cies of homicide, although as a body they may be inclined toward suicide. RHOADES is the hatter of Boston, as we do guess:'

He wore a hat from RHOADES'
The day when first we met;
Imperial and whiskers, and
Moustache as black as jet;

His eye was bright, his laughter free,
His pockets lined with 'tin,'
The idol of the female sex-
Of men the shame and sin;
I saw him but a moment,

But methinks I see him now,
With that new hat from RHOADES'
Light resting on his brow!

'When once again I saw him
He did not wear a hat,
But a snowy vest and ruffles,
And a bridal-white cravat;
And standing by his side was one
Who had tried, and not in vain,
To bind the roving bachelor
In love's unyielding chain;
I saw him but a moment,

But methinks I see him now,
With a snowy vest and ruffles

As he took the bridal vow.

And once again I saw him:
A dressing-gown he wore,
With a moaning baby in his arms
He walked the chamber-floor;

The married man's submissive look

He wore, and patient air;

His cheeks were shaved, and streaks of gray
Were mingled with his hair.

I saw him but a moment,

But methinks I see him now,

With that bran-new hat from RHOADES'

Light resting on his brow!'

THE Brothers HARPER have recently put forth a volume entitled Letters, Conversations and Recollections of S. T. Coleridge.' The author, who is anonymous, must have been intimately acquainted with the Great Talker. Some very amusing things are recorded of COLERIDGE's contemporaries. Take, for example, these of CHARLES LAMB:

'I ONCE wrote to WORDSWORTH to inquire if he was really a Christian. He replied: 'When I am a good man then I am a Christian.''

'I made that joke first, (the Scotch corner in hell, fire without brimstone,) though COLERIDGE first licked it into shape.'

MARTIN BURNEY, while earnestly explaining the three kinds of acid, was stopped by LAMB'S saying: The best of all kinds of acid, however, as you know, MARTIN, is uity-assid-uity.'

THE Conversation turned one night on the evidence against the Queen, especially MAJOCCHI. LAMB said he should like to see them; he would ask them to supper. Mr. TALFOURD observed : You would not sit with them?' 'Yes,' said LAMB, 'I would sit with any thing but a hen or a tailor.''

Here is a very characteristic anecdote of that great and greatly intemperate actor, GEORGE FREDERICK COOKE:

GEORGE FREDERICK COOKE was once invited by a builder or architect of one of the theatres, ELMERTON, as I think. He went, and ELMERTON, being at a loss whom to invite, pitched upon BRANDON, the box-keeper, to meet him. All went on pretty well until midnight, when GEORGE FREDERICK, getting very drunk, his host began to be tired of his company. GEORGE took the hint, and his host lighted him down stairs into the hall, when COOKE, laying hold of both his ears, shouted: Have I, GEORGE FREDERICK COOKE, degraded myself by dining with brick-layers to meet boxkeepers? tripped up his heels, and left him sprawling in darkness.'

An accomplished correspondent, ('J. C.') sends us the following communication; and we are assured on all hands that it does no more than justice to the enterprise VOL. XXIX.

37

which it commends: The Vocal Musical Institution which Mr. MEIGS has recently formed in our city, promises to surpass all others yet established for the advancement of choral music in classes. The arrangements which he has undertaken, regardless of expense, in engaging Mr. LODER, with his superior band, and the best masters that could be obtained in each department of his choral classes, cannot fail to introduce a source of musical gratification hitherto but partially or imperfectly enjoyed among us. The strict observance of time, harmony, expression and equally-poised vocal powers, which Mr. LODER and his talented assistants have adopted, will, if supported by the invigorating stream of public munificence, form a projectile point of rivalry in choral music, not to be excelled in the European institutions so celebrated for their performances in the choral compositions of Handel, BeeTHOVEN, MOZART, HAYDN, and our modern distinguished theorists. In short, this institution gives evidence of a zeal and ability for the encouragement of vocal talent on a scale never before attempted in the United States. Mr. ANDREWS, of the Tabernacle, has been successfully employed in training a select number of youths of both sexes in the rudiments of the choral department, at the Mechanics' Institute in Chambers-street. The diagrams he has adopted are large, and can be seen by two hundred pupils in every part of the spacious room, and appear well calculated for communicating a thorough knowledge of the notes in a plain and simple manner. This choral school was established by Professor MAPES, whose superior attainments have long distinguished him as a scientific pioneer in clearing away obstacles in the paths of knowledge and science, through which gifted genius may pass to honor and renown worthy of the advancing spirit of the age.' 'I was complaining the other evening,' remarked a friend to us not long since, of being greatly annoyed by some villanous dogs, whose nightly howlings had kept me awake until two or three o'clock `every morning for a week; when one of my listeners observed, 'Why, you can easily rid yourself of them. Why do n't you take a little Vox Populi,'' said he, ‘and sprinkle it upon a piece of meat, and throw it over to them? You'll find it 'll fix 'em before morning.' Vox Populi!' said I; 'do n't you mean something else? Is n't it Nux Vomica? W-e-ll, y-e-s; I guess that is it!' The reader will not be long in inferring that it could n't have been any thing else."'. . . We have before us the proceedings of the New-York Academy of Medicine,' on the occasion of its recent formation, together with the constitution and by-laws of the same. Nearly two hundred members, constituting and including the most eminent of the medical profession in the city, assembled together, and with the most perfect harmony adopted resolutions, by which they separate themselves from irregular practitioners of every description, and express their united determination to promote the character, interests and honor of the fraternity, by maintaining the union and harmony of the regular profession of the city and its vicinity, and aiming to elevate the standard of medical education. The honor of the Presidentship of the Academy was most appropriately and with entire unanimity conferred upon JOHN STEARNS, M. D.; a physician whose long and extensive practice, with the highest skill and success in his almost divine science, not less than his preeminent kindness and benevolence of heart, have endeared to thousands of our citizens. His address, delivered on the occasion of assuming the chair, at the first regular meeting of the Academy, is a forcible illustration of the high vocation of the conscientious medical practitioner, and a fearless exposition of the danger and wickedness of empiricism. We commend it to a wide perusal, for the high aims which it inculcates. INDULGE us, reader, in a little gossip concerning

art, and cognate matters. And we are led to remark in the first place,' that we are well-pleased to see that Mr. JOHN P. RIDNER has established an agency for that valuable Fine-Arts publication, the 'London Art-Union Journal,' in this city. It is a work so well known among artists and amateurs that it is hardly necessary to direct the attention of that class of our readers to it. We understand that the 'ArtUnion Journal' is very widely circulated in this country, but not to so great an extent as it deserves to be. To the ornamental artist, (a class which is every day growing larger in this country,) the Art-Union' is as necessary as the Bible to a preacher; and to the connoisseur who would keep au courant with the artistic doings of the world, it is of equal importance. The embellishments of the work are of the highest order of art, and the original essays from the pens of Mr. and Mrs. S. C. HALL, J. B. PYNE, and many others of great merit, are by no means the least valuable features of it. And now, a word or two of some of our artists. We are glad to announce to the many friends of WILLIAM PAGE, that he will return to this city in April next, and make it for the future his permanent home. Mr. PAGE, we hear, has accomplished some marvels in portraiture since his abode in Boston, and we learn with pleasure that his picture of RUTH, said to be a work of great beauty, will be exhibited in this city before it is sent to Europe. Mr. C. L. ELLIOTT, among other remarkable and most faithful portraits of several of our prominent citizens, has been putting the finishing touches of his facile pencil to the life-size full-length picture of Governor BOUCK, for the collection at the City-Hall, for which he receives a thousand dollars. It is one of the very best pictures that has come from his skilful hand. The figure is easy and natural in attitude, the drawing and coloring faultless, and the face a screeching likeness, that bites' at first sight; to say nothing of the felicitous accessories; the old white horse,' the famous 'white hat,' and the quiet unostentatious homestead of the Governor on the picturesque banks of the Schoharie; all of which are admirably depicted. We have just seen another miniature from the popular pencil of OFFICER. It is of a lady, in the highest social ranks of the metropolis; and there is a charm in the expression, a force of color, and a clearness and depth of light and shadow, which we have not seen surpassed by this able artist. The picture takes in three-quarters length of the figure. The lady is a blonde; her dress of light-blue silk, which forms a cool mass in good contrast with the crimson chair, and a curtain of a purplish-brown. Tasteful and effective accessories, also, are an antique vase, which repeats as it were the color of the hair; and above it, glimpses of a cool gray sky; the whole well harmonized, clear, transparent and delicate. Mr. OFFICER does full justice to what has been termed 'the aristocratic style,' the highbred air and manner of his fair sitters in the upper circles.' WHO that could do so has failed to see the new picture by LUTZE, now exhibiting (gratis) at the ArtUnion room in Broadway? In conception, composition, drawing and color we consider it the best picture that ever came from the hand of this gifted artist; and among the best, if not the very best picture we ever beheld. We say thus much now, that our metropolitan readers may go and see it. - EDMONDS, DURAND, HUNTINGTON, INGHAM, CHAPMAN, GRAY, MATTESON, and the lave,' have not been idle, we suspect; and we have an impression that the National Academy, which opens early in April, will confirm the truth of our surmises, as well as the previous reputation of these and other of our artists; of all of whom more anon.' THERE is a good deal doing in sculpture in town at this moment. BROWN has at his rooms a bust of BRYANT, full of life and nature, which he is about transferring to marble. He

has also re-modelled a charming female head, formerly from his less-practiced chisel, which now beams with a calm beauty that is almost angelic. He is also modelling a superb altar-piece in bas-relief, for Grace Church, which struck us, from the mere drawing, to be a very fine composition. Mr. LAUNITZ has nearly completed a very beautiful life-statue of the lovely and lamented Miss CANDA, who was killed many months since, in jumping from a carriage which was conveying her to an evening party, and while the horses were running away. Nothing could be more exquisite, more sweetly graceful and feminine, than the lovely face and figure of this statue. It is to adorn the niche of a noble marble monument which an afflicted father has commissioned Mr. LAUNITZ to execute and erect in the Greenwood Cemetery. Mr. HORACE KNEELAND is bringing to completion his large equestrian statue of WASHINGTON. The figure of the Father of his Country' has been executed from a superb model, and sits his noble charger like a centaur. This equestrian statue, when finished, will place Mr. KNEELAND in the front rank of his brother professors. Mr. J. H. BEARD has been for some time engaged in modelling the figures for his poeticallyconceived representation of The Last of the Red Men.' When we last saw them, we could not fail to remark that the artist was imbuing them with the true feeling and spirit. We shall have more to say of this group hereafter. ・・・ Booм! boom! boom!' upon the stormy night-air comes the sound of the big fire-bells of the metropolis! We have just descended from the house-top, whence we had a wide view of the city, widening and narrowing to the eye, as the flames rose and sank, and forcibly illustrating one of BURKE'S elements of the 'sublime and beautiful.' How the engines rattle along the streets!-how the brave firemen shout to their lagging companions! J. HONEYWELL, who sends us these original lines, illustrates the prevailing cry at this moment in the thoroughfares:

'Do N'T you hear the bell, boys?
Turn out! turn out!

Its booming peals are on the air,
While all around is lurid glare;

Do n't you hear the bell, boys?
Turn out! turn out !

Don't you see the light, boys?
Turn out! turn out!

Start up the engine's rattling wheels,
And spurn the pavement with your heels;
Do n't you see the light, boys?
Turn out turn out!

Up and man the brakes, boys!
Play on play on!

O! cheerly bright the Croton leaps,
Where crackling embers fall in heaps;

Up and man the breaks, boys!
Play on! play on!

.

We have had occasion, two or three times recently, to join our western friends at the well-spread board of RATHBUN, whose new and spacious hotel in Broadway, near Cortlandt-street, is acquiring a reputation second to none in the city. The presiding spirit which made the old Eagle' at Buffalo so long and so favorably known to the public, is evident here; and the parlors, the larder, the wines, the nice apartments, the clean beds and capacious bed-rooms; and above all, the noiseless, watchful assiduity of the host himself, (a' host in himself,') proves that Mr. RATHBUN has forgotten nothing that is at all worthy of being remembered in the art and mystery of hotel-keeping. . . . WE shall resume in our next, and continue until com

pleted, the capital papers commenced in our last, 'The Oregon Trail, or a Summer out of Bounds.' We can promise a rich treat in the perusal of these authentic and interesting sketches. . . . M. tells a pleasant anecdote of a kind-hearted school-examiner, who looking over the writings of the pupils, said: 'If you keep on in this way, you will make first-rate penmen; and then, fearing that he had not included the girl-scholars in this praise, he added, and pen-women too!' SOUTHEY, in 'The Doctor,' thinks there might be distinctions of this sort; a sex, for example, for the male and female shirt, as she-mise for the woman and he-mise for the man! . . . THE old established house of BANGS, RICHARDS AND PLATT have a various and very extensive trade-sale of books, stationery, stereotype plates, etc., commencing on the twenty-second instant. The simple announcement of this fact will be notice sufficient to secure the attention of our readers to the sales of a house so long and favorably known to the public. . . . We trust that our town-readers will not forget to contribute liberally to the 'House of Industry and Home for the Friendless,' one of the most practical and beneficent charities in the metropolis. It is designed as an asylum for females of good character, who are 'poor and sorrowing, with none to help them.'... WE cannot answer C.'s query. We can only infer that the harps which the ancient covenant people' hung upon the willows were Jews'-harps. In fact they must have been. . . . THE 'Letters from the Gulf States' will attract the attention of our readers. They are from the pen of a gentleman who had previously travelled much at the south, and become familiar with its inhabitants. He will sketch from time to time southern peculiarities, embracing the face of the country, the people, with incidental references to mineralogy, Indian relics and reminiscences, slaves, and their peculiarities, etc. . . . We have but this word to say of two of our principal theatres: that, at the Park, AUGUSTA, with the lightness and grace of the early mists of morning, has been delighting crowds of admirers in The Giselle ;' while at the Bowery, 'our MARY' TAYLOR has been filling that large and attractive establishment with rows upon rows of 'uman 'eads,' which seemed absolutely "turned' with delight at her personation of Cinderella.' The New-York OperaHouse,' late the Greenwich-Theatre,' corner of Hudson and Varick-streets, is becoming a popular place of resort. It has been thoroughly renovated and beautified; is conducted with marked order and good taste; and we are glad to add, that the Italian dancers, headed by CHIOCCA, are filling the house with pleased auditors. We look to see this house liberally patronized by the public. FEBRUARY, being on

the

Spirit of the Ten or twelve

a short allowance of days, ended just before we went to press; making us a 'little late in the day' for the first. Guess we can be forgiven once. HERE we are, at the end of our tether, and four pages of 'Gossip' left out. Well, 't will keep, 'expect.' THAT is a capital anecdote of KENTUCK' in Times,' illustrating the thickness and insensibility of a negro's heel. 'color'd pussons' were snoozing in one of their cabins with their feet to the fire, when one of them suddenly exclaimed: 'I smell foot a-burnin'!' Presently he added, anxiously: 'Who foot dat a burnin'?' Receiving no answer, he reiterated the question with still more emphasis: Who foot dat a-burnin', I say? Dat yourn, Cuff?' Still no answer; when, drawing himself up, he reached his hand toward his feet, and exclaimed: My foot burnin', by Golly!' and quietly stretched himself out to sleep again... NUMEROUS articles, some from old and many from new correspondents, have been received and accepted during the month. They will be more particularly referred to in our next.