among the states of Europe; and, after a short trial of her powers, became the umpire and arbitress of the North. The whole system of Europe took another form; the arctic eagle extended her influence to the regions of the Adriatic and the banks of the Tagus, while the lightning of her eye struck terror into the recesses of mount Caucasus and made the Hel. lespont tremble. The arts of Európe were transplanted and bloomed both on the shores of the Neva and those of the Irtysh; a new world was opened to commerce, and the sciences, the manners, the luxury, the virtues, and the vices, of western Europe, have found their way into the deserts of oriental Asia, and to the inhospi table coasts of the Frozen Ocean. The area of these remarkable phenomena was the com. mencement of the eighteenth century."

William Tooke.

THE CURIOUS SIGHT AT PALERMO

MUST strike the feeling mind with strange sensations; indeed it is a spectacle of a very singular kind.

"AMONG the remarkable objects in the vi cinity of Palermo pointed out to strangers, they fail not to singularize a convent of Capuchins, at a small distance from the town, the beautiful gardens of which serve as a public walk. You are shewn under the fabrick a vault, divided into four great galleries, into which the light is admitted by windows cut out at the top of each extremity. In this vault are preserved, not in flesh, but in skin and bone, all the Ca puchins who have died in the convent since its foundation, as well as the bodies of several

persons from the city. There are here private tombs belonging to opulent families, who even after death disdain to be confounded with the vulgar part of mankind. It is said, that in order to secure the preservation of those bodies, they are prepared by being gradually dried before a slow fire, so as to consume the flesh without greatly injuring the skin. When perfectly dry, they are invested with the Capuchin habit, and placed upright on tablets, disposed step above step along the sides of the vault, the head, the arms, and the feet are left naked. A preservation like this is horrid. The skin discoloured, dry, and as if it had been tanned, nay torn in some places, is glewed close to the bone. It is easy to imagine, from the different grimaces of this numerous assem⚫ blage of fleshless figures, rendered still more frightful by a long beard on the chin, what a hideous spectacle this must exhibit; and whoever has seen a Capuchin alive, may form an idea of this singular repository of dead friars!" Sonnini.

POMPEY'S PILLAR

Is so curious a piece of Egyptian antiquity that the following anecdote will contribute to

amusement.

"AS the public attention has been once more directed to this valuable monument of antiqui ty, in consequence of recent events in Egypt; the following account of a ludicrous adventure of some English captains, in 1733, by Eyles Irwin, Esq. may not prove unacceptable.

"These jolly sons of Neptune had been pushing the can on board one of the ships in the

harbour, until a freak entered into one of their brains. The eccentricity of the thought occa. sioned it immediately to be carried into execu tion. The boat was ordered, and, with proper implements for the attempt, these enterprising heroes pushed on shore, to drink a bowl of punch on the top of Pompey's pillar! At the spot they arrived, and many contrivances were proposed to accomplish the desired point. But their la bour was in vain; and they began to despair of success, when the genius who had struck out the frolic happily suggested the means of per. forming it. A man was dispatched to the city for a paper kite. The inhabitants were by this time apprized of what was going forward, and flocked in crowds to be witnesses of the address and boldness of the English. The Governor of Alexandria was told that these seamen were about to pull down Pompey's Pillar: but whe ther he gave them credit for their respect to the Roman warrior, or to the Turkish government, he left them to themselves, and politely answer. ed, that the English were too great patriots to injure the remains of Pompey. He knew little, however, of the disposition of the people who were engaged in this undertaking. Had the Turkish empire rose in opposition, it would not, perhaps at that moment have deterred them. The kite was brought, and flown directly over the pillar, that when it fell on the other side, the string lodged upon the capital. The chief obstacle was now overcome. A two inch rope was tied to one end of the string, and drawa over the pillar by the end to which the kite was affixed. By this rope one of the seamen ascend. ed to the top, and in less than an hour, a kind of shroud was constructed, by which the whole company went up, and drank their punch,

amid the shouts of the astonished multitude.... To the eye below, the capital of the pillar does not appear capable of holding more than one man upon it; but our seamen found it could contain eight persons very conveniently. It is astonishing no accident befel these madcaps in a situation so elevated, that would have turned a landman giddy in his sober senses. The only detriment which the pillar received, was the loss of one of the volutes, which came down with a thundering sound, and was carried to England by one of the captains, as a present to a lady who commissioned him for a piece of the pillar. The discovery which they made," amply compensated for this mischief, as, with out their evidence, the world would not have known, at this hour, that there was originally a statue on the pillar, one foot and an ancle of which are still raining. The statue was probably of Pompey himself, and must have been of a gigantic size, to have appeared of a man's proportion, and at so great an height; being ninety-two feet from the ground!"

THE FOLLY AND WICKEDNESS OF WAR

CANNOT be too much exposed, it is a disgrace to the civilized nations of the earth; the pious mind fondly anticipates the period when so abominable a practice is utterly annihilated.

"WHY should War for ever desolate the earth, and render men who are capable of such pure and friendly affections, so hostile to each other? Oh! why should those powers of mind, which, if directed to the cultivation of the arts. of peace, would be productive of social delight and social comfort, become the sources of mi

sery and rain? Wherefore should one nation endeavour, even at the risk of its own tranquillity, and at the certain loss of heaps of its treasure and multitudes of its most valuable lives to invade the boundaries and seize the posses sions of another? How long shall this criminal cupidity, this impious thirst of power, this insatiable spirit of grasping at every thing continue? Have the children of men ceased to be mortal, or are their powers of enjoyment so enlarged that nothing short of what will last for ages, and supply the wants of thousands, seems sufficient to satisfy the cravings of each indi vidual? Infatuated, short-sighted men! when will your guilty folly subside.What calamities must ye endure ere the voice of reason can be heard--and those arms, which are died in mu. tual blood, be wrested out of your hands. How long will it be before your minds will be so enlightened by the pure and benevolent precepts of Christian philanthropy, that it will not be in the power of a few crafty, ambitious, unjust, self-interested, and sanguinary men, to drag you to mutual destruction! How long must two ingenious and gallant nations whose union. would be productive of such incalculable benefit, and whose example might charm the world to peace, be separated from each other! In the hearts and wishes of the inhabitants of each they are friends already-O, why must the pride, the hatred, the profligacy of a few indi viduals force them to be enemies? Sacred liberty-thou art the birthright and the blessing of every human being-but when have thy ban ners been unspotted with blood-where have thy triumphs been wholly uncontaminated with injustice and oppression? And must it for ever