extract or two from the dedication, and the sermon itself, we presume will not be disagreeable to our readers. MA ADAM, there is an Italian proverb, which says, that handsome girls are born married: the meaning whereof is not what hath been vulgarly supposed, that marriages are made in heaven: but, that such is the power of beauty over the human heart, that when they will, they may. This being so, the intimation to your ladyship, is to look out, and pro. vide for a change of condition. To remain single, will not be long in your power, for beauty that strikes every eye, will necessarily charm many hearts: Nature ordained it universal sway, and the corruptions of nature, multi. plied as they have been through à series of 5000 years, have even yet been able to give it but one rival. In the human heart (I speak it to their shame) temples have been erected to the god of wealth: many fair victims have we seen. bleeding at his altars; and, what is worse, the very hand now writ. ing to your ladyship, hath sometimes been the sacrificer. What therefore you have to learn, is only to chuse with discretion; to maintain with dignity the prof. fered sovereignty which contending suppliants will entreat you to accept. All the great heroes, the most renowned in their generations, the scripture worthies in particular, have had their Dalilahs, to whose bewitching charms they one and all yielded; reluctantly some, and fondly others these proving their wisdom, and those their folly, since there is no enchantment against beauty, nor any thing which it cannot enchant. He must be some. thing more, or something worse, than a man-i. e. a god or a devil, who hath escaped, or who can resist its power: the gods of the heathens could not; Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Apollo, their amours are as famous as their names : SO that that sturdiness in human na. ture, wherever it is found, which can resist, argues plainly how much of the devil is wrought up in the composition: if the native power were not so great as it is, so many arts, so many opportunities to soothe and to persuade, would make it impossible. This prating old man! will he never have done? Not yet; for to you, madam, and of you, I could prate for ever. Garrulity is indeed the vice of old age: the highest honorary tribute that youth pays to it, is patient attention: we grow fond of prating, when we are good for nothing else. Besides, madam, it is, though I am sorry to remind you of it, a vice common to both sexes; old women can prate as well as old men; and the same allowance on your part, if ever you come to it, will be demanded : and, alas! young, gay, and blooming as you are, to this you will come at last lovely as that form is, it will wrinkle and wither; that vermi lion will be turned into paleness, those brilliant eyes grow dim and faint in the gazing crowd that now surrounds you, notwithstanding the blaze you make, the lustre with which you enamel and gild the spot you stand upon; though you re-animate, give life, sensation, appetite, a kind of rejuvenescence, a desire at least, a wish to live and be young again, to every thing you touch or look upon, the meanest of your your admirers, even I, wizened and [From the Sermon itself.] travagance it did: for how little sover some of them may suspect or believe it, they are the only sure guardians of men's virtue, and have more power to reform than either priest or magistrate can pretend to. If therefore the manners of the age should ever take the same disagree. able turn, though they may be the principal sufferers, they must bear the blame of it, and the infamy too for this reason, that it was always in their power to support the ho nour and dignity due to the mar. ried state, from the influence which, The humour of ridiculing this few of them want to be told, they rite [of marriage] was introduced, have over the affections and incli and became fashionable, under the nations of mankind. I will offer example of a dissolute prince; no apology therefore for telling which encouraged such licentious them, that if their discretion was ness in the stage, as soon corrupted equal to their charms; if they were the general taste, to the degree, at equal pains to embellish their that hardly any thing entertained, minds, as they are to adorn their or was received there with applause, bodies, they might go near to rethat was not salted with some ob- verse the customs of the world, and scene raillery. In consequence of the maxims of nature; might sway which, not only the thing, but even the scepters of kingdoms, and be the persons who made it their the law-givers and governors both choice were laughed at. They of states and families, without either were objects of pity, the butts of wearing of arms, or changing apsneer, whom necessity had forced parel. If modesty, good sense, into it. A humour so inconsistent and the general practice of virtue, with common sense, and every so- met with proper distinction in fe. cial dear regard, could not hold male regard, men would certainly long. The pulpit, which, in that take more pains, than they usually universal degeneracy of men and do, to cultivate those graces; for manners, was not silent, got, in where we court, we wish to be ap this instance, the better of the stage, proved, and naturally pursue such and, at last, happily reformed it. courses, as we judge will best reTo the honour of the present age, commend us: but whilst women the few patrons it hath are as des- are so insensible, and blind to their picable as they are dissolute: but own interest and happiness, as to it may be observed, that the pains encourage those most, who use this taken to correct it, had possibly met holy institute to base and disho with quicker success, had not the nourable purposes; whilst they pre fair sex, by a lewd and wanton be- fer empty and profligate rakes, to haviour, contributed to keep it up: virtuous and honourable lovers, they without encouragement from them may thank themselves for, a great it could never have run to the ex-share of that misery to which they are are tied, and we shall in vain hope to see the evil of this case ever corrected. quantity of corn for the use of the people, whenever they shall have occasion for it. And when this building shall be erected, and the expence of it discharged, I direct the senate of Bern to receive the The copy of the will of a citizen in produce of my estate, till the same Bern, in Switzerland. shall amount to the sum [suppose two thousand pounds;] and when AT the city of Bern in Switzer- the price of corn shall be under land, a man of business, by success in his way of trade, had acquired a considerable real and personal estate being grown in years, and having no family, he made a will to the following effect, viz. : "Being anxious for my fellowcitizens of Bern (who have often suffered by dearth of corn and wine), my will is, that, by the permission of Providence, they shall never for the future suffer again under the like calamity: to which end and purpose I give my estate, real and personal, to the senate of Bern, in trust for the people; that is to say, that they receive the produce of my estate, till it shall come to the sum of [suppose two thousand pounds;] that then they shall lay out this two thousand pounds in building a town-house, according to the plan by me left: the lower story whereof to consist of large vaults or repositories for wine; the story above I direct to be formed into piazza, for such persons as shall come to market at Bern, for disposing of their goods, free from the injuries of the weather; above that I direct a council-cham. ber to be erected, for the committee of the senate to meet in from time to time, to adjust my accounts, and to direct such things as may be necessary for the charity, and above the council-chamber as many floors or granaries as can be conveniently raised, to deposit a the mean rate of the last ten years, one fourth part, they shall then lay out one thousand pounds in corn, and stow it in my granaries; and the same in wine, when under one fourth of the mean rate of the last ten years; and my will is, that none of the said corn or wine shall be sold, until the price of corn or wine shall exceed, at the common market, one fourth of the mean rate for the last ten years; and then every citizen of Bern shall demand daily (or proportionably weekly), as many pounds weight of wheat, and as many pints of wine, as he hath mouths in his family to consume, and no more; and that for the same he pay ready money, after the mean rate that it has been at for the last ten years past, a due proportion being allowed for waste, and that to be settled by the senate; and that each householder shall be so supplied, as long as the price of corn or wine shall continue above the rate of one fourth more than the mean rate; and whatsoever increase shall be made of the capital, it shall be laid out, under the same restrictions, in adding to the stock of corn and wine; which, under the blessing of God, will, I hope, in a certain time, reduce these two necessary articles of life to very near a fixed price, to the glory of God, and the benefit of the poor." 1 This legacy has subsisted near two hundred years, and has had the desired effect at Bern. An English merchant returning from Aleppo, by Bern, took this hint, and settled a sum of money, for the use of the poor at Kingstonon-Thames, for the purchase of coals in the same manner. The Right Honourable Arthur Onslow, speaker of the honourable House of Commons, and Nicholas Hardinge, Esq. (lately deceased) were two of the trustees, under whose auspices the poor were abundantly supplied, and the fund greatly augmented. About five years ago the hint was given, and some gentlemen in Northampton collected a sum of money, for purchasing fuel at primecost, and selling to the poor at the same rate; which answered per. fectly well. Method of taking off paintings in oil, from the cloths or wood on which they were originally done; and transferring them entire, and without damage, to new pieces. TH 'HE art of removing paint. ings in oil, from the cloth or wood on which they are originally done, and transferring them to new grounds of either kind of substance, is of very great use; as not only pictures may be preserved, where the canvas is so decayed and damaged, that they would other wise fall to pieces, but paintings on ceiling or wainscot, which, when taken away from the places where they were originally placed, would have little value, may be conveyed to cloths; and by being thus brought to the state of pictures, become of equal worth with those painted originally on canvas. The manner in which this is done, is by cementing the face of the picture to a new cloth, by means of such a substance as can afterwards be dissolved and consequently taken off by water; destroying the texture of the old cloth, by means of a proper corroding fluid; and then separating the corroded parts of it entirely from the painting: after which, a new cloth being cemented to the reverse of the painting in its place, the cloth cemented to the front is in like manner to be cor roded and separated; and the cemented matter cleansed away by dissolving it in water, and rubbing it off from the face of the picture. The particular method of doing this, with most convenience, is as follows: Let the decayed picture be cleansed from all grease that may be on its surface, which may be done by rubbing it very gently with crumb of stale bread, and then wiping it with a very fine soft linen cloth. It must then be laid, with the face downwards, on a smooth table covered with fan-paper, or the India paper; and the cloth on the reverse must be well soaked with boiling water, spread upon it by means of a sponge, till it appear perfectly soft and pliable. The picture is then to be turned with the face, upwards: and being stretched in the most even and flat manner on the table, must be pinned down to it in that state, by nails driven in through the edge, at proper distances from each other. A quantity of glue should be then melted, and strained through a flannel cloth, to prevent any gravel, or other impurities, from lurking in it; and when it is a little stiffened, a part a part of it should be spread on a linen cloth, of the size of the painting, where it should be suf. fered to set and dry; and then another coat put over it: when this is become stiff also, the glue should be again heated; and while it remains of such heat as to be easily spread, it should be laid over the face of the picture, and a linen cloth immediately put over it in the most even manner, and nailed down to the picture and table at the edge likewise. The glue should not be used boiling hot, as that would hazard some of the delicate colours of the painting; and the linen cloth should be fine and half worn, that it may be the softer, and lie the flatter on the surface of the picture; in order to which, it is proper to heat it till the glue be soft and pliable before it be laid on, and to compress each part gently with a ball formed of a linen rag tied round with thread. The table, with the picture, cloth, &c. nailed down to it in this state, should be then exposed to the heat of the sun, in a place where it may be secured from rain; and there continued till the glue be perfectly dry and hard; at which time the nails should be drawn, and the picture and linen cloth taken off from the table. The picture must now be again turned with the face downwards, and stretched and nailed to the table as before; and a border of wax must be raised round the edge, in e same manner as is directed for the copper - plates, forming, as it were, a shallow trough with the surface of the picture; into which trough should be poured a proper corroding fluid, to eat and destroy the thread of the ori ginal canvas or cloth of the pic. ture. The corroding fluid used for this purpose, may be either oil of vitriol, aqua-fortis, or spirit of salt; but the last is preferable, as it will more effectually destroy the thread, when it is so weakened by the admixture of water as not to have any effect on the oil of the painting: whichever is used, it is necessary they should be properly diluted with water; to find the due proportion of which, it is expedient to make some previous trials; and when they are found to be of such strength as to de. stroy the texture of thread, with out discolouring it, they are in the due state. When the corrod. ing fluid has done its office, a passage must be made through the border of wax at one end of it; and the fluid must be poured off, by inclining the table in the requisite manner; and the remaining part must be washed away, by putting repeated quantities of fresh water upon the cloth. The threads of the cloth must then be carefully picked out till the whole be taken away but if any part be found to adhere, all kind of violence, even in the least degree, must be avoided in removing them: instead of which, they should be again touched by means of a pencil, with the corrosive fluid less diluted than before, till they will readily come off from the paint. reverse surface of the painting, be. ing thus wholly freed from the old cloth, must be then washed with water by means of a sponge, till the corroding fluid employed be thoroughly cleansed away when being wiped with a soft sponge till all the moisture that may be collected by that means be taken off, it must be left till it be perfectly dry. In the mean time a The new |