pittance for subsistence. I do not wish to see fewer wives, but I wish to prevent the fair sex from throwing themselves on man for dependence, and thus to avoid the in

within the achievement of female excel- || whose hard fate obliges them to earn a lence. Music, for example, has certainly been useful, but it can only be made so when it is a real study; not a mere rattling over the keys, to entertain a parcel of stupid visitors. Bound as we all are innumerable unhappy matrimonial engage

the trammels of custom, the parent starts at the idea of giving his daughter a chirurgical education; but really and morally speaking, where can be the real objection ?* Will my fair readers be willing to accede The study of surgery can be no bar to the power of intellect to their male cotem- domestic felicity, nor can wire-working poraries? and if they will not, where is the hurt the hand more than striking the incompatibility? Say, are not delicacy strings of the harp. I will not here atand chastity the first attributes of the tempt to enumerate all those occupations brightest part of the creation? Why then which female capacity can attain, but ramay not these properties be cherished, nay ther, as the shorter way, challenge the preserved, by a communication with their world to shew me of what they are incaown sex? Rouse, then, ye parents who pable. Loving the sex as I do, and conhave not wherewithal to provide for the vinced that my theory would contribute to child you have tenderly educated, but who exalt them in the eyes of ours, I would may probably be cast upon a hard world suggest to some distinguished females the when it shall please Providence to deprive establishment of a seminary on a very difher of her natural protector; rouse, my ferent plan from the one now practised.† countrywomen, raise yourselves superior to Girls might be employed as their different prejudice; encourage, patronise female eninclinations led them, in different and single deavours in all branches attainable to fe- branches of the arts and sciences; they male powers; use no shop where the man should not be dabblers in all, but proficients milliner, the disgrace of our sex and the in that one that their genius most led them contempt of your own, puts his lily hand to. Thus shall the independence of the under a black lace, by way of exhibit- female mind be preserved; thus theu shall ing the contrast; prefer the female to the we, viewing them superior in acquirements, male accoucheur, which every husband learn to appreciate what at present we must do; so shall you deprive vice of its rather contemplate with fascination, as we prey, and our public streets from the most admire the prismatic colours of the rainheart-rending picture of human deformity bow, while the dews which have occathat can agonize the susceptible bosom. Isioned it, and by which we vitally subsist, wish it to be clearly understood, that the are scarcely an object of our concern.

ments that are entered into by an excess of passion, unwarranted by judgment on the one side, and a phlegmatic bargain of || person for preferment on the other.

domestic duties cannot be too strongly cul

tivated, but I am rather providing for those

FATHER ABRAHAM,

TOPOGRAPHICAL MUSEUM.-No. XXII.

CHICHESTER.-The most remarkable ob- || originally built by Ralfe, the third Bishop

ject in this town is the cathedral; the entrance to which is by a way divided by a fine pillar into two Gothic arches: on one side are four Gothic stalls of stone; the door is one Gothic arch. This church was

We could name several ladies brought up to the profession of midwifery, under celebrated practitioners of our own sex, particularly one brought up under Dr. Batty.

after the removal of the See from Selsey, cotemporary with William Rufus; which King, favouring the marriages of the priests, accepted a sum of money to wink at them;

If we mistake not there is an establishment in what was once called Queen Anne-street, Middlesex Hospital, for bringing up young girls to the profession of midwifery under professional

meu.

The first charter that Portsmouth obtained, was in the fifth year of the reign of Richard 1. 1193, when the King established an annual fair for fifteen days: he also established a weekly market.

In 1380, in the beginning of the reign of Richard II. the town of Portsmouth was burnt by the French: but Edward IV. was the first of our Kings who seemed to have a proper sense of the great importance of this port: he began to fortify it, in order to defend the then rising navy of England. The present fortifications are immense, and totally prevent Portsmouth from increasing in size: it is inferior to the town called the Common; though the streets are broad, and well built. The market-house divides the High-street. In that street, we believe it is No. 10, is the house wherein the Duke of Buckingham was assassinated by the enthusiastic Felton.

The ramparts are pleasantly planted with trees, and form a most beautiful walk the town is defended, by the land side, with fortifications, made at a vast expence. The Governor's house is but an ordinary building the church has nothing remarkable, || except an immense profusion of adulatory marble, in the form of a monument, to the Duke of Buckingham: it is merely erected to his memory, as his body reposes in Westminster Abbey.

The docks and yards are close to the north side of the town; the Commissioner's house is a large and very handsome building. The rope-walk is not less than eight hundred and seventy feet long. Ports mouth, indeed, contains every thing that the British navy can possibly want; and the vastness of the magazines cannot be easily conceived. Its harbour may boast of being capable of receiving the whole navy of England. Secure from every storm, the greatest first-rates may ride there, at the lowest ebb, without touching ground: they can take in their stores and guns while they are at anchor, and get out of harbour in a quarter of an hour's time, without impediments of bars or sandbanks, in the deep water beneath South Sea Castle.

Let us bestow praise, where praise is justly due. Henry VIII. was the first founder of our English navy; in his reign it was put on a systematic establishment :

he it was who first created a Navy Office: his Majesty had his ships ranged according to their different classes, and had a regular inventory of naval stores. By the enumeration of his son, Edward VI. it appears, that, in his short reign, Portsmouth was almost our only station, and our sole dock and yard.

PORTCHESTER.-Portchester Castle stands on the site of the British and Saxon fortresses. It is a noble square pile, with equidistant round towers on every side, venerably clothed with ivy. The interior court is above four acres in extent, and has the ruins of several apartments on the sides, once truly magnificent, and still very spacious. The Castle was, externally, strengthened with great fosses. The two on the eastern side extend quite to the water, and possibly received the influx of the tide.

GOSPORT.-This town is now swelled to a vast size, and is very populous and opulent. Its inhabitants are people in trade, who furnish the sailors with necessaries, besides various supplies to the fleet and harbour.

ISLE OF WIGHT.-Cowes' harbour forms the northern angle of this isle, and points to Southampton water. The tract from Cowes to Bembridge, is opposite to the Portsmouth shore. From Cowes to Ride the shore is muddy, and bounded by the shallow Mother Bank. The whole tract from Cowes is, however, unspeakably pleasant; varied with groves, and adorned with gentlemen's seats, which enjoy the prospect of Portsmouth, backed by the lofty Downs of Hampshire, and the moving picture of the naval security of Great Britain. The length of this islaud, from east to west, or from the Needles to Foreland-farm, in the parish of Brading, is near three-andtwenty miles: the number of parishes amount to thirty.

Charles I. was a prisoner in Carisbrook Castle: the account of his confinement, and his attempt to escape, have been amply detailed by the English historian; but the window through which he attempted his emancipation, is still regarded with interest by the sentimental traveller. bars that obstructed his passage, have, long since, been taken away. After the death of the royal martyr, the castle was

The iron

used as a prison by the usurper Cromwell, || church is the following memorial:—“ Buand continued as a place of confinement by rials, September, 1650, Elizabeth, daughter Charles II. The Duke of Gloucester and of King Charles." the Princess Elizabeth, son and daughter of Charles I. after the murder of their father, were prisoners in this castle. The Duke was allowed his tutor to attend him, and was treated with humanity; Elizabeth died in confinement, September 8th, 1650, at the age of fifteen, and was buried in Newport church; in the register of which

When a vault was building for a brother of the Earl of Delaware, in 1793, the coffin and urn, containing her remains, were found in a very perfect state; on the lid of the coffin was inscribed, “Elizabeth, second daughter of the late King Charles, deceased September 8th, 1650."

BRITISH DOMINIONS IN THE EAST INDIES.

extensive salt-lakes, and the country, like every part of Bengal, is extremely fruitful. Fort William defends this presidency; it is strong and extensive; and is the work of those Europeans, French, Danes, and Germans, who possessed settlements on the river above Calcutta, before the English held the territory in India that they do

now.

THESE extend over a vast number of provinces in the East, but the British have three important presidencies, from which they govern the whole of their possessions in India. Calcutta is the seat of the supreme government, and is situated on that branch of the Ganges called the Hoogly, about eighty miles from the island of Saugor, where that river falls into the sea.The approach to it is defeuded, by nature, with a most perilous coast, owing to shoals, called sand-heads, which are deposited by the numerous mouths of the Ganges, as it rolls into the ocean, and which coutinually change their place, during the great floods caused by the rains. The bed of the Hoogly is also encumbered by similar sands; and its bays, in the low woody shores, are extremely unhealthy. As we approach towards the capital, the prospect improves, and the salubrity of the air is evidently felt, from the grounds having been cleared, and which render Calcutta now no longer an unhealthy place: the streets of the Black Town also having been drained, adds greatly to its healthful situation; excellent roads have been made from every direction of the presidency, owing to the care and attention of the Marquis of Wellesley, and which, amongst other advantages he procured to India, confer on him everlasting|cated, and consist of what we call Madras

honour.

Madras is the second of the British presidencies; and though the most central to our possessions, boasts no natural advantages. It is built on a low sandy shore, against which a frightful surf is continually beating; and, in the finest weather, this is never crossed without considerable risk, for it has neither port nor head-land to protect the shipping that resorts thither. The soil is so dry and barren, that it produces only indifferent rice; and the most common vegetables are raised by the most incessant care, and with the greatest difficulty. Being, however, the seat of government for the south of India, its population is wonderful; and it is the depôt for all the manufactures that are carried on in the northern circars, and in the countries to the south of those provinces. The stuffs made there, take the name of Madras, instead of that of the place where they are really fabri

muslins, long cloths, and chintzes. Madras In the rainy season, the Hoogly is navi- is defended by Fort St. George, situated so gable quite as far as the Ganges; but when close to the sea, that, in the hurricane of the weather is dry, the boats are obliged to 1805, the face of the shore was so com. pass through those channels that intersect pletely changed, that the water-gate, which the Delta, formed by the Gauges, into the had before been at some distance from the main stream. The country, round Cal-beach, was washed by the surf. A canal cutta, is flat and woody; in its vicinity are has been cut from Fort George to Pullicat,

a place famous for its handkerchiefs, and || totally neglected island of Salsette, which, situated about sixteen miles to the north; with Caranja and Elephanta, forms a from whence, the inhabitants of Madras, by fine and commodious harbour. In the rise means of this canal, are supplied with char- of the tides, it has the advantage over every coal, and other requisite articles. other port in India; and this is seventeen feet, higher by seven than the highest springs in Prince of Wales's Island; and in the wonderful harbour of Trincomalee, they only rise to ten feet. Bombay is, therefore, well adapted for building and docking ships; the timber for which is brought from the coast of Malabar; and its situation, opposite to the Persian and Arabian shores, render Bombay peculiarly fit for commerce. The extreme beauty of the surrounding scenery makes it one of the most delightful places in the world.

Bombay, the third presidency, possesses more advantages, from nature, than any other European settlement in the East: but it has suffered from neglect; and it is but within a few years, since the Mahrattas have been so subjugated, as to render the districts, surrounding Bombay, safe. The island of Bombay lies in eighteen degrees north latitude; its length is nine miles, and it is three in breadth; it is full of towns and villages, and every spot is in the highest degree of cultivation. It is connected, by a causeway, with the large, fruitful, yet

THE STREET PORTER.-AN EASTERN TALE.

THERE once lived at Bagdad a lapidary, named Abdullah Dgerberi, who had only one son, to whom he gave a good education; and when he found the angel of death approaching, he called to him this only object of all his tenderest feelings, in order that he might have the last sad consolation of embracing him, and of giving him those counsels, of which he thought, wisely, that his extreme youth stood so much in need. After having exhorted him never to depart from the sacred principles of his religion, he conjured him, above all things, never to think in the evening of what he was to do the next day. He died as he gave his last embrace to this his beloved son, who had only then attained his twentieth year. Young Dgerberi did not long suffer the thorn of sorrow to rankle in his bosom, though he had lost a good father. Independent of the furniture and the houses he became possessed of, he found, in a subterraneous recess, five hundred thousand sequins, which filled fifty vases, made each to contain ten thousand sequins. This sum appeared to the young man a treasure equal to the two Indies; for he had no idea of the real value of money: he, therefore, gave himself up to every species of extravagance; peopled his seraglio with beautiful females, whom he clothed in the most splendid and magniNo. 115.-Vol. XVIII.

ficent manner; kept open table to all the young spendthrifts of his own age, who unceasingly paid court to him, aud fed his vanity by their fulsome praises on his munificence, his music, the excellency of his wines, and the exquisite dishes always to be found on his table.

A conduct like this, soon made his pos sessious to waste away. When he had emptied all his vases, he sold his town and country-house, in order that he might keep the beauties of his haram as long as possible but at length he was obliged to dispose of them also, that he might be enabled to pay what he owed.

He soon found himself without fortune, and consequently without friends. Happily for him, he was endowed by nature with an excellent constitution, and enjoyed au uninterrupted state of good health. Hav. ing, therefore, no resource left, he commenced the calling of a street porter, and was not long before he found more em ployment than any other in Bagdad, being able to carry greater loads than any of them; nor was this all his intelligence, and the cheerful manner in which he fulfilled his laborious task, gained him the good will of every one: for, according to the last counsels of his father, who recommended him never to think on the evening about what he was to perform on the mor

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