Brave often means "good," but gallantry never means "courage," as it often does in English.

Caractère, which we are so apt to make "character," means temper and disposition, and not reputation.

I have seen aller à gorge decouverte translated "to go with the throat bare," instead of the bosom, which last, though gorge is literally "throat," is nevertheless the sense of the phrase; for I believe the strictest puritan never discovered any thing indecent in a woman's showing her throat; yet our fair country women seem to have taken a hint from this blunder to cover up the latter so carefully, while the other is so frequently displayed. This mistake reminds me of a French translator of English plays, who calls "Love's last Shift" La derniere Chemise de l'Amour.

X.

increased four times, after which they may be drawn through wire. plates without farther heating or annealing, unless the pieces be very thick. Plates of zinc may be made by working it from the ingot or piece between rollers, at the temperature aforesaid, and those plates may be hammered up into vessels for culinary purposes by the same treatment as is applied to other metals, taking care, when the size or form, or other intended requisites of the vessels require it, to heat or anneal the zinc at proper times during the operation. Utensils of every description may be stamped, forged, or wrought, of zinc, in this its malleable state; and when it is necessary to unite pieces or plates of zinc together, solder is to be used consisting of two parts of tin and one part of zinc, more or less, ac cording to the hardness and fusibility required, or common glazier's solder may be used with success.

For the Literary Magazine.

WIRE AND UTENSILS OF ZINC.

ZINC, which has been heretofore called a semi-metal, because it is not malleable, and scarcely capable of extension, by mechanical means, at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere, or at those heats which are usually applied in forging or extending the metals called entire metals, is capable of being extended by hammering, laminating, wire drawing, pressing, stamping, &c., provided the zinc be kept during these operations at or about a certain heat.

By a method lately discovered, the zinc is cast into ingots or thick plates, which, when intended to be mechanically wrought, are to be heated in an oven to a temperature between 210 and 300 degrees of Fahrenheit. For wire, it is most convenient that the zinc be cast into cylinders, and these are to be extended between rollers at the above temperature, till their lengths are

For the Literary Magazine.

FRENCH IMPROVEMENT IN WEAVING.

A PATENT has been lately taken out in Paris by the Sieur Despiau, for an improvement in weaving, which renders it unnecessary for the workman to throw the shuttle with his hand. The weaver, when he sets his foot on the treadles to open the warp, at the same time moves two springs, placed on each side of the loom, by which the shuttle is thrown back at the moment when the frame is removed as far as it ought to be. His hands therefore remain at liberty, and he can pull back the frame when he wishes to make the texture closer. Experiments have proved that a weaver may work longer, and with much less fatigue, at this than at a common loom; that he can, in twelve hours, weave twelve Paris ells of a yard-wide cotton-stuff, whereas, by the ordinary flying-shuttle, a good

workman can scarcely, in the same time, make more than four or six ells. Experiments likewise have shown that this improved loom may be employed with advantage in the manufacture of all kinds of stuffs, woollens, blankets, linens, &c., and that the additions and alterations required by ordinary looms will be attended with very little expence; that the construction of the mechanism by which the shuttle is thrown is simple, and requires no expence to keep it in repair, and may be adapted to all looms of the ordinary construction.

Looms of this construction are fitted up at Paris, at the expence of from eight to ten dollars,

For the Literary Magazine.

PRESENT TRADE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

THE number of vessels, their tonnage, and the number of men and boys usually employed in navigating them, which belonged to the several ports of the British empire on the 30th September, 1804, was:

GREAT BRITAIN.

5th January, 1804, was 1402, and their tonnage 135,349 tons.

This number, though far greater than is possessed by any other nation, would however alone be very insufficient to carry on the extensive commerce of the country; we therefore constantly see the colours of all other maritime states flying in the British ports, and their vessels assist in conveying the property of British merchants to foreign shores. The account of the number of vessels which entered inwards and cleared outwards, including their repeated voyages, from or to all parts of the world, during 1804, will show the proportion of British and foreign shipping thus employed:

Brit,

For.

Brit.

TOTAL.

For.

2,375 214,490 15,732 265

78,016

8,756 1,248,796 3,828 553,267 28,478

SCOTLAND.

34,582 2,029

IRELAND.

6,093 590,111 34,169 531 7.8,971 5,093

These statements show the extent and activity of British mercantile shipping, and imply that the quantity and value of the goods which they transport must be very great.

The total value cannot be

voured the popular cause. He passionately loved glory; and the desive of distinguishing himself, and of bearing a part in the public administration, animated all his proceedings. In order to this end, besides possessing information and a turn for business, it was necessary to excel in eloquence; but nature having denied him both voice and selfcommand, without which it is impossible to sway the multitude, he directed his efforts to composition. In the first place, he proposed to give to eloquence more of force and majesty, by breaking down the trammels which a contracted and ridiculous philosophy had thrown around it. He abandoned those vain subtilties in which the sophists lost themselves, as well as those sublime obscurities in which they were so fond of being enveloped. He confined himself to interesting questions, such as appeared to him calculated to render his country happy and his fellow-citizens virtuous. His talents corresponded with the grandeur of his views. Youth flocked from all parts to be his pupils, and to form themselves on his lessons. Some of them afterwards became orators, some great statesmen, and others polished and profound histo rians. He died loaded with glory and wealth at the age of ninety years, a few days previous to the battle of Charonea.

In the orations of Isocrates every word has its place; his diction is pure; and no obscure or obsolete phrase disfigures his style; but it is seldom lively, rapid, and vehement; it is various and splendid, but hardly ever simple and natural. Whatever obstructs a smooth pronunciation, Isocrates rejects; he studies above all to measure and round his periods, and to give them a cadence like that of verse. All his discourses are delightful to peruse, and well adapted for panegyric, but are unfit for the turbulent proceedings of the bar, and the tumult attending popular harangues. The tribune and the bar require vehemence and

passion, which do not comport with nicely-measured periods.

All is systematic in the style of Isocrates; words answer to words, members to members, and phrases to phrases; we even meet with chiming terminations. This artificialness, if too frequent and too manifest, offends the ear, and obscures the sense.

Magnificence of style, according to Theophrastus, is derived from three sources: choice of words, the happy arrangement of them, and the imagery which enlivens the whole. Isocrates chose well his words, but there is too much affectation in his arrangement; his figures are either too far-fetched, or discordant, or extravagant, so that he becomes cold and mannered; besides, in order the better to tune his style, and fr me his periods with nicety, he makes use of inefficient words, and unnecessarily lengthens out his discourses.

We are far from asserting that these faults deform all his writings; his composition is sometimes simple and natural; he properly separates its members, and disposes of them neatly; but in general he is too much the slave of full and rounded periods; and the elegance which he affects too often degenerates into redundancy. In fine, if the style of Isocrates be wanting in the natural and the simple, it must be owned that it displays magnificence and grandeur; its construction is sublime, and of a character almost more than buman. We may compare his manner to that of Phidias, whose chisel sent forth heroic and divine forms of such superior dignity.

With respect to invention and disposition, Isocrates excels in both; he varies his subject with admirable art, and guards against languor by an infinity of episodes, all naturally introduced. But what renders him for ever deserving of praise is the choice of his subjects, always noble, always grand, always directed to the public good, He did not propose