tive box h h in thickness and in width, that there may be the least possible vacant space therein, merely allowing a space of onesixteenth part of an inch between the valve boxes and the valves, exclusive of the clear stroke of such valves; the plates ee attached to the steam nosle A, and the plates g g, attached to the outlet nosle B, are all to be cast of very hard close-grained iron, and each sliding valve is to be cast from metal prepared in the following manner."

DAVIES GILBERT'S HISTORY OF CORNᎳᎪᏞᏞ .

A county history is generally but another name for a mass of dullness and inanity. The compilers of such works generally make it a rule to pass over without notice any interesting circumstances which may happen to be connected with the places their voluminous labours refer to, in order to make room for the pedigrees at full length of the lords of the manor, with abstruse investigations as to their coats of arms, and a variety of other matters of equal importance to the world at large. How it ever came to be considered that such valueless trash as this ought to form the staple of a standard county history it might not be easy to conjecture; certain it is, however, that the notion has thriven to such an extent, that every topographical collection of any importance groans beneath the weight of a heap of "bulky tomes," so scrupulously constructed on the long pedigree and coatof-arms system, that there are ninetynine parts of such imponderable ponderosities to every one of real solid information.

There are symptoms abroad which seem to indicate that the day of these abortions is going by; the sooner the better, since they only stand in the way of a superior class of works which may be expected to spring up and Occupy their place as soon as they shall have quitted the scene.

From the venerable ex-president of the Royal Society we might reasonably

By the bye, in this particular I observe there is a difference in Messrs. Seaward's arrangements and mine. Messrs. Seaward's, doubtless for some good and substantial reason, show a very considerable vacant space in each slide case, which must be filled with steam and emptied every stroke of the engines; this waste of steam I endeavoured to avoid, by proportioning the valves and boxes in the manner shewn in the drawing, and described above.

anticipate a book of the latter rather than the former class, especially when his theme is his native county,* with whose mineral treasures he has a double connection, forming, as they have done, the basis of his fortune, and at the same time the subject of his scientific investigation. We are inclined to suspect that Mr. Gilbert has been unfortunate rather than otherwise in meeting with the MSS. of Hals and Tonkin, which form the groundwork of his history, notwithstanding he considers it a piece of singular good fortune. Certain it is that the additions made by the Editor form the most valuable portion of the whole. Hals and Tonkin, who wrote upwards of a century ago, although apparently far from the worst specimens of the county-historian genus (which has seen its palmiest days since their time), are yet too prone to enter at full length into long rambling legends of the history of saints and fabulous heroes, and similar aimless gossipry. All this Mr. Gilbert has greatly retrenched; but we cannot help thinking he would have done better to re-write the history altogether, making use of his predecessors' materials, so far as they were available, than as he has done, to begin each parish by quoting and abridging from them, and finish by filling up the canvas with his own composition. The trouble would probably not have been greater than that he has actually undergone, of which he bitterly complains; although, at the commencement, the task of writing anew four thick octavoes, might appear far more formidable than merely to edit the same quantity already written.

Had this plan been adopted, moc attention would doubtless have been paid to a point in which the work is more deficient than could have been wished,--the history and description of the mining operations for which Cornwall is famous throughout the world. The form of the work is also a circumstance unfavourable to the introduction of these details; it proceeds parish by parish, so that no opportunity occurs

*The Parochial History of Cornwall, founded on the MS. Histories of Mr. Hals and Mr. Tonkin; with additions and various Appendices. By Davies Gilbert, some time President of the Royal Society, F.A.S., F.R.S.E., M.R.1.A., D.C.L., &c. In 4 volumes. London, 1838. Nichols and Son. 8vo. pp. 456, 432, 470, 571.

ATLANTIC STEAM NAVIGATION.

(Abridged from the Athenæum.) "Steam Navigation to New York.-The well-known steam-ship Sirius, Lieut. Roberts, R. N., Com., is intended to leave London for New York on Wednesday, the 28th of March, calling at Cork harbour, and to start from thence on Monday, the 2nd of April, returning from New York the 1st of May."-Advertisement in the daily papers.

There is really no mistake, then, in this long talked-of project of navigating the Atlantic Ocean by steam. The Sirius, being an already built, tried, and known boat, has succeeded in stealing a march on all her long-announced competitors, but it is only a start of a few days, which in a race, for the first time, over the Atlantic (much unlike a horse-race at Goodwood), is a trifle after all. She left this port on Wednesday of the current week; and now the Great Western is roused at length. One may see her excited almost like a living thing. heaves her huge whale-like sides with impatience. Her paddles instinctively dash into the water, as a war-horse, when he hears a trumpet, paws the ground. And see, how the fierce breath of a giant defiance pours out of her eager nostrils! Look to it, Sirius!

She

In plain prose wo mean to inform our readers that the Bristol Company, the owners of this fine boat, announce their intention of moving her from London this day (March 31st), round to her birthplace, and to start her thence for New York on Saturday next, April 7th. They remark, rather sharply, that " previously to her sailing, this ship will have made several trips to sea. She stows with ease sufficient coal for twenty-five days' stoaming. It is unnecessary, therefore, to incur the delay of calling at Cork." Furthermore, the Great Western is" equipped for the sole purpose of maintaining a constant communication between England and New York." Again, No letters will be taken, except upon payment at the rate of 1s. the single sheet, newspapers and slips 3d. each. Parcels in proportion to their size and weight, and a small quantity of light goods, at 57. per ton. Specie and valuables a half per cent. It is intended the Great Western should start from New York on her return to Bristol (which port has been fixed upon as the best for a western departure and arrival, and at the same time a convenient distance from the metropolis) between tho 1st and 7th of May. A surgeon of high qualifications is engaged, and a branch pilot for the Bristol Channel and Irish coast is attached to the ship," &c. &e.

For months the various papers of the town and country alike have been putting

out rumours of preparations and experi ments being made and tried at various points towards this grand result of establishing a regular steam communication between the two great commercial and closely-interested countries, which certainly would profit by it so much. We have endeavoured to reduce these various, vague, and often confused and contradictory statements to a summary view of the case, that may be relied on for what it does not assert as well as for what it does. It stands, if we understand it, pretty nearly as follows; and we think it, as a matter of future interest, at least, enough to be put on record at the time.

The Sirius, then, which, though about the last introduced of the candidates for the approaching contest, seems the first to get off, is a boat belonging, we believe, to the St. George Steam Packet Company, and has therefore run, with a good reputation, between London and Cork. Though by no means an old vessel, perhaps only old enough to have been thoroughly tied-she is, of course, not expressly built for the Atlantic route, being one of the elder and European régime; her tonnage 700, with engines of 320-horse power. Her agent, we notice, is an old acquaintance of the public, Mr. Macgregor Laird, commander of the first ironboat expedition which was fitted out to explore the interior of the African continent. Dr. Lardner-shall we say it?—in that same memorable treatise, wherein he alows as clear as light-to all who don't think otherwise that this project of navigating the Atlantic by steam, is, of necessity, and in plan facts and figures, the veriest humbug ever devised, the Doctor doth so far forget himself as to say on another occasion, "Philosophy already directs her finger at sources of inexhaustible power in the phenomena of electricity and magnetism, and many causes combine to justify the expectation [belief] that re are on the eve of mechanical discoveries still greater than any which have yet appeared; that the steam-engine itself, with the gigantic powers conferred on it by the immortal Watt, will dwindle into insignificance in comparison with the hidden powers of nature still to be revealed; and that the day will come when that machine which is now extending the blessing of civilization to the remotest points of the globe, will cease to exist except in the page of history!"

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The Great Western was designed and built, and is owned wholly, we believe, at Bristol. This noble steamer has a burthen of 1,340. tons. How it compares with the class it belongs to, and with its spry little compe titor before mentioned, may be judged by the least seaman-like reader we have, when we say, that, as far as we know, the largest

steam-ship in her Majesty's navy, and that a new one, is the Gorgon, with a tonnage of 1150. The Gorgon is constructed to carry 20 days' coal, a crew of 150, and 1000 men Her besides, and stores for six months. engines are only of the same power with those of the Sirins. The largest American steam-ship we have heard of is the Natchez, now or lately on the stocks at New York, and intended to ply as a packet between that city and the southern port whose name she bears; her tonnage is 900. The Wilberforce and the Victoria, Hull packets, were considered to be at the head of the old order of boats; the former a little exceeding 200 feet in length, with paddle-wheels 24 feet in diameter, and engines second only to those used in the American scheme. There may be a farther comparison with the Bristol boat by stating that her length is about 210 feet; that each paddle-shaft, after turning, weighs 6 tons, and the intermediate shalf 4 tons, with diameters of 18 and 174 inches; that her cylinders are 733 inches in diameter the Gorgon's being 64 inchesand nearly rivalling the size of the hugest ever used in the most extensive operations of the Cornish mines; and she has four boilers, rated to weigh, with the water in them, 180 tons-bordering on a stowageroom capable of containing in iron boxes nearly 900 tons of coal; and that her two marine engines are stated to have a 225 horse-power each. To imagine, in a word, the appearance this vessel makes in the river among the myriad crafts which encircle her, one must conceive a large man-of-war of 80 guns, with the unwieldly protuberances we have mentioned at the sides, a stea apparatus of the total weight of 170 tons, a great black funnel, and volumes of smoke in due proportion; and withal, for the plan is amphibious, complete sailing machinery-for emergencies of fair winds or accidents to machinery,--including four rather low masts, rigged somewhat in schooner style, and able to add considerably on occasion to the boat's speed. It appears that this ship is much the largest, on the whole, ever built. The fore-cabin is 46 feet long; an ample engine-room is left in the centre; and this separates the former from a state-cabin of 82 feet in length and 34 in extreme breadth, taken up, except in the centre, with berths (like the fore-cabin) at the sides, including, above and below, and fore and aft, 128 sleeping-places for one class of passengers, besides which there are 20 for servants. the very costly and elegant fittings-up of this grand saloon we can and nothing to the plentiful details furnished by the daily papers. Affixed to the frame-work of the engine is an index, by which the number of strokes performed by the machinery, and the rate of

Of

The cabin fare, we may mention, is 35 guineas out, and 30 returning, which includes bedding, provisions, and wines. This is the same as the fare of the Liners out. It is the same on board the Sirius, we see ; bnt provision is made, by that boat, for a second class of passengers, in an inferior cabin, of the old régime, at twenty guineas; and for steerage passengers, like the Liners, at eight. The Sirius also expect to make her passage in fifteen days, from Cork.

But we are not yet done with the steamers. We promised to give a summary of all that is proposed by the various parties, and we have not yet named the greatest of all the lions by far,we mean the Victoria, now on the stocks at Limehouse. This extraordinary ship is the project and property of the British and American Steam Navigation Company. Their plan, as first announced, was, to build a line, composed of two British and two American steam-ships, of great size each, as sufficient to keep up a communication twice a month to and from New York; the reason for uniting the two classes being, of course, that British ships, by treaty of commerce are not permitted to take foreign goods to the United States-they must be shipped in American bottoms; while, on the other hand, American hips are not permitted to bring foreign goods to England except for exportation only. By the union of both, all descriptions of goods are secured. These four were expected to make as many passages to and fro as eight sailing-packets would. More were to be added as required. The tonnage proposed was 1,200, and the horse power 300; and the ships were estimated to cost 10,000. each. The annual expense of such a vessel was rated at 18,480., including fuel out and home for six voyages, or for 12,000 miles. This calculation, which we think worth preserving, is exclusive of the charges incident to freight. These, with the profit also on freight, are contingent. Set down this at 400 tons measurement goods, with certain prices, and 60, 80, and 100 passengers, of three different classes, and we have 4,6007. receipts on freight. The expenses on the same being rated at 2.5207., the net freight out and home is made to amount to 3,8807., or above 50 per cent. per annum on prime cost; or 30 per cent. with a net of 1,2007. and 8007. out and home. We subjoin, for reference, the following items of the annual expense of the floating establishment :

Commander 3007.; first mate, 1007.; second mate, 807. third mate, 607.; surgeon, 1007. ; twenty-five seamen and apprentices, 6007.; ten firemen, at 60s., 3607.; one engineer at 1507., one at 1007., and one at 807., 3307.; one carpenter, 507.; oil, tallow, and tow for engines, and other small stores, 1,0007.

The distance from London to New York is about 3,000 nautical, or 3,500 English miles; and the speed of the vessels is taken from an average of the Dundee and Perth ships, Dublin and Liverpool post-office packets, Clyde and Liverpool, vessels, and Mediterranean packets: their averages giving a mean speed of ten statute miles per hour in all weathers. At this rate, the average passage will be from fourteen to fifteen days to New York; and, allowing for prevailing eastward and current winds, about eleven to twelve days home. The fuel is taken at the rate of 9lbs. per horse-power the hour. The quantity each vessel is supposed to take is for twenty days' consumption, or about 500 tons.

This

Such was the plan. On further reflection, it was so far altered, that the Company, increasing their capital from half a million to a whole one, at the same time concluded to concentrate their efforts, at present, on one grand ship, to be built in this port-and hence the origin of the Victoria. mammoth craft is truly the naval curiosity of the age: her tonnage is stated at over 1,800, nearly 500 more than that of her Bristol rival. Her length on the water-line is 230 feet, the length of keel exceeding, we suppose, that of any existing man-of-war; extreme length, 253; 40 feet breadth of beam, and 27 feet depth of hold; whole breadth, including paddlə-boxes, 69; displacement, 2740 tons; draught, when laden, 16 feet; cylinders, 78 inches diameter; paddle-wheel, 30 do.; with two engines of 250 horse-power each. The calculation is, that this vessel may take 500 passengers of various classes-which is painly relied on for her chief business and support--together with 1000 tons of measurement goods, (which we consider rather a liberal scheine, considering that we have twenty-five days' fuel on board.) The cost of the Victoria, by the way is rated at 100,000Z., which alone indicates sufficiently the power put into her. Her sailing apparatus is as unprecedented as her steam and her size; but all this is nothing, so long as Victoria sits at the gates of Limehouse, and the experiment remains untried. This ship will be afloat, we hear, in a few weeks, and ready for sea in the course of the summer. One of the boats talked of as meant for American commerce, is an iron one, launched lately at Birkenhead, 213 feet long, and divided below into six compartments on the

new plan. Another is the Liverpool, built by Sir John Tobin, of 1,010 tons measurement, with engines of 460 horse-power, rated to cost 48,0007.-rivalling the Bristol boat in some respects, and in her length, which is 240 feet, coming between her and the Victoria. We should here name also the Columbus, a small experimental boat, on the quicksilver plan, propelled by Howard's patent vapour engines, and announced to carry fifty days' fuel at the same immersion as a common steam-vessel, of equal power and tonnage, can carry twelve days' fuel. This modest candidate for the contest has been fitted up in this port-making, certainly, very little noise about it-and has already gone round, by stages, to Liverpool, trying he self on the way, with the view, it is now said, of going directly out to New York. The papers state, that she will attend one of the regular Liners.

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Thus far England. We are permitted, active as Jonathan usually is, to establish the steam navigation-if we can-as we did that of the sailing-packets. That the Americans, unlike us, universally and implicitly believe in the practicability (we do not say the policy or present continuance) of this scheme-that they take the rival of the Sirius and her train, as a mere matter of course-nobody, who knowns anything of their habits and notions on such subjects, can for a moment doubt. Nearly half a century ago, and twenty years before Fulton manufactured his first boats, Fitch, of Philadelphia,-who, by the way, preceded him in one sense, and who then inade a boat that ran eight miles an hour on the Delaware,-Fitch, in 1790, boldly predicted the future and early navigation of the Atlantic by steam. This prophecy was in a well-known letter addressed to the astronomer Rittenhouse. He was called crazy, to be sure; but that also was a matter of course. The idea, still, was forced on the national mind, and doing and seeing what they have since, they could not but adopt it as they do. Among the rest,-let us not forget it, in our willingness to meet the opponents of the theory of this project, on their own ground-they have seen this same thing done! We have not lately observed any notice of the fact, but we take it to be well authenticated, that a steam-ship arrived at Liverpool, in 1819, directly from the United States, we believe from Savannah; and, that a boat was some years ago built in New Orleans, (possibly the same,) for the Emperor of Russia, and sent out to him. It is quite recently, if we mistake not, that the Royal William went out to Halifax--which point, Dr. Lardner allows, if we understand him rightly, is within the potential reach of a