a week in the summer months, on Monday and Thursday, from 9 to 12, by tickets, only twelve of which are given out at a time, so that the best way to see it is to pay the fee of two dollars, and make an appointment with the inspector for a private view.

This is undoubtedly one of the finest collections of the kind in Europe; without giving it, on the whole, a preference to the Ambras collection at Vienna, it is at least but little inferior to it, and leaves the Armoury in the Tower of London very far behind. It contains all the weapons, offensive and defensive, of chivalrous warfare; all the trappings and accoutrements of the tournament and other wild sports of feudal ages. Wealth and skill appear to have been exhausted in the materials and decoration of the armour. The elaborate workmanship in gold, silver, and ivory expended on the smaller arms, as the hilts of swords, stocks of guns, bits and stirrups, the rich damasking of the plate armour and gun-barrels, and the carving and inlaid work so profusely bestowed, are sufficient to excite wonder and admiration. Dr. Meyrick says of this museum, that there are no suits in it older than the time of our Henry VIII.; but several of Queen Elizabeth's period for man and horse are covered with reliefs executed in the richest style.

The 1st room contains specimens of painted glass of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; portraits of the Saxon princes of the Ernestine and Albertine dynasties; those of Albert and his wife are by L. Cranach: the rest are for the most part copies.

Around the room are arranged many articles of old furniture, cabinets, &c. almost all of which are ascertained to have belonged to the worthies whose effigies now decorate the walls. The work table of the princess Anne may interest the ladies. A cabinet of Martin Luther, containing several relics of the great re

former, his ring and his beer-jug, also his sword, labelled with the words "Luther's house weapon," which he may, perhaps, have carried while he passed for a young noble in his prison on the Wartburg, are preserved here; together with a small silver sacramental cup, which was presented to him by his friend the Elector, John Frederick. A great number of ancient drinkingvessels, horns, goblets, cups, for all varieties of potations the reader of Walter Scott will be pleased to discover among them the type of the blessed bear of Bradwardine.

The 2nd room is filled with implements of the chase: spears, knives, bows, hunting-horns, and game-bags. One of the oldest weapons is a crossbow, that belonged to Frederick the Wise; it is ornamented with a representation of Orpheus on one side, and a chase on the other.

3rd. A long gallery, occupied almost entirely with parade arms and armour, employed in the tilts and tournaments of the times of chivalry. Of a collection of swords here shown, the oldest is a French blade, bearing the date 1243. The labour and skill bestowed on the ornaments of some of the sword-hilts should not be overlooked. In this gallery of iron statues, horse and foot, the most remarkable suits are, -one, probably, of the 16th century, a present to the Elector from a Duke of Savoy. Near it is a black suit worn at the burial of the Elector, Augustus I. A knight, in black armour, on horseback, usually formed part of the funeral procession of the Saxon princes; several black suits in the collection have been made or used for this purpose. In the same way, on gala days and at great festivities, such as the accession, marriage, or the like event in the life of a Saxon prince, a knight in a suit of gold and silver armour, as gaily decorated and as splendidly ornamented as possible, made part of the show. On these joyous occasions, the horse was called the Gala Horse (Freude Pferd), and

it is the sword with which the Chancellor Crell was beheaded, in spite of Queen Elizabeth's intercession on his behalf.

The figure which stands 11th in the row of Saxon princes, is that of the Elector John George, who was a leader in the Thirty years' war. The 15th, a brown suit, is the armour of Gustavus Adolphus, which he left at Weissenfels before the battle of Lützen (in the fight he wore a suit of leather, now preserved at Vienna). The Marshal's staff of his opponents, Counts Tilly and Pappenheim, are also preserved here.

Among the most interesting histo rical relics is the scale armour worn by the heroic John Sobieski at the siege of Vienna, in 1683; near it are displayed the trophies, arms, and horse-tail standards, &c. gained by the detachment of Saxon troops who fought under him on that occasion. Their commander, the Elector of Saxony (whose armour is also here), was the first who planted a Christian flag in the Turkish camp. Farther on is the cuirass of Augustus II., surnamed the Strong. It would be difficult to find a man at present who could walk in his armour, "" which you can hardly raise from the ground; or wear his cap, which encloses an iron hat, heavier than a cauldron. But Augustus, if you believe the Saxons, was a second Samson."

He

is said to have "lifted a trumpeter in full armour, and held him aloft in the palm of his hand-to have twisted the iron banister of a stair into a rope -and to have made love to a coy beauty by presenting in one hand a bag of gold, and breaking with the other a horseshoe.". - Russel's Germany.

Against the walls and pillars of this room are arranged a variety of swords and other weapons, many of which are remarkable for their workmanship, others for their history. Battle-axes and maces, of various dates and patterns. A dagger which, after being

thrust into the body, separates into three parts on touching a spring, so that it would be impossible to extract it from a wound. A short sword, notched on one side, intended to catch the blade of an adversary, and break it short off, before it could be disengaged.

The dagger of Rudolph of Swabia, who lost his hand while raising it to wound his brother, the Emperor Henry IV., in a single combat at Merseburg, 1080. The workmanship is very fine.

The weapons with which the Bohemian peasants armed themselves during the Hussite war consist of flails shod with iron; a Polish battlescythe, of the period of Kosiusko's revolution-a most fearful weapon, which with one blow might cleave horseman and horse in twain; the sword of Don John of Austria, who commanded at Lepanto.

The 5th room contains fire-arms, from their earliest invention in Europe. The oldest weapon of this kind is a rude sort of pistol, said to have been made by Berchtold Schwartz, the discoverer of gunpowder. It is a mere iron barrel, 18 inches long, with a touch-hole in the side. It was fired not by a flint falling upon steel, but by the friction of a file upon a piece of firestone (pyrites). The file was inserted in a groove by the side of the touch-hole, it was then covered with powder, and the firestone screwed down tightly in contact with it. When the file was smartly drawn out, the friction served to ignite the powder. The first step of improvement after this was a pistol fired by means of a piece of lighted tow; then came the wheel-lock, and afterwards the fallinglock, with flint and steel. Specimens of all these varieties are preserved here; also the pistols of Maurice of Saxony, splendidly inlaid with silver and ivory. Another pair, remarkable for their plainness, belonged to Charles XII. of Sweden, and were borne by him on the day of his death at Frederickshal.

7th. This room is filled with trappings and harness for horses, of most rich materials; splendidly embroidered bits and stirrups, and housings for sledge-horses, &c., on which the most elaborate ornaments have been expended.

The 7th room is fitted up with a Turkish tent, taken at the siege of Vienna; and its contents are chiefly Turkish and Eastern arms.

8th. Is a wardrobe of ancient garments; many of them very rich stuffs, and, though centuries old, not much the worse for wear.

If a painter

were in search of the costume of a German sovereign's court two hundred years ago, he would here be completely gratified, and amply furnished with the most authentic materials. The little cocked hat of Peter the Great, and a wooden bowl, turned with his own hand, are the principal other curiosities here.

9th. Among the historical relics in the last and splendidly ornamented apartment are, the robes worn by Augustus the Strong at his coronation as King of Poland. By the side of them, as it were to show his claim to the bye-name of "the Strong," is kept the horse-shoe which he broke in two between his fingers; together with the written testimony of those who were witnesses of this feat of strength. Last of all, here may be seen a saddle of red velvet, which belonged to Napoleon; the boots which he wore at the battle of Dresden, which seem to have sadly needed cobbling; and the satin shoes worn by him at his coronation.

many others on the continent, but still contains some objects which a person interested in science would be sorry to have missed.

Minerals.-The specimens from the Saxon mines are very complete, especially those from Freyberg and the Erzgebirge. One specimen of native silver formed part of a mass of pure metal large enough to serve as a dinner-table for the Elector, when he visited the Schneeberg mine, in which it was found.

The collection of fossils is large. The specimens of petrified monocotyledonous plants from Chemnitz, deserve particular notice. Among them is an enormous tree, petrified root and branch. Another curiosity is a tube, formed by lightning falling upon a bed of sand, which has been partially melted by the electric fluid, wherever it took its course. This track is many feet long. It was found behind the

baths of Link.

Zoology. This part of the museum bas been neglected, and is not very complete. As curiosities, we may mention the horse of Augustus II., stuffed. Its tail measures 24 feet; its mane, 16 feet. Two of his dogs are also preserved here. One is 3 feet high, and measures 5 feet from the snout to the tail. The other is 5 inches long, and 11⁄2 inch high. The horns of a stag embedded in the centre of the trunk of a tree, and a Guanche mummy, also merit notice.

Cabinet of Engravings (KupferstichSammlung,) is shown to artists and amateurs on Tuesdays, from 9 to 12, by tickets, which are given out in very limited numbers by the curator. Strangers who wish to see it at other times, must secure the attendance of the manager, M. Frenzel. That amiable and erudite gentleman will give every information respecting it. On such occasions a fee of three dollars (for a party), is usually put into the hands of his attendant.

This is "one of the most complete

containing every thing that is interesting in the history of the art, or valuable from practical excellence, and forms a supplement to the Picture Gallery. The earliest is of the date 1466, and is said to be the earliest yet known. Whoever wishes to study the history of this beautiful art, and to be initiated in the mysteries of connoisseurship, can find no better school than the cabinet of Dresden. It overflows with materials, and is under the direction of a gentleman who not only seems to be thoroughly master of his occupation, but has the much rarer merit of being, in the highest degree, particularly attentive and communicative." Russel.

This quotation from Mr. Russel is not given at random, but because the writer can bear testimony, from his own experience, to the truth of what is here stated.

There are said to be 250,000 engravings in this collection, beginning with Finiguerra and the earliest German masters, down to the most distinguished artists, Continental and British, of the present day.

The fifty portfolios of drawings of the old masters, especially of the early German school, form a very interesting and prominent portion of this cabinet. There is, beside, a most valuable collection, unique probably of its kind, of portraits, to the number of nearly 300, of all the most distinguished characters of the nineteenth century in Europe, sovereigns and royal families, statesmen and generals, artists and men of eminence in science and literature, all find a place here. They have been taken from the life by Professor Vogel of Dresden, are drawn with a masterly pencil, and the likenesses are perfect. Several of the most eminent artists of our own country are included in the series.

The JAPANESE PALACE, situated in the Neustadt, on the right bank of the Elbe, close to the Leipsig gate, was built by Augustus II., as a summer residence. It receives its

name from some grotesque oriental figures and ornaments with which it is decorated. It now serves only the purposes of a Museum, and contains the following collections:

1. The Museum of Antiquities. 2. The Library. 3. The Collection of Porcelain.

1. The Antiquities are placed on the left-hand side of the entrance hall, on the ground floor. A traveller fresh from the Galleries of Rome and Florence may perhaps be disposed to despise this collection, which indeed ranks after that at Munich, &c., and has moreover suffered both from the ignorant mutilations of a barbarous age, and from the barbarous reparations and restorations of a more enlightened period. Nevertheless, there are many objects of high interest, both in point of art and as illustrations of antiquity.

So general have been the injuries sustained by ancient statues found in Italy, that not only this, but almost every other museum of antique sculpture may be regarded as little better than a large hospital filled with cripples. Many of the statues in this Gallery were originally so clumsily renovated, that the limbs have been removed altogether, or replaced by more skilful repairers.

There are one or two modern works which deserve notice, as Deianira carried off by the Centaur, in bronze, the work of John of Bologna; ;-a bust of Charles I. of England; -80. A bust of Cardinal Mazarin, of bronze, a characteristic likeness, of good workmanship. 74. Another bronze bust, of Gustavus Adolphus, made from a cast taken after his death.

No. 99. is a triangular pedestal of a candelabra; the reliefs carved on its sides represent Hercules withheld by Apollo from carrying off the sacred tripod from Delphi. They are executed in the style called Eginetan, which may be regarded as the infancy of sculpture. This specimen is curious, as showing the early pro