of stock-jobbers, that camarilla of a day, formed under the denomination of the juste-milieu, conveying, even in its very name, an idea of absurdity and ridicule. "Lafayette left to public opinion the care of doing him justice, and disregarded imputations which, in truth, could not attach to him. But Dupont de l'Eure, Odillon Barrot, and Audry de Puyraveau, whom the doctrinarians had included in their denunciations, condescended to take up the gauntlet, though thrown down by such hands." We conclude with another anecdote illustrative of the consistency of Lafayette's political opinions. It relates to the qualifications for the electoral franchise. " Lafayette and his friends had made numerous attempts to have the magistracy renewed, that which existed under Charles X. being almost wholly composed of notorious counterrevolutionists. But this magistracy was defended and preserved by the court influence, in conjunction with that of the party of the Restoration who had, prior to the revolution, obtained the appointment of the majority of the judges, and taken care to exclude from the courts of justice all such as were not well-known royalists. But when it was proposed to deprive these judges of the elective franchise, Lafayette offered the most strenuous opposition to such a measure, which, I must however add, the opposition had proposed in a moment of irritation against the majority of the chamber, and which naturally led to other exclusions, and moreover vitiated the law of elections in one of its most essential principles. Lafayette's opinion was, that the perfection of political civilization in this particular, consisted in each citizen who paid taxes being called upon to elect his representatives, without being influenced in his choice. That which is still considered Utopian in Europe,' said he, has been practised in the United States for the last fifty years. There, every contributor to the wants of the state is an elector, and among such contributors is classed the militia man-the national guardsman who, in the year, has paid the personal tribute of one day's service. In that country, there is no question of electoral cense, and everything passes without trouble or inconvenience. Such is the power of popular education, civic habits, and national institutions.'' We now conclude our translations from this work, having given to the English readers all that is most interesting, and thus saved them from the necessity of expending their money on the English edition, which, even now, is only announced as forthcoming. ORIGINAL PAPERS [We rather think the following must have been intended for the Morning Post, or some other of the Journals of Fashion. It was, however, dropped into our Editor's Box, and we print it in the hope that the reporter will favour us again with like interesting information.] THE FEAST OF FASHIONABLE AUTHORS. ALL "the Row" is in a bustle, To borrow drops to scour their gown: No speck deforms each visage fair, What strange mixture have we here? First the dishes, Muse, describe, Which regaled the hungry tribe : Soup, about a fortnight old, Wishy-washy, weak and cold, Was heated up, and, in the hurry, Set by chance before Miss B―y. F, in accent broad and Scotch, Ask'd a plateful of hotch-potch"Twas so mix'd-his natal dishThat whether soup, or fowl, or fish, Scotch or English, or what not, Puzzled that sagacious Scot. Fish we pass, and scorn to trace How C panted after plaice; How Jerd-n after gudgeon ran; While M-r-r was a muscle-man: What most pleased each hero's taste The Muse recounts not, in her haste: She only hints she never met A set of flats so d--d sharp-set. Head of sheep was given each oneThe eyes at L.E.L. were thrown. She in hungry haste devours Beef, but talks a deal of flowers. B-tly sees, in huge dismay, His feast like magic melt away, And mutters with despairing heat, "Oh! could they write as well as eat, Or say 'good things' as fast as swallow, In riches I should quickly wallow!" Sweets and trifles next display "The brightness of their long array"; Each at the sight with vigour stuffsEach has half a hundred puffs, (J-rd-n's weekly oven sends A thousand forth to all his friends,) Rancid, crude, and, without question, Past all moderate digestion. Soon-for every joy is fleetingThey tire of such ethereal eating; And sorrow on each heart sits brooding Over the want of solid pudding! At last the tedious feast is o'er, And D-lby's self can taste no more: And as the cheering glass goes round, Amusements for the guests are found: B-lw-r, the kindest he of men, Paints to the life "" a boozing ken"; And to delight the merrymakers, Who themselves are all "cly-fakers," Ties his legs and frights pousetters, By wriggling through a dance in fetters, They said, but here the critics differed,Almost as neatly as Paul Clifford; He seems, while winning vast applause, So perfectly the rogue he draws, That B-tly trembles lest his hand, Like Eugene Aram's-slit his weasandOr, spite of Peachum and of Lockit, Like Paul's, should dip into his pocket. Gl-g, too, great admiration bred, Quite at home he seems in both, Half the guests were 'neath the table, Talking was a perfect Babel; 'Till, at last, when every bottle Yielded up its great sum tottle," Rhyming rogue and whining gipsy Staggered to their homes quite tipsy: And the host, who very cross is, Counts the spoons and mourns his losses. CONTINUATION OF THE SHELLEY PAPERS. THE AGE OF PERICLES: With Critical Notices of the Sculpture in the BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. THE period which intervened between the birth of Pericles and the death of Aristotle, is undoubtedly, whether considered in itself, or with reference to the effects which it produced upon the subsequent destinies of civilized man, the most memorable in the history of the world. What was the combination of moral and political circumstances which produced so unparalleled a progress during that period in literature and the arts? -why that progress, so rapid and so sustained, so soon received a check, and became retrograde, are problems left to the wonder and conjecture of posterity. The wrecks and fragments of those subtle and profound minds, like the ruins of a fine statue, obscurely suggest to us the grandeur and perfection of the whole. Their very language, -a type of the understanding, of which it was the creation and the image,-in variety, in simplicity, in flexibility, and in copiousness, excels every other language of the western world. Their sculptures are such as, in our perception, assume to be the models of ideal truth and beauty, and to which no artist of modern times can produce forms in any degree comparable. Their paintings, according to Pausanias, were full of delicacy and harmony; and some were powerfully pathetic, so as to awaken, like tender music or tragic poetry, the most overwhelming emotions. We are accustomed to consider the painters of the sixteenth century, as those who have brought this art to the highest perfection, probably because none of the ancient pictures have been preserved. All the inventive arts maintain, as it were, a sympathetic connexion between each other, being no more than various expressions of one internal power, modified by different | circumstances, either of an individual, or of society. over. pressure, is encouraging the child to believe The paintings of that period would probably bear the same relation as is confessedly borne by the sculptures to all successive ones. Of their music we know little; but the effects which it is said to have produced, whether they be attributed to the skill of the composer, or the sensibility of his audience, are far more powerful than any which we experience from the music of our times; and if, indeed, the melody of their compositions were more tender, and delicate, and inspiring, than the melodies of some modern European nations, their progress in this art must have been something wonderful, and wholly beyond conception. Their poetry seems to maintain a high, though not so disproportionate a rank, in comparison. Perhaps Shakspeare, from the variety and comprehension of his genius, is to be considered as the greatest individual mind, of which we have specimens remaining;-perhaps Dante created imaginations of greater loveliness and beauty than any that are to be found in the ancient literature of Greece;-perhaps nothing has been discovered in the fragments of the Greek lyric poets equivalent to the Everything is swallowed up in sorrow: she sublime and chivalrous sensibility of Pe- is all tears: her countenance, in assured extrarch-but, as a poet, Homer must be ac-pectation of the arrow piercing its last victim knowledged to excel Shakspeare in the truth in her embrace, is fixed on her omnipotent and harmony, the sustained grandeur, and enemy. The pathetic beauty of the expresThe pathetic beauty of the expressatisfying completeness of his images, their sion of her tender, and inexhaustible, and exact fitness to the illustration, and to that unquenchable despair, is beyond the effect which they belong. Nor could Dante, de- of sculpture. As soon as the arrow shall ficient in conduct, plan, nature, variety, and pierce her last tie upon earth, the fable that temperance, have been brought into com- she was turned into stone, or dissolved into parison, but for the fortunate isles, laden a fountain of tears, will be but a feeble emwith golden fruit, which alone could tempt blem of the sadness of hopelessness, in which any one to embark in the misty ocean of his the few and evil years of her remaining life dark and extravagant fiction. we feel must flow away. On the Niobe. Of all that remains to us of Greek antiquity, this figure is perhaps the most consummate personification of loveliness, with regard to its countenance, as that of the Venus of the Tribune is with regard to its entire form of woman. It is colossal: the size adds to its value; because it allows to the spectator the choice of a greater number of points of view, and affords him a more analytical one, in which to catch a greater number of the infinite modes of expression, of which any form approaching ideal beauty is necessarily composed. It is the figure of a mother in the act of sheltering, from some divine and inevitable peril, the last, we may imagine, of her surviving children. The little creature, terrified, as we may conceive, at the strange destruction of all its kindred, has fled to its mother, and is hiding its head in the folds of her robe, and casting back one arm, as in a passionate appeal for defence, where it never before could have been sought in vain. She is clothed in a thin tunic of delicate woof; and her hair is fastened on her head into a knot, probably by that mother whose care will never fasten it again. Niobe is enveloped in profuse drapery, a portion of which the left hand has gathered up, and is in the act of extending it over the child, in the instinct of shielding her from what reason knows to be inevitable. The right, as the restorer has properly imagined, is drawing up her daughter to her; and with that instinctive gesture, and by its gentle It is difficult to speak of the beauty of the countenance, or to make intelligible in words, from what such astonishing loveliness results. The head, resting somewhat backward upon the full and flowing contour of the neck, is as in the act of watching an event momently to arrive. The hair is delicately divided on the forehead, and a gentle beauty gleams from the broad and clear forehead, over which its strings are drawn. The face is of an oval fulness, and the features conceived with the daring of a sense of power. In this respect it resembles the careless majesty which nature stamps upon the rare masterpieces of her creation, harmonizing them as it were from the harmony of the spirit within. Yet all this not only consists with, but is the cause of the subtlest delicacy of clear and tender beauty-the expression at once of innocence and sublimity of soulof purity and strength-of all that which touches the most removed and divine of the chords that made music in our thoughts of that which shakes with astonishment even the most superficial. [To be continued in the next Number.} EPIGRAM FROM THE ANTHOLOGY. Jove at man's insane desire TO THOMAS STOTHARD, ESQ. On seeing the beautiful Engraving from his design of the Procession of the Flitch of Bacon." BY MARY HOWITT. DREAMER of pleasant dreams, that rise That thou wilt get thy chiefest praise:- And men cut wood in forests brown; Traced by thy hand's fidelity. Of care and toil bears woful trace, SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL OUR booksellers are not a little alarmed about the spread of the Penny Cholera: Cobbett laughs at them, and says, the day is at hand, when Lord Brougham and himself will be the only booksellers in England; he declares that he can bring proof, that the Chancellor's books have been circulated through the Post Office by government franks. We know not, and for ourselves we care not, how this may be; we are grown strong and vigorous; our work circulates in spite of every obstacle, far and wide; and our sale surpasses, if it does not double, that of any literary paper. This success results from honesty and plain dealing: from the begin ning we have spoken out. We have always written freely and plainly; we have welcomed merit of all kinds, and set our hearts resolutely against all trick and stratagem. As all this cannot but be known to our friends, why do we state it now? Because there are, it seems, some incredibly weak persons in the world-booksellers as well as others who are much in the dark regarding the sale and influence of the Athenæum. They know not -and yet they ought to know-that no foe can intimidate, nor friend cajole us; that our journal is perfectly independent in every respect, and that our work circulates throughout Europe, as well as the Colonies, where it may be found in every hand familiar with literature or art. To the proceedings of the Society for Diffusing Useful Knowledge, we are, therefore, personally indifferent-but we most readily admit, that the question is one of immense importance-it involves great interests, but greater principles. When we first drew attention to this subject in May last, it was in the fulness of painful fears and awakened suspicions-and nothing has since occurred at all tending to allay the one or quiet the other. Anxious, however, not to misrepresent the proceedings of the Society, we have been waiting for the publication of their Annual Report, until our patience is exhausted-three weeks since, we were informed, that it was printed, and would be distributed in a few days; three days since, the answer was, that it was not yet printed. Under these circumstances, we must proceed with our inquiry, on the best evidence that can be obtained. Since our first notice, several London and Provincial journals have spoken out on this subject. It seems generally agreed-indeed, it must be evident to all informed personsthat it is impossible for individuals carrying on business with their own capitals, at their own cost and risk, through the agency of travellers and local booksellers, to contend successfully against a Society upheld by subscription, with Committees and Local Committees, consisting of the learned, the titled, and the influential. The Literary Gazette, in a very temperate and judicious article, has shown the direct operation of even the early proceedings of the Society, and we shall extract from that paper, one illustrative example: "Mr. Arrowsmith and Mr. Cary have expended vast sums and unremitting pains upon geographical improvements, and, through their exertions, the latest discoveries, and the most accurate observations, have made English maps, charts, and topographical works generally, articles of sale and consumption in every civilized country. The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge have not contributed a single iota to this; but they step in, avail themselves of all that has been done by spirited individual exertion, and they issue from the press their low-priced maps, &c., at once robbing and maltreating those to whom they are indebted for their value. We have been told that Mr. Cary alone has a stock of 50,000l. in copperplates and copyrights, consigned to waste in consequence of this invasion." This one fact is alarming enough; and when it is seen by the announcements and proceedings of the Society, that it is pushing on vigorously towards establishing a universal business as bookmakers, booksellers, printsellers, &c., it ought to induce the Lord Chancellor, and still more, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to pause and consider whether it is wise, politic, or beneficial, that such a monstrous monopoly should be established, to the certain ruin of so many long-established traders. We shall, however, leave this ques tion, and with little regret, because able heads are prepared to discuss it with a trade experience, to which we can make no pretensions, and proceed to point out other consequences of greater importance, in our opinion, than even the ruin of publishers-we mean the ruin of literature itself. of is that The success of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge has already given rise to a rival Association. The Society for Diffusing Christian Knowledge is, it appears, opinion that the books of the former are tainted with the peculiar notions of certain influential individuals, both political, religious and moral, and therefore they have set apart a portion of their income to circulate works in which other and opposite doctrines are to be taught-the necessary consequence of this will be, that we shall shortly have every variety of Sectarian Associations-we happen, indeed, to know, that one already contemplated. Now, what must be the effect of this upon literature? Why, every book, pamphlet, and loose sheet will be stained with party spirit, party views, and party prejudices. It is avowed by the Diffusion Society, that everything, down even to the Penny Magazine, is subjected to revision and correction. This sounds well; but what does it really mean, but that, so far as the books published by the Society are concerned, a censorship is established? —that in their works opinions are made to conform to opinions? What chance, under such circumstances, would any books have of being published, in which a new view was taken of society, or which was opposed in any way to the received opinions, political, moral, or philosophical, of my Lord Brougham of my Lord Brougham? No; of the poor drudge who represents him, who labours through his stated hours for his stated wages of a resolved staid dunce; for what other could be got to toil everlastingly through piles of hieroglyphical manuscript, moulding, fitting, dove-tailing truth and error into one consistent dull uniformity? This is a question of immense importance, that has not yet been touched on-and the objection will hold, even though the Society should be conducted on the purest principles of sincerity and disinterestedness;-but it becomes our painful duty, and most painful it is, to state again our suspicions that the Society is not so conducted. The Literary Gazette was, in our opinion, a trifle too cautious and considerate in deal ing with this question-the writer seemed marivalled names in the title pages of the title-pages Society's publications. Now, we hold all such flourish of civilities to be merely supererogatory. No one of common sense can suppose that by anything said on this occasion it is intended to call in question the single-hearted sincerity of the noblemen and gentlemen giving the sanction of their names to the proceedings of the Society. The Society had its origin in the best feelings of the best men; and-we mention it only in proof of our early prejudice in its favour-it had our humble support. But the best institutions may be abused to the worst purposes; and we repeat, what we stated in May last, that so far as anything can be deduced from the Annual Accounts published by the Society," the whole expenses are defrayed by subscription, and the Society is maintained for the sole benefit of certain interested parties, who pocket the entire profits of the publications." All England, and all the civilized world, have heard of the thousands and the tens of thousands sold of the Society's publications-yet not one shilling of profit appears in any published statement up to this hour. In 1827 the balance-sheet rendered to the Subscribers stood thus: For Secretary, Collector, Messengers, Advertisements, Postage, &c., specific charges amounting to three or four hundred pounds; -but the only item with which we are interested, is briefly From an address, issued by the Society in May 1829, we extract the following : "The Committee having thus described the outline of their proceedings, are under the necessity of adverting to the state of their FUNDS, and of appealing for continued and increased support on the part of the public; as the sale of the different publishers to yield them an income their publications, though large, does not enable adequate to the objects which the Committee are anxious to accomplish. "Among the causes of this result are first to be enumerated the number and greatness of these objects, and the extreme cheapness of the publications. It is also necessary to observe, that, at the formation of the Society, its success was so much matter of doubt and speculation, that the arrangement for the first year and a half with the publishers, involved a loss of about fairly apportioned, but still are unequal to the 3001. By a new contract, the profits are more expenses which it is necessary for the Society to incur." we not then justified in saying that the whole expenses were defrayed by subscription, and the Society maintained for the benefit of certain interested parties? No! is the answer of the Society. We were not aware, until lately, that the Society replied to our former questions not by a circular sent as usual to the Subscribers, but by an address printed on the cover of one of their sixpenny publications. From this address, dated 30th of June, we extract the following "It now remains only to advert to the finances of the Committee; and it may be well to repeat what was stated in a previous Address, as to the means of support which the Society has, and the nature of its engagements with its Publishers. "The whole sum derived by the Committee from Life and Annual Subscriptions from the 1st of November, 1826, to the 1st of January last, (five years,) has been 1,5287.; the average amount of yearly Subscriptions has been 125, after deducting the expenses of Collection, and the price of the Treatises delivered to Subscribers." We confess that on reading this, our faith in the integrity of those in the management of the Society was most lamentably shaken. We entreat our readers to separate the honourable men, whose names are thrust so prominently forward by the agents of the Society, from the agents themselves; and then let us ask them, if any statement so jesuitical was ever before put forward by men desiring to be considered as disinterested. The whole sum here set forth as received by the Society from Life and Annual Subscription, is, the reader will have the goodness to observe, the net sum, "after deducting the expenses of collection, and the PRICE of the treatises delivered to subscribers"-that is to say, after deducting TWELVE SHILLINGS, the selling price, from every subscription of twenty, for what cost the Society scarcely TWELVE-PENCE; and thus getting rid at one fell swoop of more than half the total receipts; the appropriation of which, notwithstanding this explanation, remains totally unexplained. But the Committee, in their considerate kindness, proceed further, and we are informed of the nature of the agreement with the publishers-here it is : "The Publisher usually pays the Society a sum for Copyright in the first instance, sufficient to cover the Disbursements to Authors by the Committee; and after a certain limit of Sale has been attained, the Society further receives from the Publisher, a rent calculated at a fixed rate per 1000 copies. In other cases, the Publisher himself incurs all the expense attendant upon the Authorship and Embellishments of the Work, and pays the Society a clear rent, determined by the sale beyond a given point." Well then, it is clear from the accounts themselves, that in no one instance has any work ever sold beyond the "certain limit of sale," or the "given point."-Not so, answers the Society. "A large amount of the Profits accruing to the Society from works already published, is invested in future undertakings. These sums are not shown in the Treasurer's Annual Report (!!!) because they are not brought into account, in many cases, till the publication of each particular work for which such advances to Authors and Artists are made;-but they nevertheless constitute a large amount of capital employed in the most efficient manner-namely, in making | tect, Mr. Langhans, of Breslaw, and improved by Mr. Gropius. It is very much admired, and always crowded. such extensive preparations as will ensure to the Society the best power of realizing their objects." This is surely the most extraordinary statement ever put forth by sane men. What! The public exhibition of pictures will, this year after year furnish accounts to the Sub-year, prove very entertaining, and full of novelties. A great many young painters, pupils of scribers, and then unblushingly avow that the Dusseldorf School, which flourishes more nothing can be learned from them!-year than ever, under Mr. Schadow's direction, have after year there appears to be a loss incurred, sent in their pictures, so that we may expect a and when the possibility of this is questioned, rich harvest of fine works of art. The pupils of turn round and tell the subscribers, it is the professors of the Berlin Academy will not true there appears to be a loss-it is true remain behind; and I have seen more than one we declared that a loss was incurred in the production of their pencils, which will prove first year and a half, of 300l. by our publica-worthy of the ancient fame of this illustrious tions; that in the third year we were obliged institution. Professor Rauch is busily employed to borrow 750l. to help us on; but all this in finishing the beautiful sepulchral monument of Mrs. Cooper, an Irish lady; and the Cayou have misunderstood, for there were thedral of Dublin, where, as I understand, it large profits, ONLY THEY DO NOT APPEAR IN is to be placed, will have to boast of one THE ACCOUNTS! To be literally correct, of the finest sculptures of the German Phithey do not appear in many cases." Well, dias. The casting of his statue of the late we have published the accounts themselves, King of Bavaria, which took place under the and, to say nothing of the "many cases" in superintendence of a Bavarian sculptor, to whom which it is acknowledged that these profits it had been confided by Mr. Rauch (who made do not appear, we ask to have one single the model) has entirely failed. More than instance pointed out in which they do appear. 80 cwt. of metal forced its way through the We fear we may give offence to many well-mould, which was not dry enough, and spread meaning men by the freedom of our comterror and dismay amongst the numerous specmentary. It has, however, been wrung from tators, who had been invited to witness the operation. This accident happened at Munich in Mr. Rauch's absence.-There are few new publications of any merit come out within this season. Baron A. de Humboldt is busily engaged in preparing for the press the Introduction to his Travels in America, comprising a view of the different voyages of discovery, which have led to the knowledge of America. The work will be full of curious research, and will attract the attention of all the lovers of geography. Professor Ehrenberg is continually publishing his illustrations of Egyptian Zoology, and Dr. Mayer, who is just returned from China, will, in the course of next year, come forward with a description of his journey and the countries he visited. Professor Becker's edition of Aristotle's works, with a Latin translation, printed at the expense of the Royal Academy, is nearly completed; three huge quarto volumes have already appeared. us. We are anxious well-wishers to the general diffusion of education and of knowledge, without which, in our opinion, there can be no sound basis for public morals, and no hope of the permanent well-being and happiness of society. We lent our aid to effect it, so far as was within our limited means, long before we had any connexion with this paper, and when no hope of personal benefit could possibly influence us: we have since received from the Society its countenance and support, so far as its advertisements are indicative of the one, or could aid in the other; and its publishers are only known to us for kindness and courtesies, it was not therefore without deep regret that we felt bound as honest journalists, not only to question the wisdom, but the good faith, of the proceedings of the Society. We have now done, at least for the present. THE PLEORAMA. Just Opened at Berlin. [The following letter was received after our paper was arranged, but the account of this novel exhibition is so strange and interesting, that we have put ourselves to some inconvenience to make room for it.] OUR WEEKLY GOSSIP ON LITERATURE THERE are but few reports of novelty in circulation. Art and literature are taking their Summer rest. It is said, that William IV. has resolved to fulfil the intentions of his late brother, and form a gallery of busts of all the kings and distinguished men who adorned their reigns. Some of these must be supplied by conjec ture; it is, however, quite practicable to get together the materials to form such a collec tion, but some sensible and clever spirit should be chosen to preside over the whole, and see them executed in a way worthy of the nation. A statue of Canning, from the hands of Chantrey, is now on its way to Liverpool Berlin, September 4. Among our lions there is a new one-the Pleorama, exhibited by Mr. C. Gropius, one of our best decorative painters. This exhibition is quite novel in its kind, as it procures the spectator the pleasure of an aquatic excursion from Procida to Torre del Greco, passing by The Naples, Puzzuoli, Castel-a-Mare, &c. whole trip, which, upon the spot, requires about four or five hours, is performed in less than an hour, and that in a spacious barge in which thirty people are accommodated. The illusion is quite complete, and the rolling of the barge has, in several cases, caused some feeling of sea-sickness. The departure takes place in full daylight: soon after having reached Naples, the sun sets, and you arrive at Torre del Greco, while the rays of the moon are clothing the environs of this place in their silver hue. The machinery is, of course, very complicated, and requires more than a dozen of people to set it in operation. That the banks of the Thames, the Loire, the Arno, and We have had a sight of some of the engravother rivers, may afford a similar show, and ings for the forthcoming Annuals: one of perhaps a more amusing one, I need not tell the most successful is by Fox, from Mulyou, The whole has been invented by an archi-ready's little picture of 'The Juvenile Navi the same which was in the late Exhibition in Somerset House. The figure is at once commanding and courteous, manly and graceful: the arms are folded across the bosom, and the head has that dignity of air which characterized the original. We hope it will have a good light in the Town Hall, for it could not well have found a worse light than it had in the Academy Exhibition. gators: it has all the light and shade united with the sentiment of the painting: it is, if we remember right, for the Amulet. FINE ARTS STATUE OF JAMES WATT. THE public statue of James Watt, erected in Westminster Abbey, has just been opened by the committee. The chairman, C. H. Turner, esq., and other gentlemen of science, complimented the sculptor, Mr. Chantrey, on the perfect truth and beauty of his work. The statue is placed in Paul's chapel; around it are monuments of distinguished men, such as Lord Cottington, the friend of Clarendon, and Lord Bourchier, who bore the English standard at Agincourt. The statue is on a pedestal of a design in harmony with the architecture of the place; the likeness, taken during Watt's lifetime, is considered perfect; and the look is intellectual and serene. In the left hand, is a paper on which is traced the parallel motion of the steamengine; there is a visible connexion between the thought impressed on the brow, and the drawing; and we may, without any exercise of fancy, imagine that the subject in contemplation is the new-invented power. The drapery is simple and flowing, and on the whole the work may well take a place among the best portrait statues of ancient or modern times. The funds for the execution of this noble work were supplied by the personal friends and the admirers of the genius of Watt, aided by the munificent donation of 5001. from His late Ma jesty George the Fourth. In the list of contributors may be found the chief names of the land distinguished for rank or science. Much has been written, and not a little said, about the inventive genius of Watt: we have seen what Jeffrey has penned, and we listened to what Davy said, but we prefer the observations of the late Lord Liverpool, as most illustrative and characteristic. It would be presumptuous," said his lordship, "in the presence of so many men of genius, to say much of the invention of the steam-engine. It has been compared to the trunk of the elephant; and the comparison is so far just, that there is nothing so small and nothing so great that it will not reach and apply to. It has improved the texture of the most refined manu factures, whilst, at the same time, the chief difficulties of navigation have vanished before it: we have now no delay in our communications with any quarter of the world: the power of the steam-engine overcomes all difficulties. I have known, in time of war, when the fate of a campaign, and possibly more, depended on getting our fleet out of port, contrary winds have prevailed for months, and frustrated the aims of government; such difficulties can now no longer exist: the genius of Watt has enabled us to triumph over them all." To this we may add, that his invention, besides multiplying the resources of his country, has increased the power of man, and extended his rule over the material world. Illustrations of Sculpture, &c. Relfe & Unwin. THE three engravings before us, belong to the 'Illustrations of Sculpture,' with descriptive prose and illustrative poetry by Mr. Hervey, and we have already said, in our review of the letter-press, that we consider them beautiful. The Happy Mother,' is exquisitely drawn and engraved. The Dancing Girl reposing,' is very graceful; in proportion, harmony itself; it is, however, copied from the engraving which was done under the eye of Canova, and not from the marble which came from his hand. We cannot speak so highly of the 'Mercury and Pandora;' some of the ethereal buoyancy of the | original has escaped between the hand which | ployed by the next heir to the title to murder drew and the hand which engraved it. We are him. The aforesaid poacher is by no means so quite certain—and we speak from experience-good a shot as those of his craft generally are, for that sculpture should be represented by the en- it appears in the sequel that he has missed the graver, as viewed by torch light. This would peer and shot himself. To the confusion of the bestow something like the light and shade of murderer's base employer, Lord Normancœur painting: Canova was in the practice of exhi- arrives in the last scene, with a large cloak round biting his marbles in that manner; and though his head, to contradict, from authority, the report he did not make an experiment of the effect in of his own death. The "Jack in the Green " engraving, any one who looks at his prints may appearance of Mr. Cooper at this critical juncsee that he tampered with the appearance of ture, produced shouts of laughter. We could the marble, and aimed at the light and shade bear out the sweeping condemnation we have of painting. given, by twenty other instances of outrage against common sense-but it is needless, and we shall abstain. We repeat, that the piece must be speedily withdrawn. The author of it has frequently contributed to the amusement of the public, and we hope will again-we make no charge against him, but that of having mistaken his line--when he returns to it, he will do well enough. THEATRICALS HAYMARKET THEATRE. never ON Tuesday last a new comedy (as the bills called it,) was thrust into the Public's face at this house. It was announced as “original”be it so we hope there is no chance of our having a duplicate of it. The words " acted" also preceded it. It is a pity they were ever displaced. Press of other matter luckily obliges us to be brief with our theatricals this week. We would always rather praise than censure, but duty must not be shrunk from. However painful then, the fact must be stated: it is by far the worst comedy we ever saw-its plot is a bad hash, of the worst parts, of the worst plots, of the worst plays, of the worst period of dramatic writing. The incidents are unnatural, and the characters ill drawn. It purports to be satirical upon the higher orders, and displays an intensity of ignorance concerning their conversation, deportment, and actions, which must be witnessed to be believed. At this season of the year, when so many of the nobility are out of town, it surely would not have been difficult to obtain the services of some unoccupied footman, from the neighbourhood of Grosvenor or Berkley Square to look over it, and correct a few bushels of the absurdities it contains. It is beyond us to guess upon what principle it was accepted -no one can fairly blame an author for getting his piece acted if he can, but how is it the management slept so soundly? Above all, how is it that it ventures to repeat a piece which was clearly condemned, and even to puff it as successful, when those who were present well know that the comic parts were, generally speaking, passed over in silence, and the serious ones, for the most part, laughed at? We should not say so much about a play which cannot survive above another night or two, but that we conscientiously believe its production to be mischievous to the cause of the Drama. At a time when there is such a complaint of the want of patronage of the theatres, it is provoking to those who wish them well, to see a piece produced which is calculated to bring stage representations into contempt, and to drive any members of the higher circle of society, who may chance to be in the lower circle of the house, out of it in dis gust. The knowledge of the writer of this play does not seem to reach so high as even the aristocracy of the city-for Mr. Harley, as Theophilus Muttlebury, Esq., in talking to his wife elect, of the probability of his becoming Lord Mayor, asks her how she shall like to be called "Lady Muttlebury.". The character of Lord Normancœur (Mr. Cooper), described as a poetical peer just returned from his travels, seems to be intended for either a compliment to, or a satire upon, Lord Byron-we have no notion which. All we know, is, that he walks about with black pantaloons, black silk stockings, and a military cocked hat, and talks continually about admiring "The Woods." At first we suspected he meant Mr. and Mrs. Wood-but we were mistaken. He will go to the woods and forests, and he does so once too often-for he gets fired at by a poacher who has been em MISCELLANEA The Ornithorhynchus Paradoxus.-The following interesting fact in Natural History was communicated by Dr. Weatherhead to the Committee of Science of the Zoological Society, at their meeting on Tuesday last.-For the last five and twenty years, naturalists in Europe have been striving to obtain the carcass of the impregnated female Ornithorhynchus Paradoxus, but without success, for it is by dissection alone that the hitherto doubtful and disputed point concerning the anomalous and paradoxical manner of bringing forth and rearing its young can be satisfactorily demonstrated. This longsought-for desideratum is at length attained. Through the kindness of his friend, Lieutenant the Hon. Lauderdale Maule, of the 39th regiment, Dr. Weatherhead has had the bodies of several Ornithorhynchi transmitted to him from New Holland, in one of which the ova are preserved, establishing along with other curious circumstances ascertained, the extraordinary fact, that this animal, which combines the bird and quadruped together in its outward form, lays eggs and hatches them like the one, and rears and suckles them like the other. Pompeii.-A letter from Naples, of recent date, says, "When the Duchess Max of Bavaria visited Pompeii in April last, in company with Professor Zahn, she had some excavations made in the Casa di Goethe, and the result was extremely gratifying; for, after digging seven feet, the excavators turned up two bronze tripods, two candelabras of the same metal, and a pair of terra-cotta lamps. The discovery of these tripods, in conjunction with ashes and skeletons of animals, would lead us to conclude, that the tenants of the spot were engaged in making their last sacrifice to the gods at the very moment when the town was engulphed in utter ruin. One of these tripods, in an excellent state of preservation and of exquisite beauty, was presented to the Duchess by his Neapolitan Majesty; it is the finest specimen of the antique which has been found at Pompeii, with the exception, perhaps, of a gem or two in the Museum. In the further excavations made under the eye of her consort, on the 1st of May, some marble decorations were brought to light; and on the night of the 18th the Duke gave on the spot a handsome banquet by torchlight, in honour of Goethe's memory; it was attended by several individuals, who were either acquaintances or admirers of the illustrious bard; and the solemnity of the occasion was enhanced by the recitation of several pieces of poetry, composed for the day, and interspersed with vocal and instrumental music. Wrech, of Munich, who has just published 'A Tour to the Brazils, through England and Portugal,' observes, "After landing at Lisbon, |