weep; For this, a thousand lamps the woods illume, We have not selected the preceding passage as one of the happiest efforts of the author's muse, for with an eye to this, many more favourable specimens might easily be found. The novelty of the scene which it describes was our motive for giving it the preference, although it is not destitute of poetic merit. REVIEW.-An Original Essay on Memory. By Jacob Stanley. 8vo. pp. 52. London. Kershaw, City-road, and Paternoster-row. 1824. IT was remarked by a poet of no ordinary name, that, "The proper study of mankind is man.' And among all the researches which fall within the range of created nature, those which have the powers of the human mind for their objects, will ever hold a distinguished rank. Science, however diversified in its pursuits, should ever, in some direct or indirect manner, subserve the interest of the mental faculties, and promote man's intimacy with himself. Hence it cannot be matter of surprise, that while works of frivolity and fiction have presented baits sufficiently captivating to lure the attention of ordinary minds, men of first-rate abilities have directed their studies to a discovery of the springs of moral action, and a development of the physical properties of human spirits. And as if a soul, in the totality of its powers and operations, presented a subject too vast and capacious for the grasp of a single individual; men of science have sagaciously sought to analyze minds; and while one has traced the conduct of the understanding, and another portrayed the perversities of the will, -others have explored the wildered mazes of the passions and affections; and others defined the operations of the judgment, the conscience, or the memory. It is to the latter of these objects that Mr. Stanley, in a well-written but rather humorous pamphlet, directs our attention-a pamphlet which we would fain persuade ourselves will not be without its use. 66 A retentive memory is, to adopt the language of an inspired writer, a treasure to be desired." He who has no memory, has no knowledge; for all the faculties and operations of the mind are dependent upon the memoEase, perspicuity, and regularity ry; a prompt recollection of what we are the distinguishing characteristics know, on every suitable occasion, is of Mr. Marsden's muse; but of his a talent of distinguished value. He talents and genius we have, on a for- who possesses it, seldom fails to renmer occasion, taken distinct notice. der himself eminent, whatever rank in Into the more elevated regions he society he may hold. But where the rarely ascends, but then he never de- power of retention is feeble, all atgenerates into prosing dulness, nor tempts at distinction in knowledge writes verses which we could wish to must be vain. To what purpose is annihilate, even though they are some-reading, studying, or conversation, if times susceptible of emendation. the memory be incapable of retaining or recollecting the ideas which may have been derived through these mediums? Judgment supposes something already known, and forms its decisions only from experience. Imagination selects from the treasures of remembrance. Conscience accuses or excuses on the recollections of rules previously known, and which have been either violated or regarded. And even the anticipation of the future forms its complexion from the remembrance of the past. Considering, therefore, what an important office the memory holds, and how essential its operations are to the acquisition of science, literature, or religion; we hail with pleasure every attempt to facilitate its improvement: for, that it may be improved, is a position that admits of no controversy. And young people, especially, should be instructed in this most useful art; seeing that their advancement in general science can keep pace only with the improvement of their memories. 66 The "original essay" now before us was written, as we learn from the preface, at the instance of a respectable reading society in Bristol," and published at their unanimous request. Mr. Stanley considers that, “the varieties of memory may all be included under the following terms,-quick, slow, transient, permanent, partial, and universal." And that" the principal impediments which operate against the improvement of this faculty arewant of attention, want of knowledge, want of interest, and want of method." Lest any persons should be deterred from the perusal of this interesting pamphlet, through a preconception that, on a subject so purely mental, dry laborious research forms its only recommendation, and that it is more fitting the taste of metaphysicians than moralists, we let Mr. Stanley speak for himself: "But the heart is, of all auxiliaries of memory, the most powerful. Let this be deeply interested in any subject, and it will never be forgotten. Who ever forgot the things which gave him exquisite pleasure or pain?-which were the objects of his ardent desire or his fixed aversion, bis sanguine hope or his fearful apprehension? Luther never forgot his successful attack on the mother of harlots-that great sorceress, whose magic spell he broke, and from whose enchantment be rescued mal titudes; nor has that mother ever forgotten the rude and ungallant manner in which he exposed her before the whole world, by wash ing the paint from her face—by knocking ber teeth down her throat-by tearing away the pads which bolstered up deformity-and by turning aside the scarlet robe with which she was covered, and discovering the filth and rags of her under-garments, which were thickly peopled with one of the plagues of Egypt," &c. p. 19 and 20. A celebrated French moralist bas divided writers into two classes, ceux qui pensent, et ceux qui amusent. But, in the present essay, the qualities of both are happily blended; the gravity of thought, with the gaiety of description. He who reads to feed thought, will here meet with an intellectual repast; and he who roams in quest of amusement, will find in Mr. Stanley 66 a friend to innocent cheerfulness,” who knows how to enliven a dry subject with "sallies of harmless pleasantry." REVIEW.-The Religious Instruction of the Slaves in the West India Colonies advocated and defended: A Sermon preached before the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, in the New Chapel, City-road, April 28, 1824. By Richard Watson. pp. 35. London. Kershaw. 1824. ABOUT half a century has elapsed since the Wesleyan Missionaries first visited our West India Colonies, to instruct the slave population in the principles and duties of Christianity. Since that period, many publications have appeared in favour of the undertaking, and many able discourses have been delivered on the occasion, both in town and country. We have, however, no recollection of any composition, either from the pulpit or the press, that can bear any competition with the sermon now before us. contains a vigorous display of manly sentiment, an intimate acquaintance with the subject, a vast comprehension of mind, delivering its ideas in guarded language, but in a torrent of dignified eloquence, that seems overwhelming. It Mr. Watson, it appears, is one of the secretaries of the Wesleyan Missions; he had therefore a difficult task to perform. He could not sanction the abominations of slavery, on which every friend of virtue, justice, and humanity must ever look with abhorrence; nor could he expatiate on its enormities, lest he should injure the cause he intended to serve. On this On estimating the negro character, and adverting to the groundless apprehensions of colonial tyranny, that Christian instruction will lead the slaves to revolt, Mr. Watson makes the following spirited observations: "Let us do the Negro justice. He has been our servant, and he has not been a troublesome and unruly one. There is something affecting in that simplicity of the African, which, on his native continent, has invited rather than resisted aggression. With a spirit more buoyant, suspicious, and resentful, the Negro tribes would not have been for ages an easy prey to every plunderer and hunter of men. Their shores would have bristled with spears, and their arrows have darkened the heavens; nor would the experiment of manstealing have been twice repeated. The same simplicity and tameness of character distinguishes the Negroes in their state of bondage. It has not required a violent hand to keep them down; their story is not that of surly submission, interrupted by frequent and convulsive efforts to break their chain; and the history of slavery no where, and in no age, presents an example of so much quiet, under the same or similar circumstances, where the bondage has been so absolute, and the proportion of the dominant part of society has been so small, or so insulated from the body of the empire. But what do we infer from this? Does it impress us with no respect for this patient race of enslaved men? Does it not lay us under additional obligations to seek their benefit? Answers it not a thousand ridiculous fears as to the effect of imparting to them the light of Christian instruction? If the Gospel taught compassion and mercy to the Scythian ages, and if it is now stealing with an emollient influence over the fierce barbarism of the American Indian and the New Zealander, shall the news of your sympathy, the voice of your Missionaries publishing peace, and the implanted meekness of your Gospel, rouse the pacific Negro into headlong revenge and fury, and spread bloodshed and violence over the fields he has tilled and through the habitations of his employers? If we apply a power so calming to the boisterous sea, will it lash into wild commotion the lake slumbering within its hills? Were the Negroes of an opposite character; were the experiment to be made on men of harder nerve and sterner mould, you would make it without fear; but, when the Negro race is in question, you may well smile at all these predictions of mischief and misery. You have replied to all these alarms by the facts which your Missions have exhibited. For near forty years you have had Negro societies and congregations in the West Indies, and not an instance has occurred in which one of them has been found in rebellion or detected in conspiracy. You found docility, and you implanted principle; you found patience, and you exalted it even into charity."-p. 10 & 11. of ancient times and the Goth of the middle In the few remarks we have made, and the solitary quotation that is given, we do not pretend to do justice to this noble piece of African friendship. This can only be done by transcribing the whole, which would be an act of injustice to the author. The price, we presume, is not more than one shilling, and in the purchase of this pamphlet, both by the friend of the Negro, and the friend of slavery, we think it will be well bestowed. REVIEW.-Theodore, or the Gamester's" Progress, a Poetic Tale. 12mo. pp. 123. London. Westley. 1824. INDEPENDENTLY of all the embellishments which the muse has bestowed on this production, the tale itself is highly interesting. Divested of all poetical ornament, in plain prose it would be perused with eagerness, and scarcely one reader would be content without seeing the catastrophe, which every page seemed to prognosticate, without divulging the secret to anticipation. The characters introduced are various, and in some degree the scene is complicated; but diversity has not introduced obscurity. The reader has only to remember the names of the persons placed before him, to perceive that each fills up his station in the drama. We have not time to go through the narrative, nor to animadvert on the individuals that make up the tale. The price of the book is only three shillings, and to those who purchase, it will bring its own recommendation. The poetry is highly respectable. Simplicity and perspicuity are its distinguishing characteristics; and for the absence of these, the elevated flights of the muse into regions" sublimely dark," though mounting in debut a poor atonement. corations of gaudy plumage, can make Of Moun tague, a country gentleman of fortune, whose son Theodore falls into the hands of gambling sharpers, by whom he is plundered, the author thus speaks: "The splendid train and high concerns of state, Hail their dear worthy patron, as the source From whence those comforts they experienc'd He never would refuse a list'ning ear "Of these results, some have been obtained in the day-time, others in the night; some when the sound has been transmitted over the surface of the earth, others when it has been transmitted over the surface of water; some are the result of direct sound, others of both The obvious tendency of this poem is, to point out the fatal effects of gambling, and to shew the manner in which young men of fortune are drawn into the snares of designing knaves, who, having rifled their pockets, attack their reputation, and urge them on to suicide. Without all doubt the characters are fictitious, but they are such as the history of every week presents to view. We are not aware that the narrative contains any allusion to particular facts; but we cannot avoid thinking, that much selfish-velocity of sound is 1100 feet per second. ness is not necessary for many to make a personal application of the author's remarks. direct and reflected sound; some from the report of cannons, others of muskets, others from the sound of bells. "Were these the only experiments on the subject that had ever been made, I should not regard them sufficiently extensive to justify me in deducing from them even an approxima tive rule. But as they have been made with great care, I may at least venture to present a rule, which, while it includes, with only slight discrepancies, all the preceding results, is simple enough to be easily recollected by practical men; and may, perhaps, be employed in our own climate. It is this: Of the manner in which Theodore is rescued by Albert from the hands of his swindling companions, we cannot altogether approve. It looks like trick versus trick, and shews the artifices of a scoundrel counteracted by the superior skill of a reformed gamester, who resorts to the base expedients of his abandoned profession, to drag simplicity from destruction. It is, however, on the whole, an excellent performance, to which the author had no occasion to be ashamed to prefix his name. DR. GREGORY ON THE VELOCITY OF "At the temperature of freezing, 330, the For lower temperatures deduct half a foot From the 1100 for every degree of dif- ference from 330 on Fahr. therm.; the result will shew the velocity of sound, very nearly, at all such temperatures. "Thus at the temperature of 500, the velo city of sound is, 1100×1(50–33)=11084 feet. "At temperature 600, it is, 1100 × (60– 33)=1113 feet; agreeing with the experimental result quite within the limits of a praetical rule. here recorded with those which have been for"Combining the results of experiments merly deduced by Derham and others, we may, I think, conclude unhesitatingly :—— 1st, That sound moves uniformly; at least, in a horizontal direction, or one that does not deviate greatly from horizontality. 66 2d, That the difference in intensity of a sound makes no appreciable difference in its velocity. [The consecution of the notes in a tune, notwithstanding the difference in their intensity, being uninterrupted when heard at a distance, furnishes an elegant and decisive SOME months since, we stated, that Dr. Gre-confirmation of this proposition.] "3d, Nor, consequently, does a difference in the instrument from which the sound is emitted. "These are all the experiments in reference to the velocity of sound, as transmitted through the atmosphere, which I have yet been able to make. The chief results may be brought into one view as follows: "4th, That wind greatly affects sound in point of intensity; and that it affects it, also, point of velocity. 5th, That when the direction of the wind concurs with that of the sound, the sum of their separate velocities gives the apparent velocity of sound; when the direction of the wind opposes that of the sound, the difference of the separate velocities must be taken. 7th, That, therefore, distances may frequently be measured by means of echoes. "8th, That an augmentation of temperature occasions an augmentation of the velocity of sound; and vice versa.-(See Newton's Principia, lib. 2. prop. 50. Parkinson's Mechanics, vol. ii. p. 148.) "The inquiries with regard to the transmission of sound in the atmosphere, which, notwithstanding the curious investigations of Newton, Laplace, Poisson, and others, require the further aid of experiment for satisfactory determination, are, I think, the following, viz.: "1st, Whether hygrometric changes in the atmosphere have much or little influence on the velocity of sound? "2d, Whether barometric changes in the atmosphere have much or little influence? "3d, Whether, as Muschenbroek conjectured, sound have not different degrees of velocity, at the same temperature, in different regions of the earth? And whether high barometric pressures would not be found (even independently of temperature) to produce greater velocities? "4th, Whether, therefore, sound would not pass more slowly between the summits of two mountains, than between their bases? "5th, Whether sound, independently of the changes in the air's elasticity, move quicker or slower near the earth's surface, than at some distance from it?(See Savart's interesting papers on the communication of sonorous vibration.) "6th, Whether sound would not employ a longer interval in passing over a given space, as a mile, vertically upwards, than in a horizontal direction? and, if so, would the formula which should express the relation of the intervals include more than thermometric and barometric coefficients? 7th, Whether or not, the principle of the parallelogram of forces may be employed in estimating the effect of wind upon sound, when their respective velocities do not aid, or oppose each other in the same line, or nearly so? "8th, Whether those eudiometric qualities, generally (whether hitherto detected or not) which affect the elasticity of the air, will not proportionally affect the velocity of sound? and if so, how are the modifications to be appreciated? "To the experimental solution of some of these inquiries I hope to devote myself at no very remote period: but others of them, it is evident, can only be satisfactorily answered, if ever, by means of a cautious classification of skilful experiments made by various philosophers in different parts of the globe. "OLINTHUS GREGORY." "Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Oct. 25, 1823." "I say nothing in this paper of the transmission of sound trough the gases, along metallic conductors, &c. These furnish a most interesting department of separate inquiry." Dry Rot To preserve oak timber, and especially that used in the inside of ships, from the dry rot, it should be laid in large piles, in salt water, for a whole year, and so as to be completely covered with the water. By this means the salt penetrates the wood, and the consequence is, that it remains always free from the dry rot, and lasts twice as long as if without this preparation. To destroy Bugs.-The following simple method of destroying these vermin is said to be recommended by Mr. Murray, the celebrated chemist:-Take a table-spoonful of red lead, mixed with two ounces of fluid spirit of salt. Put this mixture into a cup, and place the cup in a basin of warm water to float. This should be placed in the middle of the room, the door of which must be kept closed for twenty-four hours. The smell arising from this composition proves destructive. Human Skin.-A gentleman of a town in Devonshire, is said to have in his possession, part of the skin of the late murderer, Joha Thurtell, which he has had tanned, in order to preserve the precious relic. Machinery. A mechanic of Gottenburgh, named Umgecwitz, has invented a machine which can manufacture 10,000 nails in a minute. For this invention he has obtained a patent. Married, on the 21st ult., ROBERT, eldest son of Mr. HENRY FISHER, of the Caxton Press, to MARY ANN, eldest daughter of JOHN UNDERWOOD, Esq., of London. Literary Notices. Just Published. Horæ Canoræ Subsecivæ; being the Poetical Miscellanies of Harlequin Proteus, Esq. 18mo. Price 5s. The Moral Government of God vindicated, in Observations on the System of Theology taught by the Rev. Dr. Hawker, Vicar of Charles, Plymouth. By Isaiah Birt. The Latest Account of Paris. A New Guide, enlarged, and altered from the work entitled "How to Enjoy Paris." By Peter Hervé. Third Edition, illustrated with Maps and Plates. 10s. boards. In a neat pocket volume, price 4s, extra boards, Richmond and its Vicinity, with a glance at Twickenham, Strawberry Hill, and Hampton Court. By John Evans, LL.D. Morning Meditations, or a Series of Reflections on Various Passages of Scripture, and Scriptural Poetry. By the Author of The Retrospect. 12mo. 4s. boards. The Ocean Spiritually Reviewed, and Compared to Passing Scenes on Land, with various Anecdotes and Reflections. Third Edition. 12mo. 5s. boards. Nouveaux Cantiques Chretiens pour les Assemblee's des enfans de Dieu. Composés par Cesar Malan, Ministre de Christe. 2s. bds. Spending the Day Out, or a Visit to Lime Lodge. 18mo. 9d. The Woman of the Hurdles. 18mo. 6d. The History of Lot, or the Evil of Unnecessary Exposure to the World. 18mo. 6d. Witherspoon on Regeneration. 32mo. 1s. 6d. bound. |