-1822.] Onthe Prevention of the Nuisance from Melting Fat. 
sive to my neighbours, and a great 
comfort to the operator. ‘The method 
is, to exclude the air at the mouth of 
the ash-pit by a close door, the copper 
being partly arched over, leaving sul- 
ficient room for the operation, which 
is regulated by a door, according to 
circumstances. The air for the sup- 
port of the fire is made to pass over 
the copper, by a tube or chimney un- 
der the grate, which in its passage 
carries the offensive eflluvia with it, 
and is completely destroyed by the 
fire:)* 2 
This plan is applicable to many pur- 
poses where effluvia arises. Kitchens, 
wash-houses, &c. may be kept free of 
ali light disagreeable steam, by the 
copper or stove fires being supplied 
with air from the top of the room, 
where it accumulates, keeping the 
pure air at the bottom, for the use of 
the fires. It will readily he sccn, that 
by taking the light air from the ceil- 
ing, a constant supply of fresh air will 
be diffused all over the room; while, 
in the ordinary construction, the fire 
being supplied from below the grate, 
takes off the pure air, which, from its 
specific gravity, occupies the lower 
part of any heated room. 
I believe this plan, or a similar one, 
has been adopted by one or two per- 
sons in London for melting fat. It is 
to be regretted that it is not more ge- 
neral, or that persons in close neigh- 
bourhoods are not compelled to adopt 
if. JAMES GILBERTSON. 
Hertford ; July 10, 1822. 
i 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
L’APE ITALIANA. 
NO. XXX, 
Dov ape susurrando 
Nei mattutini albori 
Vola suggendo irugiadosi umori. 
Guarini. 
Where the bee, at early dawn, 
Murmuring sips the dews of morn. 
LIFE OF VERRI. 
HE harmony and elegance of the 
lialian language being univer- 
sally admired, the life of a man, in 
whose writings the finest specimens of 
that language are, according to the 
unanimous opinions of his contempora- 
ries, and of those who have survived 
him, are to be found, cannot be unin- 
teresting to an enlightened public. 
Count Alexander Verri, born of a 
noble family at Milan in 1742, was 
originally educated at the college of 
‘St. Alexander, in that city; and the 
fivst years of his life were there distin. 
: 
107 
guished for the proficiency he attained. 
He sunsequently pecame a student of 
Jaw, and so brilliantly successful was 
his career, that he obtained the parti- 
cular esteem and friendship of Count 
Firmian, the governor of Austrian 
Lombardy. The advice and the taste 
of this enlightened protector of the 
fine arts contributed not a little to de- 
velope in the ardent mind of the 
young Verri that love of literature 
which soon became his ruling passion. 
To be enabled the more fully to satisfy 
this, and at the same time ennoble it 
by profoundly studying mankind,— 
without which the productions of ge- 
nius are only agreeable frivolilies, he 
travelled over, and attentively ob- 
served during many years, Italy, 
France, and England; and passed 
some time more particularly in Lon- 
don and in Paris, in the society of 
those who were at that time most dis- 
tinguished in those capitals in polities, 
literature, and the arts. Rich in ob- 
servations and universal knowledge, 
he returned to Italy about 1773, and 
fixed his residence in Rome, rather 
than in his native city of Milan, with- 
out doubt, as he himself informs us, to 
quench with more facility his thirst for 
the study of antiquity. 
From that period to the time of his 
death, which happened September 23, 
1816, Count Verri rarely passed the 
bounds of his adopted country. Re- 
signed entirely to his favourite studies, 
he delighted to live with the illustrious 
dead, whose shades have been re- 
called by his talents from the tomb. 
His work on this subject was preceded 
by the publication of his “ Adventures 
of Sappho,” a composition the off: 
spring of a most highly cultivated ge- 
nius, replete with sound philosophy 
and the most refined taste, singularly 
remarkable for the art with which the 
author, whilst respecting the propriety 
and genius of the Italian language, has 
infused into his style the pure forms 
of ancient Atticism. ‘This structure 
raised upon the Greek classics encou- 
raged him to make a similar attempt 
upon the authors of the Augustan age, 
and success again crowned his endea- 
vours. ‘The literary world beheld 
with a mixture of surprise and enthu- 
siasm the majestic energy of the Latin 
period, united with modern concise- 
ness, appear with éclat in the soft in- 
flexions of a language which had so 
admirably served the genius of Dante 
and of 'Passo in heroic poetry, and vel 
had 
