―204―

For the Literary Magazine.

literary, philosophical, com-
mercial, and agricultural
intelligence.

THERE will soon be published in
Philadelphia a new and interesting
work, entitled “the Columbiad, a
poem, in ten books, by Joel Barlow.”
This work will be ornamented with
twelve engravings, which have been
done in England by the most emi-
nent artists, and at great expence.
They are in the first style of ele-
gance. The typographical part,
wholly American, is executed in a
manner highly creditable to the se-
veral artists employed. The paper
by Amies, the type by Binny and
Ronaldson, and the printing, with
consummate taste and care, by Fry
and Kammerer; it will be published
* This paper was written nearly
two years since.

―205―

by C. and A. Conrad and Co., in one
volume, quarto. A work like this,
on a great national subject, must
excite a high degree of interest. In
the present instance, we are confi-
dent that the public expectation
will not be disappointed; and while
the Columbiad will be cited as a
monument of American genius, the
publishers are determined that this
edition shall do equal honour to our
arts.

B. and T. Kite have in the press,
and will publish early in Novem-
ber, Chaptal's Chemistry, with
improvements and additions by
James Woodhouse, M. D., professor
of chemistry in the university of
Pennsylvania, in two volumes, octa-
vo. They have also in the press, a
letter on the Inoculation of the Vac-
cina; practised in Sicily, by doctor
Francesco Calcagni, translated from
the Italian, by Edward Cutbush,
M. D.–A sketch of the character,
and an account of the last illness of
the Rev. John Cowper, A. M. writ-
ten by his brother, the late William
Cowper, Esq., of the Inner Temple.
They have likewise issued propo-
sals for publishing Elements of Na-
tural Philosophy; explaining the
laws and principles of attraction,
gravitation, mechanics, pneumatics,
hydrostatics, hydraulics, electricity,
and optics; with a general view of
the solar system, adapted to public
and private instruction, by John
Webster, with notes and correc-
tions, by Robert Patterson, profes-
sor of mathematics in the university
of Pennsylvania.

Samuel F. Bradford will shortly
publish a new and interesting work,
entitled, A Portraiture of Metho-
dism, being an impartial view of
the rise, progress, doctrine, disci-
pline, and manners, of the Wesley-
an methodists, by Joseph Nightin-
gale.

A very interesting work, received
by the last arrivals from London,

entitled, “The Last Year of the
Reign and Life of Louis XVI, by
Francis Hue, one of the officers of
the king's chamber, named by that
monarch, after the 10th of August,
1792, to the honour of continuing
with him and the royal family,
translated from the French, by R.
E. Dallas, Esquire,” is putting to
press by Mr. James Humphreys.

In addition to the above, Mr.
Humphreys has put to press, and
will speedily publish, “An account
of the Life and Writings of that ce-
lebrated divine, Hugh Blair, one of
the ministers of the high church,
and professor of rhetoric and belles
lettres, in the university of Edin-
burgh, by the late John Hill. LL. D,
professor of humanity in the univer-
sity, and fellow of the royal society
of Edinburgh.”

Mr. Thomas Dobson has issued
proposals for publishing, in one vo-
lume, octavo, The History of Bap-
tism, by the Rev. R. Robinson, of
Cambridge, England, abridged by
the Rev. Samuel Jones, D. D.

By late accounts from London
we are informed, that an interesting
compilation is preparing for the
press, a transcript of which the au-
thor, an unwearied advocate in the
cause of humanity, intends to trans-
mit here for publication, by an early
opportunity. It is to be entitled
The History of the Rise, Progress,
and Accomplishment of that Great
Event, the Abolition of the Slave
Trade, by Thomas Clarkson, and
will be comprised in two thick octa-
vo volumes.

The following new publications
have appeared in the course of the
last month:

A Tour through Holland, along
the right and left banks of the Rhine
to the south of Germany, in the
summer and autumn of 1806. By
sir John Carr, author of the Stran-
ger in France, Northern Summer,
Stranger in Ireland, &c.

―206―

The Life of George Washington,
commander in chief of the armies of
the United States of America
throughout the war which establish-
ed their independence, and first
president of the United States, by
David Ramsay, M. D., author of
the History of the American Revo-
lution.

Lectures on the Catechism, on
Confirmation and the Liturgy of the
Protestant Episcopal Church, de-
livered to the students of that deno-
mination, in the Philadelphia aca-
demy, to which is prefixed the Ca-
techism, an appendix, and occasional
prayers, with an address to parents,
sponsors, and guardians. Published
for the use of that institution, by
James Abercrombie, D. D., one of
the assistant ministers of Christ
church and St. Peter's, and director
of the academy.

Vols. 1st and 2d of the Life of
Samuel Johnson, LL. D. Compre-
hending an account of his studies
and numerous works, in chronologi-
cal order; a series of his Epistolary
Correspondence and Conversations
with many eminent persons; and
various original pieces of his com-
position, never before published.
The whole exhibiting a view of li-
terature and literary men in Great
Britain, for near half a century, du-
ring which he flourished, by James
Boswell, Esq.

A new pamphlet has made its ap-
pearance in Kentucky, entitled
“A View of the President's Con-
duct concerning the Conspiracy of
1806. By Joseph Hamilton Daviess,
late attorney of the United States of
Kentucky.”

We hear with pleasure that Mar-
shall's Life of Washington has
been introduced into several schools
in this city, and is taught as a book
of elementary instruction. We
wish that the example may be fol-
lowed, and the practice rendered
general. The information contain-
ed in these volumes cannot be too
early instilled into the minds of our

youth, or too deeply impressed upon
their memories.

The emperor of Russia has pre-
sented to Peter Dobell, Esq. of Phi-
ladelphia, now resident in Canton,
a diamond ring of considerable va-
lue, as a testimonial of his esteem
for services rendered by that gentle-
man to a Russian circumnavigator,
who had put into the port of Can-
ton. The ring is in the possession
of a gentleman of this city.

A medal has lately been struck,
in this city, upon the retirement of
Washington. It was engraved by
Reich, upon the designs of a person
of taste; the head from a drawing
of Stuart's, sketched on purpose.

A diploma has been granted to
George Washington Park Custis,
Esq., of Virginia, by the agricultural
society of Boston, for the improve-
ments he has effected in the breed
of sheep. Of the samples of wool
he presented, the weight of each
fleece averaged 4lb, and is sheared
twice a year.

Late donations and additions to
the Philadelphia Museum:

A large seal, called elephant seal,
12 feet 6 inches long; together with
leopard and beaver seals, pinguins,
&c., presented by captain Ferris.

An East Indian pipe or hubble-
bubble, moorish slippers, elegant
bracelets, &c., presented by Mr.
Samuel Parrish.

Specimens of penmanship written
for the museum; one of them exhi-
bits the Lord's prayer, written in
one line 2½ inches long, and again in
a circle the size of one-sixth of a
dime, written and presented by Mr.
Samuel Lewis.

Nutmegs with the mace round
them, pinguins, &c., presented by
captain J. W. Cox.

A collection of East Indian insects,
presented by Mr. Cunningham.

A buck's horn, dug out of a well
in Richmond, Virginia, at the depth

―207―

of 96 feet, presented by John Moys,
Esq. Richmond.

A drawing of flowers, executed
by miss Sarah Rogers, of New York,
who from her birth has not had the
use of her hands, holding the pencil,
pen, brush, or scissors, in her mouth,
presented by William Hamilton,
Esq., Woodlands.

Handsomely cut papers and needle
work, by miss Ann M. Honeywell,
of New York, who was born without
hands; she holds the paper or work
in her toes, and the scissors or
needle in her mouth, occasionally
clearing the thread, &c., with the
stump of her arm; likewise her
shoes, which exactly resemble the
diminutive shoes of the Chinese la-
dies, presented by herself.

New patent washing machine, in-
vented by S. Willard, jun., New
York.

A collection of mosses and coral-
lines, presented by Mrs. Martha
Moore.

Auother collection of ditto, to-
gether with chrystals, &c., from
Bath, presented by Mrs. Dilwin.

Fossils, chiefly corals, formed on
the falls of the Ohio, and in a cave
in the Great Barren, presented
by Mr. Bickham.

Arabic coins, found in the ruins of
the ancient city of Carieta, near
Gibraltar, presented by Mr. Daniel
Smith, Burlington.

Impression of the medal to com-
modore Preble, presented by Mr.
George Armitage.

Seven Brazilian coins, from 1719
to 1806, presented by Mr. Willet.

Chinese wooden bellows, a dag-
ger, and other curiosities from Owy-
hee and Java, presented by Mr.
Charles Graff.

Specimens of Irish turf, Dutch
turf, and a loadstone from Schuyler's
mountain, presented by Mr. Talbot
Hamilton.

An ancient copper coin, dug from
among the ruins of a triumphal arch
in Tripoli, presented by Mr. Henry
Denison.

Specimens of Prussian Blue, ma-
nufactured in Philadelphia, and pre-
sented by Mr. Caldcleugh.

Snuff-box made of the lava of
Mount Vesuvius, and an Indian
stone tobacco pipe, representing a
grotesque Indian.

Animal Biography, 3 vols., octavo.

Introduction to the Ornithology
of the United States, by Alexander
Wilson.

Spallanzani's Travels, 4 vols., oc-
tavo.

Abbe Lazzaro's Travels.

Black's Lectures on Chemistry, 3
vols., 8vo.

O'Gallaghan's First Principles of
Nature, 2 vols., 3vo.

Zoonomia, or the Laws of Or-
ganic Life, by Dr. Darwin, 2 vols.,
8vo.

Trotter's Essay on Drunkenness,
octavo.

Letters from the East, 2 vols., 8vo.
presented by judge Goldsborough,
Maryland.

Melshiemer's Catalogue of Penn-
sylvania Insects, part first.

French and Flemish Dictionary,
printed at Rotterdam, in 1589,
presented by Mr. Samuel Lewis.

Barton's Medical and Physical
Journal, 2 vols., 8vo.

Farmer's Letters, 8vo., presented
by Mr. James Ross.

Three jaw teeth of the Asiatic
elephants, presented Mr. Nicholas
Burns.

The 61st air voyage of the fa-
mous Mr. Blanchard, being the 11th
of his lady, was performed the 3d
of August, near Rotterdam. Though
every prospect appeared very fa-
vourable for the intended voyage, yet
it was disturbed by an unfortunate
accident. A quarter after 6 o'clock,
the beginning was made with filling
the montgolfiere, and before halt
past 7 o'clock the balloon was per-
fectly ready, and left the ground;
but unfortunately took hold by an
iron wire, on which it before had
been fastened, loosened itself vio-
lently, and received a large rift,
which occasioned the flying off of
the balloon against a large tree, and
thereby got an opening. Neverthe-
less the voyage would have been

―208―

crowned with success had not the
balloon in rising into the air been
encountered by a whirlwind, which
brought the gallery into disorder,
and enlarged the opening.

This ever before fortunate air
traveller now fell out of the balloon,
first upon the top of a house, and
from thence on the ground, by
which he received a large contu-
sion on his head, but is, however, in
a state of recovery.

It appeared madame Blanchard
would have escaped better, by fall-
ing first on some trees, but her agi-
tation on seeing the descension of
her husband, made such an impres-
sion upon her organs of speech,
that she is now in a kind of dumb
and lifeless state.

There are in England, scarcely
four acres to each person, twelve
acres to each person in Scotland,
and nearly ten to every person in
Wales, about five acres to each
person in Great Britain: three
acres well cultivated are supposed
sufficient for each person.

Number of inhabitants in the
thirteen largest cities and towns in

Great Britain, according to a cen-
sus taken in 1801.

The following is the amount of
the British naval force up to the
first of September: At sea 96 ships
of the line, 10 from 50 to 44 guns,
134 frigates, 153 sloops, &c., and
199 gun brigs and other vessels.
Total, 592 In port and fitting,
guard ships, &c., 74 ships of the line,
8 from 50 to 44, 58 frigates, 42
sloops, &c., and 48 gun brigs and
other vessels. Total, 178. Build-
ing, 34 ships of the line, 25 frigates,
25 sloops, &c., and 4 gun brigs and
other vessels. Total, 88. In ordi-
nary, 42 ships of the line, 12 from
50 to 44, 54 frigates, 44 sloops, &c.,
and 17 gun brigs and other vessels.
Total, 268. Grand total, 1,026.

From the registers of deaths in
the Russian empire, during the
year 1806, it appears that there di-
ed in that period one between 145
and 150 years of age, one between
130 and 135, four between 125 and
130, six between 120 and 125, thir-
ty-two between 115 and 120, twen-
ty-six between 110 and 116, eighty-
six between 105 and 110, a hun-
dred and thirty-seven between 100
and 105, and eleven hundred and
thirty-four between 95 and 100.

On Saturday some very valuable
pictures were sold at Mr. Christie's
rooms in Pall-mall, London, but
that by which the collection v[gap]

―209―

eminently distinguished was the
woman taken in adultery, the cele-
brated chef-d'oeuvre of Rembrandt.
There are some circumstances in the
history of this picture which de-
serve to be stated. It was painted
by Rembrandt for his patron the
burgomaster Six, and occupied se-
ven months of the artist's time. It
remained in the burgomaster's fami-
ly until last year, when his descend-
ant, who was ruined by the revolu-
tion in Holland, found himself un-
der the necessity of selling this last
memorial of taste and munificence
of his ancestor. The purchaser was
obliged to use great precautions to
prevent it from falling into the
hands of those rapacious agents of
Bonaparte, who are employed to
plunder every country that has fall-
en under his power of its best works
of art. The picture was secretly
moved to a port on the Baltic,
where it was shipped for England.
Since it has been in Mr. Christie's
rooms, sir Francis Baring offered
4000 guineas for it; but it was final-
ly knocked down at 5000. As a
painting, it has never been excelled.
There is a kind of magic effect
produced by its colour, after which
we search in vain among the known
principles and common practices of
art. A magnificence, a splendour,
and brilliancy are united with a de-
licacy, freshness, and transparency,
which has never been rivalled, and
whilst every thing that the pallet
could supply has been tributary to
the artist's hand, the whole has
been so skilfully subdued, and kept
down to its proper tone and just
harmony, that nothing has been left
predominant, or decided, or gaudy.
By the most happy union and con-
trast, a regularity of effect has been
diffused over the whole; and whilst
the most powerful colours which
belong to the Gula, and the Tri-
umph, have been employed, the ge-
nius of the painter has enabled him,
by opposition and contrast, to make
the grand effect of his composition
fall under that class which compre-
hends the sober, the solemn, and
the sublime.

The following is a list of the prin-
cipal pictures, and the prices at
which they were knocked down.

Upwards of three hundred years
ago, that important officer called
the master of the ceremonies, who
officiated for Julius II, ranked the
powers of Europe in the following
order:

• 1 The emperor of Germany,
• 2 King of the Romans,
• 3 France,
• 4 Spain,
• 5 Arragon,
• 6 Portugal,
• 7 England,
• 8 Sicily,
• 9 Scotland,
• 10 Hungary,
• 11 Navarre,
• 12 Cyprus,
• 13 Bohemia,
• 14 Holland,
• 15 Denmark,
• 16 Republic of Venice,
• 17 Duke of Brittany,
• 18 Duke of Burgundy,
• 19 Elector of Bavaria,
• 20 Elector of Brandenburgh,
• 21 Elector of Saxony,
• 22 Archduke of Austria,
• 23 Duke of Savoy,
• 24 Grand duke of Florence.

Russia, Prussia, and Sweden do
not appear in the catalogue: and
the papal sovereign, who presided
over the college princes, has now,
in a manner, withdrawn from the
political hemisphere.

On Monday, August 10, as some
workmen were digging for the foun-
dation of a house near the Mount,
without Micklegate Bar, York, Eng-
land, they broke into a vault about four

―210―

feet from the surface, built of stone,
and arched over with Roman bricks,
with a small door of entrance at
the north end; the length of the
vault was eight feet, the height six
feet, and breadth five feet; in this
was discovered a coffin of coarse
rag-stone grit, covered with a flag
of blue stone, about seven feet long,
three feet two inches wide, four
inches thick, and one foot nine
inches deep, containing a human
skeleton entire, with the teeth com-
plete, supposed to be the remains of
a Roman lady, and to have been de-
posited there from 1400 to 1700
years. Near the skull lay a small
glass phial, or lachrymatory, with
fragments of another phial, the in-
side of which appeared to have been
silver. At a little distance from the
vault, was also found an urn of a red
colour, in which were deposited the
ashes and bones, partly burnt, of a
human body. It is supposed that
the urn must have lain there near
2000 years, as the Romans discon-
tinued the practice of burning their
dead prior to that period.

An extraordinary commotion was
observed in the tide in Truro river,
Scotland, on the morning of Satur-
day se'nnight; the sea had been eb-
bing about an hour and a half, when
it suddenly recoiled with a very ra-
pid current, and flowed about eigh-
teen inches perpendicular at Truro
quay, then ebbed off and re-flowed a
second time. We have not heard
whether the same effect was observ-
ed upon the coast; nor can we ac-
count for such phenomena, which
have indeed been observed on for-
mer occasions, without being known
to be accompanied by corresponding
convulsions of the earth. But re-
collecting that at the time of the
great earthquake which destroyed
old Lisbon, a similar commotion
was observed in the sea on the Cor-
nish coast, it is viewed in the present
case with some apprehensions.

Master Betty, the British Roscius,
has finally retired from the stage.

He is educating for the church by a
respectable clergyman, who is to
have 300l. a year for his tuition.

There are now living at Chum-
leigh, a small town in the north of
Devon, three women, whose united
ages form a total of 277 years. Two
of them bear the same name, but
are not related to each other; the
elder, Mary Collins, who completed
her 93d year last December, suc-
ceeded her husband many years ago
in the capacity of sexton of the pa-
rish, and, until within these few
months, she diligently performed the
duties of that office. No one was
more methodical nor expeditious in
the digging of a grave; and at this
time, she regularly tolls the bell, and,
during divine service, perambulates
the church to keep idle boys under
proper discipline; indeed the
watchful eye of the old sexton is
frequently made known to the con-
gregation by the resounding lashes
of her whip on the backs of the lit-
tle culprits. Her stature is rather
masculine, she walks perfectly up-
right, her chief food tea, and her
strength so well preserved that she
occasionally assists her daughter,
who is a poor washer-woman, in
that laborious employment.

In cases of fire, the following
is suggested to those who may be
employed in its extinction: As heat
and smoke ascend to the upper part
of the room, a stream of pure air
occupies the space near the floor, a
person can crawl on his hands and
knees, into a room full of smoke,
and by keeping his face close to the
floor, he may go and return where
no one could walk upright. This
method is practised by the London
firemen, who have hence acquired
the name of Salamanders.

There is not an article of com-
merce that more strongly proves
the rapid progress of the domestic

―211―

manufactures of the United States
than shumach. Ten years ago shu-
mach was exported from New
London to a considerable extent;
but its high freight, and its inferio-
rity to the shumach from the Le-
vant, depressed it so much in the
English markets, that its manufac-
ture at New London was discon-
tinued. The Sicily shumach, either
by climate, culture, or manipula-
tion, is vastly superior to the shu-
mach of the eastern states, the
quantity of tanning principle it
contains being in its favour in the
proportion of four to one. It may, I
believe, be purchased at Catania,
Messina, or Palermo, at eight dol-
lars per ton; and would amply re-
ward the importer to the United
States, as our own shumach, which
is poor and becoming very scarce,
now sells at forty-five dollars per
ten.

We are informed that a patent
has been granted in England to
Mr J Brown, for an improvement
on the printing press, by which
nearly double the quantity of work
performed by the usual mode of
operation will be accomplished in
the same time by half the number
of hands, and half the usual la-
bour. This press is of an entirely
new construction, and the expedition
and ease are acquired by the addi-
tional power given, and by means
of a cylinder supplying the types
with ink, by the motion of the ma-
chinery.

A respectable dyer in the west of
England has discovered a process
by which a most beautiful and fixed
scarlet dye is extracted from the
lac lake, obtained as a mucilage
from the fruit of the oputitia, or
scarlet pear, on which the cochi-
neal insect feeds and receives all
its beautiful and valuable dye; and
it appears, that very little colour
can be obtained from this article
but by this process, which renders
it fully equal, or superior, to cochi-

neal, and will accordingly furnish a
substitute of equal value.

The society of the sciences at
Flushing have proposed a gold me-
dal for the following question, to be
answered within a year. “As the
utility of pouring out oil and other
fat substances, during storms at sea,
is established by sufficient proofs:
but as the objection that this method
may be prejudicial to ships which
follow, has not been sufficiently ob-
viated, the society requires to
know what is the physical princi-
ple of calming the waves by pour-
ing out fat substances: and can the
above objection be entirely done
away by any explanation?” It is
remarkable, that the same question
was proposed last year, and no an-
swer returned to it.

A vessel upon a new and curious
construction has been projected by
lord Stanhope, and will, in a few
days undergo the inspection of seve-
ral gentlemen, skilled in naval ar-
chitecture. It some time since sug-
gested itself to his lordship's intelli-
gent mind, that the danger result-
ing from a ship's missing stays, as
it is termed, might be obviated, and,
in fact, that vessels might be navi-
gated altogether without rudders
affixed to the sterns, and in a bet-
ter way than they are at present.
His lordship set about the investi-
gation, and has produced a vessel
that will at all times answer the
helm, and, while there is a plank
standing, will be perfectly manage-
able at sea. It is by a sort of lee
board affixed to the side of the ship,
which his lordship terms gills, and
which are so managed as to give
the required direction. The vessel
is also built without a keel, his lord-
ship being of opinion that part of a
ship prevents its velocity through
the water, from the increased re-
sistance it produced. There are
many other alterations, but the
principal are those of taking away
the rudder and keel, hitherto con-

―212―

sidered most essential requisites in
the construction of vessels.

Major-general Grant has announ-
ced the discovery of the longitude,
by a mathematical instrument,
which shows the rate of a ship sail-
ing continually with the greatest
accuracy. This instrument is con-
nected with others, which point out
the rate of the ship, her latitude
and longitude, in direct or oblique
sailing.

Some time ago, a woman passing
through one of the streets of Bor-
deaux was suddenly attacked with
a fit of epilepsy, having at the mo-
ment a child of six months old in
her arms. Such a distressing situa-
tion speedily attracted a crowd of
spectators, who were, however, un-
able to afford the sufferer any re-
lief. At that moment, a young sail-
or breaking through the crowd, call-
ed for some grains of rough salt,
which he forced into the woman's
mouth. This immediately had the
effect of restoring the woman's sen-
sation and speech; and her convul-
sions were immediately stopped.
The young sailor, who had been at
Madagascar, said, that he there saw
this remedy applied to persons at-
tacked with epilepsy with astonish-
ing success.

The leaves of the beech tree
make remarkably sweet and whole-
some beds and matrasses. In Den-
mark, Sweden, and Switzerland,
persons of the first quality prefer
them to any other. They retain the
scent of new hay for six or seven
years; and from their softness, and
loose lying together, make a most
delightful bed indeed. The ancients
had not a more favourite tree than
the beech, and for very good rea-
sons: it furnished them with almost
every thing their simple manners
required.

To give any wood the polish of
mahogany.—Plane the surface, and
rub it with a solution of nitrous
acid. Afterwards one ounce and a
half of dragon's blood dissolved in a
pint of carbonate of soda are to be
well mixed together and filtered.
The liquid, in this thin state, is to
be placed on the wood with a soft
brush. Repeat this process two or
three times at intervals, and rub it
when dry. The surface will resem-
ble a mirror.