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which observation she was exceedingly exasperated but her anger terminated in a proposal to marry me I never was more surprised in my life, and looked quite stupid-Hardy's Travels in Mexico."

Porter.-Dr. Ash says, that porter obtained the name from being much drank by porters in the City of London. It came into fashion about the year 1730. The malt liquors previously in use were "ale," "beer," and "two penny," and it was customary to call for a pint of half-and-half," viz. half ale and half beer; half ale and half two penuy; or half beer and half two penny. In course of time it also became the practice to ask for a pint of "threethirds," meaning a third of ale, beer, and twopenny, and thus the publican was obliged to go to three casks for a single pint.-To avoid this trouble and waste, a brewer of the name of Harwood conceived the idea of making a liquor which would partake of the united flavours of ale, beer, and two-petiny, which he called entire, meaning that it was drawn from one cask or butt. Being a hearty, nourishing liquor, it was very suitable for porters or other hardworking people; hence it obtained the name of porter. Some years ago, a Winchester quart of old sound porter would yield near six ounces of good proof spirits: but the beer of the present day will not yield four ounces of the same spirit. Whether this deficiency be attributable to the avarice of the brewer, the roguery of the publican, or the quality of the malt, is not very pertinent to the subject; but the reduction of its strength ought to be balanced by its genuineness.

Influence of the Will on the Judgment.-The will is one of the principal sources of belief; not that it produces belief, but that things appear true or false to us according to the way they are looked at. The will, which inclines to one thing more than another, turns away the mind from considering the qualities of that which it does not approve; and thus the whole mind, led by the will or inclination, limits its observation to what it approves, and thus forming its judgment on what it sees, it insensibly regulates its belief by the inclinations of the will, i. e. by its own preferences.-Pascal.

The Olive-The tree which produces this favourite of the desert is supposed to be indigenons in Syria; it is said to have been carried from Phocis to Marseilles, from which it spread over the shores of the Mediterranean. It is extensively cultivated in the South of France, in Spain, Portugal, and Italy. The olives of the Val d'Arno, which furnish the wellknown Florence oil, are accounted the best. The olive-tree is one of the hard-wooded kind, of very slow growth, and of great duration. It can bear very considerable cold, if the weather be dry; but a few degrees below the freezing point, if accompanied with snow, is fatal to it.

Remarkable Hank of Silk.-A hank of silk, produced by a single worm, lately reeled in the presence of several gentlemen, in Bolton, was 365 yards in length, and on being weighed, was found to be of the texture of 1500 hanks in the lb. A single pound of this silk would reach 716 miles. The worm was only seven days in spinning the hank, consequently it produced at the rate of 52 yards per day.

Singular Mode of Preserving the Dead.-The practice is, to immerse the body of the dead in quick-lime; and when the flesh is consumed by its causticity, the bones are collected, scraped, and cleaned, and deposited together in a box, with a lock and key, which is then closed, and the key delivered to the family. These cases have no resemblance to coffins. They are of different shapes; and with their ornamented exterior, the smaller ones rather resemble a lady's dressing-box. They are deposited in dry receptacles made in the walls of the cloisters, or other parts of the church, and on an annual festival are brought out, and the living friends come with their keys and inspect them.-Walsh's Notices of Brazil.

Nervous Affections. An impression made on one part of the body will produce a nervous affection elsewhere, at a distance from the original seat of the disease, and where no such obvious indication of the fact presents itself. A disease in the liver produces a pain in the right shoulder; a disease in the heart produces a pain in the back. The late Dr. Wollaston was accustomed to relate the following:He ate some ice-cream after dinner, which his stomach seemed to be incapable of digesting. Some time afterwards, when he had left the dinner-table to go to the drawing-room, he found himself lame from a violent pain in one ankle. Suddenly he became sick; the ice-cream was ejected from the stomach, and this was followed by an instantaneous relief of the pain of the foot.-From a Lecture by Mr. Brodie.

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Scandinavian Owls.-These owls, Dr. Mellerborg assured me, will sometimes destroy dogs. Indeed, He he himself once knew an instance of the kind. stated another circumstance, showing the ferocity of these birds, which came under his immediate notice. Two men were in the forest for the purpose of gathering berries, when one of them happening to approach near to the nest of the owl, she pounced upon him whilst he was in the act of stooping, and, fixing her talons on his back, wounded him very severely. His companion, however, was fortunately near at hand, when, catching up a stick, he lost no time in destroying the furious bird. These owls not unfrequently engage in combat with the eagle himself, and they often come off victorious. These powerful and voracious birds occasionally kill the fawns of the stag, robuck, and reindeer. The largest of the birds common to the Scandinavian forests, such as the capercali, often become their prey. The hooting of these owls may often be heard during the night-time in the northern forests: the sound, which is a most melancholy one, and which has given rise to many superstitions, is audible at a long distance. -Loyd's Field Sports.

Scripture Names.-It is probable that the proper names of men, mountains, valleys, rivers, &c. were originally given in allusion to some circumstance, event, or prophecy, relative to them, and thus the name conveyed a brief history of the thing, or a record by artificial memory. The names of the Patriarchs in the Hebrew language exhibit a wonderful prophecy of the redemption of mankind by the promised Messiah, as appears by the following explanation:-Adam, Man-Seth, Set or placed--Enos, In misery-Cainan. Lamentable-Mahalaleel, Blessed God-Jared, Shall come down-Enoch, Teaching-Methuselah, That his death will send-Lamech, To humble smitten man-Noah, Consolation.

Literary Notices.

Just Published.

Views in the East; comprising India-Canton-and the Shores of the Red Sea, from Original Sketches by Captain Robert Elliot, R. N., drawn and engraved by artists of the first reputation. With historical and descriptive Illustrations. Imperial 8vo.; royal 4to.; and imperial 4to. The subjects of Part I. exhibit Views of the Taj-Mahal at Agra, Humaioon's Tomb, and Tiger Island.

National Portrait Gallery: Sir Abraham Hume; Dr. Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury; and Sir Thomas Picton. Imperial 8vo, and royal 4to. Letters to the Young, on the Importance of Religion and Mental Improvement, &c., by W. Beal. Lord Byron's Cain, a Mystery, with Notes, &c. by Harding Grant.

History of Northamptonshire, Part III. (completing the First Volume,) by George Baker.

The Great Mystery of Godliness Incontrovertible; or Sir Isaac Newton and the Socinians foiled in the Attempt to prove a Corruption in the Text 1 Tim. iii. 16 by C. Henderson, Professor of Divinity and Oriental Languages, at lighbury College.

The Moral Muse, comprising Education and Manners, Virtues and the Passions, Human Life, Nature and Time, Religion, &c. a Present for Young Ladies, by Emma Price, 12mo.

Agatha and Eveline; or Traits of Character: designed for the Instruction of Young Ladies, by Eliza Vincent Stinton. 18mo.

The Pulpit, Part I. of Vol. 15.
The Pulpit, Nos. 398 and 399.

The Private Journal of the Rev. C. S. Stewart, late Missionary to the Sandwich Islands.

An Essay on the Creation of the Universe, and Evidences of the Existence of God, by Charles Doyne Silley.

A Treatise on the Natural and Chemical Properties of Water, by Abraham Booth. Anti-Slavery Reporter, No. 65. Specimens of Penmanship, by J. P. Hemms.

In the Press.

Select Sermons, translated from Massillon, in One Vol. 8vo., by the Rev. Rutton Morris.

Dr. Jamieson has nearly ready for publication, The Elements of Algebra, comprising Simple and Quadratic Equations, designed as an Introduction to Bland's Algebraical Problems.

A Key to the above is also in the Press, in which the Solutions to all the Questions will be worked at full length.

MEMOIR OF JOHN MACKIE, M.D.

(With a Portrait.) "Nulla est, quæ pulchriora laborum præmia Cultoribus persolvit, quam medica sapientia." Boerhaave.

THE most prominent characters on the great theatre of human life, are those who, having united talents with enterprise, have been eager in the pursuit of knowledge, wealth, honours, or power. To them, undoubtedly, the first place is due in the page of biography, especially when their abilities have been exerted for the benefit of their

country; yet it is frequently advantageous, as well as pleasant, to trace the lives of the modest and unassuming, if possessed, in any eminent degree, of genius, learning, or

virtue.

*

The subject of this memoir was born in the year 1748, at Dunfermline, in Fife, where his family, which is very ancient, has held a respectable rank ever since the beginning of the fourteenth century. Having received the rudiments of his education at the High-school of the above town, he was placed under the care of Dr. Stedman, author of Lælius and Hortensia; and when this eminent individual removed to Edinburgh, young Mackie accompanied him thither, and became a member of that university. Here he was distinguished for his application, his frank and graceful address, and that honourable deportment, which has given a lustre to his character through every period of his life.

At an early age he succeeded in his connexion, his friend, Dr. Moubray, at Huntingdon, where he enjoyed the patronage of Lord Sandwich, and became known to the leading characters of the day; Captain Cook, Sir Joseph Banks, Dr. Solander, Omai, Sir Hugh Palliser, Lord Rodney, Bishop Tomline, Horne Tooke, Antisejanus Scott, Howard the philanthropist, &c. Indeed, it would be difficult to name a person, whose intercourse, in the line of his profession only, has given occasion to an equal number of private friendships.

* Donald Mc Kie, or Mc Kay, the immediate ancestor of this branch of the family, was the third son of Neil, eighth Baron of Faru, in Strathnaver, Sutherland, brother to Angus, the ancestor of Lord Reay.

142.-VOL. XII.

[1830.

In the year 1792, Dr. Mackie removed to Southampton, where his wife's* family had long been settled, and though the practice to which he succeeded was comparatively small, he very soon enlarged the sphere of his utility, and found himself placed, by his talents, manners, and acquirements, at the head of the medical department of this county. Yet, although taking the lead in a profession, where animosities are often carried to a lamentable height, no one of the rivals, it was believed, was ever known to speak, or to think of him, with any feeling approaching to personal hostility.

At Broadlands, the seat of Viscount Palmerston, where he was not only the physician, but the friend of the family, he had an opportunity of forming an intimate acquaintance with Sir Henry Englefield, Sir Charles Blagden, Count Rumford, Lord Malmesbury, Lord Minto, Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, and the most marked of the French emigrants, who were always most kindly received in that hospitable mansion.

On a calm retrospection of departed years, Dr. Mackie is accustomed to represent this as the most delightful period of his life; and it is remarkable, that in a consultation which he held in London with Dr. Baillee, on casually complimenting him on the pre-eminence to which he had attained, Dr. Baillie, in a most impressive manner, replied as follows:-" Dr. Mackie, you are the object of my envy: you have a full practice in the country; harassed; you enjoy pure air, the society you are actively employed, without being of friends, and intervals of leisure, which I can scarcely ever command; and you talk of retiring from business in a few years, whilst I feel that I shall die in harness." The melancholy anticipation of this excellent man was realized by his death, at the age of sixty-five.

To the remark of the great moralist,

This lady, to whose rare virtues and abilities it is impossible to do justice in the small compass of a note, and who may be said to have been the first to give to her fair countrywomen a picture of Madame de Sevigne in an English dress, was the daughter of the Rev. John des Champs, Rector of Pillesden, Dorset, and niece of Anthony Chamier, Esq., M.P. Under Secretary of State during Lord Barrington's administration,

3 K