6

Into this

or when the aboriginal forest disappeared, or the waters of between the river Earn and the Ochils on the south, there is the swamp betook themselves to defined channels, are ques- an elevation which receives the popular designation of Tertions which no writer can answer. It is only a matter of nave, a word, in all likelihood, deduced from Terra Navis, certainty that the country continued in a condition far for the very good reason, that the hillock has the precise from reclaimed after the land became inhabited, because the shape and appearance of a ship turned upside down. It etymologies of the names of places now in use are signifi- seems, in fact, as if a ship had been laid on the ground with cant of the original nature of their respective localities. By its keel uppermost, and then, by the caprice of an enchanter, these names we further discover that the district was the changed to earth, with a coating of fine grass. The neighhabitation of beasts of prey and animals of the chase. bouring inhabitants are not decidedly of opinion that TerBoars, wolves, and foxes, from such a deduction, must have nave was ever a ship, which, like ordinary vessels, sailed been the common inhabitants of the thickets and wilds. It upon the sea; but they are firmly of belief that, whether an has been shown by the ingenious naturalist, the Rev. Dr enchanted ship or not, there is something uncanny about it, Fleming of Flisk, that what is now the bed of the Tay was and that it is under the special care of supernatural beings. once a forest, and this is proved by the discovery of the roots To support such a position, they give the following traditionof trees, still in their natural position, within low water-ary story :-Many years ago, a poor man in the parish remark; immense beds of clay, full of the leaves of fresh- quired a few divots or turfs, to lay upon the rigging' of bis water plants; also beds of peat, containing hazel nuts in cottage, and having often remarked the beauty and closeness great quantities; deposits of shell-marl, and other remains of the sward of Ternave, he resolved, whatever might come equally significant. The process of forming dry arable of it, to cast from its surface the quantity of divots he reland, out of the sludge of a shallow river, easily diverted quired. Proceeding, therefore, with a spade suitable to his from its course, has been pursued, first by Nature, and, in purpose, he soon arrived by the side of the hillock and comthe second place, by Art. The cause of the windings or menced operations. But it is said that he got no more than links of the Forth may be referred to a something so tri- one incision made with impunity. From the opening befling, that it is hardly worthy of belief. The fall of a tree neath his spade, there issued the figure of an old man, dressed has sent a stream in a new direction; the slight opposition in the fashion of ane auncient mariner,' who, with violent offered by the edge of a stone, has directed the water into gesticulations, motioned him to begone, and forbade him an opposite course. On a smaller scale, the whole opera- ever again to attempt to injure the sides of his vessel, under tion may be seen in the case of a rivulet meandering through a deadly penalty, and having done so, instantly disappeared the bottom of a meadow. The growth of the land is like- within the opening of the half-lifted turf. It need scarcely wise of no difficult solution. The grounds of the carse are be added, that the divot-caster required no second warning. the deposition of particles of earthy matter, washed down He withdrew his spade in a qualm of terror and awe; and, by the floods from the upper country, mingled with the re- having come home and mentioned the circumstance to his siduum of forest trees and decayed vegetables. It is interest- neighbours, from that day to this (continues the relater of ing to view the spectacle of the reclaiming of land from the the story) no person in the parish, be the condition of the Tay, now in operation, at the instance of both nature and art. rigging what it may, has molested the enchanted ship, or This large and fine river is constantly bringing down from the ruffled the beauty of its verdant covering." recesses of the Highlands, an infinitude of particles of sand or other matter, individually so small, that they cannot be seen by the naked eye, and whose presence is only known by the colour they infuse in the water. These particles are not carried out to sea. They are arrested by the tides opposite the carse ground above noticed, and, sinking to the bottom, they imperceptibly form a fine species of mire. In the course of time, this mire rises to the surface of the estuary. It is first left dry at ordinary high tides, and next becomes visible at the height of spring tides. For a very long while, it forms merely long bare reaches at low water, and at these ebbs of the tide, a person might, from appearances, be of opinion, that he could walk across the bed of the estuary with little difficulty. Floods and high impetuous tides at last drift so much matter on these rising reaches and half-formed islets, that they remain, at all times, above water, and finally, by the action of the winds in blowing thither the seeds of plants, or by other causes beyond the reach of human discovery, the land so formed is covered with a rich herbage, shrubs, plants of a various nature, and even trees. In the bed of the Tay there have risen, in this manner, Grange Island, Rhind Island, Cairney Islands, Carpow Island, Chishinny Island, and Mugdrum Island, and perhaps these islands may, at a future day, be joined to each other, or to the mainland on one side, so as to offer a complete specimen, in modern times, of the way in which the great body of the carses have sprung into existence. The ingenuity and wisdom of man are hastening, though not with a very creditable rapidity, the extension of the dry land on the banks of the Tay, and gradually diminishing the unprofitable breadth of its channel. The work of creation is going on chiefly upon the Fife side, a short way below Newburgh. Rude piers or dikes are run out from the shore, to the length of a few yards, at certain distances from each other, and at every flux of the tide, a small portion of the mire is left betwixt them. Little by little, the margin of the land is protruded farther and farther into the water, and when it has reached the outer termination of the dikes, additional projections are made, and the same result follows of an increase of land. In this way many flat fertile fields have been added to this portion of Fife; and, judging from a superficial calculation, it would seem to be no difficult matter to hem in the Tay to a narrow deep channel en the Perthshire side, thereby not only increasing the quantity of productive land to a vast amount, but doing much for the benefit of navigation. An old writer on this part of Scotland, relates a circumstance, significant of the former maritime condition of Strathearn, and the superstitious feelings of the people. In this district,

The reader will find, in another department of our Journal, some remarks, by a valued correspondent, upon the article "St Andrews," in the Gazetteer. controversy we do not propose to enter at present. We hold with Sir Roger de Coverley-that much may be said on both sides. We have it in contemplation, also, to enter at large upon the discussion of our Scotch University system ere long. This, however, we may remark, that it would be putting a work of this kind to too severe a test, to pass every article, seriatim, under the review of a person who possessed peculiar, and perhaps exclusive, sources of information respecting the district described in it.

The Westminster Review. No. XXVII. January, 1831.

London. Robert Hewerd.

The New Monthly Magazine. No. CXXI. January, 1831. London. Colburn and Bentley.

The Aberdeen Magazine. No. I. January, 1831. Aber deen. Lewis Smith.

THE present number of the Westminster Review is very political, but in these times this must be the natural tendency of all the larger periodicals. The Westminster is of course democratical, and to a degree which, to us, albeit we have nothing to do with politics, is somewhat de trop. At the present moment, when we see old constitutions breaking up all around us, and when what the SolicitorGeneral calls the "despotism of public opinion," is attempting to sweep away the established principles and maxims of centuries, we cannot help thinking that a noble opportunity offers itself to those who are disposed to defend, not bigotedly, but with firmness and judgment, the institutions of their ancestors." Public opinion" must of course have its way; but public opinion is one thing, and the opinions of the people of the mob-are another. In every well-governed state, the great body of the popula tion has hitherto allowed itself to be regulated by the enlightened few; but the spirit of these latter days seems to inculcate the belief, that physical strength implies moral right—a false and dangerous doctrine. A ship's crew are at all times much stronger than their officers,

but what becomes of the ship when the crew mutinies? right to say that we agree with our correspondent in The commander of an army is, in point of physical thinking it more than probable that the New Monthly will strength, as one to forty thousand; but cut off the com- now go on with increased spirit and success. Campbell mander, and the army becomes immediately a disorgan- has long slept over it, and the consequence was, that it ized mass. These are truisms; but they are truisms became dull and monotonous. From Mr Hall's extenwhich the writers in the Westminster Review seem dis- sive literary connexions, and the determination he has posed to forget. The articles in the Number before us on already evinced to infuse freshness and novelty into his the Defensive Force possessed by any People-on the periodical, we augur very favourably. The present NumBelgian Insurrection-on Machine-Breaking—on the her displays much talent, and though the introduction of Parliamentary Representation of Scotland-on the Wel-portraits is an evident imitation of Fraser, and therefore lington Administration—on European Revolution-and, objectionable, yet if all the engravings be as good as that above all, on the character of George IV., have a strong of the bust of Sir Walter Scott, which commences the tendency to support the despotism of public opinion, series, they cannot fail to form an additional attraction. understanding by public opinion the opinion of the nume- We entertain towards the Magazine and its conductors, rical, not the intellectual, majority. The article, in parti- every good feeling. cular, on the character of George IV. appears to us to call for unqualified disapprobation. The Westminster Review hates kings, and therefore glories in attacking a dead king, in dragging his remains from the tomb, and loading them with every ignominy which the malevolence of the writer can suggest. Now, seeing that our beloved native country has existed as a country at all, under a long and almost uninterrupted line of kings, we love kings, and, though not blind to their errors, we would not recklessly heap a load of obloquy upon their biers. To respect and reverence those whom God has given to rule over us, is at once a moral duty and a sacred obligation. We argue not for the "divinity that doth hedge aking;" but because we would wish to respect ourselves, and the laws which we ourselves have made, we

The first number of the Aberdeen Magazine is highly creditable to the good town. The article on Demonology is excellent. Former experience is against the success of any provincial Magazine in Scotland; but we shall see whether the conductors of the present publication can make an exception for themselves.

Songs of Solitude. By William Bennet, Author of

"Pictures of Scottish Scenes and Character," &c. &c. Glasgow. W. R. M'Phun. 1831. 12mo. Pp. 264. MR BENNET is evidently an amiable man, and he is an agreeable writer. Both his prose and poetry contain many sentiments that reflect credit on his heart, and would wish to respect the person of our living, and the indicate a lively and healthy imagination. Circumstances memory of our dead, monarch. The article on the Par- prevent us from speaking at greater length of the volume, liamentary Representation of Scotland is ably and power- now before us; but, as a specimen of the contents, we fully written, but the nature of the reform which it sug-subjoin the following sketch, which we think one of the gests, we consider to be of much too levelling a description. most successful in the book: As to the literary contents of this Number, by far the best article is on Webster's American Dictionary, and the next is on Lesson's Natural History of Man. The others appear to us somewhat flimsy, especially the reviews of the Heiress of Bruges, Maxwell, the Life of Bruce, and Basil Barrington. The article on Tennyson's Poems is showily written, but contains one of the most preposterous puffs of a small and rather mediocre volume of poetry that we ever remember to have seen.

We notice the New Monthly Magazine at present, principally with the view of informing our readers of a change which has taken place in its editorship. A literary friend in London, in no way connected with the Magazine, wrote to us, a few days ago, in the following terms:"Campbell is at last decidedly out of the New Monthly. I am sorry for it, as I am afraid he may feel the loss of the £600 a-year Colburn paid him. Mr S. C. Hall is installed sole editor, to the benefit, I have no doubt, of the magazine, if we are to judge by the January Number, which is admirable. The point on which the separation took place between Colburn and Campbell, at least the immediate point, was the insertion of portraits in the New Monthly, which the ex-editor obstinately resisted, and chose rather to resign than yield. The January Number has a portrait of Scott, with a memoir by Allan Cunningham. Campbell, I understand, has written a letter of farewell to Colburn, in which he alludes to the long friendship that has subsisted between them, and desires that the letter may be shown to the publisher's friends. He mentions in it that he now intends to retire into private life, having given up his house in Scotland Yard, and taken apartments; and that as to the design imputed to him of establishing another magazine, he has no such intention. Is not this an inglorious end of Thomas Campbell ?" In reply to this question, we do not see why there should be an end of Campbell merely because he has given up the magazine; on the contrary, having now his time more at his own disposal, why should he not once more come before the world in his pristine vigour? But, leaving this question, we think it

THE YOUNG MOTHER.

"The room I enter'd where I oft before
Had met my young unwedded friend.
There sat,
Plying her needle with a housewife's care,
Beside the cradle of her infant child,
She whose dear name my friend had oft reveal'd,
When in our hours of confidence, we used
To talk of those we loved.

The self-restraint
And distant coyness of the youthful maid,
In her were soften'd now-though cherish'd still,
With charms of sweeter and more winning kind. -
In loose and graceful negligence her robes
Flow'd round her airy form: her beauteous brow,
O'er whose clear sunlight care had never cast
One darkening shadow, half-conceal'd, shone forth
Through many a raven tress that o'er it waved
In loose and playful wildness: In her mien
The softness of the rose, when newly blown,
Seem'd blended still with half its budding pride;

"And O! when o'er her cheek a trace of thought
Stole, like the wafture of a spirit's wing,
How deep, how placid, and how holy, seem'd
The sentiment it shadow'd!

'Twas, I knew,
Some tender calling back of pleasures gone,
Some fond concernment for her husband's sake,
Or hope or wish for the dear pledge that lay-
The image of its father!-slumbering on
Beneath her watchful care. How calm it slept!
How sweetly o'er its seraph face were playing
The smiles of stainless innocence! It seem'd
Dreaming of that bright world from whence it came,
As if not yet its spirit had taken leave
Of heaven's beatitude, and journey'd forth
On life's dark pilgrimage!

Its mother's eye,
While dropt her listless hand, now fix'd became
Upon the beauteous vision. The full tear,
That fell unconscious-the soul-utter'd prayer,
And look of deep-felt ecstasy-declared
Her yearning tenderness and boundless joy.

ST ANDREWS, Versus THE MESSRS CHAMBERS'
NEW GAZETTEER OF SCOTLAND.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LITERARY JOURNAL.*

SIR, The high, and, upon the whole, merited reputation which the Messrs Chambers have acquired, as illustrators of the spirit and localities of Scotland, has directed the

To this we shall add a song, of which there are a great public eye with some eagerness towards the first number number. The following is lively and natural :

nor of the concluding stanza of the same song, which fact, the almost miraculous escape, namely, of all imme

graceful decay, so as to seem, at the present time, as if dropping to pieces." Now, this unqualified statement is totally unfounded. Within little more than half a century, the roof of this elegant-but certainly by no means light-building has been wholly renewed; and within less than half that time, it has been repaired and new-modelled in the interior-in what may safely be denominated a comfortable and even handsome style for the accommodation of the students and congregation of the parish of St Leonard's. But this is not all,-in for a penny, in for a pound! Our journalist proceeds :-" It is nevertheless used as the chapel of the College, and as the parish church of St Leonard's-of which the principal of the College is ministerial incumbent." And this averment is made by a person who has seen the new buildings, erected this last summer, and not yet completed and who has, at the same time, not taken steps to inform himself, that the Principal of the united College has ceased to be ministerial incumbent for these five years past! But the head and front of the Messrs Chambers' inaccuracy is yet to come. "The bursars," continues our historian, are entertained at the expense of the University, and eat together. A table is kept for ordinary

In

to have submitted to conviction, or to have instituted a refutation; but at present there is nothing tangible; censure is heaped from misapprehension, in so general and indefinite a form, as to do injury without affording any opportunity of preventing it. Thus situated, the College, will probably he content to appeal to the forthcoming report of the royal commission; from which, I have good grounds to know, it will appear, that in no college in Scotland is there more enlightened, laborious, and successful tuition than in that of St Andrews.

Thus then we have made it appear, that this fraternal copartnery is not exempted from those errors,

"Quos aut incuria fudet,

Aut humana parum cavet natura;" and that the readers, but especially the purchasers, of their lucubrations, would do well to verify the accuracy of their For my own statements from less questionable sources. part, I have done my duty on this occasion not only to the public, but even to the authors themselves; and I take my leave of the subject at present, under the determination to resume the task, which I have imposed upon I am, sir, &c. myself, whenever I see occasion.

1

A FRIEND TO ST ANDREWS.

students, for which a board of about twelve guineas asession is paid." This is the very sublime of misrepresentation, not one word or clause of it being true. the first place, no students ever dined at the expense of THE FINE ARTS IN EDINBURGH.-THE SCOTTISH the College the bursars happening, by the foundation charter, to have as good a right to their dinner, as the masters and principals have to theirs; and, in the second place, for many years past this table has ceased to be spread, and a sum of money, equivalent to this privilege, and satisfactory to the bursars, has been substituted. The system of boarding at the College, and dining at its table, has likewise long ceased.

Having exerted his inventive faculties on the exterior and materiel of the united College, our author comes at last to the main point-the "cui bono" of all this apparatus; and on this head he makes use of the following expressions:-"Notwithstanding its transcendent qualifications as a university town,-its delightful, retired situation,—the excellence of its society, and the cheapness of provisions, it is a matter of deep regret that the number of students seldom averages more than 200. Such a striking fact leads to the conclusion, that there must be something radically bad in the system of education, worthy of instantaneous revisal. The present extensive improvements now going forward, will be of no avail in restoring the character of the place, unless followed by an unscrupulous revision of that antiquated process of tuition, under which the Scottish universities have long laboured, as under an incubus.” Truly the enlightened but uncolleged duumvirate who have made this statement, might have shown a little more anxiety to state facts than they here do. Were there no means of information within the walls of the College itself no respectable and official persons at whom enquiries could have been made to prevent this blotched and deformed mass of misrepresentation and mistake? The character of the College-if we are to judge from the average of students for these last ten years has already been restored, as the average of students attending this antiquated university during this latter period, greatly outnumbers (amounting, as it does, not to 200, but to 260 or upwards) that of any period whatever in the history of the College; and if the system of education now pursued be antiquated, it is somewhat extraordinary, that under an enlightened age, its inefficiency has not, latterly in particular, been manifested by an average decline rather than an average increase of students! To answer one assertion by another, though a common, is by no means a convincing, method of conducting an argument; but had our authors taken the trouble to inform themselves of the method of tuition pursued in the various classes of the College, and, after this investigation, brought forward and stated distinctly their objections, then it had been possible

OF
MARTIN'S FALL
NINEVEH-
ACADEMY
GREENSHIELDS' STATUE OF ROBERT BURNS.
WE willingly give a place to the following Report of
the Scottish Academy for the past year. It is a business-
like and sensible document :

THE FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF
THE SCOTTISH ACADEMY OF PAINTING, SCULPTURE,
AND ARCHITECTURE.

66 Edinburgh, 10th November, 1830.

"In the conclusion of their last Report, the Council alluded to the union which had taken place between the original members of the Scottish Academy and twenty-four other artists, agreeably to an award of John Hope, Esquire, His Majesty's Solicitor-General for Scotland, and Henry Cockburn, Esquire, Advocate.

The first meeting of the United Academy took place on the 11th November last, when certain alterations were proposed to be made on the Laws of the Academy, in a manner which appeared to a part of the members to be inconsistent with the terms of the award. The Council, however, are happy to state, that at a subsequent general meeting, held on the 14th March last, these differences were amicably and finally adjusted.

the General Meeting, have had frequently under their consi "The Council, in compliance with the instructions of deration, the most proper steps to be adopted in order to obtain more suitable Exhibition Rooms; but they are unable as yet to point out any specific plan by which this desirable object may be attained; they have therefore rented the present rooms for another year.

"The Council have the pleasure of stating, that Mr Etty's second picture has arrived, and is, in every respect, a companion worthy of the first.

"The Council regret that they are unable to announce any new subscribers during the last year, and would earnestly urge on the Academy the necessity of using every effort to procure a continuance of the support of the Patrons of Art.

"The receipts of last Exhibition amount to £670, 7s. 6d. Subscriptions from Ordinary Members, £12, 12s.; from Extraordinary Members, £52, 2s., making the gross receipts of the year £735, 9s. 6d., while those of 1829 amounted to about £1000. This diminution, the Council hope, is to be regarded as only temporary; but it demonstrates the necessity of leaving nothing undone within the power of the Academy to bring forward such Exhibitions as may secure the approbation and support of the Public.

"There is one subject to which the Council cannot refrain from adverting, as it is intimately connected with the best interests of the Academy. It is obvious, that the Academy must, in a great measure, depend on its Exhibitions for pecuniary support, and that it will require the united efforts of the academicians to render these permanently attractive and profitable: the Council, therefore, trust that the members

will uniformly adhere to the wise resolution of a former general meeting, and confine their contributions in this city to the Academy alone, during the time that its exhibitions are open.

"The great object of the establishment of the Academy being the advancement and encouragement of Scottish art; and, as a necessary consequence, the benefit of its professors, the Council feel it to be their duty to press on the attention of the members at large, the propriety of adopting such plans, and commencing such operations, as may be calculated to lead to the gradual attainment of their ultimate views. They would therefore suggest, that every effort should be made in order to procure permanent rooms in a central situation, as without these their exhibitions must be conducted under great disadvantages, and the works of art which they may gradually accumulate, be in a great measure lost to those for whose benefit they are principally intended.

"The Council conceive that the success of the Academy must ultimately depend upon rallying around it the rising talent and genius of the country, in the different depart ments of art. In order to accomplish this, some advantages must be held out by the Academy to those who are entering on their career as artists. The Council are of opinion that arrangements should be made, with as little delay as possible, to afford instruction in the rudiments of art within the walls of the Academy, on such terms as may tend to foster and encourage rising merit.

The Council consider it unnecessary to enter further into detail at present; it is sufficient that they have directed the attention of the Academy to subjects of the utmost importance, on which its usefulness and stability must mainly depend.

"It cannot be too deeply impressed on the minds of all, that the great work which has been undertaken and successfully commenced, will require the unremitted exertions of many years to bring it to a successful issue.

"If, however, the Academy keep steadily in view the purposes contemplated in its formation, the Council feel perfectly assured that it will, at no distant period, occupy an honourable station among similar establishments, and will contribute not less to the credit and interest of its members, than to the advancement and reputation of the Fine Arts in Scotland. GEORGE WATSON, President."

We are glad to understand that the Exhibition to be opened in February, is likely to be one of the best we have yet had in Edinburgh, and that no pains have been spared to render it in all respects worthy of public patronage.

Martin's picture of the Fall of Nineveh is at present exhibiting in the Calton Convening Room. It strikes us as one of the very worst of all Martin's pictures, and this is saying a good deal. It is little better than a great blotch, in which there is neither meaning, art, nor beauty. The first principle upon which all paintings ought to be founded-that of concentration, or of making the individual parts subservient to the grand design of the whole --is in general entirely lost sight of by Martin, and in the present instance most especially. The work is all a piece of huddle. The black and red skies look like a mixture of Warren's blacking and brick-dust; the buildings and pillars are heaped together in most unearthly shapes and magnitudes; and the great dense masses of people, crammed into the middle distance, are nearly as preposterous as the figures which fill up the foreground, the drawing and colouring of which would disgrace the veriest tyro. We speak strongly; but we do so because we are conscientiously of opinion that Martin's genius is a humbug; or, at best, that he is a man of one idea, with little or no knowledge of art, save in so far as regards perspective, and with no appreciation whatever of the calm and beautiful sublimity of nature, unexaggerated and unbedaubed.

Greenshields' statue of Robert Burns is clever enough. He does not give quite so much life to his figures as Thom does, but he has fully more delicate perceptions of

form.

The statue is after the portrait recently published by Messrs Constable and Co. As a piece of sculpture, it is not to be spoken of at all, for it does not in the slightest degree come within the high and severe rules of that art; but as a likeness in stone of the person whom

it is intended to represent, it is creditable to Mr Greenshields' mastery over the chisel.

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES OF
EDINBURGH.

ROYAL SOCIETY.

Monday, January 3, 1831.

Dr HOPE in the Chair.

Present,-Professors Russel, Hope, Christison, and
Graham; Drs Gregory, Campbell, Gordon, Lee, Mac-
Lagan, Borthwick, Knox, Ainslie, Bougou; Captain
Hunter; Messrs Skene, Robinson, Neill, Jardine,
Stevenson, &c.

DR CHRISTISON read a communication from Dr Duncan, of a series of experiments made by a gentleman to relieve a supposed aneurism of the pulmonary artery, particularly by the injection into the chest of a quantity of air, with comments on the documents, by Dr Duncan. The tube and bladder by which the air was injected were exhibited to the Society.

A paper was read from Dr Berry, containing a detailed account of the monsoons of the Indian peninsula. The reading of the latter part of this paper was delayed till a future meeting.

THE LONDON DRAMA.

Regent's Park, London,
Jan. 3, 1831.

MOST deeply do we regret, and as deeply will the ten thousand readers of the EDINBURGH LITERARY JOURNAL sympathise in our disappointment, that we have not now leisure to enter upon a disquisition into the causes of the decline and fall of modern Pantomime; and thus, having ascertained the real grounds of the evil, at once prescribe a remedy. Whether the march of intellect have not yet marched in that direction; or whether, to preserve Philosopher Square's "moral fitness of things," the avowed degeneracy of the age have extended itself to the concocters of Pantomimes, we cannot (alas! the more's the pity) now pause to enquire. We can assert only, that these things are so; that "the days which made our annals bright" with the by-gone glories of "Mother Goose" and " Harlequin's Almanack,” seem fled for ever; and recollecting this,

"We cannot but remember such things were,

And were most dear to us!"

The Pantomimes of the present season are not only a step lower in the scale of excellence to those of last year, but the Drury Lane exhibition is positively a very trifle, the introduction at least, better than that of Covent Garden, though bad is the best, and those of some of the minor houses are far preferable to either. Mr Farley must surely be in his dotage; his opening story is neither well chosen, nor well made out, and Power's talents in Rhadamisthus O'Mullingar (for the name has been changed since we wrote last) are completely thrown away. Rubbing Pantaloon's back à la singeing Long, whose real name, we may take this opportunity of informing our friends, is O'Driscoll-" Heaven save the mark!"-and the loss of that most "splendid annual" the Lord Mayor's show in a dense fog, are the most palpable hits in the piece. In fact, we can praise nothing unreservedly but the scenery, and most of that, particularly the Giant's Causeway, O'Roork's Castle, the Menai Bridge, and the intended Guildhall Festival, by Grieve; and the Lakes of Killarney, and two other Irish Lakes by Roberts, are sufficiently excellent to atone for all the defects of the authorship; and higher praise it is impossible to give them.

On Saturday night last, however, Mr Power made