It would be ungrateful to close an account of the performances of this theatre for the month without particular notice of the dramatic exertions of its enterprising manager. His Tag, in The Spoiled Child, was "high fantastical," in his happiest style of farcical whim. His Walter in The Children in the Wood, on the other hand, was an admirable representation of rough honesty and manly sorrow. Nothing could be happier than his valorous resolution springing naturally out of his peasant manner-or the mingled humour and feeling of his triumph over the assassin--or his efforts to appear composed when the fate of the children was doubtful-or the broken accents of joy with which he folded them in his arms. In Wild Oats and The Dramatist, too, he has played as vivaciously and as whimsically as ever. The gentle stroller who goes about rejoicing to catch that pleasure which is "spread through the earth to be caught in stray gifts by whoever will find," and the enthusiastic playwright, seem, indeed, to touch answering chords within his own bosom. He is evidently born to none of this world's common business, but to his own imperial art. The stage Tum "a kingdom is." In the arrangeIn the arrangement of grotesque farces, of gloriously fleeting melodrames, and of majestic tragedies, he is in his right place, and fitly exercises the pleasantest of this world's dignities. He is worthy to sip the mantling cup of the town's applause, and to grow light of head and heart by its fumes. Let not the public desert him who loves it even as a personal friend! Let him long au give happiness to crowded diences, and receive it from them in return! Let him not in this his greatest enterprize, the keeping alive antique revels in Old Drury, utterly fail! There Garrick spread the electrical sympathy from heart to heart in days of yore -there Siddons first "came sweeping by," tragedy's divine priestess there Kemble first waved his majestic hand, and walked with the triumphant step of a Roman senator-there Jordan restored the world-wearied heart to its joyous spring-time, by a cordial laugh. It will be an undying disgrace to our age, if this spot, sacred to old joy, be deserted and silent! COVENT GARDEN THEATRE. The only dramatic event of great interest which has occurred during the last month is the appearance of Mr. Vandenhoff, the longexpected tragedian. This gentleman has, for some time, enjoyed a large share of provincial renown, which excited considerable expectation in the London critics. He was also understood to have coquetted in rather a lofty style with the metropolitan public, and to have refused any appearance before it, unless allowed a fair opportunity of winning the first place in its favour. He has at last appeared; and if we cannot quite subscribe to all we had heard in his praise, we are happy to acknowledge that he is far from being an ordinary actor. We shall, at a future opportunity, enter more particularly into his claims on the public favour. We regret that our limits will not allow us to praise as we could wish the interesting melodrame The Warlock of the Glen, or to celebrate the delicious acting of Mr. and Mrs. C. Kemble in Catherine and Petruchio-or to congratulate the OLYMPIC and ADELPHI theatres on their success. The last agreeable office we shall discharge next month. VARIETIES. Cambridge.-The subject of the Norrisian essay for the present year is, The Connexion between the Jewish and Christian dispensations. The subject of the English poem for the Chancellor's third gold medal for the ensuing year is, "Evening." The Rev. Win. French, M.A. fellow and tutor of Pembroke hall, is appointed, by the Lord Bishop of Ely, Master of Jesus college, in the room of the late Dr. Pearce. He has also been admitted Doctor in Divinity by royal mandate. Cambridge, Dec. 15.-The members of the Observatory Syndicate have made a report of their proceedings to the Senate, in which they state that after an attentive examination of every situation in the immediate neighbourhood of Cambridge, they have selected a field belonging to St. John's college, near the gravel pits on the north of the Madingley road, as furnishing the most eligible site for an Observatory: it unites the advantages of a view all round the horizon, not now obstructed, nor likely to be obstructed hereafter, in any direction, particularly in the essential one of the meridian; of sufficient elevation, of a clear air, never subject to be disturbed by the smoke of the town; of a dry soil; and of such a distance from the University, as, all circumstances considered, they judge the most desirable. The selection of the Syndicate was approved by the Senate at the congregation.— The Syndics are now engaged in collecting such information concerning the construction of the principal observatories in this kingdom and abroad, as may enable them to point out to architects all necessary precautions in the fabric of the new observatory. The present subscriptions amount to upwards of 6000l. exclusive of the 5000l. which was voted by the University. A dutiful and loyal address to His Majesty has been agreed to by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; and the presentation of both was very numerously attended. THE NORTHERN EXPEDITION. As a copious and authentic account of the Polar expedition will shortly be laid before the public, we shall for the present content ourselves with offering our readers the following particulars. It is certain, that the vessels having crossed the Magnetic Meridian, entered the Polar Sea. Owing to the intense cold, they endured great hardships; of which it was no sinall aggravation, that for the last nine months they were upon short allowance of bread, and during the summer months of other necessaries, thus adding the cravings of hunger to the pinchings of frost. It affords a gratifying instance of the right feeling and characteristic perseverance of British sailors, to tell that the men bore every deprivation, not merely with patience and equanimity, but with good humour. Frequently, when they had returned from a day of fatiguing and unproductive search for game, they wrapped themselves in their blankets, to try by sleep to forget their exhaustion, and that appetite which they durst not satisfy, lest they should, by encroaching on their next day's scanty allowance, or on their general stock, be in the end confined to these dreary regions starving and without subsistence. Notwithstanding this, never a murmur escaped them. Acting plays was one of the amusements devised to while away the long night of the Polar circle. A drama was written by Mr. Parry, solely to please the men, and called "The North West Passage." The scenery was painted by Mr. Beechy, and the officers were the performers. The delight of the crews was so great that they not only clapped, but loudly cheered the actors on every favourable impression. One of the latter was so amused with this, that on making an exit he was induced to go into the house, to see how the thing looked. He happened to place himself immediately behind the boatswain and another man, who claimed with rapture, Oh, it's beautiful! it's beautiful!" 66 Beautiful! ex do you call it?" returned the boat- A curious circumstance has been mentioned. It is stated, that one of the she-wolves of the country where the vessels were laid up, formed an intimacy with a ship dog, and almost daily visited him for some time, as if he had belonged to the same species. At last the dog, a setter, belonging to one of the officers of the Griper, followed his wild companion, and was never seen more. Another dog from the Hecla also went off, but returned, though with his throat all mangled. The wolves were large, and were heard nightly howling in a most disagreeable manner. The other quadrupeds found, when the summer returned, were the musk-ox, of which several were killed, the deer, the fox, and the mouse: the latter remained through the winter, were numerous, and changed from brown to white. The fowls were chiefly the Arctic gull, the glaucus, theptarmigan (which has been called the partridge), and a singularly beautiful duck, denominated the king-duck. The expedition arrived at the entrance of Lancaster Sound, on the 1st of August, 1819. On the 7th, the ships were in the Regent's inlet, and there, in about 90 deg. of long. the variation of the needle was, we understand, about 120 deg. west. Stopped by ice, they left the inlet, which is supposed either to extend to Hudson's Bay, or trend along the northern shore of America, and resumed their progress up Barrow's Straits, leaving behind them Croker Bay, (the Croker mountains of Captain Ross.) They speedily discovered the group of is lands, nine in number, and named them, the New Georgia Isles. Proceeding onward, they observed, when rather more than half way to the ultimate point at which they arrived, that the variation of the needle was above 120 deg. east: thus it appears that the magnetic meridian must lie between that degree and the degree of 90,which runs through the inlet, where the variation was towards the west. At sea the compass had been quite useless since the 7th August, and it was only on land that the needle traversed. The greatest dip was above 88 deg.; and our scientific readers, putting these data together, will perhaps agree with us in supposing that the magnetic pole is situated somewhere on the American continent, between the longitudes we have mentioned, and below the latitude of 70 deg. On the 7th of September, after encountering many dangers, the vessels were anchored in Winter Harbour, Melville Island. In the beginning of November their night began, and it lasted till the beginning of February 1820, when the sun was seen for a few minutes above the horizon. This luminary gradually prolonged the time during which it rose, till in June it became constantly visible, circling round and making changeless day. On the 1st of August, the vessels were released from the ice, nearly as suddenly as they had been overtaken by the winter; and our hardy countrymen were enabled to return homeward. Their furthest point was beyond 114 deg. west. The ice all around them in the Polar Sea was above 40 feet thick. The ships were roofed over during the winter, and the crews did not, as reported, erect huts on shore. Melville Island was however explored by hunting parties, and Capt. Parry crossed it, and was absent for three weeks together. It is reckoned about 150 miles long, and from 30 to 40 broad. It is also supposed, that the whole Sea north of the American continent is broken into Islands. Natural history has not been much enriched by the objects obtained. Only one bear was seen during the stay at Melville Island: there were no fish, and no game of any kind till the summer came, when those birds and animals we have mentioned, made their appearance. Grass, saxafragium, and poppies, formed the herbage, in patches and tufts, which looked green and gay at a distance, but was very thinly scattered over the marly surface of the earth. In geology, limestone, sandstone, and slate, were most prominent; coarse granite was found in round detached pieces in the ravines and other mineral specimens were picked up. Some of the isles were amazingly precipitous, rising from 3 to 800 feet above the water. From the entrance of Lancaster's Sound to Melville Island, the land gradually declined, till, from towering and pointed rocks, it became gently undulated. The distance between Winter Harbour and Copper-mine River may be about 150 or 200 miles. The whole distance which the expedition went from the mouth of Lancaster's Sound, was about 500 miles. There were traces of old Esquimaux huts on Melville Island. The owl, in full beauty of feather, seemed to inhabit this inhospitable place throughout the year. The lowest temperature was 55 deg. below zero.-Literary Gazette. effect follows; but if they be placed were made in the laboratory of the Royal Institution, and also at the London Institution. Welsh Literature. The members of Jesus college, Oxford, have offered the under-mentioned prizes, for compositions on the following subjects-For the best essay in the At the second meeting, last year, of Welsh language, on "the advantages the Cambridge Philosophical Society, likely to accrue to the principality several new members were elected from a national biography," 201.- Fellows. Afterwards a paper was For the best translation into the read by the professor of mineralogy, Welsh language of the first of the Dr. E. D. Clarke, upon a remarkable sermons on the sacrament, by the formation of Native Natron, in DevonRev. John Jones, M. A. of Jesus col- shire. The professor also communilege, archdeacon of Merioneth, Bamp-cated to the Society a discovery which ton lecturer for the present year, 10. -For the best six Englynion on the words of Taliesin, "Cymru fu, Cymru fydd," 21.-To the best Welsh reader in Jesus college Chapel, 61-To the second best Welsh reader, 41. Sir Walter Scott, Bart. has been unanimously elected President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, on the resignation of Sir James Hall. Discoveries in Galvanism-Royal Society, Nov. 10.-A most interesting paper has been read to the Royal Society, by Sir Humphry Davy, on the magnetising influence of galvanism, in which various new and curious , experiments on this subject were detailed, which clearly establish the fact, that the galvuric fluid, directed in a proper manner, is capable of communicating magnetic properties to bars of steel. If steel bars or rods be exposed to the galvanic current, placed in the direction of the magnetic axis, no he had made respecting the supposed alabaster Soros, brought by Mr. Belzoni from Upper Egypt; and which he had found to consist of one integral mass of Arragonite. The Rev. Mr. Cecil, of Magdalene college, also read a very important paper on the application of hydrogen gas to produce moving force in machinery; giving at the same time a description of an engine for that purpose; which was exhibited to the Society. Organic Remains. The subjoined is an extract of a letter from Dr. Tytler, dated the 9th instant. "I forget whether I mentioned to you, that in my late expedition to Kallingur, I picked up a fossil oyster-shell on the summit of a high hill above the village of Bheeamow: strange to say, this organic remain was in union with granite and basalt rocks. Along with many other circumstances, this proves that these hills were formerly all under water. In the bed of a river near Russur, I also found the fossil remain of the first joint of a human finger. It is evidently the first phalanx of a finger, and I think the first finger of the right hand, but it is more than twice the size of the joint of an ordinary man; ergo, the person it belonged to must at least have been twelve feet high. These two singular curiosities will shortly be dispatched to the Asiatic Society."-Cal. Gov. Gaz. March 23. Mr. Jeffrey has been elected Rector of the University of Glasgow, by great majorities in each of the four nations. Mr. Finlay was the other candidate. Ornithology. A woodman engaged in splitting timber for rail-posts, in the woods close by the lake at Haming, a seat of Mr. Pringle's in Selkirkshire, lately discovered in the centre of a large wild cherry-tree, a living bat, of a bright scarlet colour; which he foolishly suffered to escape, from fear, being fully persuaded it was (with the characteristic superstition of the inhabitants of that part of the country) a "being not of this world." The tree presents a small cavity in the centre, where the bat was enclosed; but is perfectly sound and solid on each side. The election of a successor to the late Sir J. Banks, as President of the Royal Society, took place on the 30th Nov. at Somerset-house. The two candidates were Lord Colchester and Sir H. Davy. The latter was elected by a great majority of votes. After the ballot for the President and other officers, the Society dined together at the Crown and Anchor Tavern; Sir Humphry Davy in the chair. The Conway, Capt. Basil Hall, has reached Rio Janeiro. This is the ship sent from England, by the Admiralty, farther to explore the new antarctic land recently discovered, and of which we have given an account as far as has yet been ascertained. Oliver Goldsmith.-The birth-day of Oliver Goldsmith was celebrated on the 6th inst. at Ballymahon, in Ireland, near which place this fine genius was born on 29th November, 1728. An annual observance of the VOL. III. NO. I. day in the capital is projected, and a monument is about to be erected to this-one of Hibernia's greatest sons. North-West Passage. The following extract is from a scarce work, entitled "Observations on a NorthWestern Passage, by William Goldson, esq. of Portsmouth, published in the year 1793." If the authority stated be not questionable, the passage from Lancaster's Sound to the Pacific Ocean has been made: "A voyage is said to have been made in the year 1598. The only account we have of it is from a memoir read at a meeting of the Academy of Sciences, at Paris, Nov. 13, 1720, by M. Buachi, Geographer to the French King. The substance of this memoir is, that M. de Mendoza, a captain in the Spanish navy, employed to form a collection for the use of that service, having searched various archives, found an account of this voyage, which was made under the command of Lorenzo Ferrer de Maldonado. From an inspection of this Journal it appears, that when he arrived in latitude 60 deg. north, and longitude 325 deg. east, from Ferro, he steered to the westward, leaving Hudson's Bay to the south, and Baffin's Bay to the north; and in the latitude 65 deg. north, and longitude 297 deg. east from Ferro, (from which meridian the longitude is reckoned through the whole journal,) he altered his course to the northward, sailing through what he calls the Straits of Labrador, until he found himself in latitude 76 deg. north, aud longitude 278 deg. east, in the frozen ocean; he then held his course southwest, and passed through the Strait which separates Asia from America. In latitude 60 deg. north, and longitude 235 east, he entered the South Sea, naming the Strait through which he had passed, Anian, but which M. Buachi would have called Ferrer's Strait, in memory of its discoverer." RURAL ECONOMY. A mammoth gourd has been cut in the garden of H. P. Tozer Aubrey, Esq. of Broomhall, near Oswestry, which, through the peculiar management of its cultivator, attained the weight of 113lbs. D |