of applause broke from the admiring revellers? A Roman consul was once, while at a banquet in Gaul, entreated by his mistress to permit her to enjoy the spectacle of a human being beheaded; he ordered a criminal to be led into the dining-room where they sat, and, before the eyes of both, as they reclined at table, the miserable unfortunate was beheaded! Such were some of the fellowcountrymen of the accomplished Cicero, Antoninus, and Seneca. It is remarkable that the liking for fish seems to be the predominant characteristic of every people as it increases in opulence, and refines in luxurious enjoyments. Poor people are generally not very fond of fish. The ancient Greeks, like our lowest Scottish country people, had rather a dislike of fish; they never ate them except when compelled by necessity. Homer, who is very minute in his enumeration of the heroic dishes, excludes them from the tables of Agamemnon and Achilles. In later times, the Greeks became so excessively fond of fish, that their word which expresses nearly the meaning of our Scottish word kitchen-denotes fish principally, as that meat which, above all others, was preferred for being eaten with bread. The seas and shores of Greece and the islands were ransacked for the most delicate fish, and exorbitant prices were paid for them by the city epicures. The fishmongers of Athens were, to judge of them from description, a most opulent and powerful body; they were classed with the bankers of the city, and were alike unpopular, alike unmercifully lashed by the dramatic poets of Athens. There was a strange law at Corinth, one of the wealthiest, as it was the most commercial city, of Greece, that if any stranger appearing among them seemed to live too luxuriously, and was seen too frequently at the market-place purchasing high-priced fish, he was questioned by the magistrates as to his means of being able to maintain his table so expensively; if he showed the means of doing so, he was allowed to remain; if he could not exhibit his pecuniary capabilities, and persisted to purchase dear fish, he was consigned to the city executioner. So fond were the Athenians of fish, and so nice about the best modes of pickling or preserving them, that they presented with the right of citizenship the two sons of one Cheriphilus, merely because their father had invented a new sauce for scombri, or mackarel; whence an Athenian wit, on seeing the two youths galloping about the streets in their new equestrian dignity, denominated them The two Mackarels on horseback.The rage of the Roman voluptuaries for delicate fish is well known; not only did they bring them from the shores of Britain and the farthest islands, but they endeavoured to colonize the seas in the neighbourhood of Rome with breeds of new fish. Octavius, the admiral of the Roman fleet, brought from some distant sea an immense number of scari, or chars, with which he stocked and peopled the ocean between Ostia and Campania, as a nursery of new scari. What success befell this piscatory sort of colonisation is not recorded. Each fish that clings, or swims, or creeps, Leaving the fish-stalls pick'd and bare. Why nought is left, except perhaps Some pot-herbs that a cow would slight, Round which, to keep our hungry chaps From famine, we poor fellows fight. There is pretty good evidence for supposing that no less a person than Osiris, the great God of Egypt, was the first distiller of whisky on record. For the Egyptians had, from time almost immemorial, a distillation or brewage from barley, called by the Greeks barley-wine, not inserior, they say, in flavour, and superior in strength, to wine. Allusion is made to this liquor in several passages of ancient writers. The poor people of Egypt drank it instead of wine, and were wont to intoxicate themselves with it, just as our poorer people do with whisky. It seems also to have been no stranger to the Hebrews; for reference is certainly made to it in the Old Testament, under the name of "strong drink," stronger than wine, and resorted to by determined drinkers for the sake of inebriation. Among the Celtæ in Spain and France, it seems to have been common as a substitute for wine; Polybius speaks of a certain Celtic king of part of Iberia, middle of his hall golden and silver bowls full of this or Spain, who affected great court pomp, and had in the barley-wine, of which his guests and courtiers sipped or quaffed at their pleasure-a custom which, it is said, for many a century prevailed among his Celtic descendants, the reguli of our Scottish Highlands. The antiquity of this distillation is proved by the Egyptian tradition probably be supposed that the Egyptians communicated which ascribed its invention to Osiris. It may not imthe invention to the Babylonians and Hebrews, who transmitted it northwards to the Thracians and Celtæ of Spain and Gaul, who, in their migrations north-west- By the true Bacchus! I do know thee not: Whence art thou, thou false Bacchus, fierce and hot? THE FISH-DEVOURER. From the Greek of Alexis. In this our Athens heretofore, But now, since that worst wight of wights, Proud-pursed Phayllus, walks our town, Cursed with a lust of fish, he lights A third storm on our markets down. And for his kitchen up he sweeps Mack'rel and mutton, skate and scar, ST ANDREWS AND THE NEW GAZETTEER. "A FRIEND TO ST ANDREWS" requests us to state, that he "considers it as quite unnecessary to enter into controversy with Mr R. Chambers, one of the Editors of the New Gazetteer of Scotland. That the account of St Andrews, given in that work, contains errors as to matters of fact, which the slightest enquiry might have prevented, Mr Chambers does not, because he cannot, deny; thus admitting that, in what is the proper province of a Gazetteer, there is the most culpable failure. His opinion of the University and its Members-for which there was certainly in this publication no call-may be safely left without animadversion, because nothing could satisfy the public more completely that it is given in ignorance and in anger, than that article of the Gazetteer, and the letter addressed to the Editor of the Literary Journal, in which that opinion is stated, and attempted to be defended." LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES OF EDINBURGH. ROYAL SOCIETY. Monday, January 17, 1831. PROFESSOR RUSSELL in the Chair. Present.-Professors Hope, Russell, Christison, Graham, and Wallace; Drs Borthwick, Gordon, Gregory, Hibbert, Keith, and Maclagan; Captain Boswall, R. N.; Sir D. Mylne, Sir A. M. M'Kenzie, Sir John Forbes; Messrs Robison, Arnott, Jardine, Adie, Witham, Cay, Mentieth, &c. A PAPER was read by Professor Wallace on the Pantograph, an instrument calculated to reduce curved figures to a smaller zone of proper proportions. After giving a detailed history of the instrument, which was invented in 1603, the Professor showed that rough diagrams only could be taken by means of it, and described the improved one invented by him, which he calls an Eidograph, by which much finer and more accurate reduced copies may be taken in a short time. The instrument was exhibited along with some plates executed with it, which showed that it might be applied to very delicate delineations. An interesting Communication was then read from Arthur Trevelyan, Esq., noticing, that during the cooling of rods of certain metals, when in contact with masses of lead, sounds, resembling those of an Eolian harp, accompanied by a tremalous motion of the rod, were produced. The sounds varied with the length of the metallic bar, its degree of heat, and the metal of which it was composed. The phenomena are very singular, and greatly attracted the attention of the Society; but no explanation of them was offered. ORIGINAL POETRY. EPISTLE TO LAURENCE MACDONALD, ESQ. ON HIS APPROACHING DEPARTURE FROM SCOTLAND. By Henry G. Bell. LAURENCE! with whom, in many a pleasant hour, Are chain'd bright thoughts, that from the soul take birth, Proceed, my friend, pursue thy own career,Fresh laurels wait thee with each coming year; And though thy Ajax in fierce beauty stands, The earliest triumph of thy plastic hands, Though young Achilles, goddess-born and bright, And, trust me, in this northern land of ours, As all her own some bright unequall'd names; The wide world's mazes she will watch thee long, My friend, farewell! Perchance these parting lines Thou wilt not all o'erlook 'mid higher signs Of that esteem thy natural gifts inspire; They flow spontaneous from my willing lyre ; And if, in after years, kind Fates decree That I again should spend glad hours with thee Hours when our memory will gild the past, And live o'er joys that faded far too fastIt may not grieve thee that a heart still true, Foresaw thy coming fame, and gloried in it too. LITERARY CHIT-CHAT AND VARIETIES. MR WILLIAM RAE WILSON is about to publish a new and enlarged edition of his Travels in the Holy Land. Mr Derwent Conway, who has recently returned to England from the Continent, is preparing Travels in Spain and other countries. Mr Dugald Moore, author of "The African," &c., has nearly ready another volume, to be entitled The Bridal Night, The First Poet, and other Poems. Captain Thomas Brown has in the press, Biographical Sketches, and authentic Anecdotes of Quadrupeds, in one volume. There will soon be issued from the Glasgow press, Tales of the Manse, by a Gentleman gone to the Indies, in two volumes. Mr Hone has commenced a new periodical work, to appear in monthly parts,, entitled The Year Book, on the plan of his EveryDay Book. OUR STUDY TABLE.-We find the following novelties on our study table:-British Melodies, or Songs of the People, by T. H. Cornish, a very elegant little book ;-A View of the Scripture Account of the Natural State of Man, and the Scheme of Salvation, a work we must decline reviewing, as we could not do justice to it without entering into discussions foreign to the nature of our JOURNAL;Select Views of the Lakes of Scotland, Part II., a publication of which we think highly, and which is certainly calculated to reflect much credit both on the painter, Mr John Fleming, and on the engraver, Mr Joseph Swan;-The East Lothian Literary and Statistical Journal, the first seven Numbers, which are all that have yet appeared, but which contain several highly respectable articles, and evince good taste on the part of the conductors;-The Dublin Literary Gazette and National Magazine, No. VI., for December 1830, an able periodical, which appears to deserve success, whether it obtains it or not;-Several pamphlets, among which is The Petition of the Ministers, Elders, and Deacons of the National Scotch Church, Regent Square, London, a brochure, as we are informed on the titlepage, which " can be sent by post as a single sheet, if it is not cut up," and which, therefore, we abstain from cutting up';-The Children in the Wood, a very handsome edition of the old ballad, beautifully illustrated with wood-cuts, by Branston and Wright, and others. NEW MUSIC.-We have received this week two new songs by Mr Finlay Dun,-"Meet me, Maid," a Norwegian song, the words by Derwent Conway; and "Fare thee well, my Mary, dear," the words by Robert Gilfillan. Both are pleasing melodies, but we like the last best-a sweet and simple air. CHIT-CHAT FROM EDINBURGH.-A public dinner of the Royal Company of Archers is to take place in their Hall on the 29th inst., the Duke of Buccleuch in the chair; and the farewell dinner to Mr Laurence Macdonald has been postponed to Saturday the 5th February. Sir Walter Scott is prevented from taking the chair on the occasion by indisposition, and in consequence Professor Wilson will preside, and Francis Grant, Esq. of Kilgraston, and George Combe, Esq., will act as croupiers. The Solicitor-General and other gentlemen of the highest respectability, among whom will be most of the Edinburgh artists, and many of our first literary characters, are to be present, and there can be no doubt that the meeting will be one of the most interesting kind.-We hear with pleasure that the affairs of the Six Feet Club, the honorary body guard of the Lord High Constable, continue to prosper. The Club holds its annual supper in the Waterloo Hotel, on Tuesday the 1st of February.-Several social and convivial parties will take place next Tuesday, in commemoration of the birth-day of our great national poet, Burns.Nicholson and Stockhausen have given two concerts here, both of which have been well attended. Nicholson is a splendid flute player, and Stockhausen a singer of great beauty and sweetness; but there is a monotony in her style.-The death of Henry Mackenzie, though long expected, has created a considerable sensation here. News of the death of Madame de Genlis, and of Niebuhr the Roman historian, have also arrived within a few days. *CHIT-CHAT FROM ABERDEEN.-Since I last wrote, the following publications have issued from the Aberdeen press: 1st, The Aberdeen Commercial Memorandum Book, or Pocket Journal for 1831, containing all the necessary tables and complete lists for Aberdeen and the Northern Counties. 2d, The Layman's Preservative against Popery, Nos. II. and III., by William Fergusson, A. M. 3d, The Aberdeen Magazine, No. I., embellished with a view of the North Parish Church, lately erected in King Street. 4th, A Sermon preached in the Church of Clatt, on the 18th November, 1830, the day observed within the bounds of the Presbytery of Alford, as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God, for the late favourable harvest and abundant crop; to which are subjoined, Metrical Paraphrases of Select Passages of Sacred Scripture, by the Rev. Robert Cook, Minister of Clatt. 5th, The sixth number of the Christian Investigator. 6th, Sanctification a Good Work, a Sermon by the Rev. Gavin Parker, Minister of Union Terrace Chapel of Ease in Aberdeen. And 7th, Considerations on the Expediency of the Congregation of St Paul's Chapel in Aberdeen uniting themselves with the Episcopal Church in Scotland, by a Clergyman of the Church of England.-On Wednesday the 5th inst., a public dinner was given in the County Rooms, by upwards of sixty gentlemen connected with the county and city of Aberdeen, to John Menzies, Esq. of Pitfodels, previous to his departure to take up his residence in Edinburgh; Sir Robert Dalrymple Horn Elphinstone of Logie Elphinstone, in the chair.Miss Jarman was succeeded at the Theatre Royal by the Misses Paton, in consequence of which engagement their concerts did not take place. Miss Louisa Jarman is now performing here in opera, and is likely to become a favourite.-The second Aberdeen Assembly of the season was held on Thursday, the anniversary of Queen Adelaide's birthday. Mr Dyce's Prize Essay on "The Relations between the Phenomena of Electricity and Magnetism, and the consequences deducible from these relations," was read in the public hall of Marischal College, on Saturday the 8th inst. The Trustees of the late Mrs Blackwell have proposed as the subject for the next prize of twenty pounds, the question," What additions to our knowledge of the Animal Economy have already resulted, or may be expected to result, from the modern improvements in Chemistry?" Each Essay must be transmitted, not in the handwriting of the candidate, to the Librarian of Marischal College, Aberdeen, before the 1st of April, 1832, accompanied with mottos, written on the back of a letter containing the name and address of the candidate.-Mr Woodford, A.M. author of "Elements of the Latin Language Simplified," has announced his intention of commencing an Evening Course of Lectures on General History, Chronology, and Geography, illustrated by maps, prints, drawings, and a chart, on an entirely new plan.-The Rev. Abercromby L. Gordon, Minister of Greyfriars parish, Aberdeen, is preparing for publication, 1st, A Discourse, the substance of which was preached in the West Church, on Sabbath the 22d of August, 1830, at the Lecture instituted for inculcating the duty of man to the inferior animals; and 2d, An Address to the Inhabitants of Aberdeen, on the necessity of establishing Schools in the six parishes in to which the city has been divided, together with two letters on the subject, which appeared in the Aberdeen newspapers, under the signature of Civis:-Mr Thomas Duncan, stone-cutter, is at present preparing an obelisk of Peterhead granite, which is soon to be erected at Southampton, to the memory of the late lamented Scottish poet, Robert Pollok, author of the Course of Time. The following inscription is to be engraved upon it:-" The grave of Robert Pollok, A.M. author of the Course of Time; his immortal poem is his monument. He was born at Muirhouse, Eaglesham, Renfrewshire, Scotland, on the 19th of October, 1798; he died at Shirley Common, on the 17th September, 1827. This obelisk was erected by some admirers of his genius, January 1831.” which, notwithstanding all the newspaper puffs about the grandees CHIT-CHAT FROM MUSSELBURGH.-We have had a Cavalry Ball, who attended, went off on the whole but flatly; and, mirabile dictu ! although it was a ball given by our own troop, there was not above six Musselburgh ladies in the room.-Dr Moir is at present engaged on a medical work, but not the one on the diseases of infants, which you announced some time back; but something on a more comprehensive scale, in which, I understand, much learning and research will be displayed.-Our townsman Mr Ritchie's bust of Lady Ann Hamilton, which was much admired in the Royal Institution last year, has, in my opinion, been surpassed by a marble one of Lady Hope of Pinkie, which he has just finished. "The Shepherd Boy," a beautiful impersonation of a rural swain with his "melodious pipe," is also highly creditable to his taste. His greater effort, however, consists of a group, the subject of which is taken from the second canto of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered-the figures, those of Olindo and Sophronia-the moment of time, that in which the lover and his mistress are bound to the stake. The self-devotion of the heroic Christian maiden, who stepped forth freely to brave the fiery ordeal in expiation of a crime at which her pure heart would have revolted, and the deep affection of Olindo, who framed a tale of guilt to share the funeral pile with his beloved, is touching and pathetic in the extreme. Mr Ritchie, as far as his art will allow him, has done justice to his subject. The agony of grief in the male figure is finely pourtrayed. The upturned eyes, the knitting of the brow, the expansion of the chest, and the firm planting of the right foot, are excellent. In the female figure we have the calm firmness of pur pose with which martyrs meet their fate. The eyes are raised to heaven, but their expression is that of the quiet holiness of devotion. The conception of the poet is finely brought out ; "Yet seem'd Olindo like a man to moan The figures are the size of life. He has not quite finished it off, but I believe he intends it for the Scottish Academy, which opens early next month, when you will have an opportunity of judging of its merits. CHIT-CHAT FROM ELGIN.-A pamphlet, entitled, "A Voice from the Tomb, or the Ghost of the Elgin and Forres Journal," has lately issued from the Elgin press.-We have had our share of frost and snow in Moray; the river Lossie was frozen over for ten days, and afforded an excellent resort to the amateurs of skating.-Elgin is now lighted with gas, and makes a very respectable figure in its new winter-evening dress.-Mr Love, the ventriloquist, has been performing in the New Assembly Rooms, and has now proceeded southward, to give entertainments in Huntly and Aberdeen.-On the first Friday of the new year, the proprietors of the Elgin Courier pewspaper presented their subscribers with an accurate lithographic representation of the new iron bridge over the Lossie at Bishopmill, and the Elgin Gas Work in its immediate vicinity.-Mr G. Campbell Smith, land-surveyor in Banff, has lately published, "Useful Tables for Landed Proprietors and Farmers, ornamented with a plan of an estate, and an explanation of finished plans." This little work is printed in a manner highly creditable to the lithographic press of Banff.-A new street, extending from Anderson's Hospital to the Cathedral, is about to be opened in Elgin, under the name of King Street; and another, from Anderson's Hospital to the Rothes Turtpike, is projected. LITERARY CRITICISM. A Collection of Songs, selected by A. Kay, Esq., Vocal Champion of Great Britain. Price Threepence. 32mo. It is not customary with us to write notices of selected songs; but the merits of the present publication are so numerous, that we cannot avoid bringing them before the public. The editor is a gentleman of high distinction and celebrity in his profession, and has challenged to mortal combat all the greatest singers of the day, who have, however, we are sorry to say, declined to meet him; thus depriving mankind of one of the finest concerts that has ever taken place since the fierce contest, so eloquently narrated by Carew, which was held in the forest between the lutist and the nightingale. Price 6d. torum, can a dozen friends sit around the table, with the sparkling mountain-dew, or the dark and massy wine, before them, and feel the glory of gladness, "the joy of a new delight," and no song? If all, the feelings of intense and almost unbearable happiness that have been kindled in the bosoms of boon companions by means of singing, during the last eighteen hundred and thirty-one years, were gathered together, assorted by a cunning head, and amalgamated and compounded into one glorious and gorgeous laugh, one mighty and stupendous exclamation of joy, it would, we are certain, overturn the universe, and destroy the race of men. Louder than a thousand thunders would be that laugh; and we have heard the thunder of one autumn day make the leaves of the forest trees fall to the ground, and shake to their foundations the very mountains ;-so ponder a little while, gentle reader, on the idea of a thousand thunders, and think of the effect of that one all-omnipotent laugh-that immortal cachinnation. The world, notwithstanding, is waxing more musical every day. Wherever we go, we are more or less regaled with the melody of “Signoras and Signors." No theatre can now prosper unless it command two or three singers of What is religion without singing? Listen to the holy first-rate celebrity-a multitudinous assortment of encore psalm lifted up in solemn praise to God from the body songs-an excellent reserve of operatic performers-a of the church. There are many old men there, now choice stock of the most admired operas—and a well-giving their tremulous voices to the sacred song, whose selected orchestra. Go to an evening party, and whe-grey heads will, ere long, be laid in the grave; and there ther it be held" among the highest grades or the lowest ranks," (vide Preface by A. Kay, Esq.) there is sure to be singing; and if the voice of the singer be not always the most exquisitely modelled in the world, yet, in general, we derive pleasure from the effort. Even unto our city streets hath the mania descended, and shirtless and homeless mendicants walk along "in glory and in joy," chanting to the four winds and the passers by. Some solitary individuals do not sing, or at least they are not suspected by the world to possess singing propensities, but such persons in general whistle, and when they do not whistle, they are accustomed to hum over within their own mouths, and for their own private gratification, the outlines of such melodies as they admire. Singing is happiness. Why all the foolish speculations about the happiness principle?-singing is happiness! From all ages, the old men eloquent whom we have read of, were men who loved a good song, or a good psalm: go as far back even as that prince of Israel, the venerable David. Often, when his duties of command were over, joyously to his stately hall walked he, touching to lofty measures the sounding harp, till inspiration came like a cloud of fire over his heart and brain,-joy, like maduess, poured out its sparkles from the clear depths of his eyes, and the aged king leapt up and sung the measure of his own dance. What, without singing, is love? How glowingly burns the eye, and how passionately trembles the lip, of the listening lover, when, reclining on mossy bank among the woods in the calm of evening, the belaved of his affections singeth to him the joy of her heart; and of all the birds of that wide forest, there is not one that hath such tones of pathos, and passion, and delight, as those which love pours out from its altar in that maid. en's breast! What, without singing, is friendship? Fame? stupid, sickening, barren, and unbearable. And jollity? A dead letter! How, in the name of the Sanctum Sanc are, at this very moment, glad glimpses of heavenly hap piness about their hushed spirits, and their lifted-up thoughts are far away in that distant region, "where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.” And in death? How sublimely solemn the hymn chanted over the body of the dead, whether heard in mighty cathedrals, dedicated to the Catholic faith, mingling with the sacred pathos of the low organ, amid the pomps of show, and the lavishings of wealth, and the luxuries of sorrow -or the psalm sung in a humble English village by the parish clerk, who walks at the head of the gloomy pro cession of weeping mourners, heard by itself in most solemn stillness; for there is not a word spoken at that moment in the village, for they all sorrow for the dead man, who is borne along to his grave, and who was well known for years to all. Singing is omnipotent ;-it rules us in our cradle-it delights us in our boyhood-it excites us to rapture in our manhood-it soothes and consoles us in our old age. In the moonshine of the night, and the sunshine of the day-in joy and in sorrow-in prosperity and adversity in trouble and in calm—in war and peace-in love and hate-in refinement and barbarism-in cities and villages -in palaces, and in huts of the poorest poor-in the hearts of the gay, and in the hearts of the melancholy--at all times, and among all nations, and climates, and tongues, the voice of song has the same unlimited dominion-the same universal effect on the heart of man. Napoleon, in his stormiest, sternest, and most tumultuous ebullitions of passion-however gloomy, morose, and discontented-was at once lulled into a temporary calm by the singing of one whom he loved. Rousseau and Robert Burns, when dying, desired to feel and behold the sunshine of day;-they saw and heard in it the low breathings, the sweet singing, of some blessed sacred melody,. It is useless to attempt the analyzation of that which never has been, or can be analyzed; for, like Beauty, it exists under so many incomprehensible varieties and combinations, and is so differently esteemed by different individuals, under different circumstances, that it must ever be impossible to pronounce the precise and distinct limit and extent of the varieties of melody. The most simple explanation seems to be this:-Whatever gives pleasure to the ear, is musical; whatever gives pain, is not musical. So of Beauty-Whatever delights the eye, is beautiful; whatever is felt to be disgusting, is not beautiful. But, lest we offend the metaphysicians, and fatigue ourselves, we hasten to offer a few words concerning the book of A. Kay, Esq. Most gentle and pensive reader! thou mayst purchase this book for the small price of threepence; which sum thou mayst arrive at by commuting a bank note into silver, and one of the pieces of silver into copper. A. Kay, Esq. is himself an author of songs, though, from "modesty and delicacy of disposition," he has not, we perceive, published them in his book. We almost suspect that he does not particularly excel in this species of composition; and at this we are not astonished, as men of the higher order of genius are not, in general, very good writers of songs. He has, however, written a Preface to his Collection, which is full of the most eloquent writing we have met with in modern times. We shall quote from this Preface the challenge which he originally intended to send to Mr Braham and others. He did not send it at the time, but afterwards sent each a written challenge, rather differently worded: "I, Alexander Kay, Esq., Vocal Champion of Great Britain, in accordance with the most innate and sincere wishes of tens of thousands of my intimate acquaintances, from the highest ranks of society down to the lowest grades, do hereby valiantly challenge the following real or pretended singers-(the meeting to take place in Corby's Hotel, Old Horse Wynd, Edinburgh, second flat) viz. Braham, Sinclair, Sapio, Wood, and Anderson, gentlemen who are esteemed to be first-rate singers on the London Boards, to a trial of our respective merits as singers, for the honour of a Scotsman, being at the head of this most seraphic science, (as all the other arts and sciences are headed by my countrymen.") superior judgment, minute and accurate observation, profound remark, dignified philosophy, and refined imagination, which we know him to possess. Mr Kay's short allusion, in the preface before us, to his reception in Glasgow, is expressive and powerful: "My enterprising spirit prompted me to visit Glasgow lately, where I gave some public evening concerts, which, I am happy to say, went off with the most unparalleled applause; and which prove (showing at the same time the great good sense and discrimination of the Glasgow audience) that I have the finest talents for singing, far superior to any mortal that has ever appeared in public. My stay was short, but, limited as it was, I was introduced to all the wonders and beauties of that celebrated town. My heart was also made prisoner by a young lady of high rank; but, like Tasso, I loved in vain. One of my best songs is on this subject." Our readers may possibly think that A. Kay, Esq. has, in some parts of his preface, expressed himself too egotistically. This is perhaps true; but vanity is very often an infirmity of noble minds, and many men of the greatest genius and most exalted virtue have been self-idolaters. We need not enquire into the history of men of past days, but merely look around us among living men. Sir Walter Scott excepted, all the poets, and painters, and sculptors, and actors, and singers of eminence, are vain and egotistical.-Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Sewel Stokes, among poets; Etty, among painters; Campbell, among sculptors; Macready, among actors; A. Kay, Esq., and Braham, among singers; and, among our periodicals too, doth not the Edinburgh Literary Journal love to behold its own blessed and beaming countenance reflected in all its beauty from the mirror of Fame, as dearly and passionately as ever wild deer that hath discovered its own lovely shadow in some lonely desert spring, and goeth down daily from its high home among the mountains to gaze on the stately head and antlered brow of the beauteous stranger, whom all the deep love of its yearning heart cannot win from its kingly repose in the crystal depths below? We take leave of our author with feelings of the sincerest respect and admiration, hoping that all our readers, who can afford to spare the sum of threepence from their yearly income, will assist in promoting the progress of literature, by purchasing this judicious and excellent se. lection of songs. the Author of "Letters from the East," &c. 3 vols. Saunders and Otley. London. 1831. Alexander Kay, Esq. had intended to have affixed his portrait to this advertisement, and had prepared a short history of his life, with numerous passages from his Diary. We are sorry he was induced to forego his challenge. We The Exiles of Palestine: A Tale of the Holy Land. By give his motives below, which he added in a Postscript. "P.S. At the same time, to show the nobility and magnanimity of my soul, the delicacy of my disposition, and the true kindness of my heart, in not taking the lofty and dignified station my genius entitles me to, I hereby declare that I will not challenge these gentlemen, who are fully aware of my great, unrivalled, and celestial powers as a singer, and had rather not lose the notoriety they have acquired, which they will assuredly do, if they will allow me to bring it to public contest; that I will accept the sum of five thousand pounds, not as a bribe, but as a merited reward for my great generosity in not pressing this challenge, so that they may reap and enjoy the benefit of that name which they at present, I am sorry to say, possess, and which, I am confident, would quite fall into the shade, while my voice and appearance, from their luminous effects, would cast an undying splendour on the musical world. A. KAY, Esq." This illustrious individual afterwards did the city of Glasgow the honour of paying it a visit. He was received in the rapturous manner that his great powers merited. He did not stay long, but in the short time he was there, his active, enterprising, and untiring spirit induced him to see all the marvels of that marvellous city. We are glad to learn, that it is Mr Kay's intention to publish his observations in a book of six volumes, which we have no doubt will establish his character for that We do not know if we should be quite justified in saying that the public appetite for novels has altogether passed away; but certainly its craving is less violent than it was some years ago. There is a tide in the affairs of literature, as well as in the other affairs of life; and if the novelist does not take advantage of it when it sets in favour of his own favourite pursuit, he runs the risk of having his labours neglected, while the taste of the reading public is engaged upon some other subject, for the time of more fascinating, though perhaps of equally evanescent, interest. The genius of the Great Unknown not only revived the public taste for works of fiction, but elevated it to a pitch beyond what it had hitherto reached ; a new tone also was given to this species of writing,-it became more natural and more instructive, as well as more pleasing, than the puling sentimentalism and the incredible romance which filled the circulating libraries of former generations; and, what may be considered as a still greater triumph, it enlisted in its service many of the most talented men of the age. In short, novel-reading, instead of being a deleterious drug, eagerly sought after only by the victims of a depraved appetite and diseased imagination, had become, to a certain extent, the wholesome food of the sane and the industrious. Men of |