is more successful in vindicating his royal mistress from the charge of betraying the interests of her country to family considerations. Indeed, of this accusation, so vehemently urged, and so frequently reiterated by the demagogues of the revolution, we have never seen any thing approaching to proof; and it is in the highest degree improbable.

The parts of this work which relate to the queen are very interesting; and the narrative of political affairs is only irksome because it has been so often told. As to the real truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, respecting the ill fated Maria Antoinetta, we suppose that we are not yet to obtain it. For us it is in course im possible to pronounce it, or to gain it even by comparing different accounts. We have readily inserted a number of those statements which

not tell all; and these relations, as we have already observed, and as our quotations prove, are highly honourable to the object of the writer's adoration. It is, however, obvious to remark, that the admission of some virtues implies not the exclusion of all crimes; and that those feelings of the heart, which are here attributed to the late queen of France, are not incompatible with that indulgence of the passions which has by others been ascribed to her. M. Weber's devo tion has induced him to delineate a goddess, and the malignity of political enemies has excited them to paint a demon. The truth, as in other cases, most probably lies between the two

extremes :

"The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together. Our virtues would be proud, if our faults whipped them not; and our crimes would de

virtues."

SHAKSPEARE, All's well that Ends well.

HUMAN nature in every state is an object of rational inquiry: polished nations delight us by their refinements, savage tribes excite our curiosity by their rudeness; man seems to approach to the nature of angels here, while there the difference between man and brute is scarcely perceptible. Which of these extremes is most natural?-that in which every faculty of his mind is exalted, and the soul triumphs, as it were, over the tabernacle of clay; or that in which the clay fabrick envelopes completely the ethereal inhabitant, and man is evidently allied to the dust of the earth? If man was formerly a demigod, the mighty is sadly fallen; if he was formerly a brute, he is wonderfully improved by

his diligence, and is become no unworthy spectacle to beings of a supeiour class. Angels may well

-Admire such wit in human shape, And show a NEWTON as we show an ape.

It is probable, that if we could examine the history of the world completely, we should find nations, as well as individuals, formed by circumstances either to honour and dignity, or to depravity and disgrace. The triumphs of a single hero have often been the means of spreading calamity among thousands and tens of thousands of his fellow men; and while the loud clarions have proclaimed his triumphs, the sighs of suffering humanity, the desolations that have marked his course, the privations under which the vanquished

have sunk, have appealed to heaven against him, in clamours far louder than those re-echoed around his throne. The effects of such convulsions we discover in the expatriation of various tribes, and in their migrations to distant lands. Such appears to have been the origin of those roving families, that, happily for our country, seldom go in bodies sufficiently numerous to disturb the publick peace, though they pilfer what ever their hands can reach, as individuals, or in groups terrify the lonely traveller, now and then, into acts of involuntary charity. On the continent, their depredations are not always equally moderate. They do mischief on a larger scale, and have been known to require the interposition of a military force to reduce them to submission.

We have very little doubt of the Gipsies being a cast of the population of India; and whoever has perused Dr. Buchanan's Travels in Mysore with attention, will find sundry tribes to which they bear a marked resemblance. We may add, that some of our officers, returned from India, have readily understood the language used by this people, and have been understood by them Such is our information, from competent authority. The hint may be pursued by whoever desires conviction on the subject. This is the opinion also of M Grellmann, who has compiled a vocabulary of the Gipsy language, the words of which he compares with the Sanscrit, and other dialects of Hisdoostan. He supposes, with great probability, that these tribes were expelled from their original country by the famous Timur Beg, in 1401.-[How far did Timur penetrate into Hindoostan ?] -They first appeared in Germany about 1407, and they are now found in all countries of Europe. Their numbers cannot be less than 7 or

800,000 persons. Their manners are every where unsettled, sordid, thievish, rude, idle, and profligate. They are ignorant, cunning, adroit,

VOL. II.

even ingenious, yet unwilling to work. Their tempers are hasty and violent. They are cowardly, some say cruel; and though they have chiefs to whom they submit, yet they pay little or no obedience to law; and all the endeavours of the governing powers, wherever they reside, cannot make them good soldiers, agriculturists, or craftsmen. They are a people apart, and apart they are likely to continue.

The volume before us has already appeared in an English dress. We remember it many years ago. The title may serve as an analysis of it. We shall do no more than transcribe a few extracts, some of which may contribute to increase the caution of our readers, should they ever have any intercourse with Gipsies.

"The art of goldwashing is brought to much greater perfection in Transylvania. In the description of the process adopted in that country, it is said that all the rivers, brooks, and even the pools which the rain forms, produce gold. Of these the river Aranyosh is the richest, insomuch that the historians have compared it the Wallachians, who live by the rivers, to the Tagus and Pactolus. Excepting the goldwashers consist chiefly of Gipsies. They can judge with the greatest certitude where to wash to advantage. The apparatus used by them for this work is a crooked board, four or five feet long, by two or three broad, generally provided with a wooden rim on each side. Over this board they spread a woollen cloth, and scatter the gold-sand, mixed with water, upon it. The small grains of the metal remain sticking to the cloth which they afterwards wash in a vessel of water, and then separate the gold by means of the trough. When larger particles of sand are found in their washing, they make deeper channels in the middle of their crooked boards, to stop the small pieces as they roll down. They closely examine these small stones, and some are frequently found to have solid gold fixed in them."

"In the year 1557, during the troubles. in Zapoly, the castle of Nagy Ida, in the county of Abauywar, was in danger of being besieged and taken by the imperial troops. Francis Von Perenyi, who had the command, being short of men, was obliged to have recourse to the Gipsies,

N

of whom he collected a thousand. These

he furnished with proper means of defence, and stationed them in the outworks, keeping his own small complement of men to garrison the citadel. The Gipsies imagined that they should be perfectly free from annoyance behind their intrenchments, and therefore went coura geously to their post. Every thing was in order when the enemy arrived, and the storm commenced. The Gipsies, behind their fortifications, supported the attack with so much more resolution than was expected, returning the enemy's fire with such alacrity, that the assailants, little suspecting who were the defendants, were actually retreating. They had hardly quitted their ground, when the conquerors, elated with joy on their victory, crept out of their holes, crying after them: Go and be hanged, you rascals! Thank God we had no more powder and shot, or we would have played the very devil with you!'-'What!' replied the retiring besiegers, as they turned about, and, to their great astonishment, instead of regular troops, discovered a motley Gipsy tribe, are you the heroes? is it so with you?' Immediately wheeling about to the left, sword in hand, they drove the black crew back to their works, forced their way after, and in a few minutes totally

subdued them."

This history shows sufficiently the inaptitude of Gipsies for a military life; yet in some Hungarian regiments, one eighth of the corps is of this cast. Equal difficulty attends the supposition that they will ever produce men of learning; since they have no letters. They are also strangers to religion, and religious rites. They suffer their children to undergo baptism several times, if the prospect of profit presents itself. However, they appear to be fond of their children. We are not willing to enlarge on the vices and horrid crimes imputed to them. After all, the strangest circumstance attending this people is, the attention paid to their jargon and predictions by the credulous among ourselves. That to these evidently ignorant wanderers should be attributed the faculty of foreknowledge, a faculty from which truly wise men shrink, must be considered as a folly in which our nation is not singular, and little other than a reproach on the human mind itself.

THE first in this list is a very interesting paper. It consists only of a few pages; but the facts it contains are curious; and it leads to the consideration of a subject, which has excited a good deal of attention in the metropolis, and is soon, it is said, to undergo a parliamentary discussion. We have neither the power nor the wish to prejudge the cause; nor would we willingly hurt the feelings of any individual. Our object is little more than a simple statement

of facts. We have witnessed some obscure attempts to light with gas, that did not succeed. And we have read pamphlets on the subject, circulated, perhaps, to allure subscribers, which are as full of extravagance as they are void of science. But, in spite of these failures, and amidst all the nonsense that has been published, and all the ridicule, in a great measure merited, that has been thrown on some of the projects, still we think there is discernible a basis

of sound and practicable improve ment, to the development of which a small portion of our time may be usefully devoted.

As the subject has been involved in much confusion, and, to many of our readers, must be altogether new, we shall first endeavour to state, in a brief and popular way, the chymical composition of coal, before we detail the new applications that are proposed to be made of its ingredi

ents.

Pit-coal exists in this island in strata, which, as far as concerns the hundredth generation after us, may be pronounced inexhaustible; and is so admirably adapted, both for domestick purposes and the uses of the arts, that it is justly regarded as a most essential constituent of our national wealth. When exposed to heat, as we see it every day in our grates, it is manifestly composed of a fixed base of carbonaceous matter, and a variety of evaporable substances, which are driven off in the form of smoke and flame. But, instead of being consumed in this open way, the coal may be distilled, and these evaporable matters collected in proper vessels, and examined. They are then found to contain, besides a considerable quantity of matter, which is condensed by cold into tar and alkaline liquor, an invisible elastick fluid, or gas, which no cold nor effusion of water can condense or absorb. It is a compound of two highly inflammable gases, which chymists call the light hydrocarbonate, and the heavy hydrocarbonate, or olefiant gas; and this mixture burns with a very brilliant and beautiful light. It is this gas which furnishes the flame in our common fires;* but its beauty is there

*There are, in fact, according to Mr. Davy, three inflammable gases given out in our fires-the two we have mentioned, and the gaseous oxide of carbon, which is known by its blue flame. They are all distinctly perceptible. The light hydrocarbonate forms the main body of the flame; the olefiant appears in brilliant

impaired by the unavoidable alloy of smoky vapour. A separation, however, may be effected by the distilling process, which leaves the pure aërial fluid such as we have described. All the new plans for lighting with coal gas, proceed upon the principle of purifying this fluid, collecting it in reservoirs, and distributing it in tubes. From the furnace where the coal is distilled, a main pipe may convey all the evaporable matter into a large reservoir or gasometer, where, by various means, chiefly, we believe, by washing with water, it may be freed from impurities, and propa gated through the tubes in every direction by its own elasticity. If nothing confine it, it will issue from the extremities in an equable flow, but still invisible, till a lighted taper be applied, when it bursts into flame, and continues to burn as long as the gas is supplied. Mr. Accum found, by a comparison of shadows, in the manner suggested by count Rumford, that the light of a gas flame is to that of an equal-sized flame of a candle or lamp as 3 to 1;* or, in other words, that to light up a certain space, one gas flame will give as much light as three candles burning with a flame of equal size. The products of the combustion are in both cases the same-water and carbonick acid gas; but with this mate

jets; and the gaseous oxide is occasionally seen near the root of the flame, or in con. tact with the coal. It is possible that a small portion of this oxide may mix with prepared gas.

* We should have suspected the proportion was overrated, had not the same accurate experimenters assured us, "that 500 cubick inches of gas, burnt from the orifice of a jet, so as to produce a flame equal in size to that of an ordinary candle, consumed 1076 cubick inches of oxygene gas in the same time that a candle kept burning in the best possible manner, consumed only 279. And we know, that the intensity of any artificial light depends on the rapidity with which oxygene is absorbed. See Appendix to Report of the Committee, &c.

rial difference, that candles frequently, and lamps always, give out a quantity of smoke and soot; whereas the combustion of the gas is perfect, and leaves no sensible residuumnothing that can soil the most delicate white. Its effects on the air of a room are, therefore, less insalubrious than those of a candle, since the only noxious substance it yields is carbonick acid gas; and this it produces in smaller quantity than our common lights. From the inflamma ble properties of the gas, explosions, bursting of tubes, and other dangers might be apprehended. But there is no ground for such fears. On the contrary, nothing can be more simple or easy in the management The gas may be confined by a stop-cock with perfect safety, and issued as ⚫occasion requires. When it is exhausted, the flame goes out ás quietly as the flame of a candle does, when the tallow is spent.

Such are the nature and properties of this curious and beautiful substance, when examined in a small way in the laboratory of the chymist. But it frequently happens, that theories perfectly just and elegant in themselves, and confirmed by expements on a small scale, with a nice apparatus and skilful management, are yet, when attempted in the large and wholesale way utterly incapable of being reduced to practice; and thus, many a promising plan has ended with performing nothing. But, in the case before us, there are facts, of the description we want, to be collected from different quarters, and furnished by individuals unconnected with each other, which fully verify the anticipations of theory, and the conclusions of more limited experi

ment

The first, and by far the most va luable of these facts, is contained in Mr. Murdoch's paper; the chief object of which is to describe the mode of lighting the cotton-mill of Messrs. Philips and Lee, at Manchester. From this account we learn, that

"the whole of the rooms of this, the most extensive cotton mill in the kingdom, with the counting house and store-room, and the adjacent dwelling house of Mr. Lee, are now, and have been for several years, lighted up with the gas from coal, to the exclusion of all other artificial light." The manner in which the gas is procured and distributed, we shall quote in his own words.

"The coal is distilled in large iron retorts, which, during the winter are kept constantly at work, except during the intervals of charging; and the gas, as it arises from them, is conveyed by iron pipes into large reservoirs or gasometers, where it is washed and purified, previous to its being conveyed through other pipes, called mains, to the mill. These mains branch off into a variety of ramifications, forming a length of several miles, and diminish in size as the quantity of gas to be passed through them becomes less. The burners, where the gas is consumed, are connected with the above mains by short tubes, each of which is furnished with a cock, to regulate the admission of gas to each burner, and to shut it totally off when requisite. This latter operation may likewise be instantaneously performed throughout the whole of the burners in each room, by turning a cock, with which each main is provided, near its entrance into the

:

*

By a comparison of shadows, the whole light of the gas flames used dles of 6 to the lib. We cannot enwas found equal to that of 2500 canter into all the items of expense they are given with the most scrupu lous accuracy; and the economical The cost of the cannel coal which he statement for one year stands thus. used to furnish the gas, is 25l. and of common coal to carbonize it, duct the value of the coke, 931. and 201. in all, 1457. from which deto 527. The interest of capital sunk in the whole expense in coal is reduced the apparatus, with a liberal allowance for tear and wear, is stated at 550%. making the total expense of lighting the manufactory about 600%. a year. That of candles, to give the

* Vide Nicholson's Philosophical Journal for October last.