board, who was returning from Rio Janeiro, and who acted as their pilot and interpreter; by whose means we conversed with the captain. What particularly attracted their attention was, the brother of one of my companions, a fine boy, about seven years old; they took off his cap, they felt his flaxen hair, and loaded him with the most endearing caresses. The first and second mates were broken emi. grants from Portugal, and both extremely handsome; the elder, who seemed about twenty-four, after several expressions of kindness, took out a guitar of a large form, and louder tone than any I had before seen or heard, and seating himself on deck, began to play a Brazilian air, and never shall I forget the impression it made on me; the light and antastic measure, so different from our musical combinations, the tones of the instrument so new, so pleasing to my ear, the emotions of the performer's expressive features, as his fingers swept through every yariation of the tune, filled me with sensations that shall remain in my mind a lasting treasure for reflection.

The performer expressed a wish to see my young companions dance, who immediately assenting, began a Scottish reel of four, and kept admirable time to a beautiful fandango tune. The crew collected in a circle around them; delight and satisfaction were pictured in every sun-burnt face, “Star bon star bon! benito Irelandese!" reiterated from every voice. "The dance concluded, we got into our boat; the whole crew saluted us with three cheers; we returned it, con amore, and as long as memory shall exert her faculty in my mind, I shall think with delight on the Brazilian fandango, and the foreign guitar.

L.

To the Editor of the Belfast Magazine. PERM

DERMIT me, sir, to take up a few pages of your valuable Magazine in drawing the attention of some of your readers to a subject not generally understood, especially by those whose business and employment it is.

"A large and elegant bridge, forming a way over a broad and rapid river, is justly esteemed one of the noblest

pieces of mechanism that man is ca. pable of performing, and any attempts to advance the theory or practice, highly deserving the encouragement of the public."

As my profession is not that of an architect, very probably I should have been silent, had it not been from hearing and seeing every day, absurd things advanced on the subject.-i will not say a word of that rickety bridge near this town, on the Dublin road, which, if I am rightly informed, cost the public upwards of six hundred pounds sterling!!!-nor do I wish to wound the feelings of its architect, but rather to give him a friendly hint lest he fall into similar errors in his present construction.

When a bridge is deemed necessary to be built over a river, the first consideration is the plan of it, or what particular situation will contain a maximum of the advantages over the disadvantages.

The breadth of the river, the navigation upon it, and the velocity and depth of the stream, form considerations of great moment. In most cases, a wider part of the river ought rather to be chosen than a narrow one, especially if it is subject to great tides or floods; for the encreased velocity of the stream in the narrow part being again augmented by the further con traction of the breadth, will both incommode the navigation through the arches, undermine the piers, and endanger the whole bridge. With respect to the form of a bridge, strength, utility, and beauty, ought to be regarded and united, the chief of which lies in the arches.

In fixing on the number of arches, let an odd number always be taken, and few and large ones rather than many and smaller for thus we shall have not only fewer foundations and piers to make, but fewer arches and centres, which will produce great savings in the expense.

The elliptical arch is in general the best form for most bridges, as it can be made of any height to the same span, or of any span to the same height, while at the same time its haunches are sufficiently strong and elevated above the water, even when it is flat at top-a property which the

other curves are not in the same degree possessed of. The joints of fracture, or the parts most likely to give way, are at the haunches, and the property in this curve is such, that after an arch is built, and the centering struck, it settles more about the haunches than at any of the other parts.

Elliptical arches also look bolder, are really stronger, and require less materials and labour than any others. The cycloidal arch is next in quality to the elliptical, and lastly, the circle.

The elliptic arch of equilibration, is that which is in equilibrium in all its parts, having no tendency to give way in one place more than another, and is therefore recommended as the most durable, commodious, and beautiful

of all arches. Every particular figure

of the extrados above an arch, requires a particular curve for the under side of the arch itself, to form an arch of equilibration, so that the incumbent pressure on every part may be proportional to the strength or resistance there. When the arch is equally thick throughout (a case that can hardly ever happen) there the catenarian curve is the arch of equilibration, but in no other case whatever; and therefore it is a great mistake to suppose that this curve is the best figure for arches in all cases, when in reality it is the

worst.

The catenarian curve, is that form which a chain or rope takes, by hanging freely from two horizontal points of suspension.

As the choice of the arch is of so great moment, let no person either through ignorance or indolence prefer

worse than what is here recommended, because it may seem to him easier to construct; for he would ill deserve the name or employment of an architect, who is not capable of rendering the exact construction of any curve easy and familiar to himself; but if by chance a bridge-builder should be employed, who is incapable of doing that, he ought at least to have so much honesty as to procure some person to go through the calculations which he cannot make for himself.

Any of your readers who wish for further information on this subject, are referred to Dr. Hutton's Principles of

Bridges, where they will find the matter fully explained. It is to this work I am principally indebted for the present remarks.--But, Mr. Editor, if I can spare time, and that no person better qualified takes up the subject, I will send you easy and correct rules deduced from first principles, adapted chiefly for those who have not studied the subject in a mathematical point of view. M.C.

Belfast, 22d May, 1809.

For the Belfast Magazine.

A DIALOGUE.

AN OLD MAN IS QUIETLY WALKING ALONG, A TRAVELLER COMES AND ACCOSTS HIM.

TRAV. Good morning.

Old M. Good morning to you kindly. Tra. Can you tell me the way to Wexford ?

Old M. That I can, for I know the place too well; I am going within a mile of the town, and we can travel together. You seem to be a stranger in the country.

Tra. So I am, although I was born here; but I went to sea when I was a a boy, and never saw my native country since.

Old M. Oh! then, it is woefully changed since that time. The rebellion made sad havock.

Tra. The rebellion! I was in England at the time. Did you lose any thing by it?

Old M. Yes (sighing) I lost every thing, I may say; it happened this time eleven years; I remember it well, for my poor boy joined them; Oh! it was a sorrowful day to me!

Tra. Was he compelled to join them?

Old M. Yes, his high spirit compelled him. He could not bear to be whipped like a dog, all innocent as he

was.

Tra. Whipped!-for what reason? I thought none but the guilty were whipped.

Old M. No, he was as innocent as a child, and ever loyal to his king; but he was poor and suspected, and that was enough for them. When they came to take my poor, poor boy out, he was teaching his little sister to write,

for that was his business when he came home from his work; and my wife

1

and I were sitting smoking, thinking how happy we were to have such a good son. Oh I thought my poor wife's heart would break when she saw him going. She fell on her knees, and begged them not to take the prop of her old age from her, for she thought he would never recover it. He had a fever long after, which my wife caught in attending him; for, poor woman! she never lay down the whole time, but still watching him. He recovered, but she never did; she is in a better place, so I ought not to fret. (wiping his eyes.) Tru. And where is your son!

Old A1. Oh! sir, he is with his poor mother, in heaven; for, as I told you before, sir, he joined the rebels: he thought he was serving his country, but when he saw the cruelty of his own party, he repented, and was coming to give up his arms, when a party of soldiers met him, and took him up; and when he would not inform, they shot him. Poor fellow, he thought it a mean and cowardly thing to be an informer. Well then, they came to my little cabin, and set it on fire. My little girl was burned to death, and old as I am, they would have killed me, only I happened to be out, for nothing was too bad for them to do. So, you see, sir, I had my sufferings; and many more, like me, were left without a child to close their eyes. So now, sir, I bid you good morning that's your road.

I

SYLVIA.

For the Belfast Magazine. PERCEIVE that your pages are open to free discussion on literary subjects, and that the shadow of a nighty name affords no protection to the possessor of it, whether living or dead, from the censure of just criticism. The paradoxes of Rousseau are probably known to your readers, by which he advocates the savage life in preference to the advantages of civiliza tion. Some of your readers, perhaps, may not be acquainted with the secret history of his essay on the inequality of man, which he wrote in answer to the question proposed by the academy of Dijon. "What is the origin of the inequality among men? and, if it be

authorized by the law of nature?" He himself describes his sensations, on re. solving to write in favour of the savage state, as rising to extacy; and that he was so penetrated with his subject, as to shed many tears. This is all very fine, but he appears only to have been an actor; for, in the memoirs of Marmontel, written by him-elf, we are assured, on the authority of Diderot, that Rousseau had at first designed to write in favour of civilization, and was resolved to exercise all his powers in its cause. He mentioned his design to Diderot, who observed, that other candidates would, doubtless, di play the benefits derived from social improvements; and that it was a path in which he would not be distinguished from the dunces. "C'est un pont aux anes," (a bridge that every animal may pass) was the expression of Diderot. Rous seau changed his plan, and gratified his vanity and love of paradox, by writing in favour of the savage state. Rather than take the vulgar road, be whimsically adduces the advantages of nakedness, inclement seasons, ignorance the most profound, privations of all the comforts of social intercourse, and the society of animals, scarcely inferior to his favourite savage.

I

A READER.

For the Belfast Monthly Magazine.

HAVE been your constant reader since the first publication of the Belfast Magazine. With some of your essays I have been highly pleased and instructed. I will trust to your candour to allow me to say, I have also seen some papers in the Magazine, which I do not admire and which did not even please the class of readers for whom the tales were intended. Some of the tales want consistency of character, and I hope Maria will allow me to mention, a few objections to Rosa. Mrs. Woodley speaking of Shayboy, knowed, sartaint, axing, and larning is not characteristic of English manners; the English have a different phraseology: such words are more used by the poorer classes of the Irish whose poverty too frequently prevents them from getting instruction.

Passing over some other things which I do not admire, I must say, I agree with Maria in the conclusion of the tale, when she speaks of scandal. I have sat present many times when I have been astonished at the malignant pleasure, some persons took in aspersing the characters of their neighbours, either by insinuations or more positive assertions. A diffidence of my own abilities has often prevented me from expressing the indignation I have felt at such conversation. While I thus condemn scandal, I must admit that a dread of public censure may have its use in making us careful to have our conduct and behaviour always regulated by the strictest propriety. If we are conscious that it is such as is proper we may be assured that even if scandal point her poisoned arrow at us, the tale will not be generally believed, and thus, to a certain degree we may live above the reach of censorious tongues, whose malice is best defeated by innocence, and the necessary caution to shun the appearance as well as the reality of error, in the manner of conducting ourselves. Female honour is of a peculiarly delicate nature; indiscretion may lead us to become really vicious, it often leads us to have the appearance of being so without the actual guilt. If we are sometimes falsely censured, the consciousness of our own integrity and uprightness of conduct will support us under the insinuations and aspersions of the malevolent and censorious. S.Y.

For the Belfast Monthly Magazine.

Sin England, I twice passed through OME years ago when travelling

the Potteries of Staffordshire; I shall give the result of my observations. I first passed them in the night; the flames issuing from the furnaces had a curious effect, when viewed for the first time; I was also struck with an idea of the great wealth of England, and wondered less at her capabilities to carry on her destructive wars, when I beheld such vast capital invested in one single article of manufacture, the earthen ware, which in comparison of some others, would rather appear of minor importance.

These potteries lie in the north west part of Staffordshire, and form a nearly connected extension of villages for several miles, under different names, as Burslem, Hanley-Green, Etruria, &c.

From these extensive manufactories are supplied not only the common articles of earthen ware now in so general use amongst all ranks, but also the finer kinds both for use and ornament, which from the inventive genius of the celebrated Wedgewood and others, have attained to such hitherto unrivalled perfection.

My second visit through this extremely populous quarter, was on a summer's evening: I was surprized to find such crowds of people in a state of idleness, men, women, and boys: many of whom, even boys not exceeding 15 or 16, in a state of gross intoxication. I had previously formed an opinion that in England, the people were comparatively more sober than in Ireland: I inquired if it was fair time, or any particular festival; but was answered in the negative: I found it was only St. Monday, and that the workmen finding they could subsist on the bigh wages which they received for working during part of the week, squandered their earnings in this pernicious manner. I had formerly been a strong advocate for high wages to the working classes of the community, in hopes they might tend to increase their comforts and elevate their views to some higher attainment of intellectual knowledge. But I was somewhat confounded in my former theories, and saw cause to consider that high wages often produce a contrary effect, unless those who receive them have good use of them, and to employ been previously trained to make a

their leisure for the purposes of real improvement. It was neces-ary however to guard myself from misanthropic views, and having found my former theory in part untenable, from falling into the opposite extreme, of considering the working classes merely as beasts of burden, to produce profit to their employers, the rich capitalists. I lamented that the present system of education and public instruction, was not better calculated for fitting the various ranks of society to discharge their respective