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girdle before to retain it in its place. A person thus equipped will float, head and shoulders high, in the water. — Mr. Bosquet's life-preserver was, in like manner, a canvas-girdle stuffed with cork-shavings to a considerable thickness, and covering the body from the arm-pits to the loins. It not only keeps a person high upon the water, but shelters him from buffetings on rocks. With such protection, even a woman may carry her child in her arms through a surf in which no boat could live. The latest mode of applying cork for this humane purpose is seen in the life-preserver known by the name of the Seaman's Friend." It consists of two large pieces of cork; one fastened on the breast and the other on the back. From each of the two corners of the one, a stout strap proceeds to two corners of the other; the straps cross about the middle, and the opening receives the head of the wearer.'

Expedients for supporting the body in water, by the aid of confined air, have been practised in various countries:

The Arabs dwelling on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, both men and women, cross these rivers in perfect confidence, with the assistance of inflated goat-skins; and by the same means, the more daring venture to commit depredations on vessels at anchor. They sew the whole skin closely together except one leg, through which, as a tube, it is blown up; then twisting the channel, they hold it firm while engaged in their watery excursions. The inhabitants of Chili obtain still greater convenience by uniting two very large inflated seal-skins, of which all the apertures are carefully secured. A few spars are laid across, whereon one or more can rest in safety, while occupied in fishing or passing rivers.'—

In the year 1802 Professor Alstromer, a Swede, exhibited the effect of a life-preserver at Helsingoer, near Helsingburg, consisting of a girdle weighing only seven pounds, simple, strong, and light, but we are not more intimately acquainted with its construction. A person provided with it leaped into the sea, where he fired a pistol, ate, drank, and smoked a pipe, to shew that he had the perfect use of his arms, and he seems to have occupied an hour and three quarters in crossing the strait which divides the Swedish coast from Zealand.'

Notwithstanding these successful examples of the use of confined air, it is advisable to resort to no substances except those which are specifically lighter than water; and metal under any form is to be avoided.-In scrutinizing the origin of life-boats, we find reason, as in the case of the life-preservers, to go farther back than the date commonly imagined.

• An unimmergeable boat, invented by a French engineer, M. Bernieres, is said to have been exhibited before the King of France in 1771, which, brimfull of water, still carried eight men in safety on the river Seine. To prove its insurmountable stability, a mast was erected,

5

érected, and a rope fastened to the summit, by which it was forcibly drawn down until touching the water. The rope being suddenly let go, whereby the constraining power ceased to act, the boat immediately regained her proper position.'

Á life-boat, which has gained greater celebrity both in this island and on the continent than either, originated from a deplorable catastrophe, near Tynemouth, in the year 1789. A vessel struck on the Herd Sands during a storm, which, owing to the imminent danger, it proved impossible to relieve from the shore; and the unfortunate crew dropped one after another into the sea, in sight of numerous spectators. Deeply affected by their fate, the principal inhabitants immediately formed themselves into a committee, and offered a liberal premium to the inventor of a boat, which should be useful in situations of danger. Mr. Henry Greathead, one of the candidates, had remarked, that if a spheriod be divided into quarters, these will float on the curvature; that they cannot be overset or sunk, and will be safely borne over broken water. He thence conceived that a boat, of a figure somewhat analogous, would possess the same properties, and be profitably employed in the deliverance of shipwrecked persons. A model presented by him was, after due consideration, preferred to others, and a boat was immediately constructed upon its principles. The first attempt to render it serviceable was successful in 1790, and it has since contributed to the preservation of thousands of valuable lives. It is unnecessary here to enter into a minute description of Mr. Greathead's life-boat, from being now almost universally known; and the inventor, if he be truly so, has been liberally rewarded with different pecuniary and honorary distinctions."

It has been of late years proposed to fit up a common ship's boat in such a manner as to be an effectual preservative in times of danger. Empty casks are to be secured by lashings within the boats, and vacant spaces to be filled up with bags or bundles of cork, so as to keep the boat afloat though full of water.

Another important topic for consideration is the method of forming a communication between a vessel in danger and the neighbouring shore. It is well known that more ships are lost in the immediate vicinity of the land than in any other situation; and, as the stranding almost invariably takes place on a leeshore, any light substance, committed to the wind or water, will be wafted towards the land. A cask thrown overboard, with a rope fastened to it, will reach the shore whether it be full or empty, and persons on land may attach the rope to a stake, so as to render it available to the sufferers in their endeavours to escape to land from the ship. A more effectual plan is to make use of a projectile force in casting a line from a vessel to the shore, or vice versa. The cross-bow might probably be applied with effect on such occasions; the spring of the steel,

Cc 2

steel, bent by screws and levers, being likely to carry a line several hundred yards with great precision. A rope fastened to a heavy body may also be safely discharged to a considerable distance from a gun. Lieutenant Bell of the Artillery made, some years ago, several ingenious applications of this principle; and Dr. Carey of Islington followed afterward in the same track: but Captain Manby, Barrack-master at Yarmouth, has lately gone much farther than any of his predecessors, The distinguishing feature in his plan is not to project the line from the ship to the shore, but the reverse:

His whole apparatus consists of a light mortar on its bed, which may be conveyed on a travelling-carriage, with boxes of ammunition, two 24 pound shot with eyes, one barbed shot, 200 fathom of inch-and-half rope, as much deep-sea line; 20 fathom of the rope besides fitted up with two blocks as a gun tackle purchase; a cot fitted on a stretcher to convey people from the vessel; three iron shod stakes to be driven into the ground for securing the line of communication, a long shallow basket for containing the line projected, and a grapnel.

The line of communication, for several yards from its connection with the rope, either consists of plaited leather, or is covered with that substance which is found to be best adapted for resisting the sudden flame of the powder. Immediately on a stranded vessel being discovered, the apparatus is brought to a point, within which the shot will range, so that the line may fall over the vessel. The elevation of the mortar on ordinary occasions should be 15°, and the charge of powder just sufficient to carry the shot the requisite distance."

Captain Manby has devised two different methods of getting out a life-boat, while a heavy surf rolls in upon the shore, both of which merit great commendation. The chief impediment to the use of the most approved life-boat, consists in the difficulty in getting her off the beach in a storm; but all this is overcome with comparative ease by projecting a grapnel from a mortar, which falling beyond the surf, enables the crew of the life-boat to haul themselves through. A more permanent method of accomplishing the same purpose is, in the next place, by constantly keeping a rope extended between two anchors sunk beyond the roll of the surf.'

Different honorary testimonies of approbation were bestowed on the plan in general, and the British Parliament voted a very large sum in 1810 to Captain Manby, as an acknowledgment of its utility.'

We must not conclude our notice of this work without some reference to the remarkable point of the possibility of stilling the agitation of water by means of oil.' The antients, it seems, were aware that a temporary calm may be produced by the effusion of unctuous substances on a troubled surface; and, in our own day, observations of the same nature have been made by Dr. Franklin and others:

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• Captain

!

Captain Anthony Pool relates, that his ship, being one of a fleet, in 1761, whereof there was a ship laden with oil, which escaped through the seams of the casks containing it, and mixing with the water in the hold, both were pumped up together, while it was remarked that the ship's wake was as smooth as a mirror: The longer the pumping continued, the more was the wake enlarged, and, notwithstanding the agitation of the sea continued, the waves did not break'

In the year 1755, Captain May, an experienced navigator of the Low Countries, while lieutenant of the Phoenix ship of war, had two Neapolitan barks laden with oil under convoy in the Mediter ranean. The cargo having been a year on board, the vessels containing it were damaged, the oil escaped, and was pumped up with the bilge-water from the hold. A perfect calm, too conspicuous to elude notice, was constantly produced on the surface of the sea all, around both the vessels, while those at a distance sailed in troubled waters. The Phoenix was at this time one of a fleet of 79 vessels, and, after cruizing from Carthagena to Malta, and elsewhere, with five or six weeks of bad weather, she experienced a frightful storm, in the latitude of Lisbon. It was scarce possible for the fleet to shew any sail and during the whole interval, the two oil vessels were regularly pumped twice a-day, at seven in the morning, and again at sun-set, when part of the cargo was always discharged. Notwithstanding the turbulence of the sea, the oil extended to a great distance, separating and diffusing itself widely around the vessels, and arresting the progress of the waves, by which means they, and others in their immediate vicinity, were in a calm, as perfect as one that followed the storm. Though the billows continued to flow in lofty undulation, their surfaces were smoothed; the smaller waves rolling over them were in general dispersed, nor were breakers visible.'

In regard to the method of employing oil, if only designed to smooth the surface of the sea, so as to expose the view of what is below, it is said to be enough to dip a feather in it, which is drawn through the water. If a more important purpose be designed in averting the presence of danger, a quantity must be allowed to escape slowly through a tube, the size of a goose quill, which will be sufficient to quelle turbulence of the waves; and as the effect is gradually lost, the effusion must be repeated.'

We must not suppose, however, in here describing the properties of oil, that a calm and level plain is produced by its effusion on the sea,-that the billows cease to rise, and the surface is void of undulation. On the contrary, the swell remains unabated; but a vessel will safely mount the waves, and lie in the vallies between them, for the breakers, which are most of all to be dreaded, disappear. The lofty precipices, which would otherwise overhang the stern, threatening destruction in their fall, gradually decline when under the influence of the repelling fluid, and instead of washing the decks of the vessel from above, elevate the hull on their successive summits."

As in this compilation the narratives are frequently copied almost literally from the original accounts, the style varies greatly; some of the tales of disaster being well related, while others are encumbered with circumlocution, and rendered heavy by injudicious arrangement. In the concluding sketch, on the subject of preserving lives in shipwreck, (the only part which has pretension to originality,) the reader will discover much useful information. An index is added: but it is confined within too scanty limits for a book which contains such a miscellaneous mass of particulars.

ART. VII. The Art of Extempore Public Speaking, including a Course of Discipline for obtaining the Faculties of Discrimina. tion, Arrangement, and oral Discussion; designed for the Use of Schools and Self-Instruction. By John Rippingham, Author of "Rules for English Composition," &c. 12mo. pp. 264. 6s. Boards. Longman and Co. 1813.

OF

this work the title is faulty: ex-tempore is not an adjective, nor is it an anglicism; and the book treats of orthoepy, and of recitation, not less extensively than of speechmaking. An introduction to elocution and rhetoric, however, is not superfluous. The critical taste of the author may be appreciated by his assertion, in the dedication, that Lord Grenville is the greatest orator of the age.

The first rule offers very humble and trivial instructions for the articulation of trisyllables; and an arbitrary list of words is given, which are to be pronounced clearly and distinctly, with an interval of silence after each. No more than one word is to be uttered with the same breath; nor is a humming sound, or a drawling tone, to be carried on from one word to another. A column follows of words divided (as in spelling-books) syllabically by hyphens, in this manner: Ac-quiesce, Ap-pre-hend, Car-a-van, Cav-al-cade, Cor-re-spond. This section is below the dignity of the subject.-The second rule inveighs against pronouncing v for w, or w for v; and a well-chosen list of words is given, in which this error would be fatal to intelligibility: viz. Vail, Wail; Vane, Wane; Vary, Wary; Weal, Veal.--The third rule cautions against vicious aspiration, and places in opposition such words as Aft, Haft; Ail, Hail; Air, Hair; Ale, Hale; Yew, Hew. Among these words, we are here directed to distinguish Our and Hour; and such distinction may be desirable, but the usage of the language is to pronounce them alike. Mr. Rippingham also advises us to distinguish in pronunciation, as the practice is in the north of England, the words Wale, Whale; Weal, Wheel;

Wert,