LEGENDARY BALLADS.* BY MR. MOORE.-Just Published. THIS work contains twelve new songs by the best song-writer England has ever produced. The airs, all of which are good, and some extremely beautiful, are selected from various sources, with the exception of one by Bishop, and another by Mrs. Robert Arkwright. The volume is farther enriched by a set of very spirited drawings in illustration of the ballads. We have much pleasure in extracting several of the songs, which, like every thing that comes from Moore's pen, must be highly interesting to our readers. We begin with the following beautiful ballad, entitled CUPID AND PYSCHE. "They told her, that he to whose sweet voice she listen'd, Through night's fleeting hours, was a spirit unblest; "The wizard show'd his lady bright, "The lady now, from her favourite tree, "She gives her page that blooming rose, By fancying still her true love nigh!' "But the page returns, and-oh! what a For trusty lover's eye to see!— Unholy the eyes that beside her had glisten'd, Leads to that bower another knight, "When next in thy chamber the bridegroom Bring near him thy lamp when in slumber he lies, And there, as the light o'er his dark features shineth, Thou'lt see what a demon hath won all thy sighs.' "Too fond to believe them, yet doubting, yet fearing, When calm lay the sleeper, she stole with her light; And saw-such a vision!-no image appearing To bards in their day-dreams was ever so bright. "A youth but just passing from childhood's sweet morning, Whose innocent bloom had not yet fled away; While gleams from beneath his shut eyelids gave warning, Of summer noon lightnings that under them lay. "His brow had a grace more than mortal around it, While, glossy as gold from a fairy land mine, His sunny hair hung, and the flowers that crown'd it Seem'd fresh from the breeze of some garden divine. "Entranced stood the bride on that miracle gazing What late was but love, is idolatry now; But, ah-in her tremour that fatal lamp raising A sparkle flew from it, and dropp'd on his brow. "All's lost-with a start from his rosy sleep waking, The spirit flashed o'er her his glances of fire; Then slow from the clasp of her snowy arms breaking, Thus said, in a voice more of sorrow than ire: "Farewell-what a dream thy suspicion hath broken! Thus ever affection's fond vision is crost; Dissolved are her spells when a doubt is but spoken, And love, once distrusted, forever is lost!' More playful, but not less delightful is THE MAGIC MIRROR. "Come, if thy magic glass have power To call up forms we sigh to see; Show me my love in that rosy bower, Where last she pledged her truth to me.' Legendary Ballads, by Thomas Moore, Esq., arranged with Symphonies and Accompaniments, by Henry R. Bishop. London. J. Power. pp. 81. As gay, and, alas! as loved as he! "Such,' quoth the youth, 'is woman's love;' Moral. "Such ill would never have come to pass, There is something particularly chivalric THE HIGH-BORN LADYE. "In vain all the knights of the Underwald Though brightest of maidens, the proudest Brave chieftains they sought, and young min- But none was found worthy of the high-born "Whomsoever I wed,' said this maid so ex- "That knight must the conqueror of con- He must place me in halls fit for monarchs to None else shall be bridegroom of the high- "Thus spoke the proud damsel, with scorn On knights and on nobles of highest degree; And sigh'd, at a distance, for the high-born "At length came a knight, from a far land to With plumes on his helm, like the foam of the sea; His vizor was down--but with voice that He whisper'd his greeting to the high-born "Proud maiden! I come with high spousals In me the great conqueror of conquerors see; Enthroned in a hall fit for monarchs I'll place And mine thou'rt for ever, thou high-born "The maiden she smiled and in jewels ar- Of thrones and tiaras already dreamt she; In pomp to his home, of that high-born "But whither,' she startling exclaims, 'have you led me? Here's nought but a tomb and a dark cypress tree: Is this the bright palace in which thou would'st With scorn in her glances, said the high-born ""Tis the home,' he replied, of earth's lof- Then lifted his helm for the fair one to see; But she sunk on the ground-'twas a skeleton's features, And Death was the bridegroom of the highborn Ladye!" The last song in the volume is perhaps, upon the whole, our favourite of all. There is a melancholy tenderness in it, reminding us of its gifted author's happiest efforts: THE STRANGER. "Come, list while I tell of the heart-wounded stranger, Who sleeps her last slumber in this haunted ground, Where often at midnight the lonely wood ranger Hears soft fairy music re-echo around. "None e'er knew the home of that heartstricken lady, Her language, though sweet, none could e'er understand; But her features so sunn'd, and her eye-lash so shady, Bespoke her a child of some far Eastern land. ""Twas one summer night, when the village lay sleeping, A soft strain of melody came o'er our ears; So sweet, but so mournful, half-song and halfweeping; Like music that sorrow had steep'd in her tears. "We thought 'twas an anthem some angel had sung us, But soon as the day-beams had gushed from on high, With wonder we saw this bright stranger among us, All lovely and lone as if stray'd from the sky. "Nor long did her life for this sphere seem intended, For pale was her cheek with that spirit-like hue, Which comes when the day of this world is nigh ended, And light from another already shines through. "Then her eyes when she sung,-oh! but once to have seen them, Left thoughts in the soul that can never depart; While her looks, and her voice, made a language between them, That spoke more than holiest words to the heart. "But she pass'd like a day-dream-no skill could restore her Whate'er was her sorrow, its ruin was fast; She died with the same spell of mystery o'er her, That song of past days on her lips to the last. "Nor even in the grave is her sad heart reposing, Still hovers her spirit of grief round her tomb; For oft when the shadows of midnight are closing, The same strain of music is heard through the gloom." We feel confident that this delightful volume will, ere long, be found in every drawing-room where the combined charins of music and poo try are duly appreciated. LORD BYRON. Lord Byron and his Pet Bear.-We perceive that our friend Moore has omitted some of the most whimsical of Lord Byron's juvenile pranks; amongst them, one which we remember was much laughed at, and became a stock story with the knights of the whip," and drew many a half-crown from "lots of gemmen vot likes to ride on coachee's left." It is well known that the young poet had a favourite bear-they were remarkably partial to each other. One of his Lordship's great delights was to englove, and spar at Ursa, till the poet became tired and Ursa irritated; for though generally a tame and docile quadruped, he was muzzled for fear of accidents. His Lordship was suddenly called down to Nottinghamshire. He had taken places for "two gentlemen" in a northern mail, in the names of Byron and Bruin. 'Twas a dark November night-the friends arrived in Loinbard-street in a hackney coach a little before eight. The off-door of the mail, at his Lordship's demand, was opened, Byron placed his own travelling cap on Bruin's head and pushed him into the "vehicle of letters," followed, and immediately made him squat on the seat, looking as "demure as a Quaker in a brown upper Benjamin." They occupied the whole of the back; and it so happened that the two B.'s (Byron and Bruin) were the only passengers who started from the Post Office. At Islington they took in a third, a retired Cit; he was a quidnunc! a Cockney! and a tailor! Old Snip's V's and W's in his short dialogue with the door-opening-guard was quan. suff. for Byron-a pleasant companion for an educated Peer, young, proud, and splenetic! The bear's instinct pleased, but the Cockney's reason was emetical. story is known, and still told, by many an Old Poor artificial Africans, A Nice Point of Honour.-"There happened a few weeks ago to be an election meeting in the country (I forget exactly where) at which the rustic politicians speechified with great violence, so much so as to attract the attention of the London newspapers, one of which pub. lished a lampoon upon the meeting, ridiculing especially a Mr. Jones, who appeared the most violent orator in it. Now Jones being a fiery and ambitious spirit, was enraged almost to madness at finding himself and his speech gibbited to the public derision, and determined in his indignation to find out his satirist. Accordingly he wrote to the editor, who would give him no information; he then came up to town (so infuriated was he), and being upon inquiry told, I suppose, that Sir Nathaniel Callaghan was the author of every witty and severe thing that came out, he hastened to the residence of our friend, and asked him point-blank, if he was the author of such a pasquinade in such a newspaper? Nat, who had read and admired the lampoon,could not resist this tempting opportunity, and replied, that he must beg to be excused answering the question; which Jones understanding, of course, to be an admission, immediately poured forth upon him a tremendous volley of abuse, which he accompanied by a short, but vigorous application of his material, in retaliation of Callaghan's supposed moral scourge. Having done which, he flung out of the house, leaving its owner, as you may sup pose, astounded. When he recovered his selfpossession, he of course began to consider what was to be done. He had been abused and Not a sound was heard within till ascend- thrashed, under very peculiar and perplexing ing Highgate-hill. Alas! what is sciatica or circumstances. His assailant was, unfortu gout compared to the infliction of silence on nately, not a gentleman, and therefore could an old garrulous tailor? Snip took advan- not be pistoled. To bring an action of bat tage of the hill-hemmed thrice, and broke si- tery would not be a satisfactory proceeding; lence with "Vell, Sir; a bit of nice noose in How, then, was the insult to be avenged? this here mornin's paper-vot d'ye think of Irishmen are the special pleaders of the law of them goings on of that there cowardly rascal honour, and our friend was involving himself Boneypart?" A pretended snore, "loud and in all the subtleties of that code, in order to deep," was his Lordship's only reply to the Cock- come at a form of procedure, and to collect ney quidnunc's attack on the "great soldier!" all the precedents with which he was acquaintSnip was dead beat by the snore-he turned ed, which should meet the circumstances of with disgust from his supposed sleeping oppo- the case. But after thinking all day upon the nent, and cast a longing eye towards the quiet subject, he found his brain completely bother. gentleman in the fur cap in 'tother corner, and ed, without being ever the nearer the object of reopened his "vomitory of vociferation" with his inquiry; so that there was a strong proba"Hem! a nice bit of road this here, Sir, bility that he would be obliged to pocket his jest to Vetstun.-(no answer!)-He's a deaf licking, from being unable to find any decision 'un, perhaps;" and in a louder key, he recom. upon the singular point which he wished to menced- A very dark cold night this here, elucidate. Next day, however, he was revisitSir!" Like Brutus over Cæsar's body, Sniped by Mr. Jones, who came to make a thousand paused for a reply, while the embyro Peer, to apologies for the outrage which he had offered smother a laugh, was obliged to issue a tre- him, and which was not intended for him, inmendous snore that almost alarmed his quies- asmuch as he had since discovered the real cent friend Bruin. The tailor eased off from claimant in the author of the lampoon. Sir,' his snoring Lordship towards the supposed answered Nat, 'you have relieved me from deaf gentleman, and, bent on conversation, much embarrassment: ever since I received was determined to have an answer; and, in the favour which you allude to, I have been defiance of Chesterfield, sought to seize a studying how to acquit myself of the obligabreast-button, but encountered nothing but tion; but as I find the thing was a mistake, for. "Ah! Sir," bawled the tailor, "this and not intended for me, my course is clear, here's a werry nice varm travelling coat of namely, to return it to you.' And accordingly your'n." Receiving no reply but a growl and he gave the fellow a sound drubbing." a snore, Snip, in despair, gave his tongue a holiday-and slept. Aurora's early beams had already peeped into the coach-windows, when he awoke to unthought-of horrors; for the first object which caught his sight was Bruin's head, with muzzled mouth but glaring eyes, within three feet of his own boiled gooseberry goggles. "Mercy!" he exclaimed, "the deaf gentleman in the nice varm travelling coat is a real live bear!-Help, murder! coach! stop!" roused the slumbering guard. "Let me out!" shouted Snip-and out he went; and the poet and his pet were left in full possession of the interior, while the tailor measured the seat of the box for the rest of the journey. The Way Bill is still extant, though not "written in choice Italian," as Hamlet says, but Lad-lane English; and the COMMENTS UPON A RECENT ENACT- BY A JUVENILE CHIMNEY-SWEEP. [Among the new police regulations for par- And mourn for blacks afar; The sooty imps of time, Who stroll with skin no sunshine tans, What sage this new decree has given, 'Tis hard-when all, both high and low, At noon-when earth looks glad and green, But oh! far more than this has stirred For tho' our tears should wash the ground, That note which made, though still and small, They flew away ere long-but left Along the flue a way! We there a crooked passage find- Men rise above the grate. And then at length we take our sack, But ah! with altered mien: We leap up with the sun, A dew is now within my eye, Things worth Knowing-China was full of books before there was a man in Europe who could either read or write.-One of Mahomet's rules for securing happiness in the married state was this:-"Wives behave to your husbands in the same manner that your husbands. behave to you."-Some of the bridges of London are built, and some of the streets paved, with Scotch stone: there are excellent freestone quarries near Bath, but the expense of conveyance to London by land is greater than from Scotland by sea-The Athenians allowed The custom of breaking a cake over the bride's no unmarried man to hold any public office.head, when she enters her husband's house, is borrowed from the Greek, who, as an emblem of future plenty, poured figs and other fruits over the heads of both bride and bridegroom.The Greeks shaved their heads when they wished to show respect to the memory of a great man. A fluent speaker will pronounce 7200 words in an hour, 150 in a minute, and 2 in a moment. Literary Port Folio. The following notice of a late work of our highly respected townsman, Dr. Sega, is taken from the National Intelligencer, and we perceive has been copied into other papers, and is extensively circulated throughout the United States. We are glad to see this, for it is only necessary for Dr. Sega to be known, to insure his enjoying every where the same high reputation he has in this city. will be found a very interesting sketch of its Newspapers in England, Scotland and Ire- Next follows an unfavourable review of Lan DUELLING! DUelling! DuelLING! don's and Montgomery's Poetry. It is well to [From the National Intelligencer.] Gentlemen, I have perused with much interest a pamphlet upon the practice of modern duelling, by James Sega, LL. D. unite the domestic circle, through all the relations of husband, father, and friend, equally distinguished both of these memorable men. "By far the greater portion of this volume consists of letters from Sir S. Raffles to various friends; the originals having been collected by dressed; but all his own papers, of every dehis widow, from those to whom they were adscription, relating to his government in Sumawhich he was returning to England. Those tra, were destroyed when the ship was burnt in collected as above, Lady Raffles has placed in order, and connected by short explanatory notices and observations, in the manner and visible. On the whole, then, Sir Stamford style of which modesty and ability are equally Raffles is his own biographer. There is this disadvantage, that these familiar letters had most of them been written on the spur of the moment, as opportunities occurred, and evidently were never intended to meet the public eye. They are, therefore, not to be looked at in the light of studied compositions, in which words are weighed and sentences measured. The compensation is that, in the full and free the freshness and warmth of friendship, exscope of familiar correspondence, we have all hear both sides. The admirers of these poets, Dr. Sega appears to have reflected much upon this subject, and has discussed it in a very able and judicious manner. He has traced it to its origin, and shows, that although it ori: ginated among barbarians, they conducted it with more magnanimity and valour than those who pursue the practice in this age of civilization. The contrast he draws between the chivalry of knight errantry, and the unhallow-jects, than in any other journal in America. ed passions which excite to modern duelling, is too just not to be admitted by every one; and it would be well for those, who point to the practice in the days of chivalry for their justification of duelling as it now exists, to reflect upon the marked distinction as clearly established by Dr. Sega. If Dr. Sega succeeds in calling attention to this subject, I am sure, from its importance to mankind at large, a speedy and effectual remedy will be provided for it; and his name will be enrolled among the benefactors of the human family. Let those who are memorializing Congress for the protection of southern Indians, and for the prevention of Sunday mails, turn their attention to this subject: it presents a wide field for the exercise of their philanthropic feelings, and ah! how happy will they be, if they can give such a direction to public sentiment, as will for ever crush this unnatural method of shedding a fellow being's blood. Let them read Dr. Sega's pamphlet, and it will kindle in their bosoms a flame, which nothing can extinguish but the suppression of the inhuman practice of duelling. Rose's Southern Africa,-is a very interesting article, from the Monthly Review. Mr. Dickson's Narrative,—of an attack made upon a party of travellers, proceeding from Mexico to the coast, in which all but one were destroyed by banditti; the survivor, Mr. Dickson, having miraculously escaped with numerous wounds. Journal of Health.-We have looked over many numbers of the Journal of Health, published by Mr. Dobson in this city, with very great pleasure, and we hope not without profit. Advice for preserving the health, and other popular matter, is here given in the most attractive style, and of the soundest kind. This little work is published once in two weeks, at one dollar and a quarter a year. We advise every body who wants it sent by mail, to get three of his friends to join him, and remit five dollars in advance for the four copies. We mean to go back to the beginning, and read all the articles regularly again. The Museum for May, is embellished with an elegant engraving by Longacre, of Mary, Queen of Scots. Besides a great variety of shorter articles, poetry, &c. &c., it contains the following, of great interest: The Maroon War.-This war was carried on between the Maroons and the English inhabitants of Jamaica, for a long time. The Maroons were the descendants of the aborigines, and of runaway negroes. It is frequently alluded to in all our papers, and this article The West India Trade,-is a discussion of the policy of admitting Americans to it, from Blackwood's Magazine. from the heart. We much regret that the letters of love and affection addressed by Sir Stamford to his lady, during their occasional separations, have not been preserved like those of that kind which charm the reader of Heber's catastrophe with the whole of their property. correspondence-these all perished in the same before or since his time, has possessed so ex"We are fully convinced, that no individual, tensive a knowledge of the commerce, resources, laws, language, and customs, of the varied population of the great eastern Archipelago, and more particularly of the two magnificent islands of Java and Sumatra, as did Sir Stamford Raffles. All his views and conceptions with regard to them appear to be But the most valuable article in the whole sound and statesman-like; indeed, his talents Number, is that admirable one from the Quarand acquirements were evidently such as conterly Review, upon the Life and Public Ser-ratively, would these have been had he not stitute a great man;-but how useless, compavices of Sir Stamford Raffles. This energetic and most excellent man, was not only a faithful servant of Great Britain, but deserves the gratitude of the world at large. The scene of his labours was the East Indies. An extract from the beginning of this article will be sufficient to excite the desire of our readers to see the whole : with feelings of the most gratifying nature. ties, tyranny, and misrule, than of such disin- the same cheerfulness of temper and buoy also happened to be a good one! The ease with which he was accessible to all classes, his plahave gained all hearts, and to have enabled cid temper and persuasive manners, appear to him to mould them to his own measures. Such, indeed, was evidently the influence he possessed over all ranks, that, with the aid of missionaries of enlightened minds, whom he eagerly sought after, we have very little doubt he would have succeeded in bringing the four million inhabitants of Sumatra, half Mahomedan, half pagan, within the pale of Christianity, in the space of a very few years." Our limits oblige us to omit all notice of much other valuable matter in this Number. The Museum is published at the same office with the Literary Port Folio, and on this account, has not heretofore been so noticed, as we should have been bound to notice it, had we been a disinterested witness. But we really do not see why we may not with perfect propriety, recommend the Museum as being replete with interest, and full of articles writthe rich field for selection, that is open to us ten with great taste and talent. Indeed, with shameful indolence, that could make it otherfor it, it could only be a wilful blindness, or wise. It is published every month, at six dollars a year. Each number contains a beautiful engraving. Subscriptions thankfully received by E. Littell. leeches: in 1826, the number was increased to In the year 1821, France exported 1,500,000 the prodigious amount of 33,650,000. Varieties. OF LITERATURE, SCIENCE, ART, AND THE TIMES. Portrait of a Voluptuary in Feeling.-If contempt were not an unchristian feeling that should be checked on every occasion as soon as it arises within the mind, I know one character at least by which it might be excited in a very forcible degree. It is that of the volup tuous man, who, in the vigour of his health and manhood, caters for his comfort like a convalescent-a helpless creature, who is afraid to burthen with the weight of his own frame a set of muscles capable of upholding a burthen that would strain the back of a young horse. He shrinks like a blasted nabob from the slightest breath that agitates the perfumed atmosphere of his apartment, and stuns your ears with accounts of draughts from the windows and from the doors, together with expedients for their modification, until you fancy you are speaking with a poor terrified Italian of the malaria. He makes a greater preparation for shaving his beard in the morning than a sensible man would use before the amputation of a limb, and considers the keenest edge no finer than a handsaw. He inquires of his man ere he descends, what way the wind blows, and takes his seat on the lee side of the screen, lest he should be blown away by one of those awful parlour hurricanes while he is eating his potted shrimps and chocolate. To excess, indeed, of all kinds he is a stranger; but the love of virtue is not the safeguard which protects him. He is thoroughly sensual; but the labour of an intense enjoyment is the Rubicon which he will not pass. He creeps, and shrinks, and shivers himself into a premature old age; and is at length moulted out of the world by dyspepsy and hypochondriasm. - with which he asserted the cause of the latter expenses. 159 "In this manner my father employed his time. He wrote epistolary dedications for the musicians, of which 1 possess several; he who could only write, and wrote for the one sketched the plot of a comedy for a dramatist whose forte lay in plots; he made prefaces and introductory discourses to suit the wants of those who applied to him. One day a man came to him to beg him to write an advertisement of some pomatum which was to make the hair grow; he laughed heartily, but did bour, however, for the mere sake of obliging. what was requested. He did not always laHe had given up to his wife the whole of his He little income, and very rarely asked her for money, and then only for trifling sums. spent a great deal however; he was fond of cards, played very ill, and always lost; he liked riding in hackney coaches, often forgot them at the doors of houses where he stopped, and had a whole day's fare to pay. The females to whom he was attached cost him considerable sums, which he was anxious my monied himself a book: he had a taste for prints, ther should know nothing of. He never degems, and miniatures, of which he made presents within a day or two after he had bought Sang Froid.-It is notorious, (says MarmonHe laboured, therefore, for public tel, in his incomparable biography,) that with them; but he required money to meet all these much nobleness and dignity of soul, Marshal Saxe was fond of mirth and jollity. By taste, bodies, for magistrates and others who could as well as by system, he loved merriment in recompense him liberally for his work. He his armies, saying that the French never did composed discourses for advocates-general, addresses to the king, parliamentary remonso well as when they were led on gaily; and strances, and various other things, which, be what they most feared in war was weary inactivity. He had always a comic opera in his said, were paid three times their value. It was with the little sums he received in this gave camp. It was at the theatre that he manner that he satisfied his taste for making Here is the account of his death: order of battle; and on those occasions the principal actress used to come forward and say, presents, and the little luxuries of life." "Gentlemen, to-morrow there will be no play, "He went to occupy a splendid suite of on account of the battle the Marshal gives: after to-morrow, the Cock of the Village,' with apartments, which had been hired for him by the Empress of Russia in the Rue Richelieu. He enjoyed them but twelve days; he was enthe Merry Intrigues,'" &c. chanted with them; having always lodged in a garret, he thought himself in a palace. But his body became weaker every day; although his head was not at all affected, he was firmly he said not a word about it, from a wish to persuaded that his end was approaching; but spare the feelings of the persons about him, whom he saw plunged in sorrow; he occupied deceive them; every day he was arranging himself in every thing that could divert and something new, putting his prints in order, &c. The night before his death a more convenient bed was brought for him; the workmen took a great deal of trouble in placing it properly. 6 the Use of Perfumes.-Look upon it ever as a sign of a masculine intellect and a strong understanding to neglect the voluptuous gratification of this sense (of smell). This is a folly Melton Mowbray, March 8.-A great sensawhich should be left altogether to the mascution has been produced here by a robbery of as line imitators of the weaker sex. They are flagrant and audacious a character as any on shameless slaves to it, whose chambers are record. On Wednesday last Lord and Lady filled with wasteful odours: who expend on vials of unwholesome perfume that wealth Southampton gave a grand dinner to the prinwhich is committed to them for the advantage cipal nobility and gentry of Melton Hunt, at their residence, Quorndan-Hall, near Loughof their fellow creatures, and whose study apborough. Lady Southampton visited her drawpears to be that they may leave no breath unpoisoned or unpolluted of the fresh and whole-ing-room at the hour of nine o'clock, at which some air that surrounds them. A man that is wrapped up in perfumes is surely a pitiable creature. This fashion, which was once disgustingly now confined, in a great measure, prevalent, to persons of vulgar and mean habits, who are not only heedless of their religious obligations, but ignorant of the customs of good society. Still, however, the folly is not wholly banished from even the better informed classes of mankind; and it is a hideous cruelty, that a gentleman of moderate fortune will keep in his desk, for the purpose of perfuming note-paper, a vial of perfume, the price of which would pay the house-rent of a poor peasant in our provinces for a whole year. There is, besides, a manifest rudeness in the use of artificial odours, which no well educated person ought to offer to society. Predilections in this sense are as various as in that of taste; and it seems as unreasonable, that a man should compel every person he meets to inhale that single odour which he thinks agreeable (but which to many may be quite the reverse), as if a host should measure the tastes of his company by his own, and oblige them all to partake of a certain dish, because it happened to be his favourite. John Grahame of Claverhouse. This remarkable person united the seemingly inconsistent qualities of courage and cruelty, a disinterested and devoted loyalty to his prince, with a disregard of the rights of his fellow subjects. He was the unscrupulous agent of the Scottish privy council in executing the merciless severities of the government in Scotland, during the reign of Charles II. and James II.; but he redeemed his character by the zeal period every thing remained in its usual order. After several attempts had My friends,' said he to them, 'you are taking infinite pains there for a piece of furniture which will not be wanted for more friends. The conversation turned upon philothan four days.' In the evening he saw his The first step towards philososophy, and the various roads of arriving at that science. phy,' said he, 'is incredulity. This remark is the last which he pronounced in my presence. As it was late, I left him, in the hope of seeing him once more. "He got up on Saturday, the 30th of July, 1784; he conversed all the morning with his son-in-law and his physician; he had his blistering plaster removed, as it gave him pain; he set down to table, took some soup, some boiled mutton and succory; he then took an apricot, which my mother wished to dissuade 'He did eat it; A VOLUME of Memoirs of the Life and Writ-him from eating. But what possible harm then rested his elbow on the table in order to ings of the celebrated Diderot, by his daugh- do you think that can do me?' ter, Madame de Vandeul, will shortly make its eat some preserved cherries, and coughed appearance. The manuscript had been in the slightly. My mother asked him a question, hands of Baron Grimm, who had sent it to a and receiving no answer, she raised her eyes German prince, whose correspondent he was. and looked at him-he was no more!" which has fallen into the hands of a Paris A copy of it was recently allowed to be taken, bookseller, who is about to publish it. Some piquant extracts from it have already appeared in the Gazette Littéraire, a clever weekly periodical, which has been recently started in Paris on the plan of our own Literary Gazette. We copy the following description of this encyclopedist and philosopher's habits: BARON HUMBOLDT has returned to Berlin from his excursion to the Ural mountains of Siberia. His observations on these mountains have led to a remarkable discovery. More resemblance between them and the mountains than two years since, struck with the extreme of Brazil, he was convinced that diamonds ought to be found in Siberia as well as in America. This opinion was more strongly confirmed in his mind during his last excursion there, and from his observation the Comte de Pollier, who accompanied him, was impressed with the same conviction. This nobleman, (who is married to the Princess Schakanskoi, the proprietress of considerable estates in the Ural chain,) after quitting the Baron, when the latter took the road to Tobolsk, recrossed the mountains in order to visit his wife's property, situated on the western or European declivity of the Ural. He gave orders to make search in a washing of gold, situated 25 wersts to the N. E. of Bissersk, and 250 wersts E. of Peru. This has been attended with complete success; and though no machine has yet been constructed, the children employed to wash the gold on tables have already found seven diamonds. Machines are now getting ready to make this precious mineral the subject of regular working. Nervous Affections.-The late Dr. Wollaston. -An impression inade on one part of the body will often produce a nervous affection elsewhere, at a distance from the original seat of the disease, and where no such obvious explanation of the fact presents itself. A disease in the liver produces a pain in the right shoulder; a disease in the heart produces a pain in the back. The late Dr. Wollaston was accustomed to relate the following:-He ate some ice-cream after dinner, which his stomach seemed to be incapable of digesting. Some time afterwards, when he had left the dinnertable to go to the drawing-room, he found himself lame from a violent pain in one ankle. Suddenly he became sick; the ice-cream was ejected from the stomach; and this was followed by an instantaneous relief of the pain in the foot. From a Lecture by Mr. Brodie. : Extraordinary Power of Whistling.—Mr. Dovaston, the friend of the celebrated artist and engraver on wood, Thomas Bewick, in a biographical article published in the Magazine of Natural History, gives the following ac count of his extraordinary faculty for whistling: As he sat at work, I enjoyed his more deliberate and sound conversation, accompanied by strains of his most extraordinary powers of whistling. His ear (as a musical feeling is called) was so delicately acute, and his inflexorial powers so nice and rapid, that he could run, in any direction or modulation, the diatonic or chromatic scale, and even split the quarter notes of the enharmonic; neither of which, however, did he understand scientifically, though so consummately elegant his execution and his musical memory was so tenacious, that he could whistle through the melodies of whole overtures; and these, he said, he could obtain, having once heard from the orchestra of a play-house, or a holiday band, in both of which he took extreme delight. In proof of this I tried him to some extent, by flinging on his pianoforte several wild airs I had taken down from pipers in the Hebrides and Highlands, of difficult and intricate evolution, which he completely repeated the first time. Lest he might have heard these before, I farther sprinkled at him (without information of their originality,) several private imitations, I had myself composed, of various national melodies, which he not only instantly and spiritedly whistled, but remembered long after; as I found when sauntering with him amid the mountains of Derbyshire." Fowls with Human Faces.-M. Jules Guérin, in presenting to the Academy of Sciences of Paris, the first number of his Medical Gazette, called the attention of the Society to the account of a hen now living in Russia, and having a profile resembling that of a human being. On this M. Cuvier observed, that there was a portrait of a similar animal in the Jardin du Roi: and M. Geoffroy Sainte Hilaire said he was very well acquainted with the monstrosity in question. The examples of it were numerous; the peculiarity he remarked, was occasioned by the want of the beak. - [From the Miner's Journal.] Prison Rules.-A gentleman connected with the management of the Orwigsburg Prison, in making a tour of inspection lately, found the following rules placarded in one of the rooms. The 5th and 6th article show a deal of discernment and legislative wisdom; they propose the "New Harmony system" of public stock. RULES OF THIS PRISON. 1 that Evry Member Must rise in the Morning and wash his hans and face 2 each room must Pe swep twice in cach Day and washed once in Eash week 3 No setting or ling on the Beds in the Day time. 4 No one member received from the Oil Mill without being scoured an washed and Close Burnt. 5 All the Rum that Can be got without the Sheriff noing of it Must be Devided 6 All visitors Must try to fetch what Rum they Can Given under our hands this the 15th Day of April 1830 Peter Pindar-During his last illness, his fair secretary delivered into his hands a sealed packet, which had been left by a gentleman in black, with an injunction that it might instantly be delivered into his hands. Open it, my dear," said Dr. Walcot, " and let us hear what, it is." It proved to be a long exhortation to an amendment of life and a preparation for futurity. Dr. Walcot exclaimed, "Burn it-burn it-I will not hear a word more. Put it black, if he comes here again, to go about his into the fire directly, and tell the fellow in business. He may be the devil for aught I know." Perfection of Punning-A celebrated living author lately observed, that he rarely made a pun; to me about Mr. "but when I do," said he, "I'm very proud of it, for it is always the very worst that ever was made, and therefore excellent. The other day," he continued, "a lady spoke 's gallery of pictures, and remarked, that she should very much like to get an introduction to see them. Well, said I, he is my friend, and you shall go-you shall go and pick his pocket. Pick his pocket! she exclaimed, why should I do so? Why, said I, because he has PICT-URES."-Scotsman. Judicious Change of one Letter.-It is said that Mr. Canning met one of the late Lord Sheffield's innumerable pamphlets in the library of some country friend. The tract is stated to have begun with a sentence like the following: "There can be no doubt that, under a due system of protection, the growth of British Wools might be greatly increased, and that our domestic Wools might eventually be enabled to stand the competition of the Wools of the continent." The day being gloomy, and society not brilliant, the witty statesman changed every Winto an F, and in this new shape he left the essay for the amusement and instruction of the neighbourhood. A very singular circumstance happened in the neighbourhood of this town. Mr. Southern and a party of friends were coursing, by permission of Lord Talbot, when a hare having been started, two greyhounds, hot in pursuit from opposite directions, met, forehead to forehead, and such was the violence of the concus sion that they both were killed on the spot!— Stafford paper. Portrait of Don Miguel, drawn by Mr. Huskisson.-He looked with astonishment at the character of Don Miguel. It was amazing that so young a man could have accomplished so much wickedness in so short a time; for, at the early age of six and twenty, this man-this Don Miguel-had perpetrated every crime, and displayed every vice, which historical truth or historical fiction had attributed to the most sanguinary monsters that ever waded through the blood of innocent people in pursuit of their ambitious objects. It was to be hoped that he would finish a life of infamy by a death of violence. [From the Morning Journal.] A Sentiment of the Stoics. SONNET. Seneca "Arcana naturæ penetrat, et scrutatur cœlestium causas, et in profunda terrarum purmittere aciem juvat."— The soul enlarged from this encircling clay, So taught the Stoic, shall for ever roam Through starry worlds, yet ever be at home, Where comets mark with fire their devious way, Or suns diffuse a never dying day; range When to the world's Creator, we may mount? Then as we here are known, our minds shall know, Throned at the source, nor seek the orbs below. JANUS. An attempt is again making to revive the speculation of colonizing the Poyais territory, with which the name of Sir Gregor M Gregor was connected a few years since. The Portuguese government has issued a decree for the cultivation of the mulberry tree, as a commencement to the culture of silk, for which several of the Portuguese provinces are well suited. A very important trial came on at Edinburgh on Tuesday, at the instance of Sir William Forbes & Co, bankers, against the Edinburgh Life Assurance Company. The issues were to ascertain whether a policy of insurance, effected on the life of the late Earl of Marr, and which had been assigned to Sir William Forbes & Co., was valid, it having been averred that his Lordship had been in the practice of taking opium to a pernicious extent. After a trial which lasted twelve hours, and a brief consultation on the part of the jury, the latter returned an unanimous verdict in favour of the pursuers. This verdict is decisive of claims to a very considerable amount, found upon policies effected on the same life in several other offices.-North Briton. THE LITERARY PORT FOLIO. It is intended that this journal shall contain such a variety of matter as may make it acceptable to ladies as well as to gentlemen; to the young as well as to the old. While we shall take care that nothing be admitted which would render the work unfit for any of these classes, we shall endeavour to procure for it sufficient ability to entitle it to the attention of all of them. To these ends we have secured an abundant supply of all foreign and domestic journals and new books-and we ask the assistance of all who are qualified to instruct or amuse the public. Upon this assistance we depend in a great degree for our hopes of success, for however the abundant stores to which we have access, may enable us to supply matter highly interesting to our readers, we think it of even more importance to give them something peculiarly adapted to the present time and circumstances; something from home. |