1814.] Lancashire Cotton Manufactures. I have seen none of the other productions so pompously announced; but from the above circumstance, am led to conjecture that they are made up on the same notable plan as this disguised inanufacturer has pursued in his " France." How Marquis Wellesley, (to whom copies of the lines on his noble brother were scat by Mr. Minasi nearly nine months ago) Lord Byron, the Duke of Welling ton, and other, Royal, Noble, Right Honourable, and Right Gentle Subscribers, of whose names a very pretty list is prefixed, must chuckle when they come to examine their bargain! But how would they look if an indictment (to which they are certainly liable) were preferred against them as the receivers of stolen goods? Indeed I now begin to think that the writer has shewn more prudence than I had suspected, in sheltering himself under a faigned character, otherwise he might Lave chanced to receive from some of his dupes deserved castigation for the impudent fraud which he has practised upon their purses. Having thus, I trust, proved the position with which I set out, that the author of France cannot be Hamilton Roche, esq. late a captain in the British service, but must be some cowardly tailor, who has, for the sake of filthy lucre, assumed those honourable appellations,-give me leave to suggest, that it imperiously beboves Hamilton Roche, esq. if there be such a person, in vindication of his fair fame, to use his utmost endeavours to discover the miscreant by whom his name has been usurped, to expose his unworthy artifices, world." "And lash the villain howling through the I am, Sir, &c. London, Oct. 14, 1814. DETECTOR. 333 tinue the manufacture, and that at Bolton they had, all but one, given over till the article could be procured at an inferior price." From any person at all acquainted with this very, extensive brauch of trade, such a paragraph will only draw a smile; while to others it may appear a most distressing circumstance. It might with the same appearance of probability be asserted that, in consequence of the very low price of corn the farmers of England had come to the determination not to grow any more until they could obtain higher prices. One of these is just as probable as the other.-It is a fact, Sir, that at Bolton the spinners of cotton, all but one, were not at work a month ago; but why? Their hands (or working people) had all turned out for an advance in wages! This gives a very different colouring to the subject. The manufac ture of Bolton is principally fine mus lins, and counterpanes for home consumption; but it is the spinner of yarn for a foreign market who is distressed by an accumulating stock-a want of demand for the article, rather than the price of cotton. I have just purchased for 31. 10s. a piece of muslin; it measures twenty yards in length, and nearly one yard in breadth; it weighs, I think, not more than three pounds; most likely not so much: it was manufactured at Bolton, and the cotton which made it cost about Ss. a pound!!! If I had bought it at a retail shop I must have paid for the same article about 41. 10s. I am, &c. Liverpool, Oct. 13. M. R. On the PROPERTIES of the DETONATING BALLS. To the Editor of the New Monthly Magazine. IF consistent with the plan of your CORRECTION of an ERROR respecting the miscellany, I beg the insertion of a few LANCASHIRE COTTON MANUFACTURES. To the Editor of the New Monthly Magazine. SIR, BEING a constant reader of your interesting miscellany, I feel desirous that nothing offensive to truth, or at all calculated to mislead, either individuals or the public, should find admittance into its columns. In turning over your last Bomber I was sorry to observe that you had copied from a public newspaper, a paragraph stating, that "in consequence of the high price of raw cotton the manufacturers of that article in Manchester and the neighbourhood had come to the determination to disconNEW MONTHLY MAG.-No. 10. remarks on the subject of those fulminating toys which have recently come under the notice of the police. To those of your readers who are conversant in chemistry, some of my explanations will be needless; but as among even men of science there exist contradictory opinions as to the propriety of considering them fire-works, I have remarks to make, which may be read even by them; and to persons unacquainted with che mistry and the nature of the material, they may be satisfactory and amusing. The objections lately urged by the venders of chemical detonating balls, against the construction of an act of VOL. II. Y y 334 Mr. Blunt on the Properties of the Detonating Ball. [Nov. 1, William III. by the magistrates of Queen-square police-office, although at first of little general importa ce to the public, appears now to require more serious attention, from the extraordinary tenacity with which the parties concerned and their friends continue to defend their first most whimsical opinion. One gentleman, a philosophical instrument maker, undertook to direct the judgment of the bench, by stating that the balls on explosion produced no fire; that in proof of this assertion he would shew by an experiment that gunpowder in immediate contact with the explosion, would in no case be ignited; and a quantity of powder, certainly sufficient to have exterminated the experimenter, was actually produced for the purpose. This imprudent exhibition of a fiery ordeal was, however, not suffered, but a small quantity was placed in contact with a detonating ball, and on the explosion of the latter was completely ignited; and yet this gentleman has again addressed the public, still asserting his opinion in very decided language, and juviting other opportunities of repeating his experiment. Another person, a professional chemist, has since this experiment affirmed to me, that the explosion of one of these balls will not, under any circumstances, ignite gunpowder, and that in the experiment before the magistrate it was ignited by some inexplicable accident, and finally, that he would not hesitate to explode a ball in a barrel of gunpowder. Two other persons, also professional chemists, declare in the public prints, that after repeated experiments. they can safely aver to the same effect, and all these parties further refer very confidently to the experiments of Sir Humphry Davy, on the same subject, at the Royal Institution. These unqualified assertions from men whose professional character gives them weight with persons previously uninformed, will, it is much to be feared, invne incautious persons to make experiments, which, if conducted (as they are very likely to be) on a large scale, may, under any circumstances, and certainly must, under some which I will describe, produce dreadful mischief. Thes fulminating balls are a new ap plication of eulminating silver known in this country by the name of the first publisher of it, Brugnatelli. They were contrived and -ed in France for mere amusement, about twelve months since. About half a grain of the powder is either placed within a thin glass bead, or is held on its outer surface by pasting thin paper on it: when the ball is pressed to fracture, the particles of broken glass are in contact with the powder, and occasion a detonation, accompanied with an extremely intense flash; a gas is at the same time evolved with such inconceivable rapidity, that if the ball he covered with repeated folds of paper, or a slight box of wood, the envelope wil be instantly shattered, and in great part literally blown away. Now, if gunpowder be contained in the envelope, (which is the favourite experiment. I have adverted to,) the powder is actually blown away by the gas, by w ose action the envelope is rent and destroyed before the fire, which is visibly produced, can effect the ignition. This is uniformiy the case when the envelope or inclosure is of slight texture; but whenever it is of firmne-s of material, and of figure calculated to resist the expansion of the evolved gas, the gunpowder is not driven beyond the action of the flame produced, and is ignited. The following experiments will shew this: 1. ball was placed on the floor, and closely surrounded with loose gunpow der: on exploding the ball, no ignition took place, the powder being entirely dispersed. This was repeated six times with the same result. 2. A detonating ball and a small quantity of gunpowder were wrapped in two or three pieces of paper, the ends of which were closely twisted In four trials out of six the paper envelope was burst, and the powder dispersed as before; and in two a partial ignition took place, i, e a very small quantity of the powder was ignited, as was discernible by the smell, and the rest was dispersed. 3. A small glass bead was filled with gunpowder, and a common detonating ball was folded up with it in several pieces of paper, and some folds of paper were then securely pasted about it. Of six trials with these,-in two dispersion took place; in two I had partial ignition, as in the second experiment; and in two I had complete ignition of the powder. Being now satisfied of the circum stances under which powder was ignited, I stopped the touch-hole of a cominou musket, and poured half a teaspoonful of loose gunpowder into the barrel as a charge; a detonating ball, prepared without any paper on the outs de, was then rolled down the barrel upon the gunpowder, and the musket being held ver tically, the ram-rod was dropped into 1814.] Royal Tour-Duke of Cumberland. the barrel. Complete ignition took place in four successive trials. I trust these results will be so far satisfactory as to shew that the experiment of igniting gunpowder by the explosion of the detonating ball, will succeed or not according as it is securely confined with it. That the present fulminating silver, or chemical detonating ball, produces fire, is beyond all question, or it would in no case cause the ignition of gunpowder. These experiments tend principally to explain the inconclusive manner in which those have been made which I before referred to;-whether those exhibitions of fire thus evidently actice, with which idle persons may cheaply and conveniently do mischief and create annoyance, ought not to be considered a fire-work, within the meaning of the legislature, cannot surely be questioned. 336 I will now only beg to remark on the fears expressed by one of the persons I have oken of, in his address to the public,-that the magistracy which should determine a detonating ball to be a firework, might eventually prevent his vending electrical machines and other philo sophical apparatus which produce fire. Let that gentleman be assured, that our best security against the recurrence of so dark and barbarous an age as that must be in which our legitimate and standard philosophical instruments should be prohibited, will ever be found in the true love of science, the learning and integrity, which dignify the establishment at which his observation was so ungenerously directed. I am, Sir, &c. No. 33, Tavistock-street, Covent-garden. GEORGIANA; C. BLUNT. ROYAL ANECDOTES ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE PRIVATE HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN DURING THE PERIOD OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. NUMBER VIII. Variis locis dispersa, in unum fasciculum redegi. A ROYAL TOUR. IT has been commonly supposed that our present sovereign never visited any part of his dominions except England. The fact is otherwise; for about the middle of August, 1758, his majesty, then Prince of Wales, set out with Lord Bute incognito, on a tour to Scotland. Dressed as private gentlemen, and attended only by two servants, they reached Edinburgh without being discovered. Here, while they alighted to change horses, a cavalry officer passed by the inn, and easily traced the royal features through all the disguise which covered them. He immediately took horse, and followed the travellers at a distance. Eager to unriddle some important mystery which he supposed to be the occasion of this journey, he followed the travellers from Edinburgh to Glasgow, from thence to the West of Scotland, and lastly to the Isle of Bute. After this he traced them by another route back to the inn where he first discovered them at Edinburgh, and having so far gratified his curiosity, discontinued his observations. THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND. In 1765 the great Duke of Cumberand died suddenly, to the grief of the whole nation. He was a prince of many virtues, and very liberal, of which the following is a proof:-In his marchi against the rebels, he halted one day at Penrith, where a lad, whose father had been many years a servant in the royal household, lived at that time in a very poor condition. The youth applied by a petition to his royal highness, praying for some assistance to enable him, to prosecute his learning, and to earn an honest livelihold. To this request the duke, notwithstanding his numerous engagements, returned a gracious answer, and ordered the petitioner to be introduced into his presence, when, after a short pause, he said, "I remember your father, well; his honour and fidelity as a servant, merited esteem. Could I be persuaded that you would follow his example, such a provision should be made for you as would enable you to live in a station worthy of his name. However, take this purse at present, and I give you my promise that when these troubles are over, and I survive, you shall find me your friend." Some time after the young adventurer came to London to remind his royal patron of his promise; and within a few days he was provided for in a good place at Windsor. 336 True Dignity-Royal Hospitality-Princess Amelia. [Nov. 1, TRUE DIGNITY. When the duke commanded in Germany, he was particularly pleased with the ability and valour of a serjeant belonging to his own regiment. Having often observed the gallantry of this man, and made several enquiries into his private character, his royal highness took occasion, after a great exploit which the serjeant had performed, to give him a commission. Some time afterwards this person came to the dake and entreated his leave to resign the rank which he held. Surprised at so extraordinary a request, the duke demanded the reason, and was told by the applicant that he was now separated from his old companions by his elevation, and not adnitted into the company of his brother officers, who considered themselves as degraded by his appointment. "Oh! is that the case," said the duke; " let the matter rest for a day or two, and I will soon find the means of putting an end to your disquietude." The next morning his royal highness went on the parade, where he was received by a circle of officers, and while he was engaged in conversation he perceived his old friend walking at a distance by himself. On this the duke said, " pray gentlemen what has that officer done that he should "be drummed out of your councils ?" and without waiting for an answer he went up, took the man by the arm, and thus accompanied went through all the lines. When the parade was over, Lord Ligonier respectfully desired his royal highness to honour the mess with his presence that day. "With all my heart," replied the duke," provided I bring my friend here with me." "I hope so," said his lordship; and from that day the gentleman's company was rather courted than shunned by the highest officers in the service. ROYAL HOSPITALITY. The Duke of Cumberland observed an uniform regular method to his labouring people at Windsor; which was that of never giving them any more pay than what others of a like condition received from their employers. He rather chose to give less than the nobility and gentry in that neighbourhood, in order that no improper advantages might be taken by other labourers to raise their wages. But he suficiently made up for this trifling deficiency, by ordering his workmen every day at noon table-beer, with bread and cheese; besides which he gave them once or twice a-week a good substantial dinner. This was what his royal highness used to call old English hospitality. PRINCESS AMELIA. This princess, who was the last snr. viving child of George the Second, died at an advanced age in 1787. She was of a masculine turn of mind, which appeared in her dress and manners, for she generally wore a riding babit in the GerHan fashion, with a round hat, and delighted very much in attending her stables, particularly when any of the horses were out of order. Her practice was to rise very early, and she always drank her coffee or chocolate in a standing posture, walking all the while about the room. She took snuff immoderately, and was very fond of cards. Being at the public rooms one evening at Bath, a general officer seeing her box stand open on the table, imprudently ventured to take a pinch from it, which her royal highness observing, she ordered her servant to throw the remainder of the contents of the box into the fire. THE DUKE OF YORK. Bishop Newton, in his very interesting memoirs, relates the following anccdote of the Duke of York, who died in Italy in 1768. "In the summer of 1765, the Duke of York lodging at Clifton, did the bishop the honour of dining with him, and be sides Lady Charlotte Edwin to accom pany Mrs. Newton, there dined at the same time the mayor and Sir Abraham Elton, and some princ pal merchants and other persons; and all the company were surprised and delighted with the pert nence and propriety of the duke's qui tions and discourse concerning the trade and commerce of the place. Dr. Lyt. tleton, bishop of Carliste, being one of the company, some mention was made of his brother's history of Henry which was then in the press; and the Duke of York observed upon it, that he was sorry Lord Lyttleton recurred back to so remote a period; he wished that instead of writing the history of the life and reign of Henry II. he had written the history of the life and reign of George II. One memorable thing the duke re lated of himself, that when he was abroad upon his travels, his practice was to rise early every morning, and then to recollect and set down in writing all the transactions and occurrences of the preceding day, so that by turning to his diary he could presently find out where he had been, and what he had seen, and with whom he had conversed on such a day at such an hour. After dinner the 1814.] Princess of Wales-Dr. Robertson-Rousseau. Cuke lady Charlotte Edwin and the 66 PRINCESS DOWAGER OF WALES. In February, 1772, died the Princess Dowager of Wales, of whom we shall give the character, drawn by one who knew her intimately, and whose reputation for integrity stands too high to suffer any doubt as to the fidelity of the representation. Bishop Newton, who had been her chaplain, says-" She sometimes honoured him with private audiences at Carlton house; and even after she had declined seeing company on her birth-day, she still admitted him to pay his duty to her and the discourse upon all occasions was far from being stiff and formal; it was with the most perfect ease and condescension that she conversed with him. He could not, therefore, help grieving for his own personal, as well as for the national loss, for a national loss it surely was, notwithstanding all that party rage or private malice could suggest to the contrary. She was, indeed, a remarkable instance of the Auctuation and uncertainty of popular favour. For from her first coming very young into this country, her behaviour was so discreet and prudent, so courteous and affable, that she gained the love and esteem of the whole nation, and no princess was ever more admired and applauded than she was till some time after the death of the Prince of Wales. But the late king's behaviour to her upon that occasion was such, that she could not with decency support and encourage the faction that was formed against the Court; and hence it proceeded that the tide of popularity which rose so high and ran so strong in her favour, first began to turn against her. Upon his present majesty's accession to the throne, when her influence was believed to be greater, the clamours of faction increased in proportion. The scandalous author of the North Briton laid to her charge several 337 things of which she was entirely inno- She would often ask in the morning, "Well, what have the papers said of me?" and would read them and laugh over them. For never was more vile abuse with less foundation, and it is to be hoped she regarded it as little as she deserved it. Her good deeds were more silent and unknown, for never was any one actuated with a truer spirit of benevolence and charity. The sums which she gave away in private benefactions and pensions, amounted to no less than ten thousand pounds a-year; and the merit of her charities was greatly enhanced by their secrecy. Several families who were relieved by her did not so much as know who was their benefactor till her death, when the current of bounty ceased to flow. The calmness and composure of her death were farther proofs and attestations of the goodness of her life; and she died, as she had lived, beloved and honoured most by those who knew her best." DR. ROBERTSON. Of the early interest which his majesty took in the advancement of English literature, we have a striking proof, in a letter from Lord Cathcart to Dr. Robertson, the historian, dated July 20, 1761, in which is the following passage: "Lord Bute told me the king's thoughts, as well as his own, with respect to your History of Scotland, and a wish his majesty had expressed to see a History of England from your pen. His lordship assured me, every source of information which government can command would be opened to you; and that great, laborious, and extensive as the work must be, he would take care your eucouragement should be proportioned to it." J. J. ROUSSEAU. Among other persons of literary eminence who were pensioned by the King of England in the early part of his reign, was the noted Rousseau; but his majesty on making the grant, insisted that the matter should not be made public, which was intended as a peculiar mark of respect for that extraordinary character. The philosopher of Geneva, however, after having gratefully accepted the favour, and returned his thanks for the manner in which it was bestowed, returned it on quarrelling with his friend |