Robert. Stephen. Stephen. Robert. She'll have her work to do to clear the bay! The wind has come to her! That's the new wind And bearing from the land. The third ship→ Well, what of her ?-Is she about too? Stephen. No, She misses stays! They ware her! Robert. Is she deep? Within the head? Stephen. She is. Robert. Stephen. Within the head. 19.86 'did,' doth; but they We like not our author's constant use of the auxiliaries "do," " they seem to be used for eking out the lines to their proper measures, wcaken and lame the verse. We could point out whole passages enfeebled by this peculiar fondness for little, insignificant words. "Black Norris" is a villain drawn in colours of the deepest die. "Wolf," his confederate, is no less a villain, but he is more tender of conscience. The concluding scene, in which Wolf returns to declare his part in the perpetration of the darkest crime of which man can be guilty, is executed with the hand of a dramatic Rubens. Norris, having succeeded in his designs, is about to be married to the wretched Marian, who consented to make the sacrifice to save her father's life. As the gloomy bridal party are about to approach the altar, Wolf, whom Morris thought dead, rises-Norris lets go Marian's hand, and recoils with horror. At length he exclaims "Norris. Hell! what is here? Like something from a grave, or from the sca Or, worse, a prisoner from the evil place, If such there be, let out to harrow me Before my time-affright me into madness! Edward. Speak not! observe! Norris. Wolf! Wolf!-It is his eyes Features-but not the life that moved in them- That breathes, or only would be thought to breathe? Edward. [to Clergyman.] Do you hear?-That man has been a partner Wolf. Norris. Norris. Wolf. Norris. In some black deed! with him I have fled over sea, over land, To get away from it !-It follows me! Confess! I will Repent, I will confess !-then am I free! Be thou the fiend-I'll know thee! Wolf! (rushing up and seizing him.) Norris !-What, has it been following thee? Wolf. (furiously.) But there is no peace! It howls, and howls. Norris. Norris. Wolf. No foot is fleet enough to distance it, To 'scape the horror of its teeth;-the bloodhound, No stream that you can wade will clear thee from, That never gives you respite!-except here? Here is a chance! This is a place methinks He cannot enter; he has hunted me Till he has driv'n me wild, but since I'm here Words have been whispered me, at hearing which Coward, where is my gold? All clotted o'er! Corroded, crumbled with the old man's blood Do not rave at me! I did not know I'll show thee ruth as I do hope to me That mercy will be shown! Repent! Confess!' Which of you would not kill a mad dog? Come! [Dies. Hang me without a trial!-Let me breathe! [He is dragged out. Edward, the betrothed of Marian, only excites an interest by his connection with her. We wish that the author had bestowed more labour on this character. The piece was evidently intended to rest on the capable performance of the only female in it, "Marian "-after whom the play-bills, more felicitously than the dramatist, have entitled it "The Wrecker's Daughter." Mr. Knowles will be glad to learn, that, no less popular in the closet than on the stage, his last play has passed already through two American editions. When the new Copyright Law, granting to authors, English as well as American, the privilege of taking out " a patent" for the work of their brains, shall have been established by Congress, we trust that that subject will lead also to a consideration of the rights of dramatic authors; so that a bill may be passed, similar to that carried by Mr. Bulwer through Parliament, ordering that all foreign and native dramatic authors shall receive a reasonable compensation from the managers of theatres for each and every representation of their respective plays. Paulding's Works; Vols. XII, XIII, XIV. Harpers. THE Dutchman's Fireside and the Book of St. Nicholas occupy these three numbers of the beautiful edition of Paulding's works, now in course of publication by the Harpers. The last is one of the very best of this popular author's writings, and the only story we have yet read in the first, "The Ghost," is worth a volume. They are done up in a style of neatness which well adapts them for the library. Gleanings in Europe; by the Author of the Spy, &c., 2 Vols. Carey, Lea and Blanchard. Philadelphia. MR. COOPER has here given a useful book to his countrymen. We say his countrymen, for though the views and opinions of such a writer upon European society must prove interesting everywhere, yet it is for the benefit of his countrymen chiefly that these sketches of men and manners are designed. The style is flowing and natural, and the details are given in a familiar style that make the letters exceedingly readable and entertaining. The author, of course, has a keen eye for every thing that is striking or peculiar among the scenes or the people mid which he travels; but his perceptions seem never to be so much concentrated upon things around him but that he can give a side glance to matters in his own country with which they may be compared; and this mode of treating his subjects, we need hardly say, adds much to their interest, while shaping and fixing, as it were, the instructiveness with which they are imbued. We make a long quotation, which illustrates in a curious manner an apochryphal science which has come again in vogue in Paris, and whose strange illusions it is said are producing converts to it in this country. ANIMAL MAGNETISM. "To deal gravely with a subject that, at least, baffles our comprehension, there are certainly very extraordinary things related of animal magnetism, and apparently on pretty good testimony. Take, for instance, a single fact. M. Jules Cloquet is one of the cleverest practitioners of Paris, and is in extensive business. This gentleman publicly makes the following statement. I write it from memory, but have heard it and read it so often, that I do not think my account will contain any essential error. "A woman who was subject to the magnetic influence, or who was what is commonly called a somnambule, had a cancer in the breast. M. -, one of the principal magnetisers of Paris, and from whom, among others, I have had an account of the whole affair, was engaged to magnetise this woman, while M. Cloquet operated on the diseased part. The patient was put asleep, or rather into the magnetic trance, for it can scarcely be called sleep, and the cancer was extracted, without the woman's manifesting the least terror, or the slightest sense of pain! To the truth of the substance of this account, M. Cloquet, who does not pretend to explain the reason, nor profess to belong, in any way, to the school, simply testifies. He says that he had such a patient, and that she was operated on, virtually, as I have told you. Such a statement, coming from so high a source, induced the Academy, which is certainly not altogether composed of magnetisers, but many of whose members are quite animal enough to com prehend the matter, to refer the subject to a special committee, which committee, I believe, was comprised of very clever men. The substance of their report was pretty much what might have been anticipated. They said that the subject was inexplicable, and that animal magnetism' could not be brought within the limits of any known laws of nature. They might have said the same thing of the comets! In both cases we have facts, with a few established consequences, but are totally without elementary causes. "Animal magnetism is clearly one of three things: it is what it pretends to be, an unexplained and as yet incomprehensible physical influence; it is delusion; or it is absolute fraud. 66 А young countryman of ours, having made the acquaintance of M. C——, professionally, and being full of the subject, I have so far listened to his entreaties as to inquire personally into the facts, a step I might not have otherwise been induced to take. "I shall now proceed to the history of my own experience in this inexplicable mystery. We found M. C— buried in the heart of Paris, in one of those vast old hotels, which give to this town the air of generations of houses, commencing with the quaint and noble of the sixteenth century, and ending with the more fashionable pavilion of our own times. His cabinet looked upon a small garden, a pleasant transition from the animal within to the vegetable without. But one meets with gardens, with their verdure, and shrubbery and trees, in the most unexpected manner, in this crowded town. M. C received us politely, and we found with him one of his somnambules, but as she had just come out of a trance, we were told she could not be put asleep again that morning. Our first visit therefore went no farther than some discourse on the subject of animal magnetism,' and a little practical by-play, that shall be related in its place. "M. C did not attempt ascending to first principles, in his explanations. Animal magnetism was animal magnetism-it was a fact, and not a theory. Its effects were not to be doubted; they depended on testimony of sufficient validity to dispose of any mere question of authenticity. All that he attempted was hypothesis, which he invited us to controvert. He might as well have desired me to demonstrate that the sun is not a carbuncle. On the modus operandi, and the powers of his art, the doctor was more explicit. There were a great many gradations in quality in his somnambules, some being better and some worse; and there was also a good deal of difference in the intensity of the magnetisers. It appears to be settled that the best somnambules are females, and the best magnetisers males, though the law is not absolute. I was flattered with being, by nature, a first-rate magnetiser, and the doctor had not the smallest doubt of his 业 ability to put me to sleep; an ability, so far as his theory went, I thought it was likely enough he might possess, though I greatly questioned his physical means. suppose it is prima facie evidence of credulity, to take the trouble to inquire into the subject at all; at any rate, it was quite evident I was set down as a good subject, from the moment of my appearance. Even the somnambule testified to this, though she would not then consent to be put into a trance in order to give her opinion its mystical sanction. The powers of a really good somnambule are certainly of a very respectable class. If a lock of hair be cut from the head of an invalid, and sent a hundred leagues from the provinces, such a somnambule, properly magnetised, becomes gifted with the faculty to discover the seat of the disease, however latent; and, by practice, she may even prescribe the remedy, though this is usually done by a physician, like M. C—, who is regularly graduated. The somnambule is, properly, only versed in pathology, any other skill she may discover being either a consequence of this knowledge, or the effects of observation and experience. The powers of a somnambule extend equally to the morale as well as to the physique. In this respect a phrenologist is a pure quack in comparison with a lady in a trance. The latter has no dependence on bumps and organs, but she looks right through you, at a glance, and pronounces ex cathedra whether you are a rogue, or an honest man; a well disposed, or an evil disposed child of Adam. In this particular, it is an invaluable science, and it is a thousand pities all young women were not magnetised before they pronounce the fatal vows, as not a few of them would probably wake up, and cheat the parson of his fee. Our sex is difficult to be put asleep, and are so obstinate, that I doubt if they would be satisfied with a shadowy glimpse of the temper and dispositions of their mistresses. "You may possibly think I am trifling with you, and that I invent as I write. On the contrary, I have not related one half of the miraculous powers which being magnetised imparts to the thoroughly good somnambule, as they were related to me by M. C- and vouched for by four or five of his patients who were present, as well as by my own companion, a firm believer in the doctrine. M. C added that somnambules improve by practice, as well as magnetisers, and that he has such command over one of his somnambules that he can put her to sleep, by a simple effort of the will, although she may be in her own apartment, in an adjoining street. He related the story of M. Cloquet and the cancer, with great unction, and asked me what I thought of that? Upon my word, did not very well know what I did think of it, unless it was to think it very queer. It appeared to me to be altogether extraordinary, especially as I knew M. Cloquet to be a man of talents, and believe him to be honest. By this time I was nearly magnetised with second-hand facts; and I became a little urgent for one or two that were visible to my own senses. I was promised more testimony, and a sight of the process of magnetising some water that a patient was to drink. This patient was present; the very type of credulity. He listened to every thing that fell from M. C with a gusto and a faith that might have worked miracles truly, had it been of the right sort, now and then turning his good-humoured marvel-eating eyes on me, as much as to say, 'what do you think of that, now? My companion told me, in English, he was a man of good estate, and of proved philanthropy, who had no more doubt of the efficacy of animal magnetism than I had of my being in the room. He had brought with him two bottles of water, and these M. C magnetised, by pointing his fingers at their orifices, rubbing their sides, and ringing his hands about them, as if washing them, in order to disengage the subtle fluid that was to impart to them their healing properties, for the patient drank no other water. Presently a young man came in, of a good countenance, and certainly of a very respectable exterior. As the somnambule had left us, and this person could not consult her, which was his avowed intention in coming, M. C proposed to let me see his own power as a magnetiser, in an experiment on this patient. The young man consenting, the parties were soon prepared. M. C- began by telling me, that he would, by a transfusion of his will, into the body of the patient, compel him to sit still, although his own desire should be to rise. In order to achieve this, he placed himself before the young man, and threw off the fluid from his fingers' ends, which he kept in a cluster, by constant forward gestures of the arms. Sometimes he held the fingers pointed at some particular part of the body, the heart in preference, though the brain would have been more poetical. The young man certainly did not rise; neither did I, nor any one else |