STATE OF THE NAVY. THE following is the state and dispoTH sition of the British Navy, made up to the first of July 1813:-At sea, of the line, 94; from 50 to 44 guns, lo; frigates, 122; sloops, &c. 73; hombs and fire-ships, 8; brigs, 167; cutters, 31; schooners, &c. 48, Total, 563. In port and fitting-Of the line, 28; from 50 to 44 guns, A; frigates, 34; sloops, &c. 33; bombs and fire ships, 0; brigs, 23; cutters, 5; schooners, &c. 15. Total, 142.Guardships-Of the line, 5; of 50 to 44 guns, 2; frigates, 4; sloops, 5. Total, 16. Hospital-ships, prison-ships, &c.-Of the line, 30; of 50 to 44 guns, 2; frigates, 2; sloops, &c. 2. Total, 36.- In commission-Of the line, 157; of 50 to 44 guns, 23; frigates, 162 sloops, &c. 118; bombs, &c. 8; brigs, 190; cutters, 36; schooners, &c. 63. Total, 757.-Ordinary and repairing for service-Of the line, 71; from 50 to 44 guns, 10; frigates, 61; sloops, &c. 32; bombs, &c. 3; brigs, 11; cutters, 1; schooners, &c, 3. Total, 192.Building-Of the line, 25; 50 to 44 guns, 6; frigates, 27; sloops, 28; bombs, &c. 3; brigs, 10. Total, 99. -Grand Total, 1018.-Increase in the Grand Total this month, 31. For the EUROPEAN MAGAZINE. METHOD of taking out GREASE SPOTS from WOOLLEN CLOTHS. HE following method of taking Tout grease spots from woollen cloths has been strongly recommended: -Take magnesia in the lump, wet it, and rub the grease-spots well in a little time, brush it off; when no stain or appearance of grease will be left. To the Editor of the European Magazine. your Magazine for May, Vol. LXIII. page 392, I observe a Comparative me to send you a view of the Cambridge ones, that they also may be handed down to posterity. Upon looking over the above list, it will be seen, that Trinity College has gained wonderfully upon its rival since the year 1790; indeed, at that period, it could hardly have been expected that, in twenty-three years, it would have so nearly equalled it in the number of Wranglers and Senior Optimes, and have exceeded it in that of Junior Optimes, Chancellor's Medallists, and Smith's Prizemen.-The Johnians yet have to boast of their superior number of Senior Wranglers; but in every other respect (save the Hulsean Prizemen, and the honours already noticed) they are inferior to Trinity. Long may the honourable rivalry be kept up between the noble champions; and may their contention be the means of maintaining the exalted rank which this University at present holds in every part of the world, among the "Seminaries for sound learning and religious education." Wr. S. O. J. O. Ch. M. S. Pr. FRONTISPIECE TO THE SIXTY-FOURTH VOLUME OF THE EUROPEAN MAGAZINE; REPRESENTING THE MONUMENT ERECTED IN THE GUILDHALL OF THE CITY OR LONDON, BY THE LORD MAYOR, ALDERMEN, AND COMMON-COUNCIL, TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE RIGHT HON. WILLIAM PITT. [WITH A PLATE, ENGRAVED BY G. COOKE, FROM AN ORIGINAL DRAWING BY J. G. BUBB, SCULPTOR.] THE massy substance on which the figures in this composition are placed, is On an elevation in the centre of the Island, Mr. Pitt appears in his robes as Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the attitude of a public orator. Below him, on an intermediate foreground, two statues characterize his abilities; while, with the national energy, which is embodied, and riding on a symbol of the Ocean in the lower centre, they assist to describe allusively the effects of his administration. Apollo stands on his right, impersonating Eloquence and Learning. Mercury is introduced on his left, as the representative of Commerce, and the patron of Policy. To describe the unprecedented splendour of success which crowned the British Navy while Mr. Pitt was Minister, the lower part of the Monument is Occupied by a statue of Britannia, seated triumphantly on a sea-horse; in her left hand is the usual emblem of Naval Power; and her right grasps a thunder-bolt, which she is prepared to hurl at the enemies of her country. The following is the Inscription on it, from the pen of Mr. Cauning : WILLIAM PITT, Son of WILLIAM PITT, Earl of CHATHAM, Inheriting the genius, and formed by the precepts of his Father, Called to the chief conduct of the Administration, after the close of a disastrous war, He repaired the exhausted Revenues, he revived and invigorated the Commerce and Prosperity of the Country; And he had re-established the Public Credit on deep and sure foundations: When a new war was kindled in Europe, more formidable than any preceding war, from the peculiar character of its dangers. To resist the arms of France, which were directed against the Independence of every Government and People; To animate other Nations by the example of Great Britain; To check the Contagion of opinions which tended to dissolve the frame of Civil Society; To array the loyal, the sober-minded, and the good, in defence of the venerable Constitution of the British Monarchy, Were the duties which, at that awful crisis, devolved upon the British Minister; And which he discharged with transcendent zeal, intrepidity, and perseverance: He upheld the National Honour abroad; he maintained at home the blessings of Order and of true Liberty: And, in the midst of difficulties and perils, He united and consolidated the strength, power, and resources of the Empire. He was gifted by Divine Providence with endowments, Rare in their separate excellence; wonderful in their combination; And suited from its splendour to the dignity of his mind, and to the authority of his station Warm and stedfast in friendship, towards enemies he was forbearing and forgiving. His industry was not relaxed by confidence in his great abilities. His indulgence to others was not abated by the consciousness of his own superiority. His ambition was pure from all selfsh motives; The love of power and the passion for fame were in him subordinate to views of public utility; Dispensing for near twenty years the favours of the Crown, He lived without ostentation; and he died poor. A GRATEFUL NATION Decreed to him those funeral honours Which are reserved for eminent and extraordinary men. Is erected by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, REMARES on some PASSAGES in SHAK- To the Editor of the European Magazine. SIR, HE following observations were articles, were made of that wood; piece of it was put over the door of the barn, byre, stable, &c.; and withes of it, or binwood, were twisted round the necks of the cows, to prevent the Tmade in the course of my read witches from taking away their milk. ing if you think them worthy of a Your humble servant, Aroint thee, witch. Macbeth, Act I, Scene 3. This phrase has given some trouble to the commentators, and much learning and ingenuity have been employed in endeavouring to clear it up; yet, in my humble opinion, it still remains very obacure and doubtful-If I may be allowed to hazard a conjecture, I think Shakspeare wrote "a ranttree, witch!" Amongst the many superstitious notions respecting witches, none was more firmly believed, than that the ranttree, rowantree, or roden-tree (the mountain-ash), was a powerful antidote against witcheraft, not exceeded by the horse-shoe itself; it was not only an antidote, but it was their aversion, and they were terrified at the name of it. I myself can remember a kind of rhyme, which, I believe, remains among the common people in the north of Scotland to this day, viz. "Ranttree and binwood-(wood-bine Will gar (make) the witches rin wood" (run mad). I can also recollect, that the pins in the ox-bows, and many other small I am not at all acquainted with the manuscripts of that age: but I think, in copying the writings even of the present time, such a mistake might very easily happen, particularly if the copyist of printer did not understand the word. Mr. Malone says, one of the best ways of clearing up any difficult passage in an author, is to compare him with himself or cotemporary authors. I am very much of the same opinion, and therefore refer you to a passage in the Merchant of Venice, Act II. Scene 2, which I think very similar; when old Gobbo tells his son he had brought a present for Master Jew, Lancelot answers, "Give him a present! give him a haller." But as the one is narrative, and the other colloquial, the parallel may not so clearly appear; I shall, therefore, endeavour to put it as if acted on the stage; thus: Scene, a Sailor's Wife with chesnuts in her lap, munching. Enter Witch holding out her hand. Witch. Give me some chesnuts. Sailor's Wife. Give you some chesnuts! give you a ranttree, witch." So, I think, it would have stood had the sailor's wife on the Stage.-Or Shakspeare thought proper to introduce perhaps he might have left it as in the narrative Witch. Give mc which at once shews the violence and Sailor's Wife. A ranttree, witch! impetuosity of the sailor's wife, and very artfully makes the witch indirectly ask for a thing to her the most obnoxious on earth, instead of chesnuts - Give me a ranttree! THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. Act IV. Scene 1.-Petruchio having just brought home his wife, scolded his servants, and sent some of them away to bring his supper, begins singing, "Where is the life that late I led," a song very natural and applicable to the recent change in his condition; but observing Catharine still standing, he stops his song, and bids her "sit down and welcome." He then goes on, "Soud, soud, soud, soud." Mr. Malone, in a note on this passage, says, "I believe this is a word coined by our poet to express the noise made by a person heated and fatigued." The word, no doubt, was coined by the poet, but I do not think for that purpose. Had Mr. M. attended to honest Grumio's account of their journey in the context, he must have been convinced, that though Petruchio might have been fatigued, he could not have been very much heated; for Grumio complains, that he himself was a piece of ice; that Curtis might slide from his shoulder to his heel; and that his master and mistress were almost frozen to death; under such circumstances, it is not likely that Petruchio would complain of heat. I am of opinion he was going on with his tune, not singing, but what they call in the north of Scotland soufing; that is, playing the tune with his breath thro' his lips, which are kept more asunder than when whistling, and "soud' is as expressive of that noise as any word he could have used. There is a passage almost parallel in the Second Part of Henry IV. Act II. Scene 4.-Enter Sir John Falstaff singing, "When Arthur first in court (he stops to give orders to the drawer, and then goes on), and was a worthy king." The only difference is, that he sings the rest of the line, instead of soufing, or souding, the tune, as Petruchio did. For the EUROPEAN MAGAZINE. A good SUBSTITUTE for SOAP. (Extracted from the Family Assistant.) AKE any quantity of well burnt Tales, of hard heavy wood. Mix with these a few handfuls of lime newly slacked. Add water, and boil the whole into a lixivium. Then leave the lixivium at rest, till those extraneous matters which cannot enter into it shall have been deposited at the bottom, or thrown to the surface to be skimmed off. Then draw off the pure lixivium. Add to it oil, to about a thirtieth or fortieth part of its own quantity. The mixture will be, a liquor white as milk, capable of frothing like soap water, and, in dilution with water, perfectly fit to communicate sufficient whiteness to linens. This liquor may be prepared from wood ashes of all sorts, and from rancid grease, oil, or butter. It is, therefore, highly worthy of the atten tion of an economical housewife. When the ashes are suspected to be unusually deficient in alkali, a small addition of pulverized potash or soda may be made to the lixiviumi. THE LONDON REVIEW, AND LITERARY JOURNAL, QUID SIT PULCHRUM, QUID TURPE, QUID UTILE, QUID NON. An Inquiry into the Laws of different Epidemic Diseases, with the view to determine the means of preserving Individuals and Communities from each; and also to ascertain the probability of Exterminating the Small Pox. By JOSEPH ADAMS, M.D. F.L.S. Member of the Royal College of Physicians in London, Physician to the Small Pox, and Inoculating Hospitals, and to the New Finsbury or Central Dispensary. In one Volume, 8vo. 1813. WIT WITH respect to this curious tract, an apology is certainly due to its learned and ingenious author, that our notice of it, which must necessarily be brief, has been so long delayed; but the fact is, that the volume was mislaid, and, after much time had been spent in the search, only found by accident. There are no species of publications that give us more pleasure (because we are convinced of their extreme utility) than those that have for their objects scientific researches, or indeed scientific speculations, as from those, and even these, especially in physics, medical, nay moral certainty, has in many instances, been derived. Dr. ADAMS has, in the volume now before us, endeavoured to combine those objects, and we think, that, after a most laborious, ingenious, acute, and scientific investigation of them, he has succeeded; therefore, the rational conclusion is, that a probability is established of exterminating one of the most dire ful and dangerous diseases with which human nature can be afflicted. "The work," as its author in his introduction states, "commences with a doubt, whether it would be consistent with British liberty, to restrain small pox inoculation; to me," he contihues, "these doubts have always appeared a matter of surprise. Had the question been the possibility of enforc ing a law to restrain inoculation, it might admit of a doubt, whether like many others, it would not operate against the conscientious, without restraining the unprincipled or unfeeling; admitting, however, not only the power of the legislature to make, but also to enforce such a law, should we not re Bect before we condemn the conduct of the last half century " We certainly should! Such a restriction, we are of opinion, would have had precisely the operation that Dr. A. conjectures, upon which he properly observes, and then proceeds to show the progress and effects of epidemic diseases in former times, respecting which, he makes many very ingenious and appropriate reflections, such as the nature of the cases warrant, and the domestic habits of different people, the polity, and political economy of different coun tries, and particularly our own, elicit. This subject, the reader will already perceive, is not only extremely curious, but extremely NATIONAL; yet he will also perceive that it is too expansive, too obnoxious to reasoning and reflec tion, to be brought within the space to which our observations must, from the nature of our work, be limited; waving, therefore, for the reason that we have assigned, that complete analytical investigation which the work so amply merits, we will merely for the present state its contents, that a judgment may be formed upon their importance. Chap. 1. Of Epidemics, the contagious Property of which is not ascertained. II. Of the Manner in which different Epidemics supersede each other. III. Of Contagions. IV. Of the means of exterminating Fever from infectious Atmosphere, commonly called the Typhus Fever. |