would represent a scriptural scene, they are quite apt to make some blunder, showing their ignorance of the Bible-giving too much cause for a celebrated divine to call them "wretched commentators." It is questionable, after all the praise given to the ancient masters, whether they have excelled our modern painters, except in painting the female form. I have no where seen portraits in any collection more life-like than those painted by Mr. Jocelyn, of Connecticut. Among the portraits in the National Gallery is one of Rembrant, said to have been painted by himself. It is certainly one of superior execution. If it be a correct portrait, (and we have every reason to believe it so,) it is to all appearance a countenance of an intemperate man who had undermined and ruined his constitution by beastly excesses.

In this, as in most other collections of the old masters, there are too many naked figures exhibited to the public gaze. Painting is indeed a noble art, but it has been perverted, like many other gifts given by our Creator. Many of the celebrated painters were men of dissolute habits, and if a large proportion of their works were struck out of existence, the world would suffer no loss. Instead of ministering to the lower passions of our nature, if the painter would devote his energies to the exhibition of the heroism of virtue, his art would become ennobled. Instead of representing a naked Venus, let him exhibit a Grace Darling in the sublime heroism of exposing her own life to save that of others. Instead of showing up the bloody exploits of some warlike bull-dog for our admiration, let John Huss, Jerome of Prague, or the philanthropist Voltemad at the Cape of Good Hope, be exhibited.

The PANTHEON, in Oxford-street, (originally built for a theater or concert room) is now used in part for a new collection of paintings by modern artists, all of which are for sale. As works of art, they are respectably executed, and the morale of the whole, about three hundred in number, is superior to most collections of the kind. The collection consists of landscapes, domestic, scriptural, and other scenes; the two most prominent paintings, are one representing the evacuation of Parga by its Christian inhabitants during the Greek revolution, twenty-six feet by sixteen; the other, an emblematic painting entitled, "Youth stimulated to Virtue." The first shows the inhabitants of Parga collecting the remains of their deceased relatives in order to burn them, to save them from insult and profanation from the troops of Ali Pacha, who are seen in the distance. The emblematic painting is as to its design, equal, if not superior to any thing of the kind found in any collection. It is easily comprehended. In the lower part two youths are represented as gazing upwards with admiration, while a messenger of fame is directing their attention to the goddess, who is distributing wreaths. Philosophy and poetry appear with their appropriate emblems. Above, the British worthies appear in various groupes. In the upper part of the vision appear the martyrs, almost lost in the distant glories above: Queen Elizabeth, Edward, and other virtuous monarchs, statesmen, warriors, poets and philosophers, in their appropriate company, their portraits being easily recognized.

There was also in the collection when visited, a series of paintings, illustrating the Hon. Mrs. Norton's pathetic poems of the sorrows of Rosalie, entitled, "The Victim

of Seduction." The various stages of wretchedness which follow a deviation from the path of virtue are here forcibly depicted, and the exhibition of these scenes can be no otherwise than salutary. Attached to the Pantheon, is a bazaar containing a vast variety of fancy articles for sale. There is also an aviary and a collection of plants.

MADAME TUSSAUD & SON'S EXHIBITION OF WAX FIGURES, &c., is the largest, best, and most interesting exhibition of the kind in the world. It was first opened in the Palais Royal, in Paris, in 1772, and in London in 1802. It is a place of great attraction, and is patronized by all classes, among which are the members of the Royal Family, the Nobility and Foreign Ambassadors. It occupies a number of apartments, and the figures appear in groups. The first group in the Great Room represents King Henry the Eighth and his six queens, having all their costumes, jewelry, &c., taken from authentic sources. This consummate villain is shown in a magnificent suit of armor, worn at the tournament of the Field of the cloth of Gold. His queens, two of whom were beheaded, are represented in order, Catherine, of Arragon, Mary, Jane Seymour, Ann Boleyne, and Catherine Parr. King Edward VI, who died in the sixteenth year of his age, Cardinal Wolsey, and Queen Elizabeth are in the same room.

In the second group, the present Royal Family are all represented-the Queen's eldest son, the Prince of Wales, appears in a beautiful Scotch Highland dress. The present Duke of Devonshire, tall and elegant in person, and considered at the head of the fashionable world, appears in a diplomatic court dress, and wearing the order of the Garter, is seen near the Royal personages. The Bishop of London, Viscount Hardinge, who distinguished himself at the battle of Waterloo, Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia, Lord John Russel, Lord Palmerston, and some others, are in this apartment.

The fourth group shows the most celebrated actors in the late wars of Napoleon, including the members of the Holy Alliance. In the succeeding groups are seen Mary, Queen of Scots, John Knox, Calvin, Luther, Joan of Arc, Charles I, Louis XVI, his wife Maria Antoinette, and their children; Lord Nelson, and all the most celebrated characters who have figured in modern history. The celebrated infidel, Voltaire, is represented from a cast taken from his face two months previous to his death.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the exhibition is in the "Golden Chamber" containing the relics of the Emperor Napoleon, which cost the proprietors nearly £13,000. The most striking object is that of Napoleon lying in state on the camp bed-stead, used by him during seven years at St. Helena, with the matrasses and pillows on which he died. He is clothed in his chasseur uniform, covered with the identical cloak he wore at the battle of Marengo. The likeness of the Emperor, is from the original cast taken from his face by Automarchi, his surgeon.

On a small table, a copy of the one on which he signed his abdication, are placed the identical sword worn and used by Napoleon during his campaign in Egypt. In a glass case is seen the gold-repeating watch of the Emperor, his ring, handkerchief, tooth-brush, a lock of his hair, &c. In another glass case is seen the counterpane used on the camp bed on which Napoleon died, stained with his blood. In the second room devoted to the relics of the Emperor, is his carriage taken at Waterloo, purchased by the authority of the British Government from the Prince Regent for £2,500. It is the identical carriage in which he made the campaign of Russia. It was captured on the evening of the battle and sent by the officer who took it to the Prince Regent. It is so fitted up that a person can sleep at his full length, there are drawers, &c., with every convenience for the Emperor to take his meals, also a place for his secretary, and conveniences for writing. There are also in this apartment two other carriages, one made at Milan in 1805, and the other used by him at St. Helena.

Among the interesting relics seen here, is the coat worn by Lord Nelson at the battle of the Nile-the shoe of Pope Pius VI—the knife with which Margaret Nicholson attempted to assassinate George III-the shirt worn by Henry IV, of France, when stabbed by Ravaillac the fanatic. The stain of blood which issued from the wound is still to be seen upon it. This relic was purchased by the uncle of Madame Tussaud, at an auction of the valuable effects belonging to Cardinal Mazarin.

The Chamber of Horrors, so named from the objects and figures represented, is one of the deepest interest. All the prominent murderers are represented in the dresses which they wore. Among these are the figures of Burke, and his accomplice Hare, who furnished subjects for the medical students at Edingburgh, by decoying poor persons into their habitation, smothering them, and then sold their bodies. There is also a wax figure of Marat, taken immediately after his assassination by Charlotte Corday. He is represented as in a bath-the knife is seen sticking in the wound, and the blood issuing from it. There is also an exact copy in every particular of the original guillotine, as made by Guillotin, the inventor. A model of the heads of Robespierre, Carrier, and other Revolutionary tyrants, taken immediately after they were severed from their bodies by order of the National Assembly. The spectator of this interesting, though shocking spectacle, feels assured that he beholds before him the exact lineaments of the features of these prominent wretches exactly as they appeared immediately after their execution, with the clots of blood upon their necks where they were severed by the guillotine.

In the new room, opposite the entrance, is a wax figure of the Duke of Wellington, reposing under a splendid canopy of velvet and cloth of gold, on his tented couch, covered with the mantle of the order of the Garter, surrounded by the embems of his dignity. These rooms are now the largest in Europe, being 240 feet long, 48 wide, and 50 high.

Madame Tussaud left France in 1802, and from that period exhibited her collections in all the principal cities and towns of Great Britain and Ireland, and for nineteen years in London. She died in 1850, aged ninety years, leaving two sons, and several grandchildren.

The UNITED SERVICE INSTITUTION, founded in 1830, by members of the naval and military profession, has a very interesting collection for various scientific and general interest, mostly of a military character, such as models of fortifications, various weapons of war of all nations, objects

in natural history, minerals, &c.* In the collection is seen the sword of Gen. Wolfe, which he wore when he was killed at Quebec-the sword of Oliver Cromwell-the sash which was used in carrying Sir John Moore, when wounded at the battle of Corrunna, and also used in lowering his body into his grave in the Ramparts-a cutlass belonging to Capt. Cooke, when killed by the savages-the dress which the Sultan Tippo Saib wore at the siege of Seringapatam-the skeleton of the horse which Napoleon rode at the battle of Waterloo. There is also the skeleton of an Egyptian youth, about fifteen years old, who lived about the eighteenth dynasty of the Pharoahs, before Christ 1,517, about 3,200 years ago, taken out of his coffin by Mr. Pettengrew, in February, 1849-the hat worn by Lord Nelson-the guillotine axe with which fifty royalists were beheaded at Guadaloupe, in 1794-the Artic wolf in the act of carrying off the favorite terrier of Sir George Back, in the expedition of 1833, also the polar bear mentioned in his narrative. There is also an interesting panorama of the Field of Waterloo, with French and English soldiers in their several positions, with the houses, roads, &c.

THE GUNPOWDER PLOT.

IN 1605 was discovered the celebrated gunpowder plot; the origin of which was as follows:-On the accession of James, great expectations had been formed by the Catholics that he would prove favorable to them, both as that was the religion of his mother, and as he himself had been suspected of a bias towards it in his youth. It is even pretended that he had entered into positive engagements to grant them a toleration as soon as he should ascend the English throne Here, however, they found their hopes built on a false foundation. As James, on all occasions, expressed his intention of executing strictly the laws enacted against them, and of persevering in all the rigorous measures of Queen Elizabeth, a plan of revenge was first thought of by a gentleman of the name of Catesby. He communicated his intention to Percy, a descendant of the house of Northumberland. The latter proposed to assassinate the king; but this seemed to Catesby very far from being adequate to their purpose. He told Percy, that the king would be succeeded by his children, who would also inherit his maxims of government. He told him, that even though the whole royal family were destroyed, the parliament, nobility, and gentry, who were all infected with the same heresy, would raise another Protestant prince to the throne. "To serve any good purpose we

* Persons obtain admission to the Museum by a ticket from a member. For this we were indebted to Col. Enoch, of the British army. While in St. James' Park, we inquired of a gentlemen the direction of Westminster Abbey. This person, who was in citizen's dress, we found out afterwards was Lieut. Col. Enoch, an officer at the Head Quarters of the British army, at the Horse Guards. On finding out we were Americans, he took us to the Head Quarters and showed us the room where the corpse of the Duke of Wellington was placed on the night previous to his interment. We were much gratified with the friendly feelings he expressed towards our countrymen, who were regarded as relatives. As far as our observations extended, this appeared to be the general feeling in all parts of the United Kingdom which we visited.

1. Bates. 2. R. Winter. 3. C. Wright. 4. J. Wright. 5. Perry. 6. Fawkes. 7. Catesby. 8. T. Winter (From a print published immediately after the discovery.)

must," to use his own words, "destroy, at one blow, the king, the royal family, the lords and commons; and bury all our enemies in one common ruin. Happily they are all assembled on the first meeting of parliament; and afford us the opportunity of glorious and useful vengeance. Great preparations will not be requisite. A few of us may run a mine below the hall in which they meet; and choosing the very moment when the king harangues both the houses, consign over to destruction those determined foes to all piety and religion. Meanwhile, we ourselves standing aloof, safe and unsuspected, shall triumph in being the instru ments of divine wrath, and shall behold with pleasure those sacrilegious walls, in which were passed the edicts for proscribing our church and butchering her children, tossed into a thousand fragments; while their impious inhabitants, meditating perhaps still new persecutions against us, pass from flames above to flames below, there forever to endure the torments due to their offenses."

This scheme being approved of, it was resolved to communicate it to a few more. Thomas Winter was sent over to Flanders in quest of Fawkes, an officer in the Spanish service of approved zeal and courage. All the conspirators were bound by the most solemn oaths, accompanied with the sacrament; and to such a degree had superstition effaced every principle of humanity from their minds, that not one of them ever entertained the smallest compunction for the massacre they proposed to commit. Some indeed were startled at the thought of destroying a number of Catholics who must necessarily be present as spectators, or attendants on the king, or as having seats in the house of peers. But Desmond, a Jesuit, and Garnet, who was the superior of that order in this country, removed those scruples, by showing that the interest of religion required in this case the sacrifice of the innocent with the guilty.