The Express.
London, England, 1851-05-24 00:00:00

SION lIOUSE.

In a spirit worthy of commendation, the Duke of
Northumberland has thrown open lua mansion at Charing-
cros•, and Sion House, near Brentford, to the public, fur
three days in the week, during the pre,ent and two sue,
ceeding months, to be admitted by ticket.
No one can have passed up the Thames beyond Kew
without having been struck with the oppcaranco of thin
seat, standing boldly out limn a background of trt,,, aad
looking over a wide expanse of meadow, extending down
to the banks of the river.

The principal entrance is about a quarter of a mile beyond
Brentford, and consists of a light gate, railing, and pilasters,
surmounted by the lion of the house of Northumberland.

A winding carriage road sweeps to the right until your
reach a bridge which crosses a piece of water that nearly
encircles the whole domain, which if meadow laid out park-
wise. At this point you turn to the left, and a straight
avenue of lofty elms leads to the house, which is a low, cas-
tellated quadrangular building, the west front of which
overlooks a handsome lawn, terminating in a brick fence,
on each side of which in an open-work iron gate, with
lodge to correspond.
Entering at the principal door you pass into a lofty and
elaborately decorated hall, paved with marble, and
which eoutains two statues, in good preservation,
stated to have been brought from Hereulaneum, a copy
of the Apollo, a bronze copy of the " Dying Gladiator"
and other statues front the antique. Passing to the right
you enter what is called a vestibule, a noble room, richly
gilded, the floor being of the purest " Scagliola," and the
pillars, which reach to the roof, of 0 Verde Antique." Open-
ing from this room is the state dining rooms, tom:. lofty,
well proportioned, and light, having a very cheerful view
of the river, as indeed have all the rooms on two sides of
the quadrangle. To this sucemsls the state drawing room,
which is furnished richly and in good taste. The Idling is
painted by Angelica Kauffman, and the walls are covered with
satin manufactured in Spitallields, and which bias fresh now
as when it was put up twenty-three yearn ago. Among the
noticeable articles of " bijoutetie " disposed on the tables is
a handsomely mounted nautilus shell, presented to the late
duke when lord-lieutenant of Ireland. It is composed en-
tirely of Irish materials, an black bog oak, Irish diatnonda,
&e. In this room, as well a. in the d. g-room, are side-
tables of superb mosaic. The next room is the library and
gallery, which oceupies the whole of the eastern side of the
quadrangle. It is handsouiely fitted up and decorated, the
compartments being painted by Angelica Kauffman; and
there are also heads of the eleven earlier Northumberland,
copied front larger picture+ in the possession of the duke.
The laud:, arc not numerous as compared with the size of
the room, but the duke's library is nut deposited here.
In this room is a couch of crimson velvet,
with a canopy supported by silver spear., which belonged
to Akbar Khan, and was presented to the law duke by
Viscount Ilartlinec.
Next follow two or three rooms looking into the court
of the quadrangle (tastefully laid out us a tlower-gard,W,
which are usually occupied by the family, and have a

comfortable look us compared with the state rooms. In
one of them is a portrait of Cathe r • of .trragon, wife of
Henry VIII., by Zucchero, and an equestrian portrait of
Vandyke by himself.

The next room— one of the most emnfortable and
snugly fitted up in the house—is called the " Passage-
room," being only used us a viaduct to :mother
suite which occupies the fourth side of the quad-
rangle. Here are hung a number of family
portraits, principally of the Stuart age. by 1.•ly and
'Smeller. The Winter Drawing-room is an admirable speci-
, mem of an English interim-, and contains portraits of
Charles I. and several of his family, mostly copies after
Vandyke, and a picture of the lath Earl of Northumber-
land, to whom Charles's children were entrusted utter his
I imprisonment. This picture is by Vandyke.
This cumplets the suite of rooms on the principal floor,
which are all that arc open to the public. At the foot of
the staircase leading to the sleeping-rooms, is a group or
statuary by Lough, ,• The Battle of the Standard," which
is boldly executed; and on the wall of the first land-
ing is a full-length portrait of the late duke, by
Lucas. As a whole the mansion, though nut re-
markable for splendour or any extraordinary collection
either of paintings or works of art, is characterized
by admirable taste, and is a very goal specimen of one of
the numerous mansions which are kept up by nearly all the
wealthiest members of our nobility.
The peculiar form of the building gives the suites of
rooms as you pass through them quite a palatial aspect.
The gardens are well worthy of notice. On leaving the
house you pass through a sheltered walk, Racks,' bordered
with rhododendra in the fullest beauty, and descend into
a kind of Mural amphitheatre, surrounded ern three sides
by au artificial mound, studded with rocks and shrubs.
The fourth side is occupied by a magnificent conservatory,
semi-circular in form, with wings on each side, and a large
glass dome in the centre. In trout is a lawn, dotted with
flower-beds and a large fountain.
The visitor passes out by the left wing of the con-
servatory into a " pleasaunce," ornamented by sonic stately
trees and luxuriant shrubbery, to the fruit-garden, where
the graperies and forcing-houses are its perfect order,
and the fruit and plants in excellent condition. In a
compartment of this building will be found a superb
specimen of time " Victoria Regis," with its huge broad
leaves, five feet and more in diameter, floating in a
large tank, and its flowers, which are constantly changing
their tints from white to a soft pink, looking strangely out
of proportion. This is a very• young plant, having been
growing only since February last, and already there is
scarcely room fur it in its watery bed.
Thu tropical fruit house is an object of which the duke
and his gardener are justly proud, there being in it MOW
plants cultivated and which have borne fruit, never before
brought to this country. Without entering at any greater
length into minutire, it will suffice to say, that a more de-
lightful mode of spending a summers day than in the gar-
dens of Siou-house, it would be difficult to imagine.
To the Duke of Northumbe•rlanul much praise is due
for having set an example which it is to be hoped
that other noblemen will fellow, and while be
thus exhibits to the visitors to London from all pare, of the
world, a readiness to contribute to their pleasure, it will be
satisfactory to him to know that the courtesy and attention
paid to his guests (for such they are by the persons is
charge of Sion-house, leaves nothing to be desired—a state
of things not always to be found in the great "show-how&
of England.

SOCIETY OF ARTS.—The third e,,nrersazione given
to the foreign commissioners and exhibitors, and to the mem-
bers of the society and their ladies, was held on Wednesday
evening, and was very largely attended. The evening was
devoted to English glees, as the last evening to German in-
strumental music. The singers were, Messrs. Francis,
Bubb' Land, Hatton, and Henry Phillips, who were much
applauded.
CONVERSAZIONE AT TIIE NIANSION Horse.—On
Wednesday the 4th of June the Lord Mayor and the Lady
Mayoress are to receive the royal commissi ~,,, Ts, the foreige
commissioners, the jurors of the Ore at Exhibition, and
their ladies, the foreign minister., together with a largo
number of literati of the different English and foreign
scientific societies, as also the members of the corporation
and their ladies, at a coaveroarione at the Mansion-house.
ST. PANCRAS
tc,,MIDDLEsEu) PAYING CONSOLIDA-
TIOS.—Yesterday c committee of the House of Commons
upon this bill proceeded with the consideration of its pro-
visions. The object of the bill was to consolidate the 17
existing paving and lighting boards in the parish of 81.
Pancras, which now contained a populatiiiii of 160,000, with
an assessable value of 660,0001., into one central board. The
bill is opposed by the Bedford and Owen estates, and by
other local interests. The only witness as yet examined ss
the vestry clerk of St. Pancraa.

LITERATti ltE. l it, coat the whole subject of zoology in a new form.
; Its general features have been adopted and retained
hit Ri,he through most of the special treatises which have
isq towards Me East in Public Worship:
se i+ ros•a second Edition. Richardson, Cornball; been published since it first saw the light.
Olivier, m livier, Pall-all. Collier distributed the numerous species of birds
This is a very sensible and ingenious pamphlet, into six orders ; viz., plunderers, or birds of
written to show the absurdity of certain Puseyite prey ; climbers (like parrots and birds of paradise);
Innovations. The author and fiis fellow-parishioners songsters ; gallinaccous birds; waders (as the ostrich)
ppurto have been much annoyed by a new inetun- and swimmers.
bent, who signalised his entry into the parish by A description of the birds of the British Islands
turning to the east" in various parts of the has been frequently attempted, and with various
service. Now, of course, the act of turning either to success. Donovan 's work, in ten volumes, published
the east or elsewhere is, per se, harmless enough; at the commencement of the present century, is large
but the adoption of forms abandoned after the to-'I without being great. Mr. John Gould has well
forma( (and obviously in consequence of it), natu- illustrated our ornithology, in five sumptuous and
Pally leads to a fear that the adoption of doctrines of beautiful volumes. Every one who delights to see
the same class may follow : hence this pamphlet, , nature in art has read the " British Birds" of
wherein the author attacks this particular innova- Bewick. It is one of those books which may
tip) of the "turning." lk begins by urging the' be keenly relished without any arduous study, but
narrownessi of view implied in thus localising: which tliose who study it most will best appreciate
twonhip, and proceeds to show that the custom itself I and enjoy. Mr. Swainson gave a minute and exten-1
Ia oak a traditionary continuance of the old idols- ; sive exposition of the natural history and classifies-
try or the sun- -or, at best, a ceremony founded tion of birds in two volumes of I.nrclner's " Cyclo-1
won a metaphor. The following paragraphs are predin," and Sir W. Jardine has performed a similar)
worth reflecting on : I service in the " Naturalist's Library." Mr. Slaney,
And may it not be learnt that the "histrionic" display in the late Bishop Stanley of Norwich, and Mr. Robert
some of our modern churches. of turning specially towards I Nludie, did good service in popularising the subject ; sh• east, with other forms and ceremonies, is sometimes in-
lb small publications. The completest manuals, how-1 traduces! fur the purpose of an imposaig appearance, in
ever, combining scope and minuteness, are Tarrell.s
Substitution for the pure, devout, and unostentatious wor-
d Lip or God "in spirit and in truth ?" " History of British Birds," Maegillivray'a " British I
An eminent plisivian and author observed that if it he Birds, Indigenous and Migratory," sod now this
swished to disentnituate the characters of men in the practice o History of British Birds," by the Rev. F. 0. Morris.
at' meditinc for the cure of the hotly, it may he interred
Leta.
us d
that in proportion to the superficial display of technical
buy, is the absence of deep learning and know. lion commen
and liberal the latter to the careful considera-
patronage of readers both in town
ridge of the' profession. and countrv. It is cleverly written, is elegantly
Applying a like principle to the chunh— to men who printed, and is illustrated by coloured plates, which
profess the cure it!' souls, may it not he safely concluded add beauty to fidelity and completeness.
that the mote conspieuous the exhibition of postures and
Other theatneal display, the less the amount of pure meats
religion he more of earthly unauthorised parade, the
Ina of Inas• idy spirituality
This paniplilet is well written, and furnishes fresh
food for meditation on the singular ecclesiastical
phenomena of the ay.

Mit*ry,f 'girds. By the thy. b. O. MONIII% B.A.
The sublime appearance's of the heavens have led
Man on from vague awe to the highest processes of
reasoning : the progressive changes traceable in the
turfisce of the earth have carried back the thought of
mankind mer a range of durat. worthy of a crea-
ture of large discourse looking before' anti after ; and
oar daily dialing with sensible objects is one con-
tinual discipline to form the dexterous and
efficient mind. But besides these something is
wanting to emnplete man's education—some-
thing to mellow and refine the heart in danger
of becoming rigid and insusceptible amid the sew-
titles of a inertly intellectual and practical life. And
this generalising influence is provided in the fami-
liar and OA 11 /US 6110111 a of rural and svlean scenery.
Let the jaded scholar, the disappointed merthunt, ur
the down-trod& et .111 of toil, transport himself, at the
close of the due, to stmt English eopse. As he fleece
it, he is struck with au endless variety of pleasing
me round.. Ile listens to thellow redoeshymn of,
the bluckbinl. to the thrush's notes, as deer gush in
bursts of gladness from a hawthorn-bunt; to the
cheerful lay of the lark, as he carols in the air.
Be uppnmeheu. and ut list it seems us if
the very birds avoided hint with aversion. A note
Of alarm is git en, the blackbird raises its eery, or
the wood-pigeon flaps its wings us she takes her
heavy Might, startling the inmates of the wood. The
rabbits send fr the path, the pheasants flit into
the unit. raissl, and the screams or the jay are ex-
haled Iw lac romp:nee. as they fly front tree to tree.
But hi him have patience; let him stand for a few
minutes under that iild oak. covered with a forest of,
mass. It, side him the tendrils of the briony festoon
with their brilliant berries, green, yellow, and
red, the deader laig of the hazel. The amide,
With its lines. its shades, its variety 1/1'
forms, CXIIUIIII, its cone. 'rho squirrel, now
agile with like. ventures to gambol round the trunk
of an ancient beech. from whime branches the wood-
pecker is laughing joyously. The nut-hatch is clean-
ing itself in the think of some dry bough. The
life of the scene is rosiving. The thrush returns to
her :mil the pheasant to the ride. The rabbits
again show theni.ele es, and rearing themselves upon
their loodquartumlook out to sr if danger's: overpaid.
Theietarlill4r, :VC inn. more in the aldemand the wood-
pigeon calls to his mate. The grove is again vocal
with the song. the cry of delight, the bustle
of animal activity. Ten thousand creatures are Nl-
filling the purpose of their being, and that purpose
is their haw as. Who can stand in such a scene
and nut fist his heart beating responsively to the
universal joy litre, iu the immediate presence of a
beneficent ereator, selfishness stands rebuked, dis-
trust is repcue eel, and love, hope, and courage return •
to the fainting heart. As he pensive leaves the
spot the pinasont whirrs bv, crowing as he goes to
rtss.t, the call of the put-triage is heard in the dis-
tance. and the returning rook's eaw is heard front
the heads of the loftiest trees. Pressentiv all is still,
until the melancholy bird of night begins its plain.'
five song.
The mul.incholy bird!—oh idle thought!
In nature then• is nothing melancholy.
But ...Hue night-wandering man, whine heart was pierced
With the remembrimay ut a grievous wrong,
Or soul diitempervil with oeglerted hot—
(And poor wretch! tilled all things with himself,
And 111.ule all geode thing. tell back the tale
Of his surrus)—and such as he
Virg maw d slots,. a melancholy strain,
And many :1 port rebus, the r
We hale learned

A different lore ; -we may not thus profmte
Nature's sue, -t s, always fall of lose -
And prom. 'Ti. the merry nightingale.
The delight and profit of this intercourse with
nature is dirtst ; it appeals nt once to the senses
and emotions. It ran be shared by all without
preparation or study. It has often found its most
exalted expression iii the language of men like John
Clare. tslucitteil no further than by the reflex opera-
tion of habits of observing. Yet it hat a natural ten-
dency to ally itself with a more intelltstuul life.
Thole who hate entered into it will not stop short at
sensuous or emotional enjoyment. Thee will at first
be curious to know something of the ;Ammeters ofl
the feathered tribes which surround them—their
habits. peculiar language, domestic life, social are
rangentent, fat ourite haunts, and periodical rnigra-
titans Those w ho learn most on these points from
observation o ill be most solicitous to avail themselves ,
of the facts roamed by (others. 'floe kindly pages"
of Gilbert White. of Selbornet of home, author of
the "Cleanings in Natural History;" and the in-!
tweeting anonymous, -Journal of a Naturalist," will
probably be consulted. By &Irmo the student of i
nature will have come to classify and generalise'
the objects of his favourite study. In this operation
of comparing the birds of Great Britain he will ad-
vents far towards a knowledge of general ornitho-1
logy., since curb of the great orders into which birds
are distramted is represented in these islands.
It is in the meat types of genera and families that!
the scientific study of ornithology is alone practi-
cable except to professed naturalists. The different
species, whelk nature pit sents for comparison and clas-
sification am t to upwards of 60.11011. that number
being euntaintsl in the Museum of Berlin alone,a num-
ber four times greater than that of the class mam-
mas. And as it is the most numerous. so it is, with the
mingle exception of fishes. the most widely distributed
IA all dames of animals. For while the mammals and
reptiles are more or less confined to the warm and
temperate tones of the earth, birds are more or less
distributed over every pout of its surface, front the
equator to the poles. At least in the highest lati-
tudes to which travellers have attained the feathered
tribes hate never been found wanting.
Antiquity has bequeathed us no classification of
birds worthy of the name. Aristotle's orders are
only grows' formed according to casual resemblances.
The loth Book of Pliny treats of birds, but in a must
meagre and unsatisliwtory manner.
la the sixteenth century' Conrad (-homer wrote a
work which Curier called an excellent compilation.
He clasiiat dltisobjectsalpbabetically,accordingtothe
initials of their names. Ray's " Methodical Sy-
nopsis of Birds." published in 1713. was the first
systematic treatise on the subject. and prepared the
way fur Linnans. The first edition of " Sys-
teme Nature" of this great reformer of natural his-
tory was published in 1783. His classification, con-
sidered as the work of one man, was a wonderful
monument of analysis and generalisation. The
science has far outgrown the framework which he
sanatracted for her, but the system of the great
Swede will always command realest. The system
of Clavier, destined to supplant all that had preceded

A Voyage front Leith In Loptand nr, Picture, of Senn-
dinario in WO. By WILLIAM Heaton. Bentlry.
Of the antiquities and remote history of the land
of Odin as much is known as of any ancient histo-
rical country. Our forefathers had only too good
cause to understand the character of its population.
Henry of lluntingdnn has left us a very vivid pic-
ture of the dire old sea kings managing their ships
WO the horseman his steed, boasting that the hur-
ricane was in their service, singing as they followed
gaily the track of the swans, till they filled our'
creeks with their barques. But these arc the tradi-
tions of another world. Between that time and ours
a great gulph is fixed.
Our age is too sagacious not to esteem the living
present more than the dead past ; and Englishmen.
more prone to sympathise with the many than to
admire the few. ask concerning Scandinavia how its
millions live, think, act, and feel. Events and in-
fluences have lately concurred to draw attention to
the Danish portion of the north. The genius of
Thorwalsden, the kindly writing,. of Hans C. Ander-
sen, and the reflected fame of Oehlensehlager
powerfully. reminded us that a noble yet compara-
tively unvisited rum was flourishing on the ice-
bound shores of the Baltic. Still Denmark lay outof
the track of European travel. Histories of the state
were abundant, and so-called travels were not want-
ing ; hut a lifelike conception of the people could not
be formtil trom all the descriptions extant. We may
reasonably hope that this is the description of a state
of things which will at once pass away. Within the
last few weeks a direct line of steamers has replaced
the old circuitous and uncertain modes of travel ;
and from the descriptions of our own shrewd and
observant countrymen we may expert, concerning
11 I kamark and the Danes, the same fresh and living
kind of knowledge as we already possess of other
European lands. In the meantime, let us listen to
11 Mr. Murton.

Our traveller landed at Glockstadt. the third city
of Holstein, situate on the left bank of the Ellie.
' about thirty miles below Hamburg. in November,
IWi4, and promded thence by railway to Kiel, a
distance of sixty miles. Although the charge was
hat one halfpenny per mile for third class, he as.serts
that the carriages were decidedly more comfortable
than second-class carriages arc generally in England,
being well lighted and fitted up with close .hutting
windows. Ile remained in the little town just
long enough to admire the noble canal, the
immense brick church, the military ; and to.
mark tha intense German spirit of the'
inhabitants. Ile embarked with two children of the'
storm on the Baltic., in a remarkably little Danish
craft, captain, crew, and passenger making a total of
three, and proceeded to Svendborg, in I bnimark
Proper. Here he was exceedingly struck with the'
prodigious number of windows in every house—the
lower parts seemed ull glum. Many a little cut in
Denniark has more glaziers work about it than a
substantial house of three or four storeys in Eng-
land.

The journev from Sweden to Copenhagen may be
taken us un illustration of interior

TUNNELLING IN DENNIAI(K.
I secured n place in the ordinary perumv.posin which left
the flint morning for Roskilde, which is within 16 Eng-
li..ll miles of Copenhagen, paying in aavenee, and receiving
a written ticket and receipt. The charge was extremely
moderate, being only about 14 shillings English, luggage
included. No fee whatever is expected hr the driven., or
by the steward of the packet across the Great Belt, and
when the traveller has secured his place, he has no Sather
anxiety of any kind, his luggage being responsibly for-
warded either by the carriage in which he is seated, or by
some other on the mute.
At 4 o'clock the next morning, after swallowing a cup of
coffee with delicious frozen cream, I seated myself in a low,
light, four-wheeled vehicle, drawn by two horses abreast,
the front part much nytemhling an English stage-mash,
except that the seat behind the driver only accommodated
two passengers, which, with a single seat by his aide, made
up the complement. The body of the carriage we...fashioned
like a :hallow, shelving-sided cart, and in it the luggage
anal goods were placed, and covered with a tarpaulin.
We were long clearing the town. Twisting and turning
from street to street, and lane to lane, the pale roiled on-
I wards, and when the last straggling row of betties was
cleared, the cutting blast which came from the wintry
Baltic, forcibly announced that the open country was
gained, and the wind blew strongly from that quarter all
!the way to Nyhorer. The fellow-traveller by nay side must
hase heel% an old stager, for he secured the leeward out.
I I looked at him several times with a view to aildn-a him,
hut he was so muffled up in his fur coma and cap, that only
just the tip of his now and a corner of his mouth were
visible, whence issued clouds of the weed he was consuming
•in a long pipe. The driver wore a red mat and had a baffle
hnrn, which he blew as we approached the villages. 'I he
!country. as we advaneed, was more thickly covered with
snow, and was a dead, level, treeless land, without the
I least sign of the picturesque about its hysical outlines.
The nudside cottages were few and far between, and the
scene in the gloom preceding daybreak (which did not
I happen till about 9 a.m.) was wild, desolate, and melan-
I choly.
I noticed on the road a simple and efficient substitute for
toll-bar gates, in the shape of a beam of wood balanced
acne,' a low post by the side of the road. The short end
of the beam was heavily weighted with atones, So that
when the chain wench was attached to the other extremity
, to hold it down in a horizontal position across the road was
! withdrawn. it instantly rose high in the air. and permitted
the paswig .of the vehicle. The driver had frequently to
blow hearty blasts on his bugle ere he aroused the slumber
inje bar-keepers to come forth and louse the chain.
About noon we arrived at Nyberg, a town of two or
three thousand inhabitants, situated on the edge of the
Great Belt, and here I staid until nightfall, waiting for the
Ste:llMT which caresses over to Conner, in the island 01
Snelland, or, as we call it, Zealand, on the eastern side 01
which is Copenffiuren. The town of Nyborte is a consider-
able military station, and has some foreign trade. My pas-
sage across the B. It, which is only nine English miles wide
between the two towns. proved stormy enough, and we were
an extraordinary time about it—the sea sweeping our decks
handsomely.
At Comer I remained a couple of hours or less, and then
resumed my land journey in the some fashion as before.
It was a glorious night, the stars shining with intense bril-
liancy, although at times the whole face of the heavens
would become obscured almost instantanentnly. Sharp but
transient mow-storms also occasionally occurred, and the
wintry blast was truly bitter, piercing to the marrow of
' one's hones. Notwithstanding this. I tan honestly avow
that I enjoyed the romance of the strait% and being deter-
mined to keep my tongue from feasting at any rate, I
howled forth at the utmost stretch of my lungs every song
I could enrollee, and with very commendable impartiality
as to subject. for I solemnly trolled •• God earner gracious
Queen !" one moment, and the next Yu:iterated the •• Mar-
seillaise "• _ . . _ .... .. . .

At 9 a.m., I arrised at Roskilde. en exceedingly ancient
old town, and formerly of high importance as the seat of
government. posses It sc. • brick cathedral, in the vaults
of which the Kings of Denmark are interred. After a stay
here of some hours, I left by railway for Copenhagen.
This is the only line in Denmark Proper. and seems exceed-
ingly well ordered. During my subsequent residence,
much discussion took plate in the newspapers respecting
the impriety of establishing electric telegraphs in various
parts of the country, but I believe the project died away.
The fare which I paid for a seat in a first-class carriage wan':
little more than the price by the English parliamentary
trains, but I was astonished to find that the gentlemen in
the same carriage with me smoked pertina, iously all the
way. Indesd, the SC.IIIIIiII,IVIAUS gen, rally smoke any-
' where and everywhere without any notion of impropriety.

At length, then, after 11 days of varied voyaging, I reached
COrellhapu.
The following were our traveller's

FIRST HIPIDASIONS OP COPENHAGEN.
Copenhagen is emphatically a city of palaces, of mu-
! seisms, and of public buildings. This is its distinctive fea-
ture, and to appreciate it fully nothing but a personal visit
will suffice. No person of ordinary intelligence can walk
through it without, at every step, exclaiming—MlS is a
capital ! The number of grand edifices belonging to the
state arc truly astonishing, and yet, taking the city all
through, there is not one erection of extraordinary. gran-
deur—not a palace, nut a church, not a square, which will
bear comparison with those of many other cities. It is
true thLt some of the government buildings are of amazing
extent, and are well built ; but, generally speaking, they
are essentially plain in their architecture, and exhibit little
grandeur of conception. Some of the churches are very ex-
traordinary erections, and contain paintings and sculptures I
(especially the latter) of inestimable CANC. There are
theatres, a very grand casino, and many places of exhibi-
tion. The generality of the streets are narrow, and the
people are surprisingly- mixed up with the carriages, on the
middle of the road, in the narrowest streets; but as no
vehicle is allowed by law to drise at a greater rate than
one Danish mile (about four-and.a.half English) per hour,
accidents rarely occur. 'fle houses hare all a substantial
and yet a light appearance, owing to the great number of
their windows. Some are linty, especially those facing the
ramparts. Although they, is not one truly grand street in
Copenhagen, there are astonishingly kw mean ones.
Nearly every str.et throughout the city is at least reepeet-
able. You will search in vain for those dirty, dismal, fetid,
sweltering alleys and courts common to all English towns;
and you will look equally in vain for any ot those repulsive
street scenes COMMI/11 in the latter. Beggars are certainly
not auk's,* n here, but they are exceedingly few—no
miserable objects in rags and tatters ever disgust the eye ;
and never yet have I met a drunken man in Copenhagen,
although I base traversed it at all hours.

There- is no lack, as I shall I;4aitt,•r show, of in-door
gaiety in Copenhagen; but the general aspect of the city,
to a loreigner accustomed to the stunning bustle of English
towns, is decidedly dull. Partly. this arises from the ve7
little show the shcps make, the comparatively trifling busi-
nes.. traffic in the streets, anii also from the leisurely habits
of the people themselves. The fact is, the Danes have not
yet learned to live in a harry; but, although they are
"slow," they are steady and sure; although they are a
century hi-hind England in many of the leading improve-
ments of the age, they are more than a century ahead of
England in generally diffused plenty and comfort ; and
although they do not gallop through lite as though fur a
wager, they know how to enjoy it rationally.
Thc German Christmas-tree has been often de-
scribed. The same beautiful symbol is cherished in
Denmark, and, indeed, throughout Scandinavia.
Our traveller was present at and describes the
affecting WNW in a family of Copenhagen, us pa-
rental and fraternal love displayed itself in gifts
conveyed through this poi:Sear medium. Would
that every wanderer might fall into as good com-
pany.
Denmark, says our author, is really an intellec-
tual kingdom. Education is provided by the state.
and the demands of a reading public thus created
are supplied by a very strong array of native writers.
Books are sold at a very moderate price ; but the
remuneration of authors seems to be very low, the
population not being large enough to give that
great sale which makes low prices consistent
with good profits in this country. Nothing
astonishes the Ihines more than to be informed that
their countryman, lions Christian Andersen, has at-
tained so unrivalleda populatity in this rountrvats he
holds but a very secondary place among Danish
writers. Of English authors they admire most
Marrvat. Dickens, and James, whose works',
they read in the cheap editions issued by the well-
known
house of Tauehnitz, of faipzic, and translated
in thePorillefons of their own newspapers.
Mr. Burton's second volume is occupied with an ,
account of m
his journey toChristiana, Bergen Umark,'
and the North ('ape. An unusual proportion of his'
description is devoted to the minute details of this
and that mode of travelling. The reason of this
seems to lie much more in the writer's bias than in
the novelty of the subject. Being, us he seems ,
anxious to inform us, an amateur sailor, or MOW-.
thing more, able and willing to bear a hand
when wanted, he is ever stopping to de.
scribe his vessel, his sea companions, with
their charcaters and habits. llis picture of the
Sound in a hard frost is very full and graphic, and
Elsinore is described with much poetic feeling. 1
Christiana he found very dull, and Norway as sterile
in intellect as in soil. The country has no native
literature worthy the name. On the other hand, the
Norwegians are great rcaders of Danish, Swedish,
German, French, and English books. It may be
satisfactory to Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton and Mr.
George Prince Regent James to know that students!
at the University of Norway are examined in their
works, proficiency in which is one of the conditions
of their pass.

The faplanders, as described by Mr. Murton, even
in the midst of their rein-deer, arc anything but that
poetical people described by Thomson. " Walk,"
Rays he, "up to a Lap uncouthly squatted before his
I tent, and his very first salutation is made by stretch-
ing forth a tawny hand, and demanding, in a
whining tone, tubavvu or brandy. The very tirst
Lap I saw importunately begged a couple of shil-
lings fur drink-money."

THE ItErRE,EsT MON OP CLACKM V•NANSIIIRE.—
Our correspondent intbrms ua that Mr. Johnston, of Alva,
is to contest the election with Mr. Adam. In his address,
issued on Tuesday afternoon, he declares that he will not
give his support to any scheme calculated " to exclude re-
' ligiun from the national education," and observes, that " hy
thus educating and raising the moral condition of the
people, they will be gradually prepared for a further ex-
tension of Ole suffrage." He promisiss to support measures
against papal aggnssion. Free trade he regards as
only an experiment; and, though "prepared to sup-
port the continuance" "of the great policy .of Mr. Hus-
kimon and Sir IL Peel," he consider+ it the " immediate
duty of the legislature to relieve the agricultural as well as
the shipping interest of every special and peculiar burden."
Ile also declares himself favourable to the abolition of sine-
cures and to " strict economy," in all branches of the pub►
lie expenditure. Mr. Adam had a meeting with the elm-
' tor, of Alloa on 'Thursday, when he declared his semi-
meats to be in favour ofcootsaued and progrouive reform, an
extended and national system of education, and if they could
not have education with religion, they must have education
without it. Ile said he thought the time had come when
there should b, a wide extension of the ; but nu
this subject he would give no pledge till h'• should see Lord
John Russell's promised bill. He regarded the repeal of
the corn laws as a wise measure, although perhaps :adopted'
too suddenly, without allowing sufficient time for a re-
, adjustment of the contracts between landlord and tenant.
Ile, however, thought that a careful inquiry should be
instituted in regard to the peculiar burdens pressing on
landowners and farmers, although, had he been in parlia
ment, he would not have toted for Mr. Disraeli's ad rap-
' 1.,,,,dam motion. The repeal of the navigation laws was also,
heicohddereil, a win• measure, but he would willingly agree
to all inquire as to the burdens pressing on shipowners. He
declared hilholf favourable to a reduction in the national'
expenditure, although he could not go so far as Mr. Colul-n.
He was favourable to equalising the franchise in counties
and burghs. and to a 40s. freehold in Scotland, if, on inquiry,
it seemed likely to be advantageous, but was opposed to vote
by ballot. lie would support the Reelesiastical Titles As-
sumption Bill, but he would not interfere with nunneries if
it interfered with the liberties of the subject. He would
not vote for the withdrawal of the May nooth grant, but
would oppose the endowment of the Rotni,h priesthood in
Ireland or the eoloni( S. Ile was opposed to the mainte-
nance of the church establishment in Ireland, hut was not
prepared to support the s•pas:c ion of the established
church of Scotland from the state at present. In short, Mr.
Adam appears to be a whir, and Mr. Johnston a Peelite, in
their leading principles. The contest will be a close one.

. .
REPRESENT.%TION OF LINDSEY. —A requisition to I i
Mr. Banks Stanhope has been hawked about Stow and I
neighbourhood fur signatures, ti request him to heroine a
candidate fur the representation of Lindsey al the next I
election. There is great obieetiun to Mr. Stanhope, on ac-
count of his very strong political bias in favour of toryism.
As Sir Montague Cholmeli y's protectionist principles are
well known amongst the constituency, there seems little
chance of the return of a tory protectionist —Limolmi
Afercury.
THE SPEEDY P.I6SIGE OF TIIE I'.VCIFIC. —lilt !
DWI:1011o( the American line of steamers some time ago,
promised a silver vase to the engineers of whichever of their 1
boats first performed the passage eitherway under ten days.
This feat having been performed by the Pacific, the follow
ing engineers, who were highly complimented by Captain
Nye and the passengers for their exertions, will be the re-
cipients
of the prise :—Mr. Daniel B. Martin, thief en- ,
eineer ; Mr. Nathan Thomson, Jun., and Mr. John C.
'Thompson, first engineers ; Mr. Alexander Cunningham and
Mr. Beverly Parkis, second engineers; and Mr. William i
Russell and Mr. William Harris, third engineers. We un-
derstand that Mr. Jacob Bell, the builder of the Pacific, ,
had expressed Lis intention of presenting a suitable testi- ,
menial to the engineers for the rapid run to New York, ,
which will doubtless be confirmed when he hears of the
present extraordinary performance. Mr. Bell has been long
famous fur the ships launched from his yard, the Garrick,
Sheridan. Shakespeare, and Reccius being among the num-
ber. lie appenril to have been equally successful in his
ocean-going steamers, the Pacific and Baltic, both built by
him, having PO far dome him every credit. The perform-
ances of Captain Nye, in the old Independence, are still
fresh in our meant"; and he can no. also boast of haring
I made th.• fastest passage by steam both ways on record.
The Pacific had head winds during about one-third of the
passage . —Liverpool Timer.