” 332 
explosive powers of inflammable air, 
when mingled with a certain portion 
of common air, made them dangerous, 
and not fitto be entrusted to children 
or domestics ; in scientific hands, they 
were innocent, They would be very 
useful. to burn during the night; for, 
besides the sparing of expense, the eir 
of the chamber would not be impreg- 
nated, with the phlogisten, and it 
would -be without. that brightness 
which proves an inconvenience to some 
persons. 
-THE, ST. LAWRENCE, 
There are not less than 2500 islands 
in the navigable waters between St. 
‘Regis, on the St. Lawrence, and Lake 
Superior: some of them contain from 
10 to 100,000 acres. 
SINGULAR INCIDENT. 
The following remark offered itself 
to me when on a visit in Kent: I was 
contemplating part of its scenery. 
Some of the hills,—although far infe- 
rior in point ef height to Snowdon and 
Plinlimmon, in Wales, or to the Che- 
viot range in Scotland,—possess the 
appearance of an Alpine region. Nor 
do they seem to have lost the charac- 
ter and-oxpression of such, if we may 
judge from one particular, that I have 
seen more birds of prey there than in 
any other part of England, Cornwall 
excepted. If I wanted materials for 
the amplification of this subject, one 
might be found in an incident that 
oceurred at Wychling, at a little sum- 
mer residence appertaining to Samuel 
Lewin, esq. A goldfinch was placed 
on the outside of a-window, in a ma- 
hogany cage, with brass wires, There 
was nothing new or striking in this ; 
but while the little songster was Lop- 
ping about, or singing, in its familiar, 
agreeable, and simple way, a frightful 
form of a different kind, that was flit- 
ting about in the air, descended with 
“preat velocity, pierced the skull of its 
little victim through the wires, and 
laid it breathless at the bottom of the 
cage. Tnever knew before such an 
instance of the daring of that inferior 
bird, the kite. 
NOTES TAKEN AYSEVE OR SEVRES, 
A single plate is valued at twenty 
guincas. The white clay (kaolin) is 
brought from both Limoges and Pe- 
tunse, two filspars; and being ground 
by means of water-mills, and pounded 
and sifted, to get rid of impurities, is 
submitted to the labours of the model- 
ler, Painters haye attained such ex- 
Slephensiana, No» XU, 
[ Nov. 1 4 
cellence in their art, as renders then 
worthy of being academicians. The 
best artists are employed here. One 
is selected for his excellence in figures ; 
another excels in battles ; and the third 
in landscapes. The gilding is per- 
formed with wonderful art; and, in 
the distribution of this metal, the 
French must be allowed to execl: 
The famous Sevyres‘blue is: produced 
by means of cobalt; and all the other 
colours are vivid and rich in the ex- 
treme. 
LAST QUEEN OF FRANCE. 
Madame, the wife of * Monsieur, 
(Louis XVIIL.) was called by €a- 
mille, a French wit, and others, in 
terms very properly considered as ra- 
ther familiar, ifnot coarse: —“La grosse 
Semme du gros frere du-Roi Louis.” 
‘ LAW SAYINGS. 
‘Optima est lex que minimum re- 
linquit judici; optimus judex qui 
minimum sibi.”—That law should: be 
recorded and preserved as the best 
which leaves the least to the judge; 
and that judgcis the best, the greatest 
master of his business, who Jeayes the 
least to himself. 
Intolerance only sours the breast,— 
for it addresses itself to hostile feel- 
ings and sympathies. It procures ene- 
mies to religion, without gaining it 
one friend; for, to use the conspiring 
testimony of another, ‘‘it is as impos- 
sible to subdue the mind by laws as it 
is to destroy a fortress by syllogisms.” 
Truth will support itself, and what is 
false cannot be bolstered up by autho- 
rity. I find, though I pretend not to 
account for it, that the French clergy 
expressed the same, or air equivalent 
meaning, when the Bishop of Rennes, 
in their name, said to Louis XIII. 
“We do not presume to root out the 
‘errors of the Protestants by force and 
violence.” —Memoires du Clergé, &c. 
THOMAS HOLLIS. 
Mr. Hollis says (vol. i. p.102,) that 
Mr; (afterwards Sir William) Temple, 
who appears to so great advantage 
in his compositions as.an author, be- 
ing both a man of business and of 
letters, acted originally in the capacity 
of a page to Oliver Cromwell. Mr. H. 
elsewhere justly remarks, that the re- 
maining stream of an ancient and 
wholesome revolution-principle, be- 
gan to be diverted into quite a different 
channel, in a very few months after 
the death of the second George. This 
assertion 1s founded in truth ; for from 
that epoch a deluge of Tory sentiments 
i has 
