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tention for a while towards some historical pictures which were near me. Fadecd my worthy friends seemed to have been married but ten days instead of as many years. I withdrew before supper.

him to himself with friendly severity; but he || five, yet I found it convenient to turn my atpleaded so well, and so forcibly urged that both his reformation and his happiness depended on Eliza, that I was obliged to submit. I carried his message, and at the same time honestly exhibited his character. The mother hesitated; Eliza was referred to for a decisive answer. With the most modest candour she declared that she saw some strong marks of constancy in the portrait, on which she would venture to rely, and was willing to run the risk. They were married soon after, and went to reside at his seat.

A perverse turn in my own affairs, caused me, about this time to go abroad. The pain of a ten years' absence was however a good deal lessened by the regular accounts I received of my amiable friends being completely happy. As soon as I returned to London, hearing they were in the country, I set out thither immediately.

A month's stay in this delightful retreat gave me hourly occasions to admire her. Joined to a steady uniformity of purpose, sha contrived to throw such an amazing variety in her dress, her manner, the disposal of our hours, and all her little schemes of amusement, that inconstancy itself would have doated on her. By always turning the bright side of domestic life to her husband, she avoidA cheerful ed dwelling on the dark one. alacrity in her economy made it perceptible only by the effects; and though they lived remarkably well, she had nearly liquidated a debt of six thousand pounds, incurred by his former indiscretions, before he could conceive it possible. Indeed I wondered not at his being happy. He possessed all that La Duval, or the Italian singer could give, and much more; he had affection pure and unalloyed; with a worthy heart besides, which neither of them had to bestow.

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I got there the second day about three, and was shown into a parlour, where I found my fair friend at work, her eldest girl reading to her, and two sweet little boys playing on the carpet. Our first salutes were scarcely over, when Sir Edward flew into the room, and hung upon my neck. Words were not necessary to The morning I came away, meeting her tell me their mutual happiness. I have seldom alone in the garden, I could not avoid paying felt more joy. Dinner was served, and, the her some well-deserved compliments on her first hurry of spirits subsiding, my attention conduct. "I know, my dear Sir," said she, was attracted by Eliza. Ladies may laugh, and you were in pain for me, but, with vanity I perhaps not believe me, when I say, that though say it, I found the task full as easy as I had the day was extremely wet, and no prospect of imagined. My husband has too many virtues any company, she came down very elegantly to be lost. He took a liking to my person; all dressed. The whole had an unstudied air, yet the rest depended upon myself. I resolved I could see that the minutest article was care- that my appearance should not be impaired by fully adjusted; I was particularly struck with my own fault; my temper I could trust to; the beautiful decorations of her head, and, when and I felt a lively affection, which I hoped, she drew off her gloves, with a pair of diamond would supply the place of better abilities, and bracelets, which he had lately presented to dictate as I procceded, the means of making ber. Love had diffused an exquisite tenderness him happy. To please and be pleased are, in over her features; and an habitual wish of reality, the mutual cause and effect of each pleasing, animated by success, had so pointed other; so that my labour is a round of pleaThe business of my toilet, being haevery charin, that though she had been fre- || quently a mother, she wa a much finer woman bitual, is easy, nay, agreeable. I regard my than when I last saw her. My spirits were glass as a friend who daily gives me new hints raised; I shared sincerely in their happiness. for pleasing the man I love. To you, Sir, I The piano-porte succeeded our tea, and I will own, that I love him, in the full extent of found her improved into a capital performer. the word, with the ardour which he deserves; with the ardour-which he requires. Had he met with only the cold return of esteem, Sir Edward would have been far from happy.

The enraptured husband gazed like a lover; his enamoured regards ran over her various charms; her bright eyes beaming sensibility; her lips breathing sweets, and emitting the most melodious tones; her snow-white tapering fingers rapidly flying over the keys of the instrument, through all the complicated mazes of the most brilliant execution, and her tempting bosom swelling with expression. I am sixtyNo. XXV. Vol. III.

sure.

"Happiness like mine," continued she, "would be more general, would women but observe two maxims. One is, uover to attempt an opposition to nature, but gently to lead it right by flattering the ruling propensity. The other, never to contemn small matters as

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trifles, for by them only can our purpose be effected. There is no such thing as a trifle. Minutenesses form the magazine of female power. Connubial delight is accomplished somewhat like a dotted miniature picture.

Each single touch is too fine to produce a visible effect, yet, from their frequency, the por rait soon begins to open to the view, and shows how judiciously and happily the pencil was applied."

AN ACCOUNT OF THOMAS WILLIAMS MALKIN,

A CHILD OF EXTRAORDINARY ATTAINMENTS, WHO LATELY DIED AT HACKNEY, IN AMERICA, AT THE AGE OF SIX YEARS AND NINE MONTHS.

THE bare mention of the death of so young a person would, in an ordinary case, be deemed sufficient, but we cannot pass over a circumstance which equally arrests the attention of the moralist, and the sympathy of the philanthropist, without observing how suddenly and unexpectedly the brightest prospects vanish which depend on the precarious tenure of human life, however bright and promising the dawn of intellect, however encouraging the appearances of corporeal stability. With respect to the uncommon child whose early fate we have to lament, the extent of his attainments may excite surprise, and possibly in some minds doubt. Yet we have well-authenticated accounts of juvenile proficiency; and in the present instance there are many and most respectable witnesses to attest, that amiable dispositions and superior talents were never united in a more distinguished manner than in the subject of this biographical sketch. His knowledge of the English language was correct and copious; and his expression, whether in speaking or writing, remarkable as well for fertility as selection. In the Latin he had proceeded so far as to read with ease the more popular parts of Cicero's works. He had made some progress in French; and was so thorough a proficient in geography, as not only to be able, when questioned, to particuFarize the situation of the principal countries, cities, rivers, &c. but to draw maps from memory, with a neatness and accuracy which could scarcely be credited but by those who are in possession of the specimens. Without any professional assistance, he had acquired considerable execution in the art of drawing; and some of his copics from Raphael's heads, though wanting the precision of the academy students, evinced a fellow-feeling with the style and sentiment of the originals, which seemed likely, had he pursued it, to have ranked him with the more eminent professors of

the art.

But the most striking feature in his character was a strength of intellect, and rapidity of comprehension on all subjects, independent of those to which his studies were immediately directed, which increasing with his growth, seemed likely in manhood to have placed more within his reach than usually falls to the lot of humanity to grasp at. He united, in a remarkable manner, the solid and the brilliant; for the powers of his memory kept pace with those of his understanding and imagination; and the character of his mind may be comprized in these few but comprehensive words, that he remembered whatever he had once seen done.

But it may not be uninteresting to particularize the periods of his short life at which the leading traits of his character first presented themselves to observation. He was familiar with the alphabet long before he could speak, as exhibited on counters, a practice very judicious, because very enticing to children, and as expressed in books, to which, from seeing them constantly about him, he shewed an early partiality. At the age of three years, on his birthday, he wrote his first letter to his mother; and though it contained nothing but short expressions of affection, he soon afterwards began to write in a style and on subjects to which childhood in general is a total stranger; and this practice of writing his sentiments on all subjects, he persevered in with a continually increasing expansion and improvement, both as to matter and manner, which we regret that our limits will not allow us to authenticate by specimens. At the time of which we are speaking, (three years old,) he could not only read and spell with unfailing accuracy, but knew the Greek characters, and would bave attempted the language, had not the caution of his parents, in this instance, discouraged the forwardness of his inclination. When he was five, he had made considerable advances in Latin, as well as in all the other studies, which he pursued so successively for

and drew a most curious, and ingenious map, giving names of his own invention to the principal cities, rivers, mountains, &c.; and as learning was always the object of his highest respect, he endowed it most liberally with universities, to which he appointed professors by name, with numerous statutes and regula tions, which would have reflected no disgrace

on graver founders.

nearly two years longer. His study of Latin, || mance. Of this country he wrote the history, in particular, was far removed from that mechanical routine by which scholars of more advanced age too frequently proceed. His comparison of the idiom and construction with those of his own and the French language, his acuteness in tracing the etymology, and detecting the component parts of words, hunting them through English and French, and inquiring the forms they assumed in Greek and Italian, with which he was acquainted, proved him to have possessed a mind peculiarly calculated for philological inquiries. Nor was his attention confined to words; he never passed over any passage, the style or subject of which was obscure or difficult, without such an explanation as satisfied his doubts: did he ever suffer errors of the press, even the trifling ones of punctuation, to escape, without detecting and correcting them with a pencil he kept for the purpose. Notwithstanding these studious inclinations, he was a child of manly corporeal structure, of unusual liveliness and activity. He was by no means grave in his disposition, except in the pursuit of knowledge, from which, however, active sports were successful in detaching him; but the bane of all improvement, both of mind and body, indolence, and the habit of lounging, were totally excluded from the catalogue of his plea

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But as mere description, unassisted by anecdote, seldom conveys a lively and accurate idea of character, it will not, we hope, be thought impertinent to mention an observation or two, which may serve to illustrate the turn of his mind.

On being told by a lady that she would send for him the following day, when he should draw as much as he pleased, he said, "I wish to-morrow would come directly." After a short pause, he added, "Where can to-morrow be now? it must be somewhere; for every thing is in some place." After a little further reflection, he said, "Perhaps to-morrow is in the suu." On meeting with the following aphorism; "Learning is not so much esteemed by wise men, as it is despised by fools:" he said, "I think the person who wrote that sentence was himself very foolish; for wise men esteem learning as much as possible, and foois cannot despise it more."

But the most singular instance in which he displayed fertility of imagination, united with the power of making every thing he met with in books and conversation his own, was his invention of an imaginary country, called Allestone, of which he considered himself as king. It resembled Utopia, though he had never heard of that celebrated political ro

But though in the progress of his short life he was continually employed in laying up stores of knowledge, apparently for purposes which, the event proved, were never to be fulfilled, his last illness, which he supported with a patience and fortitude almost unexampled, amply evinced that he knew how to apply the treasures he had acquired to the solace and relief of his own mind, under circumstances of trial and suffering. He fre quently beguiled the tedious hours of a sickbed with the recollections of what he had read, seen, or done, in the days of health; and little points of interest or information, which might have been supposed to have made a transient impression, were as much present to his mind as when they first engaged his attention.When a blister was applied to his stomach, he observed, that, from the appearance of it, he supposed it corresponded with what he had seen called a cataplasm; and one day, when he was at the worst, he desired to know the meaning of the phrase, "a still-born child," which he had once seen in an inscription on a tombstone, though he said the inscription itself was too poor to be worth remembering. He often talked of the period of his recovery, but never with impatience; and the triumph of mind over body continued so complete to the last, that he looked with interest and pleasure at his dissected maps within half an hour of his dissolution. Without entering with unneces sary minuteness into the nature of his disorder, it will be interesting to parents in general to be informed, that it afforded no confirmation of the common idea, that early expansion of intellect is unfavourable to the continuance of life. In consequence of the remarkable form of his head, which had been much admired, especially by artists, some doubts had been suggested, to render it desirable to have the head as well as the body examined. From the result of this investigat on it appeared, that the brain was unusually large, and in the most perfect and healthy state; and there was more than ordinary probability, from the vigour of his constitution, and the well-proportioned formation of his body, of his arriving at manhood, but for one of those accidents in the

system, to which the old and young, the to articulate, and a little before twelve o'clock, healthy and infirm, are equally exposed.

he sunk without a struggle or a groan, ex> citing more admiration under circumstances from which human nature is apt to revolt, than when in the full career of mental and bo dily improvement.

Thus ends this short history of a child, whose mind, though his years were few, seemed to have arrived at maturity. His powers of understanding, of memory, of ima gination, were all remarkable, and the reason

His illness lasted from the first to the thirtyfirst of July; a period which, under such severe sufferings, none but a naturally strong patient could have reached. On the moruing of the thirty-first, his medical friends, Dr. Lister and Mr. Toulmin, saw him, and conversed with him, as he with them, after their usual manner; and though they had given little or no encouragement for many days, they did not, on their last visit, (such was the col-ableness of his mind was such, that he always lected state of his mind, and strength of his yielded his own to the wishes of his friends, as spirits) apprehend his dissolution to be so much from conviction as compliance. near. Soon after eleven o'clock he appeared dispositions were as generous and amiable as much exhausted; his breathing became very his talents were brilliant and universal; and difficult; his voice, which through his illness there can be little doubt, that in after-life, had been strong and clear, began to falter.—whether he had devoted the powers of his Still, however, he was firm and composed, mind to the fine arts, to belles-lettres, or to without the slightest appearance of dissatis-the severer studies, his success would have faction or alarm; he talked at intervals with the most perfect consistency, with his accustomed powers, and usual kindness for those about him, till he could no longer utter a sound. In a few minutes after he had ceased

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been pre-eminent, and would have placed him in the estimation of the wise, whatever might be his external condition, high in the catalogue of worthy and useful members of society.

FAMILIAR LECTURES ON USEFUL SCIENCES.

ON MAGNETISM.

AMONG the various powers applied by our | wise Creator to effect his purposes, none excite more astonishment than those of Magnetism; which like all the others are known only by their effects-effects useful, peculiar,

wonderful!

The natural magnet is a solid mineral substance, of a dark greyish colour, and of a compact and weighty nature. It is found in different soils and situations, but chiefly in iron mines, and possesses the powers of attraction and direction. The artificial magnet is a piece of iron or steel, to which the properties of the natural magnet have been communicated. The name magnet is supposed to have been derived from Magnesia, the province in which the effects of the loadstone were discovered. A true magnet, whether natural or artificial, has the following characteristics:it attracts iron, and points nearly to the poles of the world; possesses both an attractive and

repulsive power within itself; and always in clines or tends to a point below the horizon.

The ancients were totally unacquainted with the nautical use now made of the magnet, having only discovered one of its properties, that called attraction. To Columbus we are indebted for a great part of its present exten sive usefulness in navigation; for which benefit his memory must be revered by all lovers of science, and particularly by those persons who are benefited by commercial advantages. The essential properties which cause the phenomena of the magnet have not been ascertained; yet those conjectures formed on the subject, which ascribe its properties and affections to a subtile effluvia, universally dis seminated through the earth and its atmos phere, and produced from a central body of a spherical form, appear to be well founded in reason, and are also confirmed by experiment. But the cause of its directive power, and the

variableness of its direction, appear to be almost inscrutable..

The magnet has no particular form, or distinguished external marks, but appears like a stone. Meteorologists have extracted iron from it, but in such scanty proportion, as not to pay the expence of fusion. Modern chemistry has discovered that iron, in its oxyde state, pervades all nature: but the magnet attracts it only in its metallic form.

We will now proceed to examine the known properties and laws of magnetism; in which useful science we shall find much in the extreme subtilty of its nature to admire, much in its elaborate affections to amuse, and in its results every thing to excite our admiration, astonishment and gratitude.

We are already acquainted, by our former investigations, with five kinds of attraction:First, gravitation, which enables all bodies on the surface of the earth to retain their situations; and, combined with the centrifugal force, causes all the planetary bodies of our system to revolve round the sun at certain distances from that luminary and from each other secondly, cohesive attraction, which keeps the parts of bodies together, and unites them in close compact: thirdly, chemical attraction, called affinity, which causes certain bodies to distinguish each other in preference to other substances introduced into a compounded mass, and to unite together: fourthly, capillary attraction, which causes fluids to rise in very small tubes (this may be connected with cohesive attraction, being only a different effect perceived of the same cause): fifthly, we have magnetical attraction; the affections of which the experiments we shall have the pleasure of exhibiting will explain.

The tendency of the needle to the north and south, is called its direction. Its variation from due north and south, is called its declination; and its dip below the horizon, its inclination.

EXPERIMENT OF COMMUNICATING THE MAGNETIC VIRTUE.

The magnetic virtue may be communicated to a bar of iron or steel, by placing two natural magnets, in a straight line, the north end of the one opposite to the south end of the other; and at such a distance, that the two ends of the bar to be touched may rest separately upon them: the end designed to point north resting on the south pole of the bar, and vice versa. Two other steel bars must be placed in such a manner, that the north end of one and the south end of the other may

rest on the middle of the horizontal bar, the end of each being elevated so as to form an acute angle with it. The two oblique bars should be separated, by drawing them contrary ways along the cross bar, towards the natural magnets, keeping them at the same elevation all the way; when removing them from the cross-bar, and bringing their north and south ends in contact, then applying them again to it as before, and repeating this four or five times; after which, performing the same operation with the other surface of the cross-bar, it will have acquired a permanent magnetism and polarity. Small needles for compass boxes do not require this process, but may be rendered magnetic by friction, merely passing them three or four times over a magnet in one direction.

A compass needle while receiving the mag netic virtue is violently agitated; but when it has fully acquired the property, the agitation ceases. A magnet loses nothing of its own strength by a communication of its property to other bodies, but gains some addition to its power by the performance. A north or south pole of a magnet, when applied to a bar or needle, produces the contrary polarity; therefore two magnetic bars should not have the poles of the same description placed together, for that position will diminish their individual power.

Each point of a magnet may be considered as the pole of a smaller one, tending to produce on the points of the magnet a force contrary to its own. The degree of this effort will be greater in proportion to the force of the point, and its nearness to the poles on which it acts; hence, a narrow and long bar of steel is more powerful than a short and broad one.

Whatever may be in reality the cause which produces magnetism, we see that its nature is very subtile and active; by its passing through substances of the most compact nature, and by its virtue remaining unaltered.

EXPERIMENT ON MAGNETIC ATTRACTION.

This fact may be proved by placing a magnet on one piece of cork, and a piece of steel on another, and floating them on water; when, both being unconfined, they will approach each other: and on holding the picce of steel in the hand, the magnet will approach to it with the same velocity as they approached to each other when both were at liberty.

It appears from the foregoing experiment, that the iron being placed near the pole of a magnet becomes possessed of a contrary

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