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came quite exhausted; and they once more made an attack on the castle of St. Michael, with the resolution of continuing it day and night, until the town were taken. A previous cannonade had almost rased a part of the walls of St. Michael; but it was in vain that the enemy endeavoured to break through the barriers which the besieged formed with their bodies. The assault was suspended for some time, and was again renewed after sun-set; but their frequent repulses soon gave up the attempt for the night.

August the 19th. the assault was renewed with undiminished resolution, and continued on the 20th, but with little success on the part of the enemy, though at a great expense of life on the side of the besieged.

The garrison had by this time become greatly diminished, the walls were mined in every direction, many of the outworks were in the hands of the Turks, and the Knights advised the grandmaster to blow them up and to retire into the fortress of St. Angelo. But La Valette sternly rejected this counsel, and determined to keep his ground to the last.

No fresh assault was made until the 1st. of September, when the Janissaries endeavoured again to take possession of the breach; but their attempts were frustrated by the courage of their adversaries, and after a dreadful carnage they were obliged to retire from the conflict. At this crisis, when the battle was almost won by the valour of the knights, the long expected succours arrived from Sicily. The forces assembled were two hundred knights, and about eight thousand veteran troops, who disembarked on the morning of the 7th. of September, in the bay of Mellieha, together with their arms and military stores. As soon as this expedition was landed, the Viceroy set sail and returned back to Sicily.

Though warned of the arrival of this reinforcement, the Turks imagined that nothing more would be tried than to force the entrance of the Great Harbour. Under this impression, they blocked the entrance with stakes and booms, and held themselves in readiness to defend the barrier. Their

consternation, consequently, was extreme, when shouts announced that a christian army had actually landed, and was in full march against their camp. Rumour magnified the Sicilian troops into an overwhelming force, and without waiting to ascertain their real force, the Turkish general instantly drew his garrison out of Fort St. Elmo, abandoned all his heavy ordnance, and hurried on board his fleet. Scarcely, however, had he accomplished this sudden movement, than he obtained authentic information as to the number of bis new enemies, and filled with shame, he ordered his army to be relanded. But in a few hours the labour of months had been rendered futile. The Maltese had already levelled his lines and intrenchments, and the standard of St. John once more waved over the cavalier of St. Elmo. A few skirmishes took place in the interior between the two parties; but the last efforts of the Turkish leaders to retrieve a long series of reverses were ineffectual. On the same day the whole army embarked, and immediately weighed anchor for Constantinople.

Thus ended this memorable siege, in which 25,000 Turkish soldiers perished. On the other side, the loss was also great, amounting to between seven and eight thousand citizens, besides two hundred and sixty knights. The 8th. of September, the anniversary of the raising of the siege, is still continued to be celebrated as a general festival throughout the island. *

* Compiled from Vol. ii. of the Knights of Malta, in Constable's Miscellany.

SONNET.

The palm, the vine, the cedar, each hath power
To bid fair oriental shapes glance by,
And each quick glistening of the laurel bower
Wafts Grecian images o'er fancy's eye:
But thou, pale Olive! in thy branches lie
Far deeper spells than prophet-grove of old
Might e'er enshrine: I could not hear thee sigh
To the wind's faintest whisper, nor behold
One shiver of thy leaves dim silvery green,
Without high thoughts and solemn, of that scene
When, in the Garden, the Redeemer prayed-
When pale stares looked upon his fainting head,
And angels ministering in silent dread
Trembling, perchance, within thy tremling shade.

Printed by M. WEISS: sent to the Subcribers, and sold No. 97 Str. Forni.

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The remarkable circumstance of such a position, one of the keys to a great kingdom, being held in permanent possession by a foreign nation, would alone confer no little interest upon Gibraltar. If we, in England, saw a fortress tenanted by Frenchmen or Spaniards frowning over the surrounding land and sea from the Hill of Portland, we should think it bad enough. Yet this would be nothing to the case of the English occupation of Gibraltar. That promontory, besides its admirable advantages as a place of strength, may be said,

owing to the narrowness of the strait upon which it juts out, to command, not merely the corner of Andalusia immediately under it, but the whole of the western coast of Spain, comprising nearly two-thirds of the whole maritime circumference of that country. It effectually cuts off all communication by sea between that part of Spain which is bounded by the Mediterranean and those parts which are bounded by the Atlantic. It disables that power as much as England would be disabled by another nation having the ability to hinder a ship passing from

Liverpool, or Belfast, or Dublin, or Cork, or Plymouth, to Leith, or Hull, or London.

It appears, however, to have been late before the importance of this rock was discovered. The ancients had a fable that Europe and Africa were originally joined at this point, and that the two continents were driven asunder, by Hercules, and a passage thereby opened between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Gibraltar, under the name of Calpe, and Mount Abyla opposite to it on the African coast, were called the Pillars of Hercules, and appear to have been in very early ages regarded by the people dwelling to the east of them, including the Carthaginians, the Greeks, and the Romans, as the western boundary of the world. It was probably long before navigation penetrated beyond this limit. Even in after-times, however, when Spain became well known to the Romans and a province of their empire, we do not read of any fort being erected on the rock of Calpe. It is doubtful if it was even the site of a town. No Roman antiquities have been found on the spot or in the neighbourhood.

The place appears to have been first seized upon and converted into a military sta tion by the Moors, when they invaded Spain in the beginning of the eighth century. From their leader, Tarif, it was in consequence called Gibel-Tarif, or the Mountain of Tarif, of which Arabic name Gibraltar is a corruption. Soon after establishing themselves here, the Moors erected a lofty and extensive castle on the north side of the mountain, the ruins of which still remain. Gibraltar continued in the possession of the Moors for between seven and eight centuries, with the exception of about thirty years, during which it was held by the Christians, having been taken soon after the commencement of the fourteenth century by Ferdinand, king of Castile. It was recovered, however, in 1333, by Abomelek, the son of the emperor of Fez, and the Moors were not finally dispossessed of it till the middle of the following century. After that it remained a part of the kingdom of Spain, down nearly to our own times.

The promontory of Gibraltar forms the south-western extremity of the province of Andalusia, running out into the sea in nearly a due south direction for about three miles. The greater part of this tongue consists of a very lofty rock. It rises abruptly from the land to the height of fully 1300 feet, presenting a face almost perfectly perpendicular, and being consequently from that, its northern extremity, completely inaccessible. The west side, however, and the southern extremity, consist each of a series of precipices or declivities which admit of being ascended. The town, now containing a population of above 17,000 persons, is built on the west side. Along the summit of the mountain, from north to south, runs a bristling ridge of rocks, forming a rugged and undulating line against the sky when viewed from the east or west. The whole of the western breast of the promontory is nearly covered with fortifications. Anciently, it is said, it used to be well wooded in many places; but there are now very few trees to be seen, though a good many gardens are scattered up and down both in the town and among the fortifications. A great part of the rock is hollowed out into caverns, some of which are of magnificent dimensions, especially one called St. George's Cave, at the southern point, which, although having only an opening of five feet, expands into an apartment of two hundred feet in length by ninety in breadth, from the lofty roof of which descend numerous stalactitical pillars, giving it the appearance of a gothic cathedral. These caves seem to have been the chief thing for which Gibraltar was remarkable among the ancients. They are mentioned by the Roman geographer, Pomponius Mela, who wrote about the middle of the first century of our era. The southern termination of the rock of Gibraltar is called Europa Point, and has been sometimes spoken of as the termination in that direction of the European continent; but Tarifa Point, to the west of Gibraltar, is fully five miles farther south.

It is impossible for us here to attempt any description of the fortifications which

now cover so great a part of this celebrated promontory. Gibraltar was first fortified in the modern style by the German engineer, Daniel Speckel, at the command of the emperor Charles V. towards the close of the sixteenth century. But little of what was then erected probably now remains. Since the place fell into the possession of the English, no expense has been spared to turn its natural advantages to the best account, and additions have repeatedly been made to the old fortifications on the most extensive scale. It is now, without doubt, the most complete fortress in the world.

More than half a century ago Gibraltar was accounted by military men almost impregnable. "No power whatever" says Colonel James in his History of the Herculanean Straits, published in 1771, "can take that place, unles a plague, pestilence, famine, or the want of ordinance, musketry, and ammunition, or some unforeseen stroke of Providence, should happen." It is certainly now much stronger than it was then. One improvement, which has especially added to its security, is the formation of numerous covered galleries excavated in the rock, with embrasures for firing down upon both the isthmus and the bay. The interiour of part of these works is represented in the annexed plate.

Gibraltar was taken by an English fleet, under the command of Sir George Rooke and the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt, in July 1704. The project of the attack was very suddenly formed at a council of war held on board the admiral's ship, while the fleet was cruising in the Mediterranean, and it was apprehended that it would be obliged to return to England without having performed any exploit commensurate to the expectations with which it had been fitted out. The affair proved a very easy one, the garrison, which consisted of one hundred and fifty men, having surrendered after a bombardment of only a few hours. The assailants lost only sixty lives, the greater part by a mine which was sprung after they had effected a landing. In the latter part of the same year a most resolute

effort was made to recover the place by the combined forces of France and Spain, which failed after it had been persevered in for several months, and had cost the besiegers not less than 10,000 men. The loss of the garrison was about 400.

At the Peace of Utrecht, in 1713, the possession of Gibraltar, was confirmed to England. In 1727, however, another attempt, on a formidable scale, was made by Spain to dislodge the foreigners. An army of 20,000 men having encamped in the neighbourhood, the attack was commenced in February, and continued till the 12th. of May, when it was put an end to by the general peace. In this siege the garrison lost 300 in killed and wounded; but the loss of the besiegers was not less than 3000. The guns in the fortifications, it is worthy of remark, proved so bad, that seventy cannons and thirty mortars burst in the course of the firing.

But the most memorable of all the sieges of Gibraltar was the last, which commenced in 1779, and did not terminate till it had been continued for more than three years. Of this remarkable siege an excellent and interesting account has been given by Captain John Drinkwater, who was present in the beleaguered fortress during the whole time. This siege did not however end until the preliminaries of a general peace were signed 2d. of February. 1783.

Life has been called a parenthesis between our birth and death; the history of the human race is but a parenthesis between two cataclysms of the globe, which it inhabits; time itself only a parenthesis in eternity.—

Next to enjoying happiness ourselves is the consciousness of having bestowed it on others. But the indiscriminate profusion that would glut avarice or supply prodigality, neither does good, nor is rewarded by gratitude.-

The slanderer does harm to three persons at once; to him of whom he says the ill, to him to whom he says it, and most of all, to himself in saying it.

LA FORZA DEL FULMINE.

Una persona può essere uccisa dal fulmine, sebbene l'esplosione si faccia alla distanza di venti miglia, da ciò che si chiama il contra-colpo. Supponete che le due estremità di una nuvola, fortemente carica d'elettricità, pendano verso la terra, esse rispingeranno l'elettricità dalla superficie della terra, se sarà della stessa specie che la propria, ed attrarranno quella dell'altra specie, e se mai succede improvisamente una scarica da un capo della nuvola, l'equilibrio si rimetterà istanteneamente da un lampo in quel punto della terra, che è sotto l' altro capo. Sebbene il contra-colpo sia spesso abbastanza forte per distrugger la vita, non è mai così terribile ne' suoi effetti quanto il colpo diretto che frequentemente è di una intensità inconcepibile. Vi sono stati esempj, in cui grandi masse di ferro e di pietre, ed anche molti piedi di un muro di pietre, son stati trasportati ad una distanza considerabile da un colpo di fulmine. Le rocche, e le cime dei monti spesso portano segni di fusione della sua azione, e qualche volta tubi vitrei, che si profondano molti piedi in banchi di sabbia, segnano il sentiero del fluido elettrico. Pochi anni fa, il Dr. Fielder mostrava in Londra parecchi di questi fulgoriti, di considerabil lunghezza, che si erano scavati nelle arenose pianure della Silesia e della Prussia Orientale. Uno trovato a Paderborna era lungo quaranta piedi. Le loro ramificazioni terminano generalmente in paludi, o in sorgenti d'acqua al di sotto della rena, le quali si suppone, che de. terminano il corso del fluido elettrico. Non v' ha dubbio, che il suolo, e gli strati sottoposti debbano influire sulla sua direzione, giacchè si trova per esperienza, che certi luoghi, che sono stati colpiti dal fulmine, spesso ne son colpiti di nuovo. Una scuola in Lammer Muir, nel Lothian Orientale, è stata colpita tre diverse volte.

La vegetazione, quand'è assistita colle invenzioni dell' uomo, è il miglior mezzo possibile di migliorare l'aria, e rendere un paese più atto a divenire il soggiorno del genere umano. La coltura allontana la corruzione ed i vegetabili marci; e col farli andare sotto il terreno fa che lo nutrano in vece di corromper l' aria. Molte colonie Inglesi, un tempo così pestifere, sono ora salubri, non tanto per la cura del nuovo venuto di evitare le rimote cagioni del morbo, quanto dall' esser rimosse colla coltivazione il più gran numero di queste cagioni. Per coltivazione intendo qui quel trattamento della terra, pel quale essa fornisce la maggior quantità possibile di nutrimento per l'uomo e pegli animali domestici, ch' egli impiega; dovunque si trovi grano capace di crescere, quella contrada è salubre, o lo può divenire per lavoro dell' uomo. La coltura parimenti sempre rende un paese più caldo, perchè una grande quantità di materia vegetabile si fa nascere sopra un dato spazio; e che cos'è la vita vegetabile se nou la

conversione di certi gas ossigeno, idrogeno, azoto, ed acido carbonico in materia solida, ed un cambiamento di forma,-un cambiamento da uno stato più rado ad uno più denso che dev' essere accompagnato da uno sviluppo di calore? Che cos'è quello che fa tanto difficile il gelare dei vegetabili viventi, in paragone dei morti, se non questa costante formazione ed esistenza di calorico in essi? Qual esempio dello sviluppo del calore, per opera della vegetazione, si può accennar che esaminando un bosco nella primavera, si troveranno le piccole piante più avanzate in grandezza ed in forza, che quelle che sono nelle pianure.

Vi è musica dovunque si trova armonia, ordine, e proporzione; quindi è che noi possiam sostenere la musica delle sfere; perchè quei movimenti ben ordinati, e passi regolari, sebbene non diano alcun suono all' orecchio, tuttavia nell' intelletto battono una nota pienissima di armonia. Chiun

que è formato armonicamente, si compiace dell' armonia dei suoni; cosa che mi fa molto diffidare dell' armonia di quelle teste che declamano contro ogni musica di chiesa. In quanto a me, non solo per mia obbedienza, ma per mio genio particolare, io l'abbraccio; poichè sin quella musica volgare e da beltole, che rende uno allegro, un altro matto, inprime in me un profondo accesso di devozione e di profonda contemplazione del primo compositore; vi è in essa qualcosa di divinità più di quello che scopre l'orecchio. Non dirò con Platone, l'anima è un'armonia, ma è armonica, ed ha la più viva simpatia per la musica; così taluni, il cui temperamento di corpo si accorda e si confà colla costituzione dell' anima loro, sono nati poeti, sebbene a dir vero, tutti siano naturalmente inclinati alla rima.-Sir Thomas Brown.

The first object of education is to train up an immortal soul, The second, (but second at an immeasurable distance,) is, to do this in a manner most conducive to human happiness; never sacrificing either the interests of the future world to those of the present, or the welfare of the man to the inclinations of the child: errors not dissimilar in complexion, though so awfully different in the importance of their results.—

Be very careful to speak truth; and beware of lying. As lying is displeasing to God, so is it offensive to man; and always at the latter end returns to the reproach and disadvantage of him that useth it; it is an evidence of a weak and un

manly mind. Be careful that you believe not bastily strange news and strange stories; and be much more careful that you do not report them, though at the second hand; for if it prove an untruth, (as commonly strange stories prove so,) it brings an imputation of levity upon him that reports it, and possibly some disadvantage to others.

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