it might be combined, by means of oxygen, or chlorine, for as chlorine is in some cases detached from hydrogen by oxygen, and oxygen, in a number of instances, is detached from the metals by chlorine, he thought it probable that the separation of the fluoric principle might be effected by similar means. The dry fluates of silver, mercury, and potassa, were selected for these experiments. These salts, in a perfectly dry state, were introduced into glass retorts which were exhausted, and then filled with chlorine, and the part of the retort in contact with the salt was then heated to redness. Considerable action took place, the fluate of mercury was converted into corrosive sublimate, and the fluate of silver, into horn silver. There was violent action on the retort, and when the results were examined, there was a considerable absorption of chlorine, and a production of silicated fluoric acid gas, and oxygen gas. The fluates of potassa and soda, were converted into muriates with precisely the same phenomena. Sir H. conceives, that the oxygen, in these cases, was disengaged from the silica and soda contained in the glass, and with which the fluoric principle had entered into combination, after it had been expelled from its former com-. bination by the chlorine. The experiments with the fluates of potassa and soda, were afterwards repeated on trays of platina, and enclosed in tubes of the same metal. There was a considerable absorption of chlorine, and the fluates were converted into muriates with an increase of weight, no new gaseous matter could be detected in the chlorine contained in the tube, but the platina was acted upon, and covered with a reddish brown powder. Tubes of silver, and glass coated with the combinations of chlorine with copper and silver, were also employed in these experiments, but without obtaining more successful results; the silver was acted upon to a considerable degree, and the coating of the glass was fused by the heat employed in the experiments, and the glass consequently was not protected from the action of the fluoric principle. In one experiment, however, made in a tube of platina which had been coated with fused muriate of potassa, the gas, when allowed to escape into the atmosphere, had a peculiar, disagreeable smell, different from that of chlorine, which still formed the greatest part of the gas in the tube. A portion of this gas, transferred to a glass receiver over mercury, acted upon the glass, silicated fluoric acid gas being produced; but, in this instance, the platina tray had been corroded, and the brown powder formed.

Šir H. made several attempts to disengage hydrogen from the liquid fluoric acid by the agency of oxygen and chlorine, but it was not decomposed, when passed through a tube of platina heated to redness, with chlorine, nor by being distilled from

salts containing abundance of oxygen, or chlorine. The fluates of lead and mercury were distilled also with phosphorus and sulphur, with a view to obtain compounds of the fluoric principle with phosphorus and sulphur. In these experiments, decomposition took place, the glass vessels were violently acted upon, sulphurets and phosphorets were formed, and minute quantities of a limpid fluid were condensed in that part of the tube which was cooled by ice; this fluid had the appearance of hydrofluoric acid, and rapidly dissipated itself in white fumes; whether it was a compound of the fluoric principle with the phosphorus or sulphur, or the acid had been formed by the combination of hydrogen derived from these substances, was not ascertained.

From the general results of his investigations, Sir H. thinks it is reasonable to conclude, that there exists in the fluoric compounds a peculiar substance, possessed of strong attraction for metallic bodies and hydrogen, and which, combined with certain inflammable bodies, forms peculiar acids. For this substance his correspondent M. Ampere proposes the name of fluorine.

Dr. Wollaston has observed, that the fluoric acid and its combinations, have very low powers of refracting light, and though the fluoric principle seems to possess higher acidifying and saturating powers than either oxygen or chlorine, yet it is probable that its refracting powers are lower than those of almost any other body.

Art. V. The Legend of the Velvet Cushion, in a series of Letters to my Brother Jonathan, who lives in the Country. By Jeremiah Ringletub. Svo. pp. 322. Williams and Son. Price 6s. 6d.

1815.

THE jeu d'esprit of this spirited volume is chiefly in the title-page, advertisement, and first letter. The Author begins in a joke, and seems to promise the lovers of mirth and good humour, no small share of entertainment. For awhile he is vastly amusing; and even our stern and inflexible muscles began to yield to the relaxings of risibility. They were however soon contracted to their former gravity by the altered tones of Jeremiah; and we found him, before many minutes had elapsed, in good earnest on his subject. Now, and then, indeed, he tries to smile; but it is only a gleam of sun-shine in a storm-a forced laugh that seems to indicate more pain than pleasure. On this account, it would have been well, unless he had continued his facetiousness longer, not to have jested at all, but to have begun as he intended to go on, in right sober mood. The mind is not placed by the debut of 'Master

Ringletub of Pogram-Hall,' in a posture of serious thought; and when the queer-looking animal begins to reason like a judge, the transition from levity to reflection is not made in a moment, and it requires an effort for which we were scarcely prepared, to enter at once into his arguments. We confess, however, that an effect was produced by Jeremiah's remarks, which is not always secured even by the grave advices of the pulpit ;we forgot the speaker in the subject: and as thinking is far more natural to us than laughing, we were not sorry, on the whole, to keep on in our usual course. We know not how far our Pogram-Hall' friend might have unfitted us for future lucubrations, had he preserved his humour to the end of his correspondence; and we derive consolation from disappointment, by reflecting on its uses!

Our lively Author deserves our sincere gratulations for his happy designation of "The Velvet Cushion." He calls it a Legend,' because it is a story invented and told for the benefit of the Church.' He could not have suggested a more appropriate title for it. The author of that work has somewhat softened the severity of a few passages, as they appeared in the first edition; but the disingenuous insinuations against Dissenters are still retained, aud he cannot be surprised to find that the cause of a calumniated party has yet its advocates and its champions. To defend that party, is the object of the volume before us.

The principal subjects of correspondence in the "Legend," are-Catholic Emancipation-the Test and Corporation Actsand the character of King Charles the First. On the first of these topics the Author is a strenuous and manly advocate; against the penal statutes affecting Dissenters, he reasons with great vigour and eloquence, proving we think by unanswerable arguments, their impolicy and their injustice; and the usurpations and the popery of the unfortunate Charles, he endeavours to establish on the authorities cited by Towgood. Intermingled with those discussions are several digressions and anecdotes, which considerably enliven the work, and accord more completely with the style of familiar correspondence. The general impression we have received from a perusal of the volume, is highly creditable to the polemic and rhetorical talents of the Author. We should imagine him to be well gifted in the faculty of popular argumentation. He possesses considerable powers of reasoning and expansion; and is, we suspect, much more in the habit of declaiming with effect, than writing letters to his brother Jonathan. At the same time, we wish the epistles had been addressed to some real personage, and that he had neither assumed nor invented a fictitious character. If Peter Plymley was his first prototype, he has egregiously

failed in imitating what was the appropriate merit of that political bagatelle. Jeremiah Ringletub is far too polished in his diction-too elaborate and oratorical in his style of re soning. In fact, he writes, in the greater part of the correspondence, like a grave dissenting minister, sincerely attached to his own particular department of the religious world, ardently zealous to defend its interests, and prepared to repel with honest indignation all the attempts of artful hostility. We should think, from the tone of confidence with which he asserts his convictions, that he is an eloquent, warm-hearted, and impassioned preacher; that some glowing passages from his sermons and his speeches, have found their way into his letters; that he is not unconscious of his power, and is accustomed to speak “like 66 an oracle!"

There is no resemblance whatsoever between the " Velvet "Cushion," and the "Legend." The one abounds in picturesque delineations of character, and in the intermixture of pathetic and devotional sentiment: the other is bold and nervous in the assertion and defence of principles, and is occasionally sarcastic and severe. While the tone of piety pervading the one, heightens the impression of its fallacies, the cast of political declamation that marks the other, diminishes the force of its arguments. The spirit of devotion has the effect of consecrating the errors of the one; the general absence of that spirit too much secularizes even the truths of the other. It must however be observed, that the object of each is exceedingly diverse. Nothing could be easier than to construct a series of dialogues in the style of the Velvet Cushion; and by the association of ludicrous incidents with feeble reasonings, and the confounding of accidental evils with the general tendencies of a system, make the best causes appear suspicious and indefensible. Let the Church of England be tried by such a criterion, and it would soon be found wanting. But there is one special advantage possessed by the "Legend;" it is manly and ingenuous; and the points at issue are brought directly to the view of the reader, in all their prominences and connexions. If every argument is not equally forcible, all are alike intelligible and undisguised; the opinion is fully developed, and no scope is left for the distortions and exaggerations of a mind that may happen to be more suspicious than the Author's.

It is seldom, of late, that Dissenters have written on the characteristic principles of their profession, except when the hostile or insidious attacks of their neighbours have compelled them to act on the defensive; and in such cases they have been employed, like the Author of the Legend, chiefly in skirmishing operations. In fact, they have been so occupied and absorbed by objects of general utility, and they have so willingly merged

all their peculiar views in the great and equalizing distinction of the common faith,' that they have felt reluctant to engage in controversies of minor importance. In uniting with other Christians to promote the general cause of religion, they felt that no sacrifice of interest or inclination was requisite on their part to support that union. They never feared that Bibles without note or comment' would be injurious to their particular interests! No one ever heard from them, at public meetings, the language of apology for becoming advocates of a Society that employs itself solely in distributing Bibles; and none of their party have been found hardy enough to throw out the libellous insinuation, that by such exertions they would ultimately endanger the cause of Dissent! At the same time, it was not for the cause of Dissent, nor indeed with any party views, that they engaged in this active and enlarged cooperation. They had far higher aims, and were influenced by far nobler motives. Hence, they willingly gave the precedence to those, whose connexion with the Establishment led them to think, that precedence was their due. They suffered the mortification on various occasions, of hearing their friends and colleagues, enter into very elaborate proofs of the possibility of joining with Dissenters, and yet being loyal subjects of the government; and the equal possibility of Dissenters being, after all, Christians--and giving Bibles to the poor without polluting those donations by their touch! Still apologies and indications were not sufficient to prove the policy or the safety of Churchmen associating with Dissenters. Episcopal manifes toes, marked alike with imbecility and ignorance, were published and widely circulated :--but though Dissenters meekly asserted their innocence, and here and there, liberal Churchmen brought forward the proofs of it, the cry of ecclesiastical vengeance continued to be propagated; and unhappily, it is yet as clamorous as ever! Even Clergymen reputedly evangelical as they call themselves, are now occasionally found to display as much splenetic hostility against nonconformity as their unenlightened brethren; and instances have occurred, in which their rancour has been far more inveterate. Suspected by their superiors, to be not so well affected as they ought to be, towards the venerable Establishment, they have been determined to outstrip their contemporaries in illiberality, and to give lucid proof that they had no good-will to sectaries. The Dissenters have accounted on this principle, for their proud reserve, their chilling distance, and their haughty condescension; they have, notwithstanding these infirmities, (naturally gendered by the spirit of a national hierarchy, and rendered more obvious by the circumstances in which some of the more serious Clergy have been placed,) most cordially rejoiced in their success, and prayed for the extension