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Piron , ' said some one , ' you take off your hat to Him ? ' < 0 V replied he , < we bow but we are not on speaking terms . ' " . Here are two anecdotes of royal heartlessness , amusing from their very intensity : — ' , i . < u " The Marquis " de Chauvelin , whilst playing with the King , was -seized with apoplexy . Some one exclaimed : < M . de Chauvelin is ill V The King turned round and said : 'He is dead : remove , him . Spades / &c . , , ' , ¦ « After the death of Madam 6 de Pompadouivher remains were removed to , her mansion . The body being gone , the King , half-an-hour afterwards , pulled out his watch , and said : ' If they went fast , they must have arrived / "
There is a detached fragment among these anecdotes , which we cannot read over without ever-renewing perception of its ludicrousness . We should premise that Mallet du Pan is quite serious , and has , apparently , no suspicion of the want of congruity : — "M . de Buffon prefers Milton to all other epic poets . He has Ms hair curled tcitfi irons every day , and at a less advanced age had it twice a day . "
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HENFREY'S YEGKETATION OF EUROPE . The Vegetation of Europe : its Conditions and its Causes . By Arthur Henfroy ^ F . L . S . This is the first of a series , the design of which is excellent—a series , namely , of Outlines of the Natural History of Europe—to be composed by men of eminence , and to be " got up" in the elegant style which , characterizes J \ £ r . Van Voorst ' s publications The Vegetation of Europe has been confided to the competent hands 01 Mr . Henfrey , whose delightful volume well inaugurates the series . IJie three first chapters set forth general principles in a lively and intelligible exposition which will allure even the non-botanical ; but m the chapters which follow there is a repulsive profusion of botanical names , which , must restrict the circulation of the work . We are aware of the necessity for these details , and see tlie difficulty of avoiding technicalities ; nevertheless . , we think , with a little care in using common names instead of the botanical names—or , at any rate , in conjunction with the Latin , —this dry , repulsive avoiaea
aspect would have been altogether . j . r . But let us glance at the introductory chapters , which lay down the general principles subsequently illustrated in detail . When , last week , we noted the apparent hopelessness of being able to detect the constant order hidden amidst the multiplicity of varied lines on a map , we might have referred to the still more confusing multiplicity of detail presented by the vegetable world to tlie uninstructed eye . Nevertheless , science lias found its Ariadne thread-even for that labyrinth of species ; although one may say . that the thread is only just found . It is not more than half a century since botany became a science ; the differences among the flora of various countries , and various parts of those countries , were , of course , noticed long ago , being obvious .
« Oranges will ripen on the other side of the Alps , but not on this . For those cereal grains , those corn-plants , furnishing the principal portion of the food of man , we find distinct lines of demarcation extending across Europe , beyond which , northward , each kind ceases to be capable of ripening its seed . Of trees we know that certain kinds will flourish and form fruits at points far north , where others arc arrested by the cold ; the firs , for instance , exclusively constitute the most northern woods of Scandinavia , while the dwarf palm , a representative of tropical climates , maintains its footing oven so far into the temperate region as Italy and the southern confines of France .
" Again , as indeed must be perceptible to every one who has visited mountainous countries , vegetation alters in its characters at different elevations , and it has been shown that these variations correspond to those which are observed on the level plains in proceeding from the south towards the north ; the increased severity of the climate of the higher localities acting exactly in the same way as the colder climate of the regions lying further from the equator . " At first , it was believed that these differences were owing to the differences of climate , and by climate was simply meant the heat or cold .
But the course of investigation proved that , 1 st , the facts were opposed to the idea of heat or cold being the sole cause ; 2 nd , that climate is not due to mere temperature , but also to humidity , exposure to prevailing winds , and general geographical conditions . The laurel , for instance , which lives through the winter in Ireland or the west of England , and is onlv affected by very severe frosts in the eastern counties , is killed by the winters of Berlin . Danada , which lies south of Pans , has the climate of Prontheim in Norway ; while at New York , lying in the latitude of Nnnl ™ . the flowers ODen simultaneously with those of Upsala in bweden .
Further investigation led men to consider the influences clue to cftoraical and physical conditions of the soil—a subject Professor Way is at present Btudving , guided by a luminous hypothesis . The result of those inquiries has been to make men « Aware that there is some law presiding over the distribution of plants , which caxiHCH the appearance of particular species arbitrarily , if wo may so pay it , m particular places and following the clue which this affords , wo arrive at the conclusion that countries have become populated with plants , partly by the spreading of Bomo special kinds from centres within those countries where thoy were originally exclusively created ; and while thcHO have spread outward into the neighbouring regions , colonists from like centres lying in the surrounding countries have invaded and become intermingled with the indigenous inhabitants . The modes in which these have onthe detail *) of the migration ^ and similar particulars ,
processes gone , tiro matters of much debate arid discuHnion , and require great care in their determination ; but it in" now generally admitted that hucIi centres < f creation do exint , mid thus wo have hero , side by side with the climatic and other physical influence * , a second and totally different set of conditions , which inu « t bo thoroughly inyeHtiirated boforo wo can clearly understand the manner in which the vegetable inhabitants of the world have acquired their present position * and relations toward ench other . When wo have to deal with a great extent of the earth h wirtaco , the phenomena presented by this touch of the Hubjoct are very ^^' ^ T ^ ho to havo enabled M . Sehouw , ono of the most distinguiahed geograp hical botanmts , to lav down region on the map of the world , in which particular forms aro 80 predominant aa to givo ft peculiar character to the vegetation , these peculiarities
not pointing at a difference of climate , butoften indicating rather a resemblance , where certain tribes of plants are represented , as it were , by other tribes quite distinct in structure , but agreeing very closely in the habits which place them under the influence of the external physical agencies /* The reflective reader will compare this idea of special centres of creation , and subsequent migrations , with the analogous idea of the distribution of races of men . But we cannot touch on this subject , nor on that indicated inthis passagjr :- ^ , " - •• . ¦ " .,.- ' ' ' ' ¦ " ' . ' . ' ' ¦¦ " . _ . . ¦ / ' .. " . ¦ ' V . ' . " Professor ; Schouw has attempted to deduce evidence of the comparative age of the existing floras from the relation of the character of their species to those of fossil floras , of which the comparative antiquity has been pretty certainly
determined . In treeing the changes which have taken plaee in the constituents of the vegetation of different geological periods , it appears as if the plants of successive formations assumed higher types of organization as they were successively created ; the earliest plants of which fossil remains have been found , seem to have been seaweeds and cellular plants ; after these came the higher Cryptogamous plants , such as Ferns and their allies , with Conifers and Monocotyledons ; the Apetalous Dicotyledons seem to have preceded the Polypetalous families , and the Monopetalous families are but sparingly represented until we come to existing forms . " We have only to recommend the volume as a lively and suggestive contribution to our natural history . The next volume of the series is to be a Natural History of the European Seas , by Professor E . Forbes .
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AN AMEEICAN POET . Poems . By Thomas Buchanan Bead . Illustrated by Kenny Meadows . DelfandTrubner . A note of music always delights the ear . Ko matter how humble the strain , how modest the pretensions of the musician , the genuine melody steals into your heart , and nestles there welcome . One man shall smite the sounding chords with magnificent intentions , he shall stun you with the multiplied orchestral din of his pretensions , but you pertinaciously with which he
avoid him , and the chorus of "Opinions of the Press , " hopes to overpower your reluctant mind ; while a modest little song shall murmur in your ear until you turn to look upon the singer . Buchanan Read was a name unknown to us ; his little volume has made it a pleasant name ; and we announce it to you as the name of a young poet worth looking after . A small grey volume , among a mass of volumes , bearing the ominous title * Poems , would with difliculty have lured an over-worked reviewer , had not a casual glance satisfied him that there was something more than verse , there was actual music in the volume , the second page of which , contained these lines—^ The muffled owl within the swaymg , elm Thrills all the air with sadness as he swings , Till sorrow seems to spread her shadowy realm . About all outward things . " And when old Winter through his fingers numb Blows till his breathings on the windows gleam ; And when the mill-wheel spiked with ice is dumb Within the neighbouring stream /' And there is something more . There is poetry—the poetry of Youth and Hope . Buchanan Head—as we imagine from this volume—is still on the threshold of life , which stretches smilingly before him , —ia still strong in all the eager hopes and impulses of youth , and sings from the very not . of his blood . He sings of Love , of Nature , of Beauty , and of Youth ; and he sings of them lovingly , joyously , as one whom sorrow has not hurt . He tells us , indeed ; that " Ho wearies of the harp whose strings Are never tuned to grief /' But that weariness is only a dread of monotony , not a sympathy with grief itself . Sorrow he knows not in its deep impassioned forms ; it has visited him , and vanished like the tears of childhood , quick-glancing as the changing hues of a dove s neck , hinting at experiences , never giving them . And so his volume is a dulcet hymn ; gentle and sweet , not passionate and grand . It echoes melodies wo havo all heard before , but mingles with them a certain music of its own . In proof of what we say , hear this : — " Down behind the hidden village , fringed arpund with hazol brake , ( Like a holy hermit dreaming , half asleep and half awake , One who loveth the sweet quiet for the happy quiet ' s sake , ) Dozing , murmuring in its visions , lay the hcaven-cnamourod lake . " And within a doll , whero shadows through the brightest days abide , Like the silvery swimming gossamer by breezes scattered wido , Fell a shining skein of water that ran down the lakelet ' s side , Ah within the brain by beauty lulled , a pleasant thought may glide . " When the sinking sun of August , growing large in the decline , Shot his arrows long and golden through the maple and the pino ; And the russet-thrush fled singing from the alder to tho vino , While tho cat-bird in tho hazel gavo its melancholy whine ; " And tho little squirrel chattered , peering round tho hickory bolo , And , a-Hudden , like a meteor , gleamed along tho oriole;—Thero I walked beside fair Inez , and her gentle beauty stole Like the hccuo athwart my senses , liko tho sunshine through my soul . . " And her fairy feet that pressed the loaves , a pleasant music made , AiuV they dimpled thp sweet bedH of moss with blossoms' thick inlaid : Thero I told her old romances , and with love ' s sweet woo we played , Till fair Inez' oyon , liko evening , held tho dew beneath thoir shade . " Thero I wovo for her love ballads , such as lover only weaves , Till she Bighed and grieved , as only mild and loving muidon grioves ; And to hide hor tears sho stoopod to glean tho violota from tho leaves , Ah of old sweet ltuth went gleaning ' mid tho oriental bIioiivcb , " Down wo walked boaido tho lakelot : —gazing deep into hor oyo , Thero I told hor all my pasHion ! With a Huddon blush nnd sigh , Turning half away with look askant , h 1 » o only mi » do reply , « How deop within tho water glow * the happy evening sky I *
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326 ¦ ¦ ¦ ' - ¦ - iS -B- jl ^ A P- ? ^ . ^ : ¦ . . ¦ ¦ ' ¦ ¦ i ' S ^ fc /
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Leader (1850-1860), April 3, 1852, page 326, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1929/page/18/
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