the man on whom faction has done its worst, and who makes only returns of this order to the people, deserves any thing but hostility. On this topic we may yet talk more, but for the present we must draw to a conlusion. We cannot do so, however, without casting one glance backwards to the picture we have drawn of the state of public feeling in England, and then, expressing our regret that such should be the moment selected by the chosen wits and wise men of the Norththe "Arbitri Elegantiarum" of the world--the " delicia generis humani"-the all-be-praised, all-admired geniuses of the modern Athens -for calling together "a Meeting of Inhabitants" to address the King to turn out his Ministers-and that too in terms which convey and imply either the most unworthy sympathy with the phrenzy of the mob, or the most base adulation of its mad and mischievous leaders! Such is the moment when Mr Francis Jeffrey, and Mr J. P. Grant, and Mr Henry Cockburn, have thought fit to hold a solemn festival of fraternization with the elite of the Cowgate, congregated in the Pantheon-and when Mr James Moncrieff has not disdained to hear the applauses of tailors cheering the periods of jurisconsults-as all the changes were rung on the necessity of public assemblies-the freedom of the press-not forgetting the never-to-beforgotten crambe recocta of the massacre of Manchester.

But in this too it is quite easy to see the traces of the same universal spirit of base compliance, whose operations we have already been noticing in so many more important spheres. The Outs of the north are a sorely divided, split, uncompacted crew; be ing all Outs, they have indeed one name in common, but that is the most of it. And of all this, there is good reason to think, the men of the Cowgate were already beginning to have some slight suspicion, and sundry manifestations had occurred of an incipient distrust, spreading widely and surely among the servum pecus, and the general superintendents of all disaf

;

fection, perceived that it was necessary, by some "great shew of circumstance," to dazzle the eyes that had begun to be too piercing, and deafen the ears that had begun to swallow with more caution. And some happy spirit suggested the spectacle of the Pantheon and the rabble, if not their panem, had at least their circenses administered to them; and even the sternest and most aristocratical of the old Lauderdale faction, did not abstain from this mockery, with whatever secret qualms they may have first embraced it; but finding in the Edinburgh Reviewers the convenient middle term, the proper bonds of cohesion, they leant boldly on those all-agreeable worthies, " gratos supremis Deorum gratos et imis," and shook hands with the Radicals. A little airy sportive chat about independence and scorn of power, will not suffice to wipe out the least of the stains which this unhallowed connexion has fixed upon all that partook in its symbols.*

In common justice, however, we should speak gently on this occasion; for it is already sufficiently visible that the effect of the spectacle has been exactly the reverse of what its devisers and principal performers must have had in view. It is quite right that they who are in should be in all things more moderate than they who are out; but in the case of our friends the Tories (as they are absurdly enough called, for want of a better name,) we do think this system of moderation is sometimes carried not a little farther than it ought to be. Their enemies never confer any favour on them willingly, but if they were desirous of finding out a favour of real moment to confer upon them-they could not light on any thing more admirably adapted for their interests than the holding of such a meeting as this. It binds people visibly, who are too often apt to forget the real bonds that always subsist between them. It brings Whigs and Radicals together-but it brings the Tories together too, and then there is no reason to fear for the issue. We conclude, as we began, with the words of Coriolanus,

STAND FAST! WE HAVE AS MANY FRIENDS AS ENEMIES!"

*We are most happy to learn, however, that the "facile princeps" of the Scottish Whigs, Mr Cranstoun, although he did sign the requisition for this meeting, did not attend it.

VOL. VIII.

2 U

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

Earthquake at Wanlockhead, Nov. 30.The weather for some time past has been remarkably stormy; heavy rains accompa nied by high winds have prevailed, but in the end of last week and beginning of this, the clouds, which had for sometime lowered, appeared to be dissipated, and we had some signs of returning good weather. Tuesday morning was remarkably fine, but hazy-the atmosphere still--and the clouds, when they were visible, had no particular appearance. About 8 o'clock A. M., a slight shock of an earthquake was felt at Leadhills and Wanlockhead, attended with a hollow rumbling noise. The miners, who were at work 150 fathoms below ground, heard this alarming sound very distinctly, and being afraid lest the works were rushing down, many of them left their work, and came above ground. In the evening of the same day, about 11 o'clock, a similar, or still louder sound was heard at the above places, but not accompanied by any trembling or motion of the earth. These phenomena have been observed for 8 or 10 miles eastward, and 3 or 4 miles westward of these places, but whether they have extended beyond these limits is not yet accurately ascertained, but it is probable, that the more immediate effects of these awful convulsions of nature may have already been experienced in some distant quarter, particularly as the earthquake by which Lisbon was almost totally destroyed 65 years ago was very distinctly felt in the district of Leadhills and Wanlockhead, according to tradition, and in the memory of several old residenters.

The Overland Northern Expedition. The last accounts from Lieutenant Franklin state his arrival at Great-Bear Lake (W. long. 120°, lat. N. about 670) where he means to hut for the winter. He could have reached Coppermine River, but not in time to obtain the desired information this season; and he therefore resolved to winter at Great-Bear Lake, and to start with the return of proper weather, so as to have the whole summer before him for the object of the expedition.

Soundings at Sea.-In answer to a query by J. K. K. on this subject, I beg to inform him, that a method very similar to that suggested in his letter is in use, a graduated glass tube of some length full of air, excepting a known portion, in a curve at the bottom, of any viscous coloured liquid, which being forced up the tube by the pressure of the sea water, indicates, by the mark which it leaves inside the tube, the degree to which the contained air had been compressed, and consequently (if the specific gravity of the sea water be ascertained) the depth to which the instrument had descended. This instrument needs no piston. T. Voyage of Discovery.-The French corvette L'Uranie, commanded by M. de Freynet, sailed from New South Wales to pur

sue her voyage of discovery on the 25th of December last. On getting under weigh she was saluted by the fort, which was returned by the battery from Dawes' Point

Languages. According to a " View of all the known Languages and their Dialects," published by M. Fred. Aderburg, counsellor of state to the Emperor of Russia, their number amounts to 3,064, viz. in all Asia 937, European 587, African 276, and America 1,264.

Ancient Manuscripts.-Some new discoveries of great interest and importance have been made in the Vatican Library by M. Mai, the principal librarian.

In a Greek palimpseste manuscript (where the first writing has been effaced in order to make the parchment serve a second time) containing the Harangues of the orator Aristides, the learned librarian has succeeded in discovering a part of the Extracts of Constantine Porphyrogenetus, belonging to the Chapters of Sentences, Harangues, Succession of Kings, Inventors of Things, and Sententious Answers. As the Byzantine prince had made extracts from a multitude of historical and political works, which have been long lost to the world, this discovery has naturally promised an ample harvest of interesting gleanings. M. Mai announces that he has discovered parts of the lost books of Polybius, Diodorus Siculus, and Dion Cassius, and fragments of Aristotle of Ephorus, of Timeus, of Hyperides, and of Demetrius Phalereus. The names of some other authors, from whom extracts have been made, are not given. There are also some fragments of the Byzantine writers, such as Eunapius, Menander of Byzantium, Priscus and Petrus Protector, historic authors of a very interesting period. Among the fragments of Polybius, there is one of the 39th book, in which he announces that the 40th and last was to treat of Chronology.

In another palimpseste, M. Mai has found a political treatise posterior to the time of Cicero, in which that orator is quoted with many other Greek and Latin authors.

M. Mai has further discovered several speeches of Aristides, seven books of the physician Oribarius, which will be of much value to the physical sciences, fragments of Philo, a copy of Verines, &c.

It has been also just announced, that in the MSS. of Herculaneum, lately unrolled at Naples, some treatises of Epicurus have been discovered of more importance than any we are yet in possession of. In one of these MSS. there are quotations from a treatise on Political Economy by Aristotle, very different from the work which we possess under that title.

M. Hase, Professor of modern Greek to the School of Oriental Languages at Paris, who has just returned from a literary tour through Italy, has further increased the number of these discoveries. He has found

in the Ambrosian Library at Milan a complete MS. of a Byzantine historian, George Acropolite, of whom we have hitherto had nothing but an extract.

Baron Niebuhr, Prussian ambassador to the Holy See, has again discovered and published several manuscript works hitherto unknown. They are chiefly fragments of Cicero's Orations Pro M. Fonteie and Pro C. Rabirio; a fragment of the 91st book of Livy; and two works of Seneca. He has dedicated the publication to the Pope, by whose favour he was enabled to discover these literary treasures in the library of the Vatican.

The Abbé Amadeus Peyran, professor of oriental languages in the university of Turin, has discovered some fragments of Cicero in a manuscript from the monastery of St Columban de Rabbio, a town on the Trebia, in the dominions of the king of Sardinia. This MS. presents important new readings of orations already known, and confirms the identity of several texts that have been tortured by indiscreet critics. It contains also fragments of the orations Pro Scauro, Pro M. Tullio, In Clodium, orations unfortunately lost.

A manuscript of Eutropius's Roman Hisitory, supposed to have been carried from Rome to Bamberg by the Emperor Henry, the founder of the bishoprick of that place, has been found in the Royal library there by Mr Jacks the librarian. It is more complete than any of the printed editions, and will probably furnish means for correcting many false readings.

Professor Goeller of Cologne, had previously discovered in the same library a MS. of Livy.

A manuscript of the eleventh century, containing illustrations of Juvenal, which was discovered about two years ago in the library of the convent of St Gallen, by Professor Cramer, is about to be committed to the press. A specimen was published by the Professor on occasion of the king's birth day, under the title of Specimen novæ Editionis scholasticæ Juvenalis.

The French literati are occupied at this time in a work of some importance-pre paring translations of Plutarch, Sallust, Tacitus, Aristotle, Hippocrates, &c. from the Arabic MSS., into which language many or all the best Greek and Roman authors are known to have been translated.

The French ambassador at Constantinople, M. Giardin, lately sent to Paris fifteen valuable MSS. in Arabic, from the imperial library there, among which are the complete works of Plutarch and Herodotus.

Vesuvius and Pompeii.-During a late eruption of Vesuvius, a shower of ashes fell on the now uncovered part of Pompeii. M. de Gimbernat, a Spanish naturalist, having compared the substances of which this recent shower is composed, with those which anciently overwhelmed the city, could not find the smallest resemblance between them, and doubts whether that city really was

ruined by a shower of ashes. He also observed, within a few days after the eruption, that the crater of Vesuvius was covered with crystals of common salt-a pretty plain indication that the admission of sea-water into the interior of the mountain has some thing to do with the phenomenon.

An example that ought to be followed.The iron masters of Sweden have settled an annuity of 500 crowns on M. Berzelius, in consideration of the services that meritorious philosopher has rendered to the arts dependent on chemistry, and to manufactures of several kinds, by his discoveries and communications.

Galvanic Magnetism.-In a notice of the proceedings of the Royal Society, published in the Journals of the day, a brief account is given of Sir Humphry Davy's recent interesting electro-magnetic experiments. We have here to notice also an important result obtained by Professor Oersted. He states, that a plate of zinc (about three inches high, and four inches broad) placed in, and by an arch of small wire connected with a trough nearly fitting it, made of thin copper, and containing a mixture of one part of sulphuric acid, one part of nitric acid, and 60 parts of water, forms an apparatus, which, being suspended by a very small wire (only sufficiently strong to bear its weight), will, if a powerful magnet be presented to it, exhibit magnetic polarity-turning its corresponding pole to the pole of the magnet. The suspending wire is attached to the apparatus by a thread rising from one side of the trough to the wire, and descending to the other side of the trough; and the plate of zinc is kept from coming in contact with the copper case, by a piece of cork interposed on each side of the plate.

Statistics, &c.--France.-It appears from a late publication of the Academy of Sciences, that Paris contains 714,000 inhabitants, of whom 25,000 are not domiciled. The average number of births annually is 21,000, and of these, the proportion of males to females is as 25 to 24. The annual consumption of bread is 113,880,000 kilogrammes; of oxen 70,000; of heifers 9,000; of calves 78,000; of sheep 34,000; of swine 72,000; of eggs 74,000,000; of pigeons 900,000; of fowls 1,200,000; of wine 870,000 hectolitres.

Sweden. By the census taken in 1819, the population of the kingdom appears to be 2,543,412. The births in that year were 2329, and the deaths 3238-difference 909. Nearly a half of the children are born out of marriage. One out of three children have invariably died. Marriages 504, and divorces 24.

The whole population of Greenland, according to the last Report of the Missionary Board, consists of 3586 individuals, spread through 17 colonies on the western coast. The interior is not habitable, owing to accumulations of ice. The population has increased 714 since the year 1789.

WORKS PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION.

LONDON.

THE Doge of Venice, a Tragedy; by Lord
Byron.

A New Volume of Poems; by John Clare. In the press, the first part of Mr David Booth's Dictionary of the English Language. By Mr Ackermann, shortly will be published, a Description of the Manners, Customs, &c. of the People of Dalmatia, Illyria, &c. in two Pocket Volumes, Embellished with thirty-two Coloured Plates. This work will form the commencement of a Series, to be denominated the World in Miniature.

The History of the Late Revolution in Mexico; by Mr Robertson.

A New Tragedy; by Barry Cornwall. Shortly will be published, by subscription, an Account of New South Shetland; with a Description of the Manners and Customs of its Inhabitants, Illustrated by numerous Engravings, from Drawings made on the Spot; by Captain J. Rogers.

A New Edition of the most Interesting Portions of the Elizabethan Progresses; by Mr Nichols.

The Second and Concluding Part of Ancient Wiltshire; by Sir R. C. Hoare, Bart.

The author of the above work is also taking steps for the preparation of the Modern History of the County.

To be published by Subscription, in four parts, a New Ecclesiastical History; by J. A. Waller, Esq.

Mr Latham, author of the well-known Synopsis, is about to publish a Complete History of Birds, in 9 or 10 vols quarto, Illustrated with about 180 Coloured Plates.

A Volume of Translations from the Russian, with Remarks on the Literature of the Russians; by M. J. Bouring.

The Automatical Camera Obscura; intended to convey to the juvenile mind the knowledge of Scripture History.

The General Index to the Gentleman's Magazine, from its commencement in 1731, to 1818, inclusive, is in great forwardness in the press.

J. S. Stanhope, Esq. has in the press, Olympia, or Topography illustrative of the actual State of Olympia and the City of Ellis, in folio, with plans of Olympia and Ellis.

The Hon. R. K. Craven is printing, in a quarto volume, a Tour through the Southern Provinces of Naples, in 1818, illustrated by engravings.

Dr Cudworth's unpublished MSS. in the British Museum, are reviewing by the archdeacon of Lincoln, in order to a complete Collection of his Works, with notes.

Preparing for the press, a Christian Biographical Dictionary; by John Wilks, Jun. A Novel, in 3 vols, to be entitled, "Such is the World," will shortly be published.

The Mental Calculator; by Mr Lovehin. Shortly will be published, the Steeliad, Canto II.

The Poets' Child, a Tragedy; from the pen of Miss Isabel Hill.

A Small Volume of Poems, entitled, "What is Life;" with other Effusions; by Mr Thomas Bailey.

The valuable Library of CARDINAL FESCH, having been purchased by Messrs SHERWOOD, NEELY, AND JONES, of Paternoster Row, and Mr BOOKER of Bond Street, a Catalogue of the same will shortly be submitted to the Public, previously to the disposal of it by auction.

In the Press, and speedily will be published in octavo, Volume First of the Principles of Medicine, written entirely on the plan of the Baconian Philosophy; to prove that the only rational method of curing disease, so as to induce by medicine, an opposition or counteracting action, sufficiently powerful to expel the disorder; by R. D. Hamilton, Medical Practitioner.

The general History of the House of Guelph, or Royal Family of England, from the first record of the name, to the accession of George the First to the Throne of Great Britain, printing under the immediate patronage of his Majesty, will be ready early in December, in one volume 4to.

In the press, a Second Volume of Sacred Lyrics; by James Edmeston, 12mo.

A New Edition of the Rev. John Foster's Essay on the Evils of Popular Ignorance, is nearly ready for publication.

A Second Volume also of Clarke's (Thos.) History of Intolerance.

EDINBURGH.

Kenilworth, a Romance, by the Author of Waverley, will be out early in January.

In the press, and speedily will be published, in 3 vols 8vo, a History of the British Empire, from the Accession of Charles I. to the Restoration; with an Introduction, tracing the progress of Society, and of the

Constitution, from the feudal times to the opening of the History; and including a particular examination of Mr Hume's statements, relative to the character of the English Government. By George Brodie, Esq. Advocate.

Should a sufficient number of Subscribers be obtained, to defray the necessary expence