IN

MR. GRAY Wrote his beautiful " Elegy on a Country Church-yard," and others of his classical poems, while he resided at Stoke, and he was buried on the spot which his genius has immortalised.— Elderly people, lately living in that village, remembered his retired and secluded character; and they shewed a tree, in which he was accustomed to indulge in reading and meditation. The church and church-yard possess more interest than commonly belongs to such places, from the above associations, and their retired and picturesque situation. Nearly adjoining is the park of Mr. Penn, from

No. 176.-3d. S.

which the above view of Stoke Church has been taken; and on the same site that distinguished scholar and amateur has erected a splendid monument in honour of the poet, with the following inscription:-" This Monument, in honour of Thomas Gray, was erected A. D. 1799, among the scenery celebrated by that great lyric and elegiac poet. He died in 1771, and lies unnoticed in the adjoining church-yard, under the tombstone on which he piously and patheticaly recorded the interment of his aunt and lamented mother."

THE MOLECULEAN SYSTEM.

The following passages, extracted from Mr. Brown's work on the existence of Molecules in Arganin and Inorganic Bodies, comprise many interesting discoveries in the various departments of Natural History.

"I observed many of these molecules very evidently in motion; their motion consisting not only of a change of place in the fluid, manifested by alterations in their relative positions, but also not unfrequently of a change of form in the particle itself; a contraction or curvature taking place repeatedly about the middle of one side, accompanied by a corresponding swelling or convexity on the opposite side of the particle. In a few instances the particle was seen to turn on its longer axis. These motions were such as to satisfy me, after frequently repeated observations, that they arose neither from currents in the fluid, nor from its gradual evaporation, but belonged to the particle itself."

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"Having found motion in the particles of the pollen of all the living plants which I had examined, I was led next to inquire whether this property continued after the death of the plant, and for what length of time it was retained. In plants, either dried or immersed in spirit for a few days only the particles of pollen of both kinds were found in motion equally evident with that observed in the living plant; specimens of several plants, some of which had been dried and preserved in an herbarium for upwards of twenty years, and others not less than a century, still exhibited the molecules or smaller spherical particles in considerable numbers, and in evident motion, along with a few of the larger particles, whose motions were much

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less manifest, and in some cases not observable. * The very unexpected fact of seeming vitality retained by these minute particles so long after the death of the plant, would not perhaps have materially lessened my confidence in the supposed peculiarity. But I at the same time observed, that on bruising the ovula or seeds of equisetum, which at first happened accidentally, I so greatly increased the number of moving particles, that the source of the added quantity could not be doubted. I found also, on bruising first the floral leaves of mosses, and then all other parts of those plants, that I readily obtained similar particles, not in equal quantity indeed, but equally in motion. My supposed test of the male organ was therefore necessarily abandoned.

Reflecting on all the facts with which I had now become acquainted, I was disposed to believe that the minute spherical particles or molecules of apparently uniform size, first seen in the advanced state of the pollen of Onagrariæ, and most other phænogamous plants,then in the antheræ of mosses and on the surface of the bodies regarded as the stamina of equisetum, -and lastly, in bruised portions of other parts of the same plants, were in reality the supposed constituent or elementary molecules of organic bodies, first so considered by Buffon and Needham, then by Wrisberg with greater precision, soon after and still more particularly by Miller, and very recently by Dr. Milne Edwards, who has revived the doctrine, and supported it with much interesting detail. I now, therefore, expected to find these molecules in all organic bodies; and accordingly, on examining the various animal and vegetable tissues, whether living or dead, they were always found

to exist; and merely by bruising these substances in water, I never failed to disengage the molecules in sufficient numbers to ascertain their apparent identity in size, form, and motion, with the smaller particles of the grains of pollen. I examined also various products of organic bodies, particularly the gum resins and substances of vegetable origin, extending my enquiry even to pit-coal; and in all these bodies molecules were found in abundance. I remark here, also, partly as a caution to those who may hereafter engage in the same inquiry, that the dust or soot deposited on all bodies in such quantity, especially in London, is entirely composed of these molecules. One of the substances examined was a specimen of fossil wood, found in Wiltshire oolite, in a state to burn with flame; and as I found these molecules abundantly, and in motion in this specimen, I supposed that their existence, though in smaller quantity, might be ascertained in mineralised vegetable remains. With this view, a minute portion of silicified wood, which exhibited the structure of Coniferæ, was bruised, and spherical particles, or molecules in all respects like those so frequently mentioned, were readily obtained from it; in such quantity, however, that the whole substance of the petrifaction seemed to be formed of them. But hence I inferred that these molecules were not limited to organic bodies, nor even to their products.

To establish the correctness of the inference, and to ascertain to what extent the molecules existed in minerable bodies became the next object of enquiry. The first substance examined was a minute fragment of window-glass, from which, when merely bruised on the stage of the microscope, I

readily and copiously obtained molecules agreeing in size, form, and motion, with those which I had already seen. I then proceeded to examine, and with similar results, such minerals as I either had at hand or could readily obtain, including several of the simple earths and metals, with many of their combinations. Rocks of all ages,

including those in which organic remains have never been found, yielded the molecules in abundance.

Their existence was ascertained in each of the constituent minerals of granite, a fragment of the Sphinx being one of the specimens examined.

To mention all the mineral substances in which I have found these molecules, would be tedious; and I shall confine myself in this summary to an enumeration of a few of the most remarkable. These were both of aqueous and igneous origin, as travertine, stalactites lava, obsidian, pumice, volcanic ashes, and meteorites from various localities. Of metals, I may mention manganese, nickel, plumbago, bismuth, antimony, and arsenic. In a word, in every mineral which I could reduce to a powder sufficiently fine to be temporarily suspended in water, I found these molecules more or less copiously; and in some cases, more particularly in siliceous crystals, the whole body submitted to examination appeared to be composed of them."

was not a gondolier in Venice, nor a sailor on the Adriatic, but regarded his lordship as his countryman, and would cheerfully have exposed himself to any danger for his sake. He was particularly fond of the island of Sabioncello, situated near Ragusa, and often repaired thither in a four-oared boat, accompanied by the Countess Guiccioli and two or three other friends. He always carried with him the requisite materials for writing; and the Countess, who drew tolerably well from nature, took her portfolio with her.

It is well known that, along the coast of Dalmatia, there are many small islands, and on one or other of these the company frequently landed, for the purpose of taking refreshment, and fishing, or shooting. The island of Grossa Minore, is a rock covered with scanty verdure, only half an English mile in length, and of about the same breadth. Here they went on shore one morning, and as there is nearly in the centre of the island a fine spring surrounded with bushes, the only spot which affords shelter from the heat of the sun, they resolved to dine there. The gondoliers too left the boat, made a fire, and set about cooking fish, while the company amused themselves. After passing several hours in this manner, when they would have embarked again, they found that the boat, having been carelessly fastened, had got loose, and they perceived her at the distance of two miles, drifting away from the shore. Grossa Minore is about 20 miles from Sabioncello, and none of the contiguous islands is inhabited.

Lord Byron smiled when he saw his companions turn pale: nevertheless, it was by no means a laughing matter, as vessels very rarely approached this spot. They had

plenty of fowling-pieces, shot, and fishing-tackle, and likewise a small quantity of provisions: but on board the boat there were stores sufficient for a week, and these were all lost. They hoisted the Countess's white shawl on a pole, as a signal of distress, and spread mantles upon the bushes to form a kind of tent. They had nothing to expect but to perish by cold and hunger, unless they were rescued by some vessel which might perceive their flag, or hear the shots which they occasionally fired. Luckily, the weather was fine: the Countess slept in the tent, and the others stretched themselves like Bedouins upon the ground. As long as the wine and brandy lasted, they kept up their spirits tolerably well; but after they had passed two nights in this manner, all of them became extremely uneasy, and they resolved to construct a raft, forgeting that there was not, upon the whole island, a stick more than a few inches in circumference. To swim from one island to another was utterly impossible, and Lord Byron himself began to be alarmed, when a Venetian, who was commonly called the Cyclops, because he had but one eye, proposed a plan for their deliverance, and, urged by his own danger, and induced by the promise of a handsome reward, he determined to put it into execution. There is no good water on Sabioncello, and they had in consequence brought on shore a cask, for the purpose of filling it at the spring. Falling to work with their knives, they cut this cask in two through the middle, and in this ticklish kind of vessel formed by one of the halves, the Cyclops embarked, with a couple of poles for oars. To keep up his spirits, they had previously given him a dram of brandy, and the company were everjoyed to see

that he preserved his balance perfectly well. He pushed out to sea, where his singular boat at first turned round and round with him, but in the course of an hour it got into a rapid current, and they soon lost sight of it. They could perceive that this current set in towards the land, and their hopes of deliverance revived. Another night passed, and by daylight the following morning, the Cyclops, hailed by a general shout of joy, arrived in a six-oared boat with an abundant supply of wine and fruit. He had been driven beyond the island of Sabioncello, and not far from Ragusa, and had performed, in his frail vessel, a voyage of nearly one hundred miles. Lord Byron liberally rewarded him, and on their return to Venice, he purchased for the Cyclops a boat, as a memorial of that remarkable event, of which the latter was justly proud.-Court Journal.

BRASS.

(From "The Brazen Head."

Corinthian brass,
Which was a mixture of all metals but
The brazen uppermost.-Don Juan.

The three necessary qualifications for good oratory were said by Demosthenes to be, action--actionaction; and were anybody to put the question, what are the three things most essential to advancement in life? the answer would be, brass-brass-brass; brass in all its ramifications-from the brazen front of the barrister, brow-beating his way to the woolsack, to the refined" or-molu" of the pretty woman who, with the help of a pair of fine eyes, a blushing countenance, and unblushing mind, wins her way to the attainment of her object, in spite of all the opposition of her antagonists and of propriety. There is, indeed, no instance in which brass is so perfectly effica

cious as on the face of a pretty woman. Any analyser of society may discern this kind of brass in the face of managing mammas obtaining partners for quadrilles, and for life, for long trains of daughters, in whose little dash of coquetry and ton the incipient metal begins to appear; and none can doubt the efficacy of the talisman, when we see retiring modesty languishing through the evening on a sofa, without the chance of a partner, and growing up into old maidenhood without the hope of a husband.

Of this precious metal there are many different species, all equally useful in their way.

There is your dinner brass, which first obtains the card of invitation, and then drinks all the champagne, and engrosses all the conversation. There is your Almack's brass, that, without any pretension, asks the finest woman in the room, and leads her to the set, in spite of a frowning mother, whose planning and plotting to obtain a certain rich or titled personage is thus in an instant overturned. There is your tradesman's brass, that asks double the value of an article; and your gentleman's brass, that orders the article, and gets it a little under its real value, or never paying for it at all. There is your creditor's brass, putting the brazen knocker at your door out of countenancc, with a "qualm-producing" single knock every morning before ten, till he is paid; and your debtor's brass, who drives his cabriolet thro' Bond-street and Piccadilly, carelessly running the gauntlet of shops, in every ledger of which his name appears in neat round text, followed by those cabalistical letters, DR. and L. 8. D. Then there is your lover's brass, that like the doctor's is soft and maleable, and fuses into tears" each drop