جو

Poetry.

MOORE'S LATEST IRISH MELODIES.

In the ninth part of this popular work, recently published, we recognise all the beauties which have rendered the former parts so popular and fashionable. We shall make selections from time to time, confining ourselves, for the present, to the following.

AND DOTH NOT A MEETING LIKE THIS.

AIR-Unknown.

And doth not a meeting like this make amends
For all the long years I've been wand'ring away-
To see thus around me my youth's early friends,
As smiling and kind as in that happy day!
Though haply o'er some of your brows, as o'er mine,
The snow-fall of time may be stealing-what then?

Like Alps in the sunset, thus lighted by wine,

We'll wear the gay tinge of youth's roses again.
What soften'd remembrances come o'er the heart,
In gazing on those we've been lost to so long!
The sorrows, the joys, of which once they were part,
Still round them, like visions of yesterday, throng.
As letters some hand hath invisibly trac'd,

When held to the flame will steal out on the sight,
many a feeling, that long seem'd effaced,

The warmth of a meeting like this brings to light.
And thus, as in memory's bark, we shall glide
*To visit the scene of our boyhood anew,
Tho oft we may see, looking down on the tide,
The wreck of full many a hope shining through-
Yet still, as in fancy we point to the flowers,

That once made a garden of all the gay shore,
Deceived for a moment we'll think them still ours,
And breathe the fresh air of life's morning once more.
So brief our existence, a glimpse at the most,

Is all we can have of the few we hold dear;
And oft even joy is unheeded and lost,

For want of some heart that could echo it, near.
Ah, well may we hope, when this short life is gone,
To meet in some world of more permanent bliss,
For, a smile or a grasp of the hand, hast'ning on,
ls all we enjoy of each other in this.

But, come,-the more rare such delights to the heart,

The more we should welcome, and bless them the moreThey're ours, when we meet,-they are lost, when we part, Like birds that bring summer, and fly when 'tis o'er. bus circling the cup, hand in hand, ere we drink, Let Sympathy pledge us, thro' pleasure, thro' pain, hat fast as a feeling but touches one link, Her magic shall send it direct thro' the chain.

following days.

N.B. A general Assortment of Gentlemen's ready-made

Linen-1, Parker-street, Nov. 22, 1824.

ISS MURRAY respectfully announces to her Friends and the Ladies of Liverpool, that she purposes Ping a selection of MILLINERY, DRESSES, and New Bds, ready for their inspection, on TUESDAY, the 23d i-tant.

1, Duke-street, November 16, 1824.

RS. HARRISON respectfully informs her Friends and the Ladies of Liverpool, that on WEDNESDAY, the 24th instant, she will submit to their inspection a new alle 1 elegant Assortment of MILLINERY, DRESSES, PELIS, &c. &c. which have been carefully selected from the Art Houses in London.-60, Bold-street, Nov. 19, 1824. APPRENTICES WANTED.

M. TAYLOR respectfully informs her Friends and the
Public, that she will have for inspection This Day
(MONDAY) the 22d instant, and following days, an elegant As-
sortment of MILLINERY, CAPS, FRILLS, PELERINES,
Children's DRESSES, &c. suitable for the Season.
Bold-street, No. 76.

Gymnasia

AND

MISCELLANEOUS RECREATIONS.

How often have I bless'd the coming day,
When toil remitting, lent its turn to play;
When all the village train, from labour free,
Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree;
While many a pastime circled in the shade,
The young contending as the old surveyed;
And many a gambol frolick'd o'er the ground,
And sleights of art, and feats of strength, went round.
Goldsmith.
"It is a call to keep the spirits alive."-Ben Jonson.

NO. XVIII.

SIR,-The feat here described I have copied from M. Clias's Gymnastique Elémentaire, wherein it is thus briefly described:

TO CHANGE THE HANDS.

In equilibrium on the wrists between both bars. After having communicated to the body a little impulse from right to left, bring, with quickness, the left hand near the right, without touching the ground with the feet or waist, and remove the right to where the left hand was placed before. This exercise ought to be practised several times without resting.

Such of your readers as feel any interest in performances of this description may see this and other feats performed in a masterly style this very evening (Monday, the 22d instant) by Monsieur Beaujeux, whom I take the liberty to recommend to your readers.-Yours, &c.

The gentleman named by our correspondent is the same who was noticed in the Mercury in a paragraph, which we shall here repeat for the benefit of an ingenious stranger, who now appeals to their liberality.

[FROM THE MERCURY.]

NOW EXHIBITING, THE NEW

EGYPTIAN PANORAMIC DIORAMA,

AT THE PANTHEON, TOP OF CHURCH-STREET.

THE Public are respectfully informed, that the above

Room is fitted up as an EGYPTIAN TEMPLE, and that the Exhibition consists of FIVE VIEWS, each Painted upon 650 feet of Canvas.

First View. The CARLI CAVES.-Second View. The PAGODA at RAMISSERAM. This View is seen under the effect of a passing Shower of Rain.-Third View. The OLD CITY of CAIRO. This View will be seen under various effects of colouring: representing Night, Moonlight, Morning's Dawn, Sunrise, and Broad Day.

A MOVING PANORAMA of the ROYAL VISIT TO IRELAND, the PUBLIC ENTRY INTO DUBLIN, and the EMBARKATION FROM DUNLEARY.

The above Views will be Exhibited three times during the day-First Exhibition at Half-past Eleven o'clock; Second, at One; and the Third at Half-past Two. And in the Even

ing also there will be three Exhibitions:-First, at Half-past
Six; Second, at Eight, and the last, at Nine o'clock, com-
mencing precisely at the stated hours.
Boxes, 2s.-Gallery, 18.-Children, Half Price.
Perpetual Tickets to be had at the Door, 5s. per month,
Boxes.
A MILITARY BAND.

ARTIFICIAL TEETH, by Mr. BEREND, SUR

GEON-DENTIST, 25, Bold-street, warranted to remain per fGetly secure and comfortable in the mouth, without tying, twisting wires, or any fastening whatever to the adjoining Teeth, and yet so effectually secured, that the most powerful motions of the jaws,in eating,cannotdisplaceor injurethem, fixed without pain, and adapted with such accuracy to the remaining Teeth, that not the least difference can be felt, neither can the minutest observer distinguish them. These Teeth can, with ease, be taken out, cleaned, and replaced with great safety by the wearer. 25, Bold-street.

Scientific Records.

GEOLOGY.

The following able and interesting paper, which forms Article XIV. of the North American Review for May last, will be perused with pleasure and advantage by those of our readers who have not had the opportunity of seeing the original work from which we have made this entertaining extract.

The North American Review is a literary journal, which, in our opinion, suffers nothing in comparison with the best of our periodicals. It is a work, which, we think, the candid and enlightened portion of the public. must eventually become a favourite in this country with present, however, it is but little known in this country; and, we believe, that in Liverpool it is only to be met with at the Lyceum, where it is received very irregularly.

At

The article we now select is a very fair specimen of the style of the reviewers in the department to which it relates. It evinces considerable reading and research, conveyed to the reader in a style in which the lively and the argumentative are happily blended.-Edit. Kal.

[FROM THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW.]

Earth. By IRA HILL, A. M. Baltimore, 1823. pp. 211.

Gymnasia. It will be perceived by an advertisement under this head, that Monsieur Beaujeux, professor of fencing, will, on Monday evening, present the public with An Abstract of a New Theory of the Formation of the an entertainment of a very novel kind. Monsieur B. has recently visited London to get initiated in the Gymnastic exercises practiced in the academy of Monsieur Clias, who has published a singular work in French, now before us, entitled Gymnastique Elementaire; being a complete course of Gymnastic exercises for training up our youth in every kind of feat calculated to improve their muscular strength and activity; and what we have read and seen of the exercises, has convinced us that they will at no distant period be very generally adopted, not only in our public academies, but in private families. M. Beaujeux, who is about to establish an academy in Dublin, has been advised to give an exhibition, en passant, in Liverpool; and we can assure our readers, that the novelty and obvious utility of the plan will amply repay them for the very moderate admission money.-Foils and Masks will be provided, if any gentleman feel disposed to fence with Monsieur B.-See adv.

From the days of Sanchoniathon down to the present time, ingenious men have been much given to the amusement of world-making; and the number of those, who have found pleasure in this occupation, seems not to have been lessened by the increasing light of science and philosophy. The discovery of new truths has rather multiplied than diminished the difficulties of these undertakings, and served only to bring more courageous champions into the field, by heightening the glory of triumph; as the renowned knight of La Mancha was stimulated to untried exploits in proportion to the hazard and uncertainty which seemed to await his adventures.

of

No task could be imagined more easy at first than that constructing a globe like our earth; it was reduced to a sort of mathematical problem,-" matter and motion being given to make a world." So tractable and accommodating was this problem, that it yielded with the utmost readiness to the plastic mathematics of the wonderworking cosmogonist. Worlds sprang up around him at his bidding, and he had only to sit in tranquil admiration of the workmanship of his hands. Among the moderns, Descartes has been the most successful in solving problems of this description. By his

"wild rule

Of whirling vortices and circling spheres,"

Mr. B. will also exhibit Fencing, if any Gentleman feel he constructed the earth, the planets, the sun, and the

disposed.-Admittance, 2s..

66

heavens; and, after such prodigies of execution, where is of Democritus, which ascribed an equable motion to Ovid. But good judges have been unanimous in extolling the wonder that he should affirm it to be within the com- the atoms, and sent them forward in parallel right lines. the uncommon elegance of his latinity. In this respect, pass of his power," having a quantity of matter and mo. Thus situated, they must move for ever without coming Casaubon places him above all the Latin writers. Lit tion to produce an animal ?" It is true, the worthy Dr. in contact. This was a fatal blow to the whole system, tius latinitatis author optimus. By the premature death Keill's indignation was kindled at the boldness of the as neither a world, nor any part of a world, could rise into of the poet, his work was deprived of his last touches, philosopher, and he gravely pronounces this an insuper-existence, except by a concussion and coalescence of these and this may account for the occasional dark spots in the able problem," and warmly demands, with what con- primeval atoms. The fertile mind of Epicurus easily beautiful polish, which he has communicated to the body fidence he could pretend to solve so intricate a problem overcame this apparent obstacle. He found out, that, of his style. Cicero was the editor and publisher of this who blundered so much in the easiest and most abstracted notwithstanding the particles moved in right lines, yet posthumous poem. If the voice of antiquity is to be things in nature?" With how little reason this severe these lines were not parallel; and, however small the heeded, and the critics trusted, the illustrious editor wa ensure is inflicted, let the wise and considerate judge. angle in which two or more particles were moving toward not highly gifted with the qualities most requisite for the each other, they must at last meet. task he undertook; and it is reasonable to suppose, that defects escaped his notice, which the author's revising band would have removed.

The early cosmogonists did not confine their labours to the earth, but embraced the sun, moon, stars, and the universe. The astronomer, Xenophanes, took the stars to be patches of clouds, which were lighted up at night, and extinguished in the morning. As for suns and moons, he said, they were numerous, and that different climates of the earth were accommodated with distinct sets. The great Anexagoras, the precepter of Socrates and Pericles, was among the noted astronomers and cosmogenists of his time. According to him, the firmament is an arch of stone, the sun an inflammable body about as large as the ancient Peloponnesus, and the stars are stones whirled up from the surface of the earth by the swiftness of the circumambient air, which set them on fire, and gave them a circular motion. Diogenes was not satisfied with these theories. He declared the stars to be hot pumice stones, originally fixed in the sphere of the heavens, and serving as laps in the night, but chiefly designed as breathing holes of the world. Other philosophers affirmed that the sun was globular and hollow, containing fire within, which produced light by streaming out through a cavity on one side. When this cavity was stopped, the sun was eclipsed.

Here the concourse began; two united particles soon met with a third, and a general confusion ensued. Age after age rolled away before the symptoms of harmony Notwithstanding the singular notion of Anaxagoras, appeared in any part; millions of combinations were gone mentioned above, respecting the nature of the sun and through; the war was furious and dreadful; the imagina- stars, this philosopher was the first to lay the foundation tion has no power to conceive the number of objects, the of a rational system of the creation. He put the elements variety of forms, which arose and perished in the strife of chaos under the direction of an intelligent mind, or a of these chaotic elements. But the time came when one being, who had knowledge and power to govern and arparticle after another found its appropriate place, its sym-range them according to his will. Had this great truth pathizing particle, and then began to appear things in been rigidly adhered to, the immense absurdities, which regular shapes and consistency. These atoms were of all bewildered the minds of later philosophers on this subject, forms; some were round, others cubical, triangular, would have been avoided. It has been said, and probably hooked, cellular. The hooks clenched themselves into with truth, that some of the ancients borrowed their notion the cells, and in this close contact formed hard substances, of the creation from the book of Genesis. Juvenal testres, rocks, precious stones, and metals. Atoms of irregular that the writings of Moses were known to the Remark forms combined into substances of different densities, as and proof is not wanting, that the same knowledge vis clay, earth, soil; and last of all came the globular atoms, common to the Greeks. It cannot be doubted, that ( which constitute water and other fluids, and can only be description of the creation, in the first book of the Mets kept on the earth by resting in cavities. Thus the globe, morphoses, was copied from the Bible. The facts, and trees, plants, animals, and all terrestrial things were frequently the language, correspond with the narrative of brought into being. They continue so, because in this the Jewish lawgiver. state the atoms maintain a harmonious union, which the ordinary force of infringing atoms cannot dissolve.

serves not the honour of the original discovery, and would
fain tear the laurel from his head, where it has flourished
so long, and place it on the brow of Pythagoras, or some
earlier sage. We are not convinced by the arguments of
Cudworth, but in so grave a matter we would not decide
with precipitancy, reserving to ourselves the right of fur-
ther inquiry and consideration.

Aristotle believed the universe, sun, moon, stars, the earth, man, animals, plants, and all things else to be Such was the contrivance by which Leucippus, Demoeternal, having always existed in the same general forms critus, and Epicurus made the world, or rather their disas at present. The business of world making, therefore, covery of the manner in which the world made itself. he deemed a gratuitous work, and unworthy of a philo-Cudworth writes learnedly to prove that Leucippus desopher. Burnet has a long chapter to confute this notion of Aristotle, that the world is eternal, and to prove the science of cosmogony not to be of such trifling moment as the Stagyrite would have it. But he was too much interested in the subject to be an impartial reasoner, as will be seen hereafter. In Plato's system, ideas and forms only existed from eternity, and the world and all substantial things were made by uniting these ideas and forms to matter. Many are the deep speculations scattered through the ancients concerning the origin of things, the soul of the world, and the mundane egg. One sect be lieved the Deity himself to be the universe, and as late as the thirteenth century the body of poor Amalric was dug up and burned, on suspicion of his having abetted this tenet in his lifetime. The Persians had their Oromades and Arimanius, a good and evil principle, engaged in perpetual contention, till Mithras calmed their rage, and set them at work in forming a world. The Egyptians, Hindoos, and Chinese have not been deficient in schemes and therries of cosmogony.

The Epicurean plan, which has made much noise in the world, and seems to have been for some time a sort of thriving heresy among the ancients, received its first elements from the genius and labours of Leucippus. This - philosopher invented the doctrine of atoms, or original par.icles of matter, indivisible and indissoluble, out of which the earth and all terrestrial things were made. He advanced but a single step, however, in moulding these materials into a system; for, when Democritus imbibed the sentiments of Leucippus, he found the entire mass of his predecessor's particles in a state of unutterable confusion, and desperate warfare. To open light into this abyss of contending atoms, and give rule to their wild disorder, Democritus perceived it necessary to impose wholesome restrictions and definite laws. He laid it down as an axiom, that the Tere yon, first magnitudes, as he called them, were eternal; and, also, that, from eternity, all these particles had possessed a uniform motion, each in the same direction, and with the same velocity. Thus prepared, he commenced the great work of constructing a world; but how far he actually proceeded, or whether his accustomed employment, of laughing at the follies and vanity of mankind, allowed him leisure to prosecute his task with suitable diligence, we have no means of being informed.

The merit of completing the structure belonged to Epicurus, a philosopher renowned for his brilliant genius, his exemplary virtues, and gentleness of manners, although many of his followers added little credit either in principles or conduct to the name of their master. He contrived to bridle the roaming atoms, and subdue them to his pleasure. A remarkable oversight was detected in the axiom

A system like this of Epicurus, a system of Atheism and absurdity, however ingenious and highly wrought, could hardly have survived its author, had it not been embraced by a few of the loftiest minds of antiquity, and immortalized by the powerful, the brilliant, the exhaustless genius of Lucretius. The poem of this extraordinary man, entitled De Rerum Natura, is a methodical exposition and defence of the atomical physiology, and more strikingly combines the richness of a poetical fancy with the deep thought of philosophy, a universal knowledge, refinement of taste, and polished elegance of language, than any other similar composition ancient or modern. As it runs through the whole domain of nature, and seeks the causes of all things, physical and moral, its topics are innumerable; many of them dry and crabbed, it is true, and such as no magic of fancy nor skill in poetry could adorn; but where the subject will admit, almost every line discovers a master's hand, and every period breathes the spirit and glows with the imagery of poetical inspiration. The opening of the several books, and the episodes, are particularly beautiful. The poet talks wisely on the origin of government and the arts, on the principles of politics and morals; and foolishly enough on physics, because his axioms are false. Take these for granted, and his logic is exact; the wonder is, that, with so much folly at bottom, he could rear an edifice so magnificent and imposing. He never labours for a reason, and the facility with which he accounts for every phenomenon in nature, without deviating from his first principles, proves the astonishing reach of his ingenuity, and the resources of his marvellous intellect.

In the judgment of Dryden he was closely copied by Virgil, especially in the Georgics. Dryden characterizes him as a "sublime and daring genius, whose thoughts are masculine, and full of argumentation," and from whose warmth and energy "proceed the loftiness of his expressions, and the perpetual torrent of his verse, where the barrenness of his subject does not too much constrain the quickness of his fancy." Julius Scaliger calls him an incomparable poet, incomparabilis poetu. He affected the old dialect, and, although the variety, thus attained, adds to the copiousness of his language, and sometimes to the sweetness of his expressions, yet it is too apt to convey a tone of harshness to the ear accustomed to the more modern and regular phraseology of Virgil, Horace, and

Ante mare et tullus, et, quod tegit omnia, coelum, Unus erat toto naturae vuitus in orbe, Quem dixere Chaos, rudis indigestaque moles; Nec quicquam, nisi pondus iners, &c. The whole description, in its important features, rearbles the Mosaic account not less closely than these opere lines. The poet yields to his fancy, and, for his matnery and embellishments, draws on the mythology of th times; but his cesmogony, his account of the early wick edness of mankind, his deluge, his Deucalian and Pyrrha, are all derived from the first chapters of Genesis [To be continued.]

THE NORTHERN EXPEDITION.

From the Hampshire Telegraph.

discovery ship the Griper, Captain George P. Lyon, On Wednesday morning, the 11th instant, his Majesty's unexpectedly arrived at this port (Portsmouth) and into the harbour, direct from Davis's Straits, with signal of distress flying, having lost all her anchors cables in fruitless endeavours to get into Repulse Bat whither she was under orders to proceed, for the purp of co-operating with Captain Parry in search of a nort

west passage.

The circumstances which have led to the failure of th branch of the north-west expedition are attributable stormy and severe weather, which prevailed in a intense degree than the oldest northern navigator ret bers, and to the extraordinary bad qualities of the ship the purposes required.

It appears that the Griper left Stromness on the ' July, and made Cape Chudleigh (on the Labrade on the 2d of August, having fallen in with iceberg days previously, and from which time she was best drift ice. In this passage she was found to make s progress, that the Snap (her provision tender) was frequera obliged to take her in tow.

From Cape Chudleigh the Griper was obliged to stre to the northward, to Resolution Island, as the field prevented progress up Hudson's Strait: they were, b ever, enabled to make slow advances to the westward close to the Savage Islands, until they made Salisb or Nottingham Island, but which place could not be certained from the impossibility of making observati off the Upper Savage Islands. Some canoes of native came off to them, who appeared to be of the same desc tion of Esquimaux with which our navigators were bete acquainted. They were dismissed with liberal prese and appeared much gratified.

From Salisbury Island, the Griper proceeded to south point of Southampton Island, in which they assisted by a strong current setting down Fox's Chan but, on their rounding Southampton Island, this curre which then came down Sir Thomas Rowe's Welcome

of the sub-tenant, leaving that point to be ascertained by the landlord, when the rent falls due. Thus strangers, of every description, by treating with tenants so disposed, instead of the owners of the property, may readily obtain possession of a house, the rent of which is sufficient to give them a settlement, but more than they can afford to pay. It must, however, be confessed, that the landlord, as well as the tenant, is in some measure implicated in the origin and continuance of this system. Half a years' notice to quit, ending with the year, is, in some cases, equivalent to nearly eighteen months' notice; for if circumstances should occur, to induce or render necessary a change of residence, a few days after a tenant has commenced the latter half portion of a year, he cannot, without the consent of his landlord, legally quit his dwelling, until the termination of the following year. It is, therefore, owing to the stubbornness of landlords in insisting upon their strict legal rights, in such cases, that tenants are driven to the practice of reletting. I am not wise enough to discover the policy of requiring half a years' notice, ending with the year, and, of consequence, cannot help thinking, that six months' notice given, and ending at any time, is amply, if not more than sufficient, for all necessary security. Since, however, the law is otherwise, the only means of controlling its operation is, by the parties making such arrangements and stipulations, upon letting or taking houses, as may best suit their several situations and circumstances in life; and it is the neglect of this due cau. tion which has led to the adoption of a practice not less detrimental to the interest of the landlord, than, on many occasions, burthensome to the parish funds.

I did not, however, in the onset, propose particularly to consider and point out the remedy, but merely to state the evil: this I have attempted to do, and trust I have not laboured in vain.

us in this matter, to convey their sentiments in the mildest | have, in time, become so habituated to them, that they have
of phraseology, when speaking of extraction or education; been able to discern even the mice which ran about it
for though we wish our wounds to be fully probed, we do search of crumbs; and the light being suddenly restored,
not wish to have a caustic applied; also on the subject they have solicited a return to their dismal abodes, to avoid
of wealth we should like to have an oily diction used, or its once cheering influence. Peter, of Sicily, the fisherman,
else the Stayley Bridge folks will bully us out of our cot- affords another instance of the manner in which nature
tage-like tenements, whether inherited or acquired. For may be changed; then why not toads, by a long residence
the community,
in rocky prisons, become so accustomed to such abodes and
manner of dragging on life, that sudden exposure to the
air may have the same effects upon them as it has upon
fishes, or immersion in water upon land-birds?
October, 1824.
0. R.

Yours, &c.

Ashton-under-Lyne, Oct. 18, 1824.

ASHTONIAN.

P.S. Should a rump and dozen be the result of this discussion, we will invite all the parties disputant, and will give more ample notice of the time and place of eating and drinking than the literati of Bury did on a late occasion, for we can eat and drink at Ashton-under-Lyne, as well as dance.

Natural History.

ON TOADS.

TO THE EDITOR.

A.

SIR, So many different instances are recorded by respectable naturalists, of toads having been discovered in situations where no air could possibly gain admission, that not a shadow of doubt can be entertained respecting the fact, that these reptiles can exist for ages, nay, perhaps centuries, imprisoned in stone, or imbedded in hard mineral. We are credibly informed, that they have been frequestly found in stone quarries, marl pits, and also in the depths of coal mines; but perhaps the following is the most singular station which a toad ever occupied, at least so it appeared to me, upon perusing it amongst other interesting matter, in a book which I accidentally met with the other day, nor could I resist a strong desire of transmitting it to your highly interesting publication. "At Stadfold, near Wolverhampton, the stone steeple was repaired upwards of a century ago; and it is recorded, upon the testimony of many of the inhabitants then living, that the top stone of this steeple being thrown down by one of the workmen from the pinnacle into the church-yard, broke into two pieces, and discovered a living toad in the very centre of it, which died on being exposed to the air.' This certainly gives rise to many curious speculations. In the first place it may be asked, how many ages the animal reposed on its bed of stone ere it was fashioned by the hand of a mason? In the next place, for what period of time it enjoyed so exalted a station, and continued to tower above the busy crowd of mortals, "scorning the base degrees by which it did ascend ?"

To Correspondents.

LIVERPOOL APPrentices and MECHANICS' LIBRARY.-We have
received the following note from a correspondent:
"Can the editor, or any of the readers of the Kid,
inform the writer if there are any lectures to be given
among the mechanics this winter, on chemistry, k
"A MECHANIC.

In reply to this inquiry, we have only to state, that we ar
not aware that any well-informed person has it in contem
plation to enlighten the mechanics in the way here alludes
to. There are amongst us not more than two or thre
persons who are competent to the task, to do it justier
although, we doubt not, that abundance of pretenders
might be found whose vanity would lead them to me
the office of public lecturer. The gentlemen who a
capable of doing justice to the science of chemistry,
busily engaged in their professional pursuits, that it wo
be unreasonable to expect they could devote any time t
promote the interests of even so excellent an institution a
the Liverpool Apprentices and Mechanics' Library, howers
much it may stand in need of support.

Since we wrote the foregoing paragraph, we have se an advertisement in the Mercury, announcing that the brarian of this institution intends to deliver a discours intending to illustrate the advantages of the diffusion knowledge amongst the people, and to draw the attenti of the public to the Mechanics' Library. This lecture wi be given to-morrow (Tuesday evening) the 23d instant, a the large room of the York Hotel; and we should hav drawn the particular attention of the readers of the Mercur to the subject, had we been aware that such an advertise ment had appeared therein. The editor is not in the habit of reading the advertisements; and it was not until Satur day evening that this particular advertisement was pointes out to his notice. Whilst we wish all possible success the efforts of the librarian, we have been under the nece sity of making the foregoing remark, as it would else ha appeared singular, and indeed unaccountable, that as t founders and friends of the Liverpool Apprentices' Librai we should not, in a marked manner, have drawn the tention to any effort, from any quarter, to promote its terests. We have only further to observe, that whist are of opinion that sufficient notice has not been giv the intention of the librarian to read the discourse whi we have just mentioned, we heartily wish that his en ment may prove successful, in which case he will be enti to all the merit, as it is entirely an act of his own We are not without hopes, that a public discussion our debating societies) will take place during the winter aid of the funds of the Apprentices' and Mechanics' Li which can now reckon amongst its constant readers

HUNDRED YOUNG MEN.

TO THE EDITOR.
SIR, Without exclaiming with Horace that "I abo-
minate the uninitiated vulgar, and I drive them off," it
must be admitted that select society is that society into
which the "uninitiated vulgar" is not admitted, and such
is the society of which our assemblies are constituted; but
as one or two chagrined and over-fastidious youths have
dared to say, that though the above-mentioned elegant and
very select assemblages of wit and beauty, are wholly free
from "homines pravis opinionibus imbutos et minus ido- It would be a very curious, if not very interesting, expe-
neos ad audienda mysteria veræ virtutis ad philosophiæ;"riment, and one which, perhaps, no naturalist ever tried,
yet, that they cannot boast of the presence of two gentle
men, according to those rules of rank and aristocracy
which are the adopted children of feudality and tenure.-
This serious charge has given rise to much discussion
amongst us as to what constitutes the rank of a gentleman;
and as our committee of management, though landata ab
his, is yet culpata ab illis, for their selection and rejection
of subscribers; not wishing to remain in this tickle situa-
tion any longer, they request the aid of your numerous
readers hereon, and will be much obliged by any advice
on a point so delicate, from any one competent to give
advice. Some of our modern illuminati begin to enter-
tain opinions, which, to the same enlightened body, seem
so wild and incoherent as to go far towards excluding,
from the above festivities, the most elegant of the elegants
of Ashton, the "spes gregis" itself; and we are deter-
mined, if possible, to avoid the deplorable consequences
which must result from such chaotic notions, and so show
the said illuminati that we are possessed of minds quite
open to conviction, and that we are men of deliberation.
We therefore request, that by publishing this letter of in-
quiry as to what constitutes a gentleman, you will enable
us to relieve ourselves from the present dilemma; only
request such of your readers as may be willing to oblige

to discover, by proper management, how long those ani-
mals which pass the winter months in a state of torpidity
could preserve the vital spark, were their dormancy pro-
longed by some artificial means. It does not appear very MUSICAL DEPARTMENT.-A query from No Musician obli
improbable that, in such a case, if air were totally excluded,
and a cold temperature preserved, that the creatures in
question would continue torpid for a period of years, far
surpassing that allotted to them by nature; this, in fact,
appears to be the only probable solution of the question-
Why are toads found in stones and other opaque bodies,
without any communication with the world without?

Let us suppose that one of this species, in seeking some suitable spot where to establish his winter quarters, tuin bles down a chink in the earth, a marl pit, or a mine, without suffering destruction, or material injury, in his descent: he immediately creeps, it may naturally be supposed, intosome friendly corner or cranny, the entrance to which either rain, or some accidental cause, effectually blockades, and that so completely, that no possibility of escape or recovery offers itself, until the hand of man, perhaps after a lapse of ages, unbars the narrow prison, and lets in upon the captive that light whose return only serves to put a period to his exhausted frame.

Prisoners, who have been immured in dark dungeons,

to repeat what we have stated more than once or twi that the general reader, who has no relish for the the Kaleidoscope, will be no loser by its introduction W may depend upon it that we shall, by means of gratit supplements, more than give him the stipulated allows We have one such supplement now in preparation. Ashtonian's letter, together with that of O. R. and sev

others, have been temporally kept back by the longest we have been obliged to give respecting the late Lord By Auti-Humbug is at liberty to draw what conclusions he ple We shall not descend to enter into further explanata with him on the subject. He is acquainted with the to whom he alludes, and may, if he think proper, add himself and his critiques to that quarter. Perhaps be already done so. There is one symptom which woul LA GLOIRE MILITAIRE.-The lines by J. B. Man on this sub

most countenance such a supposition.

shall be given next week.

LEARNED QUOTATIONS.-The letter of Anti-barbarus, juni

reserved for our next.

Printed, published, and sold, EVERY TUESDAY,
E. SMITH & Co. 75, Lord-street, Liverpool.

Literary and Scientific Mirror.

familiar Miscellany, from which religious and political matters are excluded, contains a variety of original and selected Articles; comprehending Literature, Criticism, Men and Manners nasement, Elegant Extracts, Poetry, Anecdotes, Biography, Meteorology, the Drama, Arts and Sciences, Wit and Satire, Fashions, Natural History, &c. &c. forming a handsome Annual Hume, with an Index and Title-page.—Its circulation renders it a most eligible medium for Literary and Fashionable Advertisements.-Regular supplies are forwarded weekly to the Agents.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1824.

in their passage over the stream, as none happened to | he should blow his nose. The sub-prefect of Grosseto
approach it during our visit. The part of the plain im- did not reside at Scanzano; he established his court at
mediately around the fountain is barren, but not entirely his country-house, situated in the bosom of the mountains
destitute of grass; it is even thinly scattered over with at a short distance from the town.
shrubs. The sulphur pits are surrounded by the huts of
the workmen, whose operations we observed with consi-
derable interest. A description of them would be tedious
to those who understand the method of working sulphur
mines: such as have an imperfect idea of it, can acquire
more correct notions only by reading works written on the
subject.

The most remarkable building in Scanzano is its church, which is proportioned in size to the population of the country: it is built of brick, and is situated at the eastern extremity of the town. The organ is played by the sexton, and much resembles a German organ in tone. When I made inquiries respecting the customs peculiar to the country, I was told, that, on St. Nicholas's day, school boys have a right to kill all the poultry which they find at large in the streets. This custom reminded me of one prevalent among the students of Pisa, who have, on the same day, the privilege of arresting all the Jews whom they meet in the streets, and of detaining them prisoners, until they redeem themselves by a ransom of as many pounds of sweetmeats as they weigh in the dress in which they happen to be taken.

You must have remarked how much more numerous Jews are in Italy than in France, notwithstanding the extreme rigour with which the Italian laws are enforced against their tribe. Their quarters are always separated from the other parts of the town, and as they are in low confined situations, are necessarily dirty and unwholesome. Their preference to this country can be accounted for only by supposing the state of commerce and manners in Italy, peculiarly favourable to the exercise of their industry.