army which are in good order, and which would come upon the flanks or the rear of the victor.

to a

"It was in the flight, that the greatest part of the men were killed in former times; and the slaughter was chiefly effected by the expedition of the cavalry. But now, their pursuit is quickly checked; because a cannon ball is thrown much greater distance than an ancient mifsile weapon; and with force enough to kill many men at once, though defended by the strongest thields, and by coats of mail made of iron.

"The cavalry, in their pursuit, must go through a country that is open, or that has narrow passes, or that is full of trees. In the first case, the cannon balls reach to a great distance. and, bounding from place to place, produce havock, and confusion. In the second case, light-field-pieces are placed in the narrow pafses, where every ball is effective in a powerful manner, by acting upon a deep column. In the third case, iron balls knock splinters from the trees, by which the men and horses are destroyed, or thrown into disorder. And, in every case, when the cavalry come near, they are large marks for constant showers of casefhot, from guns which can be defended for a long time, and by a few men, in such situations; while, in the mean time, the vanquished troops will have got far to the rear, and have had time to recover their order, and their courage.

"Thus the inventions which were thought to be the most destructive in war, have saved many lives, and produced much humanity. And, thus, every improvement in field pieces, will not only

give victory to the army which first uses it; but, after the improvement is generally known, it will diminish the carnage in battles."

The above words, it is well known, were printed in an essay which was presented to the Duke of Richmond in the year 1788; and many copies of it were presented to the friends of the author-That, "every improvement in field pieces will give victory to the army which first uses it," has been lately proved, by the armies of France, to the conviction of Europe. That" after the improvement is "generally known, it may diminish the carnage in "battles," must be the prayer of every lover of the human kind, in every age, and in every country. Praying sincerely that it may be so, I am spectfully, Sir,

Your most obedient Servant

A RIDER.

66

re

SIR,

To the Editor of the Bee.
R

YOUR Correspondent Th. R. from Sutherland states a
fact well known in the natural history of testaceous a-
nimals, but from the similarity of fhape I suppose he
has mistaken the species of thell fish found in the
stone, which I am apt to think was not a muscle as des-
cribed by him, but a pholas, the history of which at
considerable length he will find in La Conchyliologie.
de Mr D'Argenville, and figured in plate 26 fig. K.
of part first, and plate 7 fig. S. of part second. It
is also described in Pennant's zoology vol. 4. p. 77,
and called by him pholas parvus, and a figure given
plate XL. fig. 13. Shells of this species are frequent-
ly met with in Scotland, and are found in great
quantities at Toulon in Provence, and at Ancona in

Italy, where they are found in the hardest stones, but most commonly in marble, which is broken with large hammers to come at the fih, which is reckoned a great delicacy. It would not suit your miscellany to enter more, at large into the history of this curious fish; I shall therefore, only farther observe that I have often found stones that had been preforated by pholades, deprived of their first inhabitant, whose place was supplied by other fhell fish, such as oysters, muscles, &c. probably forced from their native beds by storms, when very young, and by a heavy swell of the sea driven into the deserted habitation of the pholas, where they continue to encrease in size till they completely fill the original excavation. The pholas is also described by Rondelet lib. I. p. 49. Lister hist. anim. Angliæ, p. 172. Aldrovandus de testaceis lib. 3. Auctarium Balfourianı c. c. By the by mentioning this last author brings to my remembrance what Mr D'Argenville says when giving a history of the most famous cabinets of nat. hist. in Europe, which you fhall have in his own words.

"Le fameux cabinet d'André Balfourianus medecin, se voit dans la bibliotheque publique de la ville d'Edinbourg capitale d'Ecofse; c'est une composé de tout ce qu'on peut voir de plus rare en chaque genre, á en juger par le livre imprimé que nous en avons, sur tout depuis qu'on y a joint le cabinet de Robert Sibbaldus medecin, qui en a fait present á la ville, à condition de le rendre publique."

Can you tell, Mr Editor, where this famous collec tion is now kept; I should like to have a peep at it.

Z.

SIR,

To the Editor of the Bee.

By inserting the following ode in the Bee, you will oblige your most
obedient servant,
A. A.

ODE TO AURORA.

FAIR Smiling goddess of the dawn,
That o'er the dew-bespangled lawn
Serenely beam'st with rosy eye,
All beauteous in the dappled sky;
Soon as thou cheer'st the mountain's height,

Purpling afar the orient wave,
Abafh'd the sable power of night

Shoots with increasing speed to dark Cimmerian çave:

Lo, startled by thy hostile beam,
Night's terrors fly the heavenly gleam;
And fire eyed forms and spectres pale
Flock fearful to the cavern'd dale.
So when fair science beams along,

The gloom of ignorance profound,
Aghast withdraws her blackening throng;
And beauty, order, truth, triumphant smile around.

Dimm'd by thy roseate lustre, fly
The nightly squadrons of the sky;
Save when the radiant queen of love*
Displays her emulous gem above:
Anon the fhines with peerless light,

The brilliant harbinger of day,
Till streaming glorious on the sight,
Bursts from the golden wave Hyperion's flaming ray.

Wak'd by thy smile creative, glows
The landscape vivid as the rose:
The fields their goodliest tints unveil,
And fragrance floats upon the gale,
To thee the,woodland pours its strains:
Mid solitude's enchanting sway
The lark, the songster of the plains,
Mounts from her lowly nest, and trills her matin lay.

Pleas'd the industrious peasant eyes

Thy blush, and to his labour hies;

Thou, murderous slumber dost controul,
And wak'st the vigour of the soul.

Venus, sometimes the morning, and sometimes the evening star. About the time of her greatest elongation from the sun, the is so bright as to continue visible, when to the west of him, till he rise; and to a fharp eye even when he is far above the horizon.

VOL. Xvii.

On sleep-chain'd health thou steal'st amain:
But slowly fhines thy lingering ray

To him, that on the bed of pain

At even laments the night, at morn bewails the day.

And slow's thy welcome to the wight
That hapless toils the tedious night
Tempestuous through the wintry wild,
Where horror roams, Gorgonian child:
And to the storm tofs'd wretch, forlorn

Amidst the darksome ocean's roar,
Who, by the boisterous waters born,
Dreads the unpitying strand, or rude basaltic fhore.

Long, long in Thetis' caverns lost,
Thou quitt'st Lapponia's guileless ✶ coast,
And Nova Zembla's icy plains,

Or where the Oby + sleeps in chains:
Long mourns in Greenland's snow-clad cave
The Troglodyte thine absence drear;
Till o'er th illumin'd arctic wave

Thy saffron robe he spies, and hails the vernal year.

When Chaos held his throne of old
Where frightful desolation scowl'd,
And o'er the monstrous waste profound
Night brooded horrible around;
Thy cheering light, full sweet, I ween,

Upspringing broke the midnight gloom;
And o'er creation's varied scene

Dispers'd its orient hues, and bade all nature bloom.

And sweet thy face, when first it glow'd
On Eden's heavenly prime, and sow'd
With glittering pearls the garnifh'd ground,
And balmy odours breath'd around;
Or sweeter still, with pure delight

Well may the muse, with rapturous voice,
In thy transporting charms rejoice:
Oft from Parnafsus' flowery swell,
Enchanted as by magic spell,
She views thy kindling form divine
Disporting in the eastern sky;
And borrows oft, to grace her line,

The roses of thy cheek, and radiance of thine eye.

When soft eyed cherubs hail'd thy ray;
And, spoiling death, the lord of might
Victorious burst the tomb, and sought the realms of day.

Peterhead, May, 1793.

A. A ‡.

*Concerning the blest innocence of the Laplanders, see Linnæus preface to his Flora Lapponica.

A river of Siberia.

The farther correspondence of this writer will prove very deceptable.