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Te vocat, ipsa mali quondam heu! vix conscia, Mater;

Quim sontem serò pœnituisse dolet:
Nec frustra vocet-at conmuni sanguine cretos
Concordes inter stet Pietatis honor!
Dum loquimur, lætis reboant clamoribus oræ ;
Pacifico plausu littora pulsa sonant!
Non hodie, ut quondam fatalis machina: navis 15
Intrat in Angliacas, hospes, inermis, aquas:
Et Nautæ Nautis, Proles generosa Parenti,

Virtus Virtuti, debita dona refert!
Mutua tum populos conjungat Gratia binos;
Cognatos teneat consociatus Amor!
Sic-Matris pulchræ tu Filia pulchrior-orbi
Tutela, exemplum, gloria major eris;
Nomine sic vero fies "E PLURIBUS UNUM;"
LIBERTATE tua sic eris usque potens!

(From the "Times" of Dec. 19.) The "Spectator" thus comments upon the preceding :

:

"That fine old institution' the Westminster play has this year been manifested with all its peculiar pomp. The same proscenium, with the same drop-scene, rising t discover the same Athenian street, that some of the older among us saw fortyseven years ago, still serves as the framework for the performances of the Queen's Scholars, who are likewise as unalterable as possible; for youth is not apt in the representation of individuality, and hence one histrionic boy is as similar as possible to another. Who, accustomed to the Westminster festival, and knowing that Andria was the play proper for the year, could not predict beforehand the precise manner in which the dignity of Simo, the craft of Davus, the grief of Pamphilus, would be portrayed? Nay, who could not point out in the book the exact places where the laughter and applause would fall? Nothing in the world is so truly conservative as the Westminster play.' Of this year's Andria we may briefly observe, that it is distinguished by less individual excellence, and a more general appearance of spontaneity, than many performances we have witnessed in old times.

"The prologue, with the notes attached to it, enlarges our sphere of historical information. We learn from it that the Westminster play' was first provided with appropriate scenery by Dr. Markham in 1758, and that the present decoration dates from 1809. Next year, it ap pears, there will be some novelty in the shape of adornment. We repeat our remark,-nothing is so truly conservative as the Westminster play. Kingdoms are undermined and fall; dynasties begin to totter, and their tottering ends in a shorter time than is required to alter an inch of canvas in St. Peter's dormitory. What a bold man must that innovator have

been, who, some five-and-twenty years ago, knocked off the powdered wig and cocked hat of Simo and Pamphilus, and deprived Davus of his plush small-clothes, to intro. duce the Attic costume that now gives such an elegant aspect to the Westminster performances! We agree with a contemporary, that the captain of the school, when, in addition to his accustomed duty of bewailing the dead and complimenting the living, he was charged to celebrate the fortunes of the Westminster stage, might as well have been furnished with a line adverting to the improver of costume.

"Julius Cæsar, who complained of the want of ris comica in Terence himself, would have made a wofully long face at this year's epilogue. It is, as usual, dramatic in its form; but, instead of being a laughable squib on some of the lighter themes of the day, it mainly consists of a description of American slavery, with all its oft-recounted horrors, given by Pamphilus to his father Simo. 'Uncle Tom' and Dred' have travelled in all sorts of places, but we scarcely expected to find them, clothed in Latin elegiacs, at Westminster School.

DEC. 19.

Russia. According to the "Journal of Constantinople," the Russians retook Soudjak Kaleh on the 22nd of November, "and drove out the Circassians, after an obstinate resistance. On the following day, the same general captured a Turkish brig and eighteen boats, under pretence that their papers were not regular. Some other boats escaped, and got into Trebisond, where the consuls drew up reports of the affair."

The latter news is doubted, for no better reason than that, in her present circumstances, Russia would not act so.

A reform in the military administration of Russia, rendered necessary by the scandalous abuses so often detected in that department, has just been adopted. The commanding-officer of every regiment has hitherto been charged with the entire equipment and provisioning of his men, and has had a certain sum allowed him for that purpose ;- he was not required to account for the expenditure of the funds intrusted to him, but was held responsible as a contractor for keeping his regiment in a proper condition. This system having been found inconvenient, the government has now commenced a different one in the Ismailovski regiment of the Guards: a regimental finance committee, to consist of a chef de bataillon, another superior

15 The Arctic ship "Resolute," so gracefully restored by the American Government lately, to the Queen-an omen of better feeling for the future.

officer, and four subalterns, will have the management of the funds, and give an account of them to government.

The National Gallery. At length something may be done about the new National Gallery, and the concentration of our national art-treasures. The estate at Kensington-gore waits for the palace that in good time may receive our various collections; but the opposition of taste, interest, and opinion to that site has rendered fresh inquiry necessary,-former reports from parliamentary committees being indecisive. Lord Palmerston-wisely, in our judgment-has selected six royal commissioners outside the House of Commons, gentlemen more directly responsible to the nation which holds their fame in keeping than members of parliament. The commissioners are Lord Broughton, the Dean of St. Paul's, Mr. R. Ford, Mr. Faraday, Mr. Cockerell, R.A., and Mr. George Richmond. These gentlemen are charged, not only to "inquire into and determine" the site of the new National Gallery, but also to report on the desirableness of combining with it the fineart and archæological collections of the British Museum.-Athenæum.

DEC. 20.

The

"Prince Albert: Why is he unpopu lar?"-The question is often asked-far oftener than polite people suppose; and we do not know that any advantage is gained by whispering it instead of asking it audibly. There are reasons for the fact, and the fact itself might be materially modified if the reasons were openly discussed. The silence is broken by the pamphlet whose title we have taken to head our present remarks, and which designates the husband of our popular Queen as "the most unpopular man in these isles." writer proceeds to investigate the question "why" in a right spirit, yet hardly brings out the instances of colourable evidence advanced to support the popular notion on the subject. The Prince, says the pamphlet, has been accused of battueshooting, the pheasants available for the purpose being fat and peaceful birds multiplied under fatter hens; of having shot red deer out of a bedroom window; of not hunting like a Leicestershire farmer, nor taking every fence that offers; of having kept a lady standing until the Emperor Nicholas asked her to take a seat; of being qualmish in the royal yacht; of having meddled in the administration of the army, and of having meddled in the foreign policy of this country. Some of the most important of these accusations have been exploded. The Prince is known, on au

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thority, to have declined any office which would have removed him from his right place near the Queen: the degree of advice which he afforded to the Sovereign, as Privy Councillor and as Consort, was explained by Sir Robert Peel. The pleasant pamphleteer challenges evidences of real culpability even in the minor cases: If the Prince is a game-preserver, where are the 'game-cases" that he has prosecuted before the magistracy? if the Prince is not a good sailor, how is it that he never suffers at sea, though our sailor Queen sometimes suffers? What lady-in-waiting, or lord either, has resigned from ill-treatment at court? On the contrary, what court in other lands, or in other times, could shew the same perfect purity of life, the same deference for public opinion, the same hearty participation in the sympathies of English 1 fe, the same dignity, with the kindly, family feeling, which distinguishes the first house in the land? We might find homeliness in the court of Frederick William, or Queen Charlotte-and niggardly bad taste: the family dodge was kept up in the household of the Citizen King, but "Mr. Smith" never lost sight of the parish business in which he had his objects to serve. The court of George the Fourth was gay-and worthless. Our own court unites the magnificence, the good taste, the exclusiveness, the hospitality, the refinement, the sterling qualities, the virtues, the social ease, which are all esteemed in this country, and deemed essential to high life,-especially the highest. And how could it have been so, if the Prince Consort had not been a man of sense, of refinement of intellect-a gentleman? The answer is complete.

And yet!

A man may

Oh yes! that is the way. answer to the requirement of every set virtue, and yet the Joseph Surface of society will hint away his good name, in charitable forbearance to say out the of fence.

The offence! Why, what has the Prince done? For nearly twenty years he has occupied the most conspicuous and difficult position in the country, and what charge has been substantiated against him, except some imaginary charge of being "too good?" Surely twenty years are an allowance of time long enough to convict a man who had committed any fault, however great or however microscopic; and what has been established against Prince Albert? rather, what has not been established for him. Is not the Prince something more than inoffensive-absolutely meritorious? Has he not, besides being a good husband, a good father, a good Privy Councillor,

been most admirable as a sort of coadjutor archbishop, moralizing public occasions in speeches unique for their wisdom, succinctness, and completeness? Detraction said that Prince Albert's speeches were composed by Dr. Prætorius-until Dr. Prætorius went, and the speeches only grew more excellent.

The residuary charges are in some cases specific, and we see no reason why they should not be explicitly stated. As to the truth of the stories we have not the faintest voucher; but they are current, and they are absolutely uncontradicted. It has been said, for example, that the Prince, who draws 30,000l. a-year of English money, is not, in the English sense of the word, "liberal"-and your Englishman cannot abide a great man who is not open-handed. It is a graver accusation that he has studiously set himself to beat down the prices of artists, and that the prince is a customer from whom handsome payment cannot be expected. Another charge is that of personal hauteur. We have heard it related that a most estimable professional man, who attended at the palace to correct some royal work, was asked, when he had performed his task in solitude-was asked by a servant, "what was his charge ?" on which he went away indignant, without waiting for payment. The hauteur has been regarded as a reason why the last Highland visit was a failure; for last year a story was sent about of much umbrage taken by the Scotch gentry at the manners of the Prince. At some Highland gathering, it is told, he saw a group of young ladies conspicuous for their attractive appearance, with whom he desired to be better acquainted; but, instead of asking to be introduced to them, as even a prince rusticating might have deigned to do, he turned to his equerry and said, " present them!" and then took up an imposing position, prepared for an impromptu ceremony. These stories may be all false; but they are uncontradicted-perhaps only because they have never been frankly stated. The grain of truth that is in them may be nothing more than a necessary consequence of German birth and manners; for, no doubt, a part of the popular mistrust is simply vulgar prejudice-mistrust of the Prince because he is "a German." He is supposed to have patronized a particular style of tailoring in the army, and we do not admire its taste; but in the eyes of the public that avatar of the Coburg was shocking, unconstitutional, ugly. The "hat" at least was never contradicted, and it has probably been taken to confirm some of the worst tattle against the Prince.-Spectator.

GENT. MAG. VOL. CCII.

105

MANY a literary home has been made brighter this Christmas-time by the noble sympathy of John Kenyon, the poet, whose death we recently announced. The poet was rich as he was genial. Scarcely a man or woman distinguished in the world of letters, with which he was familiar, has passed unremembered in his will; and some poets, and children of poets, are endowed with a princely munificence. Among those who have shared most liberally in this harvest of good-will, we are happy to hear that Mr. and Mrs. Browning receive £10,000, Mr. Procter (Barry Cornwall), £6,000, and Dr. Southey a very handsome sum, we think £8,000. We hear that there are about eighty legatees, many of them the old literary friends of the deceased poet.-Athenæum.

Lord Palmerston lately granted to Mrs. Laurie-the widow of the author of the well-known work on Foreign Exchanges, and other subjects connected with commerce-£100 from the Royal Bounty Fund.

Mr. Yarrell's collections of British fishes, and the specimens illustrative of his papers in the Linnean Society, were secured by the Trustees of the British Museum at the sale of Mr. Yarrell's effects.

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Cathedral Library. Purcell died in 1695, and Handel in 1759. But in the Cathedral Library, a French Psalter, printed in 1546, contains the music of the Old Hun dredth, exactly as it is now sung; so that it could not be the production of either of the great musicians to whom it has been attributed.

A Nova Scotia Halfpenny has been issued by the Mint, for currency in Nova Scotia. It is the first coin ever issued by the government in bronze, which is not only harder, and therefore capable of receiving a sharper impression, but preserves its colour better than pure copper. The Queen's head is pleasing, after the Wyon model, and the reverse is a native flower, graceful and characteristic.

DEC. 20.

Execution at Chester.-William Jackson, who murdered his two children, was hanged at Chester. The malefactor behaved with propriety, but with great firmness, in his last moments.

DEC. 23.

Execution at Winchester.-Three Italians, Lagava, Pietrici, and Barbalano, convicted of piracy and murder on board the British barque "Globe," in the Black Sea, were executed at Winchester. Up to the eve of execution the prisoners had refused to acknowledge their guilt. At last Lagava spoke out. He had been praying with Mr. Rogers, the chaplain, and Signor Ferretti, an interpreter; both these were about to leave the cell, when Lagava suddenly seized Mr. Rogers by the wrist, and, after an apparently painful inward struggle with his feelings, exclaimed in Italian, with tragic gesticulations, "I am guilty! I am guilty! I am guilty!" Before Signor Fer

retti could question him, he added, "I have five murders on my soul." Signor Ferretti now asked Lagava what he wished him to understand by the last observation: upon which the prisoner exclaimed, "I am the chief sinner, and upon my head will rest the murder of the two sailors for whom we are condemned, as well as of my two poor companions, whom I dragged into it by the hair of their heads. I am guilty, and deserve death." Pietrici, finding there was no chance of a respite, fell on his knees and passionately begged that he might not be hanged-he would willingly be a slave for life. Late on Monday evening he also confessed. "I am not guilty of having conspired beforehand to plunder the ship 'Globe.' Ido not know how the fight began. I only know I was struck, and defended myself. I acknowledge it was by my hand the wounds were given of which the sailor died in the hospital at Therapia: but I did not do it for plunder. I know I deserve to die, not for piracy, but for worse things I did on the Globe.' I am a bad man. I have a bad heart. I deserve to die." After a short pause, he added, "I am a murderer. Two years ago, I killed three persons at Trieste-one a woman with whom I lived, and two gendarmes who were sent to arrest me. I also attempted to commit a murder in Constantinople; but the person I attacked escaped by jumping into the water and swimming away." Barbalano was a youth of eighteen, the son of a law-agent, and educated in the Marine School at Naples. As he had never been confirmed, Dr. Grant, titular bishop of Southwark, went to Winchester and confirmed him in his cell, to qualify him for participating in the Com munion.

PROMOTIONS, PREFERMENTS, &c.

GAZETTE PREFERMENTS, &c.

John Goss, esq., to be Composer to the Chapel Royal, St James'.

Mr. Serjeant Kinglake to be Recorder of Bristol. Sir Alexander Bannerman, Governor of the Bahamas, to be Governor of Newfoundland.

Mr. Henry Davison to be a Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court, Madras.

Lord Vivian to be Lord-Lieutenant of the county of Cornwall.

John McAndrew, esq., M.D., to be InspectorGeneral of Hospitals.

Mr. J. S. Stock, Recorder of Winchester, to be Recorder of Exeter.

Sir Alexander Duff Gordon, Bart., to be a Commissioner of Inland Revenue.

Morris Drummond, esq., to be Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Mr. H. W. Watson to be Secretary to the Royal

Commission to enquire into the practice and procedure of the Superior Courts of Law.

Richard Pattinson, esq., to be Governor of Heligoland.

Walter Harding, esq., to be Recorder of Natal. Mr. T. Whitehaven, Mr. Lawley, and Mr. John Foster, to be Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal.

Mr. Cooper to be Organist of the Chapel Royal, St. James'.

Mr. Russell Gurney to be Recorder of London, Salary £3,000.

Mr. John Lambert to be one of the Poor-Law Inspectors.

The Rev. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley to be Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Oxford.

Mr. S. V. Surtees to be Chief Judge, Mauritius. Mr. J. E. Remono to be First Pulsne Judge, Mauritius.

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107

PRINCE WORONZOFF.

OBITUARY.

Nor. 18. At Odessa, aged 74, Prince Woronzoff.

Prince Michael Woronzoff was the son of Count Simon Woronzoff, and was born at St. Petersburgh, on the 17th of May, 1782. His father was appointed ambassador to this country shortly af er the late prince was born. When the Emperor Paul took part with Napoleon against us, the mission of Count Woronzoff as ambassador was, of course, interrupted; but he continued to reside in London. Upon the accession of Alexander he resumed the embassy, and resided in London, with a few short intervals of absence, until his death in 1832. His son Michael thus received an English education, whilst his daughter married the late Earl of Pembroke, and became the mother of the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, M.P. Michael Woronzoff, at the age of 19, entered the Russian army, served in the Caucasus, then in several campaigns against Napoleon from 1812 to 1814. He represented Russia at the Conference at Aix-la-Chapelle. In 1823 he was appointed governor of New Russia, and continued to hold that office until the late war. He was engaged in the Turkish war of 1828, and held the command after Menschikoff had been wounded at Varna. In 1845 he was sent to subdue the Circassians, and although the brave mountaineers were able to resist even the immense forces at his command, he succeeded in the capture of Dargo, one of Schamyl's strongholds in the Caucasus, and was rewarded with a princedom. When the conflict between Russia and the allies broke out in 1853, he was permitted, at his own urgent request, to retire from office.

The late universally beloved and respected Governor-General of New Russia may be claimed as the early pupil and the friend of England: and of such a friend and pupil any country in the world might well be proud. The presence of Somers amongst the corrupt circle of the statesmen of our Revolution era was compared to a chapel in a palace-the only refuge of sanctity there. The character of Woronzoff amongst his notable contemporaries in his own country, and indeed in most others, deserves somewhat of the like distinction. "A German poet once observed to me," says Mr. Danby Seymour, in his volume on Russia, "that though the general average of them was low, the most perfect women he had ever seen, for charms both physical and mental, were Russian women; and in the same way, although the character of the men is often chequered by various failings, we sometimes find among them men like Prince Woronzoff, whom it is no sin to covet for our own country. Prince Woronzoff, although a true Russian patriot, has always been a great admirer of England, the country of his education; and he is understood to have been much opposed to the pre

sent [late] war between Russia and England,
believing that the two countries might long
have pursued their glorious careers without
The late prince was edenated in
clashing.
England till he was sixteen years old, and
then entered the military service of his own
country. He commanded a division of 12,000
men at the battle of Borodino, in which he
was severely wounded. He commanded the
Russian cavalry at the battle of Leipsic; and
made so firm a stand against Napoleon him-
self, in a subsequent action in 1814, as elicited
from that excellent judge the observation, Volà
le bois dont on fait des maréchaux. ("That's
the stuff of which marshals are made").
When in command of the Russian army in
France, after the peace of 1815, the officers,
as Russian officers always do, lived so ex-
travagantly, that when the army was about
to be withdrawn, bills were brought against
them to a much greater amount than they
were able to discharge. The Count heard of
the business; but the sum was so great that
it startled him. The honour of Russia, how-
ever, was at stake: to leave a foreign country
with such claims unsatisfied, would for ever
stamp the national character with infamy.
There was no alternative but at once to give
an order on the military chest for the whole
amount." On his return to Petersburgh, a
hint was given that he had exceeded his
powers in making such an unprecedented use
of a public fund: he replied only by giving
an order on his banker for the repayment of
the whole amount-about 50,000. of our
money. "Owing to the energetic exertions
of Prince Woronzoff," says Mr O.iphant,
"and in spite of the many difficulties which
always accompany experimental enterprises
of this nature, wonderful advances have been
made in the cultivation of the vine."-" Since
his assumption of the reins of government in
the Caucasus," says Mr. Seymour, "the whole
aspect of the country has changed. Towns
have been built, roads made, peculation
checked, honourable feelings stimulated in
the officers, and the condition of the private
soldier greatly improved. The natives have
been raised to a level with the Russians, and
all have been alike treated with respect and
urbanity. He displayed administrative abi-
lities of the highest order, and possessed the
rare quality of securing the affection and
raising the tone of all around him."

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