2d of February, 1783. The men in the Spanish boat | that came with the tidings of this event made their appearance with ecstasy in their countenances, and exclaiming, "We are all friends!" It was not till the 10th of March, however, that free intercourse was reestablished by the arrival from England of the official intelligence that peace had been concluded. General Eliot and his brave companions soon after returned home to receive the congratulations of their country; and since this hard contest no foreign power has dared to assault Gibraltar. THE LOCUST. THE locust belongs to that class of insects which naturalists distinguish by the name of gryllus. The common grasshopper is of this genus, and in its general appearance resembles the "migratory locust," of which we have to speak. The body of this insect is long in proportion to its size, and is defended on the back by a strong corslet, either of a greenish or light-brown hue. The head, which is vertical, is very large, and furnished with two antennæ of about an inch in length: the eyes are very prominent, dark and rolling the jaws are strong, and terminate in three incisive teeth, the sharp points of which traverse each other like scissors. The insect is furnished with four wings, of which the exterior pair, which are properly cases to the true wings, are tough, straight, and larger than those which they cover, which are pliant, reticulated, nearly transparent, and fold up in the manner of a fan. The four anterior legs are of middling size, and of great use in climbing and feeding; but the posterior pair are much larger and longer, and of such strength that the locust is enabled by their means to leap more than two hundred times the length of its own body, which is usually from two to three inches. Locusts, as the writer of this article has seen them in the East, are generally of a light brown or stone colour, with dusky spots on the corslet and wing-cases; the mouth and inside of the thighs tinctured with blue, and the wings with green, blue, or red. These wings are of a delicate and beautiful texture; and in the fine fibres, by which the transparency is traversed, the Moslems of western Asia fancy that they can decypher an Arabic sentence, which signifies "We are the destroying army of God." The female locust lays about forty eggs, which in appearance are not unlike oat-grains, but smaller. She covers them with a viscid matter by which they are sometimes attached to blades of grass, but are more usually deposited in the ground. For this purpose she prefers light sandy earths, and will not leave the eggs in compact, moist, or cultivated grounds, unless she has been brought down on them by rain, wind, or fatigue, and rendered incapable of seeking a more eligible situation. Having performed this, the female dies; and the eggs remain in the ground throughout the winter. If much 'rain occurs, the wet spoils them, by destroying the viscid matter in which they are enveloped, and which is essential to their preservation. Heat also seems necessary to their production, for the little worm, which proceeds from the egg, sometimes appears so early as February and sometimes not until May, according to the state of the season. This, in the usual course, becomes a nymph, in which state it attains its full growth in about twenty-four days. After having for a few days abstained from food, it then bursts its skin, comes forth a perfect animal, and immediately begins to unfold and trim its wings with the hinder feet. The insects which first attain this state do not immediately fly off, but wait in the neighbourhood for those whose development is more tardy; but when their army is formed, they take their flight from the district. To those who have not seen a flight of locusts, it is difficult by description to convey an idea of the appear ance it presents. As seen approaching in the distance it resembles a vast opaque cloud, and as it advances a clattering noise is heard which is occasioned by the agitation and concussion of wings in their close phalanxes. When they arrive they fill the air, like flakes of thick falling snow; and we have known the bright and clear sky of Chaldea become darker than that of London on some heavy November day. Wherever they alight every vegetable substance disappears with inconceivable rapidity before them. The most beautiful and highly-cultivated lands assume the appearance of a desert, and the trees stand stripped of all their leaves, as in the midst of winter. After devouring the fruits, the herbage, and the leaves of trees, they attack the buds and the bark, and do not even spare the thatch of the houses. The most poisonous, caustic, or bitter plants, as well as the juicy and nutritive, are equally consumed; and thus "the land is as the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness.” It seems as if nothing could appease their devouring hunger, and the energy and activity they exhibit, and the rapidity of their operations, almost exceed belief. Their depredations are not confined to the open air;- they scale the walls, and penetrate to the granaries and houses. They swarm from the cellar to the garret, and, within doors and without, they are a terrible nuisance, for they are continually springing about, and often, in consequence, give a person startling raps on different parts of the face, affording very sensible evidence of the force with which they leap; and, as the mouth cannot be opened without the danger of receiving a locust, it is impossible to converse or eat with comfort. When they have settled themselves at night, the ground is covered with them to a vast extent: and, in some situations, they lie one above another several inches thick. In travelling they are crushed beneath the feet of the horses; and the animals are so terribly annoyed by the bouncing against them in all directions of the insects they have disturbed, that they snort with alarm, and become unwilling to proceed. It is not merely the living presence of these insects which is terrible, but new calamities are occasioned by their death, when the decomposition of their bodies fills the air with pestilential miasma, occasioning epidemic maladies, the ravages of which are compared to those of the plague. Thus famine and death follow in their train; and instances are not of rare occurrence in the East in which villages and whole districts have been depopulated by them. Under these circumstances it necessarily becomes an object of anxious attention, in the countries they are most accustomed to visit, either to prevent them from alighting on the cultivated grounds, or to drive them off or destroy them after they have descended. The impression is very general that noise frightens these insect devastators and prevents them from alighting. When, therefore, the people are aware of the approach of their armies, every kettle or other noisy instrument in the place is in requisition, with which, and by shouts and screeches, men, women, and children unite in the endeavour to make the most horrible din in their power. The scene would be truly laughable, from the earnestness which every one exhibits in this strange employment, were not all disposition to mirth checked by the consciousness of the fearful consequences of the invasion which it is thus endeavoured to avert. How far noise may really operate in preventing their descent in ordinary circumstances, it is not easy to ascertain; hut on the approach of evening, or when exhausted by their journey, nothing can prevent them from alighting. They will then descend even on the seas and rivers, of which some striking instances que recorded. are wet. When a swarm has actually alighted, the means employed to drive them off are much the same as those to prevent their descent. But this is never attempted in wet weather, or until the sun has absorbed the dew, as the locust is quite incapable of flying while its wings When the swarm is large, or when it has come down on cultivated grounds, no measure of destruction is practicable without sacrificing the produce; but when the depredators have been driven to waste grounds, or happened in the first instance to descend upon them, various modes of extirpation are resorted to, of which the following is the most effective:-a large trench is dug from three to four feet wide, and about the same depth. The off side is lined with people furnished with sticks and brooms, while others form a semicircle which encloses the extremities of the trench, and the troop of locusts, which are then driven into the grave intended for them by the clamorous noises we have already described. The party stationed on the other side push back such insects as attempt to escape at the edges, crush them with their sticks and brooms, and throw in the earth upon them. These insect devastators have fortunately a great number of enemies. Birds, lizards, hogs, foxes, and even frogs, devour a great number; and a high wind, a cold rain, or a tempest destroys millions of them. In the East they are used as an article of food. In some parts they are dried and pounded, and a sort of bread is made which is of much utility in bad harvests. They are sold as common eatables in the bazaar of Bagdad, and the cooks of the East have various ways of preparing them for use. CHARACTER OF FRANKLIN. (From the Gallery of Portraits,' No. XX.) Few men ever possessed such opportunities or talents for contributing to the welfare of mankind; fewer still have used them to better purpose: and it is pleasant to know, on his own authority, that such extensive services were rendered without any sacrifice of his own happiness. In his later correspondence he frequently alludes with complacency to a favourite sentiment which he has also introduced into his Memoirs ;'-" That he would willingly live over again the same course of life, even though not allowed the privilege of an author, to correct in a second edition the faults of the first." His remarkable success in life and in the discharge of his public functions is not to be ascribed to genius, unless the term be extended to that perfection of common sense and intimate knowledge of mankind which almost entitled his sagacity to the name of prescience, and made "Franklin's forebodings" proverbially ominous among those who knew him. His pre-eminence appears to have resulted from the habitual cultivation of a mind originally shrewd and observant, and gifted with singular powers of energy and self-control. There was a business-like alacrity about him, with a discretion and integrity which conciliated the respect even of his warmest politica! foes; a manly straight-forwardness before which no pretension could stand unrebuked; and a cool tenacity of temper and purpose which never forsook him under the most discouraging circumstances, and was no doubt exceedingly provoking to his opponents. Indeed his sturdiness, however useful to his country in time of need, was perhaps carried rather to excess; his enemies called it obstinacy, and accused him of being morose and sullen. No better refutation of such a charge can be wished for than the testimony borne to his disposition by Priestley (Monthly Magazine,' 1782), a man whom Franklin was justly proud to call his friend. In private life he was most estimable; two of his most favourite maxims were, never to exalt himself by lowering others, and in society to enjoy and contribute to all innocent amusements without reserve. His friendships were consequently lasting, and chosen at will from among the most amiable as well as the most distinguished of both sexes, wherever his residence happened to be fixed. His chief claims to philosophical distinction are his experiments and discoveries in electricity; but he has left essays upon various other matters of interest and practical utility-an end of which he never lost sight. Among these are remarks on ship-building and lighthouses; on the temperature of the sea at different latitudes and depths, and the phenomena of what is called the Gulf-stream of the Atlantic; on the effect of oil poured upon rough water, and other subjects connected with practical navigation; and on the proper construction of lamps, chimneys, and stoves. His suggestions on these subjects are very valuable. His other writings are numerous; they relate chiefly to politics, or the inculcation of the rules of prudence and morality. Many of them are light and even playful; they are all instructive, and written in an excellent and simple style; but they are not entirely free from the imputation of trifling upon serious subjects. The most valuable of them is probably his autobiography, which is unfortunately but a fragment. As a speaker he was neither copious nor eloquent, there was even a degree of hesitation and embarrassment in his delivery. Yet as he seldom rose without having something important to say, and always spoke to the purpose, he commanded the attention of his hearers, and generally succeeded in his object. His religious principles, when disengaged from the scepticism of his youth, appear to have been sincere, and unusually free from sectarian animosity. Upon the whole, his long and useful life forms an instructive example of the force which arises from the harmonious combination of strong faculties and feelings when so controlled by sense and principle that no one is suffered to predominate to the disparagement of the rest. Court was intended for his sovereign. Had Henry not obtained his object in this easy and smooth way, he no doubt would have resorted to rougher means. However, the cardinal did not go unrequited. The king took the palace, but "in recompense thereof," says Stowe, licensed him to lie in his manor of Richmond at his pleasure, and so he lay there at certain times." In the early part of the thirteenth century the manor | if the gift might be accepted, the palace of Hampton of Hampton Court became the property of the powerful community of military ecclesiastics, the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. From the prior of this order a lease of the place was obtained, about the year 1515, by the famous Wolsey, already Archbishop of York, Lord High Chancellor of England, Cardinal, Legate à latere, and rapidly mounting to the zenith of his greatness. The palace of Hampton Court owes its origin to this lordly spirit : "He was a man Of an unbounded stomach, even ranking In projecting this monument of his taste and splendour, This happened in the year 1526. The place afterwards became the favourite residence of Henry; and it has also been inhabited by many of his royal successors. Yet it is the name of Wolsey that still gives its chief historical interest to the spot. Not one of its crowned possessors has left a memory within its courts and halls that either fills the imagination or lives in popular tradition like his. Call it genius, or only fortune, that lifted him to his airy height; there was a force and power in this man's meteoric course, the dazzle of which is not yet out of the eyes of his countrymen, after the lapse of 300 years. What name in our old history is still so familiar a sound among all classes as that of Cardinal Wolsey? We know no other that comes near it in this respect, except that of Oliver Cromwell, and that is modern in comparison. Had these two men been mere ruffians, however enormous, they would not have been thus remembered. Story, song, and whatever other modes of appeal there are from the heart of one age to that of another which serve to convey and multiply fame, all revolt from unmixed and unadorned E villainy. There was a lofty and soaring magnificence Though from an humble stock, undoubtedly But to those men that sought him, sweet as summer. Than man could give him, he died, fearing God." The Fountain Court forms the eastern division of the palace. The grand front looks towards the west; and, although injured in character and effect by the introduction of modern windows among the fanciful and picturesque forms of the original design, is still a handsome elevation. The quadrangle immediately within the gate, called the Entrance Court, is supposed to be the most ancient part of the building. Here, there can be little doubt, we have Wolsey's own work. The apartments surrounding this court are for the most part tenanted by private families, to whom the privilege of residing here is granted by the crown. It is stated in the Guide Books that, including servants, the number of persons thus lodged in the palace is not less than 700; but, judging by the deserted appearance of the place, it is difficult to believe that it can be the nest of so large a population. One of the rooms in this court is interesting as having been, it is said, the sleeping chamber of Charles I. after he was brought here by the army on the 24th of August, 1647. The few weeks which he spent at Hampton Court between this date and the 11th of November, when he made his escape to the Isle of Wight, witnessed the unhappy monarch's last exercise of the semblance of royal authority. lived, for some time," says Hume," in that palace, with an appearance of dignity and freedom. Such admirable equability of temper did he possess, that, during all the variety of fortune which he underwent, no difference "He was perceived in his countenance or behaviour; and, though a prisoner, in the hands of his most inveterate enemies, he supported towards all who approached him the majesty of a monarch; and that, neither with less nor greater state, than what he had been accustomed to maintain. His manner, which was not in itself popular nor gracious, now appeared amiable, from its great meekness and equality." The room, in which he is said to have slept, is a small octagonal closet, with an iron door. Cromwell is asserted to have made the same apartment his bed-chamber, the security afforded by the iron door inducing him to prefer it to a more spacious room. And it has also the credit of having been Wolsey's oratory; a tradition to which some remains of paintings on the walls, representing the Last Supper and other scriptural subjects, have probably given origin. It is now, "To such base uses may we come, Horatio,"used as a pantry. The next quadrangle, called the Middle Court, is also a part of the ancient palace. A conspicuous object on one of the sides of this court is an ancient clock, which was long said to have been made by the famous Tompion, but appears to be the work of another artist, Lindsay Bradley, who lived about the beginning of the last century. The date on it is in 1711. But the object of greatest interest here is the Great Hall, which is on the north side of the court: this is a noble room, 104 feet in length by 40 in breadth, with a rich Gothic roof and a splendid oriel window. In 1527, an entertainment of extraordinary splendour was given, by order of Henry VIII., to the French ambassador in HamptonCourt Palace; Wolsey, who had the year before presented the palace to the king, having been commanded to preside over both the preparation and the solemnization of the festivities. On this occasion the magnificent Cardinal seems to have exhausted his ingenuity to furnish out a succession of the most sumptuous revelries for the gratification and wonder of his guests. A long and minute account of the whole affair has been given by his biographer Cavendish, in a passage which has bee frequently extracted. The scene of the principal part of the entertainment is stated to have been the Great Fall of the palace. There are considerable doubts whether this was, as is commonly asserted, the present hall; for the erection of that room has, by a very competent autho rity, been assigned to a somewhat later date. Among its decorations are the initials of Henry and his queen, Jane Seymour, twisted by a true-lover's knot; and this, as has been remarked by Mr. Lysons, in his Historical Account of those Parishes in the County of Middlesex which are not described in the Environs of London,' seems to prove that it must have been built either in 1536 or 1537, the only two years during which Jane Seymour was queen. To obviate the force of this objection, it has been supposed that this cipher might have been introduced while the hall was undergoing some repair in one of these years. There can be no doubt, also, from the account given by Cavendish, that there was a Great Hall in the palace in 1527; and there is now no trace of any room answering his description except this. This answers perfectly, having also a smaller apartment at one end, now called the Board of Green Cloth, which seems exactly to occupy the position of what Cavendish calls the Chamber of Presence, in which some of the tables were set at the great feast. VOLCANIC ISLAND OFF THE AZORES. HAVING seen, in a late Number of your Magazine, au nomenon which occurrea off the Island of St. Michael, | explosions of the most vivid lightning, and a noise like (Azores.) This event may be probably unknown to the continual fire of cannon and musket y; and, as the many of your readers, or forgotten by others, who will cloud of smoke rolled off to leeward, it drew up the thus have an opportunity of comparing these two re-waterspouts above mentioned, which formed a beautiful markable events. and striking addition to the scene. por In the night of the 1st of February, 1811, flames were observed issuing from the sea at the distance of about a mile and a half from the west end of St. Michael; and, soon after, a most awful and tremendous explosion took place, throwing up, from a depth of forty fathoms, cinders, ashes, and stones of immense size. Quantities of fish, as if boiled, floated on the surface of the sea towards the shore; and a dangerous | shoal was thus formed. On the 13th of June, two columns of white smoke were seen rising from the sea at this spot, and the Sabrina British sloop-of-war, supposing it to be the result of an engagement, made sail towards it. For two or three days previous, however, repeated shocks of earthquake had been felt in St. Michael, which threw down several cottages and tions of the cliff towards the north-west; but these ceased so soon as the volcano broke out. On the 18th, it was still raging with unabated violence, throwing up, from under the water, large stones, cinders, ashes, &c., accompanied with several severe concussions. About noon, on the same day, the mouth of the crater just showed itself above the surface of the sea where there was formerly forty fathoms of water; at 3 P. M. it was about thirty feet above the water, and about a furlong in length. On the 19th, it was about fifty feet in height and two-thirds of a mile in length, still raging as before, and throwing up large quantities of stones, some of which fell a mile distant from the volcano. The smoke drew up several waterspouts, which, spreading in the air, fell in heavy rain accompanied with vast quantities of black sand. On the 20th, the Sabrina proceeded on a cruise, leaving the volcano about 150 feet high, still raging as formerly, and increasing in size;-when she returned, on the 4th of July, it was found quite quiet, and a complete island formed. The captain and several officers landed upon it, and found it very steep, and between 200 and 300 feet in height. It was with difficulty they were able to reach the top, which at last they effected, in a quarter where there was a gentle declivity; but the ground, or rather ashes, composed of sulphureous matter, dross of iron, &c., was so very hot to their feet that they were glad to return after having taken possession of the island in the name of his Britannic Majesty, and left an English Union Jack flying on it. The circumference of the island, which was of a circular form, was, at this time, about a mile. In the middle was a large basin of boiling water, whence a stream, about six yards across, ran into the sea on the side facing St. Michael; and at the distance of fifty yards from the shore, the water, although thirty fathoms deep, was too hot to hold the hand in. In short, the whole island appeared as a crater; the cliff on the outside as walls, steep within and without. The appearance of the volcano prior to the crater showing itself above the surface, as seen from the nearest point of St. Michael, on a cliff about 400 feet above the sea, was that of an immense body of smoke revolving in the water almost horizontally, in varied involutions, when suddenly would shoot up a column of the blackest cinders, ashes, and stones, in form like a spire, and rising to windward at an angle of 10° to 20° from the perpendicular. The columns of ashes, &c., at their greatest height, formed into branches resembling magnificent pines, and, as they fell, mixing with the festoons of white smoke, at one time assumed the appearance of vast plumes of black and white ostrich feathers; at another, that of light, wavy branches of the weeping willow. These bursts were accompanied by Subsequently, this islet sunk gradually into the sea; and, in the middle of October, no part was left above water; but a dangerous shoal remained in the place which it had occupied, and exists to this day. In February, 1812, smoke was again discovered issuing out of the sea near the spot. In Dr. Webster's recent account of St. Michael may be found some further particulars relative to this submarine volcano. animal life. of SPONGE. THIS well-known marine production has been in use from very early times, and naturalists were long embarrassed whether to assign it a place in the animal or the vegetable kingdom. Most authorities now agree in putting the sponges in the lowest scale of There are about fifty different species sponges, of which nine or ten belong to this country. They are found in the Mediterranean and those seas in warm and temperate latitudes, diminishing in number and becoming of inferior quality on the approach to cold regions. They adhere to rocks in places the least exposed to the action of currents and waves, which the ebbing tide does not leave uncovered. The best sponges known to us are those which come from the islands, whose inhabitants may be said to subsist by the Archipelago, where they abound near many of the sponge-fishery, if we may so call it. At the Cyclades, of the population. The sea is at all times extremely for instance, sponge-diving forms the chief employment clear, and the experienced divers are capable of distinguishing from the surface the points to which the sponge is attached below, when an unpractised eye could but dimly discern the bottom. Each boat is furnished with in his hand on plunging head foremost from the stern. a large stone attached to a rope, and this the diver seizes He does this in order to increase the velocity of his descent; thus economizing his stock of breath, as well as to facilitate his ascent when exhausted at the bottom, being then quickly hauled up by his companions. Few men can remain longer than about two minutes below; and, as the process of detaching the sponge is very tedious, three, and sometimes four divers descend successively to secure a particularly fine specimen. The best sponge is that which is the palest and lightest, has small holes, and is soft to the touch. By the old physicians, sponge was regarded as a cure for a long list of maladies; this list is now much abridged, though burned sponge, in which form only it is used, still has a place in the materia medica. |