rally to be called so; and, had I not been upon the journey, I could have staid some days to see and examine the particulars of it. They told me there were fountains and fish-ponds in the garden, all paved at the bottom and sides with the same, and fine statues set up in rows on the walks, entirely formed of the porce application of heat and cold, render them liable to break in all operations where they are Suddenly exposed either to heat or to cold. With the fusible clays may be made many kinds of vessels which are cheap, as they require little fire to bake them; for this kind of pottery is slightly baked, and consequently its texture is coarse and porous. These are generally covered with a glazing, without which water, or other liquids, would pass through their pores. Some of this pottery, which is carefully finished, and covered with a white enamel, is called Delf ware. Other coarser potteries of this kind are glazed with glass of lead, mixed with metallic calces or fusible coloured earths, from which they receive various colours. There is also a kind of pottery made of white clays, or of such as whiten in the fire, the surface of which is vitrified by throwing into the furnace, when the ware is sufficiently baked, some common salt and salt-petre. The french stone-ware is formed of a whitish clay, in which a good deal of fine white sandy particles is intermixed. The english stoneware is composed of tobacco-pipe clay, and ground flints. The use of the flints is, to give strength to the ware, so that it shall preserve its form during the baking; whereas vessels made of clay alone, although unfusible by fire, and capable of acquiring, by having been exposed to an intense heat, the hardness of the best porcelain, while they are hot, are soft, and sink by their weight, so as to lose the form given to them. This stone-ware is glazed by means of common salt only, without any mixture of nitre; and the glazing has not the beauty or smoothness of good vitreous glazings. The flint or white stone ware is made in Staffordshire, and other places, in the following manner. Tobacco-pipe clay, which they have from Dorsetshire, is beaten much in water: by this process, the finer parts of the clay remain suspended in the water, whilst the coarser sand, and other impurities, fall to the bottom, the liquid, consisting of water, and the finer parts of the clay, is farther purified, by being passed through hair and lawn sieves of different degrees of fineness; the clay is then sufficiently prepared to be mixed with powdered flint. They use annually in Staffordshire about five thousand tons of flint, which they have from Hull. They were formerly accustomed to grind these flints with moor-stone, or granite, but of late years a large bed of chert (a species of flint) has been discovered near Bakewell, in Derbyshire, and the Staffordshire and the Yorkshire potters prefer it to moor-stone, for grinding these flints; it is very hard, and, being itself of the nature of flint, the parts of it which are worn off, and mixed with the flints in grinding, do not vitiate the quality of the flint-powder. When the flints have been properly calcined and ground, they are sifted in water, till the water is, as near as may be, of the same thickness as that in which the clay is suspended; then the liquid clay and flints are mixed together in various proportions for various wares, and left to set; the mixture is then dried in a kiln, and being afterwards beaten to a proper temper, it becomes fit for being formed at the wheel into dishes, plates, bowls, &c. When this ware is to be put into the furnace to be baked, the several pieces of it are placed in cases, made of clay, called seggars, which are piled upon one another in the dome of the furnace; a fire is then lighted, and when the ware is brought to a proper temper, which happens in about forty-eight hours, it is glazed by common salt. The salt is thrown into the furnace (through holes in the upper part of it) by the heat of which it is instantly converted into a thick vapour, which, circulating through the furnace, enters every seggar, through holes made in the side (the top being covered, to prevent the salt from falling upon the ware), and attaching itself to the surface of the ware, it forms that vitreous coat upon the surface, which is called its glaze. This very curions method of glazing earthen ware, by the vapor of common salt, was introduced into England from Holland; at least it was introduced from thence into Staffordshire, about eighty years ago, by two Dutchmen. The art of pottery among the Chinese, is one of the most remarkable. But this is a very simple one, and in fact invented by some of the rudest people. They are understood to have an earth possessing certain peculiar virtues in regard to this manufacture; and BARROW informs us, that the merit of their porcelain is less owing to any ingenuity they display in the making of it, than to the prodigious care with which they select the very finest materials, and separate them from all impurities. A very remarkable proof of their want of ingenuity is, that they should have Robinson Crusoe, [Naval-Chron,-Edition.] FF lain earth, and burned whole. As this is one of the singularities of China, so they may be allowed to excel in it; but I am very sure they excel in their ac counts of it, for they told me such incredible things of their performance in crockery ware, for such it is, that I care not to relate, as knowing it could not be true. One told me, in particular, of a workman that made a ship, with all its tackle, and masts, and sails, in earthen-ware, big enough to carry fifty men. If he had told me, he launched it, and made a voyage to Japan in it, I might have said something to it, indeed; but, as it was, I knew the whole story, which was, in short, asking pardon for the word, that the fellow lyed. So I smiled and said nothing to it. This odd sight kept me two hours behind the caravan, for which the leader of it for the day fined me about the value of three shillings; and told me, if it had been three days' journey without the wall, as it was three days within, he must have fined me four times as much, and made me ask pardon the next council-day; So I promised to be more orderly, for, indeed, I found, afterwards, the orders made for keeping all together, were absolutely necessary for our common safety. In two days more we passed the great China wall, made for a fortification been in possession so long of an art so analogous to that of making glass, and yet should never have been able to invent that beautiful and useful manufacture. Their want of taste in the shapes and ornaments of their vessels, is now proverbial. Their accuracy, in copying any models is wonderful but it is also remarkable for its servility, carried to such excess, that there is an anecdote current, of a compleat service of porcelain hav ing been made in China, in conformity to an order from Europe, on every piece of which there was repeated, fac-simile, the effects of an accident which befel the original drawing of a coat of arms sent out as a pattern; which accident was neither more nor less than the oversetting of an inkstand upon it, which formed a rivulet of ink from one corner to the other. GREAT WALL:-DIONYSIUS KAO, a native of China, from whose works, published in the year 1705, the following account is principally extracted, though we have bor against the Tartars; and a very great work it is, going over hills and mountains in an endless track, where the rocks are impassable, and the precipices such as rowed from Du HALDE and others, says, this prodigious wall was built some centuries before CHRIST's time, by the Chinese Emperor CHIEN-CHU, VOANG, (according to Du HALDE by ZIN-SHI-WANG, who makes it two hundred and twenty one years before the birth of CHRIST) to prevent the incursions of the restless western Tahtars. It is extended from the Oriental sea far beyond the middle of Shen-si, and includes the provinces of Pekin, and almost the whole of Shen-si. Its length, in a direct line, is computed at six hundred and fifty four French miles; but reckoned as a curved line amounts to upwards of one thousand. It has three or four lofty towers or forts within the compass of every mile, many of which are situated upon the highest mountains; and the wall is broad enough upon the top for 6 or 7 horses to gallop abreast without any danger. DU HALDE, on the same subject states, that its beginning is a large bulwark of stone, raised in the sea to the east of Pekin; and ends when you have passed the little city of Chwang-lan. It is well terraced and cased with brick, and is as high as, and much broader than the walls of the empire usually are; that is, from twenty to twenty five feet in height. The top is wide enough for five or six horsemen to ride abreast. The gates of the great wall are all defended, on the side of China, by pretty large forts. The first of them, to the east, is called Shang-hay-Quan. It stands near the wall which extends, from the bulwark above mentioned, the space of a league along a country perfectly level, and does not begin to ascend the mountains till after it has passed that place. It was the chinese general, commanding in this part, who first called in the Tahtars of the province of Leao-tung, which lies beyond it; and thus gave them an opportunity of conquering China, notwithstanding their mural ramparts, which the Chinese thought impregnable. Many of the square towers are large and lofty; some of two stories high, built of brick, upon a foundation of stone, which rises about four feet above the ground. Each side of the square at the base measures from thirty five to forty feet, and their height is nearly the same dimensions. The side of the square at the top is from twenty eight to thirty feet. The first story is upon a level with the platform of the wall, in which there are embrasures. The foundation of the wall, formed of large square stones, which project about two feet beyond the brick work, is about twenty five feet thick at its base, and rises not less than two feet above the surface of the ground. The rest is cased both inside and outside with brick work, each of the thickness of five feet, having the intermediate space filled up with earth or tempered clay, and terraced upon the top with a platform of square bricks. The parapets, about eighteen inches thick, are a continuation of the brick work above the terreplain. EVERT YSBRANT IDES, Embassador from the Czar, PETER the Great, to the Court of Pekin, an account of whose travels from Moscow to that city was published in the year 1705, has also given a description of the Great wall; and that we may be able to point out to our readers the particular spot, let it be remembered, that the last fortress of his czarish Majesty's dominions, bordering upon the frontiers of China, winch his Excellency stopped at, was Argunskoy. From this place be proceeded to the silver river, called Mongagol, which falls into the river Argun; and, having crossed that, traversed the great tahtarian wilderness, and arrived at the river Calabu. Passing along the banks of the river Jalo, he came to Xixiger, a city upon the borders of China, where, by order of his Imperial Majesty, his Excellency was met by a mandarine, accompanied by eighty men, who conducted him to Kara Katon, or "Black City," on his route to Pekin. He then says, "On the twenty seventh of October we reached some watch towers on the pinnacles of the rocks, from whence we got sight of the Great wall, at which we arrived on the same day. This seems to be one of the seven wonders of the world. About five hundred fathoms from this famous wall is a valley, having on each side a battery of hewn stone; from one of which to the other a wall about three feet high is erected, with an open entrance. Passing through this fore wall, we came to the entry of the Great wall, through a watch tower, about eight fathoms high, arched over with hewn stone, and provided with large massy doors strengthened with iron. The wall runs from east to west across the valley up extraordinary high rocks: and, about five hundred fathoms distance from the other, has, upon the rocks on each side of it, a tower built. The foot of this wall was of large hewn quarry stone, for about a foot high, and the remaining upper part was composed of brick and line; but as far as we were able to discover, the whole had been for no enemy could possibly enter, or, indeed, climb up, or where, if they did, ne wall could binder them. They tell us its length is near a thousand english miles, but that the country is five hundred in a straight measured line, which the wall bounds, without measuring the windings and turnings it takes: it is about four fathom high, and as many thick in some places. I stood still an hour, or thereabout, without trespassing on our orders, for so long the caravan was in passing the gate; I say, I stood still an hour to look at it on every side, near and far off; I mean what was within my view: and the guide of our caravan, who had been extolling it for the wonder of the world, was mighty eager to hear my opinion of it. I told him it was a most excellent thing to keep off the Tartars; which he happened not to understand as I meant it, and so took it for a compliment: but the old pilot laughed; “O senhor Ingles," said he, " you speak in colours." "In colours," said I, "what do you mean by that?" "Why you speak what looks white this way, and black that way; gay one way, and dull another way; you tell him it is a good wall to keep out Tartars; you tell me by that it is good for nothing but to keep out Tartars; or, it will keep out none but Tartars. I understand you, senhor Ingles, I understand you, senhor Ingles, I understand you," said he, joking," but senhor Chinese understand you his own way." "Well," said I, 66 senhor, do you think it would stand out an army of our country people, with a good train of artillery; or our engineers, with two com panies of miners? Would they not batter it down in ten days, that an army might enter in battalia,* or blow it up into the air, foundation and all, that there merly built with the same stone. Within this first port we came into a plain full a hundred fathoms broad, after which we arrived at another guardport which had a wall on each side, and, like the first wall, was carried quite across the vale. This, as well as the first port, was guarded by a watch of fifty men. Upon the first or great wall was erected an idol temple, with the ensign of the idol and that of the Emperor flying upon it. The wall was full six fathoms high, and four thick; so that six horsemen might easily ride abreast upon it, and was in as good repair as if it had been finished about twenty or thirty years since." To raise men for building this wall, which is stated to have been completed in five years, the Emperor commanded that three out of every ten men throughout his dominions should work at it; and afterwards-two out of every five were compelled to labour at this vast undertaking. It is also said, that though the inhabitants of each province worked as near their own abode as they could, yet, either by the length of their journey or the difference of climate, almost all those employed in its construction died unexpectedly. This raised a tumult in the empire, which proceeded to the length of murdering the Emperor, and his son AGUTZI, in the fortieth year of his reign. When it is considered, that this structure, upwards of a thousand French miles in length, besides being extended along dreary wastes, and even surfaces, is carried over expansive rivers in the form of bridges, some having two tiers of arches, and also, in the same shape, across deep and wide-extended valleys, uniting, as it were, the mountains which form them ;-that it ascends the highest, and descends the steepest precipices;-and, with all this, considering the immensity of labour, the ingenuity of the artists, the difficulty of transporting materials, and the short time of its completion;-the imagination is lost in the contemplation of an object whose grandeur is not surpassed by any of the seven wonders of the world. BATTALIA:-This military term whose ancient synonym appears to be" battell” and its modern one "corps," occurs twice in a poem almost coeval with these adventures THOMAS MAY, Who was born as is conjectured, about 1594, wàs a translator of Lucas; and caught no small portion of the energy and declamatory spirit that characterize the roman poet, whom as he translated, he made his model; as is more particularly dis played in his Reigne of Edward III, which he undertook at the express command of CHARLES I. This poem possesses in a considerable degree the requisites for interesting the feelings of an Englishman: while in accuracy it vies with a gazette, it is managed with such dexterity, as to busy the mmd with unceasing agitation, with scenes highly diversified, and enpassioned by striking characters, minute incident, and alarming situation. In that part of the poem descriptive of the battle of Creçy, (ed. 1635,) the poet says :- should be no sign of it left?" "Aye, aye," said he, “I know that." The Chinese wanted mightily to know what I said, and I gave him leave to tell him a few days after, for we were then almost out of their country, and he was to leave us in a little time afterwards: but when he knew what I had said, he was dumb all the rest of the way, and we heard no more of his fine story of the chinese power and greatness while he staid. After we had passed this mighty nothing, called a wall, something like the Picts' wall, so famous in Northumberland, and built by the Romans, we began to find the country thinly inhabited, and the people rather confined to live in fortified towns and cities, as being subject to the inroads and depredations of the Tartars, who rob in great armies, and, therefore, are not to be resisted by the naked inhabitants of an open country. And here I began to find the necessity of keeping together in a caravan* as we travelled; for we saw several troops of Tartars roving about: but when I came to see them distinctly, I wondered more that the chinese empire could be conquered by such contemptible fellows; for they are a mere herd or crowd of wild fellows, keeping no order, and understanding no discipline or manner of fight. Their horses are poor, lean, starved creatures, taught nothing, and are fit for nothing; and this we found the first day we saw them, which was after we entered the wilder part of the country. Our leader for the day gave leave for about sixteen of us to go a hunting, as they call it; and what was this but hunting of sheep! However, it may be called hunting, too, for the creatures are the wildest and swiftest of foot that ever I saw of their kind, only they will not run a great "While thus the French march on in rich array, In Crescy parke encamped Edward lay : "In three battalias does the king dispose His strength, which all in ready order stand HOLLINSHED and FROISSARD corroborate the poetic account of the disposition of the english army. The former's Chronicle saith:--" Then he ordeined three battels ; in the first was the Prince of Wales, and with him the Earl of Warwicke, They were eight hundred men of armes, and two thousand archers, and a thousand of others, with the Welsh men." ******* Thus was the english armie marshalled according to the report of FROISSARD." * CARAVAN-To the former note on this word, p. 361, the Editor is desirous of adding some information upon a term nearly connected therewith, that is to say "Caravan-seraï." The same author quoted in the beforementioned note continues:"Hinc mercatorum hospitia publica quae arabibus audiunt can, persis carvan-serai nominantur, i. e. caravanae hospitium. Nam serai est quaevis domus ampla; unde in Constantinopoli, imperatoris palatium foeminarum turcis dicitur nomine persico serai, Europaeis minus bene sérail et seraglio. (Vid. PERITS. Itinera mundi, ed. T. HYDE.) In these cans, kans, or karwan-serais, sometimes provender for beasts of carriage or burthen can be purchased, tho' generally speaking these edifices afford only shelter; that is to say a dirty room opening into the quadrangle round which it is built, in the area of which the horses &c. are received. A day's march of a karwan is called KONAK; which is the same appellation as wavdoxɛïov and xarákvμa of the bible which are vulgarly tranislated hospitia or inns. But, excepting the kervan-serais there are, properly speaking, no houses of entertainment in the Levant (except in some cases the port-houses or mentzil-khaaneh,) in the sense at least that we understand public houses. For a konak denotes the place itself where a halt is made for repose and refreshment, whether enclosed and covered or not; a Turk estimates the marches of an army or the stages of a journey by so many konak, (plural konak-lar.) Thus the malon or inn, of Genesis ali, 27; xliii, 21. &c. is no other than one of the like stations. |