pounds, avoirdupois weight, of distilled water, weighed in air, at the temperature of 62°, the barometer being at 30 inches, and that this be the unit, and only standard measure of capacity.

That a quart be the fourth part, and a pint, one eighth part of such standard gallon. That two such gallons be a peck, eight such gallons a bushel, and eight such bushels a quarter of corn, or other dry goods, not measured by heaped measure.

That the bushel, for heaped measure, be made round, with a plain and even bottom, nineteen inches and a half from outside to outside, and that it contain eighty pounds avoirdupois of distilled

water.

That, in using this bushel, the goods, commonly sold by heaped measure, shall be heaped up to the height of at least six inches. That three such bushels shall be a sack, and twelve sacks a chaldron.

That in all cases of dispute respecting the correctness of any measures of capacity, where recourse cannot be conveniently had to any of the standard measures of capacity, or to parts or multiples of the same, it be lawful for any justice of the peace, or magistrate, to ascertain the content of such measure of capacity, by direct reference to the weight of pure, or rain water, which such measure is capable of containing ;-ten pounds avoirdupois weight of such water, at 62° Fahrenheit, being the standard gallon.

The act also ordains, that copies and models be provided of the standard yard, standard pound, standard gallon, and standard for heaped measure, and of such parts and multiples thereof as the lord high treasurer, or the commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury, shall judge expedient to be deposited at the Exchequer; and other copies sent to the lord mayor of London, and to the chief magistrates of Edinburgh and Dublin.

This act contains other clauses which it would be superfluous to notice.

We have already explained to our readers the manner in which the standard yard, if lost, might be regained, by means of the pendulum; and we shall now make them acquainted with the mode to be pursued in recovering the troy pound, and the imperial gallon, if lost or defaced.

When any substance is immersed in water, it evidently displaces a quantity of water equal to its own bulk; and if a body be weighed in air, and afterwards weighed while suspended in water, its weight will be less in the latter than in the former case, by the weight of water (equal to its own bulk) which it has displaced. Suppose a cylinder to be carefully measured by the standard scale, verified, as we have explained, by means of the pendulum, and

that

that its bulk is found equal to 64 cubic inches. Now take any brass weights, (the value being indifferent, provided that they are equal to one another,) and weigh the cylinder in air, suspending it from the bottom of the scale-pan. Place a vessel of distilled water, at the temperature of 62°, under the scale-pan from which the cylinder is suspended, and take out weights from the other scale, until the cylinder sinks into the water, and the scale-beam becomes again horizontal. The weights so taken out, which we will suppose to be 1000, will be equal to the weight of 64 cubic inches of distilled water. Now, we know that one cubic inch of water weighs 252.248 troy grains; therefore, 64 cubic inches weigh 16144 grains nearly, and consequently the 1000 weights, which were taken out of the scale, are equal to 16144 troy grains, whence the avoirdupois pound may be readily determined; and the vessel which will contain, when full, ten such pounds of water, is the imperial gallon.

The bill having been passed, the lords commissioners of his Majesty's treasury requested the further assistance of the commis sioners of weights and measures in constructing the new standards. This work was also intrusted to Captain Kater, and in a little more than a year the required standards were completed, and lodged in the Treasury, in order to be sent to the Exchequer, Guildhall, Edinburgh, and Dublin.

To give our readers an idea of the care with which these standards were adjusted, we must refer them to the Philosophical Transactions' for 1826.

We have now brought down our account of the weights and measures of England, from the earliest times to the present period; and we think that, if we have succeeded in making ourselves intelligible, our readers will agree with us that a system more simple, accurate, and convenient, than that now established, could hardly have been devised. No change has been made in the standards of length or of weight, and very little in those of capacity. Every body either has, or can readily procure avoirdupois weights, and any vessel which, when filled, will hold ten avoirdupois pounds of water, is the legal imperial gallon; the vessel which holds two and a half pounds, the quart; that containing one and a quarter pounds, the pint; and any vessel which, when full, will contain eighty such pounds of water, is the corn bushel.

The present corn bushel exceeds the Winchester bushel, as defined by King William, by part of its capacity; and we have heard an objection to its adoption founded upon this trifling difference, which our readers, we have no doubt, will regard as puerile, when they are informed of what we know, by careful experiment,

periment, to be the fact, that the quantity of wheat contained in the bushel may be made to vary not less than a ninth part of the whole, according to the manner in which it is put into the measure!

It appears that the decimal system was carefully considered by the commissioners, and rejected, we think upon good grounds, in favour of the binary division. The decimal system certainly has the advantage in arithmetical operations; but, for all the purposes of common life, the binary is infinitely to be preferred. Ten is capable of bisection only once, but every milliner who wishes to subdivide a yard of ribbon, obtains, merely by putting the ends together, a half, a quarter, an eighth, and a sixteenth or nail. This is the method in common use; and it would be difficult, if not impossible, to banish it for a system wanting this great practical convenience.

Before we conclude, we wish to make a remark, which appears to us to be of the utmost importance. One of the clauses of the recent act directs, that in cases of dispute respecting the correctness of any measure of capacity, in places where recourse cannot be had to verified copies of the standard measures, it may be lawful for magistrates to ascertain the content of such measure, by direct reference to the weight of water which it is capable of containing.

Now, as it appears to have been the intention of the commissioners, that the capacity of every measure should be determined solely by the weight of water which it would contain, and not by comparison with any similar measure of capacity; and as the imperial gallon is accordingly defined by the act to contain ten pounds avoirdupois weight of water, we cannot but think that this clause, by directing a comparison, in the first instance, with a standard measure of capacity, has departed in some degree from the simplicity and accuracy contemplated by the commissioners, and, perhaps, rendered that ambiguous which would otherwise have been perfectly clear, and generally understood.

ART. VIII.-The Works of John Home, Esq.; now first collected: to which is prefixed an Account of his Life and Wri tings. By Henry Mackenzie, Esq. F. R. S, E. 3 vols. 8vo. Edinburgh. 1824.

THE memory of Mr. Home, as an author, depends, in England, almost entirely upon his celebrated tragedy of Douglas, which not only retains the most indisputable possession of the stage, but produces a stronger effect on the feelings of the au

dience,

dience, when the parts of Douglas and Lady Randolph are well filled, than almost any tragedy since the days of Otway. There may be something of chance in having hit upon a plot of such general interest; and no author has been more fortunate in seeing the creatures of his imagination personified by the first performers which England could produce. But it is certain, that to be a favourite with those whose business it is to please the public, a tragedy must possess, in a peculiar degree, the means of displaying their powers to advantage; and it is equally clear, that the subject of Douglas, however felicitous in itself, was well suited to the talents of the writer, who treated it so as to enable them to accomplish a powerful effect on the feelings of successive generations of men.

It must be interesting, therefore, to the public, to know the history and character of that rarest of all writers in the present age a successful tragic author; by which we understand, one whose piece has not only received ephemeral success, but has established itself on the stage as one of the best acting plays in the language. There is also much of interest about Home himself, as his character is drawn, and his habits described, in the essay prefixed to these volumes, by the venerable author of the Man of Feeling, who, himself very far advanced in life, still cherishes the love of letters, and condescends to please at once and instruct those of the present day, who are attached to such pursuits, by placing before them a lively picture of those predecessors at whose feet he was brought up.

Neither is it only to Scotland that these annals are interesting. There were men of literature in Edinburgh before she was renowned for romances, reviews, and magazines

Vixerunt fortes ante Agamemnona;'

and a single glance at the authors and men of science who dignified the last generation, will serve to show that, in those days, there were giants in the North. The names of Hume, Robertson, Fergusson, stand high in the list of British historians. Adam Smith was the father of the economical system in Britain, and his standard work will long continue the text-book of that science. Dr. Black, as a chemist, opened that path of discovery which has since been prosecuted with such splendid success. Of metaphysicians, Scotland boasted, perhaps, but too many: to Hume and Fergusson we must add Reid, and, though younger, yet of the same school, Mr. Dugald Stewart. In natural philosophy, Scotland could present Professor Robeson, James Watt whose inventions have led the way to the triumphs of human skill over the elements, and Clerk, of Eldin, who taught the British seaman

the

the road to assured conquest. Others we could mention; but these form a phalanx, whose reputation was neither confined to their narrow, poor, and rugged native country, nor to England and the British dominions, but known and respected wherever learning, philosophy, and science were honoured.

It is to this distinguished circle, or, at least, to the greater part of its members, that Mr. Mackenzie introduces his readers; and they must indeed be void of curiosity who do not desire to know something more of such men than can be found in their works, and especially when the communication is made by a contemporary so well entitled to ask, and so well qualified to command, attention. We will endeavour, in the first place, to give some account of Mr. Home's life and times, as we find them detailed by this excellent biographer, and afterwards more briefly advert to his character as an author.

Mr. John Home was the son of Mr. Alexander Home, townclerk of Leith. His grandfather was a son of Mr. Home, of Floss, a lineal descendant of Sir James Home, of Coldingknowes, ancestor of the present Earl of Home. The poet, as is natural to a man of imagination, was tenacious of being descended from a family of rank, whose representatives were formerly possessed of power scarcely inferior to that of the great Douglases, and well nigh as fatal both to the crown and to themselves. We have seen a copy of verses addressed by Home to Lady Kinloch, of Gilmerton, in which he contrasts his actual situation with his ancient descent. They begin nearly thus,-for it must be noticed we quote from memory:—

'Sprung from the ancient nobles of the land,
Upon the ladder's lowest round I stand:'

and the general tone and spirit are those of one who feels himself by birth and spirit placed above a situation of dependence to which for the time he was condemned. The same family pride glances out in our author's History of the Rebellion of 1745, in the following passage:

At Dunbar the Earl of Home joined Sir John Cope. He was then an officer in the Guards, and thought it a duty to offer his service, when the king's troops were in the field. He came to Dunbar, attended by one or two servants. There were not wanting persons upon this occasion to make their remarks, and observe the mighty change which little more than a century had produced in Scotland.

It was known to everybody, who knew anything of the history of their country, that the ancestors of this noble lord (once the most powerful peers in the south of Scotland) could, at a short warning, have raised in their own territories a body of men, whose approach that highland army, which had got possession of the capital of Scotland

(and