he would be in perpetual danger of perishing by famine, was seized with chagrin, and determined without de lay to return to Spain. His voyage was disastrous; his provisions failed, and he was reduced to the necessity of eating corrupted victuals, which, joined to agitation of mind, brought on his death.

Meanwhile, some other Spaniards, who had a second time gone up the river, found a kind of harbour in a convenient situation, where they founded the city of Assumption, now the capital of the province of Paraguay Proper. On their return, the inhabitants of Buenos Ayres, who were still pressed by frequent famines, and by the fierceness of the neighbouring tribes, were so overjoyed to hear of a quiet and plentiful situation, that they all determined to leave their present settlement, and remove thither. In 1538, therefore, Buenos Ayres was deserted, scarcely three years after its first foundation.

(To be continued.)

bout 50 minutes after one o'clock in the afternoon.

Wednesday, December 10th.

The Sun will be eclipsed invisible at Edinburgh. The conjunction will take place at 10..30" after 2 o'clock in the morning, in longitude 85..17°..24'..30", the Moon'slatitude being 9 minutes South. The Sun will be centrally eclipsed on the me ridian at 2h..11'..30", in the morning. to a point in New Holland west of Botany Bay, situated in longitude 143°..524 East, and latitude 32°..27' South.

Thursday, December 11th. The Planet Mercury will be stationary in longitude 95.5°..41'. Friday, December 19th.

MARS will be in conjunction with • Leonis, a star of the 3d magnitude. The latitude of Mars being 2o..38′ North, and that of Leonis 1o.. 41' North, the nearest approach of their centers will be 57 minutes, and the planet will pass to the North of the star.

Saturday, December 20th. About 17 minutes after 12 o'clock

T

1806.

Monday, December 1st. HE planet MARS will be in qua. drature with the Sun, at 50 minutes after 12 o'clock in the evening. The longitude of the Sun is then 85.. 9°..13′..6", and therefore the longitude of Mars will be 55..9°..13′..6".

Tuesday, December 2d.

The Planet Mercury will arrive at his greatest elongation from the Sun, and may be seen in the evening after sunset. His declination is 25 degrees South, and therefore his amplitude will be only a little more southerly than that of the Sun.

Sunday, December 7th.

The longitude of Jupiter is at pre. sent 95..120..3..0"; and his latitude 10 minutes South. His declination is 23o..11' South, and he Souths a

Monday December 22d. The Sun will enter the sign Capricorn, at 52 minutes after 10 o'clock in the forenoon.

Thursday, December 25th.

The longitude of SATURN is at present 75..80..0..12", and his latitude 2. 20" North. His declination is11°..59' South, and he willcome to the meridian at 57 minutes after 8 o'clock in the morning.

Sunday, December 28th.

The MOON will eclipse the star marked 2 ad a Cancri. The star will immerge behind the enlightened limb of the Moon, at 39 minutes af. ter 4 o'clock in the morning, when it is situated about 13 minutes to the South of the Moon's center.After continuing eclipsed for the space

space of 48 minutes, the star will emerge from behind the obscure limb of the Moon at 27 minutes after 5 o'clock in the morning, when it will be situated about 9 minutes South of the Moon's center. About the middle of this occultation, the Moon's horizontal parallax is 1o..0' 19" her horizontal diameter 32'..52", and she will come to the meridian at 13 minutes after 2 o'clock in the morning. On the same day, about 45 miputes after 10 o'clock in the evening, the planet VENUS will arrive at her superior conjunction with the Sun.

Wednesday, December 31st. The planet MERCURY will be stationary in longitude 85..19°. 34'

On the same day, the GEORGIUM SIDUS will be situated in longitude 65..29° .48′, and latitude 33 minutes North. The declination is 100.54' South, and he Souths at 7 o'clock in

the morning.
Νου. 19. 1806. ξ
Mount Annan,

D. B.

Memoirs of the Progress of MANU. FACTURES, CHEMISTRY, SCIENCE, and the FINE ARTS.

person, with a moderate ear, may tune an instrument perfectly, and in a superior manner, perhaps, to what the best tuner could do without its aid. The common mode of doing this by tuning forks, though perfectly good in theory, is liable to an er ror in practice, of which those that use them are not generally aware.There is, perhaps, not one fork in a hundred which has not a beating in it when it is struck, and therefore it cannot send forth a pure and single sound. This beating may sometimes be got rid of, by carefully filing the two legs, so as to make them exactly alike throughout. But this, requires much more attention than practical tuners are likely to bestow.

The following beautiful experi. ment, connected with musical sounds, has been given by the Earl of Stan-. hope. He stretched two wires twenty inches long, between the bridges, and with a degree of tension so precisely equal, that no beating was audible between them. By means of a fine micrometer screw, he could move the slider on one of the bridges to such a minute degree, as to lengthen, or shorten, that wire the eighteen thousand part of an inch, without altering its tension. This small change in

invented by the Earl of Stanhope. It consists of thirteen slips of plate glass, each of which is exactly six inches long, and two inches broad, with different degrees of thickness, according to the pitch of the differ. ent notes. Each slip yields a sound, which is extremely pure. The same brass support, which terminates in three pointed corks, serves for each slip in succession. On this support, each slip being similarly placed, is struck by the same cork hammer, with the same elastic force, and on the corresponding spot each time.By means of this simple apparatus, which is pitched to his Lordship's New and improved Temperament, any

produces a beating between them, which may not only be heard, but distinctly felt. In order to feel it,. support a small piece of steel wire, about 2 inches long, on the sounding. board of the monochord with one of the finger nails. If the lower end of that piece of wire be semispherical; if its upper end be pointed, and if that upper end be applied to the new or tender part of the nail; then the beating will be felt very sensibly.. This experiment clearly shews how perfectly unisons may be tuned, since the smallest deviation in an unison is thus distinctly perceptible.

JOHN NICHOLAS GARDEUR, an artist at Paris, has invented a method of of imitating the most beautiful sculptures, by means of old paper reduced to paste. To a wonderful lightness and solidity, this new species of ornament adds the requisite truth in the expression of the figures. These statues are as cheap as common painted paper, and have already been employed to decorate the public halls in Paris. The labours of M. Gardeur have met with the approbation of the French Government, and the National Institute.

It appears from the experiments of DESORMUS and CLEMENT, that 100 parts of ultramarine consists of silex 35.8 parts; alumine 34.8; soda, 23.2; sulphur 3.1; and carbonated lime 3.1. Its specific gravity is 2.360.

A simple odometer for measuring the ground passed over by a carriage, has been invented by R. LOVELL EDGEWORTH, Esq. For a description and drawing of the instrument, see Nicholson's Journal, No. 61, p.

81.

produced by age, seems to be owing to a deficient secretion of colouring matter.

PROFESSOR LAUGUIER has discovered, by a particular mode of analysis, that the five meteoric stones of Verona, Barbotain, Ensisheim, Ai. gle, and Apt, besides the principles already known to chemists, contain the metal called Chrome, in the pro. portion of about one hundredth part. Hence he concludes, that all meteoric stones possess this ingredient, and recommends the stone when analysed to be treated with both acids and alkalis.

Mr G. GILPIN has invented a new method of working the common chain in machinery, so as to exceed ropes in inflexibility and strength. The 60ciety of arts has awarded to the inventor their silver medal, and 30 guineas. See vol. XVIII. of their

Transactions.

Mount Annan,

Νου. 19. 1806. 5 }

Character of the most eminent Scots WRITERS of the present day. Translated from a French work entitled,

"Londres & les Anglais;" by Terri de St Constant. (Continued from p.747.)

D

POETRY.

R James Beattie, celebrated as a moral philosopher, was no less so as a poet. Themost considerable of his poetical works is the poem entitled the Minstrel: his object is to trace the progress of a poetical genius born in times of ignorance, from the first dawn of imagination and reason, till he is capable of appearing in the world as a Minstrel; that is to say, as an itinerant poet and musician; a character which, in the idea of the ancient Britons, was not only respectable, but sacred. Dr Beattie's taste is pure, his versification elegant, and in the choice of expressions and images he yields to none of his co-temporaries. The English regret that he has not, like Pope, cultivated the muses to his old age.

Mr Thomas Campbell has sung the " Pleasures of Hope." His poem wants a regular plan, but contains a number of images, full of force, imagination, and interest; and breathes throughout the enthusiasm of the most generous sentiments. Mr Campbell's first work has given ground to hope that he will one day rank among the most celebrated English poets.

Mr John Home, a Scotsman, is the author of five tragedies. The first, entitled Douglas, was first represented with much success at Edinburgh, and then, on the recommendation of the celebrated Hume, at London, where it was no less successful. It was considered as the best tragedy that had appeared in the English theatre since the time of Rowe. A Scotsman, who was in the pit at Drury Lane while Douglas was acting, cried out in a transport of national vanity, and in the 'accent of his country: "Whar's Nov. 1806.

Mr Henry Mackenzie is one of the best writers whom Great Britain at present posseses. He is chiefly known on the continent by his romance entitled the "Man of Feeling." There is none who has not read this masterpiece in sentimental writing, and has not compared it to the most perfect productions of Sterne. The severest English critics acknowledge that its style is pure, free of Scotticisms, easy, dignified, and elegant, without pomp, and without study. They reproach him with sometimes using gallicisms, for which there may be some foundation, as Mr Mackenzie, like other celebrated Scotch writers, has studied very much the French authors. They affirm also, that the character of the Man of Feeling had been partly formed upon that of St Preux in the New Heloise. Mr Mackenzie afterwards published the Man of the World, which forms as it were the second part of the "Man of Feeling." In this last he had imagined a person who constantly obeys all the impulses of the moral sense, and is indebted to it for all the pleasures and pains of life. In the Man of the World, he represents a man abandoning himself to every kind of disorder, spreading misfortune, and rendering himself unhappy, by pursuing a happiness which he hopes to obtain, although he never follows the moral sense. Mr Mackenzie has also introduced the system of Shaftsbury, of Hutcheson, and of Smith, their pupil.

pupil. This second work was well received by the public, though not with the same enthusiasm as the first. The latter offered a new character; the Man of the World had been already drawn with more depth and energy. Mr Mackenzie's third romance, intitled " Julia de Roubigne," is in the form of letters. It is written, like the others, with an elegant simplicity, and is very interesting: but the characters are not very natural, nor the incidents very probable. Mr Mackenzie published also a poem entitled "The Pursuit of Happiness;" two tragedies, "The Prince of Tunis," and "The Fatal Curiosity;" and a comedy entitled "the Hypocrite." These works have not met with the same success as his romances and moral essays.

CRITICISM.

Dr Blair is no less celebrated in England as a critic, than as an ora tor. He was twenty years professor of rhetoric and belles lettres in the University of Edinburgh, and published an abridgement of his lectures in three volumes. His work is far from being original throughout, as he himself allows in his preface.-He has borrowed much from the French writers, but discovers much taste and critical method, and a style as much embellished as didactic writing admits of. This work, the manuscript of which was sold for 1500l. sterling, is extremely well fitted to give correct ideas of literary composition and delicate criticism.

Dr

Blair's dissertation on Ossian's poems, though not so useful as the preceding, does him still more honour. It is perhaps the best critical work which exists in the English lan. guage.

The English reckon among their good critical works, Mr Alison's "Essays on the Nature and Principles of Taste," in 4to, 1790, and Mr Ogilvie's Critical and Historical Observations on Composition, in 2

vols. 8vo. 1774. They contain some new views, ingenious reflections, and a spirit of analysis; but the national taste has a great insuence on the judgment, and even on the principles of these writers.

Dr James Beattie, in his "Essay on Poetry and Music," considered in relation to the affections of the soul, has done little more than unfold the ideas of writers who have treated these subjects. It is observed that he af fects to quote none, because most of them are French.

CHEMISTRY.

Edinburgh, as well as London, has able chemists, among whom we may mention Messrs. Hope, Thomson, Kennedy, Hall, &c. A learned man has called Dr Kennedy the Vauque. lin of Edinburgh, that is to say, with the greatest talents for demonstrating, he unites that of making discoveries. Sir Hall, the disciple of Hut. ton, author of a theory of the earth founded on the igneous system, has in part adopted the theory of his master, and made new experimenta to support it.

MEDICINE.

Dr Alexander Moaro, son to the celebrated anatomist of that name, has supplied his place in the chair of medicine and anatomy at Edin burgh, and supports the celebrity of his name. He has published several esteemed works: "Observations upon the structure and functions of the nervous system," in one volume folio, with plates: "The structure and physiology of fishes, explained and compared with that of men and other animals." The "Description of all the Bursæ Mucose of the human body," &c. Dr Donald Monro, brother of the preceding, enjoys also much reputation. He has published a "Treatise on medical and pharmaceutical chemistry :" "Observations on the means of preserving the health of soldiers", in 2 vols. 8vo. and a

Treatise