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Forth, and the kingdom of Fife stretching itself out as far as the eye can reach. The hill on which it is situated is 822 feet above the level of the sea, but from its very gradual rise it is by no means difficult to ascend.

It is scarcely possible for the most soberminded not to be struck with the totally different aspect which this spot presents to the dark, smoky, and densely-populated city. The one is full of activity and energy, the other calm and quiet; reminding one of an infant sleeping on its mother's bosom, unconscious of all around, and unruffled by one anxious thought or fear.

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The strikingly picturesque ruin Roslyn castle is situated about seven miles from Edinburgh, stands on a promontory round which the river Esk winds gracefully, and from which probably its name is derived, Ross-linnhe, signifying the promontory of the waterfall.

The origin of this castle is involved in some obscurity. It was long the abode of the family of the St. Clairs, earls of Caithness and Orkney. By some it has been reported to have been built in the 12th century, by one of the lairds of Scotland. In 1544 it was destroyed by fire by the earl of Hertford; and in 1650 it surrendered to general Monk. The comparatively modern mansion, which was erected between sixty and seventy years ago, amid the ruins of the old castle, was inhabited by a laird, a lineal descendant of the St. Clairs who founded the pile, and the last of their line, at whose death the estate descended to sir James Erskine St. Clair, the father of the present earl of Roslyn, who now represents the family.

The exterior of this romantically situated pile, with its ruined walls covered with ivy and brushwood, is truly delightful to the lovers of wild and picturesque scenery. On the different ascents to the castle wildflowers grow in profusion, and thither, in vast numbers, the insect tribes resort to sip of their sweets, regardless alike of the charms of the spot, and the beauties that surround it. As we sit gazing on the fragments of ruined walls and fast-mouldering towers, something like sympathy is awakened in the bosom with one of our bards, who, when standing alone a spectator of these ruins, exclaimed, "Venerable pile! how many have gazed on your majestic beauty, with the same feelings of enthusiasm as I now behold you! Often have your walls echoed to the melody of song and

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cheerfulness, but hushed now are those voices in the stillness of death; and the only sounds within and around are the tinkling of the sheep-bell, or the echo of the distant footsteps of some traveller, which, from the solemn silence that prevails, may be heard approaching the remains of what no doubt was esteemed the glory of this part of the country."

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Ata short distance from the castle is Roslyn chapel, consisting of a small nave, and a partially subterranean chamber at the east end. It is thought by some, one of the most perfect specimens of Gothic architecture to be found in this country, whilst others consider it rather a combination of Norman and the Tudor styles, exhibiting the solidity of the former with the minute decorations of the latter; but, truly, it would be difficult to characterise its architecture, in consequence of the eccentricity and endless variety of its parts. It is said to have been built in 1440, by St. Clair, prince of Orkney, and is sixtynine feet long and thirty-four feet broad within. Two rows of aisles extend along the sides of the interior, the pillars forming which are only eight feet high, but their workmanship is very rich; the capitals are adorned with foliage, and a variety of figures; their ceilings are thrown into the form of Saxo-Gothic arches. The green ivy, in its freshness and luxuriance, twines around portions of the dilapidated interior; while swallows may not unfrequently be observed flitting to and fro beneath the venerable roof.

As is the case with some of our churches, Roslyn has what is termed a "Prentices' pillar," with the same legendary story of the sculptor having had his brains knocked out by his master, for daring to execute the work in his absence-the possibility not being admitted then, of the pupil equalling his instructor. This pillar is elegantly decorated, having a wreath of tracery twisted spirally round it. At the top of another pillar there is a bust, resembling that of a woman, which has the honour of being appropriated to the mother of the unfortunate boy; she is looking at the representation of her murdered son, and weeping.

The pavement of this sanctuary is perhaps the most profoundly interesting part of the building Here we tread on the tombs which contain the ashes of all the barons of Roslyn, who were, till the time of the Revolution, buried

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FIRE ANNIHILATOR-MATTERHEARING THE GOSPEL-PASSION.

in their armour. The monument of one of them is still visible-a simple outline, with a greyhound at his feet, according to a custom not unusual among the great at this period, thus to have represented on their tablets some favourite animal.

Here and there are to be traced, upon some of the stones with which the floor of the chapel is paved, and which the damp and mould of years have nearly obliterated, inscriptions that were once easily read, though now they are scarcely legible. Many have long been utterly effaced. The mourner and the mourned have alike mingled with their native dust. So, too, will it be with us, and those whom we hold dear. May it, then, be ours, individually, to exclaim, as we rely on the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God, and resign ourselves to the renovating power of the Holy Spirit,

"My flesh shall slumber in the ground,
Till the last trumpet's joyful sound;
Then burst my chains with glad surprise,
And in my Saviour's image rise."

FIRE ANNIHILATOR.

S. S.

DR. RYAN gave a lecture, at the Royal Polytechnic Institution, "On Fire," for the purpose of noticing an apparatus lately invented by Mr. Phillips, of Bloomsbury-square, called the "Fire Annihilator." Dr. Ryan first explained the nature of combustion and of fire. After

referring to the phlogiston theory of the earlier chemists, and the more modern views of Lavoisier and others, the lecturer proceeded to prove, by a number of experiments, that combustion, under all circumstances, is the result and companion of chemical action. A considerable portion of his lecture was afterwards devoted to the consideration of supporters and non-supporters of combustion, or to those conditions which are necessary either to maintain fire, or to prevent its action; he more especially pointed out the effect of volumes of free nitrogen or free carbonic acid upon the flame of coal gas; and, after showing that combustion instantly ceased in an atmosphere containing but a small percentage of these gases, he proceeded to explain that Mr. Phillips used a mixture of coke, nitre, and sulphate of lime, with a little water; the products of its ignition were, principally, free nitrogen, carbonic acid, and water vapour. To illustrate the office of the apparatus, which for a large house

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is only the size of a small stove, Dr. Ryan
kindled a fire of patent-wood, to which he
added about half-a-pint of spirits of tur-
pentine, in an iron house; when the
flame was at its height, he introduced a
small apparatus, holding not more than
two ounces of his material, and in half a
minute the fire was completely extin-
guished, and the audience expressed their
approbation by loud and repeated ap-
plause; and it may be naturally expected
that they would be much interested in the
experiment of a system involving the se-
curity of life and property.
As the ap-
paratus is small, and may be kept charged,
requiring only the action of a trigger, on
the alarm of fire, it may be carried to any
part and immediately used. It will prove
of vast utility in ships, as it may be
placed in the hold, and on the alarm of fire,
the trigger may be pulled, and the gas
will escape, thus putting a stop to the ra-
vages of the devouring element.-Year
Book of Facts.

MINUTENESS OF MATTER.

AIR can be rarefied so far that the contents of a cubic foot shall not weigh the tenth part of a grain. If a quantity that would fill a space of the hundredth part of an inch in diameter be separated from the rest, the air can still be found there, and we may reasonably conceive that there are several particles present, though the weight is less than the seventeen-hundredth million of a grain.-Mechanics' Magazine.

THE RIGHT WAY TO HEAR THE GOSPEL.

SOME people are very squeamish about the delivery of different ministers, who preach the same gospel. Suppose you were attending to hear a will read, where you expected a legacy to be left you, would you employ the time when it was reading in criticising the manner in which the lawyer read it? No, you would not; you would be giving all ear to hear if anything was left to you, and how much it was. This is the way I would advise you to hear the gospel.— Rowland Hill.

PASSION.

He submits to be seen through a microscope, who suffers himself to be caught in a fit of passion.-Lavater.

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ENGLISH HISTORY.

GEORGE III.

Death of the Earl of Chatham.

IN America, the hostilities continued through the winter season. During the Christmas holidays, Washington surprised a body of Hessians at Trenton, taking a thousand of them prisoners; and after severe struggles he recovered the Jerseys, the English general having at first cantoned his troops very unadvisedly, and then having continued most unaccountably inactive till the end of March, 1777. During the actions that followed, Lee, an American general, who had formerly been a Colonel in the English service, was taken prisoner. Howe did not treat him as a deserter, though urged to do so, but refused to exchange Lee or to release him on his parole, and kept him as prisoner in a private house.

Con

gress ordered that six of the British officers should receive the same treatment, and put colonel Campbell, who had gone by mistake into Boston harbour, after the British forces had been withdrawn, into confinement in a loathsome jail, treating him with much harshness until Washington interfered.

In July, the Americans took prisoner general Prescott, in Rhode island, who had carelessly taken up quarters at a

distance from his troops. At the end of June, Howe embarked his forces, and sailed to the Chesapeak, to attack Philadelphia, contriving to waste two months on shipboard, in which interval his soldiers were enfeebled, and the Americans had time to strengthen themselves. Washington was defeated at Brandywine, but was allowed time to retreat. In this action, La Fayette fought in the American army. He had joined the American army shortly before, with a few adventurers, evidently with the connivance of the French government; and the arrival of a wealthy and noble foreigner was highly acceptable. In this battle, La Fayette received a wound, for the cure of which he remained some weeks at a Moravian settlement. Here he received kind attentions, and good advice; but instead of listening to such peaceful counsels, he wrote to the French ministry, and the commandant of Martinique, recommending attacks upon the English colonies, both in the east and west, with French forces under American colours. On September 27, Cornwallis entered Philadelphia; but it was the end of November before the fleet and army could overcome the obstructions and fortifications of the Americans, so as to command the river Delaware. Washing

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ton dared not withdraw into winter quarters, and leave a wide district open to the officers of Howe. He hutted his troops in an entrenched camp on the Schuykill, about twenty-five miles from Philadelphia, so as to keep the command of the country, while Howe quietly remained inactive in the last-named city. The campaign in the north had been disadvantageous to the British. Carleton was unwisely superseded by Burgoyne, a good officer, but wholly unacquainted with the country and its modes of warfare; he was sent to carry out a plan devised by the king, to march southward from Crown Point with a considerable force. His first movements were successful; he reached the Hudson river on July 30, but the latter part of his route had been very injudiciously chosen, and had much exhausted his army. Here Howe ought to have united or communicated with him; but he had proceeded to Philadelphia. Burgoyne soon found that he could reap no advantage from his position, while the British army suffered materially in repeated efforts to advance; but he crossed the Hudson, and occupied the heights of Saratoga. There he remained till October 7, by which time his supplies were exhausted, and many of his Indian allies were withdrawn. He looked for cooperation from New York, while Gates, Arnold, and other American commanders, had nearly surrounded his position. After some actions, in which general Fraser, the best of the English officers, fell, Burgoyne attempted to retreat, but without success; when finding himself with a force reduced to 3,500, without provisions, and surrounded by 19,000 Americans, a capitulation was agreed upon on the 16th, by which the English forces surrendered their arms, but were to be allowed to proceed to Boston, and embark for England, engaging not to serve again till exchanged, the Canadians being allowed to return to Canada. General Gates was not confident in his own troops, and knew what Burgoyne did not, that Clinton was advancing up the Hudson; he, therefore, readily forwarded the capitulation, granting the honours of war, with several other little punctilios, on which Burgoyne laid much stress; but, contrary to the terms agreed upon, Congress, much to its disgrace, ordered the English troops to be retained as prisoners. Clinton's advance had been delayed by the tardy arrival

of re-inforcements from Europe; yet by the time Burgoyne capitulated, his advance was not more than thirty miles from Saratoga. When informed of the surrender, he, of course, returned to New York, after having caused much loss and damage to the district through which he passed. Unhappily, this had fallen chiefly on the unoffending inhabitants; but the Americans could not justly complain, for their forces treated with much violence all whom they considered to be attached to the British interests. The undisciplined state of their troops, and the exasperation of political feelings may account for this, while it does not excuse it. Whatever disgrace may attach to Burgoyne for his failure, he certainly deserves credit for the order and discipline he maintained during his advance, and for repressing the ferocity of his Indian allies, though he thereby disgusted many of them. The position of the Indians placing them in a state of hostility with the back settlers of the American states, by whom they have invariably been driven westward, and exterminated, made them naturally incline to an alliance with the British; but their undisciplined proceedings rendered them undesirable even as allies. The result of this year's campaign as a whole, was to convince reflecting minds, that the American states could not be conquered by a country beyond the Atlantic; subjugation was impossible. The public attention was so absorbed by the affairs of America as to take little notice of proceedings in the still more important East Indian possessions, where events were at this time passing, that afterwards excited deep interest. These must be noticed in a continuous form at a later period.

Parliament assembled in November, 1777, when all parties continued much in the same state. The king still spoke of America as to its return to allegiance. The earl of Coventry advised that the independence of America should be at once recognised, predicting, however, the ultimate declension of Britain, and that America would become the seat of empire. Chatham found fault with all that had been done; and while fancying that America could yet be kept dependent on Britain, he recommended the cessation of hostilities and the trying to restore matters by negotiation. Such a course, it was very evident, would only strengthen the patriot leaders of the

colonies, and France was now evidently determined to seek for some advantages from the present state of affairs. It was also manifest that the opposition at home rather sought their own personal advancement than cared for the real merits of the contest, though it is impossible here to detail the intrigues of parties at this period, many of which had chiefly in view the bringing Chatham into office again. In the course of debate, Chatham painted in strong colours the evils of employing the Indians as allies; but on being reminded that he set the example by employing them during the late war, he attempted to deny the fact. When it was proved, his friends vainly attempted to draw a distinction between the two contests, to excuse the great orator for having formerly done what he now found it expedient to censure. Burke painted their atrocities with the utmost power of his eloquence, in a speech of three hours and a half. Of the evils resulting from employing the Indians, there can be no doubt; the only excuse that could be offered was, that, unless it had been done by the British commanders, the Americans would have sought their aid, and would have stimulated them to barbarities, instead of attempting to restrain them. Two things now began to be evident-that if any attempt should be made at pacification, the independence of America must be recognised, and that the present ministry would not listen to such a proceeding, though lord North, following the plan of making concessions when too late, advanced so far as to propose to give up the right of taxation, and to treat with the Congress as a body recognised by law. The spirit The spirit of the nation also was in favour of continuing the contest, although it appeared that, on the whole, the British cause had lost ground, while the American had become stronger.

In February, 1778, France concluded a treaty with the American colonies, which, it was evident, would lead to a war with England; the depressed and agitated state of France rendered this most unadvisable. Louis xvI., destitute as he was of ability, saw that it was an evil measure; but the French nation were eager to support the revolting colonies, and such a proceeding exactly suited the plans and desires of the philosophical party becoming influential in that country, who saw in the success of the American efforts for independence,

the advancement, if not the realization, of many of their visionary schemes and erroneous devices. France determined to force Spain to join the warfare, though such would endanger her vast colonies; and the French ministry were ready to proceed to hostilities, the results of which must be ruinous to a nation with an annual deficit in its finances of above a million of pounds sterling, during a state of peace. Nothing but the severest financial proceedings enabled them even to prepare for hostilities, while the prosecution of the war hastened the national bankruptcy that precipitated the revolution, and brought on the awful train of events that followed.

The duke

This year's session in England is marked by a bill for removing some of the most oppressive laws against Papists. The present state of the contest with America required efforts to increase unanimity at home; but some changes in favour of the commerce of Ireland were limited by the resistance of the English mercantile interest. The most stirring incident during the session was the last public appearance of the earl of Chatham. of Richmond and others, considering that the union of France with America rendered the contest still more hopeless, on April 7 moved for the dismissal of ministers and the cessation of hostilities. Chatham, oppressed with sickness, spoke against any such concession, calling rather for war with France, against which country he retained the prejudices of national enmity. On subsequently rising to answer the duke's reply to his speech, the exhausted statesman fell backwards, and was borne from the house in a state of insensibility. He was carried home, and from that time continued to decline till May 11, when he expired. A public funeral, and a monument at the national expense, were voted to honour the memory of this statesman. A pension of 4,000l. per annum was settled on his heirs, and a large sum voted to pay his debts. Chatham was a great orator, and, too often, allowed the opportunities he possessed for good to evaporate in words; at the same time, he was personally honest, and did not seek to aggrandize himself at the expense of the nation. In these respects, he was superior to Walpole; but, unhappily, he was a war minister; his notions were founded on false ideas of glory, thus the English nation suffered deeply from many of his measures,

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