From that time to the present, the Magyar mind has exhibited symptoms of activity, if not always a progress; but it is perfectly clear-and to this idea the hopes of the nation should cling-that the great writers of Hungary are yet to come. They are perhaps even now lisping at their mother's knee, or launching diminutive boats of paper or rushes on the Danube. Come, however, they will, as they receive into their hearts the true inspiration of nationality, and mould their thoughts, not after the German or French, or even English fashion, but in conformity with the promptings of the mind that came with Arpad from the Caucasus; but elevated, refined, and enlarged by the new forms of civilisation.

All races when engaged in the work of their own intellectual emancipation, accomplish the first part of the process by poetry. One of the most curious sections of Mr Szabad's book describes how this has been done among the Magyars. He separates the metrical wealth of his country into two portions-one belonging to the period of what may be called the revolutionary crisis; the other, subsequent, and embodying the hopes and aspirations of Young Hungary. As is perfectly natural, he gives the preference to the latter; and in some respects, perhaps, he may be right, because the contemporary poets have embodied in their writings the spirit of resistance to oppression, together with all that is enlarged and noble in the Hungarian mind. But their productions are necessarily invested with so peculiar a character, that they are less adapted to the tastes of foreign nations than poems expressing universal sympathies. Accordingly, we look with greater pleasure on the works published previously to the period of political excitement; not that we share more completely in the opinions expressed, but that they would appear to be a more genuine growth of Parnassus. Making allowance for the unavoidable disguise of a translation, we think the following piece will be admitted to possess much merit :

SECRET SORROW.

My soul is troubled with an ancient sorrow,
Which grows again anew; and glowing themes,
Gathering afresh, o'ershadow me with dreams
Of a mysterious darkness on the morrow.

I fain would weep, and yet can find no tears-
Nought but the broken sigh and stifled groan :
These are the tenants of my heart alone,
And their deep underminings steal my years.

O that the tears, joy's freshening tears would fall!
They come not to the weak and wounded breast,
They rush both forward from the fount of rest.
If thou art not than marble harder all,

Know that the silent pang, the grief that speaks not,
Is of all woes the deadliest-and to bear

The heart that throbs and burns, while yet it breaks not,

Is worse than death-for death a blessing were.

This, in spirit, bears some resemblance to the melancholy of Petrarch; and, in all probability, its author, Dayka, who died at the age of twenty-eight, felt he was writing under the shadow of the cyprus. The following is a far more buoyant, but at the same time, ruder outbreak of inspiration:

THE COTTAGER'S SONG.

No elegant palace God raised o'er my head,
Rich tapestry gave not, nor silk to my bed;
But a cottage of peace, and a rude healthy life,
And, to crown my enjoyments, a brown, cheerful wife;
And love makes it taste more delightfully sweet.

When our labours are ended, together we rest, And each to the other's bare bosom is prest;

The sun rises up, and we rise full of joy,

Full of strength to the busy day's wonted employ.
Then the spring dawns in green, and the fields smile

anew,

And every fresh floweret is dripping with dew;
And the song of the lark pours its melodies sweet,
Like the freshness of zephyr on summer's close heat.
Then comes the gray vintage-the red grapes we bear,
And alike of the labour and recompense share.
The winter puts on its white robes-we retire
At even-and bend o'er our own cottage fire;
My Sari turns round the gay spindle, and sings;
And out of our happiness time makes its wings.
I have handicraft labours, and, happy the thought,
For this pay no taxes to Germans nor aught.
The Sabbath comes round, and, in holiday gear,
go
to God's dwelling, then quietly steer

To the kortsma,* where, cheered by a wine-loving brother,

We pledge a full glass, and we laugh with each other,
Get warm, and we call on the gipsies to play.

I know of no care, roll the world as it may;
I nothing am owed, and to nobody owe;
Hurting none, none will hurt me; so smiling we go
On the rude path of life; when its labours are past,
Death will find us both ready and cheerful at last.

Mr

Looking back over the Magyar annals, it would appear natural, however, to expect a Muse very different in character from this. The old barbarians, when they swept like a hurricane along the northern coasts of the Black Sea, and poured into the province of Pannonia, were inspired by a spirit more like that of the Hurons or Iroquois than the soft singers of Italy. The fiercest notes, therefore, that ever clanged from the lyre of Greece, even in the most warlike period of her history, could scarcely be sufficiently stern and grim to express the sentiments of the warriors who founded the Magyar state. We borrow from Szabad a passage which may truly be said to furnish a key to their national character:-The country which they prepared to take possession of, and the central part of which was then called Pannonia, was broken up into small parts, and inhabited by races dissimilar in origin and language-as Sclavonians, Walachians, a few Huns and Avars, as well as some Germans. Before commencing the conquest, the Magyars entered into a compact which throws some light on their general character. This compact consisted of the following points :-

1st. The chief power was to be hereditary in the family of Arpad (their leader); while the power of the chiefs of the respective tribes was to be hereditary also.

2d. Each successive prince was obliged to undergo an election, before assuming the supreme power.

'3d. Treason or faithlessness on the part of the chief of the state was to be punished with banishment, and in the case of the chiefs of the tribes, with death.

'4th. The fruits of the conquest were to be divided according to merit in the work of the conquest.

'Nor did these stern barbarians despatch this sclemn agreement with a mere verbal oath. In the centre of a circle was placed a rude vessel of hollowed stone; around it stood the assembled chiefs of the tribes. Then Arpad, first baring his arm, pierced it with the point of his falchion, till the blood flowed into the basin of stone. The chiefs of the tribe followed his example in succession, till the vessel reeked with the warm blood. Each man then put his lips to the bowl, and quaffing the mingled draught, they testified in the presence of the high sun, which they worshipped, their solemn purpose to conquer or die together.'

This shews better than any number of poetical specimens, the original temper and disposition of the

* Inn, in Hungarian.

Magyar race, formed rather for martial exploits than for the arts and refinements of peace. Their literature, therefore, should be bold, irregular, impassioned, averse from trivial ornaments-the very reverse of that which prevails in Germany. This character it has been of late assuming; but no one with adequate poetical powers has hitherto undertaken to transfer the genuine strains of the Hungarian Muse into the English language.

CIVIL STRATA GEMS. THAT'all stratagems are right in love and war,' is a proverb, to the moral soundness of which one would not care to stand pledged. There are, however, other fields for modern ingenuity, and a variety of stratagems on record, which, having been devised neither in love nor in war, may be regarded as belonging to the civil service of mankind. That manoeuvring is the established practice of deceivers gay and grave, is one of those facts which nobody can deny; but tricks have been occasionally employed for honest purposes, and though moralists might differ touching the lawfulness of such machinery, the details are decidedly amusing. Moreover, it is a woful truth that in this wicked world -which, in common with all sensible seniors, we know to be growing worse every day since we were younghonesty to the word and letter is next to an impossible policy. There is a spice of the serpent's wisdom wanted sometimes in most lives, either to keep the peace or hold people's own. Nobody, to our knowledge, has yet ranked artifice among the virtues, and it is a weapon not to be held in honour, yet one will be more than amused at its successful employment in unveiling pretext or defeating injustice.

Would not the frankest soul in Britain sympathise with a runaway negro, who bought himself very cheap from the unrecognising speculator as 'an ugly lazy dog not worth catching?' Are there many that would not mentally congratulate the nabob who came home with such a well-formed tale of shipwreck and ruin, that none of his hitherto attentive kindred were found willing to encourage him, except a far-out cousin with a very small shop and a very large family? and is there not something refreshing to the lovers of fair play after the abundantly recorded stratagems of gentlemen always in difficulties, to see an honest tradesman recovering his little account by some light manœuvre of similar dexterity?

The ingenious baker, who, from the pit of the Italian Opera, reminded an aristocratic debtor in the boxes of his three years' bill, furnished a strong example of this kind; but a scheme quite as successful, though involving less publicity, was executed by a London upholsterer some years ago. He had furnished one of those villas which rise by thousands on the skirts of the metropolis in a rather expensive style, to suit the taste of the occupant, which was strong for fashion and finery; but, unfortunately, the gentleman entertained a companion predilection for letting accounts remain unsettled; and after two years' dunning, the worthy tradesman found that there was no chance of getting paid without the help of law. To law, accordingly, he had recourse; an execution was obtained, but how to serve it became the difficulty. The gentleman in demand had more reasons than that for keeping within doors-moreover, his front entrance was kept securely locked, and nobody admitted without careful scrutiny

The sheriff's-officer was

from behind the venetians. at his wits' end, till the upholsterer found out that his inacessible friend had a relation in the country. We know not whether the custom of previous years suggested the scheme to him, but with or without such suggestion, he packed a hamper at the approach of Christmas-time, so poultry-like, that most people would have said 'Turkeys!' at the first sight of it. The sheriff's-officer, in porter's guise, wheeled it along in his hand-cart; and being reconnoitered as usual, was at once admitted with the present, when he served the execution, and the bill was 'arranged for' instanter.

The stratagems of trade have been long proverbial for both number and variety. It may be a businessthere is nothing that sharpens the wits of mankind like conclusion, but for aught we could ever learn, like some prospect of pecuniary profit. Under that influence, expedients which statesmen might have envied in the palmy days of diplomacy, will be devised and executed by the most middling man of one's acquaintance. The very Jacks and Joes of creation will exhibit an inventive genius and fertility of resource, to and what is still more remarkable, stratagems in the which it is our regret that many poets are strangers; money-getting art are rarely perfect failures. One of the most original of the kind within our remembrance, was that of an individual who might be called either Jack or Joe; but he was a Cornish man and a solicitor. The lawyer had left the land of tin as a field sufficiently occupied, and settled himself in a Bristol partnership; but whether the firm was friendless, unskilful, or merely unlucky, clients were not numerous, and the business scarcely paid. Our solicitor, however, found time to establish a business on his own account. He recollected that his native Penzance was remarkableperhaps owing to its sea-air and open country-for the number of people who attained to extreme old age: this length of days seemed to be an heirloom in certain In his visits, which now became frequent and regular, families, many of whom belonged to the humblest rank. to the little town, the solicitor took a singular and most friendly interest in his ancient neighbours. With one after another of the oldest inhabitants he made or renewed acquaintance, talked to them of the good old times, inquired particularly into the number of their years, including those of their fathers and grandfathers; made them presents of choice snuff, tobacco, and other trifles equally acceptable, and always concluded with an invitation to accompany him to Bristol, which, in old Cornwall fashion, they regarded as the London of the west; promising to shew them the wonders of the city, and send them safe back. Most of the venerable residenters had never passed the bounds of their native county; but the lawyer contrived to invitation. The prevailing one was a change of air, furnish them with strong reasons for accepting his and its sanitary consequences: besides the honour was not small, and grandeur has charms for the grayest head. In short, some score successively visited Bristol under his conduct, each and all returning with the same account-that they had seen the great church, the market, and the lord mayor's house; that their entertainer's ale was strong, and he had shewn them to Thus things went on well, till, in an evil hour, the a great Bristol doctor, just for the credit of Cornwall. solicitor dismissed, for some breach of discipline, his confidential clerk, who, being a neighbour's son, returned to seek the sympathy of his friends; and took that opportunity to inform the seniors of Penzance, that his quondam employer had largely increased his income by annuities cheaply purchased from certain insurance offices on their long-drawn lives. The popular ferment which this intelligence created, had not been equalled since the French were said to be off Land's End; but it was among the more antiquated residents that the agitation reached its climax. Concerning the laws of

Franklin, and on the last day of the present month, the gallant veteran's name will be struck off the books; and so, whatever may be the flattery of conjecture, we must regard him as a hero dead upon the field where he won most of his renown. The Americans,

on their part, are more hopeful: they consider that the missing party have not been looked for where they were most likely to be found; and Dr Kane, whose book on the Grinvell Expedition is the best ever written about the polar regions and their marvellous phenomena, has pushed well up to the north on the western coast of Greenland, from whence, in the coming spring, he will start with a boat-party, cross the pole, if possible, and look for the Erebus and Terror among the islands which lie off Behring's Strait. Who would not wish success to such an enterprise?

Of scientific matters, we may mention, first, Professor W. Thomson's additions to a subject that came before the last meeting of the British Association namely, the cooling of apartments in hot climates by a method which government is to be asked to introduce into their establishments in India. Professor Thomson having, as is known, been engaged in researches on the dynamical values of heat, now shews that a machine may be constructed to be worked by water or steam, which, with properly contrived valves, and ingress or egress pipes, would serve either for heating or cooling an apartment. Such a machine, expending not more than one-thirty-fifth of the energy of the heat imparted, would raise or lower the temperature 30 degrees above or below that of the atmosphere; and he points out how a current of warm air at such a temperature as is convenient for heating and ventilating a building may be obtained mechanically, either by water-power without any consumption of coal, or by means of a steamengine driven by a fire burning actually less coal than is capable of generating, by its combustion, the required heat; and, secondly, how, with similar mechanical means, currents of cold air, such as might undoubtedly be used with great advantage to health and comfort for cooling houses in tropical countries, may be produced by motive power requiring-if derived from heat by means of steam-engines-the consumption of less coal, perhaps, than is used constantly for warming houses in this country.'

Professor Callan, of Maynooth, has followed up his invention of a nitric acid cast-iron battery, by contriving an apparatus which discharges a stream of mixed oxygen and hydrogen gas upon lime with perfect safety, and so to produce an intense light. In this case, the avoidance of danger is the chief claim to notice. He has, besides, ‘a method of producing an intermittent lime-light by means of a small galvanic battery,' and of so brilliant a nature, as to be especially suited for signals in hazy or foggy weather. He says, that had there been such a light at the Bailey Lighthouse, off Dublin, the Victoria steamer would probably not have been wrecked as she was, a few months ago. Should this light really prove available for lighthouses, its importance to navigation can hardly be overestimated.

The professor has found, moreover, that ordinary tin plates, or plates of thin sheet iron, coated with an alloy of tin and lead, with a small proportion of antimony, form a negative element for galvanic batteries so stern as scarcely to be affected by the sulphuric acid. They answer the purpose as well as platinized silver, at a very trifling cost. Iron,' we are told, 'coated with an alloy of lead and tin, in which the quantity of lead is nearly equal to or exceeds that of tin, will answer as well as lead or galvanised iron for roofing, cisterns, baths, pipes, gutters, window-frames, telegraphic-wires for marine and other purposes. It may

sometimes be used instead of copper for the sheathing of ships.' The uses of such a material in our climate are manifold and obvious, and it appears to offer what has long been a desideratum in the mechanical arts.

We called attention some time ago to Dr Percy's

opinion, that gold was to be found in everything-even in sea-water. Proof has been given in numerous instances, and the doctor has further announced the result of a series of experiments on lead in all its forms, carried on at the School of Mines, Jermyn Street. Gold was discovered in all or nearly all the specimens examined in minute quantities; just enough,' in common phrase, to swear by. On the other side of the Channel, M. Deville of Paris has discovered a more practical method than that of Wöhler, of obtaining the metal aluminum, which is the basis of clay. This metal, as M. Deville produces it, is white, tough, light, capable of as high a polish as silver, and will not rust. Now, we know that clay is abundant enough; in some places, there is too much of it; and if it can be made to give up a substance so valuable as the new metal appears to be, there would be a double profit. While waiting for further information on this interesting matter, we may remark that the idea did not originate even with Wöhler: Sir Humphry Davy had proved that alumina, or clay, is an oxydised body, and inferred that it was a metallic oxide, though he never produced the metal by itself.

Lithophotography is making progress, and so is Nature-self-printing, as the Germans call it. For the latter art, we are not, as was supposed, indebted to Vienna: it appears to have been discovered in this country by two experimentalists, independent of each other, before it came to us from the banks of the Danube. Dr Branson, of Sheffield, who recently demonstrated the important use to be made of soap in electrotypy, now shews how in the Self-printing the electrotyping process may be dispensed with. He places the plant or other specimen between two wellpolished Britannia metal plates, subjects them to pressure, and gets an impression wonderfully delicate and faithful. This impression is at once transferred to a stone, and thus thousands of impressions can be taken in the usual way without the trouble, delay, and expense of electrotyping duplicates or triplicates. Printed in the natural colours, the impression gives a perfect picture of the original, and in the illustration of botanical and other scientific works, offers beauties and advantages hitherto obtained only by costly and laborious methods. Mr Aitken reports to the Society of Arts that he obtained similar results fourteen months ago.

There is a new application, too, of electro-magnetism: Signor Bonelli, director of telegraphs in Sardinia, has devised a means by which this subtile force is made to do the weaving in a Jacquard loom. Another saving of human muscle which will be welcomed by those who do not dislike mechanisms, though perhaps unwelcome to those short-sighted carpenters in one of the midland counties, who a few days ago threatened to strike if their masters used machinery. Surely those men never went to school!

Some years ago, it was said and believed that growing plants gave off positive electricity to the atmosphere, and negative electricity to the soil. The notion was subsequently doubted; but Professor Buff has shewn by experiments, which scarcely admit of error or uncertainty, that 'the roots, and all the interior portions of the plant filled with sap, are in a permanently negative condition; while the moist or moistened surface of the fresh branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits are permanently positively electric.' The theory is therefore established; the conditions here described are precisely those essential to permanent electromotive activity. Apropos of vegetation, we may add that the colonial secretary has received official communications from the Bahamas, calling attention to the