a directly opposite nature may be expected. The warm air of the Equator will be carried above towards the North and South Poles, and these currents, moving from parts which have a greater diurnal motion, to those which have less, will cause a relative motion of the upper regions of the air from the West towards the East. Thus, the clouds above the Trade Winds are almost always observed to blow in an opposite direction to that of the wind: and Captain Hall found, on the top of the Peak of Teneriffe, a gentle gale blowing from the S.W. directly opposite to the course of the Trade Winds. The westerly winds, which prevail between the latitudes 30° and 60°, both in the northern and southern hemispheres, are no doubt occasioned by the descent of the more swiftly moving air, which has become cooled, and therefore heavier, in its passage from the Equator towards the Poles. Those who are desirous of seeing the whole phenomena of the Trade Winds and Monsoons beautifully and familiarly explained, should consult Captain Basil Hall's Fragments of Voyages and Travels, Second Series, Vol. I., ch. vii. JUVENILE VAGRANCY. C. WE stated in a former paper*, that the Society for ENGLISH APPRENTICES. distant, and, we may venture to say, that if on this occasion We need not urge, we are assured, upon the respective masters of these friendless boys, the sacred obligation under which they are laid, to treat them with due kindness and regard, and to pay such attention to their morals, as will render them an actual benefit to the community of which they now form a part. It is clear, that they have a more than ordinary claim to the sympathy of those who have so adventitiously become their guardians; and the simple fact of their forlorn condition, adds very greatly to the weight of the obligation. But, it is useless to dwell on this part of the subject, confident as we are, that every circumstance in the future history of these young emigrants, will be a full and sufficient refutation of the unfounded calumny mentioned by Captain Brenton, and will prove, that those who give currency to such allegations are utterly unacquainted with the subject upon which they suffer themselves, so confidently, yet so rashly, to pronounce judgment. The Committee have also accepted a trust of no ordinary difficulty, and which will require in its discharge great judgment and delicacy. It must never be lost sight of, that they stand in the situation of the parents of these boys, and hence they are equally bound to exercise due precaution, that no one is so placed as to be exposed to the contamination of vice, as they are to guard against his being subjected to the effects of privation and illtreatment. It is proper, also, that the dispositions of the youths should be consulted before they are placed in service, in order that they may be extensively serviceable both to themselves and to their masters. This inter-point, as well as an acquaintance with the previous habits of each individual, will be very important, and serve as the best guide to the selection of the most suitable situations for them. We have a perfect confidence in the discretion as well as humanity of the present Committee; they are not only men of business, but they have families, and their characters and habits give the best assurance that every arrangement will be made, conducive to the future welfare The youths have most of them been to school, and are by of the boys, as well as to that of the community at large. irrelevant, if we state what is the line of conduct expected no means destitute of intelligence; it therefore will not be THE Committee for the Management of Juvenile Emi- Cape Town, Sept. 2, 1833. twenty masters by ballot, making, however, eventually, some few alterations, which the previous habits and pursuits of the boys rendered absolutely necessary. The unsuccessful applicants will have the preference on the next arrival, which we have reason to expect will not be very Vol. III. p. 155. South African Advertiser, Sept. 4, 1833. from them. It is proper that these boys should understand that they have now the good fortune, not only to be placed in comfortable circumstances, with regard to all the necessaries of life, but that they are associated with a community of young persons, who are, generally speaking, distinguished for their exemplary deportment, and that a contrary line o conduct on their parts will, most assuredly, meet with merited disgrace and punishment. At present, their characters are viewed as equivocal, and it is incumbent on them so to behave, that this feeling may be removed. They are bound so to act, that if there be any persons who have permitted themselves to indulge in uncharitable reflections and surmises, they may feel some remorse-not merely for refusing to aid, but aspersing those whose sole offence, as far as they are informed, is their forlorn and destitute condition; it will be for them to show, that they are not insensible to kindness conferred-a fact which will be best indicated by a constant anxiety to discharge, with diligence and integrity, the duties assigned to them, by steadily availing themselves of the various means of improvement now placed within their reach, and by carefully shunning all those pursuits which foster idleness, debase the mind, and eventually lead to irretrievable ruin‡. Graham's Town is now a thriving place, it contains more than six hundred good substantial houses, two public libraries, a handsome commercial hall in progress, a newspaper, several excellent inns, a population of between two and three thousand souls, and its annual exports exceed 50,0001. sterling. + Graham's Town Journal, July 18, 1833. THE IDOLS OF THE SAXONS. I. SUNDAY. Ar this happy period of the world, we cannot reflect on the idolatry of ancient times, without some astonishment at the folly which has, in various regions, so sadly clouded the human mind. We feel, indeed, that it is impossible to contemplate the heavens above us; to view the planets moving in their governed order; to find comets darting from system to system in an orbit of wonderful extent; to see stars beyond stars, and to have evidence of the light of others, whose full beams have not yet reached us: we cannot meditate on these things, without a feeling of awe, that this grandeur of nature proclaims an Author tremendously great. But it is difficult to conceive, how the lessons of the skies should have taught that narrow and confined idolatry, which their amazing grandeur and almost endless extent seem calculated to forbid. In every nation but the Jewish, a gross system of superstition was gradually established. Human folly chose out strange objects to represent the Deity; the most ancient of these were the heavenly bodies; the worship of which was so strictly forbidden to the Israelites; "The sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven." (Deut. iv. 19.) The departed heroes and kings, belonging to heathen nations, were raised into gods. Foolish fancy soon added so many others, that the air, the sea, the rivers, the woods, and the earth, became stocked with divinities: and it was easier, as an ancient sage remarked, to find a deity than a man. When our Saxon ancestors had settled themselves in England, they had many gods, and worshipped various images. Speed, the historian of Britain, observes, "As in virtues the Saxons outstripped most Pagans, so in the zeal of their heathenish superstition and idolatrous service, they equalled any of them; for besides Herthus, or mother Earth, they worshipped Mercury (or more probably Mars), under the name of Woden, as their principal god of battle, and sacrificed to him their prisoners taken in war; and of him named one of the week-days Wodensday (WEDNESDAY). His wife, named Frea, was, by the like foolery held to be Venus, a goddess, unto whom another of their week-days was assigned for name and service, which of us is called FRIDAY." There is, however, a beauty in the name given by the Saxon and German nations to the Deity, whom they ignorantly worshipped, which is not equalled by any other, except his hallowed Hebrew name, JEHOVAH. The Saxons call him GOD, which is literally THE GOOD; the same word signifying both the Deity and his most endearing quality. Mr. Sharon Turner, to whose History of the AngloSaxons we are indebted for most of the above remarks, observes, that the peculiar system of worship among the English Saxons is too little known to us for its stages to be distinguished, or its progress described. It appears to have been of a very mixed nature, and to have been long in existence. Some of the objects of their adoration, however, we find in their names for the days of the week : "He was made as here appeareth, set upon a pillar, his face as it were brightened with gleams of fire, and holding, breast: the wheel being to signify the course which he with both his arms stretched out, a burning wheel upon his runneth round about the world; and the fiery gleams and brightness, the light and heat wherewith he warmeth and comforteth the things that live and grow." CHARACTER OF A TRUE FRIEND.-Concerning the man you call your friend-tell me, will he weep with you in the hour of distress? Will he faithfully reprove you to your face, for actions for which others are ridiculing or censuring you behind your back? Will he dare to stand forth in your defence, when detraction is secretly aiming its deadly weapons at your reputation? Will he acknowledge you with the same cordiality, and behave to you with the same rank and fortune, as when the claims of pride or vanity do friendly attention, in the company of your superiors in not interfere with those of friendship? If misfortune and losses should oblige you to retire into a walk of life, in which you cannot appear with the same distinction, or entertain your friends with the same liberality as formerly, will he still think himself happy in your society, and, instead of gradually withdrawing himself from an unprofriend, and cheerfully assist you to support the burden of fitable connexion, take pleasure in professing himself your your afflictions? When sickness shall call you to retire from the gay and busy scenes of the world, will he follow you into your gloomy retreat, listen with attention to your tale of symptoms," and minister the balm of consolation to your fainting spirit? And lastly, when death shall burst asunder every earthly tie, will he shed a tear upon your grave, and lodge the dear remembrance of your mutual friendship in his heart, as a treasure never to be resigned? The man who will not do all this, may be your companion-your flatterer-your seducer,-but, depend upon it, he is not your friend.-ENFIELD. 46 LONDON: JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARTS FRICE SIXPENCE, AND Sold by all Booksellers and Newsvenders in the Kingdom. TERATURE UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE MANUFACTURING TOWN OF BIRMINGHAM. THIS celebrated manufacturing town is situated in the County of Warwick, 109 miles from London, and contains about 147,000 inhabitants. The earliest authentic notice of it occurs in Domesday Book, in which it is called Bermengeham, whence may be easily deduced Bromwycham, which name, together with those of Castle-Bromwich and West Bromwich, two adjacent villages, is supposed to be derived from the quantity of broom growing in the neighbourhood. Some antiquaries suppose it to have been the Bremenium of the Romans; but others believe that it was a British town prior to the Roman invasion, and famous for the manufacture of arms. Its history, prior to the Conquest, is involved in obscurity; and from that period, till the reign of Charles the First, few incidents of moment are recorded. In the civil war during that reign, the inhabitants embraced the cause of the Parliament; and, in 1642, after the King had passed through the town, on his route to Shrewsbury, they seized the carriages containing the royal plate and furniture, and conveyed them to Warwick Castle. In 1643, Prince Rupert, on his way to open a communication between Oxford and York, here met with considerable resistance, which so provoked him, that he set fire to the town, and, after several houses had been burnt, the inhabitants saved themselves from further suffering by the payment of a heavy fine. On the 14th of July, 1791, a party having met at an hotel to celebrate the anniversary of the French Revolution, a mob collected in front of the house and broke the windows; they thence proceeded to burn down two meeting-houses, and destroyed Dr. Priestley's dwelling-house, about a mile from the town, together with his library, philosophical apparatus and manuscripts. The riot continued several days, during which other meeting-houses and private mansions were set on fire; but, on the arrival of the military from Oxford and Hounslow, order was restored: at the ensuing assizes four of the ring-leaders were convicted, and two of them suffered the penalty of the law. Shortly after this occurrence, barracks were erected near the town, on the Vauxhall-road. of Mr. Murdoch, who, after a course of experiments at Redruth, in Cornwall, lighted the shops of this factory, and, in 1802, displayed the success of his researches in a public illumination of the Soho, to celebrate the peace with France. Thomason's manufactory, in Church-street, has a splendid suite of show-rooms, containing fine specimens of gold, silver, and plated ware, medals, bronzes, &c. There are also show-rooms in Birmingham of improved japan and papier maché ware, a pin-manufactory, and a general repository, called Pantechnetheca, for the sale of articles from the various manufactories. Birmingham is pleasantly situated on an eminence, at the north-west extremity of the county, and is about two miles in length. The streets are generally spacious, well paved, and lighted with gas. The houses are mostly modern, and some of them are very handsome. In entering Birmingham from London, the road, by a stone bridge over the small River Rea, leads up an ascent into the marketplace, in the centre of which is a statue, in bronze, of Lord Nelson, finely executed by Westmacott. The market place has lately been very much enlarged, and a handsome market-house erected. The NEW TOWN-HALL, which is nearly finished, and is intended to be used for public meetings and for the musical festivals, is situated at the end of New-street. It is a noble edifice in the Grecian style, erected from the designs of Mr. Harris, and built of marble obtained from the rocks on the coast of Anglesey. The total height of the building is 84 feet; the basement is rustic, and above it is a handsome colonnade, with entablature and pediment. The principal room is said to contain a larger quantity of cubic feet than any other in Europe, and will accommodate between three and four thousand persons sitting, or ten thousand standing. It is 140 feet long, 65 high, and 65 broad. The whole will be completed for less than 20,0007., and the building is intended to be opened at the Musical Festival in October next. (See Engraving, p. 16.) The NEW MARKET-HALL, erected from designs by Mr. C. Edge, is a noble structure, the first stone of which was laid in February, 1833. It is built of enormous blocks of stone, many of them weighing nine tons each, and is in the Grecian Doric style of architecture. The principal front is in High-street, but there are altogether twelve spacious entrances. The length of the building is 365 feet, and the breadth 108 feet. It occupies an area of 4379 square yards, and is expected to be completed in June of the present year. The Cattle-Market and Horse-Fair are held at Smithfield, outside the town, on Thursday, and, on the same day, a sale of horses by auction takes place at Beardsworth's Repository, an immense establishment near the spot, which comprises accommodation for nearly 200 horses, standings for 400 carriages, and rooms for visiters. The town is under the jurisdiction of the county magistrates and a high bailiff, who presides at all public meetings. Birmingham possesses a News Room, erected in 1825, Two Public Libraries, a Philosophical Society, a School of Medicine, established in 1828, a Society of Arts, instituted in 1821, which has an annual exhibition of pictures, a Mechanics' Institute, established in 1825, a Theatre, and Baths. The extraordinary increase of Birmingham, the improvement of its manufactures, the extension of its trade, and the rapid growth of its commerce, within the last century, may be attributed chiefly to the mines of iron-ore and coal with which the district abounds, and to the numerous canals by which it is connected with every part of the kingdom. Birmingham, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, was inhabited principally, as described by Leland, "by smithes that use to make knives, and all manner of cutting tooles, and lorimers that make bittes, and a great many nailours." Soon after the Revolution, in 1688, the manufacture of fire-arms was introduced, and continued to flourish till the close of the late war, during which the Government contracts for muskets alone, generally averaged 30,000 per month; the manufacture of swords and armyaccoutrements is still carried on to a considerable extent, and, since the erection of a proof-house, by an Act of Parliament obtained in 1813, that of fowling-pieces has greatly increased. The manufacture of buttons has always been a source of wealth to many, and of employment to thousands; but the buckle-trade, established soon after the Revolution, became nearly extinct in 1812. The leathertrade has also much declined, and at present there is only one tan-yard in the town. The principal branches of manufacture are those of light and heavy steel goods, (here called toys,) gold, silver, and plated wares, trinkets, jewellery, fancy articles of every kind in the gilt toy-trade, machinery, and steam-engines. There are many iron and brass founderies, several rolling-mills of great power, and metallic hot-house manufactories, in one of which a hot-style, and contains 1378 free-sittings. St. Thomas's is also house was recently made for the Duke of Northumberland, at an expense of nearly 50,000l. Casting, modelling, diesinking, and engraving, have been brought to great perfection, and there are several glass-houses, and mills for cutting glass. The most ancient and extensive manufactory is the Soho, about a mile from the town, where, under the superintendence of Messrs. Boulton and Watt, the Birmingham manufactures were brought to their present state of perfection. In this factory were coined many of the pennypieces still in circulation; and here, also, gas was first used as a substitute for oil and tallow, under the auspices Prior to 1715, Birmingham was comprised in one parish, and for all secular purposes it is still so considered; at that time, a small portion of the original parish of St. Martin was formed into the parish of St. Philip; and, in 1829, two other districts were formed into the parishes of St. George and St. Thomas. St. Martin's is an ancient structure, in the decorated style of English architecture, containing some curious monuments. St. Philip's, erected in 1725, is in the Grecian style, and occupies the centre of a spacious area, surrounded by handsome modern buildings. St. George's was built in 1822, in the English decorated a modern church, having been completed in 1829; it is in the Grecian style. In addition to these there are St. Mary's Chapel, built in 1774; St. Paul's Chapel, in 1779, to which an elegant steeple was added in 1820; Christ Church, erected in 1813, for the especial accommodation of the poor; St. Bartholomew's; and St. Peter's, built in 1827. There are also places of worship for various classes of Dissenters. The Free Grammar-School was founded by Edward the Sixth, and endowed with the revenue of the guild of the Holy Cross, which, prior to the dissolution, occupied this spot. The endowment, arising from land, at that time amounted to only 307. per annum; at present, the ground having been let on building leases, it produces from 80007. to 10,000l. There are seven exhibitions, of 701. per annum each, to either of the Universities; and the number of scholars on the foundation is 150. The building has recently been taken down, and is about to be re-erected in the Gothic style, on a magnificent scale. The Blue-Coat Charity, established in 1724, and enlarged in 1794, maintains and educates 130 boys and 60 girls. There are also National and Lancasterian Schools, and an Infant School. The General Hospital is a handsome brick building, containing 14 wards, in which are 165 beds. It is supported chiefly by the receipts of a musical festival, held in Birmingham every third year. The Dispensary was established by subscription in 1794, and affords medical relief to about 4000 patients annually; it is a handsome building of freestone. Birmingham also possesses a Selfsupporting Dispensary, maintained by small annual subscriptions from the poor, aided by those of the honorary members; an Infirmary for Diseases of the Ear and Eye; an Infirmary for the Cure of Bodily Deformity; a Fever Hospital; an Asylum for Deaf and Dumb; a School of Industry, in which 300 children are maintained, and employed in platting straw, heading pins, &c.; Almshouses for the aged and infirm, and numerous and extensive funds for charitable purposes. About a mile from the town is a chalybeate spring; and about three miles to the west, are the remains of a large quadrangular encampment, surrounded by three ditches, which, from the extent of its area, being more than 30 acres, is supposed to be of Danish origin; pieces of armour, broken swords, and battle-axes have been ploughed up in the vicinity. Inconsiderable vestiges of an ancient Priory are still visible in the cellars of some houses in the square which now occupy its site, and a great number of human bones and sculls have been found in the neighbourhood, parts of which still bear the names of the Upper and Lower Priory. FAMILIAR ILLUSTRATIONS OF NATURAL No. VIII. CHANGES IN THE AгMOSPHERE, THERE are several causes, which tend constantly to produce changes in the atmosphere. We have already noticed, that the air which we breathe is composed of several different dry gases, that it also contains a great quantity of the vapour of water in an invisible state, besides the vapour which exists in the visible form of clouds, and mists; and that currents of wind are always moving some parts of the air over the ocean, and others over large tracts of land, by which they become heated or cooled, and raise greater or less quantities of water by evaporation. Besides these causes, there are others for instance, the action of electricity, the effects of which upon the air are less known, but very great. Thus we might expect, from the combined action of all these causes, that the atmosphere should be in a state of constant change. The real wonder is that, in a fluid so subtile as the air, yielding to every pressure, and expanding or contracting with every alteration of temperature, the changes of the air should be confined within such moderate limits as to be scarcely ever injurious. The principal changes in the atmosphere are those which affect its heat, its weight, and its moisture. The changes of heat, are those of which we are the most sensible. But our own feelings give us a very imperfect measure of heat and cold. Å simple experiment will show this, suppose a person puts one of his hands into snow, or into very cold water, and the other hand, at the same time, into water as hot as he can bear it; and, after suffering them to remain in that state for a few minutes, puts both his hands into water moderately warm. This water will convey a sensation of warmth to the hand which has been plunged into the snow, but will feel cold to the hand which has been in the hot water. As long, then, as we trust merely to our own sensations, we can have but a very uncertain estimate even of the sensible heat and cold of the air, or of any other substance. Much less can we estimate the sensible heat of bodies which part with their heat differently. If a piece of wood, a piece of marble, and a piece of iron, are all placed in a room heated to a temperature much higher than upon each, although each of these substances have that of the human body, and the hand is then laid the same actual temperature, the iron will feel the hottest, the marble not so hot, and the wood still less hot. And the reverse will be the case, if each is first exposed to the action of a temperature much colder than that of the human frame, it becomes, then, highly desirable to have some instrument, which shall measure exactly the changes of heat in the atmosphere, or in any other body. Such an instrument is called a THERMOMETER, a word which implies Heat measurer. structed, is very simple. All fluids, when heated, The principle, upon which a Thermometer is conswell out, so as to take up more room; and again shrink, when they are cooled. Hence, if we can measure the quantity of expansion or contraction, we can measure the quantity of heat which has been added, or taken away, provided that equal additions of heat always cause equal quantities of expansion. Mercury, or quicksilver, is the most convenient fluid for this purpose; since, as far as can be ascertained, it does expand equally for all equal additions of heat, within the limits which it is required to measure. Suppose, then, a certain quantity of mercury to be put into a tube AB, having a very small uniform bore from A to B, and a bulb at the end B. While the end A remains open, let the mercury in the bulb в, be violently heated. The mercury will expand, so as to fill up the whole length of the tube, and drive out any air which is in it. When the mercury has reached A, the end of the tube at A must be closed, by suddenly heating it by means of a blow-pipe. We have now the bulb and the tube filled with heated mercury. But as the mercury is left to cool, it shrinks back into the bulb, leaving a part of the tube A perfectly empty; except, indeed, that a very fine vapour of mercury still remains the effects of which may be neglected. B F Now suppose the bulb of the thermometer to be plunged into melting ice, and that the mercury sinks to the point F. That point is called the freezing point of water, which gives one natural point from which temperature may be measured. Again, let water be made to boil when the pressure of the air is in its mean state, or when the Barometer (which we shall afterwards describe) stands at a certain height, and suppose the mercury in the tube of the thermometer then to have expanded as far as the point G. This gives us a second natural point for measuring temperature. The space between F and G may be divided into such a number of equal parts, as may be thought convenient. In Fahrenheit's thermometer, which is commonly used in England, the space between the freezing and boiling points of water is divided into 180 equal parts: the freezing point being 32 degrees, and the boiling point 212 degrees. In Réaumur's thermometer, the freezing point is 0, and the boiling point 80; in Celsius's thermometer, which is now most frequently used on the Continent, the freezing point is 0, and the boiling point 100. An easy rule reduces the degrees of one of these scales to either of |