The houseless cottager from wind severe, His humble habitation oft has made; Once gloomy penitence sat silent there, And midnight tapers gleam'd along the shade. The lonely shepherd here has oft retired, To count his flock and tune his rustic lay, Where loud Hosannas distant ears inspired, And saintly vespers closed the solemn day. HUGH DELMORE. * * * * * BOOK-MACHINERY. (_To the Editor of the Mirror._) The world being supplied with books by _machinery_ is almost, literally, a fact. Type-founding and stereotyping are, of course, mechanical processes; and lately, Dr. Church, of Boston, invented a plan for _composing_ (setting the types) by machinery; the sheets are printed by steam; the paper is made by machinery; and pressed and beaten for binding by a machine of very recent date. Little more remains to be done than to write by machinery; and, to judge by many recent productions, a _spinning-jenny_ would be the best engine for this purpose. PHILO. * * * * * GRAVITATION. (_For the Mirror._) In a matter-of-fact age like the present, methinks it behoves every man to apply the improvements of scientific research as much as possible to the ordinary concerns of life. Science and society may thus be called _at par_, and philosophical theory will hence enlighten the practical tradesman. To demonstrate the truth of the above remarks, I mean, with the editor's leave, to prove the necessity of keeping a friend in one's pocket, upon the principles of gravitation, according to Sir Isaac Newton's "Principia." The learned doctor has mathematically proved that all bodies gravitate or incline to the centre. It is on this principle only that we can account for our being fixed to the earth; that we are surrounded by the atmosphere; and that we are constantly attended by, and seem constantly to attend, the planets around us. Should any farther demonstration be necessary than the incomparable Sir Isaac has himself furnished us with, let any sceptic who doubts that the earth attracts all smaller bodies towards its centre, only take a hop from the Monument or St. Paul's, and he will soon find the power of gravitation, and die by the truth of the experiment.