166 Capt. Manby on Preservation of Shipwrecked Persons. [Aug. wise be made by substituting gum olibanum for the sugar. The application of sulphuric or nitrous acid to this compound will produce immediate ignition. To prepare the powder for the particular service of firing the mortar, the following directions are to be observed: Mix so much of the powder with rainwater that has been boiled as will form, after having been well stirred, a thick fluid; crack the heads of the tubes, prepared as above described, intended to be primed with this mixture, that it may better unite with the gunpowder in them, and lay so much on the tops of the tubes as will completely cover them; then let them be thoroughly dried in the sun. Care must be taken that the tubes are always kept perfectly dry; for on this the quickness and certainty of firing depend. To fire the tubes, wet the end of the finger or a stick with the sulphuric acid, touch the composition on the primed tube with it, and instantaneous ignition will follow. The sulphuric acid should be closely stopped in a glass or lead bottle, kept in an upright position, and should not be exposed to the air, but for the moment when it is used; with this care it will retain its virtues for many years. Having furnished instructions for preparing the apparatus, it is next necessary to direct the mode of applying it to its purpose of gaining communication with a distressed vessel driven on a lee-shore. When the wind blows directly on the shore, the mortar is to be pointed directly at the vessel; any direct opposition from the strength of the wind is to be met and overcome by a proportionate increase in the charge of powder, up to the highest quantity given in the scale. But it may happen that vessels take the ground when the wind blows sidewise along the shore, or the wind may have changed after they have taken the ground, supposing them to have driven with the wind right on the shore. When this is the case, if the mortar should be fired pointed directly at the object, the rope carried out by the shot would be swept far to leeward of the vessel by the force of the wind, and communication be missed. It is therefore in a side-wind, necessary, in proportion to the strength and obliquity of the wind, to point the mortar to windward of the object; the slack of the rope carried out by the shot will then be borne by the wind so much to leeward as to fall on one part or other of the distressed vessel. In the case of a strong side-wind the lower the elevation (about the angle of 15 degrees) at which the mortar is fired, the less power the wind will have over the 1821.] Capt. Manby on Preservation of Shipwrecked Persons. 167 the rope, and the more certain it will be to fall on the weathermost part of the rigging of the wreck, with which communication is attempted. When the rope is thrown on board, the crew, if not extremely exhausted, will at once secure it to some firm part of the wreck, and then a boat* (if a boat be at hand) may be hauled off by it: the boat is kept, by the power given over it by the rope, with its head to the waves and wind; and consequently rises over the surges, free from the danger of being upset. If the crew, as is sometimes the case, are so benumbed or fatigued as not to be able to secure the rope themselves, the barbed shot, when the rope with which it has been projected over the vessel is drawn in from the shore, will of itself take hold and fix on some part of the rigging or hull of the wreck, and a boat may be hauled off it, although the crew are so exhausted as not to be able to move a hand towards saving their own lives.-(To be continued.). * When circumstances will permit, a boat hauled off by the rope thrown from the mortar is the method most to be relied on as the most prompt and certain mode of relief from a beach. SELECT POETRY. From Flatt'ry-vile delusive flow'r- And vain Conceit, with tow'ring crust, With meagre Envy, we'll detest, And cast Mistrust aside! Of Falsehood, with her stentor voice, Avoid vain Pleasure's fatal choice, To where mild Temperance is found, 'Twill be a Sov'reign Love-desert T. N. THE 168 THE BALL Select Poetry. HAIL! Potentate of half the world, Night, with thy dusky wings unfurl'd; Who graspest in thy single span, To whirl thy giddy, chosen throng, It is the magic hour when scrapers, Freed from the morning's whims and vapours, (For, lo! the clock hath stricken nine, Are met in Bedford's * pleasure room. Come the flush'd youths with anxious glance, Ευκνήμιδες of the dance ; [Aug. Waltz! who, admir'd and prais'd by all, Why should I shun the minor ill, While all my thoughts danc'd 'moulinet.' Might but the pen and rhymer dare, Bright beaming o'er their native field, To none the County's beauties yield: And one fair form-but let that pass, The praise of one may vex the mass. As woven by some fairy's loom, But times are chang'd, throughout the Full twenty couples' throng'd the room. lean And slipper'd pantaloon' is seen; The fair appear! this is not earth, * The Castle of Bedford stood on the spot where these festivities took place on April 23. While those long pass'd their dancing hour, "Tis past, and hours like moments roll, Came she, ay came she, in whose eyeI read life's look'd-for destiny? Le Cavalier Seul.. Came Came she, whose smile or frown can bear Another eve may join us still, May link each hand in a Quadrille ; Till then my mind may feed its flame M. L. Addressed to an only Son, at the age of Fifteen, on his departure to India, in April 1802, at the Grave of the Author's Parents, in the Parish Church of St. Clement, Sandwich. ERE you embark upon the stormy sea, And leave this land for many a dis[heart, tant year, Oh! let me ouce more hold you to my Draw the deep sigh, and shed the tender tear! The lov'd remains of those who gave me life Beneath this holy altar sleep in dust, Who taught me to adore His sacred name, In whom alone successive ages trust; Who, if you faithful serve, will bless your days [state, Through all the changes of this varied 'Tis His to cloud your fortune's fairest scenes, His to dispel the gloom of adverse fate. His to compose the agitated breast, When Nature's tender ties are rent apart, His to support in this distressful hour, And soothe the sorrows of the wounded heart. *Should the reader think this name of not so soft a cadence as might be expected, let him be aware that it is merely inserted for the metre's sake.-Bertha is the heroine of Sir William D'Avenant's Gondebert, and answers to the modern Clara. It might be observed here, that most AngloSaxon female names of distinction end in a, as Bertha (bright), Rowena (rest and acquisition), Elgiva (assistance), Emma (a friend or nurse), &c.-Skinner, Verstegan GENT. MAC. August, 1821. 169 Go, then, my Boy, pursue your destin'd way, His potent word shall "bid the storm to cease;" Over the raging billows He presides, Ever confide in Him, and be at peace. Sequel to the foregoing Lines, on visiting a Cenotaph recently erected to the Son's Memory on the same spot. THOUGH bereft of thy endearments, Buried in its youthful bloom, And immortal life assume? W. B. THE KING'S WELCOME TO IRELAND. Adapted to his Majesty's favourite Tune, "Auld lang syne." OH! welcome to our happy shore, It well becomes a king like thee, Great GEORGs the freeman's heart com. mands, From Indus to the Pole. And hadst thou ne'er a laurel won, To grateful Europe dear, Thy sainted Father's royal Son Were surely welcome here. Then let the lively trumpet sound, And bells melodious ring, Our Monarch's praises sing. New joys and pleasures bring, While blithe and gay we'll raise the lay, Long live great GEORGE Our King! Lifford, Aug. 6. JOHN GRAHAM. HISTO 1 HISTORICAL CHRONICLE. FOREIGN OCCURRENCES. FRANCE. An interesting Report on the state of the French Navy has been presented by the Minister of Marine to the Chamber of Deputies. From this document, it appears that 76 vessels have been armed, and stationed in different parts of the world, for the protection of Commerce, the abolition of the traffic in slaves, and for the prevention of contraband trade. They have a naval force in the Antilles, in the Gulph of Mexico, at Cayenne, Newfoundland, the coast of Africa, at the Isle of Bourbon, in the Levant, and the Mediterranean, as well to keep up their communications with Corsica, the States of Italy, and the coast of Barbary, as for the coral fishery. Other vessels cruize near the coasts of America, in both oceans. These 76 vessels employ 10,000 seamen, and carry 1029 guns. They consist of three ships of the line, 11 frigates, and the remainder vessels of smaller classes. PORTUGAL: Lisbon papers have brought us an account of the landing and constitutional instalment of the King of Portugal, on the 4th ult. The Cortes observed a restrictive, and rather jealous, demeanour towards him. This body calls itself Supreme, and has assumed a position and character something like the English Convention at the Revolution. Events of a serious character have taken place at Rio de Janeiro since the King's departure. It appears, that the forms of the Portuguese Constitution, as far as they could be known at that date to have been sanctioned by the Cortes, have, without waiting, as originally intended, for their completion, been forced by the soldiery on the Regent's acceptance. They, at the same time, demanded other changes in the form of Government established by the King. ITALY. The King of Naples, by a Royal Decree, has re-established the order of the Jesuits in the kingdom of Naples. The order had previously been restored to Sicily, and intrusted with the education of the island. The fate of this order is as singular within these few years, as it was when, possessing more power, it excited more attention. It was established in Russia within these few years, by the Imperial supporter of Legitimacy, Alexander, and again proscribed. In Naples it was proscribed by a Usurper, and restored by a Legitimate King. An article from Rome, dated the 26th ult. states, that by a convention between his Holiness and the Austrian Government, that city is to be occupied for an indefinite period by a garrison of 3000 Austrian troops, and that some other towns of the Papal territory are to be placed in a similar situation. PRUSSIA. The censors of Prussia are directed not to permit in any book the words Protestant, or Protestantism, or Protestant Religion. The will of the King is, that this Religion should be called the Evangelical Religion. TURKEY, GREECE, &c. The Greeks in the Morea continue a contest with the Turks of the most sanguinary nature. The Greeks and Ionians having sustained a defeat, forty Ionians, whom the Turks had taken prisoners, were impaled or hung on the field of battle. On the other hand, at Hydra, the Greeks actually roasted the Turks alive by a slow fire, first cutting off their ears and noses! It is stated, that not one fort or castle in the Morea has hitherto been taken by the Greeks. The sanguinary atrocities of the Turks against the Greeks are carried on with increased fury at Constantinople, Smyrna, and other places. Pillage, torture, and massacre, are exercised upon hundreds of victims; and the wives and daughters of the most distinguished Greek families are, it is said, sold at the public market as slaves, after horrors too inhumanly brutal to be specified. It is hardly possible that the civilized powers will not interfere to restrain such barbarities. The Turks have been completely beaten in two naval actions with the Greek insurgents-one in the Gulf of Lepano, on the Northern shore of the Morea, where the Turks are said to have lost their entire squadron, a ship of the line included; and the second off the mouth of the Dardanelles, which terminated in the loss of two frigates and some smaller vessels. It appears, that the Russian Ambassador continues shut up in his country seat at Bujukdere, and nothing decisive is yet known of the ultimate intentions of the Emperor Alexander. From Constantinople advices have been received to the 26th ult. They leave very little hope of the continuance of peace between the Porte and Russia. It was generally believed there, that the hard and peremptory terms proposed by Russia, the first of which was the evacuation of Moldavia and Wallachia, would be rejected. DOMESTIC |