the immediate end at which he appeared to aim, though the philosophy that was hidden under his system proved too deep for them. They praised his boldness, put missed the very point where praise was due. How prophetic are the following sentences, with which, for the present, we close our notice of a man, than whom few ages have produced any more remarkable! "The future age will renew every thing in society; there will first be destruction, then reconstruction, a new monarchy, and a complete reformation of the laws. 'Sæculo venturo .... reformatio legum, artium prius evelli et extirpari, deinde ædificari:'-Every thing announces it to us, especially the wonderful discovery of the magnet, of printing, of gunpowder (inventionis mirificæ, &c.), telescopes, &c. &c. We have made more histories and written more books in a hundred years than our ancestors have written in four or five thousand. Nothing is a barrier to the freedom of mankind." And to prove this indestructible force of human liberty, proceeding in great mystery in the walks of providence, he adds a sentence relating to his own life which appears to us sublime: "How can one stop the free progress of mankind, when eight-and-forty hours of torture could not bring under subjection the will of a poor philosopher, and extort from him the least word of what he wished to keep secret?" This philosopher was himself. Ha! touch those chords-that voice that name I heard them once in mirth, See you my injured husband frown, My child from heaven look smiling down, I know my shame and nature now, Those tears-oh! they are God's own boon With them life ebbs away; I hope to be an angel soon, For, Sister, I can pray. MDLLE FANNY ELSSLER has addressed a letter to the Débats, declaring that certain articles, published periodically at London, under the title of Fanny Elssler at Havannah, were not written by her, and that they are calculated to seriously injure her, from the ridiculous turn of the language, and the inexactitude of the facts.-Ath. BANKRUPTCY EXTRAORDINARY. From the Charivari. THE bankrupt, Felix Cool, was opposed by a learned barrister on behalf of several creditors. The debts were very unimportant to every one but the creditors, amounting only to a few thousand pounds; and the assets were of that nature that the time of the assignees would not be wasted in collecting them. Sir C. F. Williams said, this was so far favorable to the bankrupt, for he had evidently set an example of punctuality in receiving all he earned, though, in paying all he owed, the same business-like exactitude, had, unfortunately, not been exhibited. There was one thing, however, that he, (Sir C. F. Williams,) would take the liberty of asking the bankrupt, namely, how he came to get so much into debt in so short a period ? The bankrupt replied that he had gone on as fair a system as he could. For instance, he wanted goods, and asked for them, and got them. The tradesman then wanted the money, and asked for it, and did not get it; and that was all the difference. (Laughter, in which the Commissioner joined.) Sir C. F. Williams admitted that there was a good deal of truth in that, but he saw that the bankrupt had been to Margate with a very large sum of money. What had become of that? The Bankrupt. That's exactly what I want to know (a laugh). All I know, is, that I went, and the money went. I came back again, and I should be very glad to see the money come back again also. (Laughter.) Sir C. F. Williams. That seems to me a very fair and straightforward wish on the part of the bankrupt. He would like to see the money back again -probably to divide it amongst his creditors. I really don't see what more he could do, if he had the money now in his pocket. My only wish is to see justice done. A Creditor. Yes, that's all very fine; but we are done as well as justice. (Cries of Hear.) Sir C. F. Williams. Silence! I sit here as a judge, and if these interruptions are to take place, I will have the Court cleared. (To the Bankrupt :) Here are some items I cannot understand. What became of all the money you earned in the last year? The Bankrupt. That's what puzzles me. Some of it went this way, and some that way, and some the other. A Creditor. None of it seems to have come this way. (A laugh.) Sir C. F. Williams. That laughter is very indecent, and I will certainly protect the feelings of the Bankrupt as well as my own dignity (To the Bankrupt :) I see an item for keeping a carriage. Pray can you favor us with an explanation of that? The Bankrupt. In the first place a carriage is cheaper. It takes you where you like, when you like, and how you like. It puts you down, takes you up, drives you on, carries you off, whisks you round, and brings you home in no time. Sir C. F. Williams. That's very true. But how is it cheaper than a cab or an omnibus? The Bankrupt. Why, clearly, it must be cheaper. If you get into a cab or an omnibus, you must dip into your ready money. You exhaust your capital, you cripple your means, and empty your pockets; so that the pockets of your creditors naturally suffer in the end. But if you have a private carriage, your account, as well as your carriage, will keep running on. (A laugh.) Sir C. F. Williams (smiling.) That is true to a certain extent. But what do you propose to do now? The Bankrupt. My income has hitherto been so much-say so much in round numbers. Suppose it be as much again as half. I have no objection to pay over to my creditors that portion of it which I can do without-say the half, and I will keep the as much again, that is to say, it shall be proportioned into two. I will take the as much again as half, and the remainder my creditors are welcome to. Sir C. F. Williams. This seems very fair. (To the Bankrupt :) I don't think you can do more. The Bankrupt. We have been doing all we could for some time, I can assure you. We only want to be set upon our legs again. It is really bad enough to owe the money, and not to have it; but to be lectured about it into the bargain, is rather too hard. Sir C. F. Williams. But why did you go away from your creditors? The Bankrupt. What was the use of staying with them? We are blamed for going to our creditors at all; and now we are blamed for not going to them, when we really could do them no good-for we of course could not pay them. So we went to Margate, intending to settle with every body. Sir C. F. Williams. A very good intention. But pray how was it to be carried out? The Bankrupt. We had not time to think of that. I told one of my principal creditors, some months ago, that I would if I could, but I couldn't. If I could, it is possible now that I should; and hereafter I will if I can-but that depends on circumstances. I mean, of course, my own circumstances. Sir C. F. Williams hoped it would be so. He (Sir C. F. Williams) would be glad to see the bankrupt begin the world again. A Creditor. Hadn't he better begin at the other end for if he begins in the old way, there will be little good result from it. (A laugh.) Sir C. F. Williams thought this a very unfair observation; and, after a few encouraging remarks to the Bankrupt, the inquiry terminated. THE LAUGH OF MY CHILDHOOD. The laugh of my childhood! I remember it well, I may yet wear a smile, but it seems like the ghost lost; I may yet try to laugh, but so strange and so drear The laugh of my childhood will ne'er sound again. MISCELLANY. TRIBUTE TO WORTH. - The following just eulogy on the Society of Friends, has met our eye in a small work by Mr. Goyder, entitled, Acquisitiveness: its Uses and Abuses. "If I wished to point to a model where wealth seems to have been accumulated for the sole purpose of doing good, I would hold up to admiration the people called Quakers. They are wealthy almost to a man; and where, throughout Christendom, in its varied ramifications, is there a body of people who have done so much good, and with so much disinterestedness? not choosing their own connection as the sole recipients of their bounty, but extending it to every shade of religious creed. In the proper and legitimate uses of wealth, I present this people as a model worthy of general imitation. The late venerated Richard Reynolds, of Bristol, who had amassed a princely fortune in the iron trade, looked upon himself merely as the steward of the Almighty. His entire income, after deducting the moderate expenses of his family, was devoted to benevolence; and he thought his round of duty still incomplete, unless he devoted his time likewise. He deprived himself of slumber to watch beside the bed of sickness and pain, and to administer consolation to the heart bruised with affliction. On one occasion he wrote to a friend in London, requesting to know what object of charity remained, stating that he had not spent the whole of his income. His friend informed him of a number of persons confined in prison for small debts. He paid the whole, and swept the miserable mansion of its distressed tenants. Most of his donations were enclosed in blank covers, bearing the modest signature of A Friend.' A lady once applied to him in behalf of an orphan, saying, When he is old enough, I will teach him to name and thank his benefactor.' 'Nay,' replied the good man, 'thou art wrong. We do not thank the clouds for rain. Teach him to look higher, and to thank Him who giveth both the clouds and the rain. My talent is the meanest of all talents-a little sordid dust; but as the man in the parable was accountable for his one talent, so am I accountable to the great Lord of all. -Chambers's Edinburgh Journal. THE HYACINTH. - This flower was originally found near Aleppo and Bagdad, where it still grows in great abundance in a wild state. The garden species (Hyacinthus Orientalis) which was brought to England before 1596, as Gerard speaks of it as a well-known flower, without saying when it was introduced. Up to the beginning of the present century, the only varieties known were blue, white, and pink; but many new and brilliant colors have since been superadded by cultivation. So much, indeed, is the hyacinth now esteemed, that it is regarded, in its season, as an indispensable ornament to every drawing-room.-Chamb. Ed. Jour. A PRESENT TO THE PRINCE OF WALES. - An elegant little armchair has been manufactured of English oak, grown in Norfolk, so beautifully veined as in some degree to resemble zebra-wood, and highly polished by friction. On the upper part of the back, above the needlework, are a lion's head, with coronets on each side, also a rose and a thistle, and entwined oak branches. The front legs of the chair rest on lion's paws, each grasping a ball. The chair was manufactured for Mrs. Paul, widow the Royal arms richly emblazoned, enclosed in the garter and motto. The edge of the cushion is embellished with a beautiful wreath of flowers, the upper edge finished with blue and silver cord, and the lower edge with blue and silver gimp. On the back is worked the Prince of Wales's plume and motto, surmounted with an ornamental shell and scroll, and beneath are roses and lilies. This elaborate piece of workmanship is the produce of the factory of Mr. Carse, an upholsterer in Lynn. The chair was forwarded last week to the Lord Chamberlain, by whom it was presented to her Majesty, and was most graciously accepted. --Suffolk Herald. GALLIC PROPHECIES OF THE PROXIMATE DESTRUCTION OF GREAT BRITAIN.-The Almanach Prophetique for the present year, 1844, has the following agreeable and philanthropic announcement of the approaching annihilation of Great Britain, drawn from the prophecies ies of Bug de Milhas, (he being placed in the first rank,) of St. John the Evangelist, of Isaiah, and of Ezekiel. The first, (Bug de Milhas,) in his last prophecy regarding the future, (see Al. Proph. year 1841,) says "Great fires will be alighted throughout Europe, wars among kings and people will commence, and in this catalogue Great Britain will no longer exist," &c. The first and second verses of the seventeenth chapter of Revelations are then quoted, as applicable to Great Britain. This is followed by the quotation of the 10th, 11th, 15th, and 19th verses of the seventh chapter of Ezekiel. That the sword is without (v. 15,) is shown by reference to China, Affghanistan, and the East generally; and that famine and pestilence are within, by the reports of the daily papers. The Prophet Isaiah is next quoted, in the 1st, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th verses of the forty-seventh chapter: "I was wroth with my people," is made to apply to Ireland: "O daughter of the Chaldeans," as illustrative of what place was alluded to in the denunciations of the prophet against the virgin daughter of Babylon, is carefully omitted; and the words "these two things shall come to thee in a moment, in one day, the loss of children and widowhood," are evidently made to apply to the first person in the realm. Happy is it that a Providence far removed from mortal rancor, watches over them. - Court Journal. SINGULAR WILL. A gentleman of the name of Hobart, who died suddenly in May last, has left a testamentary paper, in the form of a letter, written shortly before his death, to a Mr. Blake of Norwich, in which he directs that the liberal sum of 4,425l. shall be applied to the execution of an equestrian statue OF HIMSELF! This laudable provision against the country's being put to any expense in the care of his immortality, has been met by the narrow and unartistic spirit of self-interest; and the paper propounded as a will, has been opposed in the Ecclesiastical Court. Drs. Adams and Robertson, civilians by title, but iconoclasts for the occasion, contended against the probate on the illiberal ground "that so absurd a legacy afforded evidence of the incapacity of the deceased." This is, unquestionably, not the illustration of himself which the testator designed; and Sir Herbert Jenner Fust was of that opinion, though even his language is less civil than so large an outlay may have been expected to command. The learned judge was of opinion that, "though the bequest might be an evidence of of the late Dr. Paul, whose needlework adorned the egregious vanity of the deceased, it was not and finished this unique and elegant article. The sufficient to justify the Court in holding that he was cushion of needlework displays on a buff ground insane:" and he admitted the paper to probate. So 1 we shall have the statue; and some lucky artist will benefit by the national sentiment for art to the very convincing amount of 4,000 and some odd pounds.-Ath. A TRAVELLED LETTER-A man belonging to Leslie, a passenger to America, in the ship Robert Morrow, wrote to his friends while in the Murray Firth; but finding no opportunity to get the letter ashore, or to throw it into a homeward-bound ship, he put it into a sealed bottle, and threw it into the sea 1000 miles distant from the spot where it was written. This was done May 16, 1842, and, on January 3, 1844, the bottle was picked up between Stromo and Waago, in the Faro Islands. From this the bottle was transmitted to the Danish Legation, London, and from that to its destination at Leslie, which it reached on the 14th ult. - Fife Herald. DOG FETE.-The love entertained by the élégantes of Paris for King Charles's spaniels may be imagined at its height, by the following incident, which we abstract from the pages of the Constitutionel; it has not been unusual, for some time past, to pay for these tiny favorites a price equal to that given for a fine horse. ** A great Russian lady, la Comtesse * **, has just given a singular fête; the invitations were sent, not to the owners of these little animals, but to the animals themselves, being thus expressed so that he must inevitably fall off; and secondly, that beggars on horseback proverbially ride to the devil, and therefore kings on horseback, who should do the very reverse in the direction of Heaven, do not move at all. The king rides, as all figures with cloths instead of coats on their shoulders do, without stirrups, and looks marvellously ill at his ease and imbecile with his legs dangling down. In his right hand he holds a large roll of bills (marking the time when he was Prince of Wales), but it is clear that though he has given the bridle to his horse, he is not flying from his creditors. The horse has been as much criticised and found fault with as if he had been a real horse. It is asked what sort of horse he is like, and we should answer, a clothes-horse, but for the unfortunate fact that his rider is so slightly and insufficiently apparelled. A thousand years hence, when the thing is dug up from some heap of congenial rubbish, it will be supposed to be the figure of a fat ostler with a sack over his shoulders (a covering often so worn on a rainy day), riding a horse to water. The roll in his hand will be taken for a stick broken in the attempt to beat the animal into a pace, and the bridle on the neck as denoting the rider's despair of any need of the curb with such a steed. are "Les chiens de Mme la Comtesse ont l'honneur de prier les chiens de Mme la Duchesse de *** de venir passer la matinée chez eux. Il y aura à goûter." This whim obtained a brilliant succès. Presentations were made according to the pre- berforce is grouped with Fieschi, Lord Eldon scribed rules of etiquette-some slight improprie ties took place-some few grumblings were heard at luncheon, (but what society is free from grumblers?)--in a word, gaiety pervaded the assembly. Every one laughed, and what more could be desired-Court Journal. THE TRAFALGAR-SQUARE ENORMITIES.--" My eyes," cried an old sailor, on seeing the Nelson monument, "they've mast-headed the Admiral!" They have indeed. There he is at the masthead like a midshipman who has incurred the captain's wrath. The mast is sufficiently represented by the column, and the capital of it is in the closest resemblance to cross-trees. There are no shrouds, and for this good reason, that the absence of them accounts for the Admiral's having such a long spell of punishment, seeing that he cannot come down again. To stick up an admiral at the mast-head is much the same sort of thing as putting a grown gentleman into the corner with a fool's cap on his head. It may, however, be considered as a stern example of the rigor of naval discipline. The hero in the naval pillory looks very solitary, cold, and comfortless, notwithstanding all the benefit of his cocked hat. And in this last particular he comes into advantageous contrast with the king below him, George the Fourth, who is on horseback without a hat, and with nothing but a cloth over his shoulders. And mark here how impossible it is to please people. They complain that Nelson has a threecornered cocked hat on; well, here is a king riding without a hat, and they cry, what a shame to set a king on horseback without a hat, or any covering except his wig. The horse is in an attitude of rest, for two good reasons; first, that if he moved, the king is sitting When the Trafalgar Square monuments complete, the mast-headed Admiral, the George the Fourth, the Charles the First, the George the Third, all together, it will be seen that the happy idea of such grouping is derived from Madame Tussaud's Wax-work Exhibition, where Mr. Wilcoupled with Oliver Cromwell, Mrs. Fry with Mother Brownrigg --Examiner. THE MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. -The attendance of members was unusually large at the last meeting of this Society. Mr. C. Pearce was called to the chair. The first object brought under the focus of the microscope was the dividend of a Waterloo-bridge share. After many experiments, in which the strongest light, including the hydro-oxygen, had been thrown upon it, the dividend was declared to approach nearest in shape to that of a round figure, with nothing at all in it, which, upon an increased force of the glass, was found to be a perfect 0. The shareholder whose eyes had been opened during the investigation, seemed to be forcibly struck with the accuracy of the result. The dividend was ordered to be deposited in the Museum of the Microscopical Society. The next object submitted to the microscope, was one day's ration of food as allowed by the Commissioners in a Poor-law Union. The microscope was magnified to its utmost power to allow this operation a fair chance of success; but, after every experiment had failed, the President said, "that in all his experience of atoms, he had never seen any thing so surprisingly wanting in size or substance, though a microscope which magnified objects no less than 60,000,000 times had been used to help the discovery." This announcement did not seem to surprise any body. After several sanguine members had endeavored to magnify the surplus of the revenue, the interest of a Pennsylvanian bond, and "the sense" of the House of Commons, the microscope was locked up for the night, and the President and members adjourned to the tea-room, to refresh themselves after the labors of the evening. -Charivari. SCIENCE AND ARTS. GLOW-WORM.-The light of the glow-worm, one of the staple commodities of descriptive poets and sentimental naturalists, has lately been investigated by M. Matteucci, who has addressed a notice to the Academy of Sciences containing the results of his experiments. When submitted to chemical tests, the phenomena constituting the phosphorescence of this insect are found to be strictly analogous to those manifested by several luminous plants, many marine animalcules, and all decaying animal ter, as every individual must have witnessed in fish at a certain stage of decomposition. If placed in carbonic acid or hydrogen gas, the phosphorescent matter of the glow-worm ceases to shine after space of thirty a or ambition; but considering what the science has achieved within the last thirty years, we have no right to regard the attempt as a mere visionary speculation. Under the power of the chemist, almost every known substance can be rendered solid, fluid, or gaseous at pleasure; and when we consider that most of our combustible gases are obtained from liquids and solids by mere increase of temperature, and, moreover, that under sufficient pressure carbonic acid gas can be reduced to a liquid, and thence to a solid state, it is absolutely certain that coal gas is capable of being reduced to liquid and solid forms. The conversions of carbonic acid gas, it is well known, are attended with extreme danger, so may those of common coal gas; but once let the problem be solved, and the value of the discovery appreciated, and the ingenuity which solved forty minutes. In oxygen gas the former difficulty, will speedily avert the latter. (the most powerful supporter of combustion), the light is more brilliant than in atmospheric air, and it remains brilliant for nearly triple the length of time. When it shines in the air, or in oxygen gas, it consumes a portion of oxygen, which is replaced by a corresponding volume of carbonic acid; but when there is an impossibility of light being emitted, there is no oxygen absorbed, and no carbonic acid emitted. Heat augments to a certain extent the brilliancy of the phosphorescent matter, whereas cold produces the opposite effect; and when the heat is too great, the substance is altered. The same thing takes place when it is left in the air, or in some gases for a certain time, that is, when the substance is separated from the animal. The matter so altered is no longer capable of emitting light or of becoming luminous. From these facts, M. Matteucci concludes that the phosphorescence of the glow-worm is a phenomenon of combustionthe result of the combination of the oxygen of the air with carbon, which is one of the principal elements of the phosphorescent matter.-Chambers's Ed. Jour. EOLIAN SEA SIGNALS.--Another method of applying the waves of the sea has been recently contrived, which promises more practical results than the propelling scheme. The object is to make the breakers on a dangerous coast serve as their own warning signals to sailors. The inventor proposes to have hollow buoys moored near the dangerous coast or sand bank, to which buoys pipes somewhat like organ pipes, are to be affixed. Metal tongues, on the principle of accordions, are to be fitted to the pipes, so that when the buoys are tossed up and down by the breakers, the air may be forced through, and cause them to utter warning sounds, which would become louder and louder as the sea raged more fiercely and the danger increased.Morning Post. CHEMICAL ASPIRATIONS. -" It would certainly be esteemed," says Professor Liebig, "one of the greatest discoveries of the age, if any one could succeed in condensing coal gas into a white, dry, solid, and odorless substance, portable, and capable of being placed upon a candlestick, and burned in a lamp. Wax, tallow, and oil, are combustible gases in a solid or fluid form, which offer many advantages for lighting, not performed by gas; they furnish, in well-constructed lamps, as much light, without requiring the expensive apparatus necessary for the combustion of gas, and they are generally more economical." -The idea of converting common coal gas into a solid inodorous substance, is certainly one of the highest flights of chemical -Chambers's Ed. Jour. MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS ON ANIMAL HEAT,' by J. Davy, M.D. The author, in the first age; the tongue, is rather above than below that of persons of middle age; and this he thinks may be explained by the circumstance, that most of the food used by old persons is expended in administering to the function of respiration. In the third section, on the influence of air of different temperatures on ani mal heat, after alluding to what he had witnessed of the rise and fall of the temperature of man on entering the tropics, and within the tropics, on descending from a cool mountainous region to a low hot country, he adduces certain observations to show that in this country similar changes of temperature take place in a few hours in breathing the air of buildings artificially heated; and, in confirmation, he describes the results of many observations made on an individual in the very variable climate of Constantinople, where, between March and July, in 1841, the thermometer ranged from 31° to 94°. In the fourth section, he describes the observations which he made to determine the effect of moderate exercise, such as that of walking, on the temperature of the body, tending to prove, that while it promotes the diffusion of temperature and produces its exaltation in the extremities, it augments very little, if at all, the heat of the central and deep-seated parts. -Athenæum. |