because they are too narrow, or because the glass has not the magnifying power of a telescope. "For the smallest quantity of knowledge that a man can acquire, he is bound to be contentedly thankful, provided his fate shuts him out from the power of acquiring a larger portion—but whilst the possibility of farther advancement remains, be as proudly discontented as ye will with a little learning. For the value of knowledge is like that of a diamond, it increases according to its magnitude, even in much more than a geometrical ratio.-One science and literary pursuit throws light upon another, and there is a connection, as Cicero remarks, among them all "Omnes Artes, quæ ad humanitatem pertinent, habent quoddam commune vinculum, et quasi cognatione quadam inter se continentur.' "No doubt a man ought to devote himself, in the main, to one department of knowledge, but still he will be all the better for making himself acquainted with studies which are kindred to and with that pursuit. -The principle of the extreme division of labour, so useful in a pin manufactory, if introduced into learning, may produce, indeed, some minute and particular improve ments, but, on the whole, it tends to cramp human intellect. "That the mind may, and especially in early youth, be easily distracted by too many pursuits, must be readily admitted. But I now beg leave to consider myself addressing those among you, who are conscious of great ambition, and of many faculties; and what I say, may regard rather the studies of your future than of your present years. "To embrace different pursuits, diametrically opposite, in the wide circle of human knowledge, must be pronounced to be almost universally impossible for a single mind. But I cannot believe that any strong mind weakens its strength, in any one branch of learning, by diverging into cognate studies; on the contrary, I believe that it will return home to the main object, bringing back illustrative treasures from all its excursions into collateral pursuits." FIGURES, AND NUMBERS. Respecting the origin of the numeral figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, there are various opinions, but the one most generally received is, that they were brought into Europe from Spain; that the Spaniards received them from the Moors, the Moors from the Arabians, and the Arabians from the Indians. Bishop Huet, however, thinks it improbable that the Arabians received figures from the Indians, but, on the contrary, that the Indians obtained them from the Arabians, and the Arabians from the Grecians; from whom, in fact, they acquired a knowledge of every science they possessed. The shape of the figures they received underwent a great alteration; yet if we examine them, divested of prejudice, we shall find very manifest traces of the Grecian figures, which were nothing more than letters of their alphabet. A small comma, or dot, was their mark for units. The letter 6 (b) if its two extremities are erased, produces the figure 2. If we form the letter y (g) with more inclination to the left than usual, shorten the foot, and give some rotundity to the left horns near the left side, we shall make the figure 3. The letter A (D) is the figure 4, as we should find on giving the left leg a perpendicular form, and lengthening it below the base, which also should be enlarged towards the left. From the (e short) is formed the 5, by only bringing towards the right side the demicircle which is beneath inclining to the left. From the figure 5 they made the 6, by leaving out the foot, and rounding the body. Of the Z (Z) they make the 7, by leaving out the base. If we turn the four corners of the H (e long) towards the inside, we shall make the figure 8. The 9 (th) was the figure 9 without any alteration. The nought was only a point which they added to their figures, to make them ten times more; it was necessary that this point should be made very distinetly, to which end they formed it like a circle, and filled it up; this method we have neglected. Theophanus, the Eastern chronologist, says in express terms, that the Arabians had retained the Grecian numbers, not having sufficient characters in their own language to mark them. Menage says, they were first employed in Europe in 1240, in the Alphonsian Tables, made under the direction of Alphonso, son to king Ferdinand of Castile, by Isaac Hazan, a Jew of Toledo, and Abel Ragel, an Arabian. Dr. Wallis conceives they were generally used in England about the year 1130. In the indexes of some old French books these figures are called Arabic ciphers, to distinguish them from Roman numerals. NUMBER X, 10. It is observed by Huet as a remarkable circumstance, that for calculation and numerical increase the number 10 is always used, and that decimal progression is preferred to every other. The cause of this preference arises from the number of our fingers, upon which men accustom themselves to reckon from their infancy. First, they count the units on their fingers, and when the units exceed that number, they If the num have recourse to another ten. ber of tens increase, they still reckon on their fingers; and if they surpass that number, they then commence a different species of calculation by the same agents; as thus -reckoning each finger for tens, then for hundreds, thousands, &c. From this mode of reckoning by the fingers then, we have been led to prefer the number ten, though it is not so convenient and useful a number as twelve. Ten can only be divided by two and five, but twelve can be divided by two, three, four, and six. The Roman numbers are adduced in proof of the origin of reckoning by the number ten, viz. The units are marked by the letter I, which represent a finger. The number five is marked by the letter V, which represents the first and last finger of a hand. Ten, by an X, which is two V's joined at their points, and which two V's represent the two hands. Five tens are marked by an L; that is half the letter E, which is the same as C, the mark for a hundred. Five hundred is marked by a D, half of the letter, which is the same as M, the mark for a thousand. According to this, the calculation of the Roman numbers was from five to five, that is, from one hand to the other. Ovid makes mention of this mode, as also of the number ten : "Hic numeris magno tunc in honore fuit. Seu quia tot digiti per quos numerare solemnus, Seu quod ad usque decem numero crescente venitur: Vitruvius also makes the same remark; he says, " Ex manibus denarius digitorum numerus." We have refined, however, upon the convenience which nature has furnished us with to assist us in our calculations; for we not only use our fingers, but likewise various figures, which we place in different situations, and combine in certain ways, to express our ideas. Many unlettered nations, as the inhabitants of Guinea, Madagascar, and of the interior parts of America, know not how to count farther than ten. The Brasilians, and several others, cannot reckon beyond five; they multiply that number to express their fingers and toes. The natives of Peru a greater, and in their calculations they use use decimal progression; they count from one to ten; by tens to a hundred; and by hundreds to a thousand. Plutarch says, that decimal progression was not only used among the Grecians, but also by every un civilized nation. Omniana. FOX, THE QUAKER. This individual, many years deceased, was a most remarkable man in his circle; a great natural genius, which employed itself upon trivial or not generally interesting matters. He deserved to have been The last years known better than he was. He was a of his life he resided at Bristol. great Persian scholar, and published some translations of the poets of that nation, which were well worthy perusal. He was self-taught, and had patience and persever ance for any thing. He was somewhat eccentric, but had the quickest reasoning power, and consequently the greatest coolness, of any man of his day, who was able to reason. His house took fire in the night; it was situated near the sea; it was uninsured, and the flames spread so rapidly nothing could be saved. He saw the consequences instantly, made up his mind to them as rapidly, and ascending a hill at some distance in the rear of his dwelling, watched the picture and the reflection of the flames on the sea, admiring its beauties, as if it were a holiday bonfire. DIVING-BELLS. The first diving-bell we read of was nothing but a very large kettle, suspended by ropes, with the mouth downwards, and planks to sit on fixed in the middle of its concavity. Two Greeks at Toledo, in 1588, made an experiment with it before the emperor Charles V. They descended in it, with a lighted candle, to a considerable depth. In 1683, William Phipps, the son of a blacksmith, formed a project for unloading a rich Spanish ship sunk on the coast of Hispaniola. Charles II. gave him a ship with every thing necessary for his undertaking; but being unsuccessful, he returned in great poverty. He then endeavoured to procure another vessel, but failing, he got a subscription, to which the duke of Albemarle contributed. In 1687, Phipps set sail in a ship of two hundred tons, having previously engaged to divide the profits according to the twenty shares of which the subscription consisted. first all his labours proved fruitless; but at last, when he seemed almost to despair, he was fortunate enough to bring up so much treasure, that he returned to England with the value of 200,000l. sterling. Of this sum he got about 20,000l., and the duke 90,0001. Phipps was knighted by the king, and laid the foundation of the fortunes of the present noble house of Mulgrave. Since that time diving-bells have been often employed. On occasion of the breaking in of the water of the Thames during the progress of the tunnel under the Thames, Mr. Brunel frequently descended in one to the bed of the river. At GAMING, "The ruling passion strong in death." In "Arliquiniana" avarice, and love of gaming, are exemplified by the following anecdote : A French woman, who resided on her estate in the country, falling ill, sent to the village curate, and offered to play with him. The curate being used to gaming, gladly entertained the proposal, and they played together till he lost all his money. She then offered to play with him for the expenses of her funeral, in case she should die. They played, and the curate losing these also, she obliged him to give her his note of hand for so much money lent, as her funeral expenses would amount to. She delivered the note to her son, and died upon by a number of irregularly built dwellings, and a couple of inns; one of them of so much apparent consequence, as to dignify the place. We soon came to an edifice which, by its publicity, startles the feelings of the passenger in this, as in almost every other parish, and has perhaps greater tendency to harden than reform the rustic offender-the "cage," with its accessory, the "pound." An angular turn in the road, from these lodgings for men and cattle when they go astray, afforded us a sudden and delightful view of "The decent church that tops the neighb'ring hill." On the right, an old, broad, high wall, flanked with thick buttresses, and belted with magnificent trees, climbs the steep, to enclose the domain of I know not whom ; on the opposite side, the branches, from a plantation, arch beyond the footpath. At the summit of the ascent is the village church with its whitened spire, crowning and pinnacl'ing this pleasant grove, pointing from amidst the graves-like man's last only hope towards heaven. This village spire is degradingly noticed in "An accurate Description of Bromley and Five Miles round, by Thomas Wilson, 1797." He says, “An extraordinary circumstance happened here near Christmas, 1791; the steeple of this church was destroyed by lightning, but a new one was put up in 1796, made of copper, in the form of an extinguisher." The old spire, built of shingles, was fired on the morning of the 23d of December, in the year seventeen hundred and ninety, in a dreadful storm. One of the effects of it in London I perfectly remember :-the copper roofing of the new" Stone Buildings" in Lincoln's Inn was stripped off by the wind, and violently carried over the opposite range of high buildings, the Six Clerks' offices, into Chancery Lane, where I saw the immense sheet of metal lying in the carriage way, exactly as it fell, rolted up, with as much neatness as if it had been executed by machinery. As regards the present spire of Beckenham church, its "form," in relation to its place, is the most appropriate that could have been devised-a picturesque object, that marks the situation of the vil lage in the forest landscape many miles round, and indescribably graces the nearer view. We soon came up to the corpse-gate of the church-yard, and I left W. sketching it,* whilst I retraced my steps into the village in * Mr. W.'s engraving of his sketch is on p. 715. search of the church-keys at the parish-clerk's, There are numerous memorials of the late possessors of Langley, a predominant estate in Beckenham. One in particular to sir Humphry Style, records that he was of great fame, in his day and generation, in Beckenham: he was "Owner of Langley in this parish, Knight and Baronet of England and Ireland, a gentleman of the privy chamber in ordinary to James I, one of the cupbearers in ordinary to King Charles, and by them boath intrusted with the weighty affairs of this countye: Hee was justice of peace and quorum, Deputy lieftenant, and alsoe (an hono'r not formerly conferred upon any) made Coronell of all the trayned band horse thereof." The possession of Langley may be traced, through the monuments, to its last heritable occupant, commemorated by an inscription ; "Sacred to the Memory of Peter Burrell, Baron Gwydir, of Gwydir, Deputy Great Chamberlain of England, Born July 16, 1754; Died at Brighton, June 29th, 1820, aged 66 years." After the death of this nobleman Langley was sold. The poor of Beckenham speak his praise, and lament that his charities died with him. The alienation of the estate deprived them of a benevolent protector, and no one has arisen to succeed him in the character of a kind-hearted benefactor. A tablet in this church, to "Harriet, wife of (the present) J. G. Lambton, Esq. of Lambton Hall, Durham," relates that she died "in her twenty-fifth year." Within the church, fixed against the northern corner of the west end, is a plate of copper, bearing an inscription to this import :-Mary Wragg, of St. John's, Westminster, bequeathed 15. per annum for ever to the curate of Beckenham, in trust for the following uses; viz. a guinea to |