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THE PHANTOM KINGS.
BY MISS JEWSBUBY.
(From the Athenazum.)
A round woke in the spirit land
Of voices and of -wings,
A sound as when the gathered wind
In the old pine forests sings ; As if in air profound
~ Hovered a sea of sound.
The monarchs of the spirit-land,
TheshadowR of renown,
With the symbols of thoir old estate,
Sceptre,and robe, and crown; Another, nnd another,
"3tose up to meet a brother.
A brother from the living-land
Cnme down to join the dead,
- ' With knighthood nnd with kingliness
On brow and aspect shed : And thus with welcome-him
Bespnko those shadows dim :
" All hail ! and welcome, brother,
From fens tin cr and from strife, '?'From nil the golden ennopifs
And thorny beds of life !
From flatterer nnd fiom foe :
"False joy, and real woe !
" Hast thou been called a victor?
Is thy land trophied well 1
Come down-and with our conquerors
Choose out a place to dwell : 'Thoy ruled from enst to west ;
Theynro phantoms now, and rest.
" Look notback to earth, crowned spirit,
But a moment since bet free,
k Wo are sti ange-but thou art one of us.
And now to man would bo^ 'As much n thing to dread, As if long ages dead !
. " Come with ns ;-all thy fathers
Have joined us one by one,
And all of every age and clime,
That ruled beneath the sun ; We have the first king here ; 'The last too shall-appear.
" With fathers of their people,
With slayers of their race,
' With chiefs of slave-girt palaces,
Como down and choose thy place ;
To be one with us for ever !
Fon Ever ! and Fon Ever !"
And .pound died in the spirit-land
Of voices and of wings, And awfully and silently,
Moved back the phantom»king», To their appointed doom ~Qt glory or of gloom t
. Story of a Quack-nostrum.-" In -the summer of Inst ypar (1820.), being on a visit at
the country-house of n friend near London, I fre- quently met there an old man, late a farmer, who, though he had for some time abandoned the plough and the harrow, had nevertheless come np t» the - metropolis in the hope of reaping ü golden harvest
from the sale of a newly invented snuff, to cure not only weak, but sore eyes ! The snuff was, as he said, a compound of various herbs, which his deep know- ledge in botany had enabled him to discover. This « man of science' being diffident of his own or- thographical powers (for modestv generally ac- companies merit), requested I would do bim the favour" to correct the prospectus, of which the fol- lowing is a liternl copy, und through which he in- tended to recommend it to the public :-' Eye Snuff". The mostastonishingllemedy Ever found out forthe Benefit of Mankind. H. G".-the Bottiness, Begs Lenfe to inform the Pnblicko, that by a long Expé- diaient, and study, bp has found out a remedy supe- rior to any ever yet before discover'd. It is Pro priated Totely for the Eves, it Cures All sorts of sore eypg, Suckers 'the Brean«}, and Helps the memory. It is drawn up the nose in the same man- ner as Common snuff, and the Eyes to be beatbed with Cold spring-wator, and o linnen Cloath every morning. By using it six times a day for the spase of one wheek it will strer.geth a wheek eve of eather young or old, and by using it Regulear Threes times a day it will take a peri of the eyes. It is a re- markable strengetberer of the Obnootive .nerves, therefore there is no doubt but it will Cloere and preserve the Eye sight for life.'-Whether this snuff has been found to bo an efficacious remedv for weak eyes I do not know, but it wai a few months after it was promulgated purchased with as great avidity as if it had also been adapted to weak beads !"-From Purke's Musical Memoirs..
broi sch I the For
i Hai
The First Autumn Beau.-Th© maplo (acer campestre) is found growing in all our fences, genorally roducod by tho hedger's bill to serve the samo humble purposos as the thorns and sloes associated with it. Sometimes, however, it is permitted to assume the rank of a tree, when, if not possessing dignity, it is certainly beautiful, and becomes nn ornament in the hedgerow. It is the earliest sylean beau that is weary of« its summer suit ; fust shifting its dress to ochrey shades, then trying a deeper tint, and lastly assuming an orango vest ; thus setting n fashion that ere loug bocomos the garb of nil except the rustió oak, whioh looks regardlessly nt the beau, and keeps its verdant robe unchanged. Soon tired of thin, tho maplo takes a pattern from thjs sober noighbour ash, throws its gaudy trim away, and potiently nivnits with all its peers the next now change. In spring tho wood- bine wreaths its knots of green around the fugged limbs of the maple *, tbo rose beneath purs on its emerald gems, aud then our gallant sire will wear such colours too, fluttering through all its summer's day. When first I ho maple begins to autumnise the grove, the extremities of the boughs alone change their colour, but all the internal and more sheltered parts still retain their verdure, which gives to tho tree the effect of a great depth of shade, and dis- plays ndvontngoously the light, lively colouring of the sprays. We find the maple used in our hedges, not from the opposition it affords, but by reason of its very quick growth from the stool "after it lins been cut, whence it makes a fenco in a shorter fime than the most of its companions ; and when firewood is an object, it.soon becomes suflici.iitly largo for this purpose. The singular ruggedness of the branches und shoots when they havo attained a year's growth, and the depth of the furrows, ¡jivo it a strongly marked character among our shrubs. The under side of the leaves in autumn, when they become yellow, and dashed here and there with a fewspeoks of red and brown, appear, when magni- fied, like a very beautiful and perfect Mosaic pave- ment, with nil its tesser» arranged and fitted. If one of these rugged young shoots be cut through horiïontnlly with a sharp knife, its coiklike bark presents the figure of a star with five or more rays, sometimes irregularly, but generally^ exactly de- fined. A thin «alice from this surface is a beautiful
and curious object in the microscope, exhibiting the different ohnnnels, and variously-formed tubes, through whioh the sap flows, and the air circulates for the supply of alLthe diversified requirements of the plant ; and it is good and delightful to contém- plate the wonderful mechanism that has been de- vised by the Almighty Architoct, for the susto nnnco and particular necessities of tho simple maple, this " ditch trumpory," aSvGilpin calls it ; which naturally leads ono to consider that, if he have so regarded such humble objects, bow much more has he accounted worthy of his boneficor the more highly destined orders 'of his pardon ! As Evelyn says, on another occasion, " 1 beg no par- don for this application, but deplore my no botter uso of it."-Journal of a Naturalist.
Hostility to Papal Dominion in the Sixteenth Cfntuby.-As civilisation ad-
vanced, the moral power and authority of the popes gradually declined. The long schism, and, the lives and characters of the pontiffs, with many analogous circumstances, continued to this; and Inter popes by ondeovouring to supply the loss of moral power by the acquisition of temporal authority, aggra- vated the growing disrespect for tho Holy See. At the beginning of the sixteenth century France was, .perhaps, the country most in advance with respect to views of refoim. Though the fate of «the Albi geness warned men from schism, still all classes showed a distrust and enmity towards Rome. The commons remonstrated against tho pope's usurpa- tions; the nobles, and even the national clergy, joined in the sentiment ; and the monarch, in- stead of dreading excommunication, was nevermore popular than in warring against the papal power. Louis X11., the father of his people, had struck a medal to petpetuate his own and his nation's ab- horrence of pnpàl bad faith. Its circumscription was, Perdam Babylonis nomen, " I will destroy tho very name of Babylon." It served aä a motto, aftor waids, for Luther, who thus borrowed his anathe- ma against Rome from the most Christian King. The papal tree then, like the vino, bore fruit only at its extremities. While the pontiff was warring at home with the Colonnns, and his imperial city itself was sacked by Bourbon ; while France re- fused her anoates and was jealous even of the pre. sence of a legate, the emissaries of Rome wero col- lecting tribute around the shores of the Baltic A monk who came to vend billets of salvation for crowns would have been received in France with
shouts of derision ; in Germany, on the contrary, he found a large market of credulity. Indulgen- cies, professing to remit oil punishments in this world and the next, and consequently officient to save the souls of tho living or the dead, wero dis- posed of in thousands. The avarice of the popes was still greater -than the credulity of the Germans. Martin Luthercalled in question the efficacy of these indulgencies : and his word, like a talisman, brake the spell of Romish supremacy.-Jhr. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia, Vol. X11; being Vol. I. of the History of France.
The Alps.-The word Alp or Alps,
denoting an elevated site, on which flocks are used to feed in summer, has descended to us from the remotest antiquity, and conveys one and the same signification in tlie living dialects of France, Italy, Swizerland, and Savoy. In the Celtic, alp signi- fies whire, and pen, summit. The general name of Alps is, however, peculiarly attached to the exten- sive chain of mountains, which mns from the bnnks of the Rhone in the South of France, to the borders of Hungary, and incorpoiates itself with the Haamus,
whioh declines into the Euxine.' The Romans
borrowed this appellative from the Gaujs, and marked the various branches of the Alps by distinct names, such na the Alps Marítima», Cozi», G rai», Sommât, Apennins, Rhetise, &c. Som« of these
nnmes existed before the Romans had extended
their conquests to those regions ; thus Hercules is reported to hove crossed the " Giaian" mountains in ancient times, according to Pliny. Now, gray, or grey in several northern tongues implies white : and hence probably sprung the appellation bestowed on this portion of the snow-copped Alps, which ex- tends from Mount Cenis, where the Cozian branch terminates to the Colle del huon Uomo, where the Apppnines commence.-The Athenmum.
Gossamer.-It is generally supposed that the silver lines which cross our pathway in autumnal mornings, or the threads that hang, laden with dew-drops, from branch to branch, or from bank to bank of the murmuring rivulet, are the bridges by which the industrious spider travels from these opposite situations. A French natu- ralist has, however, ju-t published a very ingenious statement, in which ho assorts that tho spider weaves himself a wing of network from limb to limb,-or, to speak scientifically, from anterior to posterior extremities, as in the flying squirrel, and that, by this contrivance, the insect can tra- verso considerable spaces, and leaves a thread be- hind for his evening return. It will be observed, that this does not exactly account for the .*. gos- samer's wing" being seen from steeple-tops.
Antidote-for the Bite oe Ve- nomous Animals.-In the first Number of the Journal of the Royal Institution, we observe a recom- mendation of common salt as a cure for serpent-bites, and cases of extraordinary success are mentioned. It is a long time since the researches of chemists, on the most successful applications, to wounds of this nature, bave led to a general belief in medical men that the poisonous fluid is similar in its chemical properties to an acid, and -that, consequently, its best neutraliser is an alkali. We have often tried the effetts of common soda and potash, where per- sons have been stung by bees and wasps, und uni- formly found on alleviation of pain and i mitigation of the othor symptoms. In the last Number (Oot. 1830) of the Asiatic Journal, there is also an ac- count of a ease communicated to the Medical and
Physical Society of Calcutta, in which the dan- gerous symptoms caused by the bite of a karayt, a poisonous serpent, were removed by tho internnl use of ammonia, or hartshorn, a powerful alkali. Literary Gazette.
A gentleman of Portsmouth, whose brother is a student of the celebrated Polytechnic school, tells us, that, after the most careful inquiries, the number of persons slain in the lato contest at Paris, is ascertained not to exceed three thousand. Hampsh b e Telegraph,
of
Mr. Donaldson, of Broughton-hall, a gontleman long connected .with the Edinburgh Ad- vertiser, has loft property to the amount of "£220,000, tho whole of Which bo has doslined to be employed in tho foundation of nn hospital for orphan ond des- titute children, to be ereotod in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. Fivo gentlemen bnvo boen appointed to carry this bequest into execution, namely, Messrs, John Irving, Alexander Monypenuy, Walter Cook, and James Hope, writers to tho signet, and Mr. Cadell, treasurer of tho Bank of Scotland; but wo aie informed that, owing to tho uncertain torms of the will, it may bo necessary to procure nn aot of parliament before any decisive stops can betaken. The names of Donaldson and Marshall ere to have a preference for admission into tho hospital, these boing the names of the tostator's parents. Annui- ties to the extent of nbout ,£1,000 to £ 1,200 to the relations of the deceased are the only exceptions to this splendid foundation, and these fall with the lives of the annuitants.-Edinburgh Evening Cou
rattt.
Speed of the Rein Deer.-In the winter of 1798, there carno to Roval, in Russia, some Samoyedes, a people from the Banks of tho Icy Ocean,* in Asintió Kussin, with a herd of one hundred and twenty rein deer, which they sold partly in the town and partly ot the gentlemen's mansions in the country. They were muffled from bend to foot in furs. Three times a day they drove their beasts out of the town to u spacious plain, not far from Cotharinenthal, n country sent built by Peter I., where fhdy scratched away the «now to get tit the moss, their solo and scanty fare. A con- siderable number of persons assembled there daily to see the strange animals. Baron .&. had a capital mce-hnrse, which had cost him a thousand rubles, and which be thought capable of beating a reindeer: he offered the mntch to a Samoyedo, proposing to stake his horse against a rein deer. The Ssmoyede accepted tho challenge. By order of the Baron a numerous partv of peasants were set to work to sweep »woy the snow for the distance of o worst (1,500 paces) on the Gulf of Finland, near Cathnri nenthal, and the sledge-race took place on the smooth ice, in tho presence of thousands of speotators. Tho Baron's groom was seated in one sledge, and the Samorede in the other. At first the horse was a-head, but the Sumoyedo purposely drove with less rapidity, till his antagonist became somewhat tired : he then darted forward nil at once, like an ai row, passed tho horse, and arrived at the post long before him. According to the agreement he had won tho horse, but was content with one hundred rublos, with which the Baron offered to redeem him.-Family Magazine.
Contrivance of the M.ole to ouAnn against moisture.-Though moles aro par- tial to fields within the reach of water, they like to have their galleries in dry banks, or tho more-olovated parts of fields, where they are not in danger of being flooded. ' An instance in proof of this fell under our observation last winter. In the woods adjoining Sbooter's-hill, there ore considerable patches of swampy ground, which are. partially flooded in rainy weather. On passing nour one of these swamps, we were struck with the unusual size of a mole-hill, which we at first imagined to be an ant's neät. It was indeed rathor a singular lo- cality for a mole-bill, moles being seldom found in woods, and much seldomor in swamps ; but though it wus as large as six ordinary mole-hills, thoie could be no doubt that it was one. Upon removing a portion of the upper layer of the mould, the roason of its extraordinary elevation was at once explained ; a circular gallery having been constructed on the highest'part of the mound, and covered only by about two inches' depth of mould. As this gallery was at least two feet above the level of the swamp, it was out of the reach of any common inundation. English Paper.
Solution of the Phenomenon of tub Sea Serpent.-The public were amused for some time, a few years ago, by the tales of brother Jonathan, respecting the huge sea serpent. With- out at all disputing the existence of creature« of thnt nature in the ocean, I have little doubt that a sight I witnessed, in a voyage to the West Indios, was precisely such as 6orae of the Americans construed into a " sea serpent, a milo in length," agroeing as it did with one or two of the accounts given. This was nothing more than a tribe of black porpoises, in Jone line, extending fully a quarter of a mile, fast
sleep ! The appearance certainly was a little singu lar, not unlike a raft of puncheons, or a ridge of rocks; but the moment it was seen, some one exclaimed (I believe the captain), " Here is a solution of Jona- than's enigma !" and the resemblance to his " sea serpent" was at once striking. -. United Service
Journal.
Fable.--" What is the use of thee, thou gnarled sapling?" said a young larch tree to a young oak. " I grow three feet in the year, thou as many inches ; I nm straight and taper "as a reed, thcu straggling ond twisted as a loosened withe." " And thy duration," answered the oak, " is some third part of a man's life ; and I nm nppointod to flourish for a thousand years. Thou art foiled and sawed into paling, where tbou rottest and art burned up after a sing'e summer : of me are fashioned bat- tle-ships, and I carry roariuers and heroes into un- known seas." The richer a nature, the harder its developement. Two boys were one« of a class in the Edinburgh grammar-school : John ever trim, precise, and dux ; Walter ever Blovenly, confused, and dolt. In due time, John bocamo Baillie John, of Hunter-square ; and Walter beenmo Sir Walter Scott, of the Universe. The quickest and com plotest of all vegetables is the-cnbbago.-Eraser's
Magatit.e.
THE REPRESENTATION FOR Ire- land.-There has been a more considerable change m the representatives than at any period since the Union. In Leinster, which returns 32 members, there oro 12 now men. Munster roturns 20 mem- bers, of whom six are strangers. Connaught re- turns 12 representatives, amongst whom 4 aïe new. Ulster 26, including 10 new members. There aro thorefore Si new members-moro than one-third of the entire. The new members, generally speaking, oie ultra-Liberals or ultra-Tories, and for the most part will bo found, or at least most of them have pledged themselves, in the different sections of the opposition benches. Thus Chapman, the two Le froys, Blaney, Beatson, ice. will range themselves with Sir Harry Inglis, while Brabazon, Chichester (Wexford), Ruthven, D. Brown, &o., will place themselves behind the Whig benches. Eight Ca- tholics have beau returned for counties, and one for the city of Cork-namely, O'Farrell, Killeen, Burke, O'Conor, Wyse, Mahon, Browne, O'connell, and
Callaghan.
Netherlands in the Sixteenth Century.-Painting, which had languished before the fifteenth century, sprung at once into a new ex- istence from the invention of John Van Eyck, known better by the name of John of Bruges. His accidental discovery of the art of painting in oil quickly spread over Europe, and served to perpe- tuate to all time the records of the genius which has bequeathed its vivid impressions to the world. Painting on glass, polishing diamonds, the Carillon, lace, and tapestiy, were among th« inventions which owed their birth to the Netherlands in thes« ages, when the faculties of mankind sought so many new channels for mechanical developement. Tho discovery of a new world by Columbus and other eminent navigators, gave a fresh and powerful im- pulse to European talent, by affording an immense reservoir for its reward. The town of Antwerp was, during tbe reign of Charles V., the outlet for tho industry of Europe, and the receptacle for tho pro- ductions of all the nations of the earth. Its port was so often crowded with vessels, that each suc- cessive Jeet was obliged to wait long in the Scheldt befoie it could objain tidmisnion for the discharge of its cargoes. The university of Louvain, that great nursery of science, was founded in 1425, and sei ved greatly to the spread of kuowledgo, although it de- generated into the hotbed of those fierce disputes which stamped on theology the degradation of bi- gotry, and draw down odium on a study that, if purely practised, ought only to inspire veneration. Dr. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia, Vol. X.~) being the History of the Netherlands.
' Dr. Siebold, in his recent visit to Japan, where ho was imprisoned, has, nevertheless, collected a Japanese library of fifteen hundred vo- lumes. These must be " Curiosities of Literature." He bas also got a Zoological Museum, of three
thousand specimens, and two thousand botanical . .
urticles. ' * Jl
Superioritt of Female Authors. -Thero are soma thing* which women do better than mon ; uud of 1he.su, porhnps, novel writing is one. Naturally endowed with greater dolii-acy of taste and feeling, with n moral senso not blunted and debased by those contaminations to which mon oro exposed, loading live» rather of observation than of action, with leisure to attend to tho minutiae of conduct, and more subtle development's of clmractor, they are peculiarly qualified for tho tusk of ex- hibiting faithfully and ploasingly the various phaseB of doinestio life, and those varieties which chequer the aurfuce of society. Accordingly, their delinea- tions, though perhaps less vigorous than thoso of fordod by tho other sex, aro distinguished, for the most part, by greater fidelity and consistency-n more refined and happy discrimination, and, we must also add, a moro correct estimate of right and wrong. In works which como from a female pen, wo are seldom offended hy those moral monstrosities, those fantastic perversions of principle, which ore too often to be met with in the fictions which have been written by men. Women are also less stilted in their style ; they are moro content to describe naturally what they have observed, without at- tempting the introduction of those oxtraneous orna- ments which are sometimes sought at tbo expense of truth. They aro less ambitious, and are there- fore moro just ; they aro far moro exempt from that prevailing literary vico of tho presont day-ex- aggeration-and have not token thoir stand "among tho feverish followers ,of whnt may bo called the intense style of writing ;"n style much praisod by those who inquire only if a work is calculated to make a strong impression, and omit entirely the moro important question-whether that impression be founded on truth or delusion. Hence the agonies .nd convulsions, and dreamy rhapsodies, and heated exhibitions of stormy passions, in which several of our writers have lately indulged. Imoginntion has been flattered into a self-sufficient abandonment of its alliance with judgment,-to which disunion it is over least prone where it has roost real power ; and " fino creations" (well so culled, as being uuliko anything previously existing in nature) huvo been lauded, in spite of thoir internal falsity, as if they
were of more value than ibo most accurato delinea- tions of that world which we soe around us. Thoso splendid perversions which the lurid brilliancy of Byron's poetry compelled us to admire, hâvo boen much emulated in poetry, and much, also, in prose. These* writers, like the scene-painter, have one main object in view-effect ; and Uko that popular artist, are little Bolicito'us about merits that are not to be comprohendod at tbo first glance. Abrupt transitions, paradoxical contrasts, crimes of com- plicated enormity, and passions of demoniacal vio- lence, are favourite ingredients in tbo literary cauldron of this class. What Demosthenes said of action, as conducive to oratory, they seem to apply to effect, in fictitious narrativos. With them, it is the first, second, and third requisite, and truth snd consistency are neglected and despised. Shakspeare, who (as Captain Bluffe says of Hannibal) was ". a pretty fellow in his time," and no mean proficient in the art of producing an effect, attained this end by more legitimate means, and without' sacrificing one iota of truth. So thoroughly did the great prin- ciple of truth pervade his writings, that, far from attempting to dazzle the world with glaring ex- hibitions of man ns ho is not, he even so dweribod supernatural beings, that (as has been nlready well remorked) we feel a conviction, that if such beings had existed, they would have acted and'spoken as ho has represented. We are convinced that his fame has attained its present height and stability, not so much because we smile, and weep, and shudder, and are more powerfully afl'ected by his works than by those of other men,.but becauso we are ever more and more convinced, arter the roost careful attention, that his delineations of human natura aro founded upon truth ; and this it is which principally raises his writings above the vigorous productions of some of those his contemporaries, whom it has lately been the fashion, among the PancirolH of modern literature, to exalt almost to equality with him. It is by an attention to truth in their delineations, that the female novelists of this age are, for the most -part, honourably dis- tinguished. " We know comparatively very fow instances of decidedly fnlt,e views of society or morals having been lately promulgated by women, lhey have done little to strengthen the hoads of their readers, but they have applied thcmbelves to that office for which womrni ia by nature best cal- culated-the improvement of their hearts.-Edin- burgh Review.
Military Glory.-What a strange thing is glory ! Threo hundred years ago, all Christendom rung with tho bottle of L^panto, and yet it is already probable that it will only ho inte- resting to posterity as on incident in the life of one of the privato soldiers engaged in it. This is cer- tainly no very mournful reflection to one who is of opinion that thero is no permanent fame but thnt which is obtained by adding to the comfort and pleasures of mankind. Military transactions, after their immediale effects cease to bo felt, nre little productive of such a result. Not that I value mili- tary virtues the less by being of this opinion ; on tlie contrary, I am the more convinced of their ex- cellence. Burke has unguardedly said, that vice loses half its malignity by losing its grossness; but public virtue censes to bo useful when it sickens nt the calamities of necessary war. The moment that nations become confident of security they give way to corruption. The evils and dangers of war seem as requisite for the preservation of public morals as the laws themselves ; at lenst it is the melancholy moral of history, that when nations resolve to be peaceful with respectto their neighbours, they begin to bo vicious with respect to themselves.-Gait's. Life of Byron.
Inquisition in the Netherlands. -Philip's design of establishing this horrible tri- bunal, so impiously named holy by its founders, bad been long suspected by the people of the Ne- therlands. The expression of those fears had reached bim moro than once. Ile has often replied by as- surances that he lind formed no such project, and particularly to Count d'Rgmont during his recent visit to Madrid. But at that very tims he assembled a conclave of his creatures, doctors of theology, of whom he formerly demanded an opinion as to whether he could conscientiously tolerate- two sorts of religion in the Netherlands. The doctors, hoping to please him replied that " he might, for the avoidance of a greater evil." Philip trembled with rage, and exclaimed with-a threatening tone, " I ask not if I can, but if I ought." The theologians read in this question the nature of the expected reply ; and it was amply conformablo to his wish. Ho immediately threw himself on his knees before a crucifix, and raising his band toward heaven, put up a prayer for strength in his resolution to pursue, as deadly enemies, all wbo viewed that effigy with feelings different from his own. If this were not really a sacrilegious farce, it must be that the blas- pheming bigot believed the Diety to be a monster of cruelty like himself.-Dr. Lardner's Cyclopaedia History of the Netherlands.
Genius.-Genius of erery kind be- longs to ioma innate temperament ; it does not ne- cessarily imply a particular bent, became that may possibly be (be effect of circumstances ; but without question the peculiar quality is inborn, and peculiar to the individual. All hear and see much alike ; but there is an undefinable though wide difference between the ear of the musician, or the eye of the painter, compared with the hearing and seeing organs of ordinary men ; and it is something like that difference in which genius consists. Genius is however, an ingredient of mind more easily described by its effects than by its qualities. It is as tho fragrance independent of the freshness and complexion of the rose ; as the light on the oloud j as the bloom on the cheek of beauty, of which the' possessor is nncon3cious until the charra has been seen by its influence on others ; it is the internal golden ultimo of the opal ; a something which may be abstracted from the thing in which it appears, without changing the quality of its substance, its form, or its affinities."-Gait's Life of Lord Byron.
A medical student enquired at a book- shop, a few miles out of London, on the Brighton road, for a Pharmacopeia. He was assured that no such farmer dwelt.in that neighbourhood.
A French journal, in noticing the me- thod of making English ginger-beer, snyst-" As French palates aro more delicate than those of thoir neighbours on the other side of the water, perhaps it will be better to leave out the gingtr!"