Various

“ Having deemed it fitting to despatch a squadron of ships under the command of our well-beloved and valiant Sir Thomas Allen, Knight, for the protection of the freedom of navigation and commerce of our subjects in the Mediterranean Sea, which is never too sure, and sometimes becomes endangered, we have determined to request your highness, by right of amity, to permit him and our ships under his command, as friends, to touch, in case of need, at any of the coasts of your highness' dominions ”

“ It is well known to all who are conversant in electrical experiments, that the electric power may be propagated along a small wire, from one place to another, without being sensibly abated by the length of its progress. Let, then, a set of wires, equal in number to the letters of the alphabet, be extended horizontally between too given places, parallel to one another, and each of them about an inch distant from that next to it. ”

“ But, unhappily, such is far from being the case; and though rubbings of brasses are to be found in every antiquarian society, and in the possession of very many private individuals, the churchwardens and other parties on whom their preservation principally depends, are for the most part wilfully blind to their importance as historical memorials, and with impunity allow them to be mutilated or stolen. In many of our country, and I may also add town churches, are these interesting records of the dead stowed away as useless lumber in the vestry, or hidden by some ugly modern pew. ”

“ Farther complaints have, however, been received from our subject, stating that our letters have had little effect with your highness, and that he, already wearied with long expectation, has not had anything restored, that his expenses are increasing to a great amount, and that little or no hope remains of reparation for his loss.
Painful, indeed, was it to us to hear our subject relate such injustice on the part of the Knights of Malta; we, however, thought is right to make it clearly appear that nothing has remained untried to bring back to more sane counsels the generous minds of the Maltese ”

“ Authors' Trustee Society.—Authors, as a class, are perhaps the most unfit men in the world to make the most of their own property; and were they ever so competent, it will often happen that their works do not attain to any great value as copyrights till after the poor author is laid in his grave. ”

“ If such a project should ever be consummated, we may confidently hope that the finest specimens of sculpture, as well as the most curious and valuable remains, will be brought to light. No place abounded with such numerous offerings to the gods, and with such splendid and beautiful representations in marble and in bronze. ”

“ To the most eminent Prince, the Lord Nicholas Cottoner, Grand Master of the Order of Malta, our very dear cousin and friend, Greeting:
We apprehend that long since it must have come to the knowledge of your eminence, that a vessel of war of our Royal fleet, named the "Sapphire," went ashore some months ago on the coasts of Sicily; and was so much damaged, that she became entirely unseaworthy. We have however heard, that some guns which belonged to the said ship have been taken to the island of Malta, and there preserved. ”

“ But taking into serious consideration the lamentable present state of Christianity, and the daily augmentation of the large empire of our common enemy, and how distinguished has been the valour of the Maltese knights, always constantly exposing themselves as a bulwark to so pertinacious an enemy, it would be very painful to us to be compelled to have recourse to reprisals, or to any such severe mode of proceeding, for the reparation of the loss. ”

“ The solution of iodide of potassium dissolves the iodide of mercury as soon as it is formed, and therefore cannot be left on the plate until the decomposition of the chloride is complete, without injury resulting to the picture, as the half-tones are thereby lost, and those parts over which the solution first flows become bleached before the other parts have attained their highest tone; whereas the solution of iodide of cadmium may be allowed to remain for any length of time on the plate, without any fear of its injuring the negative. ”

“ Has not your correspondent G. Boole fallen into an inaccuracy whilst contending about the accuracy of another's logic? He seems to employ the proposition, all trees are endogens or exogens, as an example of an accurate proposition.
I forget the technicalities in which the objection to such a proposition would be properly expressed; but it cannot well be denied that all comprehends the whole genus, and expresses that whole collectively. If so, the proposition affirms that the whole genus of trees must either be acknowledged to be endogens, or else to be all exogens. ”

“ The roof has gradually fallen to decay, and the Earl of Darnley, whose property the chancel is, has refused to repair it. And yet this same nobleman can spend thousands of pounds in adorning his seat, Cobham Hall, the ancient domain of the family, in whose commemoration most of these brasses are laid down. I may also here mention that part of the rood-screen which forms the back of the earl's pew has been glazed, in order, I suppose, to keep out the damp of the chancel, while a portion on the other side has been entirely cut away. ”

“ I therefore humbly beseech your Majesty to consider, and with benignant mind to reflect, what faith ought to be given to those who have dared to affirm that any contrary course had been pursued or tolerated by me against the said Roger; and the more so, as it has been the constant wish of my Order to deserve well of your Majesty's subjects, and to take particular care of all foreigners. This we trust will be sufficiently shown from the fact of our always having employed one of the principal lawyers to undertake the defence of foreigners ”

“ Many great and good men have entertained scruples on the practice of interment in churches. The example of the virtuous and primitive confessor, Archbishop Sancroft, who ordered himself to be buried in the churchyard of Fresingfield in Suffolk, thinking it improper that the house of God should be made the repository of sinful man, ought to command the imitation of less deserving persons: perhaps it had an influence over the mind of his successor, Archbishop Secker, who ordered himself to be buried in the churchyard of Lambeth. ”

“ If we conceive the figure of a large bowl, inclosing a somewhat smaller one, the interstice being filled with gravel, and the rain falling on the earth being collected within such interstice, then this interstice being tapped by boring a well, the water will rise up from the well to the same height as it stands in the interstice, or rim of the natural basin. Such is an Artesian well. ”

“ Finally, as it is impossible for my knights, putting aside the order of right, and neglecting the rule of our statutes, to restore to the above-mentioned Roger that which he claims, nothing remains in our power but to grant him the faculty of again prosecuting his right before the above-mentioned Court of Audience as in law so often and earnestly offered to the aforenamed attorney. Nor certainly can it be presumed, that your Majesty in your clemency and justice can desire anything farther. ”

“ The Cork Remembrancer, a chronicle of local events, which I recollect seeing among my late father's (a Cork man) books, relates the fact of a men who was hanged in that city, and on the evening of the same day appeared, not in the spirit, but in body, in the theatre. I regret I have not the book, but it is to be had somewhere. Undoubtedly your late venerable correspondent, James Roche, Esq., could have authenticated my statement, and with fuller particulars, as I only relate the record of it from memory, after a lapse of many years. ”

“ The children of Lady Falmouth are blessed with a mother who possesses that invaluable gift, the art of making learning a pleasure; and we doubt not many a loving mother will be glad to find her labours lightened by the recently published Conversations on Geography, or the Child's first introduction to where He is, what He is, and what else there is, by Viscountess Falmouth, Baroness Le Despencer. ”

“ I believe the only parasite taken in with water in tropical climates is the Guinea Worm; an animal which burrows under the skin of the arms or legs, and is extremely difficult of extraction, and often productive of great inconvenience. ”

“ In Upminster Church, Essex, were found, not very long since, during the progress of some alterations, two loose female figures under the flooring of a pew, which are still left to be tossed about in the vestry. One is an elegant figure of a lady in heraldic mantle and horned head-dress, with a dog at her feet, date about 1450, the other about 1630. At St. James's, Colchester, the head of a figure was long left loose, till at last it has been stolen. And, to conclude, pews have lately been built over two brasses at Margate, one of which is an early example of a skeleton. ”

“ A Society might be formed to take charge as trustees of the property of an author in his works, to make engagements with booksellers for the privilege of publishing future editions as they may be required, and to take care that the honorarium for each edition be duly paid into the hands of the person who is entitled to receive it. ”

“ To this conclusion I am the more drawn from the decision of the advocate of the Admiralty himself, for he proposes the granting of letters of reprisal not for any other reason than that he supposed justice had been denied to the said Roger, and that he had been precluded from the remedy of a Court of Appeal. ”

“ To present accurate drawings and pleasing pictures is not the only or primary object of this work, but rather to impart lessons of practical importance and daily application in an attractive form, and to open up a subject which, judiciously applied, is calculated to prove to the young a most interesting and instructive study. ”

“ When and where does Sunday begin or end? (Vol. ix., p. 198.) .—The Christian festival, commonly called Sunday, named by the ancient church "The Lord's Day," because that thereon the resurrection was accomplished, and the new creation, the work of Messias, commenced, this feast, I say, begins at six o'clock in the evening of Saturday, the last day of the week, at the close of that Hebrew fast; and the end of Sunday arrives at six o'clock in the evening of that first day of the week. When time was measured out, the count began with "the evening," which was created first ”

“ And if the latter interpretation be adopted, must we say that and is a preposition, not a conjunction, or must we modify the definitions of these two parts of speech?"
The following definitions are finally proposed in place of the ordinary ones:
"A preposition is a part of speech annexed to a noun or verb in a proposition, and serving to connect it with a noun or pronoun by which it is limited, as the subject or predicate of that proposition." ”

“ This we did the more willingly, in order to prove to your highness more clearly, that being so dear, and so highly esteemed by Us, as is your highness personally, and all your knights, that we have preferred accepting any mode of properly settling this affair, rather than, by recurring to any harsher measures, diminish our friendship and affection towards so celebrated an Order. ”

“ Individuals are not wanting who affirm that similar phenomena were observed in former times in this region. As the fact is so well attested as to place the phenomenon beyond the possibility of successful disproof, people have not been slow in giving a meaning to it, and in referring it to the great battle of the nations at Birkenbaum, to which the old legend, particularly since 1848, again points. ”

“ It appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. ”

“ Some years have elapsed since we first addressed letters to your highness concerning certain goods and merchandise, to the value of 4500 pieces of eight, which had been unjustly seized by some of the ships which it is customary to despatch annually from your highness' island to cruise against the Turks in the neighbourhood of Cyprus, from our subject Roger Fowke, a person for many reasons by us well beloved, and our consul in the island of Cyprus ”

“ Any person might naturally be led to suppose, on seeing the many costly and learned works which, within the last few years, have appeared on the subject of monumental brasses, that their value was now fully appreciated, and that all due care was taken to ensure their preservation, or at least prevent their wanton destruction. ”

“ Nor does it tend to his defence that he asserts that all that was done by his tribunal was done by solemn sentence, that the judges were men of great reputation, and that it is to be believed that the reasons produced by both sides were justly considered; for judicial authority is not of the same value as regards foreigners and subjects. ”

“ It would be well if every popular error were hunted down, as your correspondents have done in the case of the snake-vomiting at Portsmouth. The public need to be told, that no animal can live in the alimentary canal but the parasites which belong to that part of the animal economy. ”

“ Artesian Wells (Vol. ix., p.222.) .—Wells are often so called without just pretence to a similarity with those in Artois, whence this name is derived. There are some natural springs in the northern slope of the chalk in Lincolnshire, near the Humber, called blow-wells, which may be considered naturally Artesian. The particular character by which an Artesian well may be known is, that the water, if admitted into a tube, will rise above the level of the ground in its immediate vicinity up to the level of its sources in the basin of the district ”

“ FATA MORGANA.
Not having met with the following account in any English newspaper, of a phenomenon said to have been witnessed quite recently in Germany, I beg to send you a translation from the Allgemeine Zeitung (generally quoted in England by the name of the Augsburgh Gazette) of February 13, detailing, in a communication from Westphalia, the particulars of a phenomenon, new, perhaps, to your pages, but by no means new to the world. ”