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against the system as alike detrimental to the interest of the employer and the employed. We understand that extensive arrangements are being made for a great public meeting, to which the Right Honourable Lord Ashley, Honourable and Reverend Baptist Noel, and other influential gentlemen are to be invited.

66 LATE HOURS. We deplore, and we have, over and over again, exclaimed against the system of keeping shops open till late hours. The fault, however, is as much with the public as with the shopkeepers; when those who are presumed to be enlightened and influential, selfishly or blindly refuse to interfere about the evil, how can we expect that the parties who believe it a gain to them, will stop it? What should we say if we heard that employers in distant lands kept their slaves from fourteen to eighteen hours at a time, on their legs?"—Liverpool Mercury.

Literary and Scientific Institutions.

LIVERPOOL POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY.

Ar the monthly meeting of this society, which took place on Monday evening last, at the Royal Institution, Richard Vaughan Yates, Esq. in the chair; after the usual preliminary business of the society, a paper was read by Mr. Charles Smith, "On the means of supplying water to large towns, both ancient and modern." An abstract of this paper would not convey an idea of either its matter or merits. It was well written, and listened to with great attention. It was illustrated by numerous well-drawn diagrams. A paper was then read by Mr. John De La Haye, "On the construction of submarine railways." We subjoin a brief abstract of Mr. De La Haye's plan of procedure:

After briefly noticing the origin of the invention, he proceeded to explain the principle of his plan, the object of which is to construct wrought-iron tunnels, in separate divisions of 400 feet in length, each division being blocked up at both ends, with temporary frames of wood and iron; then sunk on the bed of the water, and afterwards connected, so as to render the whole as one building. The details of the method of opening a road through the water being different according to the locality, a description of the various operations may not be uninteresting. To construct a road through deep channel, he proposes to lay a flooring of wood the whole length of the road on the bed of the water; this flooring to be 28 feet wide, and 8 inches thick, and furnished with small longitudinal grooves. The divisions of the tube would be furnished with a flange on each side, and small wheels under it, and would be let down gradually, in such a manner as to permit the small wheels entering the grooves of the wooden flooring, so that the divisions might be shifted along the floor a few feet, for the purpose of connecting them; several wooden pillars are to be fastened to the wooden flooring, in order to guide each division in its descent, so that it might rest exactly on the centre of the floor. To obviate the inconvenience of filling them with water, he proposes to load the outer flanges with

stones, but not in sufficient number to cause the tube to sink, then to launch each division at sea, and after being towed to the required spot, to throw several pieces of cannon, or very large stones, fastened with chains across the arch of the division, in order to cause it to sink. The only work required to connect the divisions temporarily would be to pass an iron shaft, shaped at the end in the form of a screw, through the blockading frame of the division near the shore; by turning the shaft,' the screw end would enter eight inches in the blockading frame of the next division, and thus permit the shaft being drawn by horses, when the division would glide on the grooves, and the two ends brought one against the other. The ends of the divisions would be covered with wood, lined with vulcanized India rubber, so that when strongly pressed together, very little water could enter between, while the division would be permanently connected.

That part of the tunnel near the shore, he proposes should be sunk below the bed of the water, in order to protect it from the violence of the waves; while in rivers, he proposes to sink the whole of it in the soil, so that no impediment to the navigation of the river would be offered. To effect this, it is simply required to blast the bed of the river with gunpowder, until the soil would be completely shattered, when a part of the earth might be removed by means of machinery already in use: this might be done principally near the shore. The tunnel for a river would be simply an iron arch, that is, having neither floor nor flange, each division would be placed on the bed of the water, the water and air pumped out, in order to form a partial vacuum, when the air and water would exert a tremendous pressure on the iron arch, and cause it to enter the earth very rapidly, the edges of the tube being very thin, would cut through the shattered soil. When partly sunk, the earth should be excavated by boring a tunnel under the town as far as the edge of the water. After being excavated, the iron tunnel would sink to the required depth by the pressure of the water and its own weight. The iron floor would then be fastened to the tunnel, and the rails laid down, when it would be completed.

The cost of building iron tunnels, which are to be sixteen feet wide, was the next subject examined; he remarked that, as the iron would be sufficiently strong if one inch thick, only 5000 tons of iron would be required for one mile, or at £10 per ton, £50,000 per mile for the iron; and that, probably, the cost of constructing a tunnel of that description in the Mersey, including the tunnels on land, stations, &c., would be less than £250,000. He said that not only would the cost of constructing iron tunnels be considerably less than that of boring under the bed of the river, but that by his plan there would be an almost total absence of danger in opening the road; while if an attempt to bore under the Mersey was made, it was probable that the soil above would give way by the shock which it would receive in blasting. No objection having been brought against the plan, after the paper had been read, the president proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. De La Haye, for his explanation of a mode by which we may conquer the sea as well as the land. This proposition having been carried, the meeting broke up.

LIVERPOOL COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION.

AN interesting series of lectures on the "Subordinate Characters of Shakspeare," has been delivered in the above institution by C. Cowden Clarke, Esq., of London. Mr. Clarke took as the subject of two of the lectures, the plays of " Macbeth," "As you like it," "King Lear," and "All's well that Ends well."

In remarking upon the several characters in these, and the general scope of the plays, he showed himself to be deeply imbued with the spirit of his author, and brought out the actors in such strong relief, by the peculiar force of his elucidations, as could not fail to give to each a more distinct and perfect individuality in the minds of the audience, and thus, by imparting a clearer knowledge of Shakspeare, to make him more thoroughly appreciated and more keenly relished. The plays chosen for a third lecture were "Othello," and the "Twelfth Night, or What you will." The characters of Cassio and Iago, in the former, were very skilfully analysed, and the points of contrast between them strikingly brought out. The very vices of Cassio, it was remarked, would have made Iago a better man. The language of the latter was more gross than that put into the mouth of any other of Shakspeare's characters. The excessive coarseness of his mind was in complete accordance with his want of faith in all moral goodness, and his contempt of his species. The scene between Emilia and Desdemona, while the latter is undressing, although never acted, was perhaps the most delicate of all Shakspeare's writings. Let the fastidious critics go and read that, and then talk about the "immoralities” of Shakspeare. "The Twelfth Night" Mr. Clarke characterised as a complete round of fun and humour, from the time the comedy commences with the conversation between Malvolio and the others. In noticing Sir Andrew Aguecheek, the lecturer remarked, that there were three characters in Shakspeare which seemed, on a cursory observation, to be exactly alike, namely, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Shallow, and Slender; yet, on analysing them, they were all found to have their distinctive features. Shakspeare never presumed to borrow from himself without giving to each character its specific identity. Mr. Clarke concluded by reading some of the more humorous portions of the play, which, being delivered with great richness of gesticulation, had an irresistible effect.

We have much pleasure in calling the attention of our subscribers in London to some lectures now in course of delivery at the vestry of the Weigh-house Chapel, by members of a Mutual-Improvement Association connected therewith. The first lecture on London and its Antiquities" was delivered on Wednesday, the 20th ultimo, by Mr. F. I. Scudamore. We refrain from giving an abstract of this interesting lecture, which evinced very extensive reading, as, before the issue of this number of our Journal, it will have been published, and our readers may, if they please, procure it for themselves. We shall, however, give a notice of it, with a few extracts, in our July number.

John Hasler, Printer, 4, Crane court, Fleet street.

THE STUDENT.

RELIGIOUS TRUTHS.

"Have you children, or have you lived among children, and do you not know, that in all things, in food, in medicine, in all their doings and abstainings, they must believe, in order to acquire a reason for their belief? But so is it with religious truth for all men. These we must all learn as children. Unless ye believe ye cannot understand, and unless ye be humble, as children, ye not only will not, but ye cannot believe."-Coleridge's Aids to Reflection.

THE causes which lead to the reception or rejection of religious truths are worthy of our most serious investigation. They present us with a vein of inquiry fraught with the richest results, if diligently explored, and to none are these results so interesting and important as to young men. In young men the mental and moral powers are being rapidly developed; and upon the harmonious operation of the two, depends as much the welfare of society as their own individual happiness. The expanding intellect is, on the one hand, attempting to comprehend some of the sublime mysteries of existence; and, on the other hand, the heart is opened to receive, with cordiality, sentiments to which every noble feeling within warmly responds, striking as they do a chord that vibrates with the sweetest melody. Violence must be done to neither. "The heart," says Pascal, " has its aphorisms, as well as the understanding," and yet what the heart loves and venerates the understanding must approve. No emotion can be sustained unless sanctioned by the judgment; and even the religious sentiment must wither away and die, at least in a thoughtful mind, if it be not strengthened and refreshed by the approval of an enlightened intellect. The man must be perfect. Every faculty of his intellectual nature must be trained and developed to its utmost limit, and yet he must not be more strong in intellect than pure in heart.

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With young men these two powers are peculiarly liable to clash. With many, religious truths and feelings are warmly cherished, but the understanding is miserably dwarfed. They believe, and in this they do well, but they are furnished with no ground for their belief; and it is, perhaps, only because thought is stifled or never employed, that the affections so continually gain the mastery. Other young men are cast in a different mould. They are slaves to intellect; and that which cannot be narrowed to the compass of the understanding is rejected, even though in so doing they oppose every better feeling of their nature.

The reason in both cases is obvious; no regard is paid to the moral causes which coalesce with the intellectual in our reception of religious truth. The evil resulting from this, in the first, is not very detrimental, inasmuch as this class can consist only of those who are possessed of small mental powers, and who are consequently not likely to be injured by the acute objections of learned opponents. But to the second class of young men, the error into which they fall is as dangerous as it is glaring. They will not believe till they can understand, and they cannot understand till they believe. The truths of religion are not like the truths of science. To believe in the doctrines of Christianity as we believe in the law of gravitation, would be valueless. By the former we control the moral, by the latter merely the physical. By the former we are related to the spirits of our fellow-men, and to their one heavenly Father; by the latter we are but connected with the material universe. Deep, then, in our nature must the principles of Christianity be rooted. Not with the head, but with the heart, are we commanded to believe unto righteousness. The kingdom of heaven must, therefore, be entered by us as little children; and though the preaching of the cross may appear foolishness, we must remember that our wisdom, which causes it to seem so, is but relative. That the doctrines of Christianity are doctrines affecting the whole intelligent universe, and not merely that small portion which comes under our observation;-that we view the result, and, necessarily, cannot trace the causes and links in the vast chain of God's gracious dealings with his creatures these reflections should teach forcibly that the wisest plan is to ascertain the fact of God's revelation to mankind, and not foolishly and dogmatically, like wayward children, to say, We will not believe this is God's word, because we cannot reconcile its doctrines to our feeble understandings. We must

"Draw not our laws to Him, but His to ours."

It must, too, be our rejoicing that such is the case. The cheerful

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