civil or political capacities, who entertain differences in their religious creeds? The practice of almost all nations proves the contrary. Let us not deceive ourselves: it is not possible that permanent advantage can arise from any measure, except that which shall restore the Catholics to the full enjoyment of equal rights with their fellow citizens." It is a strange mistake to suppose, that the Catholics of Ireland suffer under no grievances of magnitude sufficient to justify their reiterated complaints. The dreadful system of oppression and persecution, unhappily established in that Country on the basis of a revolution, justly stiled "glorious" in England, has indeed been shaken to its centre. But the slightest fragment of that atrocious code, must be regarded as a badge of hostile distinction; and when continued in defiance of earnest and solemn petitions, will suffice to make political antipathy and religious enthusiasm eternal. Laws of a severe nature still exist against converts Catholic religion. The Catholics cannot sit in parliament, they cannot hold any office, that of justice of the peace excepted, under the crown. They can hold no rank in the army above that of colonel, or in the navy above that of captain. Some prospec tive regulations also are obviously neces sary to relieve the mass of the Catholic population in the matter of tythes. In many districts of Ireland there are scarcely any protestants, and no service whatever is performed in the parochial churches, which exhibit the chilling aspect of decay and desolation; and throughout whose melancholy aisles no sound is heard but "the voice of time-disparting towers." The protestant incumbents reside at a distance, and if they ever appear it is only to demand their dues for the non-performance of their duties. Nor does this statement involve any personal reflection. It is the system which requires a change: and the protes tant clergy are doubtless, as a question of property, entitled to a full indemnification for any loss eventually incurred by the requisite modifications. Indeed in no case ought unoffending individuals to be made the victims of reform. But the system abstractedly considered is indefensible-it is monstrous. For, as it has been recently and pointedly asked, "what more glaring absurdity is it possible for the mind of man to conceive than that of a clergy without laity, pastors without flocks, teachers without hearers, shurches without congregations?" and Much during the present eventful 227 reign has been done, but much stili remains to be done, in order to conciliate the affection and deserve the gratitude of Catholic Ireland. Certain it is that the public mind, in this too long oppressed country, exhibits that scorn of meanness, that high sense of honour, that ardent enthusiasin, which constitute the primordial elements of national excellence; though from circumstances uniformly unpropitious, it has not been refined by civilization, nor illuminated by knowledge. No, it has been hardened by calamity, it has been made stern and sullen, and disdainful, from the consciousness of habitual and undeserved injury. Why then should we wonder if it occasi onally breaks out into acts of ferocity, or that passion is at times inflamed into madness! [The conclusion of this interesting communication shall be given in our next Number.] To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, HE introductory paragraph of T letter of your Correspondent, Mr. C. A. Busby, at page 24, of your last number, seems not unlikely to mislead some of your readers into the belief, that he stands alone as an architect, or the practice is new with such, of preparing models of houses and offices, &c. that they are consulted on the erection of, since this is by no means the case. In the office of my brother-in-law, Mr. Thomas Cundy, of Pimlico, I have on several occasions seen the models of large houses that he had designed, and was about to build for different persons; some of them, Iremember, were so contrived, that by taking off the roof and each floor in succession, or at any par ticular floor, the form, conveniences, and even some idea of the proposed ornaments of each room, or suite of such, might be obtained, as well as of the combined effect of the whole. I have also heard of the same being practised by other architects. In a window in Bondstreet, there has long been a public display of such models, I believe by an architect. I am far from wishing to insinuate, (as I do not know it) that Mr. Bushy may not have contrived or executed something different from, or even superior to what I have mentioned, but merely wish to guard against the impression of the practice being exclusively his.. J. FAREY. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. words into syllables, and to give the let ters in each syllable their proper sound all together.". Introduction to Mrs. Trimmer's Charity-school Spelling Book, Part II.: London, stereotyped and printed by D. Cock and Co. 75, Dean Street, Soho. It has been observed, I think with much truth, that in no respect does the present age differ more from any preceding one than in that of the improved modes of elemen tary instruction; but there are still a great many weeds remaining in our fields, and it behoves those who have the welfare of the rising generation at heart to pull up what they may find as they pass along. I have been led to this remark from look ing cursorily over the book the title of which I have quoted above. Upon a very small degree of attention to the manner in which words are uttered, it will be found that there is a simple and natural way of dividing syllables by the organs of speech, which it ought to be the object, as much as possible, of those who attempt to commit those divisions to paper, to follow and the nearer these divisions approach to that of speech the more casy must it be for the pupil to apprehend the actual sounds of the words. I shall not now enquire whether the definition of spelling above-quoted might not be improved, but shall merely request the reader to attend to a few words divided into syllables from Mrs. Trimmer's book. Words of Two Bi-shop Words af Three Bo-dy A-go-ny tive observation of the manner in which the following words are sounded by tole rably correct speakers, that the following is the way in which they ought to be divided : I Again: Mrs. Trimmer has not even at-. tended to her own method in some in stances; for the words Em-i-nent, En-emy, Riches, and sin-ew, she has divided as I have here written them; a proof how little attention has been paid to any rule: but perhaps some compositor forgot his manuscript before him, and in the simplicity of his understanding set up the letters right. I have marked both the accent and the quantity in the above division of syllables, but the quantity would be unnecessary in a charity-school spelling book; the accent is, I think, indispensable. In regard to the placing of the accent am afraid the authority of Johnson has done much mischief. In his dictionary he uniformly places it over the vowel, whether it be upon the vowel or the consonant, or, in other words, whether the syllable be long or short, than which can any thing be more injudicious, or tend more directly to mislead? Thus the accent is placed in his dictionary in the same situation over the a in Va'cate and in Eva'cuate, when it is evident that a in A-bo-mi-nate Vacate is long, and in Evacuate short: Ac-ti-vi-ty and so in an infinity of other words. Af-fi-ni-ty Now although, to the adept in philological As-tro-no-my criticism, these things are of very small Ce-re-mo-ny moment, yet to learners they are unquestionably of primary importance, and sometimes occasion a great waste of time; and therefore it is to be hoped that the improved dictionary of Johnson will not only be corrected in these particulars, but will also combine the essentials of inevery other dictionary now extant; cluding of course the mode of conveying the pronunciation of each word as attempted by Sheridan, Walker, and other lexicographers, without which it can hardly be said that a complete dictionary of our language is to be had, which at present is a great desideratum. Words of Four Now I would ask, Is this nature; or rather, is it not any thing but nature, and calculated to puzzle the learner, as well as defying both sound and common sense? I am aware that many compilers of spelling-books have divided words into syllables exactly in the same way as Mrs. Trimmer, but I would ask again, Is this nature: and are we therefore never to emancipate ourselves from leading-strings? I trust we are. I trust that the spirit of improvement now abroad will be infused into every branch of our domestic economy; that every intellectual process will be simplified; and that the literary, and consequently the moral, improvement of the lower orders will enable every EngJishman to exult in the true glory of his country. I think it will be found, upon an atten. 1 To return to Mrs. Trimmer's spellingbook, which we are told is stereotyped, I observe no less than five orthographical errors in the spelling lessons, viz. defering for deferring; horibly for horribly; magesty for majesty; shortned for shorten ed; 1814.] Meteorological Observations for 1812 and 1813. ed; and bannishing for banishing. How many more might be found through the whole book I am not prepared to say, as my attention has been principally directed to the list of words divided into syllables. My reasons for commenting upon the errors in this book arise, not because many other of our elementary books do not abound with them, but because it is a book now, I believe, universally put into the hands of children in all our national schools supported by the established clergy; and, therefore, it is of the utmost consequence, that such a book should be correct, as the circulation of it among the lower orders must be very great. Would it not be worthy the attention of those whom it may concern, the clergy in particular, to select a committee from their body to superintend the compilation of books of elementary instruction, and to take care that they are properly and correctly printed? I am persuaded, if Mrs. Trimmer's Spelling Book were thoroughly examined, it would not be found, by any means, the best, even of our present school-books, to be put into the hands of those for 299 whom it is designed. But a much better than any yet extant, might easily be compiled by a person of moderate capacity. The best Spelling Book which I have seen is Mavor's, as revised in the late editions. J. JENNINGS. Huntspill, Feb. 20, 1814. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, SIR. AVING omitted last year to give HA you a summary of the meteorologi cal observations for the year 1812, I shall now set down, in a tabular form, the leading facts as they refer to 1812 and 13, after which I shall collect the averages for 12 years, during which the journal has been kept with as much accuracy as possible, within a short distance of the metropolis. The observer trusts that the facts and observations thus recorded may serve as data for more extended tables, which may hereafter be given to the public, by some person qualified to reduce meteorology to a system founded on scientific principles. Average height of Average height of Quantity of rain in depth, in inches. 29.653 1.475 41.980 39.333 29.35 3.287 38.790 42.000 29.36 29.820 2.941 1.038 42.661 48.200 29.55 29.700 1.557 4.671 52.316 52.116 29.64 29.400 4.325 59.358 58.400 29.55 29.670 2.249 1.550 59.000 59.260 29.59 29.680 It will be seen from the above table. that the average temperatures for the whole years, 1812 and 1813, are nearly the same, the difference being a little less than 2 of a degree; but the variations in the different months are in some cases very considerable. The mean height of the barometer for 1812 was 29.5, and the quantity of rain fallen was,equal to 30.278 inches; in 1813 the barometer was 29.601, and the quantity of rain was less by nearly 3 inches, being only 27.684 inches in depth. MONTHLY MAG. No. 253. Tables of the Average Heights of the Barometer and Thermometer: of the Average Quantity of Rain for each-Year: of the State of the Wind and of the Atmosphere, from 1802 to 1813, both inclusive. 1802. 1803. 1804.1805. 1806.1807. 1803. 1809. 1810. 1811. 1812. 1813. Mean height of the barometer 29.707 29.778 29.873 29.864 29.815 29.740 29.72429.522 29.540 29.520 29.500 29.60 Mean height of the thermomet| 50.381| 50.309 50.650 48.00 50.17051.583 50.619 49.259 51.920 49.172 48.81 48.07 Quantity of rain fallen 23.348 26.395 34.000 25.000) 42.000 26.000 30.550 47.875 34.140 34.400 30.270 27.680 23 5 15 57 63 37 110 96 74 52 44 53 48 58 58 44 39 36 37 44 69 1814.] Cuvier's Memoirs of Buffon. The preceding table will scarcely need an explanation: the reader will observe that for 12 years the average height of the barometer is equal to 29.68 inches; of the thermometer 490.91, or very nearly 509; that the average quantity of rain is equal to 31.8 inches in depth. It should be observed, the observations of the first seven years were made at Camden Town, and of the remaining five on the south side of Highgate Hill. Between these two series a remarkable difference will be found in the heights of the barometer, (see Monthly Mag. vol. xxvii. p. 32,) for the seven years at Camden Town the average height was 29.786; for the five years at Highgate it has been 29.672. In regard to the temperature the average heat for the seven years at Camden Town 50.48; for the five years at 231 1802 :-81° Aug. 9, 17, 1805: 83. June 4 and 21, and at 85° June 25, 1804: -821 June 14, 1806:-93o July 14, 1808, and 80° June 25, 1810. The thermometer was as low as 14 Dec. 9, 1802:-10° Jan. 16, 1803:— 12° Dec. 24, 1804:-17° Feb. 2, 1805: -16° Jan. 15, 1807-15° Jan. 22, and 16° Feb. 15, 1808:—17° Jan. 18, 1809, and 15° Jan. 17, 1810. In the 12 years the hottest day was July 14th, 1808, the thermometer being 93°; nothing like this was remembered before. The coldest day was Jan. 1û, 1803, the barometer being 10o. Highgate. J. JOYCE. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. somewhere SIR, It has been 10. 444, making a full degree I asked by your corespondent, Lin difference in favour of the warmth of the lower situation. It will be seen that though the north winds prevail over the south, in the proportion of 22 to 15, yet those from the westerly points and south prevail over the north and easterly winds in the ration 216 to 149; and the due west to those due east as 74 to 37, or 2 to 1. The brilliant days exceed those in which there is rain or snow in proportion of 141 to (110+15) 125, and the fair to those that are cloudy and foggy as 54 to 37. The most remarkable Days for Heat and Cold during the last Twelve Years. --The thermometer stood at 83° July 3, MEMOIRS AND REMAINS ACCOUNT of the LIFE and WRITINGS of G EORGE LOUIS LECLERK, COUNT DE BUFFON, one of the most celebrated writers of the eighteenth century, was born at Montbar, in Burgun dy, on the 7th of September, 1707. His father, Benjamin Leclerk, was a counsellor of the parliament of Dijon; and being a man of considerable property, could leave to his children, to whom he had given an excellent education, the free choice of their profession and mode of life. While yet very young, Buffon accidentally formed an acquaintance with the Duke of Kingston, an English nobleman of the same age, whose tutor, a man of great learning, næus, (page 34 of your number for Fe- Kentish Town, March 11, 1814. OF EMINENT PERSONS, inspired him with a taste for the natural sciences. They travelled together through France and Italy; after which Buffon resided several months in England. For the purpose of perfecting himself in the English language, without neglecting the study of the sciences, he translated two celebrated works: Hales' Vegetable Statics, and Newton's Fluxions. By these translations, and particularly the prefaces prefixed to them, he first made himself known to the literary world. His own labours seem at that time to have been devoted to geometry, natural history, and rural economy; on which subjects he made a variety of experiments and investigations, the results of which were, from time to time, communicated to the Academy of Sciences, of which he had 2 H 3 bee |