made fast below will keep the weight raised and the cock shut. The cord being run through several rings on the floor, and fastened only to the last of them; on a fire burning any part of it, the weight will immediately fall and set the cock a running. The pipes and cords may be varied and inultiplied at pleasure. copal varnish; and when dry another to turn the cock, and to the other end coat of boiled linseed oil, very strong. a cord, which being drawn tight and When dry, the crown must be put on a block, and a willow or cotton body or shape, wove on purpose, put into the inside of the crown and cemented in, and on being dry finished off with a hot iron. The brim is then made in like manner, and cemented to a substance of willow or cotton, wove on purpose, and well pressed together. It is then hung up to harden, and the 2. A Chimney Shower Bath. From underside covered with another shell the same cistern, a pipe and cock may of beaver or silk shag. The crown communicate with the chimney, and, and brim being then put on a block by means of a wire placed by the fine to form the shape, and must be strong- side, the pulling of which may raise ly sewed together. The edge of the the weight and set a stream of water brim is to be oiled and varnished with running down the chimney, in case copal varnish and boiled oil, very of fire. strong, to prevent the rain getting in. The cement used for sticking the parts together may be made with about one pound of gum Senegal, one pound of starch, one pound of glue, and one ounce of bees-wax, boiled together in about a quart of water. Messrs. ECKHARDT's and LYONS's, of staves, similar to making a cask, 3. A Chimney Stopper made with a frame of wood, covered with a me tallic plate, and of sufficient size to close the opening of the fire-place, when the chimney may be on fire. 4. A Damper Gridiron; by means of which it is impossible to smoke or singe the meat, however full the fire may be of smoke or blaze. 5. A Lock Lantern for stables, nurseries, &c. 6. A Fire Cloak or Gown, to protect the wearer from external fire, or clothes. It may be made of leather, silk, poplin, or other stuff'; lined with any material of the like description, and quilted with a stuffing between of hair, wool, &c. 7. A Soot Trap for Chimnies. Dr. CAREY'S, for carious contrivances 8. A Soot Trap Stove. for preventing or checking Fires.- 9 A Chimney Water Trough. Aug. 30, 1806. 10. A Chimney Damper, consisting HESE contrivances consist of of a double piece of hair, or woollen low: and close the opening of the chimney, 1. A Shower Bath. A cistern being It is to be quilted and stuffed with placed in the upper part of a build- hair, wool, &c. When the chimney ing, for the purpose of holding water; is on fire, this damper being well a pipe is conducted into any room, wetted and hung before the fire-place and terminates in a cock near the ceil- will, by stopping the current of air, ing. The plug of this cock being extinguish the fire. furnished with a cross bar, to one end of which is fastened a weight sufficient 11. A Water Candlestick. TRANSACTIONS OF LEARNED & ECONOMICAL SOCIETIES. Account of the LECTURES at the ROYAL INSTITUTION. [Continued from page 142.] Ar. Davy's second Course on the Che mical Phænomena. different objects to which the R. DAVY first pointed out the lectures would refate. The general properties of the materials which constitute our globe; the active powers subservient to these changes;-heat, His fourth lecture related to temlight, and electricity; the arrange- perature, to the capacities of bodies ments and changes of the atmosphere; for heat, and to latent heat. The conthe sea, rivers, and of the solid sur- ducting powers of different bodies face of the earth. He stated that, it were described; and it was stated, was his intention to bring forward all that good conductors (such as the methe latest discoveries on these inter- tals) communicate a much higher esting objects of inquiry, and to illus sensation of heat than bad conductors, trate them both by experiments and the temperature of which is much sketches. He concluded by pointing higher. Moist air being a much betout some of the peculiar advantages ter conductor than dry air, produces of philosophical study. upon the sensations a much stronger His second lecture was principally effect; and moist air, at 40°, feels devoted to the consideration of the colder than dry air, at So°. The laws of chemical attraction, and to power possessed by animal bodies, of experimental elucidations of the phe- resisting heat and cold, was described, nomena they produce. Many com- and the relations of the subject to the mon and familiar instances were added economy of nature discussed. to the scientific examples, and it was In his fifth lecture, Mr. Davy constated that the greater number of those sidered the mechanical excitation of changes, in which the order and har- heat as produced by percussion, fricmony existing in the arrangements of tion, and collision. Some experiments our globe depend, have for their were exhibited on the production of prime cause the agency of the corpus- heat by the condensation of air, and it cular affinity. was shewn that certain inflammable His third lecture was upon heat; bodies are capable of being inflamed 3 he pointed out the obvious properties by it. Some singular facts were stated of this great agent, and examined the with regard to the chemical agencies later facts and discoveries; the radia- of light. It would appear, from diftion of heat was shewn by some appro- ferent experiments, that invisible rays priate experiments; two mirrors were exist in the solar beam possessed of placed at ten feet distance from each chemical powers, but neither of illuother, one being suspended perpen- minating nor heat-making agencies. dicularly over the other, some hot His sixth and seventh lectures were coals were placed in the focus of the on electricity and galvanism. He first upper mirror, some fulminating mer- stated the dependence of these differ cury in the focus of the lower mirror. ent classes of phenomena upon the The heat in the last was sufficiently same power, and referred them to the intense to occasion the explosion of same laws. He explained the excitathe mercury. A bason of ice was then tion of electricity as produced by the placed in the focus of the lower mir- contact of bodies, and by the changes ror, and a thermometer in the focus of of their capacity; and, to these causes, the upper mirror, when its tempera- he referred the action both of comture was soon lowered in a small de- mon electrical machines and of the gree. In this form of the experiment apparatus of Volta. no communication could take place The seventh lecture was principally through the air, for heated air ascends devoted to the chemical agencies of and cool air descends. Mr. Davy re- electricity, which is possessed of geferred both phenomena to heat, sent neral powers of decomposition. The off from the bodies in right lines; the chemical elements of bodies naturally coals in the first instance throwing are in different electrical states; and, off most heat, and the thermometer in on this circumstance, he conceived the second instance giving off more their combination depended; by arheat than it received from the ice. tificially altering these states, their Mr. Davy mentioned the facts lately powers of uniting were modified or discovered by Count Rumford and destroyed, and new powers might be Mr. Leslie, and which prove that the given to them. Some experiments, radiating powers of bodies are inverse- conclusive as to these points, were ly proportional to their reflecting shewn, and a number of applications powers; and directly proportional to of the new facts pointed out. their powers of absorbing heat. His eighth lecture contained a gene The works of Sir John Maundeville formed the next subject of Mr. D.'s consideration; and a sketch of this traveller's life and labours was given from his early biographer Pits, as were also some curious specimens of his voyages, to shew the nature of his style and the peculiar turn of his thought. ral view of the progress of electricity edition is illustrated, was strongly re The Rev. Mr. DIBDIN's Course on the rature. Mr. DIBDIN, in his third lecture, took a view of the poetry of Richard Rolle and Laurence Minot. Of the former, it was observed, that his principal poem (a religious one) called "The Pricke of Conscience,' contained very little sentiment, imagination, or elegance of expression. The MSS. of this work were said to be rather common in the public libraries of the country; and a few specimens of it, descriptive of moral duties and the goodness of Providence, served to shew how the author had moulded a number of curious and technical expressions into the structure of his verse. Of Laurence Minot, Mr. D. remarked, that, till Mr. Ritson published his beautiful and correct edition of the poems of this writer, in 1795, the public were ignorant of the great merits of the author, who it seems was very imperfectly known to T. Warton and Dr. Henry. In point of ease, harmony, and variety of versification, as well as general perspicuity of style, he was allowed by his editor to be equal, if not superior, to any English poet before the 16th or, with very few exceptions, even the 17th century. The perusal of his poetry, as well as the interesting notes from Lord Berners translation of Froissart, by which the called "The Visions of Pierce Ploughman:" this poem (a satirical one, levelled against the vices of all profes sions) was conjectured to have been written about the year 1960, and was first printed in 1550 Many interesting specimens of it were adduced by Mr. D.; and, among others, a remarkby Mrs. Cooper, in her Muses' Li able passage, which was first observed brary, to have suggested to Milton the idea of his Lazar House, in the 11th book of Paradise Lost. "The Crede of Pierce Ploughman,' an anonymous and nearly contempo raneous poem, written in the same alliterative metre, without - rhyme, formed the concluding part of the lecture. The first edition of this cu rious production was said to be printed by Wolfe, in 1558, but to have alinost the scarcity of a MS.: the second ed tion was printed in 1561, along with the 4th edition of The Visions. His fourth lecture was devoted entirely to the life and writings of Chaucer. He began by observing that the chronological priority of Gower to Chaucer was by no means decided from the word 'disciple, used by the former in his Confes sion of a Lover;' for it appeared that this word was spoken by Venus as ap plicable to Chaucer's being her dis ciple and poet, and not by Gower in reference to Chaucer's connection with himself. T.Warton, Johnsor, & Ritson had concluded, from this very expression, that Gower was anterior to our venerable bard, who, it seems, had composed all his principal works, except the Canterbury Tales, before the appearance of the Confession of a Lover,' in 1392-3. The biographical accounts of Chau cer were then rather minutely entered into; and, it was remarked, that hard- Shakspeare and other earlier English ly one material fact, of the very few poets had borrowed with considerable with which we were acquainted of success. Chaucer's life, was found in subsequent Barbour's poem of 'The Bruce,' biographers that had not been already was next discussed, and Mr. Pinkernoticed by Tyrrwhit. A succinct account was then given of all the works of Chaucer in poetry and prose; and the character of the poet was delineated from some strong descriptive passages, in the anonymous biography prefixed to Urry's edition of his works. The Canterbury Tales' formed the next subject of discussion. Dryden's criticism on the poem, and Tyrrwhit's edition of it, were brought forward to particular notice: the latter was pronounced, on the authority of the late Mr. Ritson, to be the most erudite, curious, and valuable performance that has yet appeared in this country.' Mr. D. concluded with adducing the testimonies of a number of ancient and modern English authors, in praise of Chaucer, from Ascham to Warton; and remarked that the incorrect state in which the poet's works now appeared was, in a great measure, to be attributed to the mutilated and imperfect condition of the MSS.; still there was room for an improved edition: the MSS. had been carelessly collated and transcribed; and, it was hoped, that our ancient bard would one day receive the same advantages of editorship as were already bestowed on Shakspeare, Milton, and Spenser. ton's edition of it strongly recommended. It was said to be faithfully printed from a MS. of the date of 1489, in the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh, which was copied from a still earlier MS. of equal antiquity with that of Wyntown's Chronicle. The poetry of Blind Harry was said to be an English translation from a Latin poem composed by Robert Blare, chaplain to the famous Sir W. Wallace, describing the exploits of that hero. Mr. D. gave a fw specicimens of the descriptive beauties of the poem, and observed that the latest edition of it of any repute was that of 1758. The first edition was printed in 1601. Hoccleve's poetry formed the next subject of discussion, particularly Mr. Mason's edition (1796) of some select poems never before published. This edition, although severely attacked by Ritson, was said to be of value, inasmuch as it gave us information of some particulars in Hoccleve's life, which had escaped the researches of Warton and others. The prose works of Trevisa were then minutely examined, and various specimens given of his style. His translation of Higden's Polychronicon was said to be first printed by Caxton, in 1482; the question of his having translated the Bible was particularly discussed. From the private information of a friend, Mr. D. observed that there was recently discovered in the Vatican at Rome a work translated by Trevisa, given by some of Lord Berkeley's ancestors to Charles I. when Prince of Wales, and resident at the papal court. It was supposed to be a translation of the Bible into English. In his fifth lecture, Mr. Dibdin dwelt on the poetry of Gower, Barbour, Blind Harry, and Hoccleve. He also particularly noticed the prose works of John Trevisa, of whom, it appeared, that very little was known with accuracy. The French poetry of Gower was said to be greatly superior to his English compositions; and, in the opinion of Mr. G. Ellis, not to suffer by a comparison with the best contemporary sonnets written by pro- The sixth and last lecture of Mr. fessed French poets. The principa! Dibdin was devoted exclusively to the work of Gower was said to be his works, lives, and characters of Wic'Confession of a Lover,' written at life and Win. of Wykeham. The be the instigation of Richard II., who, neficial effects of the writings of the meeting with our poet rowing on the former, and of the academical instituThames, invited him into the royal tions of the latter, were particularly barge, and after inuch conversation illustrated and commended. These requested him to broke some new six lectures concluded Mr. Dibdin's thinge. The poem was said not to be inquiry into the state of English litedestitute of incidents, from which rature during the fourteenth century. UNIVERSAL MAG. VOL. VII. 3 K Csion; but thus did this learned and 1ious man, in a train of serious, temperite, and impressive eloquence, deliverbis opinion and his interpretation. The will stand before us and cur Posterity as the memorial of that lonely MEMOIRS OF REMARKABLE PERSONS. EDWARD KING, Esq. F.R S. and A.S. and sometimes a little whimsical in M' R. KING was a native of Nor- his application of natural philosophy, folk, and admit ed as Fellow but never without a serious intention Commoner of Clare-hall, Cambridge, and a profound piety. He never forand of Lincoln's Inn. Be inherited gets the nature of the subjects which from his uncle, Mr. Brown of Exeter, he is treating. He seems to approach a wholesale linen-draper, a molefor the sacred witing with that prostratone, and a good collection of pictures, tion of mind, tha, distrust of his own His various lucubrations were the ei- powers, and that self- basement, which fect of assiduous reading, and what are repñed of those, who desire to look ever opinions be imbibed, were main- into the hidden things of God. I shall tained with tenacity. His arst publi- contend for no interpretation given by cation, we believe, was in the year 1767, Mr. King, but I propose them to puband was entitled, da Essan on the Englie consideration; for I never observed lish Constitution and Government; more caution and more wiriness than which, though it sieved the author in this writer." The author then offers to be a man of candy and redection, some passages from this work, written yet it contained nothing but what had se cral years before the present events before been full as ably enforced. In had taken place in Europe, or coud 1777, he published in quarto, Obser- be conceived to be possible. Mr. King cations on Aacient Castles, which had offered them only as his interpretation been read to the Socicts of Antiquaries of scripture, submitted to a calm disthe preceding year, and were inserted in the 4th volume of the Archæologia. In these pages, Mr. Kiny undertook to explain the curious artifices and the ingenious contrivances, both fr strength and defcace, in these buildings, for annoying the besiegers, wisdom, that reverential application and for the convenience and use of of the Divine Word, and of that silent those who were to defend the works, dignity, which can only be attained by For his examles, he took the castles a refremert (at intervals) from the of Rochester, Canterbury, Dover, Nor- world which God has made to Hry wich, Portchester, Colchester, and alone, and by that worship in spit Guildford. In 1798, he published, in and in truth, which, when joined to a quarto volume, Morse's of Criticism, hum n erudition, and to the sober cultending to illustrate some fw Passages duce FRUIT UNTO LIFE. This alone tivation of the understanding, will proin the Holy Scriptures, uzon philosophi cal Principles and an enlarged View of made the work very popular, and en, Things. The idea which appears to couraged the author to publish a second have given ise to this work is, that edition, in three volunies octavo. modera improvements in knowledge may be advant, geously applied to the elucidation of the sacred scriptures. This work, from the oddness of its title, though full of deep and various learning, did not attract much notice; the first edition was sold for waste-raper, and would never more have been head of, had not the author of the Pursuits of Literature dragged it from its hiding place. He speaks of Mr. King in the following words:-"The author ofthis book appears to me to be a gentleman of extensive erudition and ingenuity, and of accurate biblical knowledge; perhaps a little too fond of the theory, In 1793, Mr. King published a pamphle, exlined, Considerations on the Utility of the National Debt, and on the present alarming Crisis; and, in 1799, he presented the world with a thin folio volume, under the title of Vestiges of Orford Castle; which was introductory to a larger work on the History of Ancient Castles, and on the Progress of Architecture. The discovery of some curious remains of the ancient castle cf Oxford, by Mr. Harris, served to exercise the sagacity of Mr. King in tracing out a plan from a few obscure vestiges. In 1798, he published a quarto pan |