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in his faith, and has just now expired before the eyes and at the command of her own father. The Jew sinks down and expires. The Cardinal rushes to the cauldron and bears Rachael from it fainting in his arms. Such is the story, arrayed round which is a pageantry that has never been equalled on the stage. For boldness and ingenuity of contrivance in the production of effect Mr. Bunn has far surpassed all his former efforts, and houses nightly crowded must convince everybody that taste and enterprise will even now meet their reward in this "degraded" age of the drama. The music of the piece is by M. Halevy, who was rewarded on the first appearance of the original opera at Paris by the Cross of the Legion of Honour-with what justice, we will leave more competent tribunals to determine. Our first impression was, that the Cross of the Legion of Honour must have been at something of a discount before such a little music could have obtained what would at one time have been so great a recompense.

OLYMPIC THEATRE.

"Comfortable Service" is the last novelty at this novelty-loving and elegant little theatre. "Comfortable Service" to Simon (Mr. Keeley) and his fellow-servant (Mrs. Orger) proves to be an uncomfortable affair. He is suspected of robbing his master, and she is thereby in danger of losing her sweetheart. Her desire to extricate him, the female disguise he assumes, and his detection of a systematized plan of robbery carried on by the two butlers of neighbouring families, are the staple commodities of the piece. In the garb of a lady's-maid Simon has obtained admission to the house of the neighbouring family, where the last scene discovers a bedroom and a plate-chest, with-powers of gravity defend us!-Mr. Keeley in a woman's night-dress perambulating the chamber in the character of a somnambulist. The robbers, who enter during this vagary, find a sleepwalker armed at all hands, for he immediately assumes an attitude of attack, and frustrates the intruders. This clears his character, and he obtains the hand of his fellow-servant as a reward for his valour and honesty. The ludicrous acting of Keeley and Mrs. Orger would have made a less attractive burletta completely successful.

THE ADELPHI THEATRE.

There are reports afloat connected with this establishment of a nature calculated to provoke the reprobation of all lovers of theatricals, and to give a show of reason to any objections that the enemies of the drama may ever have advanced with regard to its immoral tendency. Scenes, similar to those which may be witnessed among the most dissolute class frequenting the booths that disgrace a race-course, it is insinuated take place at the back of the theatre. Entertainments are found where the most dreadful act in the drama of dissipation is nightly likely to be realised. The party said to hold this property in the minds of many gives a colour to those reports which it would be a source of pleasure to be able to contradict. We are only performing an unpleasant duty in alluding to them, which, if true, will as certainly deteriorate the value of the theatre, as it will heap shame upon the heads of all nearly or remotely engaged.

2 N

Dec.-VOL. XLV. NO. CLXXX.

PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

The balance in favour of the Society on the 1st of November was declared to be 7621. 4s. 1d. Upwards of 8000 persons visited the gardens in October. Among the accessions to the collection there during the last month, is a male specimen of that rare and interesting creature the chimpanzee (Simia troglodytes). Having received intelligence of its arrival at Bristol, the council despatched one of the chief keepers to Bristol to purchase it, in which he succeeded. The keeper then made arrangements for the conveyance of his charge to London; and after some difficulty (owing to objections on the part of the coach proprietors to receive them), he succeeded in obtaining two inside places in one of the night coaches. The little fellow, the monkey, proved a good traveller, and reached the gardens in excellent health and spirits. He appears at present to be remarkably gentle and docile, very sensible of kindnesses shown to him, and has become much attached to the old woman who acts as his nurse, and who assists the keeper in taking care of him. Capt. Wood, who brought him to this country, states that he is a native of Western Africa, was obtained on the coast south of Sierra Leone, and was captured up the interior of the country about the distance of 100 miles. When first seen he was in the arms of his mother, who unfortunately was sacrificed in order to secure the young one. There was lately presented to the society, by H. B. Campbell, Esq., a white variety of the blackbird (Turdus merula). It is now living at the gardens; and we give the following note respecting it:This curious specimen is of the common blackbird kind-the Merle noir of Temminck. It is entirely white, including the plumage, beak, legs, and feet; and was discovered near a farm-house in the occupation of Mr. Owkam, at Bilsthorpe, Notts. There were two other young ones in the nest, the plumage of which, as well as that of the parent birds, was of the ordinary caste. The present specimen is a male bird; but though he has the quickly-repeated chirp, and all the habits of his kind, Nature, when she altered her regular course, and presented him with his snowy costume, seems therefore to have denied to him the usual vocal powers of his tribe. He is no warbler; but, from his frequent fruitless attempts, it may be inferred that he feels the dear price at which he has been permitted to wear his novel and attractive plumage.

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

A communication was read, containing an account, by Dr. Pingel of Copenhagen, of the changes which have been noticed in the relative level of land and sea on the west coast of Greenland, between 60° and 65° N. lat. By these observations it appears, that there are at several points along this extensive range of coast the remains of ancient buildings, which are now more or less covered by the tide. The earliest recorded observation was made by Arctander, between 1777 and 1779, on a small island in the Firth called Igalliko. On this island, then almost entirely submerged at spring tides, were the walls of a house; and when Dr. Pingel visited the place, half a century after, only the ruins rose above the water. Some notes by Captain Fitzroy, and communicated by Captain Beaufort, were then read, on the effects produced by the earthquake in February last on the currents of the coast of Chili. A letter from Mr. Alison, of Valparaiso, to the president, gave an account of the destruction, at that period, of Conception, with the ports of Talcahuano and Maule; and stated that the earthquake was felt to the southward in the Indian territory, opposite the Island of Chiloe, lat. 43° 8'; and to the northward, beyond Copiapo, lat. 27° 8'; at Mendoza, on the east side of the Andes; and by a ship 100

miles to the westward of Conception. It gave an account, also, of the effects of the earthquake at the Island of Juan Fernandez (300 miles from the coast), where the sea, agitated in the same manner as at Talcahuano, first retired, then rushed over the land, and destroyed the houses belonging to the convicts. Professor Sedgwick read extracts of letters addressed by Mr. Darwin to Professor Henslo. They referred principally to the writer's observations on the tertiary formations of Patagonia and Chili, and on the changes of level between land and sea, which he noticed in those countries. The letters contained, also, an account of his discovery of the remains of the Megatherium over a district of 600 miles in extent to the southward of Buenos Ayres; and a highly important description of the geological structure of the pass of Uspallata, in the Andes, where he discovered alternations of vast tertiary and igneous formations, and the existence, in the former, of veins of true granite, and of gold and other metals.

VARIETIES.

Railway Speculations.-The following table, professedly not a complete one, of the railroad speculations now afloat, has just been published:

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Consumption of Spirits.-An account of the number of proof gallons of spirits permitted out from the stock of every distiller in England, Scotland, and Ireland, betwixt the 5th of January, 1834, and the 5th of January,

1835

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Notwithstanding the provocatives of GIN PALACES-those glaring traps into which the laborious classes but too willingly enter-the above account

shows a falling off of ONE-FIFTH in the "home consumption" of spirits! The merest drabs and wrecks of both sexes are now the chief dramdrinkers. When they are conspicuous as the only class, people will be ashamed to enter the gin-dens.

The Royal Society Gold Medals, for 1837 (two of 50 guineas each, presented by the King), are to be awarded as follows:-One to the author of the best paper to be entitled "Contributions towards a System of Geologi cal Chronology, founded on an examination of Fossil Remains and their attendant Phenomena ;" and the other to the author of the most important unpublished paper on physics which may have been communicated to the Royal Society for insertion in their Transactions between the 1st of March, 1835, and June, 1837. The competition is open, by command of his Majesty, to the scientific men of all nations.

Expenses of Criminal Prosecutions.-Lord John Russell has addressed a letter from the Home Office, to the Clerks of the Peace, calling the attention of the Magistrates assembled at Quarter Sessions to a recent Act of Parliament, by which it is enacted that a sum of money, not exceeding 110,000l., may be issued and applied to defray in the year 1835 certain charges hitherto paid out of the county rates, which it is intended should be appropriated in the following manner, viz. :

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£80,000

£30,000

"Towards the payment of the expenses of criminal prosecutions of the Assizes and Sessions in England and Wales "For the conveyance of convicts from the several prisons to the Hulks or Depôts for convicts In preparing the estimate upon which the grant of 110,000% was made by Parliament, his Lordship observes, "it was considered that that sum would be sufficient to relieve the county rates throughout England and Wales from the charge of one-half of the expenses of criminal prosecutions at the assizes and sessions, and of the whole of the expense incurred for the conveyance of persons under sentence of transportation to the depôts for convicts; and, he adds, his Majesty's government is desirous that no time should be lost in appropriating the money to the purposes for which it was granted." For the purpose of accomplishing this object his Lordship has thought it necessary to call for certain returns from the several Clerks of Assize, who attend the assizes in the several counties of England and Wales.

Joint-Stock Banks.-The aggregate amount of notes circulated in England and Wales, by private banks and joint-stock banks, in the four quarters of the year ending 27th June, 1835, is as follows:-Quarter ending 27th Sept., 1834, private banks, 8,370,4237.; joint-stock banks, 1,783,6897.; total, 10,154,1127. Quarter ending 28th December, 1834, private, 8,537,6557.; joint-stock, 2,122,173; total, 10,659,8287. Quarter ending 28th March, 1835, private, 8,231,2067.; joint-stock, 2,188,9547.; total, 10,420,1607. Quarter ending 27th of June, 1835, 8,455,1147.; jointstock, 2,484,6877.; total, 10,939,8017.

Cotton and Sugar Exports.-The official and declared value of the cotton manufactures exported from Great Britain from the 5th January to 5th July, 1835, is 8,196,9477.; of cotton yarn, 2,641,358.; of refined sugar, 420,3602.

Masters in the Navy.-The number of masters made in the Royal Navy in the year ending June 1, 1831, was 14; in 1832, 8; in 1833, 3; in 1834, 3; and in 1835, 13. Total of the five years, 41.

Post-Office Steam-Vessels.-The number of steam-vessels employed by the Post-Office since 1822, when the steamers were first used, is 29, of which two have been wrecked and one sold. The total cost of these vessels has been 292,253/. 19s. 11d., and their tonnage 5352 tons, or an average of 183 tons each.

Church Rates. The following is a return of the number of suits for the recovery of Church rates in the Ecclesiastical Courts since the passing of the Act of 53 George III., relating thereto :-In the Courts of Bath and Wells, 39; Bristol, 16; Carlisle, 10; Chester, 78; Durham, 7; Exeter, 7; Cornwall, 13; Gloucester, 21; Hereford, 20; Lichfield and Coventry, 7; Lincoln, 12; Llandaff, 10; Northampton, 13; Norwich, 39; Rochester, 7; St. Asaph, 4; Sarum, 1; Surrey, 15; Worcester, 2; York, 52.

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Slave Population.-The number of slaves in Anguilla, in 1834, was 2375; in Barbadoes, in 1834, 82,807; in Berbice, in 1834, 19,359; in Bermuda, in 1834, 4203; in Caymanas, in 1834, 985; in Dominica, in 1829, 14,824; ditto, in 1832, 14,384; in Grenada, in 1832, 23,411; ditto, in 1833, 23,536; in Honduras, in 1834, 1920; in Jamaica, in 1832, 310,707; in Montserrat, in 1831, 6355; in Nevis, in 1834, 8722; in St. Christopher, in 1834, 18,285; in Tobago, in 1833, 11,767; ditto, in 1834, 11,621; in Trinidad, in 1831, 22,359; in the Virgin Islands, in 1831, 5108; ditto, in 1834, 5192; in the Mauritius, in 1832, 63,164; in the Seychelles, in 1830, 5449; in the Cape of Good Hope, in 1833, 38,427.

Salt and Fresh Water, and Ice.-The following facts may account for several phenomena connected with tides and currents, &c.:-36 tons of fresh water will occupy the same space as 37 tons of salt water. If 37 tons of salt-water ice is immerged in fresh water it displaces an equal bulk; but if it melts, it will occupy 1-37th less. The contrary, we presume, would take place if fresh-water ice floated and liquefied in salt water.

At the Asiatic Museum, in Bruton-street, there are two small terrestrial globes, presented to the Society by Mr. E. R. Power, private secretary to the governor of Ceylon. They were both made by a young Malabar, a student of the American Institution established at Jaffra, in Ceylon. One has the names, &c. of places written in Malabar, and the other in English. We mention this fact as a convincing, as well as gratifying, proof of the march of civilization in a portion of our eastern dominions.

The Fourteenth Report of the Commissioners of Excise Inquiry on article Paper, just published, recommends the duties to be consolidated, and reduced to 1. per pound; that the duties on stained paper be repealed, and the survey of Excise on that manufacture, as well as on makers of tea-trays and other pasteboard articles, be discontinued. First class paper, made of rags, at present pays 3d. per lb.; second class, made wholly of tarred rope or cordage, 1d. per lb.; and the duty on stained paper and pasteboard manufactures, 18. per lb. on the highest rate of duty.

Davis' Straits Fishery. The result of this fishery being now pretty correctly ascertained, that the product will not exceed 1,800 tons, which is a less quantity than was produced in the disastrous year of 1830, this circumstance must cause the price of every description of fish oils to rate very high for the next six or eight months, as the quantity of northern whale oil is estimated to be 10,000 tons less in the united kingdom than at the same period last year, which the annexed statement will show: of—

Stock in hand, Nov. 1834

Produce of Fishery, Nov. 1834.

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Poor Commission in Ireland.-The total amount of the expenses incurred by the Commissioners for Inquiry into the State of the Poor in Ireland, for seven quarters, ending 24th June, 1825, is 11,8477. 19s. 2d. The English Assistant Commissioners are to receive 2007. each; there are

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