church steeple appeared to them unusually large, and much nearer. Of this they instantly told their father, who, surprised also at first, made the brazen circles or cylinders, so as they might be placed nearer or farther, at pleasure. Janssen very soon improved this discovery so much, that he presented a telescope, twelve inches long, to Prince Maurice, and another to the Archduke Albert. Prince Maurice, it is also said, conjecturing the discovery might be of great use in war, desired the secret might be concealed; and had nearly deprived Janssen of the honour of inventing it; the great Des Cartes attributing the invention to one Metius, of Alc

maer.

None of the first telescopes, however, appear to have been properly framed for astronomical observations, until Galileo, astronomer to the Grandduke of Tuscany,hearing of this discovery for bringing objects nearer, made such great improvements therein as gained him, in the opinion of many, the honour of the invention itself, by giving the invention the appellation of Galileo's tube.

Sir Isaac Newton was the inventor of the reflecting telescope: which is considered as much more exact and useful than the common or refracting ones. He completed two small ones in the year 1672.

The achromatic telescope, which destroys the colours and gives a more perfect image, was the invention of Mr. Peter Dolland.

ANECDOTE.

Louis XVI. like Louis XV. was fond of the mechanical arts, and particularly the higher branches of practical mechanics. Janvier, mechanician and astronomical watch-maker, was a great favourite with his Majesty, and was admitted to his private cabinet certain days in the week. The King used to remain several hours, shut up with the artist, occupied with these amusements, and in the latter years of his life they served to momentarily banish the melancholy ideas which the tide of events poured into his mind. It

was at this period that Janvier, one day entering the cabinet, and perceiving the second-hand of one of his astronomical timepieces on the ground, replaced it without any observation: the next day he again found the hand on the ground, replaced it with care and in silence, the King not appearing to pay any attention to what he was doing: a third time he found the hand displaced, when, unable to contain himself, he said, "Sire, I have some secret enemy who wishes to ruin me in the opinion of your Majesty: thrice have I found the second-hand of this time-piece on the floor, which was impossible to happen without the hand of an enemy." My poor Janvier, (said the King, laying his hand on the artist's arm,) be not alarmed, you have no enemy here; it was I who did it; the moments fly so quick, and so few of them must be mine, that I could not bear to see them marked so rapidlyI took off the hand, do not replace it."

6

FOSSIL MONSTER.

Mr. Mantell, of Castle-place, Lewes, has discovered in the sand-stone of Sussex the teeth of an herbivorous reptile, of enormous magnitude. These teeth agree, more closely, with those of the Iguana of Barbadoes, and the West Indies, than with those of any of the other recent lacertæ; a circumstance which has induced Mr. M. to propose distinguishing this fossil monster by the name of Iguano-saurus. Vertebræ, ribs, thigh-bones, and other detached parts of the skeletons of gigantic lacertæ, have also been discovered in the same strata; some of which belong to the Megalo-saurus of Stonesfield, described by Professor Buckland; and others, in all probability, to the Iguano-saurus. A portion of a thighbone, in Mr. M.'s collection, must, upon a moderate computation, have belonged to an individual nearly sixty feet long, and as high as an elephant! In Mr. Mantell's expected work on the fossils of Tilgate Forest (which will include the history of the fossils of the sandstone from Hastings to Horsham), these interesting relics of a former world will be figured and described.

SHIP-BUILDING WITHOUT RIBS.

The City of Rochester East Indiaman, of about 600 tons burthen, lately launched from the yard of Messrs. Brindley and Co. at Rochester, but built by Messrs. Macqueen and Palmer, has her bottom and sides con. sisting wholly of planks, in separate thicknesses, worked fore and aft; the planks of one thickness covering the joints or seams of the other, alternately. Under the last coating or outside planking, hoop-ribs of iron are let in, at proper distances, crossing at right angles the planking of the bottom, sides, and deck; and these hoops, being firmly secured inside the ship by screw nuts, the whole is combined in the strongest manner possible...

A REMEDY FOR THE BARRENNESS OF

PEAR-TREES

has been discovered by the Rev. G. Swaine : as has long been known with early beans hautbois, strawberries, cucumbers, and melons, the bunches of flowers, or corymbus of the pear, usually contains a greater number of florets than the plant has strength properly to mature; and the remedy in each case is to extirpate several of the uppermost florets as soon as they appear. A beurre pear-tree, which previously had been barren, upon which Mr. S. who left only the three lower florets of each bunch, ripened fruit from almost every one of these reserved florets. The process failed, however, with a gansell's bergamot, whose barrenness appeared, on investigation, to arise from the pollen being shed before the anthers were ready for impregnation. The patronage of our Horticultural Societies, has already done wonders towards improving useful vegetables and fruits, and more may be expected from their laudable endeavours...

NATURAL HISTORY.

Mons. P. Huber (son of M. Huber, already well known for his profound researches on the habits and economy of ants) has recently made some interesting observations on the wild or solitary bee, apis aurulenta which is much smaller than the ordinary hive bees, and found principally in low or moist meadows. M. Huber having noticed one of these little animals carrying a slip of straw which appeared too heavy for it, had the curiosity to watch its progress, till it deposited its load on a small heap of similar materials. Some others followed, laden with grains of black sand, and others succeeded, bringing portions of the flowers and leaves of the potential rampante. M. Huber discovered the nest of one of these little animals to be a snail-shell, the apertare of which was carefully concealed by layers of straw, leaves, and cement. In the interior of this was found a series of partitions, built with mud and small particles of stone, one behind the other. In some of these chambers a green substance was observed, which, probably, formed the recent food of the

The

An interesting funeral lately took place at Wittering, a village three miles south of Stamford. The individual whose remains were consigned to the earth was in life no less a personage than Henry Boswell, well known as the father or king of the gipsies resorting to that part of the country. old man was encamped on Southorpe Heath, with several of his family and subjects, on the Sunday preceding, when death put an end to his reign and earthly wanderings. He had been ill for a few days; but his complaint was really a decay of na. ture, for the patriarch was nearly a hundred years of age. The corpse continued in the camp on the heath for five days,-those who had been with him in his last moments expecting that many others of his family and dependents would, on information of his death, come to offer their homage at his funeral; but something prevented this, and it was deemed necessary to inter the corpse on the sixth day. A decent coffin had been provided, and the obsequies were conducted with great decorum. The body was deposited in Wittering church-yard, where the service was read by the Rev. William Wing. On Wednes day the gipsey camp broke up from Southorpe; on which occasion those who composed it went to the church-yard to pay the last tribute of affection at the grave of Boswell, and a very impressive scene of silent unaffected grief was witnessed. The old man is said to have died in very afflioent circumstances, and to have possessed estates in several parts of England.

MAGNETIC CURIOSITY,

ly disclosed, while boring for soft water, at A singular fact in Geology has been latethe foundry of Messrs. Cawood, Leeds. For the first thirty yards, the boring irons were not affected in any manner out of the usual sessed of a highly magnetic power, which way; beyond that point they became pos continued till the irons had penetrated to the depth of sixty yards; afterwards the proceeding without any effect being proattraction ceased and the boring is now duced upon the iron out of the ordinary

way.

CAVERN.

A cavern, which promises to be of much geological interest, has been lately discovered on the Mendip Hills, near Banwell, 120 feet below the surface of the earth. The soil which covers its floor is replete with the bones of quadrupeds! the remains which have yet been found consist principally of the ox and deer, but some imperfect canine teeth, apparently of the hyæna.

have also been discovered. From the close analogy of the spot with the other caverns which have been found most productive of quadrupedal remains, and from the circumstance that all the teeth of an elephant were formerly discovered in a similar fissure, about three miles distant, upon Hutton Hill, there is every reason to believe that further examination would be well repaid.

THE LOGAN ROCKING-STONE.

Lieut. H. C. Goldsmith, of the Nimble cutter, has succeeded in placing the Logan Rock in its former position. The first attempt was in the presence of 3,000 spectators; on the second, further efforts were made, and on the third, the laborious task was completed, and so successfully, that the immense stone logs to and fro exactly as before. Not the slightest accident occurred during the experiment.

THE CALEDONIAN CANAL

has so far succeeded, that in August last 121 vessels navigated some parts of it: several with wool, passing from Hull to Liverpool; others to and from Dumfries, Belfast, Londonderry or Liverpool, Newcastle, &c. with lime, slates, freestone, salt, herrings, staves, deals, &c. Three steam packets pass through from Inverness to Glasgow the works are however not yet completed, and some part of the line is intended to lay dry next summer, and deepened by 18 feet water, when the largest merchant vessels will pass from sea to sea through this magnificent canal.

PETRIFYING SPRING.

At Locker Mill, near Kilbarchan, a petrifying spring has been discovered, which has excited considerable attention in that neighbourhood. Several large and beautiful specimens of petrified mosses, mixed with hyndstongue and other vegetable substances, have been found upon the bank on which the water drops.

ANCIENT TAPESTRIES.

The Royal Tapestries, made by order of Pope Leo X. for our Henry VIII. from the immortal Cartoons of Raphael, and sold by order of the Commonwealth, in 1650, with the private property of Charles I., have, within these few weeks, been restored to us. They were obtained by Mr. Tupper, our Consul in Spain, from a palace of the Duke of Alva's, and are now to be seen in Mr. Bullock's Egyptian Hall. What adds to the value of this acquisition is, that there are two subjects more than are at Hampton Court, viz. the Conversion of St. Paul, and Christ giving the keys to St. Peter. The whole are strikingly curious.

NEW WORKS.

In the list of works announced as at this time in the press, we are glad to recognize Progressive Lessons; or, Harry and Lucy concluded, by Maria Edgeworth. Among the writers of the present generation, we

hold this lady as one of the greatest (we think we might say the greatest) benefactresses of society. Her various works are applicable to the educational development and cultivation of the human mind, from the first dawnings of infant intellect to the period of its full maturity; and while those of her works which, from the kind of interest they are calculated to excite, seem only to be addressed to the imagination, and designed for the amusement of the novelreading youth of both sexes, have a powerful tendency to enlarge the understanding and improve the heart; those apparently adapted to the circle of the nursery, may more humble productions, so admirably be read with interest and profit by the scholar and the parent of the most cultivated mind and maturest judgment.

[The publishers of the Atheneum will print this work in two editions, as soon as a copy is received; making, with the Sequel to Rosamond, one volume of their uniform 8vo. edition of Edgeworth's Works, and the other edition in a smaller size for children.]

A Miniature Edition of the Novels and Romances of the Author of Waverley is about to be published, in 17 vols. 18mo. with engraved titles and frontispieces by eminent

Artists.

The following are also expected to issue from the press in a few days:

The Mechanic's Encyclopedia; or, General Dictionary of Arts, Manufacture, and Practical Science. In 8 vols. post 8vo. with numerous engravings.

Encyclopedia for Youth; or, a Summary of General Literature, Arts, and Scienings, executed on Steel. In 4 vols. post 8vo. With Engrav

ces.

Management of the Sick and Lying-in The Good Nurse; or, Hints for the Chamber, and the Nursery. By a Lady. Dedicated, by permission, to Mrs. Priscilla Wakefield. 1. vol. 12mo.

The Writer's Clerk; or, the Humours of the Scottish Metropolis, 3 vols. A Tale of Paraguay. By Robert Southey, I vol. 12mo. L.L.D &c. &c.

A Treatise on the Steam Engine; Historical, Practical, and Descriptive. By John Farey, Junior, Engineer. With illustrative Plates and Cuts. 1 vol. 4to.

A Voyage performed in the Years 1822, 23, 24; containing an Examination of the Antarctic Sea to the 74th Degree of Latitude and a Visit to Terra del Fuego, with a particular Account of the Inhabitants. By James Weddell, Esq. I vol. 8vo.

Mr. Field (late Chief Justice of New South Wales) is about to publish a small Collection of Geographical Papers, by various hands respecting that Colony.

The Natural and Artificial Wonders of the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. By the Rev. J. Goldsmith. Author of the "Grammar of British Geography." 3 vols.

Fire-side Scenes. By the Author of Bachelor and Married Man, &c. &c. 3 vols.

No. 12.]

[VOL. 2. N.S.

THE

HE worthy Doctor is unwearied in his endeavours to do good, and produce what may be useful to society. Sometimes we have doubted his means, while we have praised his motives; but much more frequently have had the satisfaction of commending both. In the present instance, we certainly cannot subscribe to all the positions which he has laid down; but our differences are mere matters of taste and opinion, and probably in some of the cases on which we are at issue with the erudite Gastronomer, the wiser heads of the world will be as apt to agree with him as with his critics. But we shall see as we journey along: —so here goes, text and commentary! The first division consists of practical hints to inexperienced housekeepers, in the art of providing comfortably for a family; which the facetious author (is not he, ye Benedicts, too sanguine?) declares will enable young ladies to make the cage of matrimony as comfortable as the net of courtship." To effect this consummation, so "devoutly to be wished," they must, he lays down, keep a ledger of their expenses; upon giving which advice, he digresses into the history of a certain class, and finds, from Athenæus, that Cocks were the first kings of the earth; from Filmer, that the old patriarchs were their own cooks; from Homer, that Achilles and his fellows broiled their own meat; from their historians, that the greatest Roman generals boiled their own turnips and other esculents for dinner; and from Records, happily preserved for our information, that our forefathers, six and three cen57

ATHENEUM VOL. 2. 2d series.

turies ago, were excellent cooks and rigid economists.† Imitating the prudent example of antiquity, therefore, it is recommended to observe order in every thing, to calculate our net income (not the courtship net formerly spoken of) and to save at least two-fifths of it annually. How to manage this is shown in detail. The following ought to suffice, for provisions, per month, per week:

"Meat, six pounds weight (undressed); bread, four pounds (quartern loaf); butter, half a pound; tea, two ounces; sugar, half a pound; beer (porter), one pint per day." Beer, the Doctor asserts to be much more nutritive than any wine-a most hateful, erroneous, and scandalous doctrine! but what can be expected when we are also

* By Dr. Kitchiner.

It was not to his purpose. and, therefore, our ingeni (not u) ous friend says nothing of the coqui of times which do not suit his panegyricwhen Plautus, for example, in his Pseudolus, makes Ballio's cook very truly and characteristically exclaim

"An invenire postulas quemquam coquum, Nisi malvinis aut aquilinis unguibus ?" Can you look for a cook without the rapacious claws of a kite or an eagle?]

The following is another of the Doctor's calculations:

"Estimate of the Annual Expenses of a Family of two, and occasionally three in the parlour, and two maids, and a man servant, who have a dinner-party of a dozen about once in a month, and where there is always plenty of good provisionsbut no affectation of profusion.

"Meat, 654.; Fish and Poultry, 251.; Bread, 187.; Butter and Cheese, 251.; Milk, 77.; Vegetables and Fruit, 201.; Tea and Sugar, 157.; Table Ale, 251.; Washing, 201.; Crals, 801.; Candles and Soap, 201.; Sundries and Forgets, 501.-Total 3201."

assured that "if more beer is drawn than is drunk at dinner, put a piece of bread into it-and it will be almost as pleasant drinking at supper as if it was fresh drawn." We aver, on the contrary, that it is weary, stale, flat, and (to the drinkers at least, if not to the economical housekeeper,)unprofitable; a very odious beverage, and no more to be compared with wine, than a slice of dead carrion with a superb rump steak.*

From beer we proceed to bread, which is not to be cut until it has been baked at least twenty-four hours: for ourselves, we love hot rolls and muffins for breakfast, and have a severe antipathy to dry bread at any meal. We therefore have never looked into a bread-pan, and take the Doctor's aphorism, on trust, as an undeniable truth, viz. that—

"One of the surest tokens of a good house-wife is the state of her breadpan."

Comus, (of whom we should hugely like a well-written biography) Comus forgive those who have thought more of their bread-baskets.

We entirely agree with the Doctor in thinking it much better to cut cold ham, tongue, &c. at table for luncheons and suppers, than to serve them up in slices and sandwiches; but we differ from him in supposing this method also more frugal. We have seen hungry persons, at very genteel parties

* Again we must school our worthy friend in a note. Why does he depreciate wine? Wine has been admired since it was first made (after the creation of the world.) Noah loved it; and Lot took (perhaps) too much, so fond was he of it: and these were great names of old-worthy patrons of old wine. David, a lyrist before Anacreon, or Morris (the Captain,) or Moore, sang that it gladdened the heart of man :-he was a prophet! There never was a people of the least pretensions to common sense, or celebrity in any way (to the best of our recollection,) but who stuck to their wine. The harshest of philosophers were addicted to tippling; and (not to degenerate into the well-known song of "Diogenes surly and proud," with which his musical pursuits must have made him acquainted,) we will remind the Doctor that Cato, the churl, who advised his friends to kiss their wives only to smell if they had been tasting, was himself, according to Horace, a jolly toper:

"Narratur ut prisci Catonis
Sæpe mero caluisse virtus.”

too, who must have been contented, had it been handed about, with three or four applications at most to the sandwich tray; but who played the very dickens with a fine Westphalia, and carved away at a whole tongue, as if it were alive, and calculated (like that of the mistress of the house) to run and last for ever.

As our author is rather a desultory writer, and we are following him cheek by jowl, we pass by what is said of sheeps' and bullocks' heads, and come to a more generally important question which applies to the heads of human creatures. "It is better to live within your means than to make an appearance beyond your fortune, either in dress, equipage, or entertainments." Plato himself never said a truer thing; and the Doctor, as usual, proceeds to illustrate and counsel. "A dinner table should not be more than three feet and a half wide, because a dinner will look handsome on that which would appear scanty on a board of five feet in width." With this opinion we are not disposed to quarrel seriously, for both sizes have their advantages-the narrow table is good because the sitters can reach all that is on it before them, and the broad table is good because one can have sauces, glasses, &c. with less of confusion. But the next axiom seems too niggardly and parsimonious.

"It is (says the Dr.) a good plan always to provide for at least one more guest than you expect-especially if you are not well acquainted with the capacity of your Visitor.-Some folks want two or three times as much as others—for instance, our incompa rable and inspired composer HANDEL required uncommonly large and fre quent supplies of food-among other stories told of this great musician, it is Isaid that whenever he dined alone at a tavern, he always ordered 'DINNER FOR THREE'-and on receiving for answer to his question-'Is de Tinner retty? As soon as the company come'-He said 'con strepito,' Den pring up te Tinner, 'pretissimo,' I AM DE GOMBANY.'”

Now even this jest cannot reconcile us to the dicta about providing for