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Bunsen's pile is the most powerful of all the constant- stone, is the fact, that it forms the line of separation between current piles, and most frequently used. However, the the Primary and the Secondary rocks. The organic remains current grows weaker rather rapidly, as the sulphuric acid of the Trias, the upper division of it, are mesozoic, or middle life; combines with the zinc. This pile has also the disadvantage of but those of the Permian are paleozoic, or ancient life, or giving out vapours of hypo-nitric acid, which are a serious in- related to the forms of the earliest animals on the globe. convenience when the couples are at all numerous. In England, the structure of the Permian rocks may, perhaps, be best studied about the neighbourhood of Shrewsbury. In that region a limy shale contains thin seams of coal, below which there is a sandstone with trap-tuff, quartzy pebbles, and concretions of ironstone, all of which beds seem to be upper parts of the coal measures. Above that limy shale are, a red shale, clayey marl, and a loose yellowish sandstone, containing also some very thin seams of poor coal, all of which beds may be considered as the foundation of British Permian. Higher up still are dark red sandstone and shale, having occasionally concretions of dark mottled limestone. These sandstones and shale are again covered by conglomerates, which in some places are so calcareous as to be burnt for lime, but at Alberbury, between Shrewsbury and the Breiddyn Hills, they become nearly a compact, yellow, magnesian limestone. This is in harmony with the character of the Permian on the Continent, where some of the lower strata contain seams of coal.

To vary the surface according to the effects to be produced, M. Deleuil constructed Bunsen couples of two sizes, which we shall denote by large and small models. In the former the zinc cylinder is about eight inches and a half high, in the latter about five and a half. M. Deleuil considers that, as far as the effects dependent upon surfaces are concerned, a large model couple is equivalent to about two couples of the small model. In future, when we speak of a number of couples, without mentioning the model, the small model is to be understood. In the coal pile, the zinc and sulphuric acid were at first put in the porous vessel, and the coal occupied the present place of the zinc. In this arrangement the surface of the zinc being less than the present, the chemical action was also less, and consequently the development of electricity was less too. Property of Amalgamated Zinc.-M. de la Rive has observed that zinc when perfectly pure is not liable to be acted upon by sulphuric acid diluted with water, but becomes so if it is put in contact with a plate of platinum or copper, which is plunged in the solution. Common zinc, on the contrary, which is not pure, is liable to intense action from the diluted acid. However, if it is amalgamated with mercury, it acquires the property of pure zinc, and is only acted upon when it is in contact with a copper or platinum wire, which is also plunged in the solution; that is to say, when it forms part of a couple in a state of active operation.

This property seems to be owing to the electrical condition assumed by the zinc through its contact with the mercury. It has this advantage for use in piles, that as long as the current is not closed, that is to say, as long as there is no current, the zine is not acted upon. It is observable also, that with amalgamated zinc the current is more regular, and at the same time more intense for the same quantity of dissolved metal.

To amalgamate the zinc, first plunge it in water acidulated with sulphuric acid, in order to clean it, and then soak it in mercury for about a minute. Then take it out, and let the excess of mercury drop off.

LESSONS IN GEOLOGY.-No. LVII.
BY THOS. W. JENKYN, D.D., F.R.G.S., F.G.S., ETC.
CHAPTER V.

ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF ROCKS.
SECTION X.

ON THE PERMIAN FORMATION.

IN our last "Lesson" you were told that the system of rocks which was formerly called the New Red Sandstone, is now divided into two separate groups, of which the upper group is called the TRIAS, and the lower group the PERMIAN.

Perm was an ancient kingdom, but now forms a large province of Russia, and occupies an area of about three times the size of England. In Perm, the New Red Sandstone covers a space of 4,000 miles in circumference. In this region, as well as in Saxony and other parts of Germany, the lower division of the New Red Sandstone, which used to be called the Magnesian Limestone division, is found to be marked by such distinct peculiarities, both in mineral character and in organic contents, that now all geologists have agreed, after Sir Roderick Murchison, to regard it as a distinct natural group, and to call it the Permian.

The fossil contents of the lower division of the New Red Sandstone, in Perm, Saxony, and Mansfeldt, are sufficiently distinct to justify the separation of that system into two groups. In England the organic remains of the red marls and sandstones of this formation would not warrant such a division, but in Perm they are far more nearly related to the coal formation below it, than to the Trias above it. The Permian fossils are, indeed, clearly distinguished from those of the coal, and they are closely related to them.

As the Permians range to the north of England they become more diversified in mineral character, much richer in fossils, and therefore more correct representatives of the Permians of Russia and Thuringia. As they trend from Nottinghamshire to Yorkshire, red marls alternate with sandstones, and overlie the magnesian limestone, and thus present, in sections, a series of beds like those of Saxony and Russia.

I. THE LITHOLOGICAL CHARACTER OF THE

PERMIAN.

In Russia, the Permian rocks are composed of white limestone with gypsum and white salt, of red and green grits, having occasionally copper ore, and also of magnesian limestones, marlstones and conglomerates.

In England, the Permian consists of limestones, shales, marls and sandstones, which, in their downward order, are arranged by Sir Charles Lyell thus:

No. 1. Crystalline and concretionary limestone.
2. Brecciated limestone.

3. Fossiliferous limestone, called Dolomite.
4. Compact limestone, called the Zechstein.

5. Marl shales, or copper slates, called the Kupfer-
schiefer.

6. The Inferior Sandstone-called the Rothe-todte-liegende-or the red-dead-lyer.

With these six groups, Sir Roderick Murchison has united the lower portion of the Bunter Sandstein, which is the lowest member of the Trias, and which was described in our last lesson.

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No. 1. THE CRYSTALLINE AND CONCRETIONARY LIMESTONE. The lithological character of this concretionary limestone is well developed in the Yorkshire and Durham cliffs between the rivers Wear and Tees. Indeed the whole cliff on the Durham coast is made up of large concretional clusters, like piles of cannon balls. This rock varies exceedingly in mineral strucWhat gives great interest to the study of the New Red Sand-ture; in some cliffs on the Durham coast it is not crystalline

at all. but contains forty-four per cent. of carbonate of under-lying bed. The German miners call it briefly Rothl magnesia combined with carbonate of lime. In other places gendes. it cousists chiefly of the carbonate of lime which has concreted into globular pieces, varying from the size of a boy's marble to that of a cannon ball, which, when broken, are found to radiate from the centre. There are, however, districts in which some earthy and powdery beds of this rock pass into compact limestone, or into hard granular Dolomite.

No. 2. THE BRECCIATED LIMESTONE.

You will remember that if rounded pebbles be cemented into a hard cass, it is called a conglomerate, but if the rocky fragments cemented be angular and not water-worn, the mass is called a BRECCIA.

The fragments which form the cemented breccia in the magnesian limestone, are not from remote and different rocks, but consist of pieces of this very limestone itself. Some of these angular fragments are, as at Tynemouth, good two feet in diameter. These fragments never appear water-worn, but seem to have been cemented on the spot where they were broken up, perhaps by atmospheric influences.

No. 3. THE FOSSILIFEROUS LIMESTONE.

The bed of this fossiliferous limestone is sometimes called the upper Zechstein, and the rock of which it is composed is called Dolomite, from M. Dolomieu, a French geologist, who was the first to mark its lithological character.

It is a stratum of great extent and thickness, and it contains a large proportion of magnesia, which is probably the reason why the yellow limestone in Durham, so abundantly charged with magnesia as to form a true dolomite, gave the name of the magnesian limestone to this bed wherever it was found. This true dolomite rock consists of a granular, crystalline, and limy stone, but instead of being pure lime, it is often more than half carbonate of magnesia. In England, the lines of stratification in this rock are generally distinct and clear. In a fresh quarry, the structure of the rock looks perfectly granular, and has a glimmering lustre, like a sugar-loaf fresh cut. The rock has different colours in different places; for when it is infiltrated with hydrate of iron it is pale fawn or yellow; but when with oxide of iron, it is red.

Sometimes this division has beds of very hard stone, and supplies the best building materials in England. The outside of the New Houses of Parliament in London are built of dolomite, or magnesian limestone.

No. 4. THE COMPACT LIMESTONE, CALLED THE LOWER
ZECHSTEIN.

In mineral character this bed is much the same with No. 3, for, as far it is developed in Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, and Durham, it consists of yellow magnesian limestone. In Russia, it is a mere subordinate member of vast beds of rocks containing copper; but in Germany, to the south of the Hartz mountains, and in Thuringia, it consists of enormous masses of limestone and gypsum.

No. 5. THE MARL SLATE.

The marl slate is called by the Germans, Kupferschiefer, or copper shales, and consists of hard, limy slates, marl shales, and thin seams of limestone. In England, these red marls and sandstones extend from the neighbourhood of Nottingham to the southern parts of Northumberland, and at East Thickley, in Durham, it is thirty feet in depth. About Mansfeldt in Thuringia, this marlstone is richly impregnated with copper pyrites (pe-ry-tes), for which it is extensively worked. This is the reason why the Germans call this bed copper shale. At Eisleben, the native place of Luther, this stratum furnishes fossil fish in the most beautiful condition, having their bodies splendidly covered with copper pyrites, and even their scales, appear as if turned into burnished gold.

No. 6. THE INFERIOR SANDSTONE.

The German miners call this inferior sandstone by the hard name of Rothe-todte-lie-gendes-the red-dead-lyer. It is thus calied, partly because of its red colour, and partly because the copper pyrites die out when the miners dig down into this

This rock consists of sandstone and sand, which, in York shire and Durham, separates the Permian system from the coal formation. It is better known in England by the name of the "Pontefract stone," which consists of yellowish sandstone and conglomerates, and containining various fossil plants.

The precise relationship of these sandstones to the Permian and to the coal measures is not yet well defined, but as such sandstones are nearly co-extensive with the Permian, they are generally classed with it.

No. 7. THE DOLOMITE CONGLOMERATES OF BRISTOL.

In some of the English counties bordering on the Severn, north and south of Bristol, a low bed of the Permians rests immediately but not conformably upon the coal measures. It is a bed of pebbles called dolomite, consisting of fragments of older rocks cemented together by a red or yellow base of magnesian or dolomitic limestone. It is sometimes a conglomerate and sometimes a breccia. This bed is in patches, stretching over the whole of the downs near Bristol, and is found filling up the hollows in the mountain limestone. It is composed principally, at every spot, of the ruins of the rocks on which it rests, such as coal shale, millstone grit, mountain limestone. This may be advantageously studied in the valley of the Avon near Clifton, where the coal strata are seen to overlie the mountain limestone.

II. THE FOSSIL REMAINS OF THE PERMIAN.

1. The fossil contents of the Permian rocks have this interest,

that they present specimens of the last types of organic of our globe. There are 166 species of plants and animals in life, which had prevailed from the earliest epoch in the history the Permian, which have been accurately determined, and of these 148 are unknown in any other formation. Though these deposits are exceedingly diversified in their mineral aspect, they are all marked by one type only of animal and vegetable organisms, and that is essentially paleozoic. On this account, the Permian ranks as the uppermost, or the newest, group of the paleozoic rocks.

2. In the Permian rocks of Saxony, sixty species of fossil plants have been found, of which several are common to the coal measures, but forty of them are never found elsewhere.

3. The bed of crystalline limestone, No. 1, has for its chief characteristic the fossil shells Schizodus Schlotheimi, and Mytilus septifer, which are found about Hartlepool and Sunderland.

4. The dolomitic limestone, No. 3, abounds with the delicate coral called Fenestella retiformis. It has also shells of the genera Spirifer and Productus, which are not found in any stratum above the Permian, but are abundant in this division of what used to be called the yellow magnesian limestone.

5. The marl slate, No. 5, has furnished fine specimens of several fossil fish, called the Palæoniscus, Pygopterus, Calocanthus, and Platyosomus-all of which are found in the older and the underlying rocks, the coal measures; and yet the Permian species of these fish are peculiar, and vary from those of the coal rocks.

One mode of distinguishing fish is by the fin which forms their tails. In one tribe, as in the shark and the sturgeon, the back-bone of the fish is continued to the upper lobe or division of the tail. This tribe is called Heterocercal. In another tribe, like the herrings the back-bone does not enter either lobe of the tail, but the fin of the tail is equally divided. This tribe is called Homocercal. These two tribes are represented in the following engraving, fig. 13.

6. The plants of the marl slate, No. 6, has not, as yet, their relations well determined. In some regions they are supposed to be, in species, identical with those of the coal measures; and, in that case, they ought properly to be referred to that epoch; but the true Permian plants appear, from Sir Roderick Murchison's work on Russia, to be in species quite distinct from these of the coal.

7. The Zechstein of Thuringia has furnished the fossil remains of a saurian, or lizard, called the Protorosaurus, a reptile nearly allied to a monster of the living creation, called Monitor

8. In the dolomitic conglomerates at Redland near Bristol, the remains of two distinct species of saurians, or lizards, have been found. One species is called the Thecodontosaurus, on account of its teeth being implanted in distinct sockets, like the crocodile; and the other is called the Paloosaurus, the ancient lizard. These are also found in the Permian rocks of Russia. 9. The most remarkable fossil plants of the Rothe-todtelie-gende, in Bohemia and Saxony, are the silicified trunks of tree ferns, of the genus called Psaronius. Their bark is surrounded by a thick mass of air-roots which greatly strengthens Fig. 13.

sylvania, and the skeleton of a saurian, four feet long, having been found in a rock of the carboniferous age in Germany.

8. The appearance, in a paleozoic formation, of the lizard fish called the Protorosaurus, a reptilie allied to our present Monitor, is, as Professor OWEN has shown, opposed to the doctrine of the progressive development of reptiles from fish, or from simpler forms to more complex organisation; for if the Protorosaurus were now in existence, it would be at the head of the order of lizards.

Heterocercal Tail—The Shark. Homocercal Tail--The Herring. the stem, and doubles and sometimes even quadruples its diameter. These Psaronites are found in the upper coal seams of Autun, in France, and also in the upper coal strata of the State of Ohio, North America; but all these are of a species different from those of the Rothetodteliegende.

III. SOME GEOLOGICAL PHENOMENA OF THE

PERMIAN.

1. Some of the beds of the concretionary limestone are ripple-marked, and the class of shells which are found in it, together with the complete absence of corals, indicate that the rock was formed in shallow water.

2. Though the lines of stratification in the limestone are generally regular and clear, yet there are instances in which the stratification is obliterated by the process of concretionary action, which seems to have re-arranged the materials of the rock after they had been deposited, and to have thereby destroyed the lines of stratification. This may be seen in the cliffs at Pontefract and Ripon in Yorkshire.

3. The concretionary masses in the dolomite limestone furnish a beautiful illustration of the manner in which spherical bodies are formed by chemical action-an action introduced into stratified detritus after its deposition. It is remarkable that, notwithstanding the concretionary action, the lines of the original lamination or seams continue to pass through the spheroidal or oval masses. This is evident, as the limestone is commonly traversed by veins and strings of carbonate

BIOGRAPHY.-No. XV.

PITT.

BY J. R. BEard, D.D.

THE eloquence of the British senate has no parallel. Greece had but one Demosthenes, and Rome produced no orator comparable with Cicero. But England may boast of a succession of statesmen, who to profound wisdom and the highest administrative skill united the most brilliant and powerful eloquence. Foremost among these truly great men, to whom is largely to be ascribed the high and indomitable Earl of Chatham, sometimes distinguished as "the elder Pitt," spirit of Englishmen in peace and in war, stands William Pitt, eminent alike for ability and character.

Robert Pitt, of Boconnoc, Cornwall, was born on the 15th of William Pitt, the son of a private gentleman, by name November, 1708. He received a classical training at Eton and Oxford, and by his abilities and love of country early excited great expectations. In the year 1735 he entered parliament as member for Old Sarum, a rotten borough dependent on his family. His friends, out of their scanty means, had purchased for him a cornet's commission in the cavalry. He lost the post in consequence of supporting in his place in parliament an increase in the provision for the Prince of Wales. His persecution called his eloquence into fuller play, and nerved his patriotic soul. He soon obtained in parliament and among the people so predominant an influence, that the court saw it prudent to bestow on him an office. He became (1746) Treasurer for Ireland, and shortly afterwards was appointed Paymaster-General of the Forces. At this time, the Duchess of Marlborough, pleased with the patriotism of the daring orator, presented him with an estate worth £10,000. A similar piece of good fortune fell to him on similar grounds at a later period. When, in 1735, Fox became Secretary of State in place of Robinson, Pitt laid down his office, as he found himself in strong opposition with the policy of the new minister. He was not, indeed, averse to either the war against France or the treaty with Prussia, but he wished that therein the interests of England alone should be regarded; while George II. was solicitous for his German possessions, and contemplated sending troops to Hanover. In 1756, the king, yielding to the wishes of the nation, dismissed Fox. Thereupon Pitt succeeded as Secretary of State, and conducted the war according to his own comprehensive plan. He formed a national militia, called out the energies of the British people, and directed them to their own peculiar sphere, the ocean, with the view of effecting a landing on the French territory. To this course the king was opposed. Pitt, therefore, surrendered the seals of office in April, 1757, In the June ensuing, he again received them from his royal master's hands, for the stirring requests of the people were irresistible; and the war in Hanover, under the Duke of Cumberland, went on badly. Pitt at once became the soul of the cabinet. His great aim was to debilitate France and make England powerful. His bold and kindling eloquence obtained for him a controlling sway over the legislature. He showed the people that the strength of the British nation lay in its naval force. He proved that the great industrial population of the three kingdoms could be free, rich, and secure only when trade flourished, and the fleet ruled the waves. His policy was so simple and straightforward, that the people rose to their former self-confidence, and put forth gigantic efforts which eventually overcame all opposition. Pitt not only succeeded in defeating the policy of France and Two circumstances seem to come into collision with this Spain, but applied his great powers to oppose the unjust and statement, namely, the impressions of the feet of quadrupeds disastrous war undertaken by England against her North having been discovered in the mountain limestone of Penn-American colonies, employing the most vivid and rapturous

of lime.

4. The fossiliferous limestone bed, No. 3, is supposed, from the delicate corals which abound in it, to have been a deep

water formation.

5. The marl slates abound with Heterocercal fish. This form, in the fish of the present day, is exceedingly limited; but it was almost universal in the Permian period, and in all the ancient formations. This type, therefore, characterises the earliest periods of our earth's history, when the organisation of fish was much more like lizard reptiles than now. You will remember that in all the rocks above the Permian the homocercal tail prevails.

6. The fossil fishes contained in the Permian are most generally found curved or contorted, which seems to indicate the violent convulsion that attended their sudden death. AGASSIZ (A'gassi), however, thinks that their curved state is to be attributed to muscular contraction during decomposition, after life was extinct.

7. The earliest certain indications of the existence of reptiles upon our globe are supplied by the Permian system; for in the more ancient formations, no teeth or bones of any higher animals than fishes have yet been discovered.

eloquence to disabuse the public mind and alter the course of government. His councils at length prevailed. Most deservedly was he raised to the peerage, under the title of Viscount Pitt and Earl of Chatham. In the long and arduous conflicts through which he went, his health had greatly suffered. He was a martyr to the gout. In consequence his appearance in the house was irregular. Yet would he not allow the infirmities of the body to prevent his discharging the high offices of patriotism and philanthropy. Actuated by wise and resistless benevolence, he for the last time as it proved-took his seat in parliament on the 7th of April, 1778, and spoke with great energy against the policy of the minister; but when he wished to address the house again, after a speech from the Duke of Richmond, he was so overpowered by his emotions that he fell on the floor in convulsions. Great consternation arose. He was conveyed to his home at Hayes, in Kent, where he departed this life on the 12th of May, 1778. The excellent Lord Camden was present at his death. As Socrates in his last hours philosophised with his friends, so did Chatham speak with Camden on the interests of his country when life was ebbing fast. At length Chatham said, while his friend pressed his cold hand-"Dear Camden, save my country." A few moments after, his great soul fled. His demise excited in all classes an indescribable sensation. Crowds pressed to London to see his body lying in state. His remains were conveyed to Westminster Abbey. The nation, besides paying Chatham's debts, amounting to £20,000, settled on his family an annuity of £4,000. He left three sons and two daughters. His second son was the celebrated or younger William Pitt, who, treading in his father's footsteps, pursued a policy whose triumph was celebrated on the field of Waterloo.

Chatham's eloquence was one of those rare things which can be described only by the epithet miraculous; such was the power of its inspiration, the nobility of its author's soul, the fire of his eyes, the grandeur of his look in lofty passages, and its withering aspect in sarcasm, the grace of his action, the music of his voice, and the moral force of his high and earnest character. His eloquence had its source in those natural ideas and sympathies, which are alike resistless and undecaying, which specially characterise the eloquence of the great masters of old, and without which oratory degenerates into an idle play of speech-making, or a degraded trade of

misrepresentation.

Further information may be found in the "History of the Life of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham," 1783; "Anecdotes of the Life of the Right Honourable William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, and of the principal events of his times, with his Speeches in Parliament, from the year 1706 to 1778," London, 1792; "Letters written by the late Earl of Chatham to his nephew, Thomas Pitt, Esq., afterwards Lord Camelford," 3rd edition, London, 1804; " History of the Right Honourable William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, by Francis Thackeray," London, 1824.

The character of the Earl of Chatham's oratory may be judged of by the following fine burst of eloquence

ON AMERICAN AFFAIRS.

"I cannot, my lords, I will not, join in congratulation on misfortune and disgrace. This, my lords, is a perilous and tremendous moment; it is not a time for adulation; the smoothness of flattery cannot save us in this rugged and awful crisis. It is now necessary to instruct the throne in the language of truth. We must, if possible, dispel the delusion and darkness which envelop it; and display, in its full danger and genuine colours, the ruin which is brought to our doors. Can ministers still presume to expect support in their infatuation? Can parliament be so dead to its dignity and duty, as to give their support to measures thus obtruded and forced upon them? measures, my lords, which have reduced this late flourishing empire to scorn and contempt! But yesterday, and England might have stood against the world; now, none so poor as to do her reverence. The people, whom we at first despised as rebels, but whom we now acknowledge as enemies, are abetted against us, supplied with every military store, their interest consulted, and their ambassadors entertained by our inveterate enemy; and ministers do not, and dare not, interpose with effect. The desperate state of our army abroad is in part known. No man more highly esteems and honours

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the English troops than I do : I know their virtues and their valour; I know they can achieve anything but impossibilities; and I know that the conquest of English America is an impos sibility. You cannot, my lords, you cannot conquer Ame rica. What is your present situation there? We do not know the worst; but we know that in three campaigns we have done nothing, and suffered much. You may swell every expense, accumulate every assistance, and extend your traffic to the shambles of every German despot; your attempts will be for ever vain and impotent;-doubly so, indeed, from this mercenary aid on which you rely; for it irritates, to an incurable resentment, the minds of your adversaries, to overrun them with mercenary sons of rapine and plunder, devoting them and their possessions to the rapacity of hireling cruelty. "But, my lords, who is the man that, in addition to the disgraces and mischiefs of the war, has dared to authorise and associate to our arms the tomahawk and scalping-knife of the savage? to call into civilised alliance the wild and inhuman inhabitants of the woods? to delegate to the merciless Indians the defence of disputed rights, and to wage the horrors of his barbarous war against our brethren? My lords, these enormities cry aloud for redress and punishment. But, my lords, this barbarous measure has been defended, not only on the principles of policy and necessity, but also on those of to use all the means which God and nature have put into our morality; for, it is perfectly allowable,' says Lord Suffolk, hands. I am astonished, I am shocked, to hear such principles confessed; to hear them avowed in this house, or in this country. My lords, I did not intend to encroach so much on your attention; but I cannot repress my indignation-I feel members of this house, as men, as Christians, to protest myself impelled to speak. My lords, we are called upon as against such horrible barbarity! That God and nature have put into our hands!' What ideas of God and nature that noble lord may entertain, I know not; but I know, that such detestable principles are equally abhorrent to religion and humanity. What! to attribute the sacred sanction of God and nature to the massacres of the Indian scalping-knife! to the savage, torturing and murdering his unhappy victims ! Such notions shock every precept of morality, every feeling of humanity, every sentiment of honour. These abominable principles, and this more abominable avowal of them, demand and this most learned Bench, to vindicate the religion of their the most decisive indignation. I call upon that right reverend, God, to support the justice of their country. I call upon the bishops to interpose the unsullied sanctity of their lawn; upon the judges to interpose the purity of their ermine, to save us from this pollution. I call upon the honour of your lordships, to reverence the dignity of your ancestors, and to maintain your own. I call upon the spirit and humanity of genius of the Constitution. From the tapestry that adorns my country, to vindicate the national character. I invoke the these walls, the immortal ancestor of this noble lord frowns with indignation at the disgrace of his country. In vain did he defend the liberty, and establish the religion of Britain against the tyranny of Rome, if these worse than Popish cruelties and inquisitorial practices are endured among us. To send forth the merciless Indians, thirsting for blood! against whom?-your protestant brethren! to lay waste their country, to desolate their dwellings and extirpate their race and name, by the aid and instrumentality of these horrible hell-hounds of war! Spain can no longer boast pre-eminence in barbarity. She armed herself with bloodhounds to extirpate the wretched natives of Mexico; we, more ruthless, loose these brutal warriors against our own countrymen in America, endeared to us by every tie that can sanctify humanity. Í solemnly call upon your lordships, and upon every order of men in the state, to stamp upon this infamous procedure the indelible stigma of the public abhorrence. More particularly, I call upon the venerable prelates of our religion, to do away with this iniquity; let them perform a lustration to purify the country from this deep and deadly sin.

"My lords, I am old and weak, and at present unable to say more; but my feelings and indignation were too strong to have allowed me to say less. I could not have slept this night in my bed, nor even reposed my head upon my pillow, without giving vent to my steadfast abhorrence of such enormous and preposterous principles."

LESSONS IN FRENCH PRONUNCIATION.

No. VII.

72. LIQUIDS.

L and LL.

WHENEVER I. and LL are preceded by AI, EI, OUI, and sometimes by I only, they receive a sound very different from that which they have when initial. In the former case, they Decome LIQUID, and are so called from their peculiar sound. Yet it is a sound with which foreigners are well acquainted. The only difficulty is, in expressing or illustrating the sound by means of English analogous sounds

It is the same sound which is given to the letters LLI in the correct pronunciation of the English words COLLIER, BILLIARD, BRILLIANT, and WILLIAM. If you pronounce any one of these words very carefully, observing at the same time the peculiar sound of the letters LLI, you will have the correct Liquid sound which is ulustrated by the peculiar sound of the letters GL, in the English word SERAGLIO.

In French words con'aining Liquid sounds, observe the following General Rules, viz. :—

1.

Speaking of these different methods of pronouncing the Liquids, the following opinion is taken from BoLMAR'S LEVIZAC'S FRENCH GRAMMAR, viz. :

"This last pronunciation being the easiest of the two, has been adopted by so many people in France, that it is no longer considered a fault, except by grammarians. However, I recommend the former, not only on account of its correctness, but also on account of its being a sound very common to the Spanish, the Italian and Portuguese languages; in which languages this sound does not admit of any variation. It is represented in the Spanish by W, in the Italian by gli, and in the Portugese by lh.”

GN.

This Liquid is much used in the French language. Its correct sound is peculiar, delightful, and by no means difficult to obtain. It is the sound of the letters GN, in the English words BAGNIO, MIGNIONETTE and VIGNETTE. It may be represented also by the letters NI in the English words MINION, ONION, PINION and UNION.

Pronounce the word MIGNIONETTE correctly and carefully; observing, at the same time, the peculiar sound of the letters GN; pronounce also the word PINION, observing the sound of the letters NI. Give to GN in the following examples the sound of GN in the word mignionette, or of NI in the word pinion, which will be the correct sound of this

Pronounce the letter A before IL and ILL, as A in the Liquid. English word AH!

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Pronunciation. Bagn

French.

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Bay-gnay

English. Galley. Bathed.

Bignonie

Bee-gno-nee

Trumpet-flower.

Digne

Deegn

Dignitaire

Dee-gnee-tair

Dignité

Dee-gnee-tay

Epargne

Ay-pargn

Gagner

Ga-gnay

Peigne

Paygn

Régnant

Ray-gnanh!

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Signe

Seegn

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Soigner

S'wah-gnyay

Briller

Breegl-yay

To brighten.

Vigneron

Veegn'-ronh!

Castille

Kas-tigl-ye

Dépouille

Day-poo-eegl-ye

Anh!-nor-gueegl-yeer, or

Enorgueillir

g'weegl-yeer

Famille

Fa-migl-ye

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Contention.
Reincs.

To be proud of.
Family.
Paper, or a sheet

of paper. Daughter.

But there is another very different and commom method of pronouncing the Liquid sound illustrated in the preceding examples. Its chief merit is, the ease with which it may be acquired. It cannot be stigmatised as absolutely vicious, though it be, at least in our opinion, INELEGANT.

The following examples will be used to illustrate the kind of pronunciation just spoken of, viz. :—

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Worthy.
Dignitary.
Dignity.
Economy.
To earn.

Comb.
Reigning.
Sign.

To attend to.
Vine-dresser.

The exceptions to this method of pronouncing the letters GN occur only in these words, in which they belong to different syllables; that is to say, in dividing those words into syllables, it would be found that G belonged to one syllables and N belonged to the next succeeding syllable, viz. :—

French.

Pronunciation.

Ig-nay
Ig-nays-sanh!
Ig-ne-kol

English. Igneous.

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Fire-worshipper. |
Ignition.

Fire-vomiting.
Fire-eating.

Name of a sacred hymn.
A native.

Stagnant. Stagnation.

To the above may be added a few Proper Names.

GENERAL RULES FOR PRONOUNCING AND READING FRENCH.

and it is hoped satisfactorily,-to the illustration of every 73. The preceding lessons have been devoted exclusively,of combinations of Vowels, Consonants, Compound Vowels, known French sound, whether occurring singly, or the result Diphthongs, Nasals and Liquids. ANALOGOUS ENGLISH SOUNDS have constituted the agents of the foregoing illustrations of French sounds. Generally, this has had reference to SEPARATE WORDS, only. But, let it be remembered, that to give the correct sound of a French word, AS IT STANDS ALONE, is a very different thing from giving that same French word its correct sound, when it is used with other words in the formation of a sentence in reading, or a phrase in conversation.

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