otherwise courageous enough; yet he could General Sir Ralph Abercromby, the hero of Alexandria, died on the 28th of March, 1801, a week after his grand victory. On the 30th, William Hunter, the anatomist will have been dead fifty-six years. March is a memorable month for astronomical phenomena. The late Sir William Herschell discovered the Georgium Sidus on the 13th, 1781. On the afternoon of Friday the 15th, there will be an eclipse of the sun, commencing at twenty-three minutes past three, and ending at four minutes past four. On the 19th, 2,559 years will have elapsed since the first recorded eclipse of the moon. On the 28th of this month, 1802, Dr. Olbers discovered the planet Pallas; and on the 29th, 1807, the same astronomer discovered Vesta. Sicilian Vespers; on the 31st, in 1814, The 1st of March is the festival of St. David, uncle to the famous Prince Arthur, and patron of Wales, Had he lived in our day, he would have been elected patron also of the Temperance Societies; for he ate nothing but vegetables, and drank nothing but milk and water. Having founded twelve monasteries, he was borne to Heaven by a troop of angels;--so, at least, we are told. St. Chad, the founder of the see of Lichfield in the seventh century, was accustomed to have his virtues annually celebrated on the 2nd of March. St. Chad's well, formerly regarded as of medical if not of miraculous virtue, is, or was recently, in existence nearly at the bottom of the Gray's Inn Lane Road, on the approach to Battle Bridge. St. Winwaloe, another abstinent and self-punishing saint, who makes a great figure in the legends of the Romish church, had her festival on the 3d. The seventh is the day of St. Perpetua ; the 12th that of St. Gregory; the 17th that of St. Patrick; the 18th that of St. Shelah, the wife, mother, or sister, nobody knows which, of St. Patrick; the 21st that of St. Benedict, when the Spring quarter commences. On the 22nd, Cambridge Term ends; on the day following that of Oxford. The 24th is Palm Sunday; the 25th Lady Day; the 28th Maunday Thursday; the 29th Good Friday; the 31st Easter Sun The battle of Alexandria, in which Abercromby received his death-wound, was fought on the 21st of March, 1801; on the 27th, 1802, the peace, or "hollow armed truce," of Amiens was ratified; on the 30th, in 1282, occurred the memorable day; and then--hey for the holidays! A RECEIPT OF JOHN NOURSE, BOOKSELLER TO DR. POCOCKE. From the Collection of a Lady. April the 7th 1743 Received of the Rev. Dr. Pococke Seven Copies of his first Volume of The Description of the East for which I promise to pay him Nine Guineas When Sold or in proportion for any Number I Shall use to return the Remainder. JOHN NOURSE P NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. The History of the Rise and Progress of the 1839. 66 a IN a preceding sheet (p. 143), we noticed Mr. Gouger's "South Australia in 1837," as cheap, compact, and very excellent little manual for the emigrant and settler." The volume now before us, upon a larger scale, but in the same spirit, includes particulars descriptive of the soil, climate, natural productions, &c. of South Australia," and proofs of its superiority to all other British colonies; embracing also a full account of the Australian Company, with hints to various classes of emigrants, and numerous letters from settlers concerning wages, provisions, their satisfaction with the colony, &c." From Mr. Stephens's Preface, we learn, that a previous edition of this work having been disposed of, under the title of "The Land of Promise," the author was induced, by the suggestions of experienced friends, to extend his plan, and re-produce it, with the authority of his name, in its present form. We consder the determination to have been judicious. And now"The author ventures to persuade himself that those who may read these pages with a view to come at the real merits of the self-supporting colony, will arrive at the same conclusion with him, and will be led to regard the province of South Australia as offering, to capitalists and labourers alike, the best prospect of securing that easy and peaceful independence which is now so rarely to be witnessed amongst the tradesmen, agriculturists, and mechanics of this crowded Isle." Here is an important point in favour of South Australia as a settlement: tempt in the history of colonization, to plant a colony upon correct principles, to ensure to the labourer employment, and to the capitalist an ample supply of labour." Again: "The distinguishing features in the constitution of South Australia are chiefly these :-that it is a free colony, the locations gradually diverge from a common centre, that the land is sold at a fixed price, and that the money accruing from the sale of land is devoted to the supply of labour by gratuitous transport." Of the climate, seasons, &c., Mr. Stephens thus speaks : "Australia being the antipodes of England, when it is summer with us it is winter there, and vice versa. The months of December, January, and February, form its summer quarter; when the atmosphere, though hot during the day, is, nevertheless, not at all debilitating, a cool, bracing breeze setting in towards evening. Our June, July, and August, form the Australian winter, which is there a season of rain, rather than snow; for, though there are sometimes slight frosts, all traces of these disappear on the rising of the sun. During these months, however, a fire is certainly agreeable in the morning and evening. Australia being so much farther east than England, the sun rises there ten hours sooner than with us. At noon the temperature is higher than in England in the corresponding seasons; but there is little difference in the mornings and evenings. The Australian sky is usually clear and brilliant, and the atmosphere dry, pure, and elastic. In the summer season a haze sometimes hangs over the logoons and rivers; but it disappears before the first rays of sun." Mr. Stephens cites numerous authorities to shew, that no doubt remains as to the capabi ance. There "In the old colonies vast tracts of land were granted to favourites: in South Australia no land whatever is granted on any other terms than the payment of a fixed price per acre. In the old colonies there has always been a defici-lities of the soil of South Australia. ency of labourers; and, if capitalists imported table that cannot be cultivated with success, does not appear to be a single species of vegethem, land was so cheap that they immediately ceased to work for hire, and without adequate except those with which the climate is at varicapital began to be farmers on their own account; the result of which was, that the largest possible quantity of land was cultivated in the worst possible manner. But in South Australia a remedy at once simple and effectual has been provided; the whole net proceeds of the sales of land being appropriated to give a free passage to young and industrious emigrants of both sexes; by which means the capitalist will be insured an adequate supply of labour. Thus the purchaser does not buy land so much as the facility of obtaining combined labour-that which alone makes land valuable. Here, then, is the first at "All the authenticated accounts we have seen, agree as to the fertility of the soil, and most of the settlers speak quite rapturously on the subject, comparing it to the richest parts of our own country. Nor is this unanimous judgment founded merely on an inspection of the earth, or on the verdant aspect of its spontaneous pro ductions, even in the depth of winter; but the inference drawn from these appearances, has been confirmed by the success which has so far crowned every experiment in horticulture, and from the other ocular proofs afforded by the greatly improved condition of even the working that they have any religious rites or ceremonies; cattle." The aborigines of South Australia are represented in a much more favourable light than that in which they have customarily been received. They are mild, intelligent, and docile. On this subject, Mr. Stephens quotes the testimony of Major Mitchell:— popu "My experience enables me to speak in the most favourable terms of the aborigines, whose degraded position in the midst of the white lation, affords no just criterion of their merits. The quickness of apprehension of THOSE IN THE INTERIOR was very extraordinary; for nothing in all the complicated adaptations we carried with us either surprised or puzzled them. They are never awkward; on the contrary, in manners and general intelligence, they appear superior to any class of white rustics that I have seen. Their powers of mimicry seem extraordinary, and their shrewdness shines even through the medium of imperfect language, and renders them, in general, very agreeable companions.' The major makes a similar remark respecting a party of natives he fell in with on reaching the Darling. Nothing,' says he, seemed to excite their surprise, neither horses nor bullocks, although they had never before seen such animals, nor white men, carts, weapons, dress, or any thing else we had. All were quite new to them, and equally strange; yet they beheld the cattle as if they had been always amongst them, and seemed to understand the use of every thing * "Their weapons are few and simple. The spear and throwing-stick for distant use; and the waddy and dirk, made of kangaroo-bone or some hard wood, for close quarters, are their only offensive arms. They carry, also, a small diamond-shaped shield, made of the bark of the gum tree. The boomerang of New South Wales, and the bow and arrow of the natives of the northern coast, are never seen among them. They are very expert at throwing the spear; some of them will make sure of their mark at fifty yards; the generality of them can at thirty yards. They make a practice of taking the life of one of any tribe who may have taken the life of one of theirs; and this without regard to the grounds of the provocation. Indeed, according to the confessions of some of the native females who have acquired a little English by living with the whalers, murder does not appear to be considered a crime amongst them; entailing no disgrace, but only exposing the perpetrator to the retribution of the avenger of blood, whose right to exercise his sanguinary office is admitted; and, when once exercised, no more is thought about it. nor have they been detected in any observance indicative of an idea of the existence of a Su preme Being. An interesting fact, however, occurred in the month of September, 1837, which would seem to show that they are not altogether without 'light.' A native boy who had acquired a smattering of English, was accused of theft. He stoutly denied the charge, and appealed, for a confirmation of his denial, to his father and mother, both of whom were Idead. This evinces some notion of a future state; and it is probable that these, like so many other barbarians, of both ancient and modern date, have vague notions of the existence of a good, as well as of an evil spirit.” Amongst the illustrations of this volume, we find an elaborately laid out plan of the City of Adelaide, with the acre allotments, now numbered, as surveyed and drawn by Colonel Light. "The city of Adelaide lies, for the most part, upon two hills of limestone, and the rest upon a fine clay, in latitude 34 deg. 57 min. S., long. 138 deg. 38 min. E., on the eastern side of the Gulf St. Vincent, nearly six miles from the sea, and about the same distance from a beautiful range of hills, of which Mount Lofty is the most prominent. It is divided into two unequal parts by the river Torrens, (called by the natives Yatala,) in summer a small stream, but in winter literally a torrent, with deep pools at intervals, rising in the mountains, and expending itself in the swamp, into which a branch of the harbour has been found to emerge. The stream, if dammed up, as proposed, at some distance below the site of the town, so as to retain about ten feet more water, would form a most picturesque and beautiful river, intersecting, in its course, the eastern and western divisions of the city. The situation of the city is very fine, whether approached from the harbour or from Holdfast Bay; the road from both these places is over an extensive plain, lightly timbered. Its greatest drawback (the not being a sea-port, a disadvantage which has been severely felt by the first settlers, whose means of transport were necessarily limited) may be remedied by the settlement of Port Adelaide (distant about six miles), and where, indeed, 29 acres were selected with that view, by the purchasers of the preliminary sections; and also by the formation of a railroad or canal, for either of which the country is admirably adapted, being almost a dead level from the port to the foot of the rising ground on which the city is constructed. In all other respects the situation is unexceptionable." The golden hopes and well-grounded anticipations of the commissioners have already, in part, been realized in this infant colony; for, ever since the foundation-stone was laid, the value of the town lots has been rapidly increasing. Through the demand made by new comers from England, or from the surrounding colonies, they have sold at 50%. per acre; and an intelligent proprietor of about fifty acres says, 'I * * * * value mine, one with another, at 1007. each.' Mr. Morphett, too, in a letter to his constituents, says,- The price of town land is increasing so rapidly, that, in the course of a year or two, I should not be surprised at its fetching from 1001. to 3001. per acre.' "A considerable rise has, it appears, already taken place in the value of rural land, as well as the town lots, owing in part to emigration from the neighbouring colonies. The holders of the preliminary sections gave but 12s. an acre for them, and can now readily obtain 27.; but they are by no means anxious to sell." The formation of another town, adapted for trading as well as for agricultural purposes, is contemplated. The rearing and feeding of sheep and cattle are going forward most auspiciously. "The first fruits of the splendid feeding grounds of South Australia have already reached this country. On the 28th of August, the Orator, Terry, via Mauritius, brought four bales of wool shipped at Port Adelaide in December last, being the first clip of a South Australian flock. This is the second import from the colony-the first being 150 barrels of sperm oil, by the Rapid, for the South Australian Company. Both may be regarded as an earnest of the future staple of the colony; and, small as is the quantity, it is exceedingly gratifying to know that the two great branches of the colonial trade, the wool trade and the whaling trade, have been so speedily and so auspiciously commenced." The entire population of South Australia is now estimated at about 6000. We learn that "A sort of pleasure town or watering-place will also be established, which in all probability will attract invalids from India, who at present are obliged either to make a long voyage to England, where the climate is inferior and less suitable than that of South Australia, or are compelled to undergo the fatigue of an inland journey to a temperate northern latitude." The most unfavourable point that we have yet encountered in the perusal of Mr. Stephens's volume, is that "South Australia is distinguished from all other British colonies, by the circumstance that no provision has been made by the state for the promotion of religion. The voluntary principle will, therefore, be fairly put to the test. It is yet too early to decide the question; but considerable activity has been manifested in providing, by voluntary subscriptions, for the spiritual necessities of the settlers." However, an association formed in connexion with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, has assisted such of the colonists as were attached to the established religion; and, on the 26th of January, 1838, the foundation of a new stone church was laid. The clergyman, the Rev. C. B. Howard, is to receive from the colonial government a yearly stipend of 250l., no fees of office whatever being allowed. The Weslean methodists have a rather numerous congregation; and there are various other dissenting sects in the colony. 66 Arrangements have been made to provide sound moral and religious education for the rising generation of South Australia, by the the emigrants, and one upon an extensive scale, for the purpose of providing the means of superior education for the children of the higher classes of the colonists, not only of South Australia, but of Van Dieman's Land and New South Wales." establishment of a school for the children of Provisions and clothing of all sorts bear very high prices in South Australia; but wages are still higher in proportion. Labouring men get from 5s. to 7s. per diem; mechanics, from 7s. to 10s. or 27. per week, with their victuals. An able blacksmith may make 20s. per diem, and not work so hard as in England for 7s. A labourer says, a man and his wife may live on 16s. a-week, and save 20s. The general and detailed views which Mr. Stephens gives of the state of the colony, are altogether of the most satisfactory description. Ball's Graphic Library for Domestic Instruction. The Life of Christ Illustrated. Part I. Small 4to. pp. 48. Ball and Co. 1839. THERE is abundant room for a publication so desirable as this in its religious character, so beautiful in its graphic and typographic execu tion. From its prospectus we learn, that sacred biography, biblical antiquities, geography, &c., jects of the series. The are intended to form some of the earliest subfirst of the series, is to consist of four parts, re"Life of Christ," the spectively illustrating the exaltation, humiliation, miracles, discourses, parables, and examples of the Saviour. The text is to "consist of the words of the authorised version of the sacred narrative, with a commentary of the choicest and most beautiful passages selected from the writings of about one hundred celebrated Divines of every Christian denomination; and the wood-cut illustrations are promised to be "taken from the greatest works of the ancient and modern masters." So far as we are enabled to judge from the Part before us, the execution of the work is likely to prove in all respects satisfactory. The literary portion seems to be judiciously selected and the engravings, though not in and arranged; the paper and print are excellent; every instance of the highest quality of art, are spirited and generally effective. There are in Part I. above fourteen subjects; and in the entire work (The Life of Christ) there are to be eighty-four; thirty-six representing the grand incidents of the life, and forty-eight head and tail-pieces. Twelve of the designs in No. I. are from paint ings by Spagnoletto, Overbach, Seghers, Guido, Vandyke, Raffaelle, and Cassas. We must be allowed to remark, that the drawing, though very elaborate, is in several instances defective; but, with one or two exceptions, the work of the engraver is well done; and with one or two exceptions also, the cuts have the advantage of having been remarkably well printed. We heartily wish this publication success. will very soon disappear; but if, instead of following this plan of treatment, the friends blame and chastise, there exists a very strong probability, that, instead of curing the child of its supposed incapability of articulating one letter, they will be the means of making it incapable of pronouncing many: and this, I fear, occurs not infrequently. The prevention of an evil is at all times easier than its cure." : In the course of his Essay Mr. Bartlett adduces several very extraordinary cases of sufStammering practically considered; with the fering and of cure; and his rules are so exTreatment in Detail. By T. Bartlett, Assis-tremely simple, that they may be successfully tant Surgeon to the King's Own Light In- acted upon by any intelligent person. These fantry, 12mo. Sherwood and Co. 1839. are his closing remarks :MR. BARTLETT is obviously a practical man one who perfectly understands the subject of which he treats; and with him, and Sheridan, the great teacher of elocution, we are decidedly of opinion," that, of the multitude of instances which offer, of a vitiated articulation, there is not one in a thousand which proceeds from any natural defect or impediment." Mr. Bartlett, indeed, asserts, and, according to our judgment, completely establishes the position, that, "So far from its being true that stammering is caused by malformation, it will be clearly proved that perfect articulation may take place, when the most important organs of speech have met with extensive injuries of a very severe and dangerous description, apparently rendering any articulation perfectly impossible.' Here are some remarks which particularly claim the attention of parents :— "A knowledge of the correct mode of forming the different letters is of essential service to the stammerer, and to those who imagine they are not capable of pronouncing certain letters. I never yet saw any person, having no deficiency of structure, who, with proper tuition, could not pronounce every letter in the alphabet. When attempting a particular letter, to pronounce which there is an habitual difficulty, the trial should be made with extreme slowness and precision this holds good, not only with respect to letters, but also to words: in the latter instance, every syllable must be distinctly pronounced. From a difficulty experienced in the first attempts to pronounce a letter, the child— it most generally occurring in children-considers that it cannot be done, and consequently, when it is attempted to be spoken, it is with fear and trepidation: and, now, it frequently happens that the mother is angry with and scolds the child, which in many cases actually produces the very evil which it was intended to prevent. Instead of blaming the child, let the parent study the rules at the latter part of this essay, and the manner in which each letter is formed, and entice her child to follow her directions; this cannot be effected either by blows or by threats if properly managed, the child will endeavour to please its parent. If this course be pursued, it will be found that the difficulty "The reasons why stammerers can sing with such facility, are, First, in singing, the accent is laid on the vowels only, which I have shewn to be the easier of pronunciation. Languages abounding in vowels are peculiarly fitted for singing. It is supposed by some that the Italians owe their superiority in music to their smooth and sonorous language. Secondly, there is at all times a sufficiency of air for articulation; all persons being aware that a full chest is indispensable to good effect in singing. Thirdly, the modulation materially assists the stammerer. Fourthly, in the vast majority of songs, the words are articulated much slower than in common conversation; and, Fifthly, the stammerer is aware that he can at any time, if desirable, sing the air, without articulating the words of the song. This circumstance is of great utility to him, from his knowing that he need not use the organs of speech: he possesses confidence, and can very frequently articulate with perfect ease, although if he felt compelled to sing the words as well as the air of the song, he could not accomplish it. How frequently has it occurred to me to hear a stammerer, after singing with perfect distinctness the words of a song, utter the most disagreeable noises in endeavouring to return thanks for the plaudits of his friends. Heads of the People taken off, by Quizfizzz. No. THIS clever and spirited little work, popular as The Heads in No. IV. are:-the Monthly Nurse, the Auctioneer, the Landlady, and the Parlour Orator: the first illustrated by Leigh Hunt; the second by Douglas Jerrold, as Henry Brownrigg; the third and fourth by Charles Whitehead. |