irresistible energy of argument, and such power of elocution, as struck his hearers with astonishment and admiration. It flashed like the lightning of heaven against the ministers and sons of corruption, blasting where it smote, and withering the nerves of opposition; but his more substantial praise was founded upon his disinterested integrity, his incorruptible heart, his unconquerable spirit of independence, and his invariable attachment to the interest and liberty of his country." Another biographer thus mentions him: "His elevated aspect commanded the awe and mute attention of all who beheld him, whilst a certain grace in his manner, conscious of all the dignities of his situation, of the solemn scene he acted in, as well as his own exalted character, seemed to acknowledge and repay the respect he received; his venerable form, bowed with infirmity and age, but animated by a mind which nothing could subdue; his spirit shining through him, arming his eye with lightning, and cloathing his lips with thunder; or, if milder topics offered, harmonizing his countenance in smiles, and his voice in softness, for the compass of his powers was infinite. As no idea was too vast, no imagination too sublime, for the grandeur and majesty of his manner; so no fancy was too playful, nor any allusion too comic, for the ease and gaiety with which he could accommodate to the occasion. But the character of his oratory was dignity; this presided in every respect, even to his sallies of pleasantry."

ON THE SMELL OF FLOWERS.

smell in the air, is the violet*; next to that is the musk rose, then the strawberry-leaves, dying with a most excellent cordial smell; then sweet briar, then wall flowers, which are very delightful to be set under a parlour, or lower chamber window; but those which perfume the air most delightfully, not passed by as the rest, but being trodden upon and crushed, are threethat is, burnet, wild thyme, and watermints; therefore you are to set whole alleys of them, to have the pleasure when you walk or tread." The philosophic Bradley thus speaks of the alluring charms of flowers :-"Primroses and cowslips may be planted near the edges of borders, and near houses, for the sake of their pretty smell. I recommend the planting some of the common sorts that grow wild in the woods, in some of the most rural places about the house; for I think nothing can be more delightful, than to see great numbers of these flowers, accompanied with violets, growing under the hedges, avenues of trees, and wilderness works. Violets, besides their beauty, perfume the air with a most delightful odour." The Prince de Ligne says,

Je ne veux point avoir l'orgueilleuse tulipe; L'odorat en jardin est mon premier principe.

The translation of "Spectacle de la Nature," a very pleasing work, observes that "Flowers are not only intended to beautify the earth with their shining colours, but the greatest part of them, in order to render the entertainment more exquisite, diffuse a fragrance that perfumes the air around us; and it should seem as if they were solicitous to reserve their odours for the evening and morn, when walking is most agreeable; but their sweets are very faint

The sweetness of the violet's deep blue eyes (Kiss'd by the breath of heaven) seems co

lour'd by its skies.

ETRUSCAN ANTIQUITIES.

WE yesterday paid a visit to a collection of magnificent vases and other items which are now exhibiting at the Egyptian-hall in Piccadilly. They form a portion of the curiosities discovered at Canino on the estate of Lucien Buonaparte, in the tombs of the early Etruscan kings. The pottery comprises, tazzas of every shape and size, amphoræ and vases of great beauty, and a multitude of objects in metal, among which are helmets, armour for the legs, tripods, lamps, &c. with a few trinkets of fine gold.The devices on some of the vases are extremely curious; they represent the combats of warriors and the games of the circus and amphitheatre, in fact, vivid representations of the spectacles and costumes of a people among whom the arts flourished when Rome herself was young. To the antiquary, the inspection of this curious collection must prove a rare treat. There are a few fine pictures in the room, the best of which is Susanna and the Elders by Guido. We should venture a word or two on this painting, but there are few who do not know what the works of Guido are, and Shakspeare reminds us, that "to gild refined gold, or paint the lily," is labour lost.

Table Talk.

GREENWICH PARK.-The trees which at present form so much of the beauty of Greenwich Park were planted by Evelyn, and, if he could now see them, he would call them "goodly trees,' at least some of them. The chesnuts, however, though they produce some fine fruit, have not thriven in the same proportion with the elms. In noticing this park, I should not forget to mention that the only remaining part of the Palace of Henry VIII. is preserved in the front of Lord Auckland's house looking

into the Park. It is a circular Delft window, of beautiful workmanship, and in a fine state of preservation. There are also a great number of small tumuli in the upper part of the Park, all of which appear to have been opened.

Jesse's Gleanings in Nat. Hist. RICHMOND PARK.-In the grounds of the lodge belonging to the Earl of Errol in Richmond Park, there is a raised piece of ground, known by the name of Henry the Eighth's Mound. It is supposed that he stood on this elevated spot, to watch the signal from the Tower of London which assured him of the

death of Anna Boleyn. It is in a direct line with the Tower, which is readily seen with the naked eye on a clear day. The beauty of the grounds at this charming lodge, with reference to their extent, is exceeded by few in the kingdom.

Ib.

a merchant of Bristol, there is an entry, IN a ledger, the property of Mr.Thorn, under the date of the year 1526 of a debit for armour and other items, sent settled in the West Indies. This is the to T. Tison, an Englishman who had first record of a trade from the city of Bristol to the new world.

SUPPRESSION OF THE MONASTERIES. In the twenty-sixth volume of Dodsworth's MS. in the Bodleian library, there is a letter from one of the commissioners appointed to superintend the dismantling of the monasteries in the West of England, to Thomas Lord Cromwell, which shews the spirit that actuated the plunderers. A portion of that letter runs as follows:-

came

"Pleaseth your mastership to understand that yesternight late we from Glassenburie to Bristow to St. Austine's, whereas we began this morning, intending this day to dispatch both this house, here being but 14 chanons, and also the Gauntes, (the house of St. Mark called the Gaunts, in Bristol,) whereas be 4 or 5. By this bringer, my servant, I send you reliques; first, two flowers wrapped in white and black sarcenet, that on Christmas even ("hora ipsa qua Christus natus fuerat") will spring, and burgen, and bear blossoms, quod expertum est," said the Prior of Maden Bradeley. Ye shall also receive a bag of reliques, whereon ye shall see strange things, as shall appear by the scripture; as God's coate, our ladies' smocke, part of God's supper, in "Cœna Domini." "Pars petræ super quamnatus erat Jesus in Bethlehem." Belike there is in Bethlehemn

"The

A PERSIAN ProverB.-A blind man, carrying a lamp in his hand, and a pitcher on his shoulder, was pursuing his way one night, when a hair-brained fellow met him, and said, "O fool! day and night are to you two things alike, and darkness and light are equal to your eyes; tell me, of what use this lamp can be to you?" The blind man smiling, said, "This lamp is not for my use; I carry it to warn all those who, like you, possess a soul blind and without understanding, not against me and throw down my pitcher."

to run

GOLDSMITH.-Sir James Campbell, in his Memoirs, gives an account of his introduction to the Pandemonium, a dinner club held at a house in Clarges Street, Piccadilly:-" I had previously been proposed (by Mr. Foote) and ballotted for. I went alone. In the arm chair next the fire I found a fat gentleman seated, whom I had never seen before. Standing by his side, in close conversation, was a dapper little man, with whom it seemed to me as if I had already been acquainted. In other parts of the room there were several little groups of individuals, evidently waiting with impatience for the announcement of dinner. Among these I discovered a person to whom I could address myself as having formerly been named to; but him I found so deeply immersed in some cogitation of his own, that it was not without a good deal of difficulty I could induce him to present me to the stout gentleman in the chair, and one or two others, whose acquaintance I was desirous of making. The I addressed was Oliver Goldsmith, the most abstract man in Europe. He who first attracted my attention I found to be the great moralist of the age, the author of the "Rambler." In return for my best bow, he gruffly nodded to me, and continued some observations of a ludicrous nature, which he was making in a tone of mock solemnity to the little man by his side, who proved to be no other than David Garrick. The Roscius received me with an air of cordiality and politeness which was quite delightful to me. At length we adjourned to dinner. The conversation, to my great relief, became general, even before the cloth was removed. It seemed to be a favourite object with several of the members to bring out the

person

smith writing such stuff as these, after immortalizing his name by pieces so "The Traveller," and Why,

inimitable as

The Deserted Village." Master Foote,"

his rich Irish brogue, in reply, my fine verses you talk of would never produce me a beefsteak and a can of porter; but since I have written nonsense, as you call it, for your bare boards, I can afford to live like a gentleman."

said Goldsmith, with

BYRON wanted a due appreciation of the ancient works of art; but, says Moore, in this he but resembled some of his great precursors in the field of poetry; both Tasso and Milton, for example, having evinced so little tendency to such tastes, that throughout the whole of their pages there is not, I fear, one single allusion to any of these great masters of the pencil and chisel, whose works nevertheless both had seen. That this, adds the same gentleman in a note on this passage in his Life of Lord Byron, was the case with Milton is acknowledged by Richardson, who admired both Milton and the arts too warmly to make such an admission upon any but solid grounds. "He does not appear," says the writer, "to have much regarded what was done with the pencil; no, not even when in Italy, in Rome, in the Vatican. Neither does it seem sculpture was much esteemed by him."

SECOND BEST.-A boy who had been sent to school in the country, was placed under the charge of one of his father's friends. As a stimulus to exertion, Grandy promised that he should have a shilling added to his pocket money every week, if he were dux of his class, and sixpence if he stood second. Each succeeding Saturday brought a demand for the extra sixpence. This went on for some months, until Mr L unfortunately said, "By the bye, Fred., how many are there in your class ?"-"Two, Sir," was the reluctant, but unavoidable answer.

CURE FOR INSANITY.-Insanity is one of the tendencies that mental culture, upon a phrenological basis, would be likely to keep under. Almost all mad

men possess the organ of self-esteem in a very conspicuous measure. Let men look well to this. Let the proud be care

ful to cultivate opposite qualities; let them be placed in circumstances calculated to lower high notions; let them habitually compare themselves with other men whose talents are much superior, but whose self-approbation is much inferior, and I promise such comparers that their own self-esteem shall be gradually brought down nearer to the level in which it ought to be: and if they have the fear of madhouses before their eyes, this lowering of their organization shall go the greatest way that any preventive power can go in preventing their apprehensions from being realized. Madness the increase of mental power! it is no such thing! It is the drawing off of power from other faculties, and the placing too much upon that which had before got more than was sufficient.-New Mon. Mag.

TAMING A FLY.-Will the reader require to be told that the following is by Mr. Leigh Hunt? Every one remembers his "Indicator," the pleasantest periodical that ever died a natural death. The title has been transferred to a series of papers in the New Monthly Magazine, and from one of them we take this morsel of whim: "Imagine the endeavour to 'tame a fly!' It is obvious that there is no getting at him: he does not comprehend you: he knows nothing about you: it is doubtful, in spite of his large eyes, whether he even sees you; at least, to any purpose of recognition. How capriciously and provokingly he glides hither and thither! what angles and diagrams he describes in his locomotion, seemingly without any purpose! he will peg away at your sugar, but stop him who can when he has done with it. Thumping (if you could get some fairy-stick that should do it with impunity,) would have no effect on a creature who shall bump his head half the morning at a pane of glass, and never learn that there is no getting through it. Solitary imprisonment would be lost upon the incomprehensible little wretch, who can stand still with as much pertinacity as he can bustle about, and will stick a whole day in one posture. The best thing to be said of him is, that he is as fond of cleaning himself as a cat, doing it much in the same manner; and that he often rubs his hands together with an appearance of great energy and satisfaction."

THE TUDORS.—It was the principle of the Tudors to break down the old nobility. The great families of Norman origin then remaining; the Veres,

Percys, Cliffords, Nevills, Talbots, Staffords, Courtenays, and many others of whose male lines eight still exist, had suffered frightfully in the wars of the Roses. The head of the house of Howard had fallen at Bosworth field, and his son, afterwards restored to the title of Duke of Norfolk, was committed to the tower by Henry the Seventh, where he continued a prisoner for three years and a half. The cruel policy exercised towards the English nobility during the reign of Henry VII, Henry VIII., Edward, and Mary, is without a parallel in the history of any chris

tian state.

E. M. A.

THE AMERICAN NAVY.-Mr. F. de

Roos. in his personal narrative, says:— "it is to those states (the Atlantic) then, that America must look to provide the seamen who are to man her navy, and among those, New York and New England will stand pre-eminent. The southern states of Viginia the Carolinas, and Georgia, it is true, carry on an extensive foreign trade, but, independent of their bring destitute of any very commodious harbours for ships of war of the larger classes, their climate and the nature of their population equally unfit them to produce hardy and enterprising mariners. They have few, if any, vessels engaged in the fisheries, and are therefore destitute of that first great nursery for seamen."

COMFORT" "Late in the evening," says Prince Puckler Muskau, "I reached Cheltenham, an extremely pretty watering place, of an elegance no where to

be found on the continent. Even the splendid gaslights, and the new villalittle flower-garden, put the mind into a looking houses, each surrounded by its cheerful and agreeable tone. I arrived, too, just in the hour when the contest between the light of day and the artiand to me pleasing effect. ficial illumination produces a peculiar, As I entered the inn, which I might almost call magnificent, and ascended the snowwhite stone staircase, ornamented with a gilt bronze railing, and trod on fresh and brilliant carpets, lighted by two servants to my room, I gave myself up 'con amore' to the feeling of 'comfort,' which can be found in perfection no where but in England. In this point of view, it is a country completely made for a misanthrope like myself; since all that is unconnected with social life, all that a man can procure with money, is excellent and perfect in its kind; and he may enjoy it isolated, without any