ogee, are adorned with painted glass of the earliest age of the invention. The hall of the fourteenth century exhibits the slender and sumptuous architecture of the Arabs, introduced into France subsequent to the crusades. The kings who successively reigned in this century, down to King John, are here sculptured in their proper costume, and recumbent on a stylobatus studded with fleurs de lys. Twenty-two cavaliers mounted upon lions, armed cap au pied, represented of the natural size and coloured, filled the ogive niches, which are enriched with mosaics, variegated with gilding and red and blue. The tombs of Charles V. sirnamed the Wise, of the good constable Duguesclin, and that of Sancere, his friend, are elevated in the centre of this hall, which exhibits to the eye all the magnificence of an eastern mosque. How striking is the contrast presented on entering upon the fifteenth century! Arabesque columns, and mouldings charged with gilding; sculpture slightly raised upon blue and violet grounds, initating cameos, china, or enamel-every thing astonishes, and concurs in recalling the first era of the revival of the arts in Europe. The ideas of the amateur will dilate in this brilliant receptacle, which will prepare him for the gratification he is about to feel at the sight of the fine monuments which the illustrious age of Francis I. produced. The monuments of the fifteenth century are more imposing from their volume, the matter of which they are composed, and the personages which they represent, than those of the preceding century. In the latter, architecture predominates over sculpture; in the former, by a contrary effect, sculpture and ornament throw architecture into the shade. In the first place we see the mausoleums of Louis of Orleans, the victim of the faction of the Duke of Burgundy, and that of the poet, Charles his brother. Afterwards come those of René d' Orleans, grandson of the intrepid Dunois, and Philip de Comines, celebrated as the author of Historical Memoirs of Louis XI. whose statue faces that of Charles VII. his son. That of Joan of Arc also figures in this hall near Isabeau of Bavaria. The su perh tomb of Louis XII. placed in the midst of this apartment, presents a grand magnificence; and his recumbent state, which represents him dying, recalls the melancholy moment when the French people exclaimed, in following his re mains to Saint Denis: "Our good King Louis is dead-we have lost our fa ther!" We now arrive at the era when the fine arts flourished in France. On entering the receptacle for the chefs-d'œuvre of this period, the amateur feels his breast inflamed with enthusiastic joy. He will first admire the fine tomb which was raised to the memory of the restorer of learning and the arts. the conqueror of Cerigoles, Francis I. Next comes that of the celebrated female, who knew at once how to govern the state and to reign over the sovereign's affections-Diana of Poitiers surely will not pass without the tribute of a sigh. The fine groupe of the Graces, and that which represents Diana and her dogs, with Procion and Syrius, sculptured by Jean Gougeon, the French Phidias, will alternately fix the admiration of the connoisseur. tomb of Gougeon, composed of his own works, and raised by public gratitude to his memory, is doubtless an homage The which is his due. If the artist will attentively examine that fine portico, built by Philibert de Lorme, on the banks of the Eure, for Diana of Poitiers, composed of three orders of architecture, mounted on each other in regular gradations, and sixty feet in height, he will. be astonished to learn that this beautiful monument, constructed at Anet, twenty leagues from Paris, was safely transported and re-constructed in this museum, by M. Lenoir. On quitting this apartment, which contains all the chefs-d'œuvre for which we are indebted to the genius and taste of Francis I. we read on the pediments over the gates of the next repository, "State of the arts in the seventeenth century." What a crowd of celebrated men does this temple, dedicated to virtue, courage, and talent, contain! Here you see the monuments of Turenne, Montansier, Colbert, Moliere, Corneille, Lafontaine, Racine, Fenelon, and Boileau. The great Louis XIV. placed in the middle, becomes still greater so near these immortal sons of genius: farther off you see the statue of Richelieu, reposing in the arms of Wisdom; and that of Mazarine, in a suppliant posture; Louis XIII. sir-named the Just, not sa great as his illustrious subject De Thou, casts down his eyes in the presence of his ministers. The mausoleum of Charles the Brown, of Sully, and of Jerome Big non, the honour, the love, and the ex ample, terminate the series of monu ments of this epoch, still more remarkable for its scholars than its artists. Lastly: E 1814.] Subscription Library at Greenock: Lastly: we admire in the eighteenth century the statues of Voltaire, Crebil lon, Rousseau, Piron, &c. while the tombs of the learned Maupertuis, Cay lus, and Marechal d'Harcourt, give a perfect idea of the state of degradation into which the art of design had fallen at the commencement of this century: but the new productions which decorate the extremity of this spacious ball, are sufficient to prove to us the rapid strides towards perfection, which Vien and David have made. How affecting must be the emotions of a susceptible mind, at the sight of the fine monument by Michallon, which was erected to the memory of the most in. genious and amiable artist, the younger Drouais, who died at the age of twenty four, after having left pictures which are chefs-d'œuvre! The fine statue of the young Cyparissus, by Chaudet, one of the first contemporary French sculptors, will recal the manly and elegant forms of the fine Grecian Bacchus, which decorates the peristyle of the introductory saloon. Thus the amateur and the student will find in this museum, a regular chronology of ancient and modern monuments, beginning with those of ancient Greece 2500 years before our era, and proceeding to those of the Romans, the Roman empire, the Gauls, and, finally, the French monarchy; he will be able, in short, to trace all the gradations of the arts from their cradle to their decrepitude. An immense Elyseum terminates the range of this proud establishment: here repose, amidst rows of cypress and pop. lar, the ashes of the illustrious French poets, Moliere, Lafontaine, Boileau, Descartes, Mabillon, and Montfaucon: shut up in their sarcophagi, and resting on the verdant carpet of nature, they still receive the homage which is due to their virtues and their talents. 503 libraries, the property of which is vested in the subscribers. I have no doubt but the establishment of such societies would be extremely rapid, were the moet con ❤ venient method known of uniting gentlemen in their formation. I beg leave to offer to Mr. Dick, and your other readers, the following, by which the general subscription library at Greenock, in the west of Scotland, was begun. Two or three gentlemen of that town had found in many of their friends in each sex, a general complaint against "the trash in circulating libraries," and a wish for such an establishment as a general subscription library, proposing that they would immediately transfer their subscriptions from the common libraries of the town, and even increase them, provided they could get books of real knowledge and utility to read, which should also be the property of the subscribers. Finding such a spirit, these gentlemen put up written notices at the booksellers shops, coffee-houses, principal inns, &c. requesting a meeting of the friends of such a plan, at one of the principal hotels of the place. At this meeting, rules were proposed which met its general concurrence; and I believe many of the gentlemen offered the use of their private libraries to the society, until their own public one had got the first or second order for its books accomplished. Subscriptions were immediately opened, and it was also agreed to, that for a certain time, perhaps the first six months, every one who approved of the plan, and could pay a guinea per year, (the amount of the annual subscription) should become a member without the formality of a ballot. A committee was formed from amongst the subscribers at this first meeting, and a room was ordered to be prepared to contain their books. Thus, Sir, was the Greenock subscription library established. It is now six years since the books they had procured, were too numerous for their first room; a plan was then in agitation amongst the members, to build by way of tontine, in small shares, a respectable house for their better accommodation in an eligible part of the town, and to let the under apart inents either as ware-rooms, shops, compting-houses, or whatever might be thought most respectable or most useful, according to the situation which they purchased, and consequently most advan tageous. In this part of their plan, I understand, the money received for the rents of the apartments which are let, pays the interest of what was expended on the building, by which means their own excellent accommodations are rent free. Amongst their regulations, I had peculiar pleasure in observing one, by which they admit, with the same facility as their own subscribers, any gentleman or lady who may visit the town, and can prove that they are subscribers to a si. milar institution. The liberality of such a plan is particularly obvious-its ad vantages I shall make the subject of an early paper. To those gentlemen who, by a very trifling exertion, might establish very useful libraries in those towns (and even villages) where there are none yet, I would hold out the effects and the success of these two or three active friends of information at Greenock, and add, in the impressive words of our great moral teacher-Go YE AND DO LIKEWISE. ALCUIN. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. HE controversy between Mr. Ross consideration, and entered pretty fully into the subject; but the editor of the Gent. Magazine, for reasons best known to himself, never published it.* I thought no more of the subject for some years, till one day looking over some numbers of that work, I accidentally met with Mr. Ross's first letter on reflection; it directly struck me that the matter then under discussion had not been quite satisfactorily cleared up; and wishing to see something more on the subject, I was induced to send an extract of that letter to the Monthly Magazine, (as being the most scientific publication of the kind,) in hopes that some of the correspondents to that work would favour the public with their remarks. I trust my opponent will be satisfied with this expla nation. I shall now proceed to the principal object of my letter, which is to prove, that all perpendicular objects are reflected perpendicularly, both in nature and in the picture, in every situation of the eye; and that the eye is not the vanishing point of reflection. flection on water, having been again revived, and as he does not appear quite satisfied with my reply to his first letter, I must beg you will have the goodness to indulge me with a place in your valuable Magazine for some further remarks on the subject. Whoever takes the trouble of reading the whole controversy between us, will see that Mr. Ross's violent attack, in his two last letters, upon my reply to his first letter, vol. 72, page 902, of the Gent. Magazine, is not in fact so much against the manner of expression as against the matter of that paper; he allows it to contain, as far as it goes, scientific truths; and by his mistatements and indecisive manner of expression he tacitly acknowledges that what he has advanced on reflections will not stand the test of demonstration, and the experience of every day's observation. But before I proceed to the main object of this letter, I must beg to correct Mr. Ross in one or two particulars: he SANS "If he had any thing further to say, why did he not answer my second paper, and fight the battle out at the time? The answer is obvious-he could not." But I may inform Mr. Ross, that I did reply to that paper immediately; and in such a manner, I trust, as would have con vinced the most common reader of the truth of my remarks. I gave a delinea tion of the different planes, &c. under As it is rather difficult to exhibit the necessary planes upon paper, so as to make the delineations perfectly intelligible to the generality of readers, I shall endeavour to elucidate the subject by a very simple experiment. Take a plane reflecting body, for instance a common mirror, and place it horizontally, this will be the geometrical plane; along the further edge of the mirror set up three perpendicular objects, at a little distance from each other, then at some distance from the objects place a pane of clear glass, perpendicular to the face of the mirror, and opposite to the objects, this will be the perspective plane or picture. Behind this plane, and opposite to the middle object, fix a perforated piece of metal, and at such an altitude above the geometrical plane, as that the eye placed at the hole may see the objects and their reflections through the perspective plane. Things being thus arranged, and the eye placed at the point of view, or at the hole in the metal, it will be seen that the objects both on the right hand and on the left will have their reflections (as At page 1128, of the next subsequent second letter on reflection, there is the folMagazine to the one containing Mr. Ross's lowing remark: "To our controversial correspondents we strongly recommend brevity and moderation. One intemperate word, we universally perceive, produces twenty in reply." well 1814.] Mr. Hanson's Meteorological Journal for 1813. well as the one directly before the eye,) 505 To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, enclosed annual results ed, with a pen or pencil trace the objects T of the weather for the past year. upon the pane of glass as they there appear to the eye, and thus you will have a true picture or perspective of the objects and their reflections. And as each object and its reflection are in the same plane, and perpendicular to the horizon, the intersections of their respective vertical planes, with the plane of the picture, will be also similar, and perpendicular to the horizon, whatever be the horizontal bearings of the objects to the eye. If you change the place of the eye there will certainly be a new picture, but whilst the objects continue perpendicular to the reflecting surface, or the horizon, (as in a piece of still water,) the representations of the reflections, as well as those of the objects, will be perpendicular to the horizon, whatever be the situation of the eye. And this Mr. Ross will instantly perceive if he is not wilfully blind. The objects and the reflecting plane remaining the same, Mr. Ross will find that in whatever direction he moves his eye, the reflections, like the objects, will be perpendicular to the horizon, both in nature and in the picture. Should you deem them worthy a place in Meteorological Results of the Pressure and Temperature, deduced from Diurnal Observations made at Manchester in the Year 1813; by Mr. Thomas Hanson, surgeon. Lat. 53°.25' North, Long. 29.10 West of London. January. The commencement of this period was mild, cloudy, and humid, the wind being for the most part south; rain fell in six instances, at intervals, to the 13th; when there was a slight fall of snow for the first time;-an easterly wind, diminished temperature, and dry atmosphere, were now the leading occurrences to the end;-the minimum temperature of 22° was on the night of the 25th. February was decidedly a warm month, as it was attended for the most part with a south and south-west wind, but which blew very strong: on five days hurricanes occurred; they blew chiefly from the south-west quarter, and were attended with frequent showers of rain.On the 13th there was a faint lunar halo; and on the 23d hoar frost. If the objects incline to the horizon, or reflecting surface, the reflections will also incline to the horizon or reflecting surface, and be subject to the same laws of perspective as their originals. For March. The first ten days were mild every point of the object will have its and warm, with a few showers of rain; reflection in the same vertical plane, ow- but the temperature experienced a suding to the angle of incidence and reflec den depression on the 12th; this arose tion being in the same plane, and per. from a change of wind from west to pendicular to the reflecting surface. north, but its continuance in that quar Hence it is manifest that reflections ob-ter was of short duration: for the monthserve the same laws, both in nature ly maximum was on the 18th, being an and in the picture, as the objects that augmentation of 31°.-Rain, with slight produce them, and that the vanishing showers of snow, closed the month. point of reflections, like all lines in per. Wind south and west on nineteen days, spective, vanish in infinity. its strength never reached a hurricane,~ Upon the whole the weather was favourable to vegetation. If the objects are not parallel to the perspective plane, they have a vanishing point in the picture, and so have their re flections; and the latter, if truly delineated on that plane, will tend to the accidental point, like all other real objects in nature when referred to the perspective plane. As Mr. Ross appears in his last two letters to suspect the truth of his own hy pothesis, I shall feel gratified if the above remarks afford him any assistance in arriving to a more accurate and scientific conclusion, on a subject so interesting to the picturesque artist. T. SQUIRE. Epping, May 10, 1814, April was ushered in with a low pressure and temperature; the latter shewed its monthly minimum on the 4th; previ ous to which there were several showers of snow, hail, and peals of thunder; which were succeeded by a quick augmentation of temperature, as well as a gra dual one of pressure. On the 10th the weather became so serene, warin, and brilliant, that the thermometer indicated a summer's heat, being as high as 66°, which was an increase since the 4th of 37°;-vegetation of course made a rapid progress, but being too early a check might might be expected; accordingly the last ten days were marked with frequent showers of snow and hail, and boisterous north and north east winds, which did great damage to vegetation, particularly to tender buds, and foliage in exposed situations. Blossoms of fruit-trees, &c. were never known to be more promising, but the severity of temperature, and hail storms, but particularly of the strong east winds, almost stripped them of their beauty. May. Although there was a gradual increase of heat, from the commencement of this period, yet the prevailing easterly winds had not ceased to be destructive till about the seventh, when the weather became more mild, and nature seemed once more eager to repair the injury done to trees and vegetation.-Rain about this time was much wanted, as the fall in the two preceding months had scarcely exceeded two inches in depth-From the seventh to the twentysixth, rain fell daily, with the exception of the twelfth, sometimes in very heavy and long continued showers, and in four instances with thunder and lightning. On the 24th, a hail shower:-this period was generally favourable to the produe tions of the earth. June. In two instances the diurnal temperature was lowered to 50°; the first was on the sixth, and was in consequence of an easterly wind; the latter was on the 19th, and which was immediately preceded by six days of almost incessant but gentle showers of rain. On the 13th, a shower of hail. This month was frequently marked with brilliant days, which, with the rain, were very seasonable. July-Was remarkable for much thunder and lightning, interspersed with showers of rain, and in two instances hail. On the 30th, after a high but desultory state of temperature, there was a sudden augmentation of S20, being as high as 83°:-the monthly minimum of 44° occurred on the third, being a difference of 39o. August. The first twelve days of August were cloudy and rainy, which had the effect of lowering the temperature; for on the 24th, the minimum was as low as 420.-The force of evaporation obeys the vicissitudes of temperature; in the present instance, the monthly quantity is four-tenths of an inch less than the evaporation for July. Neither thunder, lightning, nor hail, occurred; and there were few changes of atmospherical pressure, but the two principal ones com. manded great ranges. September.-The weather for the first fifteen days was very gloomy, cloudy and wet, with an unsettled state of temperature. In about sixty hours, viz. from the 7th to the 10th, there was a loss of 27° of temperature, when it became more settled; with a brilliant serene atmosphere and a high barometrical pressure, which continued to the end. October-On the fourth, the tempe rature was at the monthly maximum, when rain fell very copiously; the temperature now continued to descend to the 18th, when freezing was observed. the first time this season.The heat soon after rose, and the weather to the end was fine and dry, with the exception of the two last days.-Prevailing winds, south-west. November.-The most prominent variation in this month was, the vibratory impulse given to the atmospherical pressure during the first half of the month indeed a similar occurrence took place at the same time with the temperature. The weather upon the whole was mild for the season, as the temperature was very seldom under freezing, Rain fell copiously from the 8th to the 18th.-No hail was noticed, and there was only one appearance of snow. December-Was decidedly gloomy, cloudy, and rainy; but not so cold as is usually the case at this time of the year; except the few last days, the nightly state of temperature, (in consequence of a continuance of a gentle north wind) was lowered upon three instances, eight degrees under freezing. The annual barometrical pressure for the past year, is 29,900 inches; the maximum of 30,75 occurred twice, viz. on the 22d of January, and the 26th of December.-The minimum of 28.24 inches, was on the 17th of October; the range of the two extremes of course will be 2,51 inches.-The greatestvariation in twentyfour hours for the whole year, was on the 14th of November, being 1,55 inches. The mean annual temperature is 48°,66, being half a degree more than the annual temperature of 1812; the maximum was on the 30th of July, and the minimum on the 26th of January; the difference of the two extremes, will make a range of 61. Grestest variation in twenty-four hours was 28°, which oc curred on the 14th of April.-The mean temperature of the six summer months is 56o,28, and for winter 41° 04. The annual fall of rain, snow, hail &c. is near $5 inches in depth; Mr. George Walker's account of rain, is two inches |