A dress-hat has appeared of yellow crape, ornamented with English-blue ribands, and a branch of acacia as long as a weeping-willow feather. The ladies of the court now wear, in full dress, their hair elegantly arranged, and decorated with flowers; to these a superb white veil of the finest lace is added, which falls in elegant drapery from the back of the head. At rural balls, young females wear

the caul is

hat-bonnets of open straw; of blue lilac, or rose-colored gros de Naples. Two rosettes of riband are placed, one on the right side of the crown, the other at the base on the left. The hair is arranged à l'Anglaise in corkscrew ringlets, or in the Chinese style, without any ringlets at all. At evening dressparties are seen berets of crape, adorned with flowers charmingly fabricated.

BIRTHS.

SONS to lady Petre and lady Augusta Baring, to the countess of Cawdor and lady Barbara Newdigate, and to the wives of the rev. Dr. Goodenough, captain G. H. Boldero, Mr. W. R. Alder of Berwick, Mr. G. Pochin, Dr. C. Stephenson, Mr. G. Corner of Southwark, Mr. F. Palgrave, Mr. Edmund and Mr. John Giles, Mr. T. Abbot of the Regent's Park, Mr. J. Jones of Portland-place, and Mr. C. F. Burnet of Halling-Park.

Daughters to lady Clarina and lady Louisa Finch Hatton, and to the wives of the rev. James Carr, the rev. A. Irvine, the rev. Robert Sutton, Dr. B. Granet, Mr. H. J. Adeane (twins), Mr. T. Rove dino, the younger Mr. Copland of Glocester-place, Mr. Moore the proctor, colonel G. Wyndham, captain Ellice of the navy, Mr. Melville Wilson, Mr. T. Poynder the younger, and Mr. Leech the

surgeon.

MARRIAGES.

Lord Bingham, to lady Anne Brudenell.

The hon. Edward Petre, to the fourth daughter of lord Stafford.

Lord Wriothesley Russell, to his cousin Elizabeth, daughter of lord William Russell.

Mr. S. Grace, to the second daughter of lieutenant-general Sir J. Hamilton. Mr. W. Huntley, to the eldest daughter of Sir Lewis Versturme.

Mr. J. Bird Fuller, of Neston-park, Wilks, to Miss Sophia Hanning.

Mr. G. Cope, of Wolverhampton, to Miss Anne Harwood of Lichfield.

At Chelsea, the rev. H. J. Owen, to Miss Angela Bayford.

Mr. R. Wollaston, of Hornsey, to Miss Emily Telford.

Mr. Sydenham Malthus, to the daughter of the rev. Dr. S. White.

STATE OF THE WORLD BEFORE THE
DELUGE.

THE state of the world, at different periods, will ever be an object of curiosity. We wish to know not only what happened, or how the people lived, in one or two centuries preceding our own times, but also to go as far backward as records can reach. Of the antediluvian world, indeed, we cannot expect to know much; but even of the most remote period we may learn something from the Scriptures. "In the beginning (we are informed) God created the heaven and the earth." Omitting the former (however anxiously we look forward to it), we shall only take notice of the latter.

When the earth had risen from chaotic confusion, and light had superseded darkness, our first parents, formed after the image of God, were brought into existence. They were surrounded by animals of every species, over which they were allowed to exercise dominion. They were empowered to replenish the earth with successive generations, and enabled to subdue it to their own purposes. They lived in comfort and happiness, without care or labor, and had apparently every thing that they could desire; but, by wantonly disobeying the divine commands, they forfeited the early advantages of their situation, and were condemned to a life of anxiety and of toil.

With regard to the natural state of the world, in this primeval period, antiquaries may be supposed to differ. Dr. Thomas Burnet imagines that its face and appearance were smooth, equable, and

VOL. X.

level, and very different from its present state; but Dr. Woodward, with greater plausibility, endeavours to prove, that it was nearly the same as it is at present, diversified by mountains and valleys, furnished with seas, lakes, and rivers; that the seas were subject to tides, and were in other respects like those which now surround or intersect the globe; and that the earth had the same position which it now has with respect to the sun. We may indeed suppose that, when the deluge had subsided, the earth quickly resumed its former state, like the land of Egypt after an annual inundation of the Nile. "The waters abated, and returned from off the earth;" and cold and heat, day and night, resumed their regular influence.

Before this signal disaster occurred, above 2300 years are calculated to have passed. During nine centuries of that period, Adam appears to have exercised the chief sway, although his authority was not completely influential over the distant communities of his numerous descendants. The posterity of Cain, in particular, disregarded his mandates, and deviated into immorality and vice. The race of Seth, on the other hand, lived in an orderly and decorous manner, and practised such virtues as were suited to their situation. Even this part of the antediluvian community, however, at length became corrupt and wicked, until the general depravity of mankind called for exemplary punishment.

Those writers who have pretended to record the Phoenician, Balylonian, and

3 E

Egyptian antiquities, have given amusing though not correct accounts of the incidents and the state of affairs which preceded the deluge. Sanchoniathon places the first pair of human beings in Phonicia, and gives to three of their descendants the appellations of light, fire, and flame, because they discovered a method of producing fire by rubbing dry pieces of wood against each other. In a succeeding generation, an ingenious savage invented the art of building huts with reeds and rushes; another taught his brethren to clothe themselves with skins. One ventured upon the sea in a raft of boughs, and another introduced fishing, in addition to the practice of hunting, which had before prevailed. In the seventh generation, iron was extracted from the earth, and rendered fit for use. In the ninth, agriculture began that course which increased the means of subsistence; and so high an opinion was entertained of its expediency and utility, that its inventor was idolised and deified. The art of brick-building was now introduced, villages were formed, and pasturage established. In those rude ages, according to the same writer, idolatry and the sacrifice of beasts constituted the prevailing religion.

Berosus, the Babylonian antiquary, reckons ten antediluvian kings of Chaldea, the first of whom, evidently answering to Adam, declared that God himself had authorised him to assume dominion over the rising world. It is gravely asserted by this writer, that the arts and sciences arose in the following manner. A strange animal, who had one head under another, whose body resembled that of a fish, and who yet had a human voice, emerged from the Red Sea, and gave the most useful instructions to the astonished persons who flocked around him. He taught men to dwell together in cities, to erect places of worship, to frame a code of laws, to practise the mechanic arts, and cultivate some branches of science. He was not content (it seems) with preaching to the people, but gave them an example of writing. This won derful creature was succeeded by other enlightened animals, who explained with copious minuteness what had delivered in a concise and summary mode.

he

Manetho speaks of seven gods and nine demi-gods who reigned in Egypt during that early period; but, as we

have only fragments of his work, we cannot give any detail of it; and, if we could, little credence could safely be given to his narrative.

Whatever may be said of the antediluvian kings by writers of this complexion, we have no reason to believe that any regular government (according to modern ideas of the term) then existed. Some observations on this part of our subject, applied by a modern historian to the time of Noah, will equally (if not better) suit the period of which we are speaking. The authority which was exercised was rather paternal than princely: "it arose from the seniority of the patriarch, from his personal character, and the habitual deference and respect with which his descendants were disposed to treat him. His influence was that of persuasion, not the force of absolute command. The disputes among his race were easily accommodated, either by reference to him, or by the judgement of the father of each particular family; and, in cases of general importance, many fathers probably met to decide the question. Thus the early polity had a tincture of republicanism. No laws then prevailed; but common sense influenced the conduct of individuals, and customs, gradually established, supplied the place of law."

It is probable that this kind of govern ment, instead of being improved by time, degenerated into a state which was scarcely superior to anarchy, not only among the posterity of Cain, but even among the descendants of Seth, when the primitive virtues of the latter had received, from the revival of their intercourse with the former, a tincture of licentious depravity. A number of associations might then exist, without composing one great nation;-the strong might tyrannise over the weak, and lawless violence might rage beyond control.

Of the religion of those times we have very little knowlege. In the hope of procuring the favor or allaying the displeasure of the Deity, the fruits of the earth, and the firstlings of flocks, were offered upon altars; but it does not appear that regular prayers or pious addresses were in use before the time of Adam's grandson Enos; for then (says Moses) men began to call upon the

66

Dr. Coote's History of Ancient Europe.

name of the Lord." Some theologians maintain, that all the patriarchs from Adam had stated places and times for public worship, and that priests were regularly employed and remunerated : they might as well have said, at once, that an organised hierarchy existed; but this is rather idle fancy than genuine history.

With regard to the arts, we may readily conclude that they made a slow progress in those ages. Yet some were invented at different times by the sagacity of reflecting individuals. Enoch, the son of Cain, improved the art of building, and erected the first city. Tubal, one of his descendants, introduced the manufacture of various implements in brass and iron. Jubal exercised his skill in a more pleasing art, and invented both the harp and the organ. Seth is said to have been a geometrician and an astronomer, and to have been also acquainted with the art of writing: but these assertions are not supported by the authority of Scripture.

Before the Cainites and the Sethites began to vie with each other in sin and wickedness, the manners of the people (for we may transfer the following remarks from the immediate postdiluvians to their predecessors) "were, it may be supposed, simple, pure, and unsophisticated; free from the artifice of exterior polish, and from that hypocrisy which is generated by refinement. Willing to oblige and ready to assist, they exercised all the kind offices of friendship, without claiming any merit for that humanity which they regarded as their duty. They did not consider their neighbours as their enemies or rivals, nor did they attend to their own exclusive gratification. One might say to another, Are we not brothers and friends, formed by the same Creator, endowed with similar faculties, and furnished with the same means of action; and shall we live in mutual enmity like the brutes of the forest, as if we had not the gift of reason, or the power of controlling our passions? Not surely for such a purpose were we sent into the world, but to sustain the characters of rational beings, and to treat others as we would wish them to treat us." The impulse of occasional passion could not wholly be repressed; but it was rarely suffered to proceed to intemperate violence. Sallies of anger were succeeded

by repentance and apology, and the sensations of animosity did not imbibe the dark tincture of revenge."

FASHIONABLE CONVERSATION;

from the School of Fashion.

LADY BLANEY MOUNT-SHANNON, being first in rank, watched for the eye of Mrs. Buckle (the mistress of the house and consequent directress of the entertainment), to make that little signal for a move, which probably creates in no two people precisely-similar feelings. To the lady with a weak stomach, whose feet begin to swell, and her nose to redden, from the heat of the dining-room, it is the greatest blessing. To the coquette, who hates an interruption to her flirtation, and anticipates no pleasure from the society of her own sex, it is a grievance. To the neighbour of a bore it is a relief; and in that light (to judge by the conversation which generally takes place after the departure of the ladies) it is viewed by the male part of the society.

We have often heard conjectures made by men, as to the probable subjects of discussion in the female conclave after dinner; but, without inquiring closely into the matter, we have reason to believe that there is no time when ladies' small-talk is so very small as then. All the ladies of course go first to the looking-glass, to see if their curls have been at all discomposed by heat, awkward servants, or any other such calamity. They next remark upon the color of each others' gowns, or ribands, or hats, or scarfs; and then those never-failing topics of births, deaths, marriages, servants, nurseries, and governesses, naturally begin to occupy their attention.

"Lady Blaney," said Mrs. Buckle, can you recommend me a nurserymaid? I find we cannot manage without one, now baby begins to walk."-" I do not at present know of one that I could recommend, for I think one should always be so very careful about recommending people when children are in question. You have a nurse, I think?" --Mrs. Buckle replied in the affirmative.

"Well now you must excuse me for giving you advice; but, to people who are obliged to mind expense, I think it might easily be managed to make your