The National Register. — London, England, 1811-02-03 00:00:00

MISCELLANIES. A small island of the Danube, called Engel, near Pinchment, Las exhibited the phenomenon of a Floating Islaud. In the me mory of the dtdest persons it had remained stationary until May lat, when the rapidity and pressure of the stream are supposed to have detached its bottom : its inclination is uniformly to the right bank of the river, but its motion is not perceptible. Since May it has made a progress of about eight miles ; and what is not the least singular, has, from the eager and unabated curi osity of the Germans, made the fortunes of three persons who obtained a temporary proprietorship of it. A dreadful tempest was experienced at Caen, Normandy, on the 10th of November, which lasted 36 hours. Thirteen ve,sels were wrecked in the harbour, many lives lost, and the sea co vered for some days after with masts, spars, and dead bodies. A late French paper announces, that M. Thomas, of Valperga, has been successful In his experiments to extract sugar from raisins, and has transmitted to the Minister of the Interior some samples obtained in different stages of his experiments. During the representation of a new Tragedy, at the Theatre de l'lmperatrice, in Paris, last month, one of the principal cha racters, who had to draw his sword, and threaten to plunge it in the bosom of another, from the latter neglecting to draw back, or fall upon his knees, and before the former could com mand his weapon, the point inflicted a deadly wound, and the unfortunate man expired before he could he removed from the stage. The accident made so deep an imptession on the sur vivor, that after an illness of four days, during which he inces santly bewailed the deed, he died, bequeathing the greater part of his propertytothe family of hint he had unintentionally slain. A detachment of Danish sailors reached Hambugh on the Bth L.E. on their way to Antwerp. American Papers to the f.)Bth ult. contain intelligence from Mexico that a most sanguinary battle took place in November, to which the insurgents w: re completely defeated, and the au thority of Ferdinand Vii. was restored.—The loss of the insur lentsis estimated at between 6000 and 7000 killed and taken. From some American papers received this week by a vessel which brought dispatches to Mr. Pinckney, we learn that the merchants of America appear to have taken alarm at the proba bility of a rupture with Great Britain. Several Petitions have been press rated by them to the Congress, stating the great loss and incinvenience they would suffer from the effect of the pro- Mbitory law, which is to take place on the ‘2d of February. An American ship is arrived, which spoke one of our ships, and informed her that a brig of ours ran ashore near Belleisle on Cliiistmas night the Commander, in his indignation, imme diately shot the Master and Pilot, and then blew his own brains out. The Roman Catholic Archbishop and Bishops of the United States of America, have signed a Protest against the treatment received by the Pope, and the aggressions committed upon the Holy See ; and, at the same time, ordered a Form of Prayer to be offered up, for the deliverance of his Holiness from the power of his enemies. A Gentleman from Germany says,that nothing can exceed the general gloom that pervades the Contnient, io consequence cf the interdict which Buonaparte has, by his oppressive Decrets, laid upon the human mind. It is impossible at Hamburgh, Altona, Luber., or Bremen, to speak freely on political subjects. The number of spies in pay is immense, and they thrust them selves into every society. Hamburgh, once so busy, so opulent, is a gloomy waste. Its merchants, heart-broken, pace the streets in melancholy silence, and the tyrant has rivetted its chains by forcibly annexing it to his doiniiiions. The Coffee-houses are quite deserted. A correspcndent of a respectable periodical work has corn municated an experiment, made by him at a time when bread was very dear, with a view to find some cheaper substr.ute for wheat flour. He directed several turnips to be washed, pared, and boiled ; when soft enoagh to be mashed, the greatest part of the water was pressed out of them, an:; ti' ey were mixed with an equal weight of coarse wheat meal. The dough was thee ; Marie in the usual manner, with yeast, salt, and water. It rose w:ts made up into loaves, and.baked in the usual manner. When drawn from the oven, a loaf was cut and found to be sweeter than common bread, full as light and white, with a slight, but not disagreeable, taste of the turnip. Twelve hours afterwards this taste was scarcely perceptible, and in 24 hours WAS entirely gone. 43RItISH NAvv.—There are at present in commission 792 ships of war, of which 156 are of the line, 21 from 50 to 44 guns, 163 frigates 153 sloops of war, five fire-ships, 179 armed brigs, 40 cutter's, 76 schooners and Tuggers ; besides these there are-building and repairing a number of vessels, which make the, total amount ;062 ships of war, of which 25Z are of the line. J~ TIM NATIONAL REGISTER. 75 REVIEW OF LITERATURE. THE BILLER GUN : A POEM IN FOUR CAMP* 4 - 100'44Mil;•: 1 BY JOIIN MAYNE, *1;40 0 1 , Irktirf , --.; AUTHOR OP THE POEM OP GLASGOW, ek0t5.41#4,44. " Great souls 'tis true but peep out once an age.'' . The gift of poetic inspiration, like the gilt df prophecy, sib this world but seldom. Tis but once in an age indeed that heaven drops the divine inspiring mantle among the sons of men. It falls not upon the shoulders of nobility, but; like the sacred mantle of Elijah; drops upon ploughmen, or upon those whom . greatness has not deigned to ennoble with star, nor exalt with its garter. Poesie is never found under a coronet, nor climbing Parnassus with lawn sleeves and mitre. She is a chaste damsel, and disdains to crawl to Courtly honours through the common sewers of political iniquity. She loves the unbounded range of na ture, and glories in soaring between earth and heaven, to behold the world rolling bc:low her feet, with units changes, from culti vation to wilderness, and from savageness to civilization.. it is probably to this natural propensity of the rouse that we must at tribute the author of this immortal poem, being designated in the title page only asplain " John "Wayne." Neither " Mr." nor "Esq." nor " Sir." But his great and exalted genius does not stand in need of those tarnished and gipsey tasselings. It is to this author tl.e source of honour itself, and rises above all the heiehts to which courtly ambition could reach it. We say simply 44 Homer's Iliad," and not " The Iliad, a Poem in- Twenty-four Cantos, by Daniel or Joseph Homer, Esq. These pretty titles are as decimal ciphers placed on the left hand, they increase the size but not the value. When looking, however, to the title-page of the volume, we see that it has keen published two years ado, yet the author's name is still unknown. Fame has not clapt the brazen Parnassian trumpet to her mouth, and made all Europe ring from side to side. The Sillcr Gun is an epic poem, full and finished in all its parts. Yet the modesty of the Author calls it simply " a Poem." He has left -it to his country to baptize it" An Epic." He has not, as his forerunner Homer, chosen the most brilliant part of mortal history to display his powers. Nor like Milton fabricated revolutions in heaven, creations of worlds, and tenanting lakes of fire and brimstone with celestial outcasts. He has caught hold of a story which few know, and which nobody cares about —disdaining to owe his greatness to his subject, he has sung what any oilier bard of ancient or modern times would never have deemed susceptible of poetic elucidation. The seven in corporated trades of Dumfries contending as marksmen for a little tube called " The Silber Gun," Is thesimple foundation on which is built the fairest structure that" e'er poetic fancy dreamed of." Sublime soaring of sentiment, breadth and efful gence of description, intimate discrimination of character, and the whole mixed up with sources of inextinguishable laughter, are the chief characteristics of this admirable bard. The Poem begins with one of those prophetic sallies which always belong to the true children of inspiration— " Dumfries shall live till timebe done." This line ought to be a warning to all Poets, always to sing the long life of their subject ; then humbly trust that their Poem will live along with it. But perchance the Popt,,has, haft this line as a crust for commentators to gnaw on; whe t tirr 4 means Dumfries shall live in good mortar and stow, tpr poly hit inspired song. Warined with this burst of abrupt proph4y, 4 rushes on his subject without either invoking lquaes or 9 . 05, with a 'vigour which astonishes, and tells us his tniqd, ca4ht fire, and scorns their assistance— zattl " One summer's morning with the Rin:hiti This line is what I call one of those symptoms edlo ,. which are alwa)Ta discoverable in 4fig • , •