F i 
1801.] ( 
857) 
Extras from the Port-folio of a Man of Letters. 
CHINESE TELEGRAPH ad STOVES. 
N the ‘* Travels of fob Bell, of An- 
termony,’? from St. Peterfburg to 
Pekin, in 1720, he defcribes two ingeni- 
ous inventions, which were then in ule 
in China; and the reader will probably 
recognize in them, the telegraph of 'mo- 
dern days, and the flue-ftoves of the ce-' 
lebrated culinary economift.—** Near the 
populous city of Siang fu, (fays our au- 
thor,) we met with many turrets upon 
the road, called poft houfes, erected at 
certain diftances from one another, with 
a flag-ftaff, on which is hoifted the Im- 
perial pendant. —Thefe turrets are fo con- 
trived as to be in fight .of one another, 
and by fignals, they can convey intelli- 
gence of any remarkable event. By this 
means the court is informed, in the 
{peedieft manner imaginable, of whatever 
ditturbance may-happen, inthe molt re- 
mote provinces of -the empire. , Thefe 
pofts are alfo very uleful, by keeping the 
country free from highwaymen; for fhould 
a perfon efcape at one houfe, on a fignal 
being made, he would certainly be-ftop- 
ped at the next..””. What was the pecu- 
liar conftruétion of thefe fignals Mr. 
Bell does not inform us; but as they 
were capable ‘‘of conveying intelligence 
of amy remarkable event in the fpeedieft 
manner imaginable,” they muft have been 
fomething more than mere pendants on a 
flag-ftaff. But to return to our author, 
who now writes from a village within 
four miles of the capital of China: ‘My 
lodgings in this village happened to be 
at a cook’s-houfe, which gave me an op- 
portunity of obferving the ingenuity of 
thefe people, even on trifling cccafions. 
My landlord being in his thop, I paid 
hima vifit; where I found Ax kettles, placed 
in a row, on furnaces, having a feparate 
opening under each of them ior receiving 
the fuel, which confifted of a few fmall 
icks. and ftraw. On his pulling a” 
thong he blew a pair of bellows, which 
made all his kettles boil ina very fhort 
time. They are, indeed, very thin, and 
made of -caft-iron, being extremely 
f{mooth, both within and without. The 
{carcity of fuel near fuch a populous city, 
prompts people to contrive the . eafieft 
methods. of drefling their victuals and 
keeping themfelves warm during the 
winter which is fevere for two months.” 
PORTRAITS of CHAUCER Gnd GOWER. 
The following Poetical Portraits of 
thofe venerable Englifh poets, Cuau- 
CER and Gower, have never appeared in 
print. They were’ copied many years 
fince out of a manufcript colleétion of 
no great antiquity ; however, the lan- 
guage befpeaks the compofition to be 
ancient. os 
Edgware Road, Fuly 10, 1801.6 
JEFFERY CHAUCER. 
HIS ftature was not very tall; 
Lean he was—his legs were {mall, 
Hofed within a ftock of red; 
A button’d bonnet on his head, 
From under which did hang, 1 ween, 
Silver hairs, both bright and fheen; 
His beard was white, and trimmed round 5 
His count’nance blithe, and merry found 5 
A fleevelefs jacket, large and wide, 
With many plaits and {kirts befide, 
Of water-camblet did he weare,; 
A whittle by his belt he beare 5 
His fhues were corned, broad before 5 
His inkhorn at his fide he wore 5 
And in his hand he bare a book; - \ 
Thus did this ancient Poet look. 
JOHN GOWER. 
LARGE he was—his height was long 5 
Broad of breaft, his limbs were ftrong 5 
But colour pale, and wan his look, 
Such as they that ply’n their book 5 
His head was grey, and quaintly fhorne 5 
Neatly was his beard yworn 5 
His vifage grave and ftern, and grimy 
Cato was moft like to him 5 
His bonnet was a hat of blue, 
His fleeves were ftrait of that fame hue 3 
A furcoat of a tawney dye 
Hung in plaits acrofs his thigh; 
A breeche clofe unto his nock, | 
Handfomed with a long ftock 5 
Peeked before were his fhoone, 
He wore fuch as others donne 5 
A bag of red was by his fide, 
And by that his napkin ty7d. ; 
Thus. John Gower did appear. 
Quaint attired as you hear.’ 
DUCKING-STOOL 7# FRANCE. 
Tread not long figce in a newpaper, 
the following paragraph: **A woman 
was ducked in the Thames, at Kingiton, 
in Surry, in a chair preferved in the town 
for that purpofe, purfuant to fentence, on 
an indiétment for being a common fcold.” 
Although this appears fomewhat like 
what in the cant of the prefent day. is 
called a hoax, or what ufed to be named 
a take-in or banter; yet that ducking 
was a punifhment by the common,law of 
England for theslike offences 1s very | 
certain. The fame punifhment was in-, 
fisted in France, efpecially in thofe parts 
which were in_poffeflicn of the Englilh, 
iv 
/ 
~as I have now a proof before me in an 
F2 ancient 
