The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-09-17 00:00:00

SELECTIONS.

BLAIR ATHOLL CASTLE AND ITS SCENERY.
The following description of this ancient Scottish for-
tress, which has been selected for the autumnal residence
of her Majesty and the Prince Consort, may be read with
interest at the present moment:—
Blair Atholl Castle, and the Pass of Killcrankie, are
the most commanding and interesting objects in the dis-
trict of Atholl in the county of Perth. The castle, the
ancient residence of the Dukes of Atholl, stands on an
extensive plain, known as the Blair, or Vale of Atholl ;
and, in point of strength and situation, was well calculated
to serve as a post of defence. With such facility, and
being the only fortress commanding the pass, it was re-
peatedly taken and garrisoned by the rival armies, which
ultimately lost and won this key to the Highlands. It
was besieged and taken by Montrose, in consequence of
its garrison having presumed to check his progress. Col.
Daniel, an officer in Cromwell's army, took it by storm
some ten years later; and in 1689, it occasioned, what was
justly termed tae most important event of the day, the
battle of Kilcrankie. In the last rebellion its garrison,
under the command of Sir Andrew Agnew, foiled the
rebels in two separate attempts to reduce it. But at last
the noble proprietor, seeing that he had but little pros-
pect of ever enjoying domestic tranquility whilst the
mansion was in a condition to serve as a rallying post in
every civil commotion, dismantled its towers, lowered it
by three stories, and reduced the warlike fortress of his
ancestors into a common-place family residence. By this
decisive measure, it has gained in security what it lost in
picturesque effect, and in these peaceful times, with its
magnificent curtain of umbrageous woods and mountains,
watered by two rivers, embellished by the hand of art,
and stocked with every species of wild game, from the
roebuck to the ptarmigan, it presents one of the most
attractive domaina in Scotland.
The pass of Kilcrankie, which communicated with the
Blair of Atholl, stretches for the space of a mile or up-
wards along the termination of the river Garry. The
bills rise from the bed of the river in steep gradation,
flanking it on the western bank with a precipitous wall.
The bold rocks lining its channel are mantled over with
masses of waving ash, birch, and oak, the light and grace-
ful foliage of which, moving and changing its hue with
every breeze, contrasts finely with the bleak crags that
start at intervals through its leafy screen, and at length
soar into the abrupt and rugged outline of Ben-Vracky.
The situation of Fascally-house, at the entrance to the
pass, is singularly romantic.
This pass, in reference to its military history, has been
styled the Scottish " Thermopylae," and till the present
road was constructed, might have been called, with no
less propriety, the " Via Mala" of Scotland. But the
dangers of the pass, which contributed not a little to its
sublimity, have disappeared with the progress of art, and
those unprecedented facilities of intercourse which have
been thrown open by modern enterprise. On the bleak
surface of the moors stretching along the frontiers of
Perth and Inverness, many pillars and cairns, memorials
of those who have perished in the snow, or fallen in
battle, give melancholy interest to the scene. At Damns-
spidal are the remains of an encampment occupied by
Cromwell's troops. Here, also, in the last rebellion,
General Cope drew up his army in expectation of an
attack, but quitting his position to continue his march
o thward, threw own the pass to the Highlanders.
The gardens of Atholl Castle extend along the Tay,
and command the most delightful and picturesque views.
In the immediate vicinity of the Castle several thousand
acres of forest trees were planted between forty and fifty
years ago, greatly improving and ornamenting' the scenery
around the Duke's domain. On the opposite side of the
Tay is Birnham-hill, the lower part of which was covered
with trees in the time of Macbeth, and now celebrated
for its blue slate quarries. The extensive lawn on which
the Castle stands is nearly 430 feet above the level of the
sea at Panbride. On the river Bruar, about three miles
from the village of Blair, there are several beautiful cas-
cades, one of which is between 150 and 200 feet in
height.
Amongst the various monuments of antiquity. in the
united parishes of Blair and Strowan, the following may
be mentioned :—Near Atholl Castle, on the east bank of
the rapid Tilt, is Chaghghl-Aindreas, or cemetery of
Andrew's disciples, where numerous bones have been
found entire, in coffins composed of flat stones. To the
southward of this formerly stood Andersmass market,
now held at Perth. On the same bank of the Tilt, about
a quarter of a mile from this spot, is one of those
singularly constructed round castles or towers, in former
times so fre, u ntly to be met with in Scotland; and close
to:this stands Tom-a-vuir, or the hill of the fort, on a
steep bank of the river. A short distance eastward of
the Tilt, in Strathjoy, are the ruins of two round castles,
on the top of a ridge, fortified with double, and in some
places, treble ditches. One of the greatest objects of
interest near this spot is a sacrificing cairn, sixty paces
in circumference, having several large flagstones curtia'e
summit, which formed the altar • and near it are two
obelisks, apparently part of a temple. Upon the Loth-
sin, which flows from Lochloch towards the Tilt, stand
the vestiges of a house in which the Earl of Atholl en-
tertained James V. and his followers, and which the Earl
burnt to the ground the moment the King had taken his
departure. We have not room to describe a tithe of the
interesting localities of the mountainous and diversified
territory of Atholl.—Glasgow Mail.

AN EFFECTIVE REPLY.—When Queen Elizabeth,
soon after her accession, wished to retain in her council
some zealous popish lords, Sir Nicholas Throckinorton
insisted on their dismissal. The queen, irritated by the
freedom of his remonstrances, exclaimed, " God's death,
villain ! 1 will have thy head !" a remark which proves
that swearing was an accomplishment of her youth.
Throckmorton very coolly replied to this threat, " You
will do well, madam, to consider, in that case, how you
will afterwards keep your own on your shoulders."—
Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England.
THE JEWISH BURYING-GROUND AT JEHOSHAPHAT.
—Returning along the valley of Jehoshaphat, and passing
along its eastern sides, we came to the great burying-
ground of the Jews. It looks more like a paved court,
and I walked over it without at first perceiving it. Among
the monuments are four unique in their appearance and
construction, and known from time immemorial as the
tombs of Absalom, Jehoshaphat, St. James, and the pro-
phet Zechariah. All are cut out of the solid rock. The
tomb of Absalom is a single stone as large as an ordinary
two-story house, and ornamented with twenty-four semi-
columns of the Doric order, supporting a triangular py-
ramidal top. The top is battered and defaced, and no one,
whether Muslim, Jew, or Christian, ever passes through
the Valley of Jehoshaphat without casting a stone at the
sepulchre of the rebellious son. No regular entrance to it
has ever been discovered ; and the only way of getting into
the interior is by a hole broken for the purpose in one of
the sides. Notwithstanding the specific names given to
these tombs, it is altogether uncertain to what age they
belong; and it is generally considered that the style of ar-
chitecture precludes the supposition that, they are the
work of Jewish builders.—Library of Travel, Ne. 5.
ORIGIN OF THE BOROUGH GAOL.—The Borough Gaol
is situated in Great Howard-street, (so called after the
philanthropist, from whose designs and by whose archi-
tect, Mr. Blackburn, this immense prison was built.) It
was formerly called the French Prison, being used as a
receptacle for prisoners taken during the war. The cap-
tives were treated with the utmost kindness, supplied with
every comfort, and it is a well known fact, that during
the severe winter of 1795-6, they were supplied with bet-
ter bread than even many respectable families in the town
could procure. They were allowed to manufacture trin-
kets, toys, &c. for their amusement. They had a little
theatre erected, at which on one occasion, £5O was taken
at the door. Amongst the prisoners was an extraordinary
er
man named Charles Domery, y, who, in the presence of Dr.
m
Cochrane, other medical gentlemen, and Admiral Child,
devoured 111bs. of raw meat, 2lbs. of candles, and drank
He five bottles of porter. preferredpplied
raw meat to any other
sort of food, and though ,11 with the rations of ten
men, complained of being badly served.
In one year, he
devoured 174 cats, besides rats and dogs;n
into food, fact, nothing'
living that could be converted
, upwsarClshoisf'
prison was
appetite. At the peace of 1%02
1100 prisoners were liberated. In 1811, the
devoted to other purposes, being converted into a gaol for.
debtors, who were removed to it from the Tower. Felons
also were confined within its walls at first, but they were
afterwards located in Kirkdale Gaol. The original cot
of this erection was £20,000, to which the sum of £lO,OOO
may be added for alterations. This prison has contained
at one time 2000 persons ; the circumference outside is a
quarter of a mile. We cannot refrain from quoting She-
ridan on the subject of imprisonment.
Of old to debtors who insolvent died,
Egypt the rites of sepulture denied;
A different trade enligh'ened Christians drive,
And charitably bury them alive. -
—Lacey's Pictorial Handbook.

BLACKPOOL CHURCHYARD contains two inscriptions
possessing melancholy interest. The first is on a tablet
, recording the death of Major Sparks and Miss Leach,
who were drowned while leaving the vessel that had
brought them from Canada, in Oct. last. It was said that
they had become attached to each ether during the voyage,
and contemplated= being married on reaching England.
Alas! by what frail tenure are our brightest hopes held.
Just as they were about to consummate their wishes,
they were suddenly deprived of their existence; and now
silently repose together in the same grave!-1 he next
memento in that burying-place, is that recording the
death of Betty Butcher, who died in the veer 1829.
Betty was a neatly-dressing, good-looking girl of 21 ; and
had won the affections of the son of a neighbouring far-
mer. Betty was only a fisherman's daughter, and her
union with Walter Crag was not approved by his
friends. Walter, however, sincerely loved Betty ; and she
warmly reciprocated the feeling. Going to the well one
day to fetch her a pitcher cf water, he unfortunately fell
therein, and was suffocated before he could be rescued
from his perilous situation. This untoward event weighed
heavily upon Betty's mind, and she pined and died a few
months afterwards.
BETHLEHEM.—The first appearance of Bethlehem is
very striking in whatever direction it is approached ; and
it does not require even the hallowed scenes and the asso-
ciations connected with its history—though they certainly
give it an additional interest—to arrest the attention of the
traveller, and bid him gaze upon the picturesque hill that
rises in parterres of vineyards, almond groves, and fig
plantations, watered by gentle rivulets that murmur
through these terraces ; and diversified by the tower and
the wine-press. It is a straggling village, with one prin-
cipal street, and is said to contain about 3000 inhabitants,
most of them Arab Christians, and a peculiarly determined
race, who give their oppressive rulers no little trouble.
We proceeded to the fortress-like convent, and saw in its
low door a curious evidence of the turbulence of the land.
It is not four feet high, being made thus low to prevent
the marauding Arabs from riding boldly into the house.
The monks were at prayers when we arrived, and follow-
ing one of the brothers through the great church down a
marble staircase, and along a subterranean corridor, we
stood in the grotto called the Chapel of the Nativity.
This place is declared, grossly in defiance of probability,
to be the very stable where the Saviour was born, and a
niche in a wall contains a very handsome white marble
trough like a sarcophagus, which is shown as the very
manger in which the infant Jesus was laid.—Library of
Travel.

LIVERPOOL IN THE OLDEN TlMe.—Our first day's
ramble we will devote to an inspection of the Prince's,
Waterloo, Victoria, Trafalgar, and Clarence Docks. As
we stand in St. Nicholas' Church Yard, by the flight of
steps leading to the lower portion of " homes of many a
household," and cast our eyes northward upon the
forest of masts, from which pennants of all colours are
gaily fluttering, and measure with the eye the distance be-
tween the river and the spot whereon we stand, we can
scarcely believe it possible, that in the span of a man's
life this mighty encroachment upon the stream could have
been effected. Beneath the churchyard wall, a century
ago, the angry waves boiled and bristled up, on boisterous
nights and wild days, the raging current sweeping along,
unimpeded, from the sea. This wall was the outward
limit of ancient Liverpool towards the west ; and all her
docks, and quays, and streets beyond this line are artifi-
cial. The original shore of the river being now occupied
by Strand-street. Reference to a map will explain this
at a glance. The old record tells us that the sea wall in
1655 was greatly damaged by a storm, " in which diverse
pinnacles of the chapell, of this town of Liverpoole, were
blown downe, and with falling broken all to pieces and
other hurts of glass windows, but to say the truth, fur-
' ther in the night of storm was a part of our chapell walls
of this towne, next the tall sea mark, bursten and washen
out, and some of the greater stones moved, which the ex-
tremeness of the seas carried cix or seven yards."—
Lacey's Pictorial Handbook of Liverpool.
CAPTAIN WARNER'S EXPERIMENT.—When Captain
Warner spsaks of his six-mile range, for which he re-
quired but a two-pounder, he states a physical impossi-
bility in the present state of chemical science; and Capt.
Warner is certainly not one in whom any reasonable hope
could be indulged, that by his knowledge any advance
will be made. By the use of the fulminates, nothing
would be gained, for with compounds so loosely held to-
gether, there appears no certainty; they are all liable to
spontaneous decomposition. The fulminate of mercury
was considered safe while mixed with spirit of wine, yet
while in this state it exploded, and Mr. Hennell, of the
Apothecaries Hall, was destroyed by it. Mr. Eley, the
inventor of the wire cartridges, who had repeatedly mixed
his fulminate of mercury, perished from the explosion of
a pound of this highly dangerous composition. A French
vessel, fitted, during the French war, with some new de-
tonating compounds, was never heard of after it sailed
from Toulon. The large gun made for Mehemet Ali, re-
quiring a charge of 40 lbs., and throwing a ball of 480 lbs.,
is considered too dangerous to use. Rockets of 100 lbs.
are not found to move one yard. There appears to be a
limit to destructive powers, and we have reason to thank
Heaven it is so. The service may be improved, rockets
may eventually be made to go straight, shells may be made
percussioned, and a greater precision given to cannon
firing. It is possible, by the introduction of the patent
principle of Mr. Harding's new gun, which has given
so great an increase to the power of sporting guns, we may
improve that of the cannon ; but these, if effected, would
be but a slight step to realising the theories of Warner or
of Normandy. The evil they cause, and that is a serious
though unavoidable one, is that scientific characters are
debarred from the ground these enthusiasts claim as their
own. Every application for experiment is now refused at
Woolwich, because ninety-eight out of a hundred appli-
cants prove to be ignorant adventurers.—Polylechn.Rev.
LANDING OF THE BRITISH IN HOLLAND DURING
THE FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WAR.—" War is of all
things the most picturesque, and there never was a gala
on the waters of the Adriatic more gay or glittering than
our landing. But we had infinitely the advantage in the
numbers, the brilliancy, and, what gave a higher feeling
to the whole, in the reality of all its objects. This was no.
painted pageant ; it was real strength, real soldiership ;
the cannon that roared above our heads, as we descended
into the boats, were the thunders which had shaken many
a battlement ; the flotilla of launches, long-boats, and
cutters, which covered the sea, was manned with the
soldiers and sailors sent forth to fight the battle of human
freedom on every shore of the globe. The ships were
that British fleet whose name was synonymous with the
noblest exploits of war, and which it would have been
well worth going round the circumference of the globe to
see. On this night we bivouacked ; the shore offered no
human habitation, and it was too late for the landing of
our tents. But the sand was dry ; our fires were soon
lighted; all was sport aiid activity; our bands played
' Welcome to Holland ;' our men danced with the pea-
santry ; all had the look of a magnificent frolic • and,
when at last I threw myself on my open air pillow, I
dreamed of fairy-land. At daybreak we marched, in the
highest spirits, and only longed to try our strength with
the enemy. From time to time, the sound of a cannonade
reached us, and heightened our eagerness to advance.
But Holland is proverbially difficult for any movements
but those of a trackschuyt • and the endless succession of
narrow roads, the perpetual canals, and the monotony of
her level field., rich as th-y were, exhausted us, more
than if we had marched twice the distance. But the spell
of human hearts is excitement, and war is all excitement.
All round us was new, and from the colonel to the rank
and file, the " general camp, poineers and all," enjoyed
the quaint novelty of Dutch life. The little villages, so
unlike our own, and yet so admirably fitted for peasant
comfort, the homesteads embedded in plantations of wil-
lows, the neatness of every thing round the farm-houses
and even the sleekness of the cattle which seemed by
their tameness to form a part of the habitancy—all were
objects of constant remark on our march ; and we could
easily comprehend the horror with which the arrival of a
French commissariat must strike these comfortable bur-
g• hers But the punctuality of British payments was
perfectly known already; the whole plenty of the land
was poured out before us ; we regaled sumptuously."—
Blackwood's Magazine.
WOODEN RAILWAYS FOR IRELAND.—The system is
that about to be practically exhibited on several projected
lines : from Guildford to Woking, from Hyde Park Cor-.
ner to Richmond and Staines, from Gloucester to Fish-
guard, from Waterford to Kilkenny, and others; the are-
rage total cost of which will not exceed £5OOO per mile.
The new mode may be thus described. The rails, or ra-
ther trams, of seven to eight inches scantling, are indu-
rated and protected against the ordinary destructive agen-
cies of fire, rot, and insects, by a very philosophical pro-
cess, to wit, the injections, by successive exhaustion and
pressure, of two solutions, mineral and alkaline, which
by decomposition transmute the timber into a new and in-
corruptible substance. These trams are laid down on the
principle of the " double way" of the ancient tramroads,
which is also the modern principle of the Great Western
Railway ; that is to say, they are let into wooden trans-
verse sleepers, and secured thereon by wedges, forming
one great frame of longitudinal and cross sleepers, on the
levelled surface of the ground. The tires of the wheels
are perfectly flat, and before and behind each carriage two
guide-wheels are fixed, at an angle of forty-five degrees ;
a deep groove in their circumference embraces the upper
and inner edge of the trams, and the friction being thus
thrown upon the axle, the carriages are guided with per-
fect safety, and without any perceptible abrasion of the
rails. Upon a level, experiment has proved that less
power is required to move an equal weight upon a rail-
way of this construction than upon the flanged wheel car-
riage of an iron rail ; at the same time, the bite of the
wood affords a greater power of ascending gradients, and
the bevel wheels give the facility of travelling the sharpest
curves. A machine of seven tons can thus mount and
descend gradients of less than one in twenty, and traverse
curves of 500 feet radius at the rate of twenty-five miles
an hour. On the one hand, the durability is attested by
the fact that wood properly prepared has recovered the
deflexion occasioned by the pressure of 140 tons upon a
segment of an iron wheel three inches in the tire, and that
an experimental traffic equivalent to seven years of an or- I
dinary line did not obliterate the saw-marks upon the
wooden trams, which, on the contrary, actually polished
the bevelled surface of the guide wheels. The superiority
of longitudinal sleepers over stone blocks and chairs, is
demonstrated by the successful experiment of the Great
Western Railway ; and the rationale of such a mode, and
its peculiar adaptation to the circumstances of Ireland, in
spite of the abundant stone of that country, are well ex-
hibited by Mr. Vignolles in the Appendix to the Irish
Railway Report, (Appendix A; No. 1.) The rigidity and
the via inertias of stone supports, indeed, may be held to
be one among the many causes in operation which induce
such a fearfully rapid wear and tear upon some of the
existing railways. Another advantage of the prepared
longitudinal beams is to be found in the action of the de-
liquescentp
o s t
io n andsaltswhich
which
ent
effectuallyerinetxpto
rrteehvmeeienr t preservative
slipperinessserva tive
fromc o m-
hfreoast. frost, and The fromcom
comparative
t iovpep opposite
is stated to
e
of'
73e te intense summer
length of rail, wooden £1746, iron £3556, showling an
equal
sav-
ing in favour of the former of £lBO9, besides cuttinglessa
and less tear and wear of machinery, &c.—Polytech.Rev.