Chapter III: Part 3

At last I became more composed--and Mr. Accum asked me what was, in general, the first thing I did on rising from bed in the morning. Alas! I felt that it was no time for delicacy, and I told him at once, that it was to take off a bumper of brandy for a complaint in my stomach. He asked to look at the bottle. I brought it forth from the press in my own number, that tall square tower-like bottle, Mr. North, so green to the eye and smooth to the grasp. You know the bottle well--it belonged to my mother before me. He put it to his nose--he poured out a driblet into a teaspoon as cautiously as if it had been the black drop--he tasted it--and again repeated these terrible words, "Mrs. TROLLOPE, YOU ARE POISONED. It has," he continued, "a peculiar disagreeable smell, like the breath of habitual drunkards." "Oh! thought I, has it come to this! The smell ever seemed to my unsuspecting soul most fragrant and delicious." "Death in the Pot" then told me, that the liquid I had been innocently drinking every morn for thirty years was not brandy at all, but a vile distillation of British molasses over wine lees, rectified over quick lime, and mixed with saw-dust. And this a sad, solitary, unsuspecting spinster had been imbibing as brandy for so many years! A gleam of comfort now shot across my brain--I told Mr. Accum that I had, during my whole life, been in the habit of taking a smallish glass of Hollands before going to bed, which I fain hoped might have the effect of counteracting the bad effects of the forgery that had been committed against me. I produced the bottle--the white globular one you know. "Death in the Pot" tried and tasted--and alas! instead of Hollands, pronounced it vile British malt spirit, fined by a solution of sub-acetate of lead, and then a solution of alum--and strengthened with grains of paradise, Guinea pepper, capsicum, and other acrid and aromatic substances. These are learned words--but they made a terrible impression upon my memory. Mr. Accum is a most amiable man, I well believe--but he is a stranger to pity. "Mrs. Trollope, YOU HAVE BEEN POISONED," was all he would utter. Had the brandy and Hollands been genuine, there would have been no harm--but they were _imitation_, and "YOU ARE POISONED."

Feeling myself very faint, I asked, naturally enough for a woman in my situation, for a glass of wine. It was brought--but Mr. Accum was at hand to snatch the deadly draught from my lips. He tasted what used to be called my genuine old port,

"And in the scowl of heaven his face,
Grew black as he was sipping."

"It is spoiled elder wine--rendered astringent by oak-wood, saw-dust, and the husks of filberts--lead and arsenic, madam, are----" but my ears tingled, and I heard no more. I confessed to the amount of six glasses a day of this hellish liquor--pardon my warmth--and that such had been my allowance for many years. My thirst was now intolerable, and I beseeched a glass of beer. It came, and "Death in the Pot" detected at once the murderous designs of the brewer. Coculus indicus, Spanish juice, hartshorn shavings, orange powder, copperas, opium, tobacco, nux vomica--such were the shocking words he kept repeating to himself--and then again, "Mrs. TROLLOPE IS POISONED."--"May I not have a single cup of tea, Mr. Accum," I asked imploringly, and the chymist shook his head. He then opened the tea-caddy, and emptying its contents, rubbed my best green tea between his hard horny palms. "Sloe-leaves, and white-thorn leaves, madam, coloured with Dutch pink, and with the fine green bloom of verdigris! Much, in the course of your regular life, you must have swallowed!" "Might I try the coffee?" Oh! Mr. North, Mr. North, you know my age, and never once, during my whole existence, have I tasted coffee. I have been deluded by pease and beans, sand, gravel, and vegetable powder! Mr. Accum called it sham coffee, most infamous stuff, and unfit for human food! Alas! the day that I was born! In despair I asked for a glass of water, and just as the sparkling beverage was about to touch my pale quivering lips, my friend, for I must call him so in spite of every thing, interfered, and tasting it, squirted out of his mouth, with a most alarming countenance. "It comes out of a lead cistern--it is a deadly poison." Here I threw myself on my knees before this inexorable man, and cried, "Mr. Death in the Pot, is there in heaven, on earth, or the waters under the earth, any one particle of matter that is not impregnated with death? What means this desperate mockery? For mercy's sake give me the very smallest piece of bread and cheese, or I can support myself no longer. Are we, or are we not, to have a morsel of breakfast this day?" He cut off about an inch long piece of cheese from that identical double Gloucester that you yourself, Mr. North, chose for me, on your last visit to London, and declared that it had been rendered most poisonous by the anotta used to colour it. "There is here, Mrs. Trollope, a quantity of red lead--Have you, madam, never experienced after devouring half a pound of this cheese, an indescribable pain in the region of the abdomen and of the stomach, accompanied with a feeling of tension, which occasioned much restlessness, anxiety, and repugnance to food? Have you never felt, after a Welsh rabbit of it, a very violent cholic?" "Yes! yes!--often, often!" I exclaimed. "And did you use pepper and mustard?" "I did even so." "Let me see the castors." I rose from my knees--and brought them out. He puffed out a little pepper into the palm of his hand, and went on as usual. "This, madam, is spurious pepper altogether--it is made up of oil cakes, (the residue of linseed, from which the oil has been pressed,) common clay, and, perhaps, a small portion of Cayenne pepper, (itself probably artificial or adulterated,) to make it pungent. But now for the mustard"--at this juncture the servant maid came in, and I told her that I was poisoned--she set up a prodigious scream, and Mr. Accum let fall the mustard pot on the carpet. But it is needless for me to prolong the shocking narrative. They assisted me to get into bed, from which I never more expect to rise. My eyes have been opened, and I see the horrors of my situation. I now remember the most excruciating cholic, and divers other pangs which I thought nothing of at the time, but which must have been the effect of the deleterious solids and liquids which I was daily introducing into my stomach.--It appears that I have never, so much as once, either eat or drank a real thing--that is, a thing being what it pretended to be. Oh! the weight of lead and copper that has passed thro' my body! Oh! too, the gravel and the sand! But is impossible to deceive me now. This very evening some bread was brought to me--Bread! I cried out indignantly--Take the vile deception out of my sight. Yes, my dear Kit, it was a villanous loaf of clay and alum! But my resolution is fixed, and I hope to die in peace. Henceforth, I shall not allow one particle of matter to descend into my stomach! Already I feel myself "of the earth, earthy."--Mr. Accum seldom leaves my bedside--and yesterday brought with him several eatables and drinkables, which he assured me he had analyzed, subjected to the test-act, and found them to be conformists. But I have no trust in chymistry. His quarter-loaf looked like a chip cut off the corner of a stone block. It was a manifest _sham loaf_. After being deluded in my Hollands, bit in my brandy, and having found my muffins a mockery, never more shall I be thrown off my guard. I am waxing weaker and weaker--so farewell! Bewildering indeed has been the destiny of

SUSANNA TROLLOPE.

P.S.--I have opened my mistress' letter to add, that she died this evening about a quarter past eight, in excruciating torments.

SALLY ROGERS.

VARIATION OF THE NEEDLE.

It is thought by some surveyors that a change has taken place in the variation of the needle, and that the power of attraction is returning to the east or right hand. For my own satisfaction, I have for some years past been endeavouring to ascertain the truth of the fact, and my observations for the last ten years past require only 20' to be added to strike the former object. It is well known that formerly surveyors made an allowance to the west or left hand, of one degree, for every 10 or 11 years for variation, and it now comes short 40' of the common allowance, so that from the result of my observations it appears evidently that the variation is not on the return, but still increasing, but so slow and variable every year, that it cannot be ascertained, unless by a series of experiments. To corroborate the following observations, I would remark, that I have lately read (I think in the Encyclopædia) of a curious gentlemen in London, who with a nice instrument, monthly for a number of years, made observations upon the variation, and he seldom found the needle cut the same degree and minutes, but varying sometimes to the right, others to the left: sometimes more, sometimes less, which shows that the attractive power is variable.

On the 18th of July, 1810, an object on the North mountain, 3 and a half miles off, bore

N. 61° 00' W.

8th July, 1811, the same
object bore 60 50

14th July, 1812, do. 60 50

10th July, 1813, do. 60 50

8th July, 1814, do. 61 10

12th July, 1815, do. 61 15

13th July, 1816, do. 61 15

15th July, 1817, do. 61 15

14th July, 1818, do. 61 30

15th July, 1819, do. 61 25

10th July, 1820, do. 61 20

From whatever cause the variation of the needle arises, it evidently is affected by a something within our earth; but whether from the motion of two attractive poles, or four, as has been maintained by great men, or whether by a concentric globe of elementary particles composed of electricity and refined iron, adjusted and organized in a particular way, are all hypotheses. The phenomenon of the dipping needle is a curiosity, and sufficient to satisfy us that the power of attraction is about the centre of the earth, for let a needle be truly balanced on a centre pin in our latitude, then give it the polarity necessary, the north end will dip about fifty degrees;--move it to the equator it will become again level;--carry it still southward, the south end will dip.

When effects are obvious, man more curious than wise, endeavours to search out the cause, and in some things we may be successful,--others are beyond our knowledge, and hid in the mysteries of Nature's God.

JOHN KING.

_Mercersburgh, (Penn.)_ } _July 18, 1820._ }

COMPARATIVE MORALITY OF DIFFERENT COUNTIES IN ENGLAND AND WALES.

The following interesting table is copied from Mr. Myers' "New System of Geography," a work now publishing in monthly parts, and which, from the manner of its execution, promises to supply an important desideratum, in that branch of literature, created by the recent political changes upon the continent of Europe.

A Table, showing the proportion which the number of persons
committed to prison in each county of England and Wales, bears
to the whole population; and thus illustrating the influence of
local circumstances on the morals of the people. The average of
the commitments is taken for thirteen years, viz. from 1805 to
1817, inclusive, and the population, as stated in the returns of
1811.

_Counties._ _One in_

Anglesea, 18,522
Bedford, 2,623
Berks, 1,618
Brecon, 3,384
Bucks, 2,562
Cambridge, 2,386
Cardigan, 13,612
Caermarthen, 7,343
Caernarvon, 9,867
Chester, 1,638
Cornwall, 5,287
Cumberland, 3,904
Denbigh, 7,077
Derby, 3,435
Devon, 1,996
Dorset, 2,292
Durham, 4,337
Essex, 1,435
Flint, 8,399
Glamorgan, 4,551
Gloucester, 1,834
Hants, 1,230
Hereford, 1,438
Herts, 1,636
Huntingdon, 1,431
Kent, 1,385
Lancaster, 1,083
Leicester, 2,161
Lincoln, 2,164
Merioneth, 13,377
Middlesex, 588
Monmouth, 2,469
Mongomery, 3,534
Norfolk, 1,809
Northamton, 2,405
Northumberland, 3,037
Nottingham, 1,694
Oxford, 2,151
Pembroke, 5,669
Radnor, 3,672
Rutland, 2,696
Salop, 2,263
Stafford, 1,938
Somerset, 1,369
Suffolk, 1,731
Surrey, 1,261
Sussex, 2,422
Warwick, 989
Westmoreland, 5,642
Wilts, 1,969
Worcester, 1,668
York, 3,002

For the whole of England, the proportion is 1 in 1,483; for Wales, 1 in 6,213; and for both England and Wales, 1 in 1,554.

FRENCH WOMEN.

From Sketches of French Manners and Customs.

The women do not, as in England, employ themselves solely in household and nursery affairs, but they mix themselves in all the cares of their husbands, and assist them in their trade and business, whatever it may be.--Thus they are constantly found in the counting houses and shops; and they know as much, and often more, of the details of a trade, than their husbands. In Dieppe, every variety of shop and trade had a woman assisting in it, who, from her appearance, might generally be considered as the mistress of the family. At a blacksmith's shop, for instance, I saw a neatly dressed woman, with a very clean cap shoeing a horse; and, passing a second time, I saw her filing at a vice. I expressed my astonishment to the neighbours, but they seemed rather disposed to laugh at me, than to join in my laugh at the woman. I learnt that she was a widow, and thus kept up her husband's trade, to rear a large family. In Paris, I complimented a pretty wife of an eminent bookseller for her knowledge of the prices of paper, printing, and engraving, in which she several times corrected errors of her husband. I remarked, that the French ladies must have great talents thus to learn a trade in the honey moon, which had employed their husbands during an apprenticeship of seven years; and that I supposed she would be equally expert at any other trade, if, on becoming a widow, she married a husband in some other line. "Ah! Monsieur," said she, "we endeavour to assist our spouses in every way in our power;--it is our only pleasure; their cares are our cares, and their interests are ours; and, if it is our calamity to become widows, and we meet with another good husband, we do the best we can for him also."

LIFE.

When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire forsakes me; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tombs of the parents themselves, I feel how vain it is to grieve for those whom we must quickly follow; when I behold rival kings lying side by side, or the holy men who divided the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the frivolous competitions, factions, and debates of mankind; when I read the several dates of the tombs,--of some who died yesterday, and some six hundred years ago, I am reminded of that day when all mankind will be contemporaries, and make their appearance together.

ADDISON.

STATISTICS OF EUROPE.

From a French paper.

Europe contains in superfices, 153,559 square geographic miles, of 15 to a degree, or only 1116 of the continental superfices of the whole earth. Its population is estimated at 180 millions and a half; which gives, one with another, 1177 inhabitants to each square geographic mile. It should always be remembered, that this population is very unequally divided; for if in the lowest countries, for example, we reckon 4550 inhabitants to a square mile, Russia contains but 447; Sweden, 362; and Norway only 118.

Europe contains 17 nations: 1st nations, speaking the dialect derived from the Latin language, 61 millions; 2d, Teutonic nations, 54 millions; 3d, Sclavonian, 46 millions; 4th, Celts, 3,720,000; 5th, Tartars, 3,500,000; 6th, Magvans, 5,250,000; 7th, Greeks, 2,100,000; 8th, Finns, 1,800,000; 9th, Cimmerians, 1,610,000; 10th, Basques, 630,000; 11h, Arnauts, 300,000; 12th, Maltese, 80,000; 13th, Circassians, 8,000; 14th, Samoides, 2,100; 15th, Jews, 2,660,000; 16th, Gipsies, 340,000; and 17th, Armenians, 150,000.

The Roman Catholics are in number about 100 millions; the Protestants of different communions about 42 millions; the schismatic Greeks, 32 millions; the Mennonists 240,000; the Methodists 190,000; the Unitarians 50,000; the Quakers 40,000; the Mohammedans 2,630,000; the Jews 2,600,000; and the Herrnhutters (Moravians) 40,000.

In classing out each state according to its superfices, its population, its ordinary revenues, and the contributive proportion of each individual towards the public burdens, we find that they should occupy the following order.

_Superfices._--1st, Russia; 2d, Sweden; 3d, Austria; 4th, France; 5th, Turkey; 6th, Spain; 7th, Great Britain; 8th, Prussia; 9th, Germany; 10th, Denmark; 11th, the Two Sicilies; 12th, Portugal; 13th, Sardinia; 14th, the Netherlands; 15th, Switzerland; 16th, the Ecclesiastical States; and 17th, Tuscany, &c.

_Population._--1st, Russia; second, France; 3d, Austria; 4th, Great Britain; 5th, Germany; 6th, Spain; 7th, Prussia; 8th, Turkey; 9th, the Two Sicilies; 10th, the Netherlands; 11th, Sardinia; 12th, Portugal; 13th, Sweden; 14th, the Ecclesiastial States; 15th, Switzerland; 16th, Denmark; 17th, Tuscany, &c.

_Revenue._--1st, Great Britain; 2d, France; 3d, Russia; 4th, Austria; 5th, Germany; 6th, the Netherlands; 7th, Prussia; 8th, Spain; 9th, Turkey; 10th, Portugal; 11th, the Two Sicilies; 12th, Sardinia; 13th, Sweden; 14th, Denmark; 15th, the Ecclesiastical States; 16th, Tuscany; and 17th, Switzerland, &c.

_Contributive Portion on each Individual towards the public charges._---This last calculation is the most curious. It demonstrates what each individual pays annually one with another,--namely, in England, 52f. 5c.; in the Netherlands, 38f. 5c.; in France, 19f. 71c.; in Germany, 16f. 6c.; in Russia, 15f. 88c.; in Denmark, 14f 60c; Portugal, 13f. 85c.; in Spain, 17f. 60c; in Sardinia, 12f. 5c; in Austria, 11f. 68c.; in the Ecclesiastical States, 9f. 40c. in Sweden, 9f. 31c. in Tuscany, 9f. 12c; in Turkey, 9f. 4c.; in the Two Sicilies, 7f. 97c.; and in Switzerland, 5f. 47c. This last is the weakest of all European states.

MISCELLANY.

_Mode of engraving union steel and then transferring the same to steel or other metals._--This invention deservedly demands while it receives the admiration of every lover of the Fine Arts; and at the same time it presents the means of perpetuating whatever is beautiful in the art of engraving, and will probably produce a general refinement in the state of the public by furnishing engravings of the most beautiful kinds, at the same cost as those of inferior execution.

This invention promises to be of great advantage to some of our manufacturers, particularly that of pottery, which may now be embellished with beautiful engravings, so as to place the successful competition of other nations at a more distant period. It may also be applied with great advantage to _calico_ printing, by producing entire new patterns upon the cylinders from which they are printed, an object of great importance to our manufacturing interest. These are among its obvious applications; but as a means of rendering forgery _impracticable_, it claims the attention of statesmen and the gratitude of philanthropists, who shudder at the hundreds of victims which are now immolated to the laws by the facility with which they may be violated.

The association of Mr. Charles Heath with the American inventors is a fortunate circumstance, as it affords a pledge, that all which is exquisite in art will be combined with the ingenious mechanical inventions of Mr. Perkins, and the perseverance of Mr. Fairman; and the means of conferring every desirable perfection on various applications of the Siderographic process.

_Great Britain and the U. States._--(A Contrast.)--A correspondent observes, that from an article in the last Inquirer, taken from a London paper, it is computed that the expense of the approaching coronation of his Britannic Majesty, George IV., will exceed eight hundred thousand pounds sterling.

This, at $4 44 cents the pound sterling, amounts to the moderate sum of three millions five hundred and fifty two thousand dollars, of the currency of the United States.

This sum would pay the salaries of the President of the U. States for a succession of _one hundred and forty-two years_,--and leave a balance of two thousand dollars remaining.

[_Richmond Com._

_English Churn._--An improvement has been made in England in the construction of the dasher of the churn, which "is made to turn on a pivot, fixed in the lower end of the handle, and consists of two pieces set crosswise, so as to form four wings, diagonally shaped, and something similar to those of a windmill. Let the wings be about two inches wide, proportioned in length to the dimensions of the churn, and of such a level as gives them an inclination of about forty-five degrees.

The pivot on which the wings turn to be of iron, otherwise it will soon wear out."

The above plan is more efficacious than any other, and requires the operation to be moderately performed lest the butter come too soon, and therefore become swetted.

_Watermelon Sirup._--Those of our readers who may not be acquainted with the fact, but yet are friendly to domestic economy, are informed, that one gallon of watermelon-juice will, by boiling, afford one pint of pure sirup, preferable either to honey or molasses, for domestic or medical purposes. The trial is easily made, and the expense trifling.

_Patent Churn._--A churn has been invented by a young man in Vermont, which answers every purpose with a very trifling labour. It stands perpendicularly, and is perfectly tight.--The operation is performed by a person sitting near the churn and working the machine by each hand, as you work a pump. The dasher is turned by means of two leather straps, which are fastened at one end of the upright cylinder, and passing each once round it in opposite directions, are fastened at the other end of the handle on each side of the upright. So that the stroke with one hand turns the dasher once round, and that with the other turns it back.

_Socrates._--One day when Alcibiades was boasting of his wealth and the great estates in his possession, (which generally blow up the pride of young people of quality,) Socrates carried him to a geographical map, and asked him to find Attica. It was so small, it could scarcely be discerned upon the draft; he found it, however, though with some difficulty. But, upon being desired to point out his own estate there--"It is too small," says he, "to be distinguished in so little a space."

"See then," replied Socrates, "how much you are affected about an imperceptible point of the earth."

_Georgetown, (Ky.) August 3._--A white crow was lately shot by Col. Rhodes Thompson, at his residence, on Elkhorn, about two and a half miles from this town. It was examined by several scientific gentlemen, and pronounced to be of the crow species; it resembled the common black crow in every thing but its colour, which was of a dingy white.--Col. Thompson had observed it for some time among a flock of black crows, and had ascertained its note to be the same as theirs.

_Scotch Adventurers._--The character which the Scotch have acquired, beyond almost any other people, for the art of pushing their fortune abroad, was never perhaps more singularly illustrated than by the following anecdote, which Dr. Anderson relates in his "Bee," on the authority of a baronet of scientific eminence.

The Russians and Turks, in the war of 1739, having diverted themselves long enough in the contest, agreed to treat for peace. The commisioners, for this purpose, were marshal Gen. Keith, on the part of Russia, and the grand vizier on that of the Turks. These personages met, and carried on their negotiations by means of interpreters. When all was concluded, they rose to separate: the marshal made his bow, with his hat in his hand, and the vizier his salam, with his turban on his head. But when these ceremonies of taking leave were over, the vizier turned suddenly, and coming up to marshal Keith, took him cordially by the hand, and in the broadest Scotch dialect, declared warmly that it made him "unco happy to meet a countryman in his exalted station." Keith started with astonishment, eager for an explanation of the mystery, when the vizier added, "Dinna be surprised, mon, I'm o' the same country wi' yoursel'. I mind weel seeing you and your brother, when boys, passin by to the school at Kirkaldy; my father, Sir, was _bellman of Kirkaldy_." What more extraordinary can be imagined, than to behold in the plenipotentiaries of two mighty nations, two foreign adventurers, natives of the same mountainous territory; nay, of the very same village!--What indeed more extraordinary, unless it be the spectacle of a Scotchman turned Turk for the sake of honours, held on the tenure of a caprice from which even Scotch prudence can be no guarantee!

_Garrick._--Mr. Twiss, a romancing traveller, was talking of a church he had seen in Spain which was a mile and a half long. "Bless me, (cried Garrick,) how broad was it?" "About ten yards," said Twiss. "This is, you'll observe, gentlemen, (said Garrick to the company,) not a round lie, but differs from his other stories, which are generally as broad as they are long."

_Franklin Donation Fund._--The trustees of the fund established by Dr. Franklin, for the benefit of young married mechanics, in Boston, give notice, that they will make loans, in sums not exceeding 200 dollars to one individual, on the terms prescribed by Dr. Franklin, viz.

"The applicant must be a married mechanic, under the age of 25 years, who has faithfully served an apprenticeship of five years at least, in the town of Boston. He must produce a certificate of his moral character, from at least two respectable citizens of said town, who are willing to become bound with him, to the trustees, for the repayment of the sum loaned, by annual instalments of 10 per cent. with interest annually, at the rate of 5 per cent."

_Flour._--Flour has recently been sold at Cincinnati for $2.25 per bbl. "good money." The crops of grain have been exceedingly heavy in the western country.

_Herculaneum Manuscripts._--Sir Humphrey Davy has had great success in unrolling the manuscripts of Herculaneum and Pompeii. In a short time the contents of each roll will be known, as well as its title, which is generally found in the interiour.

_Whaling!_--It would seem by the following articles from the Boston Patriot, that the invention of the torpedo by the late Robert Fulton, to destroy enemies' ships in the late war, is about to be made use of for another valuable purpose, viz. blowing up whales!

"It was hardly to have been expected, that these destructive engines should have been adopted in the prosecution of one of the most thriving branches of business in which navigation is now employed. Yet, we are informed that a vessel has recently been fitted at New Bedford, bound on a whaling cruise, with an apparatus on board for the purpose of taking whales by _blowing them up_.

"Torpedoes, of arrow form, are thrown from a gun on board the vessel, which are calculated to sink into the body of the whale, and there explode. As the experiment has not yet been fully tested, we think its success, to say, the least, is problematical."

_New York school fund, &c._--We have a long and interesting statement in the New York papers, of the funds set apart for literary purposes. They chiefly consist of bonds and mortgages, for money loaned, a considerable quantity of bank stocks, and sundry valuable tracts of land. The amounts are as follows:

The fund for the support of "common schools" is equal to $1,232,908, and its annual product about $78,964.

The fund for the "promotion of literature" amounts to $201,439, and its income is $5,288. This fund is divided among the colleges, in proportion to their scholars. Both of these funds are on the increase as to value and product.

Besides,--the occasional grants of the legislature for literary purposes since 1790, amounts to $1,189,056. And the general aggregate of appropriations, for the last thirty years, including escheated lands, schools lots, fees, &c., but excluding the annual revenue derived from the permanent funds, is estimated to amount to 3,000,000 of dollars!

_Premiums._--At a meeting of the Merino Society in London, 12th May, after awarding the prizes to the best show of sheep and superfine broadcloth, the premium of ten guineas for worsted yarn, was adjudged to Mr. J. Head, of Kirkstall, near Leeds, for one pound of wool spun by a newly invented machine, which was superior in fineness to any heretofore seen, and peculiarly adapted for the finest bombazeens, &c. It produced 95 hanks of 530 yards each in length, equal to 30 miles and 400 yards, to a pound of wool.

_Salt mines of Meurthe._--The researches for the discovery of rock salt, which commenced in July last, at Moyenire, in the department of La Meurthe, in France, are carried on to advantage. After exploring to the depth of 200 feet, and reaching the first layer, which is 11 feet in thickness, the workmen had to perforate a bed of gypsum and clay of five hundred and forty-six feet, when they came to a second stratum of salt, eight feet in thickness. It is intended to remove the researches to two other neighbouring points, to ascertain the breadth and magnitude of the whole bed. The two points form a triangle nearly equilateral, each side of which may be about 6 or 700 toises in length. One of these points is the city of Vic, and the other to the south of it. On this latter point they have already pierced to the depth of 26 feet of vegetable earth: the orifice of each bore is 3½ inches, which constantly fills up with fresh water. The salt of the first bed is extremely white, and transparent as rock crystal. It is likewise very pure, and free from every noxious or terrene substance. The second appears to be intermixed with gypseous or argillaceous substance, but a very small proportion. This salt is brown, not unlike a clouded flint; both the kinds are very compact, well crystallized, the fractures cubical, and the saline taste superior to that of any salt obtained by evaporation. It contains but very little of muriate of magnesia, or of sulphate of lime.

_More silver!_--We have the following account of the discovery of a silver mine, in a paper printed at Salem, Indiana, July 10.--"We have been informed by gentlemen of credibility, that there has been a silver mine lately discovered in the late purchase in this state. The circumstances relating to it are these: A few months ago, a gentleman near the boundary line, was informed by an Indian, that there was a mine of this kind somewhere, but refused to tell him where it was, unless the man would pay him fifty dollars, a horse, a gun and several blankets, which the man did, and was taken to the place, and brought away several pounds of the ore. He has since, we are told, brought away about 300 pounds. He refuses to tell where it is, but says there is at least three wagon loads already cast into bars by the Indians, which he intends to bring away. We have seen (so have several citizens of Salem) some of the ore, and should suppose it at least two-thirds silver. The ore is so pure that it can be drawn out with the hammer into bars of almost any size, and it is thought by some to be sufficiently pure in its natural state. From the representation of it, the mine is inexhaustible, and in a situation difficult to be discovered."

DIED,

In England, on the 19th June, at his house, Spring-grove, near Hounslow, the venerable president of the Royal Society, the Right Hon. Sir JOSEPH BANKS, G. C. B. &c. &c. &c. The loss to science by the demise of this excellent man and liberal patron will be long and severely felt. Sir Joseph had been for a long time labouring under a most distressing illness; for some years he had been deprived of the use of his lower extremities, and rendered so feeble as to be lifted from his room to his carriage. He possessed a princely fortune, of which he assigned a large portion to the encouragement of science, particularly natural history, private and public charities, and domestic hospitality.--Also, on the 31st May, I. BRADLEY, the Yorkshire giant:--when dead he measured nine feet in length, and three feet over the shoulders.

FOR THE RURAL MAGAZINE.

Of JOHN LOGAN, the author of the following touching stanzas, it is well observed by his biographer CHALMERS, that it would be difficult to produce, from the whole range of English poetry, any thing more exquisitely tender and pathetic, than some of his productions.--He died in London, December, 1788, in the fortieth year of his age. His end is described as edifying. When he became too weak to hold a book, we are told he employed his time in hearing such young persons as visited him read the Scriptures.

I.

THE BRAES OF YARROW.

"Thy braes were bonny, Yarrow stream!
When first on them I met my lover,
Thy braes how dreary, Yarrow stream!
When now thy waves his body cover!
For ever now, O Yarrow stream!
Thou art to me a stream of sorrow;
For never on thy banks shall I
Behold my love, the flower of Yarrow.

"He promised me a milk-white steed,
To bear me to his father's bowers;
He promised me a little page,
To 'squire me to his father's towers;
He promised me a wedding ring,--
The wedding day was fix'd to-morrow;--
Now he is wedded to his grave,
Alas, his watery grave, in Yarrow!

"Sweet were his words when last we met;
My passion I as freely told him!
Clasp'd in his arms, I little thought
That I should never more behold him!
Scarce was he gone, I saw his ghost;
It vanish'd with a shriek of sorrow;
Thrice did the water-wraith ascend,
And gave a doleful groan thro' Yarrow!

"His mother from the window look'd,
With all the longing of a mother;
His little sister weeping walk'd
The green-wood path to meet her brother:
They sought him east, they sought him west,
They sought him all the forest through;
They only saw the cloud of night,
They only heard the roar of Yarrow!

"No longer from thy window look,
Thou hast no son, thou tender mother;
No longer walk thou lovely maid;
Alas, thou hast no more a brother!
No longer seek him east or west,
And search no more the forest through;
For wandering in the night so dark,
He fell a lifeless corse in Yarrow.

"The tear shall never leave my cheek,
No other youth shall be my marrow;[9]
I'll seek thy body in the stream,
And then with thee I'll sleep in Yarrow."
The tear did never leave her cheek,
No other youth became her marrow;
She found his body in the stream,
And now with him she sleeps in Yarrow.

[9] Mate.

THE IVY.

From Barton's Poems.

Dost thou not love, in the season of spring,
To twine thee a flowery wreath,
And to see the beautiful birch-tree fling
It shade on the grass beneath?
Its glossy leaf and its silvery stem;
Oh! dost thou not love to look on them?

And dost thou not love, when leaves are greenest,
And summer has just begun,
When in the silence of moon light thou leanest,
Where glist'ning waters run,
To see, by that gentle and peaceful beam,
The willow bend down to the sparkling stream?

And oh! in a lovely autumnal day,
When leaves are changing before thee,
Do not nature's charms, as they slowly decay,
Shed their own mild influence o'er thee?
And hast thou not felt, as thou stood'st to gaze,
The touching lesson such scene displays?

It should be thus at an age like thine:
And it has been thus with me;
When the freshness of feeling and heart were mine,
As they never more can be:
Yet think not I ask thee to pity my lot,
Perhaps I see beauty where thou dost not.

Hast thou seen in winter's stormiest day,
The trunk of a blighted oak,
Not dead, but sinking in slow decay,
Beneath time's resistless stroke,
Round which a luxuriant Ivy had grown,
And wreath'd it with verdure no longer its own?

Perchance thou hast seen this sight, and then,
As I, at thy years might do,
Pass'd carelessly by, nor turn'd again
That scathed wreck to view;
But now I can draw, from that mould'ring tree,
Thoughts which are soothing and dear to me,

O smile not! nor think it a worthless thing,
If it be with instruction fraught;
That which will closest and longest cling,
Is alone worth a serious thought!
Should aught be unlovely which thus can shed
Grace on the dying, and leaves not the dead?

Now, in thy youth, beseech of HIM
Who giveth, upbraiding not,
That his light in thy heart become not dim,
And his love be unforgot;
And thy God, in the darkest of days, will be,
Greenness, and beauty, and strength to thee?

TO A COUNTRY GIRL,

Who expressed a wish to lead a town life.

Sweet Mary, sigh not for the town,
Where vice and folly reign;
Spurn not the humble homespun gown
That suits the rural plain.

In ev'ry street the city's glare
Doth simple hearts betray:
And simple hearts, who wander there,
Are sure to lose their way.

The tradesman plays his wily part,
To take the stranger in:
The profligate displays his art,
The modest maid to win:

He lures her to perdition's brink
By ev'ry treach'rous scheme,
Then leaves the hapless wretch to sink
In pleasure's guilty stream!

The flaunting crowd, that seem so gay,
May please you for a while;
But joy with these doth rarely stay,
Or sweet contentment's smile.

The splendid dome that proudly rears
Its gilded roof on high,
Full oft conceals pale Envy's tears,
And Disappointment's sigh.

There foul Ambition loves to dwell,
False Pride, and lust of Fame,
There Malice and Revenge rebel
Against the good man's name.

Ah! little do you know, sweet maid,
What are the city spoils,
Where villains ply the canting trade,
And fraud is drest in smiles.

Then, Mary, sigh no more to rove,
Or change your native fields,
The rural walk, the verdant grove,
For all the city yields.

And when some swain of soul sincere,
Shall seek your love to gain,
Trust to his faith, nor ever fear,
That you shall trust in vain.

So shall your rustic life be spent,
With every blessing crown'd,
Within your doors, shall sweet Content,
And faithful Love be found.

And when your infant offspring rise,
A mother's smile to greet,
The joy that sparkles in their eyes,
Shall your own bliss complete!

Your tide of life, thus even flowing,
Will ebb at last, 'tis true;
When calm, with Hope your bosom glowing,
You'll bid the world adieu!

[_P. Boy._

The following stanzas are from the pen of the poet Montgomery.
They have never before appeared in print; we having been
favoured with them by a friend who received them from the poet.
They evince, as indeed do all Mr. M.'s writings, that he is not
only a good poet, but a good man.

[_Catskill Recorder._

ON PRAYER.

Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,
Utter'd or unexpressed;
The motion of a hidden fire,
That trembles in the breast.

Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear;
The upward glancing of an eye,
When none but God is near.

Prayer is the simplest form of speech.
That infant lips can try;
Prayer the sublimest strains that reach.
The Majesty on high.

Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
The Christian's native air;
His watchword at the gates of death,
He enters Heaven with prayer.

Prayer is the contrite sinner's voice.
Returning from his ways;
While angels in their songs rejoice.
And cry, "Behold he prays."

In prayer on earth, the saints are one--
In word, in deed, in mind;
When with the Father and the Son
Sweet fellowship they find.

Nor prayer is made on earth alone,
The Holy Spirit pleads;
And Jesus on the eternal throne,
For sinners interceds.

O! Thou, by whom we come to God,
The life, the truth, the way,
The path of prayer thyself hast trod--
Lord, teach us how to pray!

BANK NOTE EXCHANGE,

At PHILADELPHIA--_Aug. 29th, 1820._

Per cent Disc't.

U. S. BRANCH BANK Notes, 1½

RHODE ISLAND--generally, 1

CONNECTICUT--generally, 2

MASSACHUSETTS--Boston, 1
Country generally, 4-5

NEW JERSEY--generally, par.

PENNSYLVANIA--Farmer's Bank, of }
Lancaster; Easton; Montgomery } par.
County; Chester }
County, at Westchester, }
New Hope; Northampton, 1
Susquehanna Bridge Company, 2½
York; Chambersburg, 2
Northumberland; Union; } 17
Columbia Bank, at Milton, }
Centre, 17½
Meadville. 60
Farmers & Mechanics' Bank } 25
at Pittsburg, }

DELAWARE--generally, par.
Commercial Bank of Del. par.
Branch of ditto at Milford, 4
Laurel Bank, 50

MARYLAND--Baltimore Banks, ½
Baltimore City Bank, 5
Annapolis; Hagerstown, 2-2½

VIRGINIA--Country generally, 2-2½
N. W. Bank, at Wheeling, 8

COLUMBIA DISTRICT--Mech. Bank } 3
of Alexandria, }
Country generally, 1

NORTH CAROLINA--State Bank at } 4
Raleigh, and Branches, }
Cape Fear; Newbern, 4½

SOUTH CAROLINA--State Banks, generally, 2

GEORGIA--State Banks, generally, 3
Augusta Bridge Company, 75

TENNESSEE--Few sales at any price.

KENTUCKY--Kentucky Bank, and } 30
Branches, }

OHIO--Marietta; Steubenville 12½
Bank of Chillicothe, 5
Country generally, 20-50

RAIN GUAGE AT PHILADELPHIA.

In. hun.
July 27, Shower, 0. 11
28 & 29, Rain, 0. 32
30, do. 0. 36
31, do. 0. 35
Aug. 1, Rain, 0. 50
5, Shower, 0. 20
11, do. 0. 07
14, Rain, 0. 48
15, do. 0. 46
16, do. 0. 20
17, Shower, 0. 07

PRICES CURRENT.--_Aug. 29, 1820._

Per D.C. D.C.

Beef. Philad. Mess, (pl.) _bbl._ 13.00
Butter, Fresh _lb._ 0.12 " 0.20
Cotton Yarn, No. 10, _lb._ 0.36
Cotton, (Louisiana) " 0.18 " 0.22
Flax, Clean, (scarce) " 0.16 " 0.18
Firewood, Hickory, _cord_, 5.00 " 6.00
Oak, " 3.50 " 4.00
Flour--Wheat, P. S. F. _bbl._ 4.50
Rye, " 2.75
Corn Meal, 3.00
Grain--Wheat, _bush._ 0.85 " 0.90
Rye, " 0.45 " 0.55
Corn, Pa. 0.48 " 0.58
Oats, " 0.20 " 0.30
Hams--Jersey, _lb._ 0.11 " 0.13
Leather--Sole, _lb._ 0.24 " 0.30
Upper, undrs'd. _side_, 2.75 " 3.50
Plaster of Paris, _ton_, 4.75 " 5.00
Wool--Merino, Clean, _lb._ 0.75
Do. in Grease, " 0.40
Common, " 0.50

☞ Should any of our subscribers wish any particular articles noticed in the above Prices Current, he will have it attended to.

STATE OF THE THERMOMETER.

9 o'cl. 12 o'cl. 3 o'cl.
July 24, 71 73 76
25, 74 73 81
26, 79 82 83
27, 79 83 81
28, 79 81 83
29, 79 81 78
31, 78 84 81
Aug. 1, 79 82 83
2, 75 78 81
3, 77 78 80
4, 77 78 81
5, 77 79 78
7, 74 77 75
8, 73 77 79
9, 75 79 83
10, 79 83 87
11, 81 85 89
12, 84 89 92
14, 76 79 79
15, 74 74 78
16, 73 75 76
17, 74 79 81
18, 73 75 77
19, 71 76 76
21, 73 75 76
22, 74 78 79
23, 75 77 80
24, 74 76 76
25, 75 78 80
26, 77 -- --

ERRATA.

In our last Number, page 320, for "John Byron," read JOHN BYROM.

In page 317, under the head "Rules for Milking Cows," for "ten gallons of milk at a time," read TEN QUARTS, &c.

PHILADELPHIA,

PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY

RICHARDS & CALEB JOHNSON,

_No. 31, Market Street_,

At $3.00 per annum.

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