Gentleman's Magazine

The Nile and its waters-The Nile compared with the Mississippi-The New Bridge at Cairo-The Statue of the Nile-The American Stage-The Demerity of the Star System-Marital Cannibats-The Age of Humbug-Honestus versus RussellNewspaper Puffing-The International Copy-right Question-Cooper and the Quarterly Review.

Natchez is from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet deep, and between New Orleans and its mouth, vessels are unable to obtain anchorage with less than sixty fathom of cable. There is a singular coincidence in the nature of the two rivers-the water of each is limpid, muddy, and unpalateable, and deposits a heavy residuum. Both streams are subject to annual floods or rises in their waters-the Nile commences its increase in the middle of June, and ends in the month of September; the Mississippi flood commences in

MOHAMMED, or rather Mehemmed Ali, the presentedly shallow near Cairo, while the Mississippi at Pacha of Egypt, has been turning the force of his vigorous imagination to the means of increasing the diffusion of the waters of the Nile-the revivifying power of old and modern Egypt-the unceasing source of its wonderful fertility. The annual deposit of rich mud, composed of carbonate of lime and argillaceous earth brought down from the mountainous regions by the annual flood or rise in the river after the rainy season, is a national blessing of inestimable value; for nearly four thousand years, the waters of the Nile have teemed with the means of the certain harvest-March and ends in May. Both rivers overflow the a long illustrious line of potentates, in various ways and with still more variable success, busied themselves in the construction of works calculated to assist the dispersion of the wealthy-freighted water into the bowels of the land-the mouths of canals indent the banks of the old river-reservoirs, locks, sluices, dams, and mills, of every possible variety of construction, mpel the turbid stream into its hundred channels, and give the inland farmers assurance of their annual ma nure. Many of these hydraulic affairs were damaged n the wars that overrun the country during the last fifty years; neglect and disuse also effected serious decay; but Mohammed Ali has lately compelled the authorities to superintend the immediate repair of every water-work in Upper and Lower Egypt; he is also determined to commence the gigantic bridge-dam across the mouth of the Nile, which has for ages been contemplated but never attempted, from the immensity of the undertaking almost rendering its execution impossible.

flat lands upon their borders, but while the irrigation of the Nile fertilises the sandy soil of Egypt, the over. flow of the Mississippi is wasted in the rich alluvial bottoms, and supplies the moisture of the cypress swamps, or the stagnant water of the lakes between the river and the gulf. About eleven thousand square miles are subject to overflow by the "father of waters" and his tributaries, and the overflow of the Nile is but half as much more. The height of the rise upon the Mississippi is variable-between the mouth of the Ohio and the Missouri the average height is about twenty-five feet-at some places below this point, it attains to fifty feet, but afterwards gradually subsides. At New Orleans, the rise is about twelve feet, while at Baton Rouge it amounts to upwards of thirty. The medial height may be estimated at fifteen or sixteen feet. The overflow of the Nile, in the time of Herodotus, was about sixteen cubits, that is under thirty feet. At the present time, a rise of twenty-two cubits is considered necessary to fill all the cisterns and The Nile, the abiding place of the crocodile and the canals, which proves that the lower part of Egypt has hippopotamus-the fluvial wonder of the old world-been considerably raised by the yearly deposits of the runs nearly two thousand five hundred miles from its highest sources to its bi-mouthed debouchement. Egypt contains two hundred thousand square miles, and such is the sandy nature of the soil, that, except in the val ley of the Nile, or in the districts watered by its branches, and which scarcely amount to seventeen thousand miles, the land is arid and unproductive.

river since the time of the historian. In the year 1829, considerable damage was done to many villages and several inhabitants were drowned, by a rise of twenty-six cubits, or forty-seven feet. Neither of the rivers have any tideway, or feel the effects of the neighborhood of the sea; both of them debouche by several mouths; and an alluvion delta graces their junction with the ocean.

But this great and wonderful stream sinks into the merest insignificance when compared with any of the The proposed bridge across the Nile is to be comgreat rivers of America; the Nile, at its broadest point, pleted in less than six years. It is to be erected about which is just below Cairo, before it diverges into the fifteen miles below Cairo, at that point of the river two branches that wash the Delta, is about one thou- where it divides into the two major branches. The sand yards wide, that is, under three-fifths of a mile- Damietta, formerly called the Phatritio or Bucolic, and while the Mississippi is more than double that width the Rosetta, or Bolbitic, which, with the Mediterra at its junction with the Missouri. The Nile is wretch-nean, form the Delta, containing the celebrated city

of Alexandria, with the minor towns of Suis and Pe- | merit--but to force a succession of new persons upon lusium. It is intended that this bridge shall form a the boards merely because they are new to the public, sort of damn, or lock, to keep the waters of the Nile at is bad policy in every sense. We do believe, in a a favorable height for the purposes of husbandry, du- city like this, where there is no rival establishment, ring the winter and spring months of the year. It is that a stock company, excellent in all respects, (and computed by Mohammed Ali that twenty-four thou-such may be engaged) with appropriate scenery, sand laborers, besides three hundred and forty smiths and six hundred and fifty carpenters, who are to be supplied from the arsenal at Alexandria, will be necessary for the completion of the preliminary portion of his proceedings; such as digging the lateral canal, rectifying the bed of the river, mending the banks, and forming dykes. It is in contemplation to employ four or five regiments of infantry upon the works, and in the construction of a railroad from the stone quarries among the Mockatam mountains, which are some few leagues distant from the river's bank.

There is a noble emblematical statue of the Nile, carved out of a rock of black marble, in the Vatican at Rome. The following description is at hand, and saves the trouble of originating sentences. "The statue of the Nile may be distinguished by his large cornucopia, by the sphinx couched under him, and by the sixteen little children playing around him. By the sixteen little children are understood the several risings of the river every year, as far as to sixteen cubits. The black marble is said to be in allusion to the Nile's coming from Ethiopia. The water flows down from under his robe, which conceals his urn, to denote that the head of the river was impenetrable." | In some modern statues the head is quite hidden under his robe for the same reason.

The editor of the Cincinnati Express has lately given an excellent article on the present condition of the stage, and the malefic effects of the star system upon the habitudes of the regular drama. The reader will find it well worth his attention.

dresses and properties, would yield as fair a profit to all parties pecuniarily interested, as they can realize by encouraging the starring business. The salaries of resident performers are spent in the city, and increase the means of their patrons. But a travelling thespian abstracts from the community a very large portion of the money, which if kept in circulation, would again return to the treasury of the theatre. In another point of view the policy is a mistaken one. A stock company is forced to do almost every thing in a hurry. Every new comer has his new pieces. Time sufficient for study and rehearsal is not allowed, and often the best members of it are imperfect in their parts. The star also calls for new scenes or dresses for some piece that may be played but once, which are procured, while the ordinary conveniences of the stage have no attention."

The sound sense and justness of the above remarks deserve unqualified praise. The American stage cannot arise from the slough of despond, while it is compelled to uphold the train of every puny star. The example is contagious-a young actor appears before the public, and gains the suffrages of his friends-his temper will not allow him to submit to the degradation of delivering messages to the manager's starshe becomes a star himself and an inexperienced youngster, ignorant of the common rudiments of his art, outrages nature and the patience of his audience, by the absurdity of his dramatic attempts. We have a variety of American actors who go about “starring," who could not gain a moderate salary as stock actors in any theatre in the Union. These infatuated people cannot be blamed-they know that English actors of an equal grade are imported as stars, and by the aid of letters and puffs prepared in Europe, are forced down the throats of the gullible Americans for one or two years, during which time these well-puffed players repeat some four or six parts with parrot-like perfection. Look at the routine of stars at any respectable theatre in any of the Atlantic cities, and half-a-dozen principal actors cannot be named in the last half-dozen years. When such persons as Balls, Keeley, Ternan, Abbott, H. Wallack, Denvil, C. Mason, cum multis aliis, are allowed to disgrace the American stage, and figure as the heroes of the evening, in theatres boasting of stock companies embracing considerably better actors, we blush for the endurance of the audience, and wonder at the importer's impuThere are many

"If ever there was a time when the stage was a moral school, that time has passed, but it is still in the power of judicious managers to make the drama a source of refined, intellectual and innocent amusement. There is a wide difference between the exercise of an actual influence upon the moral sense of the public, and the provision of means for their simple pleasures. The drama may promote virtue indirectly, by keeping from positively vicious amusements that portion of the population of every city, which is bent on seeking them. It would seem, therefore, to be the duty of those who regard with interest the improvements of this class, to give their aid in support of a well direct. ed theatre. The attempt to oppose the stage is perfectly idle, and if its licentiousness be often justly complained of, the fact is mainly attributable to the fierce denunciations which are heaped upon it, rendering many connected with it indifferent to its cha-dence, and the impostors' success. racter and their own conduct; as their profession is broadly and unequivocally condemned, whatever may be their exertions to make it a source of harmless pastime.

"The primary cause of the deterioration of theatrical companies is the STARRING system. It is well enough, now and then, to engage an actor of extraordinary

ladies of inferior pretension now "starring it" with sound of trumpet and loud beat of drum; gallantry prevents their nomination, but it would be an easy job to point out a dozen feminine planets,* now figur

The annals of the stage were never before disgraced as they are now, by the names of several married ladies, who are compelled to appear before the

ing in this country, not one of whom ever filled even | work of the art he professes to exemplify, and wears a a second rate situation at a respectable theatre in Eng. land. These facts are well known amongst actors— can we wonder, then, if young Americans expect to class with these assumers of station, and refuse to descend below the third-rates who have nothing to boast but the fact of having been imported?

were placed in operation before his printer's bill was paid. The fang expositor is denounced to the ven geance of the tribe and the indignation of the humbugged public, while, in the editorial columns, in trite and hacknied terms, a fifth-rate dramatic star is foisted on the reader's notice-although it is likely that the editor has never seen the article he lands.

clean shirt, and talks big. The latter proviso is of the utmost importance. It is laughable to see how readily the gentlemen of the press lend themselves to the purpose of farthering the views of the bronzed professor!-how kindly they patronise his inimitable ta lenis!-how graciously they insert his stereotyped The dramatic talent of this country, whether na- puffs, and sanction his impudent and unblushing af tive or foreign, is very limited, and generally of a firmations! It is laughable to see how savagely an most inferior quality. There are not sufficient Ame-editor uses up some poor peripatetic humbug-some rican actors in the whole of the States, to make up mineral-teeth vender-whose powers of locomotion one good company, perfect in all its bearings, and capable of representing creditably the run of the legitimate drama. But few of the English actors of talent remain with us-two years "starring," works them out, and it is very rare to find a ci-devant star settle down into a contented stock actor. They go back to their own country, proud of the laurels they have gained in America, and forget not to boast of their success in the land of dollars. American approbation now gives stamp and name to talent, even in aristocratic London. Several actors have returned home after a short probation in the States, and having the praises of the Yankees to exhibit in the shape of fulsome puffs and exaggerated remarks, are supposed to be capable of filling situations which, before their trip, seemed beyond the bounds of hope, and equally improbable as the emoluments of the postmaster gene-down our throats. It is, therefore, the positive duty ralship of an undiscovered land.

Dramatic quacks deserve the severest punishment. We are not compelled to employ the steam doctor, or the homoepathist. We are not forced to swallow any medicine, however perseveringly it may be proffered; nor are we obliged to trust our property in the hands of any humbug pettifogger of the law. We can escape from the clutches of every quack but the player, and if he is bad, we must give up our amusement, or suffer the annoyance of having a spurious article thrust

of an audience to express its disapprobation as keenly as its delight-it is ridiculous to encourage talent, and allow humbug a place by its side. Editors of public journals should freely express their honest opinions of the performance, and not, by their kindness, assist a pretender to the pinnacle point. It is useless to rail at him when he is evidently unable to keep his seat.

Let us, then, set our faces against all talentless professors of the histrionic art-against all second-rate stars-against all companies of inferior grade. The Americans are essentially a play-going people, willing to pay for the best ability, and capable of appreciating its exertion. The nature of some portion of the quoted remarks evinces the necessity of supporting a good A Philadelphia paper lately investigated the claims stock company, and the futility of lavishing every fa- of a certain vocalist and pretended composer to the vor upon every stranger, because his name stands in station he claimed in the musical world. Fair play large letters at the head of the bill. By encouraging was allowed, and Mr. Russell's counter statement apstock actors we foster talent; by running after second-peared in the same columns which contained the atrate stars, we depress the value of the home-made ar- tack upon his fame. The replication was awfully ticle, and fill the pockets of transient visiters.

correct, and in any other age, would have annihilated the charlatan; but humbug is fashionable; and the exposure, with its column of incontrovertible truths,

It would be a puzzling question to decide whether this is an age of science or an age of humbug; or rather, in these days of pretension, whether a little science, gar-served but as a puff to the pretender, who, in the true nished with a profusion of humbug, is not more market able than the real article in its native purity? Tact has generally been more available than talent-but the world now-a-days must be positively humbugged. A placarding, impudent professor can puff himself into a short lived popularity, if he possesses only the ground.

public under the most equivocal and painful circum stances, retaining their maiden appellations, that their dirty-minded husbands may enjoy the benefits of the popularity attached to young and good-looking ladies, who are supposed to be still unmarried. This positive defiance of even the respectability of appearance, de. serves the severest reprehension. There are others who call themselves men, yet lead an idle life, and depend for support upon the exertions of their wives, dragging them from place to place with greedy haste, and forming engagements for their appearance, as jockeys enter fillies at a race meeting. "Let no such man be trusted."

spirit of quackery, immediately announced a concert, and a crowded room evinced the feeling of “the wic tims o' gammon," to use the phrase of the erudite Samuel Weller. The remainder of the editorial corps did not fight the good fight, nor assist their brother of the broad sheet in his onslaught-but they continued to puff the Great Exposed, and by their good natured patronage, tacitly opposed the affirmations they were unable to contradict.

The passage of the contemplated international copy. right law will materially increase the character of the stage, provided a clause relative to fereign plays be included in the act. The public will not be insulted with trashy farces, written for the display of the pow ers of one man, and he, perhaps, of an inferior stamp; we shall not behold the finest plays cut down to mere vehicles of song or Yankee tale-we shall not be com pelled to receive the refuse of the foreign bookseller

graph, and fill their publications, daily, weekly, or mouthly, with extracts from English periodicals, will be driven back to their dens, and compelled to resign their seats to men of intellectual power. Historians, novelists, dramatists, will arise, and science, free and unfettered, smile upon the land.

because it can be played for nothing. It will be witl. | the humbug editors who are unable to word a paraplays, as with the higher branches of literature; when the English author expects to be paid, the American may stand a chance of sharing in the remuneration. For the want of such a law, it is now impossible to get an original dramatic piece represented, or, in plainer language, to get paid for the representation of such piece. The English article is at hand, ready made, at a trivial expense, and as we steal nearly all our books, there can be no disgrace in filching our drama, and remaining content with the second-hand effusions of another land.

The October number of the London Quarterly Review contains, with many other excellent papers, a noice of Mr. Cooper's “England," in which the reviewer, with potent causticity, developes the gangrene of the The international copy-right question has been author's mind in its most foul and diseased state. The much discussed; and many heavy paragraphs have American reprint of the Quarterly will soon be issued, been fired off by interested persons who dread being and the public will find it worth while to give the disturbed in their unhallowed monopoly. Excepting article a careful perusal. The annals of criticism do the malignant slang of a certain ignoramus, who is in not exhibit a parallel instance of such talented and timately connected with a work supported by foreign well applied severity; the fire of the reviewer's gepiracy, every argument against its becoming a law nius flashes with inconceivable brilliancy over the has been based, not upon equity, but the rotten prin- dry weeds and sapless rubbish which clog the face of ciple of expediency. The booksellers and printers every page; the scorching, though unusually intense, endeavor to enlist the sympathies of the reading pub- will prove beneficial in its effects. Cooper will see lic in their behalf by asserting that the law will make the necessity of checking his habit of fault-finding, English books as dear as American, because the copy- and, in future, refrain from the general condemnation right must be paid for. This assertion but evinces in which he has latterly indulged. The reading pubthe necessity of such protection. How can our lite- lic begin to tire of his petty animosity towards the rature be encouraged if popular English works are English, and laugh at the wonderful insults to Amepublished at lower prices, because the authors are not rica which he insists upon discovering even in a to be paid? There is something essentially disgrace-friendly invitation to dinner. His friends are ashamed ful in allowing another nation to boast that they find us in literature in confessing-nay, in glorying that we steal our books, our music, and our drama. Let us not rest with this stigma upon our national charac-scribe had written but one tythe part of the insulting reter-let us not be so degraded as to remain depend ent upon a foreign nation for our mental food; let us take what we require, not as pirates, but as honest men, paying for what we want, till our own country is enabled to supply the demand. The Declaration of Independence is incomplete, while English books are allowed to monopolize the literary enterprise of the land—place a price upon them that will enable | guēris-toi, toi même. the American author to compete, and the character of our literature will receive a rapid advancement; for

of the universality of his cynicism—of that malignant irritability which he exhibits against every thing popular whether in America, France, or England. If any foreign

marks upon the habits of Americans which have is sued from the pen of Mr. Cooper, the author would have out-Trolloped Fidler-yet Mr. C. pretends to stand up for the character of his country; and when he has succeeded in giving personal offence to foreigners at their own tables, insists upon the retaliation being considered a national insult. Médicin,

Washington City, D. C.

RUINS.

BY THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH, BLOCKLEY, PENN.

I LOVE to gaze on ruins, and to muse
Upon the general fate, which still attends
The works of impotent mortality.
Towers, castles, monuments and tombs→→
The monarch's palace and the peasant's cot-
The mausoleum of the mighty king,
Or the rude monument affection rears

Over a beggar's corse-all share alike
The general doom, and crumble into ruins.
Yet, e'en those ruins, broken as they are,
Act to the soul as sweet remembrancers,
Recalling back the memory of past ages,
And teaching us this sad and humbling thought-
That man, and all his works, must yield to TIME.