1799.] 
When Buonaparte heard that fome hun- 
dreds of republicans had been maffacred at 
the hofpital of Verona, he curfed that city, 
- would not enter it on his return from Ty- 
rol, and blamed one of the generals, who 
commanded under the walls of that plate, 
for not having reduced it to afhes. 
At the time, of the treaty of Campo. 
Formio, the Emperor infifted upon the 
Iflands of Corfu, Zante, and Cephaloni, 
being ceded tohim, along with Dalmatia. 
With a view of obtaining peace, Buona- 
parte would perhaps have made the facri- 
fice, had not an old Greek, with the map 
in his hand, demonftrated to him, that, if 
he gave up thofe iflands, the Emperor 
would no longer meet with any obftacles in 
getting poffeffion of the reft of Greece. 
«s At laft,”? faid he, ** he wili take Con- 
ftantinople.”— And I, Vienna,”’ faid 
Buonaparte eagerly. It appears that the 
advice of the good old man-was not thrown 
away. 

A BANIAN TREE. 
Near Manjee, a fmall town at the con- 
fluence of the Gogra and Ganges, thereisa 
remarkably large Bur, or Baniaz tree. 
All the trees of this fpecies are diftinguifhed 
objects in an Indian land{cape, on account 
of their fingularity of growth. The 
branches fhoot out to a confiderable dif- 
tance from the main ftem, in nearly a ho- 
rizontal direction; after which they let 
down to the ground a number ofsleafiefs 
fibres, which prefently take root, coalefce 
and increafe in bulk, fo as to fupport the 
~ protracted branches like a fecond trunk. 
From thele new centres of vegetation, 
other arms again {pring out, and at their 
termination form a third feries of ftems, fo 
that a full-grown Banian-tree compofes 2 
grove of itfelf. The individual in quef- 
tion, from the oppofite high bank of the. 
Ganges, at the diftance of about eight 
miles, appeared of a pyramidal fhape, with 
an eafy {preading flope from its {ummit to 
the extremity of the lower branches, and of 
fuch a fize, as at firft to be miftaken for a 
fmall hill. The middle ftem is confider- 
ably higher than any of our Englith trees, 
and the following comprife its other prin- 
cipal dimenfions : 
Diameter of the branches from north to 
fouth, 363 feet. | 
Ditto of ditto from eat to weft, 375 
feet. 
Circumference of the fhadow of the 
branches at noon, 1116 feet. 
The number of props. or derivative 
ftem$ amounts to between 50 and Go. 
SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN. 
When Sir Chriftopher Wren built the 

E xtraéts from a Port-folio ofa Man of Letters. 
387 
church of St. Magnus, there were houfes 
on each fide of London Bridge, and the 
fronts of them projected as far as the 
church, When thefe houfes were pulled 
down, thefoot-path Jed direétly to the fide 
of the church, fo that the people who 
walked on the right-hand path of the 
bridge,.out of the Borough, were obliged 
to go round into the Coach-road. 
This was found very inconvenient, and 
a meeting of the inhabitants was convened, 
to confider if they could with fafety cut a 
paflage through the church wall; but it 
was thought too hazardous an experiment, 
and the neighbours, apprehending it might 
bring az old church about their ears, laid 
the {cheme afide. Going round being 
however found very’ inconvenient and dan- 
gerous, fome of the more intelligent inha- 
bitants convened another meeting, and by 
a fmall majority it was voted to try the 
experiment, which was accordingly made. 
Upon breaking through the bafe, it was 
found, that Sir Chriftopher, with the pro- 
phetic eye of an archite&t, who built edi- 
fices for pofterity, forefaw that a time would 
come, when the moft fagacious citizens 
of the moft fagacious city in the univerfe 
would ceafe to confider their bridge as the 
eighth wonder of the werld; that it would 
at laft be difcovered, that a broad foot- 
path in a great city was convenient and 
practicable ;—or, (to adopt a phrafe of 
the late Duc D’Orleans) when our pave- 
ments would be conftructed on democrati- 
cal principles. Aware of all this, it was 
found that he had left the. complete and 
fpacious arch which now remains, to ac- 
commodate the pedeftrians of a fucceeding 
age. 

TOBIAS MAYER. 
Of this eminent German aftronomer a 
portrait is given inthe Geographifche Ephe- 
meriden, vol. ili. from the only picture 
extant of him, now in the poffeffion of 
M. von Zach, and formerly belonging to 
Mayer himfelf. It was drawn from life by 
the late celebrated engraver Kaltenhofer, of - 
Gottingen, an intimate friend of Mayer ; 
and is {aid to be a very ftriking likenefs. | 
—Tobias Mayer was born at Marbach, 
in the duchy of Wirtemberg, on the 17th 
of February, 1723, and died at Gottin- 
gen on the zoth of February, 1762.— 
<< Of his merits as an aftronomer,”’ re- 
marks M. von Zach, editor of the Geog. 
Ephem. ‘I fhall not fay a fingle word 5 
for who among our readers is unacquaint- 
ed with them ?>—-To place them in new 
and inftructive points of view, is a tafk 
which a Ka/iner, the contemporary and col- 
league of Mayer, or a Lichtenberg, the 
5 KR editor 
