Mons, and Mde. TAGLIONI, and a corps du ballet, consisting of eighty of the best figurantes of the Academie Royale. Directeur du Ballet, TAGLIONI, Pére.

Among the miscellaneous, we have unquestionable authority for stating, that Herr SCHRYER'S veritable troop of dogs and monkeys, from the Theatre Royal, have come into terms for an engagement of six nights; on which occasion the Thames Tunnel will make its first appearance in America. To meet the enormous demand upon the treasury, which the engagement of this extraordinary combination of talent will create, the prices will be advanced to five dollars to the boxes, and two-fifty to the pit. We are happy to have it in our power farther to inform our readers, that Mr. NICHOLAS BIDDLE, late of the Bank of the United States, will undertake the management and control of the treasury department.

C.

NATIONAL NAMES. The reader will call to mind, in perusing the article entitled 'National Nomenclature,' elsewhere in the present number, a letter from a distinguished American gentleman, then in London, which appeared in the KNICKERBOCKER some months since: 'Let me entreat you,' says he, to give our unhappy country a name! Some years ago, a patriotic and commendable effort was made to adopt the name of FREDONIA. This so far succeeded, that we are, for want of a better, still partially known by it in Europe; and you may see for sale the flags of all nations illustrated on a map, with this name in connection with our flag. The term 'United States' is very indefinite; so indeed is that of the United States of America,' as well as extremely inconvenient. Some 'citizens of the United States of America,' (what a wretched circumlocution!) visiting the Thames Tunnel, inserted after their names, 'Virginia.' Now whatever we may think of their intelligence, not one in ten of those whose names are there registered, ever hear of Virginia, or even know where it is. For the want of a name, too, the inhabitants of the United States of America' are called. Yankees, and this is applied to a Louisianian as well as to a New-Englander. The newspapers, also, for want of one convenient word, are driven to inexpressive and ungraceful diminutives. At home, we do not so clearly see the want of a cognomen; but any native of the United States travelling in Europe, will keenly feel the need of a name and patronymic.' Foreigners have repeatedly taken notice of our 'classical' towns. Capt. MARRYAT, in his late work, speaking of the village of Syracuse, in this state, says: I do detest these old names, vamped up. Why do not the Americans take the Indian names? They need not be so very scrupulous about it; they have robbed the Indians of every thing else.'

COLLEGIATE ADDRESS. We have before us an 'Address delivered at the third anniversary celebration of the Alpha Delta Phi Society of Miami University, on the Triumphs of Mind,' by GILES M. HILLYER.' To the inculcations of this address, we yield our hearty assent; but we must declare of its style, that it is labored and sophomorical, to the last degree. Nearly half a dozen times in a page, the writer is compelled to take refuge in a quotation. Scrap succeeds scrap, to the number of forty; indeed, they are thickly sprinkled throughout the brief discourse. We remember, also, one or two amusing examples of catachresis, on pages indicated in our memoranda; but the pamphlet has been mislaid, and we cannot cite them. The same laughable error struck us in an English work, into which we casually glanced, not long since. The writer spoke of 'removing the mask, and exposing the cloven foot,' and of 'giving the hydra-headed monster a rap over the knuckles!' The Address is from the press of Messrs. L'HOMMEDIEU AND COMPANY, Cincinnati.

THE NEW-YORK GAZETTE. -Our opinion of this antediluvian journal - which the first navigator 'took in,' regularly, till his craft grounded one morning, on the top of Ararat, when he stopped, without paying his subscription - has been already expressed in these pages. As it is quite unnecessary to repeat, that Mr. DANIELS, its sole editor until recently, in independence, tact, genuine humor, and an agreeable, lively style, is just what the editor of a popular daily sheet should be, we shall say nothing on that point; but simply state, that A. MCCALL, Esq., late of the 'Troy Whig,' and now associated with Mr. DANIELS in the proprietorship and editorial responsibilities of the Gazette, is reported to be, in all respects, an equal co-laborer with his established partner. The 'Gazette' will be a newspaper of the first class; and we are glad to learn, that a semiweekly for the country is to be commenced. We hazard nothing in saying, that it will be as well worth taking as any journal in the country.

'UNDINE.' -The second publication of Mr. SAMUEL COLMAN'S 'Library of Romance' is 'Undine, a Miniature Romance, from the German of BARON DE LA MOTTE FOUQUE.' It was pronounced a work eminent for 'the fine and the subtle,' by COLERIDGE, and the translator deems it 'a master-piece in its department of German literature.' Why the volume should be encumbered with prefaces, independent of the translator's ample introduction, passes our comprehension to discern. They raise questions never elsewhere started, for the purpose of introducing a forced discussion, which has more of misty affectation, both of thought and style, than of comprehensive argument. In short, if this species of preface is intended to form what the Italians term the ‘salsa del libro,' or 'sauce of the book,' we should prefer to take the volume without the trimmings; however much the choice, to adopt the lucid language of the editor, may 'argue a sad discernment of the better gust!'

A 'CURTAILED ABBREVIATION.' The brief notice of the 'plate-number' of the 'NewYork Mirror,' in our last issue, was clipped of an allusion to the 'Light of the Light House,' a beautiful poem by EPES SARGEANT, Esq., and of the capital extract annexed, descriptive of the daughter of the light-house keeper. The second stanza is exquisite:

A fairy thing, not five years old,

So full of joy and grace,

It is a rapture to behold

The beauty of her face!

And O! to hear her happy voice,

Her laughter ringing free,

Would make the gloomiest heart rejoice,
And turn despair to glee.

The ocean's blue is in her eyes,

Its coral in her lips,

And in her cheek the mingled dyes,
No sea-shell could eclipse!
And, as she climbs the weedy rocks,
And with the sunshine plays,

The wind that lifts her golden locks,
Seems more to love their rays.'

THE KNI C KER BOCKER.

VOL. XIV.

SEPTEMBER, 1839.

No. 3.

SCIPIO'S DREAM.

In a recent letter of Hon. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, that distinguished scholar recommends the translation of the 'Somnium Scipionis,' among other philosophical productions of CICERO. The following, prepared with much care and labor, is respectfully submitted to the readers of the KNICKERBOCKER It is intended to establish,' says DUNLOP, in his 'Roman Literature,'' under the form of a political fiction, the sublime dogma of the soul's immortality; and was probably introduced at the conclusion of 'De Republica,' for the purpose of adding the hopes and fears of future retribution to the other motives to virtuous exertion.' The speaker is PUBLIUS EMILIANUS SCIPIO, surnamed 'Africanus the Younger.'

You are aware that in the consulship of Manius Manilius, I held the post of tribune of the fourth legion. Upon arriving in Africa, I took the earliest opportunity to wait upon king Massinissa, for whom our family have reason to feel the warmest affection. When presented to him, the aged man clasped me in his arms, and burst into tears; presently, he looked up to heaven, and said: 'I thank thee, supreme sun, and ye other gods, that ere the close of life, I behold in my kingdom and beneath my roof, P. Cornelius Scipio, whose very name infuses new being into my limbs!' The memory of one so preeminently good, is ever present to my mind. I then made some inquiries about his kingdom, and he about our republic, till at length question and answer brought us to the close of the day.

After an entertainment, served up in a style of regal splendor, we protracted our conversation till a late hour of the night; and during the whole time, the old man's sole topic was Africanus, whose actions, and even sayings, he remembered with the utmost minuteness. Owing to the fatigues of my journey, and the lateness of the hour, upon retiring to rest, I fell into a sleep unusually sound. It frequently happens, that our subjects of study and conversation produce in sleep a result like that which Ennius relates in an anecdote of Homer, his constant theme during his waking hours; so in this instance, Africanus appeared to me, in a form which reminded me less of his person than of his image." I shuddered as I recognized him; but he said to me: Take courage, Scipio; banish fear, and treasure my words in your memory:'

Methought the place where we stood was at a vast height above the earth, and resplendent with the brilliancy of countless stars.

IT was customary with the Romans to place images of their ancestors in the halls of their dwellings.

Pointing to Carthage, he said : Do you see yonder city? Do you observe how that, despite her subjection to the power of Rome by my arms, she is reviving the wars of former times, with restless pertinacity? Have you not come to attack her with a rank but little superior to that of a common soldier? Within two years, a consulship shall enable you to accomplish her utter overthrow, and to earn for yourself a surname which you now hold by inheritance from me. When you shall have extirpated Carthage, received the honors of a triumph, of the censorship, of embassies to Egypt, Syria, Asia, and Greece, you will be again elected consul in your absence, and will terminate a momentous war, by the extinction of Numantia. But when the triumphal chariot is conveying you to the capitol, you will incur the displeasure of the republic, disordered by the machinations of my grand-son.* Then, Africanus, it will behoove you to display to your country the light of your mental accomplishments, of your genius and wisdom.'

' But here the path of destiny is but dimly revealed to me. For when your life shall have extended through seven times eight visits of the sun to either tropic, and when these two numbers, each of which is esteemed perfect, though for different reasons, shall, in the natural course of things, have brought around this period, to you most critical, then the whole state will turn their eyes to you alone; to you the senate to you, all good men to you our allies

to you the Latins, will look up; upon your shoulders the safety of the state will lean for support; in short, it will devolve upon you to quiet the republic, by the exercise of a dictator's power, provided you shall elude the designs of your own relatives upon your life.'

Here Lælius uttered an exclamation of surprise, and the rest groaned audibly: Scipio, however, said with a smile, ' Pray do not interrupt my slumbers; but a truce to the subject ; listen to the remainder.'

* As an incitement to greater zeal in guarding the weal of the republic, be it known to you, Africanus, that all those who may have benefitted, built up, or preserved their country, have a particular spot assigned to them in heaven, where they will enjoy a blessed eternity; for of all things upon earth, nothing is more acceptable to the Supreme Deity, the ruler of the universe, than those confederate bodies denominated states, whose governors and preservers having once gone forth from this place, will hither return.'

Now, though overwhelmed with fear, not so much of death, however, as of the treacherous designs of my relatives, I yet found courage to inquire, whether he himself, and my father Paulus, and others whom we supposed no more, were really living. Thosealone truly live,' said he, 'who have burst the bonds of the body, and escaped from that prison-house of the soul: the state which you call life, is death : but look! here comes your father Paulus !'

At sight of him, I burst into tears ; he embraced me with a kiss, and bade me weep no more.

Suppressing my tears, therefore, the moment I could speak, I said:

a

a

*Tell me, excellent, sainted father! since this is life, as Africanus says, why should I linger upon earth, in exile from you ?'

*So it must be,' said he ; • for unless the God of all this vast temple which you are surveying, shall himself release you from the thraldom of the body, no welcome hither will ever await you. For mankind are at birth subjected to this law; that they shall inhabit the earth, which

you observe in the centre of this temple ; and souls are given them from the essences of those sempiternal flames, which you call stars, and which, being of globular forms, and animated with divine minds, perform their revolutions with astonishing velocity. Wherefore you, Publius, and all the pious, must preserve the spirit in the prison-house of the body, and never quit the scenes of life, save by the command of the Giver of life; lest in so doing, you should seem recreant to a trust reposed by God. And remember, Scipio, like your uncle here, and like me who gave you being, to cultivate justice, and a dutiful affection ardent toward parents and relatives, but deepest toward your country. Such is the path to heaven, and the assembly of those who have already lived, and who, released from the body, now dwell in the region which you here behold.'

This region was the belt that flashes with the most vivid brilliancy, which you, after the Greeks, call the Milky Way. As I surveyed the universe from this station, every thing seemed grand and wonderful, in the highest degree. There were stars which we have never seen from the earth, and all of magnitudes such as we have never conceived ; by far exceeding that body, which, in the remotest part of heaven, shines with a borrowed light in the neighborhood of the earth. The earth itself is far inferior to them, and indeed is so inconsiderable, that I was ashamed to look upon our empire, which occupied, as it were, but a point on its surface.

As I continued gazing upon the earth, Africanus said to me, 'How long will your mind grovel thus? See you not the temple into which you have come ? The universe is made up of nine globes. One of these is external and divine, and includes the rest : this is the Supreme Deity himself, encompassing and keeping the whole in their places. It is a revolving globe, comprising the everlasting courses of the stars. Within this are placed seven globes, which revolve in a direction opposite to that of the superior heavens. Of these seven, one is the planet, on earth called Saturn. Next is Jupiter, whose brilliant light sheds health and prosperity upon man.

Next, is the fiery, terrible Mars. Next, in the centre of the planetary region, is the Sun; the chief, the leader and governor of the other lumidaries; the soul and regulator of the universe; of magnitude so vast, that immensity is filled with his light. Venus and Mercury attend him as satellites. The Moon, illumined by the sun's rays, revolves in the lowest orbit. Below her, all is mortal and perishable, except the soul, which the bounty of the gods has given to man. Above the moon, all is immortal. The earth, which is the ninth globe, and the central body of the universe, is the lowest of all the planets. It remains immoveable in space, and all ponderable substances tend toward it by their own gravity.'

Lost in wonder, I surveyed awhile the scene in silence. Upon recovering from my amazement, I inquired : “What is this sweet, full

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