gaillat mon poteria 90dB A cat lived in the greatest friendship with a site and delicate flavour about these sparrows!" This profound reflection occurred to her often afterwards, till, no longer able to restrain her appetite, she fell upon and made a meal of her friend.* Fenerable Relic. In the very ancient ecclesiastical structure called King's Chapel, at Islip, in Oxfordshire, formerly stood a stone font, which was used, as tradition affirms, for the baptism of Edward the Coufessor, more than 800 years ago. It has long pious position in the gardens of Sir Henry been displaced, and now occupies a far less Brown, who resides not far off, at Nether Roddington, and affords free access to this antiquarian curiosity. Extracted from "Fables by the most eminent Bitish, French, German, and Spanish authors," illustrated by unmerous engravings, after original designs by J. J. Grandville, now publishing by Tilt. We hail this work as extremely opportune in its pro duction, possessing an affluence of the richest efforts of the various artists employed. We have long cousidered a selection of the best fables from the most. esteemed authors of all countries, a most desirable object, and have the good fortune to see this desire bone out to its fullest extent. The excellence of the typographic portion, the fineness of the paper,' and the quantity, reuder this certainly one of the cheapest and most entertaining publication of the day. བ Biography. L. E. L. Ar a time when every valley was ringing, and every hill re-echoing with her minstrelsies; when the Helot in his homestead, and the lordly Archon in his gilded room, were equally charmed with the melody of her songs, Greece was suddenly struck with panic and astonishment at hearing that the enchantress of their days had, in a fit of delirium, ended her existence; that, from the pinnacle of a steep rock, Sappho, the Poetess, had plunged, and perished in the gulf below. The gloomy and melancholy feeling which spread over Greece, is repeated at this moment in our own land. Another Sappho, the amiable Mrs. Maclean, better known in the literary world as "L. E. L," under distressing circumstances, was found dead in her apartment shortly after her arrival at Cape Coast. Of this fair being, who, while she breathed the breath of life, was universally admired in the sphere through which she moved, endeared to every one around her by the affability and amiableness of her manners and conversation, every incident, which is at all connected with her life, cannot but be entertaining. Of those who have led literary lives, the most difficult task the biographer has to encounter, is the general paucity of informa tion to be collected relating to the earlier period of their lives, a period when, as yet, they were unknown to the world, and when their talents were confined within the limited round of their acquaintance. traced the tendency of her mind to subjects of a courageous and heroic nature; and those that are acquainted with her works well know that their predominant characteristic is the chivalrous or Spartanesque spirit which they breathe. Her mind is ever revelling plumed minstrels and harped love-songs,amid scenes of gallantry and knighthood,valorous knights and high-born ladies. Our readers will remember, that, at the appearance of her Poem, entitled "The Vow of the Peacock," the edition was embellished with a fair frontispiece, represen tative of the amiable Authoress herself. Her appearance, indeed, was most prepossessing; her figure was what might be comprehended by the phrase "most lady-like," and her attire was altogether beautiful for its simplicity and elegance. The same lady who favoured me with the foregoing anecdotal reminiscence has described her to me, (as she knew her in her younger years of a somewhat different cast of figure and style,) as being rather round of figure, with a very healthy, rosy countenance, generally full of smiles and happiness; possessing a voice, not of a musical treble, but of a deep, or rather, melodious barytone. In after years, however, what from studious habits, and a quiet sedentary disposition na tural to a literary life, there is no wonder that she should have become more delicate of frame. We have before mentioned this name, dear to every lover of literature, in juxtaposition with that of Sappho, and, in more instances than one, do we think that their lives and peculiarities assimilate. The ma jectic march, observable in the Sapphic compositions, is exactly answerable to the stately pace which some of the verses of L. E. L. assume. Hers, too, like her impassioned predecessor, are full of fire, and energy, and melting sweetness. We would have given 'a third part of a kingdom to have had any of Sappho's subjects purposely composed on by L. E. L. We are convinced it would have been like the reflection of a face in a mirror To that bright quarter of the earth to which we alluded above, her spirit, in its early years, seems to have been much attached. This we gather from a circumstance which was told to the reminiscent by a highly veracious and respectable lady of literary pretensions, who was well acquainted with her, and in whose family she had long been a delightful visitant. Though simple in it--they would have been one and the same self, we cannot but think that it evinces the bent of a powerful mind, desirous of attempt ing great and noble subjects, and seeming, at that premature age, already marshalling itself for mighty things. It was at the latter part of the day, when the family were sitting at dessert, and dis coursing upon various subjects, that the embyo Poetess was one of the company. She had long been observed to have been thought fully inclined, or, rather, lost in a sort of abstrast mood. All on a sudden, to the no inconsiderable surprize of the assembled family, she sprang up instantly from her seat, and, with flashing eyes and uplifted arms, exclaimed, O that 1 were a Spartan." From this minute circumstance may be the similarity would have been so great. Let any one first read Sappho's fragmentary Ode on the "Extasies of a Lover," and then recall the impression which the spirited poems of L. E. L. have left on his mind, and we feel persuaded they will acquiesce in our opinion, the general features bear so close a resemblance. And, in the circumstances of their decease, there is, indeed, a greater similitude than may at first be apprehended. Both seem to have anticipated their death. The last letters, written by Mrs. Maclean, breathe a melancholy air. The phrase which Sappho employs at the conclusion of the Ode before cited, (the Raptures of a Lover,) of “ τεθνάκην δ' ο λίγω 'πιδεῦσα,” indicating that she wanted little of dying," or, that her death was but a short way off, was exactly of the same nature. A lady of such brilliant talents, so distinguished an ornament to her country, should never have quitted a soil where she had passed all the flattering season of her life, for a climate so pre-eminently infested with swamps, fevers, and pestilence. Her marriage, her love, as in the case of Sappho, finpelled her into that gulf in which she has perished. * Meantime, blessed be her gifted spirit, while the tears of regret will be the incense which shall sorrowfully fall upon the altars which she has raised for herself, in the bosom of every intellectual son and daughter of the land. W. ARCHER. THIS richly-gifted being" was the daughter of an army agent, and niece of the late Dr. Whittington Landon, Dean of Exeter, and Provost of Worcester College, Oxford, (who took a sincere interest in the welfare and fame of his matchless relative.) Having had the misfortune to lose her father when very young, and her brilliant talent soon becoming manifest, she appeared before the world, while little more than a child, as an enthusiastic and delightful literary labourer. Her earliest efforts were made in the pages of the Literary Gazette. "To her honour, it must be added," says the Editor of the Athenæum, "that the fruits of her incessant exertion were neither selfishly hoarded, nor foolishly trifled away, but applied to the maintenance and advancement of her family." In an existence so devoted to literary pursuits as that of Mrs. Maclean, few incidents can be expected that will interest the general reader, her life is to be found in her writings, they are the best evidence of the glorious use she made of the invaluable time that was allotted her Among her principal poetical works, were-" The Vow of the Peacock," "The Troubadour,"—" The Golden Vio. let," "The Improvisatrice," and "The Golden Bracelet." Her latest published lyric, The Polar Star," written while at sea, appears in the current Number of the New Monthly Magazine; and this beauteous composition is a splendid proof of what she was capable of, and doubtless would have accomplished in the new scenes of life upon which she was entering, had it pleased GoD to have prolonged her life. 66 The three novels, by Miss Landon, "Francesca Carrara," Ethel Churchill," and "Romance and Reality,” are delightful stories of sentiment and gay life, and attest her powers as a prose writer. In the year 1838, Miss Landon having married Mr. George Maclean, governor of Cape Coast Castle, sailed for that pestilential climate in the month of July, and reached her destination some time in October, and her decease, as we have stated, (vide p. 9,) took place on the fifteenth of the same month. A few days before her dissolution, Mrs. Maclean addressed several communications to private friends and to persons connected with literature in England, briefly descriptive of her new position, and touching on her future plans for the acquisition of fame. Of these, the last she was ever permitted to sign, and which was actually conveyed by the same vessel that brought the melancholy intelligence of her sudden death, is full of hope and feeling. The following extract of a letter from the Rev. Thomas Freeman, Westleyan misssonary at Cape Coast, conveyed to the public the first intelligence of the melancholy cause, which deprived England of one of its brightest literary characters. "Cape-Coast Town, October 16, 1838. "Here I would gladly close my letter, but, alas! alas! I feel it my painful duty to record the awfully sudden death of poor Mrs. Maclean-uot occasioned by any sickness peculiar to this climate, her general health having been very good from the day she landed until yesterday morning, when she was found dead in her room, lying close to the door, having in her hand a bottle which had contained prussic acid, a portion of which she had taken, (as was proved by the surgeon,) the remainder being spilled on the floor. She had been seen, a short time before, in apparent good health and spirits. A letter was found, which she had written to a friend in Scotland, dated the same morning, in which she expresses herself as satisfied and pleased with Cape Coast and its inhabitants, and as finding every thing here much better than she had expected. (She told me the same eight or ten days ago, or thereabouts.) On the body being thus found, a jury was immediately summoned, composed of the European merchants of the town, (I was not among them,) and the nature of the evidence given was such as they considered would authorize them to give a verdict to the following effect: It is thought that she was seized with spasms in the stomach, (with which she was often troubled, being subject to them,) and took an over dose of prussic acid, as she was found dead on the floor of her bed-room, close to the door, with the small bottle in her hand. It is supposed that she took an over dose, which killed her.' Mr. Maclean had been very ill with the same complaint, (the spasins,) while she only felt them for a short time at once, not enough to make her ill. Indeed, whenever I have seen her, (which was often,) she always appeared in high health and spirits. We all deeply deplore the event." We cannot more appropriately close this brief sketch, than in the following words of the edi. tor of the Literary Gazette-they are written with a feeling of the deepest and most sincere regret the pure outpourings of a wounded heart and do alike honour to the writer and the lamented object of his grief-." To express what we feel on her loss is impossible -and private sorrows of so deep a kind are not for public display:-her name will de scend to the most distant times, as one of the brightest in the annals of English literature; and whether after ages look at the glowing purity and nature of her first poems, or the more sustained thoughtfulness and vigour of her later works, in prose or in verse, they will cherish her memory as that of one of the most beloved of female authors, the pride and glory of our country while she lived, and the undying delight of succeeding generations. Then, as in our day, young hearts will beat responsive to the thrilling touch of her music; her song of love will find a sacred home in many a fair and ingenuous bosom; her numbers, which breathed of the finest humanities, her playfulness of spirit, and her wonderful delineation of character and society-all-all will be admired, but not lamented as now. She is gone; and, oh, what a light of mind is extinguished: what an amount of friendship and of love has gone down into the grave!" GALLUS OR THE DOMESTIC MANNERS OF THE ROMANS, IN THE AGE OF AUGUSTUS. THE above work, by Professor Becker, of the University of Leipsic, was lately published in that city, by Fleischer: it is a production of vast research and learning; illustrative of the "Life" of the Roman People. As the work will shortly appear in London, we shall merely, for the present, quote a few extracts from those parts which treat of the Libraries, Books, and Booksellers. THE LIBRARIES. "That an extensive library should form part of the house of a learned and eminent Roman poet, is what might be naturally expected, and to take no notice of it would be • CORNELIUS GALLUS, a Roman poet, was born about 69 B.C. at Forum Julii, but whether in Gaul or Italy is uncertain. He was intimate with Virgil. Augustus employed bim in his war against Anthony, and rewarded his services with the government of Egypt. This elevation proved unfortunate; for being charged with peculation and couspiracy, his property was confiscated, and he was condemned to exile; in consequence of which he put an end to his existence in his forty-third year. rather an extraordinary omission... However, we should doubtless make a great mistake were we, either with reference to ancient or modern times, to draw from the presence of a costly collection of books a favourable conclusion as to the scientific knowledge or literary acquirements of the owner. What in the early periods of Roman history was felt to be a want only by a few learned individuals and patrons of learning, became gradually an ob ject of luxury and fashion. The most ignorant then wished to appear learned, and every man of ton aspired to the possession of a rich library, though he might never look into a Greek poet or philosopher, perhaps never read even the titles on the rolls, and derived all his gratification from the outward appears ance of his collection. A very different use was certainly made of their libraries by Cicero, Atticus, Horace, the elder and the younger Pliny, and the same may be presumed of Gallus. At all events, that a library was in his time regarded as a necessary sort of furniture, may be inferred from what is stated by Vitruvius, who treats of it as of any other division of a house. Ace cording to his direction, libraries should look towards the east. With respect to their ar rangement in other respects, we have obtained further means of forming a judgment by the excavation of Herculaneum, which led to the discovery of a library with its rolls. Around the walls of this apartment were cupboards of little more height than a man, in which the rolls were deposited. There was besides in the middle another row of cupboards, which divided the room into two parts, so that the sides only formed passages. The apartment was therefore tolerably well suited to the preservation of books, but not to the perusal of them on the spot. A small room might thus be made to contain a considerable number of rolls, and accordingly it appears. that in general the ancient libraries did not occupy much space. That discovered in Herculaneum was so small, that a man with extended arms could alınost reach from the one wall to the other. It is uncertain whether the Romans kept their books in open repositories, close wall cupboards, or armarium (a press, or locker.) Juvenal expresses the word foruli (shelves;) while others say columbarium, (literally a pigeon-house: what we now designate pi geon holes. Indeed some authors assert the books were deposited in what were called scrinia (caskets wherein jewels were kept.) "After Asinius, Pollio placed the portraits and busts of celebrated men in the library, which he made public; the example began to be followed in private libraries. Of this there is an interesting confirmation in Mart. ix.yo£y, where the poet in the first epigram sends the inscription for his portrait to Avitus, who wished to give it a place in his library. |