Star.
London, England, 1824-11-20 00:00:00

FIRE AT FULBOURN,

Wednesday mowing, about seven o'clock, the barn.
of Mr. John Hancock, at Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire,
was discovered to be on fire, and the flames directly
communicated with the Rectory fatm, lately taken
possession of by Mr. Baker, including all the corn of
the late harvest, which, together with the buildiggs,
were entirely consumed. The flames then spread across
the road, to a house occupied by Mr. John Mason,
which was speedily levelled to the ground. The Rec-
tory-house, occupied by the Rev. R. Fiske, caught fire,
and sustained considerable damage before the raging
element could be subdued.

~li

And send him a letter by thee!
To find him swift ily, the lettet I'll tie
Secure 0 thy kg with a string ;
Oh! not to my leg, dear Lady, I beg,
But fasten it tattler my wing !
Her dove she did deck, the drew o'er his neck

A bell and a collar so gay ;
She ty'd to his wing the scroll with a string,
Then kiss'd him and sent him away !
It blew and it rain'd, the Pigeon disdain'
To seek shelter, undaunted he flew,
Till wet was his wing, and painful the string,
So heavy the letter it grew !
He flew all around, till Cohn he found
Then perch'd on his hand with the prize;
Wlrse heart, while he reeds, with tenderne; bleeds
For the Pigeon—that flutters—and dies !

Recoltediola of Lord Byron. By the late R. C. DAL-
LAS, Esq. Syn.
Captain Med*in's interesting work, the Conversations
of Los d Byron, to which we shall return in a day or two,
has Bern followed by another zellating to the Noble
Ldrd, by his late friend, Mr. Dallas, who had many
opportunities of observing tiji character and conduct
in early life. The work proposes to give the early cha-
racter anal opinions of Lord Myron, and the piogress of
his literary career, with a pi iininary account of the l
di
circumstances leading to the ppression of his Lord-
ship's Correspondence with the uthor, and his Letters
to his Mother, which Were 'lately announced for publi-
cation. Such an account cannot but be highly desir-
able to all whose curiosity had been excited by that in.
tended publication.
These Anecdotes are given in an agreeable familiar
style, and with every circumstance from which their
authegticity may be inferred, even if the known re-
spectatiility of the author did not remove all doubt
upon this head.
The following is an extract :
" On the 15th of July I hadthe pleasure of shaking hands with
him at Reddish's Hotel, in Sc. James's-street. I thought his looks
belied the report he had given me of his bodily health, and his
countenance did not betoken melancholy, or displeasure at his re-
turn. lie was very animated in the account of his travels, but
assured me he had never had the least idea of writing them.—
lie said he believed satire to be his forte; and to that he bad ad-
hered,having written, during his stay at different places abroad,
a paraphrase of Horace's Art of Poetry, which would be a good finish
to English Bards and Scotch Reviewers; forgetting the regret which,
in his &Ist letter, he had expressed to me for having written it.-
-He seemed to promise himself additional fame from it, and I
undertook to superintend its publication, as I had done that of the
Satire. I bad chosen the hour ill for my visit, and we had hardly
any time to converse uninterruptedly ; be therefore engaged me to
breokfast with' him the next morning. In the meantime I looked
over the Paraphrase, which 1 bad taken home with me, and I must
sly I was grievously disappointed. Not that the verse *as bad,
or the images of the Roman poet badly adapted to the times; but
a Muse much interior to his might have produced them in the
smoky atmosphere of London, whereas he had been roaming under
the cloudless skies of Greece, on sites where every step he took
might have set such a fancy as hls , in fine frenzies rolling. But
the poem was his, and the affection he had acquired in my heart
was undiminished."

VOLTAIC-MECHANIC AGENT.
We observe that, under this title, the Chemist of this
day announces the discovery of a new mode of gene-
rating mechanic power. It consists in decomposing
water by means of voltaic electricity; and then pro-
ducing a vacuum by inflaming the gases thus generated.
That both these ate operations of the laboratory in
daily practice, and of almost daily, exhibition, is known
to every tyro in chemistry; but how far they may be
applicable to generate a mechanic power which we can
regulate at our pleasure, and which is. to be less costlo
and less cumbrobs than tho-e at present in use, is neither
explained nor elucidated in the publication we have
mentioned. That by the decomposition of water w
produce two gases; either separate or combined,
pow
sessing an elasticity at least equal to that'of the atmo-
sphere, is unquestionable; and that they are thus pro:
duced precisely in those proportions In 'which they con-
dense each other, and that they IPaiiie condensed by
a' spar k from the same instrument wliich produces them
is .unquestionable; but we doubt whether the means of
effecting the decomposition will not
.be more expensive
than the means of producing power by steam, and
whether it will ever be possible to Work explosive
engines, as every engine constructed on this principle
must necessarily be. As far as we know, howrier, the
idea is novel, and we are at presort so little acquainted
with the best and cheapest means of producing. Voltaic
electricity, improvements in the construction of voltaic
batteries being frequent, that it may be possible to pro-
d ice a sufficient quantity of the two gases to make this
a cheap means of obtaining power. On the other hand,
so few experiments have been made on explosive
engines—and it is so obvious that in the present case
tie explosion may be made under the earth, under
the surface of water at • successive periods, in small
quantities of the gases, that the idea ought not, on this
account to be rejected. The author himself states there
are difficulties in 'the way of applying the prin-
ciple to practice, but they may not
_be insuper-
able, and may perhaps in these idle times only
serve as a stimulus 'to the exertions and ingenuity
of practical men. The idea is certainly simple, and easy
of comprehension. The space required ior a powerful
voltaic battery, on 1)1. Wollaston 's in. oved plan, is
not large; there are no renee ed quantities of fluid
required, the same water serving for a considerable
time; there is no other apparatus, in short, requisite'
than a battery, a water-trough, and two cylinders—one
for the reception of the gases, and the other to conduct
them; and therefore we should suppose that this disco.
ve:y is ofra nature to excite much interest, and lead to
many inquiries, although it may not lead to those ink_
provements its sanguine author appears Co anticipate.

.
Sunday se'nnight, a most melancholy accident oc-
curred at Mr. Adams's, at Swannington. A female
servant took from a drawer a loaded pistol while she
laid some linen up, but in replacing the pistol, it went
and its contents entered behind the ear, and passed
through the head of a boy three years of age, who
survived the accident about three hours. Verdict—
Accident:A Death.
It is siod of L'indon Bridge, that it was made for wise
melt to p:-.at over, and for fools to pai.i under.

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TIIE PIGEON.
Why tarries my love ? Ah ! where does he rove,
My love is long absent from me;
Come hither, my dove, ru write to my love,