2 AUGUST 1828, Page 14

SPECTABILTA.

Mr. Planche, after leaving his cold bed to look on a German landscape by moonlight, and listen to the boatmen of the Danube singing as they rowed, thought it "very provoking that the English should be perhaps the only people who have no idea of singing inn parts. An untutored boatman, pea- sant, or soldier of almost any of the Continental nations, will suddenly strike in with an exemplary and creditable bass, though the air be led off by an utter stranger to him. On the banks of the Maine, at Aschaffenburg, and at Molidling' in the Wienerwald, I was particularly struck by this pleas- ing talent, and have noticed it repeatedly, both in France and Switzerland, The complaint that the English are not a musical nation, is in my opinion. better borne out by this circumstance than by the alleged deficiency of cele- brated composers, or tine want of taste inn tine mixed audience of our con- cert-rooms and theatres. There is certainly no comparison between the native wood-notes wild' of a Devonshire ploughman, and those of a Bava- rian bauer."—Planche's Descent of Me Danube.

The Harmonieon for August endeavours to account for this musical defi- ciency in our countrymen. "Mr. Planche, and every one else who has written on this subject, overlook two very important points ; 1st, the inces- sant labour to which our lower classes are condemned, which allows them only time for sleep, and not a moment for recreation : 2ndly, time austerity of our Sundays, which contrary to the practice of the most religions countries in Europe, treats as crime, crime punishable by law too, everything in the shape of amusement resorted to on that day of intended relaxation, except indeed the passing whole hours in the alehouse, which is sanctioned because it promotes the interests of brewers, and assists the revenue."

The chlorate of lime preserves eggs from putrefaction. This substance being manufactured inn England on a very large scale, may be obtained at a very trifling expense, and it is only necessary to dissolve one ounce of it in a pint of water.—.11outhly Magazine.

There are in France four millions of children who receive no kind of education.

The quantity- of sugar made inn France from the beet-root during the present year amounts to nearly twelve millions of pounds. It is calculated, that if proper encouragement were given to it by the French Governmeut, France, in a few years, would be able to produce from beet-root, the :100,000,0001bs. of sugar which it consumes annually, whilst the pulp of the vegetable would form an excellent food for cattle.

In the colonization of the West Indies, " when a city was to be founded, the first form prescribed was, with all solemnity, to erect a gallows, as the first thing needful ; and in laying out the gronnd, a site was marked for the prison as well as for the church."

Weather-wise people say we shall have a fine but cool autumn, and a "very hard winter."—Brighton Gazette.

ARTISTS SUPERIOR TO AMATEURS.—Ito is painful to be forced to believe that ahnost nothing is perfectly well done by—gentlemen. Billiards ? There are hundreds of markers who could give four to the best gentleman player in all England. Cricket ? Beauclerk and Harbord themselves were nothing to the Marsden's. Race-riding ? Poo-poo-poo—look at Chiffney, Buckle, or the worst of the Three Days, and Delme Ratcliffe himself is transmogrified into a tailor. Fiddling ? Nay—Sandy Ballantyne himself—beautiful as is his bow, and fine his finger, must lower his tone to Cramer or Spagnoletti. Shooting ? Lord Kennedy, Mr. Osbaldeston, and Captain Ross, are all beaten by Arrowsmith. Boxing ? Ury, the best gentleman sparrer that ever flung down or took up a glove, was but a boy in the hands of John Jackson. Run- ning ? Abraham Wood could have distanced all the Universities. Leaping? Ireland, at hop, step, and leap, could have given two yards to young Beattie on the Border. And to return to angling—why, IVItticocky of Killarney could have safely and easily allowett a salmon an hour to the late Lord Somerville. Blactrwomri Ma8caine, NEWSPAPER CREDULITY.—SOIlle few weeks ago, the following hoar was practised on a provincial paper, and it took in the editors of, I may ahnost venture to say, every journal printed in these islands. It was stated that an organist had undertaken to strike a million of notes upon a piano-forte in twelve hours. A subsequent paragraph, which likewise went the sante round, informed the public that the feat had been performed by the nimble-fingered gentleman inn eight hours and twenty minutes. He took, it is added, the intervening three hours and forty minutes to rest in. Now, giving nine hours for the completion of the task, it must have been necessary to strike thirty notes (I exclude fractions) in every second. It requires no common agility to sound distinctly thirty notes in a single second : sliding, of course being excluded. To support such an action for ten minutes only, would require fingers moved by wheel-work ; muscles could not accomplish it. But in order to continue an effort of tins kind for eight hours, the magician's aid would be indispensably necessary."—Ilarmonico2z.

In travelling from Valpairaiso to Santiago, the capital of Chili, Lieute- nant Brand found several public-houses bearing the inscription " Ale and porter sold here." To those who know these countries, this will be a fact full of significance.

Never, at any period of civilization, in any city in time world, were so many books published as those which have issued from tine Paris press since 1817. 'The Jesuits have calculated that, adding together all the editions of Voltaire, each of which frequently amounted to between two and three thousand copies, upwards of two millions of volumes of Voltaire have been published in Paris within ten years.—Neu, Monthly Magazine. The Society of Public Utility, in Switzerland, has rendered great benefits to tine Republic. It consists of five hundred members, who meet every year to discuss questions relative to the means of ameliorating the condition of the poor, improving the education, and stimulating tine industry of the people. Although this Society has no other means of enforcing, its recom- mendations than an appeal to public feeling, it has already proved time parent of some of the finest Institutions in the country, and enjoys much more confidence than many of the representative bodies of more important nations. Each member is expected at the annual meeting to make a report of ilia views and experience, and to communicate whatever he may have acquired of importance to the community ; but all are strictly forbidden to waste the time of the session in set speeches. The display of eloquence is reserved for the convivial parties which follow the Sesion.

The people of Quito, before the war of independence, were so idle, or rather, subsistence was so plentiful, that tine artizans could be scarcely prevailed upon to work ; if a man wanted a pair of shoes, his only chance was to catch a shoemaker in the street, and lock bum up until he had com- pleted a pair. The ancient Bearnese having to choose a king from two infants in time cradle, chose the one that slept with his hands open.

Nothing endears one's friends to a good-hearted man so much as their little failings. Peculiarities beget affection. Who cares a straw for a person of perfectly irreproachable character in all the littlenesses of life ? Something absurd even must there be in the face or figure, the dress or manner of me man, before you can take him to your heart.—Blackwood. A HEAVEN-BORN GENIus.—A young gentleman, a native of Elgin, has printed several copies, one of which we have perused, of 'an 18mo work, extending to nearly 70 pages. Our readers, we believe, will be scarcely able to credit the fact, that this ingenious youth made the whole of the types, consisting of various sizes, with his own hand, and with the assistance of no other implement than a penknife. He also constructed thepress with which the work was printed, and manufactured his own ink. What is perhaps as singular, is, that he composed, corrected, and printed the whole impression with Ins own hand, without ever having received the slightest direction from any individual, or ever having seen or had any idea of a printing establish- ment, or anything belonging to it.—Elgin Courier.