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of one must also take the other.' The lad press'd close to his side, and after a short ineffectual struggle they were both secured, but not till the man had become senseless-aye, almost lifeless in the contest. Well, we pickt up a few more, and then returned. The frigate was unmoored, and heaving short upon the small bower when we got aboard. An express had arrived to say that a suspicious ship had been seen off the Start, and we were ordered to overhaul her. The boats were hoisted in, and the man and lad conducted to the sick bay, the man still senseless, the boy half dead with fright. Morning began to streak the east with a brighter glow as we pass'd the Mew Stone. I was at the helm. "Well, Sims, (said the Captain, addressing the Surgeon,) did you meet with any success?None, Sir; all my enquiries have been fruitless. I went according to your directions, but could obtain no other intelligence than that such a person had been known there, but quitted the place without any one being able to tell where she had gone.'-'I feel grateful for your attention, my friend. Oh, Sims, when I sailed from England on that fatal cruise, I left behind me a wife and two dear children. For fifteen years these limbs have felt the galling fetter; for fifteen years I struggled with affliction, as the drowning wretch struggles hard with death, and yet a ray of hope would beam upon my mind, and cast a gleam of sun-shine on the future. The thoughts of freedom swell'd in my breast each rising morn, and buoyed me up through the toil of the day. My dreams of night were still of home, and often have I been transported to those I loved. I've stretch'd forth my arms in ecstasy, when the rattling of my chains awoke me to a sense of misery. At last, after repeated efforts, I escaped, and returned to my native land. I hastened to the sweet spot of innocence and joy, where once

-but you cannot tell my feelings. The cottage was swept away, to improve the neigbouring estate. The white stone in the yard of the village church bore the name of her-yes, my Maria lay mouldering below, my children cast abandoned on the world. Father of mercies! from thy throne behold, protect, and restore them to a longing parent's arms !''-'Pon deck there! shouted the man at the mast-head. Halloo!' replied the first Lieutenant, A sail on the starboard-bow, Sir.'▲ Port, lad, port !'-'Port it is, Sir,' says I. The Lieutenant run forward with his glass. Meet her, boy, meet her! Steady!' Steady,' says I again. He

applied his glass to his eye. What is she, Mr.-?' enquired the Captain. 'By the length of her legs, Sir, I should take her to be one of our class, only heavier.' -Beat to quarters, and see all clear for action. Aye, aye, Sir. Drummer, blow up a tune upon your sheep's-skin fiddle, that they may hear you at the Land's End.' 6 Aye, aye, Sir.'-Shall I show them the Buntin?' inquired the officer. If you please.'-Hoist the colours abaft. Main-top there; take the turns out of the coach-whip." The decks were cleared, the stoppers clapp'd upon the top-sail sheets, the yards slung, the guns cast loose-when the Boatswain roared out from the forecastle, 'There it goes, Sir,-Try Junk in you-knowred, white, and blue! trail that gun forward, you lubber, and elevate her breech!"

A French frigate, (cried the Lieutenant, rubbing his hands in ecstasy :) Now, my boys, for wooden clogs for your sweethearts.'-'All ready with the gun,' said the Gunner, casting his eye along the sight.-Speak to him, Bounce, and ask the news.' Aye, aye, Sir, (replied the old Tar, as he applied the match to the priming;) I'll whisper a word in his ear. In a few minutes the action commenced, and at the second broadside I fell with a wound in my breast. Take that poor fellow below,' said the Captain, catching hold of the wheel I had left. I was carried down to the Surgeon, and from my loss of blood was unable to go again to deck. The man we had press'd the night before lay senseless on the deck, and the agitated lad sat beside him. For two hours the firing continued without ceasing, (and many a poor fellow was brought down to be dock'd,) when the drop-oh + of the Frenchman was hauled down, and three cheers resounded through the vessel, which we, in spite of our wounds, joined in. The young man was roused by it, and rising, gazed wistfully around: he grasp'd the hand of his youthful associate, and press'd it to his lips. At this moment the second Lieutenant was supported below by one of the Midshipmen and a seaman. "Why, (said the junior Officer,) did you conceal your wound so long? You are now faint; pray Heaven, it mayn't prove fatal.'

Let me see, (exclaimed the Surgeon;) let us hope for the best.' The young man's waistcoat and shirt were thrown open, when, suspended from his neck, appear'd the portrait of a blooming girl. He snatch'd it in his hand, and raised it to his lips. Elinor, (said he,)

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Elinor, and must we part-part for ever! Never! (shrieked the lad, as he sprung to his side;) for you Elinor has lived, and for you Elinor will die.' The Lieutenant turned his looks upon the speaker, whose voice thrill'd to his very soul. He gazed for one moment on the pallid cheek: "Tis she! 'tis she! my love, my Elinor!' and they sank together in each other's arms. Restoratives were immediately applied, and soon produced the desired effect. Why, my Elinor, are you here and thus disguised?'-Stay, Wingood, (said she,) and I will tell you all; but first, this (pointing to her companion,) this is my brother. You know my early history: An orphan supported solely by his exertions; our father, as we supposed, pesish'd in the service of his country; our mother sunk brokenhearted to the grave; my brother became a sailor, and through his industry I have been maintained. A few days since we received some vague infor

mation that our honoured father still

existed, and having escaped from his cruel tyrants, was at Plymouth. We determined to ascertain the matter personally. William persuaded me to adopt this disguise, that I might the more readily escape insult if separated from him. On our arrival yesterday, with scarcely a ray of hope, we understood the person we were in search of was appointed to the command of a frigate.' 'Her name?' inquired the Lieutenant eagerly. The Brilliant.''Mysterious Heaven!' ejaculated the Surgeon, as he instantly ascended the ladder to the deck. The Brilliant!

Do

(reiterated the young officer;) 'tis plain, 'tis evident-the names agree. you not know, my love, what ship you are now on board ?'-No.'- Oh, Elinor, this-this is the Brilliant frigate.'

This the Brilliant! (faintly articulated the brother of Elinor, struggling to rise ;) but my head is strangely disordered; yet if you have mercy, ask him-ask the Captain if ever he remembers my dear mother's name. Beg him -to say if Maria Wentworth ever held a sacred spot in his breast?'-She did! she did! (exclaimed a voice, descending down the hatchway.) My children! my children! and the Captain immediately folded them in his arms. What need of saying more? We bore up for Dartmouth with our prize. The Lieutenant, whose wound was but slight, was made happy, and all hands had a double allowance of grog."

WONDERS OF NATUKE AND ART.

A SHOWER OF METEORS, THE night of the 11th of November, at Cumana, says M. de Humbolt, was cool, and extremely beautiful. Towards the morning, from half after two, the most extraordinary luminous meteors land, who had risen to enjoy the freshwere seen towards the east. Mr. Bonp them first. Thousands of bolides (fireness of the air in the gallery, perceived other during four hours. Their direc balls) and falling stars, succeeded `each tion was very regular from north to south. They filled a space in the sky extending from the true east 30° toward the north and south. In an amplitude of 60° the

horizon E. N. E., describe arcs, more or less extended, and fall towards the south, after having followed the direction of the meridian. Some of them attained a

meteors were seen to rise above the

height of 40°, and all exceeded 25° or 30°. There was very little wind, and no trace of clouds was to be seen, Mr. Bonpland relates, that from the beginning of the phenomenon, there was not a space in the firmament equal in extent to three filled at every instant with bolides and diameters of the moon, that was not falling stars. The first were fewer in number. They all left luminous traces of from five to ten degrees in length, the phosphorescence of which lasted seven or eight seconds. Many of the falling stars had a very distinct nucleus, as large as the disk of Jupiter, from which darted sparks of vivid light. The bolides seemed to burst as by explosion; but the largest behind them phospherescent bands, exdisappeared without scintillation, leaving minutes. The light of these meteors ceeding in breadth fifteen or twenty was white. This phenomenon, which was inhabitants of Cumana, ceased by degrees witnessed with alarm by almost all the after four o'clock; but some of the meteors were still distinguished towards the north east, by their whitish light, and the rapidity of their movement, a quarter of an hour after sunrise. Messrs. Humbolt and Bonpland did not fail, in their where whether the meteors had been subsequent travels, to enquire every observed by others. surprise, they found that the phenomena To their great had been perceived on an extent of the

globe of 64 degrees of latitude, and ninetyone degrees of longitude; at the equator, in South America, in the Gulph of Florida, at Labrador, in Greenland, and in Germany. In some places the appearance was compared to the sheaves shot out by a beautiful fire-work; in another, the northern part of the sky was seen all

on fire; in Florida, as many meteors as stars were moving in all directions; in Labrador the same was witnessed, and some of the bolides were described as being a foot broad; and at Weimar, in Germany, falling stars, of a whitish light, were first seen, which were followed by luminous reddish rays, from four to six feet long, resembling the track of a skyrocket, and shortly afterwards, a part of the sky was strongly illuminated by white lightning, which ran in serpentine lines along the horizon. The distance from Weimar to the Rhio Negro, is 1800 sea leagues; and from Rio Negro to Herrenhut in Greenland, 1300 sea leagues. Admitting that the same fiery meteors were seen at points so distant from each other, we must also admit that their height was at least 411 leagues. It is probable that, on this occasion, numberless acrolites must have fallen into the sea, between Africa and South America, to the west of the Cape Verde islands.

THE FAMILY PHYSICIAN AND DOMESTIC GUIDE.-No. IV.

RULES FOR BATHING. DON'T go into the water while in a heat.

If you bathe for health, merely immerse yourself in the water, and then come out.

Dry-rub yourself with a coarse towel, so as to circulate the blood on the surface of the body.

Dry your hair well,

Don't exercise after such bathing; but if you have incautiously staid in so long as to make you chilly, then take a little brandy, and walk smartly. If you merely immerse yourself, you may go into the water at any time of the day. We think the heat of the day the best time for bathing. The contrary is laid down almost universally, but we oppose it, on this principle, that in the heat of summer the body requires its temperature lowered; after such bathing, however, it would be well to either sit in the shade or lay down upon the bed. In very hot weather, we think an immersion immediately before bed-time, good, as you will sleep cooler and better; but then the hair, if wet, must be well dried.

CHEMICAL EXPERIMENTS. On the comparative advantage of Coke and Wood as Fuel.

SOME trials have been made by M. Debret on the heating power of coke and wood, when consumed in stoves, at the Royal Academy of Music. Two similar stoves were heated, one by wood and the other by coke, and the temperature of the exterior taken at some distance from the fire: The temperature of the flues was at first 9°c., and the mean temperature, at the end of six hours, was, by the wood 13° c., by the coke 16o c.; so that the increase by the wood was 4o, by the coke 7. These effects were produced by seventy-three kilogrammes (163 pounds) of wood, worth three francs and a half, and twenty-four kilogrammes (53 pounds) of, coke, worth one franc eighty cents.

During the progress of this experiment another stove had been heated for several hours with wood, and the temperature had not risen above 139. The use of coke very quickly raised it to 15% or 16o. Hence it is concluded, and with reason, that coke is much preferable for these purposes to wood; but where the stove is small, the mixture of a little wood with the coke is recommended to facilitate the combustion.-Bib. Univ. XXV. 237.

To make Fire from Water.

Pour a little clean water into a glass tumbler, and put one or two pieces of phosphoret of lime into it: in a short time flashes of fire will dart from the water, and terminate in ringlets of succession. smoke, which will ascend in regular

To make Ice in the midst of Summer.

Take eleven drachms of the muriate of ammonia, and sixteen of sulphate of soda. They should be recently crystallized, and contain as much as possible of the water of crystallization without being damp. Reduce each of these salts separately to a fine powder, and then mix them gradually in a vessel made of fine tin plate, with five ounces of water. As the salts dissolve, a degree of cold will be produced, sufficient to bring the thermometer below the freezing point. If a little water in a test tube be immersed in this mixture, as the solution is going on, in about ten minutes it will be frozen. The vessel in which the mixture is made

Salt water is better than fresh; how- should be just large enough to contain ever, fresh is better than none.

it. Any thing, such as wire-bottles, jars containing conserves and fruits, lemon

Don't remain long stripped before ade for sick people, &c. immersed in this bathing.

(We must defer the promised article on Hysterical Affections, till our next.

mixture, or moistened with it, and ex posed to the action of a brisk current of air, may be rendered cold in the hottest day.

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to furnish a company of soldiers 50 A waggon-load of blank books,

and not one sermon, among which were found £500 in cash He had one servant man and one servant maid, whom he locked up every evening at eight o'clock. The last thing he did before going to bed, fired a gun, and then unkenneled his dogs: it was supposed he was near the pond side in his yard, and the dogs suddenly fawning on him, jostled him into it, when he was found drowned in the morning, though the water was only breast high. Leaving no will, his estate of £700 per annum, besides £1000 in cash, became the property of a ticketporter in London.

PROFESSIONAL CHARACTER. A hackney coachman seeing a certain nobleman driving four-in-hand down Bond-street, said, "That fellow looks like a coachman, but drives like a gentleman."

PROFESSIONAL REPUTATION.

AN astrologer having predicted his own end, to the very hour, having lived up to the very time in good health, hung himself for the honour of his profession.

BON MOT GALLANT.

THE Spaniards do not often pay hyperbolical compliments; but one of their admired writers, speaking of a lady's black eyes, says, " they were in mourning for the murders she had committed."

A remarkable hard drinker, who was expiring, begged one of his friends, who sat at his bed-side, to bring him a glass of water, saying, "On our death-bed we should be reconciled to all our enemies!"

THE ATHEIST.

TAKE but the Atheist at the morning's dawn,
When Sol's bright beams irradiate the morn,
Take him on some high eminence, and see
How Nature's works in ev'ry part agree:
Observe what harmony pervades the space,
Far as the scope of mortal eye can trace,-
Acts in one concert to the gen'ral plan,
In nice gradations, till it reaches man:
Ask him if Chance this superstructure wrought,
Or for no end this great perfection brought?
Reason, sole attribute and gift of Hear'n,
Will awe his soul, and tell from whence 'twas
giv'n;

Humble his heart, and prostrate on the sod,
Will bend his mind, and blushing own his God.
T. C.

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CONSTANCY.
THE rover, tho' in change he seeks
New objects for his flame,
Each quickly tires, and each bespeaks
His coldness still the same.

His heart, with transient ardour glows,
Like April's treach'rous beam;
Ah! trust not his insidious vows.
They are not what they seem.
Soon shall some brighter beauty claim
The vows he paid to thee;

His love alone can boast the name
Of heav'n born Constancy.

The faithful heart no change can know,
No sad reverse can prove;
For sacred is the plighted vow,
Where Constancy is love.

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WOMAN'S LOVE THE pride of power, the pomp

of state,

No lasting bliss can prove; While on their flattering smiles we wait, We find but scorn, contempt, and hate, And sigh for woman's love. When stretched upon the couch of pain, Our anguish to remove, E'en pity drops the tear in vain, Should not our hours of suffering gain

The balm of woman's love. When in wild fashion's giddy round, In endless change we rove, Tho' pleasure's fleeting dreams abound, We own true joy alone is found

In beauteous woman's love.

On earth true happiness to find,

How vainly have I strove !

Till Heav'n, in mercy to mankind,
To grant the long-wished boon, design'd
The treasure, woman's love.

NOTICE.

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LONDON: -WILLIAM CHARLTON WRIGHT, 65, Paternoster Row, and may be had of all Booksellers and Newsmen.

COMPRISING

1. The Flowers of Literature. 2. The Spirit of the Magazines. 3. The Wonders of Mature and Ait.

4. The Family Physician and Domestic Guide. 5. The Mechanic's Dracle.

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WE have the pleasure of presenting our readers with three beautiful engravings, by the first Wood Engraver that ever this Country produced-BEWICK. We may venture to add, that our present Number will testify that expence is an object which is never regarded in supporting the character of the PORTFOLIO, as the most attractive Periodical of the day.

VOL. III.

August 7. No. 77.-Price 2d.

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