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which I have just read. Government would surely have concurred in the conclusion which follows, "that Mr "S. was fully competent to enter on the public service ;" and, in confirmation of that sentiment, it will not be imagined that marks of confidence and favour would have been wanting to endowments so worthy of both.

The report concludes:

"And as the College Council un"derstand he does not at present wish "to leave the College, his name is "not included in the above Report."

Eminent as the place undoubtedly is in our esteem, to which the studious energy of Mr Sotheby has entitled him, it is, I confess, in the point last alluded to that he stands, in my judgement, most remarkably and most honourably distinguished. We are all acquainted with that impatience for manhood, which is in a manner characteristic of youth. There are two ways of asserting that claim, and gratifying that impatience; one, and I fear, the most general, is to assume in haste the forms, costume, and habits of men; to emulate their expences, without their means; to copy their ridicules, and to anticipate their vices. The other, and less frequent mode of aspiring to and hastening manhood, is to accumulate knowledge; to mature the mind; and to put on the true properties and character of man. He who in his desire to be, and not to seem a man, consents to prolong the restraints, the disqualifications, the privations, the dependence of boyhood or youth, is already the man that others would strive in vain to appear. To Mr Sotheby, the door of restraint was unbarred; the world stood open to his view; and with all the enticements of novelty, of favour and of honours, invited him to the fellowship of men. He has had the manly judgment, and the manly fortitude, to turn his back upon those allurements, and has chosen to merit rather than to possess, the tempting objects which

seemed to court his acceptance. He has, indeed, made that choice, which the moral fable of antiquity has taught us, was recommended by Wisdom, and rewarded by Fame and Immortality.

I have dwelt, I confess, somewhat largely, on what appears to me a rare example of early maturity in judgment, talents, and character; because I have thought it, in truth, entitled to a place in the Fasti of your College, and si quid mea Carmina possunt, the name of Mr Sotheby shall not be omitted in its tablets.

(To be concluded in our next.)

Memoirs of the Progress of MANUFACTURES, CHEMISTRY, SCIENCE, and the FINE ARTS.

DR KENTISH, of Bristol, has

formed an establishment where the faculty may order heat or cold in any proportion to be applied to a patient either locally or generally.

The following account of a shock of an earthquake felt at Dunning in Perthshire, on the 18th of January, about two o'clock, A. M. is given by Mr Peter Martin, surgeon of that place. He was returning home, at the time, on horseback, when his attention was suddenly attracted by a seemingly subterraneous noise; and his horse immediately stopping, he perceived that the sound proceeded from the north-west. After it had continued for half a minute, it became louder and louder, and apparently nearer, when, suddenly, the earth heaved perpendicularly, and with a tremulous, waving motion, seemed to roll or move in a south-east direction. The noise was greater during the shock than before it, and for some seconds after it was so loud, that it made the circumjacent mountains re-echo with the sound; after which, in thẹ course of about half a minute it gradually died away. At this time, the

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atmosphere was calm, dense, and cloudy, and for some hours before and after there was not the least motion in the air. Fahrenheit's thermometer, when examined about half an hour after the shock, indicated a temperature of 15 degrees below the freezing point of water. The preceding day was calm and cloudy, thermometer at 8 A. M. 14. at 8 P. M. 13o. The morning of the 18th was calm and cloudy, but the day broke up to sun-shine; thermometer at 8 A. M. 19o, at 8 P. M. 16°. If this shock had been succeeded by another equally violent, it must have damaged the houses; but we have not heard that it occasioned any injury.

Mr James Scott, of Dublin, states, that he has found, by repeated experiments, that platina possesses, on account of its imperceptible expansion, a great superiority over other materials for making the pendulum-spring of watches; but that arsenic must not be employed in consolidating it, as it would then be liable to expansion.When properly drawn, it possesses self-sufficient elasticity for any extent of vibration, it coils extremely well, and if placed when coiled on the surface of a flat piece of metal, making one end of the spring fast, and marking exactly the other extremity, not the slightest expansion is visible when heat is applied. Mr Scott further remarks, that he has for a considerable time made use of platina for compensation curbs, and considers it as very superior to steel for every instrument of that kind.

To some enquiries respecting the smallest number of Galvanic combina tions, and the smallest surface of plates that is sufficient to decompose the fixed alkalis; and also, the best solution for charging a battery so as to produce the greatest power, Professor Davy has given the following answer : "In my early experiments upon potassium, I often procured it by means of a battery of one thousand

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pairs of plates of copper and zinc of six inches square, charged, with a solution of concentrated nitrous acid in about forty parts of water. This is the lowest power that I employed; but as some of the plates had been much corroded by former processes, I should conceive that a combination of eighty would be sufficient, provided the whole arrangement was perfect: The decomposition of the alkaline earths and ammonia, by amalgamation or combination of their bases may be accomplished by a much weaker combination, fifty plates of six or four inches square being adequate to produce sensible results. The potassium which I have used in various analytical enquiries lately carried on, has been all procured by chemical means, without the application of electricity. Potash may be decomposed by different processes, some of which are described in a paper which I am now reading before the Royal Society, but the best method is that which we owe to the ingenious researches of Messrs Gay Lussac, and Thenard, and which is the first of this kind, by mere chemical attraction, made known. When melted potash is slowly brought into contact with iron turnings or filings, heated to whiteness, hydrogen gas is evolved, holding potassium in solution and if one part of the iron tube or gun-barrel in which the experiment is made, be preserved cool, the metal is deposited in this part, being precipitated from the hydrogen gas by cooling. The potash is never procured quite so pure in this way as by electricity; but it is fit for analytical purposes, and I have obtained it with so little alloy, as to possess a specific gravity considerably below 8, water being 10. I have now by me a compact mass produced in an operation, which weighs nearly 100 grains."

Mr John Russel has invented a Barometer on a new and improved construction, by which the rise and fall of the Mercury can be ascertained to

the

the thousandth part of an inch. The Dial is ten inches in diameter, and presents two Indexes; the one of the common range, the other pointing out the thousands of an inch. It contains, besides, two Registers, (moveable from the outside, without the necessity of opening the machine;) an accurate Thermometer, with the Scales of the Royal Society, Fahrenheit, and Reaumur, attached. This instrument is not apt to go out of repair, it does not require oil on the pivots, which, in time, clogs every instrument, and is perfectly secured against dust.

An ingenious method of affixing letters on the fronts of shops, in place of painting, has lately been introduced in this city by Mr John Ruthven. We understand it is applicable for Names and Numbers on doors; the letters being of burnished brass, are rendered more distinct than the plates at present in use. It is also well adapted for inscriptions on monuments; the letters, being of cast tin, or lead, are not subject to that decay, which, in the usual of cutting out on stone, they are liable to.

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are few works, of which the title and nature could excite such an universal interest through out Scotland, as the present. In this country, Burns has long been the object of every thing short of idolatry, His poetry, with all its excellencies, is peculiarly and completely Scottish. His humour, his tenderness, his enthusiasm, possess all a certain character which makes them exclusively our own. His poetry addresses itself to

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persons of every description, from the highest to the lowest ; it is alike sung in the palace and in the cottage; and combines every charm of the highest refinement, and most homely familiarity. It formed the era also of the awaking of the Scottish muse from a long slumber. Poets, indeed, had peared, and of the first excellence; but they had formed themselves altogether on the English model, and had shunned, with the utmost care, every national peculiarity. The poetry of Burns gave a permanence to our expiring language and manners; it raised them, with our southern neighbours, from objects of contempt, to be objects of interest and admiration.

Under these circumstances, to arrange and publish the posthumous works of Burns, becomes a task of peculiar delicacy. The public is curious and anxious to see every thing which is worthy of himself; but he wrote many careless and unguarded pieces, which a regard to his fame would now consign to oblivion.

Mr Cromek has, in a very modest and interesting preface, explained the steps by which he was led to undertake and accomplish this collection. He appears, indeed, to have employed uncommon pains in doing so; and, making a round through the acquaintances of Burns, in different quarters of the country, had access to materials which had escaped Dr Currie. Upon the whole, however, such had been the industry of that gentleman, that much was not left to be gleaned.This volume, therefore, will not make any great addition to the gratification which the admirers of Burns derive from the whole collection. Still, however, it makes some addition and though a good deal might have been retrenched without detracting from its value, yet, we have reason to believe, that a great and laudable forbearance has been practised, in not inserting pieces, which, though they might have been read with avidity, would have

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been injurious to the fame of the author.

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The first part of the volume consists of a number of letters which Mr Cromek has collected, in addition to those published by Dr Currie. We have read them with considerable pleasure. Most of them contain something worth preservation; some stroke of genius, some trait of character, or some allusion to incidents of his life. There was, in fact, less delicacy in publishing the letters of Burns, than of most other persons, since they were rarely unpremeditated effusions. He bestowed peculiar pains upon them, and studied to make them a display of his powers. We understand he even kept copies of most of them.Dr Robertson is said to have observed, that Burns's prose appeared to him more wonderful than his poetry. It certainly contains bursts of enthusiasm, and strokes of humour, not surpassed by any of his poetical compositions. The wonder, however, will in a great measure cease, when we consider that it differs little from poetry without the restraint of numbers.-It does not aim at that correct and finished character which forms the perfection of prose writing, and which requires less genius indeed, but more discipline, than the attainment of poetical excellence. Even with this allowance, there appear marks of labour in most of his letters, still more than of his poems. This labour, however, was applied, not, as usual, to correct and restrain the exuberance of genius, but rather to inflame and encrease it. He seems to have been led, not mere

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ly by the warmth of natural disposition, but by a certain idea of excellence which he had formed, to go to the extreme of every passion and of every sentiment; an error in taste as well as in morals; which, though it may

have rendered some passages still more glowing, has thrown over the whole a certain tumid monotony, which makes the general effect less pleasing.

Some of the early letters are interesting, as shewing the manner in which he was affected by his first honours. We copy the following inci

dent:

I went to a Mason-lodge yesternight, where the most Worshipful-Grand Master Charters, and all the Grand-Lodge of Scotland visited. The meeting was numerous and elegant; all the different Lodges about town were present, in all their pomp. The Grand Master, who presided with great solemnity and ho nour to himself as a gentleman and Mason, among other general toasts gave "Caledonia, and Caledonia's Bard, Brother B," which rung through the and repeated acclamations. As I had whole assembly with multiplied honours no idea such a thing would happen, I was downright thunder-struck, and trembling in every nerve made the best return in my power. Just as I had finished, some of the grand officers said, so loud that I could hear, with a most comforting accent, "Very well indeed!" which set me something to rights again.

P. 16.

The following does not seem to have been written in the best humour; but it gives a curious view of character:

I never, my friend, thought mankind very capable of any thing generous; but the stateliness of the Patricians in Edinburgh, and the servility of my plebeian brethren, (who perhaps formerly eyed me askance,) since I returned home, have nearly put me out of conceit altogether with my species. I have bought a pocket Milton, which I carry perpetually about with me, in order to study the sentiments-the dauntless magnanimity; the intrepid, unyielding independence, the desperate daring, and noble defiance of hardship, in that great personage, Satan. Tis true, I have just now a little cash; but I am afraid the star that hitherto has shed its malignant, purpose-blasting rays, full in my zenith; that noxious planet, so baneful in its influences to the rhyming tribe, I much dread it is not yet beneath my horizon. Misfortune dodges the path of human life; the poetic mind finds itseif miserably deranged in, and unfit for the walks of business; add to all,

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The following character of his Jean, will doubtless interest and amuse our readers:

Shortly after my last return to Ayrshire, I married " my Jean." This was not in consequence of the attachment of romance perhaps; but I had a long and much-loved fellow creature's happiness or misery in my determination, and I durst not trifle with so important a deposit. Nor have I any cause to repent it. If I have not got polite tattle, modish manners, and fashionable dress, I am not sickened and disgusted with the multiform curse of boarding-school affectation; and I have got the handsomest figure, the sweetest temper, the soundest constitution, and the kindest heart in the county. Mrs Burns believes as firmly as her creed, that I am le plus bel esprit, et le plus bonnete homme in the universe; although she scarcely ever in her life, except the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, and the Psalms of David in metre, spent five minutes together on either prose or verse. I must except also from this last, a certain late publication of Scots poems, which she has perused very devoutly; and all the ballads in the country, as she has (O the partial lover! you will cry) the finest "wood-note wild” I ever heard.

P. 74.

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pounds a year for life, and a provision for widows and orphans, you will allow, is no bad settlement for a poet. For the ignominy of the profession, I have the encouragement which I once heard a recruiting serjeant give to a nume. Tous, if not a respectable audience, in the Streets of Kilmarnock,-“ Gentlemen, for your further and better encouragement, I can assure you that our regiment is the most blackguard corps under the crown, and consequently with us an honest fellow has "the surest chance for preferment."

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You need not doubt that I find several very unpleasant and disagreeable circumstances in my business; but I am tired with and disgusted at the language of complaint against the evils of life. Human existence, in the most favourable situations, does not abound with pleasures, and has its inconveniences and ills: capricious foolish man mistakes these inconveniences and ills as if they were the peculiar property of his particular situation; and hence that eternal fickleness, that love of change, which has ruined, and daily does ruin many a fine fellow, as well as many a blockhead; and is almost, without exception, a constant source of disappointment and misery. P. 99.

A letter to Mr Graham, by whom he was most generously patronized and protected, seems to merit quota tion.

I have been surprised, confounded, and distracted, by Mr. Mitchel, the collector, telling me that he has received an order from your Board to enquire into my political conduct, and blaming me as a person disaffected to Government. Sir, you are a husband-and a father. You know what you would feel, to see the much-loved wife of your bosom, and your helpless, prattling little ones, turned adrift into the world, degraded and disgraced from a situation in which they had been respectable and respected, and left almost without the necessary support of a miserable existence. Alas, Sir! must I think that such, soon, will be my lot! and from the d-mned, dark insinuations of hellish groundless envy too! I believe, Sir, I may aver it, and in the sight of Omniscience, that I would not tell a deli

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