thing uninflammable with the water, I need only mention, that, at a fire at which I once assisted, it was observed, that one of the engines operated much more powerfully than either of the others; and wherever its water came, the flames appeared to be almost instantaneously subdued, whilst the other engines often seemed rather to be increasing than diminishing them. Upon inquiry I found that this efficient engine was supplied with the waste water that was spilled in the street, which was afterwards taken up in buckets, water and dirt together, and thrown into this engine. Is it not therefore reasonable to conclude, that the superiority of it was from the mud being for the most part uninflammable?

Besides making each engine carry a reasonable quantity of clay, &c. it might be adviseable, that each watchhouse or other convenient places should be provided with a sack or two. Were this done, no fire could possibly take place in any part of a city, without some clay, &c. being at hand, always in a state fit for use. * I am, &c.

JOHN MOORE.

Bristol, Feb. 21, 1818.

Phil. Mag.

Original Anecdote of Franklin. In the newspaper which Franklin established, soon after he domiciliated himself in Philadelphia, he once took occasion to animadvert, with much freedom, upon the conduct of an old and respectable inhabitant of the city, whose public course did not accord with his views of propriety. The attack produced a strong sensation among the friends of the gentleman in question,some of whom proposed that an interview should be had with Franklin, in order to admonish the young adventurer in regard to what they deemed an improper liberty. Franklin acceded readily to the proposal, and accordingly requested several of his patrons to sup with him on a particular evening. They

Mr. Moore's communication also contained some hints for extinguishing fires in ships. He also suggests that ships might be rendered more buoyant by making them airtight, and forcing in air by means of an airpump, which would elevate them to a higher Tevel in the water, and consequently might sometimes save them when they have got upon a bank.

waited upon him at the time appointed; and of the guests the names of Hugh Roberts, Philip Sing, Luke Morris, and John Biddle are recollected.

Previously to being called to supper, they entered into friendly conversation with him on the object of their visit. They were presently introduced into an adjoining room in which a table was spread, covered with a coarse cloth, at one end of which stood a large stone pitcher filled with water; at the other, a huge pudding; and beside each plate a penny earthenware cup. Franklin pressed his friends to be seated, and proceeded to help each of them to a slice of the pudding, with every appear. ance of earnest hospitality. Having served them all, and desired them to fill their cups with water and be jovial, he himself began to eat heartily. His guests tasted, and tasted again, but could not swallow his pudding. Franklin observing this begged them to be assured that another pudding would soon be served up. No one, however, except himself, could eat, and they sat looking at each other with an expression of lively surprise. Franklin then rose from his chair and said-' This is a saw-dust pudding-I can eat it, tho' 'you cannot-and he who can subsist upon saw-dust pudding and water, 'needs the patronage of no man.' They all laughed and parted good friends.

6

PETER THE GREAT.

From Bishop Burnet's History of his own Times.

The Czar Peter came this winter (1699) over to England, and stayed some months among us; I waited often on him, and was ordered, both by the king and the archbishop and bishops, to attend upon him and to offer him such informations of our religion and constitutions as he was willing to receive. I had good interpreters, so I had much free discourse with him: He is a man of a very hot temper, soon inflamed, and very brutal in his passion. He raises his natural heat by drinking much brandy, which he rectifies himself with great application. He is subject to convulsive motions all over his body, and his head seems to be affected with these. He wants not capacity, and has a larger measure of knowledge, than might be expected from his education, which was very indifferent:

a want of judgment and an instability of temper appear in him too often, and too evidently. He is mechanically turned, and seems designed by nature rather to be a ship-carpenter, than a great prince. This was his chief study and exercise while he stayed bere. He wrought much with his own hands, and made all about him work at the models of ships. He told me he designed a great fleet at Azoph, and with it to attack the Turkish empire. But he did not seem capable of conducting so great a design, though his conduct in his wars since this, has discovered a greater genius in him than appeared at that time. He was desirous to understand our doctrine, but he did not seem disposed to mend matters in Moscovy. He was, indeed, resolved to encourage learning, and to polish his people, by sending some of them to travel in other countries, and to draw strangers to come and live among them. He seemed apprehensive still of his sister's intrigues. There was a mixture both of passion and severity in his temper. He is resolute, but understands little of war, and seemed not at all inquisitive that way. After I had seen him often and had conversed much with him, I could not but adore the depth of the Providence of God, that had raised up such a furious man, to so absolute an authority over so great a part of the world. David, considering the great things God had made for the use of man, broke out into the meditationWhat is man, that thou art so mindful of him? But here there is an occasion for reversing these words, since man seems a very contemptible thing in the sight of God, while such a person as the Czar has such multitudes put as it were under his feet, exposed to his restless jealousy, and savage temper.

Letter to the Academy at Philadelphia; with a copy of the Critical Description of Mr. West's Painting, and one of the Critical Descriptions of Stothard's Canterbury Pilgrims. By WILLIAM CAREY, Esq. of London. To Joseph Hopkinson, President, and the Members of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. GENTLEMEN. I have the pleasure of transmitting to you a copy of my 'Critical Description and Analytical Res view of Death on the Pale Horse,' painted from the Revelation by Ben

jamin West, President of the Royal Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, in London, and Historical Painter to the King. In submitting my little volume to your notice, I am emboldened by a hope that your candid consideration of its good intention may induce you to overlook its defects, and deem it not unworthy of a place in the library of your Academy. Long esteemed the father of historical painting in the British School, the painter, whose performance I have ventured to review, has not obtained his reputation without a conflict. Homer had a Zoilus, Michael Angelo found enemies in Torrigiano and Bandinelli; and from the appearance of West's Death of General Wolfe and Regulus, to this grand composition, each of his works in successsion has roused the attacks of envy and ignorance. But, beside their high moral aim, and the striking beauties of his performances, his repeated annual election by the chief British artists to the high office which he has so long dignified as their head; the honours paid to him by the most celebrated foreign painters and sculptors; the diplomas presented to him by the Academy of St. Luke, at Rome, the mother of all other schools of art, by the Institute of France, the Academies of Florence, Bologna, Manheim, Berlin, Antwerp, Ghent, America, and by every other Academy in the world, have refuted the invidious criticism of his enemies, confirmed the public judgment, and fully established his fame. Thus, although I have given an independ ent opinion of his performance, I can boldly reply to the cold cavils of anticontemporarianism, and the anonymous publications of malevolent jealousy, that I am not the creator of a new fame, or the promulgator of a singular opinion. The meanness, which is wounded by the success of the painter, may asperse my impartiality; but, believe me, gentlemen, although I could be the friend and admirer of a Raphael, or Lionardo da Vinci, I could not be the slave or parasite of either.

Like your hardy pine lifting its green head amidst the Apalachian snows, the mind of this Nestor of painting exhibits, in the deep winter of his years, the powers of his prime. In this last work he maintains his distinguished reputation, and proves the wide dominion of the Fine Arts, when employed to

inculcate the social duties and sublime truths of religion. Even now, we learn, that the people of America crowd your public hospital in Philadelphia, to behold his painting of Christ healing the Sick, and each retires with a lesson of Christian charity, and a prouder sense of his country, from the view. At the same moment, in London, we meet persons from all parts of the empire, and foreigners, the visiters of our capital, assembled in the same apartment, to contemplate Death upon the Pale Horse, the consummation of his labours and his glory.

Americans, you point to the tombs of his kindred, and claim the honour of his birth and genius for the NEW WORLD. But, proud of the English blood, which flows in his veins, of his residence for more than half a century in our island, and the execution of his celebrated performances here, Englishmen as justly claim him as an enviable honour for the country of his adoption, in THE OLD. Your professional brethren of a neighbouring state, in sending across the Atlantic for his portrait, by the pencil of Lawrence, whose exquisite sense of colouring and resemblance, rank him as the TITIAN of the age, have acted affectionately and wisely. They justly anticipate a standard of style, exalt their own character, and furnish a noble excitement to emulation. As a work of art, placed on high in their Academy, its technical excellence must long continue to give lessons of instruction, and, as an honour conferred upon merit, stimulate the generous ardour of the students to the same goal. Continue to cherish this esteem for intellectual eminence; for when commerce, wealth, and manufactures, with every other basis of social prosperity, sink, and the dear-bought glories of war are lost in oblivion, the works of genins, after having fanned the flame of living vir tue for ages, immortalize the memory of nations, in the tomb. Before the reign of the Fine Arts, empires rose and flourished, disappeared and were forgotten. Greece and Rome had artists, and will live for ever.

Happy is he, who either by his public or private virtue, his mental vigour, or excellence in the arts which humanize the manners and embellish life, has the good fortune to concentrate the es

teem and affection of remote nations in his own person. Few indeed enjoy, like the American-Englishman and English-American West, the rare power of forming this inestimable bond of attraction and union. May Europe and America, agreeing in their esteem for this venerable master, at the same moment hasten to forget their points of difference, and agree in all that can promote their mutual good. May each, with generous emulation, vieing in benevolence and philanthropy, imitate whatever is noble and virtuous in the customs and institutions of the other, and avoid their imperfections and evils. Receive from the nations on this side the great deep our mechanical inventions, our improvements in the sciences, our love for the belles lettres and polite arts. But guard against those dangerous refinements of luxury, which subvert domestic happiness, poison public morals, and effect the mere slavery of the body by the corruption of the mind.

Your professional brethren in New York have recently elected several eminent English artists honorary members of their Academy. To be thus chosen by a body of which Trumbull is the head, is indeed an honour. America may well be proud of the painter whose pencil has immortalized the Sortie from Gibraltar, and the deaths of Montgomery and Warren. In your countrymen, Allston and Leslie, you will receive an important accession. You confided them to England,. young and inexperienced. England returns them to you distinguished artists, in the highest department of painting. In this spirit of generous reciprocity, may benefits ever be the interchange between the mother country and America. I lament what I have lost, in not having met with any picture by Leslie, for the venerable president, West, speaks of him as an historical painter of power, one of his most eminent pupils. But I have seen by Allston, Jacob's Dream, a vision of sublimity and beauty, rich in chiaro-scuro, and forms of celestial grace and elegance; a piping youth, an image of the purest sensibility and naked nature, in the shadowy recess of a grove; and the prophet Elija fed by Ravens, a figure of mystic inspiration, under a sky of deep-toned lustre, in a scene of wild