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diterranean; cattle from Asturias and Gallicia, and fruit from the distant orchards of Andalusia and Valencia. With these disadvantages, manufactures can never flourish in Madrid; and, as to commerce, the mountains which form its barriers on the north and west, check its communications with half the peninsula, whilst the insignificant stream of Manzarares furnishes no facilities of transportation; none of any sort, indeed, except a supply of water for the accommodation of the washerwomen.

But though accident or caprice have alone given birth to Madrid, and though a city raised to wealth and power must necessarily relapse into insignificance, when the interests of the whole and not the will of one shall regulate the affairs of Spain, yet it is not the less a great city. It is nearly eight miles in circumference, and contains a population of one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. Madrid owes all its present magnificence to Charles the third. Under his care the royal palaces were finished; the custom house, the post of fice, the museum and royal painting office were constructed, the academy of the three noble arts improved, the cabinet of natural history, the botanic garden, the national bank and many gratuitous schools established; while convenient roads leading from the city, and delightful walks planted with trees and adorned by statues and fountains combine to announce his paternal solicitude. For a fuller account of Madrid and Spain in general, we would refer our readers to a most interesting work, entitled, "A Year in Spain, by a Young American," to which we are principally indebted for the materials of the present sketches.

THE GOD OF NATURE.

Lift your views to that immense arch of heaven which encompasses you above.-Behold the sun in all its splendor rolling over your head by day, and the moon by night, in mild and serene majesty surrounded with that host of stars which present to the imagination an innumerable multitude of worlds. Listen to the awful

voice of thunder. Listen to the roar of the tempest and the ocean-Survey the wonders that fill the earth which you inhabit. Contemplate a steady and powerful hand, bringing round spring and summer, autumn and winter, in regular course; decorating this earth with innumerable inhabitants, pouring forth comforts on all that live, and at the same time, overawing the nations with the violence of the elements, when it pleases the Creator to let them forth. After you have viewed yourself as surrounded with such a scene of wonders-after you have beheld on every hand, such an interesting display of majesty united with wisdom and goodness-are you not seized with solemn and serious awe ?-Is there not something that whispers within, that to this Creator homage and reverence are due by all the rational beings whom he made? Admitted to be spectators of his works, placed in the midst of so many great and interesting objects, can you believe that you were brought here for no purpose, but to immerse yourselves in brutal, or at best, in trifling pleasures; lost to all sense of the wonders you behold; lost to all reverence to that God who gave you being, and who has erected this amazing fabric of nature, on which you look only with stupid and unmeaning eyes?-Now let the scenes which you behold prompt correspondent feelings. Let them awaken you from the degrading intoxication of licentiousness, into nobler emotions. Every object which you view in nature, whether great or small serves to instruct you. The stars and the insect, the fiery meteor and flowing spring, the verdant field and the lofty mountain, all exhibit a Supreme Power, before which you ought to tremble and adore, all preach the doctrine, all inspire the spirit of devotion and reverence. Regarding, then, the work of the Lord, let rising emotions of awe and gratitude call forth from your souls such sentiments as these:"Lord, wherever I am, and whatever I enjoy, may I never forget thee, as the author of nature! May I never forget that I am thy creature and thy subject! In this magnificent temple of the universe, where thou hast placed me, may I ever be thy faithful worshiper, and may the reverence and fear of God be the first sentiment of my heart."

OUR NATIVE HOME.

There is no trait, perhaps, more common, or more amiable in the human character, than the attachment which each individual feels for his native country. When separated from kindred and from friends, he sighs in a far distant land from the place of his birth, with what resistless, tender and soul subduing influence does the remembrance of past scenes and pleasures rush upon his mind? His native hills and valleys, the bubbling brook, the groves, the meadows, and the fields, which witnessed the innocence and sportings of his youthful years, arise before his imagination, arrayed in all their beauty. The lonely invalid looks back with tender affection to the sacred spot where repose the slumbering ashes of his departed kindred. In the chaste and pious meditation, he feels a pleasurable melancholy steal over his soul which he would not exchange for all the sparkling joys of transient and unsubstantial amusements, But awakening from his pleasing reveries, he finds that he is in a distant country. In vain he looks around for the friends and companions of his youthfor all is sad, lonely and disconsolate, Tell him not that the gales which fan him are perfumed with odors, tha: the gentle zephyr brings health and balm on its wings, that roses and jessamines fill the soft air with fragrance, and that the verdant mantle of nature is spangled with flowers of the richest dyes. For neither the spicy gales, the balmy breath of the gentle zephyr, nor the roses, nor jessamines, nor nature's fairest livery, equal the air, the beauty and enchantment of his native land; to him the whispers of domestic love, tenderness, and affection, are more grateful and soothing, than the gentle fannings of the south wind, or the spicy breeze. To him, more pleasing would be the sight of his paterna mansion. though hung with icicles, and surrounded with the desolate emblems of winter, than the beauty and verdure which surrounded him in a distant nation.

E'en the loud torrent and the whirlwind's roar,
But bind him to his native mountains more.

His thoughts turn to the valued friends he has left be

hind him, and conscious of the melancholy reality he feels that he is a stranger in a foreign land; a thought that fills his soul with desolation; more especially when he considers that in a few revolving weeks or days, the sun will shine upon his new made grave in a land of strangers.

CIRCLE OF THE SCIENCES WITH SUITABLE REFLECTIONS.

Hydrostatics-Fluid support-Art of Swimming.

The art of swimming depends upon this acknowledged principle of hydrostatics; that a body lighter than its own bulk of water will float, and with a force proportioned to the difference,-now the human body in an ordinary healthy state is lighter than its own bulk of water, consequently it should float.-If this fact were generally and familiarly understood it would lead to the saving of more lives, in cases of shipwreck, or other accidents, than all the mechanical life preservers which man's ingenuity will ever contrive.

The human body with the chest full' of air, is so much lighter than water that it naturally floats with the bulk of about half the head above the waters, having no more tendency to sink than a log of wood. That a person may live and breathe, then, it is only necessary to exert volition so as render the face the part which remains uppermost.-The reasons that so many persons are drowned in ordinary cases, who might easily be saved, are the following.

1. Their believing that continued exertion is necessary to keep the body from sinking, and hence their generally assuming the position of a swimmer in which the face is downwards, and the whole head must be kept out of the water to allow of breathing, now, the body raised for a moment by exertion above its natural level, sinks as far below when the exertion is remitted; and the plunge, by appearing the commencement of a permanent sinking, terrifies the unpractised individual, and renders him an easier victim to his fate.

2d. From a fear that water entering by the ears may

drown, as if it entered by the nose or mouth, a wasteful exertion is made to prevent it; the truth being however; that it can only fill the outer ear, and is therefore of no consequence. Every diver and swimmer has his ears filled with water and with impunity.

3d. Persons unaccustomed to the water generally attempt in their struggle to keep their hands above the surface; but this act is most hurtful, because any part of the body kept out of the water, in addition to the face which must be so, requires an effort to support it which the individual is supposed at the time incompetent to afford.

4th. Not having reflected that when a log of wood or a human body is floating upright, with only a small portion above the surface, in rough water at sea, every wave, in passing, must cover the head for a little time, but will again leave it projecting in the interval. The practical swimmer chooses this interval for breathing.

5th. Not knowing the importance of keeping the chest as full of air as possible; the doing which has nearly the same effect as tying a bladder of air to the neck, and without any other effort will cause nearly the whole head to remain above water. If the chest be once emptied, and if from the face being under water the person cannot inhale again, the body is then specifically heavier than water, and will sink.

So little is required to keep a man's whole head above water, that many individuals altogether unacquainted with the art of swimming, have been saved after shipwreck by catching hold of a few floating chips or pieces of wood. An oar will suffice for a support for half a dozen people, if no one of the number attempts to keep more than his head out of the water; but from each wishing to have a good share of the security, it is often rendered less useful than it might be.-A common life preserver consists of strings of cork put round the chest or neck; or of an airtight bag round the upper part of the body, and which can be filled by the person blowing into it through a valved pipe.

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