On Bathing. No. 8. VAPOUR BATH. (Continued.) The Russian public bath, (called public because they are under the care of the police, and let out to common people on the crown's account), usually consists of mean wooden houses, situate, whenever it is possible, by the side of a running stream. In the bath-room is a large vaulted óven which, when heated, makes the paving stones lying upon it redhot; and adjoining to the oven is a kettle fixed in masonry, for the purpose of holding boiling water. Round about the walls are three or four rows of benches one above another, like the seats of a scaffold. The room has little light, but here and there are apertures for letting the vapour escape; the cold water that is wanted being let in by small channels. Some bathis have an anti-chamber for dressing and undressing; but in most of them this is done in the open court-yard, which on that account has a boarded fence, and is provided with benches of planks. In those parts of the country, where wood is scarce, they sometimes consist of wretched caverns commonly dug in the earth close to the bank of some river. In the houses of wealthy individuals, and in the palaces of the great, they are constructed in the same manner, but with superior elegance and convenience. The Beat in the bath-room is usually from 72° to 90° of Fahrenheit's thermometer; and this is much increased by throwing water every five minutes on the glowing hot stones in the chamber of the oven. Thus the heat often rises, especially on the uppermost bench to 99o. The persons that brathe lie quite naked on one of the benches, where they perspire more or less in proportion to the heat of the humid atmosphere in which they are enveloped. For promoting perspiration, and more completely opening the pores, they are first rubbed, and then gently flagellated with leafy bunches of birch. After remaining for some time in this state, they come down from the bath, and wash their bodies with warm or cold water, and at last plunge over head in a large tub of water. Many persons throw themselves immediately from the bath-room into the adjoining river; or roll themselves in the snow in a frost of 22 or more degrees. These baths, to a person inhabituated to the practice, bring on a real, though a gentle and almost voluptuous swoon. They are further salutary baths, as they promote cleanliness, assist the perspiration, render the skin soft and smooth, &c. and not voluptuous baths like those of the Greeks and Romans. All the inventions of effeminacy and luxury are entirely obviated; and of anointing after the use of the bath, indispensable in those, the Russian is wholly ignorant. Instead of this the sudden transition from heat to a rigorous frost, hardens his body, adapts it to all the severities of climate, and to every vicissitude of weather; a transition which seems to us unnatural or dangerous. merely from the prejudices of a soft and effeminate age. Mr. Tooke observes that, without doubt, the Russians owe their longevity, their robust state of health, their little disposition to certain mortal diseases, and their happy and cheerful temper, THE SOLDIER'S GRATITUDE. As thro' the streets perchance I tread, By cruel thirst oppress'd, I fondly view the Black Bull's head, And wish to be a guest. Then never cease to brew strong As strong as c'er was brew'd, The kind reception that I had, As strong as e'er was brew'd, mover. It is calculated that there are at this time about 12,000 steamengines in action in Great Britain, and these engines are capable of performing the work of 250,000 -horses. Supposing each horse to consume annually the produce of two acres, 500,000 acres are thus set free for other purposes. The Steam-ergine, to use the words of Mr. Jeffray, has become a thing stupendous alike for its force and flexibility, for the prodigious power which it can exert, and the ease, precision, and dụctility with which it can be varied, distributed, and applied. The trunk of an elephant, that can pick up a pen or rend an oak, is It can engravé as nothing to it. a seal, and crush masses of obdurate metals before it; draw out, without breaking, a thread as fine as a gossamer, and lift up a ship of war, like a bauble, in the air. It can embroider muslin, and forge anchors, cut steel into ribbons, and impel loaded vessels against the fury of the wind and waves. JACOBUS D- -Y. CLERICAL BULL. A clergyman at a respectable dissenters' chapel dismissed his congregation, a short time since, with the following benediction: The of God remain upon peace us, the rest of this meeting, and for evermore. PROFESSIONAL EMOLUMENTS. The emoluments of the profession of the law have rapidly advanced during the last three centuries. What would a modern lawyer say to the following entry in the churchwarden's accounts of St. Margaret's, Westminster, for the year 1476? Also paid to Roger Fylpott, learned in the law, for his counsel giving 3s. 8d. with fourpence for his dinner.' Though fifteen times the fee might not seem inadequate at present, yet five shillings would hardly furnish the table of a barrister, even if the fastidiousness of our times would admit of his accepting such a dole. Printed and Published by Cowie & STRANGE, 60, Paternoster Row, and 24, Fetter Lane. The Castle of Ardivillers, near Breteuil, was reported to be haunted by evil spirits. Dreadful noises were heard, and flames were seen by night to issue from various apertures. The farmer who was entrusted with the care of the house in the absence of its owner, the President Ardivillers, could alone live there; the spirit seemed to respect him but any person who ventured to take up a night's lodging with him in the castle, was sure to bear the marks of his audacity. Superstition, you know, is catching. By and by, the peasants in the neighbourhood began to see strange sights. Sometimes a dozen of ghosts would appear in the air above the castle, dancing a brawl. At other times a number of presidents and councillors in red robes appeared in the adjacent meadow. There they sat in judgment on a gentleman of the country, who had been beheaded for some crime a hundred years before. Another peasant met in the night a gentleman related to the President, walking with the wife of a gentleman in the neighbourhood, who were seen to caress each other, and then vanished. As they were both alive, perhaps they were obliged to the devil for preventing scandal. In short, many had seen, and all had heard, the wonders of the castle of Ardivillers. This affair had continued four or five years. to the great loss of the President, who had been obliged to let the estate. to the farmer at a very low rent. length, suspecting some artifice, he resolved to visit and inspect the castle. At Taking with him two gentlemen, his friends, they determined to pass the night in the same apartment, and if any noise or apparition disturbed them, to discharge their pistols at either ghost or sound. As spirits know all things, they were probably aware of these preparations, and not one appeared. But in the chamber just above, a dreadful rattling of chains was heard, and the wife and children of the farmer ran to assist their lord. They threw themselves on their knees, begging that he would not visit that terrible room. 'My lord,' said they,' what can human force effect against people of t'other world? M. de Fecancour attempted the 'same enterprise some years ago, and he returned with a dislocated arm. M. D'Urselles tried too; he was overpowered with bundles of hay, and was ill for a long time after.' In short, so many attempts were mentioned, that the President's friends advised him to abandon the design. But they determined to encounter the danger themselves. Proceeding up stairs to an extensive room, each having a candle in one hand, and a pistol in the other, they found it full of thick smoke, which increased more and more from some flames that were visible. Soon after, the ghost or spirit faintly appeared in the middle; he seemed quite black, and was amusing himself with cutting capers: but another eruption of flame and smoke hid him from their view. He had horns and a long tail, and was, in truth, a dreadful object. 6 One of the gentlemen found his courage rather fail. This is certainly supernatural,' said he, 'let us retire." The other,endued with more boldness,asserted that the smoke was that of gunpowder, which is no supernatural composition; ' and if this same spirit,' added he,' knew his own nature and trade, he should have extinguished our candles.' With these words, he jumps amidst the smoke and flames, and pursues the spectre. He soon discharged his pistol at his back, and hit him exactly in the middle; but was himself seized with fear, when the spirit, far from falling, turned round and rushed upon him. Soon recovering himself, he resolved to grasp the ghost, to discover if it were indeed aerial and impassable. Mr. Spectre, disordered by this new manœuvre, rushed to a tower, and descended a small staircase. The gentleman ran after, and never losing sight of him, passed several courts and gardens, still turning as the spirit winded, till at length they entered an open barn. Here the pursuer, certain as he thought of his prey, shut the door; but when he turned round, what was his amazement to see the spectre totally disappear! In great confusion, he called to the servants for more lights. On examining the spot of the spirit's disappearance, he found a trap-door; upon raising of which, several mattresses appeared, to break the fall of any headlong adventurer. Descending, he found the spirit -the farmer himself. His dress, of a complete bull's hide, had secured him from pistol shot; and the horns and tail were not diabolic, but mere natural appendages of the original. The rogue confessed all his tricks, and was pardoned on paying the arrears due for five years, at the old rent of the land. On Bathing. No. 9. VAPOUR BATH. (Continued.) A Baron de Tott gives us the following account of the construction of the Turkish private bath. Two small chambers built with brick, and faced with marble, or plaster, communicate with each other, and each of them is enlightened by a small cupola, cut in chequers. This little edifice is commonly joined to the house by a small room, in which those who bathe, undress; double doors, folding over and listed with felt, shut in the first and second part of the stove. wood fire is kept in a subterranean vault, the entrance to which is from without. This fire-place is under the farthermost chamber, and heats a cauldron immediately beneath the marble floor, which serves as a ceiling to the vault. Pipes, placed within the walls, proceed from the inside of the cauldron, and go out at the cupola, for the purpose of evaporating the water, which is kept continually boiling. Other tubes, communicating with a reservoir, are likewise contained within the brick-work, and furnish the inside with cold water, by means of cocks placed at the sides of those which yield the warm water. Small seats of smooth wood are made to sit on, and drains cut in the marble to |