222 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 5; 
[Aprin 1, 
case before us, the power necessary for starting is much 
greater than that required for maintaining the flight. Mr. 
Henson, therefore, starts his Aerial Carriage by means 
of an apparatus which he does not carry with him, and 
then embarks only the smaller power and lighter machinery, 
whick are sufficient for keeping up the original velocity. 
But even this happy device would not have succeeded if 
the inventor had not also effected an extraordinary reduc- 
tion in the weight of his steam-engine. Our engineering 
readers will be somewhat surprised to learn that the en- 
gine of 20 horses’ power now in preparation for the aerial 
carriage weighs, with its condenser and requisite water, 
but 600lbs. To the united effect of these different 
branches of this important invention must we attribute 
our present prospect of making our paths in the air. We 
proceed now to describe the machine itself, and its mode 
of flight :—Its car, inclosed on all sides, and containing 
the passengers, managers, burden, and steam-engine, is 
suspended to the middle of a framework, which is so con- 
structed as to combine great strength with extreme light- 
ness, and is covered with any woven texture which is 
moderately light and close. This main-frame or expanded 
surface, which is 150 feet long by 30 feet wide, serves in 
the most important respects as wings; yet it is perfectly 
jointless and without vibratory motion. It advances 
through the air with one of its long sides foremost, and a 
little elevated. To the middle of the other long side is 
joined the tail, of 50 feet in length, beneath which is the 
rudder, These important appendages effectually control 
the flight as to elevation and direction, and are governed 
by cords proceeding from the car. Situated at the back- 
edge of the main-frame are two sets of vanes or propellers, 
of 20 feet in diameter, driven by the steam-engine.| We 
have already said that the velocity of the machine is 
imparted at its starting. This is effected by its being 
made to descend an inclined plane: during the descent 
the covering of the wings is reeted, but before the machine 
reaches the bottom that covering is rapidly spread: by 
this time the velocity acquired by the descent is so greaf, 
that the yesistance produced by the oblique impact of the 
sloping vinder-surface of the wings on the air is sufficient to 
sustain the eutire weight of the machine, just as a brisk 
wind upholds a kite. But while the pneumatic resistance 
thus procured by the velocity prevents the falling of the car- 
riage, it opposes also its forward flight. To overcome this 
latter and smaller resistance is the office of the steam-engine, 
The chief peculiarities of this important member of the 
carriage are the respective constructions of its boiler and 
condenser. The former consists of hollow inverted 
trundated cones, arranged above and around the furnace ; 
they are about 50 in number, and large enough to afford 
100 square feet of evaporating surface, of which half is 
exposed to radiating heat. ‘The condenser is an assem- 
blage of small pipes exposed to the stream of air produced 
by the flight of the machine. Jt is found to produce a 
vacuum of from 5ibs. to 8lbs. to the square inch. The 
steam is employed in two cylinders, and is cut off at one- 
fourth of the stroke. Our engineering readers will be 
able to gather, from these particulars, that the steam-en- 
gine is of about 20 horse-power, supposing the evaporating 
power of the boiler to be equal, foot for foot, to that of 
the locomotive steam-engine. Less certain is the deter- 
mination of the resistance to be overcome. Mechanical 
science is notoriously defective in all that relates to the 
oblique impact of solids and fluids, and is particularly so 
on the points involved in this subject. Experiments do 
not supply the lack of sound theory; for, not only has 
their purpose been to ascertain the effects of large angles 
of impact to the neglect of the smaller ones here con- 
cerned, but the objects of the experimenters (Robins, 
Hutton, Borda, &c.) have always required the determina- 
tion of the resistance in the direction of the moving body, 
to the neglect of that which is perpendicular to that di- 
rection ; while here their effects are so intimately connected 
that one cannot be determined without first knowing the 
other ; and of that which is to be first known, viz., that 
which supports the vehicle, we have no information on 
which the smallest reliance can be placed. Mr. Henson, we 
understand, has formed his conclusions from the best ob- 
servations he could make on the flight of birds, and we think 
he has done wisely. We are informed, however, that the re- 
sources of mechanical art are by no means exhausted by 
the present construction of Mr. Henson’s engine, and that 
recent inventions are available by which its power may be 
doubled with little increase of weight. The area of the 
sustaining surface will be, we understand, not less than 
4,500 square feet ; the weight to be sustained, including 
the carriage and its total burden, is estimated at 3,000Ibs. 
The load is said to be considerably less per square foot 
than that of many birds, It may assist the conceptions 
of our non-mechanical readers, to add that the general ap- 
pearance of the machine is that of a gigantic bird with 
stationary wings ; that the mechanical principles concerned 
in its support are strongly exemplified in the case of a 
kite ; and that its progress is maintained by an applica- 
tion of power like that which propels a steam-boat. 
the operations of nature, particularly in the flight of birds, 
will be found many striking illustrations of the principles 
on which the inventor has proceeded. Whatever may be 
the immediate issue of the present attempt, we think it is 
impossible not to award to the inventor the highest credit 
due to the removal of the great difficulties which have 
hitherto defeated all similar inventions; nor do we doubt, 
that in following out the path he has opened, complete 
Success will eventually be obtained; whether that success 
will be, as we wish, early and entire, or whether it will be 
delayed and gradual, depends on the facts as to oblique 
pneumatic resistance, which have yet to be ascertained. 
it is, however, high time to begin to consider in the spirit 
of careful inquiry and cheerful hope what will be the 
changes, commercial, social, and political, which the pos- 
session of this new-born power will necessarily bring about.” 
The Comet.—Sir John Herschel has addressed the 
following letter to the Z'imes, dated Collingwood, March 
24,—* J obtained a very good view of the head of the 
comet this evening, as near as I could identify the stars in 
the strong twilight from the roof of my house, near one 
of the stars of (rho) Eridani. Its appearance was that of 
a star of about the fifth magnitude, but dim, and having 
no sharp nucleus. J could only use a very low magnifier, 
so that the tail appeared to rise at once from the nucleus, 
without interval or any appearance of division into two 
streams. It is a much less conspicuous object than might 
have been expected from so superb a train ; but there will 
be no difficulty whatever in observing it with fixed instru- 
ments.”—Sir James South, on the 26th, wrote from 
Wimbledon Park as follows :—‘‘ Last evening, at a few 
minutes after eight, the comet’s tail was here visible. The 
brightest part of it was under the stars rigel and kappa 
of Orion. From what cause I know not, but it appeared 
to me more below these stars than when I saw it at Ken- 
sington on Friday last; nor could I see it so far towards 
theta of the Canis Major as I then did. In its direction 
from Rigel towards the horizon, I at times could trace it 
within six or eight degrees of the horizon. Its actual 
situation, however, amongst the fixed stars I could not 
determine, from the presence of overwhelming zodiacal 
or other light, to which also I refer my inability to trace 
it lower, for with a night-glass I could frequently per- 
ceive stall stars nearly grazing the horizon. Not the 
smallest vestige of anything like nucleus did the night- 
glass show me.” While these and other 
English poets. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1812. 
He was twice married—first in very early life, and again 
but a few years before the mournful overclouding of his 
intellect, to Miss Caroline Bowles, a lady whose name as 
a poetess had been long and favourably known to the 
public, and who in the last sad and blank years of his life 
watched over him with the tenderest solicitude, and did 
all that the most devoted affection could do to lighten 
the heavy load of his existence. In all the relations of 
life Dr. Southey was universally allowed, by those who 
knew him best, to be truly exemplary. By his own 
family he was adored; and we have always understood 
that the burden of maintaining the family of a man of 
genius, whose irregular habits ill qualified him for the 
discharge of the ordinary duties of life, chiefly devolved 
on Dr. Southey. ‘Till his mind was unhinged, he re- 
tained his habitual kindness of disposition ; and the gen- 
tleman who accompanied him, a year or two ago, on a 
continental tour, undertaken for the sake of his health, 
dwelt with fond affection on the many amiable traits of 
his character which broke forth amidst all his suffering. 
Dr. Southey was a gentleman in the best sense of the 
word. 
presented themselves with suitable introduction, and 
there are few persons of any distinction who passed 
through that picturesque region who have not partaken 
of his hospitality.” 
Da. 
Ancuxs Courr.—The Braintree Church-rate Case.—Sir Herbert 
Jenner Fust on Saturday gave a 
1k: h j 
have no doubt whatever that the brilliant light seen in the 
western hemisphere is the tail of a comet, M. Foster, an 
astronomer of Bruges, in a letter in the Antwerp papers 
of the 23d ult., says he has no doubt that the'p! 
stion 
sistory Court, 
on the rejection of a libel given in by Messrs. Velcy and Joslin, 
came before the Court on an appeal from the Con: 
churchwardeng of Braintree, against Mr. Gosling, in a cause of 
i church-rat 
is the zodiacal light. Mr. John Taylor, of Liverpool, in 
a letter published in one of the journals of that town, 
maintains the same opinion. The following letter on the! 
subject has been addressed to the Morning Chronicle by| 
a correspondent at Reading :—‘ Turning over the leaves | 
of the translation of a very old Latin work, entitled ‘The 
Sphere of Marcus Manilius,’/printed in the year 1675, 
which contains records of a yast number of comets which 
have appeared, I was muchysurprised to find the following 
entry, which I\have copied verbatim :—‘ March, 1668,— 
On the 5th and\10th of March a comet was observed by 
Sig. Cassini, at Bologna, about the first hour of the night 
(after the Italian way of counting). The head or body } 
id’under the horizon; the tail was of | 
was not seen, being hid 
a stupendous length, being..extended, as it appeared (at 
Lisbon, in Portugal), over almost.the fourth part of the 
visible heavens; from west to east—from the Whale, 
through Hridanus, to the star which precedes the eare of 
Lepus, as observed at Bologna, by Sig. Cassini.? This, 
Sir, you will perceive, is a striking coincidence. I think 
the present visitor is completely identified, or rather, I 
suggest this to the astronomical authorities. If this be 
the same celestial body, its period would be 175 years.’ 
The late Dr. Southey.—Our obituary of last week con- 
tained the announcement of the death of Dr. Southey, 
on Tuesday, the 21st ult., at his residence at Keswick. 
Although our readers were in a great measure prepared 
for this event, by the letter from Mrs. Southey, which 
appeared in our columns a few weeks since, (ante, p. 110,) 
we do not doubt that the following particulars, extracted 
from an article in the Morning Chronicle, will be ac- 
ceptable :—“ For the last three years, Dr. Southey had 
been in a state of mental darkness, and a twelvemonth 
ago he was not able to recognise those who had been his 
companions from his youth. Scarcely could his wife 
console herself with the poor hope that he recognised even 
her. Excess of mental labour in every department of 
literature—poetry, history, biography, criticism, and phi- 
losophy, continued from year to year, without cessation— 
bowed his strong spirit at last, and obscured the genius 
which had so long cast a glory upon the literature of the 
age. In early life, when his powerful and brilliant ima- 
gination was imping its wing for the daring flights that it 
afterwards took, he formed the most exalted notions of 
the perfectability of man, indulged in the most generous 
aspirations for the welfare and improvement of the hu- 
man race, and seriously thought, with other kindred spi- 
rits, of founding a colony in the back woods of America, 
where guilt and sorrow should be unknown, and perfect 
equality, freedom, and happiness, should reign for ever. 
A better knowledge of the world soon dissipated these 
Utopian reveries ; but his ardent imagination, that could 
confine itself to no middle course, went to the other ex- 
treme, and Dr. Southey soon became as violent in his 
Toryism as he had been in his Liberalism. As a poet, 
with an exuberance of imagination seldom equalled, 
and a mastery of versification never surpassed; and as 
a prose writer, at once elegant and forcible, his name 
will endure as long as the language in which he wrote. 
The ‘‘ wild and wondrous tale”’ of “Thalaba,” and the 
almost equally wondrous ‘Curse of Kehama,’’ are the 
poetical pieces on which his fame will principally rest. 
As a prose writer he was a perfect model of style—easy 
but not feeble—stately but not cumbrous, and learned 
but not pedantic. Besides innumerable articles in the 
Quarterly Review, to which he was a principal contribu- 
tor, we believe, for nearly 30 years, his chief prose works 
are, a ‘‘ Life of Nelson,’ ‘The Book of the Church,” 
“A History of the Peninsular War,’’ ‘ Letters from 
Spain and Portugal,’ ‘‘ Essays on the Progress and 
Prospects of Society,” ‘‘ A History of Brazil,’ ‘‘ Lives 
of the British Admirals,” &c. He also wrote biographies 
of Kirke White and Chatterton, and edited their works, 
besides editing collections, both of the principal and minor 
The vestry called to make the rate 
voted that no rate should be made upon principle. The church- 
wardens and the minority made a rate of 2s. in pound, and 
Mr, Gosling refusing to pay it, he was cited to the Consistory 
Court. Dr. Lushington held that a rate so made was invalid, 
and rejected the libel, which virtually put the churchwardens 
out of Court. Sir Herbert Jenner Fust on Saturday reversed the 
decision of the Judge of the Court below, and admitted the libel. 
not appealed from, and the decision stands, it will legalize 
church-rates, though made by the minority and churchwardens 
in vestry, Sir Herbert Jenner Fust held that common-law right 
imposed upon parishioners the duty to repair the church—they 
had no legal right to vote that a rate should not be made, and 
that such vestries were improper and void, The parishioners 
could reduce the amount of a rate proposed, if more than would 
cover the estimated expense of the repairs required, but not get 
rid entirely of the obligation put upon them by the law.—Costs 
de! 
RFOLK Crrcurr.—AssizE INTELLIGENCE.—(Cambridge),— 
John Frederick Mortlock was arraigned, and pleaded * Not 
guilty”? to an indictment which charged him with having dis- 
charged a pistol, loaded with powder and bullet, at his uncle, the 
Rev, Edmund Mortlock, with intent to murder him, or to do him 
some grievous bodily harm. This case, which has excited the 
greatest interest among all classes in this town and University, 
came on at the sitting of the Court, and occupied the greater 
portion of the day. A few yea 
Abington Hall, in this county, by firing his residence. 
occasion, after the trial, certain arrangements were entered into 
by the uncles and friends of the young man, by which it was 
hoped that he would be induced to adopt a new course of con- 
duct, and abstain from a system of annoyance which he had 
before indulged in, For some time matters went on comfortably, 
and though the conduct of the nephew was not such as was 
worthy of approbation, he yet did place such a check upon his 
wayward temper and habits, as to excite a hope that he would 
ultimately become a worthy member of society, This state of 
amendment, however, did not long continue, and it would appear 
that latterly he renewed his former course, threatening to inflict 
some lasting injury on his uncles, sometimes by letter, and some- 
times by word of mouth, till at last they all went, more or less, 
in fear of their lives from his violent behaviour, though the most 
earnest attempts were from time to time made, by compliance 
with his demands and submission to his caprices, to avert 
danger of an outbreak. At length matters came to a crisis, and 
on the day named in the indictment, in the month of November 
Jast, the prisoner suddenly made his appearance in the rooms of 
prosecutor, who is a fellow of Christ’s College, in this University, 
and produced a pistol, which he snapped at the body of his 
relative, saying he would shoot him. Upon this Mr. Mortlock 
arose, while a friend, Mr. Mitchell, who was with him, seized the 
poker for self-preservation, The prisoner then, addressing him- 
self to that person, said he had better not interfere, and brandished 
a dagger in his face. Taking the hint, Mr. Mitchell withdrew from 
the room, when the prisoner seized his uncle by the throat, and 
presenting another pistol at his heart, asked what there was to 
prevent his killing him ? ich he replied, ‘*That such an 
act would do more injury to the actor than the sufferer,” and 
warned him against the perpetration of such a deed, which he 
never could recal, The nephew then fiercely demanded promise 
from his uncle not to prosecute him, but before he could be well 
answered, a gentleman, having heard from Mr. Mitchell what 
was going on, rushed intotheroom. At that instant the pea) 
is- 
am shot!” and was 
The prisoner 
now left alone, bolted the outer door of the rooms, and, the 
alarm being speedily raised in tle. college, loudly threatened to 
shoot the first man who dared to enter, The dread of this threat 
being carried into execution, caused a demur of some few 
minutes among the authorities, during which time the prisoner 
effected his escape into the fellows’ garden by tying two hunting 
; garden, he scaled the wall and made off tow 
the Cam, along the banks of which he wandered till nighttall, 
when his singular conduct excited the suspicions of two men wh? 
were watching their eel-traps. Upon being challenged by these 
men, he ran off, not got very far when he turned roum' 
upon his pursuers, and successively fired a pistol at each 
Strange to say, however, though each pistol took effect, y@ 
neither of the men received any further injury than a smart ra? 
and contusion. After this rencontre the prisoner was taken bans 
kept till the following morning, when he was committed to tak 
his trial on this charge. ee 
small quantity of blood.—Mr. Justi 
of things, intimated to the learned counsel tl 
appear to have been any wound inflicted, there was an en 
His house at the Lakes was ever open to all who © 
