with Grub Street; but it is curious to ob- the principle of the conservation of forces, ¡ serve the incapacity of such a man as we discover that the fall of a given weight Johnson to understand Gray or Sterne, through a given distance is equivalent to and the contempt which Walpole ex- the development of a given quantity of pressed for Johnson and Goldsmith, whilst heat. Iu like manner we should discover he sincerely believed the poems of Mason that the same force when converted into were destined to immortality. Nor, again, intellectual activity will generate a given can we flatter ourselves that this narrow quantity of poetry or philosophy. And, vision was characteristic only of a school conversely, we may compare the merit of which has now decayed. We may find the two literary productions by deter blunders at least equally palpable in the mining how much force was consumed in opinions expressed by the great poets at their productions. If, for example, Shakethe beginning of this century. Such, for speare's brain did an amount of work example, is the apparently sincere convic- equal to ten foot-pounds in composing the tion of Byron that Rogers and Moore were soliloquy of Hamlet, and Goethe's did an the truest poets among his contempo- amount equal to five of the same units in raries; that Pope was the first of all Eng- composing Mignon's song in Wilhelm Meislish, if not of all existing, poets; and that ter, then the merit of the soliloquy is preWordsworth was nothing but a namby- cisely double that of the song. We lay pamby driveller. The school of Words- no particular stress on this theory, which worth and Southey uttered judgments at has, as some people may fancy, a rather least equally hasty in the opposite direc- materialist sound, but it may serve as an tion. Many odd instances of the degree illustration of our proposed principle. To in which prejudice can blind a man of gen- compare the merits of any two writers, deuine taste are to be found in the writings cide which exhibits the greater amount of of their disciple, De Quincey. To men- force, and as a rule you may safely protion no other, he speaks of "Mr. Goethe," nounce him to be the greater. as an immoral and second-rate author, who owes his reputation chiefly to the fact of his long life and his position at the Court of Weimar. With which we may compare Charles Lamb's decided preference of Marlowe's Dr. Faustus to Goethe's immortal Faust. Our grandchildren, it may be feared, will find equal reason for revising the judgments which now pass current amongst us. How, they will ask, could people be found to mistake the secondhand pedantry of (we leave the name to be supplied according to the taste of our readers) for genuine inspiration, or to overlook the productions of the immortal Smith and Brown, which were then read only by the unlearned or by some small circle of true believers? Thus the quality which chiefly serves to distinguish talent from genius is originality. The man who produces a new idea capable of germinating in the minds of his readers is so far a greater man than he who is merely the channel for transmitting ideas already expressed by some original thinker. This is the one great quality which distinguishes the few leaders of the world from the great mass of dealers in second-hand opinion; and it is due simply to an excess of power. Anybody can fol low a beaten track, but to strike out a path for yourself involves an amount both of intellectual and moral force which falls only to the select few. Wherever it is found, we may say that its possessor is by birthright one of the immortals, though circumIf criticism should ever rise to the dig- stances may stifle his powers of utterance; nity of science, such mistakes will be im- and every one knows what a strange inpossible. We shall discover some infalli- fluence he possesses even when his remarks, ble gauge of literary merit, which will im- though original, have been anticipated by mediately detect lurking genius in the some one else. A man who speaks from most improbable disguises. One of the his own mind is so far a new force, and axioms that will lie at the foundation of therefore affects us in a manner essentially the future science will probably be ex- different from the ordinary writer, who can pressed in some such formula as this, that be considered merely as the surface upon the one real virtue is force, though it may which external forces have impinged, in appear in many manifestations. Mr. Her- order to rebound. Within the same class, bert Spencer maintains that the laws of again, it is easy to accept the theory that every phenomenon throughout the uni- the merit of a writer is proportional to his verse, including all spiritual and intellect- vigour. The difficulty begins when we enual as well as physical phenomena, may deavour to compare writings differing be ultimately stated as corollaries from in species as well as in merit. There are the primary laws of force. By applying some writings in which force shows it self, as it were, naked, and is obviously the secret of the influence which they exert over us. Such, for example, is that masculine and nervous prose of which we have so many masters in English literature, and which sometimes looks so easy when it is really so difficult. The clear compressed reasoning of Hobbes, the manly common sense of Locke, the incomparable energy of Swift, and the comparatively coarse dogmatizing of Cobbett have all a kind of family, or rather national, likeness; and, fortunately, we are not without some modern examples of the same style. Lovers of a more florid rhetoric are apt to despise the simple downright vernacular of the writers we have named, and even to fancy that it must be easy to express such plain thoughts in plain words. Nothing can in fact be further from the truth; because the quality which makes such writing possible is just that intensity of mind which belongs only to powerful natures. The direct expression of the thoughts of a feeble person is simply insipid. On the other hand, the gorgeous rhetoric of Burke or Milton or Jeremy Taylor is also good so far as it is a symptom of force taking a different direction. The energy which in one case displays itself by a strong grasp of a few leading principles displays itself in the other by overlaying them with a vast variety of illustrations and applications. The same amount of intellectual power may be displayed in Swift's attack upon Wood's copper coinage, and in Burke's on a regicide peace. Swift's power appears in the kind of bulldog tenacity with which he throttles his antagonists; and Burke's in the versatility with which he perplexes them by every conceivable mode of assault. To decide which is the greater, we must wait for that new calculus of the future which will enable us to estimate the total expenditure of force in either case. Hasty critics, as a rule, happen to find one variety of expression more congenial to them than the other, and fail to observe that it is a question, not of the essential power, but of the mode of application. In some cases a concentration, and in others a diffusion, of force may be most appropriate; and it is a great, though a very common, mistake to apply the same measure to all. There is another variety of literature in which the principle does not seem to apply at first sight. Many of our poets, for example, appear to owe their success to a weakness rather than to strength. The more accurate statement, however, would appear to be that great strength of any one faculty is apt to throw a man off his balance. The very greatest men, the Dantes, Shakespeares, or Goethes, are men of thoroughly healthy and equable development. But the second-rate men, the Popes or Shelleys, are apt to be morbid because some of their talents are developed at the expense of the rest. Pope, for example, had, as Atterbury said, a mens curva in corpore curvo. But his greatness was owing, not to the distortion, but to the marvellous quickness and keenness, of his intellect. He abounds in the most brilliant flashes of thought, but is unable to maintain a steady pressure. He is a poet therefore by fits and starts, and has composed innumerable couplets of wonderful merit, but scarcely one satisfactory poem. He is an example therefore of intermittent power; which is to the sustained power of healthier writers what a series of explosions by gunpowder is to the continuous expansion of steam. So Byron said of himself that he was like a tiger who would make but one spring, and if he failed went grumbling back to his den. The force is the same in all cases, but it may vary indefinitely in its mode of action. The morbid poets have an extraordinary sensitiveness to certain emotions and perceptions; and sensitiveness of all kinds is a symptom of an active_intellect and of strength of feeling. The man who can perceive the most delicate variations of colour or temperature is not in ordinary parlance so strong as the min who can raise a hundredweight with his little finger. But he has a finer touch, a more delicate instrument in his physical organization. The value of his work will depend, not upon the degree of his perceptive faculty, but upon the strength of his feelings and his power of expressing them. The fineness of his organs determines what kind of materials he is to use; but the merit of the work depends entirely upon the vigour with which he turns them to account. The man of very delicate sensibility produces, it may be, a rarer variety of work; his fabrics are spun of gossamer instead of cotton; but though more interesting to the connoisseur, they do not possess more intrinsic excellence than those of the man of coarser organization but equal intellectual and emotional vigour. Shelley's poetry is more exquisite than Byron's, but it is not therefore more admirable. Critics of young authors should therefore judge the performances of the novices by the energy they display. What is called good taste is generally a very questionable symptom in a young man; for it is too often symptomatic of a docility resulting from deficient vigour. The advice to a cision should be performed; and a superyouth to cut out his finest passages was fluity of energy, whatever faults it may all very well with a view to the propitiation produce at starting, is the best of all symp of ordinary critics and as a way of recom-toms. Unluckily faults of taste do not almending vigorous self-discipline. But it is ways or generally proceed from an excess, infinitely more important that there should and may easily arise from a deficiency, of be something to cut out than that the ex-|vigour. Favourable weather prevailing after leaving Lisbon, a few hauls were made with the dredge which were attended with fair results. On the finest day a common fishing trawl was lowered to the bottom, a depth of three-quarters of a mile, with the greatest success, for on its being hauled again to the surface not only did it contain in great abundance beautiful specimens of corals and sponges, but several deep-sea fish were found. These latter arrived at the surface nearly dead, the expansion of the air in their bodies on being relieved from the pressure of the water at such depths proving sufficient to tear them open. By the experiments already made on board the Challenger it is considered to be placed beyond doubt that similar captures can be made from the greatest depths, but the consequences to the fish captured must always prove an insurmountable obstacle to any idea of acclimatization which might be entertained. The utmost care has been and will continue to be taken in preserving specimens of these newlydiscovered animals. The Challenger may be expected to arrive at Madeira from Gibraltar on the 30th inst. SUPPOSED DISCOVERY OF THE QUEEN OF SHE- | into deep water in the direction of Maleira. BA'S PALACE. — M. Mauch, an African traveller, thus writes: -" "I believe that I have found the real Ophir, in lat. 20 deg. 15 min. S., long. 26 deg. 30 min. E., and I think I possess proofs of the fact. The ruins which have been so often spoken about are composed of two masses of edifice, in a tolerably good state of preservation. The first is on a mountain of granite; and, amongst other constructions, is to be remarked one which is an imitation of the Temple of Solomon, being fortress and sauctuary at the same time, the walls of which are built in wrought granite, without mortar, and still being more than 30 ft. high. Beams of cedar served as ceiling to the narrow and covered galleries. No inscription exists, but only some special designs of ornamentation which announce a great antiquity. The whole western part of the mountain is covered with blocks of great size, which seem to indicate terraces. The second mass of ruins is situated to the south of the mountain, from which it is separated by a low valley; it retains a well-preserved circular form, with walls constructed as a labyrinth, also without mortar; a tower still exists, 30 ft. high, 17 ft. in diameter at the base, and 9 ft. at the top. The circular edifice is accompanied by a large number of others situated in the front, and which doubtless served as the habitation of the Queen of Sheba's suite. I have drawn, not without difficulty, a general sketch and a plan of this pal ace. I was confirmed by the natives themselves in the idea that these ruins date from the Queen's time. Forty years since sacrifices were still offered up on the mountain. The natives still call the circular building the House of the Great Princess." AKAZGA, THE AFRICAN ORDEAL POISON. — A French chemist has made some experiments with the poison akazga - received from West Africa in bundles of long, slender, crooked stems, and used there as an ordeal - and finds it to resemble nux vomica in its physiological effects. He has separated from it a new crystalline alkaloid, closely resembling strychnia, but differing from it in being precipitated by alka line bicarbonates. A suspected wizard is made to drink an infusion of the bark, and then to walk over small sticks of the plant; if guilty, he stumbles, and tries to step over the sticks as if they were logs, finally falling in convulsions, when he is beaten to death by clubs; if innocent, the kidneys act freely, and the poison is supposed to be thus eliminated. THE PEOPLE'S MAGAZINE, VOL. VII CONDUCTED BY EDWARD E. HALE. "Grows Better as it Grows Older."— E. P. WHIPPLE in The Boston Globe. THE PRESENT VOLUME WILL CONTAIN A REMARKABE NUMBER OF ATTRACTIONS.. SOME OF THE ATTRACTIONS: A Serial will soon appear in the Magazine by the Funny Englishman, Mr. F. C. Burnand, over whose books so many hearty laughs have been enjoyed. Short Stories by good writers; such as: In the January Number, Mr. HALE's powerful Christmas Story, called "They Saw a Great Light," having snow-storm and lighthouse experience In the February Number, ELLIS GRAY's lively tale, "Allegro," with music and love-making. In March, Mr. PERKINS' story "The Man-ufactory," showing where our Public Speaking really comes from. A New Novel of New York and New England Life will begin in the April number. Mr. MARTINEAU's wonderfully able papers on the relation of God to Man will be continued. The Criticisms, Analysis of New Music, Papers on Current Politics and on Important Industrial and Social Questions, and all the other characteristic features of the Magazine; will be main tained and improved. TERMS: Yearly in advance, $4.00. Single numbers, 35 cents. For a specimen number, 25 cents. Every paid subscriber for this year will receive gratis, a copy of the beautiful chromolith CONFIDNENCE" after the painter HAMMATT BILLINGS. Subscriptions should be addressed to GEO. A. COOLIDGE, Business Agent, 143 Washington St., Room 4, Boston, CARE OF ROBERTS BROTHER), Publishers. Many are not aware of the perfection Parlor Organs have attained, the variety of beautiful musical effects of which they are capable, and how desirable an addition they are to the parlor. Those of have created much interest and enthusiasm among muscians; and, arrangements being now com pleted for their more extensive manufacture, the attention of all interested in music is called them. The already brilliant reputation of these instruments will be enhanced only by trial of their merits, and not by the publication of testimonials. Correspondence Solicited with All Interested in Music, particularly with those having influence with the musical portion of the community. 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