POETRY. FROM "MY DARLING DOWN BY THE SEA." WHERE the cool breeze greets the silver And the fresh breeze lifts my tresses, He my darling in the city- Brave blue sky, bend thou above him, Thrice a day the seaside village Clasp a hand perchance, this evening, Mighty are the links that bind us A SCENE ON BOULOGNE PIER. THE sea was calm, the breeze was mild, Who scarce had twenty winters seen; Who listened to his doleful song, And there the youth, who laughed away Whilst flippant coxcombs turned and sneered, Beware! and boast not, oh ye proud! That his not Fortune's-cunning hand Till all thy cunning fai hless proved, Yet there is one amidst the throng, A noble man of simple mind. Ay, tenderer hearts by far are there! Hearts which are born to soothe, and share Man's ev'ry woe and ev'ry care: The blushing cheek, the loving eye, The kindly look, the half-breathed sigh; The ever-ready hand to aid, The wearied-low by sickness laid; In these thou'st sympathizing friends, [The Dart flows in a wild tumultuous stream, and its "cry" in the stillness of night, may be heard far from its banks. It is subject to frequent and sudden inundation. "Dart came down last night" is an ex: pression often in the mouths of the moor-men; and it is said that a year never passes without one person at the least being drowned in the river. Hence the local rhyme : "River of Dart! O river of Dart! Every year thou claimest a heart."-Murray.] River of Dart! beside thy stream And thy flying waters strangely clear, And the virgin pant of a breast of snow. -Temple Bar. A SEPTEMBER RHYME. MISTILY rises the harvest moon Over acres of yellow corn: Glitters on streamlet - tinges the thorn. West wind!-west wind! fluttering up Rustle the leaves of the dense lime trees- Play with the shadows on lawns and leas! Mabel-Mabel! lying asleep 'Mid pleasant fancies and pillows of downOut to sea let the wet breeze sweep!Thou wilt not open those eyes of brown, Wilt not hearken, while gray skies darken And dews of midnight the wet sheaves drown. MORTIMER COLLINS. TO AN ABSENT FRIEND. IF I and mine were all below the grass BRIEF LITERARY NOTICES. Recollections of Seventy Years. By Mrs. John Farrar. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1866. This little work possesses more than ordinary interest. The high social position and the literary associations of the authoress, and her wide and varied experience and observation afforded her extraordinary facilities, and she gives us here the matured and condensed results. The same enterprising publishers announce for the autumn a long list of new works, some of them important ones, among which we notice a new edition of Shakspeare (in blue and gold) edited by Thomas Keightley. Christianity and Statesmanship. By William Hague, D. D. Boston: Gould & Lincoln, 1856. A new revised and enlarged edition of this able and excellent work. Many of these chapters, when published in separate form attracted a good deal of attention. pp. Alfred Hagart's Household. By Alexander Smith. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1865. 240. The author of A Life Drama here appears in a new character, as the writer of a simple and touching tale of Scotch life. While the work has little of the brilliancy which distinguished his earlier productions, it is marked by clear delineation of character, and a chastened style. The tone of the work is healthful and elevated. American Criticism, or the North American Review, and the "Life and Times of John Huss." American News Co. A remarkable pamphlet, sharply reviewing the criticism of the North Amer ican Review on the above valuable work and its highly esteemed author. No one thoroughly conversant with the merits of the case can doubt for a moment that the critic in this encounter has been sadly worsted. And we regret that so venerable and able a representative of American literature and criticism as the North American Review should have been the medium of so groundless and apparently malignant an attack on a noble history and its author, who has deserved, and indeed secured, the mead of no common praise) for a work which does honor to American authorship. Last Winter in Rome. By Charles Richard Weld. Published by Longman & Co., London. A book of very pleasant gossip about Rome in its social character, rather than any other, though the antiquities and Art-works of the city have not been altogether forgotten. Mr. Weld is fortunate enough to meet with comfortable quarters not free, however-in the mansion of a Roman noble and an officer of the Guardia Nobile, through whose introduction he has opportunities of seeing and hearing much which would be closed against the majority of visitors; and as he appears to have kept eyes and ears both well open, and is gifted with a light and agreeable manner of describing his "experiences," his story of Rome is highly amusing as well as instructive, while he takes a liberal and unprejudiced view of what goes on around him, "nothing extenuating nor setting down aught in malice." Speaking of hunting in the Roman Campagna, he says it is the great day amusement of the English during winter, "not that many follow the hounds on horseback, but the meet is always numerously attended. And very pretty is the sight on a bright day in winter, when the Alban hills, crested with snow, stand out against the deep blue sky, and the air is delightfully bracing-to see the gathering of healthy English faces, the girls with nature's roses on their cheeks, at a meet in the Campagna. The distance from Rome is generally sufficiently near to enable pedestrians to be present, and several visitors attend in carriages." "A well-known figure at the Roman Hunt is that of Miss Hosmer, the clever American sculptor, who rides so well that it is a pity the Campagna has no stiff fences to try her prowess. Gibson, who is a great friend to Miss Hosmer, is reported to have said to her, 'You will never excel in your profession if you hunt so much.' 'Mr. Gibson,' was her reply, if you could ride as well as I do, you would hunt too,' I am not at all sure that the great sculptor would be tempted, rode he ever so well, to turn Nimrod now, or to leave his studio for the fairest scene in the Campagna; but, notwithstanding his remark to Miss Hosmer, most persons will agree that she is quite right to hunt, and that her skill"-as a sculptor we presume the author means-is not at all likely to suffer by this wholesome exercise." With this little bit of artistic gossip-selected as especially appropriate to our pages-we take leave of Mr. Weld's book, which, by the way, may be recommended for its useful information to any who intend visiting Rome, while it will afford a few hours' agreeable reading to those of us who stay at home. An Inquiry into the Authenticity of Documents concerning a Discovery in North America, claimed to be made by Verrazzano. Read before the New York Historical Society, Tuesday, October 4th, 1864. By Buckingham Smith. New York, 1864. This monograph upon the reported discovery by Verrazzano is well worthy the attention of those who either as collectors, or from a love of truth, are really desirous of knowing the facts concernAmerica, that vexata questio to Europe, from the date of its discovery up to the present time. It is claimed for Verrazzano that he was the first European who visited that part of the United States in which the city of New York is now situated. The claim was first published in 1556, in the third volume of "Ramusio," which was published in that year, and was founded upon a letter purporting to be written by Verrazzano himself to Francis the First of France, dated from Dieppe, the 8th of July 1524. The claim, therefore, had lain dormant thirty-two years, and was not given to the world until Francis had been dead nine years. It had long been a tradition that a document, supposed to be the original letter of Verrazzano, from which Ramusio derived his knowledge, was preserved at Florence. On account of its discovery in the Migliabecchia collection by Mr. George Washington Green, the United States Consul at Rome, it was published by that gentleman in 1850, in a pamphlet, which contains all the evidence to be adduced in favor of the truth of Verrazzano's discovery. The letter, however, varies from the account given by Ramusio, and is not the original. The claim of Verrazzano, therefore, must be tested by its internal evidences of truth, and this is the task which Mr. Smith has undertaken. He follows the writer through the account of his voyage, which commenced in January 17, 1524, from "the islet south-east of Madeira," and, marking out his course, examines his data of his voyage, his reports of what he saw, and his remarks, with scrupulous care, and comes finally to the conclusion that the claim can not be supported. The whole thing Mr. Smith thinks is a forgery, that had its origin in the rivalry of the Italian cities, and their desire to outdo each other in the glory of having given birth to great discoverers. None, however, of the very early voyages were as accurately described in the original accounts as those of the present day are. The early navigators did not have the appliances of exact science such as we now enjoy. Their voyages were rather wanderings than voyages, and though they performed wonders with the means at their disposal, there must be many points in their accounts which are vague and uncertain. In fact, the almost impossibility of discovering the simple truth of history in events, of even recent date, should make us careful and cautious in accepting or denying positively any alleged fact. Particularly would this seem to be the case for Englishmen where America is concerned, since to be English is to look at the affairs of other nations through the distorting medium of the fogs and mists which are the necessary accompaniments of our insular position. Though Mr. Smith is convinced that Verrazzano did not perform this voyage, yet he has illustrated his pamphlet with an engraving from a globe in the Historical Society of New York, which is dated 1542, and belonged to the Cardinal Marcellus Cervidus, and which has upon it VERREZANA SIVE NOVA GALLIA A VERRAZANO FLORENTINO COMPERTA ANNO SAL. É. D. A piece of new evidence, which to many will ap pear stronger than any yet offered of the truth of Verrazzano's claim. SCIENCE. Petroleum Steam Boiler. For some few weeks experiments have been going on at Woolwich for making use of Petroleum as steam fuel. Although this singular oil has hitherto evaded all attempts to be used for such purpose. The boiler at Woolwich can for any length of time be kept in action, reducing water to vapor at the rate of 12 lbs. to 1 lb. of Petroleum, and yet it is evident that the full maximum of combustion and evaporation has not been attained; this may arise from so many precautions having been taken in designing the boiler. Directions have therefore been given by the Admiralty to alter it, so as to assimilate it more to the simple form of the marine boiler. As no account has yet been given of it, the following description may be acceptable: It is a tubular boiler, containing 47 cwt. of water, covering the tubes about 3 inches. The firegrate surface is very small, containing only a superficial content of 4 feet, and it is open to the atmosphere front and back. The grate consists of four bars, each in a separate firebox; there is a combustion chamber at the end, and a contrivance for burning the smoke. On Saturday week the Lords of the Admiralty, in their official visit to the Dockyard, inspected the boiler, then in full action, and the inventor explained the process. It was necessary that the supply tank of Petroleum should be above the level of the grate, for the oil to run in by its natural gravity. The tank, if it contains American Petroleum, should be away from the boiler; if it contains the heavy Petroleum, English coal oil, Barbadoes tar, or the Indian Rangoon, should be annexed to, or form part of it. Each bar of the grate is formed of porous material, tightly fitted with an iron trough; the oil is run into the latter, toward the oil which burns at the surface. Each bar has a separate pipe and fittings, and the oil can be burnt at any rate of speed, according to the quality and thickness of the porous material, and the pressure on the oil. There is no ash, and not the slightest danger in attending the furnace. The oil is completely under command; the flame in each fire-box is that of a lamp; and the engineer attending is not inconvenienced by heat in front of the furnace. The extreme heat is in the combustion-chamber at the back, where the flames from all the boxes enter. These boxes are very small, and to a large boiler can be arranged in rows or stories one above another. This admits a larger grate surface than can be obtained in a coal boiler. The oil is slow in burning, and when drawn out of the trough only shows a temperature of 108° F. Mr. Richard, the inventor, remarked that he had only beaten the Woolwich experimental coal boiler by rather more than 50 per cent. in evaporating water; but he expected, on a few improvements being made to the boiler, to do more. For naval warfare its advantages can be hardly foreseen. A stronger fuel would enable a steamship to take longer voyages without calling at coaling stations, or keep in blockade position for a longer period, and show no smoke. The flames shut off like gas, and may be kept up to a point sufficient to keep up steam. No stokers or coal passers, or only ten where now one hundred are employed. For the mercantile marine, additional space for freight is obtained. Petroleum can not be wasted as coal, can be stowed in places where at present nothing else is stowed, either in cells formed within the outer and inner skins of the bottom of iron ships, or in a second skin within. cd, if such an important use is found for the oil fuel for the steam-engines-means will soon be found by which the cost to the consumer will be greatly reduced, so as to facilitate its adoption for the purposes for which it appears so applicable.The Reader. Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages. In 1844 Professor Nilsson published at Lund a paper on the successive periods of human development in Scandinavia during the prehistorical ages. In this treatise the three ages of stone, bronze, and iron, first indicated by Thomsen of Copenhagen, are recognized as established, and the author enters, respecting each of them, into a series of details which constitute the main body of the archæological principles since then current in the north. Thus, when speaking of the bronze age, the author points out the striking uniformity of the bronze weapons in different parts of Europe; and this leads him to the conclusion that the civilization of that period must have spread from one and the same centre, situated probably somewhere on the borders of the Mediterrancan. The author further remarks that the introduction of bronze, and also, later, the introduction of iron, coinciding with an essential change in the mode of burial, betrays a profound change each time in the relig ious system. Hence the conclusion that each of those periods was marked by the invasion of a new race; or, to use the author's own terms, by a fresh wave of population. For we can hardly imagine that nations would be brought to change their religion simply because they had acquired a new metal.-M. Morlot "On the Study of High Antiquity." ART. The Royal Academy.-The season was closed, tendance was large, and the result seemed to proas usual, with a very brilliant "evening;" the atduce general satisfaction. The monetary produce of the exhibition this year has much exceeded that of any previous year, amounting on the whole to £13,000; while the sale of pictures (so far as they fore. These are, indeed, the palmy days of Britcan be ascertained) has been larger than hereto ish artists. Picture Robbery.-Mr. E. M. Ward's portrait of Mr. Dallas, exhibited this year at the Academy under the title of "A Philosopher," has been stolen by a man to whom the painter had, unfortunately, given an order for its delivery at the close of the exhibition, presuming that the thief was sent by the person usually employed by Mr. Ward to remove his pictures. No tidings had been heard of it at the time of our going to press. The fact ought to be a warning to artists. The Crystal Palace Art-Union.-In the month of July the prizes were distributed in the lectureroom of the Crystal Palace; the president of the society, the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, having been unable to attend, the chair was taken by Mr. G. R. Ward. The report was, on the whole, satisfactory, although the number of subscribers fell somewhat short of two thousand-a fact easiThe oil is to be found in every part of the globe; ly accounted for, the progress of the society havit is practically inexhaustible. It is to be expecting been for awhile arested by the lamented death of its founder, Mr. T. Battam, and the general election having occupied the public mind during the months when the harvest of subscribers is expected to be gathered in. Next year, we have no doubt, members will have doubled in amount; for, besides the very admirable works now for distribution, others are in preparation of great merit. As one of the speakers at the meeting observed, there need not be much sympathy for those who failed to obtain prizes, inasmuch as they had already received the full value of the guineas they subscribed. That is strangely true. A subscriber, at the time of entering his name, has about a dozen articles in ceramic Art to select from, any one of which is honestly worth a guinea, and a few years ago could not have been obtained for less than two guineas. In addition, he has the chance of a prize, and some of the prizes are of considerable "money worth." Indeed, every object issued by the society is o very great excellence, and can not fail to do much to advance a pure taste in Art. A Statue of the late Sir Joseph Paxton is to be erected in the grounds of the Crystal Palace. The memorial is a right and suitable one; but Paxton's noblest monument was raised by himself, when he called into existence the palace at Sydenham: here might be inscribed what one reads on Wren's tomb in St. Paul's:-"Si quæris monumentum, circumspice." Mr. B. Spence, of Rome, is spoken of as the sculptor of the statue. VARIETIES. church of St. Eustache, to watch the proceedings of a man in a white blouse, who had clambered, by means of the sculptural asperities of the building, to the entablature and cornices which surmount the great lateral door of the church, opposite the market. From this perilous eminence he was haranguing the people and throwing down pieces of money, saying, "Go and fetch me some tobacco.' As it was expected that he must lose his footing, mattresses were brought to break his fall; but, on the appearance of some sergens de ville, he recommenced his hazardous ascent, and reached a hollow niche, from which, with a prodigious effort, he sprang into the gallery which leads to the towers, where, however, he was soon after secured. From a medical examination it appeared that he had been acting under the influence of mental alienation. Sir John Richardson died on Wednesday. He was born in 1787, and was educated at the Grammar School of Dumfries, his native town. At fourteen years of age he entered the University of Edinburgh, and applied himself assiduously to the study of medicine. In due course he entered the navy as assistant-surgeon, and served at the siege of Copenhagen in 1807. In consequence of the great ability he displayed on that occasion, and "for having served in the boats during a night attack upon a French brig in the Tagus," he was promoted in 1808 to be acting-surgeon of the Hercules, a 74-gun ship. During the war with the United States in Canada and Georgia he served as surgeon to the 1st battalion of the Marines; and in 1819 accompanied Sir John FrankThe Matterhorn.-There are few Alpine peaks lin's Arctic expedition as surgeon and naturalist. now which have not been surmounted by enHe also accompanied Sir John Franklin's second ergetic and ambitious climbers. Mont Cervin, expedition in 1825, when he commanded two or the Matterhorn, was one of the most impracti- boats in which he discovered the passage between cable, but his summit too has this year been reach- the mouths of the Mackenzie and Coppermine ed under tragic circumstances too well known. Rivers. In 1838 he was appointed Physician to On the 14th of July, Lord Francis Douglas, Jr. the Fleet, and Inspector of Hospitals in 1840. Hadow, Mr. Hudson, Mr. Edward Whymper, and The deceased knight, who was a fellow of the three guides, Michael Croz, and the Tangwal- Royal Society, was the author of the "Fauna ders father and son, made the successful asBoreali Americana," the "Zoological Appendix" In descending the neck of the crest, Mr. to Sir Edward Parry's second voyage, the "IchHadow, a less experienced mountaineer than his thyology of the Voyage of the Erebus, the Tercompanions, lost his footing, and in his fall carried down also Croz, who was first, and Mr. Hud-ror, and the Sulphur," and several reports and scientific papers. son and Lord F. Douglas, who were following. The rope broke under the fearful strain, and the elder Taugwalder, Whymper, and the younger Tangwalder were saved. Three days later, on the 17th July, tour guides, C. A. Carroll, G. Birch, A. Meinet, and A. Gorret, reached the summit from the Italian side from the valley of Tournanche. The expedition was planned by Signor Giordano, of the Italian Alpine Club, but the guides would not allow any traveler to accompany them, on account of the uncertain weather. A record of their ascent was deposited on the summit by the English party, and the Italians planted their national flag on the highest point. Before ascending the Matterhorn, Mr. Whymper had, among other perilous feats, achieved the ascent of the obelisk-like Aiguille Verte, to the amazement of the natives of Chamouni.-Leisure cent. Hour. Perilous Climbing.-The Paris correspondent of "The Times" says:-A considerable crowd was collected one evening in July in front of the He received the honor of knighthood in 1846. When he drew near the age of seventy he resigned his post, and retired to the Lake district, where he lived ten more years in the repose suitable to his time of life. A healthy activity remained to the end; he was known all round the neigborhood, from Windermere to Grasmere, by his exertions of one kind or another. He was happy in his home, proud of his sons, and among his neighbors, if grave and still, as if by nature or the discipline of suffering, still genial at heart, and more so in demeanor, as time passed on. He was never seen more cheerful, and even gay, than on the last day of his life, when he went among the tradespeople, and was visiting friends to within eight hours of his death. He appeared in perfect health, and was reading late. A stroke of apoplexy carried him off daring the night. After all the risks to which he subjected his life, and the condition to which he was repeatedly reduced by cold, prolonged hunger, and other hardships, he lived into his seventy-eighth year. |