FRENCH FEMALE EDUCATION.-A smart little French girl of sixteen, returning with her father and mother, after finishing her education at a Paris pension, to her home in Provence, chattered away to me. I made many inquiries into the nature and extent of their studies, and found she had studied-orthography, (upon this she laid great stress,)—and geography, (of which she had certaiuly a most original, but somewhat confused notion,)-that she had, moreover, acquired a smattering of grammar, a considerable experience of dancing-a very little music-a good deal of embroideryand a most complete critical and ardent taste for dress;-and in this last accomplishment her soul and mind, thoughts and observation, seemed absorbed. "But what did you read at school-what books?" Oh, pour les livres !"-she read her lessons and school-books." Mais par example,"-I inquired what they were about: were they history? Ah, l'histoire! mon Dieu! oui." She declared she had read three gros volumes of history nearly all through-" and what history?" What history!" she did not exactly know. But what was it about?"-" It was about some kings and battles;❞—but what kings and battles she really could not say. Did she happen to remember the author?-did not think it had-but she said, with great simplicity, that she had all the books she had learnt locked up in her trunk, and she would go and fetch them for me to look at.-Continental Adventures.

66

BLUE-STOCKINGS.—A tendency in young ladies to write verse, is certainly not one which, for many reasons, we should wish to encourage. Where peculiar circumstances have nurtured this very natural disposition, or where powerful feelings and a teeming imagination have burst through all restraints, the sex, the youth, and perhaps the personal charms of the poetess, conspire to make her a bard to which we should most of all wish to do homage. Perhaps we are caught in "some softened mood," perhaps

--"Tender memory, sadden'd thought,

On the world's harsher cares have wrought."

However this may be, there is no object that assumes a more interesting shape to our fancy than the busy pen, and busier brain, of a young girl, travailing in her solitary chamber for all the world. At a time when her equals are puzzling over a French verb, or battering out the last set of quadrilles, her mind is running over all history and romance; her imagination is combining and recombining all the forms of character that study or experience affords her; she is ransacking the secrets of her own heart, and weighing and examining the nature and force of all she has ever felt; her fancy is weaving stories, and her invention is creating incidents; the felicity of her progress at one moment flls her mind with enthusiasm-and at another, some fluctuation of temperament, or perhaps some apprehension of coldness or censure, stops the current of inspiration, and all is sadness and gloom. Were such occupations to interfere with the duties of life-were they even to check the acquirement of ordinary accomplishments, or divert attention from that most pleasing and most important of tasks, the finishing and adorning the beauty which nature has bestowed in some form on all-we might be inclined to weigh more scrupulously the value of such employment as we have described. But most probably she whose dreams abound in poetry, she whose stolen hours are busy in storing the material or in pouring forth the treasures of verse, is the most exact in the performance of those duties, which it is a prejudice to suppose are inconsistent with intellectual occupation--she, too, may attract as potently by the charms of person, as by those of verse. She may be as light in the dance, as gay in the circle, and as faithful and kind in the closer relations of life, as the most innocent of poetical thoughts. These merits, sometimes deemed inconsistent with literary industry, in reality are not the least so; and were it even true that the combination is difficult, to genius all things are possible-and it is only to such cases where real genius, real enthusiasm, real mind exist, that our observation applies. We are informed that Miss Landon is very young-we are sure that she has genius; no one can read the Golden Violet and deny it.-Atlas.

THE JEWEL CHAMBER OF THE KREMLIN.-The jewel chamber contains a number of gold and silver vases, goblets, and other vessels, of which I have neither time nor inclination to make particular mention. Round the walls are the thrones of different monarchs, and, standing on separate pedestals, are numerous crowns, including those of Kazan, Astrakhan, Siberia, Georgia, and Poland, the sight of which brought to mind the gradual increase of this vast empire. We were shown the large boots of Peter the Great, and the coronation coat of the Emperor Alexander. This last is of green colour, perfectly plain, and the cloth of as coarse a texture as that worn by serjeants of our army.-Keppel's Journey from India to England.

THE THREE REVIEWS.-It seems to be now acknowledged that the Reviews are three-Quarterly, Edinburgh, and Westminster. The circulation, the age, the party of these works, do not differ more decidedly than their general character and conduct. It is easy to sketch the leading traits of each. It is rare to hear of the writers of the Quarterly Review-a particular article seldom makes a sensation, and the public never cares to trace the author through his work. The reason of this is, that Mr. Murray's writers are article-makers-good workmen-industrious, experienced, and acquainted with the taste of the town. Materials are either found by them or for them; they cut up, sew up and trim, the work is sent home, and the order is despatched. These gentlemen having had the advantage generally of a University education, possess that portion of information which prevents them from falling into blunders; living in tolerably good society, they naturally acquire its tone; and being well paid, and otherwise unemployed-except, perhaps, some of them by occasional sermons and parochial duties they bestow labour on their work, and ultimately turn out a workman-like production. True wit, true eloquence, sound judgment, or deep philosophy, are seldom seer in the Quarterly; but though you have emptiness of idea, there is fulness of phrase-though there is no originality, there is little absurdity and no glaring mistake-if the writer does not go to the bottom of his subject, he skims over it-though his paper is not deep, it is tolerably clear-and should you object to its leaving the subject where it found it, the reader must confess that he has been led a very regular and methodical, well-arranged roundabout. It is easy to fancy a bookseller at the head of such a corps-it is easy to imagine him with his well-disciplined troops drawn up before him, and he giving in a loud voice the authoritative word of command. Reviewers!-Attention! eyes left! Rear rank take open order-Face about! Wheel! March-halt! The idea we have of the Edinburgh is anything but that of a well-drilled regiment. In the first place, the men are of all sizes; and instead of the uniform drab of the Quarterly, and in spite of their own blue turned up with yellow, they look a motley crew. We have here the tartan, and there the red coat-here the heavy dragoon, and there the lancer-the grenadier shoulders the drummer, and though they move to the charge with some impetuosity and plenty of courage, they often tumble over one another-they frequently create more confusion than they do mischief. There are, however, some brave veterans among themsome who can push the bayonet, wield the broad sword, or tilt an adversary out of his saddle with certainty and dexterity; and these are led on by a courageous little Colonel, sword in hand, who fights his own battles, and often forgets his regiment. The Quarterly acts corporately, the Edinburgh individually. In the former case, the mass is powerfully efficient-in the latter, the result depends upon acts of separate courage; here we have an Ajax, there a Thersites, here a Ulysses or an Agamemnon. We shall not keep up the figure in speaking of the Westminster-tropes would be entirely out of place. We have in the Westminster even a greater degree of uniformity than in the Quarterly; but it is not drab, it is a stone colour. The writers in the Westminster are men of clear ideas, powerful language, and with a considerable portion of disputatious bitterness and tenacity. They possess peculiar opinions; and by their consistency and skill in maintaining the tenets derived from the premises with which they set out, they are formidable adversaries. The grand distinction between the Westminster Reviewers and the Edinburgh, is that the former have a system-good or bad-they have a system, complete in all its parts, and divided, subdivided, and - derived according to the most rigorous logic. The Edinburgh has only maxims-old well-received maxims; some wise, some foolish, some shallow, some ingenious. These maxims are, however, defended often with enthusiasm, dressed up with fancy, urged with eloquence, and painted with wit. The Edinburgh Reviewers have in short, as a class, imagination; the Westminster Reviewers are destitute of it, but they are acute, logical, and energetic. The strong writers support their system, while the system makes the feeble among them strong. An Edinburgh Reviewer has no such prop; he must rely on his own ingenuity, or his tenet is held to be untenable. If the Westminster were conducted with more adaptation of its matter to the public taste-if its articles were more broken up or softened down-if the wisdom were more sparingly administered, or more carefully disguised-the influence of the Westminster, in the present state of public opinion and public inquiry, is calculated to become very considerable.- Atlas.

A PERSIAN'S NOTION OF DIFFERENCE IN RELIGIONS.-Sunday, divine service was performed; as soon as it was over, I went up to the Syyud, who had been watching our motions, and to observe his reply, asked him why he had not said his prayers this morning? His answer was very laconic-Huftee mun, rooze shuma-" Daily I, weekly you."-Keppel's Journey from India to England.

SCENE AT COURT.-It is very just to thank the God of Battles for that which he has enabled us to gain; and you have so well conceived the joy of the king and that of the royal family, that I cannot refrain from communicating to you the particulars. You know Marly, and my apartment; the king was alone in my little room, and I was sitting down to table in my closet, through which it was necessary to pass; an officer of the guards cried out at the door, "Here is M. de Chamillard." The king answered, "What he himself!" because he was not expected to come. I threw down my napkin with emotion, on which M. de Chamillard said, That's right!" and entered immediately, followed by M. de Silly, whom I did not know you may well imagine that I also entered. I then heard of the defeat of the enemy's army, and returned to sup in very good humour. The dauphin, who was playing or looking on in the saloon, soon joined the king, and the Duke of Burgundy entered with a billiard-mace in his hand. Madame, to whom a message had been dispatched with the news that the Duke of Orleans had gained a battle, arrived soon after. I told her that he was not there, at which she was very angry, and I understood that she said, "I shall soon hear that my son has hanged himself."-Secret Correspondence of Madame de Maintenon with the Princess des Ursing.

COMPLIMENT TO THE ENGLISH FROM A PERSIAN SYYUD.-The principal person of Prince Futteh Ali Khan's establishment, was a Persian Syyud, a man of some information, and not deficient in honour. As I could speak Persian with tolerable fluency, I used frequently to amuse myself by asking his opinion respecting the improvement of our nation in different branches of science. Amongst other subjects, I tried to explain to him the properties of a steam-boat lately established in Calcutta, which, from its power of stemming wind, tide, and current, had been called by the Indians "Sheitaun koo noo," the Devil's boat. Wishing to pay a compliment to our nation, the Syyud replied, "When arts were in their infancy, it was natural to give the Devil credit for any new invention; but now, so advanced are the English in every kind of improvement, that they are more than a match for the Devil himself.”—Keppel's Journey from India to England.

ARAB HORSE-RACING.-We went this afternoon into the Desert to a horse-race ; an amusement, of which the natives of Bussorah are as fond as our own countrymen; though I fear, if an English jockey had been here, he would have thought the profession disgraced by the exhibition. For our own parts, we were more amused, than if the business had been conducted according to the strictest rules of the turf. The spot selected was the Great Desert, which commences immediately outside the town ; a circular furrow of two miles marked the course; and the stakes consisted of a small subscription raised from amongst our European party. The five candidates who started for the prize, were well suited to the general character of the scene. Instead of being decked in all the colours of the rainbow, a coarse loose shirt comprised all the clothing of the Arab jockey; and the powerful bit of the country was the only article of equipment of the horse he bestrode. Thus simply accoutred, at a signal given, these half-naked savages set off at full speed, each giving a shout to animate his horse. They arrived like a team at the goal; the prize was adjudged to an Ethiopian slave. The scene was highly animated and interesting, though we had neither splendid equipages, nor fair ladies to grace our sports; but what we lost in splendour and beauty, we gained in novelty; and though, when occasionally gazing on some wearer of gaudy silks, the bright smile of woman did not repay our curiosity, we almost forgot the disappointment in beholding the animated countenance of a turbaned Turk, who, bearded to the eyes, would be seen scampering past us with jereed in hand, to challenge a comrade to the contest; and spurred on by his favourite amusement, would lay aside the gravity of the Divan, in the all exhilarating air of the Desert.-Keppel's Journey from India to England.

A RUSSIAN CARRIAGE.-At four o'clock in the afternoon, my new equipage came to the door, driven by a Kalmuck Tar.ar. The vehicle was an open four-wheeled carriage, without springs, called an arba. It was five feet five inches long, three feet broad, and perhaps three deep, resembling a beer-barrel sawed in half. To this wretched conveyance were attached three half-starved ponies abreast. The collars were of wood, and the reins and traces of rope. Over the collar of the centre horse were suspended three bells. Not a moment was lost in packing the baggage; a little straw was placed at the bottom, the mattress was spread on it, and the clothes-bags served as pillows. We were no sooner seated, than off we went, full gallop, to the jingling of the bells; our party consisting of the master, a Christian; the valet, a jew ; and the coachman, a worshipper of the Grand Lama.-Keppel's Journey from India to England.

CAPTAIN KEPPEL'S FAME AS A PHYSICIAN AT SHEFSHA.-One of my host's bro-. thers, whose inordinate addiction to eating and drinking had brought on a violent lit of indigestion, had applied to an Armenian doctor, who had recommended a double allowance of the strong bitter brandy he had been taking, and which was, no doubt, the original cause of his complaint. This prescription, as might be supposed, had only added fuel to the flame: and the poor fellow gradually becoming worse, was at last in a burning fever. In this dilemma, as Englishmen and doctors are synonimous terms, he applied to me for assistance, which I gave, by administering calomel, with the reckless profusion of an Indian operator. The dose was fortunately attended with most complete success; and so grateful was my patient for the relief I had occasioned, that, instead of a fee, he presented me with a Georgian silk handkerchief, a snuff-box, and a curiously wrought purse. This cure soon spread my fame through the town, and brought numerous applicants for professional assistance. Defects of sight and hearing, and various other difficult cases, were laid before me, in the full confidence of obtaining instant relief. Amongst those willing to become my patients was a handsome young married woman, who began stating her ailments with such minuteness, that had not interrupted her detail, I should soon have acquired more professional information from her than I could have had the opportunity of communicating in return. Keppel's Journey from India to England.

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