are distinctly marked, and clearly show that it was read down the narrow way of the roll, one end of the book being rolled inward and the other outward. Several sorts of materials were anciently used in making books; plates of lead and copper, the barks of trees, bricks, stone, and even wood, were the first materials employed to engrave those things upon, which men desired to transmit to posterity. Josephus the Jewish Historian, speaks of two columns, one of brick, on which the Children of Seth wrote, or engraved their inventions and astronomical discoveries. Porphyry mentions some pillars preserved in Crete, on which the sacrifices of the Corybanites were recorded. Hesiod's works were originally written upon tables of lead; the Laws of Solon upon wooden planks; and the Ten Commandments delivered to Moses, upon stone. Tables of boxwood and ivory were common among the ancients; and their wooden tablets were frequently covered with wax, that they might easily write, and if they pleased afterwards erase what they had written. leaves of the palm-tree were afterwards used instead of wooden tablets, together with the finest and thinnest part of the bark of trees, such as the lime, the ash, the maple, and the elm; and as these barks were rolled up in order to be removed with greater ease, the rolls were called volumina, or volumes, a name afterwards generally applied to rolls of paper or parchment. The The other two figures represent an ancient inkstand and pen. The inkstand consists of two parts, one for red, and the other for black ink; one of which is shut, and the other open. The pen is a reed of considerable length and magnitude. Whether the bands round it are merely joints of the reed, or something added to strengthen it, is not certain, but probably the latter; and the reader should be informed, that these representations are copied from some ancient pictures dug out of the ruins of Herculaneum, a once famous city of Italy, which was destroyed by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, A. D. 79. The hypocrite shows the excellency of virtue by the necessity he thinks himself under of seeming to be virtuous. VOL. III. 5 This city, the capital of the kingdom of Portugal and the chief residence of the royal house of Braganza, when seen from the harbor is one of the most mag nificent objects that can be imagined, situated near the mouth of the Tagus, that noble river "Which Poets vainly pave with sands of gold," embellishing its banks for miles with thousands of romantic villas, and crowning with palaces and convents, intermixed with evergreen oaks, and cork, and orange trees, the summits of the seven hills on which, like ancient Rome, it is erected. Lisbon exhibits from the sea an appearance truly superb. But any expectations of magnificence or even of cleanliness and comfort which the traveller may have founded on a distant view, are. doomed to meet with a speedy disappointment; "For whoso entereth within this town : so sang Childe Harold; and all who, like him, have enjoyed the prospect of this city from the harbor have spoken with rapture of its beauty, as all who have en tered it have expressed the same disgust at its filth and the meanness of its narrow and ill paved streets. Pryse Gordon, in his personal memoirs, even goes so far as to call it the "vilest and filthiest dog kennel in the christian world"-But bad as the condition of Lisbon is in this respect, even now, it is much superior to what it formerly was, the greater part of the city having been rebuilt since the year 1755, when it was reduced, by the great earthquake, to a heap of ruins. The western side in particular, which suffered most severely, has been greatly improved, the streets being straighter and more regularly laid out; but the eastern part preserves its original gloomy aspect, with the same dark and crooked streets and the same old fashioned heavy buildings, six and seven stories high, looking like prisons, with their unsightly balconies and massive iron lattices. There are in Lisbon some handsome squares; the Rossio, where the autos da fe were formerly held is the finest ; this square forms the point of union for ten different streets and is surrounded by spacious buildings, among which is the new palace of the inquisition. The city is supplied with water by a noble aqueduct 7 miles in length, which crosses the valley of Alcantara on 35 marble arches: this structure withstood the shock of the earthquake, although it is so lofty that a ship of the line. might pass under its centre arch with ease. The harbor of Lisbon is one of the finest in the world, it has water for the largest ships and abundant room for 10,000 sail. Among a people degraded by superstition like the Portuguese, science and literature as might be expected, are almost totally neglected; and accordingly although there are several establishments for their cultivation in Lisbon, they are poorly endowed and worse attended. The charitable institutions are more worthy of our notice; among these are the great hospital which is obliged to receive all persons without distinction of degree, nation or religion; St Joseph's hospital which will accomodate 16,000 patients, the foundling hospital where 1600 children are annually received, and the hospital at the village of Belem for decayed gentleman who have served the King. Lisbon has been since the reign of King Emmanuel, the capital of the kingdom and the centre of its com merce, and of course it derived immediate benefit from the splendid discoveries which opened to the countrymen of the early Portuguese navigators such incalculable sources of wealth. These discoveries it is well known were secured to the crown by a bull of donation from the famous Pope Alexander VI. in requital of which favor the successive monarchs of Portugal have devoted a great part of their riches to the service of the church, by embellishing their capital with convents, chapels and other religious edifices. Before the earthquake the number of establishmets for the accommodation of monks and nuns amounted to fifty, and there were besides a great many chapels and churches of extraordinary magnificence. All of these were destroyed. There are still, however, several beautiful churches, some of which are by far the finest buildings erected since the earthquake. The cathredal or Patriarchal church is a vast edifice in the Gothic style, rather heavy and clumsy in its architecture, but splendidly adorned within, and containing many treasures of inestimable value. It is erected in an elevated situation and commands a fine view of the surrounding country! The ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the whole city is lodged in the hands of a Patriarch who was appointed in 1717, and who is assisted in his duties by an archbishop. The civil government is lodged in a council composed of a President, six counsellors and several inferior officers; but these are mere puppets in the hand of the King, who in his turn is managed by the priests, and the whole system is in fact an ecclesiastical despotism of the worst description. The people are said to manifest in their deportment all the vices to be expected from men groaning under such a heavy rule, and to be treacherous, cowardly and cruel. And such is the ignorance in which they are kept that it is no uncommon thing even for Ladies of the better order to be unable to read. May we not hope that the present crisis in the affairs of Portugal may lead to a happy change and that the light of liberty now beginning to burst with mid-day splendor in other parts of the old world may shed on her enthralled sons some of its beneficent rays. The present population of Lisbon is about 200.000 THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE UNDER DIFFI CULTIES; ILLUSTRATED BY ANECDOTES. Self-educated men.-Ferguson.-Influence of accident in directing pursuits. (Continued from page 5.) From this person Ferguson received instructions in Decimal Fractions and Algebra, having already made himself master of Vulgar Arithmetic, by the assistance of books. Just as he was about, however, to begin Geometry, Cantley left his place for another in the establishment of the Earl of Fife, and his pupil thereupon determined to return home to his father. Cantley, on parting with him, had made him a present of a copy of Gordon's Geographical Grammar. The book contains a description of an artificial globe, which is not however, illustrated by any figure. Nevertheless, "from this description," says Ferguson, "I made a globe in three weeks at my father's, having turned the ball thereof out of a piece of wood; which ball I covered with paper, and delineated a map of the world upon it; made the meridian ring and horizon of wood, covered them with paper, and graduated them; and was happy to find that by my globe (which was the first 1 ever saw) I could solve the problems.' For some time after this, he was very unfortunate. Finding that it would not do to remain idle at home, he engaged in the service of a miller in the neighbourhood, who, feeling probably that he could trust to the honesty and capacity of his servant, soon began to spend all his own time in the alehouse, and to leave poor Ferguson at home, not only with every thing to do, but with very frequently nothing to eat. A little oatmeal, mixed with cold water, was often, he tells us, all he was allowed. Yet in this situation he remained a year, and then returned to his father's very much the weaker for his fasting. His next master was a Dr. Young, who having induced him to enter his service by a promise to instruct him in medicine, not only broke his engagement as to this point, but used him in other respects so tyrannically, that, although engaged for half a year, he found he could not remain beyond the first quarter, at the expiration of which, accordingly, he came away without receiving any wages, having |