letter, I hold a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other. I concluded from the beginning that this would be the end of it, and I see I was right, for it is not half over yet; at present there are such goings on that every thing is at a stand. I should have answered your letter a fortnight ago, but I only received it this morning. Indeed hardly a mail arrives safe without being robbed. No longer ago than yesterday the coach with the mail from Dublin was robbed near this town; the bags had judiciously been left behind for fear of accidents, and by good luck there was nobody in the coach but two outside passengers, and they had nothing for the thieves to take. Last Thursday, notice was given that a gang of rebels were advancing hither under the French standard, but they had no colours, nor any drums except bagpipes. Immediately every man in the place, including women and boys, ran out to meet them. We soon found our force much too little, and they were far too many for us to think of retreating. Death was in every face, but to it we went, and by the time half our little party was killed we began to be all alive. Fortunately the rebels had no guns but pistols, cutlasses,and pikes; and as we had plenty of muskets and ammunition we put them all to the sword-not a soul of them all escaped, except some that were drow ed in an adjoining bog. Their uniforms were all different colours, but mostly green. After the action, we went to rummage a sort of camp they had left behind them; all we found was a few pikes without heads, and a parcel of empty bottles full of water, and a bundle of blank French commissions filled up with fishermen's names. Troops are now placed every where round the country, which exactly squares with my ideas. I have only time to add that I am, in haste, Yours truly, P.S.-If you do not receive this in course, it must have miscarried; therefore I beg you will write immediately to let me know.. Fonthill Abbey.-Mr. Farquhar having, through his agent, completed the purchase of that magnificent seat for 350,000l. which cost upwards of a million, is now down there, preparatory to a sale by auction. It is said there are four bidders for the estate in the market, the Duke of Wellington, Earl Grosve nor, Mrs. Coutts, and the Marquis of Hertford. Irish Wedding.-An affair of an extraordinary nature occurred a few days back in the county of Wicklow, which is likely to furnish matter for discussion in one of the Irish Law Courts. The parties are exceedingly respectable,and the occurrence has plunged two families in inexpressible affliction. Two marriages took place, the two brides were escorted by their admiring bridegrooms on the wedding-day to a hotel not far from Dublin; they dined, took tea, supped, and then the ladies retired. The gentlemen, unfortunately, sacrificed a little too freely to the jolly god, and, on retiring to bed, each entered the wrong apartment. A young Chemist has lately invented a new mode of tanning leather, by which raw hides are made perfect leather in less than six weeks, instead of lying twelve months in the tan-pit as heretofore. The expense, too, is less than one half by the new process. The gentleman who has bought the discovber and contractor; and, from the terms of erer's invention is a noted opposition memhis stipulation with the fortunate chemist, we may form some judgment of the proba ble magnitude of the results. He has paid him 10,000l. down; he has given him obligatory deeds, securing him 5,000l. on the 1st of January; 5,000l. per annum for the four years next succeeding, and afterwards 11,000l. a year for life! It is expected that the price of a pair of boots will not exceed eight shillings; and that a corresponding fall will be produced in all articles of leather manufacture. A plan was sometime ago proposed of introducing the air-pump into the French West-India colonies, in the works for the been delayed, from obstacles of different making of sugar; but the execution has kinds. This improvement, however, is now realised in the refining works of Messrs. HOWARD and HODGSON, in this country; and by its action the molasses may be boiled to a very low temperature (below 100 deg. of Fahrenheit). In boiling, inclosed vessels are made use of, which interrupt the pressure of the atmosphere. This process is also applied to the drying of paper in the vacuum, and to the art of dying, when a finer colour is obtained by expelling the air. Geological Phenomena-A specimen of a toad which was taken alive from the centre of a mass of solid stone, has been sent to the College-Museum of Edinburgh by Lord Duncan.-SPIX and MARTINS, the Batavian naturalists, during their residence in Brazil, found bones of the Megatherium in limestone caves.-Several of the large bones of the mammoth have been lately discovered in the province of Groningen, and deposited in the public museum. Another fissure or cave, containing bones of quadrupeds, has been discovered in the limestone of Yorkshire.-A cave, near Sundwich in Westphalia 1500 yards in extent, has been found to contain bones and skeletons of an unknown species of bear. Full details of the Land Expedition for Discoveries in the North American Seas, are preparing by Capt. FRANKLIN, and will appear in quarto after Christmas. Memoirs of the late Mrs. Cappe, written by Herself, will be published in a few days. Some doubts have been expressed as to the ultimate success of Mr. GRIFFITH'S Steam Carriage, we think it proper to state, that the delay in the intended public exposition of the carriage now building, has arisen from some important improvements. Many experiments have been satisfactorily made respecting the self-movement of the carriage in every direction: but, in consequence of the distance from the fire, at which were placed the higher ranges of tubes that compose the boiler, a sufficient quantity of steam did not appear to be generated with the celerity required. It was therefore found expedient to remove such ranges of tubes, and to place them nearer the influence of the fire, that the efficient elasticity of the steam might not be interrupted, and the action of all the tubes se. cured. This work has of course, employed considerable time; but of complete ultimate success no doubt can be justly entertained. The Chronology of the last Fifty Years, from 1773, to 1822 inclusive, will be pub. lished in the first week of January. As a work of historical reference, this single volume answers every purpose of fifty volumes of annual registers; and the promised edition will be complete to Dec. 31, 1822. Dr. ROBINSON's long promised abridgement of Hume and Smollet, with his own continuation to the death of George the Third, is in the press. It will be embellish. ed with 100 engravings, after famous pic. tures of the English school, and, as a book of education, will be unequalled. A collection of Poems on various subjects, from the pen of HELEN MARIA WILLIAMS, is in the press. The volume will also contain some remarks on the present state of literature in France. The Confederates, a story in three volumes, will be ready in a few days. The Great Unknown," as he is called by his sycophantic school, threatens us with another production of his novel-manufactory, under a title of the most puerile alliteration, viz. "Peverel of the Peak." Such a pretty sounding name must delight the novel reading misses of the three kingdoms. Other claimants, whose names have lately been too much before the public, are also threatening various heavy imposts. Thus a certain noble writer, who in facility equals the "Great Unknown" himself, while he so far transcends him in talent, announces at the one instant, the Deluge, Heaven and Hell, three other Cantos of Don Juan, and several tragedies! And Mr. SOUTHEY, in addition to his various jobs in prose, which we have duly noticed, has in the press a poem, called a Tale of Paraguay. Mr.MOORE's Loves of the Angels is to appear early in December; and, in imitation, which we are sorry to see, of the "Great nounced even before the public have seen Unknown," a volume of illustrations is an. the work itself. The "Great Unknown," besides the collateral puff of illustrations, has also songs ready composed, and melodramas ready at all the minor theatres, to appear simultaneously with his original work! Mr. Moore may rely on the brillian cy of his productions without any such factitious aids.-Mon. Mag. Mr. LOCKHART announces Sixty Ancient Ballads, historical and romantic, from the Spanish, with notes. It has been proposed to line walls with tea chest lead, on any part which is subject to damp, fixing it with copper nails, and then papering it. Notwithstanding its obvious advantages, the great Encyclopedie Methodique has nev er been imitated in England. We have Cy clopedia upon Cyclopedia, but they all suf fer the disadvantage of being in one alphabet, by which they are troublesome to consult, and new discoveries in any one branch of science renders the whole obsolete. Besides, as few men ain at universal science, students in particular sciences can derive no benefit from these works without making an extensive and expensive purchase, It has therefore been determined to bring out in London a METHODICAL CYCLOPEDIA, or series of separate Dictionaries, forming, together, a complete circle of the sciences, But, as dictionaries are auxiliaries of other books, and do not supersede them, the work is not proposed to be of great cost or un wieldy bulk. It will be completed in twelve portable volumes,including the several great departments of knowledge in each, so that the purchaser may possess himself of either, every purpose for which any dictionary is or the whole; and, by economy in printing, James Mitchell, A. M. of the University of usually consulted will be effected. Aberdeen, has undertaken the supervision of the whole; and the first volume, contain ing HISTORY, will appear on the first of Mr. January. A volume will appear on the first of every month, till the series of 12 volumes are completed. The engravings will be numerous, and of the first order in execution. The Ninth Book of Napoleon's Own Memoirs appeared in London about two years since; and it is now announced that the other books are to be published forthwith under the superintendance of the Counts Las Cases and De Montholon. The impracticable security which the tender conscience of M.Lafitte demanded before he would pay bis own drafts on America, having deprived these faithful followers of Napoleon of their legacies, they have been constrained to sell these manuscripts to the best bidder among the literary speculators of London. tions called out to him to deliver his money. The gentleman happened to have in the chaise, at the time, cash, &c. to a very great amount, the loss of which would have been his utter ruin. He had not a minute to reflect, and yet with astonishing composure and presence of mind, he instantly hit upon an expedient which extricated him from his danger: he told the robbers that his life was doubly in their hands, as they might take it themselves, or deliver him into the hands of justice, out of which he could not be released but by death, as he was the unfortunate General Macartney, for the apprehending of whom a great reward was offered. The robbers consulted a few minutes, and then informed him, that they had agreed to grant part of his request; name the other hand, as money was absolutely necessary to them, and as they could get him, they said he must submit to be carried inore by apprehending than by robbing before some magistrate, as they were determined to claim the reward offered for his apprehension. The gentleman inwardly rejoiced at this, and on being carried before a justice of the peace, who happened to know the person of General Macartney, he his information were committed.--- Rec. M. was discharged and the two highwaymen, on COUNT LAS CASES has also announced his intention of publishing a work in eight, not to take his money from him; but on volumes, under the title of Mémorial de St. Helene, in which every thing is to be recorded that was said or done by Napoleon at St. Helena, during the space of eighteen months. In the Preface the Count states, that particular circumstances placed him for a long time with the most extraordinary man that the history of ages can show. Admiration led the Count to follow him, without knowing him; but, as soon as he knew him, love bound him to him forever. The world is full of his glory, of his deeds, of his monuments; but nobody is acquainted with the real traits of his character, his private qualities, the natural inclinations of his soul to fill up this vacuum is the task be undertakes. He collected and noted down, day by day, all that he saw of Napoleon, all that he heard from him during 18 months. In these most confidential conversations, which took place, as it were, in another world, be could not fail to paint himself, as in a mirror, in all situations, and under all forms."--Mon. Mag. Du Val the Highwayman.-This hero having arrested the carriage of a certain knight and his lady, who he knew were travelling with 400/. in their possession, the lady, to shew she felt no apprehension, began to play a tune on her flageolet. Du Val very decorously waited until she had done, and then, being himself an excellent musician, took a flageolet which hung at his side, and played a tune in return, and afterwards stepped up to the carriage, and in vited the lady to dance a corrano with him. So reasonable a request could not be refused; she descended, performed the dance, Du Val singing the tune; and was handed back by her partner to the carriage. He then reminded the knight that he had for got to pay the music, whereupon the courteous knight presented him with a hundred pounds, which our hero politely accepted, telling him he would let him off the other three hundred he had with him.---Retrospective Review. In the reign of Queen Anne a gentleman was driving post to London over Hounslowheath, when his chaise was stopped by two highwaymen, who with dreadful impreca In December will be published, on one sheet of fine wove paper, hot pressed, the Victorious Kalendar, which will show at one view a victory gained by the British arms on every day in the year, the date of the year, the place where the battle was fought, and the name of the officer commanding. Travels in the Northern States of Amer ica, by Timothy Dwight, LL.Dwill appear in the course of the month. TD Miss BENGER is about to publish Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots, with anecdotes of the court of Henry the Second, during his residence in France, with a genuine portrait never before engraved. en. The nettle urtica urens, in Shropshire may be dressed and manufactured, like flax, into cloth. In France it is made into paper; and, when dried, is eaten by sheep and oxIn Russia a green dye is obtained from its leaves, and a yellow one from its roots. In the spring a salutary pottage is made from the tops. In Scotland they make a runnet from a decoction of it with salt, for coagulating their milk. In the month of August, last year, in a heavy shower of rain, there fell near the Castle of Schoenbrunu, au immense quantity of insects unknown in Austria. They were about the size of beetles, and had some resemblance to them in form; they were covered with a kind of shell, and only kept alive by putting them in water, as if water had been their element. The conjecture assigned is, that they were brought away from some remote country into Austria by a water-spout. SPIRIT OF THE ENGLISH MAGAZINES. BOSTON, MARCH 1, 1823. JOB (Blackwood's Edinburgh Mag. Nov.) JOHN BROWN, OR THE HOUSE IN THE MUIR. OHN BROWN, the Ayr, or, as he bouring of persecuted ministers, and above all, by a moral, a sober, and a proverbially devout and religious conduct. In an age, when immorality was held to be synonymous with loyalty, and irreligion with non-resistance and passive obedience, it was exceedingly dangerous to wear such a character; and, accordingly, there had not been wanting information to the prejudice of this quiet and godly man. Clavers, who, ever since the affair of Drumclog, had discovered more of the merciless and revengeful despot, than of the veteran or hero, had marked his name, according to report, in his black list; and when once Clavers had taken his reso lution and his measures, the Lord have mercy upon those against whom these were pointed. He seldom hesitated in carrying his plans into effect, although his path lay over the trampled and lacerated feelings of humanity. Omens, too, of an unfriendly and evil-boding import, had not been awanting in the cottage of John Brown to increase the alarm. The cat had mewed suspiciously, had appeared restless, and had continued to glare in hideous indication from beneath the kitchen bed. The death-watch, which had not been noticed since the decease of the gudeman's mother, was again, in the breathless pause of listening suspense, heard to chick distinctly; and the cock, instead of crowing, as on ordinary occasions, immediately before day-dawn, had ori ginated a sudden and an alarming flap of his wings, succeeded by a fearful scream, long before the usual bed-time. It was a gloomy crisis; and after a considerable time spent in dark and despairing reflection, the evening lamp was at last trimmed, and the peat-fire repaired into something approaching to a cheerful flame. But all would not do; for whilst the soul within is disquieted and in suspense, all external means and appliances are inadequate to procure comfort, or impart even an air of cheerfulness. At last "Help" suddenly lifted his head from the hearth, shook his ears, sprung to his feet, and with something betwixt a growl and a bark, rushed towards the door, at which the "yird drift" was now entering copiously. It was, however, a false alarm. The cow had moved beyond the "hallan," or the mice had come into sudden contact and squeaked behind the rafters. John, too, it was reasoned betwixt mother and daughter, was always so regular and pointed in his arrivals, and this being Saturday night, it was not a little or an insignificant obstruction which could have prevented him from being home, in due time, at least, for family-worship. His cart, in fact, had usually been pitched up with the trams supported against the peat-stack, by two o'clock of the afternoon; and the evening of his arrival from his weekly excursion to Ayr, was always an occasion of affectionate intercourse, and more than ordinary interest. Whilst his disconsolate wife, therefore, turned her eyes towards her husband's chair, and to the family Bible, which lay in a "bole" within reach of his hand, and at the same time listened to the howling and intermitting gusts of the storm, she could not avoid, it was not in nature that she should, contrasting her present with her former situation; thus imparting even to objects of the most kindly and comforting association, all the livid and darkening hues of her disconsolate mind. But there is a depth and a reach in true and genuine piety, which the plummet of sorrow may never measure. True religion sinks into the heart as the refreshing dew does into the chinks and the crevi ces of the dry and parched soil; and the very fissures of affliction, the cleav ings of the soul, present a more ready and inviting, as well as efficient access, to the softening influence of piety. This poor woman began gradually to And patiently did bear ;— My voice and cry to hear!" These two solitary worshippers of Him whose eyes are on the just, and whose ear is open to their cry, had proceeded to the beginning of the fourth verse of this psalm, and were actually employed in singing with an increased and increasing degree of fervour and devotion, the following trustful and consolatory expressions "Oh blessed is the man, whose trust Upon the Lord relies," when the symphony of another and a well-known voice was felt to be present, and they became at once assured that the beloved object of their solicitude had joined them, unseen and unperceived, in the worship. This was felt by all to be as it ought to have been; nor did the natural and instinctive desire to accommodate the weary and snow-cov ered traveller with such conveniences and appliances as his present condition manifestly demanded,prevent the psalm singing from going on, and the service from being finished with all suitable decency. Having thus, in the first instance, rendered thanks unto God, and blessed and magnified that mercy which pervades, and directs, and over-rules every agent in nature, no time was lost in attending to the secondary objects of inquiry and manifestation; and the kind heart overflowed, whilst the tongue and the hand were busied in "answer meet" and "in accommodation suit able." |