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been accustomed to the unspeakable quickness and inimitable grace of our celestial waiting women. Or that the most delicious comfits, or high seasoned earthly dainties, (nay, even potted lampreys dressed in a silver saucepant) should appear dry and tasteless to one who had sat down to the dishes of the sky, garnished with celestial amaranth, and washed down with nectar.

"My friends in the air soon found me out, and used very kindly to come and see me when I lived at Lord Bolingbroke's. We had many invisible nightly interviews in my bedchamber. How it would have astonnished his lordship, could his mortal eyes have witnessed these strange parties. There used to be Puck and Ariel sitting chatting on each side of my pillow, and diverting me with all the sky-scandal they could collect, whilst Peaseblossom and Mustardseed, with a whole coterie of other spirits of less distinction, were assembled round my bed. Some other spirits of less distinction would be hopping about on the coverlet, or playing at hide-andseek in and about the bed-curtains. But these visits had a bad effect on my spirits. They talked much of the delightful and romantic scenery of a new planet which had been just discovered, and of the uncommon gaiety of the last winter in the moon. This used to make me often impatient and fretful; the world ascribed it to the enemies my talents had raised against me, but I was only longing for a jaunt to my own element. Still, however, I continued to write. Pastoral, Satire, Criticism, Burlesque, Heroic, were all equally familiar to me, and I concluded my literary career by giving your globe some little insight into the world of which I was an original inhabitant,

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and introducing them to my fellowspirits and invisible brethren, in my Rape of the Lock, a very clever production certainly for a mortal, but for which, as a spirit, I take no great merit.

དྷ་་་་i(༄།,་

“ All praise is foreign, but of true desert!” "Excuse me quoting from myself. After having completed my stated period of existence upon earth, and resumed my aerial essence, I continued for a long time entirely occupied in the invisible world; but at last I was seized with an inclination to revisit your globe, and more particularly, because I had learnt that innumerable commentaries had been written on my works,-that there were disputes concerning the meaning of some of my best passages,-and that I had actually been again accused of infidelity in my Essay on Man. Accordingly, leaving the upper regions, I landed invisible in the streets of Ed-, at that time distinguished, as I well knew, for its literary and philosophic society. I walked straight to the library of the Faculty of Advocates, but I must own, that accustomed as I had long been to the lightness and beauty of our aerial libraries in the upper world, and to the gentle, bibliopolists of the heavens, the horrible descent to this darksome region put me in mind of the proverb of veritas in puteo. I found at length an edition of my own poems, and was just turning over to the disputed passages, when one of those little insects, which we call bookworms, came crawling out of my Rape of the Lock, on the very page I was consulting. It had already eat its way through the Wife of Bath's Tale, and had just begun to fix on The poor Indian, whose untutor'd mind,' when I cast my eye on the little reptile. At that unfortunate moment it happened, unknown to myself, (there are many things in which the capacities of us spirits are limited) that my stated tract of exist ence, as an unimbodied being, had expired, and, dreadful to relate, I found my essence, obedient to the laws of our fraternity, suddenly lessen and contract into the shape of that frightful little bookworm which I had been on the point of destroying.

"My only object now, was to provide for my personal safety, for it is in this interval of our earthly existence that we are subject to all the accidents and

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calamities of your globe; and should we be maimed, wounded, or destroyed, we possess no power either of cure or of resuscitation. I began therefore to revolve deeply into what forgotten or neglected volume I ought to insinuate myself, there taking up my abode, so as to ensure myself a quiet and unviolated retreat during the appointed years of my imprisonment. The Commentators on the Civil Law were the first that naturally suggested themselves. They had slept, unprofaned, in deep and primeval solitude since the days of my friend Cujacius (who lay near me mouldering, or rather moulding, in a green and yellow melancholy'), till the present hour; and I had just determined to creep in along with the Nauta Caupones et Stabularii,”* in the 5th book of the Digest, when a troop of young sparks of candidates came into the library to consult about the subjects for their Theses. I knew well the ransacking of ancient authors, the pruning and patching of mutilated passages, and the severe contributions that are levied in these cases on Oldendorpius, Ulpian, Duarenus, and the rest. Terrified that this business was just commencing, and fearful of discovery, I bade my learned jurisconsults adieu. ⚫ Dixit et tenui murmure lingua vale.'

"The old Romances were my next resource. Clelia and Cassandra held out open arms to me. The Diana of Montemayor offered me an equally kind reception, and I might either have accepted this, or have retreated into some of the lovely, though neglected, cottages in the Arcadia of Sir Philip Sydney. But I was staggered here, by my acquaintance with the late work of that strange young gentleman of your own profession, whose taste and talent for the marvellous (between you and me, make me shrewdly suspect he is one of ourselves), and whose uncommon ingenuity has created a temporary reputation for these fantastic performances.

"It were in vain to enumerate all the various shifts I was reduced to, before I could find any thing like a comfort

By this the bookworm seems certainly to have been no contemptible jurisconsult. The Nautæ Caupones and Stabularii were liable for the safety of all goods placed under their charge. And aware of this reponsibility, no doubt, he was led to creep in.

able retreat. I thought of stepping into the Dilucidationes Arcangeli Mercenarii, who writes so admirably on the subject of old men seeing with young men's eyes; but I dreaded the interest occasioned by this amongst the short-sighted and elderly members of your Faculty. I thought next of Picus Mirandola's Treatise de Ente et Uno (which certainly may be very good entertainment to his friends the Antipodes, though dull enough to you and me), but Scaliger had told the world that he was the phonix of his age, the darling of the muses, the favourite of philosophy, the encyclopædia of the sciences, and with such a character I dared not to trust even to the work on Entities. Spallanzani's Dissertation on the reproduction of the Heads of Snails was placed next to Picus; but the Abbé, like one of his own snails, had risen into a second life in the Pursuits of Literature.

"At length I encountered a huge folio Bible, and morally certain that there were no Divines among your Faculty, I had insinuated myself into the third chapter of Genesis, when I discovered there, to my utter dismay, that it was the famous Breeches Bible,† and imagining, in my terror, that I already saw

* Picus Mirandola Princeps.-The text alludes to his celebrated epitaph by Hercu les Strozza, in the church of St Mark, at Florence.

"Joannes jacet hic Mirandula-Cætera

norunt

Et Tagus et Ganges-forsan et Antipodes.”—

Picus Mirandola was born at Florence

in the year 1463, and died there at the age of 32. He was master, we are told by contemporary writers, of thirty different languages. He published nine bundred philosophical positions, which he challenged the whole world to impugn, offering generously to pay the travelling expenses of the impugners from distant parts. The works of this young Prince (whom not only the venal pens of the eulogists Boisardus, have extolled to the skies, but whom ErasPaulus Jovius, and Angelus Politianus, mus, Scaliger, and Vossius, have pronounc ed the unrivalled phoenix of all mortal perfection,) are now utterly forgotten. Those who are willing to ponder on the vanity of human greatness, may find ample room for meditation in the different characters of Joannes Picus, as they are collected by Blount, in his Censura Celebriorum Auc torum, page 350, fol. ed.

+Nothing certainly can be more extraor dinary than that black letter mania which

Mr, and his black letter dogs at his heels, I made a rapid retreat; and, at last, thanks to the forgotten labours of ancient and modern geologists, I crept into a snug corner between Father Kircher's Mundus Subterraneus and Dr Calcott's Theory of the Earth, where I have lain undisturbed for the last twenty years. By what unlooked for accident you came to consult the work and disturb the venerable dust of my old friend the Jesuit, whom I recollect well conversing with in one of my little Continental trips in the seventeenth century, I cannot tell. Many a good hint did I then give him for his Magia Universalis.Poor Kirchy! He had always a warm heart to the unknown world, and loved us spirits, and any thing mystic or magical, better than the fat paunches, and often lean pates, of his reverend fraternity. You will perhaps recollect, that you discovered me in the Mundus Subterraneus, to which I had retreated in the chapter De Fine et Scopo Geocosmi. I dreaded instant destruction. This moment was to me decisive of my destiny. Had you swept me from the page, or crushed me, like the generality of collectors, in a rage, or carelessly closed the volume, I should have been either destroyed past all redemption, or become a maimed, disfigured, and unhappy spirit, unfit for ever to mingle in aerial society. Conceive then my delight, when you not only proceeded to no violent measures, but favoured my escape, and appeared even solicitous about my safety.

has infected the higher classes of collectors of books, in England more particularly. The passion for collecting books, when under proper modifications, and directed to the higher kinds of literature and philosophy, is of the very first utility, and is an interesting, rational, and delightful amusement. But the rage for buying up all the black letter old treatises, all the smokedried, worm-eaten principes editiones, the taste which gives two thousand guineas for an Ariosto, or a Bocacce, which, in accuracy and beauty, is probably infinitely inferior to the more modern editions; the knowledge which leads some men to detect the age of any work by the smell of the parchment, or the taste of the paper, all which conduces them, in short, to spend on such trivial follies, that tine, talents, and industry, which might extend the range of more solid improvement, or enlarge the bounds of more important knowledge all this is truly ridiculous.

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"Nothing since this adventure has occurred to disturb my retreat; I have passed the years of my pilgrimage on earth in unbroken privacy, and the moment that the laws of our order have restored me to my original brightness, I have appeared before you, to show you, that although you have forgotten this benevolence of yours, I cannot rest till I have conferred on you some lasting mark of my gratitude."

I remained so entirely overcome, so utterly amazed at this singular and learned address of the Spirit, that I did not open my eyes for some moments. "How can I possibly be persuaded of the reality of all this?" I at last exclaimed. "Stay, stay! my friend, on this point I am about to give you most ample satisfaction." She waved her wand, and at this moment a sight was presented to these eyes, so varied, so astonishing, and so beautiful, that I sunk, overcome with the mingled feelings, into the very farthest corner of my rustic chair.

(To be continued.)

METHOD ADOPTED AT GENEVA FOR SUPPLYING THE POOR WITH NUTRITIVE SOUPS FROM BONES.

MR EDITOR,

I ENCLOSE you an extract of a letter, which I have just received from Professor Pictet of Geneva, relative to the method adopted by the inhabitants of that city for supplying the poor Savoyards with wholesome and nutritive food. The facts contained in this extract are of too much importance to be withheld from the public in the present season of scarcity and distress. D. BREWSTER. Venlaw, July 8th, 1817.

Geneva, June 26, 1817. I proposed to set out the day after to-morrow on an excursion to Genoa, by the way of Turin, with the intention of returning by Pavia, Milan, and the Simplon; but in consequence of the information which we have received from M. Sismondi, respecting the dreadful state of misery, bordering upon famine, with which these coun tries are afflicted, and the prevalence of diseases, partly contagious, which are the consequence of bad food, w

have deferred our journey, till the approaching harvest and the ripening of the fruits shall better the condition of the people.

We ourselves have escaped from these dreadful evils by the prudence of the Government of Geneva, and the patriotism of the citizens, who procured such a supply of corn from Odessa, as not only to save ourselves from scarcity, but to enable us to assist our miserable neighbours of Savoy, who, from the scantiness of last year's crops, were literally perishing by famine. In April last, some of the inhabitants of Geneva proposed to open a subscription for furnishing them with Rumford soups, till the harvest should supply them with food. A boiler was, for this purpose, established beyond Mount Saleve, at the expense of Mr Pointz, an English gentleman, and the composition and distribution of the soups was directed by an excellent Genevese lady, Madame Prevost, who took up lodgings at the house of the curate, and still remains there in the performance of this charitable work.

boiling, convert thirty-two ounces of water into jelly.

As there are more bones collected in the city than can be immediately employed, they are first steeped for twenty-four hours in the running water of the Rhone, and then boiled with potash, so as to take away all the superficial grease, without affecting the animal soluble matter within. They are next dried in the open air, and may be preserved in a dry place for an indefinite length of time, without suffering any change. In this way we might prepare a granary of bones, as well as a granary of corn, and thus keep in reserve, animal as well as vegetable food. This, in my opinion, is one of the most generally useful discoveries that want has ever suggested. The broth made of bones is really as good, if not better and more nutritive, than broth made of meat. Four or five hours boiling, in a covered vessel, is sufficient, without any compression beyond the weight of the atmosphere.

HISTORY OF

The good example which was thus MARLOW'S TRAGICAL
set was rapidly followed, and no fewer
than eleven boilers have been erected
in as many parishes, within a semi-
circle of four or five leagues radius,
furnishing 3260 soups a day.
this is at our expense; the English

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF DOCTOR
FAUSTUS.

All

have furnished about one-fourth or one-fifth of the subscription, and the lowest classes of citizens have made it a point, and considered it an honour,

to contribute.

Necessity has suggested an astonishing resource for supplying the animal part of the soups from bones, which, in ordinary cases, are thrown away. Experience has shewn that a first boiling for some hours extracts a rich broth, which turns into a mass of jelly, covered with a stratum of fat like butter. This jelly, which can be transported, supplies the boilers. A second boiling of the same bones, after being bruised, extracts a second quantity of broth, not much inferior to the first; and if new bones cannot be obtained, a third boiling may be resorted to with success. The same bones which have furnished all this nutritive matter, when treated with diluted muriatic acid, according to Darcet's method, are converted into gelatine, which is dried, and a single ounce of this gelatine will, by sufficient

number of our readers are unacquaintAs in all probability the greater tion, and as, independently of its own ed with this very singular composigreat merits, it possesses an extraordinary interest at the present time, subject to that of Lord Byron's last from the general resemblance of its poem, we now shall give an analysis of it, accompanied with extracts sufficiently copious to exhibit its peculiar spirit and character.

It opens, in somewhat rude imitation of the Greek Tragedy, with the Chorus, who gives a short sketch of the pursuits and character of Faustus. "Till swollne with cunning and a selfe-conceit,

His waxen wings did mount above his reach— And melting, Heavens conspir'd his over

throw :

For, falling to a Devillish exercise, And glutted now with learning's golden gifts,

He surfeits on the cursed Necromancy. Nothing so sweet as Magicke is to him!"

Faustus is then seen sitting in his study; and he enters into an elaborate discussion on the emptiness of all human knowledge, from the Analy

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tics of Aristotle down to the Institutes
of Justinian. After bidding adieu to
Logio, Law, Physic, and Divinity, he
exclaims,homira ng net vir ons
These Metaphysickes of Magicians,
And negromanticke bookes, are heavenly.

O what a world of profit and delight,
Of power, of honour, and omnipotence,
Is promis'd to the studious Artizan !
All things that move betweene the quiet
Fulit bi Poles

Shall bee at my command: Emperors and
Are Kings at 10. 190 R
Are but obey'd in their several provinces:
But his dominion, that exceeds in this,
Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of Man:
sound Magician is a Demi-God.
While Faustus is in this frame of
mind, there enter a Good Angel and
an Evil Spirit.ok pube.

*» Good Angel. “O, Faustus, lay that damned

*** booke aside,

And gaze not on it lest it tempt thy soulé,
And heape God's heavy wrath upon thy head.
Read read the Scriptures :-that is blas-
phemy!

Bad Angel. Go forward, Faustus, in that
famous Art

Wherein all Nature's treasure is contain'd:
Be Thou on earth as Jove is in the skie,
'Lord and Commander of these Elements."

While Faustus is debating with himself which advice to follow, Valdes and Cornelius enter, two friends cunning in necromancy, and by whose suggestion he has been led to engage in that art. They eloquently describe to him the miracles which magic will perform and especially, that the Spirits of the Elements will serve him in various forms, and among others,

Sometimes like women, or unwedded

maids, ‹.

Shadowing more beauty in their ayrie browes Than have the white breasts of the Queene of Love."

He is overcome by these sensations, to meet them in his study,

and

agrees that he

of

i

learn from them the requisite of art. Having, it appears, become master of the spell, he employs it in his study during a night-storm, and Lucifer and four Devils rise up before him. Lest any of our readers should be desirous of trying the effects of this incantation, it is as follows!" Sint_mihi Dit

meraris per Iehouam, gehennam et consecratam aquam, quam nune spargo; signumque crucis quod nunc facio et per vota nostra ipse nunc surgat nobis Dicatus Mephostophilis."

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This Mephostophilis is henceforth to become his servient spirit on the following conditions, to which Faustus chearfully subscribes viqques de "For when we heare one racke the name of God--+

Abjure the Scriptures and his Saviour, Christ,
We flye in hope to get his glorious soule.
Nor will we come unlesse he use such meanes,
Whereby he is in danger to be damn'd:
Therefore the shortest cut for conjuring,
Is stoutly to abjure all godlinesse,
And pray devoutly to the Prince of Hell."

The following lines are striking; and whether Lord Byron had them, or had them not, in his mind during the composition of some passages of Manfred, they will, we think, stand strain of a simia comparison with any lar nature in his Lordship's drama.. Faust. "Was not that Lucifer an angel once ?

Meph. Yes, Faustus, and most dearly
lov'd of God.

Faust. How comes it then that he is
Prince of Devils?

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Meph. O by aspiring pride and inso

lence,

For which God threw him from the face of

Heaven.

די

Faust. And what are you that live with Lucifer?

Meph. Unhappie Spirits that live with

Lucifer

Conspir'd against our God with LuciferAnd are for ever damn'd with Lucifer! Faust. Where are you damn'd?'

Meph. In Hell.

Faust. How comes it then that thou art out of Hell?

Meph. Why, this is Hell, nor am

of it.

I out

Think'st thou that I, that saw the face of

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Dii Acherontis propitii, valeat Numen triplex Iehoua, ignei, aerii, enquítani spiritus salvete: Orientis Prínceps Faust. “ First I will question thee about Belzebub, inferni ardentis Monarcha et eta bor Heller,hodism 219918€ of Demigorgon, propitiamus vos, vt appareat Tell me where is that plate that men call et surgat Mephostophilis Dragon, quod tu-Hellanitolog ant to soure 3 D VOL. I.

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