BLOCK-MACHINERY. 247 the royal navy alone during the late war; and when we add, that the present steam-machinery does as much work with ten men as could formerly be done by a hundred and ten men without it, and that 1400 blocks, the complement of a seventy-four gun ship, can now be made, in one day by four men, it may be imagined how vast is the saving of time and money. So immediately was this apparent, that the expense of construction of this elaborate machinery, including the salary of Mr. (since Sir Mark Isambard) Brunell, for six years during which he laboured unremittingly, was defrayed by the saving consequent on the use of the machinery during the four years next ensuing. It is seldom that a great man accomplishes only what he is at first trying to effect. The above apparatus was intended at first merely for the elementary shaping of wood by sawing, turning, &c.; and "the block-machinery was superadded to the first design, with which, however, it has interfered so little, that, in addition to the immense number of blocks manufactured at the mill, upwards of one stretching force, on the rope is the same throughout its whole length. This is both an experimental fact, and one that may be got at by reflection; and it takes three times this strain, since there are three pulleys, with the rope passing round each, to support the weight at y. Hence, the weight at y must be three times the weight at x-nearly, for the weight of the lower pulleys and frame-work has to be supported too. In other words, -a sailor pulling at a could play at "French and English" with three sailors at y; or a sailor at x can do three times as much work, nearly, as if he were pulling a simple rope without mechanical aid. We say nearly again, because we must allow some drawback for the weight of the lower pulleys, and also, now that the machinery is in motion, for the friction or rubbing of the rope and pulleys. But we must not expect you, Miss Smith, to be quite so particular; and when you see those ten sailors yo-ho-ing away at the mainsail, aided by two blocks (which are merely strong frames containing the upper and lower pulleys respectively), you may say, "Those ten men are doing the work of thirty" without the slightest fear of contradiction. hundred different articles of wood work are made by other machines, put in motion by the same engine; from the boring of a pump of forty feet in length, to the turning of a button for the knob or handle of a drawer." Here, again, we have an instance of the application of the same engines to great things and small,-even as the commander of legions disdains not to inspect the dress, and taste the food served out to the meanest of his army; or, as the mind of a Newton could calculate the motion of worlds while his hands were occupied in grinding the glasses for his own telescopes! That steam should have become an efficient biscuitbaker is perhaps the most singular of all its minor achievements. Yet so it is; the biscuit-machinery mixes with knife-blades, kneads with rollers, and having performed these two preliminary operations more perfectly (such is the universal testimony of those who have tasted the resulting biscuits) than human hands can, it stamps the dough, first flattened out with unerring evenness, into six-sided biscuits, so that there are no odd corners; as in the comb of the bee, no space is lost, and neither dough nor time is wasted. We would fain describe more minutely the almost infinite variety of methods by which steam has been made to conduce to the advantage of naval construction; but our space will not admit of it. Be it remembered, however, that these are the inventions of the last sixty years; and that we are now, should the war continue, to reap their full benefit. Let us, then, bear cheerfully the trials that may await us, and be thankful that we, at the very centre and *The reader may remember that Omar Pacha, not long ago, after beholding and admiring the evolutions of the English troops, examined their arms, helmets, and other accoutrements, conscious of the fact, that he who would be successful in great things must be careful in small. NUMBER OF VESSELS. 249 focus of manufactures and science, are, of all nations in the world, best prepared to meet them.* M. M. * The effective force of the British navy consisted in July 1854, including ships building, of 545 vessels of all sizes. So rapid are changes just now, where a ship is one day on the stocks, the next day in the water, and shortly afterwards ready to face the foe, that it would be difficult to ensure entire correctness of figures. The following, however, will give to the amateur who may be desirous to be acquainted with the subject, a tolerably clear idea of the present state of our navy :— First-rates (110 guns and upwards, or 950 men and upwards).. 16 ..... Vessels of other rates, and brigs, schooners, cutters, &c. ... .... 51 23 455 545 Of this number (545) nearly 100 are screw steamers,-a large proportion, when we consider how lately this mechanism was introduced, and one which shows plainly that our rulers have not been asleep. Of the 515 above mentioned, 48 are still building, viz. :— Of the entire number (545) rather more than 100 are actually manned and in service. Subtracting, then, 148 from 545 (since 48 ships are unfinished) we find a reserve of nearly 400 to fall back upon, besides the remaining 48, which the workman's hammer will soon start from their cradles ! BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX. (Concluded.) WE have seen the warmth of Bernard's affections. But his nature had more than one tone. It could peal forth in loftiest enthusiasm, as well as vibrate in softest tenderness. He did nothing with half a heart. It might be said of him as has been said of Dr. Chalmers, "his ideas were possessions." Into the crusading movement he threw himself with such intensity as to become the apostle of the second Crusade. To further this object, he traversed Italy, France, and Germany; and the Germans, not understanding a word of what he said, caught the contagion of his zeal, melted into tears at his impassioned glances, and, from emperor to peasant, adopted the cross by thousands. He lived for and in the scheme of the moment. Hence he was by no means tolerant. The tolerance of indifference was utterly repugnant to him, and the tolerance of a lofty Christian unity in diversity had not yet asserted itself. If Bernard was feminine in his tenderness, he was also feminine in his partisanships. He hated when he did not love; and in his zeal for the truth, and the safety of those who believed it, he had no more compassion for a heretic than for a public poisoner. To attack a truth he believed, was like wounding a friend he loved. All his opinions were convictions. At the very utterance by Abelard of the word "opinion" (existimatio), in reference to an article of the faith, he bursts into an indignant denunciation. "Far be it from us to term anything belonging to our faith an empty opinion," he exclaims, appealing to the "outward certainty" of Scriptural revelation, and the "inward certainty" of the witness CONTROVERSY WITH ABELARD. 251 of the Spirit of God. This gives us the key to his treatment of Abelard and Arnold of Brescia, both of whom he persecuted with unremitting rancour, supplicating their condemnation from popes and councils as a personal favour, and sparing no pains to ensure their ruin, and actually endeavouring to work on the mind of a cardinal who had given Arnold refuge, and so to hunt him from his last asylum, an undertaking which, on any supposition but that of Bernard's confusion of heresy and heretics, would be not merely unchristian and foreign to his nature, but a malignity absolutely fiendish. Bernard's controversy with Abelard is the obscurest passage in his life, and has been abundantly quarrelled over. Abelard seems to have been a man of commanding genius and undaunted self-confidence. Wherever he went men gathered about him to learn. He emptied the schools of his rivals, and when he sought the seclusion of a hermitage the desert was speedily converted into an university. He was unquestionably a man of extraordinary intellectual subtilty, and a profound metaphysician. Nevertheless, whether the highest wisdom did not rest with the man who refused to subject spiritual realities to the anatomising of the logical scalpel,- whether the keys of the kingdom of heaven are not held by prayer rather than by dialectics, remains to be questioned. Perhaps Abelard was an honest inquirer; his "Christian Theology" may to him have been the only possible solution of his doubts and perplexities; still the tendency of his system seems to have been to lower the objects of faith into mere subjects of intellectual exercise, to analyse the bread of life, rather than to feed on it. Abelard having been accused by Bernard of heresy invited him to discussion. Bernard hesitated; he feared to encounter the logic of Abelard,-feared, we may believe, |