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To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor,

SIR, PERHAPS of many not have seen readers may your the following verses on the death of Mungo Park. I believe the fact of that enterprising traveller's death is now no longer doubted, though hopes of his life were for several years entertained. The account which represents him as having been drowned in his endeavour to resist an attack made upon him by the Africans, in their canoes, is I believe now generally understood to be true.

DIRGE FOR MUNGO PARK.
Hope no more;-in peace he sleepeth,
All his pains and toils are o'er;
'Tis thine eye alone that weepeth,
His is closed to ope no more.
He hath gained that unknown river,
He hath found a hero's grave;
There his head in peace for ever
Rests beneath the dashing wave.

We, like him, our barks are guiding.
Swiftly to an unknown shore;
Here, we know, is no abiding,
There, is rest for ever more.-

PILOT! thro' this mighty ocean,

Lord of earth, and air, and sea!

Thou canst still the wild wave's motion,
All our hopes are fixed on THEE!

P.

SELECTIONS FROM DIFFERENT AUTHORS.

See, here I hold a Bible in my hand, and you see the cover, the leaves, the letters, the words, but you do not see the writers or the printer, the letter-founder, the ink-maker, the papermaker, or the binder. You never did see them, and yet there is not one of you who thinks of disputing or denying the being of these men. I

go farther; I affirm, that you see the very souls of these men in seeing this book, and you feel yourselves obliged to allow that they had skill, contrivance, design, memory, fancy, reason, and so forth. In the same manner, if you see a picture, you judge there was a painter; if you see a house, you judge there was a builder of it; and if you see one room contrived for this purpose, and another for that, a door to enter, a window to admit light, a chimney to hold a fire, you conclude that the builder was a person of skill and forecast, who formed the house with a view to the accommodation of the inhabitants. In this manner, examine the world, and pity the man, who, when he sees the sign of the Wheatsheaf at the door of a public house, hath sense enough to know, that there is some. where a joiner who made it, and a painter who painted it; but who, when he sees the wheatsheaf itself is so stupid as not to say to himself, "this had a wise and good Creator." W. Robinson.

Those who say they have no time for Religion, do not, it seems, know what it is that Religion requires of them.

If a poor man, burthened with a family, or encumbered with business, will yet find time to pray in private for God's grace and blessing, attending the public worship at Church on Sundays, with his family, and giving God thanks for the favours he receives; if he is content with his condition, and does not attempt to better it by unjust ways; if he teaches his children to fear God, and takes care to correct them when they do what they should not do; if he is upright in his dealings, obedient to his Governors, peaceable in his conversation, temperate in his way of living, and in charity with his neighbours; this man's religion is such as it should be, and here is no great deal of time spent in doing what he ought to do. Bishop Wilson.

Religion is not a business to be performed at a certain time, and then to be considered over; it should mix itself with the whole business of our lives, and influence all our actions. Set times are indeed needful for the exercises of devotion; but these are intended as means of acquiring religious habits and dispositions, which are to shew themselves every moment of our lives; not hindering our other business, but guiding, influencing, and directing it. E.

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Let us watch against a thoughtless and trifling spirit. To what purpose is it that we use the best form of prayer, and hear the plainest addresses from the pulpit, if our attention be unoccupied by either? What will it avail us to have lived under the greatest privileges, and to have enjoyed the best means to make us wise and happy, if (through our thoughtless negligence) we die, at last, both ignorant and wretched. Knowles.

The mere love of idle conversation and gossiping does infinite mischief; and many persons, whose time should be better employed, are too often beset with this sin. Evans.

It is a good sign of religious sincerity, and singleness of heart, when we observe in a man a scrupulous and conscientious adherence to truth in small things, in indifferent matters; and he who knows how far it avails in producing the "perfect and upright" character, will carefully encourage it in his children, even from their infancy. We cannot be too early in implanting habits of strict truth.

The same.

EXTRACTS FROM THE PUBLIC NEWSPAPERS, &c. ROAD-MAKING, ON MR. M'ADAM'S SYSTEM.

1. Forming the Road. The line being agreed on, the Road must be formed by breaking the natural surface as little as

possible, and with no greater convexity than is absolutely necessary to carry off the water. For the purposes of country travelling, 28 feet is a sufficient breadth of Road, with a fall of 3 inches from the centre to each side; 16 feet in the centre should be fully metalled with solid materials, and 6 feet on each side may be done with slighter materials; but near to great towns, there should be 30 or 40 feet in breadth of actual Road way, laid with solid materials to the full depth. The water courses on each side of the Road should be so constructed that the Road materials may be 3 or 4 inches above the level of the water in the ditch.

2. Preparing the Materials.-When Stones can be obtained they ought always to be preferred. They must be broken in small heaps, and in such a manner that the largest piece in the heap shall not exceed 6 ounces in weight; they will thus unite by their own angles, and form a solid hard substance. If the Stones were all broken to 6 ounces, they would make a rough Road; therefore, that size is assumed only as the maximum, (the greatest) and as the best criterion and check for the breaker; for, if no piece of Stone shall exceed 6 ounces, a great proportion of the heap must necessarily be under that size, and as this is indispensable to the smoothness of the surface of the Road, it should be well attended to. The operation of breaking the Stones should be performed in a sitting posture, with a small hammer of about one pound weight in the head, the face the size of a new shilling, well steeled, and with a short handle *. After the Stones are blocked out, the breaking may be executed by old men, and by women and children; and this should be done at the Depôt, and not on the Road.

When Gravel is used for making the Road, it must be sifted or riddled in the Quarry till it is quite clean and free of earth, and all the large pieces must be well broken as directed for Stones, and in that prepared state the Gravel is brought to the Road. When the Earth is of a quality to adhere to the Gravel, it will be advisable to leave in the pit the small or fine Gravel, and to use for the Road only the larger parts, which can be broken; for, while the breaking more effectually beats of the Earth, the advantage is obtained of having the Gravel laid on the Road in that angular shape which so much favours its consolidation.

3. Laying on the Materials.-A depth of 10 inches of solid materials, prepared as above, is sufficient for any Road. No large Stones, or Wood, or other substance, should be placed

"* Models of the Tools recommended by Mr. Aadam, may be seen at the Office of Roads, Bristol.

below the prepared materials, whether the bottom be soft or otherwise.

Broken Stones should be laid on the Road, to the above depth, at three different times, with light broad-mouthed shovels, one shovel full following another, and each scattering the Stones over the surface for a considerable space. There must not be among the broken Stones any mixture of earth, or of any other matter that will imbibe water, or be affected with frost; and nothing is to be laid over the clean Stones on pretence of blinding or binding.

Gravel, when made use of, should be laid on the Road in light coats, not exceeding two inches at a time, with a proper interval betwixt each coat to let the Gravel settle.

4. Consolidation of the Materials.-A careful person must attend for some time after a new Road is opened, to rake in the tracks made by wheels until the materials become solid. If properly prepared and applied, they will, in a short time, unite themselves into a mass or body, like a piece of timber or a board, and will then form a smooth solid surface, which will not be affected by changes of weather, nor will the Stones be displaced by the action of the wheels,-which will pass over without a jolt, and consequently without injury.

5. Repairing the Road.-A Road made on the above principles will require no repairs till by use it gradually wears thin and weak. The amendment will then be made by an addition of materials prepared and laid on as at first. The period for which a Road will last without repairs, depends on the nature of the materials of which it is composed, and the use to which it is exposed. Of all road materials, Whinstone is the best and most durable; Lime-stone consolidates sooner, but from its nature it is not so lasting; Gravel is inferior to both, because its component parts are round, and want the angular points of contact by which broken Stones unite.

All repairs should be executed betwixt the months of October and May, and when the weather is not very dry. Before laying on the additional materials, the surface of the old Road must be loosened a little with a pick-axe, so as to allow the new materials to unite with the old.

6. Lifting a Road.-Where a Road has been originally made on a wrong principle, the defect may in general be cured by lifting and relaying it. If the main objection consists in the undue preparation of the Stones, the mode of cure is this:— Turn up the old Road 4 inches deep with a strong pick-axe, short from the handle to the point; then by means of a strong heavy rake, with a wooden head ten inches in length, and iron teeth about two inches and a half long, gather off the

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