The following description of the rock is chiefly extracted from Drinkwater's History:-

Gibraltar is seven miles in circumference, forming a promontory nearly three miles in length, and presenting the most singular natural appearance. The rock, cast in the mould of nature for an impregnable fortress, runs from North to South, projecting into the sea, and is connected to the continent by an isthmus of low sand. The base of the rock on the South front is 950 yards, and the extreme breadth, taking it from the New Mole to the Mediterranean side, is 1,600 yards. It is inaccessible for the whole length of its escarpment on the coast, which is called the back of the rock. The North front, perpendicular towards the isthmus, is equally inaccessible, and the edge of this perpendicular escarpment is occupied by twelve batteries, commanding the isthmus. The front to the West and the bay is a gradual slope, and generally of easy access. There are several roads on this side the rock, which render the communication with the higher parts so easy, that cannon can be dragged up with the greatest facility.

It is at the foot of this slope that the town and garrison are placed.

The possession of this fortress, which is justly considered the brightest jewel of the British crown, was unexpectedly wrested from Spain by an English squadron under the command of Sir George Rook, in 1704.

On the 21st of July, the fleet reached the bay, and 1,800 men, English and Dutch, commanded by the Prince D'Armstadt, were immediately landed on the isthmus, and preparations were made for the attack. By day-break on the 23d, the ships appointed to cannonade the town, under Admirals Byry and Vandertreessen, with those destined to batter the New Mole, commanded by Captain Hicks, were at their several stations: a furious cannonade commenced, which was executed with such spirit and effect, that in five or six hours-the enemy were driven from their guns almost in every quarter, but most completely from the New Mole head; Captain Whittaker, with his armed boats, was ordered to possess himself of that post; but Captains Hicks and Jumper, who lay with their ships nearest the Mole, eager to share in every part of the glory, pushed ashore in their barges

before the other boats could come upThe Spaniards sprung a mine upon them, and blew up the fortification, killed two lieutenants and forty men, and wounded sixty. The assailants, however, kept possession of the works, and being joined by Captain Whittaker, boldly advanced and took a small bastion half-way betwixt the mole and the town. The Marquis de Salines, who was governor, being summoned, thought proper to surrender. Hostages were exchanged, and on the 24th the Prince of Hesse took possession of the gates; and Gibraltar has ever since continued, and it is to be hoped ever will continue, a brilliant appendage to the British Crown.

On the King's Bastion the brave Elliot took his station during the hottest part of the enemy's cannonade, on the 13th September, 1782. The combined army and fleet had more than 300 pieces of heavy ordnance in play, whilst the garrison had only 80 cannon, 7 mortars, and 9 howitzers in opposition. Upwards of 8,300 rounds, more than half of which were hot shot, and 716 barrels of powder, were expended by our artillery. It was within 900 yards of this bastion, that ten large battering ships were moored, constructed upon such principles (by Monsieur D'Arcon, a French engineer of great repute,) that they were equally considered as impregnable and incombustible, and from the prodigious power of which little else was expected than the total annihilation of the garrison. These battering ships were commanded by Admiral Morona, and were found to be no less formidable than they had been represented. The heaviest shells from the garrison rebounded from their tops, whilst the 32-pounders seemed incapable of making any impression on their hulls. A most tremendous fire was directed from the garrison. Incessant showers of hot balls, carcasses, and shells of every species, flew from all quarters, the masts of several of the ships were shot away, and the rigging of all in great confusion. The efficacy of the red hot balls at length became irresistible; about an hour after midnight, the admiral's ship was completely in flames; and before morning her associates shared the same fate; the approaching day presented one of the completest defensive victories. In 1705, the Spaniards attempted to retake it. In 1727 they laid siege to it; and from July 1779, they besieged it to

February 1783. This fortress had stood nine sieges from 1310 till 1704, when it became in the power of the British. The very name of Gibraltar revives in the bosom of every British subject the spark of military ardour. When he reflects that the whole force of the allied crowns of France and Spain seemed concentrated against this spot, such a naval and military spectacle is scarcely to be equalled in the annals of war. Their naval force consisted of 44 large ships of the line, besides 3 inferior two deckers, 10 formidable battering ships, a large floating battery, many armed vessels, and near 300 boats, purposely constructed for carrying troops. The land batteries were furnished with 246 pieces of cannon, mortars, and howitzers. The combined army amounted to 40,000 men, commanded by the Duke de Crillon, an experienced general. Besides, these immense forces were animated by the immediate presence of the Count d'Artois, and the Duke de Bourbon, two princes of the blood royal of France.

The garrison, on the other hand, consisted of only 7,000 men, having nothing to rely upon but their own conduct and courage; their confidence was not inspired by their numbers, but by the tried ability of their com

his Saturday-night's repast. It is here, indeed, there is heaven on earth.-Say, thou pampered sensualist-thou titled debauchee, adulterer, and seducercanst thou, with all thy wealth and all thy means, purchase one hour of such pure felicity and real happiness, as the virtuous and honest mechanic's Saturday-night?

Let us turn our eyes from this delicious scene, and trace the unmarried mechanic, while seated with his companions round a cheerful fire, with a jovial bowl, quaffing and drinking away care

singing either the praises of his love, or to the valour, or the amusements of his countrymen. Here is another happy scene: and why is it happy?-Because the means which produce the feast is honestly acquired: the mechanic has only to continually thank his Maker, that he has given him strength and intellect to pursue his trade; and while he industriously applies those faculties with which he is favoured, he need fear no danger. Come then, Reader, be thou a mechanic, or he thou not, fill thy glass, and drink with me, success to the mechanic's next

SATURDAY NIGHT.

the men. The glorious issue must and will ever shine with distinguished Ilustre in the annals of France. This event happened 13th September, 1782.

THE MECHANIC'S SATURDAY NIGHT,

Is to him an important night: it is the close of his week's labour: it is the eve of a day of thankfulness and rest; and the period of a little relaxation and hilarity. View the married mechanic taking homa to the "faithful partner of all his woes and all his pleasures" the produce of his week's industry-honestly and independently gained-while his little ones, which God has blessed him with, patiently waiting his return, and sweetly smiling on him, anxiously watching his weekly presentation of some little trifle, which he gives as a memento of his affection. His wife—endearing blessed name! attends him, and carefully prepares

SEEN AT STAR-CROSS, IN DEVONSHIRE, 23d JULY, 1823.

'Tis true, tis certain, man, though dead, retains
Part of himself; the immortal mind remains :
The form subsists without the body's aid,
Aerial semblance and an empty shade.-POPE.

I had written to my friend, Mr. George Staples, of Exeter, requesting him to walk over some day and dine with me, as I well knew his presence was an instant antidote to mental depression, not so much from the possession of any wit or humour, as from his unaffected kindness and amiability, the exuberance of his animal spirits, the inexhaustible fund of his laughter, which was perpetually waiting for the smallest excuse to burst out of his heart, and the contagion of his hilarity, which had an instant faculty of communicating itself to others. On the day following the transmission of this letter, as I was sitting in an alcove, to indulge my afternoon meditation, I found myself disturbed by what I imagined to be the ticking of my re

peater; but, recollecting that I had left it in the house, I discovered the noise proceeded from that little insect of inauspicious augury, the death-watch. Despising the puerile superstitions connected with this pulsation, I gave it no further notice, and proceeded towards the house, when, as I passed an umbrageous plantation, I was startled by a loud wailing shriek, and presently a screech-owl flew out immediately before me. It was the first time one of those ill-omened birds had crossed my path; I combined it with the mementa mori I had just heard, although I blushed at my own weakness, in thinking them worthy of an association; and, as I walked forward, I encountered my servant, who put a letter into my hand, which I observed was sealed with black wax. It was from the clerk of my poor friend, informing me that he had been that morning struck by an apoplectic fit, which had occasioned his almost instantaneous death!-The reader may spare the sneer that is flickering upon his features; I draw no inference whatever from the omens that preceded this intelligence: I am willing to consider them as curious coincidences, totally unconnected with the startling apparition which shortly afterwards assailed me.

Indifferent as to death myself, I am little affected by it in others. The doom is so inevitable; it is so doubtful whether the parties be not generally the gainers by the change; it is so certain, that we enter not at all into this calculation, but bewail our deprivation, whether of society, protection, or emolument, with grief purely selfish, that I run no risk of placing myself in the predicament of the inconsolable widow, who was reproached by Franklin, with not having yet forgiven God Almighty. Still, however, there was something so awful in the manner of my friend's death,-the hilarity I had anticipated from his presence, formed so appalling a contrast with his actual condition, that my mind naturally sunk into a mood of deep sadness and solemnity. Reaching the house in this frame of thought, I closed the library window shutters as I passed, and entering the room by a glass door, seated myself in a chair that fronted the garden. Scarcely a minute had elapsed, when I was thrilled by the strange wailful howl of my favourite spaniel, who had followed me into the apart

ment, and came trembling and crouching to my feet, occasionally turning his eyes to the back of the chamber, and again instantly reverting them with every demonstration of terror and agony. Mine instinctively took the same direction, when, notwithstanding the dimness of the light, I plainly and indisputably recognized the apparition of my friend sitting motionless in the great arm-chair!! It is easy to be courageous in theory, not difficult to be bold in practice, when the mind has time to collect its energies; but taken, as I was, by surprise, I confess, that astonishment and terror so far mastered all my faculties, that, without daring to cast a second glance towards the vision, I walked rapidly back into the garden, followed by the dog, who still testified the same agitation and alarm.

Here I had leisure to recover from my first perturbation; and as my thoughts rallied, I endeavoured to persuade myself that I had been deluded by some conjuration of the mind, or some spectral deception of the visual organ. But, in either case, how account for the terror of the dog? He could neither be influenced by superstition, nor could his unerring sight betray him into groundless alarm-yet it was incontestible that we had both been appalled by the same object. Soon recovering my natural fortitude of spirit, I resolved, whatever might be the consequences, to return and address the apparition. I even began to fear it might have vanished; for Glanville, who has written largely on ghosts, expressly says-" that it is a very hard and painful thing for them to force their thin and tenuous bodies into a visible consistence; that their bodies must needs be exceedingly compressed, and that therefore they must be in haste to be delivered from their unnatural

pressure." I returned, therefore, with some rapidity towards the library; and although the dog stood immoveable still at some distance, in spite of my solicitations, and kept earnestly gazing upon me, as if in apprehension of an approaching catastrophe, I proceeded onwards, and turned back the shutters which I had closed, determined not to be imposed upon by any dubiousness of the light. Thus fortified against deception, I re-entered the room with a firm step, and there, in the full glare of day, did I again clearly and vividly behold the identical appa

rition, sitting in the same posture as before, and having his eyes closed!!

My heart somewhat failed me under this sensible confirmation of the vision, but, summoning all my courage, I walked up to the chair, exclaiming, with a despairing energy-" In the name of heaven and of all its angels, what dost thou seek here?"-When the figure, slowly rising up, opening its eyes, and stretching out its arms, replied "A leg of mutton and caper sauce, with a bottle of prime old Port, for such is the dinner you promised me." "Good God!" I ejaculated, “What can this mean? Are you not really dead?" "No more than you are," replied the figure: "Some open-mouthed fool told my clerk that I was, and he instantly wrote to tell you of it; but it was my namesake, George Staples, of Castlestreet, not me, nor even one of my relations; so let us have dinner as soon as you please, for I am as hungry as a hunter."

The promised dinner being soon upon the table, my friend informed me, in the intervals of his ever-ready laughter, that as soon as he had unde. ceived his clerk, he walked over to Star-cross, to do me the same favour; that he had fallen asleep in the armchair, while waiting my return from the grounds; and as to the dog, he reminded me that he had severely punished him at his last visit for killing a chicken, which explained his terror, and his crouching to him for protection, when he recognized his chastiser.-New Monthly Mag.

ON MAN.

"Then say not Man's imperfect." The mind of man is so curiously constructed, and so fitly framed for enjoyment, that it is capable of extracting pleasure from the most opposing circumstances, and the most diversified scenes. When contemplating an alpine chain of mountains, or measuring its altitude by the eternal stars, it rises and swells with emotions of sublimity, because it becomes conscious of an acquaintanceship with the Deity, through the medium of his most exalted works. It exults and riots in the more playful garniture of nature-the flying cloud-the running stream-the plumage of birds, and the graceful motions of animals: it reposes with intense gratification on the

gentle slope of hills-the undulation of vales-the meandering of rivers, and the heaven-tinctured bow; it glows with enthusiasm when feasting on the rich propect of the full-orbed sun, sinking amid the golden clouds of the west.

Man, by a power more subtle and refined than alchymy, can extract from the warring elements of discord, the most sublime harmony-from the apparently deformed face of things, the most enchanting beauty-from poisons of the deadliest power, the kindly healing balm-the animating breath of life. Without this faculty, his title of Lord of the Universe would be but an empty name; for in physical qualifications, he is far inferior to many of the animals around him; but animated by his power, he regards the rolling year as a round of perpetual gratification.

In spring he hails with delight the verdant livery of the fields--the kindly influence of the gradually approaching sun, and all the variegated charms of unfolding nature; his bosom swells with the ripening bud, his heart is in unison with every thing around, and his soul harmonizing with the thousand songsters of the grove, hymns forth spontaneously its liveliest feelings of gratitude and devotion. It is the season when the beautiful vitality of nature rekindles the dormant sparks of ambition-pours tributary streams into his sea of love-animates him to exertion-recalls to his memory the golden past, and uncurtains to his admiring view the glorious vista of the future; -it is the season of the imagination, and, steeped in delicious dreams of poesy, he sees noon-day visions of the great of old; already feels upon him the warm flush of inspiration, and hails with rapturous emotions the first consciousness of genius as the harbinger of perpetual spring-time to his soul"Tis the divinity that stirs within him."

Let us reverse the picture, and pourtray the falling honours of the year;let us look at autumn with "his golden hand gilting the falling leaf," amid waving harvests and luxuriant vintages, walking like the God of Plenty, pressing the blood of grapes beneath his feet, and bearing the sheaves with him. The former was the season of flowers, this of fruits; still the contemplative mind feels an equal susceptibility of delight. The pervading spirit is the same, whether it speaks to him in the