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POETRY.
From the Philadelphia Casket.
THE VICTIM.
“Hand me the bowl, yc jovial band,”
He said—“ ’Twill rouse my mirths”
But conscience seia’d his trembling hand,
And dash’d the cup to earth.
He look’d around, he blush’d, he laugh’d
He supp’d the sparkling wave-,
In it he read—“Who drinks this draught,
Shall dig a murderer’s grave!”
He started up, like one who slept,
And trembled for his life;
He gaz’d around; his children wept;
He saw his weeping wife.
In his deep dreaip he had not felt
Their agonies and fears;
But new he saw them as they knelt.
To plead with prayers and tears.
But the foul fiend her hateful spell
Tlrewo’er hiswilder’d mind.
He saw in every hope a hell;
He was to reason blind,
He grasp’d the bowl to seek relief,
No more his conscience said:
His bosom friend was sunk in grief,
His children begg’d for bread.
His peace, his fortune, and his fame,
“ ft;
lhame,
From him'were doom’d to part;
of si
His orphans were the heirs
His wife, a broken heart?
Through haunts of horror and of strife.
He pass’d down life’s dark tide;
He curs’d his beggar’d babes and wife;
He curs’d his God—and died!
■gas;
the spot whence it was discharged.—
By the trepidation which it spread
tar and wide this enormous master-
piece of pyrotechay at least bespoke
the gigantick schemes of conquest on
which the grasping mind of its owner
was intent.
This cannon, together, with two
smaller pieces, which discharged balls
of 1G0 pounds weight, was subsequent
ly employed at the siege of Constanti
nople, where it was stationed opposite
the gate of St. Romans, which was
afterwards denominated the “Cannon-
gate,” a name it has retained to the
present day. It consumed two hours
in loading, and, on the first day, was
discharged seven times, the eighth
firing was on the second day, when it
gave the signal for an attack. Tho’
it afterwards burst, and destroyed its
founder, it was speedily repaired and
continued to be used seven times a
day, hut without producing the effects
which had been anticipated from it.—
Von Hammer's History of the Turks.
ENORMOUS CANNON.
One Orban, a Hungarian metal
founder, having passed over from the
Emperor’s into the Sultan’s service,
received so mauy gifts and sich a li
beral-appointment from bis new mas
ter that had lie been offered but a
fourth part as much by the Greek mi
nistry, he would never have dreamed
of quitting the imperial city. Mo
hammed inquired of him whether he
could cast a cannon capable of crum
bling the walls of Constantinople? “It
is in my power,” replied the Hunga
rian, ‘to cast a cannon of any calibre
that is desired, and grind the walls of
Constantinople and Babylon into pow
der; I will answer for my science ex
tending thus far, but 1 cannot pro
nounce to what extent the shot will
range.” The Sultan gave him dircc
tions to proceed with thecasting, but
not to trouble himself about the range
of the shot, which should be subse
quently determined. As a specimen
of his skill, Orban cast a cannon foi
the -great tower on the Bosphorean
Channel, and a trial of its range was
made upon the first vessel which sail
ed past without hauling in her sails.—
A Venetian ship, commanded by one
Rlci, was made use of as a target,
and afforded satisfactory evidence of
the perfectness of the casting, as well
as the range of the shot. It was
struck, severed asunder, and sunk.—
The captain and thirty of his crew
escaped the dangers of the turbulent
current in a boat, but, on reaching the
shore, fell into the hands of the Turk
ish garrison. They were loaded with
fetters, and brought before the Sul
tan at Didymotichon; by his orders tho
sailors were beheaded, the captain
impaled, and their dead bodies ex
posed to rot in the open air. This
barbarous scene was witnessed by Du-
cas the historian, who was a resident
at Didymotichon at that period.
Mohammed was so perfectly satis
fied with the founder’s skill, and the
result of the trial, that he directed
the construction of a prodigious bat
tering piece, twice as large as the
first; in fact the largest which is recor
ded in the annals of the “tormentorum
ballicorum.” It vomited stone balls,
twelve spans in circumference, and
twelve hundred pounds in weight, was
moved with great difficulty by fifty
pair of bullocks, and was committed
to the manipulation of seven hundred
men.
When the casting was completed,
the piece was transported to the gate
of the palace Dechthannuma (or the
spectacle of the world,) a lofty pile
which had just been finished at Adria
noolo; and on this spot it was, for the
first time, loaded with infinite trouble.
Notice was then given to the inhabi
tants that it would be discharged the
next morning; it was feared that
without such « warning, the terror oc
casioned by its report might have
been attended with the most disastrous
^consequences. The morning dawned,
the piece Was fired off, an immense
cloud of smoke enveloped the whole
city, its thunders were heard for sev
eral hours in the ditance, and the shot
buried itself a fathom deep in the
ground, at the digtapoo of a mile from
CITY OF
EXTENT OF THE
CANTON.
The Canton Register remarks, that
foreigners in China are prohibited en
tering within the walls of cities, ex
cept on special occasions, but that
there is no law against their walking
in the suburbs. They are, however,
by usage, limited to very narrow
bounds. These bounds have been oc
casionally passed, and Europeans have
several times extended their walks a-
round the walls of Canton. This ex
cursion is commonly effected at the
expense of an occasional battle with
the idle natives, who may be fallen in
with by the way, aiul an English Ba
ronet ouce paid for the indulgence of
his curiosity by being robbed of his
watch and clothes. In March last a
party of three gentlemen sat out at 6
o’clock in the morning, to make the
circuit, and accomplished it with im
punity, in about two hours. They es
timated the distance te be nine miles.
A few days afterwards, two persons
sat out for a walk; and were less for
tunate. They were violently assaul
ted by a rabble of men and boys, and
pursued with bludgeons, brickbats
and stones, and were obliged to fight
and run alternately, for a distance of
several miles.
iug, contemplates nothing, but his sel
fish meals; and in the intervals be
tween them, sets apart in his unsocial
chair, with a gross and heavy counte
nance, and in a state of the most tor
pid indifference to all that stirs about
him, till another bell lings him to the
table.
It is the curse of. gluttony,—I do
not say its retribution—that gluttonous
livers are disappointed in the pleasures
which they so much set their eyes on.
Their’s is not the healthful appetite
of the temperate aud active, but they
experience that satiety which is a kind
of permanent disgust, The dainty pal
ate isjjlike a spoiled eftild, difficult to be
pleased in proportion's it is indulged.
“Continual repetition" says an English
preacher, “wears away the equisite-
ness of al| sensual pleasures, and grad
ually dulls the most lively delights in
to flat and insipid sensation. The
most costly opulence, are but bread
to him who makes his daily meal up-
en them. The cordial that exhila
rates the sober, is but a cup of cold
water to one who is accustomed to
the draught of intemperance. And
the softest couch into which languor
ever sunk, is only a seat to them who
never reclined upon one less soft.”—
“Loathsomeness,” says another wri
ter, “is next neighbour to fulness, dis
eases follow, and death hastens to the
mansions of gluttons.” Many have
been the preachers against voluptu
ousness, but if the moral evils which
are written against it in the word of
God are insufficient to turn men from
it, it is not to be expected that any
however forcible exhibition of its phy
sical consequences will prove effectu
al. It is an awful text for the glutton
ous to meditate upon it, in which an
aposlle has joined these two things to
gether as things which are inseparable
—“Whose god is their belly,” and
“whose end is destruction.”
Christian Spectator.
DJSPEPTIC HOURS.
“5th 1st mo. 168L This day my,
country was confirmed to me, under
the great seal of England, with large
powers and privileges, by the name of
Pennsylvania, a name the king would
give it, in honor to my father. I chose
New Wales, being as this, a pretty
healthy country, but Penn being Welch
for a head, as Penraanmoire in Wales,
Penrite in Cumberland, and Penn in
Buckinghamshire, the highest land in
England, called this Pennsylvania,
which in the high or head woodland:
for I proposed, when the secretary, a
Welchman, refused to have it called
New Wales, Sylvania, and they add
ed Penn to it; and though I much op
posed it, and went to the king to have
it struck out, and altered; lid said it
was passed and he would take it upon
himself—nor could twenty guineas
move the under secretary to vary the
name; for I feared lest it should be
looked upon as a vanity in me, not as
a respect in the king, as it truly ;vas
to my father whom he often mentions
with praise.—Poulson.
LUXURIOUS LIVERS.
“Frugcs consumere nati. ,T
Where some come to get rid of
themselves, and some to dress and
dance, and some for the more ration
al purpose of health and relaxation,
and for the pleasure of meeting their
friends, there are always some who
come merely to eat.
“There are a number of us creep
Into this world to eat and sleep.”
I have noticed a plethoric English
man among us (whom the servants fa
miliarly call lord II.) who slights his
breakfast, and foregoes his supper al
together, that he may gorge himself
at dinner,--a sort of compromise which
1 believe is not uncommon with luxu
rious livers. To this one meal he
braces his stomach with four kinds of
liquors; porter, brandy, and two kinds
of wine. He has his own cups to
drink it from, which are graduated to
his power of enduring stimulus. He
knows at the commencement of his
feast the quantity of the several li
quors he will swallow, having ascer
tained by experience the exact ne. phis
which he can sleep off during the heat
of the afternoon. His servant wakes
him at a bidden hour, brings him his
boots and takes his slippers, and if the
air be good, drives him abroad in his
gig, to shake off the remains of his sur
feiting and sleep. It is a pity that
such beings, who all their lives long
render no services to the world, should
of all men require the services of oth
ers.
There is a certain Jew, frorj one
of the southern cities, at the house op
posite this—one of these monstrous
gormands—who, I verily believe,
would make it a serious matter with
himself, whether he were to die be
fore dinner or after; nay, who would
dread death itself chiefly because
there are notables spread in the world
of spirits. It is said that he has spent
the last fifteen seasons here uninter
ruptedly, being the first to appear in
the Spring and the last to leave in the
Fall—and that having neither health
nor diversion for his object, he uses
the Water merely as subsidiary to his
faculty of digestion. One would judge
from his appearance that he had made
up his mind to spend his days between
t eating and dozing. He expects noth-
From Hook’s “Sayings fit Doings.” Third,
Series. ,
THE LAST TIME.
In one only situation can a' man be
placed where the awful doubt is con
verted into a tremendous certainty—
not the sick patient on the bed of
death, whose pulse beats faintly, and
whose subsiding seems to announce the
coming of his release. He may lin
ger for hours; lie may recover—the
ray of hope beams, and those who
love him share his brightness. His
hours are not numbered. The sink
ing mariner clings to the last fragment
of his ill-fated ship, and holds on while
nature gives him strength; and as he
mounts toppling wave, strains his
anxious eyes in search ofassistance.—
A vessel may heave in sight; he may
be drifted to some kindly shorb; his
fate is not decided.
The unhappy wretch who alone
lives his last day hopeless and in un
mitigated misery, is the sentenced
convict on the eve ol execution; lie
sees and hears all that is passing round
him with the terrible consciousness
that it is for the “last time.”
He beholds the sun gleaming thro’
the bars of his cell, in all his parting
brightness, and knows he sees his gold
en rays for the “dast time;” he hears
the prison clock record the fleeting
minute*—how fastly fleeting to him!
throughout the night each hour sounds
to him for the “last time;” Seven
strikes upon the bell—at eight he dies!
His wife, % his children, his beloved
parents* come to him: he stands a-
midst his family in the full possession
of his bodily health, and all his ment
al faculties. He clasps them to his
heart—they go: the door of his cell
closes and shuts them from his sight:
he has seen them for the “last time.”
He is summoned to the scaffold—
the engine of death stands ready: he
feels the pure air of heaven blow up
on his face—the summer sun shines
brightly; for the “last time” he sees
the green fields and trees, and ten
thousand objects familiar to us all.—
The cap is drawn over his tear fraught
eyes! the objects vanish, never, never
to be seen again by him! He hears
for the “last time” the sacred word of
God from human lips; in another
moment the death struggle is ou him;
and he breathes for the “last time!”
To him'alone, then, is the exit from
this world of cares regular and cer
tain; in every other case it is a myst
ery when the “last time” shall come.
From the Pandect.
MISS FRANCES WRIGHT.
We have received two numbers of
the Harmony Gazette, since it was
under the control of Miss Frances
Wright, and know not how to employ
language sufficiently forcible, to ex
press our horror of the indelicacy and
impiety of the editor. Born in a pol
ished circle, and educated in a manner
which entitled her to mingle in the
most refined society; with talents
which ought to have been employed to
enlighten the world—she has plunged
into unbelief and heathenish darkness;
adopted the sentiments of the French
school, and set herself up as the priest
ess of infidelity and a leader in the van
of the impious. Roaming from place
to place without a protector, she has
given plausible grounds for attacks up
on her character, and we very much
doubt whether any of the ladies of the
Atlantic cities, with whom she once
associated, would receive her under
their roof. She will live, perhaps, to
see the day, when repentance for this
course, will bring with it the “sting
which never dies.”—Penn. Gaz.
In the Gazette, Miss W. labours to
impeach the authority of the Scrip
tures, as is common with those, who
never intend to reform. We give the
following quotation as a specimen of
her delicacy.
“In the days of the Colonists, white
men were too few, and a prize might
with reason he claimed by the woman
who should patriotically have given
five children to the weak state. But
our exigencies are not so great. Even
in America, children come rather fas
ter than the means to foed them;
much faster than the means to edu
cate them. And, seeing that the
world, is so active in this way, what if
the command to “increase and multi
ply,” quoted by Polly Baker, were
struck out of the stereotypes? Should
indeed the mother of five children tell
us that she could and did maintain and
educate them well, by her own indus
try, the state would be, undoubtedly,
her debtor, and why she should be
whipped for doing this without the aid
of a husband, might require lawyers
to show. But what it would require
something more than lawyers to show
is. how the state is indebted to man
tall, the ears set low, and
the greatest number of good sizeable!
ears of the best quality; let it <W[
speedily, and from corn gathered as
last described, plant your main crop,
and if any hills should be missing, rel
plant from that first gathered, whicb
will cause the crop to ripen more re-
gularly than is common, which is * I
great benefit. The above method \ I
have practised many years, & am sat-1
isiied it has increased the quantity,|
and improved the quality of my crops]
beyond what any person would imagine]
wno has qot tried the experiment.” |
Dr. Deane observed that “some!
recommend gathering seed corn be- ]
fore the time of harvest, being
ears that first ripen. But It wbuldl
be better to mark them and let theta
remain on the stalks, till they become
sapless. Whenever they are takes
in, they should be hung up by the
husks, in a dry place, secure from
early frost; and they will be so harJ
dened as to be in no danger of injury
from theTrost in winter.”—N. Em
aland Farmer.
or woman producing children whom
he and she together cannot maintain,
and cannot educate. This happens
every day, and no one thinks of bring
ing the thoughtless animals to justice.
Look at this and blush, ye thought
less multitudes, who have been run-
even on the Lord’s day, to listen
to the impious effusions of this Priest
ess of Infidelity. What females have
made themselves her companions? Let
them receive special attention!
J. L. W.
Pennsylvania.—William Penn, the
founder of this state, in one of his let
ters to his friend Richard Turner,
gives the following account of the ori
gin of the name given to the state.
SELECT SEED CORN
It is highly important that your seed
corn should be selected from the best
samples which can be obtained, as the
offspring whether vegetable or animal
will in a great degree partake of the
good or bad qualities of the parent.—
The following directions on this sub
ject are from a scientifick and practi
cal agriculturist :
“When the first ears are ripe e-
nough for seed, gather a sufficient
quantity for early corn or replanting;
and at the time you would wish your
corn to be ripe, generally, gather
sufficient quantity for planting the
next year, having particular care to
take it from stalks that are large, at
bottom, of a regular tgper, iiof oyer
VINEGAR.
The method of making this liquid
out of cider, wine &c. is too general
ly known to need any description; but
it is not so generally known that a ve
ry sharp vinegar may also be made
out of whey. The method of making
it, as described by Mr. Gene, is very
simple, “After having clarified the
whey, it is jioured into casks with 1
some aromatick plants, or elder blos
soms, [as suits the fancy] and expos
ed in open air to the sun, where it soon
acquires an uncommon degree of acid
ity.” Vinegar may also be made
Vom the juice of elderberries, mixed
with a suitable proportion of water
and exposed to the sun, as before
mentioned. It may also be made from
the juice of the black birch, or of the
maple, when either is boiled down
sufficiently: or from the juice of beets
carrots, turnips; potatoes, &c. when
boiled and the juice pressed out, and
exposed in like manner.—Farmer's
Assistant.
sh
fcn
jf.
1
I
Copy of a Receipt for making Yeasty
taken many months ago from an En
glish Paper.
Yedst—This useful article, of which
there is frequently a scarcity in this
country, is thus prepared on the coast
of Persia: Take a small tea-cup, or
wine glass fall of split or bruised peas,
pour on it a pint of boiling water, and
set the .whole in a vessel all night oh
the hearth, or any other warm place:
the water will have a froth on its top
the next morning, which will be good
yeast.
Mr. Eton, when in Persia, had his
bread made with this yeast, and in the
English manner, of good wheat flour.
In our climate, especially in a cold
season, it should stand longer to fer
ment, perhaps, four and twenty hours.
Of all methods of making Yeast hith
erto known, this is by far the most
simple and commodious.
Quizzing Extraordinary.—A wick*
ed hoax was played off a few days
since upon the Editors of the politic*
al papers in Washington. A circum
stantial and apparently well authen
ticated account of a “numerous & re
spectable” meeting of the citizens of
Athens, Ohio, favorable to the “good
cause,” was sent te the paper alluded
to for publication. This document
ornamented with the usual requisites
for high sounding names, titles, &c-
was published with expression of great
satisfaction by the Editors. On in
vestigation however, it appears that
the whole account w r as entirely ficti
tious, and the “venerable chairman,
General T. T. Taylor,” is a descend
ant of “Africa’s sable race,” and'that
the other names belong to little boys
from five to ten years of age, who
are highly indignant at being supposed
to be the partizans of a cause they
have been taught to detest t
The 11 Old Boy.”*—The last Porta*
mouth, N. H. Journal says—-We yes
terday saw in our streets Donald Mc
Donald, who \a seven'yean older than
Dr. Holyoke. He seems much ad
dicted to intemperance, for which lie
frequently has received correction,
with little hopes of reform, however,.
He has served in several wars, Near?
ly 50 years ago he offered himself for
re-enlistment in the American army.^r
Washington told him he was too old f
and'Vvith a present dismissed him.—
Since visiting this town last year, Jms
ipys he ha,8 travelled to JJ.afrfc*;
*1 *# a *3 -C-2