THE SUICIDE. HERMAN GOLTZ passed many years in anatomical examination of that delicate viscus, the dead brain, endeavouring to discover some coincidence between its marvellous structure and its important uses. Exhausted by sudden alternations of hope and disappointment, the fabric of his understanding gave way in a moment of despair he hanged himself in his dissecting-room, and was nearly devoured by rats before his loss was discovered and his fate deplored. Before he accomplished his last resolve, he wrote on a slip of paper words to the following effect: Full twenty years of unavailing care Dim are these eyes, which erst here wont to pry, A poor lone student, from the world estranged, NATIONAL MONUMENTS. WORKS OF ART, ETC. Ω. THERE has just been printed the Report (with Minutes of Evidence) of the Committee appointed by the House of Commons, on the 6th of April last, "to inquire into the present state of the National Monuments and Works of Art in Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, and other public edifices, to consider the best means for their protection, and for affording facilities to the public for their inspection, as a means of the moral and intellectual improvement of the people." Of this very interesting document the following is a brief analysis : British Museum.-The experiment of admitting the public on the annual holidays has proved very satisfactory. Sir Henry Ellis states that from 16,000 to 32,000 persons have passed through the rooms in a single day, without any accident or mischief. The exclusion of children under eight years of age has caused considerable inconvenience and disappointment, and prevented many persons from visiting the Museum. The Committee suggest the opening of the Museum to the public on the private days; and the discontinuance of the rule requiring visitors to enter their names in a book. The National Gallery presents a still more gratifying instance of success; men, women, and children being admitted without distinction. The number of visitors has increased from 125,000 in 1837, to 397,649 in 1838; and in 1840, to upwards of 500,000. The rooms require ventilation. The Tower.-The annual number of visi tors to the Armory has risen from 10,200 in 1836, at 2s. fee each, to 40,000 in 1838, at 1s.; to 84,000 in 1839, at 6d.; and in 1840, to 94,973, (exclusive of 3,184 by orders from the officers,) producing £2,374 at 6d. each. The Committee very properly animadvert upon the present hurried mode of exhibiting the Armory to visitors, and of the detention of the latter in a room until a warder can be found to accompany them. Hampton-Court Palace has not been, in any respect, injured by the free admission of the public. Westminster Abbey, and St. Paul's Cathedral. The Committee apprehend, that the monuments in these edifices would not be endangered by the public being, under certain regulations, gratuitously admitted to inspect them. The serious injury that has been in past times done to the monuments in Westminster Abbey is believed to have arisen from the erection, on certain public occasions, of galleries, &c., within the Abbey; and not from the mischievous disposition of the people at large. Although the Committee strongly deprecate any course which would create an impression that churches were at any time to be considered merely in the light of places for the exhibition of works of art, they are of opinion that the free admission of the public to religious edifices might be conducive to the acquirement of historical knowledge, and the strengthening of religious impressions. The extortionate charges which are made by the attendants at various places, especially St. Paul's Cathedral, ought certainly to be lowered, if not altogether abolished. At present, (we believe), a person wishing to go all over St. Paul's, and to ascend to the various galleries, must pay about 2s. or 2s. 6d. The Committee hope that arrangements may be made by the cathedral authorities to allow the larger portions of Westminster Abbey and of St. Paul's, and other cathedrals through the country, to be opened freely to the public daily, and especially on Sundays; though it may be requisite to continue a small reduced fee, or other sufficient restriction, in regard to the chapels and smaller or more intricate portions of those edifices. And if this increased facility of admission should lead, as it probably must, to an additional number of officers employed in their superintendence, such extra expense ought to be defrayed from other funds than those belonging to the cathedrals.—Abridged from the Times. The Gatherer. London Charity.-The Stranger's Friend Society distribute annually about £2500 among the distressed and sick in their own habitations, in and about the City of London. A Failure.-It appears that the library of the Corporation of London has lately been opened in the evening, by order of the Court of Common Council, during which time no more than six members have made their appearance in the rooms! This is by no means creditable to "the collective wisdom" of the City, and the "diffusion-ofknowledge" clique, with whom the experiment originated. It has cost the City £55 6s. 6d., or about £9 4s. per member; so that the Court have prudently ordered the practice to be discontinued; it being a more expensive hobby than swan-upping, Courts of Conservancy, "Maria Wood,' or whitebait. Munificent Bequest.-The late Mr. Barber Beaumont commenced a philosophical institution, which, by a codicil to his will, dated May 28, 1840, he has endowed with £13,000, as follows: To establish a philosophical institution in Beaumont-square, Mile-end, for the mental and moral improvement of the inhabitants of the said square and the surrounding neighbourhood, in their intervals of business, and freed from the baneful excitement of intoxicating liquors, and also the general cultivation of the general principles of practical theology and the wisdom of God, leaving to the different churches and sects the cultivation and pursuit of their peculiar tenets, and also for the purpose of affording them intellectual improvement, and rational recreation and amusement. Fate of a Genteel Highwayman. - My friend ***** lost, in one evening, his ALL at a gaming-table, in London. It was then a sort of fashion among the desperate to play the part of highwaymen on Finchley and Wimbledon Commons, or on Houn slow Heath. Phormio betook himself to this occupation at the hazard of life or death. He had a father, who still loved him, in spite of his unceasing efforts to break his heart; for, indeed, bating the diabolical habits of gambling, Phormio was among those who had the sweetest of tempers, the most cultivated of understandings, the most winning of manners, and most generous of hearts! On one dark and tempestuous evening of winter, Phormio was on horseback with two loaded pistols in his holsters; the noise of a post-chaise was getting nearer and nearer ;-on its approach, the travellers were roughly told to "stop and to deliver their monies." But the travellers were also armed, (a very common practice in those days,) and one of them discharging his pistol, shot my friend through the heart. It was the hand of his "father that drew the trigger!"-Dibdin's Reminiscences, vol. i. p. 114. Beer versus Scurvy.-During their severe service on the west coast of Africa, the crew of the Etna suffered so much from scurvy, that the least scratch had a tendency to become a dangerous wound. Capt. Belcher tells us that "fish diet was found to aggravate this; and it is worthy of remark, that when our ships used to suffer so much from scurvy, stock-fish was a portion of their allowance. The only the disease, was beer, made of the essence thing which appeared materially to check of malt and hops; and I feel satisfied, that a general issue of this on the coast of Africa would be very salutary, and have stitutions of men subjected to heavy labour the effect especially of keeping up the con in boats. The fresh-meat diet, which our crew obtained afterwards at the Gambia, was of much less obvious benefit than was expected."-Journal of the Geographical Society, vol. ii. p. 286. Electricity of Railways.-Mr. E. Stephenson, the celebrated engineer, has always considered the generation of heat to tion of electricity by the common electrifyresemble, in a striking manner, the generaing machine; and some experiments made within Mr. Stephenson's own knowledge lead to the opinion that all bearings of machinery put electricity in motion, and consequently render it probable that machinery kept in motion is not so liable to oxidize as when left in a state of rest. Thus, the rails of a railway do not rust, but, if a rail be lain down near the railway, and be not worked, it will speedily rust, whilst the rails worked exhibit no such effect-and this Mr. Stephenson believes to depend upon the electricity being set in motion by be at all correct, we may look upon every the journeys of the carriages. If this view railway carriage as a species of electrifying machine. Shakspere has never broken down the distinction, as other writers have done, between what is worthy to be loved and imitated, and what to be pitied and shunned. We have no moral monsters in Shakspere, no generous housebreakers, no philanthroWe see men as they are; pic murderers. but we see them also with a clearness that it would be vain to expect from our own unassisted vision.-Charles Knight's Shakspere and his Writings. Newcastle is shewn, by recent statements, to be, in export business, unequalled by any port in the United Kingdom, that of London only excepted. OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. No. 1067.] SATURDAY, JULY 10, 1841. [PRICE 2d. HUNGERFORD AND LAMBETH SUSPENSION BRIDGE. THIS very elegant chain or suspension bridge is in course of construction across the Thames, from Hungerford Market to the Lambeth bank, at a short distance west of the brewery of Messrs. Goding and Co., and in a line with the Belvidere Road. The want of such a communication as this bridge will present has been generally acknowledged since the erection of Hungerford Market, in the year 1833; shortly after, the plan was submitted to the public, a Company formed, and an Act of Parliament obtained, authorizing them to raise a capital of £106,000 for the purpose. The engineer of the bridge is Mr. I. K. Brunel, F.R.S., who is also executing a stupendous suspension bridge across the Avon, at Clifton. The design presents a handsome arched approach from each bank of the river, the road, or rather pathway, being suspended by iron chains from two stone piers in the Italian style, corresponding, generally, with the campaniles of Hungerford Market. The architect to the Company is Mr. I. B. Bunning; and the masonry has been contracted for at £63,000 by Mr. G. Chadwick. The iron-work will be executed at the works of Messrs. Sandys and Co., in Cornwall, at the estimated cost of £17,000. The weight will be 700,000 tons; the entire length 1410 feet, divided as follows: from each shore to pier, 370 feet; centre between piers, 670 feet: the viaduct will be 28 feet above high-water mark, or 3 feet higher than the crown of the centre arch of Waterloo Bridge. It will be adapted for foot passengers only; the toll being a halfpenny each person. On the Hungerford side, the platform will join with the centre of the terraced roof of the colonnade between the two taverns, whence the traffic will pass through the galleries over the colonnades of the Fish Market, by the level of the general market to Hungerford-street, and the Strand. The total cost of this bridge and ap proaches is estimated at £102,254 78.; and the estimated return, based upon the traffic of the existing bridges, is as follows: 1st. Ordinary traffic at a halfpenny each person is estimated at, per annum 2nd. Traffic from Lambeth to the Hungerford Market 3rd. Matches on the river, for the sight of which the bridge will be particularly adapted. VOL. XXXVIII. £8000 boats 4th. Estimated traffic to and from steam- 300 200 9010 We trust these anticipations may be realized to the full; for, assuredly, the new bridge must add considerably to the public convenience. As a point for embarking or debarking, there will be a commodious flight of stairs at each extremity of the bridge, which will, probably, supersede the unsightly wooden piers now in use. The steam-boat traffic at the Hungerford Pier has increased from 100,000 persons in 1834-35, (the first year of the running of the small steam-boats,) to upwards of 1,100,000 persons in 1839-40. The importance to Lambeth of the contiguity of a general market, (particularly of an excellent fish-market,) will, it is calculated, ensure much traffic. The bridge will likewise afford an agreeable and safe promenade; and upon the completion of the new streets in Southwark and Lambeth (the Bills for which have been submitted to Parliament) the Hungerford Bridge will be the most direct line of communication between the southern, south-eastern, and the south-western districts of the metropolis and Charing Cross, shortening the distance between many of these parts nearly half a mile. The works are now in active progress, and it is expected that the bridge will be completed in about eighteen months. POETICAL REVISION. COLERIDGE, whose reputation as a poet is rapidly increasing, is unfavourably disposed first exhibited creations of his mind, more to an author's revising, or amplifying, the especially those of his poetry; and instances what he deems Dr. Akenside's unsuccessful splendid didactic poem-The Pleasures of attempt to improve the structure of his Imagination. "Much," the candid and virtu ous Addison observes, while applying his reflection to another subject, "may be said on this, and on the opposite side;" for had the learned and literary recluse of Highgate but recalled for a moment to his recollection the first printed edition of Shakspeare's Hamlet, (I mean that of 1603,) and have 250 compared it with the after more matured ex 260 |