nearer; the circle at the fame time becoming fmaller and fmaller; and as I ftood quite under the fall, it fuddenly disappeared. When I looked up to the torrent, in this fituation, it refembled a cloud of duft; and from this circumftance indeed it takes its name; Staubbach fignifying, in the German language, a fpring of duft. I paid for my curiofity, by being extremely wet; but then I had the fatisfaction, at the fame time, of feeing a rainbow in miniature: no uncommon phænomenon, as it may be obferved in any cafeide, upon which the fun fhines directly in a certain pofition. In the prefent inflance, however, it was fome confolation to me, that the object happened to be peculiarly ftriking.' The annexed view exhibits the profile of this magnificent cafcade. With fuch impetuous violence the torrent rufhes down a precipice upward of nine hundred feet high, that its wa ters, in a manner, leave near two thirds of the rock dry, and do not reach, but at this. diftance, the lower projecting rocks which it covers with froth, rushing with a roaring noise, into the bafin below; accompanied by a tempeft, occafioned by the violent agitation of the air, excited by the rapidity of this fall. The circular hillock, near the rainbow, at the foot of the rock, from the top of which we may contemplate this beautiful phenomenon, forms one of the fides of the refervoir. Above the great torrent, is feen another fmaller fall, floating in the air, at the plealure of the winds. This brook is named the Kupfer-backlein, or Rivelet of Copper. The fide of the rock, beyond that of Staubbach, is called Schup. At the extremity of it, which is almoft perpendicular, a mafs of rock overhangs, and from which rufhes a confiderable brook. On the oppofite part of the landfcape, is feen, at the extremity of the Mount of the Virgin, an ifolated conical point, call, ed the Monk, from its exact refemblance to a monk's hood. In the diftance appear mountains of fnow and glaciers. A Curious Account of the BAYA, or INDIAN GROSS-BEAK; By Athar Ali' Khan of Delhi. [From Afiatic Refearches, Vol. II.] HE Baya is rather larger than brown plumage, a yellowith head and feet, a light-coloured breaft, and a conic beak very thick in proportion to his body. He builds his neft on the higheft tree, placing it with its entrance downward, to fecure it from birds of prey. He lights his nelt by means of fire flies, which he catches alive during the night, and confines by means of moift clay. He may be taught to fetch any imall thing that his mafter points out to him. It is an attefted fact, that if a ring be dropped into a deep well, and a figmal be given to him, he will fly down with amazing celerity, catch the ring before it up to his maiter with apparent exultation. The young Hindoo women at Benares, and in other places, wear thin plates of gold, called tica's, flightly fixed, by way of ornament, between their eyebrows; and when they pafs through the streets, it is not uncommon for the youthful libertines, who amufe themselves with training bayas, to give them a fign which they underftand, and fend them to pluck the pieces of gold from the foreheads of their miftreffes, which they bring in triumph to their lovers, MEMOIRS of the LIFE of Mrs. MARY DELANY. [From Biographia Britannica, Vol. V. just published. ] MRS. Mary Delany, a lady of three weeks, the being then in the diftinguished ingenuity and merit, was born at a fmall country houfe of her father's, at Coulton, in Wilt hire, on the 14th of May, 1700. Her defcent was highly honourable, the being the daughter of Bernard Granville, efq. a younger brother of George Granville, efq. afterward lord Landidown, a nobleman whofe abilities and virtues, whofe character as a poet, whofe friendship with Pope, Swift, and other eminent writers of the time, and whofe general patronage of men of genius and literature, have so often been recorded in biographical productions, that they cannot be unknown to any of our readers. As the child of fuch a family, fhe could not fail of receiving the beft education. Before her marriage, the refided chiefly at Whitehall, with her aunt lady Stanley, whofe husband, fir John Stanley, was a commiffioner of the cultoms under king William, and was a very wife and accomplished man. Mifs Granville made, however, frequent vifits to her uncle Landfdown in the country; and, in his fociety, who united the accomplifhments of the polite courtier with thofe of the elegant fcholar, her understanding was improved, her tafte refined, and the acquired a grace and dignity of manners which the preferved to the clofe of her life. It was at Long Leat, the feat of the Weymouth family, which was occupied by lord Landfdown, during the minority of the heir of that family, that mifs Granville firt faw Alexander Pendarves, efq. a gentleman of large property at Rofcrow, in the county of Cornwall, and who immediately paid his addreffes to her; which were fo ftrenuously fupported by her uncle, whom he had not the courage to deny, that he gave a reluctant confent to the match; and, accordingly, it took place in the compafs of two or feventeenth year of her age. From a great difparity of years, and other caufes, he was very unhappy during the time in which this connection lafted. However, the endeavoured to make the beft of her fituation. The retirement to which the was confined was wifely employed by her in the farther cultivation of a naturally vigorous understanding: and the good ufe fhe made of her leifure hours was eminently evinced in the charms of her converfation, and in her letters to her friends. That quick feeling of the elegant and beautiful which conflitutes tafte, was poffeffed by her in an eminent degree; and, therefore, fhe was peculiarly fitted for fucceeding in the fine arts. At the period we are fpeaking of, fhe made a great proficiency in mufic. As to painting, which afterward the most loved, and in which the principally excelled, it had not as yet engaged her practical attention. In 1724, Mrs. Pendarves became a widow; upon which occafion the quitted Cornwall, and fixed her principal refidence in London; where the took a house first in Clargesftreet, and afterward in Upper Brook ftreet. In the laft houfe the continued till her marriage with Dr. Delany. For feveral years, between 1730 and 1736, he maintained a correfpondence with Dr. Swift. Two of her letters, written in 1736, are inferted in the dean's works, and will ferve to difplay the ftrength and vivacity of her mind, and the ingenious and judicious manner in which it was exercifed and improved. Her cuftom was, as the informs Dr. Swift, to rife at between five and fix in the morning, and to go to bed at eleven at night. From the fame letters, it appears how well Mrs. Pendarves was qualified to find refources in herfelf; for the declares, that living alone was a peafanter thing than fhe imagined. It U u a has has been obferved, that there is fomething of an air of stiffness and conftraint in her correfpondence with the dean of St. Patrick's, which, without doubt, was infpired by her awe of him, and which was very different from the unaffected eafe and elegance of those to her intimate fiiends. In 1743, Mrs. Pendarves was married to Dr. Delany, with whom it appears that he had long been acquainted; and for whom he had many years entertained a high esteem. She had been a widow nineteen years when this connection, which was a very happy one, took place. We are affured, from unquestionable authority, that her husband regarded her almoft to adoration. Upon his decease, in May 1768, the intended to fix herfelf at Bath, and was in queft of a houfe for that purpofe. But the duchefs dowager of Portland, hearing of her defign, went down to the place, to prevent her coming to fuch a refolution. The duchefs, who in her early years had formed an intimacy with Mrs. Delany, wifhed to have near her a lady from whom she had neceffarily, for several years, been much feparated, and whofe heart and talents he knew would in the higheft degree add to the happiness of her own life. Her grace fucceeded in her folicitations. In the following winter, Mrs. Delany went to the duchefs of Portland's at Whitehall, and in the fpring of 1769, fhe took a fmall house in Thatched-house-court, in St. James'-ftreet. Here the refided till The could find a houfe more fuited to her inclination. Such a house she met with the next year in St. James' place, and, having purchased the leafe of it, fhe continued in it till her death. Her fummers fhe fpent with the duchefs of Portland at Bulftrode; fometimes, however, making excurfions to her relations, in Warwickfhire and Staffordshire, or to others of thofe many friends who were happy to enjoy her fociety. But these excurfions were neither frequent nor lorg; and in her latter years the al3 moft wholly declined them. In the winter, fcarcely a day passed in which the duchefs of Portland, unless confined by illness, did not pass some time with Mrs. Delany, at James'-place. The moft ufual time of her grace's vifit was in an evening, from feven o'clock till ten; at which time there was often an affemblage of perfons of the first distinction for rank, abilities, and character. It is apparent, from this account, that Mrs. Delany never lived with the duchefs of Portland as a companion (taking that word in the fignification according to which it is frequently applied) but as an independent friend; for the was poffeffed of more than fix hundred pounds a year. What drew them fo closely together was the most perfect friendfhip, founded on long acquaintance, fimilar virtues, and congenial purfuits. Upon the death of the duchefs dowager of Portland, the king, who had frequently feen and honoured Mrs. Delany with his notice at Bulftrode, was graciously pleased to affign to her, for her fummer refidence, the use of a houfe completely furnished, in St. Alban's-ftreet, Windfor, adjoining to the entrance of the caftle: and, that the having of two houfes on her hands might not produce any inconvenience with regard to the expence of her living, his majefty, as a farther mark of his royal favour, conferred upon her a penfion of three hundred pounds a year. The manner in which this penfion was paid added to the gracefulness of this gift. To prevent the customary deductions, the queen herfelf, in the kindeft, most condefcending, and most confiderate manner, brought, every half year, the bank notes in her pocket. This, however, was not, as by many has been imagined, an eleemofynary appointment. Mrs. Delany did not ftand in need of it in that view; and, if her liberal and moderate spirit had permitted her to wish for an enlargement of her income, she had near relations, whofe circumstances enabled them, and whofe fincere affection would would have difpofed them to add to it, with the utmost pleasure. The munificence of the king proceeded from the high esteem which their majefties entertained of her character, and from their defire to have near them a lady of fuch uncommon merit and endowments. Accordingly, they took much pleasure in converfing with her, and fometimes would call upon her more than once in the fame day. On the 15th of April 1788, after a fhort indifpofition, the departed this life, at her house, in St. James'place, having nearly completed the eighty-eighth year of her age. The circumftance that has principally entitled Mrs. Delany to an article in the prefent work, is her skill in painting, and in other ingenious arts, one of which was entirely her own. With respect to painting, fhe was late in her application to it. She d'd not learn to draw till fhe was more than thirty years of age, when fhe put herself under the inftruction of Goupy, a fashionable mafter of that time, and much employed by Frederick prince of Wales. To oil-painting the did not take till he was paft forty.. So ftrong was her paffion for this art, that she has frequently been known to employ herfelf in it, day after day, from fix o'clock in the morning till dinner-time, allowing only a fhort interval for breakfaft. She was principally a copyift, but a very fine one. The only confiderable original work of hers in oil was the raifing of Lazarus, which is now in the poffeffion of her noble, kind, and much-valued friend, lady Bute. The hint of the compofition was taken from a well known print of Rembrandt's. It is understood, that fir Joshua Reynolds was much pleafed with this picture of Mrs. Delany's. The number of pictures painted by her, confidering how late it was in life before the applied to the art, was very great. Her own houfe was full of them; and others of them are among the chief ornaments of Calfwich, Welbourn, and Ilam, the re fpective refidences of her nephews, Mr. Granville and Mr. Dewes, and of her niece, Mrs. Port. She Mrs. Delany, among her other accomplishments, excelled in embroidery and fhell-work; and, in the courfe of her life, produced many elegant fpecimens of her skill in thele refpects. But what is more remarkable with regard to her is, that, at the age of feventy-four, the invented a new and beautiful mode of exercising her ingenuity. This was by the construction of a Flora, of a moft fingular kind, formed by applying coloured papers together, and which might not improperly be called a species of Mofaic work. Being perfectly mistress of her fciffars, the plant or flower which the purpofed to imitate she cut out; that is, fhe cut out its various leaves and parts in fuch coloured Chinese paper as suited her fubject; and as the could not always meet with a colour to correfpond with the one the wanted, the then dyed her own paper to answer her wishes. ufed a black ground, as beft calcu lated to throw out her flower; and not the leaft aftonishing part of her art was, that though fhe never em- ̈ ployed her pencil to trace out the form or fhape of her plant, yet, when fhe applied all the pieces which compofed it, it hung fo loofely and gracefully, that every one was perfuaded that it muft previously have been drawn out, and repeatedly corrected, by a moft judicious hand, before it could have attained the ease and air of truth which, without any impeach-~ ment of the honour of this accomplished lady, might juítly be called a forgery of Nature's works. The effect was fuperior to what painting could have produced; and fo impofing was her art, that he would fometimes put a real leaf of a plant by the fide of one of her own creation, which the eye could not detect, even when the herself pointed it out. Mrs. Delany continued in the profecution of her defign till the eighty-third year of her age, when the dimness of her fight obliged her to lay it afide. However, by her unwearied perfeverance, fhe became authores of far the complete Flora that ever was executed by the fame hand. The number of plants firithed by her amounted to nine hundred and eighty. This invaluable Flora was bequeathed by her to her nephew Court Dewes, efq. and is now in his poflef fion. The liberality of Mirs. Delany's mind rendered her at all times ready to communicate her art. She frequently purtued her work in company; was defirous of fhewing to her friends how easy it was to execute; and was often heard to lament, that fo few would attempt it. It required, however, two effential requifites to undertake it with fuccefs; great patience, and great knowledge in botanical drawing. When Mrs. Delany had entered into the eightieth year of her age, the pre fixed to the first volume of her Flora the following line, having never written, fo far as is known, any verfes before. Hail to the happy hour, when Fancy led Thefe lines are fucceeded by what follows, in profe. This paper Mofaic work was begun in the feventy-fourth year of my age (which I at first only meant as an imitation of an Hortus ficcus) and as an employment and amufement to fupply the lo's of thofe that had formerly been delightful to me, but had loit their power of pleafing; being deprived of that friend whofe partial approbation was my pride, and had Aamped a value on them. Though the effect of this work was more than I expected, I thought that a whim of my own fancy might fondly beguile my judgment to think better of it than it deferved; and I fhould have dropped the attempt as vain, had not the duchefs dowager of Portland looked on it with favourable eyes. Her approbation was fuch a fanction to my undertaking, as made it appear of confequence, and gave me courage to go on with confidence. To her I owe more than I dare exprefs; but my heart will ever feel, with the utmost gratitude and tendereft affection, the honour and delight I have enjoyed in her moft generous, fleady, and delicate friendship, for above forty years. MASON, Elegy III. Here we cannot forbear inferting a pleafing anecdote relating to this fubject. Mrs. Delany, while in Ireland, was prefented with a citron, the feeds of which fhe planted, and reared to a tree, which, at the time of her leaving that kingdom, was in its perfection. When he was become enamoured of her new work, the often wished to perpetuate the tree fhe had left behind her; and intimating fuch with to the duchefs dowager of Portland, her noble friend, with that be evolence which distinguished her character, contrived to get the tree fent over to Balftrode. As foon as it was recovered from the accidents of fo long a journey, it was placed in the gallery; and on Mrs. Delany's being ftruck with the beauty of the plant, fhe was informed by her grace, that it was the identical tree fhe had often been defirous of obtaining. Mr. Keaté happened to pay a vifit at Bulftrode just as Mrs. Delany had finished the portrait of a branch of her favourite citron tree; and hearing the hiftory of it, a defire was excited in him of commemorating an event, which gave him an opportunity of recording the abilities |