is turned by a wooden peg stuck into it, about onethird of the diameter from the edge. Three or four goats, with their kids, were tied to stakes round the door, and a few fowls were running about in the garden. We sat by the old woman while she made her bread, but at a sufficient distance not to pollute her cooking utensils or her fire. Every vessel she used, though apparently clean before, she carefully washed, and then mixed her rice-flour with milk, water, and salt, when she beat it between the palmns of her hands till it was round and thin, and baked it on a round iron plate, such as is used in Scotland for baking oat-cakes. Besides these cakes, she prepared a few heads of maize, by rubbing off the chaff and laying them in the fire to roast for the family supper. At the next hut, the woman was grinding missala or curry stuff, on a flat smooth stone, with another shaped like a rolling pin. Less than an Eaglish halfpenny procures enough of turmeric, spice, salt, and ghee, to season the whole of the rice eaten in a day by a labourer, his wife, and five or six children: the vegetables and acids he requires are found in every hedge. The curry was cooked with as much cleanliness as the bread, and the inside of both the huts was beautifully neat. In one corner in each, a large stone, with red powder sprinkled on it, stood as a household god, and before it were laid a few grains of rice and a coco-nut as offerings.Ibid.

ANTEDILUVIAN ARTS.

The following remarks, from one of the Rev. C. DAVY's letters to the Rev. Mr. J. Hingeston, form a pleasing illustration of certain passages, relating to the Chemistry of the Autediluvians, in HIRAM's third letter on the Arts.*

That the Arts were in no mean degree of perfection in the antediluvian world is probable, from the longævity of the artists, who had time to improve their first essays after the experience of some centuries; but it is almost certain from their use of metals, the separating and refining of which, especially copper and iron, the most intractable of them all, and afterward preparing them for the hammer, require no inconsiderable degree of skill in one branch of chemistry; Tubal Cain is represented by Moses as the instructor of every artificer in brass and iron, from a tradition of whose employment, and a corruption of his name by the antient Hetruscans, descendants of Peleg, the Romans, probably, derived their Vulcan, the inventor of hostile weapons and mechanic tools. Diodorus tells us, that Vulcan was one of the Egyptian demi-gods, who lived before the age of Menes, that is in the opinion of most chronologers, I believe, before the Flood; and the husband of Venus, in the language of chemistry, which is said to have been received from the ancient

• Vide EAST ANGLIAN, p. 123.

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Egyptians, means no more than a master refiner of Kuprir, or the common prostitute copper, which is so called, from its submitting to any menstruum whatever; whereas gold, silver, lead, iron, and tin, have each their favourite dissolvents, aud either constantly resist all others, or suffer their attacks a considerable time without yielding; but his skill in metallic chemistry seems farther to be confirmed by the tradition of his having detected the amours of Venus and Mars; alluding either to his finding out the peculiar tendency of copper to unite with iron (which renders it so exceedingly serviceable to us, a circumstance which Tubal Cain could not, in all likelihood, be unacquainted with) or to his unfolding the great chemical secret of their perfcet amalgama A treatise, which goes under the name of Basil Valentine, asserts, that Mars and Venus together make Sol, that is, were capable of producing gold: but if we suppose this known to Tubal Cain, he, probably, reserved the secret to himself, and that he did so, whatever it was, seems to be implied in the following part of the mythologic fable, for the product of this mixture was, Harmonia married to Cadmus, who is reported to have carried metallurgy into Greece; and that Vulcan previously gave her a bracelet, which proved her destruction: now we may conceive this bracelet to have been an addition either of arsenic or antimony to the composition, which, by constringing the parts of the metal, either prevented its being malleable, or destroyed it by its fumes in this view every thing is intelligible, we may trace its original design in the several circumstances of the fable, which the Helens who succeeded the Pelasgi in Greece, strangely misunderstood, and within a few centuries, the real person of Tubal Cain, or Vulcan, was confounded in their mythology, and worshipped under the name of Ephairor, the Consumer. We have here an instance of what some of the philosophers have asserted, that fear made the gods; since this species of idolatry the worship of fire, was in all probability founded in a general apprehension derived from the sons of Noah, that this element would in time prevail over the rest, to destroy the earth, and as they conceived, would endanger the universe:—

ercised that supremacy with unlimited sway. It was Pope Innocent the Third; the ame, who excommunicated King John of England, and who threatened even the Emperor of Constantinople. For this purpose he addressed to him a Latin Epistle, in which he quoted from the first chapter of Genesis the passage relating to the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule night. By these two lights, said be, are meant the office of Pope and the office of King; by the greater light is meant the former office, by the lesser light the latter office; so that, as the light, which rules the day, is superior to the light, which rules the night, the dignity of Pope is superior to the dignity of King. Dr. HERBERT MARSH's Lectures.

DESTRUCTION OF SLUGS. (BY MR. JOHN WILMOT, F. H. S.)

Daily experience teaches us (and particularly in a season like last winter) the injury we receive from the slug, which, if left unmolested, will frustrate our most sanguine wishes, and too frequently, unperceived, not only injure, but totally destroy a crop, which the season will not permit us to replace. To exterminate those nocturnal depredators has been for many years my study; but I always failed in the attempt, through the means not being properly applied. The usual way at present practised is with lime strewed on the ground very early in the morning, or late in the evening, the thermometer not below 45°, they then are found in moist weather in abundance, on the surface of the soil, when scattering lime fresh slacked, or pulverised, will destroy a number of them, excepting rain comes to their assistance, which too frequently frustrates the design. As the principal time of their committing their ravages is in a rainy or a moist season, the very weather is unfavourable to the application of the lime, as it will act no longer as a caustic, after lying on the damp ground even for half an hour. At the suggestion of my friend, Mr. Whately, the celebrated surgeon, was induced to make a trial of lime-water, which I found greatly to exceed my expectations. I now not only propose, but strongly recommend, it on an extensive scale, as I can prove it a saving of nine pounds out of ten, and it will entirely rid the land of those noxious vermin. The plan I recommend is, to take a small portion of fresh Dorking lime, and pour on it some hot water: when thoroughly dissolved, add water suflicient to make it pass through a fine rose of a water pot. Previous to the preparation, let a woman take some peas baulm (I give that the preference) or any large leaves of the cabbage tribe, and lay them a pole distance from each other. If the weather permit, they will be found in abundance collected under the haulm, &c. both for shelter and food; as we always find them prefer vegetables in a state of stagnation to those luxuriant in growth:

when properly collected, let a boy take up the haulm, &c. and by a gentle shake leave the whole of the slugs on the ground. The woman with a water-pot and rose must then pour a very small portion of the liquor on them, and the boy in the mean time must remove the haulm, &c. to a different spot in the intermediate space. By pursuing this plan for one week (when the weather is favourable) I am perfectly satisfied the whole of them may be destroyed, as the least drop of the liquor will cause immediate death, whereas with lime they frequently leave a slimy matter behind, and escape. In the flour garden it will be found a great acquisition, by watering the edging of box, thrift, &c. for wherever it penetrates it is certain to kill, even in a rainy season. The first thing to be considered in any new experiment is the trouble and expence attending it; for however certain and efficacious the remedy, it is frequently overbalanced by the expence. In the plan I propose, the application is simple, the effect certain, and the expence trifling, which are objects worthy our consideration, as four middling sized wateringpots at one time will be found sufficient for an acre, allowing one pot to forty places; and when it is considered that a piece of lime, about two pounds weight, is suflicient for one pot, we may conclude that to any extent (even in agriculture) including labour, &c. the whole amount will not exceed five shillings per acre, to be passed over four different times, which if properly pursued, I am certain, will rid the land of the whole of them at any season of the year, excepting frosty weather. The haulms, if not used after the crop of peas is over, may ba dried and put away for that purpose; the expence will then be found nearly as stated for one acre (every thing convenient.)

.........

Trouble in laying haulm, &c. woman S. d. and boy hall a day each Removing ditto four different times, one quarter of a day each time Lime......

1 0

....

2

1

Total expense................. 4 0 Thus for 4s. per acre they may be totally destroyed, however numerous. I can vouch for the statement being correct, having practised it to an extent this winter, and strongly recommend it to the Horticultural Society.

SUBMARINE BOAT.

A singular vessel, the materials of which are chiefly wrought and cast iron, is said to be now constructing, under the auspices of Government. It is 27 feet long, 5 deep, and 5 broad, arched over, and sharp at each end; and, in shape, it much reserbles a porpoise. The inventor of this extraordinary machine undertakes to sail her on the surface of the water as an ordinary boat; he can immediately strike her yards and masts, plunge her to any depth he pleases under wator, and remain there twelve hours,

tion, as occasion may require. To strike her yards and masts, and descend under water, is but the work of two or three minutes. He can row, and navigate her under the water at the rate of four knots an hour; remain stationary at any particular depth, and descend, or ascend at pleasure. This vessel is so

effects of a 12-pounder at point-blank shot. It is supposed that Government designs this 'fo.midable invention to counteract the Torpedo System of Amcrica: the proprietor can attach any quantity of gunpowder to any sunken body, and explode it at pleasure.

ON THE LOVE OF THE ARTS.

MR. EDITOR, Nature every where tacitly invites mankind to lend a helping hand to her constant and ceaseless works: and seems to say to her children, "I incessantly use my endeavours to promote your comfort and happiness, on the express condition, that you shall exert your utmost efforts of industry and genius, to assist me, your kind mother. You must, in your societies, kindly aid each other: look upon the general good of your respective countries as reverting to each individual; cherish even the humblest attempts at invention, or improvement, from whatever quarter it may come, and never listen to selfishness or indolence, my mortal enemies."

"Few things," says Dr. Johnson, "are impossible to industry and skill. Yon palace was built with single stones. He that shall walk with vigour three hours a day, will pass, in seven years, a space equal to the circumference of the globe."

The manual works, and the mental powers of man, should go hand in hand in society, in fostering the arts of all descriptions; and no one should be idle or indifferent concerning general prosperity. How eager is a Savage in acquiring a knife, a pair of scissors, or even a nail; and how indifferent about the arts are the unthinking and pampered sons of luxury, in what is termed the civilized world!

Love of the arts in a man indicates, and proves, the possession of a cultivated, liberal mind; a mind which contemplates, with interest, every link of the great chain of human industry, and despises none. Observe, with your mental eye, an Emperor, master of the most extensive dominion on earth, becoming, by choice, a simple carpenter, at Sardam, and practising (as well as studying) the arts, wherever he goes, with his imperial hand. Behold him after a naval campaign, in which he

had served in a subordinate capacity, to acquire the great art of navigation, march in the same capacity, in a triumphal procession at Moscow, craving of the President, his subject, the rank of vice-admiral! Peter the first, of glorious and immortal memory, thou wast taly great! May thy sublime example fire every heart and every where animate the love of the arts, so closely connected with the love of our country.

Agriculture, that primary nurse of mankind, claims the first attention in every state, and the necessary assistance of the other sister arts. Every thing relating to it ought to be the assiduous care of enlightened minds. The ancient Romans, impressed with this principle, honoured agriculture; and, decending from the triumphal car, hastened to cultivate their native soil. The wise Chinese pay to it the highest honours; convinced, by the experience of ages, that it is the first source of comfort and prosperity.

Civil, naval, and military architecture, demand the next attention; but how many other arts and sciences must contribute to their perfection! Hence the necessity of general encouragement, in every branch of human knowledge.

The fine arts have in view the ornament and elegance of life, and feed the mind with noble, useful, and elevated ideas. Painting, sculpture, engraving, and the rest of the imitative arts, diffuse innumerable mental blessings, by reviving the dear memory of departed worth, of parental and of filial affection, of the great actions of heroes, of whatever is worthy of representation, of the multifarious beauties of animated, and inanimate nature. The husbandman, after his useful labours, rejoices to see his house adorned with the works of the fine arts; and the lowest rustic admires their humblest productions, listening with curiosity and delight to the explanations given him by bis neighbour.

Great fame has been acquired in different countries, and at different periods of time, by those who have loved and protected the

arts.

Hence the illustrious names of Pericles, Augustus, the Medici, Leo X. and last, though not least, our venerable but aflicted Sovereign George the Third, and many others who will be ever renowned and revered.

Emulation amongst artists is necessary, as a stimulus to attain perfection: envy ought to be subdued by reason, and disarmed by excellence: malignity should never find admittance in a liberal mind. The immortal Michael Angelo was modest, above envy, and his great mind harboured no malignity. He admired excellence in other artists, and assisted the needy with his purse and advice. He was esteemed and beloved in an eminent degree by the greatest personages of his time, and deserved the high eulogy given him by Ariosto:

Michael, più che mortal, angel divino, Che l'arti a ravvivaz reuue dal Cielo. May all future artists study to deserve such honours, and may encouragement from patriot monarchs be extended to artists from the highest to the most feeble ranks in life. HIRAM.

THE ARK, Sudbury, March 15th.

To the Editor of The EAST ANGLIAN.

SIR, AS you very judiciously devote a portion of your publication to the Arts, I take the liberty of troubling you with a copy of Mr. West's last speech, addressed to the Council and Students of the Royal Academy, in his officialcapacity, as President of that Institution, on the distribution of the prizes. By some, perhaps, it will be considered as calculated to repress, rather than to stimulate genius; but, on the other hand, it must be admitted to contain many hints which will be found serviceable to the student, and to the professor of painting, and of sculpture; and, as no one is likely to become a firstrate artist, unless inspired by a pure and enthusiastic love of the Arts, the danger to be apprehended from its diffusion can be but slight-in fact, rather ideal than positive. At all events, the opinions of such a man as Mr. West, must be regarded as highly worthy of preservation.

I am, &c.

A LOVER OF THE ARTS. GENTLEMEN, Custom demands, that, on this golemu occasion, of presenting to the successful students in the various classes to which their studies have been directed, the prizes which your judgment

has awarded them, I should say a few words to assist their further efforts, to explain the nature of the professional engagements they have taken upon themselves, to warn them against a too sanguine expectation of ultimate success, and to prepare their minds by this early caution, from siuking under the weight of despair, or feeling too keenly the sharp edge of neglect and poverty. Gentlemen, to the late worthy and able President we are indebted for a series of discourses delivered from this Chair, which would, had he never touched a peucil, have handed his name down to posterity with honour; but, Gentlemen, to me those discourses appear ill suited to their end; they profess, indeed, to teach the youth to become an artist; they take for a basis, that industry and talent will make him such, and they suppose that then he will find employ. Here he appears to me to have judged solely from his own individual case and profession as a portrait painter, and not to have looked beyond the range of his own study, nor indulged himself a further reading, than the audit of his own banker's account. His particular line of study rendered him an insufficient judge of the hardships to be borne-of the difficul ties to be surmounted; and I have felt the necessity of saying this much to you, Gentlemen, before I ad vance what I am now going to say to the students. My long exertions in the line which it has hitherto been the particular object of this Institution to recommend, give me the advantage of great personal ex, perience, and ought to insure me the students' most earnest attention.

Students, I am almost at a loss for words to express the feelings which assail me, in witnessing your efforts towards becoming rivals of those great names with which it is the character of these times to compare every production of modern art; but particu larly to you, Gentlemen, who have this day received the rewards of those exertions, I feel even more at a loss for expression. It is but little necessary for me to urge you further, by holding up to you the prospect of higher honours; I see in your attempts every thing that enthusiasm could wish, every thing that the most plodding could exact from industry, and that the most sanguine could hope for, from your early years. As you have probably read and heated your imaginations with the accounts of the competence and respect enjoyed by the great artists of Greece and Rome, I will not dwell upon those points, so wounding to the feelings of an artist of our days; but leaving the Apelleses, the Polygnotuses, the Phidiases, the Leonardi da Vinces, the Raphaels, the Rubenses, and the Vandykes to the enjoyment of their riches and honours, and to the company of the Princes and Nobles who patronized them, I shall endeavour to force upon your minds more healthful truths, and to prevent as much of your future misery as lies in my power.--I must first take a view of the patronage to which you are heirs,

and after that, I shall conclude with a few general beads of advice, which, if you will condescend to follow, you may at least feed; but which, if you do not, you will take the peril on your own shoulders, and leave me the sad task of witnessing, without taking blame to myself, your ultimate distresses.Gentlemen, your Government renounces you, your Religion discards you, and in domestic life, the upholsterers become your but too successful rivals. Your country renounces you; for, instead of employing your talents on the walls of public buildings, instead of handing down to posterity the actions of their good and great men, by your able assistance; instead of allowing to the support of a few professors a pittance (as comparatively it would be, though ample for its purpose) the art is left to support itself, to enter into competition for its existence with the exhibition of the Indian Jugglers, and Polito's elephant, or by individual speculation alone, to survive its many and various attacks. Your Religion wars against you by the almost entire expulsion of your works from its Temples. Alas! on how insecure a foundation must they think that the Reformation stauds, which, it is probable, would be shaken by admitting into the churches a few pictures of Christ and his Apostles, every where doing good.

The upholsterers tell their customers, and their customers assert, that pictures will not light up well, and thus are they proscribed for satin papers and gold borders. Do I speak truth, Gentlemen; again I appeal to the Gentlemen in the chairs-do I not speak truth? We have one source, however, from whence there seems likely to flow some small portion of patronage, which may so far entrap your inexperience as to plunge you into difficulties, from which no mortal hand will extricate you.

I know not how to designate that Institution which has lately been formed, for the avowed purpose of promoting the fine arts; but my purpose in alluding to it is to warn you from its smiles, and to intreat you not to regard the sunshine-it. for a may moment play upon you, as the uncertain gleam of a December day. Its meaus cau do little, and that little it will do uncomfortably. It offers premiums. These can only be contended for by youths-these can offer no certainty to exertion, can provide no regular means of liberal expenditure. What I have here said contains nothing but what the experience of every one who has endeavoured to succeed as an historical painter will suggest, it advances nothing but what I have myself felt; and though now, when nearly seventy winters have passed over my head, a short bright summer has entwined my grey hairs, yet this has been hardly carned, and is now obtained when the powers of enjoyment are nearly fled. This country, Gentlemen (remember it!) this country, out of the numbers who have been here educated for historical painters, has given the means of continuing their professional studies in the line to which VOL. I.

they were originally directed-to me alone this country and this Government, which is every day sounded by its panegyrists as the most enlightened, the most liberal, and the most elegant among nations, has given, since its revival from utter ignorance and barbarism, the means of life to one, to one historical painter only. Where are those students gone who have annually pressed forwards with their early attempts to embody the sublimity of Scriptural Learning, or the elegance of Milton and Shakespeare-not one, alas! has been seen to ripen and answer to his early promise. This review is melancholy, Gentlemen, but 'tis true, and he who uses to you a differ-, ent language, under existing circumstances, should, be answerable for the hopes he creates, and deserves. himself to feel the miseries he must bring upon you. I have now to fulfil the second part of my promise to you, that is, to give you some advice for your future conduct. To you, Sir, who have so ably executed the subject of our selection, and who have received the highest, and indeed the only reward we have to bestow, I would say, become immediately a portrait painter. Do not shrink at the idea, to it you must come, sooner or later, and the sooner the better. The experience of the past must assure you that nothing can be expected from public employ, and if private patronage assist you, it will be with an offer to sit for a portrait. And the studies are so different as to be almost incompatible. To you, Gentlemen, in the next rank of excellence, I would say, hasten to the shops of the principal paper hangers, turn your attention to decoration, and the enriching of cielings and boudoirs, and all of you, in one word, renounce the idea of educating yourselves for historical painters; but if you must now be artists, do it in the full spirit of trade, for by that alone shall you be enabled to live.

I am now called upon to address you, Gentlemen, who have exhibited so much ability as Sculptors. Here the field is more promising. While the war lasts, there will be officers killed, and you will all have a chance in the scramble for the monuments which Parliament votes. By these you will, many of you, get an ample livelihood. Let me, therefore, intreat you, when you shall arrive at a time of life to share in these good things, that you exert yourselves to the utmost, remembering, that although your works may be placed in an obscure corner of Westminster Abbey, to be seldom seen but by those who go there after they have visited the lions in the Tower, and Mrs. Salmon's wax-work, yet may they occasionally be seen by men of taste; but, above all things, respect your own feelings, and do that well for which you are well paid. I could wish that these posthumous honours were otherwise disposed of than in these cold cathedrals; but with that I have little to do. Athens is said to have contained several thousand statues, which were placed in the open air, thereby inculcating in the people a taste for true

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