Imatges de pàgina
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original thought. Thus the drama tic airs of the Royal Harmonic Institution are met by the Operatic airs of the music shops; and Mr. Moore's national airs from the Strand are opposed by melodies of various nations, the words by Thomas Bayley, Esq. from the great manufactory of Soho-square. Mr. Bishop is the harmonical and symphonical accoucheur (by the way he has left Covent Garden). The work consists of Twelve Airs, Portuguese, French, Tyrolese, Italian, Spanish, Bohemian, German, Swiss, Sicilian, and unknown, four of which are also set in parts. The first (here said to be Portuguese) is to be found in Sola's Spanish Melodies, recently published, but Mr. Planche's words are far more appropriate, far more poetical than Mr. Bayley's. Mr. Planché has hit the true sentiment, Mr. Bayley has gone off directly at opposites. Mr. Bayley pictures a bride miserable at the anticipation of the inconstancy of her husband at the very foot of the altar: this transcends even Sheridan's famous por trait of a too sensitive temperament in his Falkland, which has been taken for the representation of his own feelings as a lover. The poet himself inclines to doubt, for he thus admonishes the bridegroom

Never let her sigh for those
From whose arms you take her.

Thus he glances at dire consequences indeed, but such, we imagine, as scarcely enter into the calculations of either party at the moment of solemnizing the sacred contract.

Some of the melodies are agreeable, but the selector has not shown any thing like the discrimination and judgment requisite to such a work, particularly after the exquisite specimens and the enchanting poetry of Moore.

The Birthday, by Rawlings, is an elegant little piece, full of melody and variety. It is easy; yet very much above the level of pianoforte lessons so simply constructed.

No. 12, the last Quadrille Rondo is by Mr. Burrowes. The introduction is particularly chantant; and the cadenza very appropriate to the subject-the Blackbird Quadrille, which is elegantly treated. This number is one of the best. Indeed we may re

commend the entire set to those players whose powers are not equal to the performance of difficult compositions, and who yet demand brilliancy combined with easy and graceful melody.

We're a noddin at our House at Hame, a Scotch ballad, arranged with variations, by Mr. Rees. There is little attraction in this air: the variations are quaint, and not deficient in originality and contrivance; but from whatever cause it proceeds, they are not agreeable. We attribute this very much to the subject.

Kiallmark's Divertimento, la Revenue, arranged as a duet for the pianoforte, is pretty, but common-place.

A Polonoise Brillante, and a Sonata, by Mr. Moschelles. The first of these pieces is excessively difficult, and full of the passion and energy which are the peculiar characteristics of Mr. Moschelles' style of performance. There is hardly a bar which does not contain some mark of expression, and this, together with its extreme rapidity, demands the comprehension and execution of the composer himself to render it full justice. The sonata is less difficult, but equally characteristic; we need only refer to the constant and rapid repetition of one note which clearly points out its author, together with the powerful use of the left hand. It is better adapted to general performance than the Polonoise. Both must be intensely studied.

Fantasia and Solo, and Mary's Dream, as a Divertimento for the harp, by Mr. Meyer, are extremely brilliant compositions. The introduction to the Fantasia is a beautiful Adagio. The air of Mary's Dream is so loaded with cadenzas that it is almost impossible for the ear to follow it; we really should hardly have known it again but for the title.

Mr. Sor has published Three Italian Ariettes, which are scarcely equal to his former very elegant compositions of the same kind. The first Guarda che bianca luna has been much better set by M. Begrez as a guitar song, though there is much beauty and originality in Mr. Sor's. The second, written in the manner of the Spanish Canciones, which the author considers to be the true Cavatinas, is very singular for its accent,

and purely national. The third, a Polacca, has also more merit and variety than the general uniformity imposed by the time commonly allows.

Mr. Latour has an elegant, light, and playful ballad, The Knight and the Lady. The melody is sweet and graceful, and we should imagine it would be very effective if well and archly sung.

A duet of Rossini's, from L'Aureliano in Palmyra, "Se tu M'ami o mia Regina," is quite in the manner of that composer. It is extremely wide in compass, for both the tenor and soprano. It abounds in passages

of ornament and execution, borrowed very much from Signor Rossini himself, and to be found in his Tancred, and La Gazza Ladra, yet the melody is pleasing, and the whole brilliant and effective. But it is by no means within the reach of common powers; indeed, to be sung at all, it demands extraordinary capacity from nature, and extraordinary acquirement in art.

There is also a pretty Cavatina Tabbraccio ti Stringo, mio Tenero Figlio, from his Il Circo. This presents no such embarrassments as the duet, but is cantabile and sweet.

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE, &c. Classical Literature.-M. Maio, the indefatigable philologist, whose labours and researches after the lost writings of the ancients we have occasionally noticed, has made some farther discoveries. Among these are several of the mutilated and lost books of Polybius, Diodorus, Dion Cassius some fragments of Aristotle, Ephorus the historian, Timæus, Hyperides, Demetrius Phalereus, &c. Besides these, he has also rescued some parts of the unknown writings of Eunapius, Menander of Byzantium, Priscus, and Peter the Protector. Of these valuable literary acquisitions, the most copious and important are the fragments of Diodorus Siculus, and Dion, which contain a succinct recital of many of the wars of Rome, and a narrative of the Punic, Social, and Macedonian wars; likewise of those of Epirus, Syria, Gaul, Spain, Portugal, and Persia. He has also discovered several writings of the Greek and Latin fathers, prior to St. Je rome, and other interesting fragments, all which it is his intention to publish.

any object may be distinctly viewed, although immersed in a liquid half an incli beneath the surface; a circumstance which has hitherto been impracticable. A scale has also been contrived by which the objects are accurately measured.

Picture-cleaning.-The French chemist, Thenard, has rendered an important service to the art of painting, having employed his oxygenated water, with great success, in cleaning old pictures, where the white prepared from lead had become spotted with brown. It is not, perhaps, too much to expect, that the advancement of chemical knowledge will ultimately contribute much to this beautiful art, by farnishing it with more durable materials.

New Optical Machine. Signor Amici, professor of Mathematics at the University of Modena, has invented an instrument which he calls a catadioptrical microscope. It is contrived for the purpose of viewing objects of every description, diaphanous or opake, solid or fluid, without the necessity of dividing them into parts; and consists of a tube placed horizontally, as a tele. scope, and not vertically as the common microscope. At one extremity of this tube are several metallic mirrors, which reflect the object through a small hole beneath, corresponding perpendicularly to the glass which carrics the object. The latter is moved up and down by a screw, under which a mirror is placed as in other microscopes; and it is easily and instantly magnified or diminished by changing the eye-glasses only. One great advantage at tending this improved instrument is that

Improved Barometer.-M. Barthe, of Strasburg, has constructed an instrument of this description, which announces every change of weather thirty hours previously to its taking place; and what renders it still more valuable, it even prognosticates the approach of thunder storms twelve hours before they occur. Such an instrument will doubtless tend greatly to mature the science of meteorology, which, in its present state, is vague and imperfect; and there is little doubt but that this important study may be reduced to such certain principles as will enable us to calculate with precision the various changes in the atmosphere, long before they actually take place. But in meteorology, and even in medicine, we are still but empirics.

Sculpture.-The Immhoffs (father and son) of Cologne, have recently finished a piece of sculpture of extraordinary magnitude; it is a colossal figure, representing the Angel of Death, and is intended to decorate the burial vault of a family of distinction in that city. The same artists executed the well-known bust of M. Stein, the minister, and are now employed upon a bas-relief, intended as a monument to his lady.

ABSTRACT OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC OCCURRENCES.

THE most important foreign news since our last, and very important indeed it may turn out, has been a total change of the French Ministry. This has been effected, strange to say, by a temporary junction of those two opposite bodies, the Ultras and the Liberaux. The King, much against his will, has been obliged to yield to the Ultras the exclusive possession of his Cabinet. This is the first time since the restoration that this party has really possessed power. They are, as perhaps our readers are already aware, a body of men, not very numerous, but powerful from their talents and respectable from their birth, the remnant of the old noblesse. They are, of course, opposed to every popular sentiment of liberty, and alive to the importance, both foreign and domestic, which should attach itself to the ancient throne of the descendants of St. Louis. Upon this principle they have mounted into power, imputing to the late ministry a culpable and anti-national carelessness as to the consequence which France ought to uphold in the diplomatic world. The Liberaux supported them in this view, and not unnaturally, because they knew that to support an interference with the present system of European policy with any effect an army must be raised; and upon this standing force, in other countries the bulwark of despotism, the French popular party relies for its ultimate emancipation. The first public notification which the King had of this change of sentiment in the Chambers appears to have been from the answer voted to his speech,—an answer framed by the Ultras with the previous concurrence of the Liberaux. In this document the infringement of the charter with respect to the established censorship on the press, and the inconsiderable part which France bears in foreign affairs, were particularly and adroitly alluded to. The ministry made an ineffectual opposition, and Louis was compelled to hear unpalatable truths in place of the flattering echo to which monarchs in such situations are generally accustomed. His conduct on the occasion was such as might

have been expected; and from the following expressions contained in his reply to the deputation, his sentiments may be ascertained; indeed he seems to have considered the address as little less than a personal insult. "In exile and in persecution," he says, "I have supported my rights, the honour of my race, and that of the French name. On the throne, surrounded by my people, I feel indignant at the base supposition that I can ever sacrifice the. honour of the nation and the dignity of my crown. It is pleasing to me to believe that the majority of those who voted this address have not duly considered the import of all its expressions." Notwithstanding this clear indication on the part of the Chambers, the Ministers continued to retain their places, and actually in. a few days after proposed, in utter. defiance of the previous vote, two new projêts imposing additional restrictions on the press. The majori ty proved clearly by their conduct on this occasion, that his Majesty was wrong when he supposed they had not duly considered the import of their expressions. They literally laughed and coughed M. de Serrè, the keeper of the seals, out of the tribune; and very soon after, his resignation, and that of his colleagues, was tendered and received. There was no use in temporising-the King must by this time know the French character-the revolution must have taught him that very sudden with them is the transition from ridicule to ferocity. We confess we sympathise but little with the late French ministry on their fall. They had long adopted the paltry system of playing off one party against the other, and that for no other purpose than the possession of place and their own personal aggrandizement. The first step of the Ultra administration has been the withdrawing of the new projets against the press, which will, it is supposed, terminate in the total abolition of the Censorship; "a consummation devoutly to be wished." The Liberaux and Ultras are said to agree in the approval of the Greek cause, and to this, it is supposed, the paragraph in the address which

offended the King was pointed. This principle, if acted on, must produce a French army, in which it is very clear that the "preux chevaliers" of the Ultras can be but thinly sprinkled amongst the revolutionary marshals of Napoleon. Of such a measure who can see the results! The old tree, it is true, lies where it has fallen, upon the rock of St. Helena, but there is a scion silently gathering strength in Austria by which it is possible the throne of the Bourbons may one day be overshadowed. When Napoleon was dying it is said that Madame Bertrand asked him under whose protection he wished to leave his son? "Under the protection of the French army" was the reply.

The struggle which the Greeks have made against the tyranny of the Porte will end, it is not unlikely, as every lover of literature and freedom must wish,- in their glorious emancipation. A new and formidable enemy has arisen against the Turks. Persia has declared war against the Sultan, and followed up the declaration vigorously by an invasion of his Asiatic dominions with an army of 110,000 men, headed by the hereditary Prince. The Turkish empire, upon this side, is left almost defenceless, in consequence of the recent drafting of troops to Constantinople. The Persian troops are said to have conquered a considerable portion of Armenia, and two Beys in Albania have revolted against the Porte. In the mean time the Greeks are not inactive, but we are sorry to find that their warfare is still characterised by cruelties, which, however justifiable in the way of reprisal, are not the less revolting to humanity. It is said that on the capture of Tripolizza, the victors finding that seven of their bishops who had been detained as hostages were murdered, had recourse to the horrible revenge of putting to death 8,000 Turks, together with 13,000 others of all ages and both sexes! The Greeks justify this on the plea of retaliation, and it is a melancholy truth, that neither belligerent can accuse the other of comparative inhumanity. In the mean time the cause of Greece begins to excite considerable interest. In France the feeling in its favour is said to be universal; and a subscription has been already opened in Lon

don, for the purpose of aiding which a general meeting is to be held immediately. We should not be at all surprised to find that these events had also compelled the pacific and unambitious Alexander reluctantly to join in the crusade, which those who do not put implicit faith in legitimate professions have long suspected him of meditating. The Persian diversion, is laid at his door by many, and his great ascendancy at the Court of the Schah has been long notorious.

Of Spain it is not easy to form any very accurate idea. That she is agitated by very considerable internal commotion is quite certain, and this appears, indeed, from the acknowledged fact of the prompt and public resistance of the people of Corunna to the attempt to remove Mina from the Captain-Generalship of Gallicia. No country can be in a tranquil or constitutional state, when the inhabitants of a principal town, in a principal province, dispute the King's order to remove his own governor, and successfully oppose the entrance of his successor! The charge made by the court against Mina was that of republicanism,—a charge which he in a spirited proclamation indignantly repels. The French papers, if we are to believe them, give a frightful picture of the state of the Peninsula, and represent many of its provinces to be in actual rebellion; they talk of the meditated siege of Madrid by Mina and Riego at the head of an imposing military force, and go so far as even to publish an address from the beloved Ferdinand to his Ministers, in which he declares his fixed determination to die fighting at the head of his guards, and avoid, at all events, the passive martyrdom of Louis the 16th. This is not very likely language from such a character as Ferdinand; but if events should arise, and he should verify the imputed declaration, posterity may truly say of him, that "nothing in his life became him like the leaving it." Madrid papers of the 6th, however, notice his return to his capital, and say that he and the Royal Family made their entrée amid the acclamations of the populace. From the accounts on all sides, it appears quite clear that the country is in a state in which she cannot long continue. During these domestic commotions her South American empire may be

now considered as irrecoverably lost. Every arrival brings some fresh account of a new triumph gained by the liberators, and a proclamation from Don Augustin de Iturbide, at the head of the liberating army of the three Guarantees, has just issued, dated from the city of the Yucas. In this city the death of Don Juan O'Donoju, the celebrated political chief who took such a distinguished part in the settlement of the affairs of Spain, has just been announced. His death has been attributed to various causes, by some to poison, and by some to indisposition produced by chagrin.

A list has just been published of the American navy, by which it appears that America possesses 51 vessels of war, besides 28 gun-boats and galleys. Of these, two carry 106 guns each; there are 7 of 74, 4 of 44, 2 of 64, and 4 of 36, besides a number of others from 30 guns downwards! This is an astonishing increase when we consider that the first provision for a naval establishment for the United States is contained in an act of Congress, dated 1794, authorising the purchasing or building of four ships of 44 guns, and two of 36. The Americans are very select in the baptism of their vessels of war; they decide their names by lot, and they consist of three classes; the first class are named from the States, the second from the rivers of the Union, and the third from the cities and towns.

The accounts from Ireland, we are sorry to say, are not much less revolting than those which were published in our last. The same horrid system of, we may say, wholesale assassination still continues. A whole population of regiments of the line, infantry and cavalry, has been poured into that devoted country, and a special commission has been appointed to try some of the unfortunate wretches in the county of Limerick. In the meantime, a meeting of persons, styling themselves Irish landholders, has taken place in London. Several foolish speeches were made, and the spouters separated to condole, over English roast beef, upon the misfortunes of a country whose chief misery has been occasioned by their absenteeship. A change has taken place in the government of that country, by the recall of Lord

Talbot and Mr. Grant, and the sub❤ stitution of Lord Wellesley and Mr. Goulburn ;-a change of names, we fear, but not of measures: indeed what possible good can be expected from the junction of two such men, in the government of such a country, in such a crisis? oil and vinegarfire and water-Lord Wellesly, a friend of the Catholics, and a lover of conciliation-Mr. Goulburn, a staunch stickler for ascendancy, and a chip of the old vigour block! But of one thing we may be certain, that temporary expedients can only produce a temporary cure; and that it is not the hanging up of a few famishing wretches at Limerick, or the exhibition of a gaudy military pageant at Dublin, which can remedy the wrongs of six centuries' accumulation.

The union, to which we alluded in our last as probable, of the Grenville party with the present administration may be now looked upon as certain. The following appointments have been announced by the ministerial journals as determined on, to be officially proclaimed before the meeting of parliament. Mr. Charles Wynne to succeed Mr. Sturges Bourne in the Board of Controul; Dr. Phillimore to succeed Sir George Warrender as one of the lay Lords of the Admiralty; Mr. Saurin, the present Irish Attorney General, to be promoted to a seat on the Bench, and to be succeeded in his office by Mr. Plunket. This last appointment is likely in its effects to prove the most important of all, because it is said to have in view the ultimate transfer of Mr. Plunket to the English Woolsack upon the resignation of Lord Eldon. It is not at all unlikely. Mr. Plunket is too proud a man, and most justly so, to accept office after or under such a person as Mr. Saurin, without some ultimate high reversion. His talents are at once solid and splendid, and they are fully equalled by his acquirements and his virtues. When such a man is placed in an exalted station, it is not so much the person as the appointment which becomes distinguished. Mr. Plunket has been the architect of his own fortune, and even envy has not been able to cast a stain upon his character.

Parliament has been further prorogued till the 3d of February, when it meets for the dispatch of business. Dec. 25, 1821.

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