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and valuable colours for their home-spun, in all countries. In Ireland, in particular, yarn; yet those articles are not turned to the history of the Cottagers of Glenburnie account as matters of commerce. The com- has been read with peculiar avidity, and mon mallow, nettles, bean-stalks, hop-binds, it has probably done as much good to the &c. yield hemp in considerable quantities, Irish as to the Scotch. While the Irish the first particularly. There is a great have seized and enjoyed the opportunity it demand for seeds of the best meadow afforded of a good-humoured laugh at their grasses, and plants, for laying down and Scotch neighbours, they have secretly improving pasture and meadow land.-seen, through shades of difference, a reWoods, commons, and even the hedges which are fences to meadow-land, produce large quantities of those seeds, which have been sold at high prices, and for which there is now great demand.

It has been stated that Mr. Salisbury sent a man into Hyde-park last September, who earned in three hours, by collecting seeds of meadow-grass, 3s. 6d.

A committee was formed, consisting of the Duke of Sussex, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen Atkins and Bridges, Sir T. Bell, Hon. W. Shirley, and thirteen others.

semblance to themselves; and are conscious that, changing the names, the tale might be told of them. In this tale, the difference and the resemblance between Scottish and Hibernian faults or foibles are both advantageous to its popularity in Ireland. The difference is sufficient to give an air of novelty that wakens curiosity, while the resemblance fixes attention, and creates a new species of interest. Besides this, the self-love of the Hibernian reader being happily relieved from all apprchension that the lesson was intended for him, his good sense takes and profits by the advice that is offered to another. The humour in this book is peculiarly suited to the Irish, because it is, in every sense of the word, good humour. This satire, if satire it can be called, is benevolent, its object is to mend, not wound the heart. Even She was born at Belfast, in Ireland, and the Scotch themselves, however national. the affection for her country which she they are supposed to be, can bear the Cotconstantly expressed proved that she had tagers of Glenburnie. Nations, like indivia true Irish heart. This lady is well iduals, cau with decent patience bear to be known to the public as the author of" The told of their faults, if those faults, instead of Cottagers of Glenburnie, The Modern Phi- being represented as forming their estalosophers, Letterson Female Education," and blished unchangeable character, are con various other works. She has obtained insidered as arising, as in fact they usually different departments of literature just celebrity, and has established a reputation that will strengthen and consolidate from the operation of time-that destroyer of all that is false or superficial.

MRS. ELIZABETH HAMILTON. (The following account of this interesting Lady, now no more, has been copied from an Irish journal, and is understood to have been written by Miss EDGEWORTH.)

The most popular of her lesser works is "The Cottagers of Glenburnie," a lively, humorous picture of the slovenly habits, the indolent winna-be-fashed temper, the baneful content which prevails among some of the lower class of the people in parts of Scotland. It is a proof of the great merit of this book, that it has, in spite of the Scottish dialect with which it abounds, been universally read in England and Ireland, as well as in Scotland. It is a faithful representaion of human nature in general, as well as of local manners and customs: the maxims of economy and industry, the principles of truth, justice, and family affection and religion, which it inculcates by striking examples, and by exquisite strokes of pathos, mixed with humour, are independent of all local peculiarity of manner or language, and operate upon the feelings of every class of readers

do arise, from those passing circumstances which characterise rather a certain period of civilization, than any particular people. If our national faults are pointed out as foul indelible stains, inherent in the texture of the character, from which it cannot by art or time be bleached or purified, we are justly provoked and offended; but if a friend warns us of some little accidental spots which we had perhaps overlooked, and which we can at a moment's notice efface, we smile and are grateful.

In "The Modern Philosophers," where the spirit of system and partly interfered with the design of the work, it was difficult to preserve throughout the tone of goodhumoured raillery and candour: this could scarcely have been accomplished by any talents or prudence, had not the habitual temper and real disposition of the writer been candid and benevolent. In this work, though it is a professed satire upon a system, yet it avoids all satire of individuals, and it shows none of that cynical contempt of the human race which some satirists seem to feel or affect in order to

of morals. She has considered how all that metaphysicians know of sensation, abstraction, &c. can be applied to the cultivation of the attention, the judgment, and imaginations of children. No matter how little is actually ascertained on these subjects, she has done much in wakening the attention of parents, of mothers especially, to future inquiry-she has done much by directing their inquiries rightly—much by exciting them to reflect upon their own

give poignancy to their wit. Our author has none of that misanthropy which derides the infirmities of human nature, and which laughs while it cauterizes. There appears always some adequate object for any pain that she inflicts, it is done with a steady view to future good, and with a humane and tender, as well as with a skilful and courageous hand. The object of "The Modern Philosophers" was to expose those whose theory and practice differ, to point out the difficulty of applying high-minds, and to observe what passes in the flown principles to the ordinary but necessary concerus of human life, and to shew the danger of bringing every man to become his own moralist and logician. When this novel first appeared, it was perhaps more read and admired than any of Mrs. Hamilton's works; the name, the character | of Bridgetina Botheram passed into every company, and became a standing jest, a proverbial point in conversation. The ridicule answered its purpose; it reduced to measure and reason, those who, in the novelty and zeal of system, had overleaped the bounds of common sense.

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minds of their children. She has opened a new field of investigation to women---a field fitted to their domestic habits, to their duties as mothers, and to their business as preceptors of youth, to whom it belongs to give the minds of children those first impressions and ideas which remain the longest, and which influence them often the most powerfully through the whole course of life. In recommending to her own sex the study of metaphysics, as far as is relates to education, Mrs. Hamilton has been judiciously careful to avoid all that can lead to that species of "vain "The Modern Philosophers," The Cotta- debate" of which there is no end. She, gers of Glenburnie," and the "Letters of the knowing the limits of the human underHindoo Rajah," the first book we be- standing, does not attempt to go beyond lieve that our author published, have all them, into that which can be at best but a been highly and steadily approved by the dispute about terms-she does not aim at public. These works, alike in principle making women expert in the "wordy and in benevolence of design, yet with war," nor does she teach them to astonish each a different grace of style and inven- the unlearned by their acquaintance with tion, have established Mrs. Hamilton's cha- the various vocabulary of metaphysical sysracter, as an original, agreeable, and suc- tem-makers-such jugglers' tricks she descessful writer of fiction. But her claims to pised: but she has not, on the other hand, literary reputation as a philosophic, moral, been deceived or overawed by those who and religious author, are of a higher sort, would represent the study of the human and rest upon works of a more solid and mind as one that bends to no practical purdurable nature-upon her works on edu- pose, and that is unfit and unsafe for her cation, especially her "Letters on Female sex. Had Mrs. Hamilton set ladies on meEducation." In these, she not only shows taphysic ground, merely to show their that she has studied the history of the hu- paces, she would have made herself and man mind, and that she has made herself them ridiculous and troublesome; but she acquainted with all that has been written has shewn how they may, by slow and ceron this subject, by the best moral and me- tain steps, advance to a useful object. The taphysical writers, but she adds new value dark, intricate, and dangerous labyrinth, to their knowledge by rendering it practi- she has converted into a clear, straight, praccally useful. She has thrown open to all ticable road—a road not only practicable, classes of readers those metaphysical disco- but pleasant, and not only pleasant but what veries or observations which had been is of far more consequence to women, safe. confined chiefly to the learned. To a sort Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton is well known to of knowledge which had been considered be not only a moral, but a pious writer: and rather as a matter of curiosity than of use, in all her writings, as in all her conversation, she has given real value and actual cur- her view of religion was sincere, cheerrency. She has shown how the know-ful, and tolerant, joining in the happiest ledge of metaphysics can be made serviceto the art of education. She has shown, for instance, how the doctrine of the association of ideas may be applied in early education to the formation of the habits, of temper, and of the principles of taste and VOL. V. No. 26. Lit. Pan. N. S. Nov. 1.

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manner faith, hope, and charity. All who had the happiness to know this amiable woman will, with one accord, bear testimony to the truth of that feeling of affection which her benevolence, kindness, and cheerfulness of temper inspired. She

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poor-rates are 94d. in the pound, In ten parishes, where the proportion is something under a fourth, poor-rates are 1s. 6d. in the pound. In seven parishes, where the proportion is but nearly one-sixth, poor-rates are 4s. 14d. in the pound. And in thirteen parishes, where few or none have

The poor in this considerable district being able to maintain themselves without parish assistance, by means of land, and live-stock, and to do it at the same time so much by their industry and sobriety, and consistently with an honest conduct, clearly marked by the entire approbation of this

thought so little of herself, so much of others, that it was imposssible she could, superior as she was, excite envy-she put every body at ease in her company, in good humour and good spirits with themselves, so far from being a restraint on the young and lively, she encouraged by her sympathy their openness and gaiety-she never flat-cows, poor-rates are 5s. 11d. in the pound. tered, but she always formed the most favourable opinion that truth and good sense would permit, of every individual who came near her; therefore, all instead of fearing and shunning her penetration, loved and courted her society. Her loss will be long regretted by her private friends, her memory will long live in pub-system by the farmers, &c. their neighlic estimation. Much as Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton hath served and honoured the cause of female literature by her writings, she has done still higher and more essential benefit to that cause by her life, by setting the example, through the whole, of that uniform propriety of conduct, and of all those domestic virtues, which ought to characterize her sex, which form the charm and happiness of domestic life, and which in her united gracefully with that superiority of talents and knowledge that com manded the admiration of the public. August 1, 1916.

bours, is a circumstance which, well considered, does away a multitude of those objections and prejudices which we so often hear in conversation."

In the replies to the circular letter of 1816, some notes occur upon this practice, of cottagers keeping land, which it is ne|cessary here to recite. At Shewart, in Kent, it is remarked by Mr. Curling, that a late legal decision, determining that keeping a cow gained a settlement, has deprived many cottagers of that comfort, as it is properly called; an observation, which, however, does not attach to cottagers having already a settlement.

"The same mischievous result of that de

FURTHER PARTICULARS ON THE ADVAN- cision is noticed by a Lincolnshire correTAGES OF LAND ALLOTTED TO COTTA-spondent, Mr. Parkinson, who laments the GERS[Compare pp. 113-118.]

The person employed by the Board, and who examined above forty parishes minutely, gives the following general result: -"Seven hundred and fifty three cottagers have among them 1194 cows, or, on an average, one and a half and 1-13th cow each. Not one of them receives any thing from the parish! even in the present scarcity. The system is much approved of by the farmers, as it is by the poor people themselves. They are declared to be the most hard-working, diligent, sober, and industrious labourers who have land and cows, and a numerous meeting of farmers sigued their entire approbation of the system. In the above-mentioned parishes, rates are, on an average, 174d in the pound; and, but for exceptions of some families who have not land, and of certain cases and expences foreign to the inquiry, they would not be one penny in the pound. In nine parishes, where the proportion of the poor having cows amounts to rather more than half the whole, poor-rates are 3d. in the pound.

"In twelve parishes, where the proportion is less than half, but not one-third,

effects which have flowed from it. Mr. Gregory, of Harlaxton, in the same county, says, "I have several cottages, with land sufficient to keep two cows annexed to them; the cottagers who occupy them live comfortably, and are industrious, useful labourers, and appear to be contented with their situation." In the same county, Mr. Barker, steward to Sir Robert Sheffield, has the remarkable declaration, that there can scarcely be said to be any poor in that country, because they all have cows, by means of which they are in a comfortable state, and are generally equally sober, honest, and industrious. Mr. Goulton, of the same county, also commends this system, as productive of much comfort amongst the poor in this period of distress. The Rev. J. Gwillim of the same county:-" All that have cows do well, so that we have scarcely a pauper." The Rev. John Shinglar, also of the same county :-" The poor, though their employment is lessened by the distress of the farmers, have not yet been burtheusome; and the reason is, their keeping cows." The Rev. H. Basset, of' the same county, reports the state of the poor in his parish to be comfortable, as

they generally keep one or more cows. noise, making an intense flame of the "The following is the extract of a letter length of five feet. The blowpipe was exreceived from Earl Brownlow-The sub-posed at right angles to a strong wind, and ject of cottager's cows, is one in which the double gauze lamps and single lamps have taken deep interest, and I have in-successively placed in it. The double variably continued on my estates the system which my father had established, of attaching land to cottages, to enable the poor to keep cows: I have no hesitation in saying, that very essential benefit has been derived from this practice during the present period of general distress, inasmuch as scarcely any poor family so circumstanced, not more, I should think, than one in twenty at the most) has become at all burthensome to the parish; while, on the other hand, I have reason to believe, that the labouring poor have suffered great distress, and have universally become objects of parochial relief, in- those places where no such system is established."

ON WIRE GAUZE LAMPS.

BY SIR HUMPHREY DAVY.

The following appears to us to be one of the most remarkable experiments ever made. The immense power and condeution of the flame, its length, and intensity. In short, it seems to be an extreme to which Nature can rarely, if at all, carry the principle of ignition and exposition by means of fire damp.

I have had an excellent opportunity of making experiments on a most violent blower, at a mine belonging to J. G. Lambton, Esq. some of them in the presence of Mr. Lambton: in most of them Mr. Buddle assisted. This blower is walled off from the mine and carried to the surface, where it is discharged with great force. It is made to pass through a leathern pipe, so as to give a stream, of which the force was felt at about two feet from the aperture in a strong current of air. The common single working lamps and double gauze lamps were brought upon this current, both in a free atmosphere and in a confined air. The gas fired in the lamps in various trials, but did not heat them above dull redness, and when they were brought far into the stream they were finally extinguished.

A brass pipe was now fixed upon the blower tube, so as to make the whole stream pass through an aperture of less than half an inch in diameter, which of course formed a most powerful blow-pipe, from which the fire damp, when inflamed, Issued with great violence and a roaring

gauze lamps soon became red hot at the point of action of the two currents; but the wire did not burn, nor did it communicate explosion. The single gauze lamp did not communicate explosion, as long as it was red hot and slowly moved through the currents; but when it was fixed at the point of most intense combustion, it reached a welding heat, the iron wire began to burn with sparks, and the explosion then passed.

In a second and third set of experiments on this violent blowpipe of fire damp, single lamps, with slips of tin-plate on the outside or in the inside, to prevent the free passage of the current, and double lamps, were exposed to all the circumstances of the blast, both in the open air and in the engine-house where the atmosphere was explosive to a great extent round the pipe, and through which there was a strong current of atmospheric air; but the heat of the wire never approached near the point at which iron wire burns, and the explosion could never be conmmunicatand roared in the lamps, but did not escape ed. The flame of the fire-damp flickered from its prison.

There is no reason ever to expect a blowpipe of this kind in a mine; but, if it should occur, the mode of facing it and examining it, with most perfect security, is shown; and the lamp offers a resource, which can never exist in a steel-mill, the sparks of which would undoubtedly inflame a current of this kind.

Arguments have been stated as to the weakness of the lamps. In a board or gallery in the Wallsend colliery, Mr. Buddie and myself, with some of the viewers, endeavoured to injure a single gauze lamp by throwing large pieces of coal, upon it, and striking it with a pick; but we never perforated the gauze, and the lamp, after these severe trials, burnt with perfect security in a small explosive atmosphere made by Mr. Buddle at the bottom of the shaft for the purpose of trying the lamps.

I made with Mr. Buddle and his viewers some experiments on the comparative light of the lamps, the common miner's candle, and the steel mills, in a gallery in the Wallsend colliery. We judged of the intensity of the light by the square of the distance at which a small object was visible; and made repeated trials on each spe cies of light.

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It may be proper to observe, without reference to the superiority of light, that coals may be worked nearly twice as cheap by the wire gauze safe lamp, as by the steel mill.

tivated, the timber cut down, the quantity of rain diminished, stagnant pools dried, and the rivers contained within their proper banks, the easterly winds being checked by the warmer surface of cultivated lands, a dusky race of men, nearly black, are to be expected in Brazil, about the latitude of Cape St. Roque; for that is the only part of America in which the progress of industry may darken the skin, notwithstanding the effects of civilization.

Chickesaw nation, of the bad effects of We have a remarkable instance, in the breeding from diminutive parents. Those The pleasure of seeing the wire gauze Soto with a breed of Spanish horses. In Indians were originally furnished by De safe lamps in general use amongst the miners, and adding to the security and happi- that country the horses provided for themness of this useful class of men, amply re-selves, the soil being good and the climate pays me for the labour of twelve months devoted to their cause, and for the anxiety which I have often experienced during the progress of the investigation.

Newcastle, Sept. 9, 1816.

H. DAVY.

Hints on the races of Men and Animals in
America. From "Observations on the Cli-

mate of America." By Dr. Hugh Wi-
liamson, of New York.

The following are merely excerpta from

of the last century, discovered that their warm. The Indians, towards the middle horses were a valuable article of com merce; they could be exchanged for guas, blankets, and other necessaries; but the traders, in all cases, bought the largest horses, and the smallest were left to coutinue the breed. The effect is obvious, for the Chickesaw horses are confessedly smaller than they were fifty years ago.

We have no data by which we may compute the number of years or ages that a curious and learned article. The writer were necessary to abstract so great a body attributes much to the power of tempera- of heat as then existed in the northern ture, and to the course of the winds, which lands and ocean; but a long period must in some directions are loaded with humi-natural history more certain than that there have been required, for there is no fact in dity, while in others, they are dry. The chief references are to America, North or South and the writer concludes that he has assigned reasons for the black skin of the Negro, the red skin of the American, and the fair skin of some parts of Europe, These observations contain other curious suggestions also; of which our readers will be pleased to peruse a specimen.

was more heat, or less cold, in high northern latitudes, in the eighth or ninth century, than there is at present; nor is it clear that the heat of the air, earth, or water, in those high latitudes, has yet attained its lowest degree.

It is a curious fact, and in perfect coincidence with this theory, that when the first Norwegian colony settled in Greenland, about one thousand years ago, they found no difficulty in approaching the coast, and a regular correspondence was supported with those people for many years. intercourse was entirely neglected during the dark ages of anarchy and misrule in Europe. Since the revival of learning, within the last two centuries, sundry at

That

While America remained a great forest, inhabited by savages, under the constant dominion of westerly winds, there was not any climate on the eastern coast in which we could expect a fair skin. By the progress of cultivation, the general course of the winds is materially affected in the mid-tempts have been made to discover the redie and northern states; and in the process of time we may expect such a prevalence of easterly winds, near the coast, in those states, as shall prevent that tendency of complections to the clear brunet, which prevails in temperate climates, in other parts of the world.

When South-America shall be well cul

mains of that colony, who lived on the eastern part of Greenland: but no landing can now be effected on that coast, by reason of the vast bodies of ice with which it is pressed. From this it is clear, that within the last seven or eight hundred years there has been a great increase of ice in high northern latitudes.

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