صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

a new plan of criminal law, in which he restricts the punishment of death to four or five offences, but they are not specified. All other crimes he would punish with imprisonment, peniten. tiary discipline, and productive labour, to be continued until the criminal gave satisfactory evidence of moral reformation. Second offences he would punish with transportation for life.

Green Colour from Coffee Berries.-A method has lately been discovered at Venice, for composing a fine unchangeable emerald green colour; a certain quantity of coffee is boiled in river water-spoiled coffee, (Cafe avari,) is preferable. By means of a proportionate quanlity of pure soda, a green precipitate is obtain ed, which is suffered to dry for six or seven days upon polished marble :-stirring it about occasionally, in order that every part of it may be in contact with the atmospheric air, from which it receives a new vivacity of tint: the green, obtained by this process, has resisted the action of the acids, and even the influence of light and moisture.

Literary Notices.

Just Published.

Calendarium Palestina; comprising the outlines of Natural History of Syria; an account of the Jewish Feasts and Festivals, with the service of the Synagogue; and an attempt to reconcile the Jewish with the Julian Calendar. By William Carpenter. On one large sheet, beautifully printed, and adapted for the study. Also another edition, in 12mo. with a dissertation on the Hebrew Months, from a scarce tract, originally written in Latin, by J. D. Michaelis.

Regard to the Affairs of Others. A Discourse delivered at Hoxton Academy Chapel, Feb. 6, 1825. By R. Morrison, D.D. of China.

The Negro's Memorial, or the Abolitionist's Catechist. By an Abolitionist. 8vo. Price 2s. 6d.

Juvenile Essays which obtained the Prizes proposed by the Proprietor of the Teacher's Offering; to which is prefixed an Introduction. By the Rev. H. F. Burder, M. A. 1 vol. 18mo. Price 2s. boards.

A Letter to the Rev. Ralph Wardlaw, D.D. on some passages in his Dissertation on Infant Baptism. By John Best. 8vo. Price 1s.

Doddridge's Family Expositor. Complete in 1 vol. super-royal 8vo.

Campbell on the Gospels. A new edition, carefully revised. In 2 vols. 8vo.

Whitfield's Sermons. Complete in 1 vol. 8vo. Fine Portrait on steel. Barnet's History of the Reformation. Complete in 6 vols. 18mo. With Portrait, &c.

Toplady's Works, with an enlarged Memoir of the Author. 6 vols. 8vo.

Juliana Oakley. By Mrs. Sherwood. 12mo. 2s. 6d. boards.

Some Important Advice to the World, or the Way to prevent Diseases. By J. Morrison, Gent, not a Doctor. 6s. boards.

A Father's Reasons for Christianity, in conversations on Paganism, Mahometanism, Judaism, and Christianity. By T. Timpson. 2s. boards.

Pastoral Address to the Members of a Dissenting Church.

The Reviewer Reviewed, or Strictures upon the Articles in the 61st and 62d numbers of the Quarterly Review, on the Progress of Dissent, and the Church in Ireland. By a Dissenter. 1s. 6d.

Popish Errors Exposed, in a Selection of Texts of Scripture. Reprinted with a Preface. By the Rev. Thomas Young. 6s. boards.

A Manual for Church Members, drawn from the New Testament. By William Newman, D. D.

Origines, or Remarks on the origin of several States and Cities. By the Right Hon. Sir W. Drummond. 2 vols. 8vo.

In the Press, &c.

Dr. Gregory has recently sent to press an 8vo. volume, entitled, A Common Place Book of Principles, Rules, and Theorems in various departments of pure and mixed Mathematics, with their most interesting practical applications, especially to the pursuits of Surveyors, Mechanics, and Civil Engineers. The volume will contain a comprehensive summary of what is practically interesting in Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Plane, Solid, aud Practical Trigonometry, Heights and Distances, Conic Sections, Curves in general, Perspective, Mensuration, Mechanics, Dynamics, Hydrostatics, Hydrodynamics, Pneumatics, &c. with a variety of useful tables, practical examples, and illustrative diagrams.

Part I. of Dr. Alexander Jamieson's New Practical Dictionary of Mechanical Science, Embellished with many hundred Engravings, in Copper and Wood, will be published early in May.

The Book of Nonconformity, in which the Churches of Dissent are Vindicated from the Calumnious Misrepresentations of their Catholic and Protestant Traducers. 1 vol. 8vo.

Mr. Belcher, of Folkestone, has in the press a 12mo. volume, entitled Poetical Sketches of Biblical Subjects; comprising a Selection of Passages from the best Poets, illustrative of the sacred volume.

Remains of the Rev. Christian Frederick Schwartz, Missionary in India; consisting of his Letters and Journals; with a Sketch of his Life. Part I. 8s.

LONDON: PRINTED AT THECAXTON PRESS, BY H. FISHER.

[graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

THE

Emperial Magazine;

OR, COMPENDIUM OF

RELIGIOUS, MORAL, & PHILOSOPHICAL KNOWLEdge.

JUNE.

"READING IS THE CIRCULATING MEDIUM OF INTELLECTUAL COMMERCE."

[1825.

[graphic]

now in the possession of the artist. Of these nine children, however, Mr. Peter Nicholson is the only survivor. His father, a stonemason, and much THERE is a secret something connect- respected in his neighbourhood for his ed with genius and talents, that, in peculiar integrity and unvarnished every station of life, commands atten- simplicity of manners, died about tion and ensures respect. Wealth and thirty years since. His mother, not titles may confer artificial honours, less respectable, and distinguished but when these adventitious orna- from most among her neighbours and ments are not associated with intellect associates for superior intelligence unand virtue, their influence is limited, remitting industry, and peculiar quickand their existence is of short dura-ness of apprehension, paid the debt of tion; they wither beneath the touch nature in 1805. of time, and transmit nothing to posterity but an empty name, important only to those who are interested in preserving the family register. Sterling worth, on the contrary, is surrounded with imperishable laurels, the bloom of which, age itself is unable to tarnish; it impregnates the atmosphere with aromatic perfumes, that not only regale the senses, but inspire the mind with veneration.

Among those distinguished individuals whose works have immortalized their names, none are viewed with more unadulterated respect, than those who, by dint of native genius and unremitting application, have emerged from obscurity, without patronage, and without the advantage of a liberal education. In this rank stands Mr. PETER NICHOLSON, the subject of the present memoir. The many ingenious and profound works on various branches of the mathematics, which he has produced, demonstrate the extent and vigour of his intellectual powers, and discover a mind more intent on giving practical utility to science, than in wasting its energies in visionary speculations and unprofitable though amusing theories.

Mr. Nicholson is a native of Scotland. He was born on the 20th of July, 1765, in the parish of Preston Kirk, in the county of East Lothian, and was the third of nine children, whose names, and the dates of whose birth, we have had an opportunity of inspecting, written on an old bible 78.-VOL. VII.

mechanical science engross his atten- | make some compensation for the tertion, that his father occasionally up- ror his pursuit had occasioned, the braided him with neglecting the tasks Earl gave him two shillings, and inhe was directed to perform; and, invited him to his mansion, Tynningham more instances than one, his mother Hall. seized his productions of infant science, and committed them to the flames. She, however, lived long enough to discover the folly of her conduct, by observing that genius rising to maturity, which, in its infancy, she inadvertently attempted to sup

press.

His father's house stood on the northern margin of a small river, on the opposite side of which was a mill, that had been erected for dressing barley, and at no great distance, on the same stream, were mills for sawing timber, dressing flour, and grinding snuff. These mills our young mechanic frequently visited, and from inspecting their machinery, he was enabled to construct imitations in miniature, and to introduce variations, which he completed with a considerable degree of perfection. While thus engaged, the following incident occurred, which deserves to be recorded.

If there be "a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune," this might have been with young Nicholson the favourable crisis. But either his fear or his bashfulness prevented him from profiting by this casual introduction to Lord Haddington, in whom he might probably have found a patron; and another opportunity never afterwards presented itself. Blameable as this lad might at first sight appear, in neglecting this invitation, an apology may be easily found in the influence of the feudal system, which, in Scotland, is not yet wholly eradicated; but at that time it existed with a still more formidable visage. A Scottish Lord was an object of terror, as well as of reverence, and to enter his presence, especially under such circumstances as have been mentioned, required a degree of fortitude that a lad of nine years old could not be expected to command. In some parts of England, the country 'squire spreads dismay among his neighbouring peasantry, but the southern side of the Tweed can furnish no illustration of local dominion in the northern regions.

Having lost this probable opportunity of patronage, young Nicholson remained at the school above-mentioned about three years, during which time, by the aid of his master, and his own personal exertions, he made considerable progress in his studies, which were decidedly of a mathematical nature. On one occasion, he borrowed from another boy, much older than himself, a copy of Commandine's Euclid, translated by Cunn, and soon made himself master of the first and second books. But on reaching the 18th proposition in the third book, and finding the plate containing the diagrams, to which the

Having finished the model of a sawmill, which was to be put in motion by the wind, he proceeded to a neighbouring village, where he expected to meet with a breeze sufficiently strong for his purpose, and to find a situation in which he might watch its movements without interruption; but being impatient to give his work a trial, he tarried on the road to make the experiment. Scarcely had the machine begun to reward his expectations, before the Earl of Haddington came by on horseback, when the appearance and noise of the machine so terrified the animal, that, starting aside, the noble rider was nearly dismounted. The innocent culprit, on perceiving what he had done, abandoned his sawmill, and, with all possible haste, escaped into an adjoining field. The Earl, recovering from his alarm, resolved to pursue the fugitive, and learn the cause of this strange annoy-demonstrations referred, wanting, he ance. Thus determined, he made his horse leap over the fence, when our youth, finding that escape was impossible, turned round, communicated the whole affair, fell on his knees, and, in much anguish of heart, begged his lordship's pardon. This was soon granted, and, being rather amused than provoked at the incident, to

constructed the figures from the problems, without the assistance of any copy. This task he performed by a pen tied to the foot of a pair of compasses, such as are in common use with carpenters. With this rude instrument and a rule, he drew the twenty figures which complete the third book, with great neatness and

« السابقةمتابعة »