Clafs eleventh.

TOURMALINE, or LAPIS ELECTRICUS. HARDNESS 10; SPECIFIC GRAVITY from 3,065, to 3,295. Varieties.

Brownish yellow from CEYLON; green, red, blue, or yellow, from BRAZIL. Dark green, almost opaque, from TYROL.

Analysis.

FROM CEYLON, H 10; Sp Gr from 3,065 to 3,295; Arg 39; Sil 37;

BRAZIL, Sp Gr from 3,075 to 3,180; Arg 50; Sil 34; Cal 11; Ir 5 *. TYROL, Sp Gr from 3,050; Arg 42; Sil 40; Cal 12; Ir 6*.

Form.

The form is commonly that of polygonal prisms; but the Tyrol tourmaline is amorphous, and of so deep a green as to be almost opaque. Those from Ceylon and Brazil are generally flat on one side; convex and polished on the other. The tourmaline resembles the fhorls more than it does any other stone; but its chemical analysis points out a difference: and it has lately been arranged with the gems, both in the Copenhagen edition of Cronstadt, and in the new edition of that author by Magellan in the English language. The reasons which seem to have determined mineralogists to clafs it in the first order of precious stones, are three, vix. because the argillaceous earth predominates in its composition, a leading character of late years; the beauty and transparency of some of its varieties, which leads it to be worn as such and its curious and uncommon elec tric properties, so well described in the celebrated tentamen Theor. Electric. et Magn. of his excellency * Bergman.

;

the counsellor of state, Epinus, formerly preceptor

to the great duke of Russia.

Structure, Properties, &c.

The texture laminar. It melts per se into a black frothy slag; and borax difsolves it better than microcosmic salt or mineral alkali. But the curious property which distinguishes it from all the other gems, is, that when heated to about 200 of Farenheit, or 75 of Reaumure's thermometer, it gives signs of contrary electricity at its two poles.

Where found.

They are found transparent in Ceylon and Brazil; almost opaque in Tyrol, in beds of steatites and lapis ollaris.

How valued.

This curious gem has been only known in Europe since 1717, when Lemery first produced it in the royal academy of sciences at Paris. The value of the fine transparent varieties from Geylon and Brazil is very considerable; but we are ignorant of the exact price. Those from Tyrol are cheaper. To be continued.

READING MEMORANDUMS.

GREATNESS of mind, and little suspicions, do not usually dwell together in the same breast. But it is a noble disappointment when we mistake another's heart from the integrity of our own.

The not answering letters to any one is never justifiable. To a superíor, such a neglect is madnefs; to an equal an unpardonable impolitenefs; but to an inferior the height of ignoble insolence.

By inserting the following verses in your publication of the Bee, you will oblige your constant reader,

Leeds, Nov. 21. 1792.

MU o's ADDRESS.

TANK you my massas!-Have you laugh your fill?
Then let me speak, nor take that freedom ill.
E'en from my tongue, some heartfelt truths may fall,
For outrag'd nature claims he can of all.
My tale in any place would force tear,
But calls for stronger, deeper feelings here;
For whilst I tread on free born British land,
Whilst now before me crowded Britons stand,
Vain, vain, that glorious privilege to me,
I am a slave, when all things else are free.
Yet was 1 born, as you are, no man's slave,
An heir to all that lib'ral nature gave;
My thoughts can reason, and my limbs can move
The same as yours; like yours my heart can love.
Alike my body, food and sleep sustains;

Alike our wants, our pleasures, and our pains:
One sun rolls o'er us, common lies surround,
One globe supports us, and one grave must bound.
Why then am I devoid of all to live,
That manly comforts to a man can give?
To live untaught religion's soothing balm,
Or life's choice ares, unknowing still the calm
Of soft domestic ease,-those sweets of life,
The duteous offspring and the tender wife.
To live to property and rights unknown,
Not e'en the common benefits my own;
No arm to save me from opprefsion's rod,
My will subservient to a tyrant's nod;
No gentle hand, when life is in decay,
To soothe my cares, or charm my pains away;
But helpless left, to quit the horrid stage,
Harrafs'd in youth, and desolate in age.

But I was born on Afric's tawny strand,
And you on fair Britannia's fairer land.

Comes freedom then from colour? blush with fhame,
And let strong nature's crimson mark your blame!
I speak to Britons, Britons now behold

A man by Britons snar'd, and seiz'd, and sold;

And yet no British statute damns the deed,
Nor do the more than murd'rous villians bleed.

P. P.

O! sons of freedom, equalize your laws,
Be all consistent, plead a negro's cause;
'That all the nations, in your code may see
The British negro, like the Briton free.
But thould he supplicate your laws in vain,
To break for ever this disgraceful chain,
At least let gentle usage so abate

The galling terror of his pafsing state,

That he may share the great Creator's social plan, For though no Briton still Mungo is a man!

A SIMILE.

[An extract from Darwin's Botanic Garden.]
So when the mother, bending o'er his charms,
Clasps her fair nurseling in delighted arms;
Throws the thin kerchief from her neck of snow,
And half unveils the pearly orbs below,

With sparkling eye, the blameless plunderer owns
Her soft embraces, and endearing tones,
Seeks the salubrious fount with open lips,
Spreads his inquiring hands, and smiles, and sips.
Connubial fair! whom no fond transport warms,
To lull your infant in maternal arms;

Who, blefs'd in vain, with tumid bosoms, hear
His tender wailings with unfeeling ear;
The soothing kifs, and milky rill deny
To the sweet pouting lip, and glist'ning eye!-
Ah! what avails the cradle's damask roof,
The eider bolster, and embroider'd woof!-
Oft hears the gilded couch unpitying.plains,
And many a tear, the tafsell'd cufhion stains!
No voice so sweet attunes his soul to rest;
So soft no pillow as his mother's breast!--
Thus charm'd to sweet repose, when twilight hours
Shed their soft influence on celestial bow'rs,
The cherub, Innocence, with smile divine,

Shuts his sweet wings, and sleeps on Beauty's fhrine.

THE DISCONSOLATE SWAIN.

IL LEFT my social bowl and friend,
My books, my cot, and daisied grove,
In hopes Maria would prove kind,
And taste with me the sweets of love.

These hopes, alas! are now no more,
My vows and love fhe met with scorn;
My friends are dead, my books are tore,
My rural cot and grove's forlom.

A LESSON FROM ADVERSITY. A TALE TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF MARMONTEL.

Continued from p. 189.

"My friends had not the same eagerness to save me as my enemies to hurt me. They decided I had been in too great a hurry to enjoy. This was certainly true; but they thought so too late; it ought to have been told me at my entertainments. But you, Sir, who know the world, know what indulgence it fhews to spendthrifts until their fall. Mine was now public; and distrust having seized my creditors, they came upon me in a body. I wished not to deceive them; I explained my whole situation, and offered them all I pofsefsed, only requiring a delay to pay them in full all their demands. Some of them seemed willing to accept my time; but the others, alluding to the fortune of my father-in-law, said it behoved him to desist, and seizing his daughter's portion, jewels,

c. had robbed them of their dues. How fhall I tell you the end of this? I was reduced to the choice of escaping from their pursuit, blowing my brains out, or being dragged to prison.

'It is here, Sir!-it is that terrible night which I passed between the anguish of despair and of fhame!-between ruin and death!-it is this which ought for ever to serve as an example. A young man, naturally well disposed, and well educated, whose only crime was having reckoned upon too slight expectations; this man, hitherto esteemed, honoured, formed to make a rapid and certain fortune, by a road as easy as it was sure, in an instant marked with infamy, devoted to contempt, condemned to quit life, or to pass it in banishment or in prison; disowned by his VOL. Xiii.

EE