master of a vessel, shewed that he who divested a problem of mystery, or shortened the calculations by which it was solved, conferred an important boon on navigation. Here lay the value of Mercator's discovery: his artificial method, although less accurate than the true or great circle sailing, was by far more simple-requiring less labour, less attention, and less mathematical acquirements. It was also sufficiently correct for the navigation of that day. But, in the present day, the extension of the field of naval and mercantile pursuits demanded the re-adoption of the correct system; but the chief obstacle to the employment of the great circle course, was the labour and skill required in making the calculations connected with it. To relieve the mariner from these, was the desirable object which had been accomplished by his townsman, Mr. Towson, and whose tables were about to be published by the Admiralty for the benefit of all mariners. It would not render the chart useless, nor would it do away with the old methods; but would show the mariner the true direction of his destination as a bird would see it, if flying high enough to look over the rotundity of the globe. Consequently, the mariner might adopt a direct course, instead of the spiral one which Mercator traced out. The lecturer then pointed out an application of great circle sailing to a purpose not previously contemplated, viz., to windward sailing. Ten times the amount of value previously regarded as the result of this system, may, by this modification of its principles, be obtained. As an illustration, he had from Mr. Towson, an example of a ship leaving Cape Turnagain, New Zealand, for Valdevia, South America. If the wind were half a point north of the east, the starboard tack would appear by the chart to be the tack more favourable than the port. Unacquainted with the principles of the sphere, he would prefer that tack; but the great circle course would show him that the true position of his port on the globe is 70 degrees nearer the other tack: consequently, in a run of 500 miles, the mariner who is guided by his chart or Mercator's course, distances his port four miles; but if he uses the great circle course in choosing his tack, he nears it 456 miles.-Telegraph. ARCHEOLOGY. We have great pleasure in hearing that an Archæological Society, in connexion with the Exeter Diocesan Board, is about to be established at Plymouth, and that the preliminary meetings have already been held. We are sure that much interesting-valuable information will be elicited, by the united efforts of the cognoscenti of the neighbourhood; and we need scarcely say that our columns will always be open to any communications from the society. LANDULPH SALE. THE following are a few of the prices made at the sale of books at the residence of the late Rev. F. V. J. Arundel, of Landulph, mentioned in our last:Catalogue of the Heraldry of England, 1 vol. folio, MS., particularly as relative to the Families of Devon and Cornwall, £16 10s.; Ludolph's Life of Christ, 1 vol. folio, M.S., £7; Annotationes Scholasticæ in Evangelica Dominicalia, I vol., Frankfort, 1553, MS., £5 5s.; Corpus Byzantinæ Historiæ, 23 vols. folio, Venice, 1729, £8 83.; Biblia Sacra Polyglotta, with Castell's Lexicon, 8 vols. folio, London, 1657, £20. WHAT MAY BE DONE IF WE TRY. THIRTY years ago, by a singular contrast, the company then performing at the opera at Bergamo, a little city in the north of Italy, was of a very indifferent character, whilst the choruses were excellent and well conducted. In fact, such must have been the case, as the greater part of the chorus-singers have since become either celebrated singers, brilliant musicians, or grand composers. Donizetti, Crivelli, Leordoro, Bianchi, Maro, Dolci, having commenced their careers with singing in the choruses of that town. Now, among the rest, at the epoch above mentioned, there was a young man who was very poor, very modest, and very much beloved by his comrades who, in reality were for the most part as bad off as himself. The orchestra and the chorus-singers in Italy are but very poorly paid, so that it is nothing extraordinary to find your shoemaker first fiddle, and your tailor violoncello, whilst their apprentices, drive away the tedium of their occupation in the day, by playing at night in the theatres, the clarinet, the ophecleid, or the cymbals. Our young man to assist his aged mother, joined to his wages as jour neyman tailor, the slight, but no doubt still welcome pay of a chorus-singer. On day as he was measuring Nozari for a pair of pantaloons, this celebrated cantalore, after looking at him a little while, said to him with a kind expression, "I think I have seen you before some where." "It is very possible, Signore; you must have seen me at the theatre, where I do my best in the chorusses." "Have you a good voice ?" "Not very, I can scarcely sound the sol."* "Let us see," said Nozari, approaching a piano, "try a scale or two." Our young chorus-singer obeyed, half pleased at being noticed by so great a man; but when he had struck the sol, he stopped, apparently out of breath. "Come now, let us have the la." "I can't sir, I assure you." Really sir," "Give out the si, I tell you again, or, upon my word," "Do not be angry, sir, and I'll do my best sol, la, si, do!" "Do you see now!" said Nozari triumphantly. "Well, my good fellow, I have but one word to say to you, and that is, that if you like to try for it, you will become the first tenor in the world." Nozari was right. The poor chorussinger who eked out a miserable livelihood by mending pantaloons, possesses at the present moment, a fortune of one hundred thousand pounds sterling, and is called RUBINI. AMERICAN ELOQUENCE. THE following specimen of rhodomontade, borrowed from the Albany knick, can hardly fail to excite a smile on the countenances of the most phlegmatic of our readers at the same time that those who are willing to look within the surface, will find their pains rewarded by the wholesome truths concealed beneath the froth: "FROM EIGHTEEN TO TWENTY-TWO. -Probably more people go to the deuce between these interesting ages than any other period of their existence. At this age a passion for petticoats and ungodli *The notes in Italian music are rendered as do, re, me, fa, sol, la, si, do, &c. instead of c de fg ab c, &c. as in our own methods. ness generally rages throughout the system, with a power that can be no more guided by reason, than you could direct the movements of an insane bull by a boiled carrot. At that age we are perfect locomotives, going to destruction with a train of evils at the rate of sixty miles an hour. At twenty, to use the language of Dow, the celebrated divine, the male and female hearts are nothing more nor less than high pressure boilers. LOVE is the steam, which they sometimes blow off in sighs, and HOPE, FEAR, ANXIETY, and JEALOUSY, are freight cars they drag. At this season of life, you are filled with the exhilarating gas of romance every thing to you looks romantic by spells. You (both girls and boys) now read novels till your gizzards have softened into a sentimental jelly, and settled into the pit of your stomachs. O, I know how you feel! you feel as though you'd like to soar from star to star! -kick the little planets aside!take crazy comets by their blazing hair, and pull them into their right courses!sit upon the highest peak of a thunder cloud, and dangle the red lightning between your thumb and fingers as a watch chain-then dive into the golden sunset sea, and sport with the celestial syrens! speed on--pull the nose of the blackguard in the moon! ransack all creation! -knock a few panes out of the windows of Heaven! and then flutter down as gently as a breeze, and find the darling object of your love mending stockings by moonlight!! That's how you feel." As a specimen of the Anticlimax or Bathos, we think this forms an admirable companion to Pope's celebrated example-" And thou Dalhousie -mighty God of War!"-" Lieutenant General to the Earl of Mar!" DIVERSITY OF CUSTOMS. In our days it is considered the height of rudeness to wear the hat in the house, and more especially at the time of meals. Such however does not appear to have been the case among our ancestors, as late even as the days of the great Lord Clarendon, who informs us in his Essays on the decay of age, that, in his younger days, he never kept his hat on before those who were older than himself, except at dinner. Among the wearing of a hat at dinner, would be regarded as the rudest breach of etiquette. Visiting the Synagogue in Plymouth, one Friday us evening, just before the commencement of the sabbath observances, I took my hat off from respect to the Almighty Being, to whose worship the temple was dedicated; one of the elders, a venerable man, whose beard, white as the driven snow, hung down below his girdle, observing this, came up and requested me to put it on. I explained my motive for uncovering, which I stated to be out of respect to God, and not from disrespect to them; and was only in conformity with the custom of my religion. He replied, it was not their custom, and requested me to replace it. I asked whether my remaining uncovered gave him offence, as in that case, I would immediately replace it, however repugnant such a proceeding was to my own sense of decorum; and, on his answering, it did give him offence, I immediately put my hat once more on my head. In trivial matters such as this, where we have no higher authority to guide us than the usages of society, it is the essence of good breeding to comply with the customs of those among whom we chance to be thrown, and it is the especial command of our Saviour, not to offend our weaker brethren. In weightier matters, which are especially provided against by a positive command, as paying adoration to the host passing through the streets in a Catholic country,-making the sign of the cross with the holy water in the font placed within the entrance of the church,-bowing to the altar,-addressing prayers to the representations of the saints, and other acts of idolatry, their observance would be a crime, their nonobservance a duty. COMMONPLACE. FROM an excellent article on "Commonplace," in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, we select the following:-To him who has a plethora of other men's ideas, who has culled them from all writers, ancient and modern, the simple ideas, however pleasing, that suggest themselves to men who have been more of thinkers than of readers, may appear tame. An epicure, in like manner, who may have been long accustomed to the pleasures of the table, may find no enjoyment in a ripe apple; but there are other tastes to which it may be delicious. A man who has been cooped up for a twelvemonth in a dingy office, may take the most exquisite pleasure in escaping into the fields and plucking daisies. Another, released from a dark dungeon, may luxuriate in the free fresh air and the glorious sunshine; and he whose mouth is parched with thirst, may think all heaven comprised in a draught of water. To them these things are far from commonplace, though they might be so to another man filled to repletion with the enjoyments of life and society. There are millions of minds daily springing up to make acquaintance with literature, who would be deprived of a charm, a beauty, and a glory, if they had not an opportunity of reading the immortal commonplaces to which the gorged and overrefined critic may think it incumbent upon him to neglect. EXHIBITION OF LANDSEER'S PICTURE, ENTITLED "SHOEING.", A GREAT gratification has been afforded during the past month, to the inhabitants of this neighbourhood, by the exhibition at the Plymouth Athenæum, of one of Landseer's finest pictures. It represents the interior of a farrier's shop; the farrier being engaged in fitting a shoe to a magnificent bay horse, and such a horse as Landseer only could paint. It is probably, one of the most real and life-like representations of an animal that ever was put upon canvas, and not less wonderful of their kind, are the donkey and dog, introduced as accessories, whilst all the objects of still life introduced, are painted with the most consummate skill. No object, however insignificant in itself is slighted, even the very parings of the horse's hoof that are scattered on the floor, show the scrupulous care of this great artist, to render his pictures perfect in every part, and most useful to many younger artists, who think it beneath their dignity to bestow any care, except upon the principal points of their pictures. An unusual interest attaches to this picture, from the fact, that it was painted and presented by Landseer, to his friend, Mr. Bell, the druggist of Oxford-street, who had nursed him through a dangerous illness in Italy, and brought him back to England in health and safety. It is said that Sir R. Peel offered Mr. Bell £2000 for the picture, which was refused. The picture was exhibited in the hall of the Athenæum, under the care of the Messrs. Fry, Printsellers, Union-street; by whose courtesy the public were admitted to a free inspection of it. CHURCH SERVICE AT SEA. INTERRUPTION. I REMEMBER once, in a frigate cruising deep in the Bay of Biscay, just as the Captain had finished the Litany, and the Parson, whose greatest pleasure it was to officiate as clerk, had said "Amen," that the man at the main royal mast head screamed out, "A strange sail, broad on the lee bow!" The first effect of this announcement was to make the commanders turn round involuntarily to the man at the wheel, and exclaim, "Put the helm up!" He then closed the book, with a degree of energy, of which he was made somewhat ashamed, when the sound was echoed by that of the rapidly closing volumes all around him. "My lads," said he quickly, but not without solemnity, "Our duty to our King is our duty to God; and if, as I hope, this sail turn out to be the same ship we have been so long looking after, you will not give a worse account of her to the country, I am sure, for having applied in good earnest for assistance from aloft." After which, suddenly changing his tone and manner, he sung out, loudly and clearly, “Hands, make sail;-let go the bow lines!-round in the weather braces!-mast-head, there! -let me know when the strange sail is right a-head.” Then leaping on the hammocks, and resting his glass against the after swifter of the main rigging, he swept the horizon impatiently for the stranger. Meanwhile, the rattling of the chairs, capstan-bars, match-tubs, and shot-boxes, gave token of the rapid demolition of our nautical church. The studding-sail booms shot out like spears from the yard arms, and the sails, which these spars were to expand, hung dangling and flapping in the air, as if the canvas had been alive, and joined in the eagerness of the chase; while the gay ship herself, tumbling fore and aft, under these flush and spirit-stirring impulses, dashed away at the rate of ten and a half. Such are the incidents which happen on board single frigates; those rattling, joyous, fly-along, salie-rover sort of cruisers, which range at large over the wide ocean, scour every coast, and keep the war famously alive.-Captain Hall's Fragments. MATHEMATICS. WE omitted to notice in our last, that solutions similar to that given, were received from Messrs. J. Light and J. Sowden. The omission arose partly from the circumstance of their solutions being delivered late. Our mathematical friends are reminded of the necessity of sending of sending as early as possible the contributions with which they are pleased to favor us. In No. 29 of the former series of the Chronicle, was given the following problem as No. 15. The solution intended not having been given, it was re-proposed in No. 1., new series; but on account of a radical sign being omitted, no solution was expected. PROB. XXVIII.-By Mr. M. B. P. |