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143 through without great difficulty, and at a considerable expence; and lastly, there would be great difficulty in finding water to supply the waste by lockage; nor does it appear probable that a quantity sufficient could, in any way, be obtained to supply that waste, should the intercourse ever become considerable.

On the other hand, though the cut at Crinan must be longer, and the rise upon the whole greater than at Tarbat, yet the conveniences that would result from it, were it once made, appear to be much more than sufficient to counterbalance these.

The entry into loch Crinan is wide, and would admit of vefsels sailing out of it almost with any wind; and vefsels going southward or northward with a fair wind, would not suffer any retardment by being obliged to alter their course.

The bottom of the valley through which the cut must be carried is, for the most part, soft ground; and the principal rock they would meet with in their course is lime stone, which would pay well for the digging of it; and, lastly, it can command a supply of water, with scarcely any expence, that would be much more than sufficient for any navigation that could ever be expected to take place there. Indeed the convenience in this respect is such here, as to be almost unrivalled any where, and therefore deserves to be slightly specified.

On an eminence at one side of the valley there is at present a fresh water loch (lake) of great extent, which forms a natural reservoir, that supplies a perennial stream that at present flows through the valley. The outlet from this lake is a narrow pass, which, if closed up with a proper dam, leaving a sluice for the purposes wanted, the surface of this loch might be raised five or six feet higher than at present; in which case it would find for

itself another opening to the Western Ocean, by which might be discharged all the superfluous water that should ever be accumulated there by land floods or otherwise, without incommoding the navigation in the smallest degree. Thus would there be obtained, without any expence, a perpetual and abundant supply of water, without ever be ing incommoded with one drop more than was wanted.

Several years ago, Mr Watt, the ingenious improver of the steam engine, was employed by the commifsioners for managing the forfeited estates in Scotland, to survey both these passes, and to make an estimate of the expence of cutting a canal in each of them, from whose report the following particulars are extracted.

Abstract of Mr Watt's report and estimates of the expence of making a canal of different depths across the peninsula of Cantire, at Tarbat and Crinan:

By the Tarbat
passage.

The total distance between high water mark on each side the isthmus,

The greatest perpendicular rise above high water, neap tides, is,

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The expence of a canal of seven feet deep is estimated at,

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I mile

45 feet

L. 17 988 10 6
23,884 7 0

Ditto of a canal of ten feet deep at,
Ditto of a thorough cut without locks,
of twelve feet deep at high water, neap

tides, at,

Ditto of ditto, fifteen feet deep, at,

73.849 9 5 120.789 9

By the Crinan passage.

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In the happy period of the golden age, when all the ce..

lestial inhabitants descended to the earth, and conversed familiarly with mortals, among the most cherished of the heavenly powers were twins, the offspring of Jupiter, Love ad Joy. Wherever they appeared, the flowers sprung up beneath their feet; the sun fhone with a brighter ra

pre

diante; and all nature seemed embellished by their sence. They were inseparable companions, and their growing attachment was favoured by Jupiter, who had decreed, that a lasting union should be solemnized between them, so soon as they were arrived at maturer years. But in the mean time, the sons of men deviated from their native innocence; vice and ruin overran the earth with giant strides; and Astrea, with her train of celestial visitants, forsook their polluted abodes. Love alone remained, having been stolen away by Hope, who was his nurse, and conveyed by her to the forests of Arcadia, where he was brought up among the shepherds. But Jupiter afsigned him a different partner, and commanded him to espouse Sorrow, the daughter of Até. He complied with reluc tance; for her features were harsh and disagreeable, her eyes sunk; her forehead contracted into perpetual wrinkles; and her temples were covered with a wreath of cyprefs and wormwood. From this union sprang a virgin, in whom might be traced a strong resemblance to both her parents; but the sullen and unamiable features of her mother were so mixed and blended with the sweetnefs of her father, that her countenance, though mournful, was highly pleasing. The maids and shepherds of the neighbouring plains gathered round, and called her, Pity. A red-breast was observed to build in the cabin where the was born; and while fhe was yet an infant, a dove, pursued by a hawk, flew into her bosom. This nymph had a dejected appearance, but so soft and gentle a mien, that fhe was beloved to a degree of enthusiasm. Her voice was low and plaintive, but inexpressibly sweet; and the loved to lie for hours together on the banks of some wild and melancholy stream, singing to her lute. She taught men to weep; for he took a strange delight in tears; and VOL. XI.

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often, when the virgins of the hamlet were assembled at their evening sports, she would steal in amongst them, and captivate their hearts by her tales, full of a charming sadnefs. She wore on her head a garland, composed of her father's myrtles, twisted with her mother's cypress.

One day, as the sat musing by the waters of Helicon, her tears by chance fell into the fountain; and ever since, the muses' spring has retained a strong taste of the infusion. Pity was commanded by Jupiter to follow the steps of her mother, through the world, dropping balm into the wounds she had made, and binding up the hearts fhe had broken. She follows with her hair loose, her bosom bare and throbbing, her garments torn by the briars, and her feet bleeding with the roughness of the path. The nymph is mortal, for her mother is so; and when she has fulfilled her destined course upon the earth, they shall both expire together, and Love be again united to Joy, his immortal and long betrothed bride.

NEW INVENTED IMPROVEMENTS ON MACHINERY.

Unwoven cloth.

EFFORTS have been made for some time past, to weave by machinery. A gentleman, we have been informed, has lately obtained a patent for making cloth without weaving. By the account we have received, this cloth is made in imitation of felt, and therefore it can be made only of animal matters. By this mode of management, it is easy to conceive that stuffs of great beauty may be made at a small expence, by covering the surface with a small quantity of the finest kinds of furs; but how such cloths will Fast, time only can discover.

Weaving machine.

MANY persons have at different times invented machines for weaving a complete shirt, or coat, without a seam; these, however, have hitherto been all laid aside in practice, as matters of mere uselefs ingenuity. It is probable the same thing may happen with regard to an invention that has been lately announced in the newspapers, said to have been made by an artist near Halifax, with which he can weave a complete suit of clothes of any fashion required, each article consisting of one piece only, without

a seam.

New improvement on the spinning machine.

An important improvement we hear has lately been made in the spinning of cotton, by a gentleman who has the superintendance of one of Mr Dale's most extensive works in Lanarkshire. Hitherto it has been found to be impracticable to spin cotton yarn for the chain, or warp, by machinery turned by water: it was necefsary to do it by hand, on the machines called jennies or mules. On these last machines the operator drew out the thread with unequal degrees of quickness, twisting it more at one part of the operation than another, which inequality, in the two branches of the operation, they did not know how to perform entirely by the machinery without hand. The gentleman of whom I speak, has contrived an apparatus by which he is able to effect this operation by machinery, alone, in a manner, it is said, much better than it can be done by the hand. He has, we hear, taken out a patent to secure his invention; and report goes, that he has been already offered fifty thousand pounds by certain manufacturers in Manchester to assign his patent to them.

This was an improvement so much wanted, and at the same time so obviously within the power of machinery to perform, that it is rather a surprise it fhould have been so

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