The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-17 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JUNE 17, 1862.

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one door from Portland-place, Regent's-parlt, London, W.

WAIFS OF THE OCEAN.

In the early part of last week vessels arriving in
the Tyne from the north reported that they had
passed a vessel on her broadside and abandoned,
about seven miles to the eastward of the Fern
Islands, off the Northumberland coast, and the
Leander and Prince Imperial, powerful tug
steamers, left that river in search of her. After
a good deal of cruising about they fell in with her,
but it seemed a very great question whether they
ever could get her to the Tyne, as her mast and
decks were immersed in the sea. They however,
got hold of her, and after two days and nights of
tedious labour and anxiety the adventurers in the
steamboats had by Saturday at noon got the sunken
craft to within seven miles of the bar of the Tyne.
1 Being anxious to have her into port by the night's
tide they called in the assistance of another boat.
But their united tugging threatened to be the end
of their prize, as they succeeded in pulling her
under water, and she disappeared in 10 fathoms.
At the end of three hours and a half she came up
again, headforemost, and on Sunday morning she
was towed across the bar and into the harbour
of Shields by no less than four steam tugs, the
Leander, the Imperial Prince, the Home, and the
Messenger. In taking her up the harbour, how-
ever, the boats unfortunately got her into a deep
hole made by the dredger, and they were employed
down to Sunday night trying to get her out of that.
The derelict vessel is the Mary, of Exeter, and
she is laden with a somewhat valuable cargo
of teak wood. She appears to have been
caught in one of the squalls of last week, and
to have capsized on to he, bartoaßdosridwei.ok.
Her
Duringcrew
are reported to have landed
the past two months vessels coming from North
Europe to the Tyne have ever and anon reported
s soe
fl
Doggerbott om
Bu somewhere
k. sheis r e
pi no
rtthe
de
and would be a valuable
pan'
tallow,
neighbourhoodadean vwt h
passingt obel
salvage if she could be brought into post. Several
steam tugs have been out in quest of her, but none
of them have ever been
_able to fall in with her •
and, as she has been drifting about, in all proba-
bility, some months,andifasosiey should strike her,
woald prove dan-
gerous to sailing vessels
commanders of ships are as anxious to avoid her as
steamboat men are to encounter her. Masters of
sailing vessels, however, are as fortunate in sighting
her in time as steamboat men are as unfortunate in
never sighting her at all. On Sunday the brig
Magnet, which arrived in the Tyne, reported hav-
ing passed the capsized vessel near to the edge of
Dogger Bank; but her hull was so deep in the
water that the men on the look-out Were only
apprised of her neighbourhood by observing the
tide rippling about her keel, for she is completely
bottom up. Nothing daunted by former failures
an expedition of three powerful tugs would leave
the Tyne on Monday night for another search
after this mysterious craft.

THE NAVY.

The sixth experimental screw trial of the Shan-
non frigate, Captain Wainwright, took place yes-
terday at the measured mile in Stokes Bay, under
circumstances of wind and weather equally favour-
able with those experienced on the five preceding
trials. The gales which had prevailed during the
previous week had been succeeded by fine weather
and a light northerly wind. The ship left Ports-
mouth harbour about noon, and Capt. Broadhead,
commanding the reserve at the port, was on board
to conduct the trial, as on the previous occasions.
Mr. Miller, the assist.-Pngineer of her Majesty's
Dockyard,and Mr. Murdock, inspector of machinery
afloat, superintended the working of the machinery.
Six runs were made at the measured mile with the
following results : Ist run—Speed of ship in knots,
11.356; revolutions of engines, 49. 2d run—Speed,
10.682 ; revolutions, 492. 3d run—Speed, 12.203 ;
revolutions, 49-1. 4th run—Speed, 10.055; revolu-
tions, 50. sth run—Speed, 12.500; revolutions, 491.
6th run—Speed, 9.574 ; revolutions, 50. The mean
speed of the whole was 11.244 knots; the pressure
of steam 201 b., and the vacuum in the forward and
after engines 25in. The draught of water by the
ship was as nearly as possible the same as on the
former trials-20ft. 2in. forward and 21ft. 9in. aft.
The screw tested yesterday was of a precisely simi-
lar character to the four-bladed one tested on the
31st ult., with this difference, that the one of yes-
terday carried six blades attached to the boss instead
of four, as on the former occasion. The boss or
sphere to which the blades are affixed is a Griffiths,
while the blades are cast on the pattern of the Man-
gin. They are, however) twice the width of the
Mangin, owing to their being placed separately
round the circumference of the boss, instead of being
set in parallel pairs, as is the case with the Mangin.
The face of each blade is like the French blade flat,
and its back is also convex. They differ otherwise
a little from the Mangin, inasmuch as they taper

in their width slightly from root and edge to their
centre. The speed gained by the ship yesterday con-
trasts very unfavourably with the former trials, and
more particularly so when compared with the trial
on the 31st, with four blades, the speed of the ship
on that occasion having been 11.553 knots. The
vibration yesterday, however, as on the 31st ult.,
was nil, as far as the screw was concerned, the only
movement exhibited by the hull of the ship being
that given to it by the movement of the machinery.
The ridge of water raised across the ship's stern by
the action of the screw, and'the following current
over the screw itself was yesterday greater than
with the four blades on the alst, and a considerable
body of water was thrown up against the fore part
of the after sternpost. After completing the runs
at the measured mile, the ship was next tested in
completing circles at full speed with the following
results :—With the order given " Hard a-port" the
rudder was got over to an angle of 40 degrees, with
1-} turn of the wheel in 32 sec., the half circle being
made in 3 min. and 20 sec., and the full circle in 7
min. and 8 see.

With the order " Hard a-starboard " the rudder
was got over to an angle of 13 deg. with 11 turn of
the wheel, in 30 seconds, the half circle being made
in 3 min. 38 sec., and the full circle completed in 7
min. and 57 sec, In making the first circle the re-
volution of the engines were 49. In the second
they were 48. The next trial is proposed to take
place on Thursday with a screw of three blades—
that is, with every alternate blade removed from
the screw tried yesterday. It has, we believe, been
recommended by Capt. Broadhead to the Admiralty
that the present series of trials shall be closed with
the Griffiths' screw. It would render the data to
be deducted from these trials of greatly-increased
value, if the suggestion of Capt. Broadhead should
be carried out, and the Griffiths' screw fairly pitted
against the Mangin, not only with two, but also
with three blades. Both these and former trials
have demonstrated that vibration is always.greatly
lessened, and in many eases, as in the four and six
bladed trials of the present series, entirely done
away with, by, to a certain extent, increasing the
number of the blades. The Griffiths with its two
blades possesses the power of transmitting a slight
vibratory movement to the ship's hull, but with
three blades there is every reason to suppose that
it also would lose this dangerous property.
The Cormorant, 5, screw, Commander Buckle,
sailed yesterday afternoon from Spithead for the
China station.
The Hazard, old sailing sloop, fitted with Capt.
Coles's model cupola, was towed out of Portsmouth
harbour yesterday to St. Helen's Roads, and moored
there for practice from the two 110-pounder Arm-
strongs, with which the cupola is fitted. The object
is to ascertain under what circumstances the guns
could be worked and fired at objects within a cer-
tain distance with the cupola ship heeling over
under canvas at sea. To give the Hazard the neces-
sary list or heel a quantity of iron ballast has been
put on board from°the dockyard.
The screw steamship Intrepid, 6, Commander
Joseph H. Marryatt, which left Gibraltar June 3,
arrived in Plymouth Sound on Sunday morning.
She is ordered home in consequence of the defective
condition of her screw shaft, and has returned under
canvass only, Very severe weather was experienced
throughout the passage. On the 11th, 12th, and
13th, there were strong gales from south-west and
west. The Intrepid left at Gibraltar the screw
steam troopship Himalaya, 6, Capt. John Seccombe ;
the screw steam corvette Scylla, 21, Capt. Rowley
Lambert ; and the paddlewheel steam vessel Red-
pole.
The mizenmast of the screw steamship Trafalgar,
,86, Capt. Dickson, being defective, she was towed
on Saturday from Plymouth Sound into Hamoaze
and placed alongside the sheer hulk. She will pro-
bably receive a new mast to-day and return to the
Sound at once.
Thek'screw steanisbip lathes Watt, 89, Capt.Codd,
recently returned from the Mediterranean, and now
in Hamoaze, Davenport, was sufficiently stripped
to be relieved of her masts yesterday. Her crew
will probably be paid off on Saturday.
We have to record the death of two of the few
remaining officers who fought at Trafalgar, viz.—
Capt. Edward Herrick and Lieut. Flowers Beckett.
The former died on the 13th inst. at Wobdside,
near Purbrook, Hampshire, in his 69th year, and
the latter on the following day.
The following appointments were made yester-
day at the Admiralty :—Lieut. A. E. Dupuis, to
the Rapid ; J. R. Haines, E. Colburne, S. Vicary,
and T. Warr, to the rank of master ; E. Colburne,
master, to the Centaur ; H. Lan.ckester, acting
second-class assist.-engineer, to the Dauntless, for
Leveret, vice Smith ; T. Smith (B), acting second-
class assist.-engineer, to the Euryalus, as supernu-
merary, vice Ilackester ; C. R. Rodham, assist.-
paymaster, to the Senspareil ; B. van Stenvright,
master's assistant, to the Dasher; and W. I, Bull-
more, master's assistant, to the Royal Adelaide, as
supernumerary.

THE ARMY.

_
The whole of the available men belonging to the
Woolwich division of Royal Marines, commanded
by Lieut.-Col. Marriott ; three batteries of the Royal
Horse Artillery, in command of Colonel Sir David
Wood, K.C.B. ; and three
.batteries of the 115th
Brigade, in command of Colonel Clifford, were yes-
terday morning drawn up on Woolwich-common
and formed into line for the inspection of his High-
ness Said Pasha. The ground was kept by the men
of the Riding-house establishment, in command of
Col. Henry, V.C. At 10 o'clock precisely the guns
of the saluting battery commenced firing a Royal
His Highness,
salute.accompanied by Mr. Lark-
ing, drove up to the Royal Artillery mess quarters
in an open barouche, followed by a closed landau,
both bearing the Vice-regal arms. He was met by
the Duke of Cambridge, Gen. Sir Richard Dacres
and staff, and other officers: The Viceroy drove up

to the south end, and commenced a close inspec-
tion of the horse brigade flanking the extremity of,
the line. The party then withdrew to the front
under the flagstaff, and the mounted troops
marched past in batteries in slow time, and after-
wards formed into half batteries and trotted and
galloped past. After marching past they fell back
to the rear, limbered up, and prepared to fire. The
batteries of horse artillery were supplied with
Armstrong guns. and those of the 15th brigade
with the old 9-pounders. The troops had been
supplied with 25 rounds of blank ammunition, but
after firing 12 rounds the atmosphere became
thickly overcast and presented the appearance of an
approaching storm. The Commander-in Cnief
observing Major Thring and a number of the
gentlemen cadets (about 100 in number) of the
Royal Military Academy among the visitors pre-
sent, ordered them to fall in, which was immedi-
ately done for the Viceroy's inspection, the Duke
explaining that in a few days they would pass their
examination as officers of the army. The troops
then marched off the field, and the Viceroy and
party proceeded to the mess quarters of the Royal
Artillery. After lunch the Viceroy went on board
his yacht, lying off the Royal Arsenal, and the
Duke of Cambridge returned to London.

LITERATURE.

~.-,-',,, ----...

Thirty Years' Musical Recollections. By Henry F.
Chorley. Hurst and Blackett.
The position of Mr. Chorley, as a musical critic
of long standing, entitles his opinions to respect,and
although he merely styles his work "recollections"
it may be considered, in reality, a history of the
opera in England for the last 30 years, whilst it
contains many curious details respecting the chief
operatic singers who have won " golden opinions"
and obtained golden rewards here during that period.
His judgment, he admits, may have individual bias,
but we have no reason to doubt its conscientious-
ness, and he has wisely avoided all topics of scandal.
" to be silent on all
e"elethhtaasleseeeemf etdhebegsrte,' he
e'
ereseamys,aa
relate to the deal-
ings of manager with artist—to the character of the
one, or the grievances of the other. My chronicle
is written from before the curtain, and with no wish
to rake up old quarrels, or to pronounce on vexed
questions. The result is the thing to be dealt with.
te to inspire."yearlB3o, These
The wisdom or the folly of this or the other line of
policy may be judged by the evidence offered as to
results—and such opinion of the trust-worthiness of
thererecollections
lle etwitnessiee ea as
commence
eayce in h
be able
when
Malibran ruled the operatic stage. Her qualifications
are thus summed up—

!WALDMAN.
r ea
tThoughive dramaticcreativea
r tai
ss
t. n a
Thoughu t a
the Malibran was not a
cfertility and audacity
of her musical invention had no limits—though she bad
e x ecn t,
the power and the science of a composer—she did not esta-
blish one new opera or character on the stage—hardly,
even, one first-class song in the concert-room. Though she
was received with royal honours in Milan. Naples, Venice,
where she excited her audiences to frenzies of enthusiasm,
and where the soldiers presented arms as she passed—on
the Italian stage in London she was unable to possess her-
self of the succession to Madame Pasta—or to satisfy our
public as thoroughly as a far younger and less accomplished
artist—Madame Grisi—did shortly after her disappearance.
She is best remembered, perhaps, in Italian opera, as Des-
detnona—especially in the incomparable third act of
" Otello ;" and no theatrical portrait of modern time could
be named surpassing that by M. Dubufe, of herself in the
chamber scene. On the whole, she was found unequal,
bisarre, and fatiguing, by many of our opera-loungers '(a
public as apt to be scared as allured by original genius).
Her real stage triumphs in this country were when she
sang in English as Amina, as Leonora in " Fidelio ;" Iso-
lina in Mr. Balfe's " Maid of Artois," being her third
character. In her English performances her exuberance,
not to say extravagance, of style, served the purpose of
concealing the mediocrity, and worse, of her playfellows.
To myself it always brought as much of wonder as of de•
light. Her vehemence in "La Sonnambula" too nearly
trenched on frenzy to be true ; in " Fidelio," it destroyed
that idea of faltering and
ness to the earlier scenes of the tale of woman's devotion.
She delivered Beethoven's music wondrously, considering
its unsuitability for her voice—making changes and adap-
tations where they were inevitable with such musician-like
science, that not the protest of a solitary purist could be
raised against them ;—but the effect produced in the opera
by a singer incomparably inferior to her, Madame Schroider
Devriont, was far deeper, and more moving. The Spaniard
threw more horror into the scene in the vault than her pre-
decessor ; but the German is before me, when, in the in-
troduction to the Chorus of Prisoners, as they creep out of
their cells, she questioned one ghastly face after another,
with the heart-piercing wistfulness of hope long deferred.
Nothing comparable has since been seen on the musical
stage, till the other day, when the younger sister of Mali-
bran struck the same chords, by her admirable pantomime,
as Orpheus, in Gluck's opera, when he is shown as search-
ing for his Eurydice in the " yellow meads of asphodel."
As a woman, Malibran was ambitious, fond of gain, mu-
nificent in giving (and this when no chorus was at hand to
applaud the gift)—noble, careless —insatiable in her search
for excitement and effect. These facts have been so often
told by her personal friends and her old comrades, that
their story need not be returned on.
There is no need to relate minutely the tale of her
wretched American first marriage ; neither how, by break-
ing away from it. she flung herself into suspense and per-
plexity, from which one like herself could only find re-
tuge in excitement, and to which may be ascribed many of
the caprices and inequalities which, for some `ears of her
life, were supposed by her audiences to be only so many
whimsies of a violent and reckless woman. Calmer
days might have been in store for her after her second
marriage with M. De Beriot but for her prema-
ture decease, hurried on by her wilfulness in concealing the
consequences of an accident while she was riding (a favourite
pastime of hers). Nothing could possibly be more painful
than her agonising death, in the midst of the Manchester
Festival of 1836, only a few hours after one of those unex-
pected outbursts of inspiration in which she was unparal-
leled. Nothing could be more sad to English eyes than its
sequel. Of a woman so bright, so kindly, so ill-starred,
and thence (it may be), so unequal, as she, it is impossible
to think without a strange and affectionate regret. Of the
artist it must be recorded that, boundless as were Malibran's
resources, keen as was her intelligence, danzling as was her
genius, the never produced a single type in opera for other
women to adopt. She passed over the stage like a meteor,
as an apparition of wonder, rather than as one who, on her
departure, left her mantle behind her for others to take up
and wear,
Greatest among tenors Mr. Chorley ranks Rubini.
"As a singer," he says, " and nothing beyond a
singer, he is the only man of his class who deserves
to be named in these pages as an artist of genius.
No one in my experience, so merely and exclusively
a singer as he was, so entirely enchanted our public
so long as a shred of voice was left to him. No
one is more affectionately remembered." Yet even
this great tenor fell short of perfection.
RUBINL
He was in no respect calculated to please the eye ; for the
openness of his countenance could not redeem the meanness
of features impaired by small-pox. His figure was awkward ;
he dressed as any one else pleased, without a thought of his
own as to taste, character, or picturesque effect (in this how
different to his successor !) He rarely tried to act, the
moment of the curse in the contreet scene of " Lucia" being
the only attempt of the kind that I can call to mind. The
voice and the expression were with him to do it all.
Before, however, Rubini came to England his voice had
contracted that sort of thrilling or trembling habit, then new
here, which of late has been abused ad hasseam. It was
no longer in its prime—hardly capable perhaps of being
produced mezzo-forts or piano; for which reason he had
adopted a style of extreme contrast betwixt soft and loud,
which many ears were uhable for a Tong period to relish.
After a time these vehemences (in themselves vicious) were
forgotten for the sake of the transcendant qualities by which
they were accompanied, though in the last years of his reign
they were exaggerated into the alternation of a scarcely-
audible whisper and a shout ; and it was said, not untruly,
that it would be hardly possible to form any idea of a new
tenor part were it presented for the first time by Rubini, so
largely did memory and knowledge of his intentions aid his
public. Further, he was to be easily surpassed by every
one in his declamation. Here and there (as in the garden
scene in "Othello" with Iago) he roused himself to give
point and passion to his recitative. But such an awakening
was exceptional, since for the most part he went through
this part of his task with correct accent, but without any
remarkable intelligence—in this respect an utter contrast to
M. Duprez. One remembers Rubini not by this or by the
other character, but by his songs. Yet more, his taste in
ornament was often-questionable. His facility was apt to
tempt him into enormous roulade cadenzas which had little
variety. In Paolino's great song, " Pria cho spunti" (" Il
Matrimonio"), ho revelled in embroideries of the phrase in
retarded time which occurs just before the close, which,
however ingenious and wonderful as vocal displays, I al-
ways felt to be superabundant.
" First in the first rank of all who have appeared in
England during the last thirty years," Mr. Chorley
places Madame Pasta. Nevertheless in many
respects nature had been sparing to her. " Her
voice was originally limited, husky and weak—
without charm, without flexibility—a mediocre
mezzo-soprano," whilst " her figure was short and
clumsy." Her charm lay in her" depth and reality
of expression," for which Mr. Chorley considers
she stood alone. He thus describes
PASTA'S LAST APPEARANCE.

Thero remains a strange scene to be spoken of—the last
appearance of this magnificent musical artist, when she
allowed herself, many years later, to be seduced into giving
one performance at Her Majesty's Theatre, and to sing In
a concert for the Italian cause at the Royal Italian Opera.
Nothing more intidvised could have been dreamed ?f.
Madame Pasta had long ago thrown off the stage and all its

belongings ; and any other publie than those who have made
their boatmen linger on the lake of Como, hard beneath the
garden walls of her villa, with the hope of catching a
glimpse of one who in her prime had enthralled So Many.
Her voice, which, at its best, had required ceaseless watch-
ing and practice, hal been long ago given up by her. Its i
state of utter ruin on the night n question pastes des-crip-
time She had been neglected by those who, at least, should
have preenied her person to the hest advantage admitted
by Time. Her queenly robes (she was to sing some scenes
from "Anna Belena") in nowise suited or disg,tised her
figure. Her hairdresser had done some tremendous thing
or other with her head—or rather, had left everything
done. A more painful and disastrous spectacle could hardly
be looked on. There were artists present. who had then,
for the first time, to derive some impression of a renowned
artist—perhaps, with the natural feeling that her reputation
had been exaggerated. Among these was Rachel—whose
bitter ridicule of the entire sad show made itself heard
throughout the whole theatre, and drew attention to the
place where she sat—one might even say, sarcastically enjoy-
in g the scene. Among the audience, however, was another
gifted woman, who might far more legitimately have been
shocked at the utter wreck of every musical means of ex-
pression in the singer—who might have been more natu-
rally forgiven, if some humour of self-glorification had made
her severely just—not worse—to an old prima donna p-1
mean, Madame Viardot. Then, and not till then, she was
hearing Madame Pasta. But truth will always answer to
the appeal of truth. Dismal as was the spectacle—broken,
hoarse, and destroyed as was the voice—the great style of
the singer spoke to the great singer. The first scene was
Ann Boleyn's duett with Jane Seymour. The old spirit
was heard and seen in Madame Pasta's " Sorgi 1" and the
gesture with which she signed to her penitent rival to rise.
Later, she attempted the final mad scene of the opera—that
most complicated and brilliant among the mad scenes on
the modern musical stage—with its two cantabile move-
ments, its snatches of recitative, and its bravura of despair,
which may be appealed to as an example of vocal display,
till then unparagoned, when turned to the account of frenzy,
not frivolity—perhaps as such commissioned by the superb
creative artist. By that time, tired, unprepared, in ruin as
she was, she had rallied a little, When—on Ann Boleyn's
hearing the coronation music for her rival, the heroine
searches for her own crown on her brow. Madame Pasta
wildly turned in the direction of the festive sounds, the old
irresistible charm broke out ;—nay, even in the final song,
with its roulades, and its scales of shakes, ascending by a
semitone the consummate vocalist and tragedian, able to
combine form with meaning— the moment of the situation,
with such personal and musical display as form an integral
part of operatic art—was indicated : at least to the appre-
hension of a younger artist. " You are right I" was
Madame Viardot's quick and heartfelt response (her eyes
full of tears) to a friend beside her--" You are right I It
is like the Cenacolo of Da Vinci at Milan—a wreck of a
picture, but the picture is the greatest picture in the
world I "

Of Grisi and Mario Mr. Charley speaks highly, but
without much enthusiasm ; indeed the latter, he
considers, has never wholly got beyond amateurship.
He gives an amusing account of the Lind fever, from
which he seems to have escaped, and his summary
of the characteristics of the chief modern operatic
composers will be read with interest. Indeed the
value of the work to all of musical taste is unques-

tionable. Upon some points they will necessarily
differ with it; but they neverthelesscannot fail
to derive from it considerable information as well

as amusement.

2he English at Home. By Alphonse Esquiros.
Second series. Translated by Lascelles Wraxall,
Chapman and Hall.
Differing widely from the burlesque descriptions
of our manners and customs, with which
foreign visitors usually regale their friends at
home, these essays, contributed by M. Esquiros to
the Revue des Deux blondes, contain a large amount
of curious information respecting our institutions
and amusements, are full of anecdote, and are cha-
racterised, in the main, by a sound judgment. Thus
speaking of our clubs he observes, "Any person who
has lived in England very speedily perceives that
nothing resembling the English clubs exist, or can
exist, on the Continent, for these assemblies pre-
suppose rights, guarantees, and, before all, a
lengthened training in liberty, which are not found
in other countries." This, for a Frenchman, is
admitting a great deal, and we find the same spirit
of impartiality running through the book. Thus,
speaking of theatres and actors, he admits that the
French "know nothing of Shakspeare, at least of
the acted Shakspeare ;" and says, " I confess it is
ever a mental festival to me when I see one of the
plays of the Great English Poet interpreted by
English actors." Oec,sionally, however, he is
startled from his propriety. "I stopped," he says,
" one day in a street off Deptford, in front of a shop,
all covered with inscriptions and hieroglyphics ;
about 15 feet from the ground and over the door a
fearful mannikin was hanging from an iron bar.
It was a sort of monstrous doll with three heads,
painted black, and crowned with a horsehair wig.
On this clumsy-carved wooden face the hatchet or
the chisel had exaggerated the features of the
Ethiopian race, a flattened nose and blubber lips.
There were neither legs nor arms, but the body
was indicated by three hoops covered with canvas.
It looked like an idol, a fetish cut out of the trunk
of a tree by the Congo negroes. Another circum-
stance attracted my attention : it was an enormous
bone fixed to the shutters by an iron bar, and which
was a fragment of some antedeluvian colossus.
On this relic—which was worn by wind and rain,
but which, on reflection, might have belonged to a
horse or an ox—was written in red letters, make
haste and sell me your bones.' I also read on a piece
of cardboard—' Sell me your fat. These inscrip-
tions had nothing very reassuring about them, and
had 1 been in that Fair Village where M. du
Chaillu must have spent a very uncomfortable time,
I should have fancied that designs were entertained
on my life." Observing, however, a man and woman
enter this den and emerge with no worse losses
than a pair of cracked shoes and a shawl with a
hole in its back, M. Esquiros plucked up courage,
went in, gained the heart of the owner by disposing
of a silk handkerchief ruinously low, mastered the
details of the rag and bone business, and then pro-
ceeds to describe paper making, and to touch on
some of the characteristics of the English press;
and the volume concludes with a dissertation on
sporting life, and a description of the Derby Day.

Sketches of Faroe and Iceland. By Andrew James
Symington. Longman and Co.
This is an interesting little work, nicely got up,
and profusely illustrated with woodcuts of the re-
markable scenery in the remote isles Mr. Syming-
ton was adventurous enough to visit. " The greater
part of the volume," he says, "consists of a diary
jotted down in presence of the scenes described, so
as to preserve for the reader, as far as possible,
the freshness of first impressions, and invest the
whole with an atmosphere of human interest."
The accuracy of the descriptions is thus guaranteed,
and the author evidently lost no opportunity of
acquiring information respecting the customs of
the inhabitants, their traditions, and the peculiar
natural features of the country. His work will
thus be peculiarly useful to those who may feel a
desire to follow in his track; and the appendix,
moreover, contains thirteen Iceland stories
fairy tales, translated by the Reverend Olaf
Palsson ; specimens of old Icelandic poetry ;
poems on northern subjects in
• and Icelandic ; information for intending
tourists ; a glossary ; and lastly, a chapter on our
Scandinavian ancestors—treating of race, history,
Thus
characteristics, language, and tendencies."
thiso:gmpannl i
tiacnadl
sCatoi.re, i n
to those who delight
will be peculiarly acceptable
Patron. By the author of
in northern traditions and literature.
--_—
the volume contains something to suit all tastes, and
for which
The"
rhyme, are especially directed against Disraeli, for
his advocacy of the Pope's cause on the evening of
"His Holi-
TheHs Popear fatcseaonafdt the Aahszt.shaen authores.w"a or fia .
Holi-
ness" is here supposed to enrol that politician in
the noble army of martyrs. The list of dramatis
the Bth of May;
persona is a tolerably diversified one, and the
writer,is evidently no friend to the retrograde party
in Itallun politics.

Accounts from Burgundy state that the vineyards
in that district have not been so forward since the year
1822, when the blossoming commenced only on the 20th of
May, whereas this year more than two-thirds of the grapes
were formed previous to the let of June. None of the vinesremained in blossom at that period except those planted in
unfavourable situdions. A very abundant crop is to be
remarked in addition to the unusual forwardness of the
grapes. An additional fact greatly in favour of the vine -
growers is that the most delicate descriptions are more
heavily laden with bunches of grapes than the common
vines,