ALICE, THE FEMALE SLAVE. 221 gar, to be ftrangled in his prefence; at the notice of which, his mother, being overcome with grief, ftabbed herself to the heart with a dagger, and died immediately. Epit. Turk. Hift. Vol. I. p. 364. W. GRANGer. Remarkable INSTANCES of LONGEVITY. A FEMALE Slave, named Alice, lately died at Bristol, in Pennsylvania, aged 116 years. She was born in Philadelphia, of parents who came from Barbadoes, and lived in that city until she was ten years old, when her master removed her to Dunk's Ferry, in which neighbourhood she continued to the end of her days. She remembered the ground on which Philadelphia ftands, when it was a wilderness, and when the Indians (its chief inhabitants) hunted wild game in the woods, while the panther, the wolf, and the beasts of the forest, were prowling about the wigwams and cabins in which they lived. Being a fenfible, intelligent woman, and having a good memory, which fhe retained to the laft, fhe would often make judicious remarks on the population and improvements of the city and country; hence her converfation became peculiarly interefting, especially to the immediate defcendants of the first fettlers, of whofe ancestors fhe often, related acceptable anecdotes. She remembered William Penn, the proprietor of Pennsylvania, Thomas Story, James Logan, and several other diftinguished characters of that day. During a fhort vifit which the paid to Philadelphia, last fall, many respectable perfons called to fee her, who were all pleased with her innocent cheerfulness, and that dignified deportment, for which (though a flave and uninstructed) fhe was ever remarkable. In In obferving the increase of the city, the pointed out the house next to the epifcopal church, to the fouthward in Second-street, as the first brick building that was erected in it, and it is more than probable fhe was right, for it bears evident marks of antiquity. The first church, she faid, was a small frame that stood where the present building ftands, the ceiling of which fhe could reach with her hands from the floor. She was a worthy member of the Epifcopal Society, and attended their public worship, as long as fhe lived. Indeed, she was so zealous, to perform this duty, in proper season, that she has often been met on horfeback, in a full gallep, to church, at the age of 95 years. The veneration fhe had for the bible, induced her to lament that she was not able to read it; but the deficiency was in part fupplied by the kindness of many of her friends, who, at her requeft, would read it to her, when she would liften with great attention, and often make pertinent remarks. She was temperate in her living, and fo careful to keep the truth, that her veracity was never queftioned; her honesty also was unimpeached, for fuch was her mafter's confidence in it, that she was trufted at all times, to receive the ferriage money for upwards of forty years. This extraordinary woman retained her hearing to the end of her life, but her fight began to fail gradually, in her ninety-fixth year, without any other vifible cause than from old age. At one hundred fhe became blind, fo that the could not fee the fun at noon day. Being habituated from her childhood to conftant employment, her laft mafter kindly excufed her from her usual labour; but the could not be idle, for fhe afterwards devoted her time to fishing, at which fhe was very expert, and, even at this late period, when her fight had entirely left SURPRIZING CASCADE IN ITALY. 223 left her, fhe would frequently row herself out into the middle of the stream, from which fhe feldom returned without a handfome fupply of fifh for her master's table. About the one hundred and fecond year of her age, her fight gradually returned, and improved fo far, that the could perceive objects moving before her, though she could not diftinguifh perfons. Before fhe died, her hair became perfectly white, and the last of her teeth dropt found from her head at the age of 116 years. Briftol Chronicle, Nov. 13, 1802. Lately died at Amfterdam, Samuel David Levy, otherwife Porelintje, noted for his wanderings, at the advanced age of 100 years, 2 months, and 27 days. He has left behind him 28 children, and 27 grand children. He preferved all his faculties to the last hour of his life. It is not a little fingular that his mother, Judith David, attained the age of 105 years, 2 months, and 26 days. Her brother, Jacob Von Leyden, died upwards of 109 years of age, and in his hundredth year he performed a journey on foot from Leyden to Catwick on the Sea. 4 Defcription of a SURPRISING CASCADE near TERNI, in ITALY, in a Letter from a Gentleman who had juft vifited it, to his Friend. I AM ftill at Terni; I have been taken about five miles from the place, to fee the vaft cafcade. It is a work of nature, and one of the most ftupendous of her irregularities. The noife is fuch that I do not hear yet; and you can conceive nothing fo ftupendous as the fight of this vaft and terrible cataract. The water that throws itself down is a whole river; the fall is not lefs than three hundred feet. Conceive to yourself a river thrown from the sharp edge of a rock to fuch a depth, without interruption, and received received on another rock below, and you will imagine that both the eye and the ear must be filled with the effect, The very appendages to this miracle are themselves amazing; the mountain which we afcended to it is of white marble: they call it Monte di Marmore. I was vaftly delighted with the fight of it; but I had like to have had a very feeling remembrance of it alfo. The way up is in fome parts very steep, the track not greatly beaten, and you may imagine that a pavement of natural marble flabs is not the best footing in the world for a horse. It was against the advice of the company that I would continue on the creature; they had difmounted, and the guides, who told them it was the custom to do fo, were leading their horfes. I placed more dependence than I ought to have done on mine, and I was nearly a facrifice to the temerity. We were on a part where the narrow road was winding, as well as fteep; vaft rocks of marble, like walls, were on each fide, and their height and edges frightful enough. I was admiring fo ftrange and beautiful a fcene as prefented itself before me, when my horfe ftumbled. Happy for the company I was hindmoft; to ftumble is to fall, in fuch a place; and to fall, is to roll down to the next angle of fome block of marble that ftops you. I followed the creature down the precipice, but his weight carried him much before me. He was destroyed by the corner of a huge mafs of marble, that ftood out at a turning of the road and the dexterity of one of the guides, who ran fafter than I rolled down, faved me from certain destruction, from his flouncing in his agonies; for I must have fallen upon his feet. It was not long before we came in fight of the cafcade. We marched to it nearly in front; but you would not guefs at the appearance: nothing of that fmooth fheet of water which I had expected, prefented itfelf. We faw before us a cloud, or a thick fmoke, rifing from the ground to the height of fix hundred feet at leaft: and REMARKABLE CASCADE IN ITALY. 225 and as the fituation was high, and the day none of the brightest, you will have fome guess at the violence, as well as depth of the fall, when I have told you that this is no other than the quantity of loofe particles of the water which rebound from the rock that receives the cataract; and, by the violence of the fall, are thrown twice, or more than twice the height of the level of the river. Above this cloud appears continually the fucceffion of particles of water that form it, without remiffion; and, after they have reached this height, they fall again, in form of à shower of rain, on all the circumjacent place. When the weather is calm, they drop in a fmaller compass; but a guft of wind blows the artificial fhower to a vast distance. As we approached this cloud, we faw all the leaves of the trees and plants, and the very furface of the mountain, covered with a fine powder, white as fnow, and equal in foftness to that ufed for the hair. This is the marble of the mountain, beat and washed off by the fall of the water, and raised in these imperceptible particles in the artificial clouds they fall again in the shower, and the water runs off without them. You have feen the effects of the falt left by what is called the spray of the fea: our gardens in the inland parts of Effex are often destroyed by it, after a ftrong wind; that, however, is but partial; this is univerfal: every thing is covered with it, and it vifibly injures and impedes the growth of the vegetables, by choaking up their pores, and obftructing the dews that fhould be received into them. We had a very advantageous view of the cataract, as we advanced nearer to it. A little wind rofe upon us, which carried away the cloud on one part, and gave us a view into the fall. We examined every part of the cascade, the river above, the channel below, the defcent of the flood, and the bafon into which it is received at the bottom. It is the Velino, a not inconfiderable river, the Velinus of VOL. I. No. 5. Gg Virgil, |