wards, and reducing the extent of your benevolence when it was most wanted.

in

thing which is solid, extended, and divisible; and or the Novum Organum? Has he even succeeded i
thinking is the property of another soniething, which decomposing Marmion, or the Tales of my Landlord
we know only by that property, and which we have Has he detected the slightest affinity betwixt the sat
not the slightest reason to suppose is either solid, ex-stance of the brain, and these remarkable secretions
tended, or divisible. To say, then, that matter thinks, No, though Mr. Lawrence thinks it very analagees:
is to say, that that which is solid, extended, and divi- the secretion of bile, thought is certainly not a secretio
sible, thinks; but that which thinks is not solid, ex-
Then, 3d. Is it motion? "Is to shake the same as t
tended, or divisible: therefore, to say that matter think?" No, it is not motion. Then, what is it?
But is not a property of matter, and it is not a function
thinks, is to say it is matter and it is not matter.
the existence of a function implies the existence of matter in any conceivable form; then it is not matte
something to which the function belongs; thinking, it is immaterial.
therefore, is a function of something; it is not a func-
tion of matter, for it has nothing in common with it;
therefore the being that thinks is not matter, it is im-

material.

'I have pleasure in announcing, that, the course of the last year, a legacy of £300 has been left to the Infirmary, which, although not yet received, will be paid at no distant time with interest. It is the bequest of Lady Culling Smith, the daughter of Sir Ellis Cunliffe, formerly member in Parliament for this borough; and I mention These fundamental principles we hold to be the die the circumstance, because it is the affec-tates of common sense; and, upon every principle of tionate remembrance of an ancient and views of the subject which lead to the same result. sound reasoning, incontrovertible. But there are other very respectable Liverpool family, and may be an essential property of it, or a power superadded If thinking be a property of matter, it must either incite others who have here enriched them to it, in that state which we call living or organised selves and their neighbours, but have finally removed their residence, to recollect that the continued attachment of old and absent

friends is in the highest degree acceptable. "It remains that I should return my spectful thanks for the honour which you have conferred on me, by placing me in this situation, the duties of which I lament that I have not been enabled to perform more adequately, and I venture to offer my fervent wishes for the increasing prosperity of this great establishment, and my prayers that the NEW LIVERPOOL INFIRMARY may have the blessing of the Author of all Mercy, and be crowned with success for many succeeding new years."

matter.

The essential properties of matter are necessarily inherent in, and inseparable from, the whole mass, and every particular part into which the mass may be divided."

function of the brain?

motion.

In answer to this reasoning, does any one mainta that it is neither sensation, secretion, nor motion, it i different function altogether, to which nothing anal gous exists in the other functions of an animal body We repel the position as perfectly inadmissible; it is mere petitio principii, a taking for granted of the thr to be proved. We have no conception of organiz matter exercising any other functions than those and thought has not the slightest affinity to any of th have mentioned, motion, sensation, and producte and therefore it is not a material function.

There are various other views which might be taken of this important subject, and which, we think, most satisfy every candid inquirer, that the phere of mind are utterly inconsistent with any idea we can form of a material function. Let us take a single ex particular mass of matter, it must also be a property of principles of materialism, we are to account for the If thinking, then, be an essential property of any ample, and inquire in a few words, how, upon the re-all the parts of that mass when it is divided. But this phenomena of memory? We find some dificulty is contrary to fact; therefore, thinking is not an essen- conceiving how the matter of the brain receives the tial property of matter. Is it then a property super-impressions of history, philosophy, and mathematics added to organised matter; or, in other words, is it a how various sciences and various languages, with the addition of innumerable affairs of ordinary life, are Many remarkable properties or functions are super- received without confusion into "one small bead added to organised matter: to which of these has But we think there is still a greater difficulty, and an thought any affinity? It is not digestion; it is not re- is, the manner in which they are retained. It is we production: it must either be sensation, secretion, or known to physiologists, that all the parts of a brate body are in a constant state of change; that there 1st. Is it sensation? The senses are very remark- constant, though gradual. removal of the old mang able properties of organised bodies; but they are merely and a corresponding deposition of new matter in passive place. We cannot ascertain the precise periods c They are the properties by which the body receives nected with this remarkable process, but we have ev impressions from external material objects; and with- reason to believe that there is a period, and not a ver out these impressions from matter they are as nothing. long one, during which every particle of the bocy The eye may be sound; but, without the presence of renewed. Now, if memory be merely an impresa a luminous body, we see not. The ear may be acute; made upon a material organ, in what manner is th but, without a sounding body, we hear not. Besides impression transmitted? Does an old man relate th this immediate dependence upon impressions derived tales of his early days? How has he retained them from matter, the senses are limited in their operation There is not in his body a single particle that was p by precise material boundaries; we see not beyond a sent when the incident occurred, upon which he we certain distance; we hear not beyond a certain range; with such complacent garrulity. Has one series of pe we feel not, but from the contact of a tangible body. ticles, as they departed, related the tale to those wh But, is thought a mere sensation? No; it is something came to occupy their place, as a sentinel, on quick active. Has it any such relation to matter? No; it is his post repeats his instructions to him who re an active, restless principle, which ranges uncontrolled him? Or is there some provision, "to the word CONTINUATION OF THE OBSERVATIONS ON MR. from world to world, from sun to sun, from system structed in what it is expected to know? D secret yet," by which the newly-acquired matters to system; in an instant it pervades the regions of boundless space: "how fleet is the glance of the mind!" new matter that is added to the body of any 17. It owns no dependence upon material impressions. In undergo, from time to time, a course of ingruc We know nothing of the essence or occult qualities the fairest scene of poetic stillness the tempest may rage physic? Was the nutriment of Porson regulay either of matter or of mind. We see around us in the within; and, mid the convulsions of matter, the mind in Greek? Do the particles of Wilberforce rele structure of our own bodies, various substances, which may be serenity and peace. It is equally independent one another the tale of Afric's wrongs? Did th are solid, extended, and divisible; and to this parti- of the state of the corporal functions. While these are of Bonaparte urge on the conscript atoms in their cular combination of properties we give the name of the prey of the most frightful diseases, the mind may career of ruthless ambition? Is it to this simple matter. We are conscious of a power within us, which emanate tranquillity and hope; and, when every func-easy course of transmission, that we are all o thinks and reasons, desires and loves; and to this par- tion is pursuing its course with such placidity as when for what little learning we have been able to pr ticular combination of properties we give the name of an infant sleeps, the mind may be tossed by contending and have certain negligent atoms failed in their dura mind. The words matter and mind, are mere arbi-passions, distracted by anxiety, or racked by anguish, regard to much useful knowledge that we all have trary terms, intended to express these two combina- remorse, or despair. Thought has no affinity to sensa- gotten? We cannot enlarge upon this curious super tions of properties, which are quite distinct from each tion. but it is highly important in a moral point of view, other. Of the various substances to which we give pecially in regard to crimes and punishments. U the name of matter, the properties are obvious to our the principal of materialism, it will evidently be senses; but we have not the smallest reason to supsary, that the punishment shall immediately fou pose that any of them thinks. Of the power which offence; for, if a single day intervene betwist we call mind, the properties are known to us only by some of the peccant matter will have eluded ou consciousness; they are obvious to none of the senses; and some innocent matter will be punished with and we have not the slightest reason to suppose that it guilty. is either solid, extended, or divisible.

Scientific Notices.

MATERIALISM EXAMINED.

LAWRENCE'S LECTURES, FROM OUR LAST.

Then 2d. Is it secretion? By secretion, fluids of various kinds are separated from the general mass of the animal body; and, the substances which are se parated in this manner have, not only the general properties of matter, solidity, extension, and divisibility, but by chemical analysis, they are resolved into the same elements as the body from which Upon this obvious principle what shall we say they are separated. It is indeed the philosophy of matter; that whatever is separated from an animal the highest award of British justice on account a common sense, that matter can produce nothing but remarkable instance, in which an individual su body, must have some of the properties of animal sub-crime committed in a foreign country twenty Now the name is nothing; when we say it is imma-stances. But what are the properties of the secretion before? Whatever ideas we may entertain terial, we merely say it is not matter; and, when we say it is not matter, we merely say it is not solid, ex-tary harangue, or a lecture on physiology? Have his ledge, that long before the period we have me of the brain? Has Sir H. Davy analyzed a parliamen- enormity of the offence, we shall be obliged to ack tended, or divisible: it has properties essentially dif- most delicate teats made any impression upon the Iliad every particle of the real offender had abst from justice."

It has nothing in common with that which we have called matter; we therefore say it is not matter; or,

in other words, it is immaterial.

ferent from that class of substances to which we have given the name of matter, and has nothing in common is not, properly, to be treated as unsound reasoning; with them. If any one say that matter may think, it it is a mere absurdity, or contradiction in terms: for matter is only a name which we have given to some

*It is almost unnecessary to mention that the term But why talk we of morals? Upon the prin is opposed to fluidity; but as expressing a property of the solidity is not here employed in that sense in which it of materialism there can be neither morals o responsibility. Are "all the manifestations which which is common to all material substances, whether solid, fluid, or gaseous. as digestion is of the alimentary canal, motion

muscles, and the various secretions of the respective glands?" Then justice, humanity, benevolence, and Fatriotism are the healthy condition of this important Function; and injustice, robbery, murder, and sedition, are merely the function in a state of disease. But why should diseases of this function be considered as objects of punishment, while hepatitis and jaundice escape with impunity? "'Tis strange, is passing strange," that, in this enlightened nation, one function should be left to the care of the physician, while another is consigned to his Majesty's advocate for his Majesty's interest; that calomel and Cheltenham water should be considered as remedies adapted to the one, while, for the other, nothing will answer but Newgate and Tyburn-tree!

But enough of this. Materialism is formidable only when viewed at a distance: when closely examined, it is a system from which the mind revolts as perfectly inconceivable. They who require us to believe that the intellectual manifestations of a Newton were a mere corporeal function, resembling the secretion of bile, require us to stretch our faith, till faith utterly fails us. From such a monstrous dogma the mind wilFingly takes refuge in the belief of an immaterial being. The only question then is, whether the existence of an immaterial being be really probable? And who can doubt that it is not only probable, but certain and necessary? The whole phenomena of nature compel us to believe the existence of a great First Cause. This cause must be a living agent; and this agent must, of necessity, be independent of material organization; in other words, he must be immaterial. The existence of such an essence as an immaterial being, is, therefore, not only probable, but necessary; and that this Being, the great cause of all things, should create immaterial beings, is fully as probable as that he should create material beings. Without pushing this argument farther, then, there is no improbability in the belief of an

immaterial soul.

That which

every fibre quivering in death, he exults in the prospect of immortality? Whence the arrow that rankles in the breast, when the stoutest mind has been wounded by deep remorse? Whence the pang unseen by human eye, and unknown to human ken, that can chill the heart which never feared before, and make it shrink with all the terror of childhood from the stillness of the tomb? Can this be a property or a function of matter? No, it cannot be. They have reasoned well who have told us, that, in all these workings of a mighty mind, there is-there must be-something immortal.

The Naturalist's Diary,

For FEBRUARY, 1821.

We are led to this conclusion by every idea we can | nected with this subject, see Drew on the immortality form of matter and of mind: and we are confirmed in of the soul. it by every view we can take of the operations of mind itself, and of the order and harmony of the universe. The whole phenomena of nature compel us to believe in the existence of a great First Cause, and every department of it exhibits ample evidence of wise design and boundless power. From the planets that revolve in their appointed orbits, to the insect on which we tread, each is endowed with properties exactly suited to the situation in which it is placed, and each fulfils in the most perfect manner the purpose for which it was created. In this fair field of harmony and order, the only anomaly is man. He alone is endowed with powers, for which there appears no adequate range, in the spot of earth on which he his fixed, and the point of time to which his existance is limited. After a long and helpless infancy, and a protracted period of intellectual culture, his powers at length expand in all their glory, and oft, alas! how oft! when they have just opened in their meridian splendour, is he cut down as a flower and withereth? If this be his end, he is an anomaly which in the wide expanse of creation stands alone; a beacon set to record the fact, that, in the mightiest works of omnipotence, something has been made in vain. But farther, can the being who has introduced such order and harmony into the whole economy and course of nature, be indifferent to the disorder that pervades the moral world; to virtue writhing beneath the iron hand of oppression; to vice triumphant, raising its head and defying the face of heaven; to deeds of foulest aspect unseen by mortal eye; to crimes of the blackest malignity of which no human law takes any cognizance, and no human power requireth vengeance? No, it cannot be. There must be a harmony yet to be disclosed; there is there must be-something immortal. But in this great inquiry, shall we allow nothing to the operations of mind itself, to the power, that we feel within, which revolts from the thought of ceasing to be? Whence the sublime conception of surviving the wreck of matter? Whence the might that animates the good man, while with

ness.

Now, if thought be not a function of matter, we have no reason to suppose that it should be affected by any change in the combinations of matter. What is death? It is merely a change of combination. was formerly a living body is then resolved into knowledge of mind is derived entirely from conscious oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and azote, and various new We observe numerous bodily actions which in combinations of these elements. If thought, as we ourselves result from mental operations, or, in other have seen, has no affinity to matter, we have no reason words, are manifestations of mind; but the question to suppose that it should be affected by such a change comes to be, do these necessarily imply mental operaof combination. But thought is something active, and tions? What do we see in the automaton? It moves, mast, therefore, be the function of an active living he- it writes, it draws figures, it performs music, it plays ing. It is, therefore, in the highest degree probable, chess. These actions are in ourselves manifestations that the being which thinks shall continue to think of mind, but here they are the result of mere mechanafter that change which we call death; and if it con- ism, set in motion by an impulse communicated by tinue to exist and to think after that change, have we the exhibitor. Why may we not suppose that certain any reason to believe that it shall at any time cease to manifestations in animals may result from particular exist? We never knew any thing cease to exist. Af-arrangements of matter, ordained by the Creator to ter the change which we call the death of an animal act in a certain manner, and to be set in motion at cerbody, it can be demonstrated, upon the strictest prin- tain times by bodily feelings or by an impulse commuciples of chemistry, that not a particle of that body nicated through the senses. They resemble the maniWe have no conception of annihila festations of mind, but they are clearly distinguished tion; our whole experience is against such an idea. from them. We call them instinct; and even in the Now, the being which thinks and reasons has a real highest degrees of it we perceive the line drawn with existence, independent of any combination of matter. great precision betwixt it and reason. We have no reason to believe that it is affected by any change in the combinations of matter, or that it is itself resolvable into elements; have we then any reason to conceive that it should ever cease to exist? None whatever. It is, therefore, in the highest degree pro

ceases to exist.

bable that it is immortal.

of

The acts of animals that are regulated by instinct, we have every reason to believe, are called into action by bodily feelings, or by impressions on the senses, and they are regulated by fixed and determinate laws. This uniformity and regularity shows something remarkably different from those actions in man which are governed by reason. These are called into action, *We are aware of an objection that may be urged not by impulse, but by motives, and motives are adagainst some points in this argument: that it leads dressed to mind Hence a power of reasoning and to the belief of an immortal principle in brutes, or in deliberating; of acting or abstaining from action; the words of a late writer, "It immortalizes the dog following a present impulse or of resisting it, under that barks at us, and the insect that annoys us in our the influence of a motive which refers to something sleep." Now, though this were really a fair inference future, and which consequently can exist only in mind. from the argument, it would neither destroy nor wea- This power of being influenced by the future in oppoken it; it would have nothing in it of the nature of a sition to present feelings and present impulse, indicates reductio ad absurdum, but would leave the great ques- at first sight the remarkable distinction betwixt reason tion of the immateriality of the human soul quite un- and instinct; betwixt man and animals. We see its affected. But is it really such a consequence of the influence in man in the daily occurrences of life, and it argument? We conceive that it has nothing to do leads us to the high principle of moral responsibility, with it. We have already alluded to the important to which animals exhibit nothing in the smallest degree distinction betwixt an immaterial soul, and the mere analagous. There may be in animals much appearcondition of organic life. The latter we have not the ance of contrivance and sagacity; but whenever there slightest reason to consider as immaterial, but merely is this acting upon impulse, and this inability to resist as a property superadded to matter in a particular state impulse under the influence of something future, there of combination, for in the zoophytes it is divided. is nothing of the nature of mind or soul, nothing of the The objection, therefore, can only apply to the higher nature of moral responsibility, and nothing that we classes of animals, in whom we perceive something have the slightest reason to believe is either immaterial resembling the manifestations of mind. Now, our or immortal. On this point and several others con

[To be continued throughout the year.]

O Winds, howl not so long and loud; Nor with your vengeance arm the snow; Bear hence each heavy loaded cloud, And let the twinkling star-beams glow. In the course of this month all nature begins, as it were, to prepare for its revivification. God, as the Psalmist expresses it, 'renews the face of the earth;' and animate and inanimate nature seem to vie with each other in opening the way to spring. About the 4th or 5th, the woodlark, one of our earliest and sweetest songsters, renews his uote; a week after, rooks begin to pair; the thrush sings; and the yellow-hammer is heard. The chaffinch sings; and the redbreast continues to warble. Turkey-cocks strut and gobble. Partridges begin to pair; the house-pigeon has young; field-crickets open their holes; missel-thrushes couple; and wood-owls hoot; gnats play about, and insects swarm under sunny hedges; the stone-curlew clamours; and frogs croak.

By the latter end of February, the raven has generally laid its eggs, and begun to sit. Moles commence their subterraneous operations. About this time the green woodpecker is heard in the woods, making a loud noise. Bullfinches return to our gardens in February, and though timid half the year, are now fearless and persevering: the mischief effected by these birds at this period is greater than is perhaps supposed, and we are deprived of a large portion of the produce of many of our best fruit-trees by this insidious plunderer. The idea that has been entertained sometimes, that they only select such buds as contain the larva of an insect, and so render us a kindness by destroying a colony in embryo, is well meant, but not the fact. They are very dainty and particular in their assortment, seldom feeding on two species at the same time, commencing with the germs of the large or early gooseberry. When the cherry buds begin to swell, he quits the gooseberry, and makes tremendous havock here: the Orleans and gage plums next appear, and attract him from the remains of the cherry: having banquetted awhile here, he leaves our gardens entirely, resorting to fields and hedges, where the sloe in April furnishes him with food, till May brings its plenty, and the pleasures and labours of incubation occupy his time, and draw him from our observation.

The flowers of the crocus appear, before their leaves are grown to their full length; the barren strawberry; the laurustinus; and the yew tree, are in flower. The elder-tree begins to put forth its flower buds, and the catkins of the hazel are very conspicuous in the hedges. The gooseberry-bush and the red currant show their young leaves about the end of the month. The hepatica, unless the weather be severe, gives brilliance to the garden with its bright pink flowers; and the hounds-tongue with its more modest flowers of pink or light blue. Many plants appear above the ground in February,

(Written for the Kaleidoscope.)

HORE OTIOSÆ.
No. V.

WALTER SCOTT.

"Hark! his hands the lyre explore! Bright-eyed Fancy, hov'ring o'er,

Scatters from her pictur'd urn

Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.
But, ah! 'tis heard no more."

Gray.

back with delight to those passages which have
afforded this rapturous pleasure; and having been
already hurried on with the poet, and been forced
to feel his powerful sway, and to own the command
which he can exercise over us, we seem under the
spell of some magic influence, and are not masters
of our own feelings; we make a boast of our slavery,
and idolize our conquerors.

"Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn are heard no more:"

and, in the language which he makes use of in the introduction to one of his own poems, addressing himself to the Genius of Scottish Poetry, we would say to his Muse:

"O wake once more!

And if one heart throb higher, at thy sway,
The wizard note has not been touch'd in vain ;
Then silent be no more; Enchantress, wake again!”
Liverpool, January, 1821.
B.

THE CHINESE JUGGLERS,
NOW EXHIBITING AT THE BOTTOM OF LORD-
STREET.

We seldom insert any article of the nature of an adver-
ment in the Kaleidoscope; but the extraordinary per-
formances of the Chinese Jugglers deserve to be put
upon record in our pages, as matter of reference for
the curious and the philosophical; and it is obvious
that such a record may as well be made while these
interesting strangers remain in town, so that they
may share the benefit of its effect upon our readers,
as when they may be in distant places, and the state-
ment we have subjoined rendered difficult of proof.
The following is a list of their performances, which
they repeat every day at 12, 4, and 8 o'clock.

a style which was peculiarly his own, having never | Last Minstrel. For some years, in the language of been used before by any English poet. Instead of GRAY at the head of this paper, his that smoothness in the sound, which had previously been the aim of most of our poets, he substituted a kind of verse just suited to give vent, in the most expressive manner, to bis enthusiastic genius. He burries the reader on from page to page, from cauto to canto; for it is not when one canto is perused that the charm is dissolved; it is not until the volume is finished that we are able, as it were, to collect our scattered, wandering senses. Our feelings then are those of one, who in a moment of time could be carried through the universe, and catch a Dazzled by that halo of glory which the constel-glance at all the kingdoms of the world. When the lation of Genius cast upon the poetic world at the book is closed, we are not able to unravel the conguing of the last century; a constellation, intending passions which have seized us; we turn which Porg shone as a star of the first magnitude, and in which GAY, PARNELL, and others, were so conspicuous, men were for near a century content with reading, admiring, and imitating the works of these authors, none daring to turn into an unbeaten pub, or to make use of arms which had not been proved" by these mighty combatants; and, as a Batural consequence, scarcely a single poet of firstrate talents is to be found, from that period to the The beginning of the present century, with the exceplation however of GRAY, who, had he written no thing but the Ode on a distant prospect of Eton College, would yet have deserved to stand secundus alli Cowper, as already mentioned (see No. 1. of hese sketches) was destitute of that enthusiasm and apture, which constitute the very soul of poetry; et he charms by his smoothness and playfulness, and, above all, by the purity of his language and deas. Servile imitators, it has been justly remarked, This overpowering spirit of poetry, as it is called spy the faults instead of the excellences of those by a great writer, who says, and truly says, that, hom they set before them as models of excellence;" by labour a man may become a tolerable imitator and when, instead of relying upon their own strength, and boldly daring to stand or fall unsupported, they Lag to others more powerful than themselves, their reakness is betrayed, often merely by a comparison ith the superlative excellence of their model. The athusiasm which had inspired POPE and his conmporaries was inherited, in a very small degree, y their successors; consequently, the failures of maeir imitators gave additional lustre to their talents ad success; and of the numerous poets who have prung up for the last century, few are now even ead, and most have sunk into deserved neglect or blivion. Their productions, it is true, often acuire an ephemeral popularity, rather in consequence the worth of the subject, than of the manuer in hich it was treated. Who, for instance, now reads enumerous productions of PETER PINDAR, which ice were so much admired? the subjects upon hich he wrote, are to us destitute of interest, which cannot create by his ribaldry, his coarseness, or en by his wit.

If that man be the greatest poet who possesses the most unbounded control over the hearts of his readers, and if poetry be an indescribable something which takes full possession of, and unbounded command over its votaries; if it consist not in a studied application of any rules or forms, but in a sort of continued rapture, which animates the poet, and [almost couvulses his reader; then WALTER SCOTT must be one of the first, not of modern or of English poets, but (par excellence) of poets.

of SPENCER, SHAKSPEARE, or MILTON, but un-
less he be born a poet, he will never attain the true
spirit of poetry," is possessed in a great degree by
WALTER SCOTT, and is visible in every page of his
productions: it is particularly so in the following
extract from the most admired of his poems, the
Lady of the Lake:

"He paus'd; the word his vassals took ;
With forward step, and fiery look,
On high their naked brands they shook:
And first, in murmur low,
Then like the billow in his course,
That far to seaward finds his source,
And flings to shore his monstrous force,
Burst with loud roar the answer hoarse,

Woe to the tyrant! woe!'
BENAN'S grey scalp the accents knew,
The joyous wolf from covert drew,
The exulting eagle scream'd afar;
They knew the voice of Alpine's war."

Lady of the Lake, Canto 3, p. 109. There are innumerable passages of equal or suThe reading world was inundated by rhymnes, conining a very moderate proportion of poetry, and perior worth to the above in the works of SCOTT; at, even if excellent in itself, yet losing much by but his poems being in general one connected story, mparison with POPE and his contemporaries, init is difficult to find passages which will not lose hose style it was written when WALTER SCOTT most of their beauty by being separately introduced. at made his appearance in the character of a poet the Lady of the Lake, is truly beautiful and natural: The following description of a Maniac, also from ogged as the world was by the trash which had long been offered it, his originality would have "Such spoils her desperate step had sought, Where scarce was footing for a goat; sured him success, even had his pretensions been His was not the slow The tartan plaid she first descried, r beneath what they were. And shriek'd till all the rocks replied: raggling of the man of genius against many oppoAs loud she laugh'd when near they drew, eats; he had not to repel the calumnies or the For then the lowland garb she knew: arping of criticism; nor had he to make repeated And then her hands she wildly wrung, ppeals to the public, before he could obtain a fair And then she wept, and then she sung. earing: no sooner had he entered the lists, as a She sung the voice in better time andidate for the laurel wreath, than he received the Perchance to harp or lute might chime; omage of the multitude; he copied no mau, he And now, though strain'd and roughen'd still, isdained even to make use of the metre which had Rung wildly sweet to dale and hill." een subservient to his predecessors; and the only Even should this "highly-gifted genius" be the valship seemed to be, who should be foremost or author of the famed Scotch Novels; yet, in the andest in the praises of one who had dared to out- opinion of many of his readers, they are far from aw all the distinctions and boundaries which had being a satisfactory substitute for such poetry as reviously been set up, to trust solely to his own Marmion, The Lady of the Lake, or the Lay of the owers, to give vent to the enthusiasm which inpired him, in the most rapturous style, and yet in

John Westley.

1st.-Throwing about three gilt balls in various direetions, with amazing velocity, making them form circles of every denomination round the head, neck, legs, arms, &c. horizontal, perpendicular, elliptic, &c. which to the eye appear perfect rings.

and catching it sideways upon the flat of the hand, then 2nd.-Tossing up a large China basin to the ceiling, turning it upside down in various ways, making it appear to the beholder as if glued to the hand.

3rd. From under the carpet on which the performers walk, and where it appears impossible to conceal any thing, an immense flower-pot is produced, afterwards a large basin full of water, and live fish sporting in it; and, lastly, a large China dish, entirely filled with eggs. 4th. Several very curious and diverting evolutions are performed with three small sticks, which are well worth the closest attention.

5th. Upon an empty China plate a shower of nuts is made to fall from an empty handkerchief!

6th. With eight solid brass rings, in none of which can any break be discovered, one of the artists performs several very curious tricks; namely separating and exhibiting them, nay, handing them about singly for inspection among the visitors, and then, at one touch, linking them together in various forms, sometimes like a chain, a pair of spectacles, a globe, &c.; then shaking them asunder on the floor.

7th.-A large China bowl is thrown aloft, and caught in its descent, bottom downwards, on the peint of a small stick, where it is spun and tossed about with great velocity; and, to all appearance, with a certainty of de

struction.

three large knives, which are flung about with equal 8th.-Several astonishing feats are performed with velocity with the balls, and caught in such a way as to require great steadiness of nerve to behold, without apprehension for the safety of the performer.

9th. At each end of a long cord or bowstring, is attached a large brass ball.. With this cord and ball they perform with the most extraordinary activity and management, that can be conceived. He makes those balls fly round in every and opposite directions, each forming a separate and distinct circle, he himself holding the cord in only one hand at the middle.

10th. One of the performers eats a quantity of cut paper blazing on fire, which he afterwards, apparently with great pain, discharges from his mouth and nostrils in smoke and real flame. He then draws from his mouth at least one hundred yards of white riband, and afterwards as many more yards of red riband.

11th. A great quantity of the shreds of white paper is cut small, and put into a basin of water, covered up, which, on removing the cover is found to be a perfect string of red paper, of nearly a hundred yards..

Scientific Records.

MAGNETISM.

This model has two iron knees on the starboard, | LUMINOUS PHENOMENA PRODUCED BY A FLOWER
and two on the larboard side. In the northern
hemisphere, the upper ends of these knees will pos-

1 Comprehending Notices of new Discoveries or Improve-sess a south, and their lower ends a north polarity.
ments in Science or Art; including, occasionally, sin- On the vessel's head being turned either due north
gular Medical Cases; Astronomical, Mechanical, or due south, it is evident that the compass placed
Philosophical, Botanical, Meteorological, and Mine- in the binacle must be unaffected by the magnetic
ralogical Phenomena, or singular Facts in Natural influence of the iron knees. Remembering that
History; Vegetation, &c.; Antiquities, &c.; to be
continued in a Series through the Volume.]
poles of a similar nature repel, while those of a dis-
similar nature attract each other, it is evident, that
on the vessel's head being turned to the west, the
knees on the starboard side will attract the north
end of the compass needle, and cause a deviation to
We have perused with pleasure a pamphlet by the west; which deviation will be assisted by the
Mr. Bywater, optitian, of this town, on the mag-knees on the larboard side being possessed in their
netic deviation of the compass. It may perhaps be upper extremities of south polarity, and consequently
necessary to explain to some of our readers the repelling the southern extremity of the needle to the
meaning of the term deviation of the compass, and eastward. In precisely a similar manner it may be
wherein it differs from the variation. The variation shown, that when the vessel's head is turned to the
of the magnetic needle is well known to be a decli- eastward, the deviation will be easterly. In all
nation either to the east or west of the true north or other positions of the vessel's head besides these
south. In the same geographical position, this vari- four (supposing no other influential causes) it is
ation is comparatively fixed; its regular annual plain, that the deviation must increase as the vessel's
increase or decrease being very small, and the daily head approaches to the east or west, and decrease as
oscillations unworthy of notice in any other than a it gets nearer to the compass north or south.
theoretical point of view. The deviation, on the
Mr. Bywater's mode of obviating the inconve-
other hand, varies considerably, according to the niences resulting from this almost momentarily
relative positions of the vessel's head; on this sub-changing deviation is very simple: we give it in his
ject we will quote Mr. Bywater's abstract of Captain own words, extracted from a letter, addressed to the
Flinder's observations.-Ed. Kal.
Lords of the Admiralty.

"Let a temporary ladder, or stage, about twenty feet high, be erected, just before the mizen-mast, and then place a good compass on the top, which, in all probability, will be beyond the local attraction of the ship. If this should prove to be matter of fact, it will furnish a good standard by which the ship's compasses may be compared, whenever it is desirable to know whether the iron on board draws them from their true bearing. To take advantage of this arrangement, a the ship goes about, or whenever there is any suspicion person should go up to inspect this compass every time that the ship's compasses are influenced by the iron on board; and, from his report, and a comparison with the ship's compasses, such remarks should be entered in the log-book as will enable the sailing-master

"That the deviation to which we have just alluded arises from the magnetic influence of the iron on board a ship, and does not depend merely, as some writers have imagined, on a principle of magnetic attraction, has been rendered evident by the investigation of Captain Flinders. After he had made numerous experiments and observations on this deviating irregularity of the compass, he discovered, during the progress of his voyage, that this influence decreased as he approached the equator, but again increased as he pro ceeded southward, which led him to imagine that it followed some rule or law in its variableness; and, by allowing to pass before his judgment the stores of a well-regulated memory, he made one of those happy selections which often prove of the highest advantage to difficult investigations. It has long been known to navigators, that the dipping needle, which almost stands perpendicular in some high northern latitudes, becomes less so as it approaches the tropical regions, and that, on the equator, it assumes an horizontal position. It is also known, that, after it has crossed the equator, one of its ends again becomes depressed in proportion as it proceeds southward; hence, in all probability, originated Capt. Flinders's belief that this deviation corresponded with the law of the dipping nee-Williams and Neverson, have given Mr. Bywater Two gentlemen sailing from this port, Captains dle. In the progress of Capt. Flinders's inquiry, his fact, that iron bars which have stood long in a perpen-plan, which, from its great simplicity and casiness mind seems to have been clearly impressed with the most satisfactory testimonials of the efficacy of his magnetic character. In the northern hemisphere the of application, we trust soon to see more generally lower end uniformly acquires a northern polarity; and adopted. this fact, when associated with the magnetic varieties he had witnessed during his voyage, readily suggested

dicular position in high latitudes, acquire a permanent

to make those allowances in the day's work as shall ex-
actly counteract this local attraction. Perhaps this cor-
recting compass might be applied in the round top, if
there be not too much iron in that quarter, or it may
be applied in other parts of the ship, with equal, if not
more advantage than the places mentioned, but, of
this, practical men will be the best able to judge.'

EVEN UNDER WATER.

to him the idea, that it was the upright pieces of iron METHOD OF PRODUCING LIGHT BY FRICTION,
on board, which produced this deviation of his com-
pass, from its being in a state of magnetism, a conclu-
sion which subsequent experiments and observations
have completely established.

"Although the experiments which had been made on the various ships at different ports completely de

Rub two pieces of fine lump sugar together in the dark; the effect is produced, but in a much greater degree, by two pieces of silex or quartz: but that which affords the strongest light of any thing is a white quartz from the Land's End, considerable quantities of which are brought to Bristol, and enter into the composition of

Mr. Johnson had last July, a fine plant, the Polyanthus Tuberosa, about five feet in height, in blossom, in a room, which he observed emitted its effluvium most strongly ahe the 16th of July, on which day the thermometer stood st sunset. One sultry evening, after thunder (it is believe 81 deg. in the shade) when the atmosphere was evidently highly charged with the electric fluid, Mr. Johnson w flame-colour, darted, with apparently excessive rapstry surprised at seeing small sparks, or scintillations of a lund and momentum, from two or three of the expanded flowers, which were beginning to fade, and at the same time the odour was so powerful as to be palling and pleasant. He could not perceive any difference in te strength of the odour at different intervals, but dure: He has subsequently noticed, that the smell from the the whole evening its intensity seemed to be equal flower is most diffuse in the light, but has not agai observed the singular electric phenomenon, though time of the appearance of the flashes, or sparks, he was has nightly and attentively looked for it. During anxious to know whether their emission was attended electric spark is elicited from a charging jar; but, though by a crackling or snapping noise, as is the case when the he was most attentive, he was not conscious of hearing the least noise.-Edin. Journ.

INSTRUMENT OF DEATH.

repeating musket,' so called, calculated to discharge "We have seen the new-invented and destructive eight single balls, in regular succession, with space of about sixteen seconds. The musket has two

locks, one at the usual place and the other nearly a fusee passes through each, which is lit by the pre way down the barrel; the balls are perforated, and a sta discharge, and communicates to the cartridge to which fire to by the lock fixed on the barrel, the trigge it is attached. The priming, in the first instance, is which is drawn by a wire, and the charge in the cha ber of the gun may be kept in reserve."-Halifar p Dec. 6.

The Gleaner.

"I am but a gatherer and disposer of other man' stuff." WOTTON.

TO THE EDITOR.

your readers a work, entitled Lacon, or many Thing SIR,-Allow me to recommend to the perusal of in few Words:" it is a collection of maxim and deductions from a survey of human life and m ners, and exhibits much soundness of thinking and some originality. The author has applied the site power of observation and reasoning with a degree of freedom from all bias, which it is not us to meet with; and though he has occasionally followed little too closely, there runs through his work the steps of his great predecessor, Rochefaucan, view of fairness that proves him to have walked through the world with his eyes fully open to strength and its weakness.—I send you a few of he Maxims, as a specimen.

Liverpool, 9th Feb. 1821.

C

yourself, what harm you have done; when they c 1. "When the million applaud you, seriously k sure you, what good?"

2. "We should act with as much energy as the who expect every thing from themselves; and expect every thing from God."

monstrated to men of science the magnetic principle china ware. By means of two pieces of such quartz, should pray with as much earnestness as those

on which the effect in question depended, yet they were not of that obvious nature as to render them useful to all practical navigators; therefore, for the purpose of showing the magnetic law which gives rise to what is called the deviation of the compass, I constructed a small model of a vessel, with moveable iron knees, that point out, in the most satisfactory manner, the magbetic law which produces the effect in question."

pretty forcibly rubbed together, you may distinguish the
time of the night by a watch: but, what
most surpris-
ing, the same effect is produced equally strong on rubbing
the pieces of quartz together under water.

though not a pure quartz, answer the purpose perfectly well.
The white pebbles found on the banks of the Mersey, al-
It is singular that the friction is invariably accompanied by a

strong sulphurcous smell,- Edt, Kal.

3. "We ask advice, but we mean

approbatica greatest enemy is Prejudice; her constant comp nion is Humility."

4. "The greatest friend of Truth is Time; b

5. "A great mind may change its objects, but cannot relinquish them; it must have something