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Englishmen at Paris.-On the Origin of the word Lady.

[13th Sept. 1817. frequent presence of literary men in society has had a considerable share in the meritorious undertaking of banishing political discussions.

Englishmen at Paris.

toms; and, while the fashion of some towns is the most approved arrangement of a dinner-party or a drawingroom, the prevailing fashion of Edinburgh is for literaNot that this makes them ceremonious, or takes away a relish for the thousand brilliant trifles and elegancies of life but Nature, which has given these honest Caledonians a country hardly able to raise the common Ir an Englishman confers a favour on a Frenchman, means of subsistence, and producing nothing nearer the (says a private letter,) there is not an object on earth fruits of most other climates than a raw turnip, never de who will render him a more ungrateful return for it. He signed that they should have much wit or humour; nor will receive the favour with a bow, but, it is likely, he that they should much abound in the endearing, affection-will curse the hand that gave it. The English, notwithate qualities of our nature. She has given them tough, standing their open heartedness and liberality, are only inflexible, indefatigable heads; but their hearts are none despised and ridiculed in Paris. Every Englishman, of the softest, or most animated. The Scotch of the higher that passes along the street, is pointed at as an object of classes, however, are among the most hospitable in the derision, and every print-shop is filled with caricatures world they are enlightened, well educated, and it is upon the national character. Nor do I wonder much to very seldom that the part of the world from which one see the English ridiculed and caricatured as they are, may happen to come ever creates a look of surprise, or a when I consider the objects that have promoted it. The cool reception. Nationality in the senate may be the Parisians, without doubt, derive their ideas of English highest virtue, but in the drawing-room it is the lowest manners, and of English fashions, from the English who prejudice. visit that capital, and by doing so, they certainly draw The carnival begins in the middle of January, and lasts them from an improper source. The genteeler part of to the middle of March. This is only two months for the English but seldom exhibit themselves to the public, the whole year of routs, balls, dinners, theatres, and masand as, when they are abroad, they are almost continuquerades; but they thus accumulate, into two months, all ally in their carriages, they rarely become objects of the wit, vivacity, spirit, and splendour of the whole public observation. It is that part of our countrymen twelve; which, to some tastes, is infinitely more interest- who lounge about the promenades of the Boulevards and ing, than to be obliged to group through the never-ending of the Champs Elysées, that the French have fixed upon winter of a northern climate, by the faint glimmering of as objects of derision. It is the fat butlers, and clumsy an occasional tea-party, or a monthly dance given for chambermaids, who are seen eternally lolling about those the benefit of some young lady. This sort of scattered, places of amusement, and devouring, with unseemly vostrangled dissipation, which lasts for ever, is the necessary racity, melons, and other fruits, in prodigious quantities: consequence of a state of society where people have nei-butchers, tallow chandlers, and others, who, desirous ther a superfluity of wealth nor leisure. But in Edinburgh, making parties is a profession, and, as making any thing a profession is really half the charm of every thing, these two months pass off with great animation, and numberless assemblies. Now the society of Edinburgh is composed entirely of the nobility, men of fortune, and professional men. As Edinburgh is not a sea-port, gentlemen who have business are obliged to live principally at Leith. In this respect the society is a little different from that of London, where merchants and bankers are occasionally found in the ranks of fashion, and also possess considerable influence in Parliament.

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But those to whom the brilliant bagatelle of mere fashionable life is insipid and wearisome, have still a delightful resource in the eminent literary men that we meet scattered about in all these crowded routes. It is an idea truly worthy a German annotator of the " cient régime," that literature and science inhabit only 66 for ever convents and colleges; and learned men, steeping in port and prejudice," or dozing and mouldering bebetween Greek particles and Hebrew points, must never wander forth from their cells, to catch a little of the prosperity, gaiety, and smile of life; and, what is more important, to enlighten and enliven their fellow-pilgrims. But it is not only in the cloisters of Cambridge and Oxford that we now meet the learned, and it is no doubt very true, that some of the best bred men, and most elegant gentlemen, are among "the men of letters." The

of getting a month's respite from the smoke of London,
come to Paris, to enjoy that popularity which their mo-
ney could not procure for them at home; and young men
who, with more money than good taste, and from the af-
fectation of singularity, have arrayed themselves in cos-
tumes which set every thing like decorum at defiance:-
it is these that furnish the subjects for the Parisian cari-
catures, some of which are undoubtedly very droll-but
there is always a dash of malignity intermixed, and, in
the most harmless of them, one may easily perceive that
amusement gives way to spite.

On the Origin of the word Lady.
BUTLER has recorded of his hero, that

Whatever sceptic could inquire for,
For ev'ry why he had a wherefore;
and indeed it may be laid down as an axiom, that there
is a wherefore to every why, if we could always find it out.
Some are very ingenious in tracing the wherefores; but
in general, it is much easier to propound the whys. I
hope, however, to shew that it is often practicable to dis-
cover the former.

Grave dissertations upon words are seldom any thing better than pompous inanity: I shall, therefore, be brief as woman's love."-The term lady (which Johnson negligently derives from the Saxon) was sometimes be

66

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stowed upon women of fortune, even before their husbands | Murdoch, who made the first successful attempt in Cornhad received any title which could confer that distinction wall, about the year 1792, while he was engaged in suupon them. The cause I apprehend to have been this: perintending the machinery erected in that mining disIt was formerly the custom, and a custom more "bonour- trict by Messrs Boulton and Watt; and six years aftered in the observance than the breach," for those whom wards constructed an apparatus on a larger scale at their fortune had blessed with affluence, to live constantly at extensive works at Soho, near Birmingham. The public their manor-houses in the country, where, once a-week, rejoicings for peace in 1802 afforded an opportunity for or oftener, the lady of the manor distributed to her poor the first grand display of the gas lights at these works. neighbours, with her own hands, a certain quantity of bread. She was hence denominated, by those who shared her bounty, the leff-day, which, in Saxon, signifies the bread-giver. A gradual corruption, in the mode of pronouncing this word, has produced the modern lady; and perhaps from this hospitable custom arose the practice still universally existing, that ladies serve the meat at their own tables.

In 1805 an apparatus for the production and application of gas for lighting up the extensive cotton-mills of Messrs Philips and Lee, at Manchester, was constructed on a much larger scale. Nearly a thousand burners of various forms were employed, the light of which was found to be equal to 2500 candles of six to the pound.The whole works, as well as some contiguous houses, were illuminated with the inflammable gas, and every other kind of artificial light was excluded. The peculiar softness and clearness of the light, and its uniform inten

History and Progress of the application of Gas from Pit- sity, brought it into great favour with the workmen in the

coal to Economical Purposes.

THE application of Gas, or inflammable air, obtained by distillation from pit-coal, as a substitute for candles or oil in lighting up private houses, manufactories, and streets, bas become of such importance, that a brief detail of its origin and progressive improvements can scarcely fail to give some interest to the general reader. But before proceeding to the proposed rapid sketch of its history, it may be gratifying to those who are not familiar with the chemical nature of this gas, to be able to exhibit its inflammable properties by a simple experiment.

Take a common tobacco pipe, and fill the bowl with pit-coal reduced to powder, stop it up with clay, and when the clay has dried gradually, expose it to heat in the open fire. When it is red hot, apply a lighted body to the opening of the tube, and the air which is evolved during the distillation of the coal will continue to burn with a bright flame till the whole is exhausted. By this very easy process the effects of the gas from pit-coal may

be exhibited.

The first notice of this kind of inflammable air appears in a memoir by the Rev. Dr Clayton, which was published in the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1759. In the examination of pit-coal, according to the method which was then commonly pursued, and which, from the nature of the process, was called destructive distillation, the first substances which came over in the opera tion were phlegm, and a black oil. A spirit next arose, which forced the lute or broke the glasses into which it was received, and could not by any means be condensed. The method of collecting gas or permanently elastic fluids, with the pneumatic apparatus, it may be observed, was then unknown. When the flame of a candle was brought near the current of air, as it issued out, it caught fire, continued burning with violence, and was blown out and lighted again alternately for several times.

With this distinct view of the nature and properties of the gas obtained from pit-coal, it may be a matter of surprise, that more than 50 years elapsed before any useful application of it to economical purposes was thought of. For this valuable discovery the world is indebted to Mr

manufactories where it was introduced; and as no sparks are thrown off in the burning, and no snuffing required, the danger of fire to which cotton-mills are peculiarly exposed, is nearly precluded, or at least greatly diminished.

About this time several attempts were made by private individuals to introduce the gas-lights into their shops in Glasgow and Edinburgh; but the method of separating the different ingredients obtained from coal in the process of distillation, and of purifying the gas to render it fit for burning without offensive smell, was then very imperfectly known, and consequently they were soon aban doned.

In 1809 a company was established in London for the purpose of lighting the streets, and as opposition was made to the legislative enactment for which the company applied to carry their plan into effect, the whole subject was fully elucidated in the examination of witnesses before a Committee of the House of Commons, and with the aid of practical ingenuity in improving the construction of the apparatus for the production and application of the gas, the system reached a degree of perfection of which in the first attempts it seemed scarcely susceptible. The first brilliant display of gas-lights in the metropolis was in Pall Mall, which afforded the most satisfactory evidence of the advantages and superiority of this mode of lighting up streets. This splendid illumination was conducted by Mr Winsor, a native of Germany, who had long turned his attention to the subject, and had succeeded in forming an association for the purpose under the name of the Light and Heat Company. More than half of London is now lighted with gas; the same method has, it is understood, been adopted in some of the towns in the south of Ireland; a company for the same purpose has been formed in Glasgow; private individuals have lighted their houses and shops in Dundee in this manner; and similar establishments are in a progressive state of acti vity in Paris and Vienna.

In the course of the last and present years, manufactories, shops, and private houses, in Edinburgh and its vicinity, have been lighted up with the gas from pit-coal; and extensive gas-works are now in progress for the pur

B

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History and Progress of Gas from Pit-coal.

[13th Sept. 1817.

the Royal Institution in London. In the first, four pounds
of Newcastle coal were introduced in a shallow iron pans
into the retort previously heated red, and from this quan
portions, obtained: one hundred parts consisted, of ole-
fiant gas eight parts, of carburetted hydrogen seventy-two
parts, of carbonic oxide and hydrogen thirteen, of car-
bonic acid four, and of sulphuretted hydrogen three parts.
But the same quantity of coal introduced into the cold
retort and gradually heated, yielded only twenty two cu-
bic feet of gas, and the proportions of the products were
somewhat different. From these experiments it would
appear, that a chaldron of good coal would afford from
17,000 to 20,000 cubic feet of gas; but in the large es-
tablishments in London, it is supposed that the average
the improvements in the construction and management of
the apparatus, the highest produce may be expected, and
proceeding on this calculation, the following are the re-
sults and value of the products of a chaldron of Newcas-
tle coal, estimating the average price at £.3.
14 chaldrons of coke, at 31s.................................................£.1 18 9
12 gallons of tar, at 10d.
18 gallons of ammoniacal liquor, at 6d. .....
20,000 cubic feet of gas, at 15s. per 1000
cubic feet,........

pose of lighting the public streets. Mr Gutzmer, the proprietor of the Foundry on Leith Walk, was the first who erected an apparatus on the improved construction, for the purpose of lighting up his own works and dwell-tity six cubic feet of gas, composed of the following proing-house. His successful experiment induced others to follow his example. He constructed an apparatus for Mr Haig's extensive distillery at Lochrin; a smaller one for Mr Black wood's shop in College Street; another on a larger scale for furnishing light to the spacious shop and large warehouses of Mr Henderson, grocer, and the shop of Mr Scott, apothecary, both of which have exhibited during part of last winter, and the commencement of the present season, a most brilliant illumination, which every evening attracts multitudes to witness and admire its splendour and beauty; and the same apparatus is destined to furnish light to the elegant shops of Messrs Black-produce rarely exceeds 12,000 cubic feet of gas. But in wood, Messrs Gibsons, Thomson, and Craig, and two others in the immediate vicinity. Mr Gutzmer has also erected a very commodious and efficient apparatus for Messrs Lizars, engravers, St James's Square; from which, not only their dwelling-house and extensive concerns are supplied with light, but their Copper plate Printing establishment is conveniently furnished with heat for the plates; and thus the use of stoves or small furnaces for the same purpose, a necessary but uncomfortable and oppressive appendage for the workmen, is now entirely superseded. In all the cases enumerated in which the system of lighting with gas has been adopted, the most complete success has attended the experiments; while every circumstance connected with the process demonstrates its advantages in point of economy, safety, and cleanliness.

Of the progress of the great public gas-works now erecting at the North back of Canongate, come notice will be communicated to our readers on a future occa sion.

In some of the instances above alluded to of the application of gas-lights, the apparatus is on a very small scale. Mr Blackwood's, we understand, cost about £.30. A small apparatus constructed and described by Mr Cook, a hardware manufacturer at Birmingham, in 1808, when it was much less perfectly understood than it is at present, af fords the most satisfactory evidence of the superiority of the gas-lights to the use of candles or oil. From 25 tb of coal be obtained about 600 gallons of gas; and this cost about fourpence, supplying 18 or 20 lights during the winter season. The expence of candles, burnt for the same time and to the same extent, used to amount to three shillings. But beside this remarkable saving, the gasflame is found peculiarly useful for the purpose of soldering. According to Mr Cook, the saving on the whole is not less than £.30 per annum out of £.50, which his lights from oil or candles formerly cost him.

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From the value of the products thus obtained the value of the common coal employed in heating the furnaces must be deducted, as well as the wages of labourers, the expense of tear and wear of materials in the apparatus, and the interest upon capital. According to Mr Murdoch's comparative statement of the cost of the two modes of lighting the Cotton-mills of Messrs Philips and Lee at Manchester, the price of 120 tons of coal required to furnish the gas amounted to £.125; forty tons of coal to heat the retorts cost £.20; and for the expence of repairs and the interest of capital sunk, £.550 is allowed. But deducting the value of 70 tons of coke at £.93, the total annual expence is reduced to £.602; while the expense of candles to furnish the same quantity of light would not be less than £.2000; thus affording the most unequivocal proof of the superiority of the gas-lights in point of economy. But in the later improvements the saving is much greater.

With these advantages, it can scarcely be doubted, that the use of gas-lights will soon become general in all places where coal can be had in abundance; and as other substances are found to yield a gas of a similar nature, it is

probable they may be introduced where that most valuable fuel is wanting. But objections have been adduced against their use, partly arising from the offensive smell To those who are little acquainted with the process, it of some of the products of the distillation or of the gas may be worth while to notice the amount and proportion itself, when it accidentally escapes unburned, and partly of the different products obtained by the distillation of from the danger of explosions in apartments which are pit-coal; and the comparative results of two experi-lighted with the gas. A future communication will be ments strikingly shew the advantage of using the coal after being previously dried, extended over a large surface, and suddenly exposed to a red heat. The experiments alluded to were made in a small gas apparatus at

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devoted to the consideration of these objections, to the construction of the apparatus, the nature of the process, and the methods employed in separating the different products of the distillation.

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Lord Amherst's Embassy to China. THE following account of this embassy has appeared in the periodical publications of the Metropolis, and may be considered as in some degree official :

His, Lordship sailed from Portsmouth on the 9th of February 1816, on an Embassy to the Court of Pekin, on board his Majesty's frigate Alceste, Captain Murray Maxwell, accompanied by the Lyra brig of war, and the General Hewitt Indiaman. The voyage was extraordinary for its rapidity, the ships having traver. sed 14,000 miles in 92 days under sail. In the beginning of July the Embassy arrived on the coast of China, and proceeded up the Yellow sea; having been joined by Sir George Staunton, at the Great Lemma, Sir George having been sent down to say the Embassy would be received with every attention. On the 9th of August the Embassy disembarked safely in the Gulf of Pe Chili, which is not far distant from the capital. Whilst on the journey, every effort was made by the Mandarins to induce his Excellency to comply with the Tartar ceremony of the Ka-tou; which was resisted on the ground of the precedent of Lord Macartney: but every demonstration of respect, consistent with the dignity of his sovereign, and the honour of his nation, was freely offered by his Excellency. This degrading ceremony of kneeling and knocking the head (the literal expression in Chinese) nine times against the ground, is not only demanded from the ambassadors of all tributary Kings (as every Sovereign of the world is indiscriminately called,) when in the Imperial presence, but likewise on receiving any message from the Emperor, and on broken victuals being sent to them from his table: and this was actually submitted to by the Dutch in 1795. The Chinese were extremely anxious for the performance of this ceremony by a British ambassador; and threats, flatteries, and lies in abundance were used, in order to induce compliance, but all in vain. A most extraordinary scene took place at the palace of Yeuen Min-Yeuen, which, with many other singular circumstances attending the departure from Pekin, and the jour ney of four months through the celestial empire, will very soon be laid before the public. The Emperor, a man of impetuous and capricious disposition, increased by a habit of constant inebriation, seemed, in his cooler moments, afraid of the consequences of his abrupt dismissal of the Embassy, as appeared by his sending after it, to request some exchange of presents, and expressing himself satisfied of the respectful feelings of the King of England, who had sent so far to pay him homage, attributing the whole blame of the affair to the unmannerly conduct of the Ambassador, who refused to knock head, as in duty bound, and according to the common rules of politeness. The Embassy, on the tour through China, experienced the most perfect respect. The Alceste and Lyra, after landing the Embassy, were employed in surveys; the former taking the Gulf of Leatory and coast of Corea, the latter the south-western coast of that Gulf. The Alceste went as far as the junction of the great wall of China with the sea, which was seen from the ship. Both ships joined company at Che a-Tou, or Ze-a-Tou islands. The true positions of the coasts and islands of Chinese Tartary, and much useful hydrographical knowledge, 'were obtained, whereby former errors are corrected. Steering afterwards for the Corean shore, they found former geographical descriptions of it miserably defective; and an archipelago of islands, hitherto unknown to exist, were discovered. Many were christened with particular names, and correct charts made of the true poof Japan, and arrived at the Lieon Kieon islands. More hydrographical knowledge was obtained, and an intimate acquaintance formed with the natives, of whom, hitherto, little was known, and

sition of the whole. The ships then proceeded to the southward

The Alceste and Lyra arrived at the mouth of the Tigris in November, and were treated with every indignity by the Viceroy of Canton, who refused a pass for the ships to enter the river, as had been granted to the Lion on a former occasion; thus attempt ing to cut off the supply of fresh water and provisions, which could only be brought on board by stealth after dark; and various other insults were offered. Captain Maxwell, justly considering that the honour of the flag must suffer by a tame submission, proceed. ed up without a pass. The Mandarins strongly manned the forts (containing 110 pieces of cannon) at the Bocca Tigris, and sent out a message, as the ship advanced, that they would sink her (the Alceste) if she attempted to pass through. She nevertheless pushed on, and a warm firing commenced from the forts and their war junks, which was immediately returned by the Alceste, which getting within pistol shot of their largest fort, a well-aimed broadside was poured in, which laid a number sprawling, and fairly drove the rest heels over head out of the battery: the ship now proceeded up to her safe and proper anchorage, followed, but unmolested, by the war junks. Next day the Viceroy sent down a high Mandarin to congratulate the Captain on his arrival in the river; this Mandarin having passed Captain M. in his way down, who, in the meantime, had gone up to Canton, to demand further reparation for the insult offered to the King's ship. On the 28th of January, the Alceste and Lyra sailed from Macao Roads: the former having on board his Excellency and suite, returning from his mission. Concerning the interior of China little information has been attained. The people appear to manifest the same determined mind to suffer no innovations in their accustomed habits; but, on the contrary, they boast of not having gone out of the beaten track of their forefathers: they are grossly ignorant and sensual. The country in general appeared well cultivated. They have no caravans, or road waggons, or any establishment similar to our post; consequently, in the interior, the people had not heard of the Nepaul war, nor, indeed, did they appear even to know where the country was situate. It appears impossible to estimate the population, as the people are not enrolled, nor has a census ever been taken. But few soldiers were seen; the greatest number of any one body did not exceed 600. They are composed of four descriptions of men, viz." matchlocks, (usually in a bad state,) archers, (who occasionally act as cavalry,) spearmen, and tigers of war, who are the Emperor's body guards: they are armed with a short sword and a target, and enveloped in a yellow mantle, gorgeously decorated with tigers' heads, to render their appearance formidable. The King's internal revenue is collected in kind, after the manner of our tithes the collecting junks, which are said to amount to 20,000, set off for the further parts of the Empire, and with the change of the monsoon from the westward, they all return and unload their cargoes of all species of grain into the public granaries, from whence it is sold to the public; this, and the customs from the export of their manufactures at Canton, comprise the entire source of their revenue-excepting only the sale of the Governorships, which emolument goes into the private purse of the Emperor.

American discovered on an uninhabited Rock.

MR POWELL, commander of the Queen Charlotte, on his arrival at Madras, in October last, communicated the following account of a man who had been the solitary inhabitant, for nearly three years, of a rock 21 miles N.W. of Noosheevah, one of the Marquesas :—

Early in 1814, he proceeded thither from Nooaheevah with four others, all of whom had left an American ship there, for the purpose of procuring feathers that were in

themselves scarcely knowing any thing about the rest of the world. refitted, among a race of people as extraordinary for their dimi-high estimation among the natives of Nooaheevah; but

At Grand Leuchen, the chief of this kingdom of islands, the ships

nutive size as for their general character. They are of great antiquity and considerable civilization-possess much of the rigid, natural jealously and reserve of their neighbours, the Japanese and Chinese. On further acquaintance, they were found an interesting people; in the highest degree kind and hospitable; and after a stay of six weeks, both parties separated with evident proofs

of mutual regret.

losing their boat on the rock, three of the number in a short time perished through famine and thirst. His fourth companion continued with him but a few weeks, when he formed the resolution of attempting to swim, with the aid of a splintered fragment which remained of their boat, to an island, in which effort he must inevitably have pe

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rished. He had once himself attempted to quit his forlorn from almost every province of India, employed in the situation by constructing a catamaran, but failed. The work of translation, seemed to interest the company greatfire which those men had taken with them from Nooahee- ly. To improve the minds of the younger members, a vah having been accidentally extinguished, he was ena- select religious library has been instituted; and, to train bled to rekindle his fire by means of three or four grains them up in the practice of Christian benevolence, a socieof gunpowder and the lock of a gun which he had prety has been formed for visiting and relieving the poor.— served. The flesh and blood of wild birds were his The Old and New Testaments are now translated, printsole aliment with the latter he quenched his thirst ined, and extensively circulated, in the languages of Bengal seasons of long droughts, and the skulls of his departed and Orissa, the population of which exceeds thirty milcompanions were his only drinking vessels. The disco- lions. The New Testament is printed in five other lanvery made of him was altogether accidental: the rock guages-the Salnskrit, Hindoo, Mahratta, Punjabee, was known to be desolate and barren; and the appear- and Chinese. Some progress is made in translations of the ance of a fire as the vessel passed it on an evening, led Old Testament into the same languages. Preparations to an examination which proved fortunate to the forlorn are also making for translating the New Testament into inhabitant of the rock, in procuring his removal to Nooa- thirty-seven other languages. Dr Marsham has comheevah, whither Mr Powell conveyed him, and left him pleted the translation of the whole Bible into the Chinese under the care of an European of the name of Wilson, tongue. Thus, in about eleven years, the scriptures who had resided there many years, and with whom the have been communicated to upwards of Three hundred hermit was previously acquainted. millions of people,

Caprice and Disappointment.

Ax Artist, eminent in his profession, but well known for bis caprice and uncourteous freedom of remark, while visiting at the house of a gentleman in Edinburgh, was so struck with the features of a young lady, that he made a voluntary offer to sketch her profile. All present were delighted with his unexpected frankness; one produced a black-lead pencil; another hurried to bring paper; and a third presented a drawing board. But the waywardness of genius would yield no farther; all solicitude in procuring proper materials for the work was vain; every proposal was rejected; the artist himself had made his choice of the board of a huge French folio which lay on the table, and for which no entreaty could induce him to substitute any thing else; and the figure was to be drawn with chalk only. A spirited likeness was produced in a few minutes, and was greatly admired. The work was scarcely finished, when a gentleman of high literary distinction entered the room, joined in the admiration, and expressed a wish to see a sketch of himself; the Artist readily complied, and in two minutes the gentleman's profile graced the other board of the same book, and was equally applauded as an accurate representation. But while the latter was in progress, the former had nearly vanished from the opposite board; and such being the transitory nature of these precious efforts of the graphic art, the recollection of the Artist's caprice, and of their own disappointment, was all that soon remained to the admirers of his genius and rapid execution.

Religious Institutions, &c.

THE settlement of Serampore, in consequence of the Peace, has been restored to the Danes; but no change has taken place in the situation of the Baptist Missionaries. Towards the close of the year 1815 they were honoured with a visit from the Marquis and Marchioness of Hastings, the Bishop of Calcutta, with several other persons of distinction, who inspected the establishment, and appeared highly pleased. The sight of learned Hindoos,

The fourth anniversary of the Russian Bible Society was held at St Petersburgh on the 7th of June 1817.-Many of the most distinguished personages, both in church and state, honoured the meeting with their presence. It was stated, that the committee have either published, or are engaged in the publication of forty-three editions of the scriptures, in seventeen languages, forming a grand total of 196,000 copies. Preparations are making for stereotype editions of the scriptures in five different languages, the Russian Tartar, Carelian, Turkish, Armenian, and Barat Mongolian.

The Methodist Missionary Society obtained, during the past year, the sum of £.20,000 in furtherance of its object. Monks of La Trappe.-On the 28th July fifty monks of this order arrived at Nantes, from England, where they had remained during their exile. An English gentleman, Mr Weld, generously gave them an asylum for twentytwo years. They embarked at Weymouth on the 10th July, on board a French frigate, and they brought with them those implements of agriculture which are of the most improved kind, and for the exportation of which the English government gave free permission. They are now going to the ancient abbey of La Meillerrie, which belonged to their order in the time of St Bernard, and which has now been restored to them by the King.Among their number are several Englishmen, it is said, who have attached themselves to the order. These monks have presented to the captain of the frigate a valuable sword, the dying gift to the convent of one of the brethren who had used it in support of his sovereign.

The recent installation of the Trappists has drawn forth the particulars of an inquiry which Bonaparte ordered to be instituted in 1810, on the Trappists of St. Antony, residing in the neighbourhood of Antwerp. The Ex-Emperor was apprehensive that certain commotions, which agitated at once a district of Switzerland and the frontiers of Spain, were secretly fomented by religions orders, which (though not without multiplied proofs of aversion and contempt) he still suffered to exist. His suspicions were partly directed to the brotherhood of La Trappe, and he sent a Public Functionary to make a report on the occasion. On the arrival of this officer near

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