Capable of rising to the level of the highest greatness, he could, without a pang, have remained ignorant of his own powers, and he would have found, in the cultivation of his estate, enough to satisfy those vast faculties, which were equal to the command of armies and the foundation of a government. But when the opportunity occurred, when the need was, without an effort on his part, and without surprise on that of others, or rather, as has just been shown, in conformity with their expectations, the wise planter shone forth a great man. He had to a very high degree the two qualities which in active life fit men for great achievements-he trusted firmly in his own thoughts, and dared resolutely to act upon them without fear of responsibility. Weakness of conduct is but the consequence of weakness of conviction, for the strongest of all the springs of human action is human belief. No sooner was the contest begun, than Washington was convinced that the cause of his country was that of justice, and that to so just a cause, in a country already so great, success could not be wanting. To win the independence of the United States by arms, nine years were required; to establish the government by his policy, ten more. Obstacles, reverses, animosities, treachery, mistakes, public apathy and private annoyances beset, as they must ever do, the steps of Washington during this long career. Not for one moment were his faith and hope shaken. At the worst, when he had to struggle against his own melancholy, he said: "I cannot but hope and believe that the good sense of the people will ultimately get the better of their prejudices."-Guizot.

NICHOLAS, EMPEROR OF RUSSIA,

Was upwards of six feet in height, muscular and well proportioned, with handsome features. In his personal habits he was simple, abstemious, and indefatigably industrious. His favourite pursuits were connected with the military sciences and military operations. When he succeeded to the throne, and the troops had formed in the great square fronting the Imperial Palace of St. Petersburg, in order to make a manifestation of their allegiance to the new Emperor, the officers, just as the ceremony was about to commence, stepping forward out of the ranks, denounced Nicholas as a usurper, and proclaimed Constantine as their rightful Czar. The soldiers followed their officers with cries of "Constantine and the Constitution;" and the people showed signs of sympathizing with the troops. At this critical moment, Nicholas came forward, and boldly confronting the officers and soldiers, called out with a loud voice,

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"Return to your ranks-obey-kneel!" The Czar's majestic form and undaunted bearing, his pale but calm and stern countenance, and the reverence with which the Russians habitually regard their sovereign, caused most of the soldiers to kneel and ground arms, and the outbreak was thus checked. In his political principles Nicholas was professedly despotic. He had been heard to say, "Despotism is the very essence of my government, and it suits the genius of my land." The great objects of his public life were the increase of the power of Russia, and the extension of her territories to the east, west, and south, by unscrupulous diplomacy, and when that failed, by war. His grand purpose is now known to have been the possession of Constantinople. By means of that unrivalled military and political position, he trusted to have superseded the Sultan in his empire, and to have become the dominant power in Europe and Asia.-Penny Cyclopædia.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.

In 1814, when Napoleon landed from Elba, Eastlake, the painter, who was staying at Paris, quitted it with the rest of the English, returned to Plymouth, and found plenty of demand for portraits. The Hundred Days thundered to their close, and in July the Bellerophon reached Plymouth Sound, and cast anchor 4 miles from the town. Every day the vessel was surrounded by boats, and every day young Eastlake waited, sketchbook in hand, for a glimpse of the great prisoner of war. Napoleon generally showed himself at the gangway about six in the evening; the crowd soon learnt to assemble regularly at that hour; the Emperor appeared without his hat and exhibited himself for a considerable time, bowing to the spectators as at a levée. He noticed Eastlake, and "by keeping in one position gave the painter reason to believe that he lent himself to his object." He also ordered the uniform and decorations worn by him to be sent on shore for the artist's use, so that the picture was completed under the most favourable circumstances. It is now in Lady Eastlake's possession, who describes it as "a small full-length portrait of the Emperor, standing on the gangway of the Bellerophon, leaning on a bulkhead with his right arm, and holding an opera-glass. He is evidently looking at the crowd below." This portrait excited at the time a fever of enthusiasm, and its success led the painter to execute from it another on a much larger scale, which was purchased by five Plymouth gentlemen for £1,000.

Haydon in his Autobiography, thus tells the story of the

portrait:-"Eastlake being at Plymouth, went out in a boat, and made a small whole-length. Napoleon seeing him, evidently (as Eastlake thought) stayed longer at the gangway. The French officers gave him this certificate:-'F'ai vu le portrait que M. Eastlake a fait de l'Empereur Napoléon, et j'ai trouvé qu'il est très ressemblant, et qu'il a en outre le merite de donner une idée exacte de l'habitude du corps de S. M.""

Lord Holland used to relate that he had seen a letter from a midshipman on board the Undaunted frigate, in which Napoleon sailed to Elba. The boy said that "Boney was so good humoured, and laughed and talked, and was so agreeable; but that the world had been under a great mistake in thinking him a clever man: he was just like anybody else."

When at St. Helena Bonaparte used to amuse himself with the pipe of the fire-engine, spouting water on the trees and flowers in his favourite garden. In the grounds and shrubbery of Apsley House the Duke of Wellington usually took daily walking exercises, and with the garden-engine was wont to enjoy exertion.

Was Bonaparte ever in London? has been much disputed. A letter in the Birmingham Journal of April 15, 1855, however, affirms the fact, on the authority of one James Colman, then in his 106th year, living in 1850, at No. 58 Castle Street, Leicester Square. Colman stated that he perfectly well knew Bonaparte, who resided in London for five weeks, in 1791 or 1792. He lodged at a house in George Street, Adelphi, and he passed much of his time in walking through the streets of the metropolis. Hence his acquaintance with London, which used to astonish many people. The writer of this letter had heard Mr. Matthews, the grandfather of the celebrated comedian of our day, and a bookseller in the Strand, in the vicinity of George Street, speak of Bonaparte's visit; and related that he, Bonaparte, occasionally took his cup of chocolate at the Northumberland Coffee-house (opposite Northumberland House), and occupied himself in reading and provoking taciturnity to the gentlemen in the coffee-room. His manner was stern, and his deportment that of a gentleman.

BRITISH HISTORY.

THE CORNISH LANGUAGE.

PROFESSOR MAX MULLER, in his Chips from a German Workshop, gives this very interesting account of the Cornish language and its vitality:

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Although Cornish must now be classed with the extinct languages, it has certainly shown a marvellous vitality. More than four hundred years of Roman occupation, more than six hundred years of Saxon and Danish sway, a Norman conquest, a Saxon reformation, and civil wars have all passed over the land; but, like a tree that may bend before a storm but is not to be rooted up, the language of the Celts of Cornwall has lived on in an unbroken continuity for at least 2,000 years. What does this mean? It means that, through the whole of English history to the accession of the House of Hanover, the inhabitants of Cornwall and the western portion of Devonshire, in spite of intermarriages with Romans, Saxons, and Normans, were Celts and remained Celts. The inhabitants of Cornwall, whatever the number of Roman, Saxon, Danish, or Norman settlers within the boundaries of that county may have been, continued to be Celts as long as they spoke Cornish. They ceased to be Celts when they ceased to speak the language of their forefathers. Those who can appreciate the charms of genuine antiquity will not therefore find fault with the enthusiasm of Daines Barrington or Sir Joseph Banks in listening to the strange utterances of Dolly Pentreath; for. her language, if genuine, carried them back and brought them, as it were, into immediate contact with people who, long before the Christian era, acted an important part on the stage of history, supplying the world with two of the most precious metals, more precious then than gold or silver-with copper and tin-the very materials, it may be, of the finest works of art in Greece, ay, of the armour wrought for the

heroes of the Trojan war, as described so minutely by the poets of the Iliad."

Saxe Banister, in collecting materials for a glossary of Cornish proper names, gathered no less than 2,400 existing names with Tre, 500 with Pen, 400 with Ros, &c., and thus Cornish lives on. Andrew Borde tell us (temp. Hen. VIII.) that English was not then understood by many people in Cornwall. Devon and Cornish men signed a petition to that king against the introduction of a new church service composed in English, in which this fact is also mentioned. The rector of Landewednock preached his sermon in Cornish as late as 1678.

Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte erected in 1860 a monument in the churchyard at Paris to Dorothy Pentreath, who died in 1778, and was supposed to be the last person who conversed in the language. It is probable that no one now living has ever heard Cornish spoken for the sake of conversation.

Herr Müller says that three or four small volumes would contain all that is left to us of Cornish literature. It is not unreasonable to suppose that Cornish was spoken in some parts of Devonshire after the Norman Conquest.-John Piggot, Jun., F.S.A.; Notes and Queries, 4th Series.

CÆSAR'S LANDING IN BRITAIN.

This is a celebrated moot point in history, and much has been written upon it, but with little effect. Mr. George Long, in a contribution to the Reader, September 19, 1863, however, disposes of the question in a very small compass, which is no mean service in any controversy. He writes:

"In the Athenæum of September 5, Mr. Airy records his 'undoubting conviction that Pevensey Bay was the place of Cæsar's landing.' He also records his 'unaltered opinion that Cæsar's statement of the circumstances of the voyage agrees well with a passage from the Somme to a point west of Hastings, and does not agree with any other passage which has been assigned for it.' Yet Cæsar estimates the length of his passage at thirty Roman miles; and also says that he chose the shortest passage from Gallia to Britain. So far there is no agreement between Cæsar and Mr. Airy's interpretation of him."

Here is Mr. Long's conclusion:- "The matter is reducible to a small compass. If Cæsar tells the truth when he says that he made the shortest passage to Britain, he did not sail from the Somme. He sailed from some part of the French coast between Boulogne and Calais, and he came to anchor