imbecille and the gigot; the upper part, excessively large, descending in the style of a separate sleeve, considerably below the elbow, the lower part of the sleeve hanging in easy folds from the elbow to the wrist, where it is confined by a narrow band. The under dress is of white gros de Naples.

If the day be warm, a scarf of white cachemirienne, the ends striped to correspond with the embroidery of the dress, is tied carelessly round the throat; if cool, a swansdown boa is passed twice round the bust. The hat should be of rice-straw, ornamented with plumes of cocks' feathers, partly white, and partly to correspond with the embroidery of the dress.

Muslin dresses printed in large shewy patterns, which were in favour in the beginning of the season, have reappeared. They are generally worn with cachemirienne shawls. Apropos of shawls: these are the only novelty at this moment; the material, which is about the consistence of barèges, and equally light, is printed in cachemere patterns, which surmount a narrow Turkish border of very vivid colours on a chamois ground.

If the dress be of gros d'été, or gros de Naples, the corsage must be made up to the throat, but without a collar, and adorned with deep plaits, arranged in the en gerbe style, before and behind. The sleeve, of the half gigot form, is surmounted by a row of irregular dents of a novel and very pretty shape. A blond lace rûche encircles the throat; and if the day be cool, a boa tippet is tied carelessly round the neck.

Crape and tulle bonnets have nearly disappeared from our promenades. Moire is the material now most in favour; ricestraw is next to it; and we still see a few, but very few, Italian straw hats. The brims of bonnets, which had become considerably wider during the warm weather, are now made closer. We see almost as many hats as bonnets in the promenades; the former have not been changed in shape: both are in general ornamented with feathers, but some few bonnets are trimmed with ribbons only. A cabbage rose, composed of cut ribbon, is attached to the front of the crown near the top; a ribbon, twisted round the base of that

knot, descending in an oblique direction on each side, and forming the brides. The inside of the brim of rice-straw, or Italian straw bonnets, is either ornamented with a light sprig of foliage, composed of ribbon, or pointed ends of ribbon intermingled with coques. A trimming of blond lace, in the cap style, intermingled with nœuds of ribbon en pompon, is generally employed to decorate the inside of the brims of silk bonnets.

Muslin is still the favourite material

for morning dress. White and printed muslins seem to be in equal favour, but the latter are always of small patterns. A small silk apron, and a fanchon à la Taglioni, are almost generally adopted in morning dress at home. The apron, of a three-quarter length, should be of light coloured gros de Naples, embroidered round the border in a wreath of flowers of dark colours, with foliage of different shades of green. Some have the pockets on the inside, with an oblique opening, and a small flap closed by a button. Others resemble a basket reticule, and several are of the same shape as a pocketbook, and fasten in the same manner.

The fanchon à la Taglioni is a small lace, or embroidered net fichu, brought across the crown of the head, and tied carelessly under the chin. The ends of the fichu are mingled with the bows in which the hair is arranged, and coques of ribbon are sometimes added. Nothing can be more becoming than this style of head-dress when it is well arranged; and, to say the truth, Frenchwomen in general understand perfectly the art of suiting the coiffure to the features.

The Italian Opera is the only one of our theatres that can boast of brilliant | audiences at present. In general the ladies' dresses are elegant. Some appear in half dress, others in evening dress, but the former are the least numerous. Guingans de soie, painted gros de Naples, and chaly, are the materials most in favour for half-dress gowns, which offer no other novelty in their form, than that some have been seen trimmed round the border with rouleaus, arranged in folds, resembling those of a serpent; others had the border decorated with two bias bands cut in festoons, and edged with very narrow partycoloured fringe.

Tulle and organdy are the materials of the evening dresses. They are made with low corsages: some, of the robe form; others, of the low pelisse kind. The most novel of the former have the centre of the back and front of the corsage arranged in horizontal folds. The cœur, formed by a lappel, which, falling very low upon the shoulders, forms jockeys. The sleeves are of the béret shape, much puffed out, and disposed in irregular plaits.

The most novel, as well as elegant, of the evening dresses was a robe of white organdy, thickly embroidered in demicrescents in white silk, encircled with narrow gold cord. The corsage was draped à la Grecque. Long sleeves of the imbecille form, but arranged in a very novel manner by the bracelets, which were gold chains; the chain, after passing four or five times round the wrist, was brought about half way up the arm, and passed once round it to fasten the sleeve.

All the ladies who appeared in half dress were in hats either of watered gros || de Naples, or rice-straw, and a few of the very finest kind of Italian straw. They

were in general ornamented with feathers; the very few that were trimmed with flowers, had either a single moss rose surrounded with buds, or a marguerite, also in the centre of a profusion of its buds, placed at the left side, with a knot of ribbon at its base.

Many of the head-dresses of hair were à la Grecque. Some of these had the hind hair turned up in braided bows, from which escaped a cluster of corkscrew ringlets; others had the hind hair plaited, and twisted round the summit of the head. These last had no other ornament than a large tortoiseshell comb; the others were adorned with flowers, or small cockades of ribbon. A Chinese coiffure was adorned with a reine marguerite, composed of different gems, and forming the head of a golden arrow, the point of which issued from the back of the coiffure.

Fashionable colours are different shades of green and rose-colour, a new shade of light blue, citron, lavender-bloom, and pearl-grey.

ONE of the most elaborate, and also amusing and instructive volumes of Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia that have yet appeared, is, "A Treatise on the Origin, Progressive Improvement, and present State of the Silk Manufacture." Dry as the subject may at first be deemed, it is, by a happy mode of treatment, rendered full of interest. Amongst the different points enlarged upon are:the history of silk, to the period when silkworms were first introduced into Europe and from that period to the present time;the trade of foreign countries in silk;-the progress made in England in the manufacture of, and trade in, silk;—the culture of the mulberry tree;-description of the silkworm; modes of rearing and managing silk-worms in China and in Europe ;-the gathering and sorting of cocoons ;-diseases of silk-worms;-silk produced from spiders

and other animate creatures:-the manufacture of silk, in the different processes of reeling, throwing, plain weaving, figure weaving, and mechanical or power weaving; -the weaving of velvet, gauze, brocade, and damask; - and the chemical, medical, and electric properties of silk, &c.

We shall offer a few illustrative passages; to the first of which, in particular, we request the attention of our fair readers, amongst whom a prejudice-formerly, perhaps, a well-founded opinion-has too long prevailed in favour of silk articles of French manufacture :

"The Coventry weavers have made so very marked an improvement in this art, since the legalized importation of foreign manufactured silks, that one of the most eminent manufacturers of that city has declared he should, at this day, blush for the work which even his best hands

by one of the parties in a memorable duel, in America, that a silk handkerchief, tied, or wrapped round the body, was bullet

"The French and Italian throwsters are still contented if their spindles revolve 300 or 400 times in each minute, while ours are performing commonly 1,800, and sometimes even 3,000 gyrations in the same space of time. Our French rivals are fully aware how greatly the English throwsters are in advance of them in this particular, but have not the same inducement that exists in this country to incur a heavy first expense in alterations, that they may secure a prospective advantage. The wages paid in Lyons to men employed in silk-mills does not average more than six shillings and sixpence per week; and the earnings of women and girls, who form five-sixths of the number of hands

employed, scarcely exceed three shillings per week, for which pittances the whole are required to labour fourteen hours per diem."

Is it not wonderful that mere animal emanation should be infinitely more durable than the animal itself? Human hair, for instance, though easily destructible, is amongst the most imperishable substances in nature. We had, not long since, an opportunity of seeing and examining a finelyproportioned human head-that of a female

most likely a woman of distinction — brought from one of the great buryingplaces at Thebes, by one of the companions of the late Captain Cochrane. It was presumed to be from three to four thousand years old; yet a large portion of the hair remained, perfect, of a bright brown colour, 'platted, and wreathed elegantly around the head, in a manner little different from the bands of some of our modern fashionable head-dresses. The produce of the silk-worm seems to partake of the same imperishable nature; as we are told that

"Some years ago, the sexton of the parish of Falkirk, in Stirlingshire, upon opening a grave in the church-yard, found a ribbon wrapped about the bone of an arm, and which, being washed, was found to be entire, and to have suffered no injury, although it had lain for more than eight years in the earth, and had been in contact with a body which had passed through every stage of putrefaction, until it was reduced to its kindred dust."

Within these few years, an idea was entertained by many, and it was acted upon No. 82.-Vol. XIV.

in the volume before us; but we learn from it an equally important fact, if fact it be, that silk is a protection against infection :

:-

"A silk covering of the texture of a common handkerchief is said to possess the peculiar property of resisting the noxious influence, and of neutralizing the effects of malaria. If, as is supposed, the poisonous matter is received into the system through the lungs, it may not be difficult to account for the action of this very simple preventive: it is well known that such is the nature of malaria poison, that it is easily decomposed by even feeble chemical agents. Now it is probable that the heated air proceeding from the lungs, may form an atmosphere within the veil of silk, of power sufficient to decompose the miasma in its passage to the mouth, although it may be equally true, that the texture of the silk covering may act mechanically as a non-conductor, and prove an impediment to the transmission

of the deleterious substance."

A few sentences respecting the silk-worm and its produce, and we close:

"So small is the desire of change on the part of these insects, that their own spontaneous will seldom leads them to travel over a greater space than three feet throughout the whole duration of their lives. Even when hungry, the worm still clings to the skeleton of the leaf from which its nourishment was last derived. If, by the continued cravings of its appetite, it should be at length incited to the efforts necessary for changing its position, it will sometimes wander as far as the edge of the tray wherein it is placed, and some few have been found sufficiently adventurous to cling to its rim; but the smell of fresh leaves will instantly allure them back." * "When newly hatched, 54,526 of the insects are, upon an average, required to make up the ounce. After the first casting of the skin, 3,840 worms are found to have this weight. After the second change, 610 worms weigh an ounce. the week passed between the second and third ages, the number of insects required to make up the same weight decreases to 114. During the ed; 35 worms now weigh an ounce. fourth age a similar rate of increase is maintain

In

The fifth

age of the caterpillar comprises nearly a third part of its brief existence, and has been described, by an enthusiastic writer on the subject, as the happiest period of its life, during which it increases rapidly in size, and prepares and secretes the material it is about to spin. When the silkworms are fully grown, six of them make up the weight of an ounce. It is thus seen that in a.

Ꮓ

few short weeks the insect has multiplied its bulk more than nine thousand fold."

that

"The quantity of this material used in England alone, amounts in each year to more than four millions of pounds weight, for the production of which, myriads upon myriads of insects are required. Fourteen thousand millions of animated creatures annually live and die to supply this little corner of the world with an article of luxury. If astonishment be excited at this fact, let us extend our view into China, and

survey the dense population of its widely-spread region, whose inhabitants, from the emperor on his throne, to the peasant in the lowly hut, are indebted for their clothing to the labours of the silkworm. The imagination, fatigued with the flight, is lost and bewildered in contemplating the countless numbers, which every successive year spin their slender threads for the service of

man."

ex

The XXIVth volume of "The Family Library" contains "The Life of Sir Isaac Newton," the writing of which has been ably performed by Dr. Brewster. Indeed, the task could not have fallen into more competent hands; and, as this is the only Life of our great philosopher, that has yet appeared, on any considerable scale, we can readily believe that Dr. Brewster has " perienced great difficulty in preparing it for the public." To high literary talent, and first-rate scientific knowledge, we find superadded, in Dr. Brewster, an active spirit of inquiry and research; and thus he has been enabled to present us not only with copious and lucid analyses of Sir Isaac's astronomical discoveries and treatises, and of his theological writings, but also to furnish much curious biographical information. To the alleged temporary insanity of Sir Isaac Newton, he has paid particular and very satisfactory attention. Referring to this portion of his work, he thus expresses himself in his preface:

"To the kindness of Lord Braybrooke I have been indebted for the interesting correspondence of Newton, Mr. Pepys, and Mr. Millington, which is now published for the first time, and which throws much light upon an event in the life of our author, that has recently acquired an unexpected and a painful importance. These letters, when combined with those which passed between Newton and Locke, and with a curious extract from the manuscript diary of Mr. Abraham Pryme, kindly furnished to me by his collateral descendant, Professor Pryme, of Cambridge, fill up a blank in his history; and have

sophers, has been the occasion of such deep distress to the friends of science and religion."

An additional recommendation to Dr. is a firm believer in the divine truths of Brewster's work is, that the writer himself Christianity. On this point, we cannot refrain from transcribing the following passage :

"The antiquity and authenticity of the books which compose the sacred canon, the fulfilment founder, his death and resurrection, have been of its prophecies, the miraculous works of its

demonstrated to all who are capable of appreciating the force of historical evidence; and in the poetical and prose compositions of the inspired authors, we discover a system of doctrine, and a code of morality, traced in characters as distinct and legible as the most unerring truths in the material world. False systems of religion have, indeed, been deduced from the sacred record, as false systems of the universe have sprung from the study of the book of nature; but the very prevalence of a false system proves the existence of one that is true; and though the two classes of facts necessarily depend on different kinds of evidence, yet we scruple not to say that the Copernican system is not more demonstrably true than the system of theological truth contained in the bible. If men of high powers, then, are still found, who are insensible to the evidence which sustains the system of the universe, need we wonder that there are others whose minds are shut against the effulgent evidence which entrenches the strong holds of our faith.

"If such, then, is the character of the Christian faith, we need not be surprised that it was embraced and expounded by such a genius as Sir Isaac Newton. Cherishing its doctrines, and leaning on its promises, he felt it his duty, as it was his pleasure, to apply to it that intellectual strength which had successfully surmounted the difficulties of the material universe. The fame which that success procured him he could not but feel to be the breath of popular applause, which administered only to his personal feelings; but the investigation of the sacred mysteries, while it prepared his own mind for its final destiny, was calculated to promote the spiritual interest of thousands. This noble impulse he did not hesitate to obey, and by thus uniting philosophy with religion, he dissolved the league which genius had formed with scepticism, and added to the cloud of witnesses the brightest name of ancient or of modern times."

Of the Life of Sir Isaac Newton, we have room for but very little notice. He was

born, it appears, "at Woolsthorpe, a hamlet in the parish of Colsterworth, in Lincolnshire, about six miles south of Grantham, on the 25th December, O.S., exactly one year after Galileo died." He was an only, and posthumous child. When he had reached his twelfth year, he went to the public school at Grantham; where, at first, he was more distinguished by ingenuity and skill in mechanical contrivances than by attention to his scholastic duties. He constructed a wind-mill, a water-clock, a carriage put in motion by the person who sat in it, sun-dials, &c. His mother having, long since, been married again, he was, at the age of fifteen, taken from school to assist in the management of the farm and country business at Woolsthorpe. Proving inefficient in this department, his genius

was allowed to take its course; he was sent back to Grantham school, to prepare for academical studies, and was afterwards entered of Trinity College, Cambridge. As it is not our intention, however, to trace his successful, and even wonderful career, we must hasten to a few characteristic particulars :"In his personal appearance, Sir Isaac Newton was not above the middle size, and in the latter part of his life was inclined to be corpulent. According to Mr. Conduit, he had a very lively and piercing eye, a comely and gracious aspect, with a fine head of hair as white as silver, without any baldness, and when his peruke was off was a venerable sight.' Bishop Atterbury asserts, on the other hand, that the lively and piercing eye did not belong to Sir Isaac during the last twenty years of his life. 'Indeed,' says he, in the whole air of his face and make there was nothing of that penetrating sagacity which appears in his compositions. He had something rather languid in his look and manner, which did not raise any great expectation in those who did not know him.' This opinion of Bishop Atterbury is confirmed by an observation of Mr. Thomas Hearne, who says, that Sir Isaac Newton was a man of no very promising aspect. He was a short well-set man. He was full of thought, and spoke very little in company, so that his conversation was not agreeable. When he rode in his coach one arm would be out of his coach on one side, and the other on the other.' Sir Isaac never wore spectacles, and never lost more than one tooth to the day of his death.'

We pause to remark, that the portrait of Sir Isaac Newton, from Kneller, prefixed to this volume, is more in accordance with the description of Mr. Conduit, than with that of Bishop Atterbury. The eye is full of life and intelligence, the forehead lofty and

expansive, the nose straight and well proportioned; the mouth is not very accurately defined, but the whole face is well formed and intellectually expressive. We almost wish that, for the sake of comparison, a second portrait had been given; especially one by Sir Peter Lely, said to be in the possession of Lord Cremorne.

"Every memorial of so great a man as Sir Isaac Newton has been preserved and cherished with peculiar veneration. His house at Woolsthorpe, of which we have given an engraving, has been religiously protected by Mr. Turnor, of Stoke Rocheford, the proprietor. Dr. Stukeley, who visited it in Sir Isaac's lifetime, on the 13th of October, 1721, gives the following description of it in his letter to Dr. Mead, written in 1727: 'Tis built of stone, as is the way of the country hereabouts, and a reasonable good They led me up stairs and shewed me Sir Isaac's study, where I suppose he studied when in the country in his younger days, or perhaps when he visited his mother from the University. I observed the shelves were of his own making, being pieces of deal boxes, which probably he sent his books and clothes down in on those occasions. There were, some years ago, two or three hundred books in it of his father-in-law, Mr. Smith, which Sir Isaac gave to Dr. Newton of our town.'

one.

"When the house was repaired in 1798, a tablet of white marble was put up by Mr. Turnor, in the room where Sir Isaac was born, with the following inscription :

"Sir Isaac Newton, son of John Newton, Lord of the Manor of Woolsthorpe, was born in this room on the 25th of December, 1642.'

'Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night, God said, 'Let Newton be,' and all was Light.' "The following lines have been written upon the house :

the

'Here Newton dawned, here lofty wisdom woke,
And to a wondering world divinely spoke.
If Tully glowed, when Phædrus's steps he trode,
Or fancy formed Philosophy a God;
If sages still for Homer's birth contend,
The Sons of Science at this dome must bend.
All hail the shrine! All hail the natal day,
Cam boasts his noon-this Cot his morning ray.'

"The house is now occupied by a person of the name of John Wollerton. It still contains the two dials made by Newton, but the styles of both are wanting. The celebrated apple-tree, the fall of one of the apples of which is said to have turned the attention of Newton to the subject of gravity, was destroyed by wind about four years ago; but Mr. Turnor has preserved it in the form of a chair.