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[From the Liverpool Mercury of April 3, 1855.] "We think it right to explain to our readers the cause the non-appearance of our London article last week. he facts are these:-The stoker of the Spitfire (by which ur despatches are usually sent) got beastly drunk, but d still sense enough left to know he was considerably hind his time: he, therefore, got his steam up to its arghest pitch, and, regardless alike of the safety and the treaties of his passengers, endeavoured to pass the Etna, hich, in justice to the engineer of this latter, was going the usual steady rail-road pace of twenty miles an hour. fotwithstanding the superior velocity of the Spitfire (she ten travelling at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour) he complished this; but, lamentable to add, owing to the eat pressure on his valves (all four of which were extra ighted), just as he reached the middle of Chat-moss, the ler burst, the unfortunate stoker was killed, and the sengers blown in all directions. One old woman was tup a perpendicular height of 76 feet (a countryman ing observations at the time, determined the altitude hhis quadrant), and having the presence of mind to serve her position, descended without injury, being and by the Etna perfectly erect, but with only her head earing above the quag! In consequence of this acciwe were deprived of our usual parcel, and our readers he usual latest London news. We have since under1, that our parcel was found next day in one of the pits adjoining the road. Really, it does behove the to put a stop to these proceedings. If they do not, have it from good authority that some prohibitory gures will be brought before Parliament. People will er go the old horse-way in twenty-four hours, than their necks endangered at twelve."

was once (so we have been credibly informed) the second
port in the kingdom! and even now the Bristolians will
tell you that it ought so to be at this day, were it not for
the interminable disputes between the Corporation and the
Chamber of Commerce. In all probability these will last
but twenty years longer, and then we shall see. The
Council-house, began in 1824, is at length finished; and
were it in line with any one building near it, really it
would not look amiss. This circumstance (which was not
discovered till the walls were up) has occasioned the delay;
twenty-four years having been occupied in deliberations
(the citizens pluming themselves on never doing any thing
in a hurry, whether taste should give way to convenience;
or, in other words, whether the building should be straight
or askew. The question was at last set at rest by an indi-
vidual, who observed, that as they had never been famed
for being very straight forward in their proceedings, in
his judgment, the Council-house ought to correspond with
their counsels, and forthwith proposed that it should con-
tinue crooked; which straightway received the unanimous
sanction of the meeting."

correct.

day, as the Eagle balloon was on its flight, from Birmingham to Paris, and soaring along, at about fifty yards from the ground, it was fired at by a miscreant, with a Perkins's steamer, with intent, as was afterwards proved, to disable it, and rob the passengers. Luckily none of the latter were injured; but the ball or balls of the steamer perforating the balloon, the gas escaped as well as the passengers; and the whole soon came to earth. The design of the villain was, however, frustrated, by the courage and vigilance of the guard; and, after obtaining a reinforcement of gas from the next town, they proceeded on their journey in safety. We hope this will operate as a caution to steers. men, to keep their balloons sufficiently high in air' to avoid such risks in future. It was but last week that the Skylark was near striking against Salisbury spire."

66

'Dear Sir,

This comes to certify the fact that I

Have got your kind epistle per the post,
It did rejoice my soul exceedingly,
To learn your loving kindness was not lost:
I need some consolation, and the why
Is, that in every effort I am crost,
To furnish food and raiment for the weans,
And painting seems the very worst of means;
For in life's struggle I am sunk so low,

"TO THE EDITOR OF THE MANCHESTER GAZETTE. Pray, Mr. Editor, can you, or any of your readers, give me information on the history (literary and biographical) of one Gerard, a poet and painter, who flou rished (no, he did not flourish, if the following lines speak truth) who lived, about thirty-five years ago, in your town? "TO THE EDITOR OF THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE. Some historians contend that he resided after that time (probably about 1825 or 6) in Liverpool, to which opinion "SIR,-The speech of the member for Manchester, as I rather incline, as I happen to be in possession of certain reported in your paper of the 1st instant, is glaringly in- MSS. which I met with (for a song) and which bear date What Mr. T. said was this:- Never, since the 19, Parker-street, Liverpool. They are chiefly familiar reform, was there a question before the House of such im- letters, in rhyme, addressed to a friend; and, though not portance to the clergy and the country at large, as the intended for publication, I know I shall be excused if I Tythe Compensation Bill. That the abolition of the old system of providing for the interests of religion, by sub-present your readers with a few extracts, as any thing is interesting connected with the fate of this celebrated wit tracting the tenth of the produce of other men's labour, and artist. should be viewed with satisfaction by the country, he was by no means surprised. It was no more than natural that it should be so; but did it follow, from thence, that we should run into the other extreme, and hold out to the late owners of livings no compensation for what the law had thought fit to dispossess them of? Let it not be said that least it could do, since it had deprived the reverend body the House had not tempered justice with mercy. The of one living, was to put it in the way of getting another: at least there should be no obstacle to the improvement of talent where talent existed; and he was happy to observe many instances where it had met its reward. The reverend gentleman who once held the see of Canterbury was deriv. The new tea-making company continues to prospering a very comfortable maintenance (some said 7 or £800 o give universal satisfaction, with the exception of a a year) by preaching in the chapel late the Rev. Rowland ld women, who do not like mixed tea. It is, how-Hill's; whilst, on the other hand, there were not wanting difficult to please all. Such should remember, that instances of the late holders of fat livings coming to absoHe knew the inference that would be drawn thly pleasures are unmixed. Why, therefore, should lute want. expect an exception in the article of tea? To such readers as may not have seen the company's works, ef description may be amusing:-There are two imboilers, of cast-iron, in which the tea is made; and not by the immediate action of fire on the boiler or but of steam, introduced by the new patent mode. I boiled enough, it is admitted by valves into the pipes in the streets; which valves are open from ast six to eleven in the morning, and from half-past » eleven in the evening. Every family drinks by , by which the quantity admitted into the house is egistered, as in the Oil-gas; a measure highly ap 1, as, when paid by the year or quarter, there is great for imposition on both sides. A waggish friend of bserved, it was the largest tea and turn-out company Lever heard of.”

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wo labouring mechanics were observed, the other
t the corner of one of the streets in Bolton-le-Moors,
debate on the respective excellencies of Euclid and
At the end of an hour, one of them recollecting
hat he had left unfinished, broke off suddenly, with
. Prudens advertit ad gressus suos.” The other
lately retorted, Qui festinat ad divitias, non erit
"'"+
We can conceive of nothing in the fine arts more
gly beautiful than the statue of Roscoe, by our cele-
townsman Gibson, lately opened for public inspec-
in the centre of the great hall of arts in this town.
a work is not less creditable to the public spirit of
ace, and to the genius of the sculptor, than to the
ry of the illustrious character for whom it was de
1. It is a noble figure; worthy of him in his best
such as a few of us seniors can remember him to
been."
Whilst Liverpool has been rising rapidly in wealth
ommercial importance, especially during the last half
ry, we can but look with wonder, not unmixed with
on the dull and stagnant state of things in Bristol.
place has rather made a retrograde movement. It

The prudent man looketh well to his going.
Le that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.

from this; namely, that it would serve to divide the drones
from the working bees. Unquestionably it would; still
he did not wish to crush even the drones of the commu-
nity."
"I am, Sir, yours, &c.
"April 2, 1855.

"J.E. T."

"House of Commons, March 30.-The member for Bir. mingham was about to address the chair; but, on the motion of the Public Accountant the House was counted, and there being but 658 members present, of course nothing could be done, and the Speaker left the chair."

"How would our ancestors have stared to witness the various locomotive devices now resorted to to facilitate communication between town and town. Balloons, for instance; would it have been credited, fifty years back, that they could have attained the vast perfection they have now arrived at? To be sure, even within the last thirty years, a few individual, though unsuccessful, attempts were made to render them subservient to some useful purpose: but how was this done? Frequently by only a single adventurer committing himself to the car of this ponderous machine, mounting two or three miles high, and being blown about wherever the winds of heaven wafted him.

Nay, so little control had he over the balloon, that, in descending, it was mere chance-work whether he perched in a forest-tree, or on the spire of the parish church, on terra firma, or the main sea. As to steering in a parallel direction he had no idea of the thing; still less of combining the united powers of gas and steam in propelling the machine, whenever and wherever he wished. All this our fathers had no conception of. They went up to the clouds, as bubbles blown by children, and with about as much of usefulness; and he was the greatest aeronaut who went the greatest height. The establish. ment of them as media of communication, as regular as stage-coaches, would then have been scouted, as visionary in the extreme. We do not pretend to say they have not their imperfections and occasional accidents, as well as other conveyances: most certainly they have, as the following occurrence will prove. All we say is, they are not in this respect, than land-carriages -Last Wednes

worse,

As to be out of sight of fear or hope;*
Fear that I have much further down to go,
And faith would fail to float me to the top:

If 'tis the fate's decree, then be it so,
The subject is ungrateful, so I drop
It, and proceed, forthwith, to let you know
How matters of another kidney go.'
vations; but even on such a subject could not resist a joke.
"In a subsequent stanza he reverts to his domestic pri-

'Don't you believe that miracles have ceas'd,
I, by a daily miracle, am fed;
Nor are Elijah's cat'rers, in the least,

More wond'rous than my daily loaf of bread:
When you reflect (the wonder is increased)
How lame I am, by whom 'tis furnished;

I have myself, five children, and a spouse,
To feed and keep from getting RAVEN-ous!
"There is a poem of Gerard's, now very scarce, entitled
"The Great Unknown;" I want to see it. In my MSS.
there appears to be a few detached fragments of it; some
of which, as characteristic of the nature of the work, I
subjoin:

'Some knowingly assert, and will not alter,
The Great Unknown is known to be Sir Walter.t
Considering that the muster-roll of fame

Would form but lenten fame to him who reads ;
As neither of my heroes have a name,

And claim their titles solely from their deeds,
I have subjoin'd remarks upon each claim,
T'enliven the detail, as it proceeds.

The man who noble is, may laugh to scorn,
Him whose sole boast is, he was nobly born.'
'Who from the Nautilus first took the hint,
Of making Eolus drive him on his way,
When floating on the watery element?
Who first made of the finny race a prey?
Without e'en which the Catholics, in Lent,

Would dine but sparely-fasting, do they say?
Feed me with fish, and I'll commence to-morrow,
And call it lent, as long as I can borrow.'

"I could give many more, and will do, if you wish me;

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As a specimen of the nature of our supplemental wa we beg to refer our readers to the "Local and Advering Department" of this day.

Battle of Algiers.-The panorama descriptive of this important event is one of the most effective exhibitions we ever witnessed. The landscape, the ocean, the majes tic approach of the British and Dutch fleets, the terrifie bombardment of the city, and the amazing effects pro duced by it, are all so vividly portrayed, that the spec tator can scarcely resist the impression that he is placed on the very scene of action; while the humane objects of the expedition, and its triumphant termination in the subjection of the Algerines and the liberation of their und tunate captives, produce feelings which can be beta ceived than described. We heartily commend the eli bition to the favour of our readers of all set dall parties. See adv.

Co Correspondents.

ERRATA IN MR. HAMILTON'S LETTER OF LAST WELL-
did and erudite writer, read candid and veredict writer
our antiquity, read all antiquity; for Harriet Be
read Harris's Hermes.
LIVERPOOL IN 1855.-This jeu d'esprit of our esteemed
correspondent will afford our readers amusement, a
points of the humour are generally applicable indig
unprecedented speculation. By the by, should
again, his midnight familiar will, in all probability, ve
in his ear some prophetic anticipations of the mo
of Liverpool, by the superior accommodation
commerce by the rival port of Manciter, the t
British emporium of commerce and manufactures t
excellent subject for a dreamer; and its birth my
probability, be traced to some such origin. The
scheme, to use Shakspeare's language, is "such tal
dreams are made of;" and, "like the baseless fabri
vision," it will "leave not a wreek behind." We
unacquainted with the merits of Mr. Gerard, nord
peculiar claims he has to the sympathy of the pabe
we wish our correspondent would draw the atte
our townsmen more particularly to a circumsta
knowledge of which may prove serviceable to a de
man and an ingenious artist.
MUSICAL CRITICISM.-We have inserted the letter of A
of Newry, but we must take the liberty to hint to
respondent not to be too confident In maintaining
view of the subject, as we happen to know, that ind
son of Musicus, he has to do with a gentleman of so
proficiency in the science of which he is a disting
nament. We must say no more; nor should we ha
thus much, had not Amateur in his reply indulged in
which, in our opinion, might have been very well
We have been favoured with the second commi
luded to by our correspondent, and shall take a
portunity of explaining our views more fully
alluded to.

AUTHOR OF THE SKETCH BOOK-A correspondet he
from Glasgow, is, we presume, in error, in st
Mr. Washington Irving is no more. We hav
such a report; and not many months have e
he published his Tales of a Traveller, from which w
some extracts in a recent Kaleidoscope, at the
pressing our opinion that they were decidedly

OR,

Literary and Scientific Mirror.

UTILE DULCI.'

afamiliar Miscellany, from which religious and political matters are excluded, contains a variety of original and selected Articles: comprehending Literature, Criticism, Men and Manners musement, Elegant Extracts, Poetry, Anecdotes, Biography, Meteorology, the Drama, Arts and Sciences, Wit and Satire, Fashions, Natural History, &c. &c. forming a handsome Annua lume, with an Index and Title-page.—Its circulationrenders it a most eligible medium for Literary and Fashionable Advertisements.—Regular supplies are forwarded weekly to the Agents.

0.245.-VOL. V.

Natural History

LETTERS

N THE REVOLUTIONS OF THE GLOBE.

BY M. ALEX. B.

a legère couche de vie, qui fleurit à la surface du globe, ne

pre que des ruines.-Paris: printed, 1824.

arted expressly for the Kaleidoscope from a recent French work.

LETTER VIII.

CONTINUATION OF THE MINERAL CRUST.

5n my former letters, I have endeavoured, when speakto you of the mineral crust, to explain the distinction ween the two parts of which it is composed. One of m, the primitive soil, has covered the internal mass, n the most remote period of time: the other, the allal soil, is evidently of much more recent formation, constitutes its most superficial envelope. The successive ore, of which these two parts are composed, are very

1

very numerous, and differ widely from each other. he layers of the primitive soil are particularly disuished from those of the alluvial soil, by the nature of rocks composing them. They differ still further, first, heir more considerable thickness; secondly, in their ter regularity, and their more parallel position with et to each other; thirdly, in the nature of the proions which they inclose. This last circumstance has to the most curious results; we learn from it that life hot always existed upon the globe; for, although it is ent, from the crystallization of the layers of the primisoil, that they were formed in a liquid; yet, as they ain the remains of no organic being, we are compelled include that the liquid, in which they were deposited, not produce any, or at least, such only as were inble of being preserved.

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tained, and shall begin, by borrowing from their work the description of the limits of the gulf anciently formed by the hollow in which Paris was built.

"A considerable tract of the country between the basin of the Seine and that of the Loire consists of a vast elevated plain, the largest portion of which is vulgarly known by the name of Beauce. Its middle part, which is the driest, extends in a south-east direction, from Courville to Montargis, over a space of more than forty leagues.

Since that time, the earth has been more than once sud-, to give you some idea of the results which they have obdenly invaded by the sea; but if we may judge by the traces remaining to us of these inundations, they must have been tumultuous movements, and of such short duration, that the animals existing upon the soil before they took place were, after the retreat of the waters, again produced, and multiplied. The last, of considerable importance, was probably that deluge recorded in the traditions of all ancient people. This inundation is probably the only one that has happened since man has existed, who most probably, being the principal being of this creation, appeared last upon the globe. His bones have been no where found in a fossil state, because, as the sea has not changed its bed since the catastrophe which destroyed nearly all his species, his remains are without doubt buried in the depths

of the ocean.

I am aware, Madam, that as I have so often mentioned the frequent inundations which all parts of our continents have alternately experienced, and as I have referred to this cause the deposition of the different formations which constitute the largest portion of the mineral crust, I ought, without further delay, to enter into some details upon this subject. First, I will explain to you the meaning of the word formation, which I have already used, and which will again frequently occur in the course of what I have to say. In geology, this term designates the united mass of several layers, which, though widely differing from each other in nature, were formed without a total cessation of the cause that produced them.

You will readily understand, Madam, that although the great divisions of the mineral crust are applicable to the whole extent of the earth, since the order in which the several formations are deposited is every where nearly siinilar, yet, upon a more minute examination of it, partial differences will be found to exist, sufficiently marked to render indispensable particular researches in every country. The great chains of rocks were evidently formed before the deposition of the alluvial soil, by the elevation of the layers of the primitive soil, to a height which the sea has never since reached; their summits, therefore, consist of

i the first layers of the alluvial soil we begin to find traces The early stages of an extremely simple organization; he more elevated layers are discovered the remains of Is and marine animals; but these are always preceded naked sharp ridges of granite; in the sides of these mounhorganical, calcareous substances, as if nature had, intains the same kind of granite is always covered by other anner, provided for the formation of shells, by prepa- layers, which have successively been deposited by the sea. the materials which enter into their composition. The summits, therefore, of these mountains formed he study of the successive layers, and particularly of islands, and their prolonged ridges the boundaries of sepafossil remains of the animals inclosed in them, leads positively to conclude, that the sea, after having conti-rate basins. The liquids in these basins possessed each d, during some thousands of centuries, above our conents, and after having deposited there, in the last period its abode, collections of shells far exceeding in number whole mass of those now found in the ocean, at length andoned a soil, prepared for the nourishment of the tertrial quadrupeds, whose races have been destroyed by tceeding cataclysms. If, before this retreat of its waters, e sea had sometimes temporarily receded from our conents, it would have left the soil in a state unfit for vegeion, and consequently incapable of affording sustenance animals of a somewhat elevated order.

This opinion is adopted by Cuvier, and by most of the aturalists of the present day, but it is not universally additted. Some geologists (Buffon was of the number) atibute the formation of the primitive crust to the action of

some distinctive property, in consequence of which their
several precipitations must have varied in nature. There
was no less variety in the living beings which they con-
tained; and thence arise partial and local differences in
the soil of deposition, notwithstanding the general uni-
formity of its composition.

It was natural that the soil, upon which Paris is situated,
should become an object of particular study to the cele
brated naturalists who inhabit that city. They, in the
pursuit of their inquiries, have shown in what manner re-
searches of that kind ought to be carried on. M. Cuvier,
conjointly with another celebrated naturalist, has produced
an excellent work upon this subject. I will endeavour

Essay on the mineralogical geography of the environs of Paris, by M. M. Cuvier and Brongniart. The first edition appeared in 1810: this essay has, since that time, been reprinted, having been included in the great work of M. Cuvier upon fossil bones.

This

"This plain is bounded towards the north-east by a tract of land, more elevated and more intersected, as the rivers Eure, Aure, Illon, Rille, Orne, Mayenne, Sarte, Huine, and Loir, derive thence their sources. country, of which the most elevated part, that is to say, the part between Seez and Mortagne, formerly constituted the province of Perche, and part of Lower Normandy, now belongs to the department of Orne.

"The natural line of separation between Beauce and
Perche passes nearly through the towns of Bonnevalle,
Alluye, Iliers, Courville, Pontgouin, and Verneuil.
"The plain overlooks all the remaining part of the land
adjacent to it.

tion to the subject of which we are at present treating.
"Its declivity on the side next the Loir has no rela-

"The edge of its declivity on the side next the Seine forms two lines; one, towards the west, fronts the Eure, the other, towards the east, is immediately opposite the

Seine.

The first extends from Dreux towards Mantes.
"The other begins near Mantes, and passes through
Marly, Meudon, Palaiseau, Marcoussy, la Ferté-Alais,
Fontainebleau, Nemours, &c.

"But it must not be imagined that these two lines are straight or uniform; they are, on the contrary, exceedingly rugged and uneven, so that if this vast plain were surrounded by water, its shores would form several gulfs, capes, and straits, and would be encompassed by numerous small islands.

"Thus, in our neighbourhood, the long mountain, extending from Saint Cloud to the confluence of the rivers Mauldre and Seine, and covered by the woods of Saint Cloud, Ville d'Avray, Marly, and Aluets, would form an island separated from the main land, by the defile in which Versailles now stands, by the little valley of Sevres, and by the great valley of the park of Versailles.

"The other mountain, in the form of a fig-leaf, upon which stand Bellevue, Mendon, the woods of Verriere, and those of Chaville, would form a second island, separated from the continent by the valley of Biévre, and that between the hills of Jouy.

"From Saint Cyr to Orleans, there is no complete separation of the land, although the valleys, watered by the rivers Biévre, Ivette, Orge, Etampes, Essonne, and Loing, penetrate very far into the continent, on the eastern side; and those of Vesgre, Voise and Eure, on the western side.

"The part of the coast which would most fabound in rocks and islands, is that vulgarly known by the name of the French Gâtinais; especially the portion of it comprehending the forest of Fontainebleau.

The declivities around this immense plain are, in general, steep. All their craggy bare parts, as well as the wells dug in the plain, show that its physical nature is

4

every where the same, and that it is formed of a prodigious mass of fine sand, extending also over the surface of the lower tracts of land around it.

"The side of the plain opposite the Seine, from Mauldre to Nemours, forms the natural limit of the basin, which we are going to examine.

"From under its two extremities, that is to say, towards Mauldre, and a little beyond Nemours, issue two portions of a bed of chalk, which extending to a great distance in all directions, forms the whole of Upper Normandy, Picardy, and Champagne.

"The interior edges of this great inclosure, which form at the north-east a considerable angle, comprehending the whole of Saonnais, on the eastern side pass through Mon tereau, Sezanne, Epernay; on the western side, through Montfort, Mantes, Gisors, Chaumont, and approach Compiegne; they complete, with the sandy coast which we have just described, the natural limits of our basin. "But there is this difference, that the sandy bed of Beauce being higher than all the others, is consequently the most modern, and that the coast we have marked out is its termination; whilst, on the contrary, the bed of chalk is naturally the most ancient, and consequently lower than all the others. It merely ceases to appear externally along the line of circumference, indicated above; but, far from terminating there, it evidently extends under the other layers; this is found to be the case, wherever sufficiently deep excavations are made in them; in some places it has even forced its way through them, and appears above them. "It may then be imagined, that the materials contained within the basin of Paris, to the extent of the limits we have just marked out, were deposited in a vast hollow space, a sort of gulf, whose sides consisted of chalk. "Whether or not this gulf formed an entire circle, or great lake, cannot be ascertained, since its south-west shores have been covered by the great bed of sand which we have described above."

To all the proofs brought forward in this description, permit me, Madam, to add one, which will perhaps tend still more effectually to convince you, that the place occupied by Paris formerly constituted part of the bottom of a vast gulf.

Miscellanies.

HANOVER.

by the waters reaching their beds in the darkness of night, and could only escape without clothes by hastening up to

DREADFUL AND FATAL INUNDATIONS AT the roofs or lofts of their houses. There, like many other families, who were roused from their sleep by the thunder. ing noise of the waters rolling over the dykes, a great number of them are yet waiting, suffering from hunger and cold, to be released from their perilous situation, because barges, boats, and rafts could not be procured in sufficien number to come to their assistance. Several other suffer ers have remained clinging to trees for a whole day befor any help could be given them.

The most calamitous accounts have lately been received from Germany of the devastations committed by the rising of the sea. The power of the water was so great, that no dyke or bulwark could withstand the rush, and the places on which the floods have had most effect are, of course, the lowlands, which, in that country, are by far the most fruitful. But no words of ours can describe the scene so well as the following extracts from official reports, dated Hanover 8th and 11th Feb. 1825 :"While the distress, caused by the dreadful inundations in November and December last, was still very severely felt by thousands of the inhabitants of the northern provinces of this kingdom, they have been visited by a repetition of the same calamity by far more extensive and deplorable.

"On the evening of the 3d inst. the violent gale, which had blown for 24 hours from the west, suddenly turned to the north-west, and became a complete hurricane, which raged till the next day with unremitting fury, accompanied with a thick fall of snow and flashes of lightning. The sea being driven by this hurricane up the rivers Elbe and Weser, they quickly rose to the tremendous height of from 21 to 22 feet, which has never been the case since the year 1717. The smaller rivers connected with them, especially the Schwinge and Oste, soon rose in the same proportion. All the dykes and banks on our side of the Elbe and Weser, from Winsen and Harburg down to Ritzebutted, and up to Bremerlehe, a distance of 130 English miles, and all the inland dykes, were overflowed to the height of four or five feet; they soon after gave way in more than 120 places at once, and thus in less than one hour the whole country between Winsen and Bremerlehe was overwhelmed by the raging floods..

"The greatest and finest parts of East Friesland shared the same fate during that dreadful night; the floods having risen 10 feet above the usual high tide; and the waters in the Ems having been swelled to the unprecedented height of 22 feet, all the inland dykes were overflowed; the sea rolled with the utmost violence across the sea-dykes, till the strongest of them were broken in more then 50 places round the coast from the Dollard to the mouth of the Jahde.

All parts of the soil, that must have formed its shores, contain a very large quantity of smooth flints, often united in pudding-stones, like those found on the strands of gulfs, still occupied by the sea. They may now serve to point out the limits of the ancient gulf of which we are speaking, as the light substances left by the "On the morning of the 4th the scene was most appalSeine upon its shores, after an overflow of its waters, in-ling. The inundated country, comprising altogether from dicate to what distance they have extended. M. M. Cuvier and Brongniart enter into still further details respecting the places where these flints are found.

"Immense banks of flints are found near Nemours, placed exactly between the chalk and the soil above it. "They are also seen at Moret, near the pyramid, where they are formed into very fine pudding-stones.

66

The land traversed in going from Beaumont-surOise to Ivry-le-Temple, is entirely composed of smooth fints, spread more or less abundantly in a red, argillaceous, sandy soil, deposited above the chalk. This tract of land forms one of the shores of the basin of chalk.

"Beds of flints are again found near Mantes, between Triel and that town, in a small valley called, upon maps, la Vallée des Cailloux.

Near Houdan they are amassed,' round the edges of the fields, in immense heaps. Finally, that part of the plains of la Sologne comprehended between Orleans and Salbris, is composed of a brownish silicious sand, mixed with a large quantity of smooth flints, of several kinds. Here

not only flints are found, but also jaspers and quartz of various colours. These beds are deposited almost immediately above the chalk, as may be seen upon examining the land near Salbris, &c. and they are very different from the ends of the Pays Chartrain, Beauce, &c. which cortein no pebbles of flint."

[To be continued.]

1000 to 1200 English square miles, appeared as forming a part of the ocean. Of the extensive lines of the dykes, only isolated ruins were perceived rising from the waters, many of them crowded with the unfortunate people, who were exposed to the violence of the still raging hurricane. Of most of the villages, only the steeples and the tops of the roofs could be seen. Skeletons and wrecks of houses and barns, haystacks, furniture of all kinds, trees torn up by the roots, dead human bodies intermixed with drowned cattle, were observed every where drifting towards the sea: while piercing cries of distress from the poor sufferers clinging to the floating ruins or to the trees surrounding their habitations, or crowded on the roofs and in the lofts of tottering buildings, were heard in every direction. "No language can describe the horrors and dangers which the 80,000 inhabitants, involved in this calamity, have endured, and the state of misery and distress to which they have been reduced. A great many have perished, numbers in the noble attempt of saving others. In the village of Neuenfelde 24 dwelling-houses have been swept away, and 70 persons have found a watery grave. In Francop, another village, eight houses, with all their inmates, have been carried off. A number of single houses in different places in the Duchy of Bremen and East Friesland have entirely disappeared with their inhabitants. Thousands, living at a great distance from the dykes, and thinking themselves secure from all danger, were surprised

"The loss of public and private property is immense, especially in the districts of Harburg and Stade, in the province called the Ante Land, so well known by the ex cellent fruit it produces, in the vicinity of Buxtehude, in the bailiwicks of Himmelpforten, Neuhaus, Blumenthal, in the county of Kehdingen, and in the extensive districts of Emden, Norden, Papenburgh, Esens, in East Friesland, and in all the districts situate on the coast of that country; 30,000 of the inhabitants have lost all their moveable property, and 100,000 acres of the finest land and gardens have been laid waste and rendered useless for several year to come, if they can ever be recovered from the sea. Most of the houses which have escaped total destruction, we ar will be, rendered uninhabitable, as they remain exposedu the violence of the floods. At least two-thirds of all the ma tle have been drowned, and immense quantities of com which had been hoarded up, the farmers not having bee able to sell it at any price, and of hay, have been swept off or spoiled.-Even in the towns, many houses have bea destroyed, the fury of the waters being such as to tear up the pavements in the streets, and to wash away the gut from the ramparts. In the city of Emden vast and merchandise have been lost, being swept away warehouses.

"The dykes and sluices have been so generally ri, that the whole population of the inundated districts cant furnish sufficient hands to repair or restore them bes next autumn. They must, in many places, remain cpui to new ravages of the floods, though every possible extra is making, with the assistance of the military, to fil at least in a temporary manner, the most dangess breaches. Several of these breaches are from 5000 feet wide. Four large trading vessels have been sunt one of them, to check the floods on the coast of Friesland.

"As most of the inundated districts are still from 15 feet deep under water, and as all kinds of prov have been destroyed in them, thousands of the suffere in a state of starvation, and destitute of every th With several of them no communication has yet b practicable, owing to the violence of the tides and d floating ice.

"To increase the general distress, their is a total of drinkable water, the sea having filled all the Fa cisterns; and, to complete the misery of the s alarming symptoms of disease have already app amongst them. Every hour brings fresh and plorable accounts from the seat of this dreadfu which, during this winter, has been visited by It has spread gloom and mourning all over the disastrous events. The theatres have been shut, and al winter amusements have ceased. Our Governant taken prompt and laudable measures to render to the inundated provinces, and to save them from far lect the donations of private charity; the officers of devastation. Committees are forming every where to army have given up three days' pay, and the soldie day's pay, and all other ranks and classes vie with other in assisting to alleviate the misery of so many repair this calamity, to preserve the lives of so many sands of their fellow subjects. Millions will be required sands of sufferers, who will remain for a long time wa the means of subsistence, to enable them hereafter t new their occupations, and to provide for themselves apt by their own industry, and to protect them and their which has taken entire possession of their houses and d perty against new ravages from the formidable cle Similar distressing accounts have been received from 41 Duchies of Holstein and Oldenburg."

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