hushed, and night again spreads in gloom over the horizon, than the owl sends forth his slow and solemn tones. They are more than plaintive and less than melancholy, and tend to inspire the imagination with a train of contemplations well adapted to the serious hour.

Thus we see that birds bear no inconsiderable share in harmonizing some of the most beautiful and interesting scenes in nature. DR JENNER.

66 CONSIDER THE LILIES HOW THEY GROW!"
SAY, know'st thou why the beech delights the glade,
With boughs extended and a rounder shade,
Whilst towering firs in conic forms arise,
And with a pointed spear divide the skies?
Or why again, the changing oak should shed
The yearly honours of his stately head,
Whilst the distinguished yew is ever seen,
Unchang'd his branch, and permanent his green?
The fig and date, why love they to remain
In middle station and an even plain,

Whilst in the lower marsh the gourd is found,
And while the hill with olive shade is crown'd?
Why does one climate and one soil endue
The blushing poppy with a crimson hue,
Yet leave the lily pale, and tinge the violet blue?
Whence has the tree, resolve me, or the flower,
A various instinct, or a different power?

Why should one earth, one clime, one stream, one breath,
Raise this to strength, and sicken that to death?
Whence does it happen, that the plant, which well
We name the sensitive, should move and feel?
Whence know her leaves to answer her command,
And with quick horror fly the neighbouring hand?
Along the sunny bank, or watery mead,

Ten thousand stalks their various blossoms spread;
Peaceful and lowly in their native soil,
They neither know to spin nor care to toil;
Yet with confest magnificence deride
Our vile attire, and impotence of pride.

PRIOR.

BRITISH IMPORTS MINERALS.

THE principal materials of commerce may be classed under the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, and the

articles manufactured from them.—In the mineral kingdom are included the metals and the precious stones.

The principal metals are, gold, silver, mercury, copper, iron, lead, and tin. Gold, the most precious metal, is found in most parts of the world; but the most productive mines are those of Mexico and the East Indies.— Silver is also to be met with in many countries; but the mines of Norway and Sweden in Europe, and still more those of Potosi in South America, are the richest.—Mercury, or quicksilver, is a fluid metal that looks like melted silver. It is found in the mines of Hungary, Spain, &c., at a great expenditure of human life; for the fumes from the quicksilver produce the most terrible diseases. It is principally used as an alloy; combined with tinfoil, it forms the back, or silvering, of looking-glasses.-Copper is imported in great quantities from Sweden, but is also obtained in several parts of the British dominions, especially in the island of Anglesea. Combined with zinc (a metal resembling lead in appearance), it forms brass, and with a smaller proportion of zinc it forms bronze.-Iron is found in several parts of England, but great quantities are annually imported from Sweden. Steel is formed by combining iron with carbon, a substance that exists in charcoal. The loadstone is generally found in iron mines, and is remarkable, as is well-known, for its property of attracting iron, and, when at liberty, disposing itself in the direction of the poles of the earth.-Lead and tin are native metals, and are found in great abundance in Cornwall.

Precious stones are principally obtained from the East Indies and South America. The most remarkable are the diamond, which is colourless and transparent; the ruby, red; the sapphire, blue; the topaz, yellow; the amethyst, purple; and the garnet, a deep red. Pearls are usually reckoned among precious stones; but they do not belong to the mineral kingdom, being found in a species of oyster: the most celebrated pearl-fishery is that at the island of Ceylon.

There are many other mineral productions imported into Great Britain, such as the different species of marble, porphyry, jasper, &c. The best marble is obtained from

Italy, but there are several excellent marble quarries both in Scotland and Ireland.

TAYLOR'S Historical Miscellany.

BRITISH IMPORTS-VEGETABLES.

A NATION like Great Britain, that employs so many ships and is so thickly inhabited, must of necessity consume much timber. From the north of Europe we import pinefir, and the planks cut off from the fir, called deals. The forests of Canada and North America annually send over immense quantities of timber, from which our ships and houses are built. The best material for ships is our own native oak; but as that is not produced in sufficient abundance, it is seldom used except in building vessels for the royal navy. The woods imported from foreign countries are chiefly, teak from the East Indies, which is useful for many naval purposes; mahogany, from which articles of furniture are made, and which is procured in great abundance in different parts of the West Indies; cedar, valuable for its fragrance and durability; rose and satin wood, useful in ornamental cabinet-making; logwood and Brazilwood, used in dyeing; and many others.

The bark of many trees forms important articles of commerce; that of the cork-tree supplies us with corks: this tree grows chiefly in Spain and Portugal. The bark of the oak is used in tanning; but the most important barks are that of a tree in South America, which produces that valuable medicine, Peruvian bark; and cinnamon, which is produced in the island of Ceylon.

Passing from trees to shrubs, we must notice the teaplant, a native of China, whose leaves supply us with a pleasant and wholesome beverage; the cotton-tree, from the seed-pods of which cotton is procured; and the coffeeshrub, whose berries, when roasted, ground, and diluted with water, form the drink that we call coffee.

The fruits imported into England are very numerous, -we shall only notice the spices. Nutmegs are the fruit of a tree that grows in the Moluccas, or Spiceislands; pepper is obtained from a shrub that grows abundantly in the islands of Java and Sumatra; red pepper

is of a different species, being derived from the seeds of a plant called the capsicum. The fruit of the cocoa-tree, when ground with other ingredients, forms chocolate. But the flowers or buds of some shrubs are the parts valuable in commerce, such as, cloves, the flower of a shrub found chiefly at Amboyna; and capers, the bud of a creeping plant produced abundantly in the south of France. TAYLOR'S Historical Miscellany.

BRITISH IMPORTS-VEGETABLES CONTINUED ANIMALS.

THE sugar-cane, which is principally cultivated in the West Indies, forms the greater part of the riches of those valuable islands. The pith of the cane, when pressed, gives a rich liquor, from which sugar is obtained; the remainder of the juice, after the sugar has been extracted, is called molasses or treacle; and when distilled yields the strong spirit called rum.

From several trees various viscid juices exude, which harden in the open air, and form the resins and gums of commerce. Some of the pine tribes yield tar and turpentine. Frankincense is procured in Arabia; camphor is the gum of a tree in the islands of Borneo, Ceylon, &c.; gamboge is brought from Cambodia in the East Indies; and caoutchouc, or Indian-rubber, exudes from a tree which is found both in Asia and America. Amber is generally considered to be a gum or resin, but there is some difficulty in accounting for its production; it is usually found floating on the sea, or cast on the shore; ambergris, an inflammable fragrant substance, is of equally dubious formation; but it is probable that it is a secretion of the whale.

In the lower ranks of vegetables, the articles of commerce are so numerous that it would be impossible to recount them. Among the most remarkable are hemp, the rind of whose stalk affords materials for the manufacture of coarse cloth and cordage; flax, which is similarly used for thread and linen; indigo, which yields a beautiful blue; tobacco, which affords the well-known articles of luxury, tobacco and snuff; and ginger, the root of a species of rush in the East Indies.

Various extracts, called oils, are obtained from vegetable substances: the principal are olive oil, procured from Spain; castor oil, extracted from the fruit of the Palma Christi, a native of South America ; and linseed oil, derived from the seeds of flax.-Wines and ardent spirits are also obtained from vegetable substances. Wine is the fermented juice of the grape; brandy is procured from the same fruit by distillation; gin is obtained by distilling malt with juniper-berries; whisky is derived solely from the malt. Malt is a preparation of barley; the grain is steeped in water until it is completely sodden; it is then laid in heaps to ferment; as soon as signs of vegetation are perceived, the grain is dried to prevent its progress, and it then becomes malt. The reason of this proceeding is, that barley and indeed other grains contain a quantity of saccharine, or sugary matter, which yields a vinous liquor when fermented, and spirits when distilled. This saccharine matter is most fully developed when vegetation is about to commence, but becomes exhausted as it proceeds; the grain is, therefore, forced to begin to grow, and then when its saccharine powers have been put forth the progress is arrested, in order that these powers may be retained.

The last portion of vegetable commerce that we shall notice, is the articles derived from the ashes of different plants. These are by a common name called kalies, or alkalies. The principal are potash, which is chiefly derived from the United States; soda, or kelp, which is obtained from the ashes of a marine plant growing on the sea-shore of these islands; and barilla, a stronger species of soda, which is imported from Spain. These are principally valuable for their cleansing qualities; but since they would injure and corrode if applied by themselves, they are combined with tallow, and thus form soap, which possesses all the useful properties of the kalies, free from those that would hurt and destroy.

The principal animal productions imported into England are the hair and fur of beasts, their skins, and their teeth. From the extreme north of America is procured the fur of the beaver, used in the manufacture of the finer sort of hats. Wool, for broad-cloth, is imported from