Sweet as the balm that scents the flowery mead,
Soft as the breeze which fans the damask rose.

In ev'ry age and clime some virtuous minds
Have felt her gentle pow'r, and sung her praise;
E'en with the weight of rude despotics way,
Have rose superior to the servile herd*,
While tyrants stood abash'd, and wonder'd how
A power they felt not could exalt the mind.
E'en kings †, tho' seldom-hoary statesmen too,
Have for a while resign'd their pomp and pow'r,
And with her wander'd through her fav'rite haunts
Gaz'd on her beauties-felt their minds expand
To purest joy-the hardy seaman too,

The soilder brave, inur'd to din of arms,
And fields of blood, to valour joins her name,
Feels her sweet influence in each scene of life,
And o'er his fallen friend drops a sad tear.
O! purest bliss! yet not exempt from woe!
If hurt, where is the balm or hand on earth,
Can heal the bleeding wound? If disappointed,
What can fill up the void? Friends disappear,
The tomb for ever hides them from our view:
If left alone upon the verge of life,
The world a sad and dreary desert seems;
We look around, a far extended waste
Presents our view-We lift our eyes to heav'n,
The bless'd abode of pure and happy minds,
Where Friendship triumphs in her native clime,
Rises sublime above the pow'r of thought,
Beyond what e're the enraptur'd muse has sung,
Or friends on earth have ever known or felt.

INVOCATION TO PEACE,
BY S. FEARN, JUN.

SWEET Peace return!-Thy wonted bliss restore,
Bid War's insatiate scourge prevail no more;
Sheath the dread sword that deals destruction round,
And ev'ry ear salute with tranquil sound!-

Oh! bid oppression from this land retire,
And Britain's sons with halcyon bliss inspire,

David, Orestes, &c.

† Damon and Pythias, under Dionysius, tyrant of Syracitse.

The widow's tears, her sad corroding care,
The orphan's sighs, assist this ardent pray'r :
May virtue's impulse ev'ry purpose move,
To acts of goodness, universal love!
May he on whom propitious Fortune smiles,
Relieve that breast which adverse fate beguiles!-
May noblest efforts ev'ry bosom warm,

To aid the wretched, and the wretch disarm:
So shall they fit themselves for Jesu's reign,
The great deliv'rer of terrestrial pain;
The sov'reign soother of our woes on earth,
The blessed author of our second birth;
Whose matchless goodness forms th'angelic theme,
Who died for all, and who will all redeem!

At thy command the airs burst forth
In various rents from out the earth,
And, as her womb the waters fill,
Shape ev'ry mountain, vale, and hill.

IV.

As down the air compressing bore,
Aloud thine awful thunders roar,
With trembling haste the waters sweep,
And lay ingulph'd within the deep :
From whence by springs they upward tend,
Till they the mountain tops ascend,
From whence they to the vallies glide,
Or roll a stream's impetuous tide,

v.

By paths unseen the waters creep-
Again into the storehouse deep,

Beyond their bounds they come not forth,
To roll a deluge o'er the earth;

But by thine appointment flow

In rills, and 'twixt the mountains go,

Roll down in torrents, or in fountains burst, And quench each living creature's thirst.

VI.

The swift wild asses there appear,

And airy birds inhabit there;

In the green shade their mellow song
They pour in grateful notes along.
From the abyss soft dews arise,

Pierce thro' the earth, and seek the skies,
In clouds they to the mountains tend,
Burst and in genial rains descend.

VII.

By them made pregnant, mother Earth
Shoots all her vig'rous offspring forth,
And beasts herbaceous nurture gain,
With herbs that human life sustain;
With fruits and flow'rs her lap abounds,
And chearful wine that care confounds,

Raises the drooping lab'rer's soul,
And makes his tired spirits whole.

TO BE CONTINUED.

HAVING considered sea cause of the saline quality of the water, we now enquire what is the use of it. Some have said there are two uses, to keep it from corruption, and to give it greater strength to support the ships that sail upon it. But we know that fresh water is equally fit for every purpose of navigation, as salt; nor does it appear from experience, that salt water resists putridity more than fresh. Let any person take an equal quantity of each in separate vessels, either open of closely stopped, and put it by in the shade, or in the sun, and he will find upon trial that the sea water will grow putrid sooner than the fresh. Perhaps, we do not as yet fully know the uses of the ocean being salt; but we certainly know that motion contributes more to prevent corruption in the sea, than salt does.

A

The ocean, besides its tides, has its currents, which circulate its contents round the globe; and these may be said to be the great agents, that keep it sweet and wholesome. Its saltness alone would by no means answer that purpose: and some have even supposed, that the various substances with which it is mixed, rather tend to promote putressence than impede it. Sir Robert Hawkins, one of our most enlightened ancient navigators, gives the following account of a calm, in which the sea, continuing for some time without motion, began to assume a very formidable appearance." Were it not," says he, "for the moving of the sea, by the force of winds, tides, and currents, it would corrupt all the world. The experiment of this I saw in the year 1590) lying with a fleet about the islands of the Azores, almost six months; the greatest part of which time we were becalmed. Upon which all the sea VOL. IV.

Y

J:

become so replenished with several sorts of jellies, and forms of serpents, adders, and snakes, as seemed wonderful: some green, some black, some yellow, some white, some of divers colours: and many of them had life; and some there were a yard and a half, and even two yards long; whic h had I not seen, I could hardly have believed, And hereof are witnesses all the company of the ships which were then present: so that hardly a man could dip a bucket of water clear of some corruption. In which voyage, towards the end thereof, many of every ship fell sick, and began to die apace. But the speedy passage into our own country, was a remedy to the crazed, and a preservative for those that were not touched."

This shews sufficiently how little the saltness of the sea is capable of preserving its waters from putrefaction: but to put the matter beyond all doubt, Mr. Boyle kept a quantity of sea water, taken up in the English channel, for some time barrelled up; and in the space of a few weeks, it began to acquire a fœtid smell. He was also assured, by one of his acquaintance, who was becalmed for some time in the Indian ocean, that the water, for want of motion, began to stink: and that had it continued much longer, the stench would probably have poisoned the whole crew. It is the motion, therefore, and not the saltness of the sea, that preserves it in its present state of salubrity.

There are some advantages, however, which are derived from the saltness of the sea. Its waters, being evaporated, furnish that salt which is used for domestic purposes; and although in some places it is made from springs, and in others dug out of mines, yet the greatest quantity is made only from the sea. That which is called bay-salt-from its coming to us from the Bay of Biscay-is of a stronger kind, made by evaporation in the sun that called common salt, is made by evaporation in pans over the fire, and is of a quality much inferior to the former,

We have before observed that it requires a much greater degree of cold to freeze salt water than fresh, and this is perhaps the greatest benefit which we derive from the saline quality of the ocean. **For while rivers and pools are converted into ice, or, at least, covered with it, the sea is in most places, open, and always fit for navigation, When at land, the stores of nature are all locked up from us by the cold, the sea is still accessible with its riches, and patient of the hand of industry.

But it must not be supposed, because in our temperate climate we never see the sea frozen, that it is in the same manner open in every part of it, Mariners inform us that in the polar regions it is embarrassed with mountains, and moving sheets of ice, that often renderit impassable. wol grinch 0 grit mid

These tremendous floats are of different magnitudes; sometimes rising more than a thousand feet above the surface of the water jo sometimes diffused into plains of above two hundred leagues in length;- and in many parts sixty or eighty broad. They are usually divided by fissures ;! one piece following another so close, that a person may step from one to the other,