of murdering the woman who had 1 NISA OPTICAL ENIGMA. to distinguish himself by affording a satisfactory elucidation of these inexplicable phenomena. A hundred theories were framed, every one more ingenious than the other. The professors, Van Kracbraner and Puz zledorff, favoured their pupils with most excellent lectures on the subject, with which they were greatly edified. However, none of the disputants succeeded in establishing a theory which met with universal approbation. Many of the vulgar still chose to think that all the said theories, however satisfactory and plausible they might appear, might be liable to the old objection, that they were not true. Matters were in this state, when a mischievous rogue of an Irish student, who took a singular delight in ridiculing every thing learned and philosophical, contrived to insinuate himself into the confidence of a younger brother of the patient's by a present of an extra portion of double-gilt gingerbread, which so entirely won the youngster's heart, that he confessed, though with some reluctance, that, to othe best of his belief, his sister Sarah had never learned to read; - but un 1 Dr. Kitchiner, in his useful and entertaining little work on the Economy of the Eyes, just published, -relates the following whimsical anecdote: In the city of Leyden, in Holsland, a young woman lost her sight 3from a cataract. The operation of ricouching was successfully performed upon her eyes, and she recovered the use of them; but it appeared that the visual organ, as is usual in such cases, was not completely restored to its primitive condition. Some very singular and unaccountcable anomalies in her vision presented themselves, which not a little puz-willing to acknowledge her ignorance, zled the curious in physiology and £ optics. It was ascertained that her leye was able to define with abundant accuracy a certain class of very minute objects; such as the eye of a needle, for example, which she could thread as well as ever: but on being presented with a book, it was evident that she could not distinguish a single letter, but complained that she could see nothing but a heap of odd marks. These facts, no less strange than true, excited an intense interest among the medical professors and students. Every one was anxious had made him and all the family promise not to tell. neste ford HOLBEIN. -ov bas Holbein the painter once engaged with his landlord to paint the outside of his house. The landlord soon found that the painter left his work very frequently to amuse himself elsewhere, and determined to keep a constant eye upon him. Holbein, anxious to get rid of his suspicious task-master, ingeniously contrived to absent himself at the very time when the landlord fancied he by painting two legs apparently depending from his seat; and which so completely deceived the man, that he never thought of ascertaining whether the rest of the body was in its place inte was quietly seated on the scaffold, [lity, or possessing the feelings of humanity; and it will continue to be admired as long as the English lan guage shall exist. This ballad, which is founded in truth, was taken from a narrative first published in the Par rót of the 2d of August, 1746, three days after the transaction it records. It is given in the form of a letter, and is as follows:: BESTTHË HORN OF THE ALPS. The shepherd's horn in the Alpine regions is the signal for a solemn and religious duty, and is used for a much more noble purpose than the mere recal of the eattle from their pasturage. When the sun has quitted the valley, and his lingering beams still cast a glow of fading light on the snowy summits of the moun'tains, the shepherd, whose hut is placed on the highest Alp, grasps his horn, and pronounces through this speaking-trumpet the solemn injunction to the world below: “ Praise ye the Lord!" Every shepherd in the neighbourhood who catches this sound in succession repeats the same sentence at the door of his cabin. Thus perhaps for a quarter of an hour the cliffs and rocky precipices fling to each other the oft-repeated echoes of the sublime" Praise ye the Lord!" A solemn stillness succeeds the last reverberation: all kneel bare-headed and in silent devotion, till darkness rests upon the earth and veils the towering mountains. Again the horn sounds, and the peaceful social" Good night!" once more awakes the echoes. Hills, vales, and rocky cliffs, and all sink to rest, ufile vào filidit ↑ Esturis 2 Hi...JEMMY DAWSON, AT+ Shenstone's pathetic and affecting ballad of Jemmy Dawson has drawn tears from every person of sensibiVol IV. No. XIX, a “A young lady, of a good family and handsome fortune, had for some time extremely loved, and was equally beloved by, Mr. James Dawson, one of those unhappy gentlemen who suffered on Wednesday last, at Kennington Common, for high treason; and had he either been acquitted, or found the royal mercy after condemnation, the day of his enlarge ment was to have been that of their marriage. I will not prolong the narrative by any repetition of what she suffered on sentence of death being passed on him; none, excepting those utterly incapable of feeling any soft or generous emotions, but may easily conceive her agonies: besides, the sad catastrophe will be sufficient to convince you of their sincerity. Not all the persuasions of her kindred could prevent her from going to the place of execution; she was determined to see the last of a person so dear to her, and accordingly followed the sledges in a hackney-coach, accompanied by a gentleman nearly related to her and one female friend. She got near enough to see the fire kindled which was to consume that heart she knew was so much devoted to her, and all the other dreadful preparations for his fate, without betraying any of those emotions her friends apprehended; but when all was over, and that she found he was no more, she threw || and must hammer on till Merlin re her head back into the coach, and gains his freedom. ejaculating,' My dear, I follow thee! I follow thee! Lord Jesus, receive both our souls together!' fell on the neck of her companion, and expired the very moment she had done speaking. That excessive grief, which the force of her resolution had kept smothered in her breast, is thought to have put a stop to the vital motion, and suffocated at once all the animal spirits." In the Whitehall Evening Post, August 7, this narrative is copied with the remark, that, " upon inquiry, every circumstance was literally true." A ballad was cried about the streets at the time, founded on this melancholy narrative; but it can scarcely be said to have aided Shenstone in his beautiful production. SUPERSTITION. Near the abbey of Clairvaux, in Switzerland, there is a tradition, that an evil spirit lies beneath a mountain enchained by St. Bernard; and the smiths of that neighbourhood, when they go to work in the morning, always think it their duty to strike three strokes on their anvils, to rivet his fetters. This infernal being deserves much less compassion than those industrious phantoms who, according to a reputable tradition, are still to be heard near a southern cliff in Wales, constantly employed in hammering on the brazen wall which Merlin intended for the defence of Britain. But the heedless enchanter having, after he had set them to work, been decoyed by the lady of the lake into a perpetual confinement, the poor spirits still continue their unavailing labour, THE EMPEROR OF CHINA. The great Tsi was informed, that a favourite horse had died from the negligence of the groom to whose care he was consigned. The emperor in a rage pursued the man with menacing gestures, and declared he would put him to death on the instant; but the mandarin Yem-se averted the blow. "Gracious sire," said he, "the man is unconscious of the crime for which he is to forfeit his life."-" Explain it to him," said the emperor." Hear, guilty wretch!" said the mandarin; "listen while I recite thy crimes. They are threefold. First, thou hast suffered a horse to die which thy lord committed to thy charge; secondly, thou hast oëcasioned such fury in the breast of thy prince as to lead him to threaten to kill thee with his own imperial hand; but now hear thy third and greatest crime: thou hast endangered the fame of our sovereign ruler. Our emperor has been about to disgrace himself in the eyes of all cotemporary princes and states, by shewing them that he could think of sacrificing a man to avenge the loss of a horse. This hast thou done, even this, guilty wretch!" A SPORTING PIG. Slut, the famous sporting pig, was sold to Sir Henry Mildmay for ten guineas. She was bred by Messrs. Richard and Edward Toomer, and maintained herself by gathering acorns about New Forest. Like a dog, she was elated at the sight of a gun; but no dog was satisfied in going to the field or moor in her company. The canine race appeared to hold her in antipathy, or to be jea-eyed beauty. Philip, almost in love lous of the favour shewn by her mas- from the description of the lady, inter. She was a staunch pointer for sisted that Perez should introduce partridges, pheasants, black game, him to her. The king was so captisnipes, and rabbits, and has been vated by her face, illumined by one known to point at all these in one bright eye only, that he sacrificed day, but never pointed at a hare. his friend and minister to his passion. The lady became mistress to REMARKABLE Effects of a chaNGE Philip. Perez was disgraced for IN DIET. The Jemptland regiment of militia was ordered to do duty in the capital; but the men were not long settled in quarters ere a mortal epidemic raged among them. Inquiry into the cause elicited the fact, that the men had been accustomed to subsist upon meal kneaded with a considerable admixture of sawdust. Bread adulterated according to their habitual diet was then prepared for the regiment, and a strict attention to this meagre and indigestible food restored the stomachs of that hardy race to a healthy tone. This fact, if more generally known, might lead to the cure of distempers often fatal to regiments newly embodied, and where the majority of the soldiers have been drawn from countries or districts where the lower orders are strangers to luxury. SPANISH GALLANTRY. using some harsh expression on the occasion, and all intercession in his behalf proved unavailing. He retired to France, where he was graciously received by Henry IV. Conversing one day on his misadventure with the single-eyed charmer, Henry observed, that he could not understand how a lady, deprived of half the most enchanting feature of beauty, could have set all Spain in combustion. "Sire," said Perez, "it is by the providence of Heaven that this young lady was born with no more than one eye: with this moiety of natural fire she has kindled flames in every Spanish heart-had-she possessed two eyes, she would have reduced the whole world to ashes. REMARKABLE CASCADE. In the Island of Quicara, on the coast of Veragua, New Spain, Commodore Anson found a cascade of singular beauty. A river of transparent water, 40 feet wide, rolled down a declivity near 150 feet in length. The channel was very irregular, be Perez, the minister and favourite of Philip II. of Spain, a man of great talent, as we may judge from his political writings, placed all his happi-ing intersected by masses of rock; ness in the possession of a mistress who, from her birth, had but one eye. All the wealth and honours which his royal master had the power to bestow on a favourite were trivial in his estimation compared with the charms and the society of this one and the banks, cut into many projections, were covered with lofty trees. To beautify and animate the scene, prodigious flocks of macaws from the wood, which extended to the water's edge, were hovering round, their variegated plumage glittering in the sun. "La Speranza," an Introduction and Rondo for the Piano-forte, composed, and dedicated to Miss Bissett, by J. L. Abel.-(Boosey and Co.) THIS is the first work of Mr. J. L. Abel that has met our eye; we never heard of him before, and we do not know whether he be a relation to the celebrated Chas. Fred. Abel, of whom some amateurs of a maturer age still speak with delight; for he died as long ago as 1787, in a sleep of three days' duration, and, with him, the renown of an instrument, now scarcely known by name, the viol di gamba. The foreign catalogues have for some time brought this name into notice, and the various productions which we have seen under it have more or less impressed us with a very favourable opinion. Most of them were variations of uncommon brilliancy, considerable originality, and a surprising facility of the most tasteful amplifications of themes. 1 This artist resides in Vienna, we believe, the grand head-quarters of German music, the nursery which, more than any other continental city, supplies the rest of Europe with superior compositions, composers, and instrumentalists. The musical taste of its population, like the tact of the Athe nians in matters of belles lettres and the fine arts, is well calculated to rear, foster, and encourage musical genius, and to stifle the growth of weeds, which, in less favoured spots, such as Paris, and London, alas! too, are allowed an ephemeral, yet luxuriant existence. T The rondo, now at our side, is worthy of the great name it bears: it is evidently any thing but an essay; it must be the fruit of a talent cultivated by diligent study, and guided by innate taste. Much good music must have been written before such a rondo could be produced. The motivo, the interspersed cantilenas, the manly modulations, the treatment of Our readers know how little we the harmony, especially under the patronise variations. We are satuleft hand, the manner of launching rated with them; and yet, to our vexinto extraneous tonics, and of retrac- ation, it has become almost the daily ing the homeward steps; all, all be- bread of the musical critic. In conspeak a mind that has the art within sidering the present variations thereits grasp, and a hand well trained fore, we had first to try to divest to follow the dictates of the imagina- ourselves of an awkward prejudice; tion. The dedication to an English and this prejudice, as we went on, lady, to whose accomplishments we gave way more and more, until we take pleasure in offering tribute, war- were brought to a disposition which rants a hope that Mr. A. resides enabled us to enjoy Mr Czerny's amidst us; an inference which we production as if it did not consist of shall rejoice in seeing confirmed. variation at all, particularly the suImpromptus, or brilliant Variations perb var. 7, which grows into a fion a favourite Cotillion by Gal-nale of some four pages of uncomlenberg, for the Piano-forte, by mon beauty and richness. The other Chas. Czerny. Op. 36. Pr. 3s. variations, if executed with skill and Boosey and Co.) an intuitive perception of the com |