10 tion of a cent of their money, he would nation of customers, therefore, not in being which have our vast quantity of unoccupied In saying, however, that every twenty-three In thus setting forth the astonishing progress of our own country, in numbers and wealth, we of course do not mean to say that other countries are making no progress. It is true there are no countries in Europe, The mighty increase of our country in numbers and wealth, admits several other applications; at which, however, we have room only to hint. The intellectual character of a nation and of an age results of course from the combined action and mutual reaction of the individuals who compose them. In a country whose numbers are very slowly increasing, are stationary, or are declining, the rising and risen generations are equally balanced; and an easy transmission of manners and opinions, as of hereditary titles, fortunes, and domains, is made from father to son. The case is very different in a country, where every period of ten years makes new divisions in society; where new towns, counties, and states are continually springing up; where men are born, not to a narrow inheritance of obsolete functions, but to go out into new regions, and be the legislators and the chieftains of rising generations; where new prizes for industry are perpetually offered; new markets for trade opened; new conjunctures in civil administration brought about; new positions, social, political, and moral, taken. If to this novelty of career, we add the extraordinary life and activity resulting from our rapid growth, and the earnestness of competition, which will spring from it, we have reason to predict that our country will make a call on the efforts of her sons, such as has scarce ever been felt in any other region. It will ere long, if it does not already, demand an enterprise, an energy, a courage, a manliness of character from its children, proportioned, not merely to the extent of its territories, but to the indefinitely increasing numbers of its thinking, reasoning, voting men. The old specifics for strong government, the sword and the axe, will be here of no avail: and those who administer our affairs will be required to bring to their duty a singleness and a disinterestedness of purpose, as well as a power and skill, not called for from the inmates of the luxurious cabinets of Europe. What will be the character of the next age in this country is to be decided, not by prescriptions descending from the former, but by the direction, which may be taken by twice as many active minds as now exist in the country, influencing, modifying, and balancing each other. We are much in the wrong if the effect of this state of things be not, to give new importance in education, to the study of human nature and to the arts more immediately exercised in social intercourse, and to throw into the shade the merely speculative and learned acquisitions. MISCELLANY. NIAGARA. The thoughts are strange, which crowd into my brain, confidence. The scene itself is dreadful | farther, and the light of the sun no longer On a fine morning in August last, soon after sunrise, I set out with a friend and a guide to visit this sublime scene. The first thing to be done, after descending the tower of steps, is to strip ourselves of all clothing, except a single covering of linen, and a silk handkerchief tied tight over the ears. This costume, with the addition of a pair of pumps, is the court-dress of the palace of Niagara. Although the noise exceeded by far the We passed about fifty rods under the Ta- extravagance of my anticipation, I was in ble rock, beneath whose brow and crumb-some degree prepared for this. I expected ling sides we could not stop to shudder, our too, the loss of breath from the compresminds were at once so excited and oppress- sion of the air, though not the suffocation ed, as we approached that eternal gateway, of the spray; but the wind, the violence of which nature has built of the motionless the wind exceeding, as I thought, in swiftrock and the rushing torrent, as a fitting ness and power the most desolating hurrientrance to her most awful magnificence. cane-how came the wind there? There, We turned a jutting corner of the rock, and too, in such violence and variety, as if it the chasm yawned upon us. The noise of were the cave of Æolus in rebellion. One the cataract was most deafening; its head- would think that the river above, fearful of long grandeur rolled from the very skies; the precipice to which it was rushing, in we were drenched by the overflowings of the folly of its desperation, had seized the stream; our breath was checked by the with giant arms upon the upper air, and in its half-way course abandoned it in agony. And spoke in that loud voice which seemed to him violence of the wind, which for a moment Who dwelt in Patmos for his Saviour's sake, ANON. scattered away the clouds of spray, when a full view of the torrent, raining down its diamonds in infinite profusion, opened upon us. Nothing could equal the flashing brilliancy of the spectacle. The weight of the falling waters made the very rock beneath us tremble, and from the cavern that received them issued a roar, as if the confined spirits of all who had ever been drowned, joined in an united scream for help! Here we stood,-in the very jaws of Niagara,-deafened by an uproar, whose tremendous din seemed to fall upon the ear Notwithstanding the number of people, in tangible and ceaseless strokes, and surwho constantly visit Niagara from all parts rounded by an unimaginable and oppressive of the country, yet there are, with whom grandeur. My mind recoiled from the imit is matter of some doubt, whether a man mensity of the tumbling tide; and thought may go beneath the falls, and live. Many, of time and of eternity, and felt that nothwhen they look upon this scene, are over-ing but its own immortality could rise against come with terror and cannot approach it. the force of such an element. Others, of firmer nerves, venture into the ancillary droppings of this queen of waters, and, confounded by the noise, wind, and spray, and still more by their own imagination, scramble into daylight, fully persuaded they could not have lived there a moment longer. But effectually to achieve this performance, it is only necessary that we have The guide now stopped to take breath. He told us, by hollooing in our ears at the top of his voice, "that we must turn our heads away from the spray when it blew against us, draw the hand downwards over the face if we felt giddy, and not rely too much on the loose pieces of rock." With these instructions he began to conduct us, one by one, beneath the sheet. A few steps We now came opposite a part of the sheet, which was thinner, and of course lighter. The guide stopped, and pointed upwards; I looked-and beheld the sun," shorn of his beams" indeed, and so quenched with the multitudinous waves, that his faint rays shed but a pale and silvery hue upon the cragged and ever humid walls of the cavern. Nothing can be looked at steadily beneath Niagara. The hand must constantly guard the eyes against the showers which are forced from the main body of the fall, and the head must be constantly averted from a steady position, to escape the sudden and vehement blasts of wind. One is constantly exposed to the sudden rising of the spray, which bursts up like smoke from a furnace, till it fills the whole cavern, and then, condensed with the rapidity of steam, is precipitated in rain; in addition to which, there is no support but flakes of the rock, which are constantly dropping off; and nothing to stand upon but a bank of loose stones covered with innumerable eels. Still there are moments when the eye, at one glance, can catch a glimpse of this magnificent saloon. On one side the enormouse ribs of the precipice arch themselves 12 with Gothic grandeur more than one hun-| Yet feared to alight on the guarded ground. recess. not think this has ever been accurately ascertained. The arch under which we passed, is evidently undergoing a rapid decay at the bottom, while the top, unwasted, juts out like the leaf of a table. Consequently a fall must happen, and, judging from its appearance, may be expected every day; and this is probably the only real danger in going beneath the sheet. We passed to our temporary home, through the valley which skirts the upper stream, among gilded clouds and rainbows and wild flowers, and felt that we had experienced a consummation of curiosity; that we had looked upon that, than which earth could offer nothing to the eye or heart of man more awful or more magnificent. POETRY. RIZPAH. O. W. And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord; and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley-harvest. And Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took sackcloth, Hear what the desolate Rizpah said, And her own fair children, dearer than they : And were stretched on the bare rock, side by side. That bloomed and smiled in the court of Saul, I have made the crags my home, and spread Ye were foully murdered, my hapless sons, Blow, blow ye winds, and waft us far from Xeres' glorious plain, Then be ye calm, while I pronounce a Moor's curse on Spain. "Thou did'st bow, Spain, for ages, beneath a Moorish yoke, And save Asturia's mountain sons, there were none to strike a stroke; On mountain top and lowland plain, thy fate was still the same, Thy soldiers drew dull scymitars, and the crescent overcame. But I hoped that the cottage roof would be the past. And my bosom swelled with a mother's pride, Oh, what an hour for a mother's heart, The barley harvest was nodding white, B. to come no more; A warrior monarch rules thee now, and we give the battle o'er; Abencarrage wakes not, when the battle trumpets call, We do assure friend J. that his rhymes are very acceptable to us, and, we doubt not, will be so to the public; wherefore we will thank him for all he may choose to send. ED. INTELLIGENCE. IN the "General Gazette" of October, 1821, we find a notice of several American productions. As that journal has for its contributors some of the most eminent German scholars of the age, it cannot but be interesting to the American public to learn how favourably the literary efforts of our countrymen are regarded by them. "Worcester, Massachusetts, printed by Manning: Archæologia Americana; Translations and Collections of the American Antiquarian Society. Vol. I. 1820. 436 pages in 8vo. 13 The every obstacle in the way of scientific exertion, sisting of ballets and pieces of other kinds. "The conviction that the preservation of the monuments of antiquity and of the researches of learned men respecting them, are worthy objects of a national institution, occasioned the foundation of the American Antiquarian Society. A new impulse has thus been given to the spirit of inquiry. Here follows in the review Mr PickerThe president of the society, Isaiah Thomas, LL. D. has given it considerable collections, and the ing's account of the manuscript dictionary learned Dr Bentley increased their collection of of Seb. Râle, which is in the library of the books with nine hundred volumes of the works of University at Cambridge. No. 2 is spoken the best German authors, the most valuable works of as a work, in which many useful obserprinted in New England, and rare and valuable vations on the pronunciation of the several Persian, Arabic, and other manuscripts; individual members are constantly sending books and curi-Greek letters have been collected by a osities. Institutions commenced under such aus- scholar who understands the subject. pices come to maturity. "This Society, which was first established in Massachusetts in 1812, and of which the origin, act of incorporation, and laws are contained from page 13 to 59 (directly after the preface, table of man. "Of course they are not all equally interesting in this point of view. We select what is most mportant in the communications of C. Atwater, Esq. and Samuel Mitchell, both unwearied in their re A new tragedy with this title, founded contents, and the list of the members), offers in upon the well known Sicilian Vespers, has this first volume of its transactions a multitude of lately been brought out at Covent Garden remarkable materials and well-digested investiga-theatre, but has met with an unfavourable tions, which have an interest not only for the his- or at best a doubtful reception from the tory of this part of America, but for the history of public, and been withdrawn for revision. It is the production of Mrs Hemans, who is already known as the author of some poetry of acknowledged merit. The critics allow to this tragedy great merits of style and sentiment, and great poetical beauty. They in fact seem to attribute, in part at least, its failure on the stage to the too highly elevated strain of poetry and sentiment which is maintained throughout the piece; but which injures its effect as a theatrical exhibition. searches." Here follows, in the original review, an abstract of all the communications of the gentlemen just mentioned. Their essays are called interesting and worthy of attention. The researches of Moses Fiske are also commended for their acuteness; and the "excellent map of the river Ohio" is mentioned. The reviewer laments that so few of the Indian songs are made public. A desire is expressed "to announce soon the continuance of these valuable la bours." KENILWORTH. The tragical romance of Kenilworth has been dramatized both in London and Paris. In the English drama the catastrophe is altered, and Varney is made to undergo the "1. Cambridge (in America), by Hilliard & Met- fate which in the original befals Amy Robcalf: An Essay on a Uniform Orthography for sart. What new disposition of the charthe Indian Languages of North America; by acters is made in adapting it to the ParisJohn Pickering, A. A. S. 1820. 42 pages in ian stage, we do not know; it may be pre"2. At the same place: An Essay on the Promun- sumed however that there is some imciation of the Greek Language; by John Pick-portant change in the personages or inciering. 1818. 70 pages in 4to. 4to.. "It is very pleasing to observe the literary activity which is now awakening in the free states of North America. The increasing culture of the soil and improvement of its productions employ not only many hands but also many minds. When their civil prosperity shall have long been established, many will be devoted to the pursuits of profound science. But even now there are on all sides symptoms of such a tendency in that happy country. On all sides societies are formed to advance the sciences (No. 1 and 2 belong to the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences). It has been said, that scientific culture will emigrate from Europe to America; that must not be. We desire rather to remove still more dents, since the title under which it is FRENCH DRAMA. NEW THEATRICAL SPECTACLE. The Christmas pantomime at Covent Garden theatre for the present season is entitled the "House that Jack built," and is founded upon the old nursery tale of the same name. In the course of the exhibition one of the personages is represented as making an aerial voyage in a balloon from London to Paris, and during the excursion, the audience as well as the traveller are gratified with a view of the country over which the balloon passes, the Thames, the channel, &c. &c.; night comes on, and the balloon, emerging from the clouds, alights in the garden of the Thuilleries. It is said that this spectacle is the most brilliant and splendid in scenery, and the most complete in mechanical execution of any which has been presented at either of the theatres. MUSICAL PHENOMENON. A young Hungarian, named Leist, only eleven years of age, is astonishing the musical world at Paris, by his wonderful per formances. He is remarkable both for great rapidity of fingering on the piano forte, and for a union with it of great delicacy and firmness of touch, whilst at the same time he exhibits a beauty of expression which is equalled by few performers. He also composes in the style of the greatest masters with the most wonderful facility. Since the time of Mozart, who at eight years of age astonished several of the European courts by his performances, nothing has appeared so surprising as the exhibition of the talents of the young Leist. It appears from some of the French CONDENSATION OF GASES INTO LIQUIDS. Journals, that in the course of the year 1823, the Parisian Theatres have exhibited Mr Faraday, Chemical Assistant at the not less than 217 new pieces. Of these, Royal Institution in Great Britain, has eight were tragedies, twenty-two comedies, lately performed some very important and one hundred and twenty-two vaudevilles, interesting experiments on the condensanineteen melodrames, fourteen comic operas, tion of the gases into liquids. In these exand four grand operas; the remainder con-periments he has been favoured with the 14 countenance and advice of Sir Humphrey Davy. The method employed by Mr Faraday was to generate the gases under powerful pressure, and at the same time favour their condensation by the application of cold. The materials for producing the gas were placed in one of the legs of a bent glass tube, which was then sealed at both ends. Heat, if necessary, was applied to the end containing the materials, while the other was placed in a freezing mixture. As the gas forms, it is gradually deposited in a liquid state in the cold end of the tube. In this way the properties of chlorine, muriatic acid, sulphureous acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, carbonic acid, euchlorine, nitrous oxide, cyanogen, and ammonia, in a liquid state, have been ascertained, with a greater or less degree of precision. The following is a view of the results at which Mr Faraday has arrived with regard to the colour, consistency, and specific gravity of these several gases, and of the degree of pressure and temperature which is necessary to reduce them to a liquid state. There is considerable risk from explosions in conducting these experiments, particularly on those gases which require a great number of atmospheres to reduce them to the liquid state, such as carbonic acid and nitrous oxide. TEMPERATURE OF THE CARIBEAN SEA AT THE DEPTH OF 6000 FEET. The temperature at this depth in lat. 204 fifty three minutes the line was hauled in, COPPERING OF SHIPS' BOTTOMS. Sir H. Davy has lately read a paper to the Royal Society, on the cause of the corrosion and decay of copper used for covering the bottoms of ships. This he has ascertained to be a weak chemical action constantly exerted between the saline contents of sea water and the copper, and which, whatever may be the nature of the copper, sooner or later destroys it. The remedy he has found in the application of those electrical powers and relations of bodies which have been found to exert so extensive an influence upon chemical phenomena. He finds that a very small surface of tin or other oxidable metal in contact any where with a large surface of copper renders it so negatively electrical that the sea water has no action upon it; and even a little mass of tin brought into communication with a large plate of copper by a wire, entirely preserves the copper. Sir H. Davy is now putting this discovery into actual practice on some of the British ships of war. Cummings, Hilliard & Co. and Oliver None of the liquids thus obtained be- came solid at any temperature to which PART I. General History. History of the United States of America for the year, containing 1o. An account of all events of national importance, especially of the doings of congress. Under this head, the most important speeches will be given as reported in the National Intelligencer. 20. An account of all events of importance, in II. History of the several independent states of Cummings, Hilliard, & Co. Boston, have in press, and will shortly publish, Florula Bostoniensis, a Collection of Plants of Boston and its vicinty, with their places of growth, time cf flowering, and occasional remarks. By Jacob Bigelow, M. D. Rumford Professor, and Professor of Materia Medica in Harvard University.-Second edition, greatly enlarged. This edition will contain the plants which the author has collected in different parts of the New England States since the publication of the first edition in 1814. These, together with enlarged descriptions of the plants of the first edition, will constitute about double the quantity of matter originally contained in the work. [Some delay in the appearance of this number of the Gazette has been caused by circumstances beyond our control; we have not, however, availed ourselves of the opportunity to obtain a large subscription list, because we believe it more just and more safe to solicit public patronage, by actual performance, than by promises. We state this by way of apology to those gentlemen who may receive our first number, without having authorized us to send it to them. Every one who receives this number, is requested to return it to us, by mail, with no greater delay than his convenience may require, unless he wishes to become a subscriber; in which case, if he will have the goodness to make his intention known to us, he will receive the numbers as they are published. No. 1 Cornhill, Feb. 1824.] |