not the nation, in these times of benevolence and liberalism, be stirred up to shew them some favour? Lift up your voice, and all London, at least, will hear-shall hear-must hear, or be punished." The whole assembly then united in singing, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow;" &c. &c. after which they deliberately retired deeply impressed, and evidently animated with delight, at the proceedings of the day. GLEANINGS. The New Year in China -The Chinese make their new year commence on the new moon nearest to the time when the sun's place is in the 15th degree of Aquarius. It is the greatest festival observed in the empire. Both the government and the people, rich and poor, take a longer or shorter respite from their cares and their labours at the new year. The last day of the old year is an anxious time to all debtors and creditors, for it is the great pay-day, and those who cannot pay are abused and insulted, and often have the furniture of their houses all smashed to pieces by their desperate creditors. On the 20th of the 12th moon, by an order from the Court, all the seals of office throughout the empire are locked up, and not opened till the 20th of the first moon. By this arrangement there are thirty days of rest from the ordinary official business of government. They attend, however, to extraordinary cases. During the last few days of the old year, the people perform various domestic rites. On one evening they sweep clean the furnace and the hearth, and worship the god of their domestic fires. On new year's eve they perfume hot water with the leaves of wongpe and pumelo trees, and hathe in it. At midnight they arise and dress in the best clothes and caps they can procure; then, towards heaven, kneel down and perform the great imperial ceremony of knocking the forehead on the ground thrice three times. Next they illuminate as splendidly as they can, and pray for felicity towards some domestic idol. Then they visit all the gods in the surrounding temples, burn candles, incense, gilt paper, make bows, and prostrate pray. These services to the gods being finished, they sally forth about day-light in all directions to visit friends and neighbours, leaving a red paper card at each house some stay at home to receive visitors. In the house, sons and daughters, servants and slaves, all dress and appear before the heads of the family, to congratulate them on the new year. After new year's day, drinking and carousing, visiting and feasting, idleness and dissipation, continue for weeks. All shops are shut, and workmen idle for a longer or shorter period, according to the necessities or the habits of the several parties. It is in Canton generally a month before the business of life returns to its ordinary channel.- Extracts from Canton Journal, Indian Notion of the Deluge.-Like most savage nations, the American Indians had a tradition concerning the universal deluge, and it is singular how the human mind, in its natural state, is apt to account, by trivial and familiar causes, for great events. They said, that there once lived in an island a mighty cacique, who slew his son for conspiring against him. He afterwards collected his bones, picked and preserved them in a gourd, as was the custom of the natives with the relics of their friends. On a subsequent day, the cacique and his wife opened the gourd, to contemptate the bones of their son, when, to their astonishment, several fish, both great and small, leaped out. Upon this the cacique closed the gourd, and placed it on the top of his house, boasting that he had the sea shut up within it, and could have fish whenever he pleased. Four brothers, however, born at the same birth, and curious intermeddlers, hearing of this gourd, came during the absence of the cacique to peep into it. In their carelessness they suffered it to fall upon the ground, when it was dashed to pieces, and there issued forth a mighty flood, with dolphins and sharks, and great tumbling whales, and the water spread until it overflowed the earth, and formed the ocean, leaving only the tops of the mountains uncovered, which are the present islands. The Three Races of Men.-The following luminous dissertation on an obscure subject was delivered in a solemn assembly of the Oneida Sachems. "Before man existed there were three great and good spirits, of whom one was superior to the other two, and is emphatically called the great spirit and the good spirit. At a certain time one exalted being said to one of the others, Make a man.' He obeyed, and taking chalk, formed a paste of it, and moulding it into the human shape, infused into it the animating principle, and brought it to the great spirit. Ile, after surveying it, said,This is too white.' He then directed the other to make a trial of his skill. Accordingly, taking charcoal, he pursued the same process, and brought the result to the great spirit, who, after surveying it, said, It is too black." Then said the great spirit, I will now try myself," and taking red earth, he formed a human being in the same manner, surveyed it, and said, This is a proper man.' These three, as you will naturally antici pate, were the original ancestors of all the white, black, and red men of our race."-Dwight's Travels in New York. Use of Publicly Endowed Seminaries of Learning.— A man without the aid of endowments will gais a livelihood by teaching any thing, that is of obvious application either to an act or calling, which is gain. ful. But for all that is arduous and sublime in ma thematics, for the methods of higher calculus, the uses of which lie far remote, or are wholly invisible to the general understanding, for those lofty devices and inventions of analysis, by which we hope to accomplish solutions hitherto impracticable, or to unravel mysteries in nature, which have yet eluded the keenest search of philosophy-for all these, we contend, there is no such public request, as would foster the growth and production of them to the extent that is at all desirable. There have been thousauds in our land, the enamoured votaries of science, who never would have felt the generous inspiration, had it not been evoked by the eloquence and the demonstrations of an academic chair, attended by them not of free will, but in conformity to those qualifying statutes, which have been so much complained of. The latent spark that was in them would have still remained in its dormancy, had it not been for the kindred touch which developed it. Philo sophy at length became the mistress of their affections, but not till they were made to see her engaging mien, and to hear the music of her voice. It was a good thing to have conducted them, even though as it were by the hand of violence, along the way of her fascinations.-Dr. Chalmers, on Ecclesiastical Endows ments. Sale of Children by their Mothers-Malabar children are generally a very cheap commodity at Anjengo. At the end of the rainy season, when there was no particular scarcity in the interior country (says Mr. Forbes, in his Oriental Memoirs,) I purchased a boy and girl, of about eight or nine years of age, as a present to a lady at Bombay, for less money than a couple of pigs in England. I bought the young couple, laid in two months provision of rice and salt fish for their voyage, and gave to each of them four changes of cotton garments, all for the sum of twenty rupees, or fifty shillings. English humanity must not pass a censure on this transaction! It was a happy purchase for the children; they were relieved from hunger and nakedness, and sent to an amiable mistress, who brought them up tenderly, and, on leaving India, provided for their future comfort; whereas, had I refused to buy them, they would assuredly have been sold to another, and probably have experienced a miserable bondage with some Portuguese Christian, whom we do not reckon among the most merciful task-masters. A circumstance of this kind happened to myself. Sitting one morning in my veranda, a young fish woman brought a basket of mullets for sale; while the servant was disposing of them, she asked me to purchase a fine boy, two years of age, then in her arms. On my upbraiding her for want of maternal affection, she replied, with a smile, that she expected another in a few weeks, and as she could not manage two, she made me the first offer of her boy, whom she would part with for a rupee. She came a few days afterwards, with a basket of fish, but had just sold her child to Signior Manuel Rodriguez, the Portuguese linguist; who, though a man of property and a Christian, had thought it necessary to lower the price to half a rupee. Thus did this young wo man, without remorse, dispose of an only child for fifteen-pence. The Slave Trade.-According to accounts from Martinique, to the 9th of February, 1829, it appears that this abominable and nefarious trathic in humaa beings is still carried on to a great extent in that colony. Seven vessels had arrived since the begining of November, in the following order :-Nov. 4, 1828, one vessel with 385 slaves; Nov. 12, one vessel, 500 slaves; Nov. 25, one vessel, £12 slaves; Dec. 4. one vessel, 130 slaves; Dec. 10, one vessel, 200 slaves; Dec. 13, one vessel. 150 slaves; Jan. 5, 1823, one vessel, 114 slaves. Total, in less than three months, 1721 slaves. It appears that the point of departure is St. Thomas's Island, and that the slave ships belong to the colony.-About 30 of the poor negroes were dead or sick upon their arrival, and no trouble was taken to bury the greater part of them. Slavery.-The Rev. Dr Philip, a missionary from Africa, stated at a public meeting held about the middle of June, 1829, in Manchester, that £20,000 were annually spent by the West Indian slave proprietors upon the venal part of the London press, for the purpose of advocating the present inhuman system; and that there were in the House of Commons, 67 proprietors of slaves, 20 holders of West Indian bonds, and 200 individuals who were connected with slave proprietors by marriage or otherwise. Test of Philosophy.-If you wish to know whether any body is superior to the prejudices of the world, ask him to carry a parcel for you. Diogenes Laer tins tells us a story of his great namesake, that being Once requested by a certain young gentleman to teach him philosophy, he gave him a piece of cheese to carry; upon which the other immediately declined to receive his instructions. St. Pancras.-The history of the old church of Pancras is not a little singular-it is one of the oldest in Middlesex, and the parish it belongs to is one of the largest, being eighteen miles in circumference. The name was sent from Rome by the Pope expressly for this church, which has the only general Catholic burial ground in Englaud, and mass is daily said at St. Peter's at Rome, for the repose of the souls of the faithful whose bodies are deposited therein; it was also the last Church in England whose bell tolled for mass, or in which any Catholic rites were celebrated. Gypsies.-It may appear incredible to those who have not thought upon the subject, that, upon the lowest calculation, there are at present wandering about this kingdom no less than 12,000. Sir P. Laurie and Sir R. Birnie.-It is, perhaps, not generally known, that Sir P. Laurie, one of the aldermoen of London, and Sir Richard Birnie, the head police magistrate in England, are both natives of Scotland, and both commenced their career together in London as apprentice saddlers, with Mr. Godsman, son of that Captain Godsman whose name is as familiar as a household word in Inverness, from the circumstance of his having formed one of the most beautiful and romantic walks in the vicinity of that town.-Inverness Courier. Chinese Justice.-The Chinese have no idea of making a distinction between premeditated and accidental murder, as was fatally exemplified some years ago, in the case of a poor gunner belonging to an Indiaman, who was given up because the wad of a gun, fired by the command of an officer, happened to strike a native in a boat at some distance, and occasioned his death. By the Chinese laws, if the person survives the accident forty days, and after that period dies, even in consequence of the same accident, yet it is not considered murder. When any case of this kind occurs, it is best to secure the wounded Chinaman, and have him under the care of Europeans during that space of time; for the Chinese would otherwise, perhaps, bring some man who had died a natural death in the interval, and swear that he was the person who died of the accident, in hope of extorting a sum of money.-Naval and Military Magasine, No. 4. Gout.-To a spoonful of pure English gin, add three tea spoonsful of flour of sulphur. Let this be taken over night, and the pain will gradually cease till it is entirely removed. Blenheim-house.-The once proud seat of the illustrious Marlborough, presents now but a melancholy and desolate appearance to the visitor. The courtyards are overgrown with grass, and the wall-flower has introduced itself beneath the colonnade. Many of the windows are broken-and the ripples of the beautiful lake are intercepted by weeds, which luxuriate in all the perfection of undisturbed possession, -Berks Chronicle. Interesting to Florists.-The carnation fancier will be glad to hear of an effectual preventive against the fiy, which has hitherto proved so injurious to this beautiful flower:-Take some black pepper, ground very fine, and dredge it lightly over the leaves and stalk whilst the dew is on the plant. Newly discovered Volcano.-A volcano has been discovered in New South Wales, in the direction of Hunter's River, emitting in the day-time a dense volume of flame mingled with smoke, and in the night-time a sulphureous bluish column of flame. It does not appear as if an eruption had yet taken place, and the crater seems as if it were hourly extending wider and longer. As no lava has been discovered in the vicinity, and the natives express much astonishment at the phenomenon, it is reasonably inferred that this is its first appearance. Delicate Exercise.-"I have seen," says a French traveller, " yes, I have myself seen, two young ladies (of Rio) whose countenance wore the expres sion of mildness and benevolence, endeavour, by way of pastime, to cut, at a certain distance, with a whip, the face of a negro whom they had ordered not to stir from the spot. This exercise seemed to amuse them. I would mention their names, if their father, who came in after the first essay, had not severely reprimanded them for their cruelty.-Arago's Narrative of a Voyage round the World. Large Orange.-An orange, measuring nearly sixteen inches round, was lately plucked from a tree in the orchard of Mr. Mobbs, near Parramatta. Natural Phenomena.-In the immense mines of Viclizka, near Cracow, in Poland, is a large block of salt, called Lot's wife; by the moist or dry appearance of which the subterraneous inhabitants know the state of the weather above ground. Salt being pervious to the superabundant humidity of the atmosphere, before rain, becomes deliquescent; whilst marble, glass, and other impervious substances, become damp from resisting the moisture deposited on the surface. Windows, doors, and drawers swell with humid air; and this known property has been pressed into the service of mechanics for splitting blocks of granite and making millstones. The report of guns, or the sound of bells and church clocks, heard at a great distance unusually clear, are signs of wind, or at least of a change; showing the atmosphere to be loaded with vapours, since dense bodies propagate sound better than rare. Dry stones and damp earth announce fine weather; but damp stones and dry earth the contrary. When the flame of a fire or a lamp burns steadily, it is serene weather; but if it flares or crackles, it indicates rain. Offensive smells from drains, sinks, or holes, attendant on the fall of the barometer, are occasioned by the diminished pressure of the atmosphere, allowing the sulphurated hydrogen and putrescent effluvia to expand from their low abodes; and, consequently, indicate a change of weather. Tanned leather, and all other skins, particularly those of sea-animals, grow flaccid from the same eause; whilst maps and charts, pasted on canvass, relax. Hydrophobia.-This disease is not common to dogs in all climates; according to Mr. Barrow, canine madness is unknown in South Africa. Other tempo. rary diseases are oftentimes mistaken for this fearful malady; and we, therefore, subjoin the symptoms of hydrophobia, as described by MM. Chaussier and Orfila, who have written a scientific work on this disorder:-"A dog at the commencement of madness is sick, languishing, and more dull than usual. He seeks obscurity, remains in a corner, does not bark, but growls continually at strangers, and, without any apparent cause, refuses to eat or drink. His gait is unsteady, nearly resembling that of a man almost asleep. At the end of three or four days, he abandons his dwelling, roving continually in every direction: he walks or runs as if tipsy, and frequently falls. His hair is bristled up; his eyes haggard, fixed, and sparkling; his head hangs down; his mouth is open and full of frothy slaver; his tongue hangs out, and his tail between his legs. He has, for the most part, but not always, a horror of water, the sight of which seems, generally, to redouble his sufferings. He experiences from time to time transports of fury, and endeavours to bite every object which presents itself, not even excepting his master, whom indeed he begins not to recognize. Light and lively colours greatly increase his rage. At the end of thirty or thirty-six hours he dies in convulsions." After various remedies for this terrible malady have been tried in vain, it seems now agreed that cutting or burning out the bitten part is the only one to be relied on.-The Menageries. Farmers' Wives and Daughters.-Would it not be better if farmers' wives and daughters would withdraw their attention a little from the forte piano, (the strong and sweet,) and from the soft and seducing novels of Sir Walter Scott, and other philosophers of that description? If I were the owner of a great landed estate, I would find the means, I warrant them, of compelling them to keep servants in the house, and thus prevent the pauperism, and thieving, and poaching, that are now going on all over the country. It is inconvenient to a lady, and to young ladies, to have to provide victuals and drink for a parcel of fellows in nail shoes. These fellows in nail shoes do the work, however, and it is the bounden duty of landlords to take care that they have their due and honest share of the produce of the land. It is troublesome to board men in the house. Is it not troublesome to me, then? Have I not some little matters to do? Have I nothing to think about but the lodging and boarding of these men? A plenty; but it is my duty, and, indeed, it is my pleasure, to see that they are thus provided for, and to rescue them from the numerous temptations to which they would be exposed out of the house, and to the endless extortions that would be practised upon them, if they were lodging in holes here and there in the neighbourhood of the farm. Wives indeed! Where is a young farmer to find a wife amongst the novel-reading and musicing things that are stuck up in carpeted parlours with bells to call servants to them? Rather than have one of these, even with the few hundreds or thousands that a foolish father may have raked together for her, I, for my part, if I were a young farmer, just going to enter upon my business, would take my best horse and ride him to death in search of a girl that gets up by day-light, milks her cows before breakfast, and knows how to bake, salt bacon, and brew. Without this, a woman in a farm-house is a species of the pestilence; so far from being a source of pleasure, she is a constant source of annoyance; she is a "trouble," indeed, and besides the trouble, the expense of her is enormous.-Cobbett. Zoological Gardens.-The number of visitors to the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, last year, was 112,000, and the receipts amounted to £12,358. The Society has purchased 33 acres of ground near Kingston, for the purpose of breeding foreign animals. Chinese Temples.-There are in China 1560 temples dedicated to Confucius. At the spring and autumnal sacrifices, it is calculated that there are offered to him 27,000 pigs. 5,800 sheep, 2,800 deer, 27,000 rabbits, besides 27,000 pieces of silk. English Monarchs.-It is remarkable that among the thirty-two sovereigns who have sat on the English throne since William the Conqueror, although each of the eleven months has witnessed the accession of one or more, the month of May has not been so fortunate, none having ascended the throne within its limits. The Advantages of going to Law.-Going to law has this Advantage, that it does not simply settle disputes, but in many cases effectually takes from the parties the cause of litigation, and the power of future contention. The case stated in the following lines highly exemplifies the truth of the position : An Upper and a Lower Mill Fell out about their water: To war they went, that is, to law, Resolved to give no quarter. A lawyer was by each engaged; When fees grew slack, the war they waged The heavy costs remaining still, York Minster.-Timber to the amount of £5000 has been granted by government for York Minster; and to lessen the expense of carriage, we understand the roof will be finished at the dock-yards at Chatham. Local Memory.-Magliabechi, the Florentine librarian, remembered every book in every collection of which he had once seen a catalogue; and when he had seen a library, he remembered the place of every book in every book case. In regard to the books he had read, his memory was such, that in more than ten thousand volumes, he could refer to the particular volume or page where any subject, argument, or suggestion was to be found; so that at last he was constantly referred to by learned men, as a kind of index to the stores of almost every library in Europe. New Discovery in the Preparation of Flar.-A French paper states, that an inhabitant of Chateau-Thierry has discovered a mode of giving to prepared hemp and flax the fineness, softness, and whiteness of cotton, by impregnating those substances with oil, and then exposing them, during fifteen or twenty days, to the action of frost, between two layers of snow. By this means all the inconvenience of the ordinary and tedious process of steeping them in stagnant water will be avoided. Thrashing Machine.-A portable thrashing machine has been invented by Mr. Rider, a mechanic and small farmer, who resides upon the Wallop estate, in the parish of Westbury, Wilts. The inventor is recommended not to exhibit the machine publicly until he has obtained a patent, or entered a caveat for it. The principle of action is simple, and it is calculated that with the power of one man it will make three hundred effectual strokes in one minute. If the experiment proves successful (and it will be made publicly) the utility of this machine will be great to farmers who have either uplands or lands at a distance from their farms, as this machine can be removed with as much facility as a winnowing machine, and its cost will not exceed 8. or 107. Literary Notices. Just Published. History of the South Sea Islands, in 2 vols. 8vo with eight plates and two maps, half-bound in cloth, entitled Polynesian Researches, during a residence of nearly Six Years in the South Sea Islands. Including De scriptions of the Natural History and Scenery of the Islands-with Remarks on the History, Mythology, Traditions, Government, Arts, Manners, and Cus toms of the Inhabitants. By W. Ellis, Missionary to the Society and Sandwich Islands. Also, by the same Author, in one vol. with nine plates and two maps, Narrative of a Tour through Hawaii, or Owhyhee. In one vol. 12mo. with a map and three engravings, Journal of a Residence in the Sandwich Islands, during the Years 1823, 1924, and 1825. By C. S. Stewart. With an Introduction, and occasional Notes, by W. Ellis. Prospectus and Specimen of the Gardens and Menageries of the Zoological Society, with beautiful wood engravings. Fisher's National Portrait Gallery, No. IV. containing three superb engravings, and memoirs. Lancashire Illustrated, No. X.; and Ireland Illus trated, No. V. are also ready for delivery. The National Reader, a Selection of Exercises in Reading and Speaking. By John Pierpont, Compiler of the American First-Class Book. The Student's Algebra, with Notes and Observations. By John Darby. Morning and Evening Prayers, adapted for Family Worship. Christian Nobility, a Story. The Traveller's Prayer, a discourse on the Third Collect for Grace. By Adam Clarke, LL.D. &c. Aphorisms on the Assurance of Faith. By the Rev. William Cudworth. The Voice of Devotion, or a Course of Prayers for the private Use of Christians. A Concise System of Mechanics in Theory and Practice. By James Hay. The History of the Christian Church, from the First to the Nineteenth Century, in three vols. An Essay on the Phrenology of the Hindoos and Negroes. By James Montgomery, esq, with Strietures thereon. By Corden Thompson, M.D. The Rise, Progress, and Termination of Moham medism, a Discourse. By H. Forster Burder. M.A. The Nature and Duration of the Papal Apostacy, a Discourse. By Robert Vaughan. A Memorial, or Tribute of Praise to God. By Samuel Eyles Pierce. Philosophical Tables compiled from various Au thors, Ancient and Modern. Brief Account of the Colosseum in the Regent's Park, London. An Oration delivered before the Medico-Botanical Society of London, October, 1828. By John Frost, F.R.S. Edinburgh, F.L.S. &c. The New French Manual and Traveller's Compa nion. By Gabriel Surenne, F.A.S.E. Address of Earl Stanhope, President of the MedicoBotanical Society, at the Anniversary Dinner, Jaa. A Universal Prayer; Death; a Vision of Heaven; and a Vision of Hell, by Robert Montgomery, 3d ed. In the Press. The Heraldry of Crests, 18mo., containing nearly 4000 Crests, from engravings by the late I. P. Elven, with the bearers' names alphabetically arranged. A Compendious and Impartial View of the Prin cipal Events in the History of Great Britain and Ireland, in relation to the Roman Catholic Question. The Sabbath Minstrel, a collection of Original Hymns for Sunday Schools. By John Taylor.. Two Discourses on Public Berevements in the Christian Church. By John Sheppard, of Frome. An Embellished Chart of General History and Chronology. By F. H. Lightfoot. Preparing for Publication. A Volume of Sermons. By Dr. Wardlaw of Glasgow. Thesaurus Ellipsium Latinarum, sive Vocum, quse in Sermone Latino suppressæ, indicantur, et ex præstantissimis Auctoribus illustrantur, cum Indi cibus Necessariis, auctore Elia Palairet, 1760. Reprinted by E. H. Barker, esq. of Thetford, Norfolk, with Corrections and Additions. LONDON: PRINTED AT THE CAXTON PRESS, BY H. FISHER, SON, AND CO. |