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separation which temporary dreams and delusions may work, with the idea of that which is pure, and good, and happy. The Native of almost any other country in the world is tempted by prospects of wealth, or the possession of security, to establish his home on a soil that is foreign to him-but the lowest Englishman is haunted, whereever he may be, by the memory of his own early years, and can never bring himself to give up the hope of laying his bones at last beneath the same sod that covers those whose prayers and blessings sanctified and sublimed their happiness. The idea of parting with any thing that belongs to him as an Englishman, is the most painful one that comes into the mind of an Englishman. His native soil is only one of these things-his liberty is another, and at least as dear a thing-but not less dear than either is the faith of his ancestors and with that faith, thank God, the loyalty of his ancestors is blended-both in its own essence, and, in his imagination-as never faith and loyalty were before united. In the heat and recklessness of youth and youthful passions he may forget for a season both the soil that gave him birth, and all that gives honour and nobility to that beautiful soil but when he feels himself declining into the vale of years, the recollection of those old things enters into his spirit as a passion, and revives and supplants in its turn all the noisier passions that have before obscured and weakened it. There is something inexpressibly delightful in the nature of those feelings with which an old Englishman-of whatever rank-regards the wellknown face of his country. He feels the pride of possession in every tree that throws its shadow upon the field where he has sported in his youth he worships the stream in which he bathed he worships the gray and mouldering stones of the church, in which he first heard that sweet and holy music with which the notions of parental and ancestral piety are reverently mingled. But there are moments, and these neither few nor fleeting, in which the youngest of us are old-in which we look forward to those sober years, not with fear or reluctance, but with a calm and stedfast, even with a hoping eye-shaping to ourselves, with a dim and pensive satisfaction, the feelings with which

we shall contemplate the approach of total rest, after all the fire that is in our own bosoms shall have been chastened and subdued-and the plentiful experience of life shall have reconciled us to seeking in the silence of the grave our refuge from all its griefson repose from all its pleasures. In such moments we forget for the time the point for which we are looking, and live more than half as if we had really reached that to which our looks are directed. In such moments-for they visit us all-with what pain, and fear, and disgust must those who have been seduced into partaking of the popular phrenzies of these days, contem plate the thoughts and feelings, to say nothing of the actions, with which they have become involved? The hurry of busy life-the tumults of the eye and the ear-these may, indeed, return and efface the delicate impression of those more hidden and mysterious moments: but they also in their turn will come back ;-and ere long, surely, the heart that is not totally corrupted will find and say to itself in which of these moments its communion with itself has been most true and sincere in which of them the nobler nature of the man has been most consultedin which of them his nobler aspirations have been most gratified. In spite, too, of all the errors and corruptions which have been gaining ground a mong some parts of the population of these realms, who can doubt that the life and the manners of the very peo ple that have been most to blame, and most to pity, preserve something at least of their old original complexion of purity? It is not merely in the se cret communings of the man with himself-it is in all that he sees and does in his quieter moments-in the faces of all that surround him in these moments, and in their wiser wordsthat we are sure there are found the elements of his entire regeneration.— An Englishman may be taught lessons of sedition and impiety in a street or on a highway-but woful, indeed, must be the change, if many Englishmen there be, who mature and repeat these lessons by the side of those old hearths, that used to be surrounded by the lovers of far different thoughts, and the reciters of far different tales. We cannot bring ourselves to think-to believe in seriousness— that the spirit which would find com

fort or consolation in such employment has really struck a deep root a mong the people of our land. Surely those whose conduct would lead to such suspicions are but the heedless tools of men whom, if they knew them truly, they would truly despise-surely their minds are but the floating habitations of thoughts and feelings, which will soon be shaken out with repentance and loathing. Surely there is enough of blessed matter left, even in the midst of their corruption, to sanctify themselves-the nation itself will and must remain pure, with or without them-from hopeless pollutions and permanent abasement.

We are troubled, therefore, but not terrified by the aspect of this trying time. It is a time to be looked on with grief-with indignation-but not at all with despair; and surely the conduct of the far far greater part of those who have troubled it is a thing to be viewed more in sorrow than in anger. To say the truth once more, the worst of all the features in the present convulsed countenance of the affairs of our country, is, to our mind, the behaviour not of the Reformers, but of the Whigs. There are no doubt many, very many individual adherents of that Party who have behaved nobly and well-but as a Party, we think their conduct has certainly been utterly unworthy of the name they bear, and the principles they profess to inherit. The worst of it is, that they have been studious in expressing their horror for the madness of the reforming sect; and yetsuch is the clinging meanness of human nature, or rather of party nature in the midst of these very expressions of horror they have been lending themselves to the popular outcry, and increasing, by every means in their power, the difficulties of the born and chosen guardians of the state. There is no party in England that so openly acknowledges the services, and identifies itself with the language of its party prints, as that of the Whigs. There can therefore be no injustice in holding them, as a Party, responsible for the tenor of the language used by all their prints throughout the last two or three months of popular excitement and phrenzy. That language has not been the language either of temperate rebuke, or of sober reason, or of manly and indignant contempt. They have indeed

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disavowed all participation in the more violent heresies, political and religious, which have been preached by the professed organs of Hunt and his miserable crew. But it is quite easy to see, that if they really wished to discountenance to annihilate that vile crew and all their heresies-the business of this party was to have laid aside for a time all their own little points of party disagreement-and to do every thing in their power to strengthen the hands of that administration, the displacement of which, at such a moment as the present, they well know could not fail to add confusion to confusion, and weakness to weakness, in a way which neither theirs, nor any other party, might soon have it in their power to repair. They have not done this-but they have all along continued encouraging the disaffected in what they themselves must be conscious is one of the most absurd of all their errors, viz.— the belief that a great part of the misery which has befallen some of the manufacturing districts is owing to the misconduct of the present ministry— they have all along been crying out to the reformers-not, you are utterly in the wrong-you are the enemies of your country-and we and all true lovers of our country despise you”— but, " stop, the time is not come yet for your proposals to be heard with advantage. The first thing is to displace the ministry, and put us in their stead; and then will come the time when all proposals will be listened and attended to by men sincerely anxious to do that which is right-by true friends to the cause of freedom like yourselves." We appeal to the Whigs themselves, whether such has not been the constant cry of their journals-we appeal to their consciences, whether wilful and malicious falsehood be not at the bottom of that cry—whether they are not sensible to their own souls, that by using it they have shewn themselves willing to take advantage of the strength of those whom they dare scarcely deny to be traitors-whether, in one word, they have not confessed themselves on this occasion to be, not the lovers of their country and its peace, but the lovers of power and place, in such a way as no body of English politicians ever had the hardihood or the impudence to confess themselves before.

But Parliament is about to assem

ble and it is there that the true appeal, in regard to their character, must soon be made to the collective wisdom of the nation. The statements which the ministers of the crown have it in their power to lay before Parliament, will, we doubt not, compel even the Whigs to lend them their support in every measure that is judged necessary for securing the internal peace of the country. But the Whigs will find, unless we be much mistaken indeed, that this support of theirs will come far too late to give their party any elevation (and it had need of much) in the general mind of the people. Had they come forward at an earlier stage of the business, their manliness and apparent disinterestedness might indeed have founded for them no inconsiderable claims to respect, in regard to any matters of parliamentary discussion which they might afterwards have thought fit to bring forward. But as it is, the case will, we shrewd ly suspect, be far different; and they will find, that the only result of all their manœuvres has been the addition of new strength and security to an administration, the members of which in spite of all the clamours of Reformers and of Whigs-have as yet done nothing to lessen their originally great claims on the respect and confidence of the better part of the nation.

It is, we know, the opinion of many, that since the dark days of the French Revolution, there has been no period so pregnant with danger-though, in our opinion, none need tremble for their country who know the power of its knowledge and its virtue. Love, not Fear, is the principle that must now unite together all ranks of society. We stand forward to vindicate the cause of order, liberty, and religion, seeing not that they are about to be overthrown, but that they have already been most vilely insulted. We stand forward not against enemies whom we fear, but for friends whom we love. The Anarchist and the Atheist are not formidable to our eyes; but the Throne which they would overturn is dear to us, and the Altar which they would subvert is sacred. High objects must not be contumeliously and irreverently assailed even by the

hands of the impotent-they who do not honour the King must be made to respect his authority-they who do not fear God must not be suffered to blaspheme his most Holy Word.

It is on plain principles like these, that all true lovers of their country ought now to combine in one body and with one soul; and if we know any thing of the character of the British people, there is already such a magnificent, invincible, and irresistible Combination. They who think that nothing more is exhibited, in all this frowning and murmuring popular commotion, than a reasonable, and therefore pardonable discontent, under the hardships which the people suffer from the stagnation of trade and the pressure of taxation-these, being men of party, will be men of party still; and considering the ministry alone to be objects of danger and of fear, they will seek only for their overthrow. But they who know that the great legitimate principles of all civil government have been fiercely and wrathfully denounced-and that the Bible has been hideously trampled under bestial feet

will look to a higher aim, and will lay aside for a while all preference of men and of measures, till they have seen the eternal principles of morality and religion vindicated, and all those glorious sentiments and passions which these principles inspire into a nation's heart, rescued from the foul pollution that on every side is thrown upon them by unhallowed hands. It is not now who is a Tory ?-who is a Whig? But it is, who is a Briton ?-who is a Christian? The honour of our country, and the glory of our God, are the august and sacred objects which we vow to defend; and if there be any virtue in the blood either of our heroes or our martyrs-if the present age be not lamentably severed by some invisible chasm from the days of old,-we may rest assured that the Nation has only to lift its voice, and that its majestic thunder will drive, with fear and trembling into their hiding places, the scattered hordes of anarchy and impiety, who are now vaunting so loudly and so fiercely, unaware of the irretrievable ruin that is about to fall upon their heads.

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

Werner's Geognosy.-The splendid geological dreams of Buffon, the ingenious speculations of Hutton, and the wild and not unpoetical mineralogical fancies of the Germans, induced many enthusiasts to search for proofs of these fascinating reveries, in the mountains and rocks of different lands. Some facts were in this way collected, but still geology could not be said to exist as an independent branch of natural history. It was first elevated to this rank by the investigations of Saussure and Werner. The discoveries of Saussure were numerous and important; and those of Werner not less so. Werner founded the first system of geognosy, and by its publication paved the way for all the remarkable discoveries and views which have since been made in Geology.-The first English account of this system, was that published in Edinburgh in the year 1808, and since that period, others have appeared from the pens of those distinguished philosopers, Thomson and Murray. We have just learned that Daubuisson, a celebrated pupil of Werner's, has in the press, a work on Werner's Geognosy, two volumes octavo, of which we are entitled to form high expectations.

Comparative Anatomy. The zeal and ardour displayed in the study of comparative anatomy in several of the universities on the Continent, is little known, and certainly very imperfectly felt in the anatomical school of Scotland. Since the splendid period of the great Monros, this most important of all the branches of natural history appears to have been very little cultivated. At present we have too much of the trade of anatomy, and too little of its philosophy. We hear of no new discoveries, or observations, of no young and rising comparative anatomists, who, enthusiastically devoted to their science, are actively employed in tracing out, by actual investigations, those admirable displays of structure, and arrangement in the animal world, which must in the course of time, reflect so much light on physiology, and confer so many benefits on medicine.-We are sure this state of an invaluable science cannot long exist we already almost feel that there are rising around us, in this grand arena of philosophy, a host of young, dauntless, and enthusiastic anatomical inquirers, who will establish another epoch, worthy that of the Monros.

Theories of the Earth.-It is now a general complaint with amateur mineralogists, that since the demolition of the theory of Hutton, and the abandonment of the Neptunian views of De Luc, geology has become dull and uninteresting. It may be mentioned, for the information of those fireside speculators, that things are not in so bad a state, for only a few days ago we received three volumes octavo, of a new theory

of the earth, by Brieslac an Italian, which will serve for a time as a tub to the whale.

Dr Barclay on Animal Life.-Dr Barclay, we understand, has in the press, a very learned and curious work, on the phenomena and laws of animal life. It will, we trust, clear away the vast load of rubbish with which this beautiful subject is at present encumbered.-It is a remarkable circumstance, that although the phenomena and laws of the living system, are very obvious and distinctly marked by nature, that physiologists, in their absurd anxiety to appear mysterious and profound, have abandoned their own fascinating field of inquiry, to roam in the unsatisfactory wilds of metaphysical speculation.

Geology.-Professor Jameson, in opposition to those mineralogists who assert the mechanical, and deny the chemical formation of quartz rock and red sand stone, has brought forward several proofs in favour of the latter, principally from the fact of granite, universally acknowledged to be of chemical formation, having been found in repeated instances embedded both in sandstone and quartz rock, where all must have been simultaneously and chemically formed. This is at variance both with the Neptunean and Plutonian theories; and he further urges, that granite is not confined to one particular species of rock, but occurs in several, being not of earlier formation than all other rocks, nor of newer formation than most others, but very often a contemporaneous crystallization with the rock in which it is situated-New Monthly Magazine.

Skull of King Robert the Bruce.-A few days ago, in the church of Dunfermline, the grave of the celebrated warrior King Robert the Bruce was opened, in presence of a numerous assemblage of men of rank and science. The skull, and various parts of the skeleton, were in a state of preservation: Now that the opinions of Gall and Spurzheim are not passed over as mere pieces of quackery, the curiosity of anatomists,and even of the public in general, was excited by this invaluable opportunity of inspecting and examining such a skull as that of Robert the Bruce. We are told, that several of the propensities of this great man, were strongly expressed in the eminences of the skull-in particular, that the organ of combativeness was the most prominent of the whole.

Brewster's Optical Mineralogy.-Dr Brewster has ascertained that every mineral species has distinct and beautifully marked optical characters. This new mode of determining minerals, which is one of the most valuable discoveries made by this distinguished philosopher, will, we understand, form a prominent feature in the work on crystallography, now preparing for publication in Edinburgh.

Mont Blanc.-It would appear from the observations of Brochant, that this colossus, hitherto considered as a mass of granite, contains not a bed of that rock, but is composed of a mineral aggregate, belonging to the mica formation.

Calton Hill. It would appear from observations contained in the Second Number of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, that this hill is principally composed of felspar and augite, and that like similar rocks in India, contains carbonaceous matter, not, it is true, in the form of diamond, but in a state nearly approaching to it.

Carrier Pigeons.-The Flemish papers have recently contained accounts of the late annual competition of the Society of Pigeon Fanciers at Antwerp. On this occasion, thirty-two pigeons, with the word Antwerp marked on their wings, were despatched from the above city to London, whence they were sent back with answers, their wings being previously counter-marked with the word London. The custom of training pigeons to convey letters from one place to another, is prevalent in all parts of the East, but particularly in Syria, Arabia, and Egypt. The Mogul formerly kept a vast number of pigeons for the purpose of carrying letters on occasions when extraordinary speed was necessary. The Pashas of the Porte do the same. They fly from one extremity of his dominions to the other. By this mode of conveyance the Consul of Alexandretta daily sends despatches to Aleppo in five hours, though couriers occupy a whole day in proceeding from one town to the other. The caravans travelling through Arabia, maintain communications with the Arab sovereigns, by means of pigeons with letters fastened under their wings. These messengers fly with extraordinary rapidity, and return with fresh speed to the place where they have been reared. They are frequently observed lying with their backs on the sand, with their bills open to receive the morning dew, and recover breath. Pliny mentions, that pigeons were employed to introduce letters into Mutina (Modena,) when that place was besieged by Mark Antony. They were also employed in 1574, at the siege of Harlem, and in 1775, at that of Leyden. The Prince of Orange, when the latter siege was raised, determined that the pigeons should be maintained at the public expense, and that at their death they should be embalmed, and preserved in the town-house as a perpetual mark of gratitude.

Perpetual light of Adalia.-On the eastern coast of Lycia and the western shore of the Gulf of Adalia, a flame called yanar is seen to issue from an opening, about three feet in diameter, in the side of a mountain, and in shape resembling the mouth of an oven. Captain Beaufort of the royal navy, when surveying this part of the coast of Karamania, visited the spot. This mountain, like that of Cuchivano, was calcareous, being composed

of crumbling serpentine rock, with loose blocks of limestone; there was not the least appearance of volcanic production; no tremor of the earth, no noises; neither stones, nor smoke, nor noxious vapours were emitted from the cavity, but a brilliant and perpetual flame issued forth, of an intense heat, and said to be inextinguishable by water; the remains of the walls, which had formerly been built near the spot, were scarcely discoloured; and trees, brushwood, and weeds, grew close to this little crater, if so it might be called.

Literature encouraged by the Pasha.The Pasha of Egypt, say the French savans, has become an object of universal notice. His name abounds in our journals and periodical works. He sends agents to Europe to procure artists, manufacturers, and skilful workmen. He is extremely fond of botany. He had heard lately that a rich amateur of Paris possessed a cinnamon tree, and he caused it to be bought at an enormous price, to be transported to his gardens at Alexandria. It is only eight days since he had sent to him from Paris 5 or 600 volumes.

Bathing in the Dead Sea.-It is well known that the water of this sea is saturated with salt, chiefly muriate of magnesia, and common salt. Its specific gravity is 1.211. Mr Legh, who bathed in it in 1818, informs us, that he saw several shell-fish in it, not unlike periwinkles. The account which he gives of the effects of bathing is singular, but not very intelligible. I shall give it in his own words. "Our Arab guides had endeavoured to alarm us as to the consequences of bathing in these pestiferous waters; but we made the experiment, and found that though two of our party were unable to swim, they were buoyed up in a most extraordinary manner. The sensation perceived immediately upon dipping was, that we had lost our sight; and any part of the body that happened to be excoriated smarted excessively. The taste of the water was bitter and intolerably saline. From this experiment some of us suffered a good deal of inconvenience, an oily incrustation being left upon the body, which no attempt at washing could remove for some time; and several of the party continued to lose portions of skin for many successive days."(Ibid. p. 192.)

We can understand the meaning of every part of the preceding description, except the alleged loss of sight. It deserves notice, that the specimens of salt collected from the southern extremity of the Dead Sea did not deliquesce. This was doubtless owing to the dryness of the climate; not to the purity of the salt.

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