The Press.
London, England, 1853-12-24 00:00:00

foreign trt, sittraturt, &r.

INISTU. PRI .MIA illiVe pub-
lished a list of the tortIMII nesspapi rs which, hum
the Ist of January next, will be elkweil to pass
ihe post offices of that country. The tidal
number of these journals k of which 41.4 are
political, and 1,1/4:1 treat of science. literature. and
art. 1)nly 103 of these papers are I.:offish. including
4:1 political ; the rest ore thus divided
1,219, of which 57,5 pre• ; ,
which b.: ere political 411; Russian, •!s;
; 14 : 1:1: flattish, M ;
and in other ham:nage.. 4.
1:1:1 I \ et: \ 1111 It, -•i.s I.:seir.v gives
lb' • iiiiiiieration of till the litres comprehended in
the dominions of the Czar at 165,1;409m souls.
Timm: are two iiewppalera published in Paris
containing between two and three hundred woodcuts,
besides a dozen elaborate engravings every year.

They are called the Gazette des Dames and the
Gazette des Waits. The subscription is :At per
annum. To make the journals go down with the
public the proprietors offer to every annual subscriber
20f. worth of superfine butt-hens, allowing them
moreover to choose their bon-bons before they pay
their money.
THE operas of Nantes and I Puritan( were founded
upon two dramas performed under other names at
the Paris theatres. When M. Valet was director of
the Italian Opera•house he bought up the copyright
of these, pieces from the French authors, and has
now brought an action against the new director, M.
Itaganiolemanding the paymentof the (traits (tauten,
when either of those operas was performed. The
tribunal has appointed a day to hear the pleadings in
the cause, and meanwhile M. I'atel has obtained en
injunction prohibiting their production while the
question remains in suspense.
THE remains of an antediluvian animal have been
found near Constantine, in Algeria, in a state of sin
gular preservation. The skeleton is almost entire :
the head, vertebra., and legs retaining the osseous
conformation perfectly complete, and few even of the
smaller bones being deficient. In size this animal
must have been colossal. Its head measures nearly
three feet from nape to muzzle, and thirty inches
across the frontal bone. it has tusks like those of a
boar, but fourteen incites long, besides formidable
teeth. The shoulder and leg hones are as large
those of the horse, and the curve of the tilts shows
that in its girth it 111114 have quadrupled that of a
large ox. The precise class of mommalia to which
this gigantic specimen belonged has not been ascer-
tlined, hut it seems evident from the description that
it appertained to one of the numerous species of
paehydermata. The skeleton has been carefully
preserved for transmission to sonic museum, where
doubtless it will form a subject for scientific exami-
nation.
AN INTERNATIONAL COPYItIIIiT CONVENTION has
been effected between England and the free Haase
atic town of Hamburg. By this treaty all works of
literature and art published in either country are
"placed under the protect of the existing laws "
in each ulmni equal terms. Translations also share
in this protection to a limited extent ; that is to say,
an author may enjoy an exclusive privilege of trans-
lating, or authorising translations, of his works,
for a period of five years Iron their production, pro
sided he duly registers his hook within three months,
and issues the translation, or part of it, within twelve
months of the date of original publication. Inning
the continuance of the eon% onion the duties oil
books anti musical works will be :

s. tl

Works oriirinslly proilored in tliv King.
doin, and itliin the Stan• of
i•st.
\Vials not. originally produced in the
Kingdom, the est.
l'riids or drawings t.t. ,lain, Niuglc,
each

0 14 0

Huultd us mewed, the dwell

fiALLEttv or 11.1.USTIIITIIIN.—SiX Views of scenes
in the Arctic regions have been added to the nttrac-
lions of this isimilar place of amusement anti in.
struction. The bays anti headlands, the thick flat
ice piled like masses of rock around, and the dreary
snow are seen by every light and in every phase.
Pale 1:11441, bite, and anther flash in meteoric corns.
cations from the northern streamers ; then the dark
flight comes, and through the ice a ship is discovered
feeling her way by the aid of a blue light which burns
at her stt rn. Smidenly the moon rises, anti in the
bright SHOW an etwainpment of a hunt party is this
covered. The whole concludes with a Section of
ship in her winter kith, with the sailors eating their
Christmas pudding. This comfortable scene was
much applauded : it 'cheered the spirits alter that
white miwopled world, in which the moving ship
and the lire far flashing seemed the only things
alive. The exhibition is well worth seeing
_

IT has been ilennilively at•ranged that Sir E. it.
Lytton, the President of the Associated Societies of
the Unit-en:illy of Edinburgh, will deliver his inan-
gular nthlress on Wednesday, the 18th of January.
AN INTEnEsTixo Svitn.:s uP Arroo LETTEns
Ai:TEN I. were sold at all auction that took
platy on Friday anti Saturday last week, under the
direction of Messrs. Puttick anti Simpson. of Pieea•
it was thus deserilted in the catalogue :
" Sixty.one Letters anti Notes written to Sir William
Hopkins. while the King was a pt•isoner in the isle
of Wight, concluding with one after his rent.,val to
Windsor Castle. July 12 to Pee. :1,1, 111-IS. The
biters are mostly in a feigned hand, anti are written
on scraps of paper of all forms and sizes, according
to the necessity of the moment.. The King's twey
lice apltt•art to have been to have deposited his hi
term in some receptacle, whence they were removed
by the woman who attended upon him (who, he says.
could neither write nor read) ; and the daily clear-
ances thus made were no doubt anxiously watched
fur by some di., ivet adherent, who was in the
sveret, the letters stit eted anti duly t►ansmitted. The

Podded of the letters is mainly the projected escape
of the King, whose firm, patient, and even cheerful
demeanour in rirenmstances the most perilous is
exhibited most forcibly in this series of letters." An
extract &Inn one of these letters will be sufficient to
show their interesting character. It is from a letter
dated Oct. 9, HIV :

" I pray you rightly to understand my condition which
I oinfesm i...,tvrtaight I did not fully atlas% through want of
tytne) : it is this; Notwithstanding my too great comes.
mime; 0,1%44 made, I know that, unless I shall make yet
others, whirli will directly make me no king, I shall Iw, at
hest, A INTINAIIidi prisiAler ; ',espies if this Were not 14,f
Which lum WO sure ), the adhering to the Church 1 from
which I cannot depart. no, not in show ) will doe the same;
Ifild, to deale freely with you, the great concession I nhide
this slay was meerely in order to my escape, of which if 1
had not hope I would not have done ; for then I could
have returned to my straight Prison without reluctancy,
hut now I confess it would breake my hart, halting done
that which only an eseape can justefy," &e.
The collection sold for fifty-one guineas.