Ignorance," is but a fragment, and seemingly only intended as an introduction; yet much of it is so pointed in signification, and at the same time so harmonious in construction, that it must be admitted one of the best displays of his poetical talents. The following is the commencement of this piece :

"Hail horrors, hail! ye ever gloomy bowers,

Ye gothic fanes and antiquated towers!
Where rushing Camus' slowly winding flood
Perpetual draws his humid train of mud;
Glad I revisit thy neglected reign;

Oh! take me to thy peaceful shade again.

But chiefly thee, whose influence breathed from high,
Augments the native darkness of the sky;
Ah! Ignorance! soft, salutary power!
Prostrate with filial reverence I adore.
Oh say, successful dost thou still oppose
Thy learned Egis 'gainst our ancient foes?
Still stretch, tenacious of thy right divine,
The massy sceptre o'er thy slumbering line!
And dews Lethean through the land dispense,
To steep in slumber each benighted sense;
If any spark of wit's delusive ray
Break out, and flash a momentary day,
With cold, damp touch, forbid it to aspire

And huddle up in fogs the dangerous fire!"

It was in 1747 that Gray became acquainted with Mr. Mason, then a scholar of St. John's College, a man of great learning and ingenuity, who had written a "Monody on the death of Pope," and several other pieces which Gray revised. This laid the foundation of a friendship lasting through life; and Mr. Mason, on the death of his friend, testified his regard for him, by superintending the publicatiou of his works. Shortly after this introduction, he produced a fragment of "An Essay on the Alliance of Education and Government," the tendency of which was to demonstrate the necessary concurrence of both to form great and useful men; it is to be regretted that he didnot complete this piece, as the portion of it which he wrote was deemed superior to any thing before produced in the same style of writing. The "Elegy in a Churchyard" was completed in 1750, and was the means of introducing its author to the notice of Lady Cobham, and gave occasion to a curious composition, called "A long Story," in which various effusions of wit and humour are very happily interspersed. The Elegy was the most popular of all his productions; it went through eleven editions, and was translated into Latin. Mr, Bentley, an eminent artist, also drew for it a set of designs, for which he was acknowledged by Gray in some of the most complimentary Stanzas ever written by a poet in acknowledgment of similar services. The following are a portion of this effusion :

In silent gaze the tuneful choir among.

Half-pleased, half-blushing, let the Muse admire,
While Bentley leads her sister art along,
And bids the pencil answer to the lyre.

The tardy rhymes, that used to linger on,

To censure cold, and negligent of fame,

In swifter measures, animated run,

And catch a lustre from his genuine flame.

Ah! could they catch his strength, his easy grace,

His quick creation, his unerring line;

The energy of Pope they might efface,

And Dryden's harmony submit to mine.

In 1757 our author's reputation as a poet had risen so high, that on the death of Colley Cibber, he was offered the office of Poet Laureate, which he refused, probably induced to do so by the disgrace brought on it by the manner in which it had been filled. He afterwards applied for the situation of Professor of Modern Languages and History, at Cambridge, vacant by the death of the Professor who held it; but he was unsuccessful, a previous promise having been made to another. For about three years at this period he resided at London, for the purpose of examining the manuscripts in the British Museum.

In 1765 he made a tour to Scotland, where he contracted a friendship with Dr Beattie, in whom he found, as he expresses it, a poet, a philosopher, and a good man In 1768 he was presented to the Professorship for which he had previously applied

without success,-the office was worth about £400 a year, and was rendered more valuable to him, being presented without solicitation. Soon after this event he visited the romantic regions of Westmoreland and Cumberland, which he described, as Mr. Mason observed, with all the wildness of Salvator, and all the softness of Claude. He had always been extremely fond of the study of Botany and Natural History; and wrote copious notes to the works of Linnæus, and other authors on those subjects ;he was likewise well acquainted with Architecture, and had obtained considerable knowledge of Heraldry.

Towards the end of May, 1771, he removed from Cambridge to London, after having suffered violent attacks of the gout, to which he had long been subject, notwithstanding his most rigid temperance; his health was so much improved that he soon returned to Cambridge, but on the 24th of the following July, he was again seized, and on the 31st of the same month he bid adieu to the world and all temporal honours.

From the opinion given of him by his friend and biographer, Mr. Mason, it appears that Gray was actuated by motives of self-improvement and gratification, rather than by hope of gain, in the cultivation of his talent for poetry. His pursuits were in general disinterested; and he was free from both avarice and extravagance, being one of those very few characters met with in the annals of literature, who are devoid of self-interest, and at the same time attentive to economy. He had also a degree of pride which made him disdain the idea of being considered an author by profession. He has been pronounced as being, in all probability, the most learned man in Europe, being thoroughly acquainted with both the elegant and profound parts of science, and not superficially, but thoroughly. He knew every branch of history, both natural and civil; had read all the original historians of England, France, and Italy, and was himself a great antiquarian. Criticism, metaphysics, morals and politics, made a principal part of his study; voyages and travels were his favourite amusements; and he had a fine taste in gardening and painting. He was also a man of virtue and humanity; and as there is no character without some imperfections, his greatest defect may be said to be an affectation in delicacy, or rather effeminency, and a disdain of his inferiors in science. Yet he could not bear to be considered as an author; and though destitute of fortune, his desire was to be looked upon as a private gentleman, who studied and wrote for his own amusement.*

As a poet, he ranks most deservingly in a high station; he did not write much, but his productions all bear the marks of intense application and careful revision, and prove him to have possessed a large share of that important faculty of perception, which distinguishes among the objects of art and nature, what are fitted for the poet's purpose, and what are not; together with the power of displaying them in their most attractive colours: and as a writer in Latin verse, he is scarcely equalled by any for classic propriety. His most popular piece was the Elegy, and the following eulogium upon it by Dr. Johnson, who criticised his works with the most rigid, and, in some cases, unjust severity, may be taken as a summary of his poetic merit:-"In the character of his Elegy, I rejoice and concur with the common reader; for by the common sense of readers, uncorrupted with literary prejudices, after all the refinements of subtilty, and the dogmatism of learning, must be finally awarded all claim to poetical honours. The churchyard abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo. The four stanzas, beginning "Yet e'en these bones," are to me original: I have never seen the notions in any other place; yet he that reads them here, persuades himself that he has always felt them. Had Gray written oftener thus, it had been vain to blame, and useless to praise him."

To behold God everywhere in his works, to hold communion with him in a contemplative and admiring spirit, to love and trust him; to find, in the deep and constantly-present persuasion of his being and attributes, a sentiment of exhaustless cheerfulness and excitement to duty, I hold to be the source of the purest and sublimest pleasure that earth can afford.-D.

* Character of Gray, by the Rev. Mr. Temple.

GALVANISM.

THE Science of Galvanism is comparatively a modern science. The first notice of any case that can come under the name of Galvanism, was the following fact, which was noticed by Sulzer, a German, in 1767. Take a small piece of zinc and a silver coin; put the zinc under the tongue, and the silver upon it; then bring the edge of the copper into contact with the silver, and a very peculiar taste will be perceived, and if the eye be closed a flash of light will be seen at the same moment.

It is well known that porter has a more lively and agreeable taste when drunk out of a pewter mug, and the reason is, that the pewter, the moisture on the under lip, and the porter, form a SIMPLE GALVANIC CIRCLE. If a person in a dark room, put a silver coin on his tongue, and a piece of tinfoil on the globe of his eye, by making a communication with a piece of copper wire, a flash of light will be observed in the eye. Every person has seen that silver spoons are blackened by eating eggs, and here we have another SIMple galvanic cIRCLE, formed by the silver, the sulphur, and saline matters in the egg; the silver combines with the sulphur, turning it black, and that black compound is called by chemists, sulphuret of silver.

Having got a frog, place him on a piece of zinc and place a piece of copper on him, connect the two pieces of metal with a copper wire, and the animal will be convulsed by the shock.

The most simple galvanic circle that can be formed, is by taking two pieces of metal, one of zinc and the other of copper, to each of which is attached a copper wire, by placing these two plates into a solution of salt and water, and then bringing the ends of the wire into contact, a very SLIGHT sensation will be felt. Here the three substances, zinc, copper and solution, form, what is called by natural philosophers, a simple galvanic circle, and the two wires the poles, the one is called the positive pole, and the other the negative.

The first compound circle was formed by Alexander Volta, an Italian, and after him it is called the VOLTAIC PILE; a good one may be made in the following manner, for about four shillings and sixpence :-Get twenty plates of copper, three inches square, the same number of zinc plates, about two inches-and-a-half square, and twenty pieces of cloth nearly as large as the zinc plates; these pieces of cloth must be moistened in a solution of salt and water. Having procured the metal and the cloth, take a copper plate, and lay a disk of cloth on it, then a plate of zinc and another of copper, after which a disk of cloth, and so on to the end.

With such a battery as this a very smart shock is given, and a frog that had been dead two hours, when galvanised with a battery like the above, struck out his legs as if in the act of swimming. A dead mouse, when subjected to the same battery, rolled his eyes, pricked his ears, and struck out his feet like one in the pains of death; and all solids in solution were crystalized, naptha fired, and water decomposed into its elements, oxygen and hydrogen. Water had always been considered as one of the elements until the year 1800, when Messrs. Carlisle and Nicholson decomposed it by means of a battery they had formed.

A

C

The trough battery is formed of a box of dry wood into which a series of groves are cut in the sides and the bottom, into each of which a copper and a zinc plate are cemented; the copper all face one way, (c) and the zinc plates the other. When used, the cells are filled either with water and oil-of-vitriol, or a solution of common salt and water. It was with a series of these troughs that Sir Humphrey Davy decomposed a great number of bodies which, up to that time, were considered as simple. From POTASH, by means of galvanism, he obtained a metal called Potassium; it resembles quicksilver, and so soft that it can be kneaded by the fingers; it is lighter than water, and therefore swims upon it. From SODA, by means of the same agency, he obtained another metal, Sodium, which resembles Potassium; but on being thrown into water it swims on the surface, and takes fire; by the same agency metals may be burnt like pieces of paper. AGRICOLA.

Rock of Hope Lodge, Thornton, near Bradford, Yorkshire.

E. K.

CHEERFULNESS, which is a quality peculiar to man-a brute being capable only of enjoyment-opens, like a spring, all the blossoms of the inward man. Try for a single day, I beseech you, to preserve yourself in an easy and cheerful frame of mind; be for one day, instead of a fire-worshipper of passion and hell, the sun-worshipper of clear self-possession; and compare the day in which you have rooted out a weed of dissatisfaction, with that on which you have suffered it to grow up, and you will find your heart open to every motive, your life strengthened, and your breast armed with a panoply against every trick of fate; truly you will wonder at your own improvement.-Ritcher.

WHAT IS PLEASURE?

PLEASURE is what all love, all wish for, all seek after, and it is what all may enjoy, if they choose; but it depends upon ourselves whether it be of a permanent or transient kind; it would be a hard task to define its limits or circumscribe its boun daries. Locke says, "It is a man's proper business to seek happiness, and avoid misery; but if I prefer a short pleasure to a lasting one, it is plain I cross my own happiness." Johnson says, "The great source of pleasure is variety." This is a categorical truth, which cannot be denied: we are pleased to see what we never saw before,-to hear of strange events and curious incidents; we are ever in pursuit of variety and novelty, though station and circumstances have a considerable influence in deciding upon our pleasures; thus, what one would consider the very summit and climax of happiness, another would look upon with pity and contempt. I might here adduce an exemplification or two on this point. Thus, kings and potentates take a pleasure in being rulers of vast provinces-of having extensive territories-of swaying the destinies of millions-of having invincible armies, and impregnable fortresses. A good statesman, a true patriot, takes a pleasure in forming just laws, which will protect the innocent, defend the weak, honour the virtuous, reward the brave, and support the needy. Many of our nobles take a pleasure in having splendid equipages, costly robes, magnificent mansions, and high-sounding titles. The drunkard takes a pleasure in being a votary of Bacchus, although it destroys his health and ruins his character. The invidulous man takes a pleasure in being penurious himself, to hoard up wealth for others to enjoy and spend in extravagance. But there are pleasures more refined, more delicious, and more exquisite than any of these, which the most humble artizan, or meanest peasant, may enjoy, if he will, viz:-the beauties of creation-the acquirement of knowledge-a benevolent disposition-a contented mind-and a renovated heart under the influence of religion, are far more preferable than exalted rank, dignified station, or abundance of wealth.

Is there not a pleasure in contemplating the works of creation? Is it not delightful to see the opening day-the light advancing-the sun rising; to inhale the sweet breath of a spring morning-to look upon silvery dew which bespangles every blade and leaf-to listen to the heart-thrilling melody of the choristers of the grove, making the welkin ring with their musical lays, reverberating from valley to valley, till their sweet intonations are lost in the distance? Is it not pleasing to gaze upon verdant lawns studded with trees of thick umbrageous foliage-to look upon the variegated landscape -oh! yes

"I love the shady grove and smiling field,
And the luxuriant crops which they yield;
And see the gurgling stream and rural vale,
And listen to the humble peasant's tale."

I never can forget the pleasure, or the powerful sensations produced on my mind on first beholding the boundless and wide expansive ocean-to be borne on the waves of the briny deep-to look upon its green waters, and undulating motions,-I could not but admire the creative power, the wisdom and goodness of Him who had made it.

Is it not a pleasing sight, after the sun has sunk below the horizon, to see the Queen of Night appearing in all her majestic grandeur, beauty and gracefulness, surrounded by innumerable hosts of stars and satellites, moving on in their destined orbits ; to behold those lucid luminaries of such immense size and magnitude, of such resplen dent lustre which illuminates and beautifies the arched vault of heaven? Is there not a pleasure even in beholding "the meanest floweret of the vale;" or as Dr. Percival has observed," The taste for natural beauty is subservient to higher purposes, and the cultivation of it not only refines and humanizes, but dignifies and exalts the affections. It elevates them to the admiration and love of that Being who is the author of all that is fair, sublime and good in the creation. Scepticism and irreligion are hardly compatible with the sensibility of heart which arises from a just and lively relish of the wisdom, harmony and order subsisting in the world around us; emotions of piety must spring up spontaneously in the bosom that is in unison with all animated nature. Actuated by this divine inspiration, man finds a fane in every grove, and glowing with devout fervour, he joins the song of the universal chorus, or muses the praises of the Almighty in more expressive silence."