The mechanical power, or power of a steam engine to impel a boat in stillwater, must be as the cube of the velocity. Therefore, if an engine of twelvehorse power will impel a boat_seven miles per hour, it will require one of thirty five horse power to impel the same boat at the rate of ten miles per hour. The action of what is called a twenty-five horse power engine, is just equal to the impulse given by 1000 cubic feet of water falling through the height of ten feet.-New Mon. POWER LOOMS. Anecdotiana. BEARDS. The Romans had a great veneration for their beards, even when they adopted through effeminacy, the custom of shaving, they preserved the most religious respect for this mark of manhood. The first shaving of a young man was performed with the greatest ceremony; and the first fruits of the chin were carefully collected in a gold or silver box, in order to be afterwards presented to some God, as a tribute of youth; this pious offering was mostly made to Jupiter Capitolinus. ALEXANDER THE GREAT. Alexander making a libation to the heroes at Troy, poured oil upon the tomb of Achilles, and placed a crown of gold upon it, saying, he was the happiest person in the world; for while he lived. Patroclus was his friend; and when dead, Homer perpetuated his memory.' FRANCIS 1. KING OF FRANCE. This monarch, who was the most distinguished of the kings of France, whether considered as a warrior, or a patroniser of learning or the Liberal Arts, being about to invade Italy, called a council of The estimated number of looms pro- he should lead his forces over the Alps, war to advise with his officers, which way pelled by water and steam power in the which Amaril, the king's fool, overhearUnited Kingdom, including those in pre-ing, told them they should rather consult paration for working previous to the stagnation, and as near as any calculation can be made, is 58,000. The average produce, taking it at 22 square yards a day, makes 1,254,000, or 1741 yards a minute; weekly, 7,524,000; monthly, 31, 300,000; yearly, 376,200,000. Allowing six yards to each person for yearly consumption, will supply 62,700,000, and will cover 62,700 acres of ground, and in length would extend 213,750 miles and reach across the Atlantic Ocean seventy-one times.-Ibid. DESTRUCTION OF SNAILS BY COMMON SALT. M. Em. Rousseau had applied common salt as a manure to a small piece of garden, and remarked that where snails had come in contact with the salt they quickly died. Wishing to confirm the fact, he strewed the salt upon the ground, and placed a number of snails amongst it; all those which came out of the shells and touched the salt immediately threw out a greenish, globular froth, and in a few minutes were dead. The fact may be turned to account by agriculturists and gardeners. Bull. Univ. D. viii. 276. how to bring them back again out of Italy, as being an affair of the greatest importance. Well had it been for the brave monarch and his followers, had he listened to the wise advice of his witty dependant, for scarce a man of them ever saw France again. DATE. DAYS. Diary and Chronology. DIARY. DATE CORRESPONDING CHRONOLOGY. May 15 Thurs. St. Dympna, 7th May 15 Ascension Day is set apart to commemorate our Saviour's ascension into Heaven. 1821. Died, John Bonnycastle, the author of se veral valuable and scientific works, one of which, the Scholar's Guide to Arithmetic, has passed through no less than twelve editions. His Trea tise upon Astronomy is the most popular of all works written upon that sublime Science, being remarkable for perspicuity, it has become a general library book, and remains a testimony of the attainments of the author. --16 St. Abdas, was a Persian bishop. He was a man of great virtue and zeal. He destroyed the Vesta or Deified fire of the Persians, which act so enraged their king, that he caused him to be put to death, and ordered the destruction of the Christian churches.. 1568. On this day Queen Mary, of Scotland, after the dispersion of her friends by the Regent, Murray, who pursued her with inveteracy for escaping from her confinement in Lochleven castle, fled into England, imploring the protection of Elizabeth, who acted towards her with the great. est baseness, and under the idea of granting her an asylum, betrayed her into a prison. -17 St. Possidius was bishop of Calamus, in Africa, and died A. D. 430. He was a disciple of St. Augustin. 1729. Expired. the learned divine, Dr. Samuel Clarke, the translator of Sir Isaac Newton's Optics, and editor of the Commentaries of Cæsar. Dr. Clarke was a profound scholar, a close reasoner, an acute critic; well versed in mathematics and philosophy, and a man of unaffected mild and amiable manners. -18 1806. On this day Bonaparte assumed the title of Napoleon, I. Emperor of the French. 1802. Died, Dr. Erasmus Darwin, a physician and poet of celebrity; author of the Botanic Garden, Zoonomia, or the Laws of Organic Life; the Loves of the Plants, and numerons other works. His works prove him to have been a poet, botanist, and philosopher of no ordinary powers -19 St. Dunstan was made bishop of Worcester by king Edgar; he was afterwards bishop of London, and archbishop of Canterbury. He died A. D. 988, in the 64th year of his age. Of this saint many miracles are related, among which is the familiar legend of his holding the Devil by the nose. 1536. Beheaded, Anne Boleyn, the ill-fated wife of the tyrannical Henry VIII, and mother of Q. Elizabeth. She was tried and condemned for alleged unchastity with her brother and four others, although the charge of incontinence was never substantiated. 1795. Died, James Boswell, the friend and Biographer of Dr. Samuel Johnson, who he accompanied on a tour to the Western Isles of Scot land, in 1773, of which tour he wrote an interesting account. -20 St. Ethelbert, king of the East Angles, son of Ethelbert, who was converted to Christianity by St. Austin, and was treacherously murdered by Offa, the king of the Mercians, who under the guise of inviting him to marry his daughter, caused him to be beheaded, and thereupon seized his kingdom. 1793. Died, at Geneva, the distinguished Natu ralist, Charles Bonnet, T. 78. He was a man of great learning, and author of many works on metaphysics. An Illustrated Article from Sir Walter Scott's New Novel in our next. ILLUSTRATED ARTICLE. FROM THE CHRONICLES OF THE CANONGATE. During the brief career of the celebrated patriot, Sir William Wallace, and when his arms had for a time expelled the English invaders from his native country, he is said to have undertaken a voyage to France, with a small band of trusty friends, to try what his presence (for he was respected through all countries for his prowess) might do to induce the French monarch to send to Scotland a body of auxiliary forces, or other assistance, to aid the Scots in regaining their independ ence, The Scottish Champion was on board a small vessel, and steering for the port of Dieppe, when a sail appeared in the distance, which the mariners regarded with doubt and apprehension, and at last with confusion and dismay. Wallace de manded to know what was the cause of their alarm. The captain of the ship informed him, that the tall vessel which was bearing down, with the purpose of boardVOL. I. X See Page 306. ing that which he commanded, was the ship of a celebrated rover, equally famed for his courage, strength of body, and successful piracies. It was commanded by a gentleman named Thomas de Longueville, a Frenchman by birth, but by practice one of those pirates who called themselves friends to the sea, and enemies to all who sailed upon that element. He attacked and plundered vessels of all nations, like one of the ancient Norse Sea-kings, as they were termed, whose dominion was upon the mountain waves. The master added, that no vessel could escape the rover by flight, so speedy was the bark he commanded; and that no crew, however hardy, could hope to resist him, when, as was his usual mode of combat, he threw himself on board at the head of his followers. Wallace smiled sternly, while the master of the ship, with alarm in his countenance, and tears in his eyes, described to him the certainty of their being captured by the Red Rover, a name given to De Longueville, because he usually displayed the blood-red flag, which he had now hoisted. 20-SATURDAY, MAY 24, 1828. "I will clear the narrow seas of this rover," said Wallace. Then calling together some ten or twelve of his own followers, Boyd, Kerlie, Seton, and others, to whom the dust of the most desperate battle was like the breath of life, he commanded them to arm them selves, and lie flat upon the deck, so as to be out of sight. He ordered the mariners below, excepting such as were absolutely necessary to manage the vessel; and he gave the master instructions, upon pain of death, so to steer, as that, while the vessel had an appearance of attempting to fly, he should in fact permit the Red Rover to come up with them and do his worst. Wallace himself then lay down on the deck, that nothing might be seen which could intimate any purpose of resistance. In a quarter of an hour De Longueville's vessel ran on board that of the Champion, and the Red Rover casting out grappling irons to make sure of his prize, jumped on the deck in complete armour, followed by his men, who gave a terrible shout, as if victory had been already secured. But the armed Scots started up at once, and the Rover He found himself unexpectedly engaged with men acccustomed to consider victory as secure, when they were only opposed as one to two or three. Wallace himself rushed on the pirate captain, and a dreadful strife began betwixt them with such fury, that the others suspended their own battle to look on, and seemed by common consent to refer the issue of the strife to the fate of the combat between the two chiefs. The pirate fought as well as man could do; but Wallace's (strength was beyond that of ordinary mortals. dashed the sword from the Rover's hand, and placed him in such peril, that, to avoid being cut down, he was fain to close with the Scottish Champion, in hopes of overpowering him in the grapple. In this also he was foiled. They fell on the deck, locked in each others arms, but the Frenchman fell undermost; and Wallace fixing his grasp upon his gorget, compressed it so closely, notwithstanding it was made of the finest steel, that the blood gushed from his eyes, nose, and mouth, and he was only able to ask for quarter by signs. His men threw down their weapons and begged for mercy, when they saw their leader thus severely handled. The victor granted them all their lives, but took possession of their vessel, and detained them prisoners. Chronicles of the Canongate. SECOND SERIES. ST. VALENTINE'S DAY; OR, THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH. THE old prejudice against genius was, that it was an idle vein of mind which made its possessor the butt of the bustlers in the every-day broadways of the world, and the scape-goat of their more worldly wisdom. Modern men of genius have successfully redeemed their craft from the odium of idleness; and of the eminent among these, Sir Walter Scott has certainly exceeded his competitors in the industriousness of his calling. 66 Age cannot wither him, nor custom stale his infinite variety;" another and another" work of his hand "still succeeds," 'till romance-readers might almost cry out, "We'll see no more!" but that, if they did so far forget themselves, we might expect that they would next object to the appearance of star succeeding to star in the heavens, and season succeeding to season on the earth. Our contemporaries have the advantage of us in space as well as in "other appliances and means to boot." We have, however, a way of our own in most things, and as they have carried their crops off the field, we shall glean, in our own modest manner, after them, and trust to find a handful or so of "ears" to reward our diligence. Of the numerous characters in the "Fair Maid of Perth," the fair Maid herself, and her brave lover and Valentine Harry Smith or Gow, are our especial favourites; we shall therefore condense the history of their wooing, and the incidents attaching to it, as our first specimen, and, after this, shall return to the more historical personages of the scene, till we have given our readers a tolerable " spice of the quality" of this admirable work, not less admirable than its predecessors. The book opens on St. Valentine's eve. King Robert the Third is holding his court in Perth, and the lords and the gallants are where honour is to be sought, and beauty is to be won. The fairest of the fair of that royal city, "Catharine or Katie Glover, was universally acknowledged to be the most beautiful young woman of the city or its vicinity, and whose renown, as the Fair Maid of Perth, had drawn on her much notice from the young gallants of the Royal Court, when it chanced to be residing in or near Perth, insomuch, that more than one nobleman of the highest rank, and most distinguished for deeds of chivalry, were more attentive to exhibit feats of horsemanship as they passed the door of old Simon Glover, in what was called Couvrefew, or Curfew Street, than to distinguish themselves in the tournaments, where the noblest dames of Scotland were spectators of their address. "But the glover's daughter-for, as was common with citizens and artizans of that early period, her father, Simon, derived his surname from the trade which he practised-showed no inclination to any gallantry which came from those of a station highly exalted above that which she herself occupied, and though probably in no degree insensible to her personal charms, seemed desirous to confine her conquests to those who were within her own sphere of life. In her resolution of avoiding the addresses of the gallant courtiers, the reigning beauty of Perth was confirmed by the sentiments of her parent. 'Let them go,' he said; let them go, Ca tharine, those gallants with their capering horses, their jingling spurs, their plumed bonnets, and their trim moustaches, they are not of our class, nor will we aim at pairing with them. To morrow is Saint Valentine's Day, when every bird chooses her mate, but you will not see the linnet pair with the sparrow hawk, nor the robin red breast with the kite.' "I will have no son in law that thinks himself better than me, and for these lords and knights, I trust thou wilt always remember thou art too low to be their lawful love, and too high to be their unlawful loon; and now lay by thy work, lass, for it is holy-tide eve, and it becomes us to go to the evening service, and pray that Heaven may send thee a good Valentine to-morrow. Old Simon Glover and his fair daughter accordingly repair to the Blackfriars' Monastery, in their neighbourhood, attended by the youth Conachar, a highland lad, apprentice to the glover. In their way to the church, they are dodged by two or three gallants, muffled in their cloaks. Conachar is for coming to cuffs with one of them, but the ancient glover calms him with good counsel, and they arrive near to their destination. "Meantime the little party were overtaken by a tall young man wrapped in a cloak, which obscured or muffled part |