What hunter now with daring leaps While low the freeborn sons of toil Spoilers, who poured your ravening bands What seek ye here?-Our niggard earth Burst not, my heart, as dimly swell Beyond the dread Atlantic deep And press the earth of Liberty. Wide, wide that waste of water rolls, Columbia, hear the exile's prayer; Yet O forgive, with anguish fraught, Thou vanquisht land, once proud and free, LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. THE CHRONICLE.-Proposals are issued by Mr. Edward J. Coale, of Baltimore, for publishing by subscription a continuation of Conrad's American Register. It is to be entitled THE CHRONICLE, and will comprise a general view of history, politics, and literature, foreign and domestic, on much the same plan, we believe, as the British Annual Register. It will be conducted by John E. Hall, Esq. of Baltimore, and will be published in quarterly numbers at the rate of six dollars per annum. The utility of such a work is evident; and from the knowledge we have of the editor, and the evidence of learning and talent that he has given on various occasions, we are satisfied that this work will be conducted with indefatigable attention and great ability. We have seen with pleasure proposals for publishing an edition of the Bible in two volumes, royal octavo, to be ornamented with sixty engravings. The subjects to be chosen by Messrs. Rembrandt Peale and Thomas Sully, and engraved by our most eminent artists. The high reputation of those gentlemen justifies us in the expectation that the work will be an honourable specimen of the state of the arts in our country. The publishers are Messrs. Delaplaine, Parker, Kimber, and Richardson of Philadelphia. MR. CHARLES LESLIE.-By letters from England we learn that our young countryman, Mr. Charles Leslie, continues rapidly to improve in the art of painting; and promises to surpass the sanguine expectations that were formed from the great proofs he gave of early talent. He has sent to this country various paintings as specimens of his advancement; they have been the surprise and delight of connoisseurs, and we are told a large plate is engraving from one which represents the trial of Constance, in the popular poem of Marmion. MR. WASHINGTON ALSTON.-We are likewise informed that Mr. Washington Alston, of Charleston, has finished a large piece which was to be exhibited at the last royal exhibition; and which, in the opinion of a competent judge, who gives the information, would astonish the world of taste. Mr. Alston has for many years been accomplishing himself in the noble art which he professes, and has passed much time in France and Italy, studying the works of the great masters. He is a young gentleman of elegant mind and liberal endowment; fertile in his invention, with an imagination teeming with splendid and beautiful ideas, and governed by a pure and classic taste. To him it was that Mr. West made the VOL. II. 2D ED. 44 flattering and emphatic compliment some years since, on examining his early productions, observing that he began where other painters finished. It is but about two years since he went out on his second visit to England; where we think it probable he will remain, and have no doubt but that he will rapidly rise to a proud eminence in his art, acquiring fame and fortune for hi.nself, and reflecting lustre on the country that gave him birth. MR. JEFFREY. We understand that Mr. Jeffrey, the celebrated editor of the Edinburgh Review, is about to visit this country, on business relative to the estate of a brother lately deceased at Boston. He was to sail in the ship Hercules for Boston, whose arrival is daily expected. It is his intention also to visit our principal cities, and we trust that every facility will be given, both by government and individuals, to make his tour satisfactory and agreeable. To the representations of a man of Mr. Jeffrey's talents, information, and literary influence, we may look with confidence for having this country vindicated from many of the gross aspersions that have been cast upon it, by narrow-minded or hireling travel writers. It is the interest of both nations to have a proper knowledge and es timation of each other, and we think that Mr. J. has hitherto in his writings shown a more candid and liberal disposition towards us, than most of his contemporaries. CHYMICAL CONTROVERSY.-An important Chymical Controversy has been carried on, for some time past, between Mr. Murray, of Edinburgh, author of the "System of Chymistry," and Mr. John Davy, brother of Sir Humphrey Davy, relative to the correctness of Sir Humphrey's view of the constitution of oxy. muriatic acid or chlorine. The subject involves much intricate dis cussion, and has been conducted on both sides with ingenuity and talents. The dispute appears to hinge very much on the question whether water is essential to the gasseous condition of muriatic acid. Murray's last paper (Nic. Journal, April, 1815,) appears to establish the fact of combined water in this gas. It is well known to chymists that if oxymuriatic acid should ultimately prove to be a simple substance, as Sir Humphrey Davy contends, the nomen clature of chymistry must undergo some changes; but at present we think any alteration on this account would be premature. London and Paris vie with each other in the cultivation and pa tronage of the elegant arts. Would to God that there existed no other rivalry between them, and that the people of London would begin to curb those senseless passions, which have already put Eu rope back in civilization above a century, and paralyzed or destroyed the useful exertions of this generation! Napoleon, when but general of the Italian armies, laid the foundation of that as cendency of the arts which distinguishes the present epoch. In all his treaties with the petty princes of Italy, who had leagued with greater despots against the rising liberties of France, he stipulated. not that so much of their territory should be ceded, or so much money paid as the price of peace, but that so many pictures by the first masters should be presented to the republic, from the galleries of the several princes. He thus assembled in Paris the first works of the greatest masters, which, united to the pictures in the various royal French palaces, compose the finest gallery in the world under the appropriate name of the Museum Napoleon. Such an assemblage of master-pieces of art in one building in Paris produced all the effect which had been wisely anticipated, and a rage for pictures and their representations animated all France, and kindled a similar passion throughout Europe. Among other advantageous results of this feeling was the publication of several works of engravings at Paris, which professed to represent the pictures in the Museum Napoleon; one of them in imperial folio, at three guineas for two plates, and others of smaller dimensions and various styles of engraving, at much inferior prices. In time an honourable spirit of rivalry extended itself to London, and it was felt that England possessed, in like manner, copious materials for similar works, which, although without imperial attractions, possessed intrinsic claims to public notice. Some spirited London publishers, therefore, united their capitals for the purpose of exhibiting the treasures of art contained in the various collections of the British empire, and the design lays just claim to the patronage of the nation, under the title of the British Gallery of Pictures. No undertaking ever addressed itself more legitimately to the taste, pride, and patriotism of a people. The proprietors, unable to collect the originals in one gallery for the inspection of the public, have effected all that was in their power, by assembling highly finished copies in water-colours in a gallery open to public inspection in Bond-street. In that British Gallery are therefore to be seen exact copies of nearly four hundred of the finest original pictures in the British empire; and of course a greater treat cannot present itself to all connoisseurs and lovers of the arts. From this gallery, then, is derived the publication of two series of engravings, one of small copies, in which is to be given the whole of the subjects in the gallery, called the first series of the British Gallery; and the other of much larger copies, and more highly finished by the engraver and colourer, and which is to consist only of prime pictures of the first masters, and to be called the second series of the British Gallery. The latter will vie with * In treating on this subject, we cannot forbear to mention a fact, in regard to a rival government, such as we should take pride, on any similar occasion, in recording of our own: about two years ago, the great work of the Museum Napoleon languished for want of encouragement equal to its prodigious cost; when, on the circumstance being named to the emperor, he immediately ordered the sum of 250,000 francs, above 10,000l. sterling, to be placed at the disposal of the proprietors, from his private purse. the magnificent folio of the Museum Napoleon, and the former will be equal in merit and interest to the best of the smaller French works. Some numbers have already been published of both series, and they do honour to the English artists, to the taste of the conductors of the work, and to the liberal spirit of the proprietors. The pictures of the Marquis of Stafford have supplied subjects for the early numbers; but those in the splendid collections of Earl Grosvenor, the Earl of Carlisle, Lord Northwick, and other noblemen, and of Messrs. Carr, Angerstien, Hope, and other gentlemen, will succeed till the private galleries of the empire have been exhausted. In conclusion, we shall add to the confidence which is due to these British Series, when we state, that the descriptions and letter-press are prepared by Messrs. Tresham and Ottley, and that the drawings are made chiefly by Mr. Craig, under the superintendence of Mr. Tomkins. The following are the languages or dialects in which the British and Foreign Bible Society has already been instrumental in diffusing the Holy Scriptures; in all fifty-nine.-English; Ladinsche; Malay; Welsh; Churwelsche; Ethiopic; Gaelic; Italian; Orissa; Manks; Spanish; Persian; Irish; Portuguese; Persic; Mohawk; French; Burman; Esquimaux; Dutch; Siamese; German; Calmuck; Afghan; Bohemian; Turkish; Turcoman; Swedish; Arabic; Sanscrit; Finnish; Ancient Greek; Seek; Laponese; Modern Greek; Telinga; Danish; Tamul; Carnatica; Icelandic; Bengalee; Macassar; Polish; Hindostanee; Rakheng; Hungarian; Malayalim; Mahratta; Sclavonic; Chinese; Sinhali Pali; Lithuanian; Cingalese; Baloch; Lettonian; Burgis; Pushtu; Esthonian; Maldivian. Rousseau, previously to his death, intrusted to the late Count D'Antraigues some sealed manuscripts, which were to be published at a specified period. Some few years ago, the German Journalist called upon him to announce whether the period had arrived when the seals might be broken; but the count replied that the period for publication had not come. The count shortly afterwards left the continent, and continued in England till an assassin pat an end to his life, at Barnes. What has now become of these manuscripts, and what were the motives of Rousseau for enjoining so long à secrecy? In the Moniteur of 27th February, 1813, is published the expose of 1812, giving the population of the French Empire, which is as follows: |