FINE ARTS.-PUBLICATIONS.

The Monastic Annals of Teviotdale. By the Rev. JAMES MORETON, F.S.A.E. Part I. 4to. Lizars, Edinburgh; Longman and Co., London.

This is a most interesting and beautiful work, and starts with an account of Jedburgh Abbey-a spot rendered highly interesting to Scotsmen by many historical recollections, and rendered familiar to the world by the figure it has made in another walk of literature which will be equally durable. The plates, of which there are three, are very beautifully engraved by Lizars of Edinburgh, and do great credit to the artist's skill. The general view of the abbey from the south is a most delightful print. The historical records are compiled with great industry; and, as far as we can judge, with scrupulous fidelity. If the future numbers of this work come up to this specimen, we have no hesitation in saying it will not only deserve, but find a most flattering reception from the public. Jedburgh Abbey appears to be one of the largest monastic relics in Scotland, and its remains are truly noble.

Sketches in Italy, drawn on Stone by W: Linton. No. V.
Moon, Boys, and Graves.

This work of Mr. Linton's proceeds in the same beautiful style as the preceding numbers. The first view in the present is the Bridge Della Trinita at Florence, a most elegant and truly beautiful structure. The Lago d'Osta is a fine romantic scene. The Convent of St. Scholastica, Nepi, Cavi, and, lastly, the magnificent temples of Pæstum, are among the sketches in the present number. Subiaco is singularly romantic, while the Convent of St. Cosimato, among savage rocks, is a fit spot for the dwelling of Salvator Rosa. To us this work is worthy the pencil and fame of Mr. Linton, whose name is a guarantee for its excellence. The drawing is bold and masterly; and the lithography displays admirably well the scenes, which are delineated in the freest manner of light and shade.

Martin's Illustrations of the Bible. Part II.

This number comprises the third and fourth plates of Mr. Martin's series. The plates are 11 inches by 73. One of the present plates is from Gen. iii. 8, 9, 10, 11. This engraving is one of the most charming of Mr. Martin's burin. The double light is uncommonly well managed and very effective, and the mass of shade well defined. The situation of the moon and her pale light explains that the light in the foreground proceeds from no natural cause. There is perfect simplicity in it as a composition. The other print is not so elaborate; we judge from it, however, that Mr. Martin has applied himself closely to the study of the human figure. We trust he will proceed with this work; for it opens a vast field for his talents, and cannot fail to interest under a hand directed by a genius so happily adapted to its subject.

MUSIC.-ITALIAN OPERA.

In the present dearth of musical performances in the metropolis, we can only speak of the musical preparations which are making to open the campaign next season at the Opera with unprecedented splendour and novelty. The new lessee, we understand, has been most assidously collecting a powerful and various corps du theatre; so that, from his own musical abilities, united with an efficient company, we anticipate the most glorious results in the cause of reform in this charming department of art. Many judicious changes are now making in the internal construction of the theatre and its avenues. The comfort of the audience will be very much increased, and the coup d'œil of the ensemble rendered much more splendid than it has been hitherto. We trust it will not be deemed poetical if we say, that we consider the star of lamps (which, on the night of the late illuminations, appeared to be supernaturally suspended at a height of forty feet above the Opera House) as emblematical of the regeneration of that establishment. It hung apparently unconnected with earth, and gave ominous promise of better times. The ingenious contriver of this star, and the other modes of lighting the outlines of the building, deserves great praise. We have already heard of several new operas (new to the English public) which it is the intention of the lessee to produce in succession. We cordially wish him success in his difficult undertaking.

With respect to other establishments we know but little of their preparations in the musical way. Drury is to be a bear-garden, but what kind of garden Covent

Garden is to be we have not as yet heard. The managers will turn these two formerly favourite resorts into desarts, if they persist in their wild speculations.

The directors of the City Amateur Concerts (the most creditable things of the kind to English musical taste) have determined to be very brilliant in the ensuing season. These concerts owe their origin to a young artist named Dandoe, of the highest ability in his art, and who evinces a thorough knowledge and enthusiastic love for good music, without which good music cannot be hoped for. We confess, from what we have heard these last two seasons, that the City beats the West End hollow, in real and honest efforts to promote true music. Go on, gentlemen amateurs, you have done wonders, and will do more by your liberality than fifty exclusive societies can effect.

MUSIC.-PUBLICATIONS.

"Britannia one day reclined o'er the wave,"-a Loyal and Patriotic Song, dedicated to the Earl of Munster. By PIERCE EGAN. The music composed by T. HUGHES. Purday.

This is a patriotic song by our old friend of Tom and Jerry celebrity, and is very animated and appropriate at this moment. It is a tribute to William IV. as a sailor. The music is good.

Both song and ballad are to the music of J. F. Dannelly, and will be found very pleasing compositions. The last has been uncommonly well received by the public, but not better than it merited.

"No bird is on the wing." DAnnelly.

The words are by Thomas Haynes Bayley, Esq., the inditer of words to all the modern musical compositions. The music of Mr. Dannelly is decidedly to be commended. Mr. Bayley's words here are not happy. He tells us "No bird is on the wing to night," but that the owl on the old oak-tree stands a sentinel. We were not aware that this was necessary to be told, even to the simplest of us. Except the bat, we know of none but the owl that flies at midnight.

DRAMATIC REVIEW.

We

THE ENGLISH OPERA, as we predicted, has been retrieving some of its former losses, by the success of Mr. Peake's piece of "The Evil Eye," which has been gradually increasing in attraction, and has made the treasury feel its value so much, that Mr. Arnold has engaged the Adelphi for a few nights longer than was contemplated in the original arrangement with Messrs. Mathews and Yates. rejoice that so indefatigable a servant of the public as Mr. Arnold should have even this little gleam of sunshine, in the midst of those clouds, under which the indecision and delay of Parliament with regard to the new street still continue to keep him. There seems indeed a fatality attending this measure, which threatens to be of the greatest detriment to Mr. Arnold, who has already lost two seasons in consequence of the delay of this Bill in the House of Commons. Twice had it arrived at the third reading, when the change of Ministry in the first instance, and the dissolution of Parliament in the second, induced the necessity of commencing all the proceedings de novo. A third time it has arrived, during the present session, at the same stage; when up jumps Mr. Whittle Harvey, who moves for a committee up stairs, in which he opposes the Bill, with a virulence which it is very difficult to attribute to any good motive. The Bill, however, has passed, and enables Mr. Arnold to restore to the public their old favourite place of resort-the English Opera House.

THE HAYMARKET has made the worst season, we are sorry to say, that it has had these last thirty years. Yet, Mr. Morris has been so far from idle, that almost every week has brought its novelty of some sort or other; and many of these novelties have really possessed much merit. In the hope of, in some measure, retrieving his season, the proprietor has now engaged Mr. Kean at a salary of 501. per night, to take his second or third last-leave of the British public. The "More last words of Mr. Baxter," is really a joke in comparison with the leave-taking of our stage heroes. Mr. Kean may add to the strength of his purse, but certainly not to his

fame, by these repeated appearances. The great excellence of his acting, and that which gave him his popularity, was his energy; and this has left him with his physical strength. He was wont to act ‘even to his fingers' ends;' every portion of his great muscular strength was enlisted in the service of his performance, and the audience were carried away by the appearance of reality which this energy gave to his personations. But, with a constitution broken down-with limbs attenuatedeyes dimmed of their fire by sickness-and a voice sinking under years of suffering -Mr. Kean is not what he was; and we go to see him, rather as a splendid ruin, in which we try to trace his former beauties, than from any excellence of his present acting. Recollecting what we do of Mr. Kean, knowing the opportunities he has enjoyed and neglected, we are always melancholy when we see, or think, or write about him. In a career of double the length of that of Mr. Kean, Mr. Kemble scarcely received half as much money; yet he contrived to make himself proprietor and manager of the then most splendid theatrical establishment in England; while Mr. Kean figures away only as a partner in a minor establishment in the city, and proprietor, or lessee, of a small provincial theatre at Richmond. Of tragedies at this theatre, we have long since given our opinion, an opinion in which all our contemporaries have coincided; nor do the attractions of Mr. Kean compensate for the wretched assemblage and costume which make up the minor departments of Haymarket tragedy. Mr. Morris's company, as well as audience, are the votaries of Momus rather than of Melpomene. We cannot help thinking we see them laugh, at the moment they are wiping their eyes and attempting to squeeze out a tear; and we regret that any thing like an unsuccessful season should have induced Mr. Morris to have recourse to a tragic altar, as his principal source of attraction.

We must now, however, bid adieu to the summer season. October is bringing in candle-light dinners and the great winter theatres, in one of which, at any rate, great preparations are making for the entertainment of the public.

DRURY LANE THEATRE.-By the misfortunes of the last season, Captain Polhill, the member for Bedford, who beat Lord John Russell in that town by a glorious majority of one-a number which seems to attach to the measures of this nobleman-bas become the sole lessee of Drury Lane Theatre; and fully aware of the energies necessary, and of the talent requisite for the conduct of such an establishment, he seems to have omitted no effort to deserve, if not to ensure, success. For this purpose he has composed a kind of cabinet of management, consisting of Mr. W. Dunn, the respected treasurer of the establishment-Mr. Morton, the dramatic authorMr. Wallack, the stage-manager-and Mr. Bunn, who is known to have produced Mr. Elliston the most successful season, which he enjoyed during his lessee-ship of this theatre. These gentlemen think and propose what they conceive would tend most to the interests of the establishment; and Captain Polhill himself decides as to the adoption or rejection of their propositions-his determination being guided, as much by his own ideas of the entertainment of the public, as by that of prudence, the absence of which ruined the prospects of last year.

By the united exertions of these gentlemen, Macready, Richard Jones, Mr. and Mrs. Wood, (Miss Paton,) Mrs. Humby, with all the old favourites, and several additional candidates for public favour, have already been engaged; while a contract has been entered into with Mr. Planche for the production of Auber's celebrated opera of Le Philtre (The Love Powder), and Messrs. Kenney and Poole are playing Beaumont and Fletcher with the Possedé, which has created such a sensation lately in Paris. Mrs. Charles Gore has likewise an original comedy on the stocks for this theatre; and Bishop is composing an opera; while Stanfield with his magic pencil is forwarding the scenic embellishments of all the new pieces.

In addition to the biped actors of this establishment, Captain Polhill has likewise, at a great expense, engaged Mr. Martin's corps of lions, tigers, boas, &c., which have been performing with such distinguished success, and with so much applause, in several parts of the continent. We do not give our unqualified approbation of one of our great establishments thus infringing upon the privileges of the minors; but when it is recollected how much money these latter draw from the purses of the play-going public, we do not wonder at the metropolitan theatres securing to themselves every kind of attraction. Independently, however, of this, the corps of Mr. Martin is said to be so remarkable in its performances, that we can easily imagine the hopes of success which its engagement must create. But we will not anticipate all those remarkable feats which Captain Polhill is at present embodying into a drama, and which will be aided by the powerful pencil of Stanfield, in a piece which will exhibit all the wild sports of the East.

Mr. Martin himself, who performs with his animals, is a very remarkable person : he seems to have attained an entire command over the brute creation; he can put his hand into the mouth of a lion roaring with rage, and the fury of the animal is stopped; he nurses lions as shepherds nurse their lambs; plays at chin-chopper with an alligator, and cherry-bob with a boa-constrictor; he sleeps with a tiger, and has no objection to wake with a roarer.

The consequences of this engagement have been a great emulation on the part of

our English proprietors of menageries. Wombwell and Atkins are busy teaching their different animals to vie with those of their French rival, and we should not wonder at all if a Royal Academy of Histrionic Wild Beasts were to be established in the metropolis.

In addition to this entertainment in the inside of this theatre, the long promised colonnade is now erecting on the outside; which will prove a very great accommodation to the public, in going to, and returning from, the theatre. By means of this erection, during wet weather ten carriages will be enabled to set down and take up, where one only could do so before. With such utility we must not be fastidious about the beauty of such a construction; its usefulness must make up for its deficiency of ornament, and we must be content with the "eye-sore" of its appearance, when we recollect its conveniences.

All these exertions show an energy on the part of Captain Polhill, which we trust will meet with a corresponding patronage on the part of the public. The difficulty of these arrangements has likewise been greatly enhanced by the many imprudent engagements made by Captain Polhill's partner, last season; many of which were made without his consent, and almost all without his being any party to them.

COVENT GARDEN THEATRE.-That the energies of this establishment are not commensurate with those of its rival, is more owing to the chancery-suit; the final appeal in which ruinous cause is now pending in the House of Lords. Mr. Kemble is, however, not idle: he is collecting as good a company as the uncertainty of his tenure will permit; and will, no doubt, open at his usual period, in spite of all the legal liabilities he will by this act entail upon himself.

The chancery-suit has (thanks to the lawyers) outlived the lease itself, about which it was originally instituted; and until this appeal is decided in the House of Lords, nothing can with any certainty be proceeded in. It is a fact, that this unhappy chancery-suit has actually cost a sum large enough, nearly, to have paid all the debts of the establishment.

Wishing well to both the concerns, we trust they will both afford the public plenty of entertainment, and to us plenty of food for criticism.

LEARNED SOCIETIES.

ROYAL SOCIETY.-At the last meeting of the session, the first paper read was on the tides in the port of London, by Mr. Lubbock. The author remarks, that the tides in the River Thames are remarkably regular: whether the moon's declination be N. or S., no change takes place in tides generally; and it appears that there is high-water at the same instant on the coast of Portugal and the northern shores of America. The attention of the meeting was directed to a communication from Sir James South, on the extensive atmosphere of Mars. This paper was not read, as several of Sir James's calculations were unfinished. Two papers by Snow Harris, Esq. were read; the first was on the efficacy of screens in arresting the progress of magnetic influence. The author shows that every substance susceptible of magnetic change can operate as a screen; the screening power being directly as the mass and susceptibility of magnetic change. The second paper was on the effects of masses of iron in controlling the attracting force of the magnet. The author here endeavours to show, that in the attracting phenomena observed between a magnet and a mass of iron, the former is to be considered rather as the patient than as the agent. The following are the titles of the other papers read. On re-crossed vision, by John Fearn, Esq. On the sources and nature of the powers on which the circulation of the blood depends, by Dr. Philip. Experiments on the length of the seconds pendulum, at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, by Captain Sabine. On the friction and resistance of fluids, by J. Rennie, Esq. On a new register pyrometer, for measuring the expansion of solids, by W. Daniels, Esq. On the determination of the thickness of solid substances, not otherwise measurable by magnetic deviation, by the Rev. W. Scoresby. On the influence of light, by John Burton, Esq. A critical and experimental inquiry into the relation subsisting bebetween nerve and muscle, by Dr. W. C. Henry. And on the thermostat, or heatgovernor, a self-acting physical apparatus for regulating temperature, constructed by Dr. Ure, the author of the paper: great practical utility promises to result from this invention.

GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.-The following is the substance of a paper alluded to in a former No., as having been read before the Society, June 27. - Previous to the reading of the paper the President addressed the members, and stated briefly the method which had been adopted in laying down the course of the river. Although neither of the travellers were capable of making observations for latitude and longitude, and possessed neither instruments nor chronometers,

their track could be pretty nearly ascertained. The position of the mouth of the river Nun on the sea-coast was known, and also that of Boussa, which had been laid down by Clapperton; the former being the southern, and the latter the northern limit, between which all the river navigation must necessarily fall. The courses pursued by the travellers between these two points each day, and the estimated distance they had passed over, after making allowance for the current, were laid down successively until their arrival at the sea, on a very large scale. This was then reduced into the sheets laid before the Society, and again reduced into the map; and the coincidences observable between the positions of places now met with and those formerly assigned to them, render it extremely probable that the course of the Quorra has been determined with an accuracy that could hardly have been expected. The River Coodoonia, flowing from N.E. out of the Nyffe country, was passed precisely where it is laid down by Clapperton, and the junction of the Tchadda with the Quorra was found much in the same place as laid down by report. Youri was also laid down about four days' journey up the Quorra to the north of Boussa, and agreed very nearly with respect to the position of Sockatoo, which had been previously laid down by Clapperton. The paper commenced with the departure of the Landers in January 1830 from Portmouth, and their arrival on the coast. Their directions were to proceed to Boussa by land from Badagry, and from thence up the river to Youri. At this place they were to embark on the Quorra or Niger, and not to quit the river, lead where it might, until they came to its termination at the sea-orders which they have executed to the very letter. Mr. Barrow stated it as his opinion, that the Niger has nothing whatever to do with the Quorra, and believes the former to be entirely another river. There are two remarkable facts which may be thrown out for the consideration of those who would speculate on this matter:-one is, that the word Niger was never met with by the Landers among the natives on any part of its banks-that it was called the Quorta by those to the northward; and the other is, that to the southward it was called by the natives by a name signifying black' or 'dark water.' It is also called by them the Father of Waters. The approach to Kiama is described as being highly interesting and romantic. The road lay through a forest of immense trees; so dense was their foliage, that the light from above was entirely excluded. It had become late in the day, and they were yet some distance from the town. Towards dusk, they were met by a party of mounted soldiers, dispatched by the king of Kiama to escort them into his town. Night came on, and the fire-flies, which sported around them, like particles of flame, in all directions, were reflected from the gaudy trappings of the horses, and the accoutrements and arms of the soldiers. The whole forest was full of them. The soldiers rode sometimes by their side, or dropped in their rear, and again galloped suddenly past them before, contributing in no small degree to the bustle and importance of the cavalcade, which after a few hours arrived at Kiama. The travellers were immediately conveyed into the presence of the king, who received them graciously, and ordered them to be lodged in one of the best houses of the town. When passing through another town, the horse soldiers, on their arrival, immediately rode up to them, and after going through their mancuvres, by brandishing their swords within an inch of their noses, (to their no small discomfiture,) dismounted and prostrated themselves before them, assuring them at the same time of the health of their sovereign. On arriving at Boussa, the travellers were surprised on finding it to be situated on the main land, and not on an island, as Clapperton had supposed it to be. This was, however, easily accounted for. Boussa is situated on the fork formed by the junction of a sluggish river with the Quorra. This is called by Clapperton, the Menai branch of the Quorra; and, having passed it to reach Boussa, supposing it to be a branch of the Quorra, he naturally imagined that Boussa was on an island. At Boussa they were well received by the king; and being anxious to obtain the papers of Park, who was lost off that place, they were deterred from asking about them at first, by the apprehension of affronting the king, or incurring his displeasure. They were at length bold enough to make the inquiry, and heard of a man who had in his possession, a book which had been preserved by him as having belonged to that unfortunate traveller. Accordingly, a reward was promised if it should be the journal they were in quest of; and with much pomp and ceremony, as well as care, the book in question was brought on an appointed day, anxiety and eagerness possessing both parties alike— the one to obtain the proffered reward, the other to secure Park's journal. The book was slowly unrolled from a napkin in which it was preserved, and turned out to be no more than a book of logarithms, to the great diappointment of both parties. The celebrated city of Youri was reached by a tedious passage of four days up the river, which in one part, a short distance from Boussa, was so shallow that it was nearly fordable': this was in the end of June, the last of the dry season. While at Youri, the rains set in; and, before they left it, the place was half covered with water. This is frequently the case with the towns on the Quorra: they are built so close to the river in most places, and in others they are so low, that when the river swells by the rains, the towns are half overflowed. Youri was left by the