I only wish that my fellow-citizens, who are fain to copy the vices and follies of foreigners, would for once attempt to copy their virtues. That they would read attentively every work of the kind here noticed, and reflect, that if a nation can be attached to a government so full of evils and corruptions, how much greater reason have we to glory in the happy form of government under which we live-which permits no permanent elevation above the opinions and feelings of the people-which presents no humiliating picture, of men invested in the purple, not from merit, but from birth-insulting the moral principles and grieving the domestic feelings of the nation, by open licentiousness and undisguised violation of all those tender and virtuous ties that society holds most dear. Whether we have good or bad men to rule over us, must depend on our own discretion -if good, we have the power of continuing them in office-if bad, they sink to the bottom by the weight of their own unworthiness. This much is certain, that to continue in power, they must either be virtuous, or at least seem to be so; if they do not act justly from principle, they will at least do so from policy-and surely that country is most likely to be happy in its rulers, where those who govern have to depend on the good opinion of those who are governed.

Yours, &c.

A QUID-NUNC.

For the Analectic Magazine.

CUPID AND HYMEN.

AN ALLEGORY.

THE immortal Jove, in grateful acknowledgment for the incense offered up by mankind, determined to bestow on them the choicest blessings in his power: He called Cupid and Hymen, who had hitherto inhabited the etherial abodes, and bade them visit the earth, there to employ themselves in administering to

the delight of the human race. They descended together into the beautiful plains of Thessaly, where the air is always pure, the breezes all zephyrs, and the smooth Peneus meanders through meadows for ever enamelled with flowers. Hymen was crowned with wreaths of blooming roses; in one hand he bore a burning torch, and over his shoulders was thrown, with inimitable grace, a robe of glowing purple. Cupid appeared like a beautiful winged boy, armed with bow, and quiver full of arrows. He looked a picture of innocence and simplicity; but those who viewed his countenance more closely, discovered something in it that appeared like mischievous archness. He came among the shepherds, and seemed to be for ever employed in those diversions that suited the thoughtlessness of his age. Sometimes he was seen rolling a hoop, or playing with a swan on the margin of the river; sometimes he would put a helmet on his head, and march along with the triumphant air of a conqueror returning from battle; and at others he chased the butterflies among the flowers.

The nymphs and swains gathered round this enchanting pair, and covered the beautiful boy with kisses and caresses. He wove for them the most delicious garlands of jasmine and roses, but he too often twined the thorns with the roses, and when the young nymphs pressed them to their bosoms, they were wounded to the heart. Sometimes, o, he would bend his bow, as if in sport, and inflict, with his feathered arrows, wounds that the simple art of the shepherds knew not how to cure. Tired and irritated with these repeated offences, the inhabitants of the vale gathered together, and drove the mischievous urchin from their happy abode, but Hymen, who professed to cure the wounds inflicted by Love, was suffered to remain amongst them.

Cupid wandered all alone through the rocky vale of Tempe, and over the plains of Arcadia, entreating charity for the poor boy who made such beautiful garlands; but though his voice was exquisitely touching, and his accents flowed like the soft swelling of distant waters, the story of his thorns and his arrows

had preceded him, and he was everywhere turned from the doors of the shepherds. Indignant at length at the inhospitality of mankind, and tired of wandering alone, he spread his golden wings, and ascended again to his mother Venus, in heaven. Hymen continued for awhile in the plains of Thessaly; but being separated from Love, he became weary, peevish, and disconsolate.-His torch grew more dim every day, and the shepherds complained that even the wounds inflicted by the thorns and arrows of Cupid were often less painful than the cures offered by his companion. They entreated him to go in search of the beautiful child, whom they still loved with all his faults, and if he found him, to lure him back to their plains, where he should be deified.

Hymen sat out in search of the wandering boy, and bade a long farewel to these delightful regions. He traversed a great variety of countries; visited the frozen kingdoms of the North, the ruddy domains of the South, and the smiling retreats of perpetual Spring, in the temperate zone; but could nowhere find his little mischievous, though delightful associate. He often met those who attempted to pass for the real Love; but though they, in some degree, resembled him, they partook not of his divinity. Convinced at length that he was not any longer an inhabitant of this earth, Hymen would have joined his lost companion in the skies, but being of mortal birth, he could not ascend to the etherial regions without the permission of the Gods. He still sojourns among mankind, but has fallen into evil company, and is now generally seen in the society of wealth, ambition, vanity, and other unworthy associates. He, too, weaves garlands, and bears still his lighted torch; but his garlands are not half so fragrant and beautiful, nor his torch half so bright as that of Love.

P.

For the Analectic Magazine:

TELEGRAPHS.

WE have noticed with pleasure, the exertions of Mr. Chris topher Colles, to bring to perfection the mode of communicating intelligence by telegraphs. An instrument of this kind, constructed on simple and easy principles, would be highly important to this country, both in a civil and military view. Its great advantages to commercial cities are sufficiently obvious; and it would enable government to communicate with almost incon ceivable celerity with all the important points, however distant, where danger was to be apprehended, and guarded against.The mode of conveying intelligence, by preconcerted signals, appears to have been known from the remotest antiquity; it is mentioned in the Agamemnon of Eschylus, and Polybius describes the methods then in use. It seems to have been neglected by the moderns, until reinvented by the Duke of York, afterwards James II. of England, while commanding the British fleet, in the Dutch wars of Charles II. His plans was by means of flags, and is still in use, almost without improvement, in the navy of Great Britain, and has been adopted, with some alterations, in ours. At the commencement of the war of the French revolution, a telegraph was invented which would transmit any words whatever. The number of signals for this purpose need not exceed that of the letters of the alphabet and the numerals, with a few monosyllables of frequent occurrence. Indeed, by adopting the stenographic mode of writing, sixteen letters are all that are necessary. The French telegraph consists of a large moveable arm, with two others, also moveable, at its extremi ties; and its number of signals is about thirty-six. The tele graph invented a short time afterwards in England, consists of six shutters, fixt in a frame, and is capable, in its simplest com. binations, of thirty-six changes also. These appear to be as many as are absolutely requisite for spelling words and giving

numbers. The late Lord Nelson carried the system of telegraphic signals to very great perfection; his last famous order was conveyed, at the same instant to every ship in the fleet. The means he used have never been made public, and from the small number and high naval rank of the individuals to whom it is necessary to intrust the secret, they may long remain hidden.

The instrument invented by Mr. Colles consists of five points, with a moveable arm, like the finger of a watch, and three shutters, the combined movements of which are capable of seventy different signals; a number more than is requisite for any purposes of letters or figures. From the decimal arrangement produced by the points of the star, and its intermediate spaces, it can be moved with much more quickness than either the English or French, where no regular scale of numbers is adopted, but all the signs are purely arbitrary. By changing the unit point of the star, or the mode of expressing the tens by the shutters, the arrangement of the signals may be altered at pleasure, so as to prevent their being read by any but persons employed in their management.

The chief disadvantage to which this kind of telegraph is liable, is, that it will be necessary, in a chain of them, to have two instruments at each intermediate station; as each will only give signals in one direction: this would cause some trifling increase in the expense above the French or English constructions, which communicate both ways; but it would be amply compensated by the greater ease of making the signals, and the small acquirements necessary in the signal officers.

We recollect seeing an account of a telegraph invented in Sweden, on the principle of the binary arithmetic of Leibnitz: this would be simpler in its construction than the decimal arrangement of Mr. Colles; but the use of the signals would require a proficiency in mathematical knowledge, which might not always be procured; and which would prevent its use for common purposes: and though the number of changes in the signals would certainly be less, yet many more repetitions would