readily turn it; but what was most extraordinary in its composition was, that he put a mouse into it, which he called the miller, and that the mouse made the mill turn round when he pleased; and he would joke too upon the miller eating the corn that was put in. Some say that he tied a string to the mouse's tail, which was put into a wheel, like that of turnspit dogs, so that pulling the string made the mouse go forward by way of resistance, and this turned the mill. Others suppose there was some corn placed above the wheel, this the mouse endeavouring to get to, made it turn. Moreover, sir Isaac's water clock is much talked of. This he made out of a box he begged of Mr. Clarke's (his landlord) wife's brother. As described to me, it resembled pretty much our common clocks and clock-cases, but less; for it was not above four feet in height, and of a proportionable breadth. There was a dial-plate at top with figures of the hours. The index was turned by a piece of wood, which either fell or rose by water dropping. This stood in the room where he lay, and he took care every morning to supply it with its proper quantity of water; and the family, upon occasion, would go to see what was the hour by it. It was left in the house long after he went away to the university.

These fancies sometimes engrossed so much of his thoughts, that he was apt to neglect his book, and dull boys were now and then put over him in form. But this made him redouble his pains to overtake them, and such was his capacity that he could soon do it, and outstrip them when he pleased; and it was taken notice of by his master. Still nothing could induce him to lay by his mechanical experiments: but all holydays, and what time the boys had allowed to play, he spent entirely in knocking and hammering in his lodging room, pursuing that strong bent of his inclination not only in things serious, but ludicrous too, and what would please his school fellows, as well as himself; yet it was in order to bring them off from trifling sports, and teach them, as we may call it, to play philosophically, and in which he might willingly bear a part, and he was particularly ingenious at inventing diversions for them, above the vulgar kind. As for instance, in making paper kites, which he first introduced here. He took pains, they say, in finding out their proportions and figures, and whereabouts the string should be fastened to the greatest advantage, and in how many places. Likewise he first made lanterns of paper crimpled, which he used to go to school by, in winter mornings, with a candle, and tied them to the tails of the kites in a dark night, which at first affrighted the country people exceedingly, thinking they were comets. It is thought that he first invented this method; I can't tell how true. They tell us too how diligent he was in observing the motion of the sun, especially in the yard of the house where he lived, against the walls and roofs, wherein he would drive pegs, to mark the hours and half hours made by the shade,* which, by degrees, from some years observations, he had made very exact, and any body knew what o'clock it was by Isaac's dial, as they ordinarily called it; thus in his youngest years did that immense genius discover his sublime imagination, that since has filled, or rather comprehended the world.

The lad was not only very expert with his mechanical tools, but he was equally so with his pen. For he busied himself very much in drawing, which I suppose he learnt from his own inclination, and observation of nature. By inquiry, I was informed that one old Barley (as he was called) was his writing master, who lived where now is the Millstone alehouse, in

* Several of these dials are to be seen on the wall of the manor house at Wols: thorp.

Castle street; but they don't remember that he (Barley) had any knack in drawing. However, by this means sir Isaac furnished his whole room with pictures of his own making, which probably he copied from prints, as well as from life. They mention several of the kings' heads, Dr. Donne, and likewise his master Stokes. Under the picture of king Charles I. he wrote these verses, which I had from Mrs. Vincent by memory, who fancies he made them; if that be true, it is most probable he designed the print too, which is common to this day.

A secret art my soul requires to try,

If prayers can give me, what the wars deny,
Three crowns distinguished here in order do
Present their objects to my knowing view.
Earth's crown, thus at my feet, I can disdain,
Which heavy is, and, at the best, but vain.
But now a crown of thorns I gladly greet,
Sharp is this crown, but not so sharp as sweet:
The crown of glory that I yonder see

Is full of bliss and of eternity.

These pictures he made frames to himself, and coloured them over in a workmanlike manner.

Mrs. Vincent is a widow gentlewoman living here, aged 82. Her maiden name was Storey, sister to Dr. Storey, a physician of Buckminster near Colsterworth. Her mother, who was a handsome woman, was second wife to Mr. Clark, the apothecary where sir Isaac lodged; so that she lived with him in the same house all the time of his being at Grantham, which was about seven years. Her mother and sir Isaac's mother were intimately acquainted, which was the reason of his lodging at Mr Clark's. She gave me much of the foregoing account. She says sir Isaac was always a sober, silent, thinking lad, and was never known scarce to play with the boys abroad, at their silly amusements; but would rather choose to be at home, even among the girls, and would frequently make little tables, cupboards, and other utensils for her and her play fellows, to set their babies and trinkets on. She mentions. likewise, a cart he made with four wheels, wherein he would sit, and by turning a windlass about, he could make it carry him around the house where he pleased. Sir Isaac and she being thus brought up together, 'tis said that he entertained a love for her; nor does she deny it: but her portion being not considerable, and he being a fellow of a college, it was incompatible with his fortunes to marry; perhaps his studies too. 'Tis certain he always had a kindness for her, visited her whenever in the country, in both her husbands' days, and gave her forty shillings, upon a time, whenever it was of service to her. She is a little woman; but we may with ease discern that she has been very handsome.

Mr. Clark tells me that the room where sir Isaac lodged, was his lodging room too when a lad, and that the whole wall was still full of the drawings he had made upon it with charcoal, and so remained till pulled down about sixteen years ago, as I said before. There were birds, beasts, men, ships, and mathematical schemes, and very well designed.

We must understand, all this while, that his mother had left Wolsthorp and lived with her second husband at North Witham. But upon his death, after she had three children by him, she returned to her own house, which likewise, it ought to be remembered, was rebuilt by him. She upon this was for saving expenses as much as she could, and recalled her son Isaac from school, intending to make him serviceable in managing of the farm and country business at Wolsthorp, and I doubt not but she thought it would turn more to his own account, than being a scholar. Accordingly we must suppose him attending to the tillage, grazing, and the like. And they tell us

that he frequently came on Saturdays to Grantham market, with corn and other commodities to sell, and to carry home what necessaries were proper to be bought at a market town for a family; but being young, his mother usually sent a trusty old servant along with him, to put him into the way of business. Their inn was at the Saracen's Head in Westgate, where, as soon as they had set up their horses, Isaac generally left the man to manage the marketings, and retired instantly to Mr. Clark's garret, where he used to lodge, near where lay a parcel of old books of Mr. Clark's, which he enter tained himself with, whilst it was time to go home again; or else he would stop by the way, between home and Grantham, and lie under a hedge study. ing whilst the man went to town and did the business, and called upon him in his return. No doubt the man made remonstrances of this to his mother. Likewise, when at home, if his mother ordered him into the fields, to look after the sheep, the corn, or upon any other rural employment, it went on very heavily through his manage. His chief delight was to sit under a tree, with a book in his hands, or to busy himself with his knife in cutting wood for models of somewhat or other that struck his fancy: or he would get to a stream and make mill wheels.

DISCOVERY OF A PAINTING BY RAPHAEL.

REPORT has lately convulsed the cognoscenti, by affirming the discovery of twelve pictures of Titian, the Cesars, which, after having been laid aside as mere lumber, in the garret of an ancient mansion, were sold for less than twenty shillings to a country watchmaker, and by him for about 251. to a London dealer. The dealer, however, demands as many hundreds. We have not seen these pictures, nor is the name of the present owner mentioned. We, therefore, can neither vouch for their authenticity, their merit, nor the accuracy of the history stated to the publick. Whether they be originals or copies we cannot tell. But as such discoveries really do occur from time to time, we deem it not improper to caution those who are in possession of old pictures, not to destroy them, without first taking the opi nion of some competent judge on their worth The following incident, which, on account of the wonderful changes attendant on the French revolu tion, we think very credible, may add weight to our caution.

A painter in Paris discovered, some months ago, in a tinker's shop, an oaken pannel about two feet high, and twenty inches wide, covered with dirt and smoke. Thinking that it might have been originally a picture, he inquired of the tinker what he would take for it. He replied that it had lain more than ten years in his shop, and that he thought of converting it into a table; but if the painter wished for it, he should have it for three livres. The painter paid the money and took it home. On cleaning it he discovered an inscription, with two tickets of printed paper, and at last could read very legibly the following lines:

"This portrait of the Holy Family of our Lord Jesus Christ was painted at Rome in 1514, by Raffaello Sanzio d'Urbino, for our glorious sovereign, the wife of our good king Francis I. by name, who afterwards presented it to the chancellor Duprat in 1516. In the same year the fellow portrait was painted by the same Raffaello for the cardinal de Julius de Medicis."

The printed tickets represent the arms of Duprat cut in wood, with the following Latin inscription:

"Ex supellectibus Ant. Duprat domini Nantralieti, cancel. Fran. Brittan. Mediol. et ordinis regis, regina conjux Francisci primi Francorum regis, istam tabulam SS. Familia Christi, à Raphaele Sanzio, pictore Romano de pictam, Ant. Duprat cancellario, dedit, anno MDXVI."

Is measured and composed with thought; "Prythee," replied his friend, "be still

As it is but seldom that we can present our readers with genuine and correct imitations of Oriental poetry, we give sir William Jones's version of an ode of Jami in the Persian form and measure.

PHILOSOPHICAL AND ECONOMICAL INTELLIGENCE.

A SINGULAR case of success in applying the magnet, to extract a fragment of iron out of the human eye, has been recently transmitted to the Philosophical Magazine. It seems in the course of last summer, Charles Milsted, a blacksmith of Teuterden, received a particle of iron, about the size of a small pin's head, in the ball of his left eye, while he was striking the head of one hammer against another. Some weeks after this accident, a gentleman applied a magnet to the part injured, but could only draw out a mixture of powdered rust with the tears. This gave no relief, as the fragment of iron was yet in the eye. A surgeon endeavoured to take it out with the point of a lancet, but finding it firmly fixed very near the pupil, he concluded it was impossible to touch it with any instrument without extreme danger. The former gentlemen then sent again for the young man, and examining the eye with a very powerful magnifying glass, he could see a very small particle of black iron; but covered over with the thin coating of the eye. Being satisfied of the exact situation of the piece of iron, and the impediments to be surmounted, the eye-lids were held open, and he applied the north pole of a combined staple-magnet, possessing great power, at the distance of about the sixteenth part of an inch from the eye. Then he used a magnet of less power, but of more convenient construction, and continued 'to apply them both by turns, till he could at length perceive that the fragment had projected above the surface of the iris of the eye. Still there was a coating to cut its way through, before the magnet could draw it out. In fact, it seemed as firmly fixed as a thorn in the flesh, and was very different from what it might have been, had it been only loosely floating on the outer surface of the eye. During this operation, the young man frequently thought he felt the fragment rush out of his eye, before it really had done so; however, after using magnets of different degrees of power for ten or fifteen minutes, the particle of iron cut its way through the thin teguments of the eye, by the power of attraction, and was taken out by the magnet. By the assistance of glasses, it appeared of an imperfect octagon shape, armed with rough, jagged edges. The eye was, notwithstanding, free from pain, the moment it was out, though for some months before, the patient had suffered night and day without intermission. A small scar still remained on the eye, but it occasioned no pain. Knowing that the magnetick fluid will make its passage even through plates of glass, when any particle of iron is within its influence, the writer is surprised, a mean so familiar and natural as the present is not more frequently recurred to in such

cases.

Account of the Magnetick Mountain of Cannay; by George Dempster, of Dunnichen, Esq Cannay is an island of ten or twelve miles in circumference, with an excellent harbour. In it is a hill of some height, called the Compass Hill, in which there is a little hole dug a foot or two in depth. A compass placed in this hole is instantly disturbed, and in a short time veers about to the eastward, till at last the north point settles itself in a due southerly direction, and remains there. At a very little distance from this hole, perhaps on the very edge of it, the needle recovers its usual position.

This singular circumstance was known when Martin wrote his account of the island, and is taken notice of by him. He, indeed, says the compass then settled at due east, which is also curious. What increases the singularity of this alteration in the needle, is a discovery lately made by Hector M'Neil, Esq. tacksman of the island. He mentioned the circumstance to us, and lord Bredalbane, sir Adam Ferguson, Mr. Isaac Hawkins Browne, and the rest of the company, went to examine the fact. The harbour on the north side is formed by a bold rock of basalt, which may be about half a mile below, and to the southward of the Compass Hill, of which this rock is a continuation. We rowed under this rock, and when the boat reached its centre, immediately under the rock, and almost touching it, the north point of our compass veered about, and settled at due south, and remained there. This experiment was frequently repeated with the same success; but this effect was confined also to a very small part of the rock, which seemed to us directly south from the hole on Compass Hill. At a little distance, on either side, the needle recovered its usual position. His