in two years is there found through out the whole washings a stone of thirty carats. During the five days I was here they were not very successful; the whole quantity found amounted only to forty, the largest of which was only four carats, and of a light green colour. From the great quantity of debris, or worked cascalhao, in every part near the river, it is reasonable to calculate that the works have been in operation above forty years; of course there must arrive a period at which they will be exhausted, but there are grounds in the neighbourhood, particularly in the Cerro de St. Antonio, and in the country now inhabited by the Indians, which will probably afford these gems in equal abundance. STATE OF SOCIETY AMONG THE MIDDLING CLASSES EMPLOYED IN MINING AND AGRICULTURE. (From the same.) We are naturally led to imagine, that, in the country where mines of gold and diamonds are found, the riches of the inhabitants must be immense, and their condition most enviable; the Portugueze themselves, who reside in the mining districts, encourage this supposition; and whenever they go to Rio de Janeiro, do not fail to make all possible show and parade. But let us view them in the center of their wealth; and as a fair criterion of the middling classes of society, let us select a man possessing a property of fifty or sixty negroes, with datas of gold mines, and the necessary utensils for working them. The negroes alone are worth, at the low valuation of 100 milreis each, a sum equal to 1,2001. or 1,500. sterling; the datas and utensils, though of value, need not be taken into the account. Suppose this man to be married, and to have a family: What is the state of their domestic concerns, their general way of life? May I be allowed to describe them in the language which truth dictates, without exaggeration or extenuation? Their dwelling scarcely merits the name of a house; it is the most wretched hovel that imagination can describe, consisting of a few apartments built up to each other without regularity; the walls wicker-work, filled up with mud; a hole left for a frame serves as a window, or a miserable door answers that purpose. The cracks in the mud are rarely filled up; and in very few instances only have I seen a house repaired. The floors are of clay, moist in itself, and rendered more disagreeble by the filth of its inhabitants, with whom the pigs not unfre quently dispute the right of possession. Some ranchos, it is true, are built upon piles; and underneath are the stables, &c. these are certainly a little superior to the former. They are built so from necessity, where the ground is uneven or swampy; but it may be easily conceived, that the disagree able effects produced by want of cleanliness, must in these instances be increased by the effluvia from the animals underneath, which I have frequently found intolerable. The furniture of the house is such as might be expected from the description above given. The beds are very coarse cotton cases, filled with dry grass, or the leaves of Indian corn. There are (sel dom POETRY. FAREWELL ADDRESS, Spoken by Mrs. SIDDONS, on leaving the Stage 29th of June, 1812, and written by HORACE TWISs, Esq. W The fond remembrance of our former years? "HO has not felt, how growing use endears Who has not sigh'd, when doom'd to leave at last And, wreathing round it close, like tendrils, climb, Yes! at this moment crowd upon my mind Sweet are those mournful thoughts: for they renew For each inspiring smile, and soothing tear For those full honours of my long career, That cheer'd my earliest hope, and chased my latest fear! And though, for me, those tears shall flow no more, A moon-light tint, a lustre of her own. Judges and Friends! to whom the tragic strain 2 N Perhaps Perhaps your hearts, when years have glided by, May think on her, whose lips have pour'd so long Is now the mourner she but seemed before. Herself subdued, resigns the melting spell, And breathes, with swelling heart, her long, her last farewell ! ! ADDRESS ON THE OPENING OF DRURY-LANE THEATRE. WRITTEN BY LORD BYRON. Bowed to the dust, the Drama's tower of pride; Ye who beheld, O sight, admired and mourned, Yes, it shall be the magic of that name Some Some hour propitious to our prayers, may boast O'erwhelm'd the gentlest, stormed the sternest heart; Dear are the days which made our annals bright, Pause-ere their feebler offspring you 'condemn, Friends of the Stage-to whom both Players and Plays Must sue alike for pardon, or for praise, Whose judging voice and eye alone direct The boundless power to cherish, or reject, make, And us blush that you forbore to blame, Still may we please, long-long may you preside, |