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the appearance of a light in the window of the hall of the diet: he demanded of the grand Chancellor, Bjelke, who was present, what it was that he saw, and was answered that it was only the reflection of the moon : with this, how

cure situation than his own wretched hut. Repairing not long after to London, to invest two thousand pounds in the funds, a gentleman who met him near the Exchange, mistaking him for a beggar, put a penny into his hand. Though somewhat surprised at first, he put the money in his pock-ever, he was dissatisfied; and the senator, Bjelke, soon afet, and continued his walk.

Lady Tempest, who was the only person that had any influence over the mind of this unhappy man, employed every possible persuasion and device to induce him to partake of those conveniences and comforts which are so gratifying to others, but without effect. One day, however, she prevailed on him to purchase a hat of a Jew for a shilling, that which he wore having been in constant use for thirteen years. She called upon him the next day, and to her surprise found that he still continued to wear the old On inquiring the reason, he after much solicitation informed her, that his old servant Griffiths had given him sixpence profit for his bargain.

one.

ter entering the room, he addressed the same to him, but
received the same answer. Looking afterwards again
through the window, he thought he observed a crowd of
persons in the hall: upon this, said he, Sirs, all is not as it
should be-in the confidence that he who fears God need
dread nothing, I will go and see what this may be.
ering the two noblemen before-mentioned, as also Oxensti-
ern and Brahe, to accompany him, he sent for Grunsten,
the door keeper, and descended the staircase leading to
the hall.

Ord

Here the party seem to have been sensible of a certain degree of trepidation, and no one else daring to open the door, the king took the key, unlocked it, and entered first into The same lady, knowing that he was fond of trout stew- the ante-chamber. To their infinite surprise, it was fitted ed in claret, once sent him some as a present. The stew up with black cloth. Alarmed by this extraordinary cirhad become congealed during the night, and though he cumstance, a second pause occurred; at length the king set durst not eat it till it was warmed, for fear of the tooth- his foot within the hall, but fell back in astonishment at ache, to which he was subject, yet he could not on any acwhat he saw; again, however, taking courage, he made his count afford the expense of a fire. The ingenious method companions promise to follow him, and advanced. The by which he contrived to relieve himself from the embar-hall was lighted up and arrayed with the same mournful rassment, is certainly worthy of admiration. The weather hangings as the ante-chamber: in the centre was a round was frosty, and at such times he always lay in bed to keep table, where sat sixteen venerable men, each with large himself warm, and he conceived that a similar mode of volumes lying open before them: above was the king, a proceeding would produce the same effect on the fish.- young man of sixteen or eighteen years of age, with the He accordingly directed it to be put with the sauce into a crown on his head and sceptre in his hand. On his right pewter plate, and covering it with another, placed them hand sat a personage about forty years old, whose face under his body, and sat upon them till their contents were bore the strongest marks of integrity; on his left an old sufficiently warmed! man of seventy, who seemed very urgent with the young king that he should make a certain sign with his head, which as often as he did, the venerable men struck their hands on their books with violence.

During the illness which terminated his mis-spent life, Lady Tempest accidentally calling upon him, found him lying in an old sack which came up to his neck. To her remonstrances against the impropriety of such a situation he replied, that having come into the world without a shirt, he was determined to go out of it in the same manner. She then begged him to have a pillow to raise his head, which he refused, but directed his old servant Griffiths to bring him a truss of straw for that purpose.

Turning my eyes, says the king, a little further, I beheld a scaffold and executioners, and men with their clothes tucked up, cutting off heads one after another so fast, that the blood formed a deluge on the floor: those who suffered were all young men. Again I looked up, and perceived the throne behind the great table almost overThus expired this miserable man, in the month of Octo-turned: near to it stood a man of forty, that seemed the ber, 1794, in the 78th year of his age.

protector of the kingdom. I trembled at the sight of these The house in which Mr. Dancer had lived was in a most things, and called aloud--"It is the voice of God!deplorable state, not having been repaired for upwards of What ought I to understand?-When shall all this come to half a century. Its interior was however soon found to pass?" A dead silence prevailed; but on my crying out a contain more riches than its external appearance bespoke; second time, the young king answered me saying, "This for Captain Holmes, to whom it devolved, found at differ- shall not happen in your time, but in the days of the sixth ent times various hoards of guineas and half-guineas in sovereign after you. He shall be of the same age as I bowls; and bank-notes stuffed under the covers of old appear now to have, and this personage sitting beside me chairs. Some jugs of silver were also discovered in the gives you the air of him that shall be the stable, to which place Mr. Dancer often went in the mid-tector of the realm. During the last year of the regency, regent and prodle of the night, but for what purpose could never be ascerthe country shall be sold by certain young men, but he tained; but it has since been supposed it was to rob one of shall then take up the cause, and, acting in conjunction the jugs in order to add to a bowl which he had buried in with the young king, shall establish the throne on a sure the kitchen. footing; and this in such a way, that never was before, or ever afterwards shall be seen in Sweden so great a king. All the Swedes shall be happy under him; the public debts shall be paid; he shall leave many millions in the treasury, and shall not die but at a very advanced age: yet before he is firmly seated on his throne, shall an effusion of blood take place unparalleled in history. "You," added he, "who are king of this nation, see that he is advertised of these matters: you have seen all; act according to your wisdom."

Lady Tempest, who, with Captain Holmes, inherited the whole of his property, did not long enjoy the increase of wealth she acquired by Mr. Dancer's death. During her attendance on him in his last hours, she contracted an illness which in a few months put a period to her own life, in January 1795.-British Eccentric Biography.

We give, as a matter of curiosity, the following article as we find it in the "Cabinet of Curiosites."

VISION OF CHARLES XI. OF SWEDEN.

The following singular narration occurs in the Rev. J T. James's Travels in Sweden, Prussia, Poland, &c. during the years 1813 and 1814.-The most marvellous part of the affair is, that, as the reader will see, no less than six persons (the monarch inclusive) concur in testing the reality of the vision.

Charles the XI. it seems, sitting in his chamber between the hours of eleven and twelve at night, was surprised at

Having thus said, the whole vanished, and (adds he) we saw nothing but ourselves and our flambeaus, while the ante-chamber through which we passed on returning was no longer clothed in black.

"Nous entrâmes dans mes appartemens, et je me mis aussitôt à écrire ce que j'avois vu: ainsi que les avertissements, aussi bien que je le puis. Que le tout est vrai, je le jure sur ma vie et mon honneur, autant que le Dieu m'aide le corps et l'ame.

"Charles XI. ajourd'hui Roi de Suède. L'an 1791. 17

Dec."

"Comme témoins et présents sur les lieux nous avons

vu tout ce que S. M. a rapporté, et nous l'affermons par le notre serment, autant que Dieu nous aide pour corps et l'ame. H. L. Bjelke, Gr. Chancelier du Royaume,Bjelke, Sénateur,-Brahé, Sénateur,-Ax. Oxenstiern, Sénateur,-Petre Grunsten, Hussier."

"The whole story," says Mr James, "is curious, and well worth attention; but unless the young king's ghostly representative made an error in his chronological calculation, it will be difficult to reconcile the time specified with that which is yet to come. I can offer no explanation, and bequeath the whole, like the hieroglyphic in Moore's Almanack, ' to the better ingenuity of my readers.""

POETRY.

The Indian Summer.-BRAINARD. WHAT is there sadd'ning in the autumn leaves? Have they that "green and yellow melancholy" That the sweet poet spake of?-Had he seen Our variegated woods, when first the frost Turns into beauty all October's charmsWhen the dread fever quits us-when the storms Of the wild Equinox, with all its wet, Has left the land, as the first deluge left it, With a bright bow of many colours hung Upon the forest tops-he had not sighed.

The moon stays longest for the hunter now: The trees cast down their fruitage, and the blithe And buisy squirrel hoards his winter store: While man enjoys the breeze that sweeps along The bright blue sky above him, and that bends Magnificently all the forest's pride,

Or whispers through the evergreens, and asks, "What is there sadd'ning in the autumn leaves?'.

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ITEMS OF NEWS.

A serious collision has occurred between the United States and Alabama, in consequence of the contemplated removal, by the former, of the squatters on the lands recently obtained of the Creek Indians. Alabama, throwing herself on her supremacy, claims sovereignty over those lands, on the principle that a State has jurisdiction over the whole territory within her limits. It is to be feared that consequences of the most disastrous description may be the result.

Peter N. Daniel of Richmond, Va. has been appointed Attorney General of the United States, vice Mr. Taney, appointed to the Secretaryship of the Treasury.

ARABS RAISING WATER FROM THE NILE.

N Egypt, the rice grounds are inundated from the time of sowing nearly to harvest: the seed is commonly cast upon the water, a practice twice alluded to in scripture. Balaam, prophesying of Israel, Num. xxiv. 7. says, "His seed shall be in many waters ;" and Solomon, when speaking of acts of charity in his beautiful exhortations, Eccl. xi. 1. "Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shall find it after many days," finely intimates, that as he who commits the seed to the waters, which is the mode of sowing in that country, always reaps after a certain interval the. abundant recompense of his labour; so they that regard the sufferings of the distressed, and cast their bread upon the waters by feeding the hungry or clothing the naked, shall in no wise lose their reward, but find it after many days.

In order to cover the lands with water upon which they cast their seed, various methods are employed by the Egyptians. To raise the waters of the Nile into the high ground near the river, they use buckets fastened to a wheel, something like those used in some of our deep wells; but where the land is not much elevated above the surface of the river, they employ the simple and probably very ancient contrivance of lifting it in a basket, apparently lined with close matting or leather. This is the mode represented: two men holding the basket between them by a cord in each hand fastened to the edge of it, lower it into the Nile, and then swing it between them until it requires a velocity sufficient to enable them to through the water over a bank into a canal near the river. The regular continuance of their motion, gives them at a distance the appearance of automaton figures rather than living beings. They work with only a coarse sort of cotton shirt girded round their loins, and sometimes entirely naked, exposed to the sun's most powerful rays during the whole day, repeating one of the Arabian songs; for they seem to have a peculiar air adapted to every kind of labour.

In general, those parents have most reverence who most deserve it; for he that lives well cannot be despised.

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VOL. I.

OR

WEEKLY ABSTRACT OF GENERAL KNOWLEDGE.

NEW YORK, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1833.

No. 31.

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The only other genus I shall mention under this order is the echinus, sea-urchin, or hedge-hog: its species are very numerous, and of a great multiplicity of forms; globular, oval, shield-like, and heart shaped. Many of them appear to have long since become extinct, and are only to be found in a state of petrifaction. The surrounding spines form an admirable coat of mail when perfect; but they are generally broken off from the shell when it is picked up empty on our own coasts.

ANOTHER genus worthy of notice under this order is the actinia Bellis; sea-carnation, a. Dianthus; sea anemony, a. Anemonoides; and sea marigold, a. Calendula; from their resemblance to the stems and flowers of these plants. The first three are found on the warmer rocky coasts of The third order of the Linnæan class of worms are callour own country, as those of Sussex; and the last on the ed testacea or testaceous, and comprise those that are surshores of Barbadoes. The sea-carnation is sometimes rounded with a shelly or testaceous covering. They are thrown upon our flat coasts, and left evacuated of its water of three kinds; those possessing a single shell, of whatby the return of the tide ; in which case it has the appear-ever form or kind, and hence denominated univalves; those ance of a slender, long-stalked, yellow fig. possessing more than two shells, which are in consequence named multivalves.

Most of us are acquainted with some species of the sepia or cuttle-fish, which is another genus of the order before us. The common cuttle-fish, sepia officinalis, is an inhabitant of the ocean, and is preyed upon by the whale and plaise tribes; its arms are also frequently eaten off by the congereel, but are reproducible. The bony scale on the back is that alone which is usually sold in the shops, under the name of cuttle-fish, and is employed in making pounce. These animals have the singular power, when pursued by an enemy, of squirting out a black fluid or natural ink, which darkens the waters all around, and thus enables it to escape. This natural ink forms an ingredient in the composition of our Indian inks. The worm or fish was formerly eaten by the ancients, and is still occasionally used as food by the Italians. In hot climates, some of the species grow to a prodigious size, and are armed with a dreadful apparatus of holders, furnished with suckers, by which, like the elephant with its proboscis, they can rigidly fasten upon and convey their prey to their mouth. In the eightarmed cuttle-fish, sepia octopodia, which inhabits the Indian seas, the arms or holders are said to be not less than nine fathoms in length. In consequence of this, the Indians never venture to sea without hatches in their boats, to cut off these monstrous arms, should the animal attempt to fasten upon them, and drag them under water. This genus, with that of the argonauta and nautilus, constitute the order Cephalopoda of Cuvier, which belongs to his class named molluscæ.

The univalves, or single-valved, are the most numerous, and exhibit the greatest variety of forms. For the most part they are regularly or irregularly spiral: among the most common of them may be mentioned the helix or snailgenus; the patella or limpet; and the turbo or wreathgenus, of which the periwinkle is a species; the animal in all which is a limax or slug. Among the more curious are, the murex or purple-shell so highly valued by the ancients for the exquisite dye it is capable of producing; the volute or mitre, including those fine polished spiral shells, without lips or perforation, which so often ornament our chimney-pieces, sometimes embellished with dots, and at other times with bands of colors of various hues; the strombus, comprising the larger shells appropriated to the same purpose, spiral like the volute, but with a large expanding lip spreading into a groove on the left side, and often still farther projecting into lobes or claws, the back frequently covered with large warts or tubercles, in some species called coromant's foot; in all which the animal or inhabitant is still a limax or slug; and the nautilus and argonauta, the pearl-nautilus and paper-nautilus; the first of which is lined with a layer of a most beautiful pearly gloss, and in the East is manufactured into drinking cups; and the second of which is remarkable for its exquisite lightness, and the rumor common to most countries of its having given to mankind the first idea of sailing. In reality, it sails itself, and with exquisite dexterity; and to this end The medusa is another genus entitled to attention, as the animal that is usually found inhabiting the shell, and affording various species that shine with great splendour which, till of late, was supposed to be a four armed cuttlein the water. The worms of this kind are vulgarly de- fish, though now regarded as an ocythoe, by Dr. Leach nominated sea-nettles, and consist of a tender gletatinous named o. Chranchii, in memory of the indefatigable but mass, of various figures, furnished with arms or tentacular unfortunate Cranch of the British Museum, as soon as it processes, issuing from the under surface. The larger has risen to the surface, erects two of its arms to a conspecies, when touched, produce in the hand a slight ting-siderable height, and throws out a thin membrane between ling and redness, and hence, indeed, the name of the sea- them, thus producing a natural sail; while the oars or rudnettles, by which they are commonly distinguished. A der are formed by the other two arms being thrown over few of the species are found on our own coasts; but by the shell into the water, by which ingenious contrivance, or far the greater number are exotics. rather instinctive device, the paper-nautilus sails along with considerable rapidity. M. Cuvier has separated the nautilus from the rest, though distinctly a univalve; and, as we have already noticed, has united it with the cuttlefish under an order of molluscæ, which he calls cephalopoda. The ordinal name for the others is with him gastero poda, as most of them crawl on their bellies, and carry the shell over them as a shield. They have a distinct and moveable head by which they essentially differ from our next order, which are without a distinct head of any kind. The two sexes are united in the same individual, but require a reciprocal union for breeding.

The asterias, sea star, or star fish, is another genus of molluscous worms, and in some of its species, it is known to all of us. The most curious species of this genus is the asterias, Caput Medusa, or basket-fish; which inhabits most seas, and consists of five central rays, each of which divides into two smaller ones, and each of which smaller ones again divides into two other; the same kind of division and subdivision being continued to a vast extent, and every ray regularly decreasing in size, till at length the ramifications amount to many thousands, forming a beautiful net-work spread over the water. The colour of the worm varies, from pale to brown.

The bivalved or two-shelled testaceous worms, the ace

-phala or headless of Cuvier, are best explained by referring you to the oyster and the muscle, (ostrea and mytilus,) both which contain species which produce pearls and mother-of-pearls; though the real pearl muscle is amya or gaper, found chiefly on the coasts of Malabar and Ceylon, where the principal pearl-fisheries are established. The species of oyster that produces small pearls is sometimes traced on our own shores, and is said to have been at one time frequent in the river Conway, in Wales. Most of the oysters east their spawn towards the close of the spring on beginning of the summer, as the month of May. This spawn is by the fishermen called spat, and in size and figure each resembles the drop of a candle. As soon as cast or thrown off, these embryon disks adhere to stones, old oyster-shells, pieces of wood, or whatever other substance comes in their way: a calcareous secretion issues from the surface of their bodies, and in the course of twenty-four hours begins to be converted into a shelly substance. It is two or three years, however, before they acquire their full

size.

The scallops, which are another tribe of the oyster kind, are capable of leaping out of the water at pleasure, to the distance of half a yard. When elevated, they open their shells, and eject the water within them, and then falling back into the water, close them with a loud snap.

Among the more elegant of this division is the nacre, pinna, or sea-pen, so called from its form; the animal of which (a limax or slug) secretes, as we have already observed, a large quantity of fine strong silky hair or beard, which by the Italians is woven into a kind of silky plait. And among the most extraordinary is the gigantic chama or clamp-shell, in form resembling the oyster; one species of which we noticed not long since, as found in the Indian Ocean, of between five and six hundred pounds weight; the fish or inhabitant large enough to furnish a hundred and twenty men with a full meal, and strong enough to lop off a man's hand, and cut asunder the cable of a large ship.

Of the multivalved testaceous worms, or those containing more than two shells, there are but three known species, the chiton, the lepas or acorn-shell, and the phloas, or, as it is often improperly called, pholas, so denominated from its secreting a phosphorescent liquor of great brilliancy, which illuminates whatever it touches or happens to fall upon, and to which Linnæus chiefly ascribes the luminous appearance which the sea often assumes at a distance; a subject, however, which we shall have occasion to examine hereafter.

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the terebella and terredo, the naked ship-worm and the shelly ship-worm, penetrate dead wood, and the phloas and mytilus, rocks, to effect their dissolution; while the termes or white ant, as we have already observed, attacks almost every thing within its reach, animal, vegetable, or mineral, with equal rapacity, and reduces to its elementary principles whatever has resisted the assault of every other species. The same system of warfare is indeed pursued among themselves; yet it is pursued, not from hate, as among mankind, but from instinct, and as the means of prolonging and extending, as well as diminishing and cutting short, the term of life and enjoyment.

LITERATURE.

ORIGIN OF THE MATERIALS OF WRITING The most ancient mode of writing was on cylinders, on bricks, and on tables of stone; afterwards on plates of various materials, on ivory, and similar articles. In the book of Job, mention is made of the custom of writing on stone and on sheets of lead. The Gauls, at the time of Cæsar, wrote on tables; but of what they were composed is not known. These early inventions led to the discovery of tables of wood; and as cedar is least corruptible, they chose this wood for the most important writings. From this custom arose the celebrated expression of the ancients, when they meant to convey the highest praise of any excellent composition, that it was worthy to be written on cedar; though some maintain that this expression refers to the oil of cedar, with which valuable parchment manuscripts were anointed, to preserve them. Isidore of Seville says, that the Greeks and Tuscans were the first who used wax to write on. They formed the letters with an iron bodkin. But the Romans substituted the stylus, made of bone. They also employed reeds, cut in the form of pens.

Naudé observes, that when he was in Italy, (about 1642,) he saw some of those waxen tablets called Pugillares, and others composed of the bark of trees, which the ancients used in lieu of paper; which he observes was not then in use; for paper is composed of linen, and linen was not then known. Hemp, he adds, was known, but not used. Rabelais, who wrote about 1540, mentions it as a new herb, which had only been in use about a century; and, in fact, in the reign of Charles the Seventh, (1470,) linen made of hemp was so scarce, that it is said none but the queen was The fourth order of the Linnæan class of worms is call-in possession of two shifts. ed zoophytes or plant-animals, so denominated from their In the progress of time, the art of writing consisted of efflorescing like plants. Most of them are of a soft tex-painting with different kinds of ink. They now chose ture, as the hydra or polype, so well known from its being the thin peels of certain trees and plants, and even the capable of existing when turned inside out, and of re-pro- skins of animals. The first place, it is said, where they ducing any part of its tentacles or body when destroyed began to prepare these skins, was Pergamos in Asia.— by accident. Some are corky or leathery, as different spe- This is the origin of the Latin name, from which we have cies of the alcyionium; some bibulous, as the spongia or derived that of parchment. These skins are, however, sponge, which is now decidedly ascertained to be an animal better known amongst Latin writers by the name of memsubstance; and some calcareous, as the numerous families brana, so called from the membranes of animals of which of coral, which, under the form of tubular, starry, or stony they were composed. The ancients had parchment of stems, are denominated tubipores, madrepores, and isises. three different colors, white, yellow and purple. At Rome, The fifth or infusory order of worms comprehends those white parchment was disliked, because it was more subminute and simple animalcules which are seldom capable ject to be soiled than the others, and dazzled the eye.of being traced, except by a microscope; and, for the most They frequently wrote in letters of gold and silver on purpart, reside in putrid infusions of vegetables, or in stag-ple parchment. This custom continued in the early ages nant waters filled with vegetable matter. Of these, the smallest known species is denominated monas. To a glass of the highest magnifying power, it appears nothing more than a minute simple point or speck of jelly, obviously, however, evincing motion, but often from its delicacy seeming to blend itself with the water in which it swims. Such is a bird's eye view of the Linnæan class of worms, and its five orders of molluscous, testaceous, zoophyte, and infusory animals.

The indefatigable labor of the worm-tribes in promoting the general good is striking and manifest. The gordius or hair-worm perforates clay to give a passage to springs and running water; the lumbricus or earth-worm pierces the soil that it may enjoy the benefit of air, light, and moisture;

of the church; and there are yet extant written copies of the evangelists of this kind.

The Egyptians employed the bark of a plant or reed called papyrus. Specimens may be seen at the British Museum. Formerly there grew great quantities of it on the side of the Nile. It is this plant which has given the name to our paper, although it is made of linen rags. The Chinese make their paper of silk.

The use of paper is of great antiquity. Some of the specimens of papyrus which have been found in the mummy pits of Egypt, are said to be as old as the time of Moses. The honor of inventing it is given to the town of Memphis. Before the use of parchment and paper passed to the Romans, they used the thin peel found on trees,

between the wood and the bark. This second skin they | worship, which in their forms alone might well command called liber-whence their word liber, a book; and from the most profound reverence, uniting, as they did, all the them, our word library, and the French livre. Anciently, characteristics of the lovely, the majestic, and the terrible, instead of folding this parchment or paper, they rolled it, in the idea of a superior intelligence-that even a single and the Latin name they gave these rolls has passed into one of these great works of art had required for its comour language-we say a volume, although our books are pletion the slaughter of hundreds of mighty beasts in composed of pages cut and bound together. The ancients distant regions. were still more curious than ourselves, in having their books richly got up. Beside the tint of purple with which they tinted their vellum, and the liquid gold which they employed for their ink, they sometimes enriched the covers of their books with precious stones.

The following information, taken from Casley's catalogue of the manuscripts in the king's library, is curious. "Varro says, that palm-leaves, or mallow-leaves, were all first used for writing on; whence the word began and | continued to signify the leaf of a book, as well as of a tree or plant. That the ancients wrote or engraved on brass, is manifest. The laws of the twelve tables, and other monuments kept in the Capitol, were engraven on that metal. The Romans and Lacedæmonians wrote to the Jews on tables of brass. There is a small fragment of writing on bark, near a thousand years old, in the Cottonian library. The art of making paper of cotton was discovered in the eleventh century; the invention of making it of linen rags could not be much later." This last observation differs from Naudé.-Curiosities of Literature. The following occurs in Captain Skinner's Excursions in India.

"I cannot, from my experience at Mookba, withdraw my condemnation of the mountain priests. They are as dirty and ignorant as their brothers, whom I have already celebrated for eminence in those qualities; and their women 'out-Herod Herod.' There is one man, however, in the village, who can write and read: he was educated at Barahal, where there was once a school; but I fear the schoolmaster found himself too little appreciated to be tempted to continue his vocation. He is a shrewd knave, and has had the advantages of travelling a little. He has been in the valley of the Dhoon-a great event. He writes on the bark of a tree-the Boii Pulla, well-known throughout India as the inner covering of Hookah snakes: and it makes a capital substitute for paper. The trees are in great quantity thereabouts; and, as the bark is peeled off in large sheets, it requires no preparation, nor is it necessary to have a peculiar pen to write with, as is the case with leaves that are still used for that purpose in the east." "The natives of Ceylon as yet employ no paper; they write on thin leaves of the Ola, and are obliged to make use of an iron pen, which they support in a notch cut in the thumb nail allowed to grow for that purpose: a literary man is discovered by such a mark. A quill, or a reed, serves my friend of Mookba; for the pen runs as quickly over the skin of the boii, as it would over the surface of a glazed sheet."-Saturday Magazine.

HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGY.

THE JUPITER OF PHIDIAS.

The author who has left us the most interesting details of the state of art amongst the Greeks is Pausanias, who published his description of Greece at Rome, during the reigns of the Antonines. In his notices of the remarkable objects which existed in the Grecian cities, we are especially struck with his accounts of those prodigious monuments of sculpture in ivory, of which no specimen has been preserved to us, and which even appear to be repugnant to our notion of the beautiful in art. The remains of ancient statuary in marble and bronze can give us no definite idea of this species of sculpture. We perceive that the most precious substances had been laid under contribution to form these statues; and that the highest genius, calling to its assistance a mechanical dexterity, whose persevering contest with difficulties is alone matter of wonder, had rendered them worthy to be regarded as the perfect idea of the gods, whose individual temples they more than adorned. These extraordinary representations, there can be no doubt, were the glories of the sanctuaries of Athens, of Argos, of Epidaurus, and of Olympia; and were especially suited, by the grandeur of their dimensions, the beauty and rarity of their materials, the perfection of their workmanship, and the ideal truth of their forms, to advance the influence of a religion which appealed to the senses to compel that belief which the reason might withold. We shall select a few passages from Pausanias and other writers, to justify this account of the peculiar excellence of the colossal statuary of ivory and gold. We begin with that of the Jupiter at Olympia, generally described as the master-piece of Phidias.

"The god," says Pausanias, "made of gold and ivory, is seated upon a throne. On his head is a crown representing an olive branch. In his right hand he carries a Victory, also of gold and ivory, holding a wreath, and having a erown upon her head. In the left hand of the god is a sceptre shining with all sorts of metals. The bird placed on the summit of the sceptre is an eagle. The sandals of the god are of gold, and his mantle is also golden. The figures of various animals, and of all sorts of flowers, particularly lilies, are painted upon it. The throne is a diversified assemblage of gold, of precious stones, of ivory, and of ebony; in which, figures of all kinds are also painted or sculptured."

The Greek traveller then proceeds to describe, at considerable length, the accessories of the statue and the throne, such as the ornaments in bas-relief and the base; but he does not furnish us with the dimensions of this great work. The omission is supplied by Strabo, in a manner which is sufficiently striking. "Phidias," he says, "had made his Jupiter sitting, and touching almost the summit of the roof of the temple; so that it appeared that if the god had risen up, he would have lifted off the roof." The height of the interior of the temple was about sixty English feet.

The description of Pausanias, inadequate as it is to give a precise idea of the splendour of this great work of art, which commanded the wonder and admiration of antiquity, is sufficient to show us that the effect produced by the combinations of various materials, in a great variety of colour and ornament, was essentially different from that of the sculpture of marble. The object of the artist was doubtless, in a great degree, to produce an illusion approaching much nearer to reality than the cold severity of sculptured stone. It resulted from the spirit of paganism, that every device of art should be employed to encourage the belief of the real presence of the god in his temple.

DURING the administration of Pericles, (B. c. 445,) the genius of Phidias, the greatest sculptor of antiquity, conceived the daring idea of constructing statues of the gods of Greece which should unite the opposite qualities of colossal dimensions, and materials of comparative minuteness of parts. The sculpture of Greece had been gradually developing itself, through several ages, from the primitive commonest woods as a material, to the employment of those of a rarer growth, such as ebony and cedar,-in clay, in marble, in metals, (and those occasionally of the most precious kinds,) till it at length reached, according to the taste of antiquity, the highest point of perfection, in the combination, upon a great scale, of ivory and gold. Inde-The votaries indeed knew that the statues of the divinities pendently, indeed, of the delicate texture of ivory, its pleasing colour, and its capacity for the highest polish, there was something wonderfully stimulating to the imagination, to consider that the colossal objects of the popular

were the work of human hands; and there was no desire to impose upon the popular credulity in this respect-for the statue of the Olympian Jupiter bore an inscription that it was made by Phidias. But, after every effort of genius

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