but requires the least degree of fire of all metals, except tin, to put it in fusion. It acquires this fluid state long before it changes its colour; whereas the other metals, except tin, all become red-hot before they run after melting, it very readily calcines into a gray powder, which, if the fire be increased and the matter often stirred, becomes yellow, and afterwards of a fine florid red; this is the minium, or common red lead of the shops. If the fire be made yet more vehement, it runs into an oleaginous matter, which, as it cools, becomes of a yellowish or reddish colour, and is composed of a number of thin lamina: this is litharge. Though these several substances have nothing of the appearance of the metal they are produced from, yet, if a little iron filings be added to them over the fire, or only some pieces of charcoal, or any other oily inflammable matter be thrown in, they become lead again. The greater part of the acids act upon it. Acetic acid dissolves it. When combined with mercury, it forms a crystallizable alloy which becomes fluid when triturated with bismuth. Lead, while in the earth, enters into the substance of crystal. This is frequently the case with that crystal which is found about lead mines, the figure of which it renders a cube. It often does this without altering the colour; but when it tinges likewise, the tint it gives is yellow. The topaz, among the gems, owes its yellow colour to this metal; and, in the factitious gems, the tint it gives to the composition is always a yellow approaching to that of the topaz. Various preparations of lead are used medicinally; but when injudiciously administered, or taken accidentally into the body, they cause violent colics, paralyses, tremors, and contractions of the limbs; and, as they generally come on gradually, the cause is often overlooked till it be too late. Poisoning from lead arises either from liquors becoming impregnated with lead, by being improperly kept in vessels lined or glazed with lead, or to which lead has been criminally added, to correct its acidity; or among manufacturers who work much with lead, as plumbers, painters, &c. 1. How is minium, or red lead, produced? THE WINTRY NIGHT. 449 LESSON CCCXXV. .-NOVEMBER THE TWENTY-FIRST. The Wintry Night. AROUND the fire, one wintry night, And jokes went round and careless chat. r; When hark! a gentle hand they hear And drifting snows my tomb prepare. And shield me from the biting frost; The weary moor that I have pass'd." And close beside the fire they place With shaking limbs and blue-pale face. The little children flocking came, And chafed his frozen hands in theirs ; A comfortable mess prepares. Their kindness cheer'd his drooping soul, The children, too, began to sigh, And all their merry chat was o'er; LESSON CCCXXVI. NOVEMBER THE TWENTY-SECOND. Lord Clive. On this day, in 1774, died Lord Clive, an eminent East India Governor, and a striking instance of the insufficiency of wealth or external honours alone to confer happiness. He was born at Moreton Say, near Drayton, in Shropshire, about seventeen miles from Shrewsbury; and while he was a Colonel in the service of the East India Company re-took Calcutta from the Nabob Surajah Dowlah, defeated that execrable tyrant's immense army in the plains of Plassy, and thereby laid the foundation of the present extensive British empire in Hindostan. A physiognomist would probably have judged very unfavourably of the moral and intellectual qualities of Lord Clive. He had a most remarkably heavy brow, which gave a close and sullen expression to his features. He was, indeed, of a reserved temper, and sparing of words ; yet it was said that he unbent among his intimates, and gave way to pleasantry and jocularity. It was a real advantage to him that he was always self-directed, and kept his decisions secret. In the relations of private life he was kind and amiable, and freely imparted the wealth he had acquired. Lord Clive had a remarkable talent of inspiring with confidence those under his command, to which his uncommon intrepidity and presence of mind principally contributed. Lord Chatham happily characterized him as a heaven-born general, who, without experience, surpassed all the officers of his time." 66 He represented in parliament the borough of Shrewsbury from 1760 to his death, but rarely spoke; yet when roused to exertion by the attacks made upon him, it is said that he displayed an eloquence seldom surpassed. 1. What brave man died on this day, in 1774? 2. Where was he born? 3. What did he while Colonel in the East India Company's service? LESSON CCCXXVII. NOVEMBER THE TWENTY-THIRD. England in the Fifteenth Century. HOLLINGSHED, who lived in Queen Elizabeth's reign, gives a curious account of the plain, or rather rude way of living of the preceding generation. There was scarcely THE SOUTH-SEA BUBBLE. 451 a chimney to the houses, even in considerable towns: the fire was kindled by the side of the wall, and the smoke issued out at the roof, or door, or windows; the houses were constructed of wattling, plastered over with clay; the people slept on straw pallets, and had a good round log under their head for a pillow; and almost all the furniture and utensils were of wood. "If the father, or goodman of the house (says our author) had a mattrass or flock-bed, and thereto a sack of chaff to rest his head upon, he thought himself as well lodged as the lord of the town." He adds, "with us the nobility, gentry, and students do ordinarily go to dinner at eleven before noon, and to supper at five, or between five and six in the afternoon." What strides have luxury and refinement since made in the fashionable world! Our people of ton now-a-days would think it quite vulgar to dine so early as these good people were wont to sup. And as to household furniture and utensils, the poorest peasant can now afford to repose on a more comfortable couch than straw, and exhibit something better than wooden plates, dishes, &c. The middling and lower classes are here doubtless meant, for the wealthy and the great had their superb services of gold and silver plate. Of Cardinal Wolsey we are told that he had a cupboard of plate of massy gold; that the walls of his palace were covered with cloth of gold or silver; and that there were found belonging to him a thousand pieces of fine Holland. 1. What does Hollingshed say of the houses, &c., in England during the fifteenth century? 2. At what times did the nobility and gentry take their meals? 3. What is said of Cardinal Wolsey? LESSON CCCXXVIII. NOVEMBER THE TWENTY-FOURTH. The South-Sea Bubble. THIS was the term given to a commercial "scheme" in 1720, which, for a time, produced a kind of national delirium in England. A company for trading to the South Seas, which was entitled the "South Sea Company,” had been sanctioned by government, with the specious pretence of discharging the national debt, by reducing all the funds into one. Blunt, the projector, had taken the hint of his plan from Law's celebrated Mississippi scheme, In the It pro which, in the preceding year had, in France, entailed ruin upon many thousand families of that kingdom. project of Law there was something substantial. mised an exclusive trade to Louisiana, though the design was defeated by the frantic eagerness of the people. But the South Sea scheme was buoyed up by nothing but the folly and rapaciousness of individuals, which became so extravagant, that Blunt was able to impose upon the whole nation, and make tools of the other directors, to serve his own purpose and that of a few associates. When this projector found that the South Sea stock did not rise according to his expectation, he circulated a report that Gibraltar and Port Mahon would be exchanged for some places in Peru; by which means the English trade to the South Sea would be protected and enlarged. This rumour, diffused by emissaries, acted like a contagion. In five days the directors opened their books for a subscription of 1,000,000l. at the rate of 3001, for every 1001. capital. Persons of all ranks crowded to the house in such a manner, that the first subscription exceeded 2,000,000l. of original stock. In a few days this stock advanced to 3407.; and the subscriptions were sold for double their original price. In a little time the stock reached 1000l., and the whole nation was infected with the spirit of stock-jobbing to an incredible extent. The infatuation prevailed till the 8th of September, when the stock began to fall, and some of the adventurers awoke from their delirium. On the 29th of the same month, the stock had sunk to 150l.; several eminent goldsmiths and bankers, who had lent great sums upon it, were obliged to stop payment and abscond; and the ebb of this portentous tide was so violent that it carried every thing in its way, and an infinite number of families were overwhelmed with ruin. Public credit sustained a terrible shock; the nation was thrown into a ferment; and nothing was heard but the ravings of grief, disappointment, and despair. Some principal members of the ministry were deeply concerned in these fraudulent transactions; and though they used all their influence with the Bank to assist them in supporting the credit of the South Sea Company, and actually obtained from that corporation a large sum, the bubble burst; and a committee of the House of Commons, to whom the subject had been referred, declared they had discovered a train of the deepest "villany and fraud that hell ever contrived to ruin a nation." Suffice it to add, |