expense, but by the contents, of those the class of persons for which it is books which come before us for analy-designed. It requires only to be read sis. Sunday-school tuition is an interesting as well as a momentous occupation to those who are more immediately devoted to its interests, while it is rendered still more important to those poor destitute children who reap its advantages. Education is a moral mean of training the young to virtue and to piety; and it is at the same time a powerful incentive to the counteraction of vice and immorality. We should be doing injustice to our own feelings, and violence to the precepts of the Gospel, which we profess to espouse, if we did not subscribe most heartily to the inculcation of such Christian sentiments. to be admired. The language, which is far from grovelling or vulgar, is peculiarly fitted to the narrow capacities of children. Simplicity of style, which is Nature's undeviating rule, pervades the whole composition. The genuine piety, and holy zeal, which shine conspicuously through its pages, give it powerful claims upon the notice and regard of every person connected with the education of the poorer part of mankind. We cannot press too frequently upon the attention of the children in Sunday Schools, the indispensable necessity of duly observing the Sabbath-the avoidance of bad company, -rectitude of moral principle-gratitude to their teachers and benefactors, and a variety of other important truths and duties with which this little work abounds. For the accomplishment of these desirable objects, we recommend it strenuously and earnestly to the candid perusal of every person favourable to Sabbath-school instruction. We must not close our Review with The tale of the "Orphan Sisters" is simply this: Sarah and Eliza Marshal were the orphans of an affectionate and widowed mother, who, with an eye of maternal tenderness, anxious not only for their temporal but eternal interests, procured their admittance into a neighbouring Sunday School. Eliza received the lessons with attention and profit, while her sister Sarah despised the generous boon, and as-out stating, that there are one or two sociated only with the most vicious grammatical inaccuracies,(principally and depraved. Eliza, feeling acutely in the substitution of adjectives for the dreadful course which her sister adverbs) which are evidently not the was pursuing, (which would not only effect of want of knowledge on this produce disappointment and misery in point, from the general correctness this world, but ensure eternal ruin in with which the whole is written, but the next,) urged her by the command- from the habit of imperceptibly imments of God, by the gratitude she bibing those false modes of expression owed to her teachers,-by the love of used by the uneducated, and which her own present happiness, and future unfortunately too frequently appear glory, to turn aside from the path of in the writings of those who so beneiniquity unto the ways of righteous-volently devote their time and talents ness, "for her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." Sarah, gay and thoughtless, heeded not her sister's salutary advice, saying, that while she was young she ought to enjoy pleasure, and when she grew older she would then attend to the observance of the Sabbath, and religious duties. She thus continued on the downward course, and the day of reformation never came; while Eliza, on the contrary, cultivated all the virtues and the graces of practical BIOGRAPHY is a science, which, of late piety with which Providence had en-years, has become very important; if dowed her; till, ripe for immortality, we regard it either as a mean of pecuHeaven marked her for its own. niary profit to the bookseller, or of instruction to those who aim to avail themselves of the experience of their predecessors. By it we are enabled Such is a summary of this engaging little history, which cannot fail in being productive of much good among to the improvement of the young. It would be an insult to our author's judgment specifically to point them out: at the same time, we are sure the hint will be taken as it is intended; professing to keep in view nothing but the general good. REVIEW.-Memoirs of a Life, chiefly passed in Pennsylvania, within the last Sixty Years. Cadell, London, 1822. nerally admitted, with certain excep tions. And when an author enters upon his task with a determination to do justice to the public, and executes his work with fidelity, then we must ever prefer auto-biography for the model of our study; because he has it in his power to inform us of what no other author can communicate—the motive that induced the action. to shun those allurements and temptations, and to emulate those honourable traits of character and virtuous example, which we see delineated in others: we bring before us different situations of vice, as it were into actual being. We grasp in one view, the beginning, the progress, and the end, of all that is lovely and of good report; and trace the varied links which form the concatenated chain of human existence, in all its diversified, ennobling, or debasing forms. In short, biogra-ject that he has had in view, is to offer phy is the ne plus ultra of book-making; because by this we learn how to live -how to die. He who does not make this the principal object of his reading, fails in that which is of the last consequence both as to his well-being in the present world, and his everlasting welfare in that which is not fleeting and evanescent. In this light, our anonymous author arrests our notice. The principal ob to the public the most interesting details cognisant to his own view, of the war in which the Americans were engaged, when endeavouring to procure from Great Britain a recognition of their independence: and a more interesting account of the causes which gave rise to the American war, and of its progress, when it had commenced, has seldom issued from the press. It was originally printed in America, about eleven years since; but it has lately been reprinted in London. Memoirs have poured in upon us from all quarters; but in the greater portion we cannot recognize those in- Our author, after some very excellent nate motives, those hidden springs of observations, by way of introduction, action, which it is the highest interest on the different motives which actuate of mankind to detect. We have bio- self-biographers in obtruding themgraphies of all kinds and descriptions selves upon public attention, states, of the statesman, the orator, the that he was born on the 10th of April, theologian, the warrior, the patriot; 1752, in the village of Bristol, Pennsyland from each we are enabled to cull vania. His grandfather and grandsome flower to bedeck our brows-mother shine conspicuously for their some truths to enlighten our minds tolerance, and it would be well if the -some picture to please our fancy-picture were more strikingly delisome portrait to warm and animate neated and exemplified. our minds-some action to admire or deplore some talent to astonishsome light to guide our benighted step. -But they are all, nearly without exception, too frigid and cold; they have all too much of the improbable, too little of the profitable, too much chaff, and too little wheat, to render them so pleasing, useful, and instructive, as they might have been. Many things are stated without a due regard to minute particulars; and much without the semblance of truth, and for no other purpose than what in too many instances appears to be the primary intent of the author, that of making a book. For no sooner does the pulse of a man of any note or estimation cease to beat, than the whole host of writers continually hanging about the suburbs of Paternoster-Row, are put in requisition. "While the tongue of my grandfather faithfully retained the character of its original dialect, that of his spouse, though in a less degree, bore testimony also to the country of her extraction; and while he, a determined Episcopalian, had his pew in Christ Church, she, a strict Presbyterian, was a constant attendant at Buttonwood meeting-house. No feuds, however, were engendered by this want of religious conformity; and if my grandfather sometimes consented to hear a sermon at the meeting-house, it might be considered as a concession on his part, for a sermon of Archbishop Tillotson, which was regularly read aloud by one of the family on Sunday evening." (p. 9.) There being no traces in our author's memory of any incidents worthy of remark during the period of his infancy, he passes on to the era of his reis a sentiment that cannot be too ge-moval to Philadelphia, for the sake of "The proper study of mankind is man," education, when he was about the age | spelled still worse than he wrote; and knew little or nothing of arithmetic. of seven. Here he was placed under the tuition of David James Dove, an Englishman, who was much celebrated in his day as a teacher, and no less as a dealer, in the minor kind of satirical poetry. He seldom used corporal punishment,butin its stead substituted disgrace. Unlike Dr. Johnson's Latin master, "his birch was rarely used in canonical method, but was generally stuck into the back part of the collar of the unfortunate culprit, who with this badge of disgrace towering from his nape like a broom at the mast head of a vessel for sale, was compelled to take his stand upon the top of a form for such a period of time as his offence was thought to deserve." When his boys were late in their morning attendance, five or six scholars were dispatched after them, with a bell tingling and lighted lantern, in order to escort them to school. But as he professed himself a great lover of justice, and always professed a willingness to have an equal measure of it meted out to himself, in case of his transgressing, the boys took him at his word; and one morning, when he had overstaid his time, he found himself waited on in the usual form; when, putting himself behind the lantern and bell, he marched with great solemnity to school, to the no small gratification of the boys, and the entertainment of the spectators. When our author was about eight years old, he was removed to what was considered the principal seminary, kept by Mr. Kinnersly, teacher of English, and professor of oratory, where he learned to read and write his mother tongue grammatically. One day in the week was set apart for the recitation of select passages in poetry and prose: His declaiming powers were put into a state of such constant requisition, that his orations, like wornout ditties, became vapid and fatigueing, and consequently impaired his relish for that kind of acquirement. Afterwards he returned to Philadelphia, where he entered the Latin school of Mr.John Beveridge, a Scotchman, whose acquaintance with the language which he taught was deemed to be both accurate and profound. A little Latin, and but a little, was the fruit of our author's education. He was tolerably instructed in the rudiments of Grammar, but in nothing else. He wrote an indifferent hand, At p. 48, the author takes notice of a subject which has often occurred to ourselves, to the truth of which we cannot withhold our assent. 66 My attention to my school exercises was not at this time to be complained of; and a part of my evenings was either employed in writing them,or committing to memory. In relation to the latter, I will mention a circumstance which to me appeared remarkable, though perhaps it was not peculiar : After labouring in vain to master my task, I have gone to bed, scarcely able to repeat a line of it, but in the morning when I awoke, it has been perfect in my memory. The same thing has often occurred in respect to tunes I have been desirous of acquiring; and, indeed, I have ever found, that the morning was the propitious season for the exertion of my mental faculties." On the subject of bathing the author makes the following observations: "When in practice, I never felt myself spent with it; and it appeared to me that I could have continued the exercise for hours, and consequently have swam some miles. To recover breath, I only found it necessary to turn upon my back, in which position, with my arms across my body, or pressed to my side (since moving them, as many do, answers no other purpose than to retard and fatigue the swimmer,) my lungs had free play, and I felt myself as perfectly at ease, as if reclined on a sofa. In short, no man can be an able swimmer, who only swims with his face downward; the pressure of the water on the breast, is an impediment to respiration in that attitude, which, for that reason, cannot be long continued; whereas, the only inconvenience in the supine posture is, that the head sinks so low, that the ears are liable to receive water, a consequence which might be prevented by stopping them with wool or cotton, or covering them with a bathing-cap." (p. 54.) We cannot resist the temptation to quote another extract from this interesting work, our apology for which may easily be found in the instruction the paragraph is calculated to convey: The author's mother having mentioned to some gentlemen whom she army, where, after some time spent in active service, he was taken prisoner; but ultimately released; after which we find him married, and enjoying the luxuries of the connubial state. We recommend this volume to the perusal of all who may wish for an accurate account of the celebrated American war; in the course of which they will find delineated some pleasing little sketches of all the principal personages who figured in that eventful period. GLEANINGS FROM LITERATURE, SCIENCE, &c. had invited to supper, of whom Capt. Wallace was one, that there was in her house, a very honest, plain man, of the Society of Friends, it was agreed among the company that Mr. Church the Quaker, should also be invited; which was accordingly done. Mr. Church having sat down, the Captain directed his chief discourse to him, interlarded with a deal of very coarse and insolent raillery, on what was denominated his broad brim. "Church bore it all very patiently till after supper, when he at length ventured to say, 'Captain, thou hast made very free with me, and asked me a great many questions, which I have endeavoured to answer to thy satisfaction: Wilt thou now permit me to ask thee one in my turn?” Oh, by all means,' exclaimed the Captain, any thing that you please, friend-what is it?' Why then I wish to be informed, what makes thee drink so often; art of the boilers, which are indented with conthou really dry every time thoufcar-centric circles, varying in depth according to riest the liquor to thy mouth?' This was a home thrust at the seaman, whose frequent potations had already produced a degree of intoxication; and who, forgetting the liberties he had taken, broke out into a violent rage, and vociferated, with an unlucky logic which recoiled upon himself, What do you think I am like a hog, only to drink when I am dry?' (p. 70.) 6 Improvements in Brewing.-A most important improvement has lately taken place in the mode of brewing and distilling, which is now practised at the Patent Steam Distillery, at sists in the application of steam to the bottom the Greenhead, Glasgow. The invention con The the progress and quantity of heat wanted. A Another improvement at the Greenhead, is a machine, styled by the inventor A Separator, that completely prevents the mixture of the coarse essential oil, which is one of the products of distillation on the old plan, and which has been so greatly injurious to all malt spirits. We have a striking instance displayed in p. 74, of the effect of idleness, from which cause so much mischief has arisen, and which may certainly, with a little modification, be said to be the root of all evil. Between the ages of sixteen and eighPreservation of Fresco Painting.-A new teen he lived in one continued scene process for removing frescoes from one wall of idleness. Here he became acto another, without injury to the painting, has been devised by Signor Steffano Barezzi, of quainted with a young man, whose Milan. The picture is covered with a predegagée air, and rakish appearance, pared canvass, to which it adheres, and is thus he willingly yielded himself up to detached from the wall. The canvass is afteremulate. He it was who first intro- wards applied to another wall, to which the duced him to the fascination of a bil-painting again attaches itself, without the least liard table, and initiated him into the other seductive arcana of city dissipation. He it was who taught him to drink that execrable potion called wine. He it was who led him to a miserable hovel where they poured down the fiery beverage; whence, valiant in the feeling of intoxication, they sallied forth in quest of adventures. In a word, they aspired to be rakes, and were gratified. At a subsequent period our author entered into the trait being destroyed. The practicability of this method has been successfully proved, and the inventor is now employed in transferring a large fresco from the church Della Pace, at Rome. bottles, which must be perfectly clean, sweet, Preservation of Milk.-Provide pint or quart and dry; draw the milk from the cow into the bottles, and as they are filled, immediately cork them well up, and fasten the corks with pack-thread or wire. Then spread a little straw on the bottom of a boiler, on which place the bottles, with straw between them, until the boiler contains a sufficient quantity. Fill it up with cold water; heat the water, and as soon as it begins to boil, draw the fire, and let the whole gradually cool. When quite cold, take out the bottles, and pack them with straw or saw-dust in hampers, and stow them in the coolest part of the ship, or in a cool place. By pursuing this method, milk has been carried to the West Indies; and, after a period of eighteen months, has been as sweet as when first milked from the cow. eye, they can be trained in any direction without damaging the wall. Copper Ships.A nautical mechanic has invented and completed the model of an 80 gun ship of war, of which the keel, floor timbers, lower futtocks, and bottom planks, are made of copper! A patent, it is said, is taking out for this new mode of ship-building, which, it seems, is thought well of by some naval men. Lithography.-An experiment has lately been made to take off impressions from plants by lithographic printing. A specimen of Sibthorpia Europea, which was gathered several years ago in Cornwall, was covered with lithographic ink, and impressed on a stone, from which stone several impressions were after-ment of National Industry; and by it a person wards taken. Perpetual Motion.-Among various curious exhibitions at a Mr. Vogel's, in New York, is one called a perpetual motion. It consists of a large wheel, around the edge of which are placed, at equal distances, a certain number of moveable hollow cylinders, each containing an equal proportion of quicksilver. The weight of the quicksilver, which moves from one side to the other as the wheel turns, determines the horizontal or perpendicular position of the cylinders. By this horizontal position in falling, the circumference of the wheel is continually enlarged on one side, and diminished on the other, by the perpendicular opsition in rising: this creates two unequal semicircles, the one more eccentric than the other, and thus causes a perpetual motion. Gas from Peat Moss.-A gentleman has recently found, and proved by a series of successful experiments, that the dark peat moss of Scotland, produces gas not inferior in quantity and quality to that extracted from coal, possessing the additional and valuable advantage of being in a great measure free from that offensive and noxious effluvia emitted by gas produced from the latter material. Ice-breaking Machine.-A Mr. Green, of Alexandria (America) has discovered a machine for breaking ice of the thickness of six inches, at the rate of three or four miles an hour. The machine promises to be of advantage in opening a passage for ships frozen, clearing canals, &c. Production of Magnetism.-M. Poenitz, of Dresden, has lately experimented on the production of magnetism by hammering, friction, &c. and has come to the conclusion, that it is not produced in the iron, but given to it by the external magnetism of the earth. Motion, only, renders iron more susceptible of receiving magnetism. One of his modes of giving this motion to the particles, is, to fix one end of a rod of iron or steel steadily, placing the rod in any position required, and then to make it vibrate by drawing the free end from the axis of the rod, and suddenly letting it loose. If in a favourable position, the iron soon acquires magnetism. Nails for Wall Fruit.-Specimens of Nails for Wall Fruit have been presented to the horticultural society. They are made of castiron, with round heads, having a hole in the centre, and are intended to be permanently fixed in the wall when building, between the courses of brick work; by leading the branches of the trees close to them, and tying them by pieces of matting or string run through the Arithmometer.-A French artist, M. Thomas, of Colmar, honorary director of the Phoenix Company, has obtained a brevet of invention (patent) for a machine of calculation, to be called the Arithmometer. It has been presented to the Society for the Encourageunacquainted with figures may be made to perform, with wonderful promptitude, all the rules of Arithmetic. The most complicated calculations are done as readily and exactly as the most simple; sums in multiplication and division, of seven or eight figures, require no more than those of two or three. Lining for Ships.-Mr. W. Ward, of Bow, Middlesex, having discovered that a light felt of hide or hair, or mixture of hide, hair, and wool, when saturated with tar, is highly elastic and water proof, conceives that it may be usefully applied as a lining for the sheathing of ships, being attached to the external sides and bottom of the ship, by simply nailing with copper nails. This substance he terms Adhesive Felt; it possesses the property of elasticity in so considerable a degree, as to stretch uniformly, without fracture or injury either to its texture or its complete impermeability to water, whenever the ship's seams are opened by straining in hard weather, or in more dangerous cases of the starting of planks, or the breaking of timbers as in stranding. Literary Notices. Lord Dillon has, during his residence at Florence, composed a work under the title of "The Life and Opinions of Sir Richard Maltravers, an English Gentleman of the Seventeenth Century," which is now in the press. Religious Declension, considered in its Nature, Causes, and Effects; with the Scriptural Means of Recovery and Prevention. By Thomas Wood, 12mo. boards. Arcita and Palamon, from Chaucer, by Edward Hovel Thurlow, Lord Thurlow, a poem, has just been published. A new edition of the Porteusian Bible has just made its appearance. Just published, "A few days in Athens," being the translation of a Greek MS. discovered in Herculaneum, by Francis Wright, 1 vol. 12mo. A Selection from the Correspondence of Linnæus, and other Naturalists, from original MSS. by Sir James Smith, M. D. F. R. S. and President of the Linnæan Society, 2 vols. 8vo. Elements of Medical Logic. Second edition, by Sir Gilbert Blanc, Bart. The Investigator, Part VIII. for April, published quarterly. |