ed, the aspect of its pages will not shrink from a comparison with its more fashionable contemporaries.

REVIEW.-The Rectory of Valehead. By the Rev. R. W. Evans. 12mo. pp. 297. Smith, Elder, & Co. London, 1830. IN the portrait and scenery exhibited in a plate prefixed to this volume, there is something venerable, solemn, and attractive. We gaze upon the group with pensive admiration, and anxiously wish that the book may correspond with the picture. This, however, is rather an object of our wishes than of our hopes; for, in most cases of a similar kind, we have found it necessary to make preparations for disappointment.

On the present occasion, however, all these preparations have been rendered nugatory. The work has more than realized our expectations. The solemn simplicity of the picture has found a counterpart in every chapter throughout the volume. Unassuming piety, native domestic reality, and life without hyperbole or exaggeration, meet the eye in every page, and introduce us to objects and scenery with which we either are or wish to become familiar.

To give some idea of the varied contents of this volume, perhaps the general titles of the chapters will be sufficient. These are as follows:-"The Constitution of a Christian Family.-The Family Liturgy.-The External Communion of the Family.-The First Member sent into the World.-The Annual Meeting of the Family.—A Ramble of a Member of the Family.—The First Death in the Family. The Family Code. -The Discipline of the Family.-The First Marriage in the Family.-The Garden. The absentee.-State of the Family. -The Pensioners of the Family.-The Family Excursion.-The Servants of the Family. The Friend of the Family.-The Library.

It will be obvious to every reader that these chapters encircle an extensive area, embracing nearly all that is of importance to man, whether surveyed as a member of civilized society, or a candidate for future happiness. The narrative is so constructed that our views are carried back through the vista of departed years, when Valehead was blessed with a rector whose parish was his family, that looked up to him as their common parent, patron, and friend. Since his days, disadvantageous changes may have taken place; but the contrast, when discovered, will only serve to place the picture delineated in this volume in a more exalted light.

It will be easy to infer, from what Valehead was, what every Valehead throughout the kingdom ought to be; and, from the effects produced in this little district by pious demeanour and affectionate conduct, to deduce an extension of similar consequences, when the causes from which they result shall be found in more general operation.

From all the circumstances, varieties, and vicissitudes through which we are called to pass in these chapters, we learn some important lessons, either of courage, forbearance, patience, long-suffering, sympathy, or tenderness; which, in the exercise, cannot fail to exalt the Christian character, and place it in an amiable light. The sentiments inculcated are always solemn, impressive, and appropriate, naturally arising from the subjects under contemplation, without being either inflamed by the fever morals which arise not from Christian prinof enthusiasm, or frozen by the apathy of ciples.

REVIEW.-The Pulpit. Vol. XV. 8vo. pp. 396. Harding. London. 1830.

WE have several times taken occasion to notice this useful publication, both as it appeared in numbers and in volumes; and in every instance, our observations were highly favourable to its character. This volume is equally creditable to the conductors, with those which have preceded it. It is neatly got up, is ornamented with an excellent portrait of the Bishop of Salisbury; and in another plate, with five additional engravings, representing the countenances of eminent ministers, both in and out of the Establishment; but what is of far more importance, it contains no small portion of those momentous truths which render revelation so valuable to every pious mind.

Among its contents, the sermons occupy the most conspicuous place. These have been taken down from the lips of the ministers, and transmitted, for preservation and publicity, to the pages of this periodical. In making their choice, the conductors are not trammelled by the fetters of sect and party. The discourses of churchmen, of methodists, and of dissenters, alike find access to their columns, and through them to vast multitudes of readers, who have thus an opportunity of perusing, what, through distance and absence, they were not permitted to hear. The Pulpit is a respectable publication, every way deserving the patronage it receives.

REVIEW.-Medicine no Mystery; being a Brief Outline of the Principles of Medical Science, &c. ByJohn Morrison, M. D. 12mo. pp. 165. Washbourne, London. 1830.

THIS work, though avowedly hostile to medical quackery, displays a liberal and an enlightened spirit. We are not medical proficients; but, from the publication before us, we gather enough to understand that the healing art can sustain no injury by having its principles made public, and their development exposed to popular inspection. This seems to be the ground on which Mr. Morrison takes his stand; and few, we believe, will be disposed to push him from the spot in which he has entrenched himself.

The first writer of any note, in modern days, who attempted to draw aside the veil in which medical science lay concealed, was Dr. Buchan. Since his time, many others have followed the laudable example; and, by introducing the improvements made in medical treatment, and the result of scientific research since he wrote, their publications, though less voluminous, are, in many respects, superior in value. In this character the volume now under review appears. Mr. Morrison's observations are always intelligible; and, accompanied with common sense, they rarely fail to carry conviction with them. It is a work that discriminates between health and disease-between safety and danger; but one that rather points out the causes and nature of disorders, than applies remedies and the

mode of cure.

OBLITERATION OF THE INSCRIPTION ON

THE MONUMENT IN LONDON.

In the year 1666, a considerable portion of the metropolis was destroyed by fire. This calamitous event was, at the time, and through subsequent years, attributed to design, and the Papists, being then in theological disgrace, were, by almost unanimous consent, declared to be the incendiaries.

Shortly after this melancholy catastrophe, the elegant column, standing near London Bridge, was erected, to commemorate the awful disaster. It was finished in 1671, and in 1681 the following Inscription was engraven on its pedestal :

"This pillar was set up in perpetual remembrance of the most dreadful burning of this Protestant city, begun and carried on by the treachery and malice of the Popish faction, in the beginning of September, in the year of our Lord, 1666; in order to the effecting their horrid plot for the extirpating of the Protestant religion and English liberties, and to introduce Popery aud slavery."

Whether the Papists were guilty or innocent of the crime thus imputed to them, we have no means of deciding with accuracy. At the time the fire took place, when the Monument was erected, and when the Inscription was inserted, no doubt whatever was entertained of the fact. More than half a century elapsed before any public attempt was made to disturb this general belief, although the Papists uniformly repelled the charge with the utmost indignation. At length Mr. Pope ventured, in his character of Sir Balaam, to place his residence

"Where London's column, pointing to the skies, Like a tall bully, lifts its head, and lies."

Nearly one hundred years have elapsed since the above couplet was written, durInscription have remained undisturbed. ing which period the Monument and its But the Common Council of the City, being now much "wiser than those of yore," have lately discovered, by the light which has beamed on Papal claims, that the Monument in London ought to partake of Irish emancipation. Under this impression, it was moved and carried, in the Court of Common Council, December 6th, 1830, "that the committee of city lands be instructed to cause to be removed from the Monument the above Inscription, and also the words " Sed furor Papisticus qui tam dira patravit nondum restinguitur.' of wisdom, remote from Mahometan intoSuch are the advantages of living in an age lerance, and over which the Goths and Vandals of foreign countries and of departed years, have no dominion.

Among the signs of the times this determination of the Common Council of London teaches several important lessons, which the British nation would do well to learn. As an offensive stigma, the justness of which seems somewhat dubious, we have no objection that the Inscription should disappear. This is a task, however, which, in a few years more, the corrosions of time promised to accomplish, without asking the assistance of human hands.

In the debates, of which the above mutilation and erasure are to be the result, it was stated that this "was not the original

CELESTIAL PHENOMENA.

THE valuable article on this subject from our esteemed correspondent, arriving very late, has not allowed us the time which its various figures would require to be set in type.

The following note, accompanying it, will regulate the reader's expectations during the ensuing months.

MR. EDITOR.-In the ensuing year's phenomena, I shall endeavour to condense as much important astronomical information in as small a compass as possible, and at the same time give my communications to your valuable columns a more scientific form. For the future, should my life be spared, I intend calculating, purposely for your Magazine, the occultations of the fixed stars by the moon, agreeably to your request some months' since, and I should feel obliged and gratified if of any your correspondents or readers, who may observe them, would have the goodness to transmit to you their observations, which I shall feel great pleasure in reducing. And for the information of individuals, who would wish to observe these interesting phenomena, I shall take an early opportunity of forwarding to you some instructions relative to the same. W. R. B.

GLEANINGS.

Small Farms.-A society has lately been established in London, entitled "The Labourers' Friend Society." The objects of this association are, to point out the advantage arising to the community from small farms, by encouraging industry, extending cultivation, reducing the poor's rates, and diminishing pauperism. The conductors solicit information, founded on experiments, which may tend to facilitate their designs. Communications, post paid, addressed to the Secretary of the Labourers' Friend Society, No 51, Threadneedle Street, London, will meet with immediate attention. Subscribers of 5s, or upwards, annually, are entitled to a copy of the Society's pa pers to the amount of their subscriptions, and any additional quantity at reduced prices.

Friendly Societies.-Mr. James Wright, No. 4. Smithstreet, Northampton square, London, whose work on these beneficial institutions we reviewed towards the close of 1829, has been indefatigable ever since, in detecting errors in calculation and principle, through which their great object has been in many cases totally defeated. He flatters himself that he has matured a code of rules and tables, that will secure their permanent utility, and wishes the co-operation of every friend to these establishments, to bring his plans before parliament.

Patent Invention-Early in October last, most of the respectable inhabitants of Holywell, among whom was the worthy Vicar, had an opportunity of witnessing the first public experiment of Mr. Williams's (surgeon) Invention for locking the wheels of a car riage when at full speed, and of liberating the horses. Four ponies were yoked to a beautiful four.wheeled carriage, and after they had been stimulated to their greatest speed, at a signal given, the wheel was locked and the animals liberated, leaving the driver and carriage stationary in the middle of the road. The experiment was most satisfactory, and all present seemed to participate in the pleasure the patentee must have felt at the success of his ingenuity. His next exhibition, we hear, will be in Chester.

The Common Gnat.-The transformation of the common gnat is attended with peculiar circumstances, of which it is impossible to read without being struck with astonishment at the curious and complicated machinery by which it is effected. The larva of the Khat, we need hardly say, is a tenant of the water. About eight or ten days after the larva of a guat is

transformed into a pupa, it prepares, generally to wards noon, for emerging into the air, raising itself up to the surface, so as to elevate its shoulders just above the level of the water. It is scarcely got into this position for an instant, when, by swelling the part of its body above water, the skin cracks between the two breathing tubes, and immediately the head of the gnat makes its appearance through the rent. The shoulders instantly follow, enlarging the breach so as to render the extrication of the body comparatively easy. The most important, and indeed indispensable part of the mechanism is the maintaining of its upright position so as not to get wetted, which would spoil its wings, and prevent it from flying. Its chief support is the rugosity of the envelope which it is throwing off, and which now serves it as a life-boat, till it gets its wings set at liberty and trimmed for flight. The body of the insect serves this little boat for a mast, which is raised in a manner similar to moveable masts in lighters constructed for passing under a bridge, with this difference, that the gnat raises its body in an upright direction from the first. "When the naturalist," says Reaumur, "observes how deep the prow of the tiny boat dips into the water, he becomes anxious for the fate of the little mariner, particularly if a breeze ripples the surface, for the least agitation of the air will waft it rapidly along, since its body performs the duty of a sail as well as of a mast; but, as it bears a much greater proportion to the little bark than the largest sail does to a ship, it appears in great danger of being upset; and, once laid on its side, all is over. I have some times seen the surface of the water covered with the bodies of gnats which had perished in this way; but for the most part all terminates favourably, and the danger is instantly over." When the gnat has extri cated itself all but its tail, it firet stretches out its two fore-legs, and then the middle pair, bending them down to feel for the water, upon which it is able to walk as upon dry land, the only aquatic faculty which it retains after having winged its way above the ele ment where it spent the first ages of its existence. "It leaves," says Swammerdam, "its cast skin on the water, where it insensibly decays." Reaumur doubts whether Swammerdam ever actually saw this interesting transformation. We have seen it twice only. Insect Transformation.

Majestic Oak.-The following are the dimensions of an oak, which may be justly termed the king of the British forest scenery. It is growing about one mile from Hemel Hempstead, Essex, the burying place of the celebrated Harvey, (who discovered the circulation of the blood). The stem of this enormous tree is sound. The top began to get bare about 150 years ago-the centre is pretty well clothed with foliage. It is not until you have ascended into this magnificent tree that you have a full idea of its amazing spread, or become struck with the magnitude of its limbs, on the lateral spread of which 20 or 30 people might stand without inconvenience to each other. The girth at six feet from the ground is 58 feet nine inches, principal arm 18 feet 10 inches, of the next 16 feet 9 inches, circumference of branches, 353 feet.

·

Canals versus Railways.-The New York Gazette gives the following humorous argument, which it says was used by a canal stock-holder in opposition to railways:-"lle saw what would be the effect of it that it would set the whole world a gadding:Twenty miles an hour, sir! Why, you will not be able to keep an apprentice boy at his work: every Sunday evening he must take a trip to Ohio, to spend the Sabbath with his sweetheart. Grave plodding citi zens will be flying about like comets All local attachment must be at an end. It will encourage flightiness of intellect. Various people will turn into the most immeasurable liars: all their conceptions will be exaggerated by the magnificent distance-' Only a hundred miles off!-Tut, nonsense. I'll step across, madam, and bring your fan! Pray, sir, will you dine with me to-day, at my little box on the Alleghany? Why, indeed, I don't know-I shall be in town until twelve-well, I shall be there, but you must let me off in time for the theatre.' And then, sir, there will be barrels of pork and cargoes of flour, and chaldrons of coal, and even lead and whiskey, and such like sober things that have always been used to sober travelling-whisking away like a set of sky-rockets. It will upset the gravity of the nation. If a couple of gentlemen have an affair of honour, it is only to steal off to the Rocky Mountain, and there no jurisdiction can touch them. And then, sir, think of flying for debt! A set of bailiffs mount ed on bombshells. would not overtake an absconded debtor-only give him a fair start. Upon the whole, sir, it is a pestilential, topsy-turvy, harum-scarum whirling. Give me the old, solemn, straightforward, regular Dutch canal-three miles an hour for express, and two for jog trot journeys-with a yoke of oxen for a heavy load! go for beasts of burden; it is more primitive and scriptural, and suits a moral and religions people better. None of your hop skip and jump whimsics for me.'

Abominable Cruelty. A correspondent has furnished as with a bill, announcing the particulars of the sports, as they are called, at the Wakes at Barton, a place about four miles from Manchester. The bill was issued by Miss Alice Cottam, of the sign of the King's Arms, near Eccles, and was printed by order of the stewards. It is our opinion that all the parties concerned in publishing such a document ought to be indicted. The following is a literal copy of a part of the Barton bill of fare" On Saturday, August 28, 1830, at the house of Miss. Alice Cottam, sign of the King's Arms, near Eccles. A. C. with great pleasure informs her friends and the public in general, that she has, at a considerable expense, engaged an excellent bull, bear, and badger, for the gratification of those who may favour her with their company; the bull will be baited three times a-day, namely, half past nine o'clock in the morning, at half past one in the afternoon and at five o'clock in the evening, every day during the Wakes. The bear will be baited at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and three o'clock in the afternoon. The badger will be baited every evening.-N, B. The bull, bear, and badger will be baited on Saturday night previous, to commence at six o'clock precisely, subject to such conditions as shall be then and there produced. The whole is so arranged as to form a never-failing source of amusement. By order of the stewards.-God save the King."-Liverpool Mercury.

Hare Ilunting.-The following definition of hare. hunting is given by a writer of the year 1616 :-" Is it not a worthie peece of service for fiue or sixe men in the countrey (whose dwellings are foure or fiue miles asunder.) to make a mad match to meet together on such and such a morning, to hunt or course a hare, where if shee be hunted with hounds shee will lead them such a dance, that perhaps a horse or two are killed, or a man or two spoiled, or hurt with leaping hedges or ditches, at the least after foure or fiue days preparation, and some ten pounds charge among them, horses and dogs, besides an infinite deal of trouble, and an innumerable number of oaths and curses; after this great deal of doo, the main purchase can be no more than a poor silly hare, which is but a dry meate, an d will take more butter in the basting than her carcase is worth."

A perilous Adventure.-The annals of the north are filled with accounts of the most perilous and fatal conflicts with the polar bear. The first, and one of the most tragical, was sustained by Barentz and Heemskerke, ia 1596, during their voyage for the discovery of the north-east passage. Having anchored at an island near the strait of Waygatz, two of the sailors landed, and were walking on shore, when one of them felt himself closely hugged from behind. Thinking this a frolic of one of his companions, he called out in a corresponding tone, "Who's there? Pray stand off." His comrade looked, and screamed out, "A bear! a bear!" then, running to the ship, alarmed the crew with loud cries. The sailors ran to the spot, armed with pikes and muskets. On their approach, the bear very coolly quitted the mangled corpse, sprang upon another sailor, carried him off, and plunging his teeth into his body, began drinking his blood at long draughts. Hereupon the whole of that stout crew, struck with terror, turned their backs, and fled precipitately to the ship. On arriving there, they began to look at each other, unable to feel much satisfaction with their own prowess. Three then stood forth, undertaking to avenge the fate of their countrymen, and to secure for them the rights of burial. They advanced, and fired at first from so respectful a distance, that all missed. The purser then courageously proceeded in front of his companions, and, taking a close aim, pierced the monster's skull immediately below the eye. The bear, however, merely lifted up his head, and advanced upon them, holding still in his mouth the victim whom he was devouring; but seeing him soon stagger, the three rushed on with sabre and bayonet, and soon des. patched him.-They collected and bestowed decent Sepulture on the mangled limbs of their comrades, while the skin of the animal, 13 feet long, became the prize of the sailor who had fired the successful shot. -Edinburgh Cabinet Library.

Iron manufactured and Coals consumed in Wales.In the Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle, it is stated, that the quantity of iron annually manufactured in Wales is about 270,000 tons, of which about three-fourths is made into bars, and one fourth sold as pigs and castings. The quantity of coal required for its manufacture, on the average of the whole, including that used by engines, workmen, &c. will be about five and a half tons for each ton of iron: the annual consumption of coals by the iron works will, therefore, be about 1,500,000 tons. The quantity used in the melting of copper ore, imported from Cornwall, in the manufacture of tin-plate, forging of iron for various purposes, and for domestic uses, may be calculated at 850,000 tons; which makes altogether

the annual consumption of coal in Wales, 1,850,000 tons. The annual quantity of iron manufactured in Great Britain is 690,000 tons. If such be the immense consumption of coal and iron in this country at present, who can calculate what it will be in a few years, when the kingdom will be covered with railroads,and when we bear in mind, that upwards of 400 tons have been laid down in the double line of railway hetween Liverpool and Manchester, a distance of about thirty miles only!

Floating Icebergs.-The distance to which icebergs float from the polar regions on the opposite sides of the line, is, as might have been anticipated, very different. Their extreme limit in the northern hemisphere appears to be the Azores (north latitude 42) to which isles they are sometimes drifted from Baf. fin's Bay. But in the other hemisphere they have been seen, within the last two years, at different points off the Cape of Good Hope, between latitude 36 and 399. One of these was two miles in circum. ference, and 150 feet high. Others rose from 250 to 300 feet above the level of the sea, and were, therefore, of great volume below, since it is ascertained, by experiments on the buoyancy of ice floating in sea-water, that for every solid foot seen above, there must at least be eight feet below water. If ice islands from the north polar regions floated as far, they might reach Cape St. Vincent, and then, being drawn by the current that always sets in from the Atlantic through the Straits of Gibraltar, be drifted into the Mediterranean, where clouds and mists would imme diately deform he serene sky of spring and summer. -Lyell's Geology.

The German Ocean.-The bed of this sea is encumbered in an extraordinary degree with accumulationsof debris, especially in the middle or central parts. One of the great central banks trends from the Frith of Forth, in a north-easterly direction, to a distance of 110 miles; others run from Denmark and Jutland upwards of 105 miles to the north-west, while the greatest of all, the Dogger Bank, extends for upwards of 354 miles from north to south. The whole superficies of these enormous shoals is equal to about onefifth of the whole area of the German Ocean, or to about one-third of the whole extent of England and Scotland. The average height of the banks measures, according to Mr. Stephenson, about seventy-eight feet; and, assuming that the mass is uniformly composed to this depth of the same drift matter, the debris would cover the whole of Great Britain to the depth of twenty-eight feet, supposing the surface of the island to be one continued plain. A great portion of these banks consists of fine and coarse silicious sand, mixed with fragments of corals and shells ground down, the proportion of these calcarious matters being extremely great. As we know not to what distance our continents formerly extended, we cannot conjecture, from any data at present obtained, how much of the space occupied by these sands was formerly covered with strata, subsequently removed by the encroachments of the sea, or whether certain tracts were originally of great depth, and have since been converted into shoals by maiter drifted by currents. But as the sea is moved to and fro with every tide, portions of these loose sands must, from time to time, be carried into those deep parts of the North Sea, where they are beyond the reach of waves or currents. So great is the quantity of matter held in suspension by the tidal current on our shores, that the waters are in some places artificially introduced into certain lands below the level of the sea; and by repeating the operation, which is called "warping," for two or three years, considerable tracts have been raised, in the estuary of the Humber, to the height of about six feet.-Lyell's Geology.

Military Dandies in India.-The following general order has been issued by the Commander-in-Chief at Madras, dated head quarters, Choultry Plain, Decenber 4, 1829:-"The Commander in-Chief having, with great disgust, noticed a feminine practice adopted by some officers of this service, of wearing comba in their hair, and dangling fancy curls, unbecoming the appearance of a soldier, desires that this practice may be forthwith abolished, and a more male cost re adopted."

Strange Incubation.-Captain Beaulieu, a French officer in the service of the Pacha of Egypt, sent off, some time since, for one of his friends in France, a collection of antiquities and curiosities, among which were some crocodile's eggs. During the passage, or the quarantine, these eggs hatched, and when the case was opened at the custom-house, three small crocodiles ran out.-On the way they had devoured several rolls of papyrus, and the bandages and mummy of an ibis, of which nothing remained but the claws and some of the feathers. It is hoped these animals will arrive in Paris alive.-Paris Paper.

Railway Travelling.-The directors have given notice by public advertisement, that after the first day of January, 1831, the fare from Liverpool to Manches ter will be reduced from 7s. 6d. to 4s. Cd, each person.