The Abridgment of the Philosophical Transactions, of which one volume was published last year, is now discontinued, on account of the imperfection of its execution. An entirely new Abridgment of the same work has been undertaken by CHAS. HUTTON, LL.D. F. R. S. Mathematical Professor at Woolwich, for the Philosophical Department; by GEORGE SHAW, M.D. F. R. S. and F. L. S. for the Department of Natural History; and RICHARD PEARSON, M. D. F. A. S. for that of Medicine. A History of Africa, on an extensive scale, is prep ring by Dr. LEYDEN.

Aunounced for publication, in four or five numbers, at One Guinea each, 4 Series of picturesque Scenery in the Holy Land and Syrie, delineated during the campaigns of 1799 and 1800, by F. B. SPILSBURY, under the command of Sir Sidney Smith; with A Journal to Jerusalem, by Lieutenant BOXER, and other officers of his Majesty's ship Le Tigre; forming altogether a most interesting picture of the present state of Palestine, and the customs and manners of its inhabitants.

A new edition is in the press of CAMPBELL'S Translation of the Gospels, in three volumes, 8vo. It will contain many corrections and improvements of the former edition, taken from the author's interleaved copy of that edition.

Mr. MALCOLM is proceeding with two more volumes together of his History of London.

Mr. URQUHART is printing an Exposition of the Advantages of Classical Learning.

The Machine for Sweeping Chimnies, invented by Mr. SMART, of Camden Town, which we mentioned in our last number, p. 175, consists of a series of wooden tubes, each of about thirty inches in length and three quarters of an inch in diameter. A rope or cord is run through these tubes, which, fastening into one another at the ends, inay be then extended to any length. To the upper tube upon the cord is fastened a square brush, the block of which is about six inches long by three wide; and from it, on all sides, issues heath, broom, or any other stiff, but flexible substance, in sufficient quantity to fill the cavity of the chimney. The ends of the tubes are so fastened into one another, as to leave room for them to play like a joint; by which means the apparatus will bend to the most crooked chimney, and in coming down will clear all the ledges and corners. By this method, a chimney fifty feet high may be swept in six or eight minutes; and with much less dirt than in the usual mode.

It is said, that to preserve rye, and secure it from insects and rats, nothing more is necessary than not to winnow it after being thrashed, but to stow it in the granaries mixed with the chaff. In this state it will keep three or four years without undergoing the smallest alteration, and even CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 16,

without the necessity of being turned to preserve it from humidity and fermenta'tion. Care must, however, be taken not to bring it into the barn till thoroughly dry. The experiment has not yet been made with other kinds of grain, but they may probably be preserved in the chaff with equal advantage.

FRANCE.

It is stated in a late number of the Moniteur, that the following copies are sold of the different papers in Paris; of that official paper, 3000; of the Publiciste, 2900; of the Journal de Paris, 2800; of the Journai des Debats (which is most favourable to the ancient order of things), 6000; of the Clef des Cabinets, 11,000; of the Citoyen Français, 1200; of the Journal des Defenseurs de la Patris, 1000; of the Decade Philosophique, 900; and of the English Newspaper called the Argus, 720. Nothing more strongly evinces the degraded state of French literature, and the public opinion of the state of the press under the present government, than these numbers. This country, with an inferior population, and with a language far less generally current in other countries than the French, supports nearly two hundred newspapers, with a circulation of from one to five thou sand copies each; besides a multitude of monthly publications, of which similar quantities are sold.

Baron EDELERANTY has presented to the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, at Paris, the description of a new lamp, which he calls the Static Lamp; and in which, by means of mercury and a weight, the oil is made at pleasure to ascend to any required height and remain at that height.

The new government of Switzerland seems to wish to restore the University of GENEVA, the only one in the countries subjected to France peculiarly appropriated to the Calvinists, to its former lustre. Several new professors have been lately appointed

Neckar, De Saussure, and Voucheur, Professors of Botany; Tingry, of Chemis try; Picot, of Statistics, &c.

ITALY.

A very rich and abundant spring of PETROLEUM OF NAPTHA, was discovered a few months since at AMIANO, a village in the State of PARMA, on the Ligurian con fines. The Ligurian government commissoned a learned chemist to analize it; and it is now employed without mixture of any kind in lighting the city of Genoa. It is extremely limpid; of the colour of white wine; has a very strong pungent smell; but is less empyreumatic than common or brown petroleum. Its specific gravity is to that of water as eighty-three to one hun⚫ dred, and to that of olive oil as ninety-one to one hundred,

Ii

rather to the general system, which the principles advanced in Sir William Scott's printed speech, would introduce, than to the question of clerical residence. Suffice it to say, on the latter point, that though some of the provisions of the act of Henry the Eighth are bad, the principle of the act is good, and might, we doubt not, easily be carried into effect by amending its provisions.

A letter addressed to the Bishop of St. Asaph, on the subject of NON-RESIDENCE, Sold by Hatchard, appears to us to contain much good sense and sound argument, and we recommend its perusal to all who feel an interest in the important question of which it treats. The author, who is a magistrate, thinks that all which has been advanced in favour of the proposed repeal of the statute of Henry VIII., amounts to no more than an apology for particular instances of non-residence, and that the general necessity is unfairly deduced from a particular hardship. The parties also who are most interested in the controversy, viz. the parishioners, have been wholly overlooked, he observes, by Sir W.S.; but the legislature ought to consider, "that the eternal welfare of more human souls may be put in jeopardy by the non-residence of one clergyman, than the whole number of the clergy, to whom the statute of Henry VIII. can be a grievance." He then justly argues, that the present moment is ill suited to a measure calculated to relax, rather than to strengthen religious du ties. The alarming increase of irreligion ought to have led to a measure of a directly opposite tendency. The author deprecates the proposal of taking the power of regulating this point out of the hands of a jury and the courts of common law, and placing it in the hands of individuals, because it strikes at the vitals of our constitution, and tends to produce relaxation in the Church, and irreligion among the people.

The proposal to repeal that part of the act of Henry VIII., which forbids the clergy to farm beyond a certain extent, is also considered by this able writer, and he shews, in a most convincing manner, its inexpediency. He justly observes, that a dealer in victuals

never can be popular and respectable; and also that the moment the clergyman becomes a farmer, the poor will look upon him as one of their oppressors; for instead of standing between the poor and the farmer as now, he will be equally interested with the farmer, in lessening the amount of parochial relief. No reason, he argues, can exist for giving the clergy a public licence to deal in corn and cattle, and thus subjecting them to the bankrupt laws, which would not be equally valid for a permission to deal in cloth, groceries, or coals; and he affirms, that it is not the most orthodox part of the clergy who look for this boon from parliament, but a few dissatisfied and restless spirits. But if the clergy fall from their present high rank to mingle with farmers, maltsters, and carcase butchers, they will lose their respectability and their usefulness, and the favour intended them will, by degrees, destroy them and their establishment. "The people will be as much inclined to hear one farmer preach in a barn, as another in a Church." Besides, he adds, no petitions have been presented, no grievances have been stated, to warrant this extraordinary measure, so degrading to the clerical character. The statute, as it now stands, grants what is right, and prohibits what is wrong, and a very strong case, indeed, ought to be made out, before parliament consents to try this new and dangerous experiment.

Our object in bringing forward the present discussion, is merely to lead the friends of our Church and its ministers, and of the British constitution, to turn their thoughts with candour, but with earnestness, to the consideration of this important subject: it is a question deserving their serious attention; for the very existence of our Church may depend, in some measure, on adhering to our present principles of ecclesiastical government.

GERMANY.

The German Catholics, who by the late exchanges of territory have passed under the dominion of Protestant princes, are estimated at a million in number; the Protestants who have, at the same time, become subjects to the Catholic princes, are 156,450.

The question of peace or war still continues (April 22) to agitate the public mind. The state of the pending negotiations between this country and France is involved in such obscurity, that it would be hazardous to form a conjecture as to their probable issue. The measures pursued by the First Consul have worn so much the appearance of an attempt to intimidate, as to produce, in many, a presumption, that he does not find himself in a situation of sufficiently forward preparation for an actual rupture with England. The expedition fitting out in the Batavian ports, avowedly for Louisiana, is said, indeed, to have been discontinued; but Bonaparte has, at the same time, considerably augmented the number of his troops in Holland; and by a decree, the reasons of which do not appear, he has declared the town of Flushing to be in a state of siege. The Dutch garrisons which occupied that place, as well as Goree, the Brill, and Helvoetsluys, have been withdrawn, and French troops substituted in their stead. The expectation of renewed hostilities is said to have had a very injurious effect on the trade of Holland.

The most remarkable circumstance which we have had occasion to notice during the last month, has been the state of irritation into which the mind of the First Consul appears to have been thrown, by the timely anticipation of his ambitious projects. Not satisfied with the indecorous expression of his feelings to Lord Whitworth, of which we gave an account in our last number, he has had recourse to a very extraordinary expedient, in order to prepossess the different nations of Europe with an impression of the justice and propriety of his conduct on the present occasion. By means of menace and intimidation, applied through the medium of his minister, he obliged the Senate of Hamburgh to admit into their official journal a kind of manifesto, in which the King's Message is canvassed with considerable severity of language, and in which it is attempted to give a turu to the above-mentioned conversation with Lord Whitworth, less discreditable to the magnanimity and self-government of Bonaparte.

FRANCE.

The threatened rupture between France and Algiers has been prevented by the appearance of a French squadron before that place. The Dey has consented to desist from the demand he had made of a tribute from Bonaparte.

Cardinal Doria, the Pope's Ablegate, charged with presenting the fiat to the French Bishops raised to the dignity of Cardinals, had lately an audience of the First Consul, by whom he was received

Mass

with peculiar marks of distinction. was afterwards celebrated; and during the ceremony, the Red Hats were placed by. the hands of the First Consul on the heads of all the Cardinals. A speech was afterwards addressed to him by the Archbishop. of Paris. "The clergy," says the prelate, "will never forget that it is to your piety and goodness that they are indebted for their actual existence. They will always consider it both their duty and their happiness, to teach the people, by their words and their example, the respect and submission that are due to you. They will not. cease to invoke the benedictions of heaven on the Christian hero, their benefactor, and the assertor of their liberties; on the hero, at once the conqueror and pacificator of Europe; on the hero, who unites in himself all kinds of glory to which the greatest men are allowed to aspire."

MALTA.

A Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem has, at length, been nominated. M. Thomasi is said to be wholly under French influence. Immediately on his appointment he dispatched his lieutenant, who, contrary to the express letter of the Treaty of Amiens, is said to be a Frenchman by birth, to demand the delivery of the island. But this demand was refused by Sir Alexander Ball, on the ground that he had received no instructions to that effect, and that Russia and Austria had not accepted the office of guarantees of the independance of Malta, which had been assigned them by the Treaty of Amiens.

ISLAND OF GOREE.

On the 25th of January, this island was still in the possession of the British. Colonel Frazer refused to surrender it to the, French, on the ground that no British transport had arrived to bring away the garrison, and that it was unprecedented in, time of peace for a garrison to depart except in vessels of their own nation.

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

This colony was delivered up to the Dutch in the month of February last.

AMERICA,

It appears, that on the 16th of December last the Intendant General of the Spanish Provinces issued a proclamation, forbidding all Spanish subjects to have any future commercial intercourse with subjects of the United States navigating the Mississippi, even for provisions, or any of the articles the most necessary to subsistence in a voyage. The same proclamation de