remitted his assiduities, and at last abandoned a woman who would have been an honour to the first man in the land. The matter thus terminating, Hetty committed a fatal error, which many woman have done in their just, but blind resentment, she married the first person who offered. This was a man of the name of Wright, in no desirable rank in life, of coarse mind and manners, inferior to herself in education and intellect, and every way unworthy of a woman, whose equal in all things it would have been difficult to find; for her person was more than commonly pleasing, her disposition gentle and affectionate, her principles those which arm the heart either for prosperous or adverse fortune, her talents remarkable, and her attainments beyond what are ordinarily permitted to women, even those who are the most highly educated. Duty in her had produced so much affection towards the miserable creature whom she had made her husband, that the brutal profligacy of his conduct almost broke her heart. He did not know the value of the woman he had espoused ! He associated with low, dissolute company, spent his evenings from home, and became a confirmed drunkard. This marriage is supposed to have taken place at the end of the year 1725. Mary, of all her sisters, had the courage to counsel her not to marry him. A perplexed and thorny path appears to have been the general lot of the sensible and pious daughters of the Rector of Epworth. They were for the most part unsuitably, and therefore unhappily, married. At a time when Mrs. Wright believed and hoped that she should soon be at peace in the grave, she composed this Epitaph for herself : "Destined, while living, to sustain All various ills of human race Within this breast had once a place. A broken heart can bleed no more " From that illness, however, she recovered, so far as to linger on for many years, living to find in religion the consolation she needed, and which nothing else can bestow. That she was almost compelled by her father to marry Wright, appears evident from the following letter :— "July 3, 1729. "HONOURED SIR, "Though I was glad, on any terms, of the favour of a line from you; yet I was concerned at your displeasure on account of the unfortunate paragraph, which you are pleased to say was meant for the flower of my letter, but which was in reality the only thing I disliked in it before it went. I wish it had not gone, since I perceive it gave you some uneasiness. "But since what I said occasioned some queries, which I should be glad to speak freely about, were I sure that the least I could say would not grieve or offend you, or were I so happy as to think like you in everything; I earnestly beg that the little I shall say may not be offensive to you, since I promise to be as little witty as possible, though I can't help saying, you only accuse me of being too much so; especially these late years past I have been pretty free from that scandal. "You ask me what hurt matrimony has done me?' and whether I had always so frightful an idea of it as I have now?' Home questions indeed! and I once more beg of you not to be offended at the least I can say to them, if I say any thing. "I had not always such notions of wedlock as now; but thought where there was a mutual affection and desire of pleasing, something near an equality of mind and person; either earthly or heavenly wisdom, and any thing to keep love warm between a young couple, there was a possibility of happiness in a married state: but where all, or most of these, are wanting, I ever thought people could not marry without sinning against God and themselves. I could say nuch more; but would rather eternally stifle my senti | ments than have the torment of thinking they agree not with yours. You are so good to my spouse and me, as to say, you shall always think yourself obliged to him for his civilities to me. I hope he will always continue to use me better than I merit from him in one respect. "I think exactly the same of my marriage as I did before it happened; but though I would have given at least one of my eyes for the liberty of throwing myself at your feet be fore I was married at all; yet since it is past, and matrimonial grievances are usually irreparable, I hope you will condescend to be so far of my opinion, as to own,-that since upon some accounts I am happier than I deserve, it is best to say little of things quite past remedy; and endeavour, as I really do, to make myself more and more contented, though things may not be to my wish." Wright had an establishment in Frith Street, Soho, London, where he carried on the business of plumbing and glazing, and had lead works connected with it. His employment greatly injured his own health, and materially affected that of Mrs. Wright. They had several children, all of whom died young; and it was their mother's opinion that the effluvia from the lead-works was the cause of their death. We extract the following from a MS. letter of Mr. William Duncombe, to Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, inserted in "Brydges' Censura Literaria," Vol. vii. p. 277. It speaks better of Wright than he deserved. She was The first "You desire some account of Mrs. Wright. sister to Samuel, John, and Charles Wesley. was an Usher at Westminster, and died master of Tiverton School in Devonshire. John and Charles are eminent preachers among the Methodists. Her father was a clergyman, and author of a poem called The Life of Christ. It is a pious book, but bears no character as a Poem. But we have a volume of poems by Samuel Wesley, jun., which are ingenious and entertaining. He had an excellent knack of telling a tale in verse. I suppose you must have secu them. "Mr. Highmore, who knew Mrs. Wright when young, told me that she was very handsome. When I saw her beauty, except a lively piercing eye. she was in a languishing way, and had no remains of She was very unfortunate, as you will find by her poems, which are written with great delicacy; but so tender and affecting, they can scarcely be read without tears. She had an uncle, a surgeon, with whom she was a favourite. In her bloom, he used to take her with him to Bath, Tunbridge, &c.; and she has done justice to his memory in an excellent poem. "Mr. Wright, her husband, is my plumber, and lives in this street; an honest, laborious man, but by no means a fit husband for such a woman. He was but a journeyinan when she married him; but set up with the fortune left her by her uncle. Mrs. Wright has been dead about two years. On my asking if she had any child living, she replied, I have had several, but the white lead killed them all!' She had just come from Bristol and was very weak. How, madam,' said I, 'could your bear the fatigue of so long a journey?' We had a coach of our own,' said sh and took short stages; besides, I had the King with me! The King; I suppose you mean a person whose name is King.'-No; I mean my brother, the King of the Methodists! This looked like a piece of lunacy, "She told me that she had long ardently wished for death; and the rather,' said she, because we, the methodists, always die in transports of joy! I am told that she wrote some hymns for the methodists, but have not seen any of them. "It affected me to view the ruin of so fine a frame; so I made her only three or four visits. Mr. Wright told me she had burned many poems, and given some to a beloved sister, which he could never recover. As many as he could procure, he gave me. I will send them to you speedily. "I went one day with Wright to hear Mr. Charles Wesley preach. I find his business is only with the heart and affections. As to the understanding, that must shift for itself. Most of our clergy are in the contrary extreme, and switching, as will appear from the following statement of the Reverend Peter Duncan. A negro was laid down to be flogged almost under my window, when I resided at Morant Bay-at least at no great distance. His master went to the workhouse; he came back with the supervisor, and four workhouse negroes came along with the master and supervisor; two of them had whips. The negro man was laid down; two of the negroes held him down, one at the feet, and the other by the hands; and the negroes who had the whips went DR. BIRKBECK. • THE father of Dr. Birkbeck, was a merchant and banker of Yorkshire. at Settle, a small town in the West Riding His family was large, and he was the youngest son. He was born in the year 1776. He discovered, even before he went to school, a strong attachment to mechanical pursuits Α of Settle attracted his Anton, and it h and its hood admiration to such a degree, that he was anxious to be employed among the children of the place, that he might constantly one to each side of the man thus laid down and stripped. Ivements, and render himself familiar with its counted either thirty-nine or forty lashes; that was with a cart-whip-I mean what is called a cart-whip.' This was in 1821. The negro man received thirty-nine or forty lashes with the whip. I observed that they still kept him down, while the two men, the negroes who had been flogging him, went some little distance, and came back with tamarind switches-they are hard and flexible almost as wire-and then they began upon him again, to flog him with those tamarind switches. I did not count the strokes they gave with the switches; but to the best of my know. ledge they were as many as had been given before. I observed, when the former lashes were inflicted, the slave never uttered any thing more than a deep groan; but, when he came to be flogged with the tamarind switches, he shrieked most dismally. His flesh was first lacerated with the whip, and then those small switches gave him great pain. I would observe this is a very common course in Jamaica; after they have received thirty-nine or forty lashes with the whip, then to use the tamarind switches; the common expression is, beating out the bruised blood.'" "On being asked if he had ever known an instance of a hole being dug to enable the driver to place a negro woman that was pregnant in the hole to flog her 2-Mr. - Taylor replied, Yes; I was told that by the head driver of Papine; in one instance he had himself inflicted the punishment. The woman was pregnant, and he told his story very clearly. There was an excavation made, and she was placed in it, and he flogged her with a whip, and afterwards, Mr. Taylor thought, with the ebony switch. After giving them the thirty-nine, they switch them." She The Reverend Peter Duncan says, In the year 1823 I knew of a slave driver having to flog his mother. In the year 1827 or 1828 I knew of a married negress having been flogged in the presence of her fellow slaves, and I believe her husband too. I asked her what had kept her from the chapel. She said, she had been severely flogged; she looked very ill; she was scarcely able to walk. I said What have you done?' She said she had done nothing, but her overseer had wished her to come and sleep with him. said, No, Massa; I am a married woman, and I was married in the Church of England, on the Parade at Kingston, and I cannot do any thing of the kind.' Other negroes told me that they were present at a part of this conversation, and saw Ann flogged, avowedly for that reason, and among the rest her husband; she was very severely flogged; I was told she got about fifty lashes, and was then put into the stocks. After she had remained in the stocks two or three days, the overseer asked her whether she would come and sleep with him yet. She said, No; she was ready to do her master's duty, but could not do any thing of that sort.' He brought three or four others, and pointed her out by way of scorn, and said, 'This is a holy woman-this is a married woman; she cannot come and sleep with me, because she is a Methodist, and has been married in the Church of England.' There were a considerable number of negroes with her at the time I saw her, who were witnesses to the whole, or part of these facts. Though I do not at present recollect any other such flagrant instance of cruelty as that, it was no uncommon thing to me to hear that the young female slaves had been flogged because they would not comply with those wishes of their overseers." m more minute and complex parts. The shops in the town in which articles of mechanism were made, also drew his early attention, and rendered him ambitious to handle whatever tools lay within his reach for the same purpose. Of these things, in the childhood of ordinary men, we should take no notice; but in the early days of one so anxious, amidst the pressing duties of a learned profession, to promote the humbler pursuits of mechanical science among his ingenious and industrious countrymen, they claim at least a simple mention. Those who do not believe that the speediest end which can be put to this system is the best, would not believe, though one rose from the dead. At eight years of age he was sent to a school at Newton, a village on the borders of Lancashire, at which he remained about six years, and where he acquired, in addition to the full amount of a common education, the rudiments of clas the care of a gentleman, whose instructions determined the gical knowledge. At fourteen his father placed him under scientific partialities and pursuits of young Birkbeck. This gentleman was Mr. Dawson, of Sedburg, well known as one of the first mathematicians of his day. In addition to the scientific advantages to be derived from such an instructor, young Birkbeck enjoyed considerable opportunities of acquiring classical knowledge, by a residence in the house of a learned relation, Mr. Foster, of Hebblethwaite-ball. It was at this auspicious period, and with these valuable re sources opened before him, that our industrious subject laid the foundation of those mathematical and literary acquire ments which he has since matured, and applied to such diffusive and beneficial purposes. It has often and justly been remarked, that they who are most eager for the early attainment of knowledge, are generally most ready in after life to communicate it; while, from the zeal of an indivi. dual to enlighten his fellow-creatures, may generally be inferred the earnestness of his own mind when young to acquire illumination and enlargement. These remarks were never more vérified than in the example before us. Already we can imagine those of our readers who know what the staple profession of Dr. Birkbeck is, to be anxious also to know how his mechanical and mathematical gen came to reconcile itself to the studies necessary to const tute a physician. We will not say " an enemy did this. because the Doctor himself always ranked the individual who caused it among his choicest friends. It was the late Dr. Garnett, who had also been a pupil of Mr. Dawson, and with whom young Birkbeck became intimately acquainted soon after his return to his native town. It is not easy every place to turn the best mechanical genius and the most promising attainments in general science to a profi able account; nor is it desirable that young men, of the most commendable habits of research and industry, should be allowed to proceed in an irregular and indefinite course. Mr. Birkbeck, and induce them to advise, and him to adopt Considerations like these might weigh with the friends of a profession somewhat at variance with the early bent of his mind. But, however the purpose of making him a physician was first formed, it was confirmed and brought into action by the influence of Dr. Garnett. With him Mr. B. spent some time, during which the Doctor was engaged in the analysis of mineral waters, and in the publication of hi "Treatise on the Waters of. Harrowgate." From his house in that village, Mr B. proceeded to Leeds, for the purpose of acquiring a knowledge of pharmacy. Here he This gentleman may be termed the founder of the Mechanics' Insti. by which he is distinguished, has he become an object of interest with the public. Birkbeck underwent the customary examination for taking his first medical degree, and was freely admitted to the honour, having previously delivered and published a Dis remained a short time with Dr. Logan, during which he Deeming it likely to be of considerable advantage, Mr. Birkbeck, before he became of age, spent one whole winter in London. Science was still his object, not pleasure: upon the gaieties and fascinations of the great city he turned his back without difficulty and without regret; while his time was actively occupied in augmenting the knowledge likely to raise him to some eminence and utility in the profession he had chosen. For this purpose he entered the school of the late Dr. Baillie, and then commenced a friendship with that estimable man and excellent physician which terminated only with his life. Anatomy was his chief study in this school, and dissection consequently his chief practice; but from these he was able to secure intervals of his time, which he devoted chiefly to an attendance on the chemical lectures of Dr. Pearson, and the more celebrated lectures of Dr. Fordyce on the practice of physic. His honours, in recompense of past industry, and the encouragement of future labours, now commenced. He returned to Edinburgh with more ardour in his purposes and pursuits than ever; and his fellow-students soon perceived that he had not visited London in vain. Jealous as the Scottish Professors were of the fame of their own city, they, too, were constrained to acknowledge the rapid advances which Mr. B. had made in his studies, and the propriety of his taking a more active part among their pupils than before. Such was the estimation in which his talents were held, that while only twenty, he was raised to the chairs of the Society for Natural History, and the Royal Medical Society, by the unanimous suffrage of their members. In the summer of 1797, a new source of instruction and interest was opened before him, of which he availed him. self with characteristic eagerness. We allude to Professor Robison's Lectures on Natural Philosophy. The renown of the lecturer as a profound mathematician, drew around him a large and respectable audience, among whom the Professor was particularly attracted and gratified by the attention of Mr. Birkbeck. In a very short time he requested his acceptance of a ticket of free admission, and was ever afterwards attached to him with the cordiality of a chief and devoted friend. Dr. John Thomson, Professor of Military Surgery in the University of Edinburgh, and Mr. John Allen, the celebrated lecturer on the Animal Economy, and now Master of Dulwich College, also became the warm friends of Mr. Birkbeck about this time, and contributed in no small degree to augment his stores of knowledge, and to strengthen his ardent mind for fresh pursuits of science and usefulness. Very soon after his graduation, Dr. Birkbeck quitted Edinburgh for his native country: and on his way he spent a few days with a friend at Peebles. About this time his valuable friend Dr. Garnett was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Royal Institution of London, and lost no time in nominating him to succeed to the chair of a kindred office, which the Doctor had previously held at Glasgow. Intelligence to this effect reached him while at the house of his friend at Peebles; and though it could not fail to afford him high gratification, his first impressions were unfavourable to the acceptance of the proffered honour. He had, it seems, intended to enter on a course of medical practice, in some suitable and promising situation; while his early age appeared to restrain his anticipation of any important official appointment. Very little consideration on his part, and advice on the part of his friends, was, however, necessary to place the whole subject in directly a contrary light-to render his early age a reason for abstaining for the present from settled regular practice, and for availing himself of so favourable an opportunity as that which the removal of Dr. Garnett presented, to acquire additional preparatory knowledge. He therefore prepared his testimonials, secured the votes of a large number of the Glasgow Trustees, and, in a few weeks, commenced a course of lectures on Natural and Experimental Philosophy, and the more interesting parts of Chemistry. This important change in his prospects and pursuits took place in the latter end of the year 1759, and contributed, perhaps, more than any other event in his life, to confirm his attachment to experiments in mechanical science. Retiring for a short vacation to his native country, he thence issued a prospectus of the lectures he proposed delivering to the "Mechanics' Class" in the following session. When the business of the session commenced, he sent circular letters to the various manufactories in Glasgow, requesting lists of the more sober and intelligent workmen in each, with an offer of tickets of admission. The first effect of this liberal communication was an audience of seventy-five mechanics. The next lecture-so deep was the impression on their minds-was attended by two hundred. Three hundred were present at the third lecture, and five hundred at the fourth. Several interesting circumstances connected with these lectures deserve special notice, as they illustrate the gratitude and intelligence of individuals of the audience, as well as the impressive and useful tendency of the lectures themselves. One attendant communicated to the lecturer a new plan for an air-pump-a second sent him a novel method for determining the sun's distance-and the whole united in the purchase of a handsome silver cup, on which an appropriate device and inscription were engraved, and which was delivered to Dr. Birkbeck, on the termination of the course, by Mr. Robertson, a mechanic of eminence, in the name of the whole body. During two more sessions the Doctor continued his lectures to this worthy class of men, and received from them testimonies of their gratitude and esteem, upon which he must often look with delight far exceeding the most costly gifts of those "who distribute from their abundance, not always from their hearts." We next find Dr. Birkbeck lecturing to the inhabitants of Birmingham, Hull, and Liverpool. We have now reached the third winter of Mr Birkbeck's residence in Edinburgh, during which he acted as clinical clerk of Dr. Rutherford. This office at first appears too self-denying and retired to afford the least encouragement to a mind like Mr. B.'s; but he appears to have considered it one of the greatest advantages of his early life; not only as it brought him into intimate association and friendship with a man of such distinction and worth, but also as it afforded him a valuable opportunity of acquiring the prac These numerous professional engagements, involving, as tical knowledge of which he stood much in need. Added they must have done, studies and labours which few have to these important advantages, the formation of the Aca- strength or spirits to undergo, did not entirely detach the demy of Physics, at this time, though it did not long conthoughts of Dr. Birkbeck from the charms of society, and the tinue, introduced him to the friendship of several indivi- anticipations of domestic bliss. In the spring of 1805, he duals of celebrity; among whom were Drs. Brown and Ley-married the youngest daughter of Sampson Lloyd, Esq. of den, the late Mr. Horner, Professor Wallace, and Henry Brougham. In another year, we find him elected, for the second time, President of the Royal Medical Society-a circumstance of rare occurrence, and therefore of the greater -honour. At the close of the Session of this year, 1798. Mr. Farm, near Birmingham. A union, every way gratifying to all parties concerned, of course turned the Doctor's a' tention to measures preparatory to settling in the practice of his chief profession. He settled in London under circumstances of great promise, which did not disappoint him. His connexion enlarged to as wide an extent as his necessities or his wishes required, and his course would have been remarkably prosperous and gratifying-perhaps too much so for imperfect humanity-but for the unexpected and almost overwhelming loss of one of the best of wives. Mrs. Birkbeck died in a few days after the birth of a son, and in less than two years after her auspicious marriage. Ten years elapsed before the Doctor resolved upon supplying this affecting domestic vacancy: then, however, he took for his second wife the youngest daughter of Henry Gardner Esq. of Liverpool. He had not been settled in London many months before he was elected one of the Presidents of the Physical Society of Guy's Hospital, an office to which he has been annually re-elected from that period to the present. In less than two years after his establishment in the metropolis, he was appointed Physician to the General Dispensary in Aldersgate Street, in which station he continues to the present day. His active mind was enabled for some time to add to these multiplied engagements considerable attention to the "London Medical Review," a work published quarterly, and extending to two volumes. The London Institution was the next new scene of Dr. Birkbeck's labours. In 1820 he delighted and instructed prodigious assemblies by a course of lectures on Natural and Experimental Philosophy. Three years afterwards he delivered a shorter course on the History of the Atmosphere; and in the next year after that, a still shorter but remarkably interesting course on Terrestrial Magnetism. The whole of these courses were delivered gratuitously. The distance of London from Glasgow had prevented the frequent intercourse with his old friends in the latter city, which Dr. Birkbeck had wished to carry on; which led, in the course of years, to the suspicion that he and his labours were almost forgotten. In this, however, he judged wrongly of a class of men who have proved themselves not less grateful than teachable and industrious. A letter in the Morning Chronicle early in 1822, dated from Glasgow, convinced him of his error; and, in the following year, a letter from his successor, Doctor Ure, convinced him that he was more than remembered by his northern pupils. This letter communicated a series of resolutions much to the Doctor's honour and gratification. One of them determined on an address, to be signed by the members, and which was transmitted to the Doctor with the signatures of upwards of four hundred mechanics of the city. Having this casually mentioned this admirable publication, it will be proper, especially as this is the appropriate place in our narative, to mention the influence which it had in first attracting the attention of Dr. Birkbeck to the mechanics of London, and at length deciding him upon promoting the formation of the London Mechanics' Institution. Of this society Dr. Birkbeck has, from the first, been President actually as well as nominally President; and should Divine Providence spare his life a few years longer, he will doubtless see tokens of success resulting from his unwearied labours far surpassing the anticipations even of his own ardent and sanguine spirit. TURKISH LADIES.-Singular as it may appear to those who imagine there is no wisdom except in books, the Turkish ladies are remarkable for the strength and acuteness of their understandings, for their sagacity, and for that scrupulous delicacy which makes the want of education disappear. Their air and manner are noble, and their conversation full of charms. Such is the uniform testimony of those Christian ladies who have visited the harems; and an author, well entitled to credit, remarks in corroboration "I have myself been in the company of ladies of all conditions, at the houses of the ministers of government, noblemen and magistrates; and I have been surprised at the purity of their language, the easy flow of their elocution, the refinement and delicacy of their thoughts, and the grace and simplicity visible in their whole conversation." Polygamy, the bugbear which terrifies Europeans, is not common in Turkey. Few Mohammedans have two wives; and four, the number permitted by law, are scarcely ever seen in the same mansion. THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A GREENWICH OUT-PENSIONER. LIKE the godess Venus, 1 am extra parokial in my birth, as I first sea lite at sea one dark nite in the Bay of Biskey, lat. 45o 12'; nor., long 5o 16' 32" wes from Lunnnn. 1 was suckled at Brest, and larned redin an riting off my ole gran mother, who kep a smal skool at Wapping, where I got many a good wapping myself. Ask for speling I never cud doo it, for a spel seamed to hang uver me; and in regard of somes, I was cast down, wenevar I tried to cast up. As soon as I was ole anuf I run away from my gran mother, and tuk a trip to Newcassle in the Lillywite, a wether befen ole colier; but I had to walk all the way bak, askin charity off every body I met, who told me if ide go an throw myself on my parish, I shoud get releaf direcly-wich was a tail, alass, too true! When my granmother first see me she tuk me for a sperret; but as soon as she fond I wus nothing but flesh and blud (and rite litel ov that) she set too and licked me with her Cain as long as she was Able. I found she had dun skool an tak to sowing, from wich she reaped verry litel arvest. We lived pretty comfortable for some time, tho I wus alwys ancorin after the sea, and got menny a good box on the hear for swimin my spoon in my tea, or sailing my new hat on the duk pond. As war soon broke out in Amerryca, I determined to go and defend my country in forren parts, and aplied for a birth aboard the Charity, tho not first-rate. The captain said he liked my looks, and ast me if I cood stand fire, to wich I said I cood, uponwich he appointed me Cook's assistant, and told me to mind and not capsize the buter boat. As I hod no objeckshuns to larn navygashun in all its branshes, in case of being cast on a disolute iland, and hopin to have a opertunity of signalising myself wen we cum among the niggers, I made no words, but said I wood go round the world with Cook; tho, to confess, if it had been left to me, I should never have chose pothooks in preference to hangers. Nothink partickler ocurd during the passage xept one day Cook skalded his foot verry bad, by putin his petty toes splash into a sauspan of bilin water. Wen we come to Amerryca, in cours I was verry much sir. prised; indeed it was quite a New World to me, and so larg that Great briton is quite smal in comparyson. The niggers are funny chaps, and often set me a niggerin ag my wil. As for the happyriginals, as the captin caled em, we never got near anuf; but I see an old sailer as had been took prisoner fourteen ears among the fethered tribes, and he says they are sad skiny chaps to look at, as they always Hide their nakedness with the skins of wild animals But I am not goin to rite the whole of my boyography, with all the partickler events as they ocured eventually throw my life, tho I cood fil a hole log book with adven tures such as noddy wood beleave to be in a mariners com pass. I shall say nothink of the strange countrys I have seen, where the fish are covered with fethers the same as birds are hear, and fli wislinin about, and roost in branshee of trees made ov stone, all groin under water. Nor I shant mens hun the six ole mer maids as I se one afternoon drinkin tea ov china, sweatened with moist sugar; nor the birds of Paradice flighin about a desert iland in the Sow sea, and the too naked figgers in the same place, wich I suppose was A dam and Heave. Nayther shal I so much as hint about the wonders I see in the Nor, were evry day in the weak is six months long, and sunshine all the wile, wich I use to think it was nothink but moonshine. But I carnt help notising one thing, wich is that among all the strang and savage nashuns I have seen, not one ov em speak inglish but all frensh. Allso about the Antipperdese, wich I dont beleave there is no such peple; for wen I was at Lunnat they told me they was in New Zeland, and wen I was in New Zeland they told me they was in Ingland. Allso in Chines Tartary they said they was in Pattagony, and wen I ast about em in Pattagony they told me they was in Chines Tartary. So that I am come to this conclusion, dont beleave they arut no where at all. I shant menghua likewise the vast number of pickle herrins I have seen swimin about, so thick as to make shole water in the deepest parts of the oshua. Nor furthermore, of Wales, both North and South, with bones so long and so thik as wood do to put in the stays of a ship; nor wat I observed in Greenland were evry think is quite wite; nor in the Wite sea, wich is quite green. Allso the same or all unnatural fenominous, such as water spouts, red snow, flighin Duchmen, wich our captin always said was nothink but sperrets and water; in addition to wich, I have often ear speak ov the iland off our one coast where the arms ov the natives is nothink but legs. I shall now beg leaf to give my genteel reder a set down in the midel of the Paysifick oshun, in the year anno domino 79. Evry body must remember the takein of the seven gunboats off Dominnica, in wich I first signalised my self, being then cockswain on bord the George, a 74, which I had entered in 75. Soon after this, as we was crewsin off the cost of Amerryca, we fell in with a frensh line a battle, to wich we gey chase, and had a verry long run. We several times like to Mist her on account of the Fog; dublin Cape Horn, on wich old god Holeas was blowing with all his mite; and running out into the Pasyfick determined for bloody war. At last she brought too, and showed us her teeth; upon wich we returned the compliment, and gave her a taste of our guns, wich, as we fight for freedom, we loaded with chain shot. The fire was hot, as is usually the case when you are too nere, and numbers of the enemy was seen lyin ded in their shrouds, wile many of our own men was obliged to lay down their harms, rite and left, and others hadent a leg to stand on. We was now yard harm and yard harm, broadsite to broadsite, no quarters bein giving; but, tho both kep fitin like furies, nayther of us seemed inclined to strike. Our stud sales stud a verry litel wile, and our stay sales dident stay much longer. In fact, all our sales were under distress of rents; our main top was flotin on the top of the main, and our missen mast was missen soon after. But there was one consolashon in all our trouble-the enemy was wors off than us. Graplin hiurns was now fixt by both partys, and no sooner was the links aplied to the vessels than they was discovered to be on fire. Our force at this time was verry weak, not being above forty strong, and the guns were verry warm in the caus that they wood no longer wait for the word of command, but went off afore they were pinted. Our prospecs at this moment was sublime in the extream, the smoke bein so thik that you coodent see your hand before you, and I only wish that Mister Stand feald (if he cud Stand fire) had been there with his paint cans, &c., to make a drawn batel of it, or mister Dibdin to rite a song about it, afore that took place wich I am goin to relate. In cours, ports ov our ingagement, come out to asist us. My redir, I dar say, is perty wel tird by this—if he arnt I am, an consequenshaley shal put off the futur for the present: hopein in rememberance ov my poor old granmother, he will excuse my bad Inglish and worse Polish. If he wants to no more, I beg leaf to say I now keep the Bear at Greenwich; where, if he will do me the honer to cum, I hope he wil not fal out with my bruin.—Metropolitan. CURIOUS EXPERIMENT ON A RATTLESNAKE The following curious facts respecting the rattlesnake are from a letter of Judge Samuel Woodruff, to Professor Silliman, in the last number of the American Journal of Science. Some time in the month of August, I went with Mr. T. Kirtland and Dr. C. Dutton, then residing at Poland, to the Mahoning, for the purpose of shooting deer, at a place where they were in the habit of coming to the river, to feed on the moss attached to the stones in the shoal water. We took our watch station on an elevated part of the bank, fifteen or twenty yards from the edge of the water. About an hour after we commenced our watch, instead of a deer we discovered a rattlesnake, which, as it appeared, had left his den, in the rocks beneath us, and was advancing across a smooth, narrow sand beach towards the water. Upon hearing our voices, or from some other cause, he stopped, and lay stretched out with his head near, the water. It occurred to me that an opportunity now offered to try the virtues of the white-ash leaves. Requesting the gentlemen to keep in my absence a watch over our object, I went immediately in search of the leaves, and on a piece of low ground, thirty or forty rods back from the river, I soon found, and by the aid of my hunting knife, procured a small white-ash sapling, eight or ten feet in length; and with a view to make the experiment more satisfactory, I cut another sapling of the sugar maple, and with these wands returned to the scene of action. In order to cut off a retreat to his den, I approached the snake in his rear. As soon as I came within about seven or eight feet of him, he quickly threw his body into a coil, elevated his head eight or ten inches, and brandishing his tongue, "gave note of preparation" for combat. I first presented him the white ash, placing the leaves upon his body. He instantly dropped his head to the ground, unfolded his coil, rolled over upon his back, writhed and twisted his whole body into every form but that of a coil, and appeared to Whiz fiz-whack-crack-hang-whang--flash-be in great anguish. Satisfied with the trial thus far made, crash-splash-dash! This is the only idear I can giv you of the seen that folowd, wich was the too ships blowin one another up ski hi, ane leaving only me and another chap quite non cumpass, without any binicle to steer by, or any vessel to steer. I soon found my companion was French bilt, and accordin I hailed him in his own langwidge, wich proved after to be a terrible oth, upon which mountseer looked as bitter as Gaul, and returned my bad langwidge in verry good Inglish. This I considered as a signal for acshun, and tho I wood willingly have pleded a prior ingagement, I cood not submit to have it gave out that I had gave in; so, pickin up a spar, a large colecshon of wich was lying round, and the enemy doin the same, we set too sparin as hard as we cood. Mountseer had the best of it at first, as he was in a biger pashun than me, but as soon as he fech me a good nock on the hed, my blud was up direely upon wich I imediately gave him a nock over, wich soon made him nock under. I forgot to say how we kep aflote all this time, wich was threw part ov the George rex, my mesmate having got hold ov a companion, and me being mounted on the top ov a wale. I had no sooner secured my prisioner by tighing his hans behind him, than I dident no what to do with him; but as fate wood have it, a vessel jnst then have in site, wich proved to be Inglish, takein in water at June Ferdinando, and having herd re I laid by the white ash. The rattlesnake immediately righted, and placed himself in the same menacing attitude as before described. I now presented him the sugar maple. He lanced in a moment, striking his head into a tuft of the leaves, "with all the malice of the under fiends," and the next moment coiled and lanced again, darting his whole length at each effort with the swiftness of an arrow. After repeating this several times, I again changed his fare, and presented him the white ash. He immediately doused his peak, stretched himself on his back in the same manner as at first application. It was then proposed to try what effect might be produced upon his temper and courage by a little flogging with the white ash. This was administered; but instead of arousing him to resentment, it served only to increase his troubles. As the flogging grew more severe, the snake frequently struck his head into the sand as far as he could thrust it, seeming desirous to bore his way into the earth and rid himself of his unwelcome visiters. Being now convinced that the experiment was a satisfactory one, and fairly conducted on both sides, we deemed it unnecessary to take his life after he had contributed so much to gratify our curiosity; and so we took our leave of the rattlesnake, with feelings as friendly at least as those with which we commenced our acquaintance with him, and left him to return at leisure to his den. |