I never

Louis XIV.-One of the last and perhaps the finest traits of Louis's domestic character, shewed itself two days before his death, and after he had received extreme unction. While conversing with his confessor upon the awful moment before him, he perceived by the reflection in a mirror, that two of his servants at the foot of the bed were in tears, and turning to them he asked "Why do you weep? Did you think I was immortal? thought it, and at my age you should have prepared yourselves to lose me." Not long before his death, Louis sent for his great grandson, and holding him in his arms, addressed to him the following words, which remained for years written above the pillow of Louis XV.: "You are about to become the King of a great kingdom. That which I recommend to you more strenously is, never to forget your obligation towards God. Remember that you owe Him everything that you are. Strive to preserve peace with your neighbours. I have been too fond of war. Neither imitate me in that, nor in the too great expenses which I have incurred. counsel in all things, and endeavour to find out the best, always to follow it. Lighten the burdens of your people as soon as you can; and do what I myself have had the misfortune not to be able to do."-James's Life and Times of Louis XIV.; a work as valuable as it is entertaining.

Seek

A Deserted Watering-place.-There is a loneliness about a deserted watering-place more striking than that of any other town. Broad and formal avenues, with temples on every hill, and grottoes in every nook, large staring hotels and pump-rooms with long colonnades, are animated scenes when filled with gay and noisy groups in search of pleasure more than health; but dull enough to give one the blue devils when one meets with only a few wretched invalids crawling about like flies in December.-Wilbraham's Travels. (Such is the picture of an empty Russian Cheltenham.) Ducking Pick-pockets bears much analogy to the pit in which the Scots used to immerse female thieves.

Hot and Cold.-At the siege of Lille, having learned that Louis XIV. had no ice in his camp, and the weather being excessively hot, the governor daily sent a portion for the King's use. That portion, however, was but small, and one morning Louis remarked to the Spanish officer who brought it, that he was very much obliged for the ice, but that the governor might send him a little more at a time. "He is afraid, sire," replied the officer, "that the siege may be long, and the ice fall short before it is over." ""

The Petersburg Guardsmen are true exquisites. Captain Wilbraham saw the dressing-cases of two of them, which were of English manufacture, and fitted with jug and basin of solid silver; whilst their dressing-gowns almost shamed the Captain, who had just left the land of silks and kashmeres.

Narrow escape.-At the siege of Lille, Louis XIV. was one day in the trenches just behind him. A soldier, seeing the on foot, when one of his pages was killed danger to which the King had exposed himself, caught him rudely by the arm, away! Is that your place?" and pulled him away, exclaiming, "Come

common

Popular Ignorance. It is a error of the day to overrate the intelligence of the present day, and underrate our forefathers in the intellectual scale. ; for, although our Nomadic ancestors were long without the cultivation of knowledge and literature, they were not, therefore, mentally inert. "There is an education of the mind, distinct from the literary, which is gradually imparted by the contingencies of active life. In this, which is always the education of the largest portion of mankind, our ancestors were never deficient. The operation of practical, but powerful intellect, may be traced in the wisdom and energy of their great political mechanisms and municipal institutions. It pervades their ancient laws; and is disand Norman ancestors, in that collection played in full dimensions, as to our Saxon Bracton has transmitted to us. of our native jurisprudence, which our The sys

tem of our common law there exhibited, was admirably adapted to their wants and benefit; and has mainly contributed to form the national bulwarks, and that individual character, by which England has been so long enriched and so vigorously upheld.”—Sharon Turner's Anglo-Saxons.

Armenian Fuel.-The only fuel used throughout the greater part of Armenia consists of cakes of cow-dung, spread in the sun to dry. They are somewhat difficult to ignite, but when once they burn well, they throw out a great heat.-Capt. Wilbraham's Travels. [Cow-dung is similarly used in the West of England.]

Armenian Tombstones.-Several of the tombstones in the Armenian buryinggrounds, like those still to be seen Switzerland, are ornamented with the em

in

blems of the trade or calling of him whose ashes repose beneath.

Mermaid, like Ghost, stories, carry their antidote with them. Is there an instance of more than one person at a time seeing a mermaid-or a ghost?

Dates.-In Egypt, the price of dates is fixed by law, according to the season and quality of the fruit. The trees from the Oasis yields from 5,000 to 6,000 camelloads annually.

Equanimity.

To this tranquillity the lamp of being
Burns with a steady and unvarying flame,
And none observe how wastes the oil within.
Rev. W. Harness.

The Happy Man.-In the photogenic art, no longer photogenic, he produced the loveliest and most accurate panoramas with rushlights; and not only portraits, but busts, statues, and groups of moving figures, not inferior to actual life, by means of a camera obscura, modelled upon a Daguerrotype notion, and illuminated by the phosphoric sheen of a single glow-worm. The most remarkable result, however, which accrued from these experiments, was the discovery that shadows were real beings, not less substantial than the men and women they had been supposed to copy. In their natures they differed from the originals, having a capability of elongating or shortening themselves in an extraordinary degree, but still preserving identity, occupying space, and acting upon internal as well as external impulses. By the same rule, the reflections of objects in mirrors, or other diaphanous media, were demonstrated to be rather more sub

stantial than the objects reflected.-Legacies of Intellect; Bentley's Miscellany.

The Classics.-All experience shews how materially the taste and manners of a gentleman are improved by classical attainments.

Sharp Shot.-At the siege of Badajoz, a cannon-shot, fired by the French, struck the ground first, and then hit one of our artillery-men on the back, when he fell, as was thought, killed on the spot. In a moment, however, he jumped up unhurt, the shot having glanced off his knapsack; in commemoration of which event, he was afterwards known by the appellation of "the bomb-proof man." - - A British soldier having fired at a Frenchman without orders, was reprimanded for doing so by his colonel, who asked him why he did so; when he coolly said, scratching his head at the same time-"Why, Zur, I ar'n't nought to eat this here two days, and I thought as how I might find somewhat in his knapsack."-United Service Journal.

Electric Caterpillar.-Mr. Yarrell lately exhibited to the Entomological Society a large and very hairy caterpillar of South America, which has been observed to possess the power of communicating a very powerful electric shock.

Lilies and Pearls.-A marble monument in Streatham Church bears the following quaint epitaph :

Susanna, late a lovely Lillye,
Soon faded though she be,
And Marguerile, an Orient Pearl,
Resolv'd to dust yee see.

Yet Lillye's roote shall spring againe,
And Pearle repayred with Christ to raigne.

Colonial Tailors.-We see, by the South Australian Gazette, that our colonial tailors affect the rural in their advertisements. Thus, we find one dated " Alpha Cottage," and another "Swiss Cottage, North Adelaide."

Railways. From a Parliamentary return, just printed, it appears that between Jan. 1826, and Jan. 1839, or in thirteen years, there has been raised by Railway Companies the sum of £57,789,444; of which £41,610,814 are capital in joint stock, the remaining £16,177,630 being made up of the sums which the various companies are authorised to raise by loan or mortgage.

Literary Death.-Edward Moore, in his periodical paper, The World, took leave of his readers on December 30, 1736, with a humourous account of his own death, which really happened on the 28th of February following.

Speaking French.-French has been well called "the algebra of tongues," from its being a sort of general medium of communication, current over the greater part of the earth. It is certainly the most difficult of all to acquire in its highest delicacies of pronunciation and idiom; but, fortunately, it is of easy acquisition, so far as ordinary colloquial work is required.-United Service Journal.

The Nelson Memorial.—The award of the Committee to Mr. W. Railton, for his drawing, (No. 65,) has been confirmed; and his design of the Corinthian column recommended finally for adoption.

"The Surrey Zoological Gardens."-Hecla has been fired by means of the Voltaic battery, by Mr. E. M. Clarke.

Erratum, in part of the impression of our last Number, at page 195, second column, seventeen lines from bottom, for "tunnels in railways," read "shafts in railway tunnels."

The LITERARY WORLD, Part III. 5 Numbers, 10 to 14, both inclusive, with TWELVE ENGRAVINGS, is now publishing, price 10d.

LONDON: Published by GEORGE BERGER, Holywell Street, Strand. Printed by WHITEHEAD & Co. 76, Fleet Street, where all Communications for the Editor may be addressed.

THE NELSON MONUMENT. UPWARDS of three and thirty years have elapsed since the remains of the great Nelson were consigned to the tomb, with the extreme pomp and circumstance of a public funeral. Well do we remember the sombre spectacle stealthily gliding upon the placid Thames, and the " rainy eyes" of countless spectators as the mournful cortège drew its slow length along" to our metropolitan cathedral, wherein was deposited all that was mortal of him

"Whose sacred splendour, and whose deathless

name,

tropolis, the fame of Trafalgar seems to have been neglected; the arbiter in such matters meriting the sarcasm of the poet, in

"Forgetting NELSON, Duncan, Howe, and Jervis.” Years rolled on, and the monumental celebration of Nelson's fame had nearly been left to its only period, "the end of time,' when the course of nature led to our throne a sailor-king, who had been nurtured in the navy, who had been cherished in his boyhood by Nelson, and one of whose earliest regal acts was to awaken his countrymen to erect a metropolitan monument to their beloved victor. The time was happily in joint; though the lapse of nearly a quarter of a century were, indeed, a long grace for the payment of the tribute, now become matter of history rather than of Years of peace had every-day reference.

zens' gratitude. Elsewhere tributes were also raised to perpetuate the fame of Nel

son.

At Great Yarmouth arose a classic column, "by the joint contributions of his fellow-countrymen of Norfolk." Liverpool produced its colossal group of lasting bronze. Dublin raised its huge column and gigantic statue, and Edinburgh its castellated memorial, of Britain's illustrious admiral. The latter are, indeed, public monuments, placed out-of-doors, which the people may regard with many a welcome remembrance of their country's glory, mingled with gratitude to their hero, in ages to come: for, "the period to Nelson's fame can only be the end of time." But the metropolis of England possesses not such a monument. Since Nelson's victo

rious death, columns have been raised, and statues have been placed, to perpetuate sovereigns, heroes, and statesmen; poets, philanthropists, and other good and great men. The successes of our army are everywhere commemorated by spoils and trophies: a proud monument has been reared to a commander, who disciplined our soldiers rather than led them to victory; and men had even become emulous in recording the valour of the living before they had done justice to the memory of the brave dead. In the embellishment of our me

Immediately beneath the centre of the dome, pointed out above by a brass plate let into the pavement, is a sarcophagus, having on it a coronet and a cushion, and placed on a base of masonry, within which is the body of Nelson. This sarcophagus, it appears, once belonged to Cardinal Wolsey, who originally intended it for his own tomb.-Godwin and Britton's Churches of London, No. II. p. 47. In a large apartment in St. Paul's Cathedral are shewn to visitors the trophies and banners which were borne in the funeral procession of Nelson. Guildhall Inscription, by Sheridan.

fostered the arts: a site had been cleared for the erection of the "National Gal

"national" monument as in its area? We know not whether this idea occurred to William the Fourth, or whether it was a suggestion from those around him; but more certain is it that he favoured the de

sign of opening to the people the square at Charing Cross; of naming it "Trafalgar;" and of placing in its centre some monument to Nelson, worthy of the patronage of a sovereign, and association with the glories of the hero. Such, in the main, was the origin of "the Nelson Testimo

nial" about to be placed in Trafalgar Square. For this noble object, a subscription was opened, and a committee organized, the Duke of Buccleuch lending his efficient aid as chairman. Unfortunately, the sovereign did not live to witness the progress of his favourite project. On a considerable sum being raised, the committee advertised for designs for a monument of architecture and sculpture; the rewards of £250, £150, and £100 respectively, being promised to the author of the design which the committee should deem first, second, and third, in order of merit ; and the highest premium was awarded to then submitted to the inspection of the Mr. William Railton. The designs were public, with certain additions, alterations, and amendments; and the committee, on June 22, confirmed their former choice, and finally decided upon the design of Mr. Railton, by whose courtesy we are enabled to present the accompanying engraving to the reader.

The first design was returned by Mr. Railton to the committee unaltered, with an entirely new set of drawings containing alterations: from one of the latter the Engraving has been reduced; representing the Monument as seen from the corner of Spring Gardens, with the surrounding buildings drawn in relative proportion.

In the choice of his design, the author carefully considered every species of monument, not only with respect to the subject itself, but also with reference to the site, the character and dimensions of the surrounding buildings, and the amount proposed to be expended (£30,000.) Any thing in the nature of a temple he conceives to be wholly out of the question, both on account of the expense, and the screen it would offer in every point of view to some one or more of the neighbouring edifices, and thus destroy their general effect; whilst a group of figures, on the other hand, (keeping within the proposed sum,) must necessarily be so very limited as to be appreciated only on close inspection, but producing no distant effect, especially when corroded, as it soon would be, by the damp and smoky atmosphere of the metropolis. Mr. Railton then submits, that a Column, by affording an opportunity for the combined efforts of the architect and sculptor, will produce both near and distant effects; and being in keeping with the surrounding buildings, will tend, more than in any other species of monument, to bring the entire scene into general harmony, without, in the slightest degree, destroying the effect of any portion of it.

Mr. Railton has chosen the Corinthian order, being the most lofty and elegant in its proportions, and having never been used in England for this purpose. The shaft is placed upon a pedestal, having on its four sides, bassi-relievi of Nelson's four principal engagements, viz. St. Vincent, Copenhagen, Nile, and Trafalgar; these bassi-relievi being eighteen feet square, and the figure of Nelson in each seven feet high. The pedestal is raised on a flight of fifteen steps, at the angles of which latter are African lions in a recumbent position. The shaft is uniformly fluted throughout, the lower and upper torus

We are compelled, by want of space, to omit some interesting details, in support of Mr. Railton's preference of a Column. With a view to a compari

Ditto

The author proposes to take up his position in the actual centre of Trafalgar Square, and to lower the ground from the column to the footpath on the north side to one level, and to substitute a flight of ten steps, the whole width of the square, which will, in effect, rather add to the height of the National Gallery.

The materials proposed to be employed are, for the steps and plinth, grey granite; the lions, porphyritic granite; the pedestal, relievi, column, and upper pedestal, Craigleith stone; the statue, and the laurel wreath around the upper pedestal, bronze; and, if preferred, the bassi-relievi of bronze, the latter being less liable to injury from time, accident, or intentional mutilation.*

It now only remains for us to congratulate Mr. Railton upon what we are inclined to consider his merited success; and to remind the patriotic, that the subscription lists remain open as heretofore, to receive contributions, generally. In so laudable an object as perpetuating the memory of one of the noblest of England's heroes, who may be said to have sealed her supremacy of the seas, little incitement can be needed; since, to this superiority may be traced England's prosperity and proud position in the scale of nations. son, between this and similar objects, the dimensions of the principal Columns, which have been erected as monuments, are subjoined:

Paris London

Doric

Doric

Height to the top of Capital.

115 feet

123

172

115

109

156

162

Diameter

12 feet.

13

15

12

11

12

12

1839 Nelson's Monument, 1st Design

2nd Design There have been many futile objections to the use of single Columns, as monuments, notwithstanding the instances above quoted. It has, also, been objected, that there is already another pillar, in a street near the area of the proposed Nelson column; the objector evidently forgetting the insulated columns in the Roman Forum, in the time of Augustus; and the Antonine, near the Trajan column. Again, the raising of two obelisks, at the gates of Egyptian temples; in the principal piazze, at Rome; and the two insulated pillars in one of the squares of Venice. "The history of both Greece and Rome, the paintings at Pompeii, and the opi

Corinthian Corinthian nions of Winckelman, Milizia, Visconti, and others," gainsay the above objections. "Where is the man of real taste, who has ever hesitated, for a moment, to admire the Monument of London; or the Trajan and the Antonine, at Rome; or Pompey's pillar, at Alexandria ?"-Explanation of the Designs, by Utinam, affixed to A Letter to the Duke of Wellington, on the Nelson Memorial; by Dr. Granville. [The main objection, we take to be, placing a statue at such a height that its features.can scarcely be discerned. We cannot, however, enter further into the controversy, although our table is strewn with materials, not forgetting the combustibles.]