occupied, and could only add in a postscript-" I have not time to look over this long scrawl, of which I recommend you not to mind a word," meant, of course, in pleasantry, but sufficiently indicative, he observed, of the inherent light character of the nation. Lavoisier suffered death on the 8th of May, 1794. He solicited a few days' respite to complete a work on public salubrity, when Fouquier Tinville contemptuously answered, that the republic wanted not philosophers.' "Il ne leur a fallu qu'un moment pour faire tomber cette tête; et cent années peut-être ne suffiront pas pour en reproduire une semblable," mournfully said the great mathematician Lagrange. His widow afterwards married Count Rumford, (the American loyalist, Thompson,) a very ingenious man, to whom we are indebted for many domestic improvements; but they soon quarrelled and lived asunder. For some years, the lady was my neighbour in the Rue Neuve des Mathurins, at Paris, where she died in February, 1836, in advanced age. All the illustrative plates of Lavoisier's "Eléments de Chimie," were of her drawing, and she translated Kirwan's work on phlogiston and acids. Kirwan, as we have indicated, was bred a Catholic, but subsequently professed the Established Religion; though it was reported that he finally reverted to his early faith, which is very problematical. He, on the death of Lord Charlemont, was chosen President of the Royal Irish Academy. At the Dublin Library in Eustace-street, I was witness, in 1799, of a warm discussion on the Union, then approaching to consummation, between him and Curran, who vehemently opposed, while Kirwan as zealously defended, the project, though I

have read that he had been some way implicated with the United Irishmen, which appears to rest on no valid authority. We learn, however, from Mr. Hardiman's History of Galway, p. 315, that " He entertained many curious suppositions; amongst others, he conceived, that mankind is indebted for a large portion of knowledge, particularly of astronomy, to the Antediluvians; and that Greek was the first language spoken by man."-Yet in my intercourse with him, I could discover no fanciful ideas of this kind, in his mind. But for further particulars relative to Kirwan, see the Gentleman's Magazine for November, 1888. He died the 1st of June, 1812, in his 78th year.

It would cost me no great effort of memory to extend these elucidatory remarks. One, however, I must add, which is, that the necessity of a stamp for the Prince of Borghese's signature, was, as with our Eighth Henry, from physical inability, caused by extreme obesity, which crippled his hands, and not, as left by Lord Cloncurry to be inferred, from the absence of all education. Indeed, I apprehend that various other statements connected with his lordship's residence at Rome, and other parts, are, in like manner, popular misrepresentations; for his recollection of these distant and foreign events, appears by no means accurate, as their foregoing corrections sufficiently prove. But I have already, I fear, exceeded all fair bounds, and shall conclude by pointing Lord Cloncurry's attention to such oversights as, soubriquet for sobriquet; Gardo de Corps, for du Corps; Petite Comité, for Petit Comité; Mr. O'Connell and I meeting, instead of me, at page 433. At page 448, we have "Quand finira donc mes tourmens," from Lord

Anglesea, which should be "Quand finiront," &c.; and, previously, at page 261, "Tros Triusve fuit nullo ille discrimine habetur," in place of "Tros Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine agetur," from Virgil's Eneid, lib. i., 578.

These incidental lapses, more imputable probably to the press than the pen, affect not the merit of the work, which in its resulting impression, cannot fail to raise in public estimation the character of its noble author, and to justify, on perusal of this interesting retrospect of a long and well-spent life, the poet's solace of declining years, thus suitably employed:"Nulla recordanti lux est ingrata gravisque:

Ampliat ætatis spatium sibi vir bonus: hoc est
Vivere bis, vita posse priore frui."

Martial, X., 23.

J. R.

IRISH OAK, FRENCH NATIONAL LIBRARIES, &c.

IN the Gentleman's Magazine for April 1837, I find it stated that John Barclay, in his "Icon Animarum," dedicated to Louis XIII., mentions that the timber of Westminster Hall was brought from Ireland, and the question follows-"Is that usually admitted as the case? If so, on what authority?"

There is no doubt that in Ireland it is generally believed that the famous wood of Shillelah furnished the oak, of which the roof of that structure was supposed to be built; and several Irish writers assert it as a fact; which, however, I cannot trace to any original or authentic source. Camden, the contemporary, though the senior of Barclay, does not confirm it, and by others it is distinctly contradicted. In Rees' Cyclopædia, article Westminster, we read"The roof, rising to a high pitch, is ingeniously constructed, not out of Irish oak, as generally supposed, but of chestnut, brought from Normandy." Perhaps the truth may be, as described by Nightingale, in his "Beauties of England and Wales," vol. x., page 517, that the roof was built of chestnut, supported by ribs of oak. The original roof, we know, was erected by

William Rufus, about the year 1097; but having suffered much from accidental fires, as well as from the lapse of time, the hall, as stated in the Cyclopædia, was completely restored by Richard II., who heightened the walls, altered the windows, and added new roofs.

That the Irish black oak, however, was then much in request for similar constructions in foreign countries, may be deduced from the circumstance related by French bibliographers, that it was employed by their sovereign Charles V., surnamed the Wise, in forming the Royal Library, of which he laid the foundation. That monarch filled the throne contemporaneously with our Richard II., and had collected above nine hundred volumes, a very considerable number, previously to the invention of printing, which he deposited in one of the towers of the Louvre, thence distinguished as "La Tour de la Librairie." Such has been the basis of the national French Library, beyond doubt the most copious and valuable assemblage of books ever formed. The collective volumes of the five great Parisian libraries exceed eighteen hundred thousand, while the provincial repositories in the eighty-six departments, contain fully four millions. This figure appears officially recorded; but probably, though not declaredly, it may include the libraries of the metropolis. As the statement appears, it would attribute an amount of 46,000 volumes to the public libraries of each department. The Vatican, the Imperial at Vienna, and the royal library of Munich, come next in succession; for that of the British Museum holds comparatively an inferior position in the great collections of Europe.