for some time at least, (and we hope a very long one,) in the hall of our Virginia Historical Society, where it seems, very naturally, to be quite at home. It has attracted, of course, a great many visiters, members of the General Assembly, ladies and gentlemen of the city, and others, who have all united in warm and lavish commendation of its charms. And no wonder, for it is indeed "beautiful exceedingly," and it is altogether impossible, we conceive, to look upon it without the purest and sweetest emotions of admiration and delight. After all, however, we do not regard it as great work of art, but only as a very pleaing and promising specimen of skill in a young artist who will do far better things hereafter. Indeed we can hardly look upon it as a work of art at all, for its great merit seems to be its nature, its perfect simplicity, its almost voluntary and conscious innocence of all pretension, (ars est celare artem,) its complaisant contentment to be just what it is-a pure embodiment of the immortal spirit which we call the Soul-the veritable Psyche herself alone. At the same time, we confess we regard it with still more satisfaction as being the first thing of the kind, the very first piece of sculpture, we believe, ever wrought by a Virginian hand, and brought home within our bounds. As such we consider it as marking a new era in the history of the fine arts in our State; and in this point of view more particularly, we think it is manifestly in its proper place in our historic hall. 66 We must add a word or two concerning the young artist himself, whom our readers may wish to know something more about. We do not know him personally, but we understand from the best authority that he was born and bred in Norfolk, and is the son of a worthy gentleman, Dr. Alexander Galt, of that city. From his earliest boyhood," says one who knows him well, "he exhibited a remarkable talent for sculpture. Amongst the miscellaneous collection usually found in a schoolboy's pocket, is a piece of chalk for chalking his taw-this was the capital stock on which young Galt commenced business; his penknife was his graver, and many a pretty little figure did he rough-hew out of this coarse material. His next effort was in alabaster. Here his genius began to develop itself, till finally he aspired to the more elevated art of cutting cameos from the conch shell; and many a fair bosom is at this time decked with the products of his youthful skill. Four years ago he went to Italy, where he is now enthusiastically pursuing his profession," (not under Mr. Powers, as we erroneously stated in our former notice, nor under any one, but following the guidance of his own genius, and the lights of the land.) "His first effort in marble was a bust of Virginia which was purchased by the Arts Union of New York, and is now on exhibition there, and greatly admired. Psyche is the second piece, and belongs to a company of Gentlemen in Norfolk. He is now engaged on a Bacchante and a Columbus, for gentlemen of Philadelphia and Virginia. His Bacchaute was exhibited at the late annual meeting of the Society of Arts in Florence, and Hart and others proclaimed it the best piece at the exhibition." (Whig, Dec'r 3rd, '52.) We shall, no doubt, hear of him again, and much more, hereafter. Miscellany. LINES ON GALT'S PSYCHE, In the Hall of the Virginia Historical Society. Finding all in one combined, With the wreath that he has won. Richmond, Jan. 10, 1853. EUPHAINOR. THE STUDY OF NATURE. The wisdom of God receives small honor from those vulgar heads that rudely stare about, and with a gross rusticity admire his works. Those only magnify him, whose judicious inquiry into his acts and deliberate research into his creatures, return the duty of a devout and learned admiration. Every essence, created or uncreated, hath its final cause, and some positive end both of essence and operation. This is the cause I grope after in the works of nature; on this hangs the providence of God. To raise so beauteous a structure as the world and the creatures thereof was but his art; but their sundry and divided operations, with their predestinated ends, are from the treasury of his wisdom.-Sir Thomas Browne. An Old Repartee Done into Rhyme: The belle had been shewing her musical skill, And the song and the strings for a moment were still; "I wish, my dear lady, that I were a harp!" For you're much the same thing—you're an elegant liar." Q. [The Capture of Vincennes by Col. George Rogers Clark, in 1779, has always been considered as highly honorable to the councils and arms of Virginia, and merits of course a proper illustration in our work. The account of the affair which we have in Marshall's Life of Washington, is clear and compact, but otherwise hardly sufficient; and that in Girardin's History of Virginia, though somewhat longer and more florid, is still scarcely adequate to the importance and splendor of the event. We avail ourselves, therefore, with great pleasure, of the following more expanded commemoration of the exploit, which we find in an "Address delivered before the Vincennes Histori cal and Antiquarian Society, February 22, 1839," by Judge Law of that place; which handles the subject in a more extended and becoming manner, and which we are confident our readers will peruse with lively interest.] The war between France and England, which broke out about 1754, deprived the former of all her possessions in this country; Canada was added to Great Britain, and Louisiana to Spain. The English, anxious to acquire possession of the country, soon after the peace of 1763 took possession of it. The subsequent events will intro duce the American population on the stage of action; and a brief but accurate history of the events which have occurred since, will close my notice of it. The inhabitants occupying the Post, seem to have but little considered or regarded the change. Their old laws, customs, manners, and habits, were continued; and, as remarked by one who was present, "the change of government would have hardly been known." The difficulties, however, between the mother country, and her colonies, were about to produce a change, which has been felt to the present day among the ancient inhabitants of the "Post." I refer to the capture of it by Gen. George Rogers Clark, February 23d, 1779. Of this expedition, of its results, of its importance, of the merits of those engaged in it, of their bravery, of their skill, of their prudence, of their success, a volume would not more than suffice for the details. Suffice it to say, that in my opinion-and I have accurately and critically weighed and examined all the results produced by any contests in which we were engaged during the revolutionary war-that for bravery, for hardships endured, for skill and consummate tact and prudence on the part of the commander, obedience, discipline and love of country on the part of his followers; for the immense benefits acquired, and signal advantages obtained by it for the whole Union, it was second to no enterprize undertaken during that struggle: I might add, second to no undertaking in ancient or modern warfare. The whole credit of this conquest belongs to two men-Gen. George Rogers Clark, and Col. Francis Vigo. And when we consider that by it the whole territory now covered by the three great States of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, was added to the Union, and so admitted to be by the commissioners on the part of Great Britain, at the preliminaries for the settlement of the treaty of peace in 1783; and but for the very conquest the |