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They were eagerly sought after at the sale, though frequently they presented but quotations from the books: occasionally, however, they expressed opinions, and some of them were of a most singular nature. High prices were given for these, and some, it was understood, were purchased for Mr. Beckford at twenty times the price which the holder had given for them at the sale. His thoughts were often expressed with great force. In one instance, speaking of human nature, he powerfully marked his sense of the humanising power of letters. He pointed to the mind of man as wretched in its native state -as "blood-raw, till cooked by education.'

One of the works which he had most copiously illustrated, was Irving's "Memoirs of the Life and Writings of George

Buchanan." The movements of the learned Muretus, as there recorded, attracted his observation, and more than one of his notes relate to that individual, the melancholy accusations to which he was subjected, and the strange effects they produced on his constitution. We have seen the work just mentioned, with the notes in Mr. Beckford's handwriting. As specimens of penmanship-or pencilmanship rather, for they are written with a black-lead pencil-they are curious; and as many would like to read the commentaries of so remarkable a man, we purpose obtaining a copy of them for the next number of The Mirror. These, with the passages in the book to which they have reference, may throw considerable light on the manner of the author of "Vathek."

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NAPOLEON.

A cheap and revised edition of the history of the wonderful man who so long ruled the destinies of Europe, is being brought out in numbers by Willoughby. It is to be embellished with 20 portraits, and 500 engravings, by Horace Vernet and M. Jacques. Many of these have great merit, and would fitly adorn a much more expensive work. We give one by way of extract, to represent Napoleon re-visiting Marengo, the scene of a memorable triumph, where, in the moment when all seemed to be lost, unhoped-for victory exhibited to him a startling view of the chances of warthen to him most grateful, though subsequently he experienced them in all their bitterness-in humiliation, exile,

and death.

THE NOBLE HOUSE OF AYLESFORD.

ADVERSIS MAJOR PAR SECUNDIS

Arms. Ar. a chev., between three griffins, passant, sa.

Crest. A griffin, passant, sa.

Supporters. Dexter, a griffin, sa., ducally gorged, or.; sinister, a lion, or, ducally gorged,

Motto.

az.

"Aperto vivere voto." "To live without a wish concealed."

THIS family springs from the first Earl of Nottingham, through whom its pedigree may be traced back to the time of Henry I. The second son of Heneage, first Earl of Nottingham, who was also named Heneage Finch, having embraced the profession of the law, attained celebrity at the bar, and became solicitor-general, Jan. 13, 1678, and was subsequently the principal of those eminent advocates who defended the seven bishops. In the convention Parliament, he represented the university of Oxford, and in subsequent parliaments so long as he continued a commoner. In 1702, he was chosen on the part of the university to compliment queen Anne, on her majesty's visit after her accession, to the an

cient city of Oxford, and on that occasion he was elevated to the peerage by the title of Baron Guernsey, March 15, 1702-3; and shortly after the accession of George I., October 19, 1714, he was created Earl of Aylesford. He was in the same year appointed chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, and nominated a member of the Privy Council. He married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Sir John Brooks, Bart. of Aylesford, and had issue, Heneage, Lord Guernsey, two other sons, and three daughters. He died June 22, 1719, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Heneage, who married Mary, daughter and heir of Sir Clement Fisher, Bart., of Packington, in the county of Warwick. His lordship had issue, Henry, Lord Guernsey, and three daughters, and dying June 29, 1757, the title came to his son of the same name, Heneage, third earl of Aylesford, LL.D.; he was born Nov. 6, 1715, and married Oct. 6, 1750, Charlotte, daughter of Charles sixth Duke of Somerset, by his grace's second wife. This Lady Charlotte Finch, daughter of Daniel, Earl of Winchelsea and Nottingham, by whom he had issue Heneage, Lord Guernsey, six other sons, and four daughters; he died May 9, 1777, and was succeeded by his eldest son Heneage above mentioned. This nobleman was born July 15, 1751, and married Nov. 18, 1781, Lady Louisa Thynne, daughter of Thomas first Marquis of Bath, and had issue, Heneage, the present Earl, three other sons, and seven daughters; his lordship was Steward of the Household, died October 21, 1812; on his decease the title came to Heneage Finch, F.S.A., the present Earl, who was born April 24, 1686; he married April 23, 1821, Lady Augusta Sophia Greville, daughter of George second Earl of Brooke and Warr-she has issue Heneage, Lord Guernsey, born December 24, 1824; Daniel, born April 26, 1827, besides two daughters, Margaret and Sarah.

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AND

ON METALS, CHROMES, ANION DEPOSITS GENERALLY. No. VII.

(Continued from page 280) The most casual reader cannot have failed to notice the remarkable order which has prevailed in the liberation of elements from their compounds for instance, he has always seen that the anode is the place were oxygen appears, and the cathada is the place where hydrogen and where copper appear. Now this order prevails throughout the whole list of electrolytes and their elements;

so that the electro-chemist has been able to divide bodies into two great classes

rects. The result is obtained in a new se

orine; iodine; bronine; lphuric acid; carbonic cids generally. CATHIONS. the metals; ammonia; lime; and the protoxides getable alkalies. ermitted now to enter too the secondary actions, dify the primary result hich have already been ufficient for illustration; ch the oxygen, from de, enters into combination of the electrode; the the hydrogen combines, nity, with the oxygen of eleases the metal. The , in fact, that which cocomes and anion deposits, ygen combines with the olution; and the product ion is deposited.

west

elect

erwards, but nothing uncon ared, few cirri of a very rerged towards S. a colou of about 28° in diamete ar burr were visible. 11h. 10m. The sky was clou a portion from S.E. to S. W to the zenith, which wa ered with cirri. On a lo re a few cumulostrati clouds ing towards S. At this ho ful and rare phenomen a brilliant mock-moon, of , shone out of the lunar tside, a little below the rel of the moon; also thre ted rainbows appeared; the lunar halo, and near est part of it cut off up from the halo. The secon e summit of the lunar halo. rence of which was about 2 third at about 100 higher ference was 270; all open on to the north. 13m. The points where at the halo, were two bri and evidently paraselen 10% higher than the invert as a complete circle, wh was nearly 800 (this exte ith), having Cor Caroli n centre of the circle.

conds. The colours make their appearance
in due gradation. Immediately on im-
mersing the point, a small circle of a
silver blond colour, like very light hair,
makes its appearance; this increases in
size, and becomes darker at its centre
until it reaches a decided fawn colour;
it then passes on through various shades
of violet, until it reaches the indigos and
blues. The blue makes its appearance
in about three seconds; the imagination
cannot conceive of any thing more bril-
liant than its tint; it emerges from the
centre, as it were from a cloud, and
bursts on the eye with surpassing splen-
dour. The tints pass on, through pale
blue to yellow, and then through a range
to lake, and through bluish lake to green,
and greenish orange: next follow rose
orange, which fades off to greenish violet
and green by various shades, this passes
to reddish yellow, and onward to rose
lake. According to Nobili, who first
devised these experiments, rose-lake is
the forty-fourth colour of the series. This
series of colours will constitute a ring of
an inch or more in diameter, rose-lake
occupying the centre; the width of each
colour, and the distinctive characters, de-
pend mainly on the strength of the vol-
taic action, and the distance at which the
point is held from the plate. The whole
operation, as I have said, only occupies
a few seconds; and any action after the
the appearance of the rose-lake, operates
in undoing what has been done, by in-
creasing the thickness of the films be-
yond the limit which gives colour.

, or, as it is chemically of lead, is well stirred in saturated solution is obthen filtered for use. The this solution is oxide of acetic acid. Some of it in a flat dish over a poplatinum, or, which anell, a polished steel-plate. ouched with the battery become an anode; if the er wire is dipped into the ld at a little distance from the steel plate, a succesic rings, coloured with all s of the spectrum, make ce. They seem to grow e. They are caused by

f

very thin films of perdeposited from the solureflected through them ned surface of the plate, sed into one or other prisding to the thickness of e word on the electrone matter, and we leave ne subject, to give a few o the modes of obtaining s decomposed in this case ling; but the oxygen, in ing with the anode, comrotoxide of lead held in so

= it into a naravida

and

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15m. The mock-moon a
red rainbow disappeared, a
and inverted rainbows
d very bright.

S

20m. All had vanished
ar halo and burr, which
at half-past eleven o'clock.
menon did not reappear. N
colours were exhibited duri
paraselenæ, which I th
with these extraordinary

mare

It

a

may be as well to add Feather for the last fortnigh Learly cloudless, and for th renings the distant prospec remarkably clear. The win the east for some time, and Se out of that quarter, it is pro we shall have no rain.

Yours sincerel

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a colourless lunar diameter, and a

was cloudless, exE. to S.W. extendhich was thickly On a lower level ati clouds, all cont this hour a most henomenon took moon, of a silvery he lunar halo on elow the horizonalso three arcs of peared; the first and nearly at the t off upwards of he second rested unar halo, the ciras about 280. And Do higher, whose ; all opened in a

ts where the raine two bright oval paraselenæ, and the inverted raincircle, whose dia(this extended to Caroli nearly in

ck-moon and also peared, and the ainbows still re

vanished except rr, which disapen o'clock. This appear. No prisibited during this which I think is ordinary appearwell to add, that st fortnight, has and for the last ant prospect has . The wind has ne time, and until ter, it is probable ain.

erely, E. J. Lowe.

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more frequent in the last, than in the present century; and surely the punishment of crime was proportionately severer and commensurate with its extent. In addition to the crimes which the law now visits with the punishment of death, forgery, burglary, highway robbery, felony, and even what we should almost be inclined to designate petty larceny, were capital offences, and when we cast our eyes down the columns of an old newspaper, it is truly painful to notice the frequent recurrence of the words, "Verdict, guilty-Sentence, death."

Tyburn, at the western end of Oxfordstreet, was the principal place of execution, and, serious as are the associations with which that word is coupled, we can scarcely refrain from smiling when we reflect, that what is to us scarcely half an hour's ride in one of the thousand omnibuses which daily rattle over the paved and busy street between the city and Paddington, was, to our grandfathers, comparatively a weary pilgrimage along what was then "the road to Tyburn," between green hedges and stately trees, and in constant dread of highwaymen or footpads. I have said Tyburn was "the principal" place of execution, for this was not the only spot on which the instrument of death was raised. Execution Dock, at Wapping, was devoted to the punishment of such criminals as had been guilty of capital offences "on the high seas.' It was no uncommon, and, from its frequency, scarcely considered a shocking, occurrence in the streets of London, to meet a waggon, or, rather, what is called a "Thames-street cart," moving at a slow pace along the street, and conveying some unhappy culprit to the place of execution. The cart contained also the offender's coffin placed before his eyes, and the chaplain, praying aloud, and exhorting him to repentance. The mournful procession, in which a silver oar, and other symbols of authority, were exhibited, surrounded by a crowd of idlers, arrived at Execution Dock, and in a few minutes the convict was seen struggling between life and death.

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tioner cast him off, and the body had to remain until the river touched his feet: sometimes it was allowed to reach his knees. It was then cut down, and placed in the same cart, with a piece of black cloth flung carelessly across it, paraded through the city, and deposited in Hicks' Hall. For the next week the body of the unhappy convict lay for the inspection of the curious and sight-seeing public, cut and mangled, dissected, and anatomised—a sickening spectacle to the multitude who crowded to see it, and linger in the gallery to cast down one more look upon the revolting scene. When every seeker of medical knowledge, from the experienced surgeon to the thoughtless student, had dabbled in the blood of the criminal, the body, mangled and hideous as it was to view, was loaded with chains, and suspended from one of the gibbets which lined the banks of the river in the olden time. "That is my old messmate, Tom Brown," or, "There hangs my fellow-apprentice, Jack Smith," the sailors would say, as they passed down the Thames. Every corpse, disfigured and mutilated though it was, was well known; and as the watermen rowed their boats along the river, they would occasionally pull a little out of their way, to drive off the birds that were greedily devouring the body of some old companion.

Such is an outline of the scenes which were frequently occurring at Execution Dock. Still more frightful outrages to the public feelings were perpetrated at Tyburn, where, on the Monday morning after his conviction, followed the execution, of the criminal. And the execution of a single offender was, unhappily, of rare occurrence: several, and in some instances, even as many as twenty, have suffered at once; and if only two or three convicts were brought to execution, the crowd which had assembled to witness the sad spectacle returned in disappointment home, complaining that "there were scarcely any people hanged at Tyburn this morning!"

But even the streets of London were occasionally converted into places of execution, and perambulating gallowses and temporary scaffolds erected for the punishment of offenders. Subsequently to the riots of 1780, this mode of execution was very frequent; and all who had, or were even suspected to have, been concerned in the outrages of that period, were indiscriminately hanged on the

spots which had been the scene of their offences. Two cases, in particular, I have heard alluded to: one, of a Jew, who was executed opposite to Whitechapel Church, and whose shrieks rang through the neighbourhood; and the other, a youth, banged at Smithfield, on a charge which afterwards proved to be erroneous.

We may, even now-a-days, occasionally encounter a man with bills on his hat and bills in his hand, bawling about the streets an account of "The Life, Trial, and Execution" of some miserable convict; but in the last century his was a busy occupation, for the last moments of some score of criminals had to be recorded every quarter. In many instances the execution was anticipated, and while the hangman was fixing the rope round his victim's neck, the vendor of ballads and "execution papers" would commence shouting, "Here's a full, true, and particular account of the Life, Trial, and Execution of the wretched malefactor who was hanged this morning at Tyburn," or "before the Debtors' Door, Newgate" (as the case might be), "together with his last dying speech and confession, and a moving copy of verses, together with a letter which he wrote the night before his execution." This was the most popular form of the dismal cry which was chaunted to a melancholy air, and duly delivered in a solemn and imposing tone. These "accounts" were wretchedly printed on flimsy paper, with a coarse representation of a general imaginary criminal (which had been a "correct portrait" of the last fifty "wretched malefactors") at the head, or the form of the gallows. The price was one penny; and, when newspapers were dear, and beyond the means of the many, these narratives, incorrect and imperfect as they were, were greedily purchased. It is almost needless to add, that the report of the execution, the confession of the criminal, and the copy of verses, were all the produce of some Grub-street penny-a-liner's fertile imagination. They were printed on the preceding evening; and the cheat was occasionally ludicrously exposed by a reprieve, or pardon, being sent down after the vendor had been supplied.

Two modes of punishment, now entirely obsolete, were frequently adopted in the last century: the one, "flogging at the cart's tail," when the convict was tied to the back of a cart and whipped

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