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Fast as the beams of morn dissolve the shades,
Like fairy gold the bright illusion fades;
While Reason wakes with grief to find it vain,
And willingly would be beguil'd again.
Fair as those evanescent crimson dies,
And lovely as that vision to our eyes;
And ah! as fleeting too, young Ellinor,
Thus did'st thou shine, thus charm, then dis-
appear:

A few short moments on our senses beam,
Then vanish like the colouring and the dream;
A rose in scarce expanded beauty blighted,
A summer morning e'en at dawn benighted.
Such are the ideal forms of Fancy's mould,

We stretch our arms to clasp what we behold,
The fleeting image will no longer stay,
But like a spectre vanishes away.

The shadowy king bears in his gloomy train
A thousand herald ministers of pain;
These in dread pomp precede him in his way,
To print his signet on the destin'd prey,
And deck it in the livery of decay:
To blanch in health her yet unfaded bloom,
And plant the pallid ensign of the tomb
On Beauty's mouldering walls, till Death's

last stroke

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eye,

Nor sinking pulse, to mark the murderer nigh, Destruction came, array'd in life's best bloom, And deck'd his victim while he seal'd her doom;

Whose charms look'd loveliest in their last decay,

Whose glance shone brightest at its setting ray; Then, with no pang, from those disruptur'd ties,

That tear the bleeding spirit e'er she flies;
No terrors to convulse life's quivering breath,
And cloud the billows of th' abyss beneath;
Her pure immortal spirit took its flight,
Soft as the tropic sunbeam sinks to night.

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Had you, when in that sweet alcove,
Whisper'd to me one word of love.
Did e'er the stock-dove, when her mate
Coo'd notes of love, fly off in hate?
How often we have been together,
When all you said was 'bout the weather;-
Whether, when Louis quits the stage,
Poor Boney might escape his cage;
Or some such stuff as this or that,
You ever would be aiming at.
But did you ever in your life
Ask me to be your loving wife?
Did you e'er talk of nuptial bliss,
Or offer me a playsome kiss?
If in love-verses now you dose me,

Why not have prais'd me viva voce

Mean you to compliment my eyes,
"Beaming like lightning from the skies?"
When did they e'er such anger dart?
Is't thus you try to gain my heart?

In nature, if you search her through,
You'll find the male begins to woo;
Ardently pressing to attain,
He seldom fails his suit to gain,
But, when a man delays his suit,
The patient lady must be mute,
And let concealment's pallid cheek,
Prove what her virtue dare not speak.

And now, Sir Charles, I've told you why,
When you are near, I quickly fly;
And caution maidens, when men dally,
Are off and on, and shilly shally,
Quickly a brighter mate to try:
Don't hesitate, but-Quickly Fly.
Harlow.

MARY.

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Trilling soft whispers to the passing breeze,
Which told how she rejoic'd;
Or by the zephyrs pois'd,
Her pinions feathering with careless ease,
The yielding branch in gentle motion heaves,
And playful rocks her in the ambient air.
And oft with fatal speed,
Without remorse or heed,

She darts on hapless flies,
And cuts the tender thread of all their joys.
Nature for her in gayest smiles is drest,

Charming and charmed, to her mate she gives A new and tender heart,-is oft caress'd,

And the warm nest each day an egg receives. The task perform'd,-the raging tempest swells, The wind and lightning spread their horrors wide;

With grief the Muse the mournful sequel tells,
The nest and callow brood are all destroy'd.
O! exquisite distress!

The tenderest seat of love's a mother's heart,
And, yielding to the agonizing smart,
She sorrow'd comfortless.

"That fatal tree,-ah! why did I explore! Eagles and vultures well its height may suit, If storms relentless sometimes on them pour, They, self-accus'd, their justice can't dispute.

For me, alas! by sad experience taught,

To know the bliss to which I may attain,
No more by vain delusions to be caught,
I'll seek enjoyment near the humble plain.
A distant bramble caught her view,
Once more she smil'd, and thither flew.

There without compass, rule, or line,
She built at little cost;

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annoy;

Yet, sad reverse! I only meet with woes:" And each new thought produc'd a deepdrawn sigh.

At length a bush of middle stature's seen,
Whose spreading foliage promis'd safe retreat,
There to enjoy the verdant, placid scene,
She soon remov'd, and found her bliss
complete.

For us, if Heaven the bounteous gift intend,
If happiness is plac'd within our reach,
Let us this artless fable now attend,

Its hidden sense some valu'd truths may teach.

'Tis not in courts that she delights to dwell, Nor yet in Poverty's secluded cell;

Of mortals, happiest is he Who, rais'd above necessity, Servile dependance nobly scorns;

Whom moderation always guides, With whom philanthropy resides, And whose firm breast each virtue well adorns.

L.

NEW PATENTS AND MECHANICAL INVENTIONS.

To Messrs. ISRAEL GUNDRY, EDWARD NEAVE, and JOSIAH NEAVE, of Gillingham, Dorset; for a new application of Gas.

Tcation of factitious gases to the HIS discovery consists of an appli working of a piston in a barrel or cylinder, by which a mechanical first mover or power is produced, capable of driving wheels or other machinery. The apparatus adapted to this principle is termed a gas-engine, and calculated to operate on the most ponderous as well as on the most delicate machinery. Carbu retted hydrogen, the gas obtained in the distillation of coal, is peculiarly applicable to the objects of this invention, from the large quantity manufactured, and from its being, after such application, equally eligible for its original purpose of illumination. Extensive national benefits will probably result from this new employment of an agent so economical; and which, without interfering with the purposes for which gases are otherwise produced, superadds a collateral advantage that may eventually be found of

superior importance to the one originally contemplated.

To Mr. WILLIAM ROBINSON, of Saffron Walden, for Apparatus to be attached to all sorts of Doors and Door-jambs and Hanging Stiles, for the purpose of preventing, when shut, the admission of external Air into Rooms, Apartments, or other Places.-March 23, 1819.

This invention is applicable to every kind of door, for the purpose of stopping out cold currents of air from parlours, drawing-rooms, dining-rooms, halls, passages, bed-rooms, &c. &c. and for stopping out sound, smoke, steam, dust, foul air, and floating vapours, from without; so contrived as to admit, when required, any quantity of air in an instant by a simple movement with the thumb and finger: rooms having this invention will be more equally heated throughout, with a saving of nearly half the fuel.

Many attempts (says the patentee,) have at various times been tried for excluding

cluding the cold air from our dwelling rooms, but hitherto none have boen effectual; sand-bags nailed upon the door, dragging upon the floor, with unsightly listing and leathers all round the edges and top of the door, when done, have a filthy mean appearance, spoils the door, and never answers the purpose intended; the consequence is, that the owner is under the necessity of being at a considerable expense for what are called green-baize doors. These, however well made, disgrace every room wherever they appear, and will no more prevent the entrance of cold air than any other door. A strong current of cold air rushing in at the crevices of the door jambs in a windy day, induces the owner to enlarge his fire with more fuel; he then soon finds that, when he sits by such a fire, he feels an unpleasant and a very disagreeable cold chilling sensation at his back, while, at the same time, his face and body are scorched with heat; with this sense of feeling, he frequently removes his chair, in hopes of evading it; but, finding no relief, he orders a screen of some kind to be placed at his back, to protect him from the piercing current.

The new patent invention effectually guards against all weathers, whether dry or bumid; and should either the door or door-jamb shrink or swell, it will have no effect upon it whatever. Such is the nature of this patent invention, that it will admit any quantity of air into the room when wanted, and the same may be instantly stopped at pleasure, by raising or depressing with the thumb and finger a small plate of iron or brass fixed to the rabbet. With this invention applied to door-ways, nearly half the fuel may be saved, the room much more equally warmed throughout, and the most tender persons may safely sit near the door without fear of catching cold or rheuma

tism; there will be no further occasion for screens or baize-doors. It will stop out sound, smoke, and dust, foul air and floating vapours, from without; and the whole, when fixed, will be found to be extremely simple, and elegantly neat.

To Mr. THOMAS MORTON, Ship-builder, Leith; for a Method for dragging Ships out of the Water on Dry Land. March 23, 1819.

This method of drawing ships out of the water on dry land, consists in the application of a particular kind of carriage to the inclined plane, platform, road, or slip, up which the vessel is intended to be drawn; which carriage runs upon the

said inclined plane with trucks, wheels, or rollers, or it may slide with grease or other unctuous substance, and the carriage can descend thereupon into the water, so that the vessel may be floated over it; the vessel must be steadied on the frame with blocks and shores, to stay the vessel upon the carriage, and retain it firmly in a vertical position; and then the carriage, thus bearing the vessel, is hauled up the inclined plane out of the water by capstans or other power.

The inclined plane is formed of any suitable substance, and laid with a gradual descent from the stocks down into a sufficient depth of water; the slope is nearly the same as the slips commonly used for building and launching ships; and Mr. M. finds it of advantage, that a way shall be laid in it of wood, iron, or other fit substance, beneath each beam of which the carriage consists. The said carriage is constructed in the following manner: One or more large beams of tiniber, iron, or other fit substance, is provided to lay along the keel-way in the middle of the inclined plane; this may be called the main or keel-beam: it must be nearly as long as the keel of the largest vessel intended to be drawn up, for the keel of the vessel is intended to lay upon this beam, and blocks may therefore be fixed upon the upper surface of the beam to bear the keel, though this is not indispensably necessary; to the underside of the kecl-bcam frames or bushes, of iron or other substance, are fixed, to receive trucks, wheels, or rollers, which are disposed at such distances as under, that the beam will be sufficiently borne up thereby from springing or bending, or otherwise the under-side of the keel-beam may slide on the inclined plane with any unctuous substance, the said trucks, wheels, or rollers run; or the said keel-beam may slide upon iron or other suitable substance, laid down the keel-way above-mentioned. There are likewise two or more other such beams to run with trucks, &c. or to slide with any unctuous substance on the inclined plane, or on the above-mentioned ways; these beams lay parallel to the keel-beam, and on each side of the same, where two or more are used, and at a suitable distance asunder. All these long parallel beams are united together by cross-pieces fixed athwart them, and attached to them in any convenient way. This frame or carriage is drawn up the inclined plane by means of ropes or chains fastened to one or more of the beams, and hauled by

any

any suitable power. I prefer a chain fastened to the fore-end, to the main, or keel-beam; the purchase, a wheel and pinion. If a pall or palls are attached to the carriage, the end of which can drop into the tooth of a rack laid on the inclined plane, it will prevent the carriage from running back, if the chain or rope should break. To fix and steady the vessel upon the carriage, blocks may be applied beneath her bottom in any way that may be most convenient. In Mr. M.'s, carriage-blocks are fitted upon the cross-pieces thereof, with grooves, rebates, or are otherwise guided, in which they slide to or from the keel of the vessel; these blocks are made up to different heights and forms, corresponding to that part of the bottom of the vessel beneath which each one is intended to apply; to each such sliding block, a rope is fixed, which, being carried across the middle beam below the vessel's keel, is reeved through a block, sheave, or eye-bolt, attached to the opposite side

beam, and the end of this rope is taken on-board the vessel when floated over the carriage, in order that, by bauling it in, the block may be drawn in and jambed fast beneath the bottom of the vessel; and, to prevent these sliding blocks from springing back, a pall or palls are attached to the outer end of the blocks, which fall into the teeth of the rack laid upon each of the cross-pieces. And further, to steady the vessel, if it should be necessary, several shores may be fastened by joints or hinges to the sidebeams of the carriage, or to the ends of the cross-pieces, which may project over the side-beams, the joints or hinges are at the lower-end of the props, so that their upper ends may be turned outwards clear of the vessel while floating in, and afterwards turned in and applied to the sides of the vessel above the water, and may be spiked thereto, or cleats may be nailed to her sides close above the topend of such shores.

PROCEEDINGS OF PUBLIC SOCIETIES.

LITERARY SOCIETY OF

BOMBAY. PRESENT STATE of the RUINS of BABYLON. By CAPTAIN EDWARD FRE

DERICK.

TH HE interesting descriptions given in our last Number, whilst they inform us of what Capt. F. saw, will doubtless have great future importance in guiding travellers to the site of these famous ruins of the East; and he shews the way to them accurately. He observes, "that the ruins of the mounds lie on the left, a short distance off the direct road from Hillah ; and a traveller merely sees Belus's tower as he rides along, and must turn out of his way if he wishes to examine it, which will occupy a longer time than travellers generally have leisure for, as appears from their own acknowledgments, not to notice their dread of being surprised by the wandering Arabs.

"As to the other travellers who have visited this celebrated spot, it would be carrying complaisance too far to place implicit confidence on their relations, as they appear merely to have passed over the ground, and sometimes not even to know that they were amidst the ruins, until their guides told them it was Babel they were riding over. They of course had no time to examine the heaps of rubbish. Other travellers visited only one bank of the Euphrates, not caring to risk meeting with the Arabs while gratify ing their curiosity on the other. From

Belus's tower (which is four miles from Hillah in a direct line) there are no more mounds on the bank of the river for the distance of twelve miles above the tower, when you are shown a small heap of white and red furnace-baked bricks, called by the Arabs the hummum or bath. I strongly suspect this to be the remains of a modern building, from the size, colour, and general appearance of the bricks, which, in my opinion, bear not the slightest resemblance to those I had previously seen. This spot, I should imagine, had not been visited by any traveller, as it lies at a great distance from the main road from Hillah to Bagdad; indeed, no one mentions ever having seen it.

"These are all the mounds, or ruins, as they are called, of Babylon, that are generally shown to travellers under the general denomination of Babel. I however discovered, after much inquiry, that there were some heaps on the right bank, at the distance of some miles from Hillah, between the village of Karakoolee and the river. I accordingly rode to them, and perceived that, for the space of about half a mile square, the country was covered with fragments of different kinds of bricks, but none of them led me to conclude that they were of the same size and composition as those found either at Belus's tower, or the mound mentioned to be situated between it and Hillab; 1 therefore returned, somewhat disappointed.

"Having

"Having now gratified my curiosity in examining every mound or spot described either by Rennell, or pointed out by the natives as belonging to Babel, I next began to search for the remains of the ditch and city-wall that had encompassed Babylon, which was the principal object of my journey, and still remained to be accomplished. Neither of these have been seen by any modern travellers, nor do they give any intimation that they had even looked for them. All my inquiries amongst the Arabs on this subject completely failed in producing the smallest effect. Desirous, however, of verifying the conjectures of Major Rennell, I commenced my search, first by riding five miles down the stream, and next by following the windings of the river sixteen miles to the northward from Hillah, on the eastern side of the river. The western I ranged exactly in the same manner, and discovered not the least appearance or trace of any deep excavation running in a line, or the remains of any rubbish or mounds that could possibly lead to a conclusion that either a ditch or wall bad existed within the range of twenty-one miles. On the western bank, in returning home, I left the winding of the river, and proceeded in a straight line from the village of Karakoolee, fifteen miles to the northward and westward of Hillah, to the latter place. The next day I rode in a perpendicular direction from the river at Belus's tower, six miles east and as many west; so that, within a space of twenty-one miles in length, along the banks of the Euphrates, and twelve miles across it in breadth, I was unable to perceive any thing that could admit of my imagining that either a wall or ditch had existed within this extensive area. This leads, however, only to this conclusion; that, if any remains do exist, they must have been of greater circumference than is allowed by modern geographers. I may possibly have been deceived, but I spared no pains to prevent it; I never was employed in riding and walking less than eight hours a-day for six successive days, and upwards of twelve on the seventh.

"That part of the Euphrates which lies between Karakoolee and Hillah, a distance of upwards of sixteen miles, winds extremely, and particularly where it passes Belus's tower a quarter of a mile distant. Arguing from the well established fact, that streams, on so soft a bottom and level a surface, in the course of years change their beds, we may, without violating probability, presume

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two

that the Euphrates had anciently flowed between Belus's tower and the other large mound lying about three quarters of a mile to the west of it, mentioned in this account as the one with the walls of a large house still standing in it, and the decayed tree; for, where the remains of the palace could have been situated, if not at this mound, I am at a loss to conjecture. But if we admit that the river may have changed its course from what it held in those ancient times, and that it now flows to the westward of both the palace and the tower, instead of passing between them, as it is said to have done, the positions of the palace and tower are then exactly marked by these mounds; for, with the exception of Niebuhr's watch-tower, mentioned in my first day's excursion, there is not a single mound on the western bank to be found, nor do the natives ever procure any bricks from that side, though the principal part of the town of Hiliah is situated on it. If this conjecture be admissible, then the ancients and moderns agree in their accounts of this far-famed city with regard to the site of its two principal edifices; but if it be rejected as improbable, we still remain as much in the dark as ever, when we come to look for the remains of the palace. I shall however lay no stress upon what I have here advanced, but only offer it as a conjecture that struck me as probable, from the modern appearances of the river, ruins, and country in their vicinity, at the time I was examining them."

The author having taken his survey in every thing worthy of notice, concludes with equally important observations on the probable dimensions of the Babylo nian tower, and the several kinds of bricks found; and lastly, notices the navigation of the country.

"Della Valle and Beauchamp make the square of the tower of Belus from six hundred and forty to six hundred and sixty feet. I paced the circumference, and found the four faces amount to nine hundred paces, or 2,250 feet: the slope, as you descend the face, is gradual, and generally easy. We might not have measured it exactly at the same place; but the difference which appears between us is immaterial, as a lapse of two centuries may in all probability have occasioned considerable alterations. altitude of the south-west angle, which is the loftiest part of the whole, is computed at two hundred feet. I had no means of ascertaining the truth of this, but should imagine it is fully that height.

The

Della

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