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The Fireside.

** In order to employ one part of this life in serious and imporirm occupations, it is necessary to spend another in mere amuseats."-JOHN LOCKE.

** There is a time to laugh and a time to weep."-Solomon.

No. IX.

VIVENT LES BAGATElles.

SOLUTIONS TO THE PUZZLES, &c. IN OUR LAST. 42. Cut-throat.

43. Chat-on (Chaton.) Anglice, catkin. Blunder-buss.

45. Because it is notable (not able.)

46. Because it is no vice (novice.)

V. Because he is a man cheat (manchet.)
18. Step-father.

19. Because he has accuracy (a curacy.)
10. Because it is man's laughter (manslaughter.)

NEW CONUNDRUMS, CHARADES, &c.

CHARADES.

-$1. The sailor knows my worth: by me
He learns what course to steer at sea:
Beheaded, is my head adorn'd
With nature's finest skill; I'm horn'd,
Range in the forest, graze the fertile mead,
Evade pursuit, and dart before the steed:
Again beheaded, ladies try your best,
Use but my aid, then is my name confest.
Ladies, your servant;-At your toilet, I
My penetrating powers do often try;

And though my better part with swine is bred,
It is my skill adorns your sapient head:

Beheaded, I'm not worth a-what?

My name's almost confest, no more of that:

Again my head cut off, then, lovely ladies,

K.

Silence! be still!-ah, me! my name betray'd is.

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By dropping the first letter from the first syllable of the name in full, and from each part of it in succession, six Greek words are formed, which, translated in the order of the numerals, signify-Napoleon being a raging Lion going about destroying Cities.

Spinning-A boy having neglected to do some twine spinning, allotted to him as a task, was flogged by his master for his idleness. After receiving his punishment, he remained sullen. His master ordered him to go to work. "What! do you take me for a top," said the urchin," to spin the more I'm whipped ?"

A Roland for an Oliver.-A countryman of the county of Berks, who recently appeared as a witness in a cause, was thus addressed by the advocate for the opposite party, -"How now, you fellow in the leathern doublet, what are you to have for swearing ?"-"Please your Worship," quoth the countryman, "if you get no more by bawling and lying than I do by swearing, you will soon be in a leathern doublet as well as I."

The Liver.

SPECULATIONS RESPECTING THE CHANGES WHICH
ARE PRESUMED TO HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN THE
ESTUARY OF THE RIVER MERSEY, AND THE OP.
POSITE COASTS OF CHESHIRE.

(Continued from the Kaleidoscope of January 8.)

In our publication of January 8, we entered at considerable length into the subject of which the following article is intended as a continuation. We noticed the reWhy is a silly woman like one with a bad set of mains of the forest on the Lancashire coast, near Crosby, Why is a person who pretends to have the head-strong presumption that the estuary of the Mersey, now as well as upon the opposite shores of Cheshire, affording like one who is intoxicated with good wine. K.

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USEFUL AMUSEMENTS.

SOLUTION.

answer to the question in the Kaleidoscope, of the
of this month, relative to the calculation of the duty
20,341 yards of calico, it is to be observed, that this
er was first considered as so many pounds sterling,
afterwards simply divided by 200, the principle of
ch operation is this: the duty per lb. three half-pence,
be one hundred and sixtieth part of a pound sterling.
10 from this deducting 20 per cent.,
2
th is one-fifth part of it, viz. there will necessa-
1600

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so extensive, was once land, intersected by a river of in-
significant breadth. We also introduced an interesting
article connected with the subject, which had appeared in
a late number of the Liverpool Courier, and we now have
pleasure in laying before our readers a continuation of that

article, from the same journal.

In the next Kaleidoscope we shall have some further observations of our own to make on this interesting topic, as we have been at some pains to seek for information concerning the ancient topography of our neighbourhood.

[Fom the Liverpool Courier.]

is, upon the same authority, placed in lon. 18 00, and lat.
57 30; he concludes, that the "Beli-sama" of this ancient
topographer is the mouth of the Mersey. Without, how-
ever, demurring to the accuracy of the longitude, how are
wę to reconcile the latitude thus laid down, as marking
the situation of the river, which, according to this writer,
is nearly three degrees further north than its actual posi-
tion? This is the only attempt to prove that the estuary
of the Mersey was at all noticed by the Roman historians,
(at least the only one that has fallen under our notice,)
and we see what little dependence is to be placed upon the
position of the river, when it is not laid down within 170
miles of its true situation. It is a singular fact, that the
Roman stations in this neighbourhood are described in
the Itineraries of Richard, Antonine, &c., such as War-
rington, Manchester, and Chester; but no notice seems to
have been taken of any portion of the estuary of the Mer-
sey. Hence it would appear, that the estuary of the
Mersey did not exist at that period; or, if it did, its
stream was so inconsiderable that the Romans thought it
unworthy of notice. Now, if we take up the first of these
opinions, we may suppose that the Mersey then disem-
bogued its waters through Wallasey Pool, in a compara-
tively shallow stream, and perhaps unnavigable at its
mouth, from being spread out among sand-banks, and
thus found its way into the sea by Hoylake. In this case
there would then be no egres for the water at the Rock
Point. If this fact could be established, we should have
a ready solution to the difficult question which we sub-
mitted in our publication of the 26th ult., as to the exist-
ence of forests, the remains of which now lie buried under
the tideway on our own shores, as well as those of Cheshire.
from the Rock Point to the entrance of the Dee. One of
three things must be certain,-that these remains must have
been relics of the antediluvian world; that they have been,
by some at this period unknown phenomena of nature,
removed to the present situation, from a considerable dis-
tance; or, that they must have grown on the precise spot
where they are now found. There are, it must be confessed',
great difficulties to be removed before we can embrace
any of the three opinions above stated: the former is, we
think, less probable than the second, and the latter more
likely than either.

That Great Britain was, previously to the invasion of the Romans, a land of forests and thickets, and that the aborigines were a rude and savage people, subsisting, principally, by the precarious supplies of the chase, is a matter of history, which no one doubts. The traffic carried on by the Romans, to and from this country, was very considerable; amongst the imports may be enumerated sugar from Arabia and India, ginger, pepper, writing paper, &c. The exports consisted of tin, gold, silver, iron, lead, hides, cattle, slaves, British dogs, gems, muscle bone, horse collars, amber toys, glass vessels, marl, to enpearls, jet, baskets, oysters, horses, horse bits of polished rich the marshy countries on the banks of the Rhine, bears, to supply sport and give dignity to the entertainments of Roman amphitheatres, salt from Cheshire, and its port Felix on the east, and Lancashire its port Sistuncorn; this latter article alone employed not less than eight hundred vessels every year for its transit. Yorkshire had tian, or Ribble, on the west, from whence they made those exports of the commodities produced in this part of the country.

During the latter part of the reign of the Emperor Vespasian, in the year 78, the Ordovices of North Wales were attacked by the Romans, under Paulinus; and in the early part of the year following Agricola led his victorious le gions to the reduction of Lancashire." The main body appears to have advanced by the way of Warrington. The inhabitants of the north-western regions of Cheshire, the hardy Ceangi, or herdsmen of the Carnabii, were secure in the protection of their bogs and forests, and had not submitted to the Roman arms: but Agricola pursued them to the last retreat of their marshes on the banks of the Mersey, then attacked and defeated them near NorThe geographical history of the ancient boundaries of ton, and subdued the whole country, which soon after, the river Mersey is very little known, and, indeed, it is under the refining government of the Romans, exhibited, subject of doubt whether the entrance of the river was on one side of their line of conquests, a pleasing picture of known or described by the Roman geographers, to whom cities and corn-fields in the bosom of woods, and on the we are so much indebted for accurate descriptions of other, one uniformly dreary scene of mosses, thickets, teresting facts connected with the history of that warlike Here, then, we have the fact of the banks of the Mersey numerous stations, roads, encampments, and other in- and marshes, brown heaths, and solitary mansions.' nation, when they had subdued this portion of the coun- being the site of bogs and forests as early as the year 79; try, very soon after the commencement of the Christian and it may be presumed, that, as there was no Roman era. It is, indeed, very true that a celebrated modern station on the shores of the Mersey nearer than that of antiquary, of great research, has attempted to prove that Warrington, these forests might have continued for centhe Beli-sama," or "current of waters," of Ptolemy, is turies after that period, more especially as we have no the Mersey, the mouth of which he describes as being account of any settlement or town until Liverpool was placed in lon. 17 deg. 30 min. and lat. 57 deg. 20 min.; and, first brought into notice, about seven centuries ago. We taking the relative distance and bearing of this point with have then two facts before us, the existence of forests on Rhigodunum," supposed by him to be Blackrode, which the shores of the Mersey and north-western parts of the

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246

coast of Cheshire in "olden times;" and that those forests
were, at least in part, cut down, and not swept away, we
have occular proof in the present day, from the stumps
and roots which remain. The probability that Cheshire
and Lancashire were once united, at the point now sepa-
rated by the estuary of the Mersey, is also supported by
the circumstance of its being unnoticed by the Romans, who
were so minutely accurate in investigating other parts of
the newly-acquired territory in the same neighbourhood.
Having, then, supposed the union of the two counties, for
the purpose of accounting for the existence of forests where
now the waters of the deep exercise their undisputed sove-
reignty, it may be said, that, to avoid Scylla, we are run-
ning on Charybdis; to overcome one difficulty we are
creating another of greater magnitude. How are we to
account for the presence of our noble estuary of the Mer-
sey? This, we confess, is a subject beset with doubt, and,
in the absence of all historical narrative as to the fact of its

nature, be mainly hypothetical; and we shall be exceed
ingly happy to see the subject treated in a way better cal-
culated to account for the present extent of the boundaries
of the deep, taken in connexion with those relics of former
days, which are now hidden below its surface.

Comprehending Notices of new Discoveries or Improve-
Scientific Notices.
ments in Science or Art; including, occasionally, sin-
gular Medical Cases; Astronomical, Mechanical, Phi-
losophical, Botanical, Meteorological, and Mineralogical
Phenomena, or singular Facts in Natural History;
Vegetation, &c.; Antiquities, &c.

SKETCHES OF THE ELEMENTS OF NATURAL
PHILOSOPHY,

all their revolutions upon the bosom of this ocean of etherial fire! And shall we, for one moment, hesitate to admit is capability of supporting these bodies, of attracting and holding the particles of which they are formed, in perfe chemical combination?

Accompanied with Sketches of a New Theory of the Earth

By J. L. E. W. SHECUT.-Charleston, 1826.

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 210.)

from which they proceed, or by which they are acoral, The phenomena that invariably accompany these am litic substances, have been admitted by the most emine philosophers to be strictly electrical; that is, the mete panied; and when we consider the materials of whi these bodies are composed, we can no longer hesitate yielding to the fact, that they are of electrical origin. Mr. Howard, Vauquelin, and others, afford sufficiel ma constituents of these bodies, which are found to be as The results of the chemical analysis of these stones, as proofs of the correctness of the opinion which I have vocated. These eminent chemists have all agreed as to t lows: 1. Iron. 2. Nickel. 3. Chromium. 4. Col

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sudden appearance, is an exceedingly difficult subject to look at. If, however, we were to say that a certain place in this county, which was once a port, is now six or seven miles distant from the water, who would credit us? Yet such is the fact. The Ribble was once the most distinguished river in the county, and was used by the Romans Sulphur. 7. Silica. 8. Manganese. 9. Lime. 10 in preference to any other, and emphatically called the Proofs of the atmospheric Origin of Aërolites, or Meteoric Some have been found wanting of several of these bo mina. 11. Magnesia. These constituents are n "Port of Lancashire," being eight or ten miles wide at riably present in all the specimens that have been c its mouth, and the stream running inland up to Ribcheszed; but are meant to convey an idea of the agg ter. Now, however, the tide does not approach that vil- the electric fluid, sect. 4, I have devoted much attention to of these stones is, that which has been enumerated ab result of the various analyses that have been made of lage within several miles, and the navigable channel of this wonderful and important subject; an abridged view In my sixth lecture on the principles and properties of from them; but the result of the most remarkable aral Stones. the Ribble is considerably narrowed. Popular tradition of which I shall give in this section. We have the most these stones drawn up by that indefatigable naturaliser while others have been deficient of some others differ ascribes this mighty change to some violent convulsion of respectable authorities for proving, that, from time to time, Izarn; from which, sixteen have been considered of nature. Whitaker, in reference to this singular circum- there have fallen from the atmosphere upon the earth, pon-portance towards the establishment of the fact of stance, observes, "Tradition, the faithful preserver of derous masses of metallic substances, termed aerolites, or occurrence, and the diversity of their appearance, In Thomson's chemical works, we perceive & tab maple many a fact which history has overlooked or forgotten, meteoric stones, some of which have been found to exceed will account for the different results of their analysis. speaks confidently of such a cause, ascribing the final ruin thirty tons, or sixty thousand pounds weight! Occur- first is the shower of sulphur recorded by Moses a of Ribchester to the overwhelming violence of an earth-rences of this kind, though not always to the same extent, 19th chapter of Genesis, 24th verse. quake. And nothing but such an incident, I think, could have been recorded by Moses in the Bible, and, subse- fourteen quintals, noticed by Pallas, as having falle have originally changed the nature of this, once the most quently, by Livy, Pallas, Pliny, Dion, Cardan, Muschen. Abakanh in Siberia. 3. The shower of stones, menti remarkable estuary in the county, and have thrown up broek, De Lalande, Foureroy, Thompson, Jameson, by Livy, which fell at Rome, Anno 640 before that large and broad barrier of sand which crosses the en- Brande, and a host of other eminent philosophers. trance into it, almost choaks the inlet of the tide, and 2. A mass of in contracts the original breadth of the navigable channel, there is nothing like them in the earth, and that their de- which fell, near the river Negos in Thrace, in the from its majestic extent of eight or nine miles, to the nar- scent to the earth is always preceded by, or accompanied of the 78th Olympiad, recorded by Pliny. 6. The facts most remarkable in these stones are, that Christ, recorded by Obsequens. 5. A very large row span of a hundred yards.' 4. A similar shower of stones at Rome 324 year meteors that have been observed, resembled each other in Wednesday, the 7th November, 1492, accompa their characters. They were luminous, at a very great loud thunder. This stone was, by order of K with, meteors or other aerial phenomena. Almost all the weighing 255lb., which fell near Basle at Ensester height, moved very swiftly, and disappeared in a short millian, deposited in the church of Ensesheim. time; their disappearance was usually accompanied by a fall of 1200 stones in the year 1510, near Padua loud explosion, like a clap of thunder; and it was always one of which weighed 120lbs., recorded by Cardin constantly affirmed, that heavy stony bodies fell from them others. 8. A burning stone which fell on Mountai to the earth. Previous to their fall, they move in a direc-in Provence, on the 27th November, 1627, record tion nearly horizontal, and they seem to approach the earth Gassendi, which weighed 50lbs. 9. A stone of S showers of sand, sulphur, &c. or the falling of stones. Some- which fell at Larissa, with a hissing noise and the sce before they explode, and the explosion is followed by which fell near Verona in the year 1672. 10. Ae times the stones continue luminous till they sink in the earth; sulphur, in 1706, recorded by Lucas. 11. In 1955 but, most commonly, the luminousness disappears at the Leland witnessed a phenomenon of the same kind time of the explosion. They are always hot when they Pont de Vesle. 12. In 1768, three of these stones fe fall, and differ in size, from a few ounces to several tons; different parts of France. they are usually roundish, and always covered with a black fell in England, recorded by Cavallo. 14. Ia crust, which, from the analysis of Howard, consists chiefly there was a shower of stones near Agen, witness of oxide of iron. In many cases, they smell strongly of Darcet and others. 15. In December, 1795, a st sulphur. 13. In 1783, one of these space unconnected with any planetary system; that they the Philosophical Magazine; besides various o Some of the ancients considered these stones to be of vol- it weighed 56lbs.-(Brande.)-16. A mass of iron, canic origin. Others, that they were bodies floating in cubic feet, fell in America, April 5, 1800, recor in Yorkshire, England, near the house of Major Top their rapid motion through the atmosphere. Some, again, parts of the world, together with showers of sand consider them to be little planets, which, circulating in of sulphur, and of mercury.-Thomson, vol. were attracted by the earth in their progress, and kindled by smaller dimensions, from 7 to 60lbs., which fell in space, fall into the atmosphere, which, by its friction, di. 17. M. De Humboldt has announced, that an minishes the velocity, so that they fall by their weight. La has been found, which is truly a volcanic productio Place suggests the probability of their having been thrown being formed of crystals of pyroxene; but he don off by the volcanoes of the moon. Mr. Thompson considers having been projected to the earth by a volcano of them fragments of fire balls. But the most probable opi-moon. nion of the origin of these aerial visitants, appears to me to the particles of matter, and which constitutes a pri be that advanced by Mr. King and Sir William Hamilton, feature in my Theory of the Earth, has been some That they are concretions actually formed in the atmo- confirmed by the conclusion of Sir H. Davy's experime sphere ;" and this conclusion, it is said, has been acceded The capacity of the gases for holding in sol to by most philosophers.-(Annals of Philosophy, &c.) men, and for believing these bodies to be of atmospheric or electrical origin. It will be recollected, that my theory I have several reasons for concurring with these gentleof electricity considers magnetism as one of its species. I have already explained, in the preceding sections, the astonishing influence and powers of the great physical agents, and their properties of attraction and repulsion; contraction and cohesion; the polarizing or magnetizing powers of the violet ray and the influence of these agents, as constituting the etherial fluids of the firmament. We have only, therefore, to reflect upon the all prevading and allsustaining qualities of these fluids, to believe that innumerable words are suspended and kept within their orbits, receive their fuel and their fires, and are made to perform

Ancient history fully supports the belief, that a great and mighty change has been gradually going on, for the last ten or twelve centuries, in the boundaries of the sea to the westward, so much so, that the lands forming the Scilly Islands, the Isle of Wight, &c. formerly united with the main land, are now detached by a considerable channel; and a great portion of the coasts of Cornwall and Devonshire has been invaded and swept away by encroachments of the sea. upon good authority, were formerly only ten in number, The Scilly Islands, it is stated though they are now upwards of one hundred and forty. Thus we find that changes, equal in magnitude to those which we have conceived probable in our own neighbourhood, have taken place in other parts of the kingdom; and it is not travelling much beyond the region of probability to suppose, that a commercial, enterprising, and acute people, such as were the Romans, would have availed themselves of the estuary of the Mersey for the export of heavy articles of merchandise found in its vicinity, if it bad been practicable to have used it for such a purpose. Now, we confess, we see nothing violently improbable in the supposition, that the same cause, or series of causes, which may, in the lapse of time, have produced the extraordinary changes further to the northward or westward, as in the cases just alluded to, may have produced changes equally important and extraordinary at the entrance of this river. That a revolution producing an entire alter. ation in the face of things, for several miles distant from the mouth of this river, has taken place, we entertain not the slightest doubt. In addition to the facts which we have already mentioned of the encroachments of the water on the Cheshire shores, we have since learned, that if the sand banks, which lie several miles distant from the present shore, be penetrated to a sufficient depth, evidence of their covering what was formerly dry land is furnished, by grass, peat, and other vegetable matter being found at the bottom. There is nothing more singular in supposing that the mouth of the river Mersey has, from a very narrow stream, been forced open by the tide to its present width, or that the estuary was broken up by a sudden convulsion of nature, where once no water flowed, (the old river running through Wallasey,) than in the singular fact, which we are obliged to admit, of the sea now occupying many miles of space which was, at one time, land. The very same process which would effect the latter circumstance, would, in its operation, be sufficient to accomplish the former. We offer these thoughts, with much deference, upon a subject which must, from its very

on ammonia, of which Henty says, "If this should be
a metallic oxide, whose natural state is that of an aeri
fluid."—(Henry, vol. 1. p. 201.)
novelty and curiosity, namely, the existence of a meta
tablished, we shall obtain proof of a fact of the gi

influence of the Supreme First Cause; and to refer to
as competent to every possible event and contingerer
nature, novel and curious as it might appear, it would
vey the idea, that such was probably the primitive state
To the mind prepared to acknowledge the omnipot
the primordial mass of matters at the Creation; that
their "natural state was that of aeriform fluids," holding
solution the base of all bodies, and existing in the condition
described in the 6th sect. p. 14. I have also remarked on
the influence of the three simple gases, hydrogen, oxyge
and nitrogen, as extending to the utmost limits of our st

mosphere; and when we take into consideration the mag newing influence of the violet ray of light, and the mag netic metals that constitute these bodies, it appears to me, that something like a clue to their origin offers itself from all these peculiar circumstances, when taken in conpexion. My conclusion has, therefore, heen, that upon the same principles that water holds in solution particles of various substances, of minerals, metals, and metallic oxides, evidenced in different mineral springs, whose exhalations are continually mixing with the matters of the atmosphere, that these gases, after having been absorbed by water in und apon the earth, may hold in solution particles of desmposed or oxidized metals and minerals, not however s constituent principles, but merely as so many adventious combinations, which, in their liberation from the th, they convey into the higher regions of the atmobere, in which the oxygen and nitrogen gases, in the act their renewal, are disengaged from these particles: and se, by virtue of the electro-magnetic attraction, are ught readily to combine, and thus to constitute the eleus of these aërolitic compounds, which continue to olve with our atmosphere, and to accumulate similar atters, until disturbed by the causes occasioning their ition, and consequent explosion or projection to the th; and these causes I conceive to be, either the sponeous inflammation of the substances, or their gravita towards the region of thunder and lightning in the er strata of the atmosphere, by which they are exploded. this opinion of their formation in the atmosphere acres stil greater weight, when it is considered that eous vapours are abundant in the lower regions of the osphere, and hold in solution particles of silex, alue&e.; that these vapours may be rarified and coned into hydrogen, still holding in solution these parwhich, uniting with those of the metals, become accreted in the atmosphere, where they may continue Teasing in magnitude, and revolve for ages, or until arrive at those limits to which, by a law of nature, they Apon this principle we may very rationally account for The showers of sulphur, which have fallen in different parts 7. world since that recorded by Moses, and the shower ed dust which fell at Gerace in Calabria during a der storm. The analysis of this dust proved it to be same origin with the meteoric stones. "Its constiEats were silica, alumina, iron, and cromium; mixed the rain it became black; when exposed to a red heat effervesced with acids."-(Annals of Philosophy, for uary, 1817.)-It is highly probable that this had been rent formation, in which the iron and chromium had

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cemented by the silica and alumina; that it had not arrived at the necessary degree of compactness and Iness, when it came within the sphere of the influence hining, and was thus exploded and precipitated to the in the form of red dust. And, upon similar principles, my account for the occurrence of these phenomena in arm of small stones, sand, fire, mercury, &c. From megoing considerations I have been induced to conthat these bodies are produced by electro-magnetic ction, since no other than magnetic metals have ever detected in them; and in them only have all the magnetic metals been found in combination; and rings me to the consideration of the numerous metals have been lately discovered and added to the former

que.

The Kaleidoscope.

GYMNASTIC AND CALLISTHENIC EXERCISES.

fer having, for many years, recommended gymnastic
blishments in our native town, it affords us much gra-
tion to perceive that the youth of Liverpool have now
opportunity of acquiring proficiency in an art which,
eminent degree, combines the "utile dulci."
the object of the gymnastic exercises is to put in action
the muscles of the body, many of which, in the ordi-
routine motions of walking, or of daily exercise, are
Tom brought into active play. It is well known that a
kor delicate person, by the partial exercise of certain
scles, will be able to perform feats which a much more
st person, who has not had the same practice, finds
self unable to accomplish.

Thus, we have seen very delicate persons possessed of fonishing muscular power in the fingers of the left hand, quired simply by playing the violin, violoncello, or

double bass; and it is notorious, that a strong man will of the great utility of this excellent establishment. A poor
soon become tired of dangling or nursing a young child, woman, whose husband was in the Infirmary, was reduced,
which a delicate girl will carry in her arms for hours to- with her family, to the most pinching distress, and might
gether, with apparent ease. It must be obvious, therefore, have starved, if the proprietor of the cellar in which she
that a series of exercises which agreeably bring into suc-lived had not had compassion on her. Upon hearing of
cessive action all the muscles of the body, will, if perse- her case, a lady of our particular acquaintance called
vered in, wonderfully improve the general strength, and, upon her, to ascertain her actual situation. She asked the
consequently, the health of those who practise them. poor woman why she had not applied for relief from the
Some persons appear almost terrified at the very term parish? Her reply was, that, if she did so, she and her
gymnastic, which they have been accustomed to associate children would be sent to Ireland; and that she would
with the idea of immense and painful muscular exertion, subunit to any privation rather than leave Liverpool, as
incompatible with the powers of delicate persons. This is, her husband would be out of the Infirmary in a week or
however, a mistake, as they will soon discover, if they will two, when he could get work again. Now, we do not
put themselves in training under an experienced master, mean to say that the parish officers will give no relief to
who knows how to husband their powers, and to direct persons in the situation of this poor woman; the law,
their efforts. There are, it is true, gymnastic feats taught we believe, requires that the relief should be in the way of
by the professors of the art, which can only be performed removal: but we think it very natural that the woman
by persons of great natural strength and activity; but should be reluctant to be separated from her husband, and
these feats are by no means the most useful that can be sent to Ireland, where she would have no claim upon any
taught :-there is an endless variety and gradation of mus- one for assistance. It is in such cases as this that the
cular exploits, which may be acquired by the most delicate Strangers' Friend Society visitors step in, and, by dispens-
persons, with the most unquestionable advantage to their ing a shilling or two, for two or three weeks, prevent star-
strength and general health.
Ivation, or the breaking up of a miserable family, tempo-
It is impossible to set bounds to the improvement of the arily deprived, by sickness, of the support of their father."
human mind, and it is almost equally vain to limit the Without meaning to dictate to those who have the
capabilities of the human frame when duly cultivated. It management of the poor, we cannot omit expressing an
is said of Alexander Selkirk, that long practice and neces-opinion, that it would not only be humane, but prudent
sity had enabled him to outstrip the deer and other ani- also, to afford some temporary assistance to persons in the
mals, which he hunted for subsistence. This speed was situation of this poor woman. Had she been sent to
acquired by habit, which has, with great propriety, been Ireland, she would, in all probability, have returned, as
termed "second nature." It is well known that a prac-soon as she learned that her husband had recovered: or,
tised pedestrian will distance the best horse in a few days, perhaps, he would have got himself passed, and have gone
or, to adopt the regular phraseology, a man will "walk to Ireland to bring her back to England, not being able
down a horse." From Turton's edition of Goldsmith's to find employment in his native country.
Earth and Animated Nature, we learn, that "the king's
messengers of Ispahan, who are runners by profession, go
thirty-six leagues (or 108 miles) in fourteen hours."

If we recollect well, the immortal Socrates, at an advanced period of life, learned to dance; and we have always admired the old Grecian for having had the philosophy to defy the sneers of his cotemporaries, after he had once made up his mind that their ridicule was directed against a practice conducive to his health and cheerfulness. What are termed the Callisthenic exercises, intended for females, may be practised with perfect propriety and advantage by young ladies of eight or nine years of age, and upwards. The system has been encouraged in many of the most respectable seminaries in this country, and on the Continent; and has been uniformly attended with the most obvious benefit to the pupils.

Once more we congratulate the ladies and gentlemen of Liverpool upon the introduction of gymnastic and callisthenic exercises among them; and we trust that, at no distant period, the system will be generally introduced, to counteract the evils which are inseparable from sedentary habits, or neglect of exercise.

We shall venture, in conclusion, to address to gymnastic and callisthenic pupils the advice which an illustrious Roman gave to his son, and which is particularly applicable to the subject. "Amusements (says Cicero) ought to be enjoyed like sleep; which, if used to excess, becomes dangerous and instead of reviving the powers of the mind, render them torpid."

What a subject for melancholy contemplation is the condition of the wretched Irish, whose wants drive them to England, to depreciate the wages of the poor English. man!

In order to facilitate the access of needy persons to the visitors of the Strangers' Friend Society, and prevent poor shivering wretches from wandering up and down the town, seeking for some subscriber, to furnish them with recommendations, there is an office, No. 1, Love-lane, where a person attends to fill up the notes, and direct applicants to the residence of the visitors. No establishment can be more economically managed than this. The person who attends to fill up these notes keeps a little shop, and is content, in order to eke out a scanty living, to fill up the blanks for six shillings a week; and, when it is known that, during the past year, several thousand recommendations have been filled up at this office alone; and, when it is recollected, that, owing to this arrangement, the subscribers are spared the trouble of much personal application by poor people, we think they ought, in fairness, to contribute something towards the expenses, as the regular funds of the Strangers' Friend Society cannot be appropriated to such purpose. Hitherto, however, the wages of the agent has, we think, rather unfairly, been paid by us, as will appear by the following statement, which we publish with a view of inducing some of our townsmen to lighten a burden which ought not to fall exclusively to our share, as a great deal of personal inconvenience, independent of expense, attaches to us, from the publicity of our office, and our known connexion with the society.

Thus, in the exercises we are recommending, it is particularly desirable to use them, especially at first, with great moderation, and to desist before they produce fatigue Dr. THE STRANGERS' FRIEND SOCIETY OFFICE..Cr. or uneasiness, remembering the old adage"Gutta cavat lapidem, non vi, sed sæpe cadendo."

THE STRANGERS' FRIEND SOCIETY.

IN ACCOUNT WITH EGERTON SMITH.
Dec. 23, 1826. £ s. d. Feb. 7. 1827.
To Balance rendered 7 7 2 By Contributions,
Dec. 31, 1827.
from J. R. Freme, R.
ToCash pd. (53 week's
Rathbone, & H. Wil-
Wages, at 6s.)... 15 18 0 son, Esqrs. £1 each,,
Feb. 20, 1827.

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In reply to our frequent and urgent appeals in its behalf,
we have often been asked wherein the peculiar merits of
the Strangers' Friend Society consist? We will adduce
one case, to which thousands of a similar description To Balance due...15 5 24
might be added, and which may serve to explain our views

Dec. 31, 1827.

£ s. d.

-300

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Correspondence.

ON FEMALE SERVANTS.

As this whject is of much importance, and one which snears likely to grow upon our hands, we shall, for the future, confine i e discussion to the Kaleidoscope as the daims noon the columns of a newspaper are too numerous and diversified to admit of ample space for the insertion of what may be considered moral essays. As the resig of J. S. D., to a letter of Mr. Macgowan, has already appeared in the Kaleidoscope, we shall take advantage of our supplemental number to transfer from the Mercury another letter of Mr. M., in order that the series may be aninterrupted. This we shall, next week, follow up with the second reply of J. 8. D.; and we sincerely hope that the duaruasion will fead to a right understanding of that noer important duty-the conduct of the employer to the employed.

to the editor.

SIR,-Your correspondent J. S. D. thinks the misconduct of servants is occasioned more by the misconduct of masters, than by the defects of the laws; and in this opinion he may be correct. I fully agree with him that those masters and mistresses who prevent their servants from attending a place of religious worship and instruction on the Sabbath, are themselves totally destitute of true religion.

The Apostle's directions for the conduct of masters are quite as agreeable to me as those which he gives for the

to be found in this town may be attributed, in a great
measure, to the want of those salutary regulations which
prevail in the North? If those regulations are thought
too severe, why not try one half of the penalties which they
impose? Some wise and moderate enactment on this subject
would, unquestionably, tend very much to fill the pockets
of many active and skilful, but unruly maids, because, as
I have said before, it would oblige them to give greater sa-
tisfaction to their employers, and, of course, to obtain
higher wages.

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Hope-street, Jan. 7, 1828.

JAMES MACGOWAN.

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APPEALS AGAINST THE SUPPLEMENTARY CHARGES
FOR ASSESSED TAXES.
THE COMMISSIONERS acting for this Borough, in
execution of the Acts relating to Assessed Taxes, will attend
at their Office, No. 23, SLATER-STREET, to hear and deter-
mine the appeal of all such Persons as may feel aggrieved
by the Supplementary or increased charges made upon them
for the year 1827. (excepting the charges made for Clerks,
Warehousemen, Porters, and Cellarmen, which are specially White to move, and win with the pawn in twelvens
appointed, as stated below,) on

WEDNESDAY, the 23d instant, for all Persons within Mr.
Walthew's district, No. 1;

FRIDAY, the 25th instant, for Persons within Mr. Dowdall's
district, No. 2;

SATURDAY, the 26th instant, for Persons within Mr. Ward's
district, No. 3; and
MONDAY, the 28th instant, for Persons within Mr. Richard-
at Ten o'clock in the morning of each day.

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conduct of servants; and I should be no less willing to lative to the ASSESSED TAXES, intended as a Guide A Brief but Comprehensive SKETCH of the Laws repromote the improvement of the one class than of the other. to the Appellants against Surcharges.

Mr. J. 8. D. seems to have written under the impression that I was not altogether friendly to servants, and that I wished to see them behave with " abject submission." But what have I said or done to give any ground for such a supposition? Is there any thing unfriendly in wishing them to behave like Christians? or in wishing that the law should be so framed as to assist them to conduct themselves

with propriety? I am confident that a law, imposing a reasonable penalty on insolence and disobedience, would greatly promote the interest of servants; for it would enable them to remain some years in one place, and to obtain advanced wages, in consequence of their superior skill in performing the duties to which they had long been accustomed. I have had several maids, who were so clever, that I would willingly have doubled their wages at the end of one year, if they would only have refrained from incivility and disobedience.

BY THE EDITORS OF THE LIVERPOOL MERCURY.
SOLD AT THE MERCURY-OFFICE.

The following Publications, at the Mercury-office, Cla-
rendon-buildings, South John-street, Liverpool; and
may be had of the Agents of the Mercury and the
Kaleidoscope in Town and Country :-

VARIOUS SUGGESTIONS for PRESERVATION from

SHIPWRECK, and other Dangers of the Sea; containing va
rious Modes of expeditiously forming Rafts, from materials
always at hand; an approved Method of constructing a
Temporary Rudder; an expeditious Mode of converting any
of carrying out Anchors in Rough Weather;-Directions for
ordinary Boat into a Life Boat;-a safe and approved Mode
the Recovery of Persons apparently Drowned;-Precautions
against the Effects of Lightning at Sea;-Taylor's useful In-
structions for the Management of Ships at Single Anchor;--
Precautions against Infection;-and a great Variety of Mis-
cellaneous Suggestions, useful to Seamen in general. By
EGERTON SMITH.-Price Half-a-Crown. Illustrated by seve-
ral Engravings.

HOME TRUTHS, descriptive of the condition of Liverpool
in the Year 1811, originally published in the first Volume of
the Liverpool Mercury. To which is now added, an ORIGINAL
COUNTERPART, applicable to the condition of the Country
in the Year 1826. Written also for the Liverpool Mercury.—
Price Twopence

An elegantly engraved VIEW of the LIVERPOOL TOWNHALL, with a PLAN of the SPLENDID SUITE of ROOMS, and a full description of that admired Edifice.—Price Sixpence.

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To Correspondents.

SKETCHES OF THE LIFE OF MARY.-We wish to see the

tinuation of this original narrative before we decide up the propriety of giving it publicity. We fear that in course of what is to follow, there may be personal a local allusions too pointed to be mistaken, and which give offence to respectable families. If we should be taken in this apprehension, we will readily insert the rative in the Kaleidoscope, as a probable means of aiding writer, if she merits public sympathy.

If the correspondent, whose first communication appe this day's Kaleidoscope, will take the trouble to send office any time after Wednesday at noon, his messeng find a note addressed to Lares.

BAGATELLES. Our fair correspondent, Kitty, does not be aware that there are some rules which must not lated, even in the composition of the charade, &c. The bic division of the word should be observed; nor can bar be made out of barm and aid. We have inserted two collection elsewhere.

Subjection, or submission, is implied in the very name of servant; but, from what circumstance your correspondent infers that I am in favour of "abject" submission, I know not, unless he infers it from the terms of the Scripture directions for the conduct of servants. The words are"Servants, be obedient to your masters, with fear and trembling, not answering again ;" and in another place, "Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear." But Mr. J. S. D. is not entitled to infer, from these words of the Apostles Paul and Peter, both that the Scriptures are against abject submission, and that I am for it! I certainly think that servants ought to be obliged to be narvon, the Lakes of Llanberris, Conway, Llanrwst, Llan- SUPPLEMENTAL SHEET. As an equivalent for our c subject to their masters and mistresses, at least, in as great a degree as a midshipman is to his captain, or as gentlemen in inferior offices are required to be to those who are in higher offices. I suppose no honest man will attempt to maintain that the words of the Apostles imply less than this; and I have no desire to make them imply more.

My experience does not differ much from that of your correspondent with respect to Scotch servants. Many of them, on coming to Liverpool, and getting free from the wholesome restraint to which they have been accustomed, are but too apt to indulge their natural spirit of contradiction, as they see others do. But, does not this just tend to prove what I wanted to prove, that the insolence and disobediet of so large a proportion of the female servants

A TRIP to the CHAIN BRIDGE, near Bangor, and to other Parts of NORTH WALES, including Beaumaris, Car

gollen, &c. By a GENTLEMAN of LIVERPOOL-Price Sixpence.
EMIGRATION.

This Day is published, price Ninepence, at the Mercury-office,
Lord-street, Liverpool, and sold by the Agents of the Mer-
cury and Kaleidoscope,

REFLECTIONS on the subject of EMIGRATION from
EUROPE, with a view to Settlement in the UNITED STATES,
containing brief Sketches of the Moral and Political character

By M. CAREY, Member of the American Philosophical, and
of the American Antiquarian Society, and Author of the Olive
Branch, Vindicia Hibernica, Essays on Banking, on Political
Economy, and on Internal Improvement.

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This familiar Miscellany, from which all religious and political matters are excluded, contains a variety of original and selected Articles; comprehending LITERATURE, CRITICISM, MEN an MANNERS, AMUSEMENT, elegant EXTRACTS, POETRY, ANECDOTES, BIOGRAPHY, METEOROLOGY, the DRAMA, ARTS and SCIENCES, WIT and SATIRE, FASHIONS, NATURAL HISTORY, &c. form in handsome ANNUAL VOLUME, with an INDEX and TITLE-PAGE. Persons in any part of the Kingdom may obtain this Work from London through their respective Booksellers.

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0. 396.-Vol. VIII.

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Scientific Notices.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1828.

mprehending Notices of new Discoveries or Improve-derstood by all.
ments in Science or Art; including, occasionally, sin-
rular Medical Cases; Astronomical, Mechanical, Phi-
Tosophical, Botanical, Meteorological, and Mineralogical
Phenomena, or singular Facts in Natural History;
Vegetation, &c.; Antiquities, &c.

TESSRS. BURSTALL AND HILL'S STEAM-CARRIAGE.

The general speed of the model is 3 to 4 miles an hour, which can be kept up as long as the fuel and water last; but to show its power of sustaining rapid motion, it is, at any time, by giving more steam, impelled at a rate of 7 | to 8 miles; of course, these speeds are but the fourth part of those of the full sized coach. The most striking example of the power of this machine, was putting a boy, who stated We have visited the large room at the Golden Lion, his weight to be 6 score and 2 pounds, upon the top; he the purpose of inspecting the model of the intended was carried round the circle and up the hill, 1 in 18, with daneum for stage-coaches drawn by animal power. the greatest rapidity and apparent ease, clearly showing those who have visited the miniature vehicle, and wit-that a weight is no object with it.-Edit. Kal. edits operations, we need not say with what pleasure this was attended; but those who have not, we would strongsoommend to take advantage of the opportunity afforded , and speed to the Golden Lion, where they will find

PRICE 34d.

passengers. The engine occupies the hind boot, where it appears completely shut in, but in the model is seen at work from the top. It is, as will be noticed, immediately above the middle wheels, upon which it directly operates, and thus they become the propellers of the other four, which turn upon a swivel on the usual plan. These can be retarded or stopped, in running down hill, by a powerful lever and friction break, which acts on the two fore wheels, within reach of the conduetor; at the same time, by a crank and rod, the throttle valve is closed, which shuts off the steam: the engineer behind can likewise, at pleasure, stop the engine.

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"Over the hindmost wheels there is meant to be a seat for the engineer, who, by a balcony placed round the boiler, will, at any time, be able to inspect its surface, feed the furnace, (which is at present done by an opening in the funnel) and superintend the details of the machinery. We are assured, that although, in the model, the boiler does seem somewhat disproportioned, in the running coach it will not be more than 44 feet in height. It is, as will | be seen, of a bell. like shape, and ingeniously contrived so as to expose the greatest possible surface to the flame of the furnace, the ribs of which bend upwards in its infrom wrapping up his explanations in obscure or technical phraseology, he gives them in a manner that may be un-terior, in accordance with its external form. It consists of two cylinders of copper, which are apart at all points but the top and bottom rims, where they are attached to each other. Round the exterior surface of the inner plate a series of shelf-like troughs is fixed, each of which hold a considerable quantity of water, the top one being filled first by communication with the cistern, and that underneath becoming replenished from the overflow of the one immediately above, &c. The model boiler holds about one gallon of water, and the full-sized one in these cells would contain about forty. The principle of the engine is nearly that of the high pressure ones employed so extensively in Cornwall, and the boiler is made to bear a pressure of 300 pounds to the inch, although, in all proba bility, never more than 36 will be applied to it, as the The following article is copied from the Scots Times of safety-valve is only loaded to that extent. But, indeed, January 12, the editor of which, after complimenting Mr. | the pressure Mr. B. means to work with is only from 20 Burstall as "a plain, unaffected, good humoured, and portly to 25 pounds, as, by the inevitable shaking of the vehicle t trouble amply repaid by the novelty of the spectacle | Englishman, whose sole desire seemed to be that every visio on uneven roads, he expects that so much of the vapour ting them. Over a part of the room there is a circu- tor should become master of the details of his plan, which he will be dispelled as to render a contrivance for carrying off kind of lobby-cloth rail-road, round which the vehicle explained with a frankness and absence of every thing the surplus steam almost unnecessary. The waste pipe, its way, quickening or slackening its speed, accord-like quackery, or exhibition trick and finesse, that at once however, may be made to pass through the water tank, the pleasure of the conductor. It is kept in the did away with much of the prejudice with which, we are and thus, at once, partially condense the steam, and heat de by a slight rod, attached to the centre; this plan is free to confess, we went to view his model," thus pro- the water previous to its entering the boiler. No other pted solely from the contracted bounds of the scene of ceeds with the description:method of condensing is contemplated. The two cylinon, and, on being released from this, the carriage will "It is constructed on a scale of 3 inches to the foot, is 5 ders, for the engine is double, are situated on the axle of either a straight or meandering course, and it is feet 6 inches long, 16 inches over the wheels, and 1 foot the middle wheels, and are supplied through sliding valves. onishing to see with what precision it obeys the different | 10 inches high, the middle or propelling wheels being 13 They are to be 12 inches in diameter, and the pistons are pulses, or checks, given to its progress. The propelling inches in diameter. It is prepared for being deposited in to make a twelve inch stroke. The model only weighs achinery, which is thus conformable to orders, adds also the Patent Office in France, in which country Mr. B. is 150 pounds, and is impelled by one half horse-power; the desirable quality of obedience, that of great power, desirous of securing his right, and is exceedingly neat but the full-sized coach, with water and coke for a ten the carriage not only gets over different obstacles placed and well constructed, giving the spectator a complete idea mile stage, will be about three tons. The quantity of way with the greatest ease, but also bears a youth, of what aspect the Diligences" yet may have, which, water needed for this will be 600 pounds; of fuel, one avier, we should think, than itself, several times round | like this type, will have ، London and Paris, with the hundred weight; and at 25 pounds pressure the force circle, with no perceptible difference as to speed, or Bourbon and British arms upon the pannels. The full of an engine so fed will be ten-horse power. When the pparent difficulty in working. sized carriage, we are told, will be about one foot longer engine makes 75 strokes a minute, the speed, it is exthan a two horse stage coach and horses, 7 feet 4 inches pected, will average twelve miles an hour. Of course, this high to the roof, the wheels being the common breadth must be over ground of an average level, we presume, apart, and be made to carry six inside and twelve outside and, indeed, a visible diminution of speed is observable

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Burstall is a man of frank and open manners, and De found ready to give every information in his power; ed, it appears to be his desire to furnish this, and, far

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