underneath sometimes expands with such force as to rend the superior strata with violent explosions. In the frosty climates of the polar regions these explosions are sometimes as loud as cannon.→→→ Blocks of slate-stone, which is formed in thin plates or strata, not separable by a tool, are taken out of the quarry and exposed to rain, which soaking into the pores of the stone, is there frozen into ice, which by its expansion breaks the stone into thin plates. In the iron-works they sometimes, in order to break an old bomb-shell, fill it with water, then fasten up the vent and expose it to the frost, which bursts it into pieces without farther trouble. It is necessary, therefore, in order to preserve a vessel which has liquor in that is expected to freeze, to leave sufficient room for this expansion. The effects of it are observable in a thousand phænomena: trees are burst, rocks are rent, walnut, ash, and oak-trees, are sometimes cleft asunder, with a noise like the explosion of fire-arms. EFFECTS OF EXTREME COLD. WHEN some French mathematicians wintered at Tornea, in Lapland, the external air, when suddenly admitted into their rooms, converted the moisture of the air into whirls of snow; their breasts seemed to be rent when they breathed it, and the contact was intolerable to their bodies; and the aqueous parts of the spirits of wine, which had not been highly rectified, burst some of their thermo meters. Extreme cold often proves fatal to animal life: 7000 Swedes perished at once in attempting to pass the mountains which divide Norway from Sweden. In cases of extreme cold, the person attacked first feels himself extremely chilly and uneasy, he begins to turn listless, is unwilling to walk, or use the exercise necessary to keep him warm, and at last turns drowsy, sits down to refresh himself with sleep-but wakes no more. Dr. Solander, with some others, when at Terra del Fuego, having taken an excursion up the country, the cold was so intense as to kill one of the company: the doctor, though he had warned his companions of the danger of sleeping in that situation, could not be prevented from making that dangerous experiment himself; and though he was awaked with all possible expedition, he was so much shrunk in bulk that his shoes fell off his feet, and it was with the utmost difficulty he recovered. In very severe frosts and very cold climates, rivers have been known to be frozen over with great rapidity. Dr. Goldsmith mentions having seen the Rhine frozen at one of its most precipitate cataracts, and the ice standing in glassy columns like a forest of large trees, the branches of which had been lopt away. So hard does the ice become in cold countries, that in 1740 a palace of ice was built at Petersburgh, after a very elegant model, and in just proportions of Augustan architecture. It was 52 feet long, and 20 feet high. The materials were quarried from the surface of the river Neva; and the whole stood glistening against the sun with a brilliancy almost equal to his To increase the wonder, six cannons and two bonibs, all of the same materials, were planted before this extraordinary edifice; the cannon were three-pounders, they were charged with gunpowder, and fired off; the ball of one pierced an oak plank two inches thick, at 60 paces distance, nor did the piece burst with the explosion. SING DUTY OF CONSIDERING THE POOR. INCE there is, and, to answer the purposes of society, there must be inequalities among men, it is but natural to ask the man who finds himself in a situation preferable to that of his neighbour, and yet refuses to have compassion upon him in his distress-How came your lot to be cast in so fair a ground? It is not your merit or his demerit which occasions the difference between you. It has been permitted, that the work of God may be manifested in you both; that he from his poverty may learn patience and resignation, and you be taught charity, and the right employment of the good things vouchsafed you. He was not suffered to fall into this condition that 'you should overlook and despise, but that you should consider and comfort him. You have an advantage over him without doubt→→→ and your Saviour has informed you wherein it consists" It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Secure this blessing, and the end of your being made to differ is answered. It might have pleased God that you should have been poor→→ but this is not all-it may please him that you shall be so; and hard would you esteem it in such a case not then to experience the benevolence you are now invited to display. It is God's high prerogative to exalt and to abase: he putteth down one and setteth up another. But whether riches leave you or not, yet a little while-and it can be but a little while-before you must leave them. However gay and prosperous you go through life, death will certainly strip you of all, and leave you more truly destitute than the neediest wretch that was ever laid at your gate. Neither land nor money can accompany you to the grave. The hour must come-and while we speak it is hastening forward-when strength will droop, beauty will fade, and spirits will fail; when physicians will despair, friends will lament, and all will retire; when from the palaces of the city, and the paradises of the country, you must go down to the place where all these things are forgotten, and take up your residence in the solitude of the tomb. What then will riches avail? Much every way if they have been bestowed in charity; if the thought of death— that most profitable and salutary of all thoughts, that epitome of true philosophy-shall have excited you through life to "consider the poor." POETRY. AN IRREGULAR ODE ON THE MORAL PRINCIPLES OF MASONRY. DESIGNED FOR THE CONSECRATION OF THE KING GEORGE'S LODGE, IN SUNDERLAND; BEING THE BIRTH-DAY OF HIS MAJESTY GEORGE THE THIRD. SOUND! BY J. CAWDell, comedIAN. CHORUS PRIMO. ! sound aloud! your instruments of joy! From pole to pole resound! And may no hostile cares our social mirth annoy! Raise, raise the voice of harmony, all raise ! Your vocal strength display! And charm the list'ning world with jocund songs of praise. VOL. IV. May inagic sweetness crown my lays, And urge a theme divine! Confess'd unequal to the trembling task, To touch the lyre so oft superior strung, Your candour, patience, justice bids me ask, And for a lab'ring heart excuse a fault'ring tongue. Their panting joy, to raise their willing hands, A day which Britons e'er must hold divine: Has lent our favour'd isle the best of KINGS. May Heaven, propitious, your endeavours crown, Сс May moral Virtue meet no savage foes Within these walls made sacred to your cause! BROTHERLY LOVE. Hail! first grand principle of Masonry, for ever hail! A genial warmth from each expanded breast. RELIEF. Relief, of Charity the soul, Whose lib'ral hands from pole to pole extend, Scorns mean restraint, disdains controul, And gives alike to enemy and friend. Empty distinctions here contemned fall, For true Relief is bounteous to all. TRUTH, Nor is with paler glory Truth array'd, In bright simplicity she shines, carest--- It may our easy faith awhile deceive; And banish'd Falsehood can no longer live. FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY. When first kind Heav'n to th' astonish'd view Agreeing all, this sacred truth allow: (And we its force with zealous warmth increase) That Faith, Hope, Charity, possess'd, bestow The fairest claim to everlasting peace, FAITH. By Faith what miracles in distant times were done! And Death his fruitless dart to Faith resign'd. HOPE. O fairest, sweetest, harbinger of joy! Whose aid supreme with gratitude we own; Tho' throbbing griefs the soul oppress, When conscious sin the dying wretch reproves, Whilst from his quiv'ring lip the doubtful pray'r is sent; CHARITY. Fair Charity next, Masonic patroness! Merits that praise which only hearts can give; The wretched widow, plung'd in streaming woes, Till Heav'n-born Charity ev'ry comfort sends. *- AIR II. AN ALLEGORY ON CHARITY. As Poverty late, in a fit of despair, Was beating her bosom and tearing her hair, Smiling Hope came to ask-what her countenance told- Come, rise! said the sweet rosy herald of joy, *For the lasting honour of Masonry that noble Asylum in St. George's Fields for the Female Offspring of indigent Masons, originally set on foot by the Chevalier Ruspini, is now nearly completed. We have not forgotten our promise to engrave the Plan and Elevation of the Building. |