ARTS AND SCIENCES.

STEAM NAVIGATION.

A new ship intended to ply as a regular packet between New York and New OrJeans, has recently been built, called the Robert Fulton. She is said to be, in every respect, one of the finest steam-vessels ever constructed. She is upwards of 750 tons, of a very great length, rigged with Jug sails; has three kelsons, (the centre one large enough for a ship of the line), together with bilgeways, and the whole secured and bolted in a very superior manner; ber frame timber and plank are of live oak, locust cedar, and Southern pine, copper bolted and coppered.

She will afford accommodation for more than 200 persons, and is fitted up with high and airy state rooms, thoroughly ventilated by means of sky-lights the whole Jength of the cabin, which is very extensive. Her after-cabin is neatly arranged for the accommodation of ladies, and separated by means of folding-doors, in the modern style. She has also a range of births fore and aft, together with a commodious fore-cabin. And, what adds to the greatest comfort and security of all, her engine and other machinery are completely insulated, and unconnected as it were with the other part of the ship. In the centre, lengthwise, is a kind of wellhole or square trunk, made both fire and water-proof; no possible accident, therefore, by the bursting of the boiler, can reach either of the cabins. This trunk or well-hole being inclosed by very thick plank, caulked and leaded, may be inundated with water at pleasure, without any inconvenience to the passengers.

The furnace is also completely sur rounded by the continuation of the boiler, so that no part of the fire can ever come in contact with wood. There is a space of about nine or ten inches filled in with materials, nonconductors of heat, which answer the double purpose of excluding the heat from the cabin, and at the same time deadening the disagreeable noise of the engine. She is also provided with a leather hose, similar to those used by our fire-engine companies in this city, which will enable the hot or cold water to be conveyed to any part of the ship, and furnish ing at the same time the great conveniency to the passengers of a warm or cold bath at pleasure. Her engine was constructed by Mr. Allaire, and is supposed to be the most powerful and most exact piece of workmanship ever turned out in America; and her boiler is said to be the largest ever known to have been made in that or any other country.

BRITISH INSTITUTION.

By far the greater number of the paintthere are a few of high merit; but those ings are more curious than excellent; that prove insufficiency of knowledge, or mediocrity of mind, occupy the larger space; indeed, several are attributed to artists to whose acknowledged works they bear no resemblance whatever, except in the imitation of faults, which have ble nius. The works of Holbein are the most mished even the brightest originals of gecurious and interesting for their subjects and their antiquity, as also for the great detail they so remarkably display; those manual precision and quaint richness of of Vandycke are the most valuable as specimens of art full of intrinsic excellence. Those of Lely, Riley, Kneller, and Hudson, are a great falling off from the elevation to which Vandycke had pictures of Reynolds are, of course, far raised the art of portrait-painting; the superior to what these last-mentioned artists have produced, as to their character, drawing, expression, and management of colours, but they are greatly inferior in that part which merely depends on mechanical preparation: the tricks that Sir unhappy smattering of chemistry which Joshua played with his colours, from the he possessed, have given up his produc pidly passing off into utter oblivion, sevetions to premature decay; they are raral of them uniting the beauty of form and the truth of colour to nature's expression, historic dignity. A few from the pencil of Rubens are next in merit; they possess a great deal of his colouring and motion, but they are far from being his happiest productions; they have more of his faults with less of the peculiar traits of bis genius than we usually see in his works. There is a painting of great merit by Thorston, which comes nearest to the power of Vandycke. There are seve part a compound of feebleness and forral by Zucchero, which are for the most superior. There are two paintings by mality; some by Hoare, in a style a little Copley, which consists of groups of excellent portraits, connected together by the common bond of an historical subject, of history. One of the most characteristic but possessing little of the feeling or action portraits in the Exhibition is by Hogarth, and it is worth hundreds of the formal insipid things which overload this branch physiognomy. The sine nomine corpora of art with so many varieties of mindless occupy a very large space in this gallery, which gives a great opportunity to ingenious connoisseurs for the exercise of their conjectural faculty.

SELECT

SELECT POETRY

Meantime, with lazy strength-at intervals
The unwilling oar on the smooth surface
falls,

And flashing for a transitory light,
Wins the lone shepherd's eye upon the
mainland height.

Slowly she passes underneath the brow
Of the huge Eastern promontory now;
Its purple shade is brightening for a space
Where her long track dimples the ocean's
face:

And now the morning rushes on her sail,
And all at once it swells before the gale-
The mountain height is passed-the spa-
cious sea

Opens around-and Oh how joyously
Over the dancing billow does she go,
And stoop to the light breeze her steady
prow.

The oars are in; the seaman's vacant eye
Wanders in vain along the deep-blue sky.
No coming storm-no peril they descry-
The soldier idly marks the noisy flight
Of sea-fowl joying in the bounteous light,
And listens to the varying cry—or deems
How different, near Padus ancient streams,
The voice from poplar shade remotely
heard,

The voice melodious of that fabled bird:
And then the Trojan town's grey wall
he sees,

And his own hamlet in the shady trees,
And evening comes as lovely as of yore,
When last it warned him from his cottage
door,
[the sea,
To seek the neighbouring town and cross
For the lone hills of distant Galilee.
Oxford.

R. N.

SONNET TO THE MOON.

PALE wanderer, through your starry welkin's height,

That smil'st serenely on this earthly ball; How oft attentive to the midnight's call I hail thy balcyon beams of heavenly light,

And view thee in celestial beauties dight,

Shedding thy gentle influence over all, Save when the murky clouds, with mantling pail,

Conceal thy heavenly charms from earthly sight.

Beloved moon! how sweet it is to stray,
Amid the woodlands when thou rid'st
supreme,

And to enraptured Fancy's sight display,
Aerial beings floating in thy beam!-
It calms the tumults of the troubled mind,
And lifts the ecstatic soul to joys refin'd.
York.
J. H. F.

LOVE is no flame

That would destroy the earthly tene-
ment;

Within its solitary residence :
But is a lamp to cheer the inmate soul

The man by that irradiate is at peace,
Inspirited to do all noble acts!
Is softened, dignified, invigorate,

It hath no burning, neither madness in it;
But like th' extensive beneficial sun,
It harms not any, but communicates
Its genial warmth and light to all man.
kind.

But there's a flame which though hot
headed youths

Do call it Love, is only Lust, and that
Doth burn, and burn, and madden in the

bosom,

Which is the pure ethereal spark of God,
And is a quality in seraph's breast,
To fix his own infernal torture there!
J. A. HARAUD.

A SONG

For the Anniversary of the LITERARY FUND,
May 4, 1820. By W. T. FITZGERALD;
and sung by JOHN BRAHAM, Esq. at
Free-mason's Hall.

BLESS'D be the task to yield relief

To want, disease, or pining care!
But, doubly bless'd! to soothe the Grief
Of minds that border on despair!
No Otway, now, shall pine for Bread;

NO BUTLER find a thankless court

Our KING bids genius raise his head,
And Learning's claims shall meet sup
port.

Of all the charities that bind

Affection's cords about the breast,
Like Heaven's the work to heal the mind,
And renovate the heart opprest'
Then honour'd be the happy day

That gave your lib'ral system birth!
The clouds from genius pass away,
And Hors shall dawn on modest worth!

STANZAS

Appears to fire the sky; the billowy clouds,
His canopy, with awful graudeur glow:-

The moonlight sweet and lovely fell, To the far East the crimson splendour

HISTORICAL CHRONICLE.

PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, May 8. Mr. Baring presented a petition from a most respectable body of merchants of the City of London against the present restrictive system of trade, and praying for the repeal of the prohibitory duties imposed upon articles imported into England from foreign countries. The Petition, among other allegations, stated, "That of the numerous protective and prohibitory duties of our commercial code, it could be proved, that while all operate as a very heavy tax on the community at large, very few are of any ultimate benefit to the classes in whose favour they were originally instituted, and none to the extent of loss occasioned by them to other classes."

Mr. F. Robinson (President of the Board of Trade) said, that the subject excited great feeling throughout the country, and many individuals in that House would feel it their duty to bring the subject distinctly under consideration. When it came before the House, Government would give it their best consideration; but he had never been able to persuade himself that there was anything so radically wrong, or so essentially prejudicial, in the nature of the present law, as to make an alteration necessary.

Mr. George Phillips, Mr. W. Douglas, Mr. Beaumont, Lord Millon, Mr. Ricardo, Mr. Ellice, Mr. Marryatt, and Mr. T. Wilson, severally spoke on the subject. The petition was ordered to lie on the table, and to be printed.

On the motion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the report on the Civil List was read, and the resolutions were read the first time. On the motion that the resolutions be read a second time, Lord John Russell urged the necessity of inquiry, and the abrogation of many offices, which might be spared without derogating in any respect from the dignity of the crown. That such an office as that of master of hawks belonged to olden times, and had once contributed to the splendour and dignity of the crown, was surely no reason for continuing it at the present day, when it was entirely useless. If such situations were to be held from respect to ancient usage, and without any regard to their utility, the king ought still, on the same principle, to have his fool, and be allowed straw for his beds, and litter for his chambers. After some further discussion, in which Mr. Huskisson, Mr. Tierney, Mr. Canning, and Mr. Brougham par

ticipated, the House divided, when the amendment was negatived by 256 to 157. The resolutions were read a second time.

May 9.

Sir James Mackintosh said, that the Committee, of whose sentiments he was the humble organ, were persuaded that some alteration might safely be ventured upon with regard to that large class of crimes which ranged themselves under the head of forgery. They were of opinion, that the offence of simply uttering what was forged might be expiated by a less punishment than that of death. Transportation, or hard labour for life, seemed to them an equally wise alternative in such cases. They thought also, that the act making it capital to steal to the amount of 40s. in a dwelling house, might be repealed without any danger to society. Sir James concluded by moving for the appointment of a select committee to consider the state of our laws with regard to the punishment of crimes. (Hear, Hear.)

Mr. Bennet would recommend the abo lition of the present mode of punishtnent of high treason. There never was an execution which left behind it feelings of a more painful nature than the late melancholy executions at the Old Bailey. The last act of that dreadful ceremony-the appearance of a disguised individual as an assistant, had not a little increased the universal horror. He hoped this barbarous ceremony would be repealed.

Mr. Canning said, that no resistance would be offered to the motions of which notice had been given; but this remark must be understood as applying only to the introduction of the subject, and that Government should not stand committed to any fixed opinions until an opportunity was offered of further and mature deliberation.

Lord John Russell obtained leave to bring in a Bill for disfranchising the borough of Grampound from sending Members to Parliament, and for extending the right of suffrage to the borough of Leeds. The bill to operate at the conclusion of the present Parliament, or in case any vacancy occurred in the borough of Grampound before that period. The right of suffrage, which he proposed for the borough of Leeds, would extend to persons renting houses of the value of five pounds per annum. The bill was brought in, and read the first time. May 10.