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contrasted with your own safety, painted with such force and nature by one of the best poets of this poetical land, recurs strongly here:

"Ask the crowd,

Who fly impatient from the village walks

To climb the neighbouring cliffs, where far below
The cruel winds have hurl'd upon the coast

hand

Some helpless bark; while sacred pity melts
The general eye, or terror's icy
Smites their distorted limbs and horrent hair,
While every mother closer to her breast
Catches her child, and pointing where the waves
Foam through the shatter'd vessel, shrieks aloud,
As some poor wretch, who spreads his piteous arms
For succour, swallowed by the roaring surge."

The English are great in practical mechanics. In no country in the world are there, perhaps, so many happy applications of that science, I might say, of that peculiar sense, of that instinct of the human species. A gentleman of the name of Mann has invented a wooden-leg of ingenious construction; an elastic spring wraps round the heel, continues under the sole of the foot, to the extremity of the toes, in such a manner as to imitate exactly the double motion of these parts in walking. There are of course joints. The artificial limb is made on the model of the natural one; it is hollow; the stump hangs in it, but is stopped at the knee, which rests in a sort of fun.

nel, so exactly adapted, that the junction does not appear, and that the part is enabled to bear, without any inconvenience, the weight of the body in walking. I heard, with surprise, of a gentleman of our acquaintance having one of these wooden-legs, without my having observed it; and a young lady in the same situation is so slightly lame, that it is impossible to say on which side it is. Mr Mann was first led to turn his mind to this subject, from a desire to relieve his own brother, who had lost his leg below the knee; and his fraternal affection has, in the end, made his fortune. I do not know exactly how his invention applies to cases of amputation above the knee, and do not believe he can have found so good a substitute in that case. This same ingenious person, or his brother, has invented a musi. cal instrument with chords or strings, in the shape of a grand piano-forte, and with the same keys; each key, when touched, lifts one of the chords, which is brought into contact with a bow (archet) or skein of horse hair, moving continu ally on two wheels or axes, put in motion by a weight. There is here more scope for skill and taste than either in the organ or the forte piano; for although the sound of the pipe of the organ may be prolonged at pleasure, it cannot be modified as to strengh, or quality of sound: the piano, on the contrary, is susceptible of modification of

sound, by the manner of touching the key, but cannot receive duration; whereas, this instrument unites both advantages,-the sound lasts as long as you touch the key, and its quality varies with the strength applied by the finger, precisely as on the violin. The chords being very large, and the bow powerful, sounds are obtained similar to the deep bass stops of the organ, with all the softness and richness of the violoncello.

Besides two exhibitions of oil pictures, there are two of water-colours, very superior to the others, and to any thing, I believe, of the sort in Europe. It seems strange that these eminent artists should choose a mode of painting which has great disadvantages, inferior capabilities, and is less lasting. But this is a female mode of painting; the only practical amateurs of the art here are women, therefore artists are to look for encouragement from them.

Pugilism is a regular science in England as fencing is in France. Fighting for the sake of improvement is called sparring,-and in good earnest, boxing. In sparring, the hand is covered with much the same sort of glove as in fencing. I have been taken to a fives-court, where I have seen some of the best professors, and some amateurs of this noble art, spar. Two combatants, naked to the waist, ascended a theatre, or stage,

fifteen or twenty feet square, and three or four high, erected in the centre of the fives-court; each had his second; they shook hands, like the salute in fencing,-then on their guard; one foot forward,-knees a little bent,-the principal weight of the body on the foremost leg,-fist held to the height of the chin, at the distance of about a foot. In this attitude the combatants observe each other, eye to eye, watching their opportunity to place a blow, which is darted rather than struck, with the back of the hand or knuckles; a moderate blow, well planted, gives a fall. The blows are parried with the outside of the arm, or with one hand, while the other returns the blow. The pugilists are very sparing of their strength and their wind; no unnecessary motion, -no precipitation,—and, above all, no anger. One of the first requisites is impassibility under the severest bodily pain. Notwithstanding the gloves, blood is spilt sometimes. Among the performers at the fives-court, Cribb the younger, Gulley, and Belcher, were pointed out to me,—all names of renown in the art. They were not stout men, but remarkable for activity and coolness. The place was very full-a mixed company of people of all ranks, a considerable proportion of men of fashion; and all went off in a very orderly and quiet manner. The sword or pistol equalize strength, and secure politeness and circum

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spection between individuals in the higher ranks of society; the fist answers the same purpose between the high and the low. A gentleman well taught can by that means repress and punish vul. gar insult, when supported by mere bodily strength. There is a sort of courtesy and law of combat here, as well as in more deadly encounters. You are not to strike an enemy on the ground, and never below the waist; you are to desist the instant he gives out; there are never to be two against one; and other rules which soften the brutality of the art, and give to the very lowest, in their violence, some sort of generosity and honourable feelings. When two men are disposed to come to blows, nobody thinks of preventing them; but the populace make a ring, and see fair play. I was conducted a few days ago to Jackson's, a professor of pugilism, who keeps a school for the fashionables of London. He is the finest figure of a man I ever saw; all muscle; I could not clasp with my two hands the upper part of his arm, when the biceps was swollen by the contraction of the limb. This art has, like all others, its technical language. It is said of a pugilist that he is game, or has bottom, when he possesses in a high degree passive courage or fortitude; which consists in bearing blows and wounds, attended with the most dreadful sufferings, without flinching or yielding, as

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