10

tion of a cent of their money, he would nation of customers, therefore, not in being which have our vast quantity of unoccupied
pass rather as the inventer of the philoso-when its wheels began to move eleven land, acting as a constant stimulus to popu-
pher's stone, than as a skilful financier. years ago, has since sprung into exist-lation; nor any country where a popula-
And yet this effect has been and is produc- [ence. A population, as large as that of tion, doubling every twenty-three years, is
ed by the simple progress of our country; the thirteen United States when they es- constantly employed in extracting abund-
by the mere healthful action of its political tablished their independence, has in the ance from a boundless extent of soil. Still,
organization.
short space of thirteen years risen up and however, in many of the countries of Eu-
calls aloud for cheap cottons. Is there any rope strong principles of improvement are
thing in diplomacy like this? to add three at work; and consequently of increase in
millions of a vigorous kindred population wealth. In England, the great perfection
to our country in thirteen years;-not on to which the mechanical arts have been
a distant coast, not in a ceded province, brought within seventy years, and the in-
not to be kept subject to us by regiments crease of wealth resulting from this and
of bayonets; but brethren, within our bor- some other causes, have produced effects
ders, friends, countrymen, to bear with us almost as important as those which, in this
the public burdens, and share the public country, we trace to the mere healthy ac
blessings.
tion of our system. The author of the ar-
ticle, to which we have alluded, in the
Edinburgh Review, has made use of this
circumstance to save the credit of Hume's
prediction, relative to a national bankrupt-
cy. when the debt should amount to one
hundred millions of pounds. The author of
this article says this event has been kept
off, not by the efficacy of the funding sys-
tem, but by the Arkwrights, Watts, &c.
Bu: the true principle we take to be that,
which we have stated already, that increase
of national wealth is diminution of national
dett. It admits little doubt that England is
ten times richer than she was when Hume
male his prediction: although it may be
granted that he went too far, in saying that
Without yielding any apology for public a debt of one hundred millions, even in the
extravagance, for which nothing can apol- middle of the last century, would have pro-
ogise; the state of things, to which we have duced a bankruptcy in England. If Eng-
adverted, shows the propriety of permitting land is ten times richer than when Hume
the existence of a moderate and well regu- made his prophecy, then, as her debt does
lated funding system in this country. An not amount to ten times one hundred mil-
ingenious essay is contained in the last num-lions of pounds, the case, which he puts, has
ber of the Edinburgh Review, of which the not yet occurred. How much farther the
object is to show the vicious policy of rais- debt of that nation may run, without bank-
ing money by loans, instead of by supplies ruptcy, is matter of doubt. Upon the
within the year. In a stationary or in a very whole, we think there is little reason to
slowly advancing state, the loan policy is of charge Hume, on this occasion, with ex-
course entirely delusive, incapable of di- travagant miscalculation.
minishing the burden of the public charg-
es, and if carried to great lengths must
end in national bankruptcy, if not in revo-
lution. But in a country whose wealth is
rapidly increasing, it is a sound and good
policy to divide the burden of an extraor-
dinary conjuncture of affairs, not merely
with a posterity as able as ourselves to pay
it, but far richer, far abler. This principle
is constantly acted upon in private life. How
many of our young men procure their edu-
cation at an expense far beyond their imme-
diate resources, and to be defrayed out of
the fruits of their industry in life. The
term posterity hardly applies to a prosper-
ous and growing nation. It is the same
political and social organization, stronger
and richer, better able to make efforts, and
to bear burdens. Such a posterity surely is
not wronged by being made to bear a part
of the burden of revolutions and wars, to
which it owes its privileges.

In saying, however, that every twenty-three
or four years the population of this country is
doubled and its aggregate amount of wealth
doubled also, it is plain we are far, very far
within bounds, as it concerns the latter.
The increase of the wealth of this country
is going on in a ratio of astonishing magni-
tude. We may easily convince ourselves
of this, by looking either at our cities or our
villages; on our Atlantic coasts, or in our
western regions. The number and size of To revert then to the train of reasoning
the dwelling-houses, the public edifices, the from which we started, it is plain, that, if,
tonnage, the stores in the cities;-the in consideration of our duplication in num-
steam-boats, bridges, canals, roads; the ag-bers attended only by a corresponding du-
ricultural stock of all kinds; the factories; plication of national wealth, our public
the quantity of land cleared and clear- debt may be looked on as half paid off at
ing, if estimated at the same periods with the end of twenty-three or four years,
the population, will be found to have ad- when we consider that our national wealth
vanced with a far more rapid progression. increases much more rapidly than this, the
This increase will go on for ages,-not burden of the public debt will decline much
equally in all the things we have enumerat- more rapidly also. The number of fertile
ed; for the very causes, which check it in acres over which the burden is equalized, the
some, will promote it in others. As the in-number of vigorous and industrious arms
crease of population in the new countries able to contribute toward defraying the
declines by their becoming filled up, the in- public charges, is increasing in stupend-
crease of another species of wealth, manufac-ous progression.
turing or commercial, will begin. But, upon
the whole, an almost indefinite multiplica-
tion of national resources will be going on.
The means, by which this multiplication will
be effected, are very various. In one in-
stance, a treaty gives us a vast tract of
land; and judicious laws to settle its land
titles will throw open the flood gates of
emigration. In another case, it will seem
to be the steam-boat, which, by presenting
the means of breasting an impetuous current,
will connect the source and the mouth of
rivers four thousand miles in length. In
another case, it is a fortunate discovery of
a machine like the saw-gin, which has of
itself centupled the wealth of the cotton-
growing States. In another instance, the
noble enterprise of a canal will, as it were,
turn the continent inside out, and bring
its centre to the sea coast, within the reach
of the trade of the world. In these and
innumerable other ways, to be devised and
executed by the ever-active ingenuity and
the awakened sagacity of a free people,
the wealth of this country is growing be-
yond the power of figuring to estimate:
and with it the size of all markets of de-
mand and of supply will increase in the
same ratio. This calculation already be-
gins to be made by our intelligent manu-
facturers. Ask them if they are not afraid
of overstocking the market; and, while
they admit indeed that such a thing is pos-
sible, they bid you nevertheless remember,
that this market is expanding with wonder-
ful rapidity. Since the Waltham factory
was established in 1813, the population of
the United States has increased three mil-
lions; an amount equal to our whole num-
bers in the revolutionary war. A whole

In thus setting forth the astonishing progress of our own country, in numbers and wealth, we of course do not mean to say that other countries are making no progress. It is true there are no countries in Europe,

The mighty increase of our country in numbers and wealth, admits several other applications; at which, however, we have room only to hint.

The intellectual character of a nation and of an age results of course from the combined action and mutual reaction of the individuals who compose them. In a country whose numbers are very slowly increasing, are stationary, or are declining, the rising and risen generations are equally balanced; and an easy transmission of manners and opinions, as of hereditary titles, fortunes, and domains, is made from father to son. The case is very different in a country, where every period of ten years makes new divisions in society; where new towns, counties, and states are continually springing up; where men are born, not to a narrow inheritance of obsolete functions, but to go out into new regions, and be the legislators and the chieftains of rising generations; where new prizes for industry are perpetually offered; new markets for trade opened; new conjunctures in civil administration brought about; new positions, social, political, and moral, taken. If to

this novelty of career, we add the extraordinary life and activity resulting from our rapid growth, and the earnestness of competition, which will spring from it, we have reason to predict that our country will make a call on the efforts of her sons, such as has scarce ever been felt in any other region. It will ere long, if it does not already, demand an enterprise, an energy, a courage, a manliness of character from its children, proportioned, not merely to the extent of its territories, but to the indefinitely increasing numbers of its thinking, reasoning, voting men. The old specifics for strong government, the sword and the axe, will be here of no avail: and those who administer our affairs will be required to bring to their duty a singleness and a disinterestedness of purpose, as well as a power and skill, not called for from the inmates of the luxurious cabinets of Europe. What will be the character of the next age in this country is to be decided, not by prescriptions descending from the former, but by the direction, which may be taken by twice as many active minds as now exist in the country, influencing, modifying, and balancing each other. We are much in the wrong if the effect of this state of things be not, to give new importance in education, to the study of human nature and to the arts more immediately exercised in social intercourse, and to throw into the shade the merely speculative and learned acquisitions.

MISCELLANY.

NIAGARA.

The thoughts are strange, which crowd into my brain,
While I look upward to thee. It would seem
As if God poured thee from his hollow hand,
And hung his bow upon thy awful front,

confidence. The scene itself is dreadful | farther, and the light of the sun no longer
enough, and its natural terrors, if armed shone upon us. There was a grave-like
with the persuasion that our design cannot twilight, which enabled us to see our way,
be accomplished, will inevitably defeat it. when the irregular blasts of wind drove the
It is a general impression, that, to go un-water from us; but most of the time it was
der the falls, we must walk upon the level, blown upon us from the sheet with such
where they spend their fury, and within fury that every drop seemed a sting, and
arm's length of the torrent; but it is not in such quantities that the weight was al-
so; our path lies upon the top of a bank at most insupportable. My situation was dis-
least thirty feet above the bottom of the tracting; it grew darker at every step, and
abyss, and as far in a horizontal line from in addition to the general tremor with
the course of the falls, and close under the which every thing in the neighbourhood of
immense rock which supports them. This Niagara is shuddering, I could feel the
bank overhangs us, as one side of an irreg- shreds and splinters of the rock yield as I
ular arch, of which the corresponding side seized them for support, and my feet were
is formed by the sheet of water; and thus, continually slipping upon the slimy stones.
instead of groping our way at the foot of a I was obliged, more than once, to have re-
narrow passage, we stand mounted in a stu- course to the prescription of the guide to
pendous cavern.
cure my giddiness, and though I would have
given the world to retrace my steps, I felt
myself following his darkened figure, van-
ishing before me, as the maniac, faithful to
the phantoms of his illusion, pursues it to
his doom. All my faculties of terror seem-
ed strained to their extreme, and my mind
lost all sensation, except the sole idea of
an universal, prodigious, and unbroken mo-
tion.

On a fine morning in August last, soon after sunrise, I set out with a friend and a guide to visit this sublime scene. The first thing to be done, after descending the tower of steps, is to strip ourselves of all clothing, except a single covering of linen, and a silk handkerchief tied tight over the ears. This costume, with the addition of a pair of pumps, is the court-dress of the palace of Niagara.

Although the noise exceeded by far the We passed about fifty rods under the Ta- extravagance of my anticipation, I was in ble rock, beneath whose brow and crumb-some degree prepared for this. I expected ling sides we could not stop to shudder, our too, the loss of breath from the compresminds were at once so excited and oppress- sion of the air, though not the suffocation ed, as we approached that eternal gateway, of the spray; but the wind, the violence of which nature has built of the motionless the wind exceeding, as I thought, in swiftrock and the rushing torrent, as a fitting ness and power the most desolating hurrientrance to her most awful magnificence. cane-how came the wind there? There, We turned a jutting corner of the rock, and too, in such violence and variety, as if it the chasm yawned upon us. The noise of were the cave of Æolus in rebellion. One the cataract was most deafening; its head- would think that the river above, fearful of long grandeur rolled from the very skies; the precipice to which it was rushing, in we were drenched by the overflowings of the folly of its desperation, had seized the stream; our breath was checked by the with giant arms upon the upper air, and in its half-way course abandoned it in agony.

And spoke in that loud voice which seemed to him violence of the wind, which for a moment

Who dwelt in Patmos for his Saviour's sake,
The sound of many waters; and thy flood
Had bidden chronicle the ages back,
And notch his centuries in the eternal rocks.
Deep calleth unto deep. And what are we,
Who hear this awful questioning; O what
Are all the stirring notes that ever rang
From war's vain trumpet, by thy thundering side!
Yea, what is all the riot man can make
In his short life, to thy unceasing roar !
And yet, bold babbler, what art thou to Him
Who drowned a world, and heaped the waters far
Above its loftiest mountains? A light wave,
That breaks and whispers of its Maker's might.

ANON.

scattered away the clouds of spray, when a full view of the torrent, raining down its diamonds in infinite profusion, opened upon us. Nothing could equal the flashing brilliancy of the spectacle. The weight of the falling waters made the very rock beneath us tremble, and from the cavern that received them issued a roar, as if the confined spirits of all who had ever been drowned, joined in an united scream for help! Here we stood,-in the very jaws of Niagara,-deafened by an uproar, whose tremendous din seemed to fall upon the ear Notwithstanding the number of people, in tangible and ceaseless strokes, and surwho constantly visit Niagara from all parts rounded by an unimaginable and oppressive of the country, yet there are, with whom grandeur. My mind recoiled from the imit is matter of some doubt, whether a man mensity of the tumbling tide; and thought may go beneath the falls, and live. Many, of time and of eternity, and felt that nothwhen they look upon this scene, are over-ing but its own immortality could rise against come with terror and cannot approach it. the force of such an element. Others, of firmer nerves, venture into the ancillary droppings of this queen of waters, and, confounded by the noise, wind, and spray, and still more by their own imagination, scramble into daylight, fully persuaded they could not have lived there a moment longer.

But effectually to achieve this performance, it is only necessary that we have

The guide now stopped to take breath. He told us, by hollooing in our ears at the top of his voice, "that we must turn our heads away from the spray when it blew against us, draw the hand downwards over the face if we felt giddy, and not rely too much on the loose pieces of rock." With these instructions he began to conduct us, one by one, beneath the sheet. A few steps

We now came opposite a part of the sheet, which was thinner, and of course lighter. The guide stopped, and pointed upwards; I looked-and beheld the sun," shorn of his beams" indeed, and so quenched with the multitudinous waves, that his faint rays shed but a pale and silvery hue upon the cragged and ever humid walls of the cavern.

Nothing can be looked at steadily beneath Niagara. The hand must constantly guard the eyes against the showers which are forced from the main body of the fall, and the head must be constantly averted from a steady position, to escape the sudden and vehement blasts of wind. One is constantly exposed to the sudden rising of the spray, which bursts up like smoke from a furnace, till it fills the whole cavern, and then, condensed with the rapidity of steam, is precipitated in rain; in addition to which, there is no support but flakes of the rock, which are constantly dropping off; and nothing to stand upon but a bank of loose stones covered with innumerable eels.

Still there are moments when the eye, at one glance, can catch a glimpse of this magnificent saloon. On one side the enormouse ribs of the precipice arch themselves

12

with Gothic grandeur more than one hun-| Yet feared to alight on the guarded ground.
dred feet above our heads, with a rotten- And, when the shadows of twilight came,
I have seen the hyena's eyes of flame,
ness more threatening than the waters un- And heard at my side his stealthy tread,
der which they groan. From their summit But aye at my shout the savage fled;
is projected, with incalculable intensity, a And I threw the lighted brand, to fright
silvery flood, in which the sun seems to The jackal and wolf that yelled in the night.
dance like a fire-fly. Beneath, is a chasm
of death; an anvil, upon which the ham-
mers of the cataract beat with unsparing
and remorseless might; an abyss of wrath,
where the heaviest damnation might find
new torment, and howl unheard.
We had now penetrated to the inmost
A pillar of the precipice juts di-
rectly out into the sheet, and beyond it no
human foot can step, but to immediate an-
nihilation. The distance from the edge of
the falls, to the rock which arrests our pro-
gress, is said to be forty-five feet, but I do

recess.

not think this has ever been accurately ascertained. The arch under which we passed, is evidently undergoing a rapid decay at the bottom, while the top, unwasted, juts out like the leaf of a table. Consequently a fall must happen, and, judging from its appearance, may be expected every day; and this is probably the only real danger in going beneath the sheet. We passed to our temporary home, through the valley which skirts the upper stream, among gilded clouds and rainbows and wild flowers, and felt that we had experienced a consummation of curiosity; that we had looked upon that, than which earth could offer nothing to the eye or heart of man more awful or more magnificent.

POETRY.

RIZPAH.

O. W.

And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord; and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley-harvest.

And Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took sackcloth,
and spread it for her upon the rock, from the begin-
ning of harvest until the water dropped upon them
out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the
air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the
field by night.
2 Samuel, xxi. 9, 10.

Hear what the desolate Rizpah said,
As on Gibeah's rocks she watched the dead.
The sons of Michel before her lay,

And her own fair children, dearer than they :
By a death of shame they all had died,

And were stretched on the bare rock, side by side.
And Rizpah, once the loveliest of all

That bloomed and smiled in the court of Saul,
All wasted with watching and famine now,
And scorched by the sun her haggard brow,
Sat, mournfully guarding their corpses there,
And murmured a strange and solemn air;
The low, heart-broken, and wailing strain
Of a mother that mourns her children slain.

I have made the crags my home, and spread
On their desert backs my sackcloth bed;
I have eaten the bitter herb of the rocks,
And drank the midnight dew in my locks;
I have wept till I could not weep, and the pain
Of my burning eyeballs went to my brain."
Seven blackened corpses before me lie,
In the blaze of the sun and the winds of the sky.
I have watched them through the burning day,
And driven the vulture and raven away;
And the cormorant wheeled in circles round,

Ye were foully murdered, my hapless sons,
By the hands of wicked and cruel ones;
Ye fell, in your fresh and blooming prime,
All innocent, for your father's crime.
He sinned-but he paid the price of his guilt
When his blood by a nameless hand was spilt;
When he strove with the heathen host in vain,
And fell with the flower of his people slain,
And the sceptre his children's hands should sway
From his injured lineage passed way.

Blow, blow ye winds, and waft us far from Xeres' glorious plain,

Then be ye calm, while I pronounce a Moor's curse on Spain.

"Thou did'st bow, Spain, for ages, beneath a Moorish yoke,

And save Asturia's mountain sons, there were none to strike a stroke;

On mountain top and lowland plain, thy fate was still the same,

Thy soldiers drew dull scymitars, and the crescent

overcame.

But I hoped that the cottage roof would be
And that while they ripened to manhood fast,
A safe retreat for my sons and me;
They should wean my thoughts from the woes of "The days, which saw our martial deeds, are fled

the past.

And my bosom swelled with a mother's pride,
As they stood in their beauty and strength by my
Tall like their sire, with the princely grace
side,
Of his stately form, and the bloom of his face.

Oh, what an hour for a mother's heart,
When the pitiless ruffians tore us apart!
When I clasped their knees and wept and prayed,
And clung to my sons with desperate strength,
And struggled and shrieked to heaven for aid,
Till the murderers loosed my hold at length,
And bore me breathless and faint aside,
In their iron arms, while my children died.
They died-and the mother that gave them birth
Is forbid to cover their bones with earth.

The barley harvest was nodding white,
When my children died on the rocky height,
And the reapers were singing on hill and plain,
When I came to my task of sorrow and pain.
But now the season of rain is nigh,
The sun is dim in the thickening sky,
And the clouds in sullen darkness rest,
When he hides his light at the doors of the west.
I hear the howl of the wind that brings
The long drear storm on its heavy wings;
But the howling wind, and the driving rain
Will beat on my houseless head in vain:
I shall stay, from my murdered sons to scare
The beasts of the desert, and fowls of the air.

B.

to come no more;

A warrior monarch rules thee now, and we give the battle o'er;

Abencarrage wakes not, when the battle trumpets

call,

We do assure friend J. that his rhymes are very acceptable to us, and, we doubt not, will be so to the public; wherefore we will thank him for all he may choose to send. ED.

INTELLIGENCE.

IN the "General Gazette" of October, 1821, we find a notice of several American productions. As that journal has for its contributors some of the most eminent German scholars of the age, it cannot but be interesting to the American public to learn how favourably the literary efforts of our countrymen are regarded by them.

"Worcester, Massachusetts, printed by Manning: Archæologia Americana; Translations and Collections of the American Antiquarian Society. Vol. I. 1820. 436 pages in 8vo.

13

The

every obstacle in the way of scientific exertion, sisting of ballets and pieces of other kinds.
but at the same time rejoice that the sciences are suc- The different theatrical establishments at
cessfully cultivated in America by the scholars of which these productions were brought out,
a kindred nation, whom we would assist and en-
are thirteen in number; the smallest num-
courage.
in the first article, from the apparent necessity of these establishments, was three, and the
"The esteemed author of No. 1 and 2 proceeds ber of new pieces appertaining to either of
having a uniform method of expressing sounds, by largest thirty six. The list of authors en-
writing in all those languages which are as yet but
imperfectly known; he gives examples of differen-gaged in preparing these pieces for repre-
ces in the mode of writing (for example the Isuluki sentation amounts to no less than one
or Cherokee Reader of the missionaries, Buttrick hundred and forty eight writers of song or
and Brown), and contends with the difficulties dialogue, fifteen compositors, and five cho-
which oppose clearness and regularity in the Eng-rographes or inventors of ballets.
lish more than any other alphabet. His treatise most prolific among this host of authors is
will certainly be of great utility in his own coun-
try; the comparison, which is here undertaken, of one M. Carmonche, who has composed
the sounds of all the nations that are mentioned as thirteen vaudevilles. With regard to this
inhabiting that region, may lead to the adoption of numerous offspring of the muse, a French
similar principles, especially since the author is sup- Journalist observes, that one third at least
ported by so meritorious a student of languages as perished at once, that another third lin-
M. Du Ponceau."
longer; whilst of the remaining third about
gered in a weak and feeble state a little
a score would probably survive and become
known to posterity. It is calculated that
on an average at least 20,000 people are
nightly entertained at the various theatres
in Paris.

"The conviction that the preservation of the monuments of antiquity and of the researches of learned men respecting them, are worthy objects of a national institution, occasioned the foundation of the American Antiquarian Society. A new impulse has thus been given to the spirit of inquiry. Here follows in the review Mr PickerThe president of the society, Isaiah Thomas, LL. D. has given it considerable collections, and the ing's account of the manuscript dictionary learned Dr Bentley increased their collection of of Seb. Râle, which is in the library of the books with nine hundred volumes of the works of University at Cambridge. No. 2 is spoken the best German authors, the most valuable works of as a work, in which many useful obserprinted in New England, and rare and valuable vations on the pronunciation of the several Persian, Arabic, and other manuscripts; individual members are constantly sending books and curi-Greek letters have been collected by a osities. Institutions commenced under such aus- scholar who understands the subject. pices come to maturity.

"This Society, which was first established in Massachusetts in 1812, and of which the origin, act of incorporation, and laws are contained from page 13 to 59 (directly after the preface, table of

man.

"Of course they are not all equally interesting in this point of view. We select what is most mportant in the communications of C. Atwater, Esq. and Samuel Mitchell, both unwearied in their re

A new tragedy with this title, founded contents, and the list of the members), offers in upon the well known Sicilian Vespers, has this first volume of its transactions a multitude of lately been brought out at Covent Garden remarkable materials and well-digested investiga-theatre, but has met with an unfavourable tions, which have an interest not only for the his- or at best a doubtful reception from the tory of this part of America, but for the history of public, and been withdrawn for revision. It is the production of Mrs Hemans, who is already known as the author of some poetry of acknowledged merit. The critics allow to this tragedy great merits of style and sentiment, and great poetical beauty. They in fact seem to attribute, in part at least, its failure on the stage to the too highly elevated strain of poetry and sentiment which is maintained throughout the piece; but which injures its effect as a theatrical exhibition.

searches."

Here follows, in the original review, an abstract of all the communications of the gentlemen just mentioned. Their essays are called interesting and worthy of attention. The researches of Moses Fiske are also commended for their acuteness; and the "excellent map of the river Ohio" is mentioned. The reviewer laments that so few of the Indian songs are made public. A desire is expressed "to announce soon the continuance of these valuable la

bours."

KENILWORTH.

The tragical romance of Kenilworth has been dramatized both in London and Paris. In the English drama the catastrophe is altered, and Varney is made to undergo the "1. Cambridge (in America), by Hilliard & Met- fate which in the original befals Amy Robcalf: An Essay on a Uniform Orthography for sart. What new disposition of the charthe Indian Languages of North America; by acters is made in adapting it to the ParisJohn Pickering, A. A. S. 1820. 42 pages in ian stage, we do not know; it may be pre"2. At the same place: An Essay on the Promun- sumed however that there is some imciation of the Greek Language; by John Pick-portant change in the personages or inciering. 1818. 70 pages in 4to.

4to..

"It is very pleasing to observe the literary activity which is now awakening in the free states of

North America. The increasing culture of the soil and improvement of its productions employ not only many hands but also many minds. When their civil prosperity shall have long been established, many will be devoted to the pursuits of profound science. But even now there are on all sides symptoms of such a tendency in that happy country. On all sides societies are formed to advance the sciences (No. 1 and 2 belong to the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences). It has been said, that scientific culture will emigrate from Europe to America; that must not be. We desire rather to remove still more

dents, since the title under which it is
announced is-Leicester or the Castle of
Kenilworth, A Comic Opera, in three acts!

FRENCH DRAMA.

NEW THEATRICAL SPECTACLE.

The Christmas pantomime at Covent Garden theatre for the present season is entitled the "House that Jack built," and is founded upon the old nursery tale of the same name. In the course of the exhibition one of the personages is represented as making an aerial voyage in a balloon from London to Paris, and during the excursion, the audience as well as the traveller are gratified with a view of the country over which the balloon passes, the Thames, the channel, &c. &c.; night comes on, and the balloon, emerging from the clouds, alights in the garden of the Thuilleries. It is said that this spectacle is the most brilliant and splendid in scenery, and the most complete in mechanical execution of any which has been presented at either of the theatres.

MUSICAL PHENOMENON.

A young Hungarian, named Leist, only eleven years of age, is astonishing the musical world at Paris, by his wonderful per

formances. He is remarkable both for great rapidity of fingering on the piano forte, and for a union with it of great delicacy and firmness of touch, whilst at the same time he exhibits a beauty of expression which is equalled by few performers. He also composes in the style of the greatest masters with the most wonderful facility. Since the time of Mozart, who at eight years of age astonished several of the European courts by his performances, nothing has appeared so surprising as the exhibition of the talents of the young Leist.

It appears from some of the French CONDENSATION OF GASES INTO LIQUIDS. Journals, that in the course of the year 1823, the Parisian Theatres have exhibited Mr Faraday, Chemical Assistant at the not less than 217 new pieces. Of these, Royal Institution in Great Britain, has eight were tragedies, twenty-two comedies, lately performed some very important and one hundred and twenty-two vaudevilles, interesting experiments on the condensanineteen melodrames, fourteen comic operas, tion of the gases into liquids. In these exand four grand operas; the remainder con-periments he has been favoured with the

There is considerable risk from explosions in conducting these experiments, particularly on those gases which require a great number of atmospheres to reduce them to the liquid state, such as carbonic acid and nitrous oxide.

TEMPERATURE OF THE CARIBEAN SEA AT

THE DEPTH OF 6000 FEET.

The temperature at this depth in lat. 204
N. long. 83 W. was ascertained by Capt.
Sabine in the following manner; an iron
cylinder of 75 lbs. weight was let down at
the end of the line used in the experiment,
containing a self-registering thermometer,
and so arranged as to exclude the entrance
of the water. Another iron cylinder of
less weight and strength was attached two
fathoms above it on the line, also contain-
ing a thermometer, and permitting the
After being down
ingress of the water.

fifty three minutes the line was hauled in,
and the apparatus came up in good order.
The thermometer to which the water had
free access stood at 45°.5; the other, from
which it had been intended to exclude it,
although the attempt did not fully suc-
ceed, at 49°,5. The water at the surface
was from 82°.5 to 83°.2, at the time of the
experiment.

Cummings, Hilliard & Co. and Oliver
Everett, propose to publish by subscription
a new work, to be called "The American
Annual Register of History and Politics."
It will be printed annually (or, should the
nature of the work be found to require it,
semi-annually), and will contain 900 large
pages, 8vo.
The price will be $5,00 a
year. The general plan will accord with
the following arrangement; which, however,
will receive such modifications as may be
found expedient.

None of the liquids thus obtained be-
I.

came solid at any temperature to which
they were subjected.

1o. An account of all events of national importance, especially of the doings of congress. Under this head, the most important speeches will be given as reported in the National Intelligencer.

20. An account of all events of importance, in
the several states, not already related under the
former head.

II. History of the several independent states of
America south of the United States, for the
year, viz. Mexico, Colombia, Buenos Ayres,
Chili, and Peru: Brazil.
III. History of the several states of Europe for the