Character of Lord Bacon; his Life and Works. By
Thomas Martin, Barrister at Law, Maxwell.

This little volume has pleased us extremely. It is a collection of personal notices illustrative of the character of Bacon, made from his letters, and woven, together with a popular account of his principal works, into a brief yet impressive narrative of his life. It is a highly interesting, able, and successful effort. Its criticism is invariably pleasing and scholarlike; while its selections from the correspondence present a series of such profound truths, as would be looked for in vain in any other autobiography. "Such letters as are written from wise men are of all the words of man, in my judgment, the best; for they are more natural than orations and public speeches, and more advised than conferences or present speeches. They are the best instructions for history, and, to a diligent reader, the best histories in themselves." This was Lord Bacon's own opinion. In himself, the wisest of men, it has found its most forcible illustration. -Examiner

Standard French works. Souvenirs, Impressions, Pensées et Paysages pendant un Voyage en Orient, (18321833,) ou Notes d'un Voyageur. Vol. II. Par M. Alphonse de Lamartine, Membre de l'Académie Française. En deux volumes. Edward Churton, Holles street; J. B. Bailliere, 219, Regent street.

This volume completes De Lamartine's Travels in the East, which were commenced in the first one. This gifted French traveller has seen every thing with the eye of a poet, and not the less clearly on that account. Notwithstanding the glowing ardour of his expressions, his descriptions give us as faithful impressions as do those of the merest matter-of-fact writer, who ever measured distances, and chronicled the variations of a thermometer.

of its wonderful details, we strongly recommend this work. It should be read in schools.

A Twelvemonth's Residence in the West Indies during the Transition of Slavery to Apprenticeship. By B. R. Madden, M.D. 2 vols. [Republished by Carey, Lea and Blanchard.]

There is as much amusement, and information also, in these two volumes, as could have been spun into three, had the ordinary book-making system been followed; but Dr. Madden has done well and wisely in concentrating, and thus making every page tell something that we like, or something that we ought, to know. Doctor Madden went out as one of the stipendiary magistrates, and consequently had great opportunities of observing the effects produced by the transition from slavery to apprenticeship amongst the negroes. His opinion most decidedly is, that immediate emancipation would produce better results than the present system of apprenticeship; he does not appear so averse to apprenticeship if it were, or were likely to be, carried into effect fully, fairly, and in its genuine spirit; but he assigns various reasons why this has not been, and cannot (under existing circumstances) be the case. He desires that total abolition and payment of compensation money should be simultaneous. It is not easy to glean from these voluines facts whereon those who are interested in the question can only form their own opinion, for people cannot be expected to relinquish or exchange property upon the opinion of others; but to the generality of readers the "Residence" is no less interesting on this account. The sketches of living manners are vivid and picturesque: the original negro letters inimitable. The specimens of negro oratory quite unique; indeed, we know of nothing more original than Mathews's cunning speech, commencing

like a good neger, and a perfect Christian on Salisbury "Well, Massa, since de day me born, me always live

plain."

There is some very heterodox, and, to an Englishman, unpalatable policy propounded, as regards the falling Turkish empire. We welcome this undertaking heartily, as it will serve to strengthen the literary communion between ourselves and the French, and this mutual knowledge of our talents will increase mutual respect, and, consequently, mutual good understanding. Mr. A visit to the bottom of the "deep, deep sea," and a Churton could not have selected a better work wherewith voyage through the realms of air, would seem likely to to commence his laudable undertaking, in which, for become as casy of accomplishment, by means of Deane's many reasons, we wish that he may find general patron-diving apparatus and the aerial ship, as a trip to France age, and an encouraging success.

This is but a small book, but very precious, from the condensed richness of its contents. We never before saw the whole scheme of modern geology so luminously and elegantly exemplified. There is as little of technical jargon in it as may be, yet it is highly scientific as well as beautifully written. On those points in which the author differs from Mr. Lyell, he is temperate and argumentative, and we are inclined to think him in the right. Whether our beautiful planet came into the state we now see it, by the long wearing effects of causes operating gradually and certainly under our immediate observation, or whether it was produced by an instantaneous and general convulsion, we have neither the limits, and, we candidly confess, the geological skill to determine. We incline to the latter opinion. But we believe that the question will not be satisfactorily determined until this still infant science has attained the strength and activity of adolescence. To all who may wish to acquire a short cut, a right royal road to the full understanding of the principles and the ends of geology, with very many too VOL. XXVII. OCTOBER, 1835-56

by steam.

SUBMARINE RESEARCH.

Mr. Deane, the inventor of the diving apparatus, has opened an exhibition at that focus of sights, 209 Regent street, of some of the various spoils that he has rescued from Neptune's kingdom, together with his diving dress and apparatus. The room is lined with pictures, showing the different operations he has carried on under water, and the simple machinery by which he is enabled to effect them; and the sides of the floor, made to represent the bed of the ocean, are strewed with the fragments of wrecks. The only valuable trophy exhibited is one of the brass guns, a four-and-twenty pounder, brought up by Mr. Deane from the wreck of the Royal George, lying in seventy-two feet of water. Mr. Deane has not only recovered anchors and cargoes of sunken ships, but he has succeeded in raising a foundered vessel (the sloop Endeavour), which has since been repaired fit for sea. The utility of the apparatus in enabling architects and engineers personally to inspect the foundations of piers, docks, &c., and to effect slight repairs under water with perfect ease and safety, is evident. It must entirely supersede the diving bell; indeed, it is a diving bell for the head.

Mr. Deane, who attends the exhibition, says that he feels no inconvenience when under water: he is well wrapped in flannel underneath a waterproof dress, and is protected from the pressure of the water on the chest

442

SALT'S EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES-POLITICAL CARICATURES.

722. A Græco-Egyptian mummy, 4l. 108. Mr. Pettigrew.

723. A wooden sarcophagus, 101. 10s. Mr. Pettigrew. 764. A solid silver statue of Jupiter Ammon, eight and a half inches high, 105l. Mr. Hawkins. 822. A papyrus from Thebes, in Hieratic characters, 12l. 12s. Mr. Payne.

by a stiff belt; so that he feels neither cold nor difficulty of breathing. The light under water is of a greenish hazy hue, and sufficient to see a few feet round. At first he carried a lantern, which was supplied with air from that which he had respired; but he has since dispensed with it, and the foul air escapes round the shoulders of the helmet. The air-pump is in a vessel above, to which is attached a rope or wooden ladder, and a guide-rope to prevent the diver from wandering too far away. He ascends and descends through the surrounding water with the same ease as above ground. This apparatus might 838. A statue kneeling, in basalt, thirteen inches high, be employed with great advantage in the pearl fishery-from the temple of Bubastes, in Lower Egypt, 601. Sir coral and rare shells might be procured ad libitum. The C. Greville. diver's occupation is not gone, but only agreeably facilitated.

SALT'S EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES. Messrs. Sotheby's nine days' sale of these interesting remains, which ended on Wednesday, having naturally attracted the attention of scholars, antiquaries, and the public in general, we have made a point of copying a few of the most striking articles from the catalogue, with their prices and destination.

Lot 23. A statue of Osiris, with a roll of papyrus at the back, 21. 28.

60. A necklace of thirty-nine large heads of bright blue porcelain, fastened with gold, 14. 10s.-Thebes. Mr. Hawkins, (who bought throughout for the British Museum.)

74. An agate cylinder, engraved, representing a Persian king in a triumphal car, shooting at a lion, 221.— Lower Egypt. Mr. Hawkins.

84. A curious altar of cleven pieces, with a line of hieroglyphics on each piece, 481. 68. Mr. Hawkins.

133. Statue of a kneeling female in calcareous stone, sixteen inches high, the only statue that has been found as yet in the city of Aletheus, Exilios, 201. 88. Lord Prudhoc.

149. Mummy of a small child, in case, 361.-150. Mummy of a female of high quality, in case, 105/. Mr. Hawkins. The latter was beautifully ornamented; and was represented externally with many rings on her fin. gers and thumbs.

283. A papyrus in hieroglyphic character, highly ornamented with figures of divinity, &c., 1681.-Thebes. Mr. Steevens.

298. The mummy of a priest, 151. 15s. 343. A pair of eyes, set in bronze, taken from a mummy, 61. 88.-Memphis. Mr. Rogers.

351. A scarabeus of lapis lazuli, set in a gold ring, 51. -Memphis. Mr. Cohen.

397, 399, 402. Curious bronze statues from Thebes: small sums.

403. An offertory, containing twenty-six pieces from a tomb in Abydos, 421. 58. Mr. Hawkins.

404. A water bottle and bowl from the same tomb, 10l. 108. Mr. Cuerton.

408. A king's hatchet, silver and alloy handle, 521. 5s. -Thebes. Mr. Hawkins.

409. A dagger, silver and ivory handle, 251, 10s. Cuerton.

Mr.

438. A female mummy, in a case of composition, 171. 513. The model of a boat, as represented in a funeral procession, 771. 48.

514. Another nearly similar model, 821.

515. Model of an Egyptian house, with court-yard,

841,

827, 828. Two rolls of papyrus from Thebes; and 829, a perfect papyrus in Hieratic character, beautifully figured in black, 911. Mr. Fentall.

839. The bust of a colossal statue of Rameses the Great, in hard calcarcous stone, 1001. Mr. Hawkins. 852. The mummy of a royal personage, in two cases, a very fine specimen, 3201. 58. Mr. Hawkins. 927. A painted box, with hieroglyphics on the cover, 20l. 5s.-Thebes. Lord Prudhoe.

954. A Greek epistolary papyrus, 351.-Memphis. Mr. Hawkins.

1078. A small figure of a monkey, partly engraved, partly covered with gold, 41.- Thebes. Mr. Rogers. 1084. A mirror of mixed material, with an ebony han. dle, in bas relief, 291.-Memphis. Lord Prudhoe. 1125. A Græco-Egyptian male mummy, 271. Mr. Steevens.

1169. Mummy of a dancing girl, 281. 58. Mr. Hawkins.

POLITICAL CARICATURES.

HB's last batch is a very amusing one. "The triumph of Forensic Eloquence," is one of his happiest sketches, both in the idea and its execution. Sir Charles Wetherell, in a triumphal chariot, accompanied by his colleague Mr. Knight, is leading the Duke of Wellington captive in the chains of his eloquence. Sir Charles's costume displays that hiatus between the upper and nether garments that is the peculiar characteristic of his lax habits; and his wig is crowned with bays. The duke, with downcast eyes and fettered hands, follows, meekly bending with submissive admiration. Mr. Knight eyes the captive through his glass; but Sir Charles scarcely deigns to throw a leer of recognition, and holds his countenance with Roman self-command. The very horses (which are admirably drawn, by the way) have a lordly air; and a close inspection of the heads will satisfy the curious of their individual resemblances. Fame, blowing two trum pets (the tory press), precedes the conquerors.

"The Derby Dilly taken in tow by the Patent Safety" is a capital hit at the isolated position of those two trimmers, Peel and Stanley. The Derby Dilly, empty and shabby, has been deserted by its coachman and cad; and is dragged along by Peel's Patent Safety, with one poor miserable hack,-just as we see the mail-coaches, of a morning, being taken to be repaired. The Patent Safety is passengerless; except that the driver of the Dilly has got on the roof to keep company with his brother in mis fortune, its coachman Peel; and the Derby cad has taken his seat on the dickey,-intimating, we may suppose,

that it's "all dickey," as the slang phrase runs, with poor Sir James.

HB's graphic illustration of the nature of "Normal Schools" is droll enough. Joseph Hume is receiving an initiatory lesson in the study of the graces, from a spider-limbed cutter of capers: but though Joseph has caught up his coat-tails to give an air of lightness and elegance to his movements, his head seems busied with other figures than those of the dance. Another still more ungainly pupil, in the back-ground, exhibits in his attempts at saltatory grace that attitude most common to those paper figures whose movements are regulated by a string between the legs. Lord Brougham, seated at the side of the performance, by his applauses encourages the students: but in this department the efforts of the schoolmaster seem likely to prove abortive.

"Musa dedit fidibus Divos, puerosque Deorum,
Et pugilem victorem, et equum certamine primum,
Et juvenum curas, et libera vina referre,"

These various subjects are treated with the power and
the grace which so eminently adorn and distinguish our
author's lyric poetry; which, as usual, has also the im-
press of a mind well stored with the literature of the
East, as well as that of Greece and Rome.

Dark was the Night," Ballad-" A Parting Blessing,"
Chorus. By John Thomson.

O'Connell, who, since our last notice of HB's sketches," has figured as a Roc bearing off in his claws Lord John Russell,- -now blazes forth as the approaching comet, These pieces form part of the music in the Shadow on with a tail whose luminousness hardly allows us a sight the Wall, an afterpiece produced this season at the Engof its component parts. Ireland is in flames, and English Opera-house They afford additional evidence of land too has caught fire from a whisk of the celestial agitator.

From the London Spectator.
NEW MUSIC.

Ten New Songs and two Vocal Duets.--By Thomas
Moore, Esq.

Mr. Thomson's ability as a dramatic writer; and display, in very different ways, the power of associating appropriate and descriptive music to poetry. The chorus is singularly graceful and pleasing. We are happy to learn, from the Chronicle, that Mr. Thomson's talent is again put in requisition by the manager of the English Opera-house; where our prediction respecting the fate of the Vampire was very speedily accomplished.

"Send around the Ruby Treasure."-By L. Spohr. This is the fine bass song from Faust, "Stille noch diess Wuthverlangen," which Lablach sung with such effect at the Philharmonic. It is here turned into a drinking song, and therefore materially damaged, the music befitting the dark character and purpose of Mephistopheles, and not the joyous exhilarations of the festive board.

The functions of the poet and the musician have long been exercised separately, though it had been well for the interest of the sister arts if they had been more frequently united. Music was once in favour with our poets: Shakspeare has recorded his attachment to Dowland, and Milton his friendship for Lawes; and it was reserved for their humble successors to speak of the musician's labours with uniform indifference or contempt. In many instances this has been deserved. Nearly two centuries ago, it was said by one of the best melodists of his time," "The way of composition I cheerfully profess, which is to shape notes to the words and sense, is not hit by too many; and I have been often sad to observe some otherwise able musicians guilty of lapses and mistakes in this way;" and the complaint may be made with too much justice at the present moment, when words frequently seem as if they had been adapted to notes almost at random, rather than prompted by the inspiration of poetry.

Mr. Moore, in some of his former publications, occasionally resumed the ancient functions of the bard, and gave vocal expression to his own poetry; but the present work is entirely his own. He has not disdained to court each of the "sphere-born, harmonious sisters," if not with equal success. But his musical knowledge, though limited, has eminently contributed to his success as a lyric writer; it is only thus that we can account for the fact that his poetry of this class is uniformly most happily fitted for vocal expression, and therefore eagerly sought after by the musician. Many otherwise beautiful songs are destitute of this character: however well they read, they are often incapable of being well set. Should any lines unapt for musical expression creep into Moore's songs, he discovers and rejects them; and hence they stand forth perfect models of their class.

His musical knowledge is not profound, but it is sufficient for his purpose; and probably his metre and his melody spring up together. The latter is always simple, frequently graceful, though seldom original. He never ventures beyond his depth, or attempts a pedantic display of musical erudition. Every word has its proper emphasis and meaning; and the songs may be sung with even more expression than they could be recited. Waller's commendation of one" who had newly set a song of his," may be justly applied to Moore :

La Verginella è simile alla rosa."-Canzonetta by P.
Cianchettini.

These beautiful lines of Ariosto, which in their original or translated form have attracted the attention of musicians of all countries, were set by Byrde, and form the poetry of the first madrigal by an English writer. They will afterwards be found in the Beggar's Opera, in the song "Virgins are like the fair flower," adapted to a delightful air of Purcell's; then in Spohr's Azor and Zemira, to whose music Tom Moore wrote the song "Rose of the desert;" and now Cianchettini has made them the subject of a canzonet. The attempt is not a very successful one, and discovers no musical power at all commensurate with that of the poetry. The passages are trite, and the (so called) ornaments are more adapt. ed for instrumental than vocal effect.

The Germ of fine Pianoforte-playing.-By J. D. Rohlffs. Mr. Rohlffs, though a resident in England, retains his German abhorrence of the superficial mode of instruction which prevails too generally in this country. Like all the elementary works of his countrymen, this proceeds by slow and cautious steps, "line upon line, and precept upon precept." Page after page is allotted to the developement of the same principle; and, unquestionably, for those who wish to acquire musical knowledge, this is the plan to be pursued. But this is scarcely a desideratum with the majority of our pianoforte players, whose views seldom extend beyond the power to play a few popular airs which they have previously heard at the opera-house or the theatre. The sum of musical knowledge necessary to acquire this facility is very scanty, and often does not embrace even the power of distinguishing between the major and minor modes, or the separate intervals in the diatonic scale. To this class

of learners Mr. Rohlff's book will be useless; but to those who desire to acquire the power of correct reading as well as of correct fingering, and who wish to combine some musical knowledge with the mechanical power of exercising their fingers on the keys, it will be a valuable

source of instruction.

Lotabilia.

taking shelter under the cliffs, coasts among the marine villas, and through rocky excavations, until he finds him. self in the centre of a vast port, which unites in pleasing confusion the bustle of a commercial town with the amusements of a fashionable watering place!" Sure enough, as the song says

"Soon the rail roads will be
Over land, and over sea!

When the science of steam has so far got,
At noon you may dine

With a friend on the Rhine,

And sup with the Nabob of Arcot."

MR. BANIM'S BENEFIT.-There was a performance at NORTHERN EXPEDITION.-M. Gaymard, surgeon and our theatre last night for the benefit of poor Banim, the naturalist to the expedition sent by the French govern-author of the O'Hara Tales, who has been for some ment to discover the fate of the Lilloise and her crew, weeks in this city in a state of extreme physical debility. commanded by M. Jules de Blosseville, has sent word to All parties cordially united on this occasion to testify his employers that the information collected in Iceland their esteem and sympathy for the suffering author. The leaves but little hope of attaining the object of the expe- lord-lieutenant and a considerable number of the leaddition. Besides what he retains on board, M. Gaymarding gentry were present. The house was very well hopes to send forward to the Jardin des Plantes numer-filled. The profits of the benefit will be about 2001.— ous treasures in natural history. He also makes daily Dublin Correspondence.

meteorological observations, and has ascertained that a EDINBURGH REVIEW AND MRS. BUTLER'S AMERICAN period of unusually cold weather occurred in Iceland at JOURNAL.-This is an excellent number, though it conthe time that the United States suffered from a remarka-tains a good deal of Jacobinical and republican cant on bly low temperature.

THE CHAMELEON.-Dr. Duvernoy, Professor of Zoology at Strasburg, is said to have made some interesting observations on the mode of nourishment peculiar to the chameleon, of which there is a living specimen at that place. It never drinks, but feeds on flies and spiders, and is very fond of butterflies. Its tongue will seize its prey more than a foot distant! but the mechanism which enables it so suddenly to dart forth and draw back this organ, yet remains to be discovered.

the subject of the Irish church. These writers have no more feeling for religion than they have for a steam engine; they consider one to be a machine of commerce, and the other a machine of state. There is a strong twang of deism in these Edinburgh writers, and their scepticism approaches nearly to infidelity. Among the many articles this number contains, there is a very pleas ant and good natured review of Mrs Butler's "Ameri can Journal." The work itself is a silly, conceited, vulgar piece of trash; but the reviewers have overlooked ALARMING INTELLIGENCE.-M. Gruithuzen, the well-all its faults, and found out some beauties which have known astronomer of Munich, has declared, that in the escaped us in the disgusting mass of its vanity and bad short period of 1,050,000 years from the present time, taste.-Bell's Weekly Messenger. our globe will be absorbed by the sun, and thus consumed by solar fire.

MATHEWS'S LIBRARY.-Bibliographers heap up books and know not who shall gather them. Here is a catalogue from Mr. Sotheby, announcing that the miscellaneous and dramatic library of the deceased CHARLES MATHEWS is next week coming to the hammer, with his engraved theatrical portraits, his autograph letters, and his collection of theatrical relics; all brought together by their late possessor with care, judgment and expense, to grati. fy his taste; capable of illustrating the history of the stage and the biographies of its heroes; and now-if each lot should find a separate purchaser-about to be scattered in nine hundred and ninety-six directions. Sie

LITERARY ANTIQUITIES.-Mr. Thorpe has just published a select catalogue of books on sale, under the title of Bibliotheca Selecta; a Catalogue of the choicest and most rare collection of Books ever offered for sale: which is truly worthy of its title, and contains some nice picking for the lover of rare books. The antiquarian may thence store his shelves with complete sets of the publications of the Bannatyne and Roxburghe clubs, and with some choice volumes of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Among the rarest of the early poetry is a copy of the modern Greek poem of the Theseis, sive de Nuptiis The-transit gloria bibliothecæ. sei et Emilia, which has been by some supposed to be the original of the Theseid of Boccaccio, on which Chaucer formed his Knight's Tale. The historian will also find in Mr. Thorpe's catalogue some valuable articles, particularly those relating to the early history of America; among which we may mention, as a singular curiosity, three editions of the original letter of Columbus, giving an account of his discoveries: and the artist will be delighted to see a fine copy of the illustrations of the Apocalypse, by Albert Durer, and one of the most magnificent collections ever formed of the works of De Bry; the latter in thirty volumes, folio. We may also mention MENAGERIE ELOQUENCE.-"The honely genvine specias great curiosities, a copy of the Promptorium Parvulo-ment in the huniwersal globle of the East Ingy rhinosyrum, and the large collection by Haslewood, of works cross, wot was cotched on the top of the North Pole, by relating to the history of the English stage. Captain Ross; and of the vonderful hoorang hootang as valloped three Hottenpots in Wan Demon's Land, and was only capturated arter it had drink't three gallons of rum toddy."-Camberwell Fair.

at Battersea-fields, between R. J. Mackintosh, Esq., atDUEL-A meeting took place on Wednesday evening tended by Major-General Sir John Campbell, and William Wallace, Esq., attended by Dr. Richard Burke. The word having been given, Mr. Mackintosh's pistol missed fire, and Mr. Wallace fired in the air. A second fire took place without effect, and the parties, after a mutual explanation, shook hands. The affair arose out of certain passages in Mr. Mackintosh's Life of his Father, impugning (though not by name) the conduct of Mr. Wallace.

RAILWAYS.-Railways, we observe, are becoming the fashion in Ireland, as well as in England. "Hurried forward by the agency of steam," observes the writer of a description of the line of rail road from Dublin to Kings- MRS. SOMERVILLE-Even in the lowest class of rustic town, "the astonished passenger glides, like Asmodeus, geniuses there is some stimulus of ambition and comover the summits of the houses and streets of our city-panionship: boys applaud and encourage one another; presently is transported through green fields and tufts of a girl usually hides her occupations. Ferguson was trees-then skims across the surface of the sea, and nothing to Mrs. Somerville. Imagine a pretty young

woman--the darling of a family, addicted to the gay life | principal part. Its form is as near as possible that of the usual to idle people in a large city, liked as well as ad- fashionable eye-glass of the present day, neatly engraven, mired by every one, only chidden sometimes by her rela- and the rivets are of brass. It has a ring at the top, by tions for reading too much, and told how unamiable it which it has in all probability been attached to a chain, was to be a blue-stocking-stealing away into her solita-and thus worn as an ornament. On the obverse is a ry chamber, to pore unaided over the difficulties of ge- striking profile of Flavius Domitian, with the inscription ometry and algebra, and commune with the stars. How" Flavius Domit.," and on the reverse is a man on horsedeep, how generous and beautiful, was the enthusiasm of back, the animal in a trot, and a man elevating a whip, that young mind!-how clear and ardent the spirit, that seemingly in the act of urging it forward, with the motto, would "scorn delights, and live laborious days," for no "Homo et Equus." Flavius Domitian was the second reward but the pleasure of exercising its strong energies! son of Flavius Vespasian, who reigned froin A.D. 81 to 96, -how lofty that pure ambition, which was content with in which year he was assassinated, so that the signet, it is victory, and required not applause!-Thoughts on the La-likely, is between 1700 and 1800 years old, and yet the dies of the Aristocracy. [Victory is not the word, it is letters and every part of the engraving are distinct and too vulgar for its place-too vulgar for application to the perfect. object of Mrs. Somerville-knowledge is the simple and appropriate word.]