Practically, the English press is the freest in the world; and one important result is seen in the extraordinary activity of its reporting department Each of the chief papers has "our own correspondent" at every commanding point in the world, and many of those correspondents are actual reporters. As soon as any remarkable series of events sets in, in any quarter of the globe, "our own correspondent" or "our own reporter" travels thither. The war in Syria had its professional reporters; "gentlemen connected with the press" have established a permanent footing in India; and if that class had not reached China during the late war, arrangements had evidently been made which are tantamount to having "our own reporter" on the scene of every enterprise. No sooner is Spain once more under the dominion of revolution, than the spirit of the English press roves the land in every direction, and the cockney and ale-house politician have a more comprehensive and faithful view of the seat of civil war than the people at Madrid or Barcelona. A troublesome enigma arises in our own country, in South Wales; "our own reporter" is sent to solve it-and he does so. The able and intelligent reporter of the Times is a good type of his class. He is ubiquitous in his activity; his courage-and the office of a reporter sometimes needs no small share of cool courage-is unhesitating, to poke, unarmed and unprotected, into the most suspicious sometimes they are brought forward-as at the trials in the manufacturing districts-to prove facts which they have witnessed in their professional capacity. Were that practice to be frequent, they would be avoided, or excluded from many a political meeting, the dangers of which are neutralized by publicity. There should be no set rule on the subject expressly exempting them from summons as witnesses; for that would at once invest them with inconvenient immunities and responsibilities: but the conductors of the crown prosecutions would do well to bear in mind, that whenever a newspaperreporter is called as a witness, injury is done to that organ of general publicity which is one efficient safeguard of peace and good government.-Spectator. THE GRAND DUKE MICHAEL OF RUSSIA.-His Imperial Highness has joined the Emperor of Russia at the Prussian capital, having, it is said, relinquished for the present his intention of visiting England. Political motives are assigned for this sudden resolve, as it is well known that his Imperial Highness, who has been travelling in Germany under the name of Count Paulowski, intended has been on a visit to the Ducal Court, to Antwerp, to have proceeded direct from Darmstadt, where he and there to have embarked for Dover, where his Excellency the Baron Brunnow has been sojourning in expectation of his arrival.-Court Journal. SILK COCOONS.-Notwithstanding the disappointment of many, who, since the year 1839, engaged in the culture of the morus multicaulis, and other varieties of the mulberry, and the raising of silkworms, there has been, on the whole, a steady increase in the attention devoted to this branch of industry. This may be, in part, attributed to the ease of cultivation, both as to time and labor required, and in no small degree, also, to the fact that, in twelve of the States, a special bounty is paid for the production of cocoons, or of the raw silk. Several of these promise much hereafter in this product, if a reliance can be placed on the estimates given in the various journals, more particularly devoted to the record of the production of silk. There seems, at least, no ground for abandoning the enterprise so successfully begun, of aiming to nooks; and, with the practice of his craft strong upon him, he seizes at once upon the essential points Some Welsh papers, before the invasion of any accredited reporter, accused their London contemporaries of defective local information. There is nothing more delusive than mere "local information." Persons on the spot are not only warped by close interests in disputed matters, but, from that circumstance, they attach undue importance to trivial things, and overlook things which are really of moment, but so familiar to them as to become matters of course. In the accounts from which we make extracts this week, the passing sketch of a remote dingle, the quotation of a translation into English by a Welshman-showing in its phrases at once that the translator is no "ignorant" man, and yet that he is remarkably ignorant of the language of our rulers and laws-these are traits which would have escaped the man of "local information," but which forcibly illustrate material circum-supply our home consumption of this important arstances of the disturbance. Moreover, none but a practised hand, confident in the name and resources of a great London journal, would have had so much tact and boldness in pushing himself into the very heart of the riot-beyond all troops, and police, and other regular functionaries. ticle of our imports. In Massachusetts, Connecticut, New-York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Tennessee, and Ohio, there has been quite an increase above the amount of 1839. The quantity of raw silk manufactured in this country the past year is estimated at more than 30,000 pounds. The maA knowledge of the actual state of the disturbed chinery possessed for reeling, spinning, and weavdistricts is of the utmost value. One great meansing silk, in the production of ribands, vestings, which "our own reporter" had at his command, damask, &c., admit of its being carried to great consisted of the prestige attaching to newspaper perfection, as may be seen by the beautiful specipublicity as an auxiliary to agitation of any kind-mens of various kinds deposited in the National of confidence in the substantial honesty of respectable newspaper reports, and of faith in the writer's singleness of purpose. The strange gentleman was admitted solely as a newspaper-reporter, where it is obvious that any other collector of information would have been avoided, or misled, if not roughly treated. This feeling it were well to encourage to the utmost, as affording the best facility to that full information whose advantages we have described. That object suggests a useful practice to be observed in courts of justice-to abstain from calling reporters as witnesses in crown prosecutions of a political kind. Newspaper men are admitted to all kinds of meetings, in the just belief that they go there for no purpose of collecting judicial "evidence;" but I Gallery at the Patent Office. The amount of silk stuff's brought into this country in some single years from foreign countries, is estimated at more in value than 20,000,000 dollars. The silk manufactured in France in 1840, amounted to 25,000,000 dollars; that of Prussia to more than 4,500,000 dollars. Should one person in a hundred of the population of the United States produce annually 100 pounds of silk, the quantity would be nearly 18,000,000 pounds, which at 5 dollars per pound, and much of it might command a higher price, would amount to nearly 90,000,000 dollars-nearly 30,000,000 dollars above our whole cotton export, nine times the value of our tobacco exports, and nearly five or six times the average value of our imports of silk. That such a productiveness is not incredible, as at first sight it may seem, may be evident, from the fact that the Lombard Venetian Kingdom, of a little more than 4,000,000 of population, exported in one year 6,132,950 pounds of raw silk ;-which is a larger estimate, by at least one half, for each producer, than the supposition just made as to our own country. Another fact, too, shows both the feasibility and the importance of the cultivation of this product. The climate of our country, from its southern border even up to 44 degrees of north latitude, is suited to the culture of silk.-Colonial Magazine. Loss OF THE HAIR FROM THE EFFECTS OF TERROR.-Dr. O'Connor detailed the particulars of a remarkable case, in which the hair was entirely lost from the effects of extreme terror; a healthy boy, twelve years of age, awoke screaming from the vivid impression made on his mind by a dream, in which he thought he was about being murdered; the next day his hair began to fall off, and in a fortnight he was quite bald, and he continues so, though several years have elapsed. Dr. O'Connor observed, that although the opinion exists among physiologists, that depressing passions, such as grief or terror, may turn the hair gray, or cause it to fall off, yet well authenticated cases of such phenomena are very rare; for this reason he deemed it right to lay this case, which came under his own observation, before the Section.-Athenæum. ALLIANCE IN HIGH LIFE.—The marriage of the Marquess of Ormonde with Miss Paget is to be solemnized on Tuesday next, the 19th inst. The Duchess of Gloucester will come to town from Kew to honor the ceremony with her presence. The marriage which has been some time on the tapis between Lord Paget, son of the Earl of Uxbridge, and grandson of the Marquess of Anglesea, with Miss Greville, daughter of Captain Greville, R. N., and niece of Brooke Greville, Esq., is postponed till winter. His lordship is about to take his departure for the continent.-Court Journal. NAVIGATOR'S ISLANDS.-The Rev. T. Heath read parents; on the contrary, widows and orphans were carefully provided for by their relatives. Their morality was not remarkable before marriage, which, however, was early. All bodily senses were most acute; they were industrious also, cultivating yams, &c.; they used intoxicating liquors, though not fermented; now, however, whale-ships had introduced spirits instead of the cava, their old beverage. The neighboring group, the New Hebrides, were a very inferior race; but had he not seen it in books, he would not consider them negroes. One island, Tanna, was peculiar in many points. They adopted the singular custom of burying a man in the sea with his widow attached to his body; their language also was peculiar, their words ending in a consonant frequently; they did not adopt the custom of tatooing. Mr. Heath did not think the group had been peopled from America; the opinion of Ellis, Pritchard, and Williams, supposed the Malay coast to have been their origin, in which he coincided. He did not consider the chiefs a different race from the people, as had been thought; they were not mentally superior; indeed the people were a very intellectual race.-Prof. Owen complimented the author on his valuable paper, and concurred in the wish to allot more funds for the carrying out such an object as the Ethnological Society had in view-Lit. Gaz. INIMITABLE PUNS -The city-jester, who is maintained at the Mansion House to "poke fun," was asked the other day in what capacity the ex-regent of Spain was to be feted; whether as a sovereign ruler, or merely a distinguished general and statesman; he answered, "Simply As-part-hero." The Lord Mayor laughed heartily at being got thus out of a dilemma by his fool. It was the same inspired Wit, who, in the late mayoralty of Sir John Pirie, when a South-sea missionary party, of the tea-total species, were to be entertained, said, "If he were Mare, he would put them in mind of their mission by giving them the principal island as drink." "How so?" inquired the remembrancer, (who repeated the story.) "I would," said the jester, "give them Oat-tea-hay-tea to tipple with their Sandwiches." SCINDE.-The overland mail from India arrived in London, August 2d, bringing intelligence from Bombay to the 19th of June. From the newly-acquired province of Scinde, the news is of great in terest. It is supposed that nothing more a paper on the inhabitants of the Navigator's Islands. brilliant than this was ever spoken at the Mansion He had been a missionary for the London Mission- House; though it is not even mentioned in the ary Society for seven years. The Navigator's Isl-pamphlet we have just received respecting the ands were his chief station, but his attention was City Good Things, extracted from the Westminster Review.-Ibid. drawn to the Harvey Islands, the Harvey Marquesas, and New Hebrides. The people were a remarkably fine race, about six feet high, very well proportioned; the women a few inches lower, and very plump, nay pretty brunettes,-all had black hair, mostly crisp. The chiefs are a remarkably fine race; they intermarry among the aristocracy, That most fertile district, which, under a but do not appear to deteriorate by it. Their lan- good government, and properly cultivated, will beguage is the universally spoken Polynesian dialect, come a garden, is now nearly pacified by the measbut they have, in fact, two: one used by the peo-ures adopted by Sir Charles Napier, its present ple, and the other appropriated to the chiefs, a chief's head, or any article of his property, being too sacred to be named in the vulgar language. It is only used to a superior; the chiefs use it in prayer. He had discovered some Sanscrit words in it, but very few. The language was distin-plete guished by its reciprocal conjugation. As usual in the Oceanic dialect, the vowels end words. The young children were named after the god who was most in fashion at their birth. At about twelve years old they were circumcised, which constituted them candidates for tatooing, which done, they were deemed men. Infanticide was not known, and children were never deserted by their governor. He has made terms with most of the chiefs, and even Meer Shere Mahomed is stated to have offered to make his submission provided he could have his private property secured to him. There is no doubt that within a short time the compacification of the country will be effected.— Colonial Magazine. EXPENSE OF THE EXPEDITION TO CHINA-A parliamentary return, just published, shows that the sums paid, or to be paid, on account of the war with China, amount to 2,879,8731., of which sum 864,954 are required to be voted in 1843-44, as balance due to the East India Company.-Ibid. SCIENCE AND ARTS. -Ibid. country of our old friend the electricus gymnotus, whose obituary we wrote some months ago. The MR. NOTT ON TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM.'- new-comers are from Para, having been caught in This paper was in continuation of that on Electri- one of the tributaries of the Amazon. They are city, read on Saturday. The author denied the ex- young, and only about 21-2 feet long. A third istence of magnetic poles. The situation of the lived to the Channel, where it died, off Tor Point, points of greatest intensity (commonly called poles) during a storm. They were brought to England by in magnets, he conceived to be merely a result of the master of the brig Romance, and were readily figure. On a globular magnet the maximum inten-purchased by the spirited proprietor of the gallery. sity is, according to his experiments, situate about 75 from the equatorial zone. He maintained that THE STAFF OF LIFE.-A box of bread, prepared the earth is a globular magnet, the maximum intensity of which is in lat. 75°, and that the magnetic according to a process invented by M. Alzard, and poles of the earth have never yet been found. which had been packed two years ago, was opened Terrestrial magnetism being considered as the ef- at Liverpool last week, in presence of the mayor fect of electric currents which move on the surface, and others, and found to be perfectly sweet and will be affected by the irregularities of that surface, sound. It is said to be a mixture of rice-meal and and hence the anomalies of the earth's magnetism. wheat-flour; to be nutricious and wholesome, and The author denied the conclusiveness of the argu-imperishable, through an incredible lapse of time. -Ibid. ments used to show that the earth is an oblate spheroid. He asserted that globular magnets, if freely suspended, would, by their mutual attraction, rotate and revolve round each other; and, finally, that the doctrine of gravitation must ultimately give way to that of universal magnetism.—Athenæum. GLOW-WORM.-M. Matteuci has found the phosphorescence of the glow-worm to be a phenomenon of combustion, a result of the combination of oxygen with carbon, one of the elements of phosphorescent matter.-Lit. Gaz. PHOTOGRAPHY.-M. Daguerre denies the usefulness of a fatty film on the surface of plates for the formation of images. The greasy layer left by the cotton, he says, is injurious. If, as it is said, a layer of the spirit of turpentine applied to the plate be no obstacle to the formation of the image, it is because the iodine, being soluble in it, penetrates the layer and comes into contact with the silver. M. Daguerre recommends for the polishing process a mixture of equal quantities of olive-oil and sulphuric acid to be put on the plate lightly with cotton, and then rubbing with pounce-powder, or a mixture of one part of nitric acid and five of oliveoil.-Ibid. man. CELTIC REMAINS.-In the Duke of Rutland's preserves at Longshaw, near Buxton, has been recently discovered a Hu Cairn, or city of the gods, commonly called in that neighborhood Cael's Wark. It is an elevated plot of ground or rock, of some extent, barricaded on one side by huge rocky piles, heaped one upon another, evidently by the work of Within this enclosure are found fifty rock idols, dagons, &c. One temple is dedicated to Hu Gadarn, the mighty; one to Esus, the supreme god of fire; one to Molk, the god of war, and one to the goddess of victory, Andrasta. To the two last deities human sacrifices were offered. There is also a large temple to Sanham, the lord of death, and one to Baal Sab, the lord of judgment, both perfect; a tolmin, with several tumuli, occupies the centre of this interesting place.-Buxton Herald. THE NELSON MONUMENT.-It is now confidently stated that the figure of Nelson will be raised to the top of the column in Trafalgar Square on the 29th of October, the anniversary of the victory of Trafalgar. There will be a grand ceremony on the occasion, at which all the Greenwich pensioners are to be present.-Lit. Gaz. ADELAIDE GALLERY.-Fresh electrical wonders have also this week been placed among the numerous attractions here: two electrical eels from the EGYPTIAN GOLD-MINE. A rich gold-mine is stated to have been discovered in the Soudan, near DJ Doslebel Lall; an event of considerable importance to Egypt and its pasha.--Ibid. HYDRO-ELECTRIC MACHINE.-A new machine, called the hydro-electric, invented by Mr. Armstrong, and which is said to be of greater power than any electrical machine before constructed, was exhibited on Thursday evening at the Polytechnic Institution. The experiments performed were very brilliant, and went far to prove the assertion made respecting it. A shaving of wood was ignited by the electric spark, and an immense battery was charged by it in the short space of eleven seconds. The principle on which this machine is constructed is simple. It consists of a common tubular boiler, isolated by means of glass supporters, and a telescope chimney, capable of being lifted off. The steam is let off by means of curved tubes, opening upon a box filled with a row of iron spikes, on which the steam is condensed. The steam, on being let loose, carries away the positive electricity from the boiler, leaving it in a negative state. The equilibrium is then restored to the boiler, by means of a conductor brought near to it, and the electric spark is elicited.-Athenæum. MILK.-M. Donné described an apparatus for the preservation of milk; an apparatus in which the milk, kept at a low temperature by means or ice, is submitted to a continual rotatory motion, which prevents the cream from separating.-Ibid. MAGNETIC DISTURBANCES.-During the current year considerable magnetic disturbances have been observed at Parma,-on the 6th, 7th, 24th, and 28th of Feb.; the 6th, 12th, 13th, and 14th of March; the 2d, 3d, and 28th of April; and the 9th of June; several of which have also been noted at other continental observatories. The disturbance on the 20th of Feb. occurred during an extraordinary fall of the barometer; and that of the 13th of March was accompanied, between a quarter past eight and a quarter past nine, P. M. by a faint aurora borealis, and by a number of shooting-stars.-Ibid. OBITUARY. JOHN MURRAY, Esq., F. S. A.-June 27. In Albemarle-street, in his 65th year, John Murray, Esq., the distinguished publisher. "Quarterly was the celebrated W. Gifford, the translator of Juvenal, and his successful conduct of the journal has been most ably continued by Mr. Lockhart. "Childe Harold" was a poem of his own seeking, for he had been one of the first to foresee the budding genius of Lord Byron. He was a proud man, we have heard him say, when Dallas put the MS. of "Childe Harold" into his hands. He had been a poet's publisher before, for he had a share in Marmion." He was the only son, by a second marriage, of Mr. John McMurray, a native of Edinburgh, who was originally an officer of marines, and in 1768, succeeded Mr. Sandby, the bookseller, opposite St. Dunstan's Church, Fleet-street, on that gentleman entering into partnership with the well-known firm" of Snow and Co., the bankers in the Strand. The Athenæum observes, "The readers of Lord Mr. McMurray was desirous that Mr. Falconer, Byron's Life and Works will recollect the friendly the ingenious author of "The Shipwreck," should tone in which he writes to Mr. Murray; and the become his partner; and an interesting letter from exquisite rhyming letter of excuse, which the poet Mr. McMurray to Falconer on this occasion, is wrote in the name of his publisher to Dr. Polidori, printed in Nichols's "Literary Anecdotes," iii. 729. politely declining the proposed publication of his The Poet would probably have entered into part-play. Nor can they have forgotten the many baganership with him, but was unfortunately lost in the Aurora frigate. A ship figures in full sail on the bill-heads of Mr. Murray's old accounts, allusive to his original destination in the marines. On settling in Fleet-street as a bookseller, Mr. McMurray (afterwards known as Mr. Murray) was ushered immediately into notice by publishing a new edition of Lord Lyttleton's "Dialogues," and also an edition of his "History ;" and under his auspices many useful works were offered to the learned world. Langhorne's Plutarch, Dalrymple's Annals, and Mitford's Greece, are three of Mr. Murray's surviving publications. He also published several pamphlets connected with his trade, and was an author in various shapes. Mr. Murray's father died Nov. 6, 1793, when John was in his fifteenth year, an age too young to conduct the business unaided. He was, however, joined by Mr. Samuel Highley, the assistant and shopman of old Mr. Murray, and the father of the present Mr. Highley, the bookseller, of Fleet street. When Mr. Murray was of age, he entered into-partnership with Highley, but this was not of long continuance, as the deed of separation is dated 25th of March, 1803. They drew lots for the house, and Murray had the good fortune to remain at No. 32; Highley setting up for himself at No. 24, and taking away with him, by agreement, the large medical connection of the firm, a connection enjoyed by his son to this day. Mr. Murray now started on his own account, and began a career of publication unrivalled in the history of letters. In 1807 he added "The Art of Cookery," by Mrs. Rundell, to his list; in 1809 the Quarterly Review; and in 1811 "Childe Harold." One of his earliest friends and advisers was Mr. D'Israeli, the author of the "Curiosities of LiteraHis connection with Sir W. Scott began in 1808 with his publication of Strutt's "Queen Hoo Hall," edited by Scott. ture.' His early connection as the publisher and friend of Lord Byron established him at once as one of the most spirited and successful publishers of the day; and the reputation he thus early acquired, led to the establishment of the Quarterly Review. The great success of the "Edinburgh Review naturally led the Supporters of Church and State to wish for as powerful an organ to express their sentiments. The Quarterly was suggested by Murray himself, and his letter to Canning on the subject is still in existence. Sir Walter Scott, in 1808, or 1809, in his letters to bis literary associates, passes many eulogies on the young London bookseller who was to conduct the publication of the work,-and speaks of his talents, spirit, and judgment, in terms which Mr. Murray's subsequent management of that great journal fully confirmed. The first editor of the telles in verse which the poet addressed to his enterprising friend, the avag of publishers,' as he calls him, and the Anak of stationers.' "Mr. Murray's career as a publisher is one continued history of princely payments. His copyrights were secured at the most extravagant pricesfor he never higgled about the sum if he wanted the work. To call him the Con Strachan, Tonson, Lintot of the timesis awarding him but a portion of his praise. trast his liberal dealings with Lord Byron with old Jacob Tonson's hard bargains with John Dryden,John Murray's hard cash with Jacob's clipped coin. But he did more very often than abide by his agreement. To Campbell he doubled the price agreed upon for his Specimens of the Poets,' by paying the stipulated £500 and adding £500 more. gave £50 per volume additional to Allan Cunningham for his Lives of the British Artists,' and made the payment retrospective. Another anecdote of his liberality of spirit we shall allow him to relate in his own words. "To Sir Walter Scott. He "Albemarle Street, June 8, 1829. "My dear Sir,-Mr. Lockhart has this moment communicated your letter respecting my fourth share of the copy-right of Marmion. I have already been applied to, by Messrs.Constable and by Messrs. Longman, to know what sum I would sell this share for; but so highly do I estimate the honor of being, even in so small a degree, the publisher of the author of the poem, that no pecuniary consideration whatever can induce me to part with it. "But there is a consideration of another kind, which until now I was not aware of, which would make it painful for me if I were to retain it a moment longer. I mean the knowledge of its being required by the author, into whose hands it was spontaneously resigned in the same instant that I read his request. "This share has been profitable to me fifty-fold beyond what either publisher or author could have anticipated; and, therefore, my returning it on such an occasion you will, I trust, do me the favor to consider in no other light than as a mere act of grateful acknowledgment for benefits already received by, my dear sir, your obliged and faithful servant, "JOHN MURRAY.'" "Five hundred anecdotes of the great spirits of his time have died with Mr. Murray-enough to make a second Spence, or another Boswell. His conversation was always entertaining, for he had a quiet vein of humor that gave his stories a palatable flavor, adding largely to their excellence, without | destroying the race of their originality. His little back parlor in Albemarle Street, was a sort of Will's, or Button's; his four-o'clock visitors' embracing the men of wit and repute in London. Few men distinguished in literature, in art, or in science, but have partaken of the hospitalities of Mr. Murray's table. If Tonson had a gallery of portraits, Wilkie. To enumerate the authors with whom Mr. Murray was associated, is to recall his most celebrated literary contemporaries. By Byron, Scott, Crabbe, Bowles, Southey, Washington Irving, Milman, Wilson Croker, Barrow, Lockhart, and an innumerable list of eminent travellers and others, he was regarded as a fit associate and a valued and respected friend; and their sentiments of him are recorded in their writings. Of Byron he was a constant correspondent; and it is to him that many of the Poet's most brilliant as well as famous and confidential letters are addressed. And it may here be added, that of all the numerous circle with whom ing reposed in him the most entire confidence; for he was connected, no one had cause to regret havhis whole transactions were equally just and liberal. With here a Garth and there an Addison, so had Mr. Murray; but Tonson's Kit-Kat Club pictures were all presents-Mr. Murray's kit-kats were all commissions; commissions to men like Lawrence, Phillips, Hoppner, Newton, Pickersgill, and Wilkie; and portraits, too, of Byron and Scott, Moore and Campbell, Southey and Gifford, Hallam and Lockhart, Washington Irving, and Mrs. Somer-In private society he was much beloved. His disville-a little gallery in itself of British genius. position was benevolent and kindly, his manner Scott and Byron were made personally known to polished, and his habits hospitable and social. His one another through the friendly mediation of Mur- departure will leave a blank not easily filled, in the ray, as were Southey, and Crabbe, and Scott, and The Literary Gazette thus speaks of Mr. Murray : hearts of the many friends who lament his loss. "Mr. Murray let few good things in literature "His situation in the literary world has long been escape him, and his two last works, the Journals of most prominent; and there is hardly an author of Lieut. Eyre and Lady Sale, were each, in the lan-high reputation, either now living or dead within guage of the trade, a lucky hit. He might have had, the last quarter of a century, who has not enjoyed it is true, 'The Bridgewater Treatises,' and he his intimacy and regard. With the majority his made a mistake with The Rejected Addresses.' social intercourse was most gratifying, and his libI could have had "The Rejected Addresses" for erality towards their public undertakings such as ten pounds,' he said to the writer of this notice, but merited their esteem and gratitude. That he was I let them go by as the kite of the moment. See the warm-hearted and generous will be allowed by all result! I was determined to pay for my neglect, who ever knew him; whilst those who had the and I bought the remainder of the copyright for 150 pleasure of a more genial acquaintance with him, guineas. The Navy List' and other publications will long remember his lively conversation, and the are thus referred to by Lord Byron : ready humor which often set the table in a roar. He was, indeed, on such occasions, a very agreeable companion, and his ready wit was only an indication of the acuteness and judgment which he carried into his professional concerns. His clear mind in this respect led him to enterprises of great pith and moment; and we owe to it some of the most celebrated works in our language. He was a true friend to the arts, which he largely employed." Along thy sprucest book-shelves shine He said once, to the present writer: Lord Byron "Let us illustrate his sagacity in business, by an anecdote which will be new to many of our readers. Constable published a little History of England' in one small volume, which, as it were, fell stillborn from the press. Murray perceived its merits, bought Constable's share, and baptized his little purchase by the name of Mrs. Markham's History of England, a name it still enjoys. The work flourished in his hands, and is, to this day, realizing a large annual profit." Another great undertaking of Mr. Murray's was the "Family Library." This series, which undoubtedly contains many works of much excellence and value, was not so advantageous to Mr. Murray as might have been anticipated. In 182-, Mr. Murray attempted to establish a daily newspaper, called "The Representative," but, to the surprise of all who were aware of Mr. Murray's general ability in literary speculations, it proved a failure, and was soon dropped. * In 1812, he bought the good will and house of Mr. W. Miller, No. 50, Albemarle Street, removing thither from No. 32 Fleet Street. In 1806, Mr. Murray married Miss Elliot, the daughter of a bookseller at Edinburgh. This amiable lady is left his widow; with three daughters, and a son and successor, Mr. John Murray, the editor of the Continental Hand-books, who we hope will emulate the friendly and liberal traits of his father's character.-Gents. Magazine. A Copenhagen journal announces the death of Dr. JACOBSEN, physician to the Royal Family, aged 61. Dr. Jacobsen was a Jew by birth, and throughout his life remained steadfast in that faith; notwithstanding which he was elected Professor of Anatomy at the University, and at the College of Surgeons of Copenhagen; although the charter expressly forbids the admission of any person to that office, unless subscribing to the Protestant religion. Dr. Jacobsen was the author of several valuable works on Anatomy. In 1833, he was chosen corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, in place of Sir Everard Home, and the same year he obtained from the same learned body a gold medal worth 4000 francs, for the invention of an important surgical instru ment.-Court Journal. |