icy, "Si vis pacem, prepara bellum." If ble to have misgivings, we would beg to England would be let alone in the unquiet tender alike to rulers and nation the advice future that seems approaching, she must which old Noll in critical times used to give show herself, or rather be strong. And now his Ironsides—namely, to "trust in God, that we are face to face with another year, and keep our powder dry." about the issue of which it is most reasona ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY, Jan. 13.-Mr. Sclater | birds of passage and of rapid flight. The paper read a paper, entitled "Notes on Birds in the was illustrated by numerous specimens.-AtheCollection of the Academy of Natural Sciences næum. of Philadelphia, and other Collections of the United States of America." Mr. Sclater comTHE POET BERANGER AND THE EMPRESS menced by giving some account of the present EUGENIE.-It was lately stated in the "Journal state of the zoological collections in the United de Bruxelles" that the Empress, being inStates as regards ornithology; and stated that formed that the annual sum allowed to Beranthe collection of the Academy of Natural Sci-ger by his publisher, M. Perrotin, was not suffiences of Philadelphia was the most extensive cient to provide for him in his old age, had museum of natural history in the New World, privately intimated to M. Perrotin that she and in the department of ornithology probably would willingly contribute from her own privy the best in existence. In 1852 it was estimated purse enough to raise the poet's income to 10,to contain 27,000 specimens of birds, which 000f. a year; but her Majesty added that she number since that time has been very consider-wished the matter to be so managed as not to ably increased. The author also gave some ac- let Béranger know the source from which his count of the collection belonging to the Smith- accession of fortune was derived, and to make sonian Institution, at Washington, and other him believe that it came from the extended sale collections, both public and private, in the of his writings. The article in the Brussels United States. He then proceeded to give a journal contained some very illiberal and insultrésumé of some of the notes he had taken on ing remarks upon Béranger, who, it further asvarious rare and little-known species of birds serted, had been informed by M. Perrotin, of which examples occurred in these collections, contrary to the desire of her Majesty, of the and corrected various errors in synonymy and kind little scheme she had devised for his benenomenclature. Mr. Sclater also exhibited spe- fit, and Béranger was reproached for having, cimens of the Alauda spraguii of Audubon, a notwithstanding this, accepted her bounty, and rare lark from the Upper Missouri, quite un- written her a very grateful letter of acknowlknown in Europe,—of Ortyx texanus, a newly-edgement. The publication of these statements discovered species of the interesting group of has drawn forth a letter from M. Perrotin, in American partridges, and of Scaphiopus soli- which he thus narrates the affair. "Last year tarius, a very peculiar toad, recently discov- her Majesty the Empress, feeling uneasy about ered in the United States, and of which no ex- the health and the circumstances of Béranger, amples had yet been brought to this country. proposed to me, through a person in her confiMr. Sclater proposed for the lark (which was dence, her own secretary, under a promise of not a true Alauda) the new generic appellation the strictest secresy, that she should pay to my Neocorys.-Dr. Gray read a paper, "On the credit an annual sum the amount of which was Structure of the Pelvis of Chlamyphorus to be fixed by me, and which I myself was to truncatus," which he had recently had an op- give, in my own name, to Béranger. The proportunity of investigating in a specimen of this posal was indeed a royal one, and worthy of a rare animal which had been transmitted to the noble heart; but I for my part had no right to British Museum by Sir Woodbine Parish. The accept it. It was only Béranger who could truncated posterior disk, or shield, is firmly at- have a right to do so, and when I had obtained tached to the pelvis by four posterior processes, permission to inform him of the proposal which and in the central line by the elongated ridge had been made, he entirely approved of my of the posterior sacral vertebra.-Dr. Crisp conduct, saying that he should not have underread a paper, "On the Presence or Absence of stood my conduct if I had acted otherwise. He Air in the Bones of Birds," for the purpose of did more than this; he wrote me a letter in showing the prevailing error on the subject which he expressed, in excellent terms, the viz., "that the bones of a bird are filled with gratitude which at the bottom of his heart he air." Of fifty-two British birds recently dis- felt for the kindness that had been shown him; sected by him, only one, the sparrow-hawk and he added, that he had never been richer (F. nisus), had the bones generally perforated than he was at that moment-that he had never for the admission of air. In thirteen others, needed a larger income; and that his gratitude the humeri only were hollow, and among these was the more sincere, since he did not accept were several birds of short flight. Inthe re- the benefits with the offer of which he had been maining thirty-eight neither humeri nor femora honored. This is all that has taken place upon contained air, although in this list were several the subject." From Chambers' Journal. GOING TO THE PLAY IN CHINA.* Ar the end of the street or alley now entered, we observed a vast court surrounded with scaffoldings crowded with people, and at the farther end, on a stage, the actors were to perform their parts-the river, forming the harbor of Canton, and its countless vessels, being the background of the picture. Icss scrupulously neat; but although they possessed the most diminutive feet in the world, these beauties, with their oblique eyes, must have belonged to an inferior class of society, as the higher orders of women never show themselves in public. On one side, but at the extreme end, there were also three or four girls, whose friends seemed apprehensive lest we should approach them. At our feet, on the neighboring benches, the To think of forcing our way through the good burghers of Canton, who had been crowd which encumbered the pit (the court) probably sitting in the same place ever since was perfectly useless; but, thanks to the elo- the morning, were eating fruit and sweetquence of M—, we entered a house, meats, which were supplied by ambulatory through which we were allowed to pass, on merchants; while others calmly smoked their payment of half a gourde each; and in this metal pipes, whose narrow bowls will admit manner succeeded in gaining one of the of only one pinch of tobacco at a time. A scaffoldings which was on a level with the servant attends on each pipe, lighting it with first story of the house. Here we found sev- a sort of phosphoric match: and this operaeral rows of benches, ranged one above the tion has constantly to be renewed, as a other, and selecting one of the highest, for longer puff than usual is sufficient to exhaust the purpose of commanding a better view, the bowl. we quietly took our seats. All these people interested me very much; The arrangement of the theatre was as but the really exciting feature of the place, follows: An oblong inclosure was shut in and of which we never grew tired, was the on both sides by the boxes-covered galleries pit. Picture to yourself some thousands of erected on wooden stakes—and here were as- Chinese stripped down to their waists in sembled all those who paid for their admis- order to save their clothes-their long queues sion. The stage, likewise supported on rolled round their heads, lest these ornamenpillars, and covered, not with matting, like tal appendages should be laid hold of by the the gallery, but with painted cloth, formed crowd-squeezing and pushing each other one of the small corners of the right angle, until they form a compact mass-a single and extended to the edge of the water; block of human beings. There lies before finally, a wall which joined the house you a sea of shaven heads, all of the same through which we had entered, to another form and color, as if it was the head of a house opposite, completed the inclosure of the vast space, leaving only one door open for the crowd, who occupied the pit gratis. single man repeated a thousand times in a multiplying mirror. Now calm, now agitated by an imperceptible movement, the At the moment of our arrival, a clever surface of this sea presents the appearance of mountebank belonging to the troupe was a brown cloth, dotted with flat noses, and filling up the pause between the acts by pass- eyes that wink with desperate excitement. ing his body through the rounds of a ladder, Suddenly the waves, lulled for a time, bejumping backwards over chairs, &c. As come agitated by some unknown cause, dash this was not a very exciting spectacle, I be- forwards, then backwards, with irresistible stowed all my attention on the assembly force, and a deafening sound-a confused among whom we now found ourselves, and murmur of voices laughing, shouting, crying, wherein we were the only Europeans. I re- and menacing. The heavy stakes which supmarked, first of all, that among all those port the stage are scarcely strong enough to grave Chinese heads, surmounted by black resist the repeated shocks of these rolling leather caps or conical hats, were some masses. In vain those who are nearest enreally pretty women, whose coiffures were deavor, by catching at the stakes, to make ornamented with flowers and gold pins. buttresses of themselves, to stay the impetuTheir costume, though simple, was neverthe- ous flood-their arms at length drop, and they are speedily carried away under the scaffolding down to the river. This sketch is from the pen of a French naval officer, formerly stationed in the Chinese waters. If every thing in this strange theatre appeared to us curious and new, our presence produced assuredly the same effect on the assembly; for, besides the investigations of which we were continually the subject, every burst of applause, as the play went on, was accompanied by the pretty Chinese girls, the beatified smokers, and even the unfortunate wretches forming the troubled sea of bald heads, all turning their eyes upon us, and seemingly endeavoring to discover the degree of interest we took in the spectacle. After the mountebank had finished his tricks, the actors, whose dressing-room is a tent at the back of the stage, appeared, much to the satisfaction of the public. Ranged on each side of a high table, they wait until the manager has explained to the audience the nature of the piece they are about to witness. As soon as this formality -very rigorously observed in China-is completed, three or four personages, covered with magnificent robes, whose cost is said to be enormous, come forth majestically upon the stage. One of these individuals, in order to mark his supreme dignity, wears in his hat, in the manner of two horns, the two long and beautiful feathers of the tail of a Barbary pheasant. He seats himself at a table, while the grandees of his court, the ministers of state, the literati, and the populace at large, remain respectfully standing in two rows before him. I was surprised to find in these costumes the exact reproduction of those I had been accustomed to see in Chinese designs-the rich dresses studded with gold and silver, the heavy wings attached to the head-dress, the flags issuing from all parts of the person, and, above all, the grotesque painting, the lines of black, white, red, and yellow, which render the human face a diabolical mask. I was informed that this was a representation of the earliest Chinese courts; that the costumes were scrupulously correct; and that the fashion of the period was for the nobles, according to their several ranks, to besmear their faces so as to render them unrecogniz able. The emperor or chief who sat at the table, in the course of conversation, appeared to accuse one of the great personages of his court of some crime. This man, who was dressed in black, and apparently belonged rather to the literary than the warlike class, immediately left his place on hearing this accusation, and falling on his knees, muttered in a distressing tone of voice a long prayer, frequently striking his head against the earth. The judge, however, was immovable, and pronounced sentence; and at intervals during his speech, the guards and assistants uttered in chorus a sharp discordant cry, which signified, as I was informed, acquiescence in the will of the prince. All at once, a woman in tears—a man plays the part-rushes on the stage: she is the wife of the prisoner, and, throwing herself on her kness before the judges, implores their mercy. But her supplicatious and tears are all in vain. So terminated one act of the piece, which appeared to interest very much the spectators; whose applause quite stifled the sound of the tam-tams, gongs, and other discordant instruments-instruments, however, far less discordant and piercing than the voices of the actors. Indeed, the efforts of these unhappy beings were distressing to witness; their eyes seemed starting out of their heads, and the veins of their necks were swollen to such a degree as to induce serious fears for their safety. Fatigued at length with the tumult, new and interesting as the scene was, I found that I had been quite long enough at the play; and as night was coming on, we soon afterwards retired on board our ship. OLD AGE.-Mrs. Sigourney's new work, called "Past Meridian," is one of the most affecting and beautiful treatises on old age, in its various aspects, which we have ever seen. It is filled with chapters under different heads connected with the general theme, in each of which some new topic is brought out to view, of continually increasing interest. We have read them all with great delight and profit, and we earnestly recommend them to those who feel with us, "I'm growing old," to refresh themselves for the days present and to come, from the attractive rills of encouragement and comfort, which they will find running here. It would be a beautiful gift for an aged friend. Let our young readers employ it thus.-Protestant Churchman. From The Examiner. walks, that is set down, and it is very curiThe Poetical Works of William Words-ous to see how minutely Wordsworth could worth. In six volumes. A new Edition. recal the bit of truth that was at the root of Moxon. The Earlier Works of William Words- Johnston. Moxon. any stanza. In this manner, of the pastoral 66 sug ADDITIONAL interest is given to the poetry of Wordsworth in the new edition of his complete works that has just appeared. It is published by the direction of his trustees, and its special value lies in certain notes that have been long in existence, but are now first given to the world. In former editions Wordsworth had indeed said much about himself and his works in prefaces and appendices, but he had spoken generally and theoretically, he had not told what his friends would have cared most to know; since, however, he was prompt always to talk about himself, and had what his friend Mr. Johnston calls in a note to his edition of the early poetry "a curious candor of Many of the notes dictated in this spirit self-satisfaction," it was not difficult for the were of course "trival fond records," there close friends both of the poet and his verse was no thought of publishing them, they to get from him any kind of knowledge that were meant only to amuse private friends. would help them to connect the two together. The exact place in Wordsworth's garden ocA lady therefore who was numbered with cupied by the elder-bush mentioned, in "the his dearest friends-the giver of the Cuckoo Kitten and the Falling Leaves," which bush Clock which is the subject of one poem- had been removed when the notes were dicplacing before her, in the year 1843, pen tated, is of no importance to the public so and ink and paper, and the works of Words- far as the elder-bush is concerned, but so far worth, having Wordsworth himself at her concerns Wordsworth,-a poet who, with a side, turned to the poems as they followed deep reverence for himself and his art, comone another, and from the dictation of the posed most of his verses out of doors, and poet wrote for her own use, and for the linked himself to all the hills and groves benefit of private friends, the history of and streams by which he was surrounded, each. Thus of the first poem, on the Nam- notes of this kind, so faithful and minute in ing of Places, "written at Grasmere," "detail, give a new zest to our enjoyment of Wordsworth dictated: "This his verse. Confession is made of all poet's poem was suggested on the banks of the brook that liberties that have been taken with this scene runs through Easedale, which is, in some or that; the allusions are explained, names parts of its course, as wild and beautiful as given, even the way of composition, where it brook can be. I have composed thousands seemed worth telling, of any poem was anaof verses by the side of it." Sometimes the tomized. This, for example, of one of the note runs simply, "composed in the orchard, most justly popular of Wordsworth's writTown-end, Grasmere," or, it may be," com-ings, "We are seven." posed in a grove at the north-eastern end "I composed it while walking in the grove of Grasmere lake." When a poem was suggested by an incident of any kind, the incident is told; when it was written at a friend's request, that is explained; when, as was often the case, it was suggested by some aspect of nature observed in the poet's at Alfoxden. My friends will not deem it too trifling to relate that while walking to and fro I composed the last stanza first, havall but finished, I came in and recited it to ing begun with the last line. When it was Mr. Coleridge and my Sister, and said, 'A prefatory stanza must be added, and I should ་ 6 sit down to our little tea-meal with greater | Cruikshank. Much the greatest part of the pleasure if my task were finished.' I men- story was Mr. Coleridge's invention; but tioned in substance what I wished to be ex- certain parts I myself suggested:-for expressed, and Coleridge immediately threw ample, some crime was to be committed off the stanza thus: which should bring upon the old Navigator, 'A little child dear brother Jem,'as Coleridge afterwards delighted to call him, the spectral persecution, as a conseI objected to the rhyme,' dear brother Jem,' as being ludicrous, but we all enjoyed the quence of that crime, and his own wanderjoke of hitching-in our friend, James Tings. I had been reading in Shelvock's name, who was familiarly called Jem. He Voyages a day or two before that while was the brother of the dramatist, and this doubling Cape Horn they frequently saw Albatrosses in that latitude, the largest sort reminds me of an anecdote which may be of sea fowl, some extending their wings worth while here to notice. The said Jem twelve or fifteen feet. Suppose,' said I, got a sight of the Lyrical Ballads,' as it was going through the press at Bristol, you represent him as having killed one of during which time I was residing in that that the tutelary Spirits of those regions these birds on entering the South Sea, and city. One evening he came to me with a take upon them to avenge the crime." The grave face, and said, Wordsworth, I have incident was thought fit for the purpose and seen the volume that Coleridge and you are about to publish. There is one poem in it adopted accordingly. I also suggested the which I earnestly entreat you will cancel, do not recollect that I had any thing more navigation of the ship by the dead men, but for if published, it will make you everlastingly ridiculous.' I answered that I felt Gloss with which it was subsequently ac to do with the scheme of the poem. The much obliged by the interest he took in my good name as a writer, and begged to know companied was not thought of by either of what was the unfortunate piece he alluded us at the time; at least not a hint of it was to. He said It is called "We are seven.' given to me, and I have no doubt it was a Nay! said I, that shall take its chance how- gratuitous after-thought. We began the composition together on that, to me, memever, and he left me in despair." orable evening. I furnished two or three lines at the beginning of the poem, in particular: Many anecdotes and recollections are of course interspersed among the notes. Incorporated in the note to "We are seven," is an interesting digression, wherein we may read what part was claimed by Wordsworth in the "Ancient Mariner." "The little girl who is the heroine I met within the area of Goodrich Castle in the "And listened like a three years' child; The Mariner had his will.' These trifling contributions all but one (which Mr. C. has with unnecessary scrupulosity recorded) slipt out of his mind as they well might. As we endeavored to proceed conjointly (I speak of the same evening) our that it would have been quite presumptuous respective manners proved so widely different in me to do any thing but separate from an undertaking upon which I could only have been a clog." year 1793. Having left the Isle of Wight and crossed Salisbury plain, as mentioned in the preface to Guilt and Sorrow,' I proceeded by Bristol up the Wye, and so on to North Wales, to the vale of Clwydd, where I spent my summer under the roof of the father of my friend, Robert Jones. In re- Of the Idiot Boy" we learn that it was ference to this Poem I will here mention one all composed extempore in the groves of Alof the most remarkable facts in my own foxden, not a word being changed in correepoetic history and that of Mr. Coleridge. tion, but one stanza being omitted, and that In the spring of the year 1798, he, my Sister, Wordsworth" never wrote any thing with so and myself, started from Alfoxden, pretty late in the afternoon, with a view to visit much glee." Peter Bell was suggested by Lenton and the valley of Stones near it; and an anecdote read in a newspaper, of an ass as our united funds were very small, we being found hanging his head over a canal, agreed to defray the expenses of the tour by in which lay the dead body of his master. writing a poem, to be sent to the New The ruling power in the poet's mind is shown Monthly Magazine set up by Phillips the bookseller and edited by Dr. Aikin. Accord-by the note which tells us that the sonnet ingly we set off and proceeded along the beginning "Dark and more dark the shades Quantock Hills towards Watchet, and in the course of this walk was planned the poem of the Ancient Mariner,' founded on a dream, as Mr. Coleridge said, of his friend Mr. of evening fell" was composed on the evening of Wordsworth's wedding day, at the close of the first day's travel. When on the second day the bride and bridegroom were |