have alternately graced that chair, so long dedicated to Shakspeare and the Muses! Could the immortal bard witness its fallen state, he would once more exclaim, "To what vile uses may we not return!" The procession now begins to move forward; let me hear your opinion of the "Grand Finale."

C.-I see the Triumphal Car, but see no triumph; I hear the voices of those who form the procession, but I hear not the "voice of the people." I see a gaudy profusion of the "colour of the heart," but a lamentable absence of the heart itself; the eyes of thousands are turned towards the procession, but I search in vain in those eyes for any thing resembling satisfaction or delight: the whole has the appearance of a gorgeous funeral, or solemn sacrifice; and many of those who march in its train, resemble devoted victims about to be immolated at the shrine of avarice, ambition, and slavery. Let us quit the scene.

A. Most willingly; but, before we finally take our flight, tell me what are the conclusions you have formed of the "most rational and thinking people in Europe?"

C.-Perhaps, Asmodeus, a general election may not be a fair criterion to found my judgment upon, and I may, therefore, be uncharitable; but, the conclusions I have drawn from the scenes I have lately witnessed, are, that no good can be expected from an assembly appointed by such dishonourable means; that those who do not scruple to buy the people's votes, will not hesitate to sell their rights; that a great portion of the "most thinking people in Europe," have not common sense; and, finally, that the majority of "the independent electors," are venal slaves, and their boasted liberties an empty name!

off.

A.-As these are your conclusions, it is high time to be [Exeunt volantes

GYMNASIA.

(Continued from page 283.)

No. IX.

TO THE EDITOR.

SIR,-The feat I am about to introduce to your notice was always a great favourite with me; perhaps, amongst other reasons, because its rationale baffles my comprehension. Indeed, I could never meet with a person who could clearly explain the principle upon which the thing is done ;-it appears at variance with all the known laws of projectiles, as I shall point out after I have described the problem to be performed.

In the first instance, standing upright, with the feet brought nearly together; place upon the upper part of the right foot, between the instep and the toe, a small book,* or any other suitable thing which may be at hand;

I have mentioned a small book here, because it is generally at hand; but I recollect that, when I was young and frolicsome, I could easily have thrown a piece of bread over my head in this manner and catch it in my mouth. The thing to be thrown over the head ought not, however, to be too light; I have many times projected a very bulky quarto volume several yards over my head.

then raising the right foot from the ground, and swinging it gradually backwards and forwards until you are in the position of the figure, which is supposed to be as far as you can stretch backwards, you must throw the book or other matter from your foot in such a way that it shall pass directly over your head, and fall immediately before you. Independently of the difficulty of getting the book, &c. to pass from your foot over your head, there are two minor difficulties to overcome. In the first place, you must be able to balance yourself very steadily on one leg, while your body is inclined forwards; and, in the next place, you must contrive to prevent the book, &c. from slipping off your foot as it moves backwards and forwards. In order to acquire steadiness, whilst on one leg, it is advisable in practising the trick, to place a chair at your left hand, by which you may hold, until you are enabled to dispense with it; and to acquire facility in keeping the book, &c. attached to the foot, you may wrap twine, a piece of leather, or a little brown paper round the book, or other thing to be thrown over the head, in order to render it less liable to slip off the foot, as the smooth leather of the book makes it very difficult to retain it in its place during the backward and forward swing of the foot.

There is one caution necessary to be given in the per formance of this trick, without which it cannot be accomplished:-this is, to swing your foot backward and forward slowly and regularly, like a pendulum. Unless this be particularly attended to, you will never succeed in the trick. If I were disposed to write pedantically, I should say, “the oscillations of the foot ought to be isochronal."

It may, on the first glance, be thought that this trick is performed by some turn of the foot, but this is not the case, as the foot, at the very moment of throwing off the book, &c. retains the position described in the figure.

Having now described what is to be done, and the manner of accomplishing it, I shall briefly explain what I meant in the commencement of my letter, about the difficulty of comprehending the rationale of this feat.-It is a law of projectiles, that if any body, a stone for instance, made to move in a circle, by means of a string held in the hand, be suffered to go at liberty, it will not retain the circular motion for an instant, but fly off in a right line, or a tangent to a circle. Now the book, &c. immediately before it is thrown over the head, has been moving in a circular direction, and ought, therefore, on its release, to fly off in a right line, or tangent; and, if it does so, it appears unaccountable that it should pass over the head, as a person would imagine it would be thrown behind him and not before him. In the figure, the foot is thrown as far back as practicable, and it does appear actually impossible, that any thing quitting the upper part of the foot in that position, can pass over the head; yet so it is, and I leave the explanation to others, as for the present I profess to write on gymnasia, not philosophy.

A TIMELY HINT TO THE LORDS RESPECTING THE
REFORM BILL.

PROPOSAL TO EMPLOY LOCOMOTIVE STEAM ENGINES ON THE BANKS OF CANALS.

[FROM THE MERCURY OF OCTOBER 8, 1830, WITH ADDITIONS.]

Locomotive carriages worked by steam, or some other powerful agent, upon railroads, will, unquestionably, bear down all competition, and will have the decided preference over every other mode at present known for conveying passengers, goods, and mails. The superiority of this mode of travelling ought to stimulate the proprietors of canals to adopt every practicable means to rescue their property from that serious deterioration with which it is menaced. Certain experiments have recently been made which throw quite a new light upon canal navigation, and which prove that engineers and writers on hydraulics must have hitherto been assuming false data, if the experiments to which we are about to draw the attention of the public have been made with due care, and recorded with due fidelity.

In Scotland, canal boats have been constructed for the purpose of increasing the speed without lessening the burden, and it is said, that they have succeeded beyond the expectation of the projectors. The resistance to solid bodies moving through a fluid, according to the generally received theory, increases with the speed in such a ratio as to preclude all hopes of impelling vessels of any description much faster than our best sailing ships now move by the action of the wind. Notwithstanding this natural impediment in the way of expedition, there is one circumstance which should be taken into account before we can decide upon the maximum speed at which boats may be moved on a canal. Owing to the wear and tear of the banks at present, although the average rate of the boats does not, perhaps, exceed, if it equals, three miles in the hour, it seems to have been taken for granted that