If 'tis the end of every hope and vow, Oh! 'tis a thriftless bargain of a life, To live to know that bliss is but pretence- The profit nothing-but Remorse th' expense; Thou art an old pretender, grey-beard Age; Thou boastest much, and yet art but a cheat; And those who toil upon thy pilgrimage Would turn again with no unwilling feet.Yea, dewy clouds to evening are most meet. If smiles be Youth's, sure teares are Age's sign, As suns that rise in smiles, in teares decline. (Lit. Gaz.) MILLINGTON'S PHILOSOPHICAL EXPERIMENTS. The Atmosphere: Properties of Air, &c. EXPERIMENT proves that a cubit foot of air is capable of retain ing in suspension or solution 12 grains of water; consequently the atmosphere must at all times be more or less charged with aqueous vapours, and Dr. Halley calculated that 5280 millions of tuns of water were evaporated from the surface of the Mediterranean sea in one summer's day. Dr. Thompson says that 94,450 cubic miles of water circulate annually through the atmósphere. So soon however as the density of air is diminished, or the particles of water are brought into a closer state of aggregation by cold or other causes, they collapse and are precipitated, or returned back again in the form of visible fluid. Air not only incorporates with water, but with a great variety of other volatile materials, by which many of its characters become much changed; and since heat assists in these combinations, so all warm or hot fluids will evaporate more readily than such as are cold. Drop a few drops of ether into a large drinking-glass, and cover it with a plate for a few minutes, when the ether will evaporate into the air, and will render it so inflammable that it will take fire on the approach of a taper. Exhaust an open-topped receiver, previously covered with a brassplate having a stopcock, and a long bent copper pipe attached to it, and let the air in again by this pipe through the flame of a lamp trimmed with spirits of turpentine. The receiver will appear to be full of smoke, but that smoke will have carried such a quantity of essential oil with it, and this will have so effectually combined with the air as to render it inflammable, and it will burn with a beautiful flame. Notwithstanding the attraction that thus appears to exist between air and various fluids, yet the very pressure of the atmosphere prevents their rising in vapour, or evaporating upon slight increments of temperature. Thus ether is the rarest of all the visible fluids, and when a cup containing a little of this is placed under the receiver of an air pump, a very trifling action of the pump will make it boil. Water in the open air will not boil unless heated to 212 degrees, but when the atmospheric pressure is removed it boils at a much lower temperature; and a glass of strong ale when heated in the slightest degree will put on the appearance of boiling under an exhausted receiver. These circumstances suggested toRev. Mr. Wollaston a means of measuring mountains or other elevations by means of the thermometer and boiling water; for if water under atmospheric pressure at the surface of the earth requires its temperature to be raised to 212 degrees to make it boil, and it boils at a lower heat when that pressure is diminished by the air-pump, so boiling the water at a greater height in the open air, will diminish that pressure as effectually as placing it under an exhausted receiver, and accordingly it has been ascertained that water boils at the top of Mont Blanc at 187 iustead of 212 degrees. Clouds, fogs, rain, hail, and snow, result from various modifications of aqueous vapours which have risen from the earth into the atmosphere: dew is a condensation of the moisture at the time of evaporation. The condensation of air itself (which has been carried to a great degree, as in the air-gun*) does not produce any change on its fluidity, transparency, elasticity, or other characters. When the air of the atmosphere is thrown into motion by any cause, it produces the sensation called Wind, and although many circumstances may induce such motion, yet change of temperature is one of the principal of them. The ascent of smoke in chimneys, land and sea breezes, and the trade winds, are natural modifications of this, and the same principle. On the contrary, among the irregular winds, or those which are not constant but accidental, the Whirlwind, the Harmatan, and the Sirocco, may be mentioned as the most conspicuous. The first of these is occasioned by the meeting of two or more currents of wind from opposite directions, and which can only be occasioned by some temporary but violent disturbance of equilibrium. The Harmatan is met with on the western coast of Africa, and is generally attended by great heat and fog; it appears to be occasioned by a conflict between the heated sands of Africa, It is a curious fact, that although the air-pump is a modern invention, yet the air, which is so nearly allied to it in the construction of its valves and condensing syringe, should have existed long antecedent to it; for it is recorded that an airgun was made for Henry IV. by Marin, of Lisieux in Normandy, as early as 1608; and another was preserved in the armoury at Schmetan, bearing the date of 1474. The air-gua of the present day is however very different from that which was former. ly made, and which discharged but one bullet after a long and tedious process of condensation, while it now discharge's five or six without any visible variation of force, and will even act upon a dozen, but with less effect, and the regular direction of the trade winds over that continent, and by disturbing their progress, it is frequently a forerunner of a hurricane in the West Indies. The Sirocco occurs in Egypt, the Mediterranean and in Greece, and is chiefly characterized by its very unhealthy qualities. The air by passing over the heated sands of Egypt becomes so dry and rarefied as to be scarcely fit for respiration, and being so prepared, it absorbs so much humidity on passing the Mediterranean sea as to form a suffocating and oppressive kind of fog. And the force of wind or air in motion is ascertained by means of instruments called Anemescopes and Anemometers, and is as the squares of its velocities. Some of the sensible effects of wind, as given by Mr. Smeaton from Mr. Rouse's calculations, are as follows:-When it moves at the rate of one mile in an hour, its effects are scarcely perceptible; between four and five miles an hour produces what is generally called a breeze; from 10 to 15 miles an hour makes a brisk gale; from 30 to 45 miles, a strong or hard gale; from 50 to 60 miles, a storm; and from 80 to 100 miles in an hour produces a hurricane, such as occasionally occurs in the West Indies, and which sweeps away houses, trees, and every thing opposed to its force. Finally, it is stated as a practical rule, that the square of the velocity of any wind being found and multiplied by 16, the product will be the impulse or resistance upon a square foot in grain weights. "Air, although invisible, is material, and partakes of all the properties which belong in common to other matter, for it occupies space, and it attracts and is attracted, and consequently has weight. It likewise partakes of the nature of fluids, for it adapts itself to the form of the vessel which contains it, and it presses equally in all directions, consequently it must be considered as a material fluid." All airs or gasses are also highly and permanently elastic, for "under all changes which can be wrought upon them, they maintain their characracters of fluidity and elasticity, and will not admit of being congealed or rendered solid; with steams and vapours the case is very different, for they arise from inelastic fluids, by the application of heat, and they are highly elastic so long as they retain their form of vapour, but upon being cooled they return again into their original state of inelastic fluid, and therefore differ very materially from air, and cannot be said to be permanently elastic. Water affords a very good instance, for this is inelastic, but its steam is elastic in the highest degree; whenever this steam becomes cooled it reverts back into its original state of water, and of course resumes all its former characters. Since air has weight, and every thing upon the earth is surrounded and enveloped by it, it follows that all things must be subject to its pressure which will be exerted, not only upon them, but upon itself, and since air is elastic or capable of yielding to pressure, so of course the lower part of the atmosphere will be more dense, or in a greater state of compression than that which is above. Suppose for example that the whole height of the atmosphere is divided into 100 equal parts, and that each of these may weigh an ounce, or may be equivalent to the production of that pressure, then the earth and all things upon its surface will be pressed with the whole 100 ounces, the lowest stratum of air will be pressed by the 99 ounces above it, the next by 98, and so on until we arrive of the 99th stratum from the bottom, which will be subject to no more than one ounce of pressure, or the weight of the last or highest stratumn."+ In fact, "by means of calculations corroborated by the barometer at different heights, it is ascertained that air at 33 miles from the earth has but half the density of that upon its surface and that it loses half its density at about every succeeding 3 miles; therefore taking the density of the air at the earth's surface as 1, at the height of 3 miles it will be twice as rare; at the height of 7 miles it will be four times as rare, at 21 miles it will be 64 times rarer, and 4069 times at 42 miles. By the same rule at 49 miles high, it will be 16384 times rarer, and as this far exceeds the rarefac tion that can be produced by the best airpump, it is generally considered that the Upon these simple data all the phenomena connected with the atmosphere and its component gasses depend. There is also another principle of which we are little sensible, but which is the cause of our being able to walk upon the earth instead of being crushed into it. "Springs of every kind expand or contract until they arrive at a state of equilibrium with the force that is acting upon them." - - Thus "notwithstanding the body of a man of ordinary stature is calculated to sustain no less a pressure of air than 32,400 lbs. yet the spring of the air contained within the body exactly balances or counteracts the pressure from without, and makes him in sensible of the existence of any pres sure at all; and the spring and pressure of air will thus balance each other in all cases except when the communication is cut off, and the natural equilibrium is destroyed by some disturbing cause. --- That the spring of air causes it to expand according to the amount of external pressure may be very well shown by the following experiment :-Take a bladder either with or without a stopcock attached to it, and press nearly the whole of the air out of it, then either shut the stopcock or tie up the orifice very closely with a strong waxed thread; in this state place it under a receiver upon the plate of an air pump and exhaust the air. The bladder will at first appear empty because the pressure of the outward air is an exact balance to the spring of that which is contained within. By the process of exhaustion the outward air becomes rarefied, and is no longer capable of opposing that spring. The bladder will therefore gradually expand, until at last when the receiver is pretty well exhausted, it will appear to be fully blown, and is sometimes even burst; but if the motion of the pump is stopped before this takes place, and the air is readmitted into the receiver by the cock for that purpose, the bladder will shrink down into its original dimensions, thus prov sensible atmosphere of the earth extends to the distance of about 45 miles from its surface." ing that no additional quantity of air was admitted into it, but that the spring of that which it previously contained produced the effect.-This experiment is sometimes varied by putting the bladder in a frame, and placing weights upon it, when it will not only expand, but will raise the weights at the same time. "If a small portion of the shell of an egg be broken away at the small end, and it is then placed under a receiver and exhausted, the bubble of air that is always contained at the large end, will in like manner expand, and in doing so, will force out the contents of the egg. A withered apple when treated in the same way will expand and appear fresh, provided its skin is not broken; and a small fountain, or jet d'eau, may be produced by filling a small glass globe half full of water, and screwing a tube in its neck, so that its lower end may project considerably MR. below the surface of the water; the air above the water will in this way be confined, and of course when the apparatus is confined under a tall receiver and exhausted, that air will expand, and by pressing upon the surface of the water will force it up the tube, which must terminate in a small orifice to produce a jet." Pressure, the natural consequence of weight, is beautifully illustrated by the Madgeburgh hemispheres, invented by Otto Guericke about A. D. 1654. These when internally exhausted require an immense force to pull them asunder, but if filled with air, they open and drop off. All the effects vulgarly attributed to suction, depend on the weight and pressure of the atmosphere; for there is no such principle as Suction in Nature. The barometer is formed on the principle of measure ascertained with regard to atmospheric pressure. HISTORY OF THE RUMP PARLIAMENT. R. GODWIN has for sometime been engaged on a work, to be entitled, the History of the Commonwealth of England. There is no part of the history of this island (says Mr. G. in his prospectus,) which has been so inadequately treated as the History of the Commonwealth, or the characters and acts of those leaders, who had for the most part the direction of the public affairs of England from 1640 to 1660. When the Commonwealth of England was overturned, and Charles the Second was restored, a proscription took place in this country, resembling, with such variations as national character and religion demanded,the proscriptions in the latter years of the Roman Republic. This severity had its object, and the measure might be necessary. That the restored order of things should become permanent, it might be requisite that the heads of the regicides should be fixed on the pinnacles of our public edifices, and that the exercise of every form of worship but that of the church of England should be forbidden, as it was forbidden. The proscription however went further than this. The characters of the men who figured during the interregnum were spoken of with horror, and their memoirs were composed after the manner of the Newgate Calendar. As the bodies of Cromwell and Pym and Blake were dug out of their graves to gratify the spleen of the triumphant party, so no one had the courage to utter a word in commendation either of the talents or virtues of men engaged in the service of the Commonwealth. The motives for misrepresentation are temporary; but the effects often remain, when the causes are no more. This is in most cases the result of indolence only historians follow the steps of one another, with the passiveness and docility of a flock of sheep following the bellwether. What was begun by the writers who immediately succeeded the restoration, has ever since been continued. The annals of this period are written in the crudest manner, and touched with hasty and flying strokes, as if the authors perpetually proceeded under the terrors of contamination. No research has been exercised; no public measures have been traced to their right authors; and the succession of judges, public officers, and statesmen, have been left in impenetrable confusion. All is chaos and disorder. To develope this theme is the object of the work it is proposed to write. The purpose of the author is to review his materials with the same calmness, impartiality, and inflexible justice, as if the events of which he is to treat, had happened before the universal deluge, or in one of the remotest islands of the South Sea. He will not consciously give place in the slightest degree to the whispers of favour or affection, nor fear to speak the plain and unvarnished truth whoever may reap from it honour or disgrace. Such is the homage that ought to be paid to the genius of history; and such a narrative is the debt that future ages have a right to demand. 'Tis sweet to look out at the still hour of even, And each silver blossom seems lit by a star: For the earth and the sky are so lovelily blended, When the beam of Halady first struggles to birth One might fancy the stars from the sky had descended To play with the flowers that bloom on the earth: >Tis a moment whose glory is equalled by none, When the lights of two heavens are mingled in one. I THINK OF THEE. There's not a flower that gems the side *The ancient Araxes. †The Moon. 1 There's nought of pure or bright I see, THE THREE PERILS OF WOMAN; OR LOVE, LEASING, AND JEALOUSY. A series of domestic Scottish Tales. By JAMES HOGG. THE author has certainly hit upon one of the fortunate requisites for a novel--a good name. The Three Perils of Woman is capital ad captandum; and few circulating libraries will be able to resist the title. With regard to the other requisites, his success is more mixed. A man of a strong but undisciplined imagination, the Ettrick Shepherd generally produces strange patchwork with his pen; and has not departed from his practice in the present case. These tales accordingly display a vigour which is often very effective, and a well-combined series of incidents, forming a plot rarely uninteresting; but at the same time they are disgraced by coarsenesses and gross vulgarities-are occasionally extravagant beyond sympathy-want consistency and keeping as well as nature in the characters-and are disfigured by a dialect of unintelligible gibberish, such as we believe no native either of England or Scotland can comprehend. Though three names are given to the stories, Love, Leasing (or Lying,) and Jealousy, they are but to in number: Love occupying the first two volumes; and Leasing, with its sequel, Jealousy, the third. Instead of chapters, the parts are affectedly divided into Circles; a very roundabout way of catching notoriety. The actors in the first drama are, chiefly, Daniel Bell, a wealthy Border sheep farmer; his wife, a selfish matron, of the true Scotch breed; his beautiful daughter Agatha, or Gatty, his son Joseph, and his poor pretty niece Cherry, or Cherubina Elliot; M'Ion, a young highland chieftain, of mysterious parentage; Mrs. Johnston, Gatty's nurse, who turns out to be a lady, and M'Ion's mother; Dick Rickleton, a tremendous Northumbrian boor, related to the Bells; and sundry others, such as M'Turk and Callum Gun, poor Ileeland Shentlemens; Kate M'Nab, afterwards Mrs. Rickleton; Wagstaff, a miserable poet, et cetera. M'Ion loves Gatty Bell, and Gatty |