sions, all of the name of John. Sir Bernard Drake, in the reign of Elizabeth, was a great courtier and a brave naval commander. He was a person of so high a spirit, that he gave the famous Sir Francis Drake, who was not related to him, a box on the ear, for assuming his arms, which were a wivern displayed, gules. This being reported to the Queen, she was so provoked as to give a new coat to Sir Francis, and for his crest, a ship on a globe held by a cable with a hand out of the clouds, and in the rigging, hung up by the heels, a wivern with wings displayed, gules; of which, when she asked Sir Bernard his opinion, he boldly answered, Madam, though you could give him a finer, yet you could not give him an ancienter coat than mine."

ART.

A RECENT Writer, speaking of the effects of climate, observes: that in Italy the sun, the earth, the air, are full of poetical inspiration; not only from classical associations, but also, and chiefly, from their natural effect upon the animal and intellectual structure. Buonaparte once urged the celebrated sculptor, Canova, to leave his native country, and to reside at Paris. "No," said the intelligent artist, "I have learned my profession in Rome, and I shall exercise it in Rome until my death; since I feel that my talent deserts me when I quit the objects, and the country, that have given me inspiration."

Mr. Coleridge was secretary to Sir Alexander Ball, whom he accompanied to Malta, of which island that distinguished officer was appointed Governor; but this situation he did not long retain, nor did it prove any

otherwise advantageous to him than by extending his knowledge of the world, and giving him an opportunity of treading the classic ground of Italy. He relates a short anecdote, which we shall give in the author's own words: "When I was at Rome, among many other visits, to the tomb of Julius II., I went thither once with a Prussian artist, a man of genius and great vivacity of feeling. As we were gazing on Michael Angelo's MOSES, our conversation turned on the horns and beard of that stupendous statue; of the necessity of each to support the other; of the super-human effect of the former, and the necessity of the existence of both, to give a harmony and integrity, both to the image, and the feeling excited by it. Conceive them removed, and the statue would become unnatural, without being supernatural. We called to mind the horns of the rising sun, and I repeated the noble passage from Taylor's Holy Dying.-That horns were the emblem of power and sovereignty among the Eastern nations; and are still retained as such in Abyssinia ; the Achelous of the ancient Greeks; and the probable ideas and feelings that originally suggested the mixture of the human and the brute form in the figure, by which they realized the idea of their mysterious Pan, as representing intelligence blended with a darker power, deeper, mightier, and more universal than the conscious intellect of man; than intelligence: all these thoughts and recollections passed in procession before our minds. My companion, who possessed more than his share of the hatred which his countrymen bore to the French, had just observed to me, "a Frenchman, Sir, is the only animal in the human shape, that by no possibility can lift itself up to religion or poetry." When, lo! two French officers of distinction and rank entered the church! "Mark you," whispered the

Prussian, "the first thing which those scoundrels will notice, (for they will begin by instantly noticing the statue in parts, without one moment's pause of admiration impressed by the whole), will be the horns and the beard. And the associations which they will immediately commit with them, will be those of a HeGoat and a Cuckold."-Never did a man guess more luckily. Had he inherited a portion of the great legislator's phrophetic powers, whose statue we had been contemplating, he could scarcely have uttered words more coincident with the result; for even as he had said, so it came to pass."

It is well known that a finger of the left hand of the Medicean Venus has been supplied by a modern artist, As every circumstance, however minute, relating to this master-piece is interesting, the reader will not be displeased to learn how the original finger was lost, according to the statement of the Giornale Encyclopedico di Firenze. During the reign of Cosmo III., GrandDuke of Tuscany, Lord Ossory, who then resided in Florence, was one day viewing, in company with the Prince, this exquisite work, for which he offered him the sum of 100,000 livres, payable within two months in England; adding, that he would send a ship on purpose to fetch it. The Grand-Duke smiled at the offer, and without making any reply, turned to the Marquis Malaspina, who was present, and desired him to note down his Lordship's name. In this manner he passed off the matter as a joke. Lord Ossory wore a cornelian ring, upon which a Cupid was engraved. The GrandDuke, who had seen it some days before, had so admired it, that the British nobleman would have made him a present of the ring, which, however, the GrandDuke would not accept. His Lordship now requested,

as he was determined not to part from the Venus, that his Highness would permit him to marry her. The Grand-Duke consented with a smile, on which his Lordship fixed the ring as fast as possible upon the fore-finger of the goddess, as being that on which the marriage ring was worn among the Greeks and Romans, because a small nerve in that finger was supposed to communicate with the heart. Cosmo, who considered the figure of Cupid as quite appropriate to the statue, suffered the ring to remain, till some person coveting this ornament, stole privately into the gallery for the purpose of taking it off. The task was difficult; to this was probably added the fear of discovery-in short, the finger was broken off during the operation. By whom this was done, how it was discovered, or whether the ring was actually carried off, we are not informed-but it is still preserved, attached to a gold chain, in the crystal cabinet of the Grand-ducal gallery.

The love of Art has appeared even in the last moments; an instance of which is to be found in the case of Alonzo Cano, the admired artist of Spain, who, when the priest that attended him had presented the crucifix, turned his eyes away, and refused to look at it because the sculpture was so badly executed! but asked for a plain cross, which being brought to him, he devoutly embraced it, and expired.

Roubiliac, being on a visit in Wiltshire, happened to take a walk in a church-yard on a Sunday morning, near Bowood, just as the congregation was coming out of church, and meeting old Lord Shelburne, though perfect strangers to each other, they entered into conversation, which ended in an invitation to dinner. When the company were all assembled at

table, Roubiliac discovered a fine antique bust of one of the Roman Empresses, which stood over a sidetable, when immediately running up to it, with a degree of enthusiasm, he exclaimed, "What an air! what a pretty mouth! what tout ensemble!" The company began to stare at one another for some time, and Roubiliac regained his seat; but instead of eating his dinner, or shewing attention to any thing about him, he every now and then burst out into fits of admiration in praise of the bust. The guests, by this time concluding he was mad, began to retire one by one, till Lord Shelburne was almost left alone. This determined his Lordship to be a little more particular; and he now, for the first time, asked his name. "My name!" says the other, "what, do you not know me then? My name is Roubiliac." I beg your pardon, Sir,' said his Lordship, I now feel that I should have known you.' Then, calling on the company, who had retired to the next room, he said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, you may come in; this is no absolute madman. This is M. Roubiliac, the greatest statuary of his day, and only occasionally mad in the admiration of his art.'

ASTROLOGY.

A MAHOMETAN Khalif, in the eighth century, having been prejudiced against one of his generals, ordered him into his presence; when, after upbraiding him with supposed treachery, he ordered the executioners of vengeance to strike off his head. The Arabian historians, with apparent belief of the story, assert, that the head, though severed from the lifeless trunk, and weltering on the floor of the palace in its blood, re