"Cardinal Richelieu Ascending the derives its principal value from the entire Throne," and "The Death of Mazarin." originality of conception it displays, and About the same time he was elected one the poetic feeling thrown around the porof the members of the Académie des trait of the fallen conqueror of the world. Beaux Arts, and having opened a large In middle life the physiogonomy of M. Deatelier, he became a teacher. One of the laroche bore a striking resmbleance to finest of his historical pictures is" The As- that of the great Napoleon. His chief sassination of the Duke de Guise." This works are "Mirandola," "Pilgrim's Bewas that ambitious and implacable enemy fore St. Peter's at Rome," "Marie Antoiof the Huguenots, who advised the dread-nette," "The Happy Mother," and "Beatful massacre of St. Bartholomew, and from rice Cenci Led to Execution." The story motives of personal revenge took upon of the Cenci has been made known to himself the assassination of Coligny. Hav- most readers by Shelley's fine tragedy of ing become too powerful for the throne, that name. Delaroche most probably it was resolved that he should be private- took the idea of his portrait of the beautily dispatched, as it was impossible to ful parricide from the excellent painting bring him to a regular trial for treason. said to be by Guido Reni, in the palace The enterprise was entrusted to Lognac, of Colonna, at Rome, which has been the first chamberlain of the king, Henry III., means of spreading over all Europe the and captain of forty-five Gascon noblemen, tale of horror connected with her history. of the new Royal Guard. He selected Beatrice and her sister were executed nine of the most resolute, and concealed with a sort of guillotine, on the 11th of them in the king's cabinet. On the 23rd December, 1599. The estates of the CenDecember, 1588, the Duke of Guise went ci family were confiscated. To them beto the king, and was somewhat concerned longed what was afterwards called the at seeing the guards strengthened. As Villa Borghese, at Rome, since so greatly soon as he had entered the first hall, the celebrated for its treasures of art. It was doors were shut. Guise, however, pre- presented by Pope Paul V., who was of served a calm demeanor, and saluted the the house of Borghese, to his family, and bystanders with his usual courtesy. When ultimately came into possession of Prince about to enter the cabinet he was stab- Camillo Borghese, the husband of the bed with several daggers, and before Princess Maria Pauline, the beautiful and he could draw his sword he fell favorite sister of Napoleon I. Mirandola, dead, exclaiming, "God have mercy on the subject of the picture of the name me!" At the time of his death he was above mentioned, was an Admirable Crichthirty years old. In the painting repre- ton, of Italy, surnamed the Phoenix. He senting the assassination Delaroche dis- was considered by his contemporaries a played the originality of his genius, and his marvel of learning and genius. He went masterly finish. This great picture at one to Rome in 1486, and, we are told, protime belonged to the Duke of Orleans, the posed no fewer than nine hundred theses son of Louis Philippe, and in 1853 it was on all subjects, which he declared himself purchased by his brother, the Duke D'Au- ready to defend against all comers, acmale, for 52,000 francs, or two thousand cording to the custom of that age. As guineas. knights combatted each other in tourna ments, so learned men were wont to challenge each other to public wranglings and disputations. In Mirandola's case, no one ventured to appear against him, and he was left undisputed master of the field. He died at Florence in 1494, leaving two or three works in biblical literature, against astrology, etc., celebrated for their profound erudition.

From 1837 to 1841 M. Delaroche was engaged upon a vast and elaborate work, the painting of the Hemicycle at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, a work such as no other French painter of the time could have finished as he has done. It forms a sort of imaginary academy, or ideal assemblage of almost all the illustrious masters of past times, and it may well be considered his chef de œuvre.

The later pictures of Delaroche comprise two striking scenes in the history of the great Emperor, namely," Buonaparte Crossing the Alps," and "Napoleon at Fontainbleau." The latter, in particular,

For correctness of drawing, carefulness of finish, and accurate appreciation, as well as natural delineation of character, no French modern artist can equal Delaroche. Some French journals, among other works left by him, mention a "Marie Antoinette

EARL OF CLARENDO N.

LITERARY MISCELLANIES.

In this volume the author has assembled a constel-
lation of personages high on the roll of fame: pa-
triots, poets, heroes, sages, statesmen, and men of
science and letters, thirty in number, beginning with
Washington, and ending with Franklin, filling up
the intermediate ranks with eminent characters, such
as Southey, Fulton, Chateaubriand, Jeffrey, De
Witt Clinton, Berkeley, Sydney Smith, Joseph Ad-
dison, and others whose mental and characteristic por-
traitures are drawn and depicted with life-like linea-
ments by the vigorous descriptive and discriminat-
ing pen of Mr. Tuckerman. There is nothing over-
drawn; no affectation or extravagance of language;
but his thoughts, style, and diction are clear and
lucid, and seem to flow along like a silvery stream or
smooth-surfaced river, between verdant banks, richly
adorned with varied illustrations of historic and class-worth.
ic beauty, which both charm and instruct. The
lovers of good and substantial literature will find
many well-prepared viands in this volume to stimu-
late their mental appetite. We should like to serve
up some savory specimens for our readers, but just
now have not room upon our table.

less than a poet. Indeed, his poetry is quite subor-lightful autobiography, "My Schools and Schoolmasdinate to his political and critical connections. All ters," and his "Scenes and Seconds in the North of that he has published has been more the instrument Scotland," are apart altogether from his scientific labors. for conveying decided political opinions than the expressions of poetic feeling. The present poem forms no exception to this; it is, besides, a very vivid and very spirited sketch of a rude and stirring era, a wholesale eulogy of Mary, and of the high toryism associated with her name and defense. What the reader however, will admire, is the free, spirited ballad style, in which Mr. Aytoun has hardly a living equal. Many passages of great beauty, and many more of inexpressible spirit and animation, abound in the volume, and all shows the traces of refinement, taste, and genius.

SONGS OF SUMMER BY RICHARD HENRY STODDARD.
Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1857. New-York:
Stringer & Townsend.

MR. STODDARD has won a fine reputation, which he is judicious enough not to hazard by a too frequent or incautious appearance. We admire the careful and dainty finish of his verse, and the faultless rhythm which they show scarcely less than its rich and beautiful imagery; without much thought, there is grace of form and fullness of feeling which will ever make him a favorite with those whose ear demands delicacy and finish, and whose affections are reached by the display of tenderness and feeling. The present collection is fragmentary, but contains some of the neatest of his periods and best of his poetry.

HUGH MILLER, THE GEOLOGIST.-Scotland has to mourn the sudden quenching of one of her shining lights. On the morning of the 24th ult., Mr. Miller was found lying dead on the floor of his bed-room, shot through the heart with a pistol-bullet. That he died by his own hand there seems to be no doubt, but the circumstances under which the melancholy event happened do not lead to the supposition that his death was an act of intentional suicide. For some time past Mr. Miller had been in a somewhat indifferent state of health, brought on, we believe, by over-study in the preparation of a new work on geology. He suffered considerably from nervous excitement, and, though at all times a man of eccentric manners, an unusual strangeness was remarked by his acquaintances. The evening before his death he was to have delivered a lecture on "The Mosaic Creation" to an audience at Portobello, a bathingplace in the neighborhood of Edinburgh, where he resided. He had prepared the lecture, but the state of his health prevented his delivering it, and it was read in his absence by a friend. He had for some time been in the habit of keeping a loaded revolver in his bed-room, having, it is said, a strong apprehension of danger from housebreakers, for which, in reality, there was some reason, as an attempt was made not very long ago to break into his valuable museum. No explosion was heard by the servants during the night.

He says:

KEEP THE MOUTH SHUT DURING COLD WEATHER. Dr. Hall advises every person who goes out into the open air from a warm apartment, to keep the mouth shut while walking or riding. "Before you leave the room, bundle up well-gloves, cloak, and comforter; shut your mouth before you open the street door, and keep it resolutely closed until you have walked briskly for some ten minutes; then, if you keep on walking or have reached your home, you may talk as much as you please. Not so doing, many a heart once happy and young now lies in the church-yard, that might have been young and happy still. But how? If you keep your mouth closed and walk rapidly, the air can only reach the lungs by a circuit of the nose and head, and becomes warmed before reaching the lungs, thus causing no derangement: but if you converse, large draughts of cold air dash directly in upon the lungs, chilling the whole frame almost instantly. The brisk walking throws the blood to the surface of the body, thus keeping up a vigorous circulation, making a cold impossible, if you don't get into a cold bed too quickly after you get home. Neglect of these precautions brings sickness and premature death to multitudes every year."

NOVEL METEOROLOGICAL THEORY.-The late fearful inundations in France, have set the philosophers and savans of Paris to speculating upon the probable causes of a calamity which, with more or less violence, afflicts the country periodically. At a late sitting in the Academy of Science, an essay was read on the subject, in which the idea was advanced, that the overflow of the rivers are chiefly occasioned by the sirocco from Africa. It is conjectured that the hot blast, in its course over the sea, causes a rapid and copious evaporation, and that the vapors are carried by it, and finally condensed amid the cold atmosphere of the mountains in the centre, east and south of France, where they descend and flow into the plains and valleys in fierce torrents, whose volume is swollen by the waters of the melting snows. This is, at least, an ingenious and plausible theory, whatever may be its practical value.

FRANCE.-In 1821, the official valuation of the real property of France was 39,514,000,000 francs, or nearly $8,000,000,000. In 1850 the Legislative Assembly ordered a new valuation, which was made in 1851, and the results of which are now, as we believe, for the first time given to the world. These results are found in the wonderful fact that in the short period of 30 years the money value of real estate has more than doubled-its present amount being no less than 83,744,000,000 francs, or above $16,000,000,000. Power having grown in every The above particulars are current through the country with the increase in the value of land, we press generally; nor is it needful to state at any are led to find in this extraordinary growth a key to length who and what Hugh Miller was. At the the changes that are now taking place. But forty time of his death he edited the Witness newspaper; years since, the total annual value of the land of but his progress from the humble occupation of a Great Britain and Ireland was £49,850,000. Thirty quarryman to be an expounder of science and phi- years later, England showed a slight increase, but so losophy stands best recorded in his several works. recently as 1851 the total change effected amounted Mr. Miller's latest published writing was a masterly to only £3,000,000. Ireland, in the mean time, had pamphlet in vindication of his countrymen against greatly fallen, and the total value was probably even the aspersions of Mr. Macaulay. This and his de-less in 1851 than it had been in 1813.