*

by and attracting the principles of the wood, aided by heat, (and this heat is generated by the moist vegetable substance, as is exemplified in the case of damp hay or saw-dust) separate; and the fermenting and vegetating principle, oxygen gas, begins to act: the consequences of this action are, the formation of water, the springing forth of fungus, which owes its origin to the action of the oxygen gas upon the sap and juices of the tree (and be it remembered, that timber, as now felled and used, is loaded with them), that stimulus, assisted by the heat generated, exciting an unnatural or abortive vegetation of these, in consequence of the tree not possessing its complete organs to modify the vegetation; gaseous matter is also generated (carbonic acid gas); the loss of the weight and cohesion of the wood ensues, and this process is carried on until the whole vegetable matter has undergone a complete change; the organic texture is at last destroyed, and there results a heap of unorganized carbonaceous matter.

It now remains to show that the putrefaction of wood, and the dry-rot, are one and the same process, under different modifications: this I shall endeavour to do by comparing the cases.

The agents then in the first case are water and heat; the agents in the second case are the same:

The circumstances are alike; being only more favourable to its rapidity in the second. It is found in the first, that when the water is frequently renewed, or the wood is submersed, that it proceeds very slowly, or not at all; and when the wood is kept dry, it does not occur. In the second case these circumstances affect in the same manner: those parts of a ship that are covered with water, as the floors and keel, very rarely have dry-rot; and those parts that are kept dry by being exposed to the sun and air, are also free from it; except, indeed, when they happen to be continuations of timbers, the lower ends of which are in situations favouring the

* It is, I think, worthy of remark, that the putrefactive fermentation of animal matter is productive of animals of inferior organisation to their parent: thus the varieties of maggots are the production of that process, in man and brute; so the fungi in their varieties, owe their origin to the same cause.

change. Again, a high temperature is a favourable circumstance in the first case; so it is in the second, as is exemplified in the case of sending newly built ships into hot climates; where they are remarked to decay in a rapid manner. Moisture is applicable in the same manner; let us notice those parts of ships most infected, and we shall find that there heat and moisture prevail; from the heads of the first futtocks up to the gun-deck beams, along the deadwood, in the stern-frame, in the cantbodies fore and aft, its ravages are most remarkable; and precisely in those situations do heat and moisture most prevail; there is a difference in situation and of circumstances in the latter case, which will account for its amazing rapidity, namely, the shutting up the timber in a damp state, as it were in a box; and surrounding it with a damp, heated and stagnant atmosphere; this must, according to the nature of the thing, cause it to decay faster than that which has the advantage of an occasional renewal of water and of air, and the frequent action of the sun's rays.

The phenomena are the same; being slightly modified by circumstances and situation, and passing with greater rapidity. In the first case they are the occasional appearance of fungi; the extrication of carbonic acid gas; the forma tion of water; the reduction of the weight, solidity: and loss of the strength of the wood; and the destruction of its fibrous and organic texture.

siderable time.

In the second case these are also the phenomena; the fungus is always found to precede it; this is so notorious, that it has been supposed by many to be the cause of it. The extrication of carbonic acid gas is also constantly found; this is evident from the unwholesome state of the atmosphere of ships below the gundeck, when rotten; especially if they have not been ventilated for some conThe loss of weight, strength, and solidity of the timber, are its principal and most obvious characteristics. The formation of water is found one of its indications, as frequently, before fungus appears, the surface of the timber is covered with moisture. The destruction of the fibrous and organic texture is not so generally seen, because the ships are generally opened, and repaired before the decay has proceeded so far, yet it may be traced; it is not unusual to find the centre of a timber re

ART. X.-Poetry.

For the Analectic Magazine.

SONNET TO DESPAIR.

HAIL fell Despair! within yon wilder'd cave,
I saw thee stretch'd in agonizing sleep;

I saw thee start, and heard a murmur deep,
Like lonely winds that sweep the outlaw's grave.
Within thy cave I saw a taper gleam;

Its light shone dimly o'er thy faded breast; On thy pale brow a paler hand was prest. The taper fell-and thou didst cease to dream. The orb eclipsed, once more beholds the light, The wintry stem brings forth another flower, And Fancy builds again her broken bower; But not for thee-sole exile of the night. Combahee, S. Carolina, April 25, 1817.

THE SOLDIER'S GRAVE.

Abstulit atra Dies et funeramersit acerbo.-VIRG.

BENEATH this flow'r-deck'd rising mound,
Here rest the ashes of the brave;
A hero sleeps, by glory crown'd:
It is a patriot soldier's grave!
How late his manly heart beat high,
His country from each wrong to save;
But soon that heart was doom'd to lie,
Cold, cold within a soldier's grave.

Methinks I hear a footstep's tread;-
How lightly, where yon osiers wave!
Perhaps by silence it is led,

The spirit of the soldier's grave!
Here Pity oft, at Mem'ry's call,

Repairs to view this narrow cave,
And dew with tears the flow'ry pall
That covers o'er the soldier's grave!
Here too a widow's broken sighs

Breathe o'er the relics of the brave,
And here her helpless orphan's eyes
Weep torrents on the soldier's grave.
His country's summons he obey'd;
Fair liberty he died to save,
And in this lonely spot is laid,

Unknown but as the soldier's grave.
For him the muse shall sweep the string,
For him who fell among the brave,
And virgin hands with wreaths of spring
Shall decorate the soldier's grave.

Charleston, June 25, 1817.

E. J.

AN ENIGMA.-BY LORD BYRON.

From Ackerman's Repository.

"Twas whisper'd in heav'n, and mutter'd in hell,
And Echo caught softly the sound as it fell;
In the confines of earth, 'twas permitted to rest,
And the depths of the ocean its presence confest;
"Twas seen in the lightning, and heard in the thunder,
"Twill be found in the spheres when riven asunder;
It was given to man with his earliest breath,
It assists at his birth, and attends him in death,
Presides o'er his happiness, honour, and health,
Is the prop of his house, and the end of his wealth;
It begins ev'ry hope, ev'ry wish it must bound,
And, though unassuming, with monarchs is crown'd;
In the heaps of the miser 'tis hoarded with care,
But is sure to be lost in the prodigal heir;
Without it the soldier and sailor may roam,
But wo to the wretch who expels it from home;
In the whispers of conscience its voice will be found,
Nor e'er in the whirlwind of passion be drown'd;
It softens the heart, and, though deaf to the ear,
"Twill make it acutely and instantly hear;
But in shades let it rest like an elegant flow'r-
Oh! breathe on it softly-it dies in an hour.

THE

ANALECTIC MAGAZINE.

NOVEMBER, 1817.

THE EDGEWORTH FAMILY.

ART. I. [The literary merit of the Edgeworth family generally, and the successful efforts of Maria Edgeworth in particular, to promote pure morals and engaging manners, by means of the most popular species of literary composition, have rendered the name interesting to modern readers of almost every description. The mechanical experiments of the father-the joint treatise of the family, on practical education-and the lively descriptions of character and manners, the plain and practical morality, the useful as well as the amusing tendency of Miss Edgeworth's novels, have given to the family a title to notice, which the following brief essay is too scanty to satisfy. In the next number, we hope to give a fuller account of Mr. Edgeworth and his family, with an outline of the peculiar merit which characterises their literary productions.] ED. EW families are more distinguished, even in this of authorship, for their literary talents, and the attractions they have thrown round the cause of pure taste and sound morals, than that of the Edgeworths. Richard Lovel Edgeworth the father, who, to the regret of the wise and good, is lately deceased, was the author of several scientific papers published in the Philosophical Journals, most of which had a practical bearing upon the comforts and conveniences of life; and in conjunction with his daughter Maria, has written many valuable works for the use of young persons, which, in real benefit to that part of the community, have never been surpassed.

FEW

age

Miss Maria Edgeworth his eldest daughter, possesses reputatation as a profound and successful delineator of life and manners, and as a pure and practical moralist, to which no praise of ours can add. Her works which are chiefly novels, or rather morál tales written in a very popular and captivating style, are too well known, both in this country and Great Britain, to require enumeration. Her mother, and her brother, Mr. Sheyd Edgeworth, are also advantageously known in the literary republic; the former as the author of several novels of reputation, and the latter by his life of the Abbe Edgeworth, the celebrated confessor of Lewis XVI, and a relation of the family.

When we consider the incalculable benefit that writings, such as those of the Edgeworth's have been to society, by adding to and improving their physical comforts, refining taste, and polishing the manners, and, what is far more important, by inculcating

VOL. X.

45

the purest doctrines of morality, in a manner the most pleasing, and intelligible to all classes of society; we cannot but be struck with the vastly superior claims to our respect and gratitude, such writers have over the mass of their brethren. The influence, indeed, and controul which men of letters possess over the community, has never been duly estimated. "Literature" (says a distinguished writer) "is the main engine by which civil society must be supported or overthrown." And though we may not agree with him in the full extent of the remark, yet it cannot be denied, that in an enlightened community, and more especially under a republican form of government, the destinies of the people do most intimately depend upon their literary taste. What care then ought not to be taken, lest this mighty engine should be perverted to the injury of society; and if those who add to the extent of a country, or raise her military reputation, obtain civic crowns, and public largesses, what do they not deserve, whose writings operate in favour of their best interest and their wisest institutions.

The following extracts from the Journal of a late traveller in Ireland, show that this enlightened family are not less estimable in private life, than they are respectable for their literary powers.

'From none to whom I had been introduced, did I meet with a more hospitable reception than from Mr. Edgeworth, of Edgeworth town, of whom, and his daughter Maria, to whom I had also a letter of introduction, I had heard and read so much. As the covetous man rejoices in the prospect of adding to his stores; and the pious man at the prospect of those meetings, where the fire of devotion will be made to burn more purely, in hopes of the feast of reason and the flow of souls, I approached Edgeworth's town, so much of late the abode of the muses.

'Mr. Edgeworth and his daughter, being about to take an airing in the carriage when I called, which was soon after breakfast, and a very fine day, asked me to accompany them, to which I readily assented, and was much pleased with their remarks on the objects which occurred in the course of our ride.

'When we returned from our ride, I found the rector of the parish, the Roman Catholic priest, and the Presbyterian clergyman had been invited to dine, and that there might be no preference shown to one clergyman before another at dinner, Mr. Edgeworth said grace himself. In this hospitable mansion, the favourite abode of the muses, the rendezvous of the wise and good, Papists and Protestants agree. Miss Edgeworth joined in the conversation, and as may well be supposed, the author of Castle Rackrent, Irish Bulls, the Absentee, &c. &c. served much to enliven and inform it. I had heard much of Miss Edgeworth, and knew that she and her father had taken an extensive view of the vast edifice of human knowledge, but found that not one half of her numerous amiable accomplishments had been told me.-Of her it may be said, "Omne quod tetigit ornavit."

When I mentioned that having orreries, armillary spheres, globes, and the apparatus necessary for giving some idea of the various branches of experimental philosophy, various persons are employed in giving lessons on these subjects at ladies' boarding schools, Miss Edgeworth