children, afleep at the bottom of the ocean! It appears, then, that before the enemy CAN LEAVE THEIR OWN COASTS, they have the following difficulties to overcome, each of them in all probability fatal to their defigns : 1. In order to affemble an armament of Jufficient magnitude, their veffels muft have the good fortune to elude the vigilance of our numerous cruizers. hoftility of the enemy, we were ne vaded! And at this time, we are undi mafters of the ocean, and THE E ARE UNABLE TO SEND A FLEE EVEN A SINGLE SHIP, TO SEA!! How long, then, fhall we endu fo proud a period, to have our co fenfe infulted, and our national and fonal profperity interrupted, by the CHIEVOUS ALARM OF INVASION 2. In cafe of their fuccefs in affembling 3. Suppofing that all our attempts to defroy their armaments in port are fruftrated, an iffue which cannot reasonably be anticipated, they must then (if they dare) come out, and face our naval forces, which will be affembled and prepared to receive and deftroy them. After taking this fair and natural view of the enemy's project, and of its regular and neceffary confequences, I prefume that until my conclufions are proved to be unfairly drawn from the premifes, or iny premises themselves proved to be unfounded, no reader will entertain the opinion, that an invafion of the British Iflands at this time is either probable or poffible. Having thus demonftrated that the enemy's army CAN NEVER LEAVE THEIR OWN SHORES, it would indeed be infulting common fenfe, to expatiate on the impoffibility of their making good a landing on ours, affailed as they would be by our fhipping, and by our land-forces, which, apprized of their motions, would be fully prepared to receive them. Before I conclude this appeal to the good fenfe of my countrymen, let me call their attention to the prefent preeminence of our navy, and to the confe. quent fecurity which it confers upon this Empire. During former wars, the fleets of the enemy have boldly left their ports; and if they have met with the fleets of Britain, they have not hesitated to encounter them; their fleets without interruption have cruifed in our feas; and during the American war it will be recollected, that the combined fleets chased the British grand fleet into Plymouth, and dared for feveral days to lie off that port. But during those wars, notwithstanding the gafconades, and the perfevering 2 To the Editor of the Monthly Maga SIR, N the prefent crifis, when the int tion commerce with Han has occafioned fuch anxiety in the mercial world, it may afford fatisfa to many of your readers to prefent with a flight sketch of the course n be pursued by travellers to Hamburg! ftead of the direct one up the Elbe, land on its fouth weft bank. Tonningen, to which the packets fail once every week, is fituated in degrees north latitude, in the duc Slefwig, on the north fide of the E which divides that duchy from Hol and is rendered navigable as far as R burg, where it joins the canal w forms the nearest communication bet the North Sea and the Baltic, ever fhips of. confiderable burden. A diftri&t furrounds Tonningen, of whi is the capital; and it has a commo road, the paffage to which from the f like the mouth of the Elbe, furrounde fands. The first poft-station in Hol is Lunden, at the diftance of three q ters of a German mile, (of which fit are equal to a degree). From Lunde Meldorf is three miles and a half, thro Heyde, which is alfo a poft-station. F Meldorf it is five miles to Itzehoe, a cit fome commercial importance, contain about five thousand inhabitants, fitu on the north fide of the river Störr. poft may be divided into two, there b a poft-house and inn called Hohenh about half way, where the bridge road-money is taken on goods, carria and cattle, of which latter the great ni ber that annually pass through, in t way to Holland, and for the fupply Hamburg, forms the largest part of revenue which is here collected. F Itzehoe to Elmfhorn, on the river Kruck is three miles and a quarter. This P is not a city; but it contains 2500 inhabitants, has fome trade, and the river is navigable but only for fmall boats, From hence it is two miles and a quarter to Pinseberg, a fmall town on the Pinnaw, navigable for flat-bottomed boats. Pinnelberg is only two miles and a half from Hamburgh, making the whole diftance feventeen German miles, equal on the above scale to feventy-nine and a half English miles nearly. The mails ufed formerly to be carried from Cuxhaven to Hamburgh by land; or, if the wind ferved, by a Blankene fe fifhing-boat; and the traveller had no alternative, (till lately that a Hamburgh and Cuxhaven packet has been eftablifhed) but of being expofed, for a navigation of feventy miles, in an open boat; or in the event of his preferring the land, of riding the fame dittance in a waggon over the moft execrable roads, and being fleeced by innkeepers and poftmafters at an exorbitant rate. In point of distance, the traveller does not lofe much; and as to expence, he will probably gain, as he certainly will not pay fo extravagantly for his fcanty comforts. The roads are better, and the character of the natives more open and friendly. The writer has traverfed the country by different modes of conveyance; and for read nefs to oblige, intelligence, and particularly for perfpicuity in their directions to a ftray traveller, he thinks the boors, as they are here called, would be disgraced by a comparifon with the boors of any county in Eng land. How far an intercourfe with Englifhmen may fharpen the faculties of the innkeepers, may be doubtful. The only exorbitant charge the writer net with in the country was at Ahrensburg, where the landlord had ferved his apprenticeship at London and Windfor. There can be no comparison between their modes of conveyance and an English ftage-coach; but those who are ufed to the difcomforts of a German inn, and the inconveniences of German carriages and German drivers, will find the travelling-accommodations very tolerable. A paffport will now doubtlefs be neceffary, as in time of peace the writer was stopped at Oldesloe for want of one; but the burgomaller being fortunately a gentleman and a fcholar, he was difmiffed with politenefs, on ftating that the object of his vifiting the place was to gratify his defire of feeing the country, and without any fee whatever; a circumftance that appeared ftrange to his companion, who was yet indignant at the infolence and rapacity of the English paffportoffice. Leicester, June 10, 1803. H. The thermometer was fo low as 16° at nine o'clock in the morning on the 26th of January; and on the 23d of the fame month it had been up at 50°. On 11th February it was at 17°; at nine in the morning the next day at 250; and during the remainder of the month never was below 34° at the fame hour, but was more than once above 50°. On 26th March, at zh. it was at 68°, and at eighteen hours after was 20% lower. In May the weather was very fimilar to that last year, and has produced the fame effects with us. The highest that the thermometer has been here this fummer is 86°, which was on the ad inftant, at 3 h. p. m. the wind being fouth; and although we have received a larger portion of rain during the laft month than ufual, yet lying in a vale, nearly furrounded by hills or higher land at a diftance of from three to eight miles, we have witneffed the lofs of many a fhower that has wafhed their fummits; and I do not doubt but had there been a rain guage on the fummit of the Chalkhill, we should have found a fall of more than fix inches of rain for the month. With THE SOCIETY FOR SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION, as propofed in your iaft, by Howdenienfis, page 531, I am very much pleased. It appears to me very practicable; at any rate it is very defirable. The importance of fuch a fociety to the public and every fcientific perfon, is too great to suffer the hint to go by neglected. I hope fome of your Correfpondents, who are much better qualified than myself, would take it into confideration, and give us, through the medium of your Magazine, a sketch of the difficulties of forming, and advantages moft likely to arise from, a well-regulated fociety of this kind. To me the advantages appear confiderably to preponderate. I believe fuch a fociety, if confined to the United Kingdoms, might be establish ed in about fix months, and at the very trifling expence of five fillings per member, and might be kept up afterwards at a general two fhillings and fixpence fubfcription. This I mean as exclufive of the expence of poltage of letters, which ought always to be paid by the perfon who firft folicits the information. Suppofe on the average one perfon may be found willing to unite in fuch a fociety at the distance of about fourteen miles, or that each perfon might have a district of two hundred fquare miles, there would then be about 638; to which might be added, for London and fome of the most populous places, fixty-two, making the whole feven hundred; to which, any more proper number, it might be mited. Suppofe fomething like the outline fuch a fociety were publifhed in your N gazine for September, and alfo in mot the refpectable periodical publication the day, and that all who might be d rous of becoming members, might fign it, free of expence, to a commitee, might, in the mean time, be chofen the favoureis of the plan in London Suppofe that each perion, befides his drefs, might fignify to which parts of ence he (or fhe, for I fee no objection ladies) was most attached. Thefe nan at the commencement of the fociety, mi be printed in the Monthly Magazine other books of general circulation ; when a fufficient number of names v procure, they might be printed, with rules of the foc ety, and one copy fen each member, and charged fufficient pay his proportionate fhare of the gen expences; from which time every m ber would be in poffeffion of the me of obtaining general information i any quarter. If thefe crude hints do but excite of your Correfpondents to follow the n ter as its importance deferves, I f have thus far obtained my end. I am, Sir, your's, &c. 1 R. BEVA To the Editor of the Monthly Magazi SIR, Ν IN your laft Number I find some of vations, by a perfon who figns J on the failure of a propofed fubtitute oil-paint, fift made known by Citize Vaux. As well to refcue Citizen de Va invention from the charge of incon tency to its propofed purpofe, thus pre red against it by J. C. as to furnith with my experience of its utility, I de to ftate the following particulars. I first met with the Memoir of M Vaux in the Repertory of Arts at two years ago, as nearly as I can recoll and in an extract which I at that made from it, I find the proportions of articles compofing it, and the direct for ufing it, to be as follows:. Take of fkimmed milk, 1 pint 5 pou 4 oun Put the lime into a stone veffel, and pour upon it fo much of the milk as will make a fmooth mix ure; add the oil by degrees, ftrring the mixture with a wooden fpatula; then add the remainder of the milk, and finally the Spanish white. I have twice made ufe of the above, and on both occafions found it to answer very well, with the exception only of its not keeping a clear white when done upon any thing which had already received oilpaint. On my firit attempt I attended frictly to the formula prefcribed by M. de Vaux; but on the fecond occafion of my wing it, I left out the lime (chiefly from the inconvenience of procuring it); but it ftill an wered my purpofe very completely, with the foregoing exception of its not keeping a clear white on thofe parts of my work which had before been oil-painted, and where it took fomewhat of a yellowish tint, while on the other parts which were plaiiter, finished with what the bricklayers term fine ftuff, it continues to hold a beautiful white; and in neither of the above cafts have I met with the inconvenience of which J. C. complains, viz. that of its easily rubbing off. M. de Vaux alfo obferves in the fame Memoir, that a very good paint for outdoor work also may be made by adding to the above two ounces of Burgundy. pich and two ounces of refin with as much oil as may be neceffary to render it ufficiently liquid. I have not had occafion to try the efficacy of the mixture prepared in this manrer; but would fuggeit to J. C. if his El fails of fuccefs, whether a fmall proportion of Burgundy-pitch or refin might not with advantage be added even for indoor work, in order to render it more adLelive. The Burgundy-pitch would of Curfe be the more preferable of the two for white paint, as having lefs colour than refia. It thould be melted in the oil with 4 gentle heat. CECONOMICUS. it not right to ufe voyage as a dissyllable, as it is conftantly, ufed all throgh this wok, fince it is always in common peech pronounced as a monofyllable, not even though fupported by one authority from Milton." The foregoing remark was wholly new to me, though I have long been a diligent reader of the best English, and porticu. larly of poets. I did not even appreh hend that voyage was always pnounced as a monofyliable even in the rapidity of common converfation. I knew it was fometimes fo pronounced; but I ever confidered this as a thing happening through the hate and inattention of incorrect fpeakers, and rather o be exculed than imitated. Certainly I never heard vjage fo pronounced in the pulpit, or on the ftage; and to thele we generally turn for authorities in the propriety of elocution. I determined, however, to re-examine this point, and recurred to a number of authorites, particularly to fome of the most learned and claffical English poets, in whofe writings, as I apprehend, the most fteiling and authentic pronunciation of words is generally to be found; the refult of my inquiries is, that voyage is un formly used as a diffy liable, and never, as far as I can find, employed as a monofyllable by any good writer- I fhall felect f me authorities, from an infioi e number which I might quote, to show that vojage is generaily used as a diffyllable: Sheridan's Digionary : Voyage, voy-cdakt, to travel.—Voyager, voyVoyage, voy edzb, f. a travel by fea.-T. edzb ur, one who travels. Dryden's Virgil, Æneid, book I, line made many other useful discoveries, it will no doubt be adopted. 752: Nothing retards thy voyage now, unless- Nor could be wrought his I fteer my voyage to the Brutian fand. When Admiral Dickfen, Commander of the North Sea Fleet during the late war, was lying off Elfineur, Captain Sir Home Popham was on board the Romney, ftationed off Copenhagen. To facilitate the conveyance of intelligence, the latter invented a fet of flags, to be used as a featelegraph; and although the diftance between thefe places is at leaft fix miles, yet it was conveyed in five minutes. In December, 1800, Sir H. Popham was fent out with the Romney, and a body of troops, to co-operate by the route of the Red Sea, with an army from India, and that of General Sir Ralph Aber Thence speed your voyage to the Spartan Crombie by the Mediterranean, for the ftrand. Again, fame book : purpose of expelling the French from Egypt. During this fervice Sir Home greatly improved his marine-telegraph, Which, voyaging from Troy, the victors bore. which here, as well as formerly, was of Book II. : A private voyager, I pafs the main. And crown our voyage with defir'd fuccefs. great fervice. From the Red Sea he went to India; and while at Calcutta, he printed at the Company's prefs a fmall volume, under the title of "A Marine Vocabulary; or, Telegraphic Signals," copies of which he entrusted to iuch navy-officers as he judged would make a proper Thofe fhips from ocean broad which voyage ufe of them. Traffic shapes A winding voyage, by the lofty coaft, &c. Again! On his return to England in April laft, he fubmitted his plan to the confideration of fome of the firit naval characters, who approved highly of it, and whofe opinion was, that much effential advantage might be derived from it to his The keels which voyage through Molucca's Majefty's fervice. This induced him to ftreights. reprint his little work in May last, with great additions and improvements. As Earl Spencer, the late able and truly fortunate Fift Lord of the Admiralty, to whom Sir Home had originally communicated his plan, was pleated to exprefs his entire approbation of it, the work is dedicated to him. Copies have been prefented to his Majesty and the Royal Family. Through the intereft of a friend, with whom Sir Home Popham is in habits of intimacy, the writer of this article was favoured with a fight of the work, which is now entitled, "Telegraphic Signals; or, Marine Vocabulary; by Sir Home Popham, Commander of the Illuftrious Order of St. John of Jerufalem, F. R. S. and Captain in the Royal Navy." 'An account of fo ufeful an invention well merits a place in the first literary Ma. gazine in this country, and pleads my excufe for laying it before the public, which I am the more induced to do, as being a private |