are sorry to add, in very indigent circumstances. One of them, Charlotte, whose name will be found in the list of Bloomfield's children given by his brother George, also retains among her few humble treasures a сору of "The Farmer's Boy," with the following inscription on the flyleaf in her father's handwriting: а My and which with Dear Chortette. This Volume, by which I was first known the contents of longest keep my name iven by her Affectionate Father. Rob. Bloomfield. May 19. 1817. alive is Another volume-that containing the "Rural Tales" and "Wild Flowers "-is inscribed, with the same date as the preceding: "To my dear Charlotte; sincerely wishing that she may be as mild as Phoebe, as frank as Jane, and as worthy as Peggy Meldrum." It is natural to infer that Charlotte was the poet's favourite daughter. The parentage of distinguished men is always an interesting subject of inquiry. Bloomfield's father was a tailor at Honington, a village about eight miles from Bury, in Suffolk. His mother was the village schoolmistress, and from all we can learn of her deserves to be mentioned with the greatest respect. Left a widow with six children when Robert was about a year old, she contrived to provide for them all out of the profits of her little school for about six years, when she married again and had a second family. To her Robert was indebted for all the education he received, with the exception of two or three months' schooling at Ixworth, where he was sent to be "improved in writing." He was about eleven years of age when Mr. William Austin, of Sapiston, who was related to Mrs. Bloomfield (now Mrs. Glover) by marriage, took him into his service in the character of a farmer's boy," and, as the poet did not forget to testify, proved a generous master. By deeds of hospitality endear'd, Serv'd from affection, for his worth rever'd A happy offspring blest his plenteous board, His fields were fruitful, and his barns well stor❜d; And fourscore ewes he fed, a sturdy team, And lowing kine that grazed beside the stream; Unceasing industry he kept in view, And never lack'd a job for “ Giles to do. But "Giles was too delicate of constitution to get his living permanently by hard labour, and so his anxious mother wrote to her two elder sons, who were settled in London, for advice. One of them, George, a ladies' shoemaker, readily agreed to teach Robert his 66 craft, while Nathaniel, who was a tailor, promised to find him in clothes. Upon this, Mrs. Glover herself, so careful was she, brought Robert to London, and solemnly charged her eldest son, as "he valued a mother's blessing, to watch over him, to set good examples before him, and never to forget that he had lost his father!" This interesting circumstance is related by George, and if the solemnity of the charge, and the humble surroundings of the little group be considered, it suggests a scene worthy of an artist's best skill. George was a garret-master," or one of a company of journeymen shoemakers who worked together (literally in a garret) in the house of Mr. Simms, No. 7, Pitcher's Court, Bell Alley, Coleman Street. Cobblers are proverbially great talkers if not great thinkers, and there is little doubt that Robert benefited considerably by the sage observations of his companions on passing events, as he certainly did by the habit of reading to them as they worked. In this way the education commenced by his mother bore good fruit, and by the time he was seventeen the "farmer's boy "had the pleasure of reading certain verses of his, entitled "The Milkmaid," in print. We may imagine the joy with which he sent the journal in which they appeared to his mother. At the same time he worked diligently at his trade, and learned to play on the violin for amusement. In good time, thinking himself able, with economy, to commence life in earnest, Robert, who had been some time independent of his brother, wrote to him that he had "sold his fiddle and got him a wife." It is to be feared this was imprudently done, as he had to hire a ready-furnished room to live in. The name of his bride was Mary Anne Church, the comely daughter of a boat-builder at Woolwich, whose acquaintance he had made through the marriage of his brother Nathaniel with a woman of the same place. His first residence was in a room up one flight of stairs, at 14, Bell Alley, and the landlord kindly gave him leave to make a workshop of a light garret two flights of stairs higher. In this garret, industriously bending over his lapstone, Robert Bloomfield fashioned in his imaginamitted to paper, bit by bit, as it grew into shape. It tion The Farmer's Boy," which he afterwards comby his stepfather as a wedding present, and which he was written on the "old oak table" presented to him thus addressed in the most touching of his verses: 66 Thou cam'st when hopes ran high and love was young, * * Midst whisper'd sorrows and ten thousand sighs. Bloomfield himself was long ill, and by degrees― care gain'd ground, exertion triumph'd less, If this is only sad matter of fact, the next three lines, still addressed to the "heart of oak," are the genuine offspring of poetic feeling— Thou to thy trust, old friend, hast not been true; No one, with any knowledge of business, will be surprised that the manuscript of "The Farmer's Boy" (completed in 1798) was returned to the author by the booksellers to whom he submitted it; the first cruelly observing in his abrupt reply that it "might afford pleasure to the person for whom it was intended;" the second, that "poetry was quite out of his line;" and so on. Poverty, illness, and disappointment, all combined, are hard to bear, but Bloomfield, referring to this period of greatest despondency, could write Still, resignation was my dearest friend, With anxious sighs, a parent's hopes and pride, Soon after this distressing period his prospects brightened for a short time. The merits of the poem were recognized by Mr. Capel Lofft, who sent it to press. In March, 1800, it was published, and Bloomfield emerged from obscurity. It has interested us to learn, from a periodical published more than forty years ago, that the purchaser of the copyright of "The Farmer's Boy" was Mr. Hood, of the firm of Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe, and the father of "glorious Tom Hood." "This gentleman purchased the copyright of 'The Farmer's Boy' for ten pounds; but, on finding the success of the work had so much exceeded all calculation, he never rested till he had made the modest and unassuming author some more lasting memorial of his kindness and liberality. One day, therefore, he called the poet aside, and, after paying a just compliment to his genius, generously surrendered up to him one half of the copyright, observing, he was really ashamed to be making so much money while the author himself received such a trifle. Bloomfield's heart overflowed with gratitude, and we rejoice to add," the writer continues, that the arrangement was liberally continued to his death by his subsequent publishers, he having regularly received one half of the produce of all his works. Unfortunately, the rage had gone by, and the admirers of pastoral poetry forgot the man from whose productions they had derived so much delight." Bloomfield, in the first blush of prosperity, gave up shoemaking, but industriously turned to account his knowledge of music by making Eolian harps. In 1802 he published a second volume of poems, under the title of "Rural Tales;" in 1806 appeared his "Wild Flowers;" in 1809 the two works were combined; and in 1811 "The Banks of Wye" first saw the light. A complete stereotype edition appeared in 1814. It is curious to read the author's statement, that he had "a great conceit of 'The Miller's Maid,' but thought less of 'Richard and Kate,' which he feared the critics would consider "too low."" It is curious also to be told, that the stanzas containing Richard's speech to his sons and daughters, which the author always thought the best in the ballad, were composed first. Bloomfield died on the 19th of August, 1823, after years of suffering from bodily infirmities, and from embarrassed circumstances, owing to the fact that he was physically unable to work. The "old oak table" has been preserved by his daughters, and now occupies the place of honour in their dingy little apartment. If the fancy were true that every scene of joy and sorrow is indelibly impressed by Nature's chemistry upon the material surfaces where the lights and shadows fell at the time of its enactment, what visions of human woe, what images of the mind's alternate torture and repose, and what sunlit dreams of a poetic imagination would that old table reveal! And when all these had vanished, there would come to light, perhaps, these lines of a promise, which was faithfully kept Enough, old friend-thou'rt mine, and shalt partake, THE ART OF WAR. THE almost miraculous success of the Prussian arms has made it more evident than ever that war is rapidly resolving itself into a vast mechanical problem, having for its practical solution the overthrow of armed hosts to civilization, and additional charms to peace, is also and their defences. Science, while giving new luxuries adding to the horrors of the battle-field and the seafight, by investing mankind with giant energies for the purposes of mutual destruction. The sword is girt with flame, the arrow has the speed of lightning, the voice of thunder is heard amid the carnage, and the battles of the world are almost as terrible as Milton's war of the angels. The invention of gunpowder is the primary cause of the peculiar and startling aspect of modern warfare, and every year this powerful agent is inducing fresh changes. The musket superseded the arrow and the sling; the cannon put an end to the balista, the catapulta, and the battering ram. The bullet caused the warrior to cast aside both the shield and the cuirass, and despairing of shelter against the powerful projectiles of the new system, the soldier marched up to his foe-whether the latter were in the open field or within the embrasures of a battery-undefended save by his own courage and determination. Through content to mount the breach, or rush at the enemy's many a hard-fought campaign the British soldier was ranks, depending for success mainly on his power to carry the bayonet through the hail of bullets, and thus to close with his antagonist. The British bayonetcharge grew terrible, while the armour of the Romans the ancient conquerors of the world-was a thing forgotten, save where here and there a regiment went into action bearing the cuirass and the helmet-a distinction reserved for cavalry troops, these relics of a former era being thus exceptionally retained as a defence against swords and lances, and not in any expectation that they would avail when opposed to the force of gunpowder. The celebrated reply of the guardsman, that if he had to fight the battle of Waterloo over again, he would prefer doing so in his shirt-sleeves, may scarcely be looked upon as an ex aggeration. But the firearms in use during the career of Napoleon Bonaparte were singularly defective. average, it really appeared that the weight of a man Taking the in lead had to be fired at him before he could be finally disposed of. This was one reason why the bayonet-charge so often availed to turn the tide of battle. The "Brown Bess of the British armydoubtless a fair specimen of contemporary arms, until the French began to adopt the rifle was incapable of firing straight. At Salamanca only one shot in four the fire of one side of a square of British infantry hundred and thirty-seven took effect; and at Waterloo, emptied no more than three or four saddles out of a squadron of French cavalry, then close at hand. The introduction of the rifle commenced by the French-has led to important changes in the art of effect of small arms. During the Crimean campaign war. Gradually we see an increase in the destructive about one shot in two hundred and fifty was found to be fatal; and at length a weapon was produced, which, in the hands of a trained marksman, could carry death at a distance of at least one thousand yards. Half a century ago, or even much less, small arms were reckoned innocuous at four hundred and fifty yards, and field batteries were manoeuvred accordingly. But when the carabine à tige and the Minié began to take effect, it became necessary to increase the range and accuracy of artillery. The principle of rifling was applied to field-guns, and the French emperor provided his army with batteries which materially conduced to the victories of Magenta and Solferino. The canons rayées of the French were rifled with six rounded curves, and fired elongated projectiles to such a distance, and with such deadly effect, that the Austrian reserves suffered even more severely than the troops in front. Small arms have now arrived at another stage. The old smooth-bore musket gave place to the rifled arm, under the idea that range and precision were essential to success. More recently we have learned that rapidity of fire is as necessary as power and accuracy. The prowess of the Arab firelock in Algeria is said to have led to the adoption of rifled muskets by the French; these in their turn produced a new order of artillery; and now, by the experience of the Austrians under the fire of the Prussians, the English are led to abandon their favourite Enfield rifle, and to strain every nerve for the production of a breech-loading small-arm, capable of rapid discharge. The Enfield musket is to be "converted upon the Snider principle; and just as the flint was superseded by the percussion cap, so the percussion cap is to give place to à fulminate contained in the cartridge and ignited by mechanical pressure or friction at the moment when the trigger is pulled. The ramrod and the external percussion cap are alike condemned, and there is to be no more muzzle-loading throughout the armies of Great Britain. The zundnadel-gewehr, or needle-gun of the Prussians, which has lately committed such havoc among the Austrian ranks, has long been known to military men; but its value seems to have been singularly underrated by all except the government to which it has recently rendered such important service. Its effects, as known to us, simply show the importance of a rapid fire. The multiplication of bullets is more than equal to the multiplication of men, seeing that where the latter are increased in number there is the greater risk of their being struck, and there is more difficulty in concentrating their fire on a given point. The universal rejection of muzzle-loading single and double barrelled pistols in favour of Colt's and other revolvers, is an instance of the readiness with which the non-official mind has appreciated the merits of a compendious and rapid fire. One very critical change which now presents itself, is the inutility of the bayonet. The Austrian commander, conscious that his troops would be exposed to a destructive fire, advised them to bear down rapidly on the enemy, and rely upon the bayonet and the butt-end of their muskets. General Benedek's advice was adopted, so far as it was found practicable; but the result was that his men lay strewn in heaps in front of the Prussian infantry, and it was found impossible to complete the "charge," however gallantly it had been commenced. It would thus appear that even the bayonet is losing its efficacy; and that the most successful manoeuvre of our own troops is in danger of being numbered with the obsolete forms of war. | needle-gun is evidently much less than that of our Enfield rifle, and if the latter preserves its range-or nearly so-after being made to rival the needle-gun in rapidity of fire, our own weapon will certainly be superior to that which has controlled the late battles in Bohemia. At the same time it is to be observed that the change thus being made in the British rifle is not expected to be permanent, a still more effective system of breech-loading being looked for. In France, the Chassepot breech-loader has found favour; while the Austrian government has had the offer of an American invention, bearing the name of "Ball." This latter weapon is said to be exceedingly simple, and capable of firing twenty-five shots per minute without difficulty. Very singularly, the use of armour is once more proposed, in order to protect the soldier from these deadly weapons. In Italy, aluminium has been attempted as a cuirass; and in France a "needy young Italian" is said to have sold to the Emperor the secret of a flexible metal shirt," weighing only four and a half pounds, and effective as a defence against all ordinary bullets. The use of large bucklers, to be carried by the front rank men, is likewise advocated on the Continent. It remains to be seen whether so retrograde a system will be of any practical value. Turning from small arms to great guns, we observe that the use of the shell in naval warfare has led to the most varied and complex results in the construction and equipment of fleets. It was during the Crimean war that the terrible effects of shell firing, as employed against ships of ordinary construction, first became conspicuous. On November 30, 1853, the Turkish fleet at Sinope was attacked by the Russian fleet firing Paixhans' explosive shot. The gallant defence offered by the Turks was of no avail, and their ships were all speedily destroyed, with the exception of one vessel, which served to carry the disastrous intelligence to Constantinople. Four thousand lives were thus sacrificed. Candour has compelled the acknowledgment, that during the British attack on the sea-forts of Sebastopol, one of our finest ships of the line, having received three shells, by which eighteen men were killed between decks, was abandoned by her crew, who left through the ports, and took refuge in a steamship alongside, nor could they be prevailed upon to return. Hence arose an urgent demand that ships should be so constructed as to "keep out the shells." General Paixhans himself, as far back as 1824, anticipated the period when wooden ships of the line would become powerless in the presence of smaller vessels armed with artillery discharging explosive shot. On this ground he suggested the use of ship armour, but it was many years before the idea was deemed practicable. Towards the end of our war with Russia, floating batteries were employed by the French against the forts at Kinburn, and England commenced the It is said that the zundnadel-gewehr fails to kill. construction of similar appliances. In 1857 the French This is to some extent true, and the result is attribut- Emperor ordered two frigates, the Gloire and the able, not to the lightness of the bullet, but to the Normandie, to be built of wood and cased with great escape of gas at the breech of the gun, whereby armour. In the following year the English Admithe range of the weapon is reduced and its force weak-ralty entered on the construction of armour-clad friened. It has been argued that wounded men are a greater obstruction to their general than men who are killed. This is very likely; but on the other hand, those who are wounded furnish important help on a subsequent occasion, and it is understood that those who are healed of slight wounds make excellent soldiers. In the Snider-Enfield rifle it is said that the non-killing defect is remedied, partly by an improved mode of closing the breech, and partly by the use of a thin brass casing for the cartridge, which serves as a temporary lining to the gun, and covers all crevices, thus securing that the ignited powder shall exercise its full effect on the bullet. The range of the Prussian gates, building their first vessels by private contract on the banks of the Thames and the Clyde. The introduction of ironclad ships had a singular effect on the magnitude of naval guns. As the iron plates were increased in thickness, and as the sides of the ship were made increasingly strong, so the calibre of the guns was augmented. Victory sometimes inclined to the plates and sometimes to the cannon, the general result being to diminish the number of guns carried by a vessel, so as to admit of a corresponding increase in the weight of each gun, while at the same time the sides of the ship were strengthened by all the armour she could possibly be made to bear. Experi ments lately made at Shoeburyness have exhibited a vast improvement in the power of projectiles, due to the "chilled iron" shot and shell of Major Palliser. The Palliser shell, of 250 pounds weight, fired from the nine-inch wrought iron Woolwich rifled gun, at a distance of 250 yards, pierced through a target composed of eight-inch armour plates, backed by eighteen inches of teak, and an inner skin of three-quarter inch iron, backed by a closely set series of ribs or angle irons, the whole secured together with Palliser bolts. The superiority of the chilled iron projectiles over those made of steel-a far more costly material was clearly proved by these experiments. But the altered conditions of naval warfare ultimately produced an entirely new class of vessel, a craft which could scarcely be called in any sense a ship, and against which the English government showed for a long time a very considerable prejudice. Before the termination of the Crimean war, Captain Cowper Coles, an officer in the English navy, proposed what he termed a "shield gun." Following up this idea, he ultimately devised the "cupola gun," or a gun carried on a turntable, and covered by a sort of iron dome, or cupola, the axis of the whole being coincident with the line of the ship's keel. The vessel thus armed was able to lie low in the water, and owing to the central position of her guns, was capable of bearing the heaviest description of ordnance. The Americans took up the idea with great zest, and constructed what they termed "Monitor" ships, armed with guns of immense calibre firing heavy shot with low velocities. The system of the Americans differs in some of its less salient features from that of Captain Coles, and it is believed that in the mechanism of the turn table we have the advantage, while in the calibre of the gun the Americans appear to transcend us. Captain Coles's vessels are now known as "turret ships," the exact cupola form being abandoned, and there is a very general conviction that vessels of this class are superior, both in offensive and defensive power, to those constructed on the broadside system. Doubts have been expressed as to the seagoing qualities of these nondescript ships; but the presence of the American Monadnock in the Pacific, and the Miantonomoh in the British Channel, as well as the fact that turret vessels for foreign powers have been built in England and sent safely to remote destinations, constitute a mass of evidence decidedly in favour of the strange-looking vessels which are now defying the noblest war-ships in the world. The apparent failure of the Affondatore in the naval engagement off the island of Lissa, cannot be cited as any example of the qualities of a turret-ship. The anomalous conditions which attach to that singular sea-fight, make it almost useless as a test of modern armaments. Human ingenuity is still busy with various contrivances for the purposes of belligerent enterprise. Some ships are fitted with rams, designed to run down their adversaries, a method which the use of steam power invests with peculiar terrors. The torpedo is an invention for attacking vessels where they are most vulnerable-below the line of flotation-and is of the nature of a submarine mine. Sometimes the torpedo is fixed, as at the bottom of a shallow channel; at other times it is locomotive, as when carried by a "torpedo boat," a craft which is frequently almost, if not quite, submerged. There are also schemes for firing guns under water, to say nothing of innumerable and ingenious inventions for increasing the efficacy of projectiles discharged in the open air. Whether for land or sea service, there is a marvellous application of mechanical skill, in order to augment the power possessed by our engines of destruction; and we can only hope that the end will be to render war so costly and deadly as to hasten its own extinction-the great destroyer thus destroying itself, London INVENTION AND DISCOVERY. SUPPLY OF WATER TO LONDON.-It has been proposed to supply the metropolis with water, drawn from the mountainous districts of Wales, Cumberland, or Westmoreland. would not only gain greatly by having pure water in a sanitary expenditure. It is, in fact, a question of the utmost importance point of view, but enormously in respect to its yearly domestic to the working man, for, if such a supply was afforded, owing to the exceeding softness of the water, at least one fourth of the amount of tea and soap used annually in London, or rather wasted, on account of the hardness of the present water, would be saved. Glasgow is supplied with almost pure water from Loch Katrine; and a stranger visiting that city for the first time, would be surprised, on performing his ablutions, to find that the difficulty lies in preventing, rather than making a lather in cold water, even if a very small quantity of soap be used. This MAGNETISM OF IRON SHIPS.-It is a singular fact that an iron ship, built in a direction nearly north and south, becomes highly magnetic, so much so, indeed, as to be really a "mariners' compass needle" on an immense scale. polarising effect is chiefly due to the vibration caused in hammering the different parts of the vessel; indeed, a common held in a direction coincident with that in which the magpoker will thus become magnetic if repeatedly struck whilst netic needle remains when at rest. Very recently this curious tendency had an illustration in H.M.S. Northumberland. Having been built with her head nearly north, it caused the compasses to show great deviation in the aft part of the ship since she was launched. By docking her, however, with the bows to the south, this peculiar effect has in a measure been reduced, and may perhaps be neutralized. CLEANSING SHIPS' BOTTOMS.-The loss of speed arising from the growth of barnacles, &c., on the bottoms of ships, is often equal to one-fourth of their normal or original speed on leaving the docks of the builder. An ingenious method has been invented and patented by Mr. Daft, by which he proposes to sheathe iron ships with zinc. A voltaic battery is thus formed, which, causing a gradual destruction of the zinc surface, at the table matter. The subject is of such great importance, that same time effectually prevents the adhesion of animal or vegeunless some means be adopted for preventing the corrosion and incrustation of iron ships in our naval and mercantile marine, the expenditure both public and private will in a few years become enormous for necessary repairs of injured plates. A paper descriptive of Mr. Daft's method was read at the last meeting of the British Association, at Nottingham, and created the greatest interest in scientific and practical circles. Captain Anderson, of the Great Eastern, has also applied for a patent having similar objects. THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH OF 1865.-The Atlantic cable, in part laid in 1865, and happily recovered, seemed almost as fresh in external appearance as when it left the works of the constructors. The bed from which it was raised was a kind of ooze, chiefly composed of microscopic shells. The depth from which it was lifted was 1900 fathoms, or a little less than two and a half miles; and the strain on it during the operation was nearly its breaking weight, or seven and three quarter tons. STEEL CASTINGS.-By an ingenious arrangement, already patented by Mr. Whitworth, great increased strength is given to steel castings. Employing a pressure of from five to twenty tons per square inch, the advantages gained by his method insure almost perfect freedom from flaws. NEW FLYING-MACHINE.-Amongst novel patents taken out in this country, is one for an invention of an American gentleman, Dr. Andrews, of Perth, U. S. It is for the construction of a flying-machine, which has been compared in appearance to an inflated pillow-case. It is said to have been tried with success, but the same has been stated of all such arrangements on their first production. Having regard to the laws of pneumatics, we imagine that Daedalus need not yet fear for his laurels. WATER SIGNALS.-Although water conducts sound quicker than air, experiments made, by direction of a committee of the British Association, in large bodies of water, prove that musical sounds which could be heard distinctly at a considerable distance in the air are quite destroyed by a much shorter length of water. The object in view was to ascertain the possibility of ships communicating with each other at sea by means of water, in place of the usual signals. |