kirk has been published by M. Bertrand-The materials employed for this purpose are the ruins of the citadel, consisting of lime, bricks, and sand. These are broken to pieces by means of a mill formed of two stone wheels, following each other, and drawn by a horse Water is added, and the matter well ground is reddish. This is put into a trough, and kept soft by means of water. When the trough is full, some lime is burned and slaked by leaving it exposed to the air, and this is mixed in the proportion of one-eighth with the above cement. A wooden mould is laid on the stone, and after a thin layer of sand has been thrown on the latter, to prevent the adhesion of the cement, a layer of cement is poured in, and on this a layer of bricks broken into acuteangled fragments. Thus two other strata are put in before the last, which is of pure cement. The mould being removed, the stones thus formed are laid in heaps to dry. The lime being very greedy of water, and quickly becoming solid, these stones are not long in forming a hard body fit for building.

M. Braconnot has analysed some fossil horns of an extraordinary size found in an excavation at St Martin, near Commercy. He supposes them to have been the horns of the great wild ox, the urus of the ancients, and aurochs of the Germans. From one hundred parts he obtained phosphate of lime, composed of

41

Phosphoric Acid 28.3 Water

Solid Gelatine

Carbonate of Lime

Bituminous Matter

Ferriferous Quartz Sand

Phosphate of Magnesia Alumine

Oxide of Iron

According to a report made to the National Institute, M. Doufourgerais, optician to the Emperor Napoleon, has produced a ponderous flint glass, intended for the manufacture of achromatic glasses, in which he has attained the highest degree of perfection ever attained by those of English manufacture. The glass made by him is heavier than flint-glass; its specific gravity being 3,588, while the heaviest flint-glass is only 3,329.

On the Construction of THEATRES.

(As it is understood to be in contemplation to erect a new Theatre in this Town, the following remarks, by R. L. EDGEWORTH, Esq. which have recently appeared in NICHOLSON'S Philosophical Journa! (June 1809.) are likely to be interesting. Though written with a view to the London Theatres, the greater part of them will be capable of general application.)

N building a theatre,

1. Security to the audience is the first and most necessary object.

2. Facility of ingress and egress. 3. Facility of seeing and hearing. 4. Convenience to performers. 5. Space for scenes, with proper openings for the machinery.

6. And lastly, expence.

1. To ensure safety, common sense points out, that as little timber, and as small a portion as possible of combustible materials should be employed.The outside walls should be constructed of stone-the coins of large blocks of stone closely jointed, depending upon their own bearings and not made apparently compact by mortar. Bricks for the internal structure should be made under proper inspection and not worked hastily up to fulfil a contract. All the joists, rafters, and principals, and the framework of the partitions, should be iron. The framework of the roof should be of the same metal, with a covering of copper. No plumber should be per

mitted

July 1809.

mitted to exercise his dangerous trade in the construction of any part of the building.

It may at first sight appear, that the substitution of iron for timber, must be enormously expensive, and it would be enormous, if scientific care were not taken to calculate the stress and strength of every part of the structure where iron was to be used, and to frame the material together upon mechanical principles of strength and lightness.

As to the roof, it could no doubt be made lighter and cheaper of iron than of timber, at the present price of that material. Cotton mills are frequently floored with hollow bricks, which are light, and these may be covered with carpeting.

Many other parts of the theatre might be constructed of iron and copper; and stucco might be introduced in many places instead of wood. There are kinds of timber that do not flame; these, though not very durable, might be employed for floors and benches; and where deal is absolutely necessary, it may be covered or im bued with a wash, that in some degree will retard inflammation. After the wood work that requires painting has received two coats of oil paint, it may be finished with a coat in distemper, which may be frequently renewed at small expence, and without the disagreeable smell of oil paint.

To heat the green room, dressing rooms, and the withdrawing rooms, steam might be advantageously employed; and the boiler to supply the steam should be so placed, as to serve at a moment's warning, to work a steam engine of force sufficient to draw water at once from the Thames and to drive it with a strong impulse wherever it should be wanted. This steam engine should be strongly enclosed in a building to which access on every side would be easily obtained.

2. Some of the theatres at Paris have commodious avenues; but not

one theatre in London has been so placed, or so constructed, as to afford telerable convenience either to the higher or lower class of spectators.

SO

Private property intervenes much, that it is scarcely to be expected that any great improvement can be made in this respect, by enlarging the area round the site of the building.

Whether a more convenient situation might be selected, I do not pretend to know; but a theatre built on the old foundation might be rendered extremely commodious as to its entrances, or vomitories, as the antients called the avenues to their amphi theatres.

If the whole building were raised upon arches of a height sufficient to admit carriages, and if numerous flights of stairs were constructed within the piers which supported these arches, the audience might depart commodiously in different directions, without confusion or delay.

The colonnades, formed by pillars properly disposed, would permit alternate rows of carriages. Company might descend from the boxes almost immediately into their carriages. Passages for those who were on foot might be railed off, and rendered se

cure.

This plan would be attended with considerable expense; but it might be counterbalanced by sparing one of the higher galleries, which lately injured the audibility of the performance, without adding much to the profits of the house. Besides, it might be so managed, that tickets for the admission of carriages under the piazzas should be issued, which would cover the expense of their construction.

3. Facility of seeing and hearing.As to seeing, I believe that very little can be said, but what is obvious to every person of common sense; the actors and the spectators have in this respect opposite interests. It is the

interest

Interest of the actors, to have that part of the house, which contains the audience, as large as possible. On the contrary, it must be the wish of the audience, within certain bounds, to be near the stage; and in all cases, the audience must wish, that every part of the pit, galleries, and boxes, should be equally commodious for seeing. Now in a large theatre this is impossible. To extend the pit and boxes, they must recede from the front of the stage; they cannot be extended in breadth without shutting out the view from the side boxes.

Little inconvenience was felt as to seeing at Drury-lane; but every body who wished to hear, complained. As to the actors, to make any impression, they were obliged to raise their voices above the natural pitch; to substitute pantomine gesticulation, in the place of inflexions of voice; and to use contortions of features instead of the natural expression of the eyes, and the easy movements of the countenence. It is in vain, that critics inveigh against the bad taste of those, who prefer show, and pantomime, and processions, and dancing, and all that the French call spectacle: unless we can hear the sentiments and dialogues, it is useless to write good plays; but all the world loves spectacle. Both these tastes should be gratified. Garrick, as I have heard him declare, was always entertained with a pantomime he told me how many times he had seen Harlequin Fortunatus with delight—the number I forget, however, I am sure that it far exceed ed the number of times any man could hear a good comedy or tragedy. Surely the literary and the visual entertainment of different spectators might be gratified. In the first place, the audience-part of the theatre should be smaller and lower, than it was at Drury-lane. Its shape might undoubtedly be improved, by constructing it according to the known laws of acoustics but this, if rigorously attended

:

to, would contract the space so as to affect too much the receipts of the house.

The area for the stage might be as large as it was formerly; but the scenery should be adjusted so as to contract the stage to reasonable dimensions. To confine the voice, the wings should have leaves, or flaps, hinged to them, so as occasionally to close the space between the wings, leaving sufficient room for exits and entrances. When large objects require admission, these leaves might be turned back, and would then allow the same space as usual between the wings. This would be an additional convenience to the actors, while they stand in waiting to enter on the stage, as it would screen them from the cold. The ceiling of the stage, which at present is made by strips of painted linen hanging perpendicularly, should be made of wellvarnished iron or copper frames, turning upon centres so as to open at pleasure like Venetian window-blinds; and by this means to contract, at will, the opening of the ceiling, and to conduct the voice of the performers towards the audience. The current of air, so as it does not amount to wind, should flow from the stage to the audience. By experiments tried upon sound by Sir Thomas Morland and some other members of the Royal Society, it appeared, that the propagation of sound was prodigiously obstructed by the resistance or opposition of a slight current of air. We are told by Vitruvius, and Lipsius, that the sound of the actor's voice was increased in a surprising manner by brazen vessels placed under the seats of the audience.

No satisfactory account remains of the manner in which this desirable effect was produced. It would not, however, be difficult to try experiments on this subject in any one of our theatres when it is vacant.

About 40 years ago I happened to go with a friend into a large cockpit

:

at an inn at Towcester. My friend, who was at the opposite side of the pit, appeared to me to speak with a voice uncommonly loud and sonorous. Upon my enquiring why he spoke in that manner, he said, that he had not raised his voice above its ordinary pitch. Upon looking about, I perceived a large earthen jar behind me, which proved the cause of this increase of sound for upon repeated trials, the voice of my friend sounded as usual when I stood in any other part of the cockpit, but that in which the vase was placed. To the best of my recollection the jar was about five feet high, and twenty inches in diameter. I remember well, that it rung clearly, but slowly, when struck with the knuckle By what means, and by what materials, the pulses of sound may be best returned for the purposes we have in view, is a subject for the joint efforts of mathematics and experiment.

Among other expedients, pannel. ing the backs of the boxes with thin elastic plates of brass might be tried.

A saving and advantage would certainly arise in all cases from using iron, or copper, instead of wood; they would not require renewal for many years, and they would be a preservative against fire. The prompter's box might certainly be improved, so as to throw the prompter's voice more

distinctly upon the stage, and to pre

vent its being heard by the audience. 4. Convenience to performers.-Notwithstanding the reveries of Rousseau, and the declamations of the over-righteous, actors have risen in the estimation of the public. We have seen, with rational and sincere pleasure, the excellent conduct of many female performers. I consider this réform as highly advantageous to morality, and it becomes a duty in the managers of a theatre, to accommodate the perforniers with every possible convenience, so that they may enjoy that English ward comfort, which in all

situations of life tends to promote i dependence and morality.

It is scarcely necessary to add, that pipes to speak through should be laid from the green room to every apartment of the actors.

6. I have left the article of expense to the last, because whatever essentially tends to the convenience and gratification of the public will always find sufficient supplies from the liberality of Britain. A small addition to the price of tickets would amply defray the expence that would be incurred by any real improvements.

If the united efforts of men of science, and men of practice, were di rected to this object, we might expect to see a theatre superior to any on the continent, adapted both to the purposes of splendid exhibition and of true comedy; where our children might be entertained with the "Forty Thieves," and ourselves with "The Rivals," and "The School for Scandal.”

SCOTTISH REVIEW. Celebs in search of a Wife; comprehending Observations on Domestic Habits and Manners, Religion and Morals. 2 volumes.London. Cadell and Davies, 1809. (Concluded from our last, p. 441.) REAT, however, as are Mrs

GRE

More's powers of discernment and description, there are nevertheless not a few of the readers of her present publication who allege that she has gone beyond nature in drawing the principal figures which it represents. Was there really ever such an enchanting place, they enquire, as Stanley Grove? Where is there to be found a Mr Stanley? Or, is his daughter within the whole compass sof creation? It had been better, they insist, to have had them less perfect than so inimitable; and they add, that much of the benefit which might have

arisen out of the materials from which the present book is framed, must from this single circumstance be in a great degree lost.

T'he same objection, we confess, occurred to our minds upon the first reading of Colebs.' After further reflection, however, we are inclined to think, that the author of these volumes is in the right. For, in the first place, it will be remembered, that the whole story is related by an individual, who must of necessity be supposed to have been very blind to all those errors in the Stanleys, which a person in different circumstances might have been supposed to observe; and had these defects been by him brought into view, the story might then we think have been more justly subjected to the charge of being unnatural, than at present it can fairly be. But these objectors are perhaps also disposed to find fault with the circumstance of Celebs being made the narrator.We would, however, acquit the author upon this charge also, were it for no other reason than because this very circumstance affords her an easy and natural opportunity of keeping all imperfections out of sight. Had these been introduced and exhibited to the reader, we imagine the general effect of the picture could not then have been so pure; for there is a curious propensity in our nature to imitate all the parts of a character, or at least to pass over in ourselves certain errors as altogether venal and trifling, if upon any occasion we have been able to discover the same defects in others, whose general conduct is notwithstanding exemplary and commendable. We know not if our meaning be clearly understood, but we own we have often felt in ourselves a great disposition to go snacks, as it were, in the exceptionable as well as the amiable features of a character, which, considered as a whole, has excited our admiration.

It must also be recollected, that

there will no where be found in this book, a single expression which at all savours of the celebrated doctrine of the perfectibility of man, which Mrs. Hamilton has long ago so successfully ridiculed in the person of Bridgetina Botheram. All that Mrs More has endeavoured to do, is to draw a veil over the dark parts of the principal characters of her work, and to throw the exhibition of human vices and failings into the secondary ones. It ought not to be forgotten, besides, that there is really no reason in finding fault with a character on the score of its perfection. The great rule of human conduct is itself a perfect standard, to which no mortal being has yet been known fully to be conformed, but which nevertheless addresses itself to every unperverted mind, as the system, of all others, most suited to the circumstances of man, and best adapted to become the source of his happiness.

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"It is justly considered," says Dr Johnson, in the fourth number of the Rambler, as the greatest excellency "of art, to imitate nature; but it is necessary to distinguish those parts "of nature which are most proper for "imitation. Greater care is still re"quired in representing life, which is "so often discoloured by passion, or "deformed by wickedness. If the "world be promiscuously described, I "cannot see of what use it can be to "read the account, or why it may "not be as safe to turn the eye imme"diately upon mankind, as upon a