Miscellaneous Literary Notices.

FRANCE.

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Ruggi's statue of Lapeyrouse, which has lately been exhibited at the Louvre, is to be erected in Alby, the native town of the celebrated navigator. The exhibition of the statue at the Louvre has excited a considerable share of public interest, whilst at the same time it has revived a painful recollection of the unfortunate fate of two great men, viz., Lapeyrouse and Dumont-Durville, Jean François Garaup de Lapeyrouse was born in 1741. On the 1st of August, 1785, he sailed from Brest, with the two frigates, La Boussole and l'Astrolabe, for the purpose of following up the discoveries of Captain Cook, in conformity with a series of geographical instructions drawn up by the hand of Louis XVI. For upwards of forty years, his fate and that of his companions was enveloped in mystery, in spite of the most active endeavours to discover traces of them. The last letters received from him were dated from Botany Bay, in the month of March, 1788. At length, in the year 1827, the English Captain Dillon discovered what was presumed to be the place of the shipwreck of Lapeyrouse. It was a reef of rocks, near one of the Vanikoro islands, northward of New Hebrides. In the following year, February 1828, Captain Dumont-Durville visited the little archipelago, ascertained the melancholy truth, and drew up from the bottom of the sea many portions of the wrecked vessels, together with guns, cannon-balls, anchors, and various other things which were conveyed to Paris, and deposited in the Musée de la Marine. Captain Dumont-Durville erected on the shore a little monument, with the following inscription: “A la mémoire de Lapeyrouse, et de ses compagnons, 14 Mars, 1828.”

Professor Rauke has been in Paris actively engaged in his historical labours. He spends the greater part of every day in the Bibliothèque Royale, where he employs himself in exploring the archives. His company was eagerly sought for in the literary circles of the French capital.

The New York Courier' has reprinted thirty thousand of Eugene Sue's 'Mystères de Paris.' The feuilleton of the Journal des Debats' has been almost as widely circulated in America as in France.

M. Gourdet, a French military officer, who has been for several years in Africa, has recently returned home, bringing with him several objects of curiosity which he collected during his stay in that part of the world. Among these curiosities is a Koran in Arabic manuscript. It is bound in morocco, once red, and in every respect presents the appearance of great antiquity. It is not divided into surates or chapters, which proves it to be one of the two primitive editions produced at Medina. It is written on thick silk paper, and is adorned with coloured capitals. This Koran belonged to a Marabout of the tribe of Ben-Menasser, and was found in the habitation of the chief of that tribe, by M. Gourdet, after a battle which his battalion fought in that mountainous district of Africa.

Dr. Hahnemann, the celebrated founder of the Homœopathetic system of medicine, died in Paris, on the 2d of July, in the eighty-eighth year of his age. Hahnemann was born at Meissen, in Saxony. He took his degree of Doctor in Medicine at Heidelberg, in the year 1781, and in 1790 he made some chemical discoveries which created a great sensation throughout Germany. Whilst engaged in translating the great Dr. Cullen's work (First Lines of the Practice of Physic'), he was struck with the numerous hypotheses suggested respecting the febrifugal action of the Peruvian bark. Hahnemann resolved to try its effect upon himself, and for several days he took large doses of that medicine. He soon found himself in a state of intermitting fever, resembling that which the bark is employed to counteract. This was the starting-point of the medical system to which Hahnemann has at

tached his name, and which is summed up in the principle, similia similibus

curantur.

The Paris journals have recently announced the decease of the celebrated sibyl, Mdlle. Lenormand, who died possessed of a large fortune. She had a splendid funeral, and the sale of her effects excited great interest, especially among the ladies of Paris. One of the most valuable articles disposed of at the sale, was a miniature of the Empress Josephine, painted by Isabey, and set in a beautiful medallion encircled by pearls. This miniature, which was a present from the empress to the fortune-teller, was sold for 4750 francs. Among Mdlle. Lenormand's papers were a multitude of autograph letters, written by persons of rank and celebrity; but by her will she directed that all her correspondence should be burned, to avoid the risk of compromising the feelings of any one. This direction has been literally obeyed.

M. de Lamartine is said to be busily employed on a work for which he has been during many years collecting materials. It is a History of the most Remarkable Periods of the French Revolution.'

M. de Castellane has at length succeeded in carrying into effect his longcherished scheme of founding in Paris a female Académie Française.' Among the objects proposed by the institution are-The distribution of medals to the authoresses of remarkable works; the encouragement of young females in their first literary essays, and the defrayal of the expenses of printing their works; affording pecuniary aid to literary women in straitened circumstances, and providing for the children of those who die in poverty. Among the ladies who are already chosen members of the new academy are, Mmes Georges Sand, Emile de Girardin, de Bawr, Virginie Ancelot, Anna des Essarts, Clémence Robert, Charles Reybaud, Princesse de Craon, Eugénie Foa, Mélanie Waldor, Anaïs Ségalas, d'Helf, Comtesse Merlin, and several distinguished female painters and musicians.

GERMANY.

Strangers who visit Weimar have often been much annoyed at not being able to find the house in which Schiller resided; and to obviate this disappointment, it has sometimes been suggested, that the street in which this great man lived should bear the name of Schillerstrasse.' But though the street has not yet been honoured with that appellation, yet the present owner of the house, Frau Weiss, has with good taste distinguished Schiller's abode by placing over the street-door, the simple inscription -- Hier wohnte Schiller' (Here Schiller dwelt).

Baron von Rumohr, a distinguished connoisseur of art, died lately at Dresden, he was a well-known contributor to several of the German periodicals, especially the Morgen Blatte.'

The plan of transferring the University of Leipsic to Dresden, which has often been suggested, seems now to be seriously entertained.

The Herculean labour of removing the books belonging to the Court and State Library of Bavaria to the new building erected for their reception in the Ludwig Etrasse at Munich, was completed on the 25th of July. The removal occupied upwards of four months. The collection of books, exceeding 800,000 volumes, all closely heaped together in the five stories of the old library have been cleaned and arranged in admirable order in the two stories of the new building. In spite of the unfavourable circumstances, and very bad weather which attended the removal of this valuable collection, yet not one of the books or manuscripts has been lost or injured.

Dr. Strauss, the celebrated author of the Leben Jesu,' and other philosophic works which have excited great interest in the learned circles of Europe,

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is said to be at present engaged in the composition of an opera. Strauss some time ago married a public singer, and this union appears to have animated the learned doctor with inspirations of a less serious character than those which heretofore prompted his labours.

'Göthe's Studentenjahre' (Göthe's Student Years), is the title of a novel recently published at Leipsic, where it has excited a considerable deal of interest. The author, who is understood to be a man of rank, has drawn an admirable portrait of Göthe during the years of his college life; and has introduced into the romance some hitherto unpublished correspondence between the great poet, and other literary characters of his time.

The university of Heidelberg is likely to sustain a great loss by the removal of Bischoff, the professor of Physiology, who has been called to Giessen, where the government proposes to found a physiological institute. Bischoff is a pupil of Johann Müller; and his lectures, in which deep learning and research are combined with clearness of explanation, have long been the pride of the university of Heidelberg.

Friedrich Kind, a novel-writer and dramatist of considerable reputation in Germany, and the author of the libretto of Weber's Freischütz,' died at Dresden, on the evening of the 25th of June. It is mentioned as somewhat curious, that the 'Freischütz' was performed at the Dresden theatre, on the night when its author breathed his last. In the year 1817, Kind founded the Abendzetung,' conjointly with Theodore Hell. He was born at Leipsic, on the 4th of March, 1786.

A letter from Munich mentions that the superb frescoes which adorned the royal residence of that capital, have been scratched by some sharp pointed instrument in such a manner as to be totally destroyed. The active exertions of the police have not yet succeeded in discovering the perpetrator of this atrocious act, which has deprived Munich of a series of chefs-d'œuvres by Cornelius, Lessing, Overbeck, and other celebrated masters.

ITALY.

The letters of Dante, discovered by the German philologist, Theodore Heyse, and which have been described and commented on by professor Karl Witte, of Halle, have recently been published at Verona. The editor, Alessandro Torri, accompanies each letter with notes of his own, and with the commentaries of Witte and Fraticelli. At the close of the volume, the editor has inserted a dissertation on earth and water, written by Dante at Verona, in 1320, the year preceding his death. This remarkable treatise was first printed at Venice, in 1508, and reprinted at Naples, in 1576, but it had become so scarce, that a copy existing in the library of the Marquess Trevulzio, at Milan, was considered as precious as a manuscript. From that copy the reprint has been made.

Barsani, whose writings once made a considerable sensation in Italy, died in June last, at his retreat on the banks of the Lago di Garda. Нe rendered himself famous by his furious attacks upon Napoleon. At Malta, he published, under the protection of England, a periodical, entitled 'The Carthagenian,' which oftener than once disturbed the repose of the French emperor. At that time Barsani was on a footing of close friendship and daily intimacy with the Duke of Orleans, now King of the French. Of that intimacy his writings betray obvious traces.

The King of Naples has appointed the celebrated composer Mercadante, director-general of all the theatres of that capital.

Some manuscripts of Galileo which were presumed to have been lost, or burned by order of the Inquisition, have been found among some old ar

chives in the Palazzi Pitti. This discovery has created a wonderful degree of interest in Florence. It proves that the Inquisition, which was accused, may be calumniated; a fact of which many persons entertained considerable doubt. Be that as it may, the manuscripts, besides being objects of curiosity, are likely to be useful to astronomical science, inasmuch as they contain information respecting the eclipses of former times, a course of the satellites of Jupiter, subjects to which Galileo directed great attention.

Amari's historical work, the suppression of which by the Neapolitan government, excited so much interest [see Foreign Quarterly Review,' No. LXI., p. 299], is about to be published in Paris, with considerable additions by the author. Amari has taken up his abode temporarily in Paris, where he enjoys the society of a few of his literary countrymen, who like himself have been driven by despotism to seek refuge in foreign lands.

Several splendid works on art, with illustrative copper-plate engravings, have recently been undertaken at Rome, at the expense of the papal government. No sooner were the plates of the Etruscan Museum completed, than the publication of the Egyptian Museum, the second gigantic creation of the reigning pope, was resolved upon. Cardinal Tosti has agreed to pay 8000 scudi for the execution of the plates, to Troiani, the eminent architectural engraver. The learned antiquarian, Father Ungarelli, has undertaken to write the text for this important work. Father Secchi has finished his elaborate treatise on the Mosaics found in the Thermæ of Caracalla. In the preface he expresses a hope that his Holiness will assign the Palace of St. Ĝiovanni as a depositary for these valuable mosaics.

PRUSSIA.

On the 7th of August the 'Medea' of Euripides was performed in the theatre attached to the Palace of Potsdam, in the presence of the king, the royal family, and the court. This is the second essay made by the King of Prussia for the dramatic representation of ancient Greek tragedy. The Antigone' of Sophocles was performed about a year ago, and the choruses of that piece were set to music by Mendelssohn. But the structure of the choruses of Medea' appeared to Mendelssohn, as well as to Meyerbeer, less favourably adapted to musical composition than the choruses of Antigone.' This opinion induced both those eminent composers to decline the task of arranging them, the more especially as their talents are employed on other musical subjects, in which the king takes a deep interest. His Majesty therefore gave the commission to the Music Director, Taubert, by whom it has been executed in a highly satisfactory style. Donner's translation of the tragedy was selected for the performance.

The Opera House at Berlin, which was destroyed by fire on the 18th of August, was built by Frederick the Great, who himself drew the plan for it whilst he was Prince Royal. The theatre was opened on the 7th of December, 1742, with Graun's opera of 'Cæsar and Cleopatra.' It was capable of containing 4000 spectators. This fire has destroyed property amounting in value to 500,000 thalers. The collection of music, which was fortunately saved, is supposed to be worth 60,000 thalers.

His Majesty the King of Prussia, animated by a desire that the musical portion of the church service in his dominions should share the improvement consequent on the advancement of art, last year commissioned Mendelssohn Bartholdy to reform the music of the Lutheran church. A few weeks ago service was performed in the Cathedral of Berlin, in celebration of the anniversary of the Treaty of Verdun. The king and the royal family were present, and then, in the performance of protestant worship, an

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application was for the first time made of the grand music of the modern school.

In the composition of the hymns and psalms, Mendelssohn Bartholdy has employed all the resources of art to impart to them a due solemnity and grandeur of character. These new compositions consisted of recitatives, solos, choruses, and concerted pieces for four, six and eight voices, with accompaniments for an orchestra and two organs. They were executed by six hundred performers, partly professors and partly amateurs, under the direction of Mendelssohn. The effect was magnificent, and at the conclusion of the service, the king summoned the composer to the royal pew, and expressed his satisfaction in the most flattering terms.

A letter has recently been received from the celebrated Prussian missionary Gatzloff, who is at present in China. It contains the following curious observations :-" I have obtained uncontradictable evidence that the art of constructing buildings of cast iron was practised several centuries ago in the celestial empire. I found on the summit of a hill near the town of TsingKiang-Foo, in the province of Kiang-Nan, a pagoda entirely formed of cast iron, and covered with bas-reliefs and inscriptions. The dates and the form of the characters belong to the period of the dynasty of the Tsangs, who occupied the throne as early as the fifth or sixth century of the Christian era. This monument, which may be presumed to be twelve hundred years old, is seven stories high, and each story contains curious historical pictures. The structure is singularly elegant, in its form, and surpasses every thing of the kind I have hitherto seen."

In a lecture recently delivered by von Raumer at the University of Berlin, the learned professor made some just remarks on the absurd custom of introducing foreign words and phrases into the German language. "Our rich, pure, racy, flexible, and vastly comprehensive language," he observed, "is corrupted, not merely in the journals, but in literary and scientific writings, and even in the draughts for public laws. The German language is clothed in a motley garment of foreign words and phrases, which would have disgraced the worst period of the seventeenth century. In a late number of the State Gazette,' which is almost entirely filled with the reports of legislative acts, the following foreign words appear." (Here the lecturer quoted no less than 112 foreign terms, for which it would have been easy to have found German synonymes.) Thus," continued Herr von Raumer, "we work the destruction of our noblest inheritance, our medium of thought and expression. We have among us too much of that arrogant conceit, which discards with contempt the rules of the vernacular tongue; too much of the indolence which will not be troubled to gather up the treasures that lie scattered around; -too much of the frivolity which loves to bedeck itself in foreign tinsel ;and too much of the affectation which lays claim to superior cultivation. In this respect, at least, the French have the advantage of us. They would never tolerate such a disfigurement of their comparatively poor language."

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