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bed, on which it was to be hung;-it was to be the first thing on which I should open my eyes in the morning, and the last I should see at night. The face it contained was that by which I was to ascertain the standard of beauty, and the soul beaming in that face was to be the model to which I should constantly refer in judging of

intellectual loveliness.

Christmas at length arrived, and brought with it my uncle and his guinea. I had an hour to spare before dinner, and with a bounding step, the natural motion of a merry heart, I took my way to the print-shop. The old man to whom it belonged sat behind his counter in a little brown wig, studying demurely with his spectacles, properly adjusted on his nose, the important news of the day." I am going to buy the picture," said I, laying my guinea triumphantly before him. His eye glanced first at the money, and then at me. “What picture are you going to buy, young gentleman?" said he, pushing his spectacles over his brow, and laying down the newspaper. "Oh! that picture, to be sure," cried I, pointing to the one in question; "there is no other in the window for which I care."-" Well, I believe you are right," said the shopkeeper; "this is indeed a picture. Reubens himself never did any thing finer." How my eyes sparkled, and how impatient I was till the purchase should be completed! "Give it me! give it me!" I exclaimed, "and keep the whole guinea, if you please."—" The whole guinea!" cried the old virtuoso, drawing back, as he spoke, with an air of offended dignity; why, sir, this is not a picture to be sold for a guinea-no, nor for two guineas either. Look here, sir; here is the very lowest price at which you can have it." So saying, he turned up the back of it, and showed me, written in very legible characters, the awful words, " Four pounds ten !”

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I was never in my life so shocked, either before or since. Belshazzar looked at the mysterious hieroglyphics on the wall with far less horror than I at the simple but blasting sentence. Four pounds ten! it was a sum which would exhaust the richest mines of Peru. I might live to the age of Methuselah, and never be able to amass so great a hoard. It was beyond the compass of my most extravagant hopes. The days of Croesus were past, and Pactolus rolled no longer over golden sands. I know not how I found my way home, but I recollect pulling the nail out of my bedroom wall with feelings as much of anger as of sorrow. I was inclined to believe I had been used ill. The guinea had misled me, and I cast it down upon the table with contempt.

Rivals

and its inexhaustible revenues; and when I saw him the
boast and darling of the country, the being to whom all
turned in admiration, whose word was law, and whose
smile was sunshine—I might have believed him the hap-
piest of his race; but I watched this idol of the people a
little longer, and I saw him struggling with difficulties
beyond the reach of human power to overcome.
thronged around him,-jealousy and dissension reuder-
ed his councils abortive,-unforeseen accidents blasted
many of his best-concerted schemes,-every domestic
comfort was resigned, he lived not for himself, but
others,-his influence began to diminish,-white hairs
gathered on his brow,—the sun of his glory set,—he re-
tired into solitude, and died forgotten.
"Alas!" said I
to myself, "here are two sides to the picture."
Again, when I met with Youth and Beauty glittering
in the crowded drawing-room, or fixing the gaze of the
enraptured theatre, or moving in the light of her loveli-
ness through the graceful dance, when the festive wreath
of health and happiness that bloomed upon her brow
seemed to be composed of immortal flowers,-when the
perpetual halo of good-humour played round her lips, and
when they were opened but to give utterance to the me-
lodious tones of joy; was it not hard to have the disco-
very forced upon you, that in all this there was something
unreal?-that there were solitary hours of fatigue, and
vexation, and pain,—that the lips could relinquish those
smiles for the bitter sneer of contempt and hatred,—
that the melody of gentleness could be exchanged for the
harsh accents of reproach and anger,—that, under the
heavenly exterior which bounteous Nature had bestowed,
lurked all the evil passions of the human heart,—that
vice had yielded to virtue its customary homage of by-
pocrisy, but that the mask could be only too easily re-
moved, and that then might be seen at once the two sides
of the picture!

When, turning to different scenes, I contemplated the holy servant of religion, guiding a multitude to heaven by the force of his precepts and instructions, comforting the afflicted, re-assuring the wretched, encouraging the humble, rebuking the presumptuous, assisting the contrite, and raising, like a ministering angel, the standard of human excellence, how could I help saying within myself, Who could stand a comparison with a man like this? A little farther investigation, however, dissolved the charm. I discovered that religion was too often assumed as the cloak of knavery; that it was easy to talk of heaven and the joys of eternity, when the heart My disappointment was not long concealed from my was all the time devoted to the enjoyments of sense, and uncle. My looks and manner betrayed at once that all every hope was connected with the present existence; was not right, and the history of my sorrow was soon that it was no difficult task to preach to others, in pomtold. To my astonishment, every body seemed more in-pous and indignant terms, of the necessity of subduing the clined to laugh than to weep. My father was the first to assume an air of gravity. My dear Henry," said he, "this little incident, if properly considered, affords a useful moral lesson. In your future journey through life, when you have gone abroad into the world, and cast your eyes upon the various scenes around you, always recollect that there are two sides to the picture,—one fair and inviting, the other dark and repulsive. Be not too much dazzled by the former, nor too much depressed by the latter. Let not the mere resemblance of virtue lull you into the dangerous security of thoughtless philanthropy; nor the momentary prosperity of vice harden your heart into the callous indifference of the misanthrope. Never forget to examine both sides of the picture."

66

When I grew up, I endeavoured to profit by this advice. It has been of use to me, I trust, in preventing me from judging too hastily, either of apparent good or apparent evil, apparent happiness or apparent grief.

When I looked, for example, on the statesman, on him who could "read his history in a nation's eyes," who found himself at the helm of a great and powerful kingdom, directing, according to his will, its fleets, its armies,

passions and keeping the heart with all diligence, whilst
he who thus declaimed, laughed his own doctrine to scorn
by the daily practice of his life,-for, in the words of the
Italian poet,

"Sotto un velo sagrosanto ognora,
Religion chiamato, parvi tal gente
Che rei disegni amanta; indi, con arte
Alla celeste la privata causa

Frammischiando, si attenta anco ministra
Farla d'inganni orribili, e di sangue."

It is indeed melancholy, but it is nevertheless true, that
even here there are two sides to the picture.

Frequently and ardently have I longed for fame,—the fame by which the efforts of genius, in unravelling the mysteries of mind, or extending the boundaries of science, or opening the fountains of imagination, are ever sure to be hallowed. I followed with my eye the triumphant career of the poet. I saw him at first contending with difficulties under which spirits of a meaner order would have sunk; but, conscious of his innate strength, he despised the cold world's sneer, or turned its own weapons against it. Proceeding resolutely in the course he had

himself chalked out, the effulgence of his mind burst at length upon the astonished nations, and shining far off, in its own unclouded beauty, among the highest stars of the galaxy, was worshipped from the distance by thousands of admiring votaries. Is there nothing enviable in a fate like this? Let the undying voice of Byron answer you the question. That voice has sounded over the earth, and its echo is still heard in the most distant regions. Yet who asks if Byron was fortunate? Who knows not his unhappy story? Crossed and disappointed in his domestie affections,-neglected by those to whom the ties of blood ought to have endeared him, an exiled wanderer over the earth,—unpossessed of a single spot he could call his home, the object, against whom were unsparingly directed the poisoned arrows of scandal, and malice, and envy;—and now that he has died-died in his youth, and in a foreign land, and in the cause of liberty—his glorious memory is polluted by the scribbling of newspaper hirelings; and they who have barely sufficient talents to write an intelligible sentence on the petty polities of the day, presume to offer criticisms on the productions of a mind which they never understood, and to damn, with their faint praise, the efforts of a genius whose sublime powers have shed additional lustre over human nature, and added another argument in favour of the immortality of the human soul! Look, then, to the poet, and, as you look, confess that there are two sides to the picture.

The same truth extends to every condition and rank of life; nor is it confined in its application merely to the insulated circumstances of an individual; it will be found to apply, with equal certainty, to the moral and political state of nations. Nay, philosophers who have contemplated the universe, and investigated the laws of nature, have sufficiently proved, by the widely different results which their discoveries have led, that, even in considering the universe, they have seen different sides of the picture. Happiest he, whose well regulated mind, or natural cheerfulness of disposition, induces him to look with a lenient eye on the errors, and with a placid composure on the misfortunes, which, as long as he inhabits the earth, will stare him in the face wherever he turns. His glance loves to rest on that which is fair and pleasing; and whatever he does not find in unison with his own benevolence and good-humour, he softens down into a shade less sombre. To him it is of little consequence what side of the picture presents itself. He can look at either with complacency, and find beauty in both.

tion; while the far greater number, repelled by the prospect of toil and drudgery, consult their own ease and convenience by catching at the first plausible view of a subject which presents itself. Add to this, that it is much easier to invent a feasible hypothesis, than to prosecute a difficult enquiry; and that the mind which is naturally averse to labour, is, for the same reason, prone to rest satisfied with any thing which wears the appearance of ingenuity, and at the same time costs little or no trouble to understand it. In this way theories spring up, and systems are multiplied, till they become as rife as blackberries, while the progress of truth is obstructed,' and knowledge begins to retrograde. The following remarks of John Pinkerton are equally just in themselves, and pertinent to our present purpose. Speaking of that poorest of all compilers and abridgers, Jornandes, he says, "His account of the origin of the Scythæ was blindly followed by Isidorus, by Beda, who calls Scandinavia Scythia, by Paulus Diaconus, by the geographer of Ravenna, and by innumerable others in the dark ages! Nay, such an effect may even a very weak writer (for such Jornandes is) have upon literature, that ONE SENTENCE of Jornandes has overturned the very basis of the history of Europe.

This famous sentence is in his fourth chapter: Ex hac igitur Scandia insula, quasi officina gentium, aut certe velut VAGINA NATIONUM, cum rege suo nominė Berig Gothi memorantur egressi. Upon this one sentence have all modern historians, nay, such writers as Montesquieu, Gibbon, and others of the first name, built. Now, it can be clearly shown, that Scandinavia was, down to a very late period, nay, is at present, almost overrun with enormous forests, where there was no room for population. Adam of Bremen, who wrote in the eleventh century, instructs us, that even in Denmark at that time, the sea-coasts alone were peopled, while the inner parts of the country were one vast forest. If such was the case in Denmark, we may guess that in Scandinavia even the shores were scarcely peopled. Scandinavia is also a mountainous region; and among a barbaric and unindus. trious people, the mountains are almost unpeopled."— (Dissertation on the Scythians or Goths.) Mr Pinkerton might have spared his refutation; as there is scarcely any one now who does not laugh at the Officina Gentium aut certe Vagina Nationum of the Gothic abridger. Yet the fact he states is an instructive one in the history of opi nions; for, on these few absurd metaphorical expressions was a theory reared, which commanded the assent of Montesquieu and of Gibbon, which a respectable author of our own country has written a learned work to support, and which continued to be received with implicit faith, till Mr Malthus unfolded, with demonstrative evidence, the principles which determine the increase or decrease of population in every country, and thus indirectly exposed its utter fallacy and absurdity. Nor is THEORIES AND FACTS.-It was the late Dr Cullen, we this all. For, as Pinkerton observes, the theory in quesbelieve, who remarked, that "there are more false facts tion was not only adopted by the most distinguished writhan false theories current in the world." The observa- ters of the last century, but entered so deeply into all their tion appears to us an exceedingly silly one; for, independ- speculations respecting the origin of the modern nations ently of the contradiction involved in the expression of Europe, their laws, government, institutions, manners, “false facts," the number of “theories" can no more be and even physical characteristics, that it may be said to compared with the number of "facts," than the number have corrupted both the history and philosophy of the last of houses can be compared with the number of stones. age, and thus detracted greatly from the merits of works, But be this as it may, one thing is certain, that "false which, in other respects, entitle their authors to the gratheories" abound in almost every department of science titude and admiration of mankind. Further, we have, and literature, and most particularly in those branches in this case, a striking exemplification of the pernicious where it is especially incumbent on the enquirer to in- effects of "false theories," which, like counterfeit coin, vestigate "facts" with the utmost patience and perse-pass from hand to hand for a time unchallenged, because verance. This is easily accounted for. The inductive unexamined, but which are certain ultimately to be deprocess of investigation is necessarily a slow one: it re-tected and exposed in all their natural worthlessness, to quires unremitting labour and research; it demands the loss and damage of those in whose custody they are firmness of resolution and steadfastness of purpose: it at last found. is a work of time, patience, attention, and discrimina- THE DIGAMMA.-This famous letter, which at one tion. But some have neither capacity nor inclination for period performed so important a function in Greek orthoengaging in pursuits requiring so much sustained mental graphy, and which still appears in a great number of exertion; others have the capacity, but want the inclina-Latin words derived, or rather transferred, from the Greek,

NUGE LITERARIÆ.

By James Browne, LL.D.

Hæ Nugæ in seria ducent.

has been a subject of much discussion among scholars, who are by no means agreed as to the precise effect to be given to it. "It was originally," says Thiersch, "a full and strong consonant, and its smybols, г, F, called Digamma, (double gamma,) or Æolic Digamma in Greek, and Ef in Latin, occupied the sixth place in either alphabet.

The pronunciation retained in Latin evinces with what power it was originally endowed in Greek, in régyov, rétos, гávat, &c." Others, again, have contended, that although its form is identical with that of the Latin F, its power is equivalent to the softer sound of the letter V; while a third party maintain, that it has generally, if not universally, the effect of W. Bishop Marsh, in his Hora Pelasgicæ, coincides in opinion with Thiersch; the author of a learned article on the subject, which appeared several years ago in the Quarterly Review, and which has generally been ascribed to the late Signor Ugo Foscolo, seems inclined to adopt the intermediate or softer sound of V; while Mr Payne Knight, Colonel Kennedy, and some others, consider it equivalent to the W. All these opinions, however, are capable of being reconciled upon the simplest principle imaginable; namely, that in all languages, those sounds which are articulated by means of the same general conformation of the organs, and between which there subsists only a difference of degree or impetus, are mutually interchangeable. Now this is manifestly the case with F and V, the latter being merely the attenuated sound of the former, just as P is the attenuated sound of B, G of K, and T of D; while, on the other hand, the sound of W is variable, being more frequently, perhaps, represented by an equivalent to the sound of the Vau than to the Uh, which is its ordinary effect in English. Accordingly, Dionysius of Halicarnassus expressly states that the Digamma was the syllable ou written with a single letter (thus ), Thy ou audλabny Évì σroixsix yeapoμémy. (Antiqq. Rom. Lib. i. p. 52, ed. Reiske.) In his time, therefore, it answered to the Latin V, which is expressed by ou, (as Qurλíz, Velia, Ovaλgios, Valerius,) which expression is nearly equivalent to the English W. Anciently, however, Velia was written Felia, and Valerius, Falerius, even in Latin; which shows how easily the F may pass into the V, and the V into W, or vice versa. This is further confirmed by a passage in Quintilian, which appears to have escaped the attention of scholars: "Eolicæ quoque literæ," says he, "qua servum cervumque dicimus, etiamsi forma a nobis repudiata est, vis tamen nos ipsa persequitur." Inst. Orat. lib. xii. c. 10, p. 504, ed Rollin. What this "vis" really was, we learn from another passage of the same author: " Desuntque aliquæ nobis necessariæ literæ; non cum Græca scribimus (tum enim ab iisdem duas mutamur), sed proprie in Latinis, ut in his, servus et vulgus, Æolicum digamma desideratur;" from which it appears, that the digamma was pronounced as the English W, not as B, F, or V, which letters existed in the Latin alphabet, and that a Roman of the age of Quintilian would have said serwus, wulgus, exactly as a truebred Cockney of the present day would sound the v in these words. Hence, Mr Payne Knight remarks, that "it is generally supposed among the learned at present, that the digamma was pronounced like our W, for it corresponded with the Latin V, the sound of which was certainly the same." (Analysis of the Greek Alphabet, p. 11.) But the difference of opinion on this subject is easily re

Greek, dov or dyor; Latin, divum: Sanscrit, awin; Greek, o or oy; Latin, ovem: Sanscrit; navam; Greek, av, or vayov; Latin, navem; Sanscrit, nawam; Greek, viv, or vyv; Latin, novum : Sanscrit, wacham; Greek, 1, or Forray; Latin, vacem: all which instances strikingly illustrate and confirm the principles of the interchangeableness of the cognate sounds of F, V, and W, as above stated. (Kennedy, Researches, &c., pp. 134, 135.) It would seem, however, that when the digamma fell into disuse, it was not only omitted, or simply left out, which is the common case, but that, in a number of instances, its place was supplied by some other letter: as Sanscrit, seweta; Greek, σißira: Sanscrit, wagmi; Greek, Bayua: Sanscrit, wahate; Greek, oxistas; Latin, vehit. So much, then, for the Digamma, a name, we may add, invented by the grammarians, the proper designation of this famous letter being Baũ.

ORIGINAL POETRY.

DREAMS.

Lo! from a sweet and a lovely dream
Of a fairy isle in a bright blue stream,
Where grottoes, that dazzled my wilder'd eyes,
Were blazing with gems beneath cloudless skies;
Where spirits of bliss, 'mong the starry flowers,
Made music and mirth through the sunny hours;
And no brow was e'er dimm'd with the shadow of pain→
I have waked to this world of truth again!
I have waked to find that once more with me
Darkness and silence companions be,
Save where the moon, with a fitful ray,
Bursts from the clouds that surround her way,
And wildly breaks on the curtain'd gloom
With sickly light through my lonely room.
I have waked-but Fancy, on lightning wings,
Her spell of power o'er my spirit flings;
I feel the touch of her golden chain,
And, lo! I have waked-but to dream again!
It is not alone beneath starry skies,
When slumber has seal'd our mortal eyes,
And the things of sense have taken their flight,
And the world has closed on our charmed sight,
That the loveliest scenes to the soul appear,
And the softest music enchants the ear!
There are visions that rise to the waking view,
When life is young, and the world is new,
That grow as we gaze, till they seem to be
Not shadows, but living reality;
And of them we dream through the lapse of years,
Till startled at length into pain and tears!
And though dark be the wakening, oh! where the soul
Still, still let me feel thy blessed power,
That would spurn, dear Fancy! thy sweet control?
Whether at starlight or noontide hour;
And when slumber loosens her silken chain,
Oh! still let me wake but to dream again!

THE MUSIC OF NIGHT.

GERTRUDE.

conciled upon the principle above stated, namely, that By John Malcolm, Author of " Tales of Flood and Field."

the sounds of homo-organic letters were interchangeable, or, in other words, that the sounds of the digamma and the Latin V were variable, not fixed; which Quintilian expressly informs us was the case with respect to the latter character. And this conclusion is confirmed by what we observe in the identical words which still exist in Greek, Latin, and Sanscrit: as, for example, Sanscrit, widanti; Greek, dovrai, or with the digamma, ruidovrai ; Latin, vident: Sanscrit, wamati; Greek, sμstas, or with the digamma, repla; Latin, vomit: Sanscrit, diwan;

THE music of the night-
Upon its lonely flight

Into the west, where sink its ebbing sands
That muffled music seems

Like voices heard in dreams,

Sigh'd back from long-lost years and distant lands.

Amid the stillness round,
As 'twere the shade of sound,

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Dash on dash on! I love those waves,-
I love this wild and desert shore-
Those billows have been brave men's graves,
There's music in their hollow roar !
Ha! once again my soul bounds high,

New life runs tingling through my veins;

I scorn the glance of that bright eye,
And trample in the dust her chains.

On! my good Arab, swift as light,

Sweep, with the winds, across the moor, The gloom and gathering clouds of night Are bugbears only for the boor;Hark! how the thunder rattling plays Along that lurid sky above,— Ay! this is better than the blaze

Of banquets, and the tale of love!

Away! away! She smiled on him ;

That bower was deck'd, but not for me; Ho! fill the goblet to the brim,

Let me drink deep, for I am free!

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I daresay he was eighty-five or more,
And pale, and weak, and very, very lean;
And, as he walk'd, his poor old limbs seem'd sore,
And through his tatter'd clothes the wild wind blew;
His pantaloons were made of many a score

Of different patches, every shape and hue;
The fragment of a coat was on his back,

And on his head the remnant of a hat;

His hair was grey, though it had once been black;
His back was round, though it had once been flat.
Mary soon saw him, and the generous soul
Gave him a penny to procure a roll.

II. SEA-BATHING.

Poor little innocent! I grieve to see

Thy mother plunge thee in the deep, deep ocean, Whose waves, although they hardly reach her knee, Sweep o'er thy shoulders in severe commotion. Indeed it is a fearful thing to me

To view thee sprawl, and scratch, and tear, and kick, And hear thee, in thy depth of misery,

Vent all thy soul in one unbroken shriek.
Sweet, artless victim! if thou wert my child,
Which thou art not, and ne'er, alas! can be,

I'd snatch thee from those billows, salt and wild,
And, putting on thy clothes, would set thee free;
But as it is, I must in silence gaze,-
Omniscient Heaven! how strange are all thy ways!
H. G. B.

LITERARY CHIT-CHAT AND VARIETIES,

SIR WALTER SCOTT is engaged upon a Romance, the name of which is to be Robert of Paris.

Captain Basil Hall is bringing out a work for young persons, entitled Fragments of Voyages and Travels in various parts of the World.

The Rev. J. Topham is about to publish a Manual of Prayers in every language, for every day of the week.

Mr W. Danby has a volume of poems ready for the press, which is expected to appear in the course of the autumn.

Valpy has just published:-Hermann on the Greek Metres, abridged and translated into English, for the use of schools and colleges, by the Rev. J. Seager; Divines of the Church of England, No. 4, being a continuation of the works of Bishop Sherlock, with a Summary to each Discourse, Notes, &c., by the Rev. T. S. Hughes; Valpy's Greek Grammar, 12th edition; and Elements of Latin Grammar, by the Rev. Dr Valpy, 19th edition.

ANNUAL.-Friendship's Offering is nearly ready. It has been the object of the Editor to give to the successive volumes of this publication such a continuity of purpose as shall render them parts of one unvarying design. For the elegant but fragile binding of the other

annuals, has been substituted a more durable, but equally tasteful, cover.-The following are the Illustrations of this year :

Subjects.

Painters. Engravers. Adelaide ......................................................... C. R. Leslie, R.A. W. Humphrys. The Presentation Plate............. H. Corbould........ J. W. Cook. The Last Look....................... ..... 10 000 J. Porter............. T. A. Dean. The Maid of Rajast’han.......................... Col. James Tod... Edw. Finden. The Rejected.... F. P. Stephanoff... J. Goodyear. The Accepted........................... M. W. Sharp....... Charles Rolls. The Mountain Torrent............. W. Purser........... E. Goodall. St Mark's Place, Venice............ S. Prout............. E. J. Roberts. Ascanius in the Lap of Venus.... J. Wood.......... S. Davenport. Mary, Queen of Scots, going J. Stephanoff..... forth to Execution.........S R. Baker. Halt of the Caravan............. W. Purser........... R. Brandard. Auld Robin Grey...................... J. Wood............ Henry Rolls. Poesie................ Carlo Dolci......... Wm. Finden.

are attached.

With regard to the literary department of the work, the editor boasts that he has not allowed himself, in any instance, to be influenced by the "magic of a name;" and that the only cause of the appearance in his pages of so many names illustrious for worth and talent, lies in the intrinsic literary merit of the pieces to which they Newly Invented Printing Press.-Professor Hagen, of Königsberg, in Prussia, has invented an efficient printing press, of a very simple construction, that may be wrought by steam, or any power producing a rotatory motion. It moves smoothly, and with little noise; supplies the types with ink, and prints two sheets at a time as fast as one person can remove, and another place them. It occupies a space of from 8 to 10 feet in length, 3 to 4 in breadth, and 5 to 6 in height-goes seldom out of order, and can be easily repaired. It is said to be quite different from, and much superior to, Mr Koenig's patent presses, one of which, of the smallest size, costs 4000 dollars (£600 sterling), while this can be made for 200 dollars, or £30 sterling. We understand that Dr Hagen is desirous to dispose of his invention to any of the trade in this country who may be inclined to take out a patent for it; and our agent in Glasgow tells us that a gentleman there is furnished with a more particular description of the press, and is empowered to treat as to terms. CHIT-CHAT FROM LONDON.-We are sorely at a loss for something to talk about. An affair of honour amused us for half a day. A noble lord and a gallant major sailed in a steam-boat for Ostend, with two seconds a-piece, and came back without doing any thing. Scandal says one of the parties had forgot his pistols. Shortly after this affair had ceased to be spoken of,, we were interrupted in the midst of a yawn by the astounding intelligence that Sir George Smart had given occasion to a bon mot. Bartley mentioned in the green-room of the Adelphi, that Sir George had been much alarmed by a flash of lightning. "No wonder," rejoined Peake, "he knows he is a conductor."—Another dreamy interval succeeded, from which we were awakened by the information that Lord William Lennox, having lost his estate for attempting to cut the Wood, had been reduced to accept of an ensigncy in the Sussex militia.-Some of your readers may wish to know the emoluments of the painter in ordinary to his Majesty. He receives only sixty guineas for a whole-length when officially employed.-An attempt is making to establish a Naval Library at Portsmouth, for the convenience of officers studying at the College. It is proposed to attach a Reading-room to the establishment, where professional pamphlets will be laid on the table, but newspapers excluded.-The Worcester Musical Festival begins on the 14th September. This is a respectable meeting of old standing, which alternates between the above-named city, Gloucester, and Hereford. The Norwich Festival takes place on the 21st September, and the following days. That of Liverpool is fixed for the 5th, 6th, and 7th of October. Sir George Smart conducts at Liverpool and Norwich; Mr Clarke, organist of the Cathedral, at Worcester. Malibran, Mrs Knyvett, Braham, and De Begnis, are to sing at all these Festivals. The arrangements are on a scale of high respecta ⚫bility, and promise a rich treat to the musical amateur.-To abuse and be abused, seems the lot of the critic. Jerdan is thundering away at Lady Morgan, and the Examiner is thundering away at Jerdan. The gentleman who writes epigrams against J. in that Journal does not seem to have much wit; but he will make his persecution a good joke, by sheer pertinacity.

CHIT-CHAT FROM ABERDEEN.-Two cases have occurred at this Circuit of peculiar interest. A Mrs Humphry was tried for murdering her husband, a butcher and tavern-keeper, by pouring a quantity of sulphuric acid down his throat while he lay asleep. The man lingered for two days in great agony, and then died. The commis sion of the crime was established by a chain of circumstantial evidence, and the murderess was left for execution. The other case was one of forgery. A young man of the name of Scott persuaded a girl to elope with him. The imprudent pair soon fell into straitened circumstances; and, in order to relieve themselves, forged a bill in the name of the girl's father for 1.5. They also appended an imitation of his signature to a document bearing to be an obligation to lend them L. 12. The girl was cited as a witness against her lover, but was not examined. He was found guilty of uttering the forgery,

and sentenced to seven years' transportation.-[NOTE BY ED.—A Mr R. Brown of Aberdeen writes us in great distress, to beg that we will state that he is not the Mr Brown who has succeeded to the editorship of the Aberdeen Independent. From another source, we learn that the real cause of difference between the late editor and the proprietors was, his insisting upon writing all the articles himself. We suspect few editors offend in this way who can help it.]

CHIT-CHAT FROM GLASGOW.-The only topics, so far as we can gather from the communications of our various correspondents, that at present engross the talking population of this city, are the Circuit, the Exhibition of the Dilettanti Society, and the squabbles about Mr Hume's dinner. The first is merely interesting as one of the occurrences which mark the flight of time, by exciting a periodical commotion in the neighbourhood of the county buildings. The Exhibition seems, from all accounts, to be steadily rising in character. A clever pamphlet (the proof-sheets of which are now upon our table) is printing at the office of the Scots Times. It is entitled, "A Glance at the Dilettanti Society's Exhibitions." Along with a history of the rise and progress of the Society, it contains acute, and frequently just, remarks upon the pictures in the Exhibitions of this and the former year.-The only thing about the disputes of the Committee for arranging the dinner to Mr Hume, likely to be inte resting beyond the limits of Glasgow, is an attempt, on the part of one of its members, to get Sir Walter Scott's name struck out of the list of toasts. This gentleman has published a manifesto; but, after a careful perusal, we are uncertain whether he objects to Sir Walter on political or literary grounds. One of his literary coadjutors demonstrated some years ago, that Sir Walter could not possibly be the author of the Waverley Novels, assigning that honour to Mrs Grant of Laggan. Can it be possible that these arguments have operated a conviction on the mind of his friend, not to be shaken either by Sir Walter's public confession, or Mrs Grant's repeated disclaimers?

Theatrical Gossip.-It is understood that in future the two n tional theatres allow no actor more than thirty pounds a-week, with the exception of two at each theatre. Miss Stephens, Vestris, Young, and Braham, are understood to have made a strike. Jones is not yet engaged at either theatre, although he is not said to insist upon a large salary. Bishop is engaged as composer and director of the orchestra, for the ensuing season, at Drury Lane. He will preside nightly. The Colonnade is to be placed on the Russel-Street front of that theatre, and it is expected that by October the works will be so far advanced, as to offer no impediment to the public at the opening of the theatre.-Marie Mignet, a historical drama, from the French, was produced at the Haymarket on Monday. Miss Chester was to have personated the principal female character, but the new lessees of Drury, who have secured her services for that establishment, refused their consent. Miss F. H. Kelly supplied her place.-Arnold expects to open his new English Opera House by the 1st of July next. Meanwhile, he carries on the war vigorously at the Adelphi. A new piece, entitled The Irish Girl, has succeeded, chiefly on account of Miss Kelly's performance of the heroine. Arnold has likewise brought out a new female singer of the name of Evans, who has been favourably received.—At the Surrey, T. P. Cook has brought out The Humours of Portsmouth, a poor enough concern.-At Astley's, Ducrow has been reviving the Battle of Waterloo.—Malibran has performed Susanna, in the Marriage of Figaro, in English, at Manchester ;-the critics of that city are in ecstasies-Liston has been making a trip through the west of England. The stock nights were in general failures, but his benefits were bumpers.- Alexander has opened at Carlisle with Miss Graddon and Barton.-The Dublin Theatre has been following the example of Paris and Brusselsholding thus, as it ought to do, the mirror up to nature. The annuitant took possession of the building during the absence of Mr Bunn, the lessee. On Tuesday last, Mr Bunn, accompanied by a large assemblage of persons, retook it. Application was made to the police for assistance against the besiegers; but, says our informant.-" Alderman Fleming, who repaired to the spot with a considerable force, finding that the contest was one for the establishment of a civil right, and that no immediate breach of the peace was likely to ensue, declined interfering." We should like to hear an Irish magistrate define " a breach of the peace.”

TO OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

D. M'AŞKILL'S communication is under consideration—his offer will be thankfully received.-The Sonnet by "G." is creditable to a young writer, but would scarcely stand publication.-John Nevay's communication has been received, but we have not yet had time to read it attentively.—The Ballad entitled, " Signs of the Times," is spirited and amusing, but requires twice thinking.-We are requested to state, that the "W. D." in our last Notice to Correspondents, is not our friend Danby.-" A Rejected Contributor" tells us, with an air of triumph, that his communications were copied from Blackwood, the London, and New Monthly-did it never occur to him that this might be the very cause why they were rejected?-We beg to assure Mr Mackay, that what is postponed is not necessarily forgotten.-We shall be happy to hear from "R.d." at his leisure.

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