at distances of a quarter of a mile apart. After passing over the great aqueduct, the main duct runs under ground for half a mile, is carried across the «Estrada do arco Cavalho on seven arches of 40 feet span each, on the south side of which it continues beneath the surface, until it reaches the aqueduct of Agua Livres» in Lisbon, and empties itself into the reservoir at its termination. This reservoir is 60 feet long, by 54 feet wide, and 27 feet deep. The quantity of water contained in it when the author took the measurements was 64,800 cubic feet. He was unable to obtain sections of the retaining-walls, but supposed them to be about 23 feet in thickness. The pipes through which the water is distributed to the neighbouring fountains, are of earthen-ware and stone, set in mortar. The velocity of its flow through the main duct is 75 feet per minute. The quantity discharged is about 73,000 gallons in 24 hours, during the winter months. Particulars were then given, relating to the construction of the aqueduct, translated from the documents preserved at the office of public works in Lisbon. From these it appeared, that no mechanical contrivances were used for hoisting the blocks of marble, but they were slung upon poles from men's shoulders, and carried up a series of inclined planes to the height required, though some of these blocks weighed upwards of three tons; and the cost of the entire aqueduct, which was about 21 miles long, with all the immediate and collateral works, and including the reservoir, was two millions and a half sterling. (ATHENEUM.)

EMIGRATION. The following is a statement of emigrant departures from the port of Liverpool, between the 1st January and 31st October: British colonies of North America, 3,870; United States of America, 34,908; Sydney, New South Wales, 5,648; Port Philip, 1,439; Swan River, 117: giving a total of 46,072.

(LIVERPOOL ALBION.)

IRON STEAM-BOATS.-I had the pleasure, at breakfast, of sitting next Mr. Babbage, whose name is so well known among us as the inventor of the self-calculating machine. He has a most remarkable eye, that looks as if it might penetrate science, or anything else he chose to look into. He described the iron steamer now building; which has a larger tonnage than any merchant-ship in the world; and expressed an opinion that iron ships would soon supersede all others; and another opinion that much concerns us, and which, I trust, will soon be verified-that in a few years these iron steamers will go to America in seven days.

(Miss Sedgwick's Letters, quoted in the PENNY Magazine.) INTERESTING ANATOMICAL EXAMINATION.-In July last, a very fine

pair of chimpanzees was purchased by the committee of the Bristol Zoological Gardens, they having been brought direct from Africa to this port. The female died on the 5th inst., though not (as it has subsequently been found) of the usual disease, consumption, but of dysentery, to which she had been subject on her voyage, and to suffer from it till her death. Indeed, there was no remedy, for it was found impossible to administer any medicine. The keeper was in the habit of masticating her food, and feeding her from his mouth; but the moment any kind of medicine was attempted to be introduced, she rejected it, and even after it had been forced down her throat, she would throw it off her stomach. The body having been presented to the Bristol Philosophic Institution, was opened by Dr. Fairbrother, in the presence of some of the members. On being anatomically examined, its great similarity to the human frame was surprisingly apparent. The brain, lungs, heart, stomach, liver, spleen, kidneys, intestines, &c., were in form and shape almost exactly the counterpart of those in a human being; the heart in particular presented a peculiarity never found in any other of the monkey tribe; that is, it had nearly the same obliquity, and rested on the midriff in the same manner as in the human body: indeed, the only striking exception was in the organs of the voice, there being on the upper part of the ventricles of the larynx two small membranous bags or sacs, into which part of the air must pass from the lungs during respiration, so that the column of air is divided and diminished, and consequently the vibrations produced by its passage through the glottis are weakened, and the voice becomes inarticulate. If it were not for this singular provision, it is supposed that the chimpanzee would be capable of giving utterance to its feelings and wants in the same manner that man does.

(BRISTOL STANDARD.)

PERMITTED TO BE PRINTED,

St. Petersburg, January 14th, 1842.

P. KORSAKOFF, CENSOR.

Printed at the Office of the Journal de St.-Petersbourg. »

ENGLISH LITERATURE.

No. II.

ON THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

We are not to seek for the elements of the language now spoken in England, amongst the Ancient Britons, the first inhabitants of the British Isles of whom we have any records, but rather in those of the different nations to which a considerable part of the country successively became a prey.

So early as the year 55 before the birth of Jesus Christ, Julius Cæsar landed in England, and, after a fierce struggle, and repeated invasions, the barbarous inhabitants were obliged to give way to the superior discipline of the Romans, and the greater part of the island was subdued. The conquerors were not however in sufficient numbers to have any great influence on the language of the people; and even if any change really did take place, it was doomed to be completely effaced by the horrors, to which the wretched natives were exposed, after the British possessions had been abandoned by the Ro

mans.

The Angles and Saxons now flocked into the country in numerous bodies, overspreading the island, and carrying death

VOL. I.

25

and destruction wherever they came. The resistance of the Britons was long, continued, and bloody, and ended only in the almost total extirpation of the whole race (1). So great was the number of these barbarians, and so complete the annihilation of the Ancient Britons, that from the Frith of Forth to the coasts of Kent and Suffolk, the British language disappeared, except from Wales, where it still exists, and is commonly spoken by the inhabitants. The only language throughout the rest of the country was that of the conquerors; and the Saxon must therefore be considered as the root from whence first sprung the modern English.

These Saxons were, in their turn, exposed to the irruptions. of other barbarians-the Danes-who eventually subjected the country to their dominion, during the reigns of Canute and his two sons: they had however no further influence on the language than the introduction of a certain number of Danish words, which may still be traced in it. The return of the English line, in the person of Edward the Confessor, restored the predominance of the Saxon; so that when the Normans entered the island, the Anglo-Saxon was almost universally spoken.

Of this language, now become a dead one, many considerable specimens still exist, the earliest of which is fixed at about 680. It is a fragment by Cædmon (), preserved by Alfred, in his translation of Bede's history, and of which the following is an extract.

Weorc wuldor fœder!

Swa he wuldres gehwas

Ece drihten

Ord onstealde;

He ærest gescop
Eorthan bearnum,
Heofon to rofe.
-Halig scyppend!
Tha middan geard,
Mon cynnes weard,
Ece drihtene,
After teode

Firum faldan;

Frea almihtig.

Bedæ Op. IV. 24.

Of works glorious father!

So he of every glory

Eternal Lord!

The beginning established;

He first shaped

The Earth for the children, (of men)
Heaven for roof.

Holy shaping, (creator)!

The middle region,

Of Man's kind the guardian;
Eternal Lord,

Afterwards made

The ground for men;
Ruler almighty.

What degree of influence the Norman Conquest had on the language of the country, it would perhaps be very difficult to decide, though we should rather incline to the opinion of Hallam (1) that it was very slight. Even before this event the French language had become popular amongst the higher classes in England; and it is remarked that a greater number of French words were then introduced, than during the first hundred years after the Normans had made themselves masters of the country. The neglected state of learning in the English monasteries-then the only seats of knowledge--and which in the 8th century had been so flourishing, forced the nobi– lity, and those who were desirous to study, to seek for education abroad; and they naturally repaired to the French colleges, then in some esteem. Fashion had also its effect, as the nobles, ashamed of their less civilized customs, manners, language, and habits, were generally ambitious of imitating. every thing that was Frankish.

To all this the Conquest put a total stop. A most deadly hatred and sturdy opposition against the conquerors arose on all sides, and this, for a time at least, prevented any mixture of the two languages, even in spite of all the efforts of William. The laws were, by his order, administered in Norman

() Hallam's Hist. of the Literature of Europe. Ist. Vol.