speeches. He was born in 1766, the same year, was not indispensable,a time which, consecratwe think, in which Lally Tollendal went gaggeded to science, where he could not be replaced, to the scaffold: we believe through his father's would have bestowed on the world some imcare. Before '89 he was a member of the Paris mortal works the more. In such topics as these, parliament; under the empire he obtained a in short; in a tribute to the memory of the Duke subordinate situation in the Conseil d'Etat, and of Orleans; in a criticism of the theologians of might have remained there unpromoted, but Louis XIV.'s time; in allusion to Chateaubriand, that on the cashiering of Dubois, after the fire and denunciation of de Maistre; Monsieur Mig. at the Hotel Schwartzenberg, Baron Pasquier net seemed to seek relief from the dryness of the was proposed by his friends to the emperor, task more peculiarly allotted to him. then desirous to gather round him names of note It is difficult to discover an advantage likely! in the old parliaments. So he became Prefet of to accrue to a literary body by the incorporation Police, and as such allowed himself to be arrest- of political incapacities. The honours it offers ed in his own hotel, and imprisoned in La talent become thenceforth worthless; the justForce, by the General Mallet. In 1814, Napo- ice it asserts is a mockery; the very spirit of leon having denied him a coveted place, he in- such a society, when patched with political indited two angry letters.' During the hundred fluence, may come to be suddenly changed. days he strove to conciliate in vain. He was three times minister during the restoration: when his only firmness of purpose was shown in the attacks on the liberty of the press to which Monsieur Mignet so eloquently and delicately alluded. He was created a peer by the elder branch, and named president of the chamber of peers after the revolution: famous then for the silent prudence with which he had held aloof, till the loaves and fishes trembling in the balance weighed down one scale. He was chancellor in 1837. Above all, and through all, he has never ceased to be a courtier. These are the merits of Monsieur Pasquier, and the reasons of the Academy's choice. Alfred de Vigny is only a poet, a novelist, a philosophical writer.

There is no need of 'remplissage' (for this word was used) as long as men are designated by their country to fill the places left empty; and even supposing Monsieur de Vigny in possession of that which must be his inevitably, France is not so poor that coming vacancies may not be more worthily filled than by men whose chief studies have turned to the repetition of like oaths to many masters, to the pronouncing villanous sentences in the chamber of peers, or wellturned compliments on the new year's day. Among the vices of the French press, we must not forget their virtues, and papers of all opinions have avenged the cause of literature thus offended. We might swell our observations to a volume by quoting but a sentence from each In Monsieur Mignet's retrospect of the life of of the journals which have made Pasquier's the Abbé Frayssinous, no longer cramped by his chair no bed of roses. We will cite only one. subject, he enlisted all sympathies. So did he "A medal," says this writer, "is about to be also when he recalled the noble life and last struck in commemoration. On one side will be moments of Cuvier. In a funeral discourse pro- a woman, young, robust, and beautiful, reprenounced over the latter, rests Monsieur Pas-senting the Academy of Louis XIV., with the quier's least disputed claim to literature. We motto Mulier formosa supernè;' on the reverse agree with Monsieur Mignet where he disagrees of the coin merely the head of Monsieur Paswith Monsieur Pasquier, and deplores that Cu- quier, with the words, Desinit in piscem.'” vier should have given to state affairs, where he

MISCELLANEOUS LITERARY NOTICES.

On the banks of the Maas, between Ruremond | and Kessel, a fisherman recently discovered some remains of an antediluvian animal of enormous size. The bones already found consist of portions of the spine and the shoulderblade, which are eighteen kilogrammes in weight. There is reason to hope that the remainder of the skeleton will be discovered.

M. Scharges, of Brussels, has recently become possessed of a most valuable bibliographical treasure. Amidst a heap of old books, which he purchased from a priest at St. Froud, he discovered the sixth copy of the first Bible printed at Maintz. It will be remembered that Louis XVIII. gave the sum of 20,000 francs for M'Carty's copy in 1816.

officers of the Paris Observatory were, however, on the watch. This was fortunate; for the appearance of this unexplained and still inexplicable phenomenon becomes peculiarly important when it occurs at a time at which it may coincide with the periodical crisis of the meteors. It is impossible yet to say what are the laws which govern this approximation, or even if such approximation really exists; but circumstances tend to prove that the Aurora Borealis belongs to a particular class of astronomical phenomena, or is dependant on various matters which occupy space in the celestial regions. Considered under this point of view, the Aurora Borealis may be said to belong to the same family as the falling stars. In either case they may be regarded as portions of celestial matter, which sometimes come to visit our distant planet.

GERMANY.

Edward Bendemann, one of the most distinguished among the young artists of Germany, was for some time supposed to be disabled from the exercise of his art, by an incurable weakness of sight, likely to end in blindness. He had consulted a multitude of medical men, without deriving the least benefit from their advice, and was meditating a retreat from the world, when lately, as he was returning from Italy, he had an interview with the celebrated oculist, Dr. Jäger, of Vienna. Jäger, it seems, immediately declared the affection of Bendemann to be a hypochondria of the eyes, for which the best cure would be to resume gradually but immediately, and without the least fear, his former avocation. The Prussian State Gazette says that Bendemann has followed the counsel, and has already derived the greatest advantage from it; so much so, as to leave very little doubt of his entire recovery. Bendemann, now in his 31st year, established his popularity in Germany, Dr. Kniewell, of Dantzic, who had been long about ten years ago, by his celebrated picture absent on a journey through France, Switzer-"The Mourning Israelites." The idea of this land, and England, returned home in November last, and it is expected that he will shortly publish an account of the observations he made in the course of his travels. The attention of Dr. Kniewell has been chiefly directed to religious subjects, and in a German paper, called the Kirchen Zeitung (Church Gazette), it is stated, that, in his communications with his friends, he speaks highly of the progress of Protestantism and the state of Evangelical religion in Switzerland and even in France, but of that of England he speaks less favourably. He is reported to dread the success of Puseyism. On that subject he is stated to be quite an alarmist. He intends to enter into very extensive details on the various sects in England, and as the views of a pious, sincere, and learned foreigner, his remarks will no doubt have great interest.

It is now positively decided that Göthe's house at Saxe-Weimar, together with the noble collection of works of art and objects of science contained in it, is to be purchased by the German Confederation, as a national monument. This gratifying arrangement is chiefly due to the exertions of the King of Prussia, with whom the restoration of Göthe's house, for this purpose, has always been an object of particular interest. A committee has been appointed to negotiate with the heirs and trustees of Göthe for the purchase of the house and collections.

Professor Gesenius, of the University of Halle, died on the 23d of October, after a short but painful illness. Gesenius was a man of distinguished attainments, and a favourite lecturer at the university. He was one of the editors of the Halle Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung, and the writer of many admirable critical articles which have appeared in that publication since the year 1828.

The German journals mention an interesting discovery recently made in Bohemia, of a chest containing documents of great historical importance relating to Wallenstein. The papers consist of autograph letters of the celebrated General, and other documents calculated to throw light on some events of Wallenstein's life hitherto enveloped in some degree of obscurity.

picture, now in the Museum of the city of Cologne, is taken from the words of the 137th Psalm:-"By the river of Babylon there we sat down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion." The picture has been more than once engraved, among others, by Ruschweyh, and in Count Raczynski's "Histoire de l'Art moderne en Allemagne." When this picture appeared at the Berlin Exhibition in 1832, it at once established the author's reputation. His "Two Maidens at the Well" appeared next year. His third great picture, at present the property of the King of Prussia, was The Prophet Jeremias on the ruins of Jerusalem." It was criticised at Berlin by some, but at Paris, where it appeared in the Exhibition of 1837, it was hailed with undivided and enthusiastic applause. The "Jeremias" and the "Mourning Jews" are the pictures on which Bendemann's reputation chiefly rests, but his "Harvest" and similar pictures, of a lyric-idylical style, are evidently his own favourites, and will perhaps by posterity be valued beyond his historical pieces.

In Austria the proportion which the manufacturing population bears to the agricultural is as 9, in Prussia 18, in France 36, in England 45 to 100. The population of the towns in Prussia is to that residing in villages and on the lands in the proportion of 27 to 100, in Austria 23, in France 33, in England 50. The machine power in England is equal to that of 2,500,000 horses or 13,000,000 men. Machine power in Germany, inclusive of the numerous steam-packets, is said not to exceed that of 100,100 horses. According to official tables the number of manufactories in Russia amounts to 614, employing 39,820 workmen, together with 19,638 operatives in auxiliary branches of trade. Of 3000 master operatives 300 are foreigners. The value of the productive industry of Russia in 1840 amounted to 22,250,000 silver rubles, or 3,708,3341., of which more than 3,000,000. sterling were sold.

The opening of the Walhalla, an event which for some time previously had excited a considerable share of public interest in all parts of Ger many, took place on the 18th of October last.

NECROLOGY.

The idea of a grand national temple, consecrated | which he set forth the national importance of to the memory of all celebrated Germans, male the great work which had been conceived and and female, was first conceived by the present executed by King Ludwig. "The Walhalla," King of Bavaria in the year 1806. His Majesty said the speaker at the close of his address, (then Crown Prince) was in Berlin, where he "will be the palladium of modern Germany, had the opportunity of consulting several distin- and the name of its Royal Founder will, to the guished men, especially Johannes Müller, on remotest ages, hold a place in the memory of all the magnificent plan which he had in view for who have German hearts, and who are interestthe Walhalla. Before leaving Berlin, the Prince ed in the happiness of their country." To this commissioned several eminent sculptors of that address the King replied in a very impressive capital to execute for him several marble busts speech, in the course of which he said, “May of celebrated Germans, which he proposed to the Walhalla serve to develope and consolidate place in the new Temple of Fame. In 1814 the German nationality. May all Germans, to Prince invited architects to furnish plans for the whatsoever race they belong, feel that they have Walhalla, none of which, however, met with one common country, a country of which they his approval. In 1816 he commissioned Leo may be proud, and may each individual labour, von Klenze to prepare new designs, and in 1821, according to his faculties, to promote her glory." that which has recently been so happily executed, was made choice of. Several sites for thei erection of the new temple were successively proposed and rejected, and at length, in 1822, it was resolved, at the suggestion of Von Klenze, WIEBEKING.-Although by no means to be to erect the Walhalla on the spot where it now compared with the loss occasioned by the death stands-viz., near the Danube, on the boundary of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, architecture has susof the Roman empire in Germany, and in the tained some loss by that of the Chevalier Karl vicinity of Ratisbon, the capital of the Agilolfin- Friedrich von Wiebeking, who died at Munich, gians, the first dukes of Bavaria. As soon as on the 29th of last May, in his eighty-first year, the plan was determined on, materials for the leaving two sons-the elder fifty-one years old, preliminary labours were obtained from the the other only eleven months, and a widow only marble quarries of Untersberg, near Saltzburgh. twenty-two. Wiebeking was born at Wolhin It was not, however, till the 18th of October, in Pomerania, and first of all distinguished him1830, that the first stone was laid in the King's self by his topographical surveys of various Gerpresence, on which occasion the minister, Von man states; to which studies he afterwards Schenk, delivered a speech, which excited con- added those of architecture and engineering, siderable attention. The Walhalla is situated both military and hydraulic; and this last format Donantstauf, not far from Ratisbon, on a hill ed the subject of the first publication, which he called the Branberg, about 250 feet above the followed up by his great work Wasser Bauklevel of the Danube. The edifice rests on cyclo- unst,' the most complete of its kind that has pean substructures of colossal magnitude. Six ever been produced. The reputation he acquirflights of marble steps lead from the temple to ed by it caused him to be invited to Bavaria in the terraces, over which it rises. These terraces 1805, where he was appointed chief engineer command a view of inconceivable grandeur. and inspector of roads and canals; which office From the north-west a road winds through a he held until 1817, when he retired upon a pengrove of oak trees to the Walhalla. To the sion. Instead of giving himself up to inactivity, west lie the ruins of the ancient castle of Stauf on being thus released from professional duties, (supposed to be upwards of eight centuries old), he undertook another very extensive work, viz., and to the north are the woody hills which his Theoretisch-practische Bürgerliche Bau stretch away to the Bohemian forests. The kunde,' 4 vols. 4to. with an atlas of plates. This King of Bavaria spared no efforts to impart the is certainly a most valuable and interesting conutmost splendour and impressiveness to the in- tribution to architectural study, on account of auguration of the Walhalla on the 18th of Octo- the mass of historical information contained in ber last. The Court of Bavaria, together with it, of the number of examples (modern as well several members of the Royal Family of Prussia, as ancient) given in the plates, and not least of proceeded to Ratisbon, and at two o'clock on all on account of the historical tables of buildthe afternoon of the 18th, the royal cortège ar- ings and architects, which, though not so comrived at the foot of the terraces above which the plete as they might be rendered, are so exceedmonument rises. The King alighted from his ingly useful for reference, that they deserve to carriage, and ascended the steps, conducting the be published separately. Were that done, they Princess William of Prussia; next followed might be extended and improved both in the Prince William of Prussia, conducting Queen manner just mentioned, and by incorporating Theresa; the Prince Royal, leading his consort; with them much that might be borrowed from Prince Leopold, with his sister, the Grand Duch- the text of the work itself. Besides the above, ess of Hesse; and Prince Charles, with the Wiebeking published various other works rela Duchess of Wurtemberg. At the moment when the royal cortège ascended to the second terrace, a band of instrumental performers and a choir of singers performed a Hymn of the Bards, composed by Huntz. When the King reached the entrance of the edifice, the president of the government, Von Zirheim, delivered an address, in

tive to architecture and engineering; and one of the very last, if not the last of all (Analyse Des-* criptive, Historique, et Raisonnée des Monumens de l'Antiquité; des Edifices le plus remarkables du Moyen Age, &c.' 1840), was dedicated to Queen Victoria of England.

TIEDGE. Of those who have gone off the

stage of life within the two or three last years, the loss of a companion: for the benefactress not a few have been veterans in art and litera- remained present in the benefits she continued ture; individuals who, if for nothing else, to confer. Her house and establishment were would have been remarkable as instances of kept up as before, for Tiedge's use during his longevity. Albertolli, the Italian architect, life, without the slightest change of any kind. reached his ninety-ninth year, with the full pos- The annals of literature may furnish instansession of his faculties; Antolini, another Italian ces of greater worldly success, and of more architect, died at the end of last year, at the age prosperity, but it is difficult to meet in them of eighty-six; Admiral Shishkov, a man of with an example of a happier fate than was some note in Russian literature, at that of that of Tiedge: since his cup was filled to the eighty-seven (April 9, 1841); Danneker, the brim with the sweets of life, with as little alloy celebrated German sculptor, at eighty-three; of bitterness as can be conceived. But what, it Madame Lebrun, a female artist, eminent in will be asked, was Tiedge the poet? for his portrait-painting, at eighty-seven; Cherubini, name is not so familiar in this country as to renthe celebrated composer, at eighty-one; and der such question improbable, or an answer to Professor Heeren, and the Chevalier Wiebeking, it unnecessary. We cannot in this place disboth at the same age; and to these may be criminate his literary character; but he was added the veteran German poet, Christopher certainly a poet of no ordinary powers; and alAugust Tiedge, who died last year at Dresden, in his eighty-ninth year: no very extraordinary age as a mere instance of longevity, but extraordinary as being free not only from infirmities, but all indications of senility. Even in the last year of his life he did not appear, it is said, to be more than just turned of sixty; and the very week before he died he was at a birthday party. If in this respect Tiedge may be considered an exception froin the general lot of humanity, he was in other respects not less favoured by fortune: being raised to affluence, and the enjoyment of "lettered ease," by an event that might be called romantic, were it not that there was as little of the romantic as of the every-day course of things in it. We allude to his domestication -than which we know of no more suitable term we can make use of-with Madame von der Recke. Contrary as it was to the ordinary forms of society, there was nothing in the connection to offend public opinion, or to give the least handle to any sinister interpretations. Both parties were persons of firm religious principles, and besides being a year or two older than the poet, the lady was almost a constant invalid. The idea of any impropriety in the connection between Tiedge and his Eliza, would be as ridiculous as any notion of the kind with regard to that between Cowper and his Mary.

though the very nature of the themes he treated excluded him from general popularity, his reputation remains upon a much firmer basis than that of many of his poetical contemporaries, whose names, once so bright, are now dimmed and lustreless. Tiedge will hold an honourable place among the classics of the literature, honourable to his character as a man as well as a writer. Since his death a complete edition of his works has been published in ten volumes, and also 'Tiedge's Leben, und poetischer Nachlass: herausgegeben von Dr. K. Falkenstein,' in four others. A very high compliment has, too, been paid to his memory by giving his name to an institution lately founded at Dresden, under the title of Tiedge Verein, for the purpose of assisting respectable literary characters in their old age.

ITALY.

Accounts from Palermo mention that the work on which Amari has been so long and so laboriously occupied-"A Fragment (periodo) of Sicilian History"-has been prohibited. Indeed, some months ago, the few remaining copies were not to be purchased at quadruple their original price. According to some accounts Amari is placed in confinement, and according to others he has effected his escape. The censors have If, however, there is so far a striking paral- been dismissed from their situations, and those lelism between the bard of 'Urania' and him literary publications which gave extracts from of the Task,' and also in the religious tendency the work, or even noticed it, have been suspendof the poets, there are, too, many points of dis- ed. These rigorous measures are the more exsimilarity between them; for while the English traordinary, as the materials for the book, and poet was visited by the most distressing mental especially the documents contained in it, were affliction, the German one enjoyed, as has been obtained from the archives, for access to which seen, a more than ordinary length of life, exempt royal permission is indispensably necessary. The from those penalties which generally attend work, too, before it was printed, had been subprotracted existence. The religious Cowper jected to the revision of a double censorship. was a shy recluse; the religious Tiedge was partial to social and literary intercourse. post-chaise jaunt into Sussex, with Mrs. Unwin, Prison discipline is a subject which at present was to poor Cowper a formidable undertaking, occupies a considerable share of public attento which he had to nerve himself; Tiedge, on tion in this country. The king has lately given the contrary, travelled with his Eliza for several (his sanction to the new penal code, which will. years through various parts of Germany and shortly be printed, and the Diet has voted the Italy; and on their return Madame von der funds necessary for constructing a penitentiary, Recke published her journal Tagebuch, &c.' of on the Pennsylvania plan, calculated to contain their tour through the last-mentioned country. 238 inmates. As it is not expected that the The death of Madame von der Recke, in 1833, establishment will be completed before the year made no other change in Tiedge's circumstan-1845, no particular code of penal or domestic ces and way of living than that occasioned by regulations will be drawn up for the establish

A

NORWAY.