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the ardent disposition of Adolphus, to question his acquiescence to her plan the moment she should make it known to him; a communication which she deemed it advisable to postpone, till the expected invitation arrived; and, accordingly, no sooner received the Baroness's letter, than, before the above-stated conference taking place, she sent word to her friend, that Mathilda received her invitation with thanks, and would set off as soon as she received the clothes she had bespoke of a fashionable tailor, as she delighted in the idea of making the excursion, and of being treated as a gentleman by a fair lady.

that we are by ourselves."—" I can never forget whom I am speaking to."—" Neither can I; and 1 verily believe, that, in order to be quits with you, I must apply to my brother, who may easily be prevailed upon to do justice to the merits of Mathilda de Rabar. Let me advise you, by-the-bye, to warn your servant to be more on his guard; for I have heard him, occasionally, calling you Madame (which the good old fellow had really done through absence, thinking of his mistress); which might be conducive to the detection of a secret, that I have hitherto held sacred.""From what I know of your brother, I would rejoice if he were to pay his addresses to Mathilda."- "And from the knowledge I have of that amiable girl myself, it would make me happy toHere they were interrupted by the arrival of a gamekeeper from a neighbouring nobleman, with the intelligence that the Count d'lllois was engaged in a shooting and a bunting party that would keep him abroad for a few days, and that he accord

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The Chevalier de Rabar being announced, the Baroness came to meet him, and, with great presence of mind, stretched out her hand, which he was going respectfully to kiss, when recollecting, on a sudden, the lessons he had received, he folded her in his arms with all the familiarity of a female friend. Whether the salute was quite in character, the Baroness was at a loss to determine; but the Count entering the apart meut immediately after, the graceful bowingly wished his valet, with proper articles of the supposed Mathilda made it appear, that, when required, she was not forgetful of what she owed to herself, or of the part she was performing.

If the situation of the Chevalier was truly novel, that of the Baroness was not much less so. "The compliments which you lavish upon me, in the presence of my brother," would she often say to the Chevalier, "I dare not find amiss. I know from what motive they are uttered: but I must tell you, candidly, that I deem them quite out of character when repeated in his absence. If the truth were known, it might be imagined, they are reflections on my want of those qualifications which you pretend to praise."-"But if they were spoken from my heart," said the other, in reply, “who would presume to put an opposite construction on my meaning ?""Forbear, my lovely friend, lest I should doubt your sincerity. Allow me to indulge a partiality which must have originated from my intimacy with your sister, and which, I must own, I felt the first sight of you alone would have created. But, I beg of you, once more, forbear compliments."—"They are your due; and I will maintain it at my peril."—" You forget now

of wearing apparel, and a groom, with a couple of hunters, to go and meet him.

The Chevalier was too anxious to resume a conversation which he thought might lead, perhaps, to a discovery of the Baroness's real sentiments, not to seize the first opportunity. He could never believe that she intended to persevere in a resolution which he ascribed to a former disappointment in love: if she had loved once, it proved her not being destitute of a sensible heart; and, therefore, when he should find her in a proper mood, he might venture a declaration with some hopes of it being listened to. Hazardous as the attempt must be, yet it must be made; besides, a formal denial could hardly cause greater pangs than the state of suspense and uncertainty in which he seemed condemned to

live. Such were the thoughts that agitated the unhappy lover's mind; but, notwithstanding his impatience, he imagined it would be advisable, previously to a nego ciation of so much importance, to collect his ideas; to effect which, he betook himself to the park, where he sought a solitary walk, that led to a pavilion. He, to his utmost surprise, though not utter disappointment, there found the Baroness, who

did not appear in a more quiet situation of mind than himself. They both remained silent for some moments; but the Chevalier at length began apologizing for his intrusion: "most unintentionally, Madame," || added be, in a tremulous voice, "have I injured the happy mortal who was the object of your solitary cogitatious, though ever so envious of his lot."-" Those words," returned Clementina, “speak you to be totally unacquainted with my disposi- || tion."-"Am I to infer that indifference?" -"No, indeed, I am far from being indifferent and unfeeling; Caroline knows, and can tell you that I am not. My sincere friendship for her, and what i feel for you." -"Oh! that I were certain"-"Your doubts wrong me: yet, perhaps, I have, in some respect, given rise to them myself. You, most likely, would have felt grievously offended, if I had informed my brother who you really are. In justice to him, 1 ought to have done so before now. I confess," continued she, with a faint smile, "it would be cruel to divest you of a dress so uncommonly becoming; but am I not equally culpable for exposing the peace of

many of my female friends, who cannot
but be smitten at the sight of the most cap-
tivating young man, in appearance only,
that ever was seen."—"What! do you be-
lieve that such au impression could have
taken place?"-"I will not protest but I
might have been caught myself in the
snare, had I not been apprized that”
-"I shall abide by the insinuation.”—
"And resume your real character."—" So
I will."—" Now, then, I shall be at full
liberty to embrace my friend, my beloved
Caroline's▬▬▬▬▬”—“ Brother," interrupted
he, kueeling before her, "who adores you.
If a single glance at your image has been
capable of producing such an impression,
you may judge of the effect of a personal
acquaintance.”

The Chevalier said much more, which I need not repeat. All who have either loved, or been loved, will be qualified to fill up the chasm.

An explanation of Caroline's contrivance naturally took place; and the Baroness easily forgave the trick which made her a happy wife.

DESCRIPTION OF THE GLACIERS IN THE ALPS.

from the tops of the neighbouring mountams into the bottom of the valley, where they collect, as in a basin, in very compact beds, several hundred feet thick. It may easily be conceived, that a similar mass cannot possibly get thawed thoroughly during the summer; so that, at the return of winter, it has assumed the aspect of a heap of frozen snow, composed of small rains, which are united together, and in

THE glaciers are sometimes, very improperly, denominated mouutaius of ice. Those enormous masses are amongst the most remarkable objects in the Alps.Whatever may be the figure or situation of the glaciers, they all, without exception,|| originate in a huge heap of snow, mixed with water; which, being frozen during the winter, does not entirely melt in sunmer time, and thus continues till the return of the winter season. It is exclusively increased in volume, by means of the water the most elevated vallies of the mountains that all the glaciers have been formed; those even the ramifications whereof descend into the most fertile vallies. Very few are to be seen in the direction from east to west; and all are surrounded by lofty mountains, whose shade considerably weakens the effect of the sun during the three summer months. For an interval of nine months the snows will accumulate in those elevated regions. Lavanges of snow, of an enormous weight, incessantly fall

filtering, and penetrating from the surface || into the interior of the mass.

PROGRESSIVE MOTION OF

THE GLA

CIERS TOWARDS THE LOWER VALLIES.

There is no valley throughout the Alps but the soil of which is in a slope. Thus, when the upper part of a vale is occupied by a glacier, whose bulk and extent increase annually, in proportion to the additional cold which it occasions itself; from such a state of things, the result must, unavoidably, be a strong pression of ice to

wards the lower part of the vale, which is the only part that opposes no resistance. During the hot season, it is on the sides of the glaciers, and on their inferior surface, which lays on the mountain, that the largest quantity of ice will melt; the streams produced by the thaw form extensive vaults; the blocks of ice that are stopped by the angles of those vaults, are finally carried off by the waters collected at their basis; and the air, confined in the cavities of the glacier, breaks down part of the props which support these vaults, that it may be in equilibrium with the outward air, when a change in the weight of the atmosphere happeus to take place. The combination of those circumstances lessens the number of the points of contact, and the resistance of the friction. The impulsive power of the superior part, overcomes the efforts which still impede its action, and the whole mass is carried forward. In fine, when the ice has completely filled up the upper valley, it is forcibly brought towards the defile, where it finds an issue, and from thence, by degrees, into the fertile valley, where a higher degree of heat, checks, in some measure, its further progress.

OF THE

INCREASE AND DIMINUTION GLACIERS.-The glaciers will sometimes decrease for several consecutive years; that is to say, the lower extremity of the glacier, situated in the fertile part of the valley, loses such a quantity of ice in consequence of the thaw which takes place in summer, that it leaves part of the ground it occupied, when ever the mass is not brought sufficiently forward to replace that loss. On the other hand, there are years in which they increase, and descend further into the valley, and thus cover cultivated hills and mea

dows. However, there is nothing regular in those occurrences that depend entirely on the duration and severity of the winteron the quantity of the snow-and on the temperature of the summer It is generally in the spring that the glaciers increase; and when, during the course of one year, they have advanced much farther than usual in the interior of a valley, they are commonly seen to diminish for several years successively. It is probable that the extraordinary increase hath cleared the upper valley, so that several years are required before it is entirely obstructed again, and

that new heaps of ice have produced the necessary degree of pression for the action to be felt at the lower extremity.

NATURE OF THE SURFACE.-The surface and figure of the glaciers are determined by the kind of ground on which they rest. In such vallies as are level, and very little sloping, they are also level, and show but few chinks. On the reverse, when they descend along a rapid slope, and on a very uneven ground, their surface is covered with crevices and eminences from fifty to one hundred feet high, the aspect of which bears a resemblance to the waves of the sea If the slope be upwards of thirty or forty degrees, the beds of ice will break, move, accumulate, and assume the most diversified and fantastic figures. The surface of a glacier is more or less intersected with chinks, some of which are often several feet wide, and above one hundred feet deep. The extreme cold, the sudden change in the temperature of the air, and a sloping ground, are the principal causes of those chinks; the bottom whereof is of a dark-blue colour, and the borders, angles, and points, of the finest light green. Dur ing the winter season, profound silence reigns along the glaciers; but as soon as the air begins to grow warm, and as long as the summer lasts, from time to time a tremendous roaring is heard, attended with dreadful shakes, which cause the whole mountain to tremble; whenever a crevice is formed, it is with a roaring like that of thunder. When those kinds of detonations are heard several times in the course of a day, they are to be considered as the forerunners of a change in the weather. The crevices are formed, and vary, not only every day, but at every hour, which occasious the glaciers being so dangerous for

travellers.

WINDS OF THE GLACIERS, TORRENTS, WELLS. This phenomenon evinces the agitation undergone by the air confined beneath the glaciers, and inside of their inward cavities. The sudden change in the atmosphere will sometimes occasion to issue from the crevices in the glaciers, currents of air insufferably cold, which carry away with them an icy dust, which they scatter afar like snow. Inside of the glaciers is heard, from all parts, the loud murmuring of the streams that work their way

and of pieces several inches long and thick, full of hollows and elevations; the shape or figure of those pieces is generally crook

beneath the ice. When these waters cannot find an issue, they will often accumu. late in so large a quantity, that they finally break through the walls that oppose anded and whimsical; and they stick so close check them, and, on a sudden, a raging torrent is seen to rush from a wide crevice. Sometimes wells, of a circular form, are also met with, vertically dug out of the glacier, and filled to the brim with water. These wells are produced by some huge stone, which, being made hot by the sun, melts the ice around, and continues to penetrate farther into the interior of the glacier. Travellers sometimes are amused in forcing their sticks to the bottom of these said wells, to have the pleasure of seeing them rise again to the surface.

to one another that although they cannot be detached from the main mass without several being broke, yet they are susceptible of a kind of motion similar to that of the articulation of a limb. The cause of this extraordinary conformation is the result of the action of the air which circulates, and by means of its dilatation forms little bubbles of various figures, which, in their turn, determine that which each particle of ice assumes, and retains, even when it increases in bulk, in proportion as the water contained in the snow freezes. Those surfaces that are much inclined, the transversal cuts, the borders, points, and crevices along which the water can stream freely, shew a solid ice, of a light green colour, and very transparent. In the vici

hem the glaciers, the lower beds are composed of very dark blue ice.

STONES ON THE SURFACE, AND AT THE FOOT OF THE GLACIERS.-There are many glaciers, the surface of which is of a dirty, blackish colour, which proceeds from stones that are decomposed, and reduced to a kind of muddy earth; for there always is,nity of the heaps of gravel and of sand that both in the ice and on the surface even of the glaciers, a multiplicity of fragments of rocks, which the hurricanes and the lavanges have torn from the tops of the most elevated mountains. The stones, in the end, always form, on the borders, and at the base of the glaciers, hills sometimes one hundred feet high. The inferior extremity of the glacier pushes forward that kind of dam. Sometimes in the centre of a glacier, and in the most elevated part, are seen heaps of stones in the shape of tombs, and disposed in parallel lines of considerable height and length. Sometimes also is seen to rise on the surface of a glacier a py-high, and from fifty to eighty wide, the ramid of ice, of a regular figure, and surmounted by a huge stone block:

VAULTS OF ICE.-The vaults of ice which are observed at the bottom of the glaciers, and from which a torrent is seen to issue, are always formed in the lowest part, where all the waters meet subsequently to the ice being melted. In winter those vaults lay concealed, being obstructed by the ice and snow; the stream that issues from them is remarkably small; but, in the spring and summer, the waters being considerably swoln break through the ice, when vaults are formed one hundred feet

figure of which is subject to undergo many changes.

NATURE OF THE ICE OF THE GLACI- TORRENTS ISSUING FROM THE GLAERS.- -When you see a glacier that has CIERS.-The water of the glaciers is of a neither crevices, points, or cutting edges, whitish blue, and the torrents that issue you are inclined to think it is only a heap from them retain that colour for several of snow; whereas, mountains of snow, co- || leagues, unless some other stream alter it vered over with a thin coat of shining ice, || by mixing with them. That colour, which are frequently mistaken for real glaciers. || is peculiar to them, proceeds from their Glaciers can only be known by the chinks and sharp angles, formed by those masses that bear such a resemblance to snow; yet they may be distinguished at some leagues' distance, by the green or blue colour of their crevices and of their cuts. Their ice is not compact, like that of the rivers and lakes in winter; it is composed of grains

always carrying numerous particles of rocks excessively attenuated by friction.

NUMBER AND EXTENT OF THE GLACIERS.-Throughout the whole chain of the Alps, from Mont Blanc to the frontiers of Tyrol, they reckon about four hundred glaciers, a very small number of which are only one league in length, whereas a

multiplicity are six or seven leagues long, half or three quarters of a league in width, and from a hundred to six hundred feet thick. It is impossible exactly to measure the total surface of all those glaciers, one can only form a general idea of it; yet it

may be supposed that the whole comprises a sea of ice of upwards of one hundred and thirty square leagues. Such are the inexhaustible reservoirs which supply the largest and principal rivers in Europe.

A CONCISE ABRIDGMENT OF NATURAL HISTORY;
IN A SERIES OF LETTERS FROM A LADY TO HER DAUGHTER.

LETTER XV.

MY DEAR CAROLINE,-How difficult is it to explain the wonders of creation! it is almost impossible. The animal world presents a chain of miracles, and the contemplation of the universe gives birth to every exalted idea. Creation is the work of one thought, but it is the thought of an Omnipotent power, who imprinted on the world an impression of justice and benevolence: natural history will never be a wearisome study to those who can trace in it the wisdom and power of a creator, whose spirit breathes through every part of the universe,

"As full, as perfect in a hair as heart.” Your little tortoise, my Caroline, I am sorry to inform you, is dead. This creature may be certainly classed amongst the amphibia. This species, like yours, was brought from the Mediterranean; and the Greeks are fond of the eggs as an article of food: they are about the size of a pigeon's, generally five in number, and of a white colour. In September, you may recollect, this poor little animal used to hide itself under ground, from whence it would emerge in February. When its young are first hatched they are no bigger than a common walnut. We measured the length of the shell of your favourite, and found it to be between seven and eight iuches, the usual size of this species. It was old when first given to you, and I am well informed that it lives to an extraordinary age, considerably beyond a century. In the year 1759, a tortoise was seen at Lambeth Palace, which had formerly belonged to Archbishop Laud, in 1689. Its shell is still to be seen in the library at Lambeth.

!' great part of the year. In the year 1771, an old lady, who had attended on a tortoise above thirty years, was easily recognised whenever she appeared by the grateful

The tortoise, like other reptiles, has an arbitrary stomach and lungs, and can refrain from eating, as well as breathing, during a No. 119. Vol. XVIII.

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creature.

Just before the death of your tortoise, at least for a year before he died, when I began this history of animals, I was particularly watchful of his motions. I observed him spending the sultry hours of summer under a large cabbage leaf, which served him as an umbrella: in the decline of the year he improved the faint beams of autumn by getting within the reflection of a fruittree wall; and though he had never been so great a reader as to know that planes inclining to the horizon received a peculiar share of warmth, he always inclined his shell by tilting it against the wall to receive the feeble rays of the sun.

THE TURTLE.

THE turtle, or marine tortoises, are distinguished from the land tortoise by their very large and fin-like feet. Their shell consists of a strong bony covering, in which are embedded the ribs, and which is coated externally by hard horny plates. The head is large, and the upper mandible notched at the tip in such a manner as to give the appearance of two large teeth. There is a species called the green turtle, much in favour among epicures from the tinge that its fat exhibits. The hawk-bill turtle it is that affords the most beautiful tortoise-shell for combs and various ornamental articles. The introduction of the turtle into England, as an article of food, is of recent date, very little more than sixty years ago; and the dressing of one was an article of importance, always advertised in the public papers. Forty sloops are employed by the inhabitants of

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