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mand; being half as much again as the manager prescribed, he demurs: "Very well," says the composer, "then my music shall not be played to-morrow night." But no other music can be got in time, and, par conséquence, the conclusion is obvious.

Thus it is, that from the prima donna to the guardian of the lamps, every body has views to answer, and a reputation to support or extend, at the expense of the unfortunate individual, who is blamed for every failure, but not credited for any success.

I was dining one day with Taylor, when the subject of capital punishments was started; during the discussion of which Taylor remained in a reverie. A gentleman at table strongly advocated the abolition of capital punishments in all cases.

"What would you inflict, then, on a criminal of the worst kind?" asked another.

"By," said Taylor, starting up, "make him manager of the Opera House." Taylor said something worse, but we cannot quote it.-Seven Years of the King's Theatre, by Ebers.

"GOD SAVE THE KING."

(From the Naval and Military Magazine.)

In a work by Mr. Richard Clark, "On the History and Origin of the National Anthem," the reader is led by inferences, amounting in effect to circumstantial and indisputable evidence, to conclude that this anthem, which has maintained such constant possession of the public feelings, which not to know would bring into question the very legitimacy of our birth, and not to sing when called upon for it, be considered a proof of determined disloyalty, was composed, the words by Ben Jonson, and the music (a curious coincidence of names) by Dr. John Bull, of Cambridge. It was first performed before King James, at an entertainment given by the Company of Merchant Tailors, July 16, 1607, for the purpose of congratulating his Majesty on his happy escape from the Powder Plot. It laid dormant for many years, but was at length revived in 1745 (the year of the Scotch rebellion), and brought forward at Drury-lane Theatre by Mrs. Cibber, the sister of Dr. Arne, who arranged the tune for the band. Mr. Clark has been at much pains in investigating his subject, and arriving at the solid grounds he has for maintaining this long-disputed composition to be the production of the parties to whom he assigns it. He has deduced proofs of the fallibility with which it has been attributed to some other persons. The time and the occasion which gave rise to the "National Anthem," he has also as fully

established as its author and musician. The latter we arrive at, in conclusion, to be Dr. Bull, and Ben Jonson, and the occasion to be in celebration of the providential escape of the British monarch from the Powder Plot, and not in congratulation of George II. upon the defeat of the Scotch Jacobins at the battle of Culloden (which, revived at that period, has led to the supposition that this anthem was a war song, in which acceptation we have generally sung it). But such is the happy and felicitous turn of language belonging to this popular composition, it is rendered applicable to expressions of loyalty and attachment to the reigning king at all times, and in all ages.

ROSSINI.

ROSSINI has promised-but promising with him is not tantamount to performing-to prepare an opera for the King's Theatre, against the ensuing season, the foundation to be his Matilde de Shabran, which he is to alter, amend, and augment, in the manner he treated his Viaggia a Reims, when he converted it into Le Comte Ory. If he is not more successful than in the latter opera, he may as well spare himself the trouble; or rather, save our Italian Theatre the expense. The chances are, that he will produce nothing more of consequence; he is grown rich and fond of indulgence, lies late in bed, and enjoys the pleasures of the table without restraint. He is, nevertheless, still employing himself, it is said, on his Guillaume Tell, for the Académie Royale de Musique. My belief is that he will long continue to be still employed on it, unless he is allowed to make it a pasticcio, by constructing it chiefly of materials from these least known and unsuccessful operas.-Diary of a Dilettante, in

the Harmonicon.

CIMAROSA.

CIMAROSA, the glory of his school, and the most brilliant musical genius Italy ever produced, may truly be called il Dio dell' operu buffa. In this style his "Matrimonio Segreto" (The Clandestine Marriage) never has been surpassed. The transport with which this opera was heard in every capital of Europe, resembled a delirium: it turned the heads even of the phlegmatic Germans, whose musical enthusiasm, profound as it is, When seldom breaks in vivacious excesses. it was performed before the Emperor Joseph, he invited all the singers to a banquet, and then, in a fit of enthusiasm, sent them all back to the theatre, to play and sing the whole opera over again. This was truly an

imperial encore! Of Cimarosa's serious operas, the "Orazzi e Curuzzi" is best known in England. All his music abounds with energy, fancy, and passion.-Foreign Review.

KEAN AND MACREADY. (From the Revue Encyclopédique.)

KEAN.

WE attentively studied Kean in the last characters in which he appeared, and we ratify all the praises that we have already given him; only adding, that in comparing him to Monvel for the perfect accuracy of his diction, his great intelligence, and his talent in supplying by art the absence of the gifts of nature, we ought to have said that he did not approach Monvel with respect to the unction which that actor threw so admirably into his parts. Kean has not obtained a fashionable success at Paris; but he has been duly estimated by a select portion of the public by amateurs who have taken the pains to study his manner. Undoubtedly, they do not recognise in Kean a perfect actor, or one of very varied talents. Skilful in the art of expressing malice, perverseness, cutting irony, terrible rage, he does not know how to impart to his acting the charm which accompanies heroism, generous sentiments, noble virtues; and it must be confessed, that it is especially this description of dramatic pictures which the French public prefers: although, to succeed in producing it, an actor may have less need of talent. If to this disadvantage be joined the exhaustion which at present deprives this actor of a portion of his powers, the reputation which he has acquired in England, and the judgment which has been pronounced upon him in France, may easily be explained. They who have been shocked by certain actions, without grace or dignity, too often repeated, and by those affected sobs, which occasionally resemble a convulsive laugh, are right in their censure; but justice requires us to remark, that these are the defects of the national taste, rather than that of the actor; for it was precisely in those passages that his countrymen applauded him with the greatest enthusiasm. He must, therefore, be pardoned for having too frequent recourse to these vulgarities: it is precisely that cause of his success in his own country which has in ours diminished the effect of his talent. Kean was also more highly appreciated, and his performances attracted fuller audiences, towards the close of his engagement in Paris.

MACREADY.

Macready, and we have little to add to it. Of the three tragedians who share the applause of the English public, Macready is the one whom we prefer. It is he who appears to us to possess, in the highest degree, the secret of speaking to the soul, and the gift of creating emotion: it is he who approximates the most nearly to our taste, by being natural without vulgarity, and elegant without affectation. He is occasionally chargeable with action a little formal, with attitude a little too academical; and also with exclamations too much prolonged, and consequently without effect (although certain persons pretend to admire them): but these are faults which may easily be corrected. Macready possesses most of the qualities which constitute the great actor. He is still young; he is passionately fond of his art; he is well informed; and he has a taste for study. With such qualities he ought to do much, and even to surpass himself. He has already had the courage to reform a manner which had been very successful, but which did not satisfy the purity of his taste. He is now in a good path, and he has only to persevere, to place himself in the rank of the most celebrated actors of the English stage.

THE CHILD'S FIRST GRIEF.

BY MRS. HEMANS.

OH! call my brother back to me,
I cannot play alone;

The summer mes, with flower and bee-
Where is my brother gone!

The Butterfly is glancing bright
Across the sun-beam's track;

I care not now to hase its flight-
Oh! call my brother back!

The flowers run wild-the flowers we sowed
Around our garden-tiee;

Our vine is drooping with its load-
Oh! call him back to me!

He would not hear thy voice, fair child,
He may not come to thee,
The face that once like spring-time smiled,
On earth no more thou 'It see.

A rose's brief, bright life of joy-
Such unto him was given;-
Go! thou must play alone, my boy!
Thy brother is in heaven.

And has he left his birds and flowers?
And must I call in vain?
And through the long long summer hours
Will he not come again?

And by the brook, and in the glade,
Are all our wand'rings o'er?-
Oh! while my brother with me play'd,
Would I had loved him more!-

The New Year's Gift

Kemble, Kean, and Macready. The Parisiaus

WE have already stated our opinion of have not yet had an opportunity of seeing Young.

ANECDOTES OF DENNIS.

DENNIS, the dramatic writer, or as he was commonly called critic Dennis, from the dictatorial tone he assumed in the latter species of literature, was remarkable for the self-importance which led him to attach an undue consequence to his performances. The following is a curious instance of this characteristic trait. He had brought out a tragedy entitled "Liberty Asserted," which became popular, on account of the virulent abuse of the French nation with which it abounded. At the peace, such did the political importance of this piece appear in his eyes, he imagined Louis XIV. would make a point of demanding its author to be delivered up to his resentment.

Under this apprehension, Dennis actually made application to the Duke of Marlborough for his good offices when the treaty of Utrecht was in agitation. The duke gravely told him, he had little interest with the then ministry, but that he hoped the danger was not so great as he imagined, for that he himself had made no application for security in the articles of peace, and yet he could not but think he had done the French king almost as much harm as Mr. Dennis had. The poet's fears, however, were not to be quieted, for it is said, that being on a visit to a friend who lived on the coast of Sussex, and happening to see a ship making towards land, he took it into his head that it was a French vessel come to seize him, and under this impression, immediately started off for the metropolis without taking leave of his

host.

Among other peculiarities of this author, was his intolerance of punning; such insur. mountable antipathy did he entertain towards this species of wit, he would quit the company where puns were made. The following is not generally known. One night at Button's, Steele was desirous of excluding Dennis from a party he wished to make, but which he could not conveniently manage, Dennis being at that time in the coffee-room. While he was at a loss to get rid of him, he observed Rowe sitting on the opposite side of the box to Dennis, the latter of whom he asked-What was the matter with him ?" "What do you mean by the question," inquired the critic. To which the other replied "You appeared to me like an angry waterman, for you look one way, and Rowe another." The effect of this pun was successful; and the critic left the room execrating all puns and punsters.

1

It is to Dennis, the stage is indebted for the useful dramatic invention of thunder. He introduced it in his tragedy of "Appius and Virginia," which play met with a very cold reception. A few nights after the demise of this piece, he happened to be in the pit at the representation of Macbeth, and on

hearing the thunder he exclaimed, in a frenzy of indignation-"That is my thunder! how these rascals use me. They will not let my play run, and yet they steal my thunder."

A SHIP ON SHORE.

THE confusion of a ship being on shore, and
have never witnessed a scene of the sort,
the impression it must make upon those who
cannot easily be imagined. The leadsman
is in the chains chanting the depth of water,
to the attentive ears of the captain and
master, who are conning the ship to his cry
of quarter-less-four, &c.; when all at once,
while under full sail, she strikes.
what's that?" cries the captain. "The ship's
on shore," reply a dozen voices in the same
breath. "What water?" cries the captain.
"Quarter-less-two, Sir," is the reply, "What
water forward? what water abaft ? what

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"Holloa!

water to starboard? what water to port ?" to all which questions various sailors fly to answer. "Two fathoms, Sir-quarter-lesstwo," &c. Again she strikes. Now confusion begins, various orders and the boatswain's pipe are heard in all directions. "Turn the hands up to shorten sail." "Aye, aye, Sir!" "Man the fore and main clue "All garnets, top-gallant clue lines," &c. Up courses, in top-gallant manned, Sir." sails." Away go the sails, flapping in the wind, till silenced by their various bunt lines and clue lines drawn close to the yards;"Lower away the bump again she goes. "Turn the hands up, out boats." topsails. Down fly the yards, the shrill pipe is heard again: "All hands out, boats ahoy!" Away fly the pigs, sheep, ducks, geese, turkies, fowls, &c. that may happen to be in the launch; their cackling, &c. drowns the "Throw them overboard, officers' voices : down below, any where to stop their noise." "Clear away the kedge anchor. Get the stream cable up from below." Up it comes, roaring across the hatchway. The anchor is lowered to the stern of the launch; the other boats are sent off, to sound round the vessel for the deepest water; when that is found, there the anchor is dropped. heave away on the cable, my lads." anchor's coming home, Sir."* Harder she strikes still; other orders are given. "Stand by to start all the water below-man the pumps-see the guns all clear for throwing overboard." Previous to these orders being put into execution, the sailors are cheered 66 Try her once more: heave again, up to "She holds, she holds ! hurrah! my lads." my hearties, bravo! There she starts, there she goes. She's off, she's off." "Hold fast

"That is, will not hold on."

"Now

"The

the guns, never mind the water." "Another heave, my boys, hurrah! and she floats." "There she is, all your own." "Now turn the hands up to make sail, hoist away the topsails, man the fore and main tacks," &c. "All manned, Sir." "Haul on board" is the word, and away she goes again, all right, without further damage than probably knocking a little of the false keel off her bottom, which a few hours in dock will put in order again.-Brand's Voyage to Peru.

DANGERS OF FOWLING.

GILPIN, in his "Forest Scenery," relates an instance of the perilous situation men are often exposed to in this pursuit.-"A poor fellow on the coast of Hampshire, mounted as usual on his mud-pattens, made of flat pieces of board, was traversing one of the mudland plains in quest of ducks; and being intent only on his game, he suddenly found the waters, which had been brought forward with uncommon rapidity by some peculiar circumstance of tide and current, had made an alarming progress around him. Encumbered as his feet were, he could not exert much expedition; but to whatever part he ran he found himself completely invested by the tide. In this uncomfortable situation a thought struck him, as the only hope of safety. He retired to that part of the plain, which seemed the highest from its being yet uncovered by water; and striking the barrel of the gun (which, for the purpose of shooting wild fowl was very long) deep into the mud, he resolved to hold fast by it as a support, as well as a security against the waves, and to wait the ebbing of the tide. A common tide he had reason to believe would not, in that place, have reached above his middle; but as this was a spring tide, and brought in with so strong a current, he durst hardly expect so favourable a conclusion. In the mean time, the water making a rapid advance, had now reached him. It covered the ground on which he stood-it rippled over his feet it gained his knees his waist-button after button on his coat was swallowed up-till at length it advanced over his very shoulders. With a palpitating heart he gave himself up for lost. Still, however, he held fast by his anchor. His eye was eagerly in search of some boat, which might accidentally take its course that way-but none appeared. A solitary head, floating on the water, and that sometimes covered by a wave, was no object to be descried from the shore, at the distance of half a league: nor could he exert any sounds of distress that could be heard so far. While he was thus making up his mind, as the exigence would allow, to the terrors

of sudden destruction, his attention was called to a new object. He thought he saw the uppermost button of his coat begin to appear. No mariner, floating on a wreck, could behold a ship at sea, with greater transport than he did the uppermost button of his coat. But the fluctuation of the waters was such, and the turn of the tide so slow, that it was yet some time before he durst venture to assure himself, that the button was fairly above the level of the flood. At length, however, a second button appearing at intervals, his sensations may rather be conceived than described; and his joy gave him spirit and resolution to support his uneasy situation four or five hours longer, till the waters had fully retired."

ANTEDILUVIAN FOOTSTEPS.

In the red sand stone quarry of Corncodale Muir, about two miles to the north of the town of Lochmaben, in the county of Dumfries, are numerous and distinct impressions of feet, which leave no doubt that this rock, while in a soft state, had been traversed by living quadrupeds. Casts taken from some of these prints are in possession of several geologists. The simple inspection of the tracks makes it impossible to doubt in what manner they have been produced. The great numbers of the impressions in uninterrupted continuity-the regular alternations of the right and left footsteps-their equi-distance from each other-the outward direction of the toes--the grazing of the foot along the surface before it was firmly planted-the deeper impression made by the toe than by the heel, the forcing forward of the sandy matter of the rock, by the downward and scarcely slanting direction in which it is remarkable that all the animals have traversed this singular acclivity-and, in the largest specimen found in a different part of the quarry, the sharp and well-defined marks of the three claws of the animal's foot, are circumstances which immediately arrest the attention of the observer, and force him to acknowledge that they admit of only one explanation.-Silliman's Journal,

LORD SELKIRK'S COLONY.

THE state of the Indians, who inhabit these inclement and desolate tracks, is the extreme of wretchedness-some affecting descriptions of which are given in West's Journals. He bears testimony to the custom, among some of the tribes, of exposing the aged and infirm, when unable to take care of them

selves, who, we are told, are accustomed to CURIOUS CASE OF SPECTRAL ILLUconsider it an act not of cruelty, but of

mercy.

"A little meat," he observes," with an axe, and a small portion of tobacco, are generally left with them by their nearest relations, who, in taking leave of them, say, it is time for them to go into the other world, which they suppose lies just beyond the spot where the sun goes down, where they will be better taken care of than with them, and then they walk away weeping. On the banks of the Saskashawan, an aged woman prevailed on her son to shoot her through the head, instead of adopting this sad extremity. She addressed him in a most pathetic manner, reminding him of the toil and care with which she bore him on her back from camp to camp during his infancy; with what incessant labour she brought him up till he could use the bow and the gun; and having seen him a great warrior, she requested that he would show her kindness, and give a proof of his courage in shooting her, that she might go home to her relations. I have seen many winters,' she added, and have now become a burden, in not being able to assist in getting provisions; and dragging me through the country, as I am unable to walk, is a toil, and brings much distress; take your gun.' She then drew her blanket over her head, and her son immediately deprived her of life, in the apparent consciousness of having done an act of filial duty and of mercy."

ANTHROPOPHAGI.

THE Savage manners, and the horrid custom of anthropophagi subsisting among the Batta tribes, have often been mentioned; but Dr. Leyden contends that their cannibalism is not confined to prisoners of war, and to persons condemned for crimes, as stated by Mr. Marsden. "When a man becomes infirm, and weary of the world, he is said to invite his own children to eat him, in the season when salt and limes are cheapest. He then ascends a tree, round which his friends and offspring assemble; and, as they shake the tree, join in a funeral dirge, the import of which is-The season is come-the fruit is ripe-and it must descend. The victim descends, and those that are nearest and dearest to him deprive him of life, and devour his remains in a solemn banquet.' This, adds Dr. Leyden, is the account of some of the Battas themselves. This inbuman custom, and the similarity of name, naturally reminds our author of the Padaioi, mentioned by Herodotus, about five hundred years before our era, as not only addicted to eating raw flesh, but accustomed to kill and eat their relations when they grew old.

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SION.

HAPPENING, on a very recent visit to the country, to be in company with Mrs. D., the phenomena of spectral illusions chanced to be mentioned. Mrs. D. took an especial interest in the discussion, as she had experienced both illusions and local pain. She gave that pointed and clear account of both, which we should expect from a well educated, intelligent, and candid woman. In her waking hours, this lady was literally tortured with horrid faces glaring at her, and approaching close to her in every possible aggravation of horror. She was making a tedious recovery in child-bed when these symptoms troubled her. Besides the forms, which were of natural colour, though often bloody, she was perplexed by their variation in size, from colossal to minute. Mrs. D. had also entire human figures, but they were always as minute as pins, or even pinheads, and were in great confusion and numbers, indicating morbid action of order and number. Like Mr. John Hunter too, and the opium-eater, Mrs. D. had illusive percep tions in that function of weight which gives the perception of equilibrium a just relation to gravitation She was dreadfully annoyed with the sensation of descending without the means of stopping. The opium-eater experienced falling as if for millions of miles, and considered that illusion the most insupportable of the many ones which punished the insane debauchery of his pernicious habit. The only other illusion suffered by Mrs. D., was flashing light, showing, as in Miss S. L., over excited colouring. illusion did not, in her case, present entire spectres, recognisable as known individuals ; but, like some of Miss S. L.'s, and the opiumeaters, were visitations of what the latter call "the tyranny of the human face."

The

Mrs. D. then described the pain which accompanied her illusions, viz.: acute pain in the upper part, or root of the nose, the seat of the organ of form, and all along the eye-brows, which takes an individuality, size, weight, colouring, order, and number.Phrenological Journal.

SINGULAR RECOVERIES.

THE following anecdotes have been recently copied into most of our English Journals :

"A washerwoman of Bergen-op-Zoom lost in the great flood of the year 1757, a few days after her marriage, her wedding ring. Her husband set out a few days afterwards for the West Indies. This woman, who is nearly ninety years of age, about a month ago, bought in the fish market of that place as

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