lese war with great eagerness, and constantly expressed his confidence that the Tyrol would sooner or later return to the government of Austria. rolese volunteers; he was taken prisoner at Belluno, in June, and was shot at Mantua, as one of the rebellious chiefs, leaving a wife and a large family of young children to lament his untimely end. Bianchi died like a hero, exclaiming in his last moments, long live the Emperor Francis."' 6 66 took place, and by the solemnity with which it was conducted, it appeared as if the French were anxious to compensate for the injury they had done him when alive, The fatal morning of his execution by the honours they paid to him now dead. now arrived. As the clock struck eleven, His family were permitted to depart for the generale sounded, a battalion of gre- Austria, and the Emperor immediately nadiers was drawn out, and the officers gave them a pension of 2000 florins, and a who were to attend the execution enter- sum of money to enable them to settle; Speckbacher, with his column, coned his prison. As he came from thence, but his widow could not prevail upon her-sisting of six hundred men, attacked the he passed by the barracks on the Porta self to abandon her native country, and in enemy at the bridge of Halle, drove them Molina, in which the Tyrolese were con- spite of the offers made to her by the back, and destroyed it. The farm of fined; all who were there fell on their Court of Austria, preferred returning to Rainerhof was three times attacked by the knees, put up their prayers, and wept her old habitation in the valley of Passeyr. Bavarians, who were each time driven aloud. Those who were at large in the His son was also handsomely provided back with considerable loss. During the citadel assembled on the road by which for. conflict at the farm, a young woman, who he passed, and, approaching as near as the Thus perished Hofer in the prime of resided at the house, brought out a small escort permitted them, threw themselves life. Amidst the numerous crimes that cask of wine to encourage and refresh the on the ground and implored his blessing, stain the name of Napoleon, there is not peasants, and had advanced to the scene of This Hofer gave them, and then begged one of a deeper dye than the murder of action, regardless of the tremendous fire their forgiveness for having been the cause Hofer. With all his faults, all his irre- of the Bavarians, with the cask upon her of their present misfortunes, assuring them solution, and contradictory conduct, when head, when a bullet struck it, and comat the same time that he felt confident they we reflect that Hofer was a simple une-pelled her to let it go. Undaunted by would once again return under the domi- ducated village innkeeper, who opposed this accident, she hastened to repair the nion of the Emperor Francis, to whom he for some time with success the enormous mischief, by placing her thumb to the cried out the last "vivat" with a clear power of France and Bavaria, with an ar- orifice caused by the ball, and encourand steady voice. He delivered to Mani-ny of undisciplined peasants, we cannot aged those nearest her to refresh themfesti, the priest, every thing he possessed, contemplate his conduct without astonish-selves quickly, that she night not remain to be distributed amongst his countrymen; ment and admiration. It is true that his in her dangerous situation, and suffer for this consisted of 500 florins in Austrian name will not occupy a conspicuous place her generosity.' bank notes, his silver-snuff box, and his in the page of general history; but in his beautiful rosary; a few moments before own country, by those who knew and his death, he also delivered to this faithful could estimate his merits, as well as by attendant his small silver rosary, which he those who had experienced his power or constantly carried about him. his kindness, it will never be forgotten. By his companions and countrymen, he was regarded as the hero, the saviour of his country. His faults were forgotten in his victories; and his name is never mentioned in the Tyrol at this day without tears of gateful affection and admiration. On the broad bastion, at a little distance from the Porta Ceresa, the commanding officer halted his men. The grenadiers formed a square open in the rear; twelve men and a corporal stepped forward, while Hofer remained standing in the centre. The drummer then offered A simple tomb has been erected to his him a white handkerchief to bind his eyes, memory on the Brenner, at a short disand told him that it was necessary to kneel tance from his own habitation; it contains down, but Hofer declined the handker- no other inscription than his name, and chief, and peremptorily refused to kneel, the dates of his birth and death. The reobserving, that he was used to stand up-cord of his actions is left to be transmitted, right before his Creator, and in that pos- as it doubtless will be, to the latest posteture he would deliver up his spirit to him."rity, in the popular stories and rude balHe cautioned the corporal to perform his lads of the mountaineers, who love and duty well, at the same time presenting him revere his name as a model of disinterestwith a piece of twenty kreutzers, and hav-ed loyalty and devoted attachment to his ing uttered a few words by way of fare-native land.' well, expressive of his unshaken attachment to his native country, he pronounced the word "Fire" with a firm voice. His death, like that of Palm, was not in- dotes :stantaneous, for on the first Gre he sunk The enthusiasm displayed in these only on his knees; a merciful shot, how-districts [Bassano and Belluno] was such, ever, at last dispatched him. The spot on which he fell is still considered sacred by his countrymen and companions in arins. His body, instead of being allowed to remain for some time on the place of execution, as was usual on such occasions, was borne by the grenadiers on a black bier to the church of St. Michael, where it lay in state, and a guard of honour appointed to watch it, that the people might see that the much dreaded Barbone (or General Sanvird, as the French used to call him) was really no more. The funeral then Of the conduct of the Tyrolese in the war, we have the following anec that the women took an active part in the In an action with the Bavarians at Brixen,— 'One extraordinary method of destruction used by the Tyrolese on this occasion, ought not tɔ be omitted. They had, by the direction of Haspinger, felled several enormous large trees, upon which they piled large masses of rock, and heaps of rubbish; the whole being supported by strong cords, by means of which they were suspended over the edge of a precipice. During the action, the Tyrolese decoyed a body of the enemy's troops, by appearing to retreat immediately under the spot, when in an instant the ropes were cut, and the whole structure came thundering down upon the heads of the unfortunate troops beneath. Few had time to escape; the principal part of them were instantly crushed to death: a death-like stillness succeeded to the tremendous noise of the falling avalanche, which was alone interrupted by the dreadful shrieks of those who were perishing in the ruins. For a moment the firing ceased on both sides, but was soon renewed with double vigour on the part of the enemy, who at length succeeded in forcing the Tyrolese to retreat to the Laditcher bridge, which was immediately blown up. The enemy had sustained too severe a loss to renew the combat, and both parties separated. Haspinger immediately retreated to Brixen, to collect provisions, and to re-assemble those peasants who had returned there during the action." A more striking incident was pubthe war, and which the translator has lished in the newspapers at the time of given in a note. With this we con clude our extracts: The Percy Anecdotes. Part XIV. Anecdotes of the Fine Arts. 18mo, pp. 180. London, 1821. The following interesting account of gentle, and ascends with unremitting | muse proceeds to sing; and by the few Lefevre's expedition against the Tyrol, ardour to the source of light and love: concluding lines being prosaic, much was communicated by a Saxon officer, but, if there is a deficiency of elevation chromatic glory is necessarily lost. This who was himself a witness of what he of soul, and a degenerate feeling in the will be but too applicable to the tone describes. "We had penetrated to Innspruck," he says, "without great rewritings of some of our modern bards, of the whole poem. But why will Mr. sistance, and although much was reported they have the decided advantage of the Lawson hang his harp on the willow to about the Tyrolese stationed upon and author of Orient Harping,' in the sing blank verse into prose? round the Brenner, we gave little credit earthly attributes of poetry. Of all to it, thinking the rebels to have been dis- bad poems,' said Dr. Johnson, a persed by a short cannonade, and already poem in blank verse is the worst,' beconsidering ourselves as conquerors. cause there are no bounds to the exOur entrance into the passes of the Bren- tent of the poet's imagination. And ner was only opposed by small corps: Mr. Lawson's poetical fame will not be We have so frequently called the atwhich continued to fall back after an ob- enhanced by this his last production. tention of our readers to this neat little stinate though short resistance; among others I perceived a man, full eighty His Maniac,' written in the stile of work, that any further expression of years of age, posted against the side of a Mr. Montgomery's Wanderer of our opinion, as to its general merits, is rock, and sending death among our ranks Switzerland,' with miscellaneous quite unnecessary. The grand object at every shot; upon the Bavarians de- pieces, was favourably reviewed, and in works of this nature, that of blendscending from behind to make him pri- perhaps deservedly received by the pub-ing amusement with instruction, apsoner, he shouted a loud hurrah, struck lic; they were published for the benefit pears to us to have been happily atthe first man to the ground with a ball, of an orphan, but, like the benefits of tained; and, in those volumes which seized the second, and with the ejaculation, In God's name " precipitated him- many theatrical performers, when ex- were illustrative of some peculiar virself with him into the abyss below. penses necessarily incurred, and inci- tue, the anecdotes were such as to inMarching onwards, we heard from the dentals are properly discharged, he de- crease a love of it, and to enforce, by a summit of a high rock, Stephen, shall I rived but little advantage from the pub- series of examples, the best of prechop it off yet?' to which a loudnay' re-lication. 'Orient Harping' is, as its cepts. The present part, like that of verberated from the opposite side. This title expresses, a desultory poem in Science, ranks somewhat higher, and was told to the Duke of Dantzig, who, blank verse;' it gives many accurate furnishes a concise, but general and notwithstanding, ordered us to advance. descriptions of the characteristics of the correct history of the subject. The The van, consisting of four thousand Ba-Hindoos, and, with the advantage of Fine Arts particularly noticed are those varians, had just stormed a deep ravine, when we again heard over our heads, eastern scenery, produces occasional of Sculpture, Painting, and Engraving; Hans! for the most Holy Trinity! Our passages of chaste and energetic writ- and their progress is regularly traced terror was completed by the reply that ing; but, on the other hand, we are sorry from the earliest period to the present immediately followed; In the name of to say, the same poem also produces time, in a succession of the most strikthe Holy Trinity cut all loose above!' much prose and eking out of syllabicing anecdotes of those individuals who and ere a minute had elapsed, thousands of measures and rough reading; there is have most distinguished themselves and my comrades in arms were crushed, bu- not sufficient rythm and elegance to contributed most to the advancement ried, and overwhelmed by an incredible give effect to the purity of thought of the Arts. In the course of some heap of broken rock, stones, and trees, which ever elevates its subject, and hundreds of anecdotes, which this work hurled down upon us.' angels' golden wings, bear its reader to many with which the amateur and the which, if aptly illustrated, would, like contains, there will, necessarily, be those regions of which it writes and so general reader will be acquainted; but fervently recommends. even these appear to be sparingly and judiciously selected, while the number of rare anecdotes, and those of modern Without artists, is very considerable. extending our remarks, we select the following: With the translator we ought not, perhaps, to quarrel, since he acknowledges the scantiness of the materials, and apologises for his paraphrastic version, on the ground, that the style of the German author is so perplexed and intricate, so loaded with metaphor and poetical imagery, and in many places so very harsh and obscure, that a literal translation would be perfectly unintelligible.' We must, however, say, that we do not think the work was worth translating, and that a history of the Tyrolese war, in 1809, as well as a life of Hofer, still remain desiderata. A coloured portrait of Hofer, and a map of the Tyrol, are given in the work. Orient Harping; a Desultory Poem. By John Lawson, pp. 227. In two Parts. Missionary at Calcutta. London, 1820. MR. LAWSON'S piety is stronger and more harmonious than his poetry; it breathes from a spirit that is pure and Of the author's skill in harping,' these chords, which introduce him to his celestial music, will convey a fair cri terion : "The orient panorama glowing grand, blossoms; The fervid heavens; the hot consuming wind; The fierce delirium of north-western storms The muse discursive sings.' The Slave of Velasquez. A slave of the name of Juan de Paresa, a Mulatto, was employed by the Spanish painter, and feeding his pallet; from painting the Velasquez de Sylva, in mixing his colours of trying his strength at the bow. The arrows of Apollo, he became ambitious disqualification of his condition nevertheless was such, that to touch the most liberal arts with the hand of a slave, was dangerous in the extreme. The casts in India do not stand at a greater distance from each other, than degrees of men did in Spain; and Velasquez was, of all masters, the least likely to brook a violation so presumptuous as that which Paresa meditated. Hung round with chains "of gold and courtly orders, of haughty preten After this harping, it is clear the sions in point of family, and high in fa vour and familiarity with his sovereign, painted by Chella delle Puera, represent-rily that he should do it, he replied," My Velasquez would have treated the inso-ing the Annunciation, is a curious collec- lord, if you continue to urge me, I will lence of the slave, as Jupiter did that of tion of absurdities. The Virgin is seated cut off the thumb of my right hand before Salmoneus, by extinguishing his exist-in a rich arm-chair of crimson velvet, with your face; for I will never consent to ence. Notwithstanding this, the tempta gold flowers; a cat and parrot placed perpetuate the calamity and disgrace of tion was for ever present, and the im- near her, seem extremely attentive to the my sovereign and protector." pulses of genius in the end became irre- whole scene; and on the table are a silver sistible. In the stolen moments of his coffee-pot and cup. master's siesta, or when court avocations A modern Italian has painted the same called him from home, Paresa seized the subject in a similar way. The Virgin is clandestine opportunities, and by force of on her knees near the toilette; on a chair talents, became in time an accomplished are thrown a variety of fashionable artist. Ambition now inspired him with dresses, which show that, in the painter's higher projects; and, as the liberality of opinion at least, she must have been a Philip held out a general asylum to merit, practised coquette; and at a little dishe determined upon a method of intro-tance appears a cat, with its head lifted ducing his performance to the eye of the up towards the angel, and its ears on end King. He observed it was his Majesty's to catch what he has got to say. practice in Velasquez's chamber, to order Paulo Mazzochi painted a piece rethe pictures that stood with their faces to presenting the four elements, in which the wall, to be turned, that he might see fishes marked the sea, moles the earth, them; this suggested to him the thought and a salamander the fire. He wished to of substituting one of his own productions, have represented the air by a cameleon; and taking his chance for what should fol- but not knowing how to draw that scarce low. The experiment happily succeeded. animal, he contented himself, from a siThe King coming into the academy,milarity of sounds, to introduce a camel, ordered the canvass to be turned. Pa- who extending his long neck, snuffs up resa eagerly obeyed, and presented to the the breezes around him. royal view, a piece composed by the audacious pencil of a slave and a Mulatto, but such an one, in point of excellence, as would have done honour to a freer and a fairer artist. It was not easy to appeal to better judgment than that of the King, or to enter upon his trial at a more merciful tribunal. Paresa fell upon his knees, and avowing the guilt of the performance, implored protection against the resentment of his master for having secretly purloined his art. "Velasquez," said the King," you must not only overlook this transgression in Paresa, but observe that such talents should emancipate the possessor." The generous decree was obeyed by Velasquez, and Paresa had his freedom. The grateful freedman continued his voluntary services during the life of Velasquez; and, after his death, to his daughter, who married Don Juan Baptista del Mazo, until his own death, which was in 1670, at the age of sixty years.' But of all the blunders which artists have committed, none is perhaps so great as the painter who, in a picture of the Crucifixion, represented the confessor holding out a crucifix to the good thief who was crucified with our Saviour. Spagnoleto.-The Spanish painter Ribera, known by the name of Spagnoleto, was of very humble parentage; but suffering the extreme of poverty, he felt within himself such powers of genius, as were superior to depression. After being some time with Ribalta, he went to Rome, and enlisting himself in the academy, pursued his studies with an industry which knew no remission; even whilst he was in the pursuit of the scanty necessaries of life, which he obtained by the sale of drawings and sketches in the academy. Without friends, and, at times, almost without food or raiment, he persisted in his course with a stubborn virtuous perseverance, which nothing could divert from its object. One day, a cardinal passing in his coach, observed a tattered figure employed in painting a board affixed to the outside of one of the ordinary houses in the streets of Rome; the youth and wretchedness of the spectacle excited pity, and the singular attention with which he pursued his work, attracted his attention. It was Ribera, in the act of earning his bread, of which his appearance showed he was absolutely in want. The cardinal called him to his coach, and ordering him to his palace, immediately domiciliated the lucky youth. Here he lived in ease and affluence; but that virtue which the frowns of fortune could not shake, was not proof against her caresses. Young Ribera became a slave to pleasures of which he had not before even speculative enjoyment. At length, the ruin which his genius was menaced with, alarmed his pride. With one gallant effort he burst the shackles of temptation, and sallying In the chapel of one of the principal out of the palace of the cardinal, re-ascolleges in Paris, there was a picture resumed his dignity of soul and poverty at presenting the general in chief of the once. army of Egypt, attended by some of his aides-de-camp, paying a visit to the plague ho pitals. Since the restoration of Blunders.-Tintoret, in a picture the Bourbon family to the throne of which represents the Israelites gathering France, Bonaparte has been converted manna in the desert, has armed the He-into Christ, and his aides-de-camps into brews with guns; and a modern Neapolitan artist has represented the Holy Family, during their journey to Egypt, as passing the Nile in a barge as richly ornamented as that of Cleopatra. Anachronisms of this description have been so often noticed, that they are now scarcely worth collecting; but there are others of a rarer sort, which owe their existence to the barbarous transformations which pictures, originally correct, have undergone, to please the passions and prejudices of a day; and which it is well to treasure up, as marks of the impotence of power, when it would torture genius into a violation of sincerity and truth. apostles. The artist who has made these Murat.' Brengheli, a Dutch painter, in a pic- An instance of similar absurdity occurture of the Eastern Magi, has, according red at Naples, where, to preserve Gros's to the grotesque fashion of his country, magnificent picture of the Battle of drawn the Indian king in a large white Aboukir, a Neapolitan general who never surplice, with boots and spurs, and bear-set foot in Egypt, has been substituted for ing in his hand, as a present to the holy child, the model of a Dutch seventy-four! Lanfrac has thrown churchmen in their robes at the feet of our Saviour, when an infant; and Algarotti relates, that Paul Veronese introduced several Benedictines among the guests at the feast of Caana. An altar-niece in a church at Capua, Patriotism.-When Nancy was taken from the Duke of Lorraine, by Cardinal Richelieu, he wished Jacques Callot, who was one of the duke's subjects, to make a set of prints descriptive of the siege of that important place. The artist refused; and on the cardinal's insisting very perempto 'He had now all his former miseries to encounter, with the aggravated contrast of experienced delights. The slender encouragement he met with at Rome, determined him to go to Naples. He set out in a ragged jacket, having pledged his cloak to make provision for the journey. In Naples, he engaged himself to a common painter for hire. This man, however, had some science and much humanity; the abilities of Ribera surprised him; he clearly saw how superior his talents were to the low occupation in which he was engaged. He employed him on better subjects; and a further acquaintance opening to him his good qualities, he gave him his only daughter in marriage. It was now that Ribera's genius was enabled to display itself. A new choice of subjects now presented themselves to the world; and people saw, with a terror partaking of delight, martyrdoms, execu tions, and torments, expressed with a truth and fidelity hitherto unknown. He selected all that sacred or classic history afforded in the terrible, for "horrors were not displeasing to him." All that the Pagan theology, or the poetical hell, had represented to appal the guilty, was to be found on the canvas of Ribera. A martyred St. Bartholomew, stript to the muscles, became a study for anatomists. Cato of Utica, in the act, of tearing out his bowels, brought the horror of self murder to the eyes and hearts of men. wrote on this painting, apostrophized the "Quintine, O veteris Novator artis to his memory in the cathedral church of expressible care, and disposed in different boxes, according to different degrees of the bright and dark tints, out of which she applied whatever colour was requisite for her work. She blended, softened, and united the tints with such inconceivable art and judgment, that she imitated the warmth of flesh with as great a glow of life as could be produced by the most exquisite pencil in oil; nor could the whether the whole was not the work of the nicest eye discern, at a proper distance, Hercules, struggling in the throes of on which records in a few expressive pencil. Houbraken says, he cannot tell death, and all the tortured in the fabulous realm of Pluto, were now exhibited like Eschylus's furies on the stage of Athens, and, in some instances, with the same effects. His pictures were now eagerly sought after, and adorned the best collections in Europe.' Tribute to the Arts. In the Life of Philippe Lippi, the Florentine painter, we have a memorable proof how much it is in the power of painting to charm even the most barbarous minds, and to soften hearts the most hardened. Lippi and some friends happened one day to be making an excursion in a small boat along the sea coast, when they were surprised by a Moorish brigantine, and taken prisoners into Barbary. After they had been eighteen months in a state of the most cruel slavery, Lippi, one day, took a piece of coal, and drew, on a wall, a portrait of the master he served. The likeness was so strong, that it struck the Barbarian, who had never seen any thing of the kind before, with astonishment and delight. He requested Philippe to draw some other portraits for him; and was, in the end, so pleased, that he not only gave him his liberty, but procured him a safe conveyance to Naples.' words the singular story of his life:- lem." how she managed her work, nor with what instruments. But, by whatever art her pictures were executed, they were truly beautiful, and like nature. Her portraits have as striking a likeness as possible; and every object was a just imitation of her model, whether the subject was portrait, architecture, landscape, or flowers; and, as her manner of working could not be well accounted for, she was distinguished by the name of the Sorceress, as if her work had been the effect of magic. Skilful Fraud-It is related of Cross, an English painter, who was remarkable for his talent in copying correctly, that, being employed by King Charles the First to copy some of the works of the best masters of Italy, and being permitted by the State of Venice to copy a famous Madona of Raffael, in the church of St. Mark, he executed his commission so trappily, that he brought away the original, and left the copy in its stead. The deception One landscape painted by Mademoiwas not immediately discovered, and the selle Rozee, was sold for five hundred detection was made too late to regain it; florins; the subject of the picture was for, although several messengers pursued only the trunk of an old tree covered with him expeditiously, they were all disap-moss, and a large spider finishing its web pointed.' among the leaves and branches; but every part appeared with so great a degree of force, so relieved, so true, and so natural, that it was always beheld with astonishment.' Genius Rescued Brooking, who died in 1759, was the most eminent painter of sea pieces, since the time of Vandevelde; but his merits were scarcely known until after his death. He used to paint for a picture-dealer near the Mews, who exposed his productions in his window. A gentleman, who sometimes passed the shop, being struck with the merits of some sea pieces by this artist, desired to know his name; but he was not satisfied in this respect, and only told, that if he pleased he could procure any thing that he might wish from the same painter. All for Love Quintin Mesius, or Matsis, was a farrier at Antwerp; when in his twentieth year, he became enamoured of a young woman of his own 'Brooking was accustomed to write his condition in life, who was, at the same name on his pictures, which mark was time, sought in marriage by a painter of constantly obliterated by the shopkeeper some repute. The damsel confessed to before he placed them in the window; it, Quintin, that she had a greater inclination however, happened that the artist carried for him than for the painter, but that she home a piece while the master was from had an unconquerable aversion to his trade home; it was placed in the window by of a farrier. Quintin, who, from his child- his wife, and the gentleman passing soon hood, had evinced a strong taste for de- after, discovered the name of the painter signing, instantly resolved to be on equal whose works he had so much adinired. terms with his rival, and to abandon the He immediately advertised for the artist. hammer for the brush. He applied to his To this advertisement, Brooking, at first, new art with so much liking and assiduity, paid no attention; but seeing it repeated, that in a short time he produced pictures with assurances of benefit to the person to which gave a promise of the highest ex-whom it was addressed, he prudently atcellence. He gained, for his reward, the fair hand for which he sighed; and continuing, after his marriage, to exercise the art in which he had made so noble an essay, he rose, ere long, to a high rank in his profession. Among other productions of Quintin's pencil, were the portraits in one piece of the two friends Erasmus and Egidius, which afterwards formed part of the collection of Charles I. of England. Sir 1 some lines which he tended, and had an interview with the The Sorceress. It is related of Made- A Painter's last hours. When Lucas of Leyden, during the last six years of his life, lay pining under the pressure of disease, his industry and love of his art were eminently conspicuous. It having been represented to him that such close attention increased the malignity of his disorder, he calmly replied: "I am content it should be so, since by my studies I endeavour to make my bed of sickness a bed of honour. An artist can never die in a more suitable manner than with his pencil in his hand." The "Goddess Pallas" was the last plate which he engraved; and it was on requesting to see it a short time before he died, that he is said to have used these memorable words.' The invention of oil painting has generally been attributed to Van Eyck, who flourished in the fifteenth century; it is, however, believed that he only revived the art; the brothers Percy mention an oil painting of a Madona and child, which has the date 886. This picture is said to have formed part of the treasures of the old palace of the We do not Florentine Republic. know on what authority this anecdote is related, and should have been happy to have had more information on a subject so curious and interesting. This Part is embellished with a spirited portrait of Sir Thomas Lawrence the President of the Royal Academy, nical apparatus, the Fellows, in gene- the discoveries of Ersted, which proto whom the work is very appropriately ral, had worked in their own laborato-mised to connect so intimately magnetdedicated. ries. There may, however,' said theism and electricity, and to solve the President, occur instances in which grand problem of the magnetic pheno Original Communications. instruments upon a great scale may be .......... LITERARY PREMIUM. To the Editor of the Literary Chronicle. SIR,-It will no doubt be in your recollection, and perhaps in that of many of your readers, that, about two years ago, the proprietor of the New Monthly Magazine very pompously announced the offer of a premium of one hundred guineas, for the best essay on English literature during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.' Your cotemporary declared at the time, that from what he knew of the party offering this prize, he could take upon himself to invite the attention of aspiring writers to it, as an honourable object for competition, which would be bona fide and justly awarded.' Now, as it is very improbable that in a country and in an age when literature is so much cultivated, there should not have been numerous candidates, (if the offer of the proprietor was deemed sincere,) I wish to know, through the medium of the Literary Chronicle, to whom the prize was awarded, or if it was ever given to any one. If you, Mr. Editor, or any of your readers, can give me this information, you will much oblige*, Your's, &c. R. B. S. INAUGURAL SPEECH OF SIR HUMPHREY DAVY, BART, ON HIS TAKING THE CHAIR AT THE ROYAL SOCIETY. required; or very expensive experi- mena of the earth. In speaking of the figure of the earth, the President took notice of Capt. Kater's experiments with the pendulum, and expressed a hope that his ingenious contrivance would be applied to determine the physical constitution of the surface. On this point he said, that he hoped there might be a co-operation with the members of the French Royal Academy of Sciences in completing In speaking of the relations of the the measurement of 20 degrees of an Royal Society to other scientific bodies, arc of the meridian; on which these the President expressed a hope that able philosophers had laboured with so they would naturally assist each other. much zeal and address. He referred, He disclaimed any thing like patriar-in this part of his discourse, to the exchal authority on the part of the Royal pedition to the polar regions, which he Society: but considered it as entitled designated as equally honourable to to respect and affection as an elder those by whom the expedition was planbrother of the same family, acting for ned, and to the brave and enterprizing objects which ought to be a bond of navigators by whom it was executed. harmony and of peace, not merely Such expeditions (said the President) amongst the philosophers of the same are worthy the great maritime nation of country, but even amongst those of dis- the world, as applying her resources, tant nations.' not for empire alone, but for the advancement of science and benefits common to all countries,—thus creating a purer species of glory than that dependent upon power or conquest. In speaking of Chemistry, he mentioned various interesting objects of research, and congratulated the Society on the progress made in the theory of definite proportions since it was first brought forward in a definite form by Mr. Dalton. In alluding to Vegetable and Animal Physiology, he described the im perfect state of these sciences, and said that the Society had a right to expect elucidation of them from those disciples of the schools of Grew and of Hunter, who had already done so much for the Anatomy of Plants and for Comparative Anatomy. The President took an extensive view of the different departments of science which seemed to offer promising subjects of new investigation. In the mathematical sciences he pointed at the application of the doctrines of quantity, weight, and number; to the elementary philosophy of chemistry; and to many other parts of general physics. In astronomy, he referred to the system of the fixed stars, the motions of the comets, and of the bodies which, in passing through our atmosphere, throw down showers of stones; for it cannot be doubted (he said) that these extraAFTER expressing to the members ordinary phenomena do not depend uphis deep sense of the honour they had on fortuitous or accidental formations done him in placing him in their chair, in the atmosphere; but are owing to Sir Humphrey entered into some gene-heavy bodies which, in a system where ral views of the present state of the all appears harmonious, must be goRoyal Society, its relations to other sci-verned by fixed laws, and intended for It would be impossible to follow the entific bodies, and on the prospects definite purposes. learned President through every part and hopes of science. In the early peIn Optics, he mentioned the disco- of his profound views on the improveriods of the history of the Society, ex-veries of Wollastan and Young, which, ment of science, as we could not do periments were made with the apparathem justice; but we earnestly hope that tus belonging to the body of their cuhe will himself be induced to lay them rators and operators, under the eyes of before the public in some lasting rethe Society; but since the progress of cord. He concluded by recommendthe useful arts had rendered it easy for ing to the Fellows the sure path of inindividuals, attached to scientific pur- In Electricity, the learned President vestigation, and the same methods of suits, to procure chemical and mecha-alluded to the wonderful instrument of reasoning that constituted the glory of * We confess our inability to answer the in- Volta, which, he said, had done more the founders of the Royal Societyquiries of our correspondent, and should have for the recondite chemico-physical sci-cautious inductions from exact experi ences than the telescope for astronomy, ments. He expressed his ardent deor the microscope for natural history. sire to assist in every way the progress He referred to the new field opened by of investigation, and stated, that though referred him to the proprietor to whom he alludes, but that we wish to give him the chance of gaining the information from our readers, ED. followed by those of Malus, Arago, |