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1825

Literature, Antiquities, &c.

CAMBRIDGE.

State. In Letters addressed to Charles Brinsley Sheridan, Esq.

Original Letters and Papers, written by Henry Hyde, second Earl of Clarendon, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, during the reign of James II. Uniform with the 8vo. editions of Clarendon's History of the Rebellion. Also a Series of Original Manuscript Note Books of Sir Edward Hyde, afterwards Earl of Clarendon, and Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain.

A posthumous Romance, by ANN RADCLIFFE, author of the Mysteries of Udolpho, &c.

Engraved Specimens of Ancient Arms and Armour, from the justly admired Collection of Llewelyn Meyrick, Esq. LL.B. and F.S.A. after the Drawings and with the Descriptions of Dr. Meyrick. By JOSEPH SKELTON, F.S.A. author of the Antiquities of Oxfordshire.

Four Volumes of Sermons by Dr. Doddridge, left by his will to the late William Orton, with a desire that they should be published for the benefit of the Doctor's family.

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SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.

Nov. 24. Thomas Amyot, Esq. M. P. in the chair.

A Paper was read on the remains of the sub-church of Edward the Confessor at Westminster Abbey, by Win. Capon, Esq. Architectural Draughtsman to H. R. H. the Duke of York, in a letter to Mr. Ellis.

These remains are to be found in cellars for wood, beer, &c. and other underground vaults; but the most important remain is that vault or chamber where the pix was deposited, and which was formerly, as Mr Ca

A new Selection of Sacred Music. By pon thinks, the Treasury of the Kings of M. F. LEMARE..

The Fourth Part of the New Translation of the Bible, from the original Hebrew Text only. By JOHN BELLAMY.

The Constitution of the Human Family; with the duties and advantages which are involved in that singular Constitution. By the Rev. CHRISTopher Anderson.

Etymons of English Words. By JOHN THOMPSON, late Private Secretary to the Marquis of Hastings.

Tales from the German, of E. T. Hoffman, La Fontaine, J. Paul Richter, Fred. Schiller, and C. T. Korner.

A Defence of the principle of the Poor Laws, in answer to their impugners, Mr. Malthus, Dr. Chalmers, and others, together with suggestions for their improvement. By M. T. SADLER.

The Annual Miscellanist of Literature for 1826, comprising unique Selections from the most important Works published within the last year.

A New Edition of the Dramatic Works of Shakspeare, with numerous Engravings. The Notes, original and selected, by S. W. Singer, F.S.A.

A Translation of Baron Charles Dupin's Lectures on Mathematics, with addit ons and improvements, adapted to the state of the arts in England.

A Translation of La Secchia Kapita, or the Rape of the Bucket. An Heroic-comical Poem, in 12: Cantos, from the Italian of Alessandro Tassoni, with Notes, by JAMES ATKINSON, Esq.

The Edinburgh Geographical and Historical Atlas, containing all the Maps given in a General Atlas, with some peculiar to itself.

England. Here is an altar table and piscina: the latter was restored many years since through the timely interference of Mr. Capon. On the upper slab of the altar is a concavity, probably used to contain the oil for anointing the Kings at their coronations, which might have been consecrated here as part of the Church of Henry the Third's favourite saint, Edward the Confessor. Some parts Mr. Capon even thinks earlier than the time of Edward the Confessor, perhaps part of a previous church built by Edgar, or probably of that before his time by Sebert. The level of this sub-church is four feet six inches below the present level of the Abbey Church, which is two feet four inches above the level of the present cloisters. The level of the City of Westminster has at different times been raised from four to six feet; in King street about five feet, as appears from an ancient house now in the occupation of Mrs. Walton. In 1793 some houses adjoining Gardener's-lane were pulled down, to which you descended by five or six steps; and about 60 or 70 years ago Charing Cross was raised about five feet. At every entrance to the Abbey from the street you descend; at some the descent is less than at others.

WESTERN LONDON LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC IRSTITUTION.

On the 10th of Nov. a meeting was held at the Freemasons' Tavern, to take into consideration the establishment of a Literary and Scientific Institution, for the accommo

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Literature and the Arts.

dation of persons engaged in commercial and professional pursuits in the Western part of the metropolis.

Henry Drummond, Esq. explained the objects of the Meeting.

Thomas Campbell, Esq. said, that these Institutions were not inconsistent with a "London University;" and he should like to see the chairs of these Institutions as well as of a "London University," filled with men who would rival the Professors of the existing Universities. There were, however, out of that room prejudices against these Institutions. Those prejudices did not originate with " the scandalous parts of the press, who were ever at war with liberal principles," nor with the "nightmen and scavengers of periodical publications;" if they had so originated he should not have noticed them; but they were supported and backed by higher authority. Dr. Whitaker promulgated his alarms at the formation of public libraries, as calculated to corrupt principles, by bad books being mingled with good; to depress learned men, by making learning general; to make the humble or working classes saucy, lazy, &c. Those alarms were chimerical. Ás to public libraries corrupting public principles, how much greater was the danger from private libraries! There bad books might be mingled with the good; but public libraries were likely to be scrutinized by vigilant censors. There was no reason for alarm; that novelty which was the prevailing characteristic of our times, was "a spirit of health;" it was

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goblin damned." They might fearlessly look it in the face. He concluded with congratulating them on the exertions that were making to provide the rational means of cultivating the mind.

Mr. Hobhouse, M. P. said, that power without knowledge was a demon breathing pestilence and death. Without knowledge, religion itself was degraded into superstition; man became worse than dust, and lost the impressment, the imprint of Divinity with which he was ushered into the world.

A series of Resolutions were agreed to, after remarks from Mr. Grote, the banker, Mr. P. Moore, M. P. Dr. Birkbeck, Mr. Heath, &c.

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A General Meeting of the Members of this Institution was held on Friday Nov. 25, at the Freemasons' Tavern for the purpose of receiving a report from the Provisional Committee appointed to frame a body of rules and regulations for the management of the Society. Mr. T. Campbell was called to the Chair; and, after a few introductory observations, a Report was read by the Chairman of the Provisional Committee, which, after stating the number of Members at present to be 451, and setting forth the names of several gentleman of literature and science who had volunteered to give lectures to the Society on different subjects,

[Nov.

proceeded to detail the various donations already presented to them; amongst which were 50%. and a set of chemical apparatus by Mr. H. Drummond; 150 volumes of books by Mr. P. Moore; and 300 volumes by the Society for Mutual Improvement. The Report also stated, that the rooms belonging to the Society of British Artists, in Suffolkstreet, Charing Cross, had been hired for three months, to begin with.

ROYAL LIBRARY AT COPENHAGEN. This library contains a considerable collection of manuscripts in the Oriental languages, brought from the East, both by the celebrated Niebuhr, and by other travellers, and Danish Consuls who have resided for a shorter or a longer time in Asia and Africa. These treasures were much augmented by the death of the illustrious Chamberlain De Suhm; who had purchased at a great expense all the Arabic manuscripss in the possession of the learned Orientalist Reiske, of Gottingen, and whose superb and vast library has lately been added to that of the King. From ten of the principal of these precious manuscripts, and from others of minor value, Dr. Rasmusser, the Professor of Oriental languages, has derived the matetials for a work which he has just published, called "Annales Islamici, sive Tabulæ synchronistico-chronologica chalifarum et regum Orientis et Occidentis." The most important of the manuscripts of which Dr. Rasmussen has availed himself, and from which he has composed fifty-eight pages of synchronistico - chronological tables of a crowd of dynasties that have reigned in different countries, Eastern and Western, from the flight of Mohammed, in the 622d year of our era, down to the year 1609, is written by Abul-Abbas Ahmed ben Jussuf Damascus. Of this manuscript there exists but two copies; the one just mentioned at Copenhagen, the other in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.

NEW LIFE BOAT.

Andrew Hennessy, of Passage, Cork, has constructed a life or safety-boat, from models submitted to the Lords of the Admiralty and Trinity Board in London. It is 36 feet keel, 74 feet beam, and 54 feet deep, capable of saving fifty or sixty persons from wreck, in addition to her full crew. The timbers, which are very slight, are of oak, tarred and parcelled with light strong canvas, over which there is a casing of thin whalebone, then served like a rope with a marline. The covering or skin of the boat, instead of a plank, is a particular kind of canvas, of great strength and durability, and perfectly water-proof. The materials of this canvas have been saturated with a chemical process in the loom, which preserves it from wet and the action of the atmosphere. It always preserves its pliability, and will not heat,

mildew,

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mildew, or rot. The boat is, decked or covered with the same cloth. The deck is laced through the centre fore and aft, from stem to stern-post, and covered with laps, so as to prevent the water getting in. The oarsmen sit on their thwarts, which are of the canvas already described, through the deck, from which coats are erected, fitted by plaits to their bodies, and buckling below the breast. The use of planks as a coating, or for the deck, is altogether avoided.

EFFECT OF LIGHT ON PLANTS.

The following experiment was made a few weeks since by Mr. Henry Phillips, to shew the different effects of natural and artificial lights on plants. He selected plants of the Minosa, Elegans, Nova, and Decurrens, while their pinnated leaves were fully expanded. On placing them in a dark room the leaves immediately collapsed like the sticks of a fan, or as the feathers of a bird's wing fold over each other. The strongest artificial light that could now be thrown on them had no effect on the automatic motion of the plants, and the foliage remained in a collapsed state until they were removed into the natural light of day, when their sensitive properties immediately became perceptible, and the whole of the leaflets were seen moving towards their natural and elegant direction, with as much regularity as a regiment of soldiers file off at the word of command.

LIFE PROTECTOR FOR CARRIAGES.

A successful trial was lately made of a very interesting and highly important invention, for which a patent has been granted to Lieut. Thomas Cook, R. N. of Upper Sussex-place, Kent-road (the inventor of the "Night Life Buoy," &c.) which he designates a "Life Protector for Carriages," the use of which is to stop horses in the event of their running away in any kind of vehicle to which it may be attached. So simple is this invention, both as to its construction and application, that a child might, with the greatest facility, put it into full operation, when the horse or horses will be gradually drawn in against any resistance which they may offer until the strain is off the traces, at which time, it of itself ceases to act, the driver having it in his power to release them again in an instant, whenever he feels himself disposed so to do. Should any accident occur in travelling, by which the driver is thrown from his seat, or should he fall from it in a fit, or from being intoxicated, a lady in her carriage has the power of stopping a pair or four horses with ease and with certainty.

MOSAIC GOLD.

A most important discovery has recently been made in London, in the production of a composition metal, or alloy, which equals gold in the richness of its colour, and in its applicability to articles of plate and orna

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mental purposes; it also resists the action of the atmosphere, not tarnishing or oxidising even when exposed out of doors to the Some specimens of this metal, which is termed Mosaic gold, have been handed about in the higher circles.

sea.

About six months since, the son of Mr. Lemon, the indefatigable Keeper of the State Papers, discovered, on examining some of the papers of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, a paper in the hand-writing of the Queen, and marked "The Thirde Booke." Conceiving this to belong to something of importance, he placed it carefully aside, and by a diligent search has at length obtained the papers of four other books, which tur out to be an entire translation of "Boetius de Consolatione Philosophiæ." In Walpole's "Royal and Noble Authors,” it is mentioned that Queen Elizabeth had translated this work, but no vestige of it was known to exist. Nearly the whole of the work is in her Majesty's own hand-writing; but there are parts evidently written by her Private Secretary, and by the Secretary of State for the time. All the difficult passages, and all the poetical portions are in the Queen's own hand, and it is not a little curious, that in the translation of the latter, she has imitated all the variety of metre which is to be found in the work. It is, therefore, a literal rather than a poetical translation. There are letters also discovered which identify this translation to have been made by the Queen, and it is to be hoped that the public will soon be gratified with the publication of this truly great literary curiosity.

A short time ago, a search having been made among some ancient papers in Heriot's Hospital, there was discovered a challenge to mortal combat, addressed by the famous Rob Roy to the Duke of Montrose. It is in excellent preservation, and not a doubt can be entertained of its authenticity. It is at present in the hands of one of the sublibrarians of the Advocate's Library.

In Weber's Northern Antiquities is to be found the following instance of literary application, which, taking all the circumstances into consideration, is perhaps without parallel: Hans Sacks was born in Nuremberg, in the year 1494; he was taught the trade of a shoemaker, and acquired a bare rudimental education, reading and writing; but being instructed by the master singers of those days in the praiseworthy art of poetry, he at fourteen began the practice, and continued to make verses and shoes, plays and pumps, boots and books, until the 77th year of his age. At this time he took an inven. tory of his poetical stock in trade, and found,

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according to his own narrative, that his works filled thirty-two folio volumes, all written with his own hand; and consisted of 4,200 mastership songs, 208 comedies, tragedies, and farces, some of which extended to seven acts; 1700 fables, tales, and miscellaneous poems; and 73 devotional, military, and love songs; making a total of 6048 pieces great and small. Out of these, we are informed, he culled as many as filled three massy folios, which were published in the years 1558-61; and, another edition being called for, he increased this to six volumes folio, by an abridgment of his other works.

[Nov.

The following list of the principal English Bibles, with their respective dates, may serve to assist the collector of them in his ing was in use 57 years before any New Tes researches; (it is to be observed, that printtament was printed :)-1526 and 1530, Tinverdale (Miles) Bible.-1537, Matthew's dal's Bible; the first printed.-1535, CoBible.-1540, The Bishop's Bible; printed by Grafton.-1562, The Geneva Bible.-—-1568, Great English Bible.-The same in 8vo, reprinted 1572.-1552, New TestaTestament.-1610, King James's Bible. ment; printed by Jugge.-1584, Rhenish

SELECT POETRY.

STANZAS,

BY THE REV. JOHN GRAHAM, M. A. Written on hearing military Music, the Tory Whistle, and the Sound of many Voices, round his Glebe House in Magelligan, after Midnight, on the 7th of October, 1825. Air-The Banks of Banna," OH! dark and stormy is his day,

And short his rest or ease,

Who shuns the broad and flow'ry way,

A faithless world to please;

Who scorning Falsehood's winuing charms,
Unpleasing Truth will tell

To those his warning voice alarms,
Like this nocturnal yell!

His friendly soul is thought unkind,
His language bold and stern,
While few can in his ardent mind
The patriot discern.

Yet tender may be that man's heart,
Love beaming in his eye,
Who acts the faithful pilot's part,
When danger hovers nigh.

The more he loves, the more he feels,
And still the less he fears,
And as the shatter'd vessel reels,

Exhorts the crew in tears
To rise at once from sloth or sleep,

And in their places stand,
The barge from fatal shipwreck keep,
And gain the wish'd-for land.
And would the passengers be wise,
Who while the tempest roar'd,
Against the pilot's peace would rise,
Or cast him overboard?
Oh, surely no; 'twere better far,
To listen to his voice,
Till pass'd thro' all the stormy war,
With him they might rejoice.

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Written at Swanage in September, 1825..
WITH sauntering step I musing stray
Along the marge of Swanage bay;'
Her firm and sandy beach explore,
And hear the foamy billows roar
(While frequent sails attract the sight,
And beauteous Vecta's cliffs of white),
Or wander in the grove marine,
Where Pitt's presiding taste is seen,
In grotto and alcove display'd,
Beneath the elm's protecting shade;
Or listen to the wavy swell
Around the point of Peveril.
Sometimes my steps to Studland bend,—
Her heath-clad eminence ascend,
And view'd from thence in prospect clear,
Poole Bay, and Brownsea Isle appear;
And I have seen St. Adhelm's steep,
And Beacon Fane that skirts the deep,
The all-devouring deep, that gave
The Halsewell's crew a watery grave,

And thought upon th' heart-rending cry
Of Pierce's hapless family.
That clothe the slopes of Encombe vale.
The near adjoining groves I hail,
Where

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MAID of the South! where Albion laves
Her bosom in bright emerald waves;

Thou loveliest of the vestal band,
That linger on her sea-girt strand;
What Naiad form can match with thine!

Thou sovereign Queen of Beauty's shrine !

Thro' flowery vales, and verdant groves,
Where Medway's dimpling current roves;
Still may those charmed shades prolong
Soft echos of thy silver tongue:
Or, there, perchance, in girlish hour,
Thy fingers' twine the braided flower.
GENT. MAG. November, 1825.

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I saw thee once !-that hour is fled
Fleet as the diamond gleam it shed;
Yet, all of lov❜liest, and best,
Shone, halo-like, around its breast!
And ever shall fond memory woo
The glitter of that golden hue!
Can I forget the roses hid
Thy bright and jetty locks amid ?
That seem'd to mock, with lust'rous glow
The maiden blush that burn'd below?
Or can stern absence hope to quench
That wild eye's sweet intelligence?
Maid of the South! farewell to thee '
Star of my soul's idolatry!
What tho' 'mid classic scenes afar
By Isis waves I rove!

Still beams thy wildly lucid star
O'er the lone walks I love!
And oft this Bardic Lyre shall fling
A sweetly votive offering.

Oxon, Oct. 15.

CANZONE. (An Allegory.)
YOUNG Love stole a rose from a bower,
Where wantonly smiling it grew,
"Twas noon, when the sun in his power,
Had melted the crystal white dew.

"Twas fresh as the breath of the air,
And sweet as the lily's perfume,
Twas fairest of all that were there,
And loveliest of Nature's pure bloom.
Love prey'd on its heart, till decay

Had stolen its bright glowing colour;
It pin'd, and then wither'd away-
False Cupid had fled to another.

Oh trust not the charms that can move,
The bosom when youth is in bloom;
Love never, oh! never will prove,
So true in its course as its noon.

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