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the principle was published in London more than eighty years ago, in a work entitled "New Improvements of Planting and Gardening, both philosophical and practical, 6th Edition. By Richard Bradly, Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge, and FR. S. Printed for J. and J. Knapton, in St Paul's Church-yard, 1731." The following is printed from Bradley's first chapter. "Description and Use of a new Invention for the more speedily designing of Garden Plats, whereby we may produce more varie ty of Figures in an Hour's Time, than are to be found in all the Books on Gardening

now, extant.

"Since the instrument I now design to treat of has afforded some pleasure to many of my acquaintance, I have been easily persuaded to make it public. It is of that nature, that the best designers or draughtsinen may improve and help their fancies by it, and may with more certainty hit the hunour of those gentlemen they are to work for, without being at the trouble of making many varieties of figures or garden plats, which will lose time and call an unnecessary expense, which frequently discourages gen tlemen from making up their gardens. In short, the charge of the instrument is so small, and its use so delightful and profitable, that I doubt not its favourable reception in the world. But to proceed:

"We must choose two pieces of lookingglass of equal bigness, of the figure of a long square, five inches in length and four in breadth: they must be covered on the back with paper or silk, to prevent rubbing off the silver, which would else be apt to crack off by frequent use. This covering for the back of the glasses must be so put on that nothing of it may appear about the edges of the bright side.

"The glasses being thus prepared, they inust be laid face to face and hinged together, so that they may be made to open and shut at pleasure, like the leaves of a book.

"Draw a large circle upon paper, divide it into 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 equal parts, which being done, we may draw in every one of the divisions a figure at our pleasure, either for garden plats, or fortifications.

"So likewise a pentagon may be perfectly represented by finding the fifth part of a circle, and placing the glasses upon the outlines of it, and the fourth part of a circle will likewise produce a square by means of the glasses, or, by the same rule, will give us any figure of equal sides. I easily suppose that a curious person by a little practice with these glasses may make many improvements with them, which perhaps I may not yet have discovered, or have for brevity's sake omitted to describe.

It next follows that I explain how by these glasses we may, from the figure of a circle drawn upon paper, make an oval; and also by the same rule, represent a long square, from a perfect square. To do this,

open the glasses and fix them to an exact square: place them over a circle, and move them to and fro till you see the representation of the oval figure you like best; and so having the glasses fixed, in like manner move them over a square piece of work, till you find the figure you desire of a long square."

In the foregoing description of Bradley's which he constructs it, is precisely that invention, the principle of reflection on which Dr. Brewster has employed in his Kaleidoscope; but the means by which the objects that are to be reflected, are quite latter presents to the reflecting surfaces the different. Even with Bradley the kind of objects and the means by which he presented these objects to the mirrors were what constituted his instrument a new invention; for the arrangement of the reflectors themselves was not of Bradley's discovering, as we shall prove immediately.

We copy the following from John Baptista Porta's Natural Magic, the English Translation published in 1658.

"To make a plain Glass that shall represent the Image manifold.

"A glass is made that will make many representations, that is, that many things may be seen at once; for by opening and shutting it, you shall see twenty fingers for one, and more. You shall make it thus: Raise two brass looking-glasses [metallic mirrors], or of crystal, at right angles upon the same basis, and let them be in a propor tion called sesquialtera, that is one and a half, or some other proportion, and let them be joined together longways, that they may be shut and opened, like a book; and the angles be divers, such as are made at Venice: For one face being objected you shall see many in them both, and this by so much the straighter, as you put them together, and the angles are less: but they will be diminished by opening them, and the angles being more obtuse, you shall see the fewer: so showing one figure, there will be more seen and further, the right parts will show right, and the left to be left, which is contrary to looking-glasses; and this is done by mutual reflection and pulsation, whence ariseth the variety of images interchangeable."

From the foregoing it is manifest whence Bradley derived the principle which he applied to the construction of his instrument, for he borrows the very words of Porta, "that they (the mirrors) may be shut and opened like a book;" and hence it follows that if the discovery of the principle cannot be allowed to the French, so neither can it to the English: for Porta's work was first published (at Naples we believe) in 1558, in four books, and 35 years after (that is about the year 1573), in its enlarged form, comprising twenty books. Bradley was not called a plagiarist,--probably because his instrument, though identically the same os

Porta's, was applied in a different way and to a different purpose. Should Dr. Brewster then be considered in that light, for having made use of the same principle in his instrument, which in construction is different from either Porta's or Bradley's? Porta, by looking at objects before him, along the angle formed at the joining of his glasses, saw them multiplied: Bradley, by placing his joined glasses upon his drawings, at right angles to them, and looking at them, in the same manner, saw them multiplied; but the number of reflections could be calculated. Dr. Brewster, by putting the reflectors in a tube, and attaching thereto, and at right angles to them, two discs of glass with objects interposed, forms an optical instrument ca

pable of producing an incalculable (if not an infinite) number of combinations, by merely making the discs, or the whole instrument, to revolve on its axis, while the eye looks through it. If the previous application of any known principle to the construction of instruments, is to be considered and held as embracing all future applications of the same principle, there can be no new inventions; for to obtain knowledge of a principle, not before known, is a discovery, and not an invention: no person can invent a principle; but he may apply a principle, when known, to a new purpose, and this new application with the new means employed, is what constitutes a new invention. T.

ART. 12. CABINET OF VARIETIES.

From the London Literary Gazelle.

TWELFTH DAY.

To the rejoicings on New Year's tide succeeded, after a short interval, the observance of the Twelfth Day, so called from its being the twelfth day after the nativity of our Saviour, and the day on which the Eastern Magi, guided by the star, arrived at Bethlehem, to worship the infant

Jesus.

This festive day, the most celebrated of the twelve for the peculiar conviviality of its rites, has been observed in this kingdom ever since the reign of Alfred, "in whose days," says Collier, "a law was made with relation to holidays, by virtue of which, the twelve days after the Nativity of our Saviour were made Festivals."

In consequence of an idea which seems generally to have prevailed, that the Eastern Magi were kings, this day has been frequently termed the feast of the three kings; and many of the rites with which it is attended, are founded on this conception; for it was customary to elect, from the company assembled on this occasion, a king or queen, who was usually elevated to this rank by the fortuitous division of a cake, containing a bean, or piece of coin; and he or she to whom this symbol of distinction fell, in dividing the cake, was immediately chosen king or queen, and then forming their ministers or court from the company around, inaintained their state and character until midnight.

The Twelfth Cake was almost always accompanied by the Wassail Bowl, a composition of spiced wine or ale, or mead, or metheglin, into which was thrown roasted apples, sugar, &c. The term Wassail, which in our elder poets is connected with much interesting imagery, and many curious rites, appears to have been first used in this island during the well-known interview between Vortigern and Rowena. Geoffrey

of Monmouth relates, on the authority of Walter Calenius, that this lady, the daughter of Hengist, knelt down, on the approach of the king, and presenting him with a cup of wine, exclaimed, "Lord King Was heil," that is, literally, "Health be to you." Vortigern being ignorant of the Saxon language, was informed by an interpreter, that the purport. of these words was to wish him health, and that he should reply by the expression, drine-heil, or "drink the health :" accordingly, on his so doing, Rowena drank, and the king receiving the cup from her hand, kissed and pledged her.

Health, my Lord King,' the sweet Rowena said; Health,' cried the chieftain to the Saxon maid; Then gaily rose, and 'mid the concourse wide, Kiss'd her hale lips, and placed her by his side. At the soft scene, such gentle thoughts abound, That healths and kisses 'mongst the guests went

round:

From this the social custom took its rise;
We still retain, and still must keep the prize.

Paraphrase of Robert of Gloucester

Since this period, observes the historian, the custom has prevailed in Britain of using these words whilst drinking; the person who drank to another saying was-heil, and he who received the cup answering drine-heil.

It soon afterwards became a custom in villages on Christmas-eve, New Year's Eve, and Twelfth Night, for itinerant minstrels to carry to the houses of the gentry and others, where they were generally very hospitably received, a bowl of spiced wine, which being presented with the Saxon words just mentioned, was therefore called a Wassail-bowl. A bowl or cup of this description was also to be found in almost every nobleman's or gentleman's house, (and frequently of massy silver,) until the middle of the seventeenth century, and which was in perpetual requisition during the revels of Christmas."

[Hence we have the word Wassel, synony mous for carousing and jovialty.]

During the reigns of Elizabeth and James 1. the celebration of the Twelfth Night was, equally with Christmas Day, a festival through the land, and was observed with great ostentation and ceremony in both the Universities, at court, at the Temple, and at Lincoln's and Gray's-inn. Many of the

masques of Ben Jonson were written for the amusement of the royal family on this night; and Dugdale in his Origines Judicales, has given us a long and particular account of the revelry at the Temple on each of the twelve days of Christmas, in the year 1562. It appears from this document, that the hospitable rites of St. Stephen's day, St. John's day, and Twelfth day, were ordered to be exactly alike; and as many of them are in their nature, perfectly rural, and where there is every reason to suppose, observed to a certain extent in the halls of the country gentry and substantial yeomanry, a short record here, of those that fall under this description, cannot be deemed inapposite.

The breakfast on Twelfth Day is directed to be of brawn, mustard, and malinsey; the dinner of two courses to be served in the hall, and after the first course "cometh in the master of the game, apparelled in green veluet; and the Ranger of the Forest also, in a green suit of satten; bearing in his hand a green bow and divers arrows, with either of them a hunting horn about their necks: blowing together three blasts of venery, they pace around about the fire three times. Then the master of the game maketh three eurtesies," kneels down, and petitions to be admitted into the service of the lord of the feast.

This ceremony performed, a huntsman cometh into the hall, with a fox and a purse-net, with a cat, both bound at the end of a staff; and with them nine or ten couple of hounds, with the blowing of hunting-horns. And the fox and cat are by the hounds set upon, and killed beneath the fire. This sport finished, the marshal, an officer so called, who, with many others of different appellations, were created for the purpose of conducting the revels, placeth them in their several appointed places.

After the second course, the "ancientest of the masters of the revels singeth a song, with the assistance of others there present;" and after some repose and revels, supper, consisting of two courses, is then served in the hall, and being ended, "the marshal presenteth himself with drums afore him mounted upon a scaffold, borne by four men ; and goeth three times round about the harthe, crying out aloud, a lord, a lord,' &c. then he descendeth, and goeth to dance.

"This done, the lord of Misrule addresseth himself to the banquet; which endeth with some minstralsye, mirth and dancing, every man departeth to rest."

Harrick, who was the contemporary of Shakespeare for the first twenty-five years of his life, that is, from 1591 to 1616, has given us the following curious and pleasing

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Begin then to chuse,

This night as ye use,

Who shall for the present delight here,
Be the King by the lot,
And who shall not

Be Twelfe-day Queene for the night here.

Which knowne, let us make
Joy sops with the cake;

And let not a man then be seen here,
Who unwig'd will not drinke

To the base from the brink
A health to the King and the Queene here.

Next crowne the bowle full
With gentle lambs-wooll;
Adde sugar, nutmeg and ginger,
With store of ale too;
And thus we must doe
To make the l'assaile a swinger.

Give then to the King And Queene wassailing; And though with all ye be whet here, Yet part ye from hence, And free from offence, As when ye innocent met here Herrick's Hesperides.

ANECDOTE OF THE EMPEROR JOSEPH II.

The Emperor Joseph II. heard every body who pretended to discover to him any thing useful. By this means he often lost much precious time.

Baron Calisius once begged an audience to propose to the Emperor a matter of great importance; it was granted him: the conversation was as follows-

Calisius. The city of Comorn in Hungary has the misfortune to be visited nearly every five years by earthquakes, which have often occasioned great damage, and still expose it to the utmost danger, and threaten it with total destruction. Now I have remarked, that in Egypt there never were nor are any earthquakes. But as Egypt differs from other countries only in having pyramids, it follows that pyramids must be sure preven tatives of earthquakes.

The Emperor. So then it would be good to build some of these edifices in Hungary? Calisius. This is my humble proposal, and I here present your majesty a plan how they may be erected.

The Emperor. But have you calculated the expence ?

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Calisius. No: but I believe for three or four hundred thousand florins two handsome pyramids might be built; a little sinaller indeed than those in Egypt.

The Emperor. Has the city of Comorn so much money?

Calisius. No, but I hope your Majesty will contribute, and the rest might perhaps be raised by a subscription.

The Emperor. Well, I have nothing against it. If a suitable place can be found, which is fit for nothing else, and you will undertake the work on subscription, begin to build as soon as you please; but I cannot fix the amount of my subscription before I see at least one pyramid quite finished.

ANECDOTE OF A RUSSIAN PRINCESS.

up to the old peasant with the long beard, and said, "Permit me, venerable father, to salute you after the fashion of my country." Saying this, she embraced him, and gave him a kiss. She then presented him the gold which was on the plate, with these words, "Take this as a remembrance of me, and as a sign that the Russian girls think it their duty to honour old age.”

AN ANCIENT CROWN DISCOVERED IN SCLA

VONIA.

On the 23d of last March, in making a road at Mallier, a little village in Sclavonia, as the wife of a soldier named Gasparowich, was turning up a clod with her pickaxe, she found, about two inches deep under ground, a piece of metal rolled up, which she took for iron, and threw it into the road. At a second stroke she discovered the basketformed vessel; which, in the opinion of all who have considered it with attention, is It consists of two supposed to be a crown. parallel circles of strong gold wire twisted together, which are about four inches asunder, and connected by a spiral ornament in The inside of the crown, this form X. shaped like a hat, consists of a braid of the same kind of gold, which surrounds a net button in the middle, in rose-shaped braids. The whole weighs a little more than 24 ounces. The diameter is equal to that of a small hat.

As the workmen's attention was attracted to this valuable relic, it was soon discovered that the whole mass was gold. By chance a corporal came up, who gave notice of it to the captain. Immediately on the following morning, the ground in that place was dug up five or six fathoms, and carefully examined; but nothing farther was discovered. Since the 25th of October, the crown has been at Vienna, and it is not doubted but that this curiosity will be delivered to the Imperial Treasury or Museum.

Many of our readers are doubtless acquainted with the name of the Swiss doctor Michael Schuppach, of Lengnau, in the Emmenthal, who was highly celebrated, and much in vogue in the last century. He is mentioned by Archdeacon Coxe, in his Travels in Switzerland, who himself consulted him. There was a time when people of distinction and fortune came to him, particularly from France and Germany, and even from more distant countries; and innumerable are the cures which he performed upon patients given up by the regular physicians. There were once assembled in Michael Schuppach's laboratory, a great many distinguished persons from all parts of the world; partly to consult him, and partly out of curiosity; and among them many French ladies and gentlemen, and a Russian prince, with his daughter, whose singular beauty attracted general attention. A young French marquis attempted, for the amusement of the ladies, to display his wit on the miraculous Doctor; but the latter, though not much acquainted with the French language, answered so pertinently, that the marquis had not the laugh on his side. During this conversation, an old peasant entered, meanly dressed, with a snow white beard, a neighbour of Schuppach's. Schuppach directly turned away from his great company, to his old neighbour, and hearing that his wife was ill, set about preparing the necessary medicine for her, without paying much attention to his more exalted guests, whose business he did not think so pressing. The marquis was now deprived of one subject of his wit, and therefore chose for his butt the old man, who was waiting while his neighbour Michael was preparing something for bis old Mary. After many silly jokes on his long white beard, he offered a wager of twelve louis'dors, that none of the ladies would kiss the old dirty looking fellow. The Russian princess bearing these words, made a sign to her attendant, who brought her a plate. The princess put twelve louisd'ors on it, and had it carried to the marquis, who of course could not decline adding and, after he had eaten it, he pretended to twelve others. Then the fair Russian went tremble, to stagger, and to become giddy,

THE DOG MIME.

Who has not heard of the celebrated piece called The Forest of Bondy, and of the ap plause which the dog of D'Aubry has obtain ed in Paris, London, Vienna, Munich, Dresden, Berlin, Leipsig, Cassel, &c.? There is nothing new under the sun see what Plutarch relates-de solertia animalium!

I must not pass over an example of canine ingenuity of which I was witness at Rome. A mime, who performed a complicated piece, in which there were many characters had a dog with him, which made all kind of gesticulations necessary for the represen tation. He afforded a striking proof of bis talents, after taking poison, which was to produce sleep and then death. He took the bread in which the poison was given him,

1818.

and then he stretched himself out as if dead, and let himself be pulled and dragged along as the progress of the piece required. When, from the dialogue and action, he saw that the moment was come, he began to move himself by degrees, as if he awoke out of a profound sleep, raised his head, and looked about him; he then approached the person required by his part, and evinced his joy by his caresses, to the great astonishment of all the spectators, and even of the old Emperor Vespasian, who was at the time in the Theatre Marcellus.

ANTIQUE RING.

The Roman Gazette relates, on the authority of letters from Greece, that a countryman, in the neighbourhood of Corinth, lately struck with his ploughshare against a metal vessel, which contained several ancient coins, and a ring, with an agate of the size of half a saldo. On this agate the naked eye could discover nothing but some very small strokes. A learned traveller purchased the ring, and by the aid of a microscope discovered a most admirable work of art. On the upper side of the stone he found a group of gods, distinguishable by their attributes; and on the lower side, Achilles dragging the dead body of Hector behind his chariot. This discovery affords a fresh proof of the great superiority of the ancients to the moderns in works of this kind.

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Christopher Rosenkranz, in Copenhagen, demanded from the widow of Christian Tuul a debt of 5000 dollars.

She was certain that she owed him nothing. But he produced a bond signed by herself and her deceased husband; she declared the bond to be forged. The affair was brought before a court of justice. The widow was condemn ed to pay the demand. In her distress she

319

applied to king Christian IV. and said that
neither she nor her husband had signed the
pretended bond. His majesty promised to
take her affair into consideration. He sent
for Rosenkranz, questioned him closely,
begged, exhorted, but all to no purpose.
The creditor appealed to his written_bond.
The king asked for the bond, sent Rosen-
kranz away, and promised that he would
very soon return it to him. The king re-
mained alone, to examine this important
paper, and discovered, after much trouble,
that the paper-manufacturer, whose mark
was on the bond, had began his manufactory
The inquiries
many years after its date.
made confirmed this fact. The proof against
The king
Rosenkranz was irrefragable.
said nothing about it: sent for Rosenkranz
some days after, and exhorted him in the
most affecting manner, to have pity on the
poor widow, because otherwise the justice
of Heaven would certainly punish him for
such wickedness. He unblushingly insisted
on his demand, and even presumed to affect
to be offended. The king's mildness went
so far, that he still gave him several days
for consideration. But all to no purpose.
He was arrested, and punished with all the
rigour of the laws.

ANECDOTE.

PRESENCE OF MIND.

As the well known Dr. Barth preached for the first time in his native city of Leipzig, he disdained the usual precaution of having his sermon placed in the Bible before him, to refer to in case of need. A violent thunder-storm arising just as he was in the middle of his discourse, and a tremendous clap caused him to lose the thread of his argument, with great composure and dignity he shut the Bible, saying with emphasis," When God speaks, man must hold his peace:" he then came down from the pulpit, and the whole congregation looked on him with admiration and wonder, as a mighty pillar of

the church.

ART. 15. REPORT OF DISEASES.

Report of Diseases treated at the Public Dispensary, New-York, during the month of June, 1818.

ACUTE DISEASES.

F
NEBRIS Intermittens, (Intermittent Fever,)
5; Febris Remittens, (Remittent Fever,)
7; Febris Continua, (Continued Fever,) 29;
Febris Infantum Remittens, (Infantile Remit-
tent Fever,) 7; Phlegmone, 2; Ophthalmia,
Inflammation of the Eyes,) 4; Cynanche
Tonsillaris, 2; Pneumonia (Inflammation of
the Chest,) 15; Pneumonia Typhodes, (Ty-
phoid Pneumony,) 4; Pertussis, (Hooping
Cough,) 8; Hepatitis, (Inflammation of the
Liver,) 2; Rheumatismus Acutus, 1; Icte-
rus, (Jaundice,) 1; Cholera Morbus, 2; Dys-

enteria, (Dysentery,) 3; Rubeola, (Measles,) cinia, (Kine Pock,) 31; Convulsio, (Con1; Erysipelas, (St. Anthony's Fire,) 2; Vacvulsions,) 1.

CHRONIC AND LOCAL DISEASES.

Asthenia, (Debility,) 8; Vertigo, 3; Cephalalgia, (Head-Ach,) 5; Dyspepsia, (Indigestion,) 6; Obstipatio, 13; Colica, 2; Paralysis, 1; Hysteria, 1; Menorrhagia, 1; Hæmorrhois, 2; Diarrhoea, 6; Leucorrhoea, 2; Amenorrhoea, 4; Ischuria, (Suppression of Urine,) 2; Ophthalmia Chronica, 3; Bronchitis Chronica, 3; Phthisis Pulmonalis, (Pulmonary Consumption,) 7; Rheumatismus Chronicus, 5; Pleurodynia, 2; Lumbago, 2; Nephralgia, 1; Plethora, 3; Anasarca,

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