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SERTORIUS.

Sertorius is described by Plutarch, as imagining the first emigrations to America. When Sertorius, (says he, vol. ii. p. 313,) fearing the might of Sylia, fled to Africa, and thence to Spain, he met with Andalusian shippers, who were just returned from the Fortu nate Islands. Thereupon he felt a vinlent desire to go and reside in those regions, where he might dwell in peaceful independence, escaped from tyranny and warfare.

MEDLARS.

The medlar, or mespilus germanica, is rarely praised as a dainty, but is preferred when slightly tainted by frost. It requires a Dutch palate to relish medlars; for Linnæus, in his Academic Amenities, says, that they pass for delicacies in Holland; and a Dutch traveller to Surinam, (Fermin, vol. i. p. 176,) vaunts, as an exquisite fruit, the scarlet medlars of Guyana.

TOMB OF EZECHIEL.

Benjamin of Tudela says, that within a few leagues of Bagdad, exists a superb mausoleum, containing a valuable library, which is still called the tomb of Ezechiel, and is visited not only by Jew. ish, but by Christian and Mahometan pilgrims.

SALVATION OF SOCINIANS.

Basnage, (Histoire des Juifs, lib. iv. c. xxix.) quotes certain Rabbees who allow, that Serveto and the Antitrinitarians may be saved; but who maintain, that there is no chance of escaping damnation in the next world, for those Christians who have thrust a strolling physician into the throne of the Almighty.

BON-MOT OF TASSO.

The exemplary virtue and chastity of Laura towards Petrarch, drew the following bon-mot trou Alex. Tasso:

That Petrarch enjoyed her as rats do the drugs of an apothecary, by licking the outsides of the bottles."-Mem. Vie. Pet. vol. ii. p. 478.

SINGULAR EXTRACT FROM A WILL.

Thomas Cumberworth, knt. of the diocese of Lincoln, by his last will, inade in the year 1450, thus provides for his funeral: Furst, I gyf my sawle to Gode my Redemptur, and my wretchid bodie to be bery'd in a chitte without any kyste, (that is, a shroud without any coffin,) in the north yle of the paryshe kike of Someretby.-Ex. Mram. Lum, Epise.

to Skene, was formerly in use in Scot land, and taken by their assisers or jurors:

"We shall leil suith say,

And no suich conceal, for nothing we may,
So far as we're charg'd upon this a size,
Be God himself and our part of paradise,
As we will to answer God upon
The dreadful day of done."

SPANISH INDOLENCF.

Voiture, in a letter to a friend, says: "I have no other excuse to make for the length of time I've been a writing to you than indolence; for besides my own, I've contracted that of the country where I am, which surpasses, without doubt, all the kingdoms of Europe for laziness; so conspicuous in the Spaniards that no constraint whatever will oblige them to sweep away the dust from their own doors, and when it rains, those who carry bread from Madrid to the villages, will not go, although they were sure of getting double the price. When the corn is dear in Andalusia, and there is a plenty in 'astile, they will not take the trouble to fetch it, though they are liter ally starving at home for want: if a countryman has here a hundred acres of land, he will badly cultivate fifty of them, thinking it enough, leaving the other half uncultivated. Their vines grow spontaneous of themselves, without being taken care of, though at the same time they have nothing at all to do: the ferti lity of the land is so great in Spain, that they seldom plough more than four inches deep; yet some reports say, the increase is as eighty to one; nevertheless, they are poor in the midst of abundance, in one of the finest states of Europe: the reason of which is, because they are nothing but a set of rogues and vagabonds,”

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Alphonso, duke of Calaboa, made a present to Edward bis sou, of a golden shield, on which was engraven four ammals; the first of which were a stag, with this inscription, Deum time; this emblem was to remind him of his duty to God, as the stag is said to be fearful of thunder and lightning: the second was a stork, with Farentes recere; this was The following singular oath, according to admonish him with a due respect

Linc.

SCOTTISH OATH.

2

toward

toward his parents, as the storks are said ferred.) The same sum the next year,

to hear their ancient parents on their back, and to take care and feed them when grown helpless by age: the third was a tortoise, with Demum procura; the emblem of the tortoise carrying its house along, to remund Lan of his duty to his as a provident master: the fourth was a dolphin, with Chicis vaca; because the dolphin is said to be the most friendly of all fishes, and their sporting and playing in the sea is said to predict a tempest. Around all these the follow ing motto was engraved, Celer Virtutis Cursus; to remind him of the uncertainty of lite, thereby to make the most of a promising long life-Campof, lib. 8.

SIR THOMAS WHITE.

The munificent charitable donations of this worthy man, who was lord mayor of London at the commencement of queen Mary's reign, deserve to be recalled to remembrance, although I believe the benefits arising from most of his bequests have gone into far different channels than those in which he endeavoured to direct them. He was avowedly the patron and protector of schoJars, and founded St. John's college at Oxford, which he endowed with several considerable manors, and at his decease Jeft three thousand pounds to increase its revenues. He also founded schools at Bristol and Reading, and reserved two fellowships at St. John's for natives of each of these places. He gave during his life two thousand pounds to the city of Bristol, to purchase lands of the yearly value of one hundred and twenty pounds, for which it was agreed that the mayor and corporation of that city in 1567, and the ten ensuing years, should pay the sum of one hundred pounds, which having for that time been allowed to ac cumulate, was to be thus expended: Eight hundred pounds to be divided in loans without interest, among sixteen young clothiers, freemen of that city, for ten years, upon sufficient security, at the end of which time that sum to be lent to such other persons as the desire of the Inayor, aldermen, and four of the common-council, shall point out. The remaining two hundred to be expended in the purchase of corn, to be sold to the poor at prime cost. At the expiration of nine years, at the feast of St. Bartholomew, he directed that one hundred and four pounds should be paid to the mayor and corporation of the city of York, to be lent by them to four young freemen of that city, (clothiers always to be pre

on the same conditions, to the city of Canterbury; the next to Readmg; the next to the Merchant Taylors' company, the next to the city of Glocester; and is to proceed, year by year, to Walcester, Exeter, Salisbury, Norwich, Southamp ton, Lincoln, Winchester, Hereford, Oxford, Cambridge, Shrewsbury, Linn, Bath, Derby, Ipswich, Colchester, Newcastle, and then to begin again at Bristel, and to proceed annually to the other places for ever. He also gave to the mayor and corporation of Coventry, the sum of two thousand and sixty pounds, for the purchase of lands, the rents of which, after the deduction of an annuity of forty pounds to St. John's college, we.e to be thus appropriated: Tweire poor men were to receive an annual denation of two pounds, and a free loan of ten pounds a year was to be granted ta four young men for nine years; at the end of which time this benefit was to be conditionally enjoyed by the towns of Northampton, Leicester, Nottingham, and Warwick. The master and warden of the Merchant Taylors' company were his executors; and for the performance of their trust, forty shillings a year was bequeathed them. To the mayor, recorder, and ten aldermen of the city of Coventry, six and eight-pence each for ever, for their trouble; and to the ster ard and town-clerk, for bonds, &c. twenty shillings annually, so that no charge might be made to those who received his bounty.

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Of all chaste birds the phenix doth excel,
Of all strong beasts the lion bears the bell;
Of all sweet flowers the rose doth sweetest
smeil:

Of all tair maids my Rosa'inde is fairest,
Ofali pure metals gold is only purest;
Of all high trees the pine hath highest crest,
O all soft sweets I like my mistress best.
Of all chaste thoughts, my mistress
thoughts are rarest,

Of all proud birds the eagle pleaseth Jove,
Of pretty fowls kind Venus likes the dove;
Of trees, Minerva doth the olive love,
Of all sweet nymphs I honour Rosalinde,

Of

Of all her gifts her wisdom pleaseth most,
Of all her graces, virtue she doth boast ;
For all the gifts my love and joy is lost,
If Rosalinde prove cruel and unkind.

CURIOUS EXTRACT FROM STOW.

Although human credulity is very liable to imposition, and a distempered imagination ever on the wing for "tales of wonder," yet circumstances of a most improbable nature do sometimes occur, stamped with such marks of authentieity, as the most sceptical must give credence to. Such I conceive to be the following singular account, copied verbatim from Stow. "The seventeene of March, (1586,) a strange thing happened: master Dorington, of Spaldwickt, in the county of Huntingdon, esquire, one of her majesties gentleman pentioners, had a horse which died sodainly, and being repped to see the cause of his death, there was

found in the hole of the heart of the same horse, a strange worm, which lay on a round heap in a call or skinn, of the likeness of a toad, which being taken out and spread abroad, was in form and fashion not easie to be described; the length of which worm, divided into many graines, to the number of fifty, (spread from the body like the branches of a tree) was, from the snout to the end of the longest grain, seventeen inches, having four issues in the graines, from whence dropped forth a red water; the body in bigness round was about three inches and a halfe, the coloure whereof was very like to a mackarell, This monstrous worm, found in manner aforesaid, crawling to have got away, was stabbed in with a dagger and died, which after being dried, was shewed to many honourable persons of the realme.

ORIGINAL POETRY.

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So shall impartial Fame award thy soul's delight,

With Burns and Bloomfield rank thee in the Celian height.

Newcastle-under-Lyne.

THE BROKEN REED.

BESIDE the sedgy banks of Can,

A musing, moralizing man,
At eve I sometimes stray;

There mark the rippling water glide,
A clear, uninterrupted tide,

Along its winding way.
At such a time, in such a mood,
As bending o'er its brink I stood,

An object caught my view;
A reed it was, whose slender stem
Obey'd the impulse of the stream;

The stream in which it grew.
Its taper neck and downy crest,
Now rising from the river's breast,

In all the pomp of pride;
Now sinking as the water swell'dz
Next moment not to be beheld,
Disporting in the tide;

Drew from my cogitative mind
Conclusions of a different kind

To those experience taught ;
In thinking it secure, I err'd;
But soon a circumstance occurr'd

SCIO.

That rectified the thought. For now the wind, both rough and rude, Came whistling from a neighbouring woody And louder, stronger blew; Till, rushing with resistless force, It cross'd the river in its course, And snapt the reed in two! 4D

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Its fury quickly spent or past,
To mark the ravage of the blast,
With feelings of alarm

I look'd, supposing mischief done;
But save that simple reed alone,
Saw vestige none of harm.
Devoted reed! I then exclaim'd,
With sympathy shalt thou be nam'd,
When next a theme I choose;
The moralist in thee shall find
A subject suited to his mind,
Depicted by my Muse,

The vot'ries of ambition too,

Their semblance in thy form shall view
Their danger in thy fate;

While those of pleasure, wealth, and pride,
Alarm'd, perchance may step aside,
And learn to contemplate.

Chelmsford.

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J. POTTER.

HERALD of morn!" and minstrel of the sky!

Whose votive music hails the rising light; Now flutt'ring o'er the corn-now soaring high,

Scarce seen, or wholly lost to human sight; How dear to me, sweet warbler, is thy lay, How thy lov'd notes my drooping spirit

cheer;

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On thy loved haunts so fondly dwell? And whence the charm, which thou alone Canst yield, each ruder sigh to quell? Th' expansive scenes so oft admir'd, Thy neighb'ring woods, thy flowery meads;

Thy smooth canal, thy shady groves,

For these, the mind delighted pleads. These may awhile engage the mind,

And Fancy's magic pow'r invite; But these a bounded influence hold;

When absent, they no more delight. But kindness holds my heart to thee,

By polished manners made more dear; And beauty's form, and spotless worth,

Bid me thy very name revere.

When night's blue vault, by gems illum'd, Spreads o'er the world its glittering veil,

A sullying cloud will oft appear,

Borne by some unregarding gale.

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CON

SENT TO A YOUNG LADY, IN SEQUENCE OF HER IMMODERATS GRIEF FOR THE LOSS OF HER CHILD.

WHY, dearest friend! such signs of woe

Do thy conscious features wear?
Why, from thy eyes in ceaseless flow,
Streams Affliction's sacred tear?

Why is thy soul to sorrow giv'n
For one that lives; and lives in heav'n ?
True, thy child is snatch'd for ever

To Death's cold and darksome seat!
True, his infant prattlings never,

Never more! thy ears shall greet &
Must keenly feel the fated dart.
True, that thy fond maternal heart
Yet consider, that good Being

Who the lovely treasure gave;
Kind! beneficent! all-seeing!

Never strikes but strikes to save! And p'rhaps that word which clos'd his eyes, Bade him, thy guardian angel rise. Ah! then let a softer feeling

Calm the tumults of thy breast; While reflection gently stealing

Soothes thy troubled mind to rest : Kneel humbly to the afflictive rod,

And bless the fiat of thy God.

I. U.

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With her sorrow-piercing cry,
Hapless child of misery.

Dare his impious thoughts unfold,
Next we hear the sceptie bold,
Tell us virtue is a cheat,
And the grave our last retreat.
Bid us revel all the day,
And idly trifle time away;
Laugh at our most sacred laws,
And claim (oh impious!) our applause,
Wretched wanderer from the truth,
Cease to tempt unguarded youth,
Take your tenets far away,
And let us feel Religion's sway.
Let us still enjoy the hope

Of sharing that unbounded scope,
For those who merit Virtue's meed.
Which Heaven's high King has long decreed

SONG.

HOW peaceful smiles this sylvan scenę!
Cheerful and gay the songsters rove j

The fields are clad in vernal green,
And vocal ev'ry breeze with love:
How happy once the woods among,

At early dawn, I lov'd to stray;
Here Laura first inspir'd my song,
Here first she heard, and bless'd my lay.
This transient dream of bliss is fled,
These rural charms no more delight,
Their fairest, fondest, nymph is dead,
And ravish'd from my longing sight:
A gloomy home my fancy seeks,

For this I heave the frequent sigh;
Life's blush has left my Laura's cheek,
And I with Laura wish to lie.

PATENTS LATELY ENROLLED.

MR. JOHN MARSHALL'S AND MR. JOHN NAYLOR'S, (NORTHWICH,) for a New and Improved Method of Manufacturing Salt.

Y the method now in use, the salt

I. U.

boiler, by which means the heated brine may freely flow from the boiler into, and circulate about, the cooler or coudenser, and from thence back again, which it will do by means of the impulse and mo

B brine is placed in pans or boilers, tion communicated by the fire, and by

to the whole of which the fire has access, and all the parts of it are equally heated. No means are employed for the special purpose of causing the brine to sustain, in different parts, various degrees of heat, by the greater or less proximity of such parts respectively to the fire. The new inethod consists in varying, at short and -successive intervals, the degrees of heat which the brine receives from the fire; and it is done by adding to the common brine-pan or boiler a condenser or Cupler, having a communication with the

the consequent expansion of the brine, the most heated parts following upon the top, and so going on towards the extreme part of the condenser, and afterwards, when become more cool and dense, returning in an under and backward current towards the fire, which progress forward and backward is continued, and thus the salt is formed into crystals, chiefly in the condenser, and not in the heated pan or boiler, in which the salt is wholly formed by the method now in use. For dispatch, two or more con

densers

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