direction under it. While these clouds are agitated with the most rapid motions, the rain generally falls in the greatest plenty, and if the agitation is exceedingly great, it commonly hails. While the thunder-cloud is swelling, and extending its branches over a large tract of country, the lightning is seen to dart from one part of it to another, and often to illuminate its whole mass. When the cloud has acquired a sufficient extent, the lightning strikes between the clond and the earth, in two opposite places, the path of the lightning lying through the whole body of the cloud and branches. The longer this lightning coutinues the more rare the cloud grows, and the less dark is its appearance, till at length it breaks in different places and displays a clear sky. A wind always blows from the place whence a thunder cloud proceeds, and the wind is more or less violent in proportion to the sudden appearance of the thunder cloud, the rapidity of its expansion and the velocity with which the adscititious clouds join it. By the sudden condensation of such a prodigious quantity of vapor, the air must be displaced and agitated on all sides. To the discovery of the American philoso pher we are indebted for an invention which it suggested, for securing buildings from this formidable enemy, by means of elevated metal conductors, by which the electricity is discharged from a cloud passing over them." Earl Stanhope, whose indefatigable mind is incessantly engaged in researches tending to the general benefit of mankind, has communicated to the public, in a treatise on this subject, some essentials to be observed in the. erection of conductors for buildings. He advises that the upper end of the rod, for fifteen or twenty inches, should be of copper, and not of iron; as the latter, when exposed to the weather, will rust, and rust is not a conductor of electricity; and that the iron part of the rod should be painted, but not the upper extremity, because paint isl kewise no conductor. He farther advises that the upper extremity of a conducting rod should not only be accurately pointed and finely tapered, but that is should be extremely prominent, about ten or fifteen feet above all the parts of the building which are the nearest to it. We may add, that a conductor should always be carried into the earth some feet beyond the foundation of the building, and, if possible, terminate in water. The most astonishing discovery ever made in that branch of science to which the consideration of this subject belongs, was that by which the celebrated Franklin demonstrated the perfect similarity, or rather identity of lightning and electricity. To this discovery he was led by comparing the effects of lightning with those of electricity, and by reffecting, that iftwogun-barrels electrified will strike at two inches, and make a loud report, what must be the effect of ten thousand acres of electrified cloud. Not satisfied, however, with speculation, he constructed a kite with a pointed wiredouble, to place the chairs upon them. A The safest situation during a thunder-storm is the cellar, for when a person is below the surface of the earth, the lightning must strike it, and its force in all probabihty he expended before it can reach him. Dr Franklin advises persons apprehensive of lightning to sit in the middle of a room, but not under a metal lustre, or any other conductor, and to place their fet up on another chair. He adds, that it will be still safer to lay two or three beds or matrasses in the middle of the room, and folding them hammock suspended by silk cords, would be an fixed upon it, which, during a thunder-storm, beld in his hand being of silk, that the electric virtue might stop when it came to the key At this key he charged phials, and from the fire thus obtained, he kindled spirits and performed all the common electrical experiments. After the discovery Dr. Franklin constructed an insulated rod to draw the lightning from the atmosphere into his house, in order to enable him to make experiments upon it. He also connected with it two bells, which gave bim notice, by ringing, when his rod was electrified. This was the origin of the metallic conductors now in general use. The distance of a thunder-storm, and consequently the danger, is not difficult to be estimated. As light travels at the rate of 72,420 leagues in a second, its effects may be regarded as instantaneous within any moderate distance. Sound, on the contrary, is transmitted only at the rate of 1,142 feet in the same time. By observing therefore the time which intervenes between the flash and the thunder which follows it, a very accurate calculation may be made of its distance, and no better means can be recommended for removing unnecessary appre heusions. 1 POETRY, ORIGINAL AND SELECT. THE BLIND BARD OF MELES; Addressed to the Rev. W. Hamilton Drummond, of Mount Collyer, near Belfast. On for a noble strain like thine, Or from old Jura's cloudy cone, On wings of thouder borne along, And Fate's relentless doom they taught The son of Hades and of Night He thought to quench the mental beam, "And, when beneath your viewless foe, "You will forget the lesson soon, "On Erin's shores the battle's roar "The northern echoes shall renew, "When with his mountain sons of fame, "Freedom assails the hostile crew. "Hark on the Caledonian targe "The sound of combat rings afar, "The Grampian spears begin the charge, "And stem the thundering tide of war. "For other times and other climes "Shall see the glorious day return; "The thundering God shall ride the flood "On fiery wheels in triumph borne." Thus Poesy can touch the chord, That wakes the soul's responsive glow; And Courage hears the magic word, That nerves his hand to strike the blow. Perhaps even Bronte's awful shade, Oh for a manly strain like thine, Or from old Jura's cloudy cone, S. F. ALINE'S COMPLAINT. TRANSLATED BY R. C. DALLAS, ESQ. (From Madame Genlis's Siege of Rochelle.) By river-bank, or hillock-rise, And sings her plaintive song :- Or what a mother's joy? No husband's cheering smile I see, "Ere well that I could call him mine, Far, far in search of wealth to rove, "O happy day that made thee mine, O mournful day that made me thine, While yet the sprightly dance and lay, "This lovely boy renews my pangs, While round me thus he crying hangs, O! then return! chace gloom away, TO A YOUNG LADY, ON HER VISIT TO AN EMINENT PORTRAIT PORTER, by skill, thy form may give, If 1 Ledyard, who had travelled on foot over almost the whole habitable globe, observed:-"To a woman I never addressed myself in the language of decency and friendship, without receiving a decent and friendly answer. was hungry or thirsty, wet or sick, they did not hesitate, like men, to perform a generous action: in so free and kind a manner did they contribute to my relief, that if I was dry, I drank the sweetest draught; and if hungry, I ate the coarsest morsel with a double relish." PLACE the White Man on Afric's coast, Whose swarthy sons in blood delight, Who of their scorn to Europe boast, And paint their very demons white; There while the sterner sex disdains To soothe the woes they cannot feel, Woman will strive to heal his pains, And weep for those she cannot heal. Her's is warm pity's sacred glow; From all her stores she bears a part, And bids the spring of Hope reflow, That languish'd in the fainting heart. 1 "What though so pale his haggard face, "Perhaps on some far distant shore, Thus her compassion Woman shows: "From some sad land the stranger comes, "Tis good the fainting soul to cheer, Dear source of many a mingled feeling, How did I dread yet wish thee here! While hope and fear, in turus prevailing, Serv'd but to render thee more dear. How glow'd my heart with exultation, To smooth for him the furry bed. The Powers above our Lapland bless, With good no other people know; T' enlarge the joys that we possess By feeling those that we bestow!" ELINOR, THE CONVICT. The anchor weigh'd, the swelling sails were spread, And England's parting shores fled fast from view, Thus in extremes of cold and heat, Wherever grief and want retreat, And Woman holds affliction dear: THE MOTHER TO HER CHILD. WELCOME, thou little dimpled stranger, O! welcome to ney fond embrace; Thou sweet reward of pain and danger, Still let me press thy cherub face. And breath'd her soul into a last adieu: Ye white cliffs of Albion, that fade on the skies, How fair do ye seem to the outcast's dim eyes, The miscreant, banish'd for ever! The sands too, beneath you, look goldenly Ale, that securely climbs the tope Strain, strain, balls of sight, your faint facul- When the Septentrian seas are froze ties strain, By Boreas's biting gale, To keep unpinch'd the Russian's nose, And save unrot the Vandal's toes, O! give me ale. Grandchild to Ceres, Barley's daughter, Wine's emulous neighbour, if but stale, Ennobling all the nymphs of water, And filling each man's heart with laughter, Hah! give me ale. PUBLIC, AMUSEMENTS FOR JULY. HAYMARKET. On Thursday, June 30, was produced at this theatre a farce, entitled "Plot and Counterplot; or, The Portrait of Cervantes." It is a translation from the French; or, in other words, an adaptation to the English stage, by Mr. Charles Kemble. The humour of the piece consists in the counteracting intrigues of two rival lovers, who are scheming, by the assistance of their servants, to procure the daughter of a rich painter. whom the painter had offered a premium te obtain. It is from the collision of the two pretended carcases, that the humour is derived, and the plot and counterplot put in motion. The denouement may easily be surmised. The deserving lover gains his mistress, and the immoral intriguer is put to flight. This is in truth a most excellent farce. Curiosity is perpetually on the stretch, and attention is fixed to the very last scene. The incidents are numerous, and succeed each other with great rapidity; and the whole is dialogue. For this purpose, each of the young gentle-sustained with a very lively and pertinent men introduces bis respective servant into the house of the painter, in the character of the corpse of Cervantes, a portrait of This farce has been received with great ap. plause, and not with more than it deserves. |