| in this work produced that which is decidedly the most successful picture of the series intrusted to him, excepting that one which was, we believe, first executed, "The Departure of a Puritan Family for New-England." The color of the picture now in question is warmer and appears more solid than that of those executed since the whole were taken in hand. In drawing, there is marked care displayed, and, consequently, success attained. We confess this is as it should be, for there are parts of the "Raising of the King's Standard,” also in this Professor Pettenkofer, of Munich, has patented the following method of restoring old and crack-series, which the painter might advantageously ed oil-paintings. The picture is exposed in a flat alter. In unaffected and natural variety of expres case, lined with metal, to an atmosphere saturated sion this picture surpasses most previous works by with vapor of alcohol at the ordinary temperature, Mr. Cope. The artist has yet to execute two pic which vapor is absorbed by the resinous particles tures ere the decorations of the Lords' Corridor of the picture to the point of saturation. The dif are completed. The assigned subjects for the ferent separated molecules thus "reäcquire cohesion future pictures are "Speaker Lenthal Asserting with each other, and the optical effect of the origi- the Privileges of the House of Commons against nal is restored solely by self-action, the picture not Charles the First, when the attempt was made to getting touched at all." Other substances besides seize the Five Members," and "The Setting out of alcohol, such as wood-naphtha, ether, sulphuric and the London Train-Bands to raise the siege of Glouother ethers, turpentine, petroleum, benzine, etc., cester."-Athenæum. may be used. dations of contour, are as distinct as if an able sculptor had exercised his skill; but the hair and the flesh are of their proper tint, and the whole thing has a singularly vital and comfortable look. Indeed, were it not for the reduction in size, it would be difficult to avoid the belief that an actual man or woman, in ordinary dress, and with characteristic expression, was presented to your eye. The Swan system" is about to be introduced into this country. " The harp is about to be introduced into Church of England choirs. Several prelates of auin-thority have considered the point involved most favorably, and musicians are as one as to the solemn and beautiful effect it will have in occasional accompaniments. There are now four splendid paintings by the elder Holbein on view in the cathedral at Augsburg, which formerly belonged to the Church of the Abbey of Weingarten, in Swabia. They have been bought by the Bishop of Augsburg for 6000 florins. -Mr. Beresford Hope is writing about the "sky line in modern building," and proposes that stead of chimney tops, and bent iron or tin tubes, forms after those of the tower pyramid or cupola should be adopted. The French government have given their pa tronage to a magnificent work on American antiquities, the first number of which is just issued. It is entitled Ancient Monuments of Mexico and Yucatan, Palenque, Occocinzo, and Other Remains of Ancient Mexican Civilization. A collection of pictorial views, bas-reliefs, fragments of architecture, vases, terra cottas, with maps and plans drawn from nature, by M. de Waldeck, with letter-press by the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, an ecclesiastic_distinguished for his long residence in Mexico and devotion to Aztec studies. The plates are of the largest folio size, and executed with all the most modern appliances toward the perfection of graphic art. Mr. Cope has completed another of the series of pictures which he is commissioned to execute for the decoration of the Lords' Corridor in the Houses of Parliament. The subject of this work is the "Expulsion of the Fellows of an Oxford College for refusing to sign the Covenant," during the early part of the Commonwealth. The scene appears to be a large gothic hall of a college with a broad staircase leading down, by successive grades, from an upper story to the ground level. At the foot of this staircase, and full in front of the picture, is placed a carpet-covered table, laden with books and papers, at which sits an asceticlooking, gray-haired Independent minister, the commissioner intrusted with the office of administering the test to the members of the college. Behind stands the church militant in the persons of two officers in buff coats and armor. The Master Fellows and other members of the college descend the stairs, their countenances, it must be admitted, contrasting very favorably with the intelligent, if over-severe, face of the commissioner, or the manly and handsome looks of his colleagues. Porters are bearing the personal property of the collegiates in boxes, etc.: their masters look, some defiant, some resigned, some with assumed indifference, at the trio near the table. At the foot of the stairs sits a Commonwealth soldier, smoking; other guards are placed on the landings above. Mr. Cope has We read in the Temps that the "Princess of Prussia, daughter of Queen Victoria, has painted four pictures in oil, representing the principal episodes of the taking of Düppel by the Prussian troops." The German Guzette of the North states that these paintings will shortly be exhibited in the rooms of the permanent exhibition of Messrs. Sachee & Co., of Berlin. Two recent pictures of the well-known Charles Fehr-the Belgian painter, who, born without arms, carries the brush in his toes-are very highly spoken of by French critics-one a copy of Greuze's "Broken Jar," the other a portrait of Madame Victoria Lafontaine. Moslems and Portrait Painting.-A point in Moslem casuistry has just been decided by the Hadji Abdel-Kader, who has issued a formal rescript from Damascus to the faithful generally for their guidance in an important particular. Conscientious scruples having been felt among believers as to the lawfulness of photography, sundry mollahs and dervishes met under the presidency of their illustrious co-religionist, and synodical judgment has been given to the effect "that the Koran precept did not inhibit the practice of portrait painting from any apprehension of idolatry, but on the grounds that a certain amount of imponderable particles were necessarily abstracted from the superficies of the sitter during the process of being portrayed in the ordinary way by artistic agency, and a slight but yet forbidden diminution of Allah's image stamped on beings made after the divine model occurred under such circumstances, the integrity of the human form being essential to predestination; but the action of the sun on the countenance or figure, does not in any way filch from the substance of the individual, and there fore it is allowable that the solar beams should be | Fouquet? of course I must tremble and be afraid. What need is there for me to trouble myself about A New Substitute for Coffee has been proposed by M. Prevet, who suggests the employment of the seeds of the carob-tree instead of the fruit we use at present. It possesses a very agreeable flavor even without being sweetened with sugar; and, apart from an economical view, it might be taken with benefit by those who find coffee too stimulating. VARIETIES. Mudie's Library-Mr. Mudie's famous circulating library has passed into the hands of a Limited Liability Company. The property has been divided into £100,000 worth of shares; and of this sum Mr. Mudie retains possession of £50,000. Some part of the second £50,000 has been subscribed by Mr. Murray and other London publishers; and the remaining part will be offered to the general public. Mr. Mudie continues his services and powers as managing director, at a salary of £1000 a year. Statistics of Suicide.-M. Legoyt, who has written a very extensive work on this subject, is of opinion (1) that suicides increase more rapidly than either the population or general mortality in all the following countries: Bavaria, Hanover, France, Mecklenburg, Prussia, the kingdom of Saxony, and Mind, this is not an Irish bull, but an emanation Sweden. (2) Contrary to the usual opinion, England of the wisdom of a knot of English officers. Perranks lowest in the scale, as regards frequency of sui-haps, however, they are acclimatized.-Punch. cides. Denmark and North Germany stand highest, and France occupies a middle position. (3) There are generally about thirty suicides of women to a hundred of male suicides. (4) The number increases with age up to about sixty or seventy years. (5) The number is smallest in January and greatest in July. (6) Women are more influenced by moral agencies, men by material ones. (7) Among married persons the number of suicides is smallest; it is larger among the unmarried, and attains its greatest limit among those who have been separated or divorced. (8) In Prussia it has been calculated, that of every million of inhabitants the Protestants give 153 suicides, the Jews 51, and the Catholics only 47. (9) Suicides are far more frequent in large towns than in other portions of the country. Of all the conclusions deducible from the foregoing statistical account, the most astounding one is, that suicide is generally and rapidly increasing; and this the author supposes to be due to the natural consequences of the intensely civilized (?) condition into which we are passing.-L'Union Médicale. Extraordinary Memory.-Seneca says of himself, that by the mere efforts of his natural memory he was able to repeat two thousand words upon once hearing them, each in its order, though they had no dependence or connection upon each other. After which he mentioned a friend of his, Pontius Latro, who retained in his memory all the orations he had ever spoken, and never found his memory fail him, even in a single word. He also mentions Cyneas, ambassador to the Romans from King Pyrrhus, who in one day so well learned the names of his spectators, that the next day he saluted the whole Senate, and all the populace assembled, each by his name. Pliny says that Cyrus knew every soldier in his army by name; and L. Scipio all the people of Rome. Herr von Nieublin, the celebrated German scholar, was once a clerk in the bank of Copenhagen, in which capacity he gave proof of the miraculous power of memory by restoring, from recollection alone, the whole contents of a leaf in the bank ledger which had been lost by fraud or accident. Dr. Livingstone.-In spite of the numerous reports of Dr. Livingstone's death, that veteran traveler has again reached England in safety, and is understood to be engaged in a new book relat ing to his last explorations, and the best means of suppressing the inland traffic in slaves, by which his efforts were constantly thwarted and his life placed in great danger. Rachel Studying her Part.-It seems from the testimony of M. Janin, one of Rachel's most profuse admirers, that "the Muse of Israel" was any thing but the laborious student which might have been inferred from the changeless style of her acting. Referring to the revival of "Esther," and to Rachel's failure when she tried the part, M. Janin very coolly suggests that she understood Pure Grape Wines.-Jaques Brothers, Washingnothing about it, having never read the Old Testa-tonville, Orange county, New-York.—We are conment. (She died, recollect, in strict Hebraism, fident that we aid the cause of temperance and of though her rooms were decked with St. Veronica | health in calling attention to these wines. They handkerchiefs, rosaries, and crucifixes.) The live- are warranted and known to be free from all ly critic goes on to clench this supposition with a alcoholic adulterations. They are made from the fact, communicated to him, he says, by M. Alexan- Catawba, Isabella, and the newer varieties of our dre Dumas, the younger. When Rachel was renative grapes. The qualities and reputation of hearsing in the elder Dumas' play, the part of their wines have become well established, having Mdlle. de Belle Isle, which Mars had created so been long used for communion and medicinal puradmirably at the moment when La Marquise says poses, We believe that if their merits were gento the heroine, "Do you recollect the ill fortune of erally known they would exclude much of the vile Fouquet?" Malle. Rachel made an admirable ges- and poisonous trash that is now in such extenture.-"Good," cried Alexander the Greater," that sive use. Physicians, in their practice, invalids, is just it. You know, then, the story of Fouquet?" churches, and all who have occasion to use wines, "I" was the answer; "not a word! but when are invited to make trial of these. Agents for their you say to me, 'Do you recollect the ill fortune of sale may be found in all our chief cities and towns. Races Without Horses.-Mr. Punch has been favored with a copy of the rules and regulations issued "by permission of Major-General Ridley" for the guidance of the managers of the races at the Camp, Curragh, Ireland. Had the gallant major-general been Old Bob Ridley, we should not have been surprised at any bit of fun like the penultimate rule, which is this: "The horses are to be at the post precisely at the advertised times, or the races will proceed without them." |