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tures of which (to say nothing at all of their expression), have, as yet, baffled every attempt of the portrait-painters; and which, indeed, bids very fair, in my opinion, to leave no image behind it either on canvass or on copper.

"Mr Jeffrey's voice is neither a musical nor a noble one; but it has such a sharp, acute, thrilling power, that even its whisper can be heard distinctly at a very great distance, and that too in the midst of a multitude of voices, of more apparent power and compass. There is something about it which at once convinces you that it proceeds from no insignificant persona decided, nervous tone, which cuts deep into the ear. His pronunciation is wretched a mixture of provincial English, with undignified Scotch, altogether snappish and offensive; and which would be quite sufficient to render the elocution of a more ordinary man utterly disgusting; but the flow of his eloquence is so overpoweringly rapid, so unweariedly energetic, so entirely unlike every other man's mode of speaking, that the pronunciation of the particular words is quite lost to one's view in the midst of that continual effort which is required, in order to make the understanding, even the ear of the listener, keep pace with the glowing velocity of the declamation. His words come more profusely than words ever came before, and yet it seems as if they were quite unable to follow, passibus aquis, the still more amazing speed of his thought. You sit, while minute follows minute uncounted and unheeded, in a state of painful excitation, as if you were in a room overlighted with gas, or close under the crash of a whole pealing orchestra.

"This astonishing fluency and vivacity, if possessed by a person of very inferior talents, might for a little be sufficient to create an illusion in his favour; and I have heard that such things have been. But the more you can overcome the effect of Jeffrey's dazzling rapidity, and concentrate your attention on the ideas embodied with such supernatural facility, the greater will be your admiration. It is impossible to conceive the existence of a more fertile, teeming intellect. The flood of his illustration seems to be at all times rioting up to the very brim-yet he commands and restrains it with equal strength and skill; or, if it does escape him for a moment, it spreads such a richness all around, that it is impossible to find fault with its extravagance. Surely never was such a luxuriant

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copia fandi," united with so much terseness of thought, and brilliancy of imagina tion, and managed with so much unconscious, almost instinctive ease. If he be not the most delightful, he is certainly by far the most wonderful of speakers.

"Like Cranstoun, this splendid rhetorician was many years at the bar, before his success was at all proportioned to his ta lents. The reputation enjoyed by his Review was both a friendly and a hostile thing to him as a barrister; for it excited universal

attention to him whenever he made any appearance at the bar, and yet it prevented many people from soliciting him to undertake the conduct of their cases, by inspiring a sort of fear, that his other, and more delightful, and better-rewarded pursuits, might perhaps prevent him from doing full justice to matters of every-day character-the paltry disputes of traders, and the mean tricks of attornies. All this, however, has been long since got over, and Jeffrey is now higher than almost any of his brethren in his general character of an advocate, and decidedly above them all in more than one particular department of practice. The same powers which have enabled him to seize with so firm a grasp the opinion of the public, in regard to matters of taste and literature, give him, above all, sway unrivalled over the minds of a jury. There cannot be a finer display of ingenuity than his mode of addressing a set of plain conscientious men, whom it is his business to bamboozle. He does not indeed call up, as some have dared to do, the majesty of sleeping passions, to overawe the trembling indecision of judgment. The magic he wields is not of that high cast which makes the subject of its working the conscious yet willing slave of the sorcerer. His is a more cunning, but quite as effectual a species of tempting. He flatters the vanity of men, by making them believe, that the best proof of their own superiority will be their coming to the conclusion which he has proposed; and they submit with servile stupidity at the very moment that they are pluming themselves on displaying the boldness and independence of adventurous intellect.In criminal trials, and in the newly-established Jury Court for civil cases, Mr Jeffrey is now completely lord of the ascendant."-Ibid. pp. 526-30. So much for Mr Jeffrey as a barris

ter.

The Doctor slides away, as might be supposed, into a long and entertaining-enough view of his character as a critic; but to tell the truth, this is a subject of which we are rather sick just at present, and so perhaps are many of our readers. We are unwilling, moreover, to run the risk of diminishing the effect of these happy portraitures, by introducing any subject of a different character and complexion. Here, therefore, without farther comment, we close the volumes of Dr Morris, satisfied that the additional extracts we have now made, must increase the respect already felt by our readers for this acute and sensible physician. Long may the wheels of the shandrydan run smoothly, and often may they be again turned towards the North! Now God preserve our noble king!

And Peter, long live he!
And when he next goes forth to ride,
May we be there to see!

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

DR CLARKE of Cambridge, although hitherto rather inclined to the volcanic theory of the formation of trap rocks, in his lately published Travels in Sweden and Lapland, informs us, that he found, in Lapland, trap containing impressions of ferns and fishes, and which he considers as a decisive proof of its aqueous origin.

Professor Aldini, of Milan, nephew of the celebrated Galvani, proposes to light our light-houses by means of gas. He informs us, that the light-house at Trieste is lighted in this way.

Professor Griscomè, of the United States, informs us, that the beautiful and valuable compound of serpentine and marble, known to artists under the name of verde antico, has been found in great abundance in North America.

As a proof of the flourishing state of popular chemistry in the United States, it may be mentioned, that the chemical professor in Philadelphia has a class of above 500 pupils.

A new journal of physical science has been established at New York, by Professor Silliman. We have seen the first number, and think the work promises well.

Measurement of an Are of the Meridian in India. Many of our readers are proba bly aware, that a trigonometrical survey of India has been going on for a good many years, at the expense of the British government, in that country, and under the superintendence of British officers well qualified for performing a task of that kind. Lieut.Colonel William Lambton, F. R. S. of the 33d regt. of foot, took the opportunity of this survey to measure, at different times, an arc of the meridian from north latitude 8° 9′ 38′′, to north latitude 18° 3' 23.6", being an amplitude of 9° 53′ 45′′, the longest single arch that has ever been measured on the surface of the globe. The full details of this great measurement are partly contained in the 12th volume of the Asiatic Researches, and will be partly inserted in the 13th volume of that work, which will not probably be published for these three or four years. Col. Lambton has inserted an abstract of the principal results into a paper, which has been published in the second part of the Philosophical Transactions for 1818. From that paper I shall take a

towards the pole. In this respect they agree with all preceding observations, which demonstrate, that the polar axis of the earth is shorter than the equatorial.

2. Col. Lambton has shewn, by a comparison of his measurements with the length of a degree as determined in France, in England, and in Sweden, that the compression at the poles amounts to 1-310th of the length of the axis.

The comparison of the Indian measurement with the French measurement, gives 1-309.15th for the compression.

The comparison of the Indian measurement with the English measurement gives 1-313.54th.

While the comparison of the Indian with the Swedish measurement gives 1-307.19th for the compression.

The mean of these three comparisons gives 1-309.96th, or almost 1-310th, for the compression at the poles.

3. From the preceding compression of 1-310th, Col. Lambton has calculated the length of a degree of latitude from the equator to the pole.The following table exhibits the result of this calculation. The last column of the table gives the length of the degree of longitude at the latitude indicated in the first column of the table.

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few of the facts which are most likely to be generally interesting to European readers.

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1. The mean length of a degree due to lat. 9° 24' 44" in fathoms, is 60472.83 The mean length of ditto due to lat. 12° 2′ 55", is

60947.5

61011.8

24815.7

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60487.56

The mean length of ditto due to lat. 16° 34' 42", is

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60512.78 84 61037.8

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Thus we see that these measurements shew the degree lengthening as we advance

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61042.6

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4. From this table it appears, that the length of a degree of latitude at the poles is 68.704 Eng. miles.

At lat. 45°
At lat. 51°
At lat. 90°

69.030

69.105
69.378

So that the mean length and degree of latitude is almost exactly 69 miles and 1-10th of a mile. Of consequence, the common estimate of 69 miles and a half to a degree is very erroneous.

Japan Copper.-Bergman states the specific gravity of copper at 9.3243 (De Niccolo, Opusc. ii. 263). Cronstedt states the specific gravity of Japan copper to be 9.000. I have never myself been able to meet with copper of even so high a specific gravity as that given by Cronstedt, though I have examined the purest copper used in this country for alloying gold, and in which I could detect no sensible quantity of any foreign ingredient. I was naturally anxious, on that account, to take the specific gravity of the best kinds of Japan copper. This I have been enabled to do by the kindness of Professor Jameson, who got a piece of Japan copper, said to be of the very best quality, from a gentleman who had been in the habit of dealing largely in that article of commerce in India, and had himself (for he was the captain of a ship) carried it from Japan to India in great quantities. I found its specific gravity only 8.434, and hence, I think, we may conclude, that the number assigned by Cronstedt for the specific gravity of copper is above the truth. Bergman's number, a fortiori, is also in excess.Thomson's Annals.

Durham Coal Field. We understand that it is in contemplation at present to open the Coal Field of Durham into Yorkshire. In the mean time, a bill is to be brought into Parliament to carry a railway from Bishop Auckland to Darlington and Stockton. Mr Stevenson, of Edinburgh, one of the most accomplished engineers of this country, has been called by the committee of subscribers to give an opinion as to the best line. The work is estimated at about £120,000, a great part of which is already subscribed.

covered. M. Pagot Descharmes has made a number of trials, and has made known the results which he obtained in a paper published in the Journal de Physique, for July 1818. From the imperfect experiments which he describes in this paper, we are led to suspect that the chloride of iron is the substance possessed of this desirable property. Probably successful results might be obtained by adding chloride of iron to glass already in fusion. It would be an object worth the while of our Staffordshire potters to try the properties of chloride of iron and some other metallic chlorides as paints, either mixed with glass in the proportions that suited best, or perhaps mixed with their common enamels. There is eveery reason to expect that these chlorides would communicate colours different from the oxides of the same metals. If colours could be made from them for the use of the painters by uniting them with silica, as is the case with ultramarine, such colours would be much more valuable than those at present in use; because they would not be liable to undergo alterations from the action of the atmosphere, or the light of the sun. Our painters, at present, make use of colours possessed of so little permanency, that the picture is scarcely calculated to outlive the artist.

Red Snow. The discovery of red snow, though extremely curious, is not altogether new, as will be perceived from the following passage, which is extracted literally from the 1st vol. of Les Merveilles et Beautés de la Nature en France, by M. Depping. The only difference which appears to exist between the snow discovered by Capt. Rose in the arctic regions, and the snow found in Europe, alluded to in the following extract, is, that the snow of the frozen regions is of a very deep colour, at least if we may rely on the statements of the public papers, whilst the other is only slightly tinged with light red. It is of little consequence whether this difference arises from the colouring matter being more abundant in the former than in the latter, or whether the two colours are produced by different substances. If the snow brought by Capt. Ross derives its hue, as is supposed, from the excrement of myriads of birds, all doubt is removed; but there is every reason to believe, that, on the mountains of Europe, the red colour of the snow proceeds from another cause. The extract from M. Depping's work is as follows:- Red Snow is sometimes found on very high mountains during great thaws. Saussure has observed it on the Alps, and M. Raymond on the Pyrenees, at the height of from 2000 to 2500 yards.* It is only during the spring season that the furrows, traced by the melted ice on the snow, are tinged with a light shade of pink. This

Blue Glass from Iron.-It is pretty well known, that the ancients were acquainted with a method of giving a fine blue colour to glass by means of iron. This method has been lost, probably because cobalt, the tinging substance used by the moderns, is much easier, and much more certain of answering the object intended. Iron, however, if we are to judge from ultramarine, which owes its blue colour to iron, is capable of communicating a more beautiful colour to glass than cobalt; besides, cobalt is a very scarce metal, and sells at a high price; while iron is the most abundant and the cheapest of all known metals. On these accounts, it would be an object of considerable interest to painters, glass-makers, and potters, if the ancient art could be again re- Physical and Mathematical Section."

"Memoirs of the Institute of France

shade becomes darker in parts where there is a junction of several furrows, and it even deepens to the tone of carmine, where numerous springs, had dislodged the powder by which the colour is produced. Saussure. was at a loss how to account for this phenomenon; he, however, supposed it to proceed from the seminal powder of certain plants peculiar to high mountains; but M. Raymond attributes it, with more probability, to the mica, which abounds among the Alps and Pyrenees, and which, being probably reduced to powder during the melting

of the snow and ice, colours the water by which it is washed away.

In the press, Letters from the Right Hon. Philpot Curran, to H. Weston, Esq. 8vo. These letters, which are few in number, were written on Mr Curran's first coming to London in 1773, at which time he was only 24 years of age. Mr Weston was a college friend of Mr Curran. These letters, while they record the most agreeable feelings of Mr Curran's early years, are yet tinged with that philosophic melancholy which accompanied him through life.

WORKS PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION.

LONDON.

The Life of the late Right Hon. John Philpot Curran, Master of the Rolls in Ireland; by his son, William Henry Curran, Esq. barrister-at-law, 2 vols 8vo, with a portrait.

A Journey in Carniola and Italy, in the years 1817, 1818; by W. A. Cadell, Esq. F.R.S.L. & E. 8vo, with engravings.

In the press, Pastorals Ruggiero, and other poems; by E. D. Baynes, Esq. translator of Ovid's Epistles.

Shortly will be published, in 1 vol. 8vo, a Refutation of the Claims of the late Sir Philip Francis, K.B. to be considered as the author of Junius; and the pretensions of another eminent personage hitherto unsuspected, ascertained and established; by Charles Montague Chalmers, Esq. A.M.

In the press, a New Edition of the Enthusiasm of Methodists and Papists considered; by Bishop Lavington, 1 vol. 8vo, with Notes and an Introduction; by the Rev. R. Polwhele, price 10s. 6d. boards. This is a reprint from the scarce edition, now selling for a very high price. The author's principal design is to draw a comparison, by way of caution to all Protestants, between the wild and pernicious enthusiasms of some of the most eminent saints in the Popish communion, and those of the Methodists in our country; which latter he calls a set of pretended reformers, animated by an enthusiastic and fanatical spirit.

The collected works, published and unpublished, of the Rev. Thomas Zouch, D.D. F.L.S. with a Memoir of his Life; by the Rev. Francis Wrangham, M. A. F.R.S. chaplain to his Grace the Archbishop of York.

Ancient Humorous Poetry, No II. containing Cornucopiæ, or Pasquil's Night-cap, 1612.

The Lives of Edward V. and Richard III.; by Sir Thomas More, with a Preface and Appendix, embellished with two portraits, and uniform with the late edition of Roper's Life of More.

Sermons; by the Rev. C. R. Maturin, Curate of St Peter's, Dublin, Svo.

In April will be published, the History

of Ancient Wiltshire, northern district; by Sir Richard Colt Hoase, Bart. F. R. S. and F.A.S.

Lord John Russell will soon publish, in a 4to vol. the Life of William, Lord Russell, with some account of the times in which he lived.

Dr Granville has in the press, in 2 vols 4to, Memoirs of the present State of Science and Scientific Institutions in France.

Mr J. G. Mansford is printing, in an Svo volume, Researches into the Nature and Causes of Epilepsy, as connected with the Physiology of Animal Life and Muscular Motion.

Mr Joseph Ward is printing, in a duodecimo volume, an Epitome of Scripture History, or a Brief Narrative of the Principal Facts and Events recorded in the Old Testament.

The Rev. Edmund Butcher has in the press, a third volume of Sermons for the Use of Families.

Capt. Moritz de Kotzebue will soon publish, in 8vo, a Journey to Persia in the Suite of the Imperial Russian Embassy, in the year 1817.

Collections for a Topographical, Histori cal, and Descriptive Account of Boston and the Hundred of Skirbeck, Lincolnshire; by Mr Pishey Thomson, will appear in the ensuing summer.

The Rev. Wm Pulling has in the press, a volume of Sermons, with appropriate Prayers, translated from the Danish of Dr N. E. Balle, Regius Professor of Divinity at Copenhagen.

Mr Burke, author of Amusements in Retirement, is printing, in four 8vo vols, Meditations and Reflections on the Beauties, Harmonies, and Sublimities of Nature.

A new edition of Mortimer's Commercial Dictionary is in the press, with revisions and corrections to the present time.

Mr T. S. Peckston has in the press, a Practical Treatise on Gas Light, illustrated by plates; including an Historical Sketch of the Rise and Progress of the Science.

A System of Divinity, in a Series of Sermons; by the late Rev. Dr Timothy De

vight, President of Yale College, in Connecticut, will soon appear, in five 8vo vols.

Mr John Cecil is printing, Sixty Curious and Authentic Narratives and Anecdotes, respecting Extraordinary Characters; illustrative of the tendency of Credulity and Fanaticism.

Zeal and Experience, a tale, in 2 duodecimo vols, will soon appear.

Mr Thomas Yeates is printing a Syric

and English Grammar, designed for the use of British Students; originally composed at the request, and under the inspection of, the late Rev. Dr Buchanan.

Mr J. S. Cotman of Yarmouth, has in great forwardness, in folio, a Series of Finished Etchings, with Descriptions of the Ecclesiastical and Castellated Antiquities of Normandy, from drawings made by himself.

EDINBURGH.

We understand that an interesting Romance, on the subject of Robin Hood, is forth-coming; and we doubt not, that the parallel of character between Robin Hood, and the present favourite of the day, Rob Roy, will obtain for the former, as great popularity in Scotland, as his name has for centuries past maintained in the sister kingdom.

In the press, Principles of Elocution; containing numerous Rules, Observations, and Exercises, on Pronunciation, Pauses, Inflections, Accent, and Emphasis; also, Copious Extracts in Prose and Poetry; calculated to assist the Teacher, and to improve the Pupil, in Reading and Recitation, 12mo. Third Edition.

A Pronouncing Spelling-Book, with Reading Lessons in Prose and Verse; by G. Fulton and G. Knight, 12mo. Seventh edition in the press.

Sermons preached in St John's Chapel, Edinburgh; by Daniel Sandford, D.D. one of the Bishops of the Scotch Episcopal Church, and formerly Student of Christ Church, Oxford, 8vo.

A Geographical and Statistical description of Scotland; by James Playfair, D.D. F.R.S. & F.A.S.E. Principal of the United College of St Andrews, and Historiographer

to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, 2 vols 8vo.

In the press, and speedily will be published, handsomely printed by Ballantyne, with a fine portrait from an original picture, an Account of the Life of James Crichton of Cluny, commonly called the Admirable Crichton; with Notes, and an Appendix of Original Papers; by Patrick Fraser Tytler, Esq. F.R.S.E. This work will embrace a Critical Examination of the Evidence in support of the remarkable adventures of Crichton in France and in Italy, with some considerations on the State of Literature in those Countries and in Scotland, during the Sixteenth Century. In the Appendix will be found several Original Papers, illustra tive of the History of Crichton, never before published.

Emeline, an unfinished Tale, with some other pieces; by the late Mrs Brunton, author of Self-Control and Discipline; to which is prefixed, a Memoir of her Life, including some Extracts from her Correspond

ence.

In 2 vols 8vo, with a vol. of Illustrative Engravings in 4to, an Account of the Western Isles of Scotland, particularly with regard to Geology; by J. R. M'Culloch, Esq. M. D. F. L. S.

MONTHLY LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

ANTIQUITIES.

Provincial Antiquities and Picturesque Scenery of Scotland, with Historical Illustrations; by Walter Scott, Esq. Part I. 16s.

BIOGRAPHY.

The Annual Biography and Obituary for 1819. 12s.

BOTANY.

An Arrangement of British Plants, according to the latest Improvements of the Linnean System; with an easy Introduction to the Study of Botany; by William Withering, M.D. F.R.S. F.L.S. Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Lisbon, &c. Corrected and considerably enlarged, by William Withering, Esq. F.L.S. extraordinary Member of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh, &c. Illustrated by copperplates. 4 vols 8vo. £2, 8.

CHRONOLOGY.

A Chronological Table of the Nobility of the United Kingdom, showing at one view their exact order of Precedency, with an Alphabetical Index; 12mo. 5s.

CLASSICS.

The Delphin Classics, with the Variorum Notes; entitled the Regent's edition, No I. January 1819. P. Virgilii Maronis, opera omnia ex ed. Chr. G. Heyne. cum variis lectionibus, interpretatione. Notis Variorum, et Indice locupletissimo, accurata recensita. Curante et imprimente A. J. Valpy-The price is now raised, to new Subscribers, 19s. each part. On the Ist of April it will be raised to 20s., and on the 1st of June to 21s. large paper double. Eight months will be allowed, from the 6th of February, to persons now abroad, and fifteen months for India. Subscribers always remain at the price they originally enter. Any original subscriber may change their small for large paper on or before the 1st of April, at the first price.-Twelve Numbers will be published in the year, cach Number containing 672 pages.

The Ædipus Romanus, or an Attempt to prove, from the principles of reasoning adopted by the Right Hon. Sir William

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