarm, or to justify expensive measures
for removing the cause. So much then for the allega-
tion of a decrease of five feet in the depth of the water
in the Plymouth Sound. But now to the question of the
submarine agency. I have been connected with the
Breakwater since its commencement, and have conse-
quently had the most ample means of watching the
pholas, which, according to the opinion of some parties,
are destined ultimately to destroy the work. The follow-
is the result of my observations :—The perforation
of limestone by the pholas only takes place at that
part of the work which is between the low water of
spring tides, and the low water of neap tides ; this per-
foration only occurs upon the outer surface of the stone.
and to a depth not exceeding three inches. I have
never discovered any such perforation in the interior
of the work, although I have recently had occasion,
in the execution of the Breakwater, to remove •stones
by the aid of a diving bell to the depth of five feet
below low water, which had been deposited there
upwards of twenty-five years. I am aware that loose
stones have been taken up from beaches and from the
bottom of the Sound, perforated by the pholas, but they
must have been perforated before they got to such places,
for the pholas have never on such occasions been found
alive. The Breakwater has, indeed, realised the expecta-
tions of its warmest friends, and if the opinion of one
who has been connected with the undertaking throughout
is to be relied on, the Members of the British Associa-
tion, the inhabitants of Plymouth, and the public gene-
rally, need be under no apprehension that the anchorage
in the Sound will be destroyed by the accummulation of
mud, or that the Breakwater itself will ever be lost to
this country by the submarine agency in question.
The thanks of the Section were then given to Mr.
Stuart. _ _ _

In the course of the reading of the paper, Mr. Stuart
produced a Chart of Plymouth Sound, on a large scale,
with the recent soundings ; a Plan and Section of the
Breakwater, as originally designed, showing the several
alterations, and its present state ; also a model of the cir-
cular head and inverted arch of a plan of the lighthouse,
as now constructing.

THE FARMERS' INTEREST BRISK

TRADE.

Farmers, who reside near large town's. are sufficiently
alive to the importance of manufacturing prosperity.
They know that every additional factory gives new im-
petus to the demand for their field and dairy produce,
and that every new hand employed adds so many shil-
lings to the amount of money turned in the weekly
market. All this is obvious, and all this is admitted
even by the greatest sticklers for the Corn-laws. But
there is another advantage, less obvious, but more direct,
which the farmer derives from brisk trade—a decrease
of the competition of his own business. This we have
alluded to before, but it has not been dwelt on,
either here or in any other agricultural district, so
much as it deserves. The farmer, like the cotton-
spinner, is a capitalist. He sets out with a certain
amount of money and skill, and he looks about him
for the best investment he can find. If there be
plenty of farms in the market and few persons look-
ing after them, he will be able to make a good bargain,
and sit down at such a rent as will leave him a due
reward for his skill and labour, and a fair profit for
his capital. But if there be few farms in the market,
and a great number of " bidders" for them, the chances
are that he will get such a " down-sitting" as will force
him to scrape his last farthing together, at term time, to
make up his rent.
Now, what are the circumstances in which farms are
plenty and tenants comparatively scarce ? A prosperous
state of manufactures. Walter Dawson, Hillhead, had
a long lease of his farm at a very moderate rent.
He had lived comfortably, and in his latter years rather
genteelly, but his lease was nearly out ; and although
he could not expect to last long, and had saved as much
as would serve his own turn, and, perhaps, a little more,
he had four sons grown or growing up, and he
wished, of course, that they should be pro-
vided for. Hillhead, even at an advanced rent,
would do for one of them, but what was to be made
of the other three ? They could not get farms with-
out bidding against their neighbours, and taking
possession at a rent too high ; and they were unwilling,
of course, to descend to the station of farm-labourers.
Emigration was put in their view, but they did not wish
to separate so far from their old parents. Fortunately, it
was a time of brisk trade, and, by a little good manage-
ment, old Walter got the three provided for in the
neighbouring town.. One obtained a situation as second
clerk in a new factory, another opened a large meal-
store, and the third went into company with a baker
and grain-merchant. The whole three succeeded in
business, and Hillhead was left to the eldest son, who
resides there with his wife and his mother (the old man
being dead, and has the happiness of meeting his bro-
thers and their wives at the new-year and other holiday
times.
This is one picture ; let us turd to another. John
Grassly occupies a farm in Aberdeenshire on a nine-
teen years' lease ; but as he had worked out the tail
of a long lease
tha before, he is generally understood to
as
be well to do inworld. He has only three sons,
but
into manho
close on each other, they grew
at
dt
up they fo
od lowed
the same time. All of
them had assisted
ocand were, to some extent, acquainted c
a
s
ionally
about the farm town,
with the principles
and practice of agriculture. The second had been for
some time in a lawyer's office in Aberdeen, but he soon
perceived that the profession wasoavdeerstocked, and wisely
abandoned it. An attempt was m
to procure a cadet-
ship in the East India Company's service
but it failed; and thus, about four
and ie third,
ago,old John
found himself, with three sons on his hand,
them provided for. He tried Aberdeen for clerkships,nof
partnerships, or feasible openings, in any line of business,
but none were to be got; trade was dull, and there was
not even employment for the youths belonging to the town
who wished to wear good coats. John had a little spare
money and some bank shares, so he set next about at
tending " farm lettings." After much difficulty, and add-
ing 20/. or 30/. a-year to the rents of at least half-a-dozen
of his neighbours, he succeeded in procuring, two
years ago, a lease of two hundred acres, on which
he has settled his eldest son. He overbade, by
thirty pounds, the former occupant, who, being unable
to find a place to suit him, has sold off his stock, and
gone with his family to Australia. The farm which
young Grassly has got, is said to be high rented ; and it
is doubted whether, even with the assistance of his
father, he will be able to set out his lease. For a year I
after the settlement of the first son, old John, naturally
anxious to have his childrendnear him, cast about for
farms for the other two, but he was unsuccessful ; so,
after adding considerably to the rent of many a poor
fellow, he has been forced, at last, to give the two lads
a sort of outfit, and send them abroad. The names in
these stories are, of course, fictitious ; but few of our
country readers will find difficulty in applying them'to
circumstances that have come within their own know-
ledv ; nor will they fail to draw the moral, that farmers
have a clear and direct interest in promoting any mea-
sure that will add to the prosperity of manufactures
and commerce.

The agricultural population increases in nearly an
equal ratio with the manufacturing. Farmers will marry
and have sons ; their sons must be provided for, and un-
less they are drawn off by the large towns, or by emigra-
tion, they remain in the country only to add to the ex-
isting over-competition for farms. This might be all
well, if the number of farms went on increasing with

the increase of applicants for them ; but while the peo-
ple of this country have grown from twelve to twenty-
four millions, the farms have rather decreased in num-
ber.. Great Britain has not grown an inch larger ; and,
although some spots here and there have been brought
into cultivation, there has been no demand for more
farmers. The new land has, in general, been added to
old holdings, and the policy of landlords—their desire
to make the most of their property—has led to the junc-
tion of farms rather than to their splitting up.
What, then, are our farmers to do ? The baneful
Corn-laws have closed up every avenue to employ-
ment for their sons and daughters in large towns,
and the effect of competition on themselves, arising
chiefly from this cause, has so raised their rents,
that they cannot save money to keep their families
in genteel idleness. Will they go on—nay, can they
go on, rearing a population for Australia and the Ame-
ricas, and spending all their spare money in outfits ? Or
will they join their fellow capitalists, the manufacturers,
in demanding a change in our commercial policy, which
will provide employment at home, and profitable em-
ployment too, for all classes of the community ? Of
this they may rest assured, even for a short time, to live
comfortably they must either get rid of the restrictions
on commerce, or apply restrictions elsewhere. There
is now for the people of this country no medium between
free trade and the stern application, either voluntary or
involuntarily, of the Malthusian checks on population.
Indeed, starvation and poverty have been at work already.
It is hard to say how far moral restraint may yet have
come into operation ; but the late census of the large
towns shows that the cruel necessity of keeping down
the number of mouths to the amount of bread, has not
newly arisen.—Aberdeen Herald.

VISIT OF THE BLIND TO GART-
SHERRIE IRON WORKS.
On 'riday last, we had the satisfaction of accom-
panying Mr. Alston, and about 40 of the young male
and female inmates of the Blind Asylum—an Institution
which almost entirely owes its prosperity to his benevo-
lent perseverance—on a pleasure trip to Gartsherrie Iron
Works. The party was also accompanied by Mr. Finlay,
the teacher of reading and arithmetic ; Mr. Orme, the
teacher of music ; Miss Lamond, the matron, and her
assistants ; and railway carriages were placed at their
disposal by the kindness of Mr. King, the Secretary to
, the Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway. As this mode of
travelling was entirely new to almost all the blind
youngsters, their sensations appeared to be those of
mingled awe and pleasure—the former, however, pre-
dominating, as they became sensible that they
were really being dragged along at lightning
speed at the tail of a locomotive. The snorting of
the engine seemed to the younger class of tourists a
matter quite inexplicable, and one of the little fellows, in
commenting on its powers, summed up by saying—" But
d'ye hear, man, how terribly it's hosting (coughing) ?"
The country along the line was explained to the blind by
Mr. Alston and the teachers ; but on the whole there
was little to interest or instruct the party until they
reached the heart of the iron district, or land of fire,
which is illuminated night and day by the vast furnaces
of Gartsherrie, Dundyvan, &c. At Gartsherrie, they
were received by Messrs. James and George Baird, who
conducted them into the centre of the square, around
which fifteen or sixteen distinct volumes of flame shot
up from as many furnace craters. The operation of con-
verting the stone into a burning liquid, and then mould-
ing it into bar or pig iron, from which steel and malle-
able metal were afterwards formed, was fully detailed to
the blind visitors ; they were taken near enough
to be sensible of the vast heat 'of the furnaces, handled
the bars, and felt the sandy moulds in which they
were produced. Their anxiety for information on
every point Was eager as it was creditable, and before
they left Gartsherrie furnace square, they seemed to
have made themselves fully acquainted with all the
details of the process. From thence the party was con-
ducted over railway paths, and horrid roads, to the
handsome church which has recently been erected upon
the brow of a hill overlooking the dense populations of
Coatbridge, Sunnyside, &c., where busy thousands have
sprung up as it were since yesterday. The inhabitants
observing that something unusual was on foot, flocked in
considerable numbers to the church. Here Mr. Alston
took one of the boys to the precentor's desk, who turned
up and read passages, selected at random, from holy writ,
with the most perfect ease and fluency; and it seemed to
afford matter of no slight surprise to the villagers that a
blind boy could read as well, or better, by means of his
fingers, than their own childen by the aid of their eyes.
Several pieces of vocal music followed, under the direction
of Mr. Orme, and from the harmony of the parts, and the
proficiency of the male and female vocalists, this was no
less pleasing than the reading had been interesting. The
assemblage, so hastily called together, was then dismissed,
and the blind were treated to a refreshment in the ses-
sion-house. While the party were making ready to re-
turn, Mr. Alston, and a friend or two who accompanied
him, were invited to Gartsherrie Cottage, where they
were introduced to the newly elected Member
for the Falkirk Burghs, and Mr. Alston's visit was
amply repaid by an unexpected donation of 401. to the
funds of the Institution, viz., 101. from Mr. Baird, M.P.,
and 101. each from Messrs. James, Douglas, and George
Baird. And Mr. Alston further thinks that by this
visit he has sown the seed which will fructify in a
pecuniary return before a lengthened lapse of time
Having completed their visit, the youngsters were con-
ducted to their seats in the train, and were whisked
into town, full of gratitude, and anxiously comparing
notes regarding all they had felt and heard. 44 Small
things are great to little men," and on this principle
those who enjoy a weekly ruralising trip to the
country or coast, have little notion of the pleasure
which a jaunt like this, that, like Christmas, comes
only once a year, affords to the inmates of the Blind
Asylum—the delight with which its coming is regarded,
and the food for reflection and pleasing converse which
it leaves behind.
We are gratified that Mr. Alston gOes on persever-
ingly and successfully with his printing for the blind,
and has now produced the largest library for this unfor-
tunate class of our fellow-creatures, which exists in the
kingdom or out of it. In addition to the whole of the
Bible, in 15 volumes, he has produced more than twenty
other works on religious, scientific, and instructive sub-
jects ; and in the present week will finish the printing of
the metrical version of the Psalms, according to the
Church of England. He next, we believe, intends to
turn his attention to bringing out " Goldsmith's His-
tory of rtOme," and some of the popular publications of
the Messrs. Chambers, which are known as the " Lite-
rature of the People." We take pleasure in mentioning
a circumstance most creditable to the liberal feeling of
these gentlemen,—viz., that they have allowed Mr. Al-
ston to make use of and print any or all of their works,
without any charge for copyright, or consideration in
lieu of it ; and this must be held as contributing a valu-
able mite to the blind when we look to the care, ability,
and expense, with which these publications are got up.
—Glasgow Herald.