ambition-that ambition, on the surface in the river Medway, near Upnor of which deception floats. castle; the latter is visited by the Lord Mayor triennially. DR. FRANKLIN. I have ever been hardy enough to admire the following verse, by Turgot, on that great and universally respected character, whose portrait, it seems, had been presented to him by a friend. Eripuit fulmen cœlo, sceptrumque tyrannis." The above line I suspect is an imitation of the following, which I found in turning over some book rather hastily: "Eripuit fulmenque Jovi, Phœboque sagittam." I have since found another proof of the imitation, in Manilius, a poet of the Augustan age, representing the cultivation of human genius: "Solvitque animus miracula rerum Eripuitque Jovi fulmen, viresque tonanti." TURBOT FISHERY. This fishery is carried on solely from Barking, in Essex, and the vessels employed, each of which has but one mast, consisted in 1809, of about sixty, all having wells or reservoirs for salt water. Much has been said of our rivaling, and even excelling the Dutch, of late years, in this art; but truth obliges ine to declare the contrary, and sacrifice national vanity at the shrine of impartiality. Our expert and industrious neighbours not only possess the advantage of fishing on their own immediate coast, but in the plastes and salt water inlets which indent it. These we are not tempted by the law of nations to Occupy with our small craft, and therefore, for the most part, we act as mere carriers only. The Dutch make use of smelts which they salt, and also a piece of the gorebill, by way of bait. The English butt-men, (for so this description of vessel is termed) re-visit their coasts, both in time of war and peace. As they collect the turbots, they place them in boxes, and do not turn them adrift in the wells, until some time after. LONDON CONSERVANCY. The City of London enjoys the right of conservancy over the rivers Thames, Lea, and part of the Medway, and all breaches and creeks issuing from the same, from Colnie ditch, a little to the backward of Staines bridge, to the whirlpool beyond Yenleet to the east ; the bounds are designated by a stone near Shoeberry, in Essex, and another GRAVESEND, A new canal is projected here, in which it is proposed to tunnel through the line of hills, including Gadds hill, &c. and to come out near Rochester bridge. The distance 83 miles. ENGLISH GLOOM. If we may credit common fame, the English character will undoubtedly be thought too grave by foreigners-not so, perhaps, by the philosopher and the man of taste, who trace humanity, clothed in various modifications of manners. I happened one afternoon to be rather cheerful in the company of a foreigner, who, in consequence of this trifling event, gave me more surprise than delight by politely asking whether I was actually born in the island of Great Britain. PRINCE GEORGE. The Earl of Chesterfield thus speaks of his late Majesty, while a boy, in a letter to his son, dated London, March 25, 0. S. 1751. "The death of the Prince of Wales, who was more beloved for his affability and good nature, than esteemed for his steadiness and conduct, has given concern to many and apprehension to all. The great difference of age in the King and Prince George, presents the prospect of a minority: a disagreeable prospect for any nation. But it is most probable that the king, who is now perfectly recovered of his late indisposition, may live to see his grandson of age. He is seriously a most hopeful boy: gentle and good-natured with good sense. This event has made all sorts of people here historians as well as politicians. Our histories are rummaged for all the particular circumstances of the six minorities which have been since the conquest: viz. those of Henry III. Edward III. Richard II. Henry VI. Edward V. and Edward VI. The reasonings and the speculations, the conjectures and the predictions, you will easily imagine must be innumerable and endless in this nation, where every porter is a consummate politician." "Doctor Swift says" very humourously, "every man knows that he understands religion and politics, though he never learned them, but many people are conscious they do not understand many other sciences, from having never learned them.' SELF SELF-DENIAL. The old Duke of Cumberland was wounded by a ball, at the battle of Dettengen, in the calf of his leg, but perceiving that a Frenchman of the name of Guiardan, had no one to assist him, he turned round, and said "begin by dressing this French officer's leg, he is more hurt than I am, and I shall have help enough. MR. COBBETT. When his Majesty visited Cuffnell's, in 1804, he said the moment he entered the house," where is my friend Cobbett's paper?" Mr. C. at that time wrote in the ministerial interest. The PRETENDER. Prince Charles Edward, the son of the Chevalier de St. George, was fated like his ancestors to experience a variety of fortunes. His grandfather, James II. had been dethroned, or in gentler language was forced" to abdicate," for his attachment to tyranny and the catholic religion. His great grandfather, Charles I. was condemned to the block by his own subjects. His great grandmother was put to death by Elizabeth. His father was condemned to experience an ignominious exile, and this last scion of so many kings of England, escaped decapitation by an effort almost miraculous. After contending with the appearance of success for the crown of England, he was seized as a common prisoner in France, and transported to Italy, where he shortened his days by intoxication. The old WHIG POET to his old BUFF WAISTCOAT. By CAPT. MORRIS. Farewell, thou poor rag of the muse ! In the bag of the cloathsman go lie : A sixpence thou'lt fetch from the Jews, Which the hard hearted Christians deny. Twenty years in adversity's spite, I bore thee most proudly along : Stood jovially buff to the fight, And won the world's ear with my song. But, prosperity's humbled thy case: Thy friends in full banquet I see, And the door kindly shut in my face, Thou'st become a fool's garment to me! Poor rag! thou art welcome no more, The days of thy service are past, Thy toils and thy glories are o'er, And thou and thy master are cast. But though thou'rt forgot and betrayed, "Twill ne'er be forgotten by me, How my old lungs within thee have play'd, And my spirits have swelled thee with glee. Perhaps they could swell thee no more, For Time's icy hand's on my head; My spirits are weary and sore, And the impulse of Friendship is dead. Then adieu! tho' I cannot but fret I change thee for sable, more sage, A blot that hath buried my pride. They followed in frenzy my song. Who'd have thought, though so eager their claws, They'd condemn me thus hardly to plead? Through my prime, I have toiled for your cause And you've left me, when aged, in need. Could ye not midst the favours of fate, Drop a mite where all own it is due? Could ye not from the feast of the state Throw a crumb to a servant so true? In your scramble I stirred not a jot, Too proud for rapacity's strife; And sure that all hearts would allot A scrap to the claims of my life. But go, faded rag, and while gone For the hand of kind heaven hath shewn I'll turn thy hard fate to my ease; All crosses have colours that please. Thus a bliss from thy shame I receive, Though my body's met treatment so foul, I can suffer, forget, and forgive, And get comfort, more worth for my soul. And when seen on the rag-seller's rope, They who know thee'll say ready enongh, "There service hangs jilted by hope, "This once was poor M--rr--s's buff." If they let them give Virtue her name And yield an example to teach, Poor rag, thou hast served in thy shame Better ends than thy honours could reach. But though the soul gain by the loss, I answer, "be poor and be gay." Put up my discharge with a smile; Face about-prime and load-take a swig, And march off-to the opposite file. TILLOTSON. Archbishop Tillotson left nothing to his family but the copy of his posthumous sermons, which was afterwards sold for 2,500 guineas. King William granted Dr. Tillotson's widow a pension of 6001. per annum, and forgave the first fruits. BURKE BURKE and DALRYMPLE. The king is supposed by some to have given Burke and Sir John Dalrymple access to King William's cabinet at Kensington, where they made some extracts unfavourable to Sydney and Russel. A DISCOURSE proposed to be pronounced over the Body of JOHN HORNE TOOKE, by SIR FRANCIS BURDETT, BART.* Mankind have ever been grateful to their benefactors. In Rome, as well as in Greece, statesmen, philosophers, and heroes were celebrated in funeral orations, and in our own days, the memory of a Franklin, and a Washington, have been commemorated by means of eulogies, pronounced not only in the country which gave them birth, but among distant and admiring nations. We, also, are now assembled to perform the last mournful duties to departed worth; to execute the last sad offices of humanity to a friend now no more; to commemorate the virtues and the talents of a great, a singular, and a daring genius; and it falls to my lot, who have so long and so intimately known him-who so recently closed his eyes, and received his last adieusto shed a tear, and strew a few flowers over his grave ! As this spot has been selected by himself for his sepulture, the usages of our country do not permit that these precious remains should be lodged in "Hallowed Earth," but we are well aware that the tomb in which his ashes are destined to repose, will ever after be deemed sacred: it is henceforth consecrated to Freedom ;his requiem is wafted on the sighs of friendship, and his name canonized in the calendar of liberty! At the expiration of centuries yet to come, the future antiquary may search for the spot around which we now stand; for it also, is deserving of notice, as being intimately connected with the annals of a long reign, and the history of half a century, in which almost every year constitutes an epoch. "Where is the tomb of Archimedes ?" was the first question of Cicero, to the inhabitants of Syracuse. The name of JOHN HORNE TOOKE, which at this moment excites a thousand interesting sensations, as blended in our minds with public virtue, and *We find it in the hand of Mr. Stephens, but it was not delivered as proposed. every thing dear to humanity, will then, after having survived the scorpion stings of slander and envy, be united with those of a Hampden and a Sydney, and all such as, despising private interests, and scorning individual danger, have dared to think for themselves, and will act and suffer for their country. As a man of learning and research, his reputation has ever stood high with foreigners as well as with his countrymen. In every species of composition, with the exception of poetry, which does not appear to have been cultivated by him, he excelled. Bold and argumentative; manly and energetic; at once playful and didactic, his style resembled his conversation; and what that was, YOU who have so often witnessed the brilliancy of his wit, the sallies of his imagination, the solidity of his understanding, and the various powers of his extensive, great, and commanding genius, can best testify. As to his grammatical studies, they are connected with our vernacular ́tongue, and the memory of his ΕΠΕΑ ΠΤΕΡΟΕΝΤΑ can only perish when the English language has ceased to exist. But it was the peculiar misfortune of our departed friend, in the language of the immortal Milton, whom he so much resembled in this, as well as in a variety of circumstances: "To have fallen on evil days, and evil tongues, for at a no remote, but very sinister period of our history, philosophy had become suspected; the spirit of freedom was attempted to be stifled by the most opprobious means, while patriotism became a term of suspicion, reproach, and even of danger." It is but little wonder, then, that under such baleful auspices, in addition to a life of persecution, a man, who in his own person united all those claims to public gratitude, should have been forced to struggle for his honour and his existence. While other men adroitly shaped their course according to the gale of interest, HE stood firm as a rock in the ocean, unmoved by adverse currents, unshaken by the billows that assailed him on every side; unawed, although not unmenaced, by the thunder itself. He appeared like Abdiel the heroic angel "faithful among the faithless." No sordid bargain, no interested compromise, no selfish coalition, ever disgraced his character or stained his conduct. conduct. Yet the labours of fifty years were rewarded by confiscation, imprisonment, and a foul attempt on his life, under the forms, but in express opposition to the spirit of public justice. Nay, even when at length liberated by a jury of his country, as if nothing short of legislative proscription could impose silence, his political career was closed by a law, expressly enacted for the purpose of excluding him for ever from the councils of his native land. At last, this celebrated man, who had never yielded to the tide of calamity, was overcome by the pressure of disease. But he did not cease to live until, alas! he had almost beheld the painful completion of his own predictions. Like Marius reclining on a broken column at Carthage, he saw nothing but ruins around him, and fearfully contemplated in the distance, that approaching catastrophe, which his wiser counsels, and more generous plans would have averted. Accomplished Sage! ilustrious Citizen! last of Englishmen! If, before the divine spark that actuated thee, return to mingle with that Deity whence it sprung, and to whose ETERNAL EXISTENCE thou wert accustomed to bear such ready testimony;—if thy shade should at this moment perchance flit around us if it be still permitted thee to participate in any of the feelings common to mortals-then thou must contemplate this mournful and solemn ceremony with no small degree of satisfaction-thy obsequies, celebrated by those who were dear to thee in life, and who, while they surround thy tomb, seem to be animated afresh in the cause of public virtue, by the memory of thy wrongs, and the contemplation of thine ashes. NOVELTIES OF FOREIGN LITERATURE. NEW DETAILS relative to DISCOVERIES in EGYPT, extracted from the Corres pondence of GEN. MINU DE MINU TOLI. THE Prussian Major General Minu THE de Minutoli, accompanied by two naturalists, an architect and a painter, had been ordered to visit Greece, Asia Minor, Palestine, Arabia, Egypt, Abyssinia, &c. In Sacred Geography, Philosophy and History, M. Scholz has been added by the Prussian Government. A letter, addressed by M. Minu to Prince Charles of Prussia, contains some interesting particulars respecting Egypt. It is dated from Alexandria, Sept. 13, 1820: After a navigation, partly extended by sirocco winds and tempests, I arrived here, on the 7th of this month, twenty-one days after our departure from Trieste. On the 9th, at seven in the morning, with the Prussian Consul and M. Drovetti, and with a dragoman and janizary in attendance, we repaired under the Prussian flag, to the Palace of Mehemet Ali, situated on the sea shore. The Pacha received me standing, which is high distinction, and afterwards made me sit down by him, on the divan, when coffee was presented. He was so polite as not to smoke, conversed in the most affable manner, promising all possible facilities, and that an officer of his house should be my escort; a favour not hitherto granted to any traveller. He invited me to visit him frequently, and offered to be at the charge of my entertainment; this I declined, but accepted his offer of one of his vessels, wherein to proceed to Cairo. Mehemet Ali is between 50 and 60; he possesses an agreeable exterior, and has an aspect which indicates the man of genius. With an energy of character which constrains events, he has executed projects deemed impracticable in theory. In the towas he has established a most efficient police, and throughout the country such subordination, that an European, without a change of dress, may travel from the Delta to the Cataracts, in perfect safety, and from the Oasis to the Red Sea. Very lately he reduced the Arab tribe which inhabits the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon, and Argila, and they are now incapable of exciting further uneasiness. He has introduced the culture of silk, and is otherwise encouraging agriculture, &c. Alexandria has but a dismal appearance, whether surveyed from abroad or within. The city, with its wretched tenements, which are in a manner without roofs, looks like a place that has been burnt down, and the adjacent grounds are covered with sand and ruins. Here and there appear little gardens, planted with date trees, which at first have a pleasing effect, but soon become monotonous. A Eu ropean ropean, however, may find some amusement when transported hither, as if by magic, he sees camels without number, and men of all colours and dresses througing the narrow streets. The city contains about 15,000 inhabitants, including the Europeans, and not 6,000 as they are generally reported. The population is augmenting, from the frequent residence of the pasha, the progressive increase of commerce, and the number of Europeans that are constantly arriving. The heat rises every day to 23 or 24o of Reaumur, but I feel no sensible effects from it, as on board the ship it was from 24 to 260 with little protection against the sun. The sky here is not favourable to astronomical observations; it seems ever inflamed with a whitish fire, and that part of the atmosphere which extends over the desart has a reddish hue. The nights are extremely humid. After sunset, you are immersed in dew, and the Europeans commonly retire to rest. To this state of the atmosphere, as likewise to the sands, impregnated with saline particles, we may doubtless attribute the ophthalmia so prevalent in this country. We must carefully avoid the night air, or otherwise cover up the head and ears, as the natives do with their large woollen hoods. As to the plague and its annual visitations, all we can learn is, that it was not formerly endemical, and that its introduction (rather recent) is from more frequent intercourse with Constantinople. It has not been very destructive this year, although the doctrine of Fatalism, with its want of precautions, is as prevalent here as in the capital of the Ottoman empire. This reason has prevented the Pasha of Egypt from fixing quarantine establish ments on the coast. My host, M. Drovetti, ancient French consul general, overwhelms me with civilities. He is a very intelligent and courageous character, and has provided essential aid for the suc cess of our undertaking. He is well acquainted with the whole country, and is now in possession of a very rich and valuable collection of antiquities. In our court yard are horses of Egypt, of Arabia, and of Dongola, tied by the legs; a large ostrich stalks among them, with other oriental animals of different kinds. At noon and night, we eat dates and bananas, and reposing MONTHLY MAG. No. 360. like nabobs, have negroes to drive away the flies. These little bodied slaves, from Sennaar and Darfour, we often meet with; I shall purchase one to bring with me to Europe. The canal which the pasha has excavated between Ramanieh`and Alexandria is highly advantageous for trading purposes, as the Bogaz is not always navigable, and as the Nile, both in entering and quitting it, is often dangerous. And besides, it will secure in future, a more copious irrigation, and of course a better method of culture about Alexandria, where fresh water was wanted. width and depth are almost every where equal; its course is circuitous and terminates at the Old Port. It was finished in three months, by 250,000 men, a labour, which considering the force employed, may be compared to the undertakings of the ancient sovereigns of Egypt. The banks, mostly of mere sand, are liable to give way, but means will be resorted to, to ensure their consolidation. Its At the time of the French invasion, in consequence of the bursting of some dykes, there was a considerable overflow from the lake Moreotis. Having gradually sunk within its limits, there has been another overflow, occasioned by some strong accessions of the Nile. In the last two years, some hundreds of villages have been injured or partly deprived of the means of subsistence. Waters thus stagnant, must produce a fatal effect on the health of the inhabitants. In vain have I been searching for the gate of Rosetta, once so celebrated as an elegant model of Moresque architecture; in its ancient form it has disappeared, as well as the greater part of the old wall of cloisters and towers that were its defence and ornament. Every thing has been demolished or changed by the pasha into new methods of defence, consisting of walls and towers with battlements but ill constructed, and the fosses very indifferent: the principal gates constitute a sort of towers supplied with cannon. As to the town of Alexandria, its means of resistance are stronger on the land side than on the coast. Outside of the walls that surround it, on large masses of ruins appear the forts of Cretin, Caffarelli and others, constructed by the French. I also examined the field of battle of March 21, 1801, wherein Sir Ralph Abercrombie 2 U and |