been a composition of Varius, the friend of Virgil. Of this Latin poem, as well as of an ingenious treatise on Death, by Philodemus, the fac-similes have been engraved. Unfortunately, his Sicilian majesty also left behind him at Naples, engraved fac similes of three books and a half of Epicurus de Natura, of which the discovery was an invaluable acquisition; but we have the pleasure to anDounce that the fac-simile copies of those and other four books, are among the ninety-four now at Oxford.

A Miscellaneous Collection of Critical Observations from the manuscripts of the late Professor Porson, purchased by Trinity college, Cambridge, will shortly be given to the public by Professor MONK, Mr. DOBREE, and Mr. BLOM. FIELD; the three gentlemen to whom this task has been entrusted by the master and fellows of the society.

Dr. DRAKE has in the press, under the title of the Gleaner, a selection of Essays from scarce or neglected periodical papers, with an introduction and notes. It will be specdily published in four volumes octavo, and will form an elegant and useful accompaniment to the various editions of our classical essays.

Dr. STOCK's Life of Dr. Beddoes is in the press. It will comprise an analytical account of the doctor's numerous writings, both published and unpublished. Mr. WESTALL, R.A. exhibits his own pictures and drawings at his house, No. 54, Upper Charlotte-street, Fitzroy

square.

On the jubilee day (25th October last), a couple of small bells were made to ring by means of the electric column, lately invented by M. DE Luc, of Windsor. It is conjectured, that a small clapper may by this column be kept in motion for years together without stopping: if so, not only might the jubilee day have been celebrated by the ringing of miniature bells, but the whole jubilee year. Should this contrivance be brought to that state of perfection which it is supposed it may be in time, many persons, there is little doubt, who do not consider the subject philosophically, will be led into an error, by imagining that the perpetual motion is at last discovered. The principal obstacle to the continuance of the motion, through all the changes of the atmosphere, appears to be the want of a very accurate insulation of some parts of the apparatus.

An English gentleman, lately escaped from France, has in the press, a Picture of Verdun; being an interesting state

ment of every circumstance connected with the detention of our countrymen. This work contains: An account of their arrestation; detention at Fontaine and Valenciennes; confinement at Verdun; incarceration at Bitche; amusements; sufferings; indulgences granted to some; acts of extortion and cruelty practised on others; characters of General and Madame Wirion; list of those who have been permitted to leave, or who have escaped, out of France; occasional poctry by Mr. Concannon, Sir William Cowper, &c. and anecdotes of the principal De tenus.

Dr. PEARSON'S Lectures on Physic and Chemistry will re-commence in George. street, on the 4th of June.

Dr. REID will commence his summer course of Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Medicine, on Friday the 15th of June, at nine o'clock in the morning, at his house, Grenville-street, Bruns wick-square.

Dr. STANCLIFFE's Lectures are con tinued every evening at nine o'clock precisely, at the Lecture Room, 11, Took's-court. A series of Lectures on Practical Agriculture, and the Drill Ilusbandry, by the Rev. JAMES COOK, M.A. another series of select Lectures on Ar chitecture, by M. W. SHEPPARD; and a fourth, on the Elements of Commerce, by the Rev. M. WILSON, M.A. will be speedily given at the same room.

A second edition of Dr. WORDSWORTH'S Reasons for declining to subscribe to the British and Foreign Bible Society will appear in a few days. It will be accompanied by an answer to a Letter to Dr. Wordsworth, in reply to his Strictures on the British and Foreign Bible Society, by Lord Teignmouth, president of that society.

The who e of the very rare and valu able Collection of Foreign Plants, some of which have never been seen in this country before, late the property of the Hon. C. F. Greville, deceased, ou Paddington Green, were purchased on Morday the 2d of April, in one lot, by JENKINS and GWYTHER, Nurseryinch; and may now be seen, by applying to them for tickets, at their Nursery in the New Road.

A third and last volume of the Temple of Truth is in the press, under the title of Additional Studies; and may be expected in the course of next month.

A work to be called the Mathematical Repository, containing, 1. Two hundred and forty questions both in pure ad mixt mathematics; almost all of which

are entirely new, and in general each is accompanied with several solutions by different mathematicians. 2. Thirtythree original essays on mathematical subjects. 3. Several mathematical memoirs, extracted from works of eminence, chiefly the transactions of learned societies. By THOMAS LEY BOURN, of the Royal Military College: it is in forwardness.

No. XX. of BRITTON'S Architectural Antiquities, contains seven Engravings of Roslyn Chapel in Scotland; with historical descriptive accounts of Waitham Abbey Church, and Hedingham Castle: and the author announces his intention of devoting more plates to elucidate the architecture of that very singular chapel. The author of the Scientific Dialogues will publish in the first week of June, a voluine of Letters on Natural and Experimental Philosophy, Chemistry, Physiology, and other branches of science pertaining to the material world. These letters are addressed to a youth settled in the metropolis, and they are illustrated with twenty plates beautifully engraved.

The Pleasures of Possession, a poem, by Mr. VERRAL, surgeon, of Seaford, is in the press: it will form an interesting counterpart to the Pleasures of Hope and Memory, and those who have seen it, speak of it as a poem of equal, if not superior, merit.

The Life of Thomas Paine is in hand, and nearly completed, by CLIO RICK MAN. This work will be an impartial and comprehensive memoir of that great

man.

The Clarendon press at Oxford is bringing Wyttenbach's Notes on Plutarch to a conclusion. The accuracy of Mr. COLLINGWOOD will be displayed in several of the classics.

Messrs. BLISS are proceeding with a laudable zcal and correctness in the republication of the best continental editions of the Greek writers.

A Statement of Facts respecting the late Insurrection in India, delivered to the Governor-general on his arrival at Madras, by WILLIAM PETRIE, Esq. second in council, will shortly be laid before the public in an octavo volume.

Lord KENYON will very shortly publish his sentiments on the Roman-catholic Question.

The lovers of angling will soon be gratified with an exact reprint of the first edition of WALTON'S Complete Angler; the plates will be exquisitely engraved on MONTHLY MAG. No. 199.

silver, and the printing be executed in a style of corresponding beauty. The number printed will be limited. The rarity of the first edition of the favourite work is not its only nor its chief recom mendation; it is valuable as being the earliest specimen of that style of writing, and really curious, as it differs from all the other editions in having only two persons engaged in the dialogue, Pisca tor and Viator; whereas every subsequent edition has the three persons, Piscator, Venator, and Auceps.

Mr. GEORGE COLMAN has in the press a Translation into familiar blank verse of the Comedies of Terence.

Mr. RAMSDEN is about to publish some Cases of the Cure of the Derangements of the Testicles, illustrative of their being sympathetic with the urethra; and showing that most of the diseases of that gland hitherto deemed incurable, are perfectly within remedy. The same gentleman is also preparing some Cases of Hydrocele, in which a radical cure has been effected, without recourse to any of the operations at present practised for that purpose.

An Abridgment of HOOKER'S Ecclesiastical Polity, in an octavo volume, will speedily appear.

The Rev. A. P. SCARGILL is preparing for publication a Hebrew and English Dictionary on a new plan, without points.

Mr. CRABB has in the press a third part of the Preceptor and his Pupils, containing an elucidation of synonimous words in the English language.

The Rev. J. WILLIAMS, curate of Stroud, will shortly publish a small volume of Poems, illustrative of subjects moral and divine, with an Ode on Vac cination, addressed to Dr. Jenner.

COWPER'S Translation of Homer into English blank verse, illustrated by fifty engravings from the paintings and designs of Fuseli, Howard, Smirke, Stothard, Westall, &c. will speedily be published in four octavo volumes. The engravings were originally designed for a splendid edition of Pope's translation, of which the letter-press of the large paper copies were destroyed by fire.

The Rev. DAVID SAVILLE, of Edin burgh, is printing a series of Discourses on the peculiar Doctrines of Revelation, in an octavo volume.

The Rev. Dr. BAKER, of Cawston, Norfolk, has put to press the Psalms evangelized, in a continued explanation, which is intended to be comprised in an octavo volume.

The Rev. Mr. DAVIES, of Ipswich, proposes

SP

An interesting volume, entitled Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories between the years 1760 and 1776, by ALEXANDER HENRY, esq. may shortly be expected.

The justice, honour, and humanity, of the nobility and gentry of the United Kingdom, has been lately appealed to, for their concurrence in the measures now promoting amongst the most eminent bankers and merchants in the city, in behalf of the ancient, but greatly in jured, family of the late Sir CHARLES CORBETT, bart. deprived of their pater nal inheritance of many thousands per annum, and the present baronet reduced to an inferior station in the East India Company's employ. It seldom happens that a claim so eminently merits the generous aid of the affluent and noble families of the kingdom for one of their own order, as from the Corbett line have descended several of the first families. In failure of issue from the last Sir Richard Corbett, who was member of parliament for the town of Shrewsbury more than thirty years, the late Sir Charles became entitled to the estates. He was frequently invited to the family mansion, introduced by Sir Richard to his friends as his heir; and in public assemblies and other meetings, he was avowed by him as successor to his estates; pursuant to which he made his will when at the age of 68, in which he gives all his estates, manors, &c. to him and his heirs and, lest any doubts should arise as to his intention of giving his estates to the issue of Sir Charles, he adds a codicil, making a strict settlement on the issue male of Sir Charles. He confirms and republishes his will in six successive codicils, up to the advanced age of 75. The will and codicils are in the hand-writing of the testator; but at length when the baronet was at a very advanced age, in renunciation of all his former purposes, a seventh codicil was added (not written by Sir Richard), leaving his heir-at-law an annuity of 1001. per annum only, and giving all his estates to his steward. The present Sir Richard unhappily does not possess the

means of recovering his right, being in an inferior situation in the East India Company's employ; but, nevertheless, has a mind sensible of the injuries sustained; and a long period of depression has sunk him to obscurity with all the distresses of unmerited poverty. There are now more than a competent number, of witnesses to prove these facts; and a few respectable characters acquainted with this extraordinary case, have con curred to procure a subscription for the purpose of raising them from their present distresses. They presume to call upon the nobility and gentry to concur in this humane and honourable measure.

At a late meeting of the Society of Schoolmasters, held at the Crown and Anchor Tavern on the 26th of December last, Mr. HAMMERSLEY, a friend and patron of that institution, delivered a written address, of which the following is the substance:

"To save myself the trouble of much writing and oral explanation, I propose to state some of the reasons which have induced me to become an advocate in the cause of the society of schoolmasters. A melancholy occurrence in a school where I had two sons, first brought me to the knowledge of this excellent institution. The family of the master, consisting of six children, was, by a protection and support; and I was applied to, singular calamity, left totally destitute of among other parents, to contribute to their relief. The example was set by the commit. tee of the society of schoolmasters, who commenced a subscription among themselves; for their institution, being then in its infancy, had not funds to afford much relief. A sum, however, of nearly five hundred pounds was soon raised, and these helpless children were snatched from poverty, and protected by the society; and most of them have since been placed in respectable situations. Seeing the good effects of the society in this prominent case, I became immediately a subcriber to their charitable fund, and have had the good fortune to procure them many benefactors. It should be observed here, that they have another fund, called the jo nt stock, which is entirely sup ported by the schoolmasters themselves, and whose families alone are entitled to its benefits; and this part of the institution gives the society a greater stability, by ensuring their charitable fund, which is supported by the regular attendance of its members. But applied to any extent, being intended for general subscription, may be beneficially general relief; for numberless indeed are the objects of this part of the institution, in the persons of decayed schoolmasters and ushers, and of their destitute widows and orphans. To this may be added, if the fund should

becane

become considerable, that means will be afforded of giving rewards and premiums to teachers of distinguished merit and ability; to which ushers, as chiefly holding the labouring oar, will most likely succeed. What an expansive field is here before us! If encouragement be given to good teachers, we may reasonably hope that they will exert themselves to obtain the rewards, which will be both honourable and profitable; for the enlightened committee of this society, who know how to estimate the feelings as well as the wants of their brethren, will, no doubt, suggest various ways to gratify the objects of their attention, and spur them on to laudable industry and emulation. Thus the country may expect, by degrees, that an improved set of teachers will arise; and from improved teachers we shall find better scholars: the mind will be opened and meliorated, and sound principles inculcated. But the more immediate purpose of this institution is to relieve and protect the aged, the helpless, and the unfortunate: and it is not a little remarkable, that while almost every other profession is provided with asylums, either by institutions of national munificence, or by endowments of private bounty, schoolmasters alone have yet made no appeal to the generosity of the public,' although no class of men have a stronger claim on public gratifude; nor is there any occupation that has a more rapid tendency to exhaust the powers, both of body and mind, than the labours of a school when conscientiously discharged. As humble instruments have been, not unfrequently, the means, in the hands of Providence, to work great ends, so I have already had much satisfaction in seeing very liberal encouragement given to this institution, merely on my stating its object and plan; and the approbation which has been thus manifested by many wise, good, and exalted persons, gives me confident hopes that the society will in time be greatly patronized, and produce extensive benefit to the country."

At the general half-yearly meeting of the society for the support and encouragement of Sunday Schools in England, Wales, Ireland, and the adjacent islands, held on the 11th of April, the committee reported, that within the last half year seventy-eight schools had been added to those which were previously upon the society's list. Since the commencement of this institution, the society has distributed 285,672 spelling-books, 62,166 testaments, and 7714 bibles, to 3348 schools, containing upwards of 270,000 scholars; in addition to which the sum of 4176/ has been given for the payment of such teachers as could not be procured without pecuniary reward. Among the details which mark the progress of the society, the committee particularly ad

1

verted to the result of their proceedings in the islands, and in Ireland. In the Isle of Man alone, fourteen schools, comprehending a total of 1030 scholars, are now established; and at Dublin a Sunday School society has recently been formed with the promise of speedy and extensive operation

FRANCE.

M. PARMENTIER has published some reflections on the hypnum crispum, a species of moss, proposed, on account of the dearness of wool, as a substitute for stuffing mattresses and furniture. The moss, which is of a moderate length, and has a somewhat fragrant smell, grows upon trees, particularly beech, is gathered in August and September, and when beaten like flocks, does not retain moisture or form into lumps like them. It is little liable to decay, and it is only necessary to dry it in the shade to preserve its fragrance. Neither sweat nor urine produces any fermentation in this moss, as it does in wool; but lest moisture should cause it to germinate, it may be steeped in lime-water, which destroys its power of vegetation. It is said to be free from the property of imbibing and communicating contagion, which animal substances possess.

M. GAUSS, a correspondent of the National Institute, has this obtained year the prize-medal, founded by the celebrated Lalande, for the author of the best astronomical memoir.

According to a calculation by M. CoQUEBERT MONTBRET, the French empire at present contains the following population: inhabitants who speak the French language, 28 126,000; the German, 2,705,000; the Flemish, 2,277,000; the Breton, 967,000; the Basque, 108,000: forming a total of 38,262,000.

The Ionian Academy, instituted at Corfu, the ancient Corcyra, has announced, that, after the example of ancient Greece, it will every four years decree various Olympic prizes for the promotion of the arts and sciences. At these Olympic festivals, the prize will be adjudged to him who, during the preceding four years, has written the best work in the modern Greek language, and produced the best modern Greek translation from a foreign language, para ticularly the French. The olive wreath with which the victor is to be publicly crowned, will be hung up in the academy, with an inscription recording his name, work, and country. The first distribution of prizes is fixed for the 15th

of

of August, 1812; which is the first year of the 648th olympiad, according to the calculation of ancient Greece. The prize is to consist of a medal, with a bust of Bonaparte, and the inscription: Napoleon, benefactor and protector. On the reverse is the legend: To genius the grateful academy. The inscription round it will contain the name of the successful candidate, the title of his work, and the number of the olympiad. This medal will be of iron.

The Society of Emulation, of Colmar, has been for several years successfully engaged on projects of important agricultural improvements, to be introduced into the department of the Upper Rhine; and its views in this respect are powerfully seconded by baron Desportes, the prefect of that department. Among these ameliorations may be instanced the plan for an extended cultivation of the mulberry-tree, in order to form establishments for breeding silk-worms: a culture which will be the more desirable, as from local circumstances, which are not likely to be removed, the vineyards in this department are much on the decline. There have been already formed very considerable nurseries for this tree, which will soon afford materials for numerous plantations; and in addition to these, the society have lately acquired three hundred trees of the growth of five years, which will enable them to begin their observations and experiments with silkworms immediately. In the first place, however, they found it necessary to procure a good elementary treatise on the cultivation of the mulberry-tree. In consequence of an application which they made to such of their own members as possessed any experience on this subject, M. CALVEL, who was before known as the author of some excellent works on plantations of this kind, as well as on general subjects of agriculture, undertook to supply this desideratum; and his composition has given so much satisfaction to the society, that they have resolved to print it in the French and German languages, and to present the author with a gold medal of the value of three hundred francs (121. 10s.)

GERMANY.

Mr. JAMES ANGELO, a native of the frontiers of Austria, has succeeded in preparing flax-wool from various plants, nover before used for that purpose, and of which a considerable number grow spontaneously without the slightest cul

tivation. Though this wool is not a complete substitute for foreign cotton, it however produces a stronger thread, which is particularly fine and fit for any kind of woven stuff. The experiments of M. Angelo having been tried and ap proved of by a committee of select, learned, and skilful, workmen, his Austrian majesty was pleased to enable him to prosecute his invention on a larger scale; binding him, at the same time, to publish the manipulation of the properties of the plants, and of the whole previous process of this new materialf or spinuing. The emperor therefore com manded that a large house at Tula should be appropriated to this ingenious gentleman, for the establishment of a manufactory of stuffs from this wool, and that a capital of 20,000 florins should, be advanced to him out of the public funds, with the promise that after the lapse of three years, if the manufactory attained such a degree of perfection as to produce in the first year 500cwt. of goods, in the second 1,000cwt. and the third 1,500cwt. the 20,000 florins should become his own property, and that he should reccive for each of the two years, 25,000 florins more, as the reward of his industry, in addition to the premises belonging to the manufactory. He has however been obliged to make known the secret of his invention, and the whole course of his proceedings, and to give instruction to any of his majesty's subjects wishing to form a like establish

ment.

M. EBEL, of Bavaria, has recently published a geological work on the structure of the Alps, which is reported to contain much novelty, and to coincide entirely with the experiments made by Humboldt. According to their system, it is not true that granite is the nucleus of the surface of the earth; on the contrary, we find as many strata of granite as of any of the other integral substances of mountains. These strata of stones in the mountains were formed by crystalli zation in the sea of Chaos, and are found in a great measure on the same line from Savoy to Hungary. The earth, according to these ideas, resembles a prism of crystal, the edges of which have been worn away by the flux and redux of the waters, without the ruins of these points having entirely filled up the ca vities. This view of the subject is expected to lead to important results; but it will at the same time discourage those

who