The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-05-24 00:00:00

he not now be trusted ? Do'at still love the soldier, Ellen ?''
" Love him! no, no ! I never loved Ralph Lloyd ; but
there is one who would not betray thee," cried the maiden
with enthusiasm—" one who would die sooner."

" And who, or where is he i';--ZisfilaecWalier smiling.
" Alas !" said Ellen in a tone of despondency, " he is far
from here, and it would go hard with him if he fell into the
hands of the troops of Cromwell. But I have sent a mes-
senger to him, and were you once beyond these walls, you
would find Edgar Vaughan a true and trusty escort."
" I shall have small need of his services if I escape not ere
Major Holdenburgh arrives, to whom I cannot be unknown.
S'death, Ellen, could'st thou but procure me a brand-, I
would even—"

Here a suppressed scream from the maiden caused the
cavalier to pause, and turning to the door, he perceived the
dark look of the soldier, who at supper had so closely watched
him, fixed scowling and steadily upon the maiden and him-
self. At that very instant the sound of advancing horsemen
was heard. " They come ! they come !" cried Ellen in ter-
ror, grasping with both hands the arm of the cavalier. Then
turning to the soldier—" Ralph ! Ralph !" she cried in an
imploring tone, " would you betray your King ?"
Ha !" cried the soldier, in a voice of exultation, " it is
even as I thought." But as he spoke, the royal prisoner
sprang suddenly upon him, wrested his dagger from his hand,
and held it gleaming before his eyes, exclaiming " One word,
miscreant, and thou diest !" _ _ _

" The king ! the king !" shouted the struggling soldier,
extricating his arm, and drawing a pistol from his belt ; but
his active antagonist on the instant struck his dagger in his
throat, and hurled him down the narrow staircase.
" The king ! the king !" echoed again the horsemen with-
out, as the clashing of arms was followed by the ring of a
peal of musketry ; and ere its tingle left the ear, a loud voice
was heard to cry, " Surrender to the soldiers of king
Charles !"

" 'Tis he !" cried Ellen, starting up with sudden anima-
tion from the drooping into which she had shrunk with ter-
ror, " 'tis Edgar !"
..

" Shrrender, dogs of Cromwell!" shouted the same voice,
as the pike butts of the horsemen thundered at the door.
It was soon burst open. Startled, weakened, and dis-
pirited, the assailed offered but feeble resistance, and yielded
themselves prisoners to the adherents of the king. But they
sought not thus to profit by the surrender. Rushing In,
Edgar Vaughan caught Ellen in his arms ; then recognizing
the king, doffing his bonnet, and bending his knee, he ex-
claimed, " Mount, mount, my liege ! The passes are beset,
and the beacons are burning on the hills of Shropshire and
Montgomery.
It was no time for parley. A stout steed was ready at the
door ; and young Edgar, hurriedly whispering to Ellen, once
more embraced her, and then led the way for his royal
master.

" Good betide thee, fair Ellen," cried the king, " and
God speed the day that brings me power to requite thy kind-
ness.' Then springing to the saddle, the horse-hoofs of the
littlg party clattered for an instant on the rocky pathway,
and then died away on the distant heath.
Ten summers had smiled on the mountain valleys of
Merioneth, and where had stood the humble hostelry, was
reared a noble baronial hall.—lt 1.5.: long since passed away,
and there remains not even a ruin to tell where it stood ; but
its founder and his fair dame are not forgotten, and many a
proud family in Wales can boast descent from Sir Edgar
Vaughan and Ellen Wynne.

LIVERPOOL MECHANICS' INSTITUTION.

LECTURES UPON ELECTRICITY.

On Saturday evening, Robert Addams, Esq. delivered the
second of his highly interesting lectures.
The intensity and the quantity of electricity are by no
means synonymous terms. The spark of an electrical ma-
chine may be more intense than the most powerful electric
battery, although the latter may contain a thousand times the
quantity, in the same manner as the thermometer, plunged
into a teacupfull of boiling water, may indicate a higher tem-
perature, than if it were immersed in the boiler of a steam-
engine, although there would be an immense quantity of heat
spread through the water of the latter. By intensity is meant
the tendency which the electricity has to escape from the
electric substance, and we find that there the electricity has
a greater teudency to escape from the end of the brass con-
ductor than at the proportion of 21 to 1, and the same holds
good with a metallic disc, with respect to the circumference
of the centre. If we bring a pointed metallic instrument
near to the conductor of an electrifying machine, it will
attract the electricity without noise and at a much greater
distance than a globular metallic ball. Indeed, we find that
though we hold a ball and a point at the same time to a con-
ductor of electricity, even though the point be held at a
greater distance than the ball, that the whole of the electri-
city will be carried off by the point. This shows the use of
pointed metallic rods, as conductors of electricity by land or
sea. The phenomena displayed by a metallic point are partly
produced by currents of air in the neighbourhood : for if we
place the pointed rod a few inches within a glass tube, it will
then receive sparks as if it were a rounded ball. There is
such a considerable rush of air from a pointed conductor as
would blow out the flame of a candle placed near to it. This
proves that there is something rushing out—either the electri-
city is putting in motion the air, or there is electric fluid
rushing out with the air. Upon this principle of having a
flow of atmospheric air from pointed wires, we can set in
motion certain bodies to represent astronomical phenomena.
[Mr. Addams then placed an orrery, consisting of the sun,
earth, and moon, upon the end of the prime conductor, and
electricity having been excited by the machine the orrery was
put in motion, and correctly represented the movements of
the bodies which it was intended to represent.] A negative
body will not always attract a positive one ; for, if I employ
a pointed body, the reverse will be the case. Thus, if I place
a toy representing a man, with a quantity of hair on his
head, upon the prime conductor, the hair will stand an end
diverge. If I touch the parts of this hair with a rounded
ball, they will all be attracted by it ; but if I touch them
with a pointed surface, they will all be repelled and fall.
Some electricians account for this by supposing, that the
point receives a stream of electricity from the machine itself,
and becomes similarly electrified.
It is a singular fact, that if a plate of glass be covered with
a piece of tin foil and insulated, that it will receive but a very
small portion of electricity (not one-hundredth part) com-
pared with what it will, provided both sides be coated, and
one of the coated surfaces be placed in contact with conduct-
ing substances connected with the earth. Upon this princi-
ple the Leyden jars are constructed, the inside coating re-
ceiving the electricity, and the outside forming a conductor
to the earth. If a Leyden jar be held upon a cake of resin it
will not take up one-hundredth part of the electricity it would
contain if placed in connexion with the earth. The inside of
a Leyden jar is charged at the expense of a portion of elec-
tricity which escapes from the outside. For every spark
which enters the inside of the glass jar, a spark leaves the
outside, and a hundred jars in succession may be charged
by making the outside of one jar charge the inside of another.
According to the mode in which we charge the Leyden jars,
the inside is positive and the outside negative, which is readily
proved by the electrometer. We can, however, charge the
outside of a Leyden jar positively, in which case the inside
becomes negative, by allowing the electricity to enter the
outside and not through the knob. The coating of the Ley-
den jars are of no further use than to cause an agreeable dis-
tribution of the electricity, as the electricity adheres to the
surface of the glass and not to the metal. This can be easily
demonstrated by charging a Leyden phial, and then succes-
sively taking away both coatings and applying them to the
electrometer. We shall find that they contain no electricity,
but upon again placing them in connexion with the jar as be-
fore, we shall find the jar to contain its full charge. if we take
a larger jar we shall get a greater accumulation of electricity.
Upon this principle the electrical battery is constructed,
which consists of a number of Leyden jars connected together.
By means of these batteries we can readily fuse metallic wines.
The motion of lightning has been proved by Mr. Wheatstone
to be 200,000 miles in a second of time, and this can be shewn
in several ways. The rapidity of lightning is shewn by tak-
ing two knobs one of which shall be connected with the
electrical machine, and the other placed on the edge of a
whirling table ; when, however swiftly the whirling table may
be revolved, there will be no deflection of the spark from the
perpendicular in passing from knob to knob. The modes by
which Wheatstone determined the velocity of lightning were
not such as to be suited for a lecture room. Explosive gases
can be ignited by the electrical spark.
Chemical action will likewise produce electricity. Pro-
fessor Volta found that when he took different metals, say
copper and zinc, and held them together, he had a great
stream of elecricity, but of little intensity. He found that by
placing these metals in pairs into cells, and pouring acidu-
lated water between them, and connecting the ends by means
of wires, that a powerful electric current was produced. Vol-
taic batteries are now charged with a solution of the brisul-
plerate of copper, which is found to answer better than the
acidulated waters. Such is the powerful electricity excited
by this means that if a pair of zinc and copper plates between
six and eight inches square, be placed even in spring water,
and the connexion be made with a fine platinic wire, the wire
will be made red hot, and continue so as long as the action is
continued. No electrical machine has yet been made which
has been able to perform this phenomenon.
On Saturday evening, Mr. Addams continues the consi-
deration of magnetic electricity.

THE USE OF APPETITE.—In childhood and youth a
healthy appetite is the best of all guides, nor is any other re-
quired. But there is one rule, which ought to be universally
observed. Never continue to eat until the appetite is cloyed;
rise from the repast even while a further supply of food
would be grateful. In this case, the stomach is not over-
loaded, and the work of digestion proceeds rapidly ; but, if
this caution is neglected, a portion of food will remain undi-
gested for a long time, and give rise to many evils, the reason
of which is shown by Dr. Beaumont to be the deficiency of
gastric juice ; the quantity of which secreted, at any one
time, being in proportion to the wants of the system, not to
the quantity of food taken.—Curtis on Health.

MARCHlNG.—Marching is an art to be acquired only by
habit, and one in which the strength or agility of the animal
man has but little to do. I have seen Irishmen, and all sorts
of countrymen, in their own country, taken from the plough
—huge, athletic, active fellows, who would think nothing of
doing forty or fifty miles in the course of the day as country-
men—see these men placed in the ranks as recruits, with
knapsacks on their backs and a musket over their shoulders,
and in the first march they are dead beat before they get ten
miles. I have heard many disputes on the comparative cam-
paigning powers of tall and short men ; but as far as my own
experience goes, I have never seen any difference. If a tall
man break down, it is immediately noticed to the disadvan-
tage of his class ; but if the same misfortune befalls a short
one, it is not looked upon as being anything remarkable. The
effective powers of both in fact depend upon the nature of the
building.—Randum Shots.
I TIPPOO SULTAN'S THRONE. The Sultan's throne, we
are told, being too unwieldy to be conveyed away, was broken
up. It consisted of a howdah, or armed seat, upon a tiger
covered with sheet gold ; the ascent was by silver steps,
gilt ; the canopy was equally superb, and decorated with a
costly fringe of white pearls all around it. The eyes and
teeth of the tiger were of glass; it was valued at 60,000
pagodas, or upwards of £25,000 sterling. The sheet-gold
alone was estimated at 40,000 pagodas. Every inch of the
howdah contained an Arabic inscription, chiefly from the
Koran, and superbly stamped, being raised and polished in
the most beautiful manner. A gold figure of a bird, covered
over with the most precious stones, was fastened to the top
of the canopy ; its beak was a large emerald, its eyes were
carbuncles, the breast was covered with diamonds; on its
back were many large jewels, fancifully arranged ; while the
tail, made to resemble a peacock, was actually studded in the
same manner. The whole was so formed as to have the
appearance of plumage, and so closely set, that the gold was
hardly to be seen.—Alexander's Life of the Duke of Wel-
lington.

A PLEASANT PROSPECT.—An old man, who was employed
as superintendent of the ferry, which communicated with the
opposite shore of Essex, came up to the spot where I stood ;
his arrival was soon evident to the youngsters, one of whom
betrayed unmistakeable signs of shame and alarm at being
thus suddenly detected in his attempt at a clandestine aquatic
excursion; scarcely had the crimson blush mounted on his
cheek, when the ferryman, in the kindest tone, thus addressed
him :—" Well, Bill, you'll have a were nice sail as far as Erith
Reach—tide's running down fast, and the little wind there is
will carve to carry you there as pleasantly as heart can wish ;
you. can go ashore—have your bit of bread and cheese com-
fortably with your mate ; by the time you've finished your
ale, the tide 'ul be upon the turn ; you can manage to be
back quite time enough to put up the boat before dark, and
be home to supper with your mother and I. That's all well,
so far, but now for t'other tack—you'll have your day's
pleasure, so will I—and if, before breakfast to-morrow morn-
ing, there's a bone in your body that don't ache, why, blame
me, that's all lulls Mme Service.