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ject to occasional fits of insanity.

Markets-Tide Table, &c.

After appearing to be more sane than usual, he intreated his keeper to loosen the strings of a strait waistcoat in which he was confined, that he might sleep with the greater ease; the keeper, seeing him more cool and collected than he had been for some time, incautiously complied with his request. Mr R. thanked him for his kind indulgence, and then lay down and pretended to go to sleep, in which situation his keeper left him to take some repose, and withdrew for about an hour. On his return he found Mr R. lying on his back on the bed quite dead, having strangled himself with the braces of his waistcoat.-Georges, Chief of the Servians. Georges had gone to Semendria under a false name, and concealed himself there in the house of a friend; but the object of this hazardous step was no worse than that of recovering a treasure of fifty thousand ducats, which he had hid before quititng Servia, and with which he now desired to retire into Russia. His friend, however, was either weak or wicked enough to denounce him to the Pacha of Belgrade, who immediately came to Semendria with an escort of Janissaries, arrested Georges, and also a Greek who accompanied him, caused them to be beheaded, and sent their heads to Constantinople.-On Sunday se'ennight Signora Storace, at her house on Herne hill, near Dulwich. As a singer, she ranked high in her profession, in which she

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[13th Sept. 1817.

acquired an ample fortune, the whole of which she has bequeathed to her only child by Mr Braham.Mrs Hugo Meynell, sister of the Marchioness of Hertford. When in the act of alighting from her pbæton, at her seat in Staffordshire, she missed the footstep and fell to the ground upon her head, when the right temple coming in con. tact with a stone, she was killed upon the spot. On Sunday at Plymouth Dock, Sir John Thomas Duckworth, G. C. B. Admiral of the White Squadron, Commander in Chief at that port, and M. P. for New Romney. He was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral of the Blue on the 14th Feb. 1799; was made a Vice Admiral on the 23d April, 1804; and Admiral on the 31st July, 1810. On the 7th Feb. 1806, he commanded the detachment of seven sail of the line, two frigates, and two sloops, which engaged, in the bay of St Domingo, a squadron of French ships, consisting of five sail of the line (one a three-decker) two frigates, and a corvette, which he entirely defeated, after a gallant action of two hours, capturing three of 74 guns each, and driving on shore L'Imperiale, of 120 guns, and Le Diomede, of 84 guns, which he afterwards burned. Some years since a pension of £1000 per annum was settled on him for his services. His only son, Colonel Duckworth, was killed in one of the engagements under the Duke of Wellington in Spain.

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No. II.

THE

EDINBURGH OBSERVER,

OR

TOWN AND COUNTRY MAGAZINE.

Continue

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1817.

b.3.

Walks in Edinburgh and its Vicinity.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE EDINBURGH OBSERVER.

PRICE 1S.

IT has been frequently and justly remarked of Edinburgh, that its situation and surrounding scenery present a greater number and variety of picturesque and beautiful views than any other place in the world; and with the peculiar advantage which no town of the same extent possesses, that the student, or the man of business, can retire from his sedentary labours, and, from what-south, there is nothing but wood, and the elevated ground ever part of the city he sets out in pursuit of amusement or exercise, he can bring under his eye, in a few minutes, some of those agreeable objects which, contrasted with the busy haunts of life, soothe and gratify the contemplative mind. Several parts of the Water of Leith are accessible by a short walk, and exhibit some of the finelyvaried scenes now alluded to; and in no part of its course, perhaps, is the view more striking and extensive than from that point of the road going from Drumsheugh, when the eye of the spectator first catches St Bernard's Well. In the foreground of this fine prospect appear the rocky bed of the river, the lofty and richly-wooded banks, and the temple erected over the mineral spring, on the model of the temple of Vesta at Tivoli; and in the distance are seen the Frith of Forth, with various islands rising from its bosom, and numerous vessels gliding on its surface; the opposite shores of Fife, and the elevated districts of that county, closing the scene. Descending to the banks of the river, along which the road passes, we soon perceive how much the operations of art have encroached on the beauties of nature, in the erection of many manufactories, drawn to it for the conveniency of water, as the moving power of machinery. But still even the most careless beholder will find much to admire. The researches of the botanist will be rewarded with some plants which adorn the banks, and the geologist has a fine opportunity of examining the distribution of the strata, which he will find traversed by a whin dyke, or vein, a topic which has given ample occupation to speculative theorists.

Having visited, in one of my late walks, the neighbouring village of Stockbridge, I was greatly surprised on discovering the singular change which had taken place, on the beautiful romantic grounds of a celebrated artist there, since the commencement of the present year. The summit of the hill westward, and opposite to St Bernard's Well, is now nearly covered with elegant dwelling-houses, in a line from north to south; and I was informed, that it is intended to build another street immediately below, in the orchard, to run in a parallel di

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rection. These streets are to terminate near the tower or mausoleum of the former proprietor of the grounds. The first, or uppermost, descends by two flights of steps to the road which crosses from the village of the Water of Leith. Between these stairs, which are in the middle of the street, a shop and dwelling-house are now building. Nothing can be more singular and picturesque than the situation of this street. Towards the north, an extensive view of the country is attained; while, on the above, on the opposite side of the river. An approach is also opened up to the south, by means of a wooden bridge, which has been thrown across the river where the breadth is about fifty feet. It was at first intended to construct a wire bridge here, but on a trial being made, I was told, it was found that the masonry work at the ends were not sufficiently strong for the purpose. It became necessary, therefore, to construct one of wood; and here I must observe, that neither from a distant view, nor in passing this bridge, do we find much reason to admire the fancy or taste of the builder. The effect is heavy and inelegant, and unnecessarily so, I think, from the thickness of the wooden railing. As an arch is formed by four beams, which meet at the centre of the fine long spars, all oscillation, however, is prevented. The road leading from the bridge now proceeds, for several hundred yards, along the top of the bank, under a row of beautiful beech trees, when we ascend, as on the north side, a double flight of steps. But in the centre here an alcove is built, which produces at present a very pleasing effect; a direct and easy communication is in this way effected with the south bank, which must tend greatly to facilitate the designs of improvement which have been formed. On reaching the high grounds on this side, the first thoughts which arose in my mind related to the rapid and wonderful advances which are everywhere made in extending and increasing our habitations; and I could not but feel, that of all the situations around Edinburgh, I would have imagined that this must have been the last which would become the scene of the labours of the various workmen who are now employed here. The retired and elevated situation, and covered, as I remembered it only a few months before, with wood to the summit, produced a difficulty in reconciling to myself the extraordinary change which had now taken place. But this is the age of improvement and refinement; and a man must learn to make his ideas keep pace with the rapid march of events. The propriety and beauty of the design, however, is another consideration; and here I must admit I felt a dis

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Walks in Edinburgh and its Vicinity.

[Sept. 27, 1817. position to find fault with the plans which are now exe- | head, has some folds of linen cloth thrown loosely around cuting. This is a spot which is not merely rural-it is it. Some of the other ornamental parts of the tower progrand and beautifully romantic; and the formal unbro-bably owe their fantastic appearance to the peculiar taste ken rows of building appeared therefore not altogether of the founder, who was very industrious in collecting suited to the situation. The design which is in perfect fragments of old buildings that were removed in the procongruity with the suburbs of a city, can never be in per-gress of the improvements in Edinburgh. fect harmony with the seclusion of a woody scene. Per- It is with feelings of something more than melancholy haps the eye would have been more gratified if, on ascend- I have ever witnessed the wanton destruction of the sancing this eminence, a number of detached villas had been tuary of the dead; but I here felt more sensibly than on presented to the view-or if a crescent, formed of twenty any other occasion, when I beheld so many proofs of the or thirty houses, had appeared, with a shrubbery or an anxious care of the founder to preserve those fragments entire garden in front-the inhabitants of which enjoy- of antiquity, I may say, which now lay scattered every ing an extensive prospect of a finely-cultivated country where about; some broken, others defaced, and all daily to the eastward, while a row or two of smaller houses exposed to farther dilapidation from the vulgar and unmight still have occupied the low ground. Such were thinking. Here lay at some distance the bust of a warthe suggestions which occurred to me on the first view rior, whose mute form must soon be obliterated; while of the plans of improvement which are now carrying for- other stones, after preserving so long their form, and outward here; but, after all, it is not improbable the pro-living, for many ages, the hands which had fashioned them, jector, by uniting, what must always be the first object now lay heaped one upon another, presenting the unequion such occasions, considerations of interest with the vocal mark of a rapid progress also to dust. Some masses principles of taste, has himself struck on the plan which of calcareous spar, which had seemingly been brought is exposed to fewest objections. together with the utmost care, are likewise now broken, Walking to the northern parts of these grounds, I now and partly abstracted. If this mausoleum be destined to spent some time in the examination of the tower, as it is remain till another age, it is surely to be desired that it called, which was built by the late proprietor. It is a should exist entire: as an object deserving of some intersquare building, with a spiral stair on the outside, which est and curiosity, or as a termination to the elegant buildleads to an apartment that has a most commanding view, ings contiguous, it is not without its value, and its preserthough with windows to two of the sides only. This vation consequently not altogether unworthy of attention. room seems to have been fitted up for occasional visits; Leaving this monument of premature decay, in the hope but, judging from the number of names, and variety of in- that its present situation will ere long attract the notice scriptions, scrawled on the walls and window-shutters, of those who may have the power to secure its preservamust have been the resort of many of the idle or curious. tion, I observed, in the middle of the street, at a little disThe south side of the building is almost wholly covered with tance, a very large block of free-stone, apparently about ivy. There is here a wall extending about twelve feet, two tons weight. It is somewhat narrowed at both ends, and nearly of the same height with a Gothic arched door- and seemed to present the rude outline of the human way, the use of which it is not easy now to discover.- form. It might indeed be taken for the image of an InThe whole building seems to have been surrounded, at dian deity. On making some inquiries at the workmen, as the distance of about twelve or fifteen feet, with a high to the history and intended use of this remarkable stone, hedge; and as the wood still remains on the declivity I learned, from one, that it had been brought from Italy, towards the north and east, its situation and appearance while another asserted that it was a block of Portland are yet sufficiently striking and picturesque. It must be stone, and a third stated that it had lain long in Leith. apparent, from a very slight examination of this tower, All, however, agreed, that it had been intended for a stathat many of the carved stones and niches have had an tue of Oliver Cromwell. I was farther assured that it is earlier origin than that of the building itself. The lat- now intended to place the rude representative of the Proter must have been erected about forty years ago; but tector in the centre of the wall at the south end of the some of the stones appear to display the workmanship of street which overhangs the woody declivity to the river, other and earlier days. It is accordingly said, that many in full view of the goddess Hygeia, in the beautiful of the carved stones on the tower and on the south wall building of St Bernard's Well. Without deciding on the were taken from the cross of Edinburgh-a singular struc- degree of credit which may be due to the traditionary acture, which was removed from the High Street in 1756. count of this stone, I greatly approve of the design of preFour of these stones, sculptured with human figures, which serving it, if not for its antiquity, at least for the mystery were placed over some of the arches of the cross, are pre- and singularity which attends its history. It will, bowserved in the tower. They are engraved in alto relievo, ever, perhaps be allowed, that a statue of Cromwell would and tolerably executed. One of the heads is armed with have appeared with more propriety in Leith, where this a casque; another is encircled with a turban-shaped stone is said to have been found-to stand on the mount wreath; a third has the hair turned upwards to the back or citadel which was erected by that celebrated man, but part of the head, and a twisted staff over the left shoul-which has been swept away by the late extensive improveder; and the fourth, which seems to represent a female ments of the harbour and docks.

Continued p. 49.

Sept. 27, 1817.]

History and Progress of Gas from Pit coal.

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History and Progress of the application of Gas from Pit- the different products of the distillation are collected in coal to Economical Purposes.

(Continued from page 6.)

To those who are familiar with the nature of the process of obtaining gas from coal, for the purpose of lighting streets, manufactories, and private houses, and with the comparative results of this mode and every other, in point of cleanliness, safety, and economy, it would be quite unnecessary to state its peculiar advantages; but as the public in general cannot be supposed to be so well acquainted with a subject of late introduction as to be able to appreciate fully the improvements which it offers, it may be worth while to advert briefly to the objections adduced against the use of gas lights, and some other topics hinted at in the close of last communication. But here a typographical error ought to be noticed. At page 6, col. 2d, and line 4th, "six cubic feet of gas" should be read twenty-six.

The ingredients which are obtained from the distillation of pit-coal are the inflammable air or carburetted hydrogen, which is the primary object of the process, and by the combustion of which the light is supplied, a liquor impregnated with ammonia or volatile alkali, a portion of tar, and carbonic acid or fixed air and sulphuretted hy. drogen. When mineral coal is exposed to a strong beat in close vessels, it is decomposed, and the several substances now enumerated are driven off in the form of elastic fluids. Some of them, the moment they come in contact with a cold body, as the water, through which the gas to be collected passes, are condensed, and either mix with the water, or fall to the bottom when they are of greater specific gravity. In the first application of this gas to economical purposes, the whole product of the distillation was received in the same vessel, and from the extremely offensive smell of some of the substances, the operation itself, and the combustion of the gas thus prepared, were quite intolerable; and accordingly, in the first trials, when all the ingredients were mixed together, and left to act on each other, the process might well be regarded as a nuisance; and therefore, in most, or in all cases where improvements were not introduced, was soon abandoned. On the same ground, objections are still urged to the use of the gas, or rather to its preparation; and considering it in this view, the inhabitants of New-street, North back of the Canongate, lately brought the subject under legal discussion, for the purpose of preventing the erection of the Gas Works, now going on, as a public nuisance; and perhaps with a less careful investigation than what took place, this essential improvement might have experienced a serious interruption. But fortunately Lord Reston, who was officially called upon to determine the question between the parties, was at the utmost pains in making himself master of the subject, and not only visited the spot, but examined particularly the different Gas Works already established by private individuals, and was thus enabled to pronounce a clear and decided opinion, that the Works alluded to were not to be regarded as a nuisance; and they are therefore now proceeding with great activity towards their completion.

According to the improved mode of preparing the gas,

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separate vessels before they reach the gas-holder. The tar and the ammoniacal liquor are conveyed along castiron tubes of considerable length, in which they are condensed, and received in a proper vessel; the carbonic acid or fixed air and the sulphuretted hydrogen pass along the tubes to another vessel, where they are absorbed by lime water; and thus freed from the different ingredients from which the offensive smells proceed, the carburetted bydrogen is admitted to the gas-holder, from whence it is distributed for the purpose of combustion.

The tar and ammoniacal liquor being received in close vessels, and the sulphuretted hydrogen combining with the water in another vessel connected with the apparatus, the two substances which give out the disagreeable odour are in this manner separated from the gas; and with a very little attention in removing these matters when the vessels are full, it can scarcely be perceived that such a process is going on; and thus every objection to it as a nuisance, on the score of the offensive smell, may be completely obviated. But in some of the later improvements on the apparatus and in the mode of conducting the process of distillation, a greater proportion of some of the offensive substances is decomposed, and a greater product of gas is obtained; and by this fine application of scientific observation to practical purposes, an advantage is gained by the diminution of a disagreeable part of the operation.

The danger of explosion is another objection, connected with the economical application of gas, which has been commented on by those who are ever ready to throw difficulties in the way of new improvements. The risk of accident from a burning body being brought in contact with a large quantity of the gas, is not greater than iu the case of any other combustible, and requires to be guarded against with a prudent degree of caution. But, should this happen, the combustion would proceed silently, and without sudden explosion, unless, by some mismanagement of the apparatus, a certain proportion of atmospheric air be admitted-an occurrence not likely to take place without design. How few accidents of any kind have happened in the numerous gas works which have been established in different parts of the kingdom!-so few indeed, that it seems scarcely necessary to waste words in removing the objections to which they have given rise.The accuracy and neatness in the construction of the apparatus of the present day, almost preclude every chance of such accidents.

But another objection has been made to the use of gas for economical purposes, arising from an apprehension of the danger of explosions from its accumulation in apartments where it is used, when it happens to escape unburned. As far as is recollected at this moment, no such explosion has yet taken place in any of the manufactories or apartment in the kingdom which are lighted with gas, so that a direct appeal to the history of its application, of which pretty ample experience now exists, furnishes the most satisfactory answer to the objection. The first requisite for the explosion of this gas is an apartment much closer than any of those places where it is used. — In short, the room where such an accident could possibly

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Antiquities.-Scenes of Domestic Life.

[Sept. 27, 1817.

also found, among which some leather buttons were plainly discernible. There were also found two silver coins, weighing about an ounce each, bearing the date of 1620, and having on one side the following inscription:-BELG: IRI: MOARG: ERO:C ONGOE, with the following sentence on the other, “Concordia res Parvæ Crescunt." From the state in which the coins were found, there was reason to believe they had been sewed or tied up closely in some part of the wearer's clothes. It must be upwards of 138 years since the body of this poor covenanter was committed to his lonely grave.

happen must be nearly air-tight. But this can never be the case in an apartment with an open chimney and doors and windows, which are rarely so close as to prevent the escape of the gas before it could accumulate and be mixed with that proportion of atmospheric air which renders it explosive. Besides, the smell of the gas would soon indicate its escape long before any dangerous mixture could take place; and to produce this effect even in an apartment of moderate size, a large quantity of gas is required, so large that its loss could not escape observation without the grossest inattention. A room twelve feet square, which includes 1728 cubical feet of atmospheric air, would require nearly 250 cubical feet of gas to produce that mixture which is necessary to render it explosive; and if gas were to escape from a large burner at the rate of four cubical feet in the hour, it would require nearly three days for the flow of the proper proportion of gas, and the room must be at the same time nearly aired for a long time to the Macduffs, earls of Fife, and was tight--a coincidence of circumstances which can be very rarely expected. It scarcely indeed can ever happen that apartments which are lighted with gas are so imperfectly ventilated as to admit of the existence of all the circumstances alluded to which are requisite in the production of dangers of this kind.

Antiquities.

The palace of Falkland is advertised, with several fields adjacent; and, among other appurtenances, the "Heritable Office of Keeper of the Palace of Falkland, and Ranger of the Lomond Hills." Falkland Palace is situated near the little town of Falkland, in the west of Fife, at the foot of the hill called the East Lomond. It belongthen called the castle or mar of Falkland. It came to the crown in 1425, by the forfeiture of the Earl of Fife, in the reign of James I. From that time it was frequently used as a royal residence. It was much beautified and repaired by James V. The east front was accidentally burnt in the time of Charles II.

Scenes of Domestic Life.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE EDINBURGH OBSERVER.

As I have had a desire for some time past of laying before my neighbours and friends a few sketches of my life and domestic economy, I am now roused to the subject, by the opportunity of finding such a medium of publication as your Magazine affords.

THE original diamond ring of Mary Queen of Scots, upon which are engraved the arms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, quartered, and which was produced in evi dence at the trial of the unfortunate Mary, as a proof of her pretensions to the crown of England, was in the possession of the late Mr Blachford, one of the Lords of the Admiralty, at the time of his death. The history of this You must know, Sir, that I never was married-a cirfatal ring is curious. It descended from Mary to her cumstance, by the bye, which in part may explain my grandson, Charles I. who gave it on the scaffold to Arch-failures-and that I am now in the fifty-fourth year of my bishop Juxon, for his son Charles II. who, in his troubles, pawned it in Holland for £.300, where it was bought by Governor Yale, and sold at his sale for £.320, supposed for the Pretender. Afterwards it came into possession of the Earl of Isla, Duke of Argyle, and probably from him to the family of Mr Blachford. At the late sale of bis effects it was purchased for the Prince Regent.

On the farm of Easton, parish of Dunsyre, a tradition has been handed down from father to son, in a family, who, as shepherds, have resided in the place for many generations back, that a certain rude stone set up in the ad joining moor, marked the grave of one of the covenanters, who, having been wounded in the battle fought at Pent land hills, died of his wounds on his way home, and was buried by the great grandfather of the person from whom we have the tradition. Accordingly, a few days ago, several persons, desirous to ascertain the truth of this story, went to the place, and having dug about two feet below the surface, found the remains of a skeleton. A medical gentleman who was on the spot could distinguish one of the thigh bones, which was almost entire in shape, though reduced nearly to the consistence of the mossy soil which surrounded it. The scalp was found complete, covered with very long hair, of a whitish colour, nearly as fresh and strong as in life. Several fragments of clothes were

age; of a good natured, quiet disposition, only subject to a sort of flurry and heat about the head when I am contradicted, and which, my friends tell me, are plainly marked by a flush of the face, and an odd way of distorting my features: of very temperate habits, indeed, sister Barbara says, much too abstemious-but she and I differ about many things besides eating and drinking, as you will soon find: not profoundly learned, the more to my loss, as the same kind creature often tells me but this, Sir, ought not to be imputed to me as a fault, because I well remember the parish schoolmaster saying, that I really had not a head for Greek and Latin-a judgment, indeed, which he passed so generally on my contemporaries, that at last it was shrewdly suspected he had no Greek or Latin to put into them; but that was a slander, for he was well known to possess three or four closets quite full of books in the dead tongues. My employment, till within the last ten years, was that of a farmer, in which I was allowed to excel, according to the maxims and standard of former times, by my early rising, careful preservation of my dykes and hedges, and readiness always to sell on a small profit; but since that time, in consequence of the expiration of my lease, which I was unwilling to renew at a vastly higher rent, even though beginning to be acquainted with the new mode of carrying on the business,

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