chiefly occupies Armata. We could as ficed Clergymen, and in the latter we Philosophers, and of Ignoramuses, and soon crack jokes on a mouldering corpse, have the annexed burlesque. of Artists, and of Politicians after all as leap from the awful appeals scattered The writer is approaching the narrow the points of view into which France has through these leaves to the jests with channel which connects his fancied world been turned for the information of wiser which they are conterminous. Sacred with ourspeople who staid at home to enjoy things are indeed prostrated, but mean "It was as black as Hell, and the sounds them, we scarcely expected another slip things are not raised by the companion- which re-echoed between the rocks were to the Travelling Camera Obscura, when ship, and far less are caricatures exalted, Armatan sailors) were for a moment discom-look for much novelty in such a work, hideous and distracting.-My crew (though lo! there appears the Picturesque. To or irony dignified, or whim sobered, by fited by this scene of horror; but I reminded the shocking contrast. them, that God was in the whirlwind as in would be to expect grain from the refuse While we pronounce tbis censure, we the Zephyr, and a song and a drum soon settled of a thrashing machine; but it is somemay be allowed to express our firm be-all their fears." thing to have even what we know placed lief, that it belongs to an erroneous babit There is no such want of decorum in in an agreeable and amusing light. The in the noble author, and in no degree to De Foe's admirable Crusoe, upon which present volume achieves, probably aimed a want of either moral perception or de- this fable is modelled. The apparent at, no more. We can neither say that the vout and Christian sentiment. We have truth of his narrative is only strengthened style is good; or the remarks profound; been loth to notice the subject; but by those moral and religious lessons or the descriptions accurate; but there neither our feelings nor our duty would which are naturally introduced in a his- is no demand upon the mind for depth, permit us to leave it in silence, or to treat tory apparently so genuine, and having and we skim over the surface without it otherwise. no mixture of buffoonery. But with our trouble. There are occasional anecdotes noble author they are incongruous, and, to relieve the itinerary, which is not suffiwe are sure it must be confessed, exceed- ciently distinct or vivid to merit the apingly misplaced by the side of the ludi-pellation of picturesque; though towards the end of the work the author's powers crous and satirical. "I know fifty, aye a hundred, women who are far above eighty, and though constantly in mobs from night to morning, without ever seeing the sun for months together, nor ever desiring to see him, yet continue to set death and disease at defiance. Fashion, therefore, my dear friend, gives birth to species of mummy, which the Egyptians you once told me of never knew." a tions, those who have visited the Continent will readily detect. Thus the Cathedral at Amiens is painted as if it were perfect, and had met with no dilapidation during the Revolution. The idea of this noble structure conveyed to the reader is therefore imperfect, as is testified by the universal mutilations which its interior, especially, has experienced. Page 25, Were not the politics of Armata on a par with its scriptural freedoms, we should gladly pass at once from that blame, which we must, to that praise, which we The most entertaining and well-written expand with the scenes of Switzerland would, bestow; but to have a hundred parts of Armata, in our opinion, are those and the Rhine. The language is, as we pages filled with dry party dissertation, ridiculing the dusty and crowded rides have stated, very careless in many paswith an olla of the author's speeches in in a particular road in the park, while all sages; and it would have been well to have the Upper House, in which the Habeas its delightful lawn is deserted, -desorib-corrected the construction of a number Corpus Act Suspension, the Abridgement ing the nuisance of jammed and consti- of sentences before laying the work beof the Statute Books, the Police of the pated routes, and exposing the tricks of fore the critical tribunals. The inaccuMetropolis, Mendicity, Chimney-sweep-street-beggars, though the latter is not rate, or we might say more properly in ing, together with the magnitude of the much altered from Massinger. The fol- several instances the incomplete, descripTheatres, Steam Engines, Law Courts, lowing is a clever sketch of antiquated Telescopes, &c. &c. &c. are hashed up Fashionablestogether, is rather too severe a trial of patience. Upon all these points the writer shows himself to be a modern Liberal; and though there are several of them in which we agree with him in principle, it is rather a remarkable fact, that there is scarcely one of them to which we could assent upon his deductions. We have we are told that the Vine first occurs said, that the politics and ethics of this We shall now take our leave of Armata, beyond Clermont-this is not the fact.book are on a level; as a proof, we the blemishes of which we have freely, The indifference of the drivers of carappeal, among many examples, to pages but not harshly pointed out. Its great riages in Paris (page 36,) to the lives of 132 and 192-205: "What spectacle," defect seems to be the too close union of pedestrians, is an exaggeration. The the former, " can be more sublime the grave and gay, through which it is truth is, that accidents of this sort are than to see a blind system of jealous rendered too trivial for solid argument on exceedingly rare in that capital, though and arbitrary dominion carried on through serious subjects, and too dull for amuse-nothing but extreme care could prevent the profligate and corrupting agency of ment on light ones. Add to this the their frequency in those dark, narrow, and spies in every part of the kingdom, re-mawkish and morbid sentimentality of nasty streets. But it is needless to mulceive as it were a DEATH-BLOW from these liberal times, and the picture of the tiply examples of this kind, or of the cretwelve honest men, indifferently chosen production is complete. dulity of our Tourist, who gravely narout of the undistinguished mass of our A PICTURESQUE TOUR THROUGH rates that a Cossack having stolen a people!" We can imagine a thousand FRANCE, SWITZERLAND, on the Banks shawl on the Boulevards, a Russian officer spectacles more sublime; though we can- of the RHINE, and through part of the detected him, and punished the theft by not imagine any charge more false, or NETHERLANDS, in 1816. instant death, without trial or inquiryany construction more disorganizing, than After all the Tours with which the for he "immediately ordered the Costhose involved in this paragraph. The public has recently been inundated, the sack to turn his back, through which he irreverent use of what is most sacred, we Letters to Kinsfolk, the Visits, the Re-thrust his sword; he then mounted his have already reproved; but further illus- visits, the Residences, the Journals, the horse and rode away, without any appatration will be found at the pages just Essays, the Excursions, the Pictures, the rent concern!!!" says - quoted. In the former there is a sweep- Observations of Ladies, and of Gentle- Were this a production calculated to ing accusation of perjury against Bene-men, and of Waiting Women, and of provoke controversy, we would strenu ously deny the position laid down (p. 21), that " persons who dwell in towns have a great superiority in point of comfort and accommodation over those who live in the country." In our opinion the very reverse of this is universally the case, and the privations of the country life bear no comparison to the wretchedness of cities. There is a sort of catalogue of the chief - statues and pictures which were in the Louvre, and which have often been so much better described, that this critique might have been spared, especially as it is only the recollection of a former visit. Upon the whole, however, this is a pleasing enough Breakfast-Table Companion, and as such may justly be recommended to our readers generally, and still more strongly to those who mean themselves to take an improving trip to the land of politeness. AN ADDRESS to the RIGHT HON. LORD BYRON, by F. H. B. On the 22d of April I discovered another very low Island 11 miles long and three miles broad, in the middle of which is a lake. We sailed half a mile from shore, but saw no trace of people nor any cocoa trees; it is doubtless uninhabited; I gave it the name of Spiridoff from a man to whom I owe great obligations. On the 23rd of April I steered for Palliser's Islands, and discovered to the S. E. of them a new chain of Islands. If you cast a look on my map and reckon that all the coral islands cannot be seen from the mast-head at a greater distance than 15 miles at the most, one may easily conceive how it could happen that Cook did not see this chain, which stretches in a singular manCoral reefs connect ner through the ocean. together the little thickly wooded islands. we reached in the evening the West side, the I only saw palms on the N. E. point. When length of the chain, without reckoning the bendings, amounted to 40 miles; but now the land suddenly bent towards the North-East, and then to the West, and was lost in the distance from our view. As this part was to examined both this and other islands which windward of me, I was obliged to leave un make the first indisputably new discovery. tanists made good use of it, and returned After we had all assembled It was an Island something like the former, richly loaded. only three miles' long, but beautifully adorned on the beach I ordered wine, the health of Lieutenant Sacharin with orders to land, but received his name; the imperial Russian with cocoa trees, loaded with fruit. I sent Count Romanzoff was drank, and the Island he found it impossible because of the surf. flag waved on the boats, and the Rurik fired Two sailors swam ashore, and brought a few a salute; after this ceremony we all returncocoa nuts, of uncommon size. They did ed on board the ship. Romanzoff's-Island not see any inhabitants, but a braided cord lies in the latitude of 140 57' 20", and in the fastened on a pole on the shore showed that longitude 1440 28' 30"; doubtless in the it had been visited. I determined to lie-to neighbourhood of Sonderground, the inhabiduring the night, and at all events to land tants of which probably often visit it. the next morning. For this purpose a raft was prepared no larger than for one man. Boards and spars, which we had in plenty, were very welcome for this purpose, and the raft was soon finished. At break of day I approached nearer to the Island. Half a mile from the shore to leeward the long boat was let down. Accompanied by my naturalists, I left the ship in two boats with the raft. But on approaching nearer I found it impossible to land in boats, and was rejoiced at having thought of the raft, with the help of which we landed in the following manner. The boats anchored at a little distance from the beach. Two sailors, who were good swimmers, took hold of the end of a rope This is a piece of very good advice to and swam with it on shore. The other end the Noble Author of Manfred, Childe of the same rope we kept and fastened to our Harolde, &c.—more sound than poetical, for with the help of this rope, the man stand boats. Now the communication was made; aud better intentioned than executed.ing on the raft could draw himself on shore. But in truth it was impossible to be very When he had landed safely, the raft was poetical on a subject which claims the drawn back again by a second rope, and we all strongest prose for its treatment, and can- followed the same plan successively; though not be discussed in verse, however ner- to land in this manner was not very easy, as The address, nevertheless, pos- werf, and then suffer ourselves to be we were obliged to plunge with the raft into sesses one inestimable merit-it is short; thrown with a wave on shore, and then we not much more than a hundred lines: so had still to make a considerable leap from that if his Lordship is not amended, he the raft to the coral bank. That we got wet surely cannot be tired by it. The last through and through, was in this hot climate six lines afford a fair specimen of its the smallest inconvenience. We now took On the 24th I discovered, not far from the matter and mauner: a walk through the whole Island, which re-Drans Islands, a group of little coral islands, sembled a handsome garden. A great many 13 miles long, which I called Krusenstern's parrots and other bird's surrounded us, and Islands. It may be very easily known by did not seem to be in the least afraid. Every the peculiarity that in the little lake in the where stood cocoa trees full of fruit, which, middle of it there is an island thickly coverwithout doubt, now for the first time re-ed with woods. It is truly an extraordinary freshed European travellers. The farther piece of good fortune that during my stay in In the propriety of Lord Byron's writ-we went into the Island the more traces of this coral labyrinth the weather was unining on the side of virtue, or becoming the inhabitants did we observe; here and there terruptedly in my favour; else not only organ of celestial didactics, we beg leave a boat, an abandoned hut, &c. Many well- the Rurik would have been in great danger, to differ from F. H. B.: in the first case beaten foot paths led in all directions. Every (for one cannot think of anchoring here, as he would wrong the bent of his genius, tants, but we saw none. On our return also, the shore) but my map would not have been moment we expected to meet with inhabi- no bottom is to be found a few fathoms from and in the second bedevil all that has after we had traversed the Island from North nearly so correct as I now flatter myself that beretofore been considered heavenly.to South, we saw many huts, and some it is. I steered for Bauman's Islands, reachNo, let his Lordship stick to crime, and places on the shore where very likely people ed on the 28th the place where they are ruffians, and pirates, and murderers had been fishing, as we concluded from the stated to be, but found neither them nor with these his Muse is at home; revels, poles which were stuck up to spread the nets those of Roggewein and Tenhove, nor indeed delights, and terrifies:- -ne sutor ultra upon. At last we even found several wells any sign of being near land. crepidam, is as old as Pliny, and an excel- carefully dug, full of sweet water of a lent maxim. pure taste, although it could only be rain water. The Island must either be inhabited, or frequently visited by the neighbouring It is distinguished from all the other coral islands, by having no lake in the middle. vous. Oh! favor'd of the Muse! Byron! the gift The sacred gift, beware how you pervert! Employ'd aright, thy soul on high 'twill lift.Misus'd, thy Heav'n into deep Hell convert! To chuse, yet thine-oh, pause ere thou decide, Thy life, or death, thy present choice abide! N. B. We could retract this sentence since reading the lament of Tasso. EXTRACT from the Journal of the Circumnavi- savages. The walk lasted four hours; our bo The miles here meant are German miles, On the 20th of April I had the pleasure to 15 to a degree. were seen from the mast-head, when we were off the South point, because the loss of time would have been too great. I gave this chain the name of "Rurik's-chain." (To be continued.) ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. 1820!!! Orkney, 4th June, 1817. To the Editor of the Literary Gazette. Sir, The being one of those gifted individuals who possess the second sight or faculty of peeping into futurity, would I am sure constitute a sufficient introduction to your columns; but the marvellous manner in | rest so important a point in natural history, | Row, and Satan was now defied where Prinwhich I have recently had my prognosis is a perfect sphere and not an oval plano, as ters' Devils had reigned so long. The inteconfirmed, furnishes a still more irresistible hitherto represented by the pretenders to rior of the National Church was however claim to your attention. Mermaidal intercourse. Upon its transpa- even more transformed than the exterior. Walking on the 30th of February, Sir, upon rent face the lines of January 1821 were The light of reason had at last succeeded in the sea-side, I beheld at about the distance just opening upon my eye, when the report attaining perfect toleration. The Archof three furlongs, upon a small tabular- of a duck-gun startled my ear. In an in- bishop of Canterbury was a very zealous shaped rock which just emerged from the stant my instructress vanished beneath the Roman Catholic-the Chancellor of the Exbosom of the heaving wave, one of those ex-billow, and what became of her glass Ichequer a worthy Jew, with a fine beard, traordinary creatures, the existence of which know not, though from the unwelcome en- and a great financier-the first Lord of the has been almost as much doubted by sceptics trance of about an ounce of shot (No. 1, Mr. Admiralty an Anabaptist who baptized the as the existence of the second sight itself, I Editor!) into my body, I am inclined to crew of his fleets over the ships' sides-the. mean a Mermaid, if I may so call that which suspect that she also got a few drops too first Lord of the Bedchamber a strict Meappeared to be a Mother, for she was suck- much, and that her glass was shivered. For thodist-the Lord Chancellor a Southcotian ling a little innocent with a tail like a gold some moments I was not aware of being with the guardianship of many Shilohs-and fish and not longer than eighteen or twenty wounded; but when the sportsmen started the Commander in Chief a Quaker! inches. Both mother and child were sur- from behind a precipice where they had A grand reform had taken place in Parliapassingly beautiful. The former had a fine couched for the benefit of a surer aim, I per-ment. There was a general election every oval countenance, and not the less lovely ceived the whole nature and extent of my month. Men had two votes, children one, from being inclined to green like some of misfortune. Painful as was my situation and women three. Nine tenths of the memSir Joshua Reynold's pictures, in which the in every respect, the denouement had some-bers were consequently females, a few males colours are most evanescent. Her hair was thing ludicrous in it. I was peppered and standing for the Boroughs. The Speaker purplish, as you may have seen the carrot- that soundly too, and the shooters, my per- this month (April) was Mrs. Mary Anne locks of mortals who had in vain attempted sonal friends, with all their assumed con- Clarke, whose intrigues had elevated her to to dye them black, and so long that it cern could not help laughing heartily at the that high situation. oated on the water like a sea-weed. The mode in which they had interrupted my There was a Levee. I took a peep. The bust was the finest I ever gazed upon; and tete-a-tete with the Mermaid. chief presentations consisted of Missionthough I cannot so much approve of her ex- But no more of this. I hasten to lay be-aries returned from proselytizing Asia, Africa, tremities, it is but justice to acknowledge fore you as much of the history of the year and America. Their suites were the most that the whole of the fish department was Eighteen Hundred and Twenty as I can re- splendid that can be imagined, and comradiant as a dolphin playing in the sun-collect; many important matters having I posed of black, copper, tawny, grey, yellow, beams, elastic as the flying-fish, and shapely fear slipped my memory during the three red, blue, pink, green, and carnation coas the salmon. Earnestly engaged in her months I have been smarting under the loured natives of every clime in the universe. maternal office, the oceanic lady did not hands of the surgeon and those benevolent Their wives were superbly dressed, and heed my approach, and when she began to friends who have from time to time had the their concubines and seraglios still more sing her offspring to sleep-ye gods! It was kindness to devote an hour to the amuse- magnificently. Some of these were blazing the music of the spheres or fabled cadences ment of picking the shots out of the carcase in diamonds. of the expiring swan. Never was mortal of your unfortunate humble servant, man so raptured as I was. I stood transfixed in a trance of delirium, chained, like another Prometheus, to the rock nearest that The King's palace looked quite bare and of the enchanting Mermaid. In this posture unfurnished:-there had been a clamour it seems I first caught her eye, and whether against the expense of chairs and tables for it was that being susceptible of flattery as it, and the sovereign had reduced his estaearthly females are said to be, or influenced blishment to Spartan plainness. I naturally by any other consideration I know not, but to some cause or other must I attribute the wonderful condescension with which she rewarded the expression of intense admiration so visible in my features. It were needless, Sir, to occupy you with the entire conversation that ensued. Suffice it to say, that a perfectly good understanding arose between the prophetess of the sea and the seer of the earth. The Mer-child was gracefully laid to slumber upon the fin of its accomplished parent while she unfolded to me the drama of the future. DONALD MACDARTGLANCESON. 1820! took a peep to observe how wretched the prisons must now be, but judge my surprise on finding every gaol glittering with mirrors, rich with Turkey carpets and sofas, and some of them even adorned with noble corridors and the most transcendent paintings, with lawns for exercise, theatres for concerts and private performances, and all that taste could devise for the gratification of luxury. On inquiry I found that this change had taken place in consequence of the exertions of a great statesman of the name of It may be proper to explain to you that the buildings I saw were for State Prisoners, Benedict, and that the most magnificent of my sight is limited to somewhere about so called from the state in which they were seven hundred and thirty days, beyond which maintained. my perceptions of futurity are dim and un- I turned to examine the Church. Astocertain. But my fair companion darted her nishing! Each venerable pile was easy glance into years, it may be into ages, rounded by a number of appendage buildfar removed. Curiosity is most excited by ings, like a hen and chicken daisy; these proximate objects. I cared little for 1920, were chapels of ease which had been added but 1820 arrived just at the end of my own at the suggestion of the Chancellor of the vista, and I regarded with peculiar atten- Exchequer in 1817. St. Paul's cut a most tion the exposition of that year as succes-extraordinary figure with its adjuncts, which sive seasons were unfolded to me in the reached all over what was once Paternoster glass of my wonderful acquaintance. This glass, by the way, and I am happy to set at sur Our Correspondent's letter here assumes the form of loose Notes, apparently the result In terrene affairs this species of misnomer of his examination of the glass, and the explauations of its proprietor. is not uncommon. At the Cabinet Council after the ceremony, dispatches from Tombuctoo were laid before his Majesty. A storm had wrecked several vessels in the Niger between Wangara and Bergou, and a gang of carpenters were ordered to be dispatched to assist the King of Tuarick in repairing them. There were also indifferent intelligence from Nubia and Darfur. The canal for carrying the Nile out of its course so as to avoid the cataracts, had however been completed under the inspection of that able engineer Mr. political delegates were just roofed in-a letThe provincial halls for the meetings of ter from America offered to bet 100 dollars that the writer would return to England by next fall. The exhibition of the Royal Academy was phant Flatter, Knt. having proved to the open, and consisted entirely of portraits. An essay from the pen of the learned Sir Sycoconviction of the nation that portraiture was the truest, highest, nicest, and most interesting branch of the art. The sculptureroom was full of busts-that of architecture with plans of prisons and elevations of monuments to living merit. Drury-Lane Theatre after being shut two seasons was opened for three sermons to be preached by Mr. Chalmers. Boxes, pit, and there was a piece performed by dogs and galleries, a bumper. At Covent Garden monkeys; it was bespoke by Prince George Augustus Coburg, now nearly three years old, who was rapturously greeted by the audience, and seemed much pleased with the entertainments. The actors certainly ex-improved it, and practised it with a degree merchants; efforts which have raised the erted themselves to the utmost, especially of success unknown before, I must observe country to the summit of commercial prosthat old public favourite Mr. Jacko. An that a discovery which seems to bear a strik-perity, and presented the unparalleled specapology was made for Tobina, the successor ing analogy to the Lithographic process, tacle of individuals uniting the wealth and of the learned pig, who was to have danced was made at Strasburg, thirty-four years munificence of princes with the labours of a waltz to a wind instrument, but was pre-ago. M. Hoffmann, bailiff of Benfeld, dis- the counting-house and the daily diligence vented by a cholicky complaint. The last covered in the year 1783 a kind of ink, by of the trader. To the same cast of mind in bulletin was however favourable. the aid of which he wrote or drew on a the members composing our various commu his boiler. Bridges with the arches inverted are not so universal as they would be, as tunnels seem to meet with greater encouragement. That from Dover to Calais is not expected to be complete for some time. ward in the cause of benevolence, to struggle and to push for an object all foreign to them but in so far as it is related to humanity, we should very rarely even hear of our noblest charities: for never did people exist with such an aggregate of that spirit which does good by stealth, and blushes to find it fame. Like other countries Britain has her besetting sins; but sure the gracious quality we have just noticed is at least redemptionary, and may be put in the balance to weigh against some of them in our favour. An advertisement announces that Pro-prepared copper and produced in a fewnities do we owe the phenomenon, grateful fessor Davy has nearly perfected his recent hours a great number of copies of his work. in one sense, but to be regretted in another, invention of the "Salamander Great Coat, Some able draughtsmen of Paris, Messrs. the phenomenon of public and national. Were it not that some which enables the wearer to walk at his ease Barbier, Renou, and La Grenée, delighted bodies retiring as it were from the public through the flames of burning houses." The with this discovery, hastened to send draw- and national view. happiest results are expected from this dis-ings to M. Hoffmann, and it was impossible, philanthropic beings occasionally burst forcovery. The same paper notices that the say the accounts, to see the least difference steam apparatus for working questions in between the originals and the copies: the fluxions and algebra, has already sold nine- most delicate touches, the spirit of the masteen thousand; the steam wings are ready ter, were given with a precision which no M. Hoffman for the new expedition, and General other process could attain. has almost recovered from the bursting of succeeded in taking from a Mezzotinto plate, from four to five thousand impressions, as fine as the 4 or 500 which till that time were all that could be obtained. He even published the prospectus of a Journal which was to be rendered more interesting by the practical use of this new discovery. Each What is so fine in principle may neverThe greatest improvement in politics, daily sheet of this Journal was to be ornaseems to be the system of legislating entirely mented with a new design; some event of theless furnish, as we have observed, a topic through the medium of newspapers. Ora- the day before, the front of a building, the of regret in its practical result. The person tory has certainly declined in consequence sketch of a picture, the portrait of a cele- who hides a natural light may rest on the of this alteration; but then printing has brated man, the fashions, in a word all the amiable apology of innate modesty; but we greatly improved, and the steam Composi-productions of the Arts would have furnished cannot afford the same latitude to societies tors and Editors may be reckoned the perfec- an endless variety of subjects. This work instituted for the benefit and improvement tion of human ingenuity. was to have been entitled The Polytype of mankind. We can appreciate their hoJournal of the Fine Arts. This was an ex-nourable motives, their magnanimous relicellent idea, as it would have proved by the ance on the excellence of their aim, their evidence of facts the importance of the dis- consciousness of deserving every support covery. I suspect that the intended Journal without seeking for any, their excusable never appeared, and as in all the publica- pride in demanding voluntary co-operation tions upon Lithography, which I have met as the reward of their corporate exertions with, there is no mention whatever of the and private sacrifices, rather than courting discovery of M. Hoffmann, I am inclined to that as a favour which is due to desert; but Examinations for public employments of believe that for want of encouragement this still we think the pursuit of the general good every kind, as well as medical degrees, le- useful invention fell into neglect and obli- may be advantageously carried one step gal appointments, &c. being now determined vion; and is perhaps now irrecoverably lost, further;-a community of the kind alluded. by craniology; the Barbers' Company have The memory of it however certainly merits to cannot debase itself, for there is nothing resumed their ancient pre-eminence, and to be preserved. The knowledge that such selfish in its object; and where the welfare shaving in all its branches flourishes more effects have been produced, though the me- of the world is the ultimate, it is impossible thod is lost, may lead some ingenious person, to be importunate or obtrusive in blazoning acquainted with chemical affinities, to at-the cause, and rallying universal power round tempt some experiment for the purpose of the standard of universal amelioration. re-discovering so useful a process. I should be highly gratified if the little I have been able to communicate should lead to so desirable a result. I remain, Sir, your's very truly. Dancing on all fours is now the only fashionable style. The Missionaries' ladies who introduced it still surpass native artists; but some of our belles go near to rival them, not only in the camel, buffalo, and beaver steps, but even in the tiger spring, squirrel frisk, and ape gambol. What will not British talent accomplish! than ever. In consequence of the universal use of iron paving, the city of Edinburgh has been ruined, and the port of Leith which was wont to carry on so brisk a trade in the staple commodity furnished by Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat, paving stones, is now a desert. The Grand Seignior, the Emperor of Pernambuco, and oh !.. ANNUS MIRABILIS. H. E. L. ARTS AND SCIENCES. SOCIETY OF ARTS. These remarks are drawn from us by perusing a very admirable Address' delivered to the SOCIETY for the ENCOURAGEMENT of ARTS, MANUFACTURES, and COMMERCE, at their late Annual Meeting, by their new Secretary, Mr. Arthur Aikin. The knowledge of transactions, the progress, the very nature of our highest institutions is too much confined within their own circles. The pubThe steadiness of purpose which belongs lic is not enough associated with them, exto the British Character is only equalled by cited, made, at least if we may use the exthe unostentatiousness with which designs, pression, the sleeping partner, furnishing To the Editor of the Literary Gazette. however great or magnificent, are generally sinews and capital in aid of the active and Dear Sir,-As you have already inserted pursued. It is a noble thing to contemplate enterprising portion of the firm. Mr. Aikin's your interesting journal several articles quiet zeal persevering in the accomplishment speech seems eminently calculated to produce on the subject of Lithography, particularly of grand actions;-devoted, enthusiastic, this effect in one instance; but even this is valuable extract of the report made to the straining every nerve, and employing every limited in its sphere, and we question that Academy of Arts and Sciences of Paris, by engine, but at the same time unassuming, it has travelled far out of the beaten path of a Committee appointed for the purpose of pretenceless, forgetful of the agency in the the Society to enlighten and enlist the counexamining some Lithographic prints, I earnest prosecution of the end, and holding in LITHOGRAPHY. a think the following account may be agree-" the noiseless tenor of its way" with all the For the printing of this we are indebted to able to your readers. Without at all wish-humility of real merit. To this source, Mr. Pearsall and Mr. John Smith, who moved ing to detract from the merit of Mr. Senne-blended with the feeling of self-interest com- and carried that point in the Society. They felder in having made the discovery, or from mon to human nature, we may trace the could not have done it or the public more essen that of Mr. Engelmann, in having so much stupendous efforts of our manufacturers and tial service. try. With this conviction we deem it to be the peculiar duty of the Literary Gazette to volunteer its alliance and strenuous support; and we are sure our readers will feel that nothing can be more congenial with the principles of this publication." We may premise that the Society of Arts at this period consists of not fewer than one thousand seven hundred efficient members, before probably a majority of whom, and an equal number of distinguished visitors, the address was delivered. We shall merely copy the exordium. it wisely and consistently bestow its re- to expect a very important improvement in wards; let it be as liberal and discriminative its cultivation. of its praise, as of its money and its medals, The Committee of Polite Arts, we are inand it will deserve a higher rank than that formed, is often associated with other comto which it has hitherto aspired." mittees; as in truth the polite arts do naThe next topic of the address is, we be- turally form a part of every thing which is lieve, common to the occasion. It describes useful or ornamental in civilized life. It is the formation of the Society in 1754, by Mr. therefore no mean honour to the Society of William Shipley, supported by the patronage Arts, that the first public exhibition that was of Lord Folkstone and Lord Romney,-its gra- ever made by the artists of the British medual advance and increase of business, so as tropolis, took place in the year 1760, at their to render the appointment of committees rooms; and was repeated there for several necessary for the superintendence of sepa- successive years. The foundation of the "The members of the Society of Arts are rate branches,-the means taken to insure Royal Academy has since rendered their on this day met together to assist at, and to the impartial awards of its honours and en-exertions less necessary; but still they have, witness the distribution of those rewards couragement, especially in respect to any and more particularly of late years, entered which, proposed by their several committees, competition between members and stran- with greater spirit than previously into the they have themselves assented to and sanc-gers,-the mode of proceeding when com- promotion of the arts of architecture, sculp tioned in the course of the present session. munications are received,-and, in general, ture, painting, and engraving. Mr. Aikin Conscious of having, to the best of their the history of its forms and constitution, earnestly recommends the encouragement of knowledge, and as far as human infirmities concluding as follows: the "Art of Design;" and in an able argument which our limits forbid us to quote contends for its being taken "out of the class of accomplishments," "from the gauds and toys of a vain world," and brought, "like writing, into the common and familiar use of ordinary life." It remains to be seen what effect his reasoning may have on the Society to which it is addressed. will permit, pronounced an equitable and "I have thought it necessary to enter Mr. Aikin proceeds to enlarge upon the The number of the committees is nine, The 7th Committee, of Manufactures, merges almost entirely into those of Chemistry and Mechanics, and the latter evidently assumes the most important station in the Institution. Of it we are told that during the past session, so multifarious and extensive have been its duties, it has not only assembled every Thursday, but held several extraordinary meetings for the dispatch of business. "From forty to seventy members are occupied every week, from seven o'clock in the evening to eleven and often later, in the patient and able investigation of the various subjects referred by the Society at large to this committee. Nor do the persons who "A premium churlishly bestowed," says thus gratuitously devote so large a proportion he," is worth just as much as the gold or sil- Of these the two first are strictly domestic. of their time to the public service, (says Mr. ver it consists of, and no more; it is a mere Upon the third devolves the whole detail and Aikin) belong to the class of idlers in society; pecuniary gift, which, to the lowest fractional responsibility, not only of the literary part these, how heavily soever the load of life denomination, may be stated in current of the Society's transactions, but of getting may press upon them, are rarely found to coin. In such a spirit this Society has ne- drawings and sections made by competent seek their amusement in employments ver granted its rewards, and in such a spirit artists from the models or machines them- where there is even the appearance of busiwe trust they have never been accepted. selves; and of selecting properly qualified ness. It is well and right that this should The olive wreath of the Olympian victors, engravers, and superintending the progress be the case; for, with what confidence could the oaken garland of ancient Rome bestow- of their work. ingenious men submit their productions, ed on those who had preserved the lives of The Committee of Agriculture takes cogni- which are all of a practical nature, to the their fellow-citizens, the medals conferred zance of all subjects relating to horticulture; decision of those who, not being engaged in by our British Universities as the appropri- to the sowing and planting of trees, whether business or active study, would be wholly ate and sufficient reward for abilities and for timber or ornament; to the cultivation incompetent to deliver a correct and sound attainments of the very highest order, the of land by the farmer, together with the im- opinion on the novelty, the utility, or the Copleyan medal of our Royal Society, not to plements used for that purpose; and to the ingenious contrivance of the objects laid mention the honorary badges, accorded by breeding, improving, and taking care of live before them? The most active, assiduous, their grateful country to those who in these stock of every kind; as well as all the other and able of those who appear on this imporlatter times of difficulty and danger have innumerable details included under that tant committee, are men of real business; sustained the national independence at the most comprehensive term, rural economy. who well know the value of time, and pospersonal risk of all that on earth can perish It appears that in the department of Che- sess generosity and public spirit enough to these, with numerous similar examples mistry,the communications have neither been sacrifice so large a portion of their small which I need not detail, show how conso-so numerous nor important as might have leisure to the general good. To the candid nant it is to the very nature of man to be been expected; but a confident anticipation decisions of such men no candidate need be impelled to the highest exertions by the in- is, we rejoice to observe, held out that a rich ashamed to submit himself, nor doubt to extellectual and moral motives of duty, of offering may be hereafter looked for; and in-perience from them that liberality of treatself-esteem, of honourable fame. deed when we consider the distinguished ment which is rarely found disconnected "Let the Society of Arts continue to regu-talents of the worthy Secretary himself in with genius and talent." late its proceedings on these principles; let this branch of science, it is impossible not With these appropriate remark (as the |