guard against introducing any circum- and a cambric handkerchief in his hand These observations were suggested to me, by hearing some persons in a company where I was the other day, call in question the accuracy of the author of the Tales of my Landlord,' in respect to an antiquarian remark which he has introduced in two different parts of his work. The first occurs in the description of the feast, in page 251 of the "Black Dwarf.-" Beneath the saltcellar," says he, "(a massive piece of plate which occupied the middle of the table) sate the sine nomine turba, men whose vanity was gratified by occupying even the subordinate space at the social board, while the distinction ob- verse: "Thou art a carlé mean of degre, An instance of the importance attached to the circumstance of being seated above the salt, occurs in a much later work-" The Memorie of the Somervilles," a curious book, edited last year by Mr. Walter Scott---" It was," says lord Somerville, (who wrote about the year 1630) "as much out of peike as to give obedience to this act of the assemblies, that Walter Stewart of Allontoune, and sir James his brother, both heretors in the parish of Cambusnethen, the first, from some antiquity, a fewar of the earle of Tweddill's in Auchtermuire, whose predecessors, until this man, never came to sit above the salt-foot, when at the laird of Cambusnethen's (Somerville's) table; which for ordinary every Sabbath they dyned at, as did most of the honest men of the parish of any account." Vol. II. page 394. The same author is indeed so familiar with this usage as one of every day observance, that he takes notice of it again in speaking of a provost of Edinburgh:-.." He was a gentleman of very mean family upon Clyde, being brother german to the Goodman of Allentone, whose predecessors never came to sit above the salt-foot." Page 380, ibid. * i. e. glove. SPAIN. Notoria. The strict prohibition of journals pub lished in England or the Netherlands, which had for some time been suspended, is renewed with great severity, probably on account of the popular discontent manifested at some late acts of the government. The frequent arrests for political offences, is said to be regarded with particular disgust. Letters from Spain of the 4th February state, that in consequence of a new impost, levied on charcoal at Valencia, which bore very hard on the poor in the winter season, the people murmured, and at last deputed commissioners to wait on the governor (Elio) with their complaints. Instead of listening to them, Elio put the commissioners in prison: the people rushed to arms, and liberated them; and the governor, in his turn, was obliged to fly to the citadel. The insurgents kept possession of the city all the 17th January; but on he 18th, supplies of troops arriving, they were overpowered, and the governor liberated. He attempted to put to death some of the rioters without trial, but the judges of the high court of justice declared, they could allow no citizen to The govbe executed without a trial. ernor threatened to imprison the judges. The citizens were emboldened by this vigorous conduct of the judges, and affairs wore so serious an aspect, that Elio posted off to Madrid to lay the matter before the king. The report of some commotions having arisen in Valencia, agrees very well with what we know of the present state of popular feeling in Spain, viewed in connexion with such instances as the following, of the cruelty of their semi-barbarous government: Pamplona, Feb. 10th. On the 2d, 3d, and 4th of this month, and in the prison of this city, the torture was inflicted on captain Olivan, who, for this purpose, was brought down from the citadel, where he had been confined during eight months, merely because he was suspected of disaffection to government. Amidst the most excruciating pangs, no other than energetic declarations of his own innocence were heard, as well as of that of more than thirty other officers confined with him under similar circumstances.' SPANISH AMERICA. ib. The cause of the insurgents in Spanish America ebbs and flows with such rapid and uncertain vicissitude, that it The Portuguese troops have invaded the territory of Monte Video; but whether in consequence of an arrangement with old Spain, or with a view to conquest on their own account, does not seem to be very clearly ascertained. It is not likely that their interference will materially affect the general result, except in so far as it nay have a tendency to carry the flame of revolution into ib. their own transatlantic territories. ITALY. On the 15th of December, a Catholic priest proceeded on foot to the cathedral of Adria, in Lombardy, and returned thanks for having attained his 110th year, without infirmities or sickness! He was accompanied by an immense concourse of people, and chaunted the cathedral service in a firm, manly, and dignified voice. The German papers have brought us a document of greater importance than usual, in the shape of a new constitution for Sicily. That interesting portion of Europe has lost nothing by the restoration of the legitimate sovereign to the throne of his ancestors. The king of Naples, unlike his namesake and cousin, the king of Spain, has signalized his restoration by confirming and extending the blessings of a free constitution. Canova. The pope had attached to the title of marquis of Ischia, which he conferred on the sculptor Canova, an annual pension of 3000 crowns. This celebrated artist has disposed of this revenue in the following manner: First, a fixed donation to the Roman academy of archeology of 600 crowns. Second, 1070 crowns to found annual prizes, and a triennial prize for sculpture painting and architecture, which the young artists of Rome, and the Roman states only, are competent to obtain. Third, 100 crowns to the academy of St. Lue. Fourth, 120 crowns to the academy of the Lynx; and fifth, 1010 crowns to relieve poor, old, and infirm artists residing in Rome. CEYLON. ib. the excessive fatigue,rather than to the effect of climate, the journals of captain Tuckey, and the gentlemen in the scientific departments, are, it is said, highly interesting and satisfactory, as far as they go, and we believe they extend considerably beyond the first rapid, or cataract. It would seem, indeed, that the mortality was entirely owing to the land journey beyond these rapids, and that captain Tuckey died of complete exhaustion after leaving the river, and not from fever. We lament to learn, that when the Dorothy transport was at Cabendo, in the end of October last, there were ten Portuguese ships in the port waiting for slaves, and two from Spain. The Congo discovery vessel arrived at Portsmouth from Bahia last month. The journal of the lamented captain Tuckey is said to describe the country he explored for 226 miles as a rocky desert, and thinly peopled region, not worthy of further research. ib. FRANCE. The stamp-duty on Magazines in France, which subjected even a prospectus of a literary work to a stampduty, is at length found to be totally unproductive; and not only so, but actually injurious to the best interests of the state. Several of the works we have already announced as suspended, on account of the tax, are now in the course of being resumed: of these, the most important is the Magazine Encyclopedique, of M. Millin. This work had grown to such an extent, (130 volumes,) that it was deemed advisable by the learned editor to avail himself of the suspension, to terminate the series, and commence a new one; which may either be regarded as an entirely new work, or a continuation of the old one, under an improved form: for this reason he has changed the title to Annales Encyclopedique, the first number of which appeared on the first of March, and will be regularly continued every month, and not in volumes every two months. The tax being repealed, there no longer exists the necessity of publishing in volumes; and it will, therefore, appear as heretofore. Subscribers' names will be taken in at our publisher's. On the 24th of April the NAPOLEON MUSEUM of Statues was re-opened at Paris; it has lost several of the chefs d'œuvres, but it is still rich in masterpieces, and is superior to any other collection in the world. Madame DE STAEL is said to have sold her Memoirs of M. Neckar to an association of English, French, and German editors, for 4000l.; the work is to appear in the three languages at one time. The grand desideratum of rendering sea water potable, seems at length to be attained by simple distillation. The French chemists have been unable to discover, in distilled sea water, any particle of salt or soda in any form; and, it is ascertained, that one cask of coals will serve to distil six casks of water. A vessel going on a voyage of discovery by order of the French government, commanded by M. Freycinet, will only take fresh water for the first fortnight; but, instead thereof, coals, which will be but one-sixth of the tonnage; distilled sea water being perfectly as good as fresh waser that has been a fortnight on board. Light infusions of ginger alone, taken twice or thrice a-day, have been found very efficacious by the French surgeons in rheumatic affections. The pains are rendered at first more excruciatingthen follows copious perspiration and relief. Mons. DORION has discovered that the bark of the pyramidal ash, in powder, thrown into the boiling juice of the sugar-cane, effects its clarification; the planters of Guadaloupe had given him 100,000 francs, and those of Martinique a like sum, for communicating his discovery. RUSSIA. Mon. Mag. till the water becomes cold. The quantity of water to be double that of the coru to be purified. The musty quality rarely penetrates through the husk of the wheat; and in the very worst cases, it does not extend through the amylaceous matter which lies immediately under the skin. In the hot water, all the decayed or rotten grains swim on the surface, so that the remaining wheat is effectually cleaned from all impurities, without any material loss. The wheat is afterwards to be dried, stirring it occasionally on the kiln, when it will be found improved in a degree which can scarcely be believed. MR. EDMUND DAVY, professor of chemistry to the Cork Institution, announces that new seconds flour, of indifferent or bad quality, is materially improved, for the purpose of making bread, when the common carbonate of magnesia is well mixed with it in the proportion of from 20 to 40 grains to a pound of flour. He made a number of comparative experiments on the worst seconds flour he could procure, with and without the addition of the magnesia; and the results have uniformly been satisfactory. In the proportion of 12 grains to a pound of flour, calcined magnesia improved the bread, but not nearly to the same extent as the carbonate. He conceives that the carbonate of magnesia acts on the bread in two ways: chemically, by correcting its tendency to acidity; and mechanically, by improving its texture. It improved the colour of bread made from new seconds flour, whilst it impaired the colour of bread from fine old and new flour. particularly convenient; being applied over the natural ears, which the artificial ones are made to resemble. Mr. Curtis has likewise invented a hearing trumpet, which forms a parabolic conoid on the same principle as the speaking trumpet used at sea, which is so well known to answer the purpose in extending the impression of sound. It has this convenience, that it shuts up in a small case for the pocket. Mr. Curtis also, in his Lectures on diseases of the Ear, exhibited to his pupils a variety of improvements for assisting hearing, many of them newly brought from the continent. Antij. Rev. The foundation of all the good which the Royal Lancasterian System of Education has produced, to above 200,000 children, is well known to be its principle of ECONOMY. But a recent new invention of Mr. LANCASTER'S is, we understand, likely to add to its powers, beyond the most sanguine expectations of its friends. It will furnish means for supplying the schools of whole empires with lessons, in a boundless variety of subjects, independent of dialects and languages, in a convenient and portable shape, and at a trifling expense. We are at present at liberty only to state the probable results. The public will be sensible, that it is only needful for these results to be justified, for such an invention to become a blessing to all nations. The moment the description of this improvement is ready for publication, we shall not fail to make our readers acquainted with this additional means of extending knowledge. Mr. Lancaster's History of his Life and Travels, to promote education in this empire, especially in Ireland, is getting into a state of great forwardness; a most numerous, noble, and respectable list of subscribers is already furnished, and daily increasing. It must be pleasing to see the true friends of education rally round the first friend of poor children, and thereby contribute to a work so interesting to mankind. In Poetry, Dr. SYMMONS' translation of the Eneis, from the magnitude and difficulty of the attempt, claims our first consideration. It is, we grant, a respectable performance-but, when we compare it with the masterly and vehement version of Dryden, or even the inferior, though harmonious and correct, translation of Pitt-we are compelled to say, that Dr. Symmons does not shine with the lustre we could wish to behold in all the works of so excellent a man, and elegant a scholar.-The House of Mourning, by Mr. JOHN SCOTT, is a poem replete with rich, but gloomy, fancy, such as may be imagined to characterise the efforts of a powerful imagination, exercised upon a subject so afflicting as the premature death of a darling and blooming son. We might advance a few legitimate objections as to metre and cadence, but sacred be the accents of sorrow, and revered the deep and heavy sadness that breathes in the lines of him-who was a father.-Of Mr. P. BAYLEY'S Idwal, we regret that we cannot speak in terms calculated to encourage the author in his design of publishing the poem, of which the present is only a part. The verse is laboured, tame, and diffuse, abounding in expletives, and deficient in the fire and energy, the vivida vis animi, of poetic inspiration.-The Bower of Spring, by the author of "the Paradise of Coquettes," is a beautiful effort of imagination; the diction is peculiary soft and splendid, and the fancy of the reader is at once warmed and dazzled by the glowing loveliness of its conception and imagery. In this department we are called upon with pleasure to notice a new production of the Nestor of modern poets, in an Epistle to the Emperor of China, on his uncourtly and impolitic Behaviour to the sublime Ambassador of Great Britain, by Dr. JOHN WOLCOT (olim Peter Pindar, esq.) who, at the age of fourscore, has recalled to memory the age of the Lousiad. The motto indicates the resurrection of the veteran poet, after a silence of several years;— "I, who dropp'd the Muse's quill, And long had left the Aonian hill, Start from my slumber with my wonted might; To scourge a monarch of the East, For mocking monarchs of the West, A lord of Britain, and advent'rous knight." An advertisment annexed announces a lyric episle to Lord Amherst and Sir George Staunton, by the same venerable and inimitable bard. It is to be regretted that men of genius should ever mistake the path in |