now holds an engagement at Covent Garden Theatre, is, we believe, the widow of a nephew of David Garrick.

Joseph Justus Scaliger (son of that celebrated scholar, Julius Cæsar Scaliger) died on the 21st of January, 1609, at the age of 69. He is said to have been master of thirteen languages. The 21st is the anniversary of the murder of Louis XVI., six-and-forty years ago. Respecting this unfortunate monarch, there are documents in existence, which, when permitted to see the light, will astonish the world, and make Louis Philippe tremble on his throne.

That master-spirit in literature and science, Francis, Lord Bacon, styled, by Pope,

"The wisest, greatest, meanest of mankind," became a denizen of earth on the 22nd of January, 1561, 278 years ago. Considering the penetrating genius of Lord Bacon, and the great discoveries he made, it seems astonishing that he should have been unacquainted with geometry. Wonderful, too, it is, that an excess of generosity and of benevolence could have subsisted in so glorious a mind as Bacon's, in combination with the meanest avarice. It has been said, that although he descended to the acceptance of bribes, his decrees were just. Lord Bacon died in 1626, aged 65,

Peter Gassendi, a French mathematician, described by Gibbon as the most philosophic amongst the learned, and the most learned amongst the philosophic of his age, was born on the 22nd of January, 1592. Gassendi, who combated the metaphysics of Descartes, died in 1665.

Byron, the greatest poet of the age next to Coleridge, would be only fifty-one, were he alive, on the 22nd of January. He has been dead nearly fifteen years! A brief, but bright and comet-like career!

Edward Seymour, "the proud Duke of Somerset," Lord Protector of the Kingdom, Lord High Treasurer, and Earl Marshal, in the reign of Edward VI., was beheaded on the 22nd of January, 1552. Proud though he was, he deserves honourable mention, He defeated the Scots at the memorable battle of Musselburgh, in September, 1540, with the loss of 14,000 men. He repealed the sanguinary laws of Henry VIII., and by gentle and prudent methods promoted the great work of the Reformation; and such was his love of equity, that he erected a court of requests in his own house to hear and redress the grievances of the poor. His attachment to the reformed religion, and his envied greatness, drew upon him the resentment of the factious nobility, at the head of whom was his own brother, the Lord High Ad

miral, and John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, afterwards Duke of Northumberland. He caused the former to be beheaded, and was soon afterwards brought to the block himself by the intrigues of the latter. A scarce pamphlet, relating to the Duke of Somerset's expedition into Scotland, is known to have fetched the high price of four guineas, though the whole of it is printed in Hollinshed.

Respecting the principles and character of Anthony Ashley Cooper, first Earl of Shaftesbury, a nobleman who greatly exerted himself to promote the restoration of that worthless and profligate monarch, Charles II., the testimony of historians is of the most conflicting nature. Let us allow him the advantage of the most favourable. His friend Locke says "that the good of his country was what he steered his councils and actions by through the whole course of his life." We could not wish for a prouder epitaph. Lord Shaftesbury died on the 22nd of January, 1683, aged sixty-two.

The anniversary of the death of a greater man than the Earl of Shaftesbury occurs on the 23d; on which day, in 1806, the illustrious William Pitt died at the early age of 47. His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, father of her present Majesty Queen Victoria, died on the same day of the month, fourteen years afterwards.

On the 23d of January, 1802, at the age of 74, died William Caslon, a letter founder, who effected great improvements in the form and quality of our printing types.

Frederick the Great, of Prussia, of whom history and memoirs may be said to record all, and more than all, that is necessary to be known, was born on the 24th of January, 1712, 127 years ago. He died in 1786.

Peter Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, a writer of extraordinary note in the French dramatic world, had his birth on the same day as Frederick the Great (and was quite as great a man in his way) in 1772. It is sufficient to mention, that he was the author of the operas of "The Barber of Seville," "The Marriage of Figaro," &c.

The 25th of January is commemorated as the anniversary of the Conversion of St. Paul. According to the ancient calendar of the church of Rome, on this day prognostications of the months were accustomed to be drawn for the whole year; and formerly, the notion was entertained, that—

"If St. Paul's day be fair and clear,
It doth betide a happy year;
If blustering winds do blow aloft,
Then wars will trouble our realm full oft.
And if it chance to snow or rain,
Then will be dear all sorts of grain."

tual powers which these individuals are found respectively to possess." We have been long convinced that phrenology is the only science by which the differences which exist in men— in their natures, characters, dispositions, propensities can ever be accounted for and phrenology does account for those differences perfectly. The science, as is sufficiently evident from Dr. Roget himself, is by no means of recent origin.

"For a long period it was held, that the cerebrum was the organ of perception, and the cerebellum the organ of memory. The cavities which are met with

in the interior of the brain have often been considered as the scene of the intellectual operations. Nemesius, the first bishop of Emesa, under the reign of Theodosius, taught that the sensations had their seat in the anterior ventricles, memory in the middle, and understanding in the posterior ventricles. Albertus Magnus, in the thirteenth century, went so far as actually to delineate upon a head the supposed seat of the different faculties of the mind. He placed common sense in the forehead, or in the first ventricle of the brain, cogitation and judgment in the second, memory and moving power in the third. Peter de Montagnana, in 1491, published the figure of a head, on which were indicated the seat of the sensus communis, the cellula imaginativa, cellula æstimativa seu cogitativa, cellula memorativa, and cellula rationalis. Ludovico Dolci, Servito, and a great number of other writers, have hazarded similar hypotheses as to the locality of the different faculties. Both Haller and Van Swieten fancied that the internal senses occupy different places in the brain; but they considered its whole organization as too complicated, too intricate, and too difficult, to allow of any hope that the seat of memory, of judgment, or of imagination, could ever be detected."

It is upon the science of phrenology that George Combe's immortal work, The Constitution of Man," is based; a work which we fearlessly assert, notwithstanding the fierce and infuriated assault which we once witnessed upon it from the lips of a clergyman, at a public meeting-from the lips of one who, evidently and confessedly, HAD NEVER READ IT-to be one of the most important and invaluable books, as conducive to the improvement and happiness of the human race, that ever emanated from the mind and pen of man:

Here is one of the grand principles of the phrenologists, as described by Dr. Roget :

"It is laid down both by Gall and Spurzheim as the foundation of their doctrines, that the nature of man, like that of all other created beings, is determinate, and that the faculties with which he is endowed are innate; that is, that they are implanted in him at his first formation, and are not the result merely of the external circumstances in which he may afterwards happen to be placed, nor of the wants and necessities to which these circumstances may have given rise. They warn us that this opinion is by no means at

variance with that of Locke, who argues only against the innateness of ideas, and not of the faculties or capacities of receiving ideas. Education, doubtless, has a powerful influence in modifying and giving certain directions to these faculties; but the faculties themselves, that is, the capacities of feeling, of intellect, and of action, must have already pre-existed before they could be called into play, and thus produce the various phenomena which diversify the scene of human life.”

After this, let us listen for a moment to the contemptible nonsense-the deplorable twaddle-of the fanciful philosophists, nicknamed metaphysicians, of the past age :

"Helvetius and other bold metaphysicians have maintained the paradox, that all men are born originally the same, and are moulded into what they afterwards become solely by the force of external circumstances. Genius, according to this doctrine, is a mere creature of the fancy, and originally belongs no more to one man than to another. Train all men alike, and their powers, their attainments, and their actions, will all be similar. Accident, more than design or premeditation, has fixed the destinies of great men, as well as disposed of those who are unknown to fame. 'Demosthenes,' say these philosophers, became eloquent, because he heard an oration of Callistratus, whose eloquence made so deep an impression on his mind, that he aspired only to acquire this talent. Vaucanson excelled in mathematics, because, being obliged, when a child, to stay alone in the waiting room of his mother's confessor, he found there a clock, examined its wheels, and endeavoured, with the help of a bad knife, to make a similar machine of wood. He succeeded; and one step leading on to another, he arrived at the construction of his wonderful automatons. Milton would not have composed his Paradise Lost, had he not been deprived of his place of secretary to Cromwell. Shakspeare composed his tragedies because he was an actor, and he became an actor because he was forced to leave his native place on account of some juvenile errors. Corneille fell in love, made verses for the object of his passion, and thence became a Newton, while he was in a contemplative mood: this great poet. An apple fell from a tree at the feet of event, so trivial in itself, led him to the theory of gravitation. Reflections of a similar kind are often met with in the writings of poets and moralists. Those contained in Gray's Elegy must be familiar to all our readers. Dr. Johnson considered talents or genius as a thing that, when once existing, might be directed any way. Newton, he thought, might have become a Shakspeare, for, said he, a man who can run fifty miles to the south, can run fifty miles to the north."

Now, were they only worth powder and shot, five sentences would suffice to lay these drivellers upon their backs for ever.

nology; but, abating a slight and only occaDr. Roget is a determined opponent of phresionally shewn disposition to sneer, he is a fair and honourable one. As such, and as our present limits will not permit us to moot the

"There is this very remarkable peculiarity in the pursuit of phrenology, that the student is perplexed, not with the difficulties, but with the facilities it affords for explaining every phenomenon. The pliability of its doctrines is exemplified, not merely in the analysis of motives, but likewise in the influence which we are allowed to ascribe to the habitual exercise, or education of the faculties. The observed magnitudes of the respective organs indicate, not the acquired, but the natural powers, sentiments, and propensities. Now, the character of the individual is the joint result of the force of natural endowments, and of the amount of moral and intellectual cultivation which has been bestowed upon them. But can we ever know enough| of the minute history of the progress of the mind of any individual to enable us to form a correct estimate of the relative power of these two elements, which have, in the formation of each respective faculty, combined their operations? If it be true that an organ may be the seat of a faculty varying in its activity according to the occasions which call it forth, by what physical criterion can we distinguish the active from the dormant conditions of that organ? Unless we can draw, with precision, these distinctions, it is evident that the ground of all cranioscopical

observation is cut from under us.

"It may be indeed alleged, that at all periods of life, and even after the bones of the skull are consolidated, the organs increase or diminish in size according to the exercise or disuse of the faculty associated with it, whether such change may have been brought about by voluntary training, or by the discipline of circumstances; and certainly, if such were the fact, our experience would repose on a much surer basis, than if the form of the organs merely retained the stamp originally impressed upon them by nature. But the hypothesis that the cerebral organs acquire additional size by the exercise of their powers was positively rejected as untenable by Dr. Spurzheim, as we have heard him publicly declare; and it is, we believe, repudiated by the generality of phrenologists.

"We do not think it difficult to account for the progress which phrenology has made amongst the very numerous class of persons who find in it a source of agreeable occupation, giving exercise to their ingenuity in discovering striking coincidences, and gratifying their self-complacency by inspiring them with the fancy that they are penetrating far into the mystic regions of psychology. For the last twenty or thirty years, various popular writers, and lecturers without number, have been displaying their powers of elocution, exercising their skill in the critical examination of developements, and expounding the doctrines of the new philosophy to wondering and admiring audiences. With all these advantages and appliances to boot, the wonder seems to be, not that phrenology has met with the success of which so much boast is made, but that it has not speedily gained the universal assent; for had it been a real science, like that of Chemistry and other branches of Natural Philosophy, founded on uniform and unquestionable evidence, it could not have failed, by this time, of being generally recognised as true.

"When we consider that the present age is not one in which there is any lack of credulity, or in which a

novelty or its extravagance, we cannot but smile at of the system of Dr. Gall, and at the attempts they the complaints of persecution uttered by the votaries make to set up a parallel between its reception in this country, in these times, and that which, two centuries ago, attended the speculations of Galileo, and subjected him to the tyrannous cognisance of the Indogmas of phrenology and the discoveries of the cirquisition; or to establish an analogy between the culation of the blood, and of the analysis of light, which have immortalized the names of Harvey and of Newton."

THE GRAVE OF L. E. L.
By the Author of "The Siege of Zaragoza,” “Childe Harold's
Pilgrimage," "Lyrical Poems," &c.
A foreign home for THEE, thou rarely gifted-
For thee, whose spirit midst the festive throng
Revelled in wit, and gushed forth free in gladness.-
A foreign home for thee, on arid sands,
Where the hot raging sun with level ray
Withers the germ of all things--and the soul,
The human soul-with its wide world of wealth,
Looks from the fleshly prison-house, in vain,
For the twin thought that is a solemn pledge
Of a new life in Heaven.

A foreign GRAVE for thee, whose loving heart
Dwelt in the greenness of its father-land,
Where violets and every hallowed flower
That thou hast sung of should surround thy tomb,
And shed their dews!-Thou early dead-
Daughter of light and music-whose sweet lay
Yet lingers on our fond and sorrowing ear-
Thy mother earth-thy own dear mother earth
Calls for thy relics! English hearts, that boasted
Of thy harp's dulcet breathings-English hearts,
That watched with honest pride thy bright career,
From the first dawn of its resplendent day
Unto its full meridian,—long to kneel
And weep upon thy grave! Thou nightingale!
Though thy last plaintive note was breathed afar,
Thy dust at least must rest within the land
Where glowed thy goodness, and where lives thy song.

SCRAPIANA.

Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto.

L.S.S

VIRG.

Zoological Weather Glass. At Schwartzengen, in the post house, two frogs, of the species rana arborea, are kept in a glass jar, about eighteen inches in height, and six inches in diameter, with the depth of three or four inches at the bottom, and a small ladder reaching to the top of the jar. On the approach of dry weather the frogs mount the ladder, and when wet weather is expected they descend into the water. These animals are of a bright green, and in their wild state, climb the trees in search of insects, and make a peculiar singing noise before rain. In the jar they get no other food than now and then a fly, one of which, would serve a frog for nearly a week, though it will eat from six to twelve in a day, if it can get them. In catching the flies, put alive into the jars, the frogs display much adroitness. Ann. des Sciences d'Observations.

Curious Handbill of a French Perfumer.

Le Sieur Papillote, from Paris, makes to know to the Nobel Gentrys of LONDRES, that he construct every espéce of COFFES FOR THE HEAD, bos for the Ladies and Gentlemen.—Also TUPES TOPS, TAILS, SIDE CURLES for fall graceful on the NECK, and all else that finish the head. He make ROUGE for the CHEEK, and ROSES for the LIP, allso superflous hairs to take off.

Also chez lui, all sort of necessary for the ladies to dress, in the shortest notice; wis Baths of the Hot Water, and Cold Water. He administer BUTY to the Ladies and Greases to the Gentleman, at the best market. Enfin, for ever desirous to be patron for the Ladies | he devotes himself to them, as follow:-Smell of all sort-Water of Thousand fleur-Tabac of Ditto Poudre of the same-Milk of Rose-Huile Antique Comes to Friz-ditto of Tails-ditto for braid the Hair-Water of Cossack-Huile à la BlucherGrease of the Bear-Bloom of Sicily-Razor Strop of Packwood-Lip Save--Flesh Brush-and Pomade divine for the Qualitie-Together with Essence of all sort for the Toilette and all kind of Adornment too numérance mension. He cannot shut this paper wisout make thousand compliances for the kind public, and his general Friends patronage.

Old Plays.

About fifty years ago,

Mr. Nicol, for the King (Geo. 3) and Duke of Roxburghe, gave 35l. 14s. for the first folio edition of Shakespeare, and 41. for the second.

Mr. MALONE 71. 5s. for a Romeo and Juliet. Printed for T. Creed, 1599.

Mr. KEMBLE, 171. 6s. 6d. for Hamlet. Printed by J. R., for N. L., 1604. This is half a guinea more than Mr. Malone gave for the famous Dido, in Dr. Wright's sale.

The bidders for Hamlet were
The King

Mr. Kemble

Duke of Grafton Mr. Stevens.

It was put in at a guinea. Mr. Kemble said "Ten guineas; I never offer any thing less for a thing than it is worth." Hamlet did Mr. Kemble honour in

Dr. BARTON, Warden of Merton College, was the oddity of his time. The Vice Master of Trinity of Cambridge, the celebrated Dr. Meredith, did not exceed him in that singular humour in which some men indulge, who retire from the world.

Of both, Punning was the characteristic, and many of the Puns that were let off by each, are remembered as the great guns of the university. Of those belonging to Dr. Barton, I believe the following are little known.

As he was a man of remarkable insensibility people

told him every thing that happened. A Gentleman Coming one day into his room, told him that Dr. Vowel was dead! "What!" said he, " Vowel dead? thank God, it is neither u nor I."

and then disobliged a father who took away his son As his manners were of the roughest cast, he now from him. An opponent who did not like him, observed he had lost a Pupil. "No matter,” replied hẹ, “I have another pupil in my eye."

As he was one day walking with a brother Fellow, a man came dashing up at a full gallop and nearly rode over them, "Now, that fellow is a Grecian." said old BARTON, “A Grecian, how so?" replied the other, "Why," answered the punster, "HE-ROD-ATus."

Dr. EVELEIGH, who, with his family, was some years ago at Weymouth, gave occasion to old Lee, the last punster of the old school, and the master of Baliol College, Oxford, for more than half a century, to make his dying pun!

Dr. E. had recovered from some consumptive disorders by the use of egg diet, and had soon after married. Weatherall, the master of the University College, went to Dr. Lee, then sick in bed, resolved to discharge a pun, which he had made. "Well, Sir," said he, "Dr. E. has been egg'd on to matrimony." "Has he?" said LEE-"Why then I hope the yoke will sit easy."

In a few hours after Dr. Lee died; the yoke did sit easy on Dr. Eveleigh, for he had a most amiable wife, whose manners combined with his own worth and learning to make the College happy over which he presided.

NOTICE OF NEW BOOKS, &c.

Historical Sketch of the Rise, Progress, and Decline of the Reformation in Poland, and of the Influence which the Scriptural Doctrines have exercised on that Country in Literary, Moral, and Political Respects. By Count Valerian Krasinski, 8vo. Vol. I. Murray.

Ir proof were wanting of the fierce, intolerant, and uncompromising spirit of the Roman Catholic religion of its unappeasable enmity to all that is dear and sacred to man, under the denomination of civil and religious liberty it might be found in the pages of this ably-written, and in all respects, eminently important volume. Look at the different nations of Europe at the present moment, and see whether the most ignorant, and the most enslaved, are not those which are the most exclusively under the sway of the Romish priesthood. In Spain and in Portugal, for instance, would the people be the wretched grovelling tools of faction and despotism that they are, but for the domination of the priesthood-of a crafty, wily priesthood, the mass of which is just sufficiently elevated in education and intellect above the common herd, to perceive that upon maintaining the most blind and besotted ignorance amongst the population, its own very existence depends. To come nearer home-to our own doors as it were-look at Ireland. What is it that prevents Ireland from becoming a civilized, peaceful, happy, and prosperous country-a country that, in becoming great and glorious itself, might add to the greatness and glory of Britain-but the do