Original Anecdotes, Literary News, Chit Chat, Incidents, &c. Tales of the Crusaders, by the author of Waverley, are announced as preparing for publication. MILITARY CONTROL.-Charles XII. on being thwarted by the Senate, transmitted a letter to Stockholm, in which he threatened "to send his jack-boot to preside over their deliberations !" WONDERS FOR HISTORY.--Bonaparte, sovereign of Europe, was a lieutenant in the Artillery when M. Minibus, one of the French masters of the Royal Military College at 'Marlow, was captain. The son of Joseph Bonaparte, formerly an attorney at Bayonne, was converted by the magic of Bonaparte into a sceptre, which, after ruling Naples, commanded Spain. Short Commons.-At a shop window in the Strand, there appears the following notice: "Wanted two apprentices, who shall be treated as one of the family."!! Artificial Incubation.-Paris as well as London has its exhibition of this kind. "Would you (says a writer in one of the French journals,) without a tedious journey have the opportunity of contemplating one of the wonders of Egypt? Go to the ChampsElysées, and there, at No. 37 in the Widow's Walk, you will see, by means of artificial incubation, chickens hatched before your eyes, without hens having any thing to do with the affair. The theory of this art, equally valuable to science and to gluttony, had been taught in several works, but the practice of it was but little advanced, until after four years of application M. Borne at length obtained this triumph over the kingdom of Pharaoh. His incubating ovens have excited the interest of our learned men, the curiosity of our fashionables, and the appetite of our epicures, who have been anxious to ascertain by their own experience the flavour of these offspring of art. It is said that all kinds of poultry may be hatched in M. Borne's ovens. Without speaking of the rest, nothing can be more evident than that the race of geese are rapidly multiplying already.” SIR THOMAS MORE. In making lately some necessary repairs in St. Dunstan's church, Canterbury, a box was found, containing the head of the great Lord Chancellor More, who was condemned to the block by that ruthless king, Henry the VIIIth, for refusing to take the oath of supremacy to the self-willed monarch. The head, with the exception of a few of the teeth, was much decayed; and the sacred remains have been restored to their restingplace. Sir Thomas was beheaded on the 6th of July, 1625, in the 53d year of his age; after the execution, tho' the body was buried in the church of St. Peter, in the Tower, and afterwards in Chelsea church, where it now lies, yet his head was set on a pole upon London Bridge; and was afterwards privately bought by his daughter Margaret, wife of J. Roper, esq. His daughter preserved the head in a box, with much devotion, and placed it in a vault, partly in the wall on the south side of the church, where it was recently discovered, and very near to her own tomb. The south chancel of the church is called the Roper chancel; and there hung the helmet and surcoat, with the arms of Sir T. More on it. MAN IS MAN.-The rose hath its thorns-the diamond its specks-and the best man his failings. He who triumphs over a woman, would over a man-if he durst. He only proves by doing so that he is both a fool and a coward. TITLES OF SOVEREIGNS.-The King of Monomotapa is surrounded by musicians and poets, who call him Lord of the Sun and Moon; Great Magician, and Great Thief! The King of Araccan is called "Emperor of Araccan, Possessor of the White Elephants and the Two Earrings, Legitimate Heir of Pegul and Brama, Lord of the Twelve Provinces of Bengal, and the Twelve Kings who place their heads under his feet." The King of Ava is called God. When he writes to a foreign Sovereign, he calls himself the King of Kings, whom all others should obey, as he is absolute master of the ebb and flow of M. The Kandyan Sovereign is called Dewo, (God.) In a deed of gift, he proclains himself the protector of religion, whose fame is infinite and of surpassing excellence, exceeding the moon, the unexpanded jessamin buds, the stars, &c., whose feet are as fragrant to the noses of other Kings as flowers to bees; our most noble patron and god by custom, &c. [FROM THE FRENCH.] Dialogue between a Mother and her Daughter. "Sophy, I will not let you run about the garden in that manner, without your bonnet, with M. Ernest." But, Mamma, you have been walking arm in arm, in the same way with M. -' "What a comparison; I am old enough to know what I am about. Sophy, if M. Ernest should ask you at the ball this evening to waltz with him, I forbid your doing so."-- Why, Mamma? Last Sunday you waltzed twice with M. "Oh, that's quite another thing. Besides, M. is your papa's intimate friend; and when you are married you may waltz with your husband's intimate friend.-Sophy, I do not like your swinging with M. Ernest; it is not a proper exercise for a young lady." But, Mamma, this morning you passed half an hour in the see-saw, with M. "How different!Sophy, I desire that this afternoon you will not seat yourself in the drawingroom by M. Ernest.” Mamma, I do not seat myself by him, he seats himself by me. Besides, I assure you he does it only to be near you, and in every thing to imitate M. 6 who never quits your side.'"Sophy, when we have company, I will not allow you to be constantly playing at cards. Gaming is an amusement very unsuitable to a young female." But, Mam ma, you set me the example. Recollect that only yesterday, having lost all the money in your purse at Ecarté, you were obliged to borrow some of ܂܂ "What a difference! If I did borrow money of M. -— it was only because he is your papa's intimate friend, and to whom under such circumstances, should one have recourse but to one's friend " In one word, Mamma, in order to satisfy you, I see that I must follow the advice which the doctor gave to papa-Do as I say, and not as I do.'" A person in Paris lately established a bureau, where those who have no money may risk their coat, waistcoat, and even small clothes; the prizes are paid in the same articles. We are assured that a poor wretch who had risked his last pair of inexpressibles upon a quarterne (four numbers) had a turn of fortune, and became entitled to receive 75,000 pairs of breeches! A GLORIOUS REVENGE.-If you feel inclined to exercise your vengeance against one that has deeply injured you, take the first opportunity of doing him a service. If he has any feeling, you will wound him to the quick. MATTER.--Berkeley, bishop of Cloyne, is the last who, by a hundred captious sophisms, has pretended to prove that bodies do not exist. They have, says he, neither colour, nor smell, nor heat; all these modalities are in your sensations, and not in the objects. He might have spared himself the trouble of proving this truth, for it was already sufficiently known. But from thence he passes to extent and solidity, which are essential to body; and thinks he proves that there is no extent in a piece of green cloth, because the truth is, it is not in reality green, the sensation of green being in ourselves only. Having thus destroyed extent, he concludes that solidity, which is attached to it, falls of itself; and therefore that there is nothing in the world but our ideas. So that, according to this doctrine, ten thousand men killed by ten thousand cannon-shots, are in reality nothing more than ten thousand apprehensions of our understanding; Surely the bishop of Cloyne might have saved himself from falling into this excessive absurdithe cause of the preservation of all animals, the regulator of the seasons, the ty. He might very easily see that extent and solidity were quite different from sound, colour, taste, smell, &c. It is quite clear that these are sensations excited in us by the configuration of parts; but extent is not sensation. When this lighted coal goes out, I am no longer warm; when the air is no longer struck, I cease to hear; when this rose withers, I no longer smell it but the coal, the air, and the rose, have extent without me. Berkeley's paradox is not worth repeating. M. BONPLAND. (Extract from a private letter.) Rio Janeiro, April 9.--" During my stay in this country I have obtained pretty circumstantial information respecting the events in Paraguay, where Dr. Franzia still governs. The following appear to me to be the most authentic particulars relating to the fate of M. Bonpland, which has excited so much interest in France and England, and wherever this courageous and intelligent traveller is known :-About two years and a half ago, M. Bonpland was at Santa Anna on the east bank of the Rio Parana, where he had formed plantations of the matté, or the tea of Paraguay. About eleven o'clock in the morning he was seized and carried off by a detachment of eight hundred of Dr. Franzia's troops. They destroyed the plantations, which were in a most flourishing state, and seized M. Bonpland, and the Indian families whom the mildness of his character and the advantages of the rising civilization had engaged to settle near him. Some Indians escaped by swimming, others, who resisted, were massacred by the soldiers. M. Bonpland taking on his shoulders a part of his precious collection of natural history, was conducted to Assomption, the capital of Paraguay, and sent from thence to a port in quality of physician to the garrison. It is not known how long he remained in this exile; but I am assured that he has since been sent for by Dr. Franzia, the supreme director of Paraguay, and ordered to another part, to superintend a commercial communication between Paraguay and Peru, perhaps towards the province of the Chiquitos and Santa Cruz de la Sierra. M. Bonpland is to complete at that place the making of a great road, at the same time that he will pursue his botanical researches. His friends flatter themselves that the steps taken by the French Government, those of the Institute, and of M. Von Humboldt, will not be unsuccessful. General Bolivar has also written a letter to the supreme director of Paraguay, in which he claims our countryman in the most affectionate terms, as the friend of his youth. If M. Bonpland is so fortunate as to return to Europe, he may throw great light on countries hitherto unknown." AN UPSTART.--The most biting mortification you can inflict upon an upstart is, to take no notice of him. Singular Occurrence.-On Saturday, as a gentleman was sitting under the chancel of the abbey of Linchden he perceived a hawk pursuing a lark, which a little before was making the woods reecho with its melodious notes. In order to save the little fugitive, he shouted and clapped his hands, when immediately the lark descended, and alighted on his knee, nor did it offer to leave him fident of that protection which it had sought. The gentleman brought it in his hat to Dumfries; and, on going into his garden, gave the little warbler liberty. when taken into the hand, but seemed con 86, who had lost all her teeth several years, ago, has, to the astonishment of her friends, cut six new teeth within these few months, and, as may be supposed, enjoys no small satisfaction in being once more able to bite a crust. But there is an old gentleman living not many doors from her, upwards of 97 years of age, who has not lost one of his teeth, and is able to crack the hardest seabiscuit. What is still more remarkable, he can read and write without the aid of spectacles. An old lady in Dumfries, of the age of NEWLY INVENTED PRINTING MA CHINERY. THE Printing Apparatus invented by Mr. Church,* of the Britannia Works, Birmingham, forms perhaps the most extraordinary long time been submitted to the public. It combination of machinery that has for a consists of three pieces of mechanism. The first of these has for its object the casting of metallic types with extraordinary expedition and the arrangement of them for the compositor. By turning a handle, a plunger is made to displace a certain portion of fluid metal, which rushes with considerable force, through small apertures, into the moulds and matrices by which the types are cast. The farther progress of the machine discharges the types from the moulds, and causes them to descend into square * Mr. Church is an inhabitant of Boston. tubes, having the shape of the types, and down which they slide. It then brings the body of each type into the position required for placing it in the composing machine; and when the types have descended in the guides, they are pushed back by the machine into ranges, each type preserving its erect position. The machine then returus into its former state, and the same operation is renewed. The construction of the mouldbar is the most striking portion of the machine. The second machine selects and combines the types into words and sentences. The several sorts of types are arranged in narrow boxes or slips, each individual slip containing a great number of types of the same letter, which is called a file of letters. The cases containing the files are placed in the upper part of the composing machine; and by means of keys like those of a piano-forte, the compositor can release from any file the type which he wants. The type thus liberated is led by collecting arms into a curved channel, which answers the purpose of a composing stick. From this channel they may be taken in words or sentences, and formed by the hand into pages, by means of a box placed at the side of the machine. The third machine, for taking off impressions from the types, evinces much ingenuity; but cannot be understood without several drawings. After the types have been used, and the requisite number of impressions obtained, they are remelted and recast as before, so that every sheet is printed with new types. Forget thee-or forget NEW WORKS. A Sermon on the Death of Lord Byron, by a Layman, 8vo.—Dibdin's LibraryCompanion, 8vo. 27s.-Elgiva, or the Monks, a Poem, Svo. 8s.-Malcolm's Poems, f. cap. 8vo. 6s.-Wentworth's Poetical Note-Book, 12mo. 7s.-Conversations on Poetry, 18mo. 28. Homeri Ilias Heynii, Svo. 12s.-The Licensed Victualler's Companion, 18mo 4s. Village Doctor, or Family-Vade Mecum, 3s. 6d. Hewson on Venereal Opthalmia.— Conchologist's Companion, 12mo. 6s.-Stuart on the Steam-Engine, 8vo 8s.-Curtis on British Grasses, 8vo. 9s.-Gray's Book of Roads, square 12mo. 7s.; Ditto ditto, with Atlas, 128.-El Nuevo Connelly, or Grammar for Spaniards to learn English, 12mo. 68.-Ventouillac's French Classics, Parts VII. and VIII. (Paul and Virginia, &c.) 6s.—Donville's French Grammar, 2 vols. 8vo. 18s.-Lowndes on Legacies, royal 8vo. 24s.-Mirehouse on Advowsons, 8vo. 14s.-Hayes on Devises, 8vo. 14s.-Orme's Bibliotheca Biblica, 8vo. 12s. IN THE PRESS. Lasting Impressions, a Novel. By Mrs. Joanna Carey. Commentaries on the Diseases of the Stomach and Bowels of Children. By Robert Duglison, M.D. &c. &c. The papers printed in the Transactions of the Royal Society during the last three years, detailing the Discoveries of the Functions of the Nerves, will be immediately republished with Notes and a general Introductory View of the Nervous System, by CHarles Bell, Professor of Anatomy (Lond. Lit. Gaz.). CONSTANCY-A SONG. What my heart hath so dearly known? Or, place your trust in the flower But take an emerald ring, And thereon grave your name; Thro' the lapse and change of years It still will be the same. And such my heart-if you fear That aught like change will be shown; 'Tis I that shall weep for the change, For the falsehood must be thine own. L.E. L. SONG. OH! tell me not, thou minstrel Bard, Oh! cease to tune thy lay so light, That trumpet's clang,-oh, hush its notes :- I could not, would not hear. But strike again thy tuneful harp, To sounds of soul, which, sweet and deep, Oh! tune to Friendship, tune to Love, The deepest chords within my heart Sweet is warm Friendship's soothing smile, When Cupid's wreath she wears. OF THE ENGLISH MAGAZINES. NO. 3.] BOSTON, NOV. 1, 1824. [VOL. 2. N.S. I : SKETCHES OF SOCIETY. (London Literary Gazette, August.) HAVE often wondered how Jack L, the attorney, got on in the world; for, to me, his character does not appear to possess one redeeming quality. Every body calls him a liar, a cheat, a rascal; yet every body associates with him he is welcomed even at the houses of the fastidious, and his parties are always filled at home; business pours in upon him from all quarters; and, lastly, he has married a woman of high reputation and respectability. Surely there must be something very fascinating in his manners and address-he must, at least, be a complete gentleman. No: his person is any thing but prepossessing; his manners are disgustingly familiar and boisterous; and his conversation abounds in slang and profaneness. How, then, does he get on? Why is not every door shut against him? Effrontery-Effrontery is the talisman to which he owes his success; it is the "Open Sesamé," which admits him into good society. If he in any way appeared to condemn or to be ashamed of himself, he would be shunned like a common swindler; but he puts a bold face on all his actions: he talks so openly of drinking, gambling, and cheating, that he seems to take as much pains to convince the world that he is an adept in all three, as any other man ever took to conceal his vices. He catches strangers completely by surprise; they know not what to make of him in fact, he manages his part so well, that while he is in reality playing off his true character, he appears only to be acting; and I have heard 12 ATHENEUM VOL. 2. 2d series. many a one say of him, after a first interview, I believe Jack is a good-natured fellow at bottom. He was once employed in a suit against his own father; and so unblushingly did he talk of the matter, that it did not lose him a single acquaintance or friend. Though Jack began the world pennyless, he is now a rich man. Those who were cheated by him last yearthough they abuse him, to be sure-still seem willing to be cheated on, and Jack proceeds in his career as boldly as ever. This character, I am afraid, is not an uncommon one; at least, innumerable varieties of it are to be met in our intercourse with society. Throughout life, it has been a subject of surprise to me, how those bold spirits succeed in obtaining their purposes, even with each other. It corroborates the justice of Hudibras's observation "That the pleasure is as great In being cheated, as to cheat." In fact, people in general seem ever ready to be imposed on by those who possess dauntless effrontery. I knew an instance, not long ago, of a man who was absolutely concerned in defrauding another of ten thousand pounds; yet, so boldly did he maintain his own character, and utter self-evident falsehood upon falsehood, that his very victim (a man by no means devoid of common sense,) was, the following year, not only ready to enter into fresh engagements with him, but even, on one occasion, accommodated him with letters of recommendation to the Conti nent. |