main points of the subject. It is sufficient to add, that the performance of the vessel exceeded the most ardent anticipations of the gentlemen who have been concerned in her construction, and that the happy commencement of the new enterprise inspires reasonable anticipations of the ultimate triumph of Caloric over Steam, as a motive power. The destination of the Ericsson, we believe, is still uncertain. She is still incomplete and will have to undergo various manipulations before she can be prepared for a seavoyage; her commander is Capt. A. B. LOWBER, an experienced and able navigator, whose name is well known in connection with the mercantile marine of this port.

-M. NIEPCE DE ST. VICTOR has lately presented to the French Academy certain specimens of Photography, obtained in colors by a new process of his own discovery. The principle upon which he operates is similar to that propounded by the Rev. L. L. HILL, in this country,-the fixing of the natural colors of objects, by means of a plate and camera, in the manner of the daguerreotype. Mr. HILL has not yet produced his specimens, and M. ST. VICTOR finds a radical difficulty in the evanescent character of his works. The colors have all been obtained, and, what is more extraordinary, metallic surfaces are taken with their own distinguishing characteristics. A great difficulty in the method of taking the pictures, is that of obtaining many colors at once,-bright tints being produced more readily than the darker ones. The worst is the deep green of leaves, while white is quite easy. M. ST. VICTOR further states, that the colors aré rendered much more vivid by the use of ammonia.

-Microscopists are earnestly debating the practicability of photographic delineations of minute objects. Mr. HODGSON lately read a paper before the London Microscopic Society, in condemnation of the employment of the Daguerreotype and Talbotype, until such time as we shall be able to engrave from daguerreotype plates,—a plan which is in a fair way to be accomplished in cur own country, by the recent invention of the Crystalotype by Mr. WHIPPLE, of Boston, a skilful daguerreotypist, who claims to have discovered a system of simultaneous picturing and engraving, the image being sunk into a plate of glass as soon as received into the camera, and there remaining in such form that the plate may be placed in the ordinary copperplate press. This invention, like many other important results among us, is still in embryo.

-At a late meeting of the British Numis

matic Society, Mr. EVANS read a paper, on a gold coin, a new Noble of Edward IV., which is considered to be quite unique. The die seems to have been intended for the Nobles of Henry, the II in the centre being only partially obliterated by the E struck over it. The coin is in fine preservation; weight, 107 grains.

-The investigations which have been prosecuted during the past year by Lieut. MAURY, in regard to the winds and currents of the ocean, have produced gratifying results. The sailing-charts prepared at the National Observatory, at Washington, under the eye of Mr. MAURY, are coming into very general use, and some thirty thousand copies have been called for in the course of the year.

-The Annual Report of Lieut. CHAS. H. DAVIS, Superintendent of the American Nautical Almanac, as presented to Congress, shows an average yearly expenditure of $19,400 on that work. The first volume of the Almanac, already issued from the press, will be followed by the second, very speedily, and the printing of the new time-tables has progressed with all the rapidity that is desirable, in so important an undertaking.

-Specimens of gold have been discovered on the Quechee river, near Bridgewater, Vermont, which seem to corroborate the reports of the existence of gold veins in that State which have attracted considerable attention during the past four years. Prof. HUBBARD has obtained valuable specimens of Vermont ochre from the vicinity of Strafford. The mines of this material are deemed inexhaustible.

MUSIC.

THE old story says that while John was getting ready to do it, James did it. So we stated in our last monthly account of the domestic musical world, that the great interest was the approaching appearance of Sontag in opera; and while the town was eagerly awaiting the announcement of place and piece, Alboni suddenly opened at the "Broadway" in Cenerentola, and at once, easily took that position in public estimation which she has always occupied in Europe, and which she had not yet attained in America. We are glad for her and for ourselves that she did so; that she did not yield the field to the dazzling prestige of her worthy rival, and withdraw to more facile southern fields to win her deserved laurels. Both the artists and ourselves are the gainers in this tournament of music. The famous combat of Troubadours at the Wartburg has been renewed, during the past month, in New-York, and according to the modern

fashion, by the two great singers, who have so shared the honors, and who, we are happy to say, have never before done so well. It was a bold movement upon Alboni's part, and showed the true spirit of a true artist, to appeal to the public from the stage of the "Broadway," and with no other vocal assistance than that which had been already sharply criticized at her concerts. But the result, as usual in such cases, has triumphantly justified the hazard. Her success has been great and unequivocal. Not only has she charmed with her wonderful organ, her large manner and exquisite method, as she did in the concert room, but she has developed a dramatic talent hitherto entirely latent, and the absence of which was freely forgiven by the rapturous Parisians and Londoners in their intoxication with the voice. This want of dramatic power was always observed by the shrewdest European critics, and with regret, Hector Berlioz in one of his feuilletons exclaimed, "Oh, that I were young and handsome, I would make Alboni fall desperately in love with me; I would maltreat her unmercifully, and at the end of six months she would be a great actress." The remark showed the keen perception of the critic, for it not only revealed his observation of the want, but his consciousness that it was not irremediable. Let Hector Berlioz come to New-York (if he can leave, for a moment, the enthusiastic ovation of which he and his opera are the objects at Weimar), let him sit in the best seat at the "Broadway," and behold, with the astonishment we can well imagine, the petted Contralto singing and acting to a Yankee audience, as (we can speak from much experience) she never sang and acted to the most exigeant Parisian parterre; no, not even on the eventful night at the Grand Opera, when she made her début as Fidés, in the Prophete. The house is not suited for opera, the orchestra is not very good; San Giovanni is not a primo tenore, with his sweet parlor voice; there is no Seconda Donna, only prima and ultima; yet, with the sole assistance of Rovere, who shows a good buffo feeling, and well preserves the traditions of his role, Alboni has triumphed to that degree that, not only are the critics confessed not to have overrated her, but they are reproved for declaring that she was not an actress. We trust the benign singer is herself conscious that she owes something to her American career, and that she would not have visited us in vain, had she only learned that she could be "a great actress" without six months of M. Berlioz's youth, beauty, and beating. Meanwhile we are not at all sure that she did not fancy American laurels had only

to be plucked. We should not be at all surprised if she had supposed, not quite fully understanding Jenny Lind's career, and Barnum's management, that we were so easily humbugged, that her European fame and a few songs would immediately fill her purse. She forgot, probably, what so few natives consider, that Barnum's humbug consisted in enabling us, for the first time in our history, to hear the greatest singer in her prime, and under every advantageous accessory of orchestra, fellow-artists, and concertarrangements. May an indulgent Fate grant us such humbugs without end! To be cured of such a melancholy delusion was worth the visit. No man will pay more lavishly than the Yankee for the best thing. It would be hard to say in what opera Alboni has been most charming. Perhaps, from the greater tenderness of the music, the Sonnambula has been the favorite; while no single scene has been more loudly applauded than the drum scene in the Figlia. That might, however, be partly explained by the quaintness of the spectacle of so luxuriant a Vivandière. The brisk, pert little daughter of the regiment, could not fail to be amusingly personated by the tropical amplitude of our languid contralto. The applause with which the success was greeted was, doubtless, not quite legitimate, but partly owing to the drollery of the accidents. Notwithstanding the marked failure of Pellegrini as Elvino, which must have seriously interfered with Alboni's playing, she gave all the rich melancholy to the delicious melodies of Amina, and in the exuberant fioriture of the finale, her magnificent voice revelled, and rose and fell, "a steam of rich distilled perfumes," penetrating every corner of the house with music, and every corner of every heart with delight. It would be no wonder if Sontag, the dowager Queen of Song, were a little apprehensive of the result of her attempt in view of this sudden and unquestioned triumph. But Alboni at the way," only piqued curiosity for Sontag at Niblo's, and the more that she was to make her début in la Figlia. The evening came and the crowd. The house

Broad

was entirely filled. Even the upper galleries under the eaves had their throng. Even that gloomy, but otherwise agreeable theatre, looked almost gay with the ranks of brilliant toilettes. It was strange to read the heading of the bill. Many years ago, we remember to have read Gardner's "Music of Nature," an odd mélange of musical science and gossip; and in that book, among other historical notabilities, occurred a brief biography of Sontag.

To our youngest imagination she was thus enshrined far away as a Saint of Song: and we wondered, in a youthful way, about her appearance and her career, and mainly about her voice and her lyrical triumphs. Remembering these old readings and wonderings, it was with a kind of bewilderment that we read on the bill in our hand. "Madame Henriette Sontag's first appearance in opera." ." But before we had time to experience many emotions, M. Eckart was in his seat, and the overture was playing. We do not often notice such perfect discipline in an orchestra. The pleasant prelude of the opera was rendered with a vigor and spirit which were of the happiest auspices for the opera itself. The same care which distinguished the concerts was evident throughout the mounting and the performance of the opera. The orchestra was never better drilled, the choruses were exact, and only a little tame by reason of their apprehension,-the costumes and stage-appointments generally, admirable, except that we were sorry that the Prima Donna, obliged as she naturally is to consult every means of assisting the sound of her voice, dispensed with the carpet in the second act. It was unpleasant to see so unquestioned a lady literally treading the boards.

To leave our postulates, however, Sontag's success was also unequivocal. The first act, comprising the military part, was not brilliant. The effort was too obvious; the drum scene was omitted, and the music lay, generally, out of the available range of the singer's voice. The second act, with the music lesson, was as fine a piece of lyrical acting as we remember, and received the genuine and enthusiastic approbation of an appreciating as well as an immense audience. Unfortunately, as we think, Alary's singing polka was introduced as a finale: a pretty piece, but lacking all the breadth and brilliancy proper in such a finale. With the whole range of bravura open to her, Madame Sontag should have selected something more effective. It was exquisitely sung, of course, and the curtain fell amid universal applause. The fine finish of all the details of presenting the opera had their type in that of the Prima Donna's acting and singing. It is a somewhat difficult rôle, for the intrinsic lady must never be lost in the saucy minx; in which case, the first act would be coarse and unpleasing. Sontag fully comprehends this, and gives the character its arch coquetry, in such a manner, that we are not surprised when the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, and the rich watered silk of the lady replaces the red stuff of the Vivandiere; nor,

which is the test of the artist's success, do we yearn for the days of the red stuff and the rat-a-plan, which would destroy the proper unity and development of the plot.

Without doubt, Sontag has never acted so well as here. We saw her début in the same part in London, and she was then cold and unimpressive. Her rendering smacked altogether too much of the lady, and very little of the artist. She has felt here that nothing was to be lost nor risked. Her first opera night in New-York was, in some degree, the crisis of her American career. Had she failed, the torrent of enthusiasm for her rival would have swept away her chance of recovering favor. Sontag has reached the point at which no step lost can be regained. We congratulate her sincerely that she has not lost it. Her polished, we might say, burnished method, so highly and rigorously is it cultivated, makes the most of her voice, and her elaborate manner only the more ornaments it; but-we have now reached that terrible BUT. We may as well say it at once, and abide by our opinion. It is better to hear Alboni sing one good song, than Sontag through an opera. In singing, after all, and in opera, of which the pith is song, the first absolute requisite is voice. Then, a fine delivery of it; that is, proper cultivation. Then, dramatic power; although that is the least essential of the three in an opera; of these Alboni has always confessedly had both the first in ample measure, and she has now proved that she has the last. Sontag has always confessedly had both the last in a remarkable degree, but can never again have the first.

Our limits forbid us to devote more space to self-gratulation upon the favor of the presence of these two singers. They have quite monopolized the musical interest of the month. Gottschalk, the Creole, a pianist of peculiar talent, who has made a name in Paris, is now among us. It is so long since we have had a remarkable virtuoso upon that instrument, that, if he be really something new, as well as good, he will be welcomed.

The interest in Mr. Fry's admirable lectures hardly continues. There is a decline in the attendance which ought not to surprise us. We had hoped that the great intrinsic value of the course would have interested the public even through ten weeks; but we had not thought of Sontag and Alboni, in their present tournay. Yet we must repeat what we said last month, that these lectures are full of instruction and interest, and that any one who will do so good a work for us, on so generous a scale, richly deserves the utmost success. In Boston, among much

good orchestral music, from the Germania and the Musical Fund Society, we notice a series of Chamber-concerts by Otto Dresel, one of the most genuine artists and accomplished pianists in the country. In a certain passionate fervor, his playing surpases any we have ever heard: and we are glad for him, that he has an opportunity to show what he is to so appreciative a public as that of Boston.

In Foreign Music we find the great interest to be the triumphant success of Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini at the Weimar Theatre, under the management of the Composer's friend, Liszt, the pianist. There were banquets, and silver batons, and torch-light processions on the occasion. Why will not our Philharmonic (whose concert came unfortunately too late for notice) let us hear something of Berlioz, about whose music the foreign critics quarrel so prettily. Auber, who is writing an opera to Scribe's Libretto, for the Opera Comique, La Fiancie Du Brigand, is reputed to be on the verge of honors. The Emperor, it is understood, has signified his august pleasure that the composer shall be made a senator, in which case, Halevy, an elaborately uninteresting composer, or Adam, a gay, light operamaker, will be appointed his successor as Director of the Conservatoire. They say" that Meyerbeer is writing an opera founded upon Lessing's Emilia Galeotti; but what do "they" not say that Meyerbeer is composing? Kreutzer, a German composer of the second rank, has had success at Frankfort with his Aureble. The Princess Maria Piccolomini, of whose family there have been two Popes, and one of whose uncles is now a Cardinal, has succeeded in Rome, as a Prima Don

na.

In London some daring Miss Laura Barker has set Tennyson's Enone to music.

The Egyptian Museum of Dr. HENRY ABBOTT, now on exhibition at the Stuyvesant Institute, is one of the most valuable collections of the kind in the world. It is the result of twenty years' residence in Cairo, and familiarity with all the best Egyptian scholars and explorers, all of whom unite in bearing testimony to the undoubted authenticity of each relic. Sir Gardner Wilkinson, who is probably the most accomplished of Egyptian archæologists, was very anxious that the collection should be carried to England, and large sums have frequently been offered for single objects. But the value of such a collection depends too much upon the aggregate to allow single articles to be detached, and the Dr. has preferred to keep the completeness of his Museum

unimpaired. Its interest to the Christian, the antiquarian, the historian, and to the universal curiosity about the details of a life so far removed from us that it seems fabulous, is not to be estimated. To see bricks made without straw, by the children of Israel-the stone head of the Pharaoh of Exodus (Thothmes III. of Egyptian history),—the iron helmet and part of the scale armor of Shishak, who reduced Jerusalem under Rehoboam, as mentioned in 2 Chronicles Chap. XII., the iron being the only authentic specimen in any museum-a hawk-head vase with the name of Zerah, the Ethiopian King, from the plain of Zoam, 2 Chronicles Chap. XIV.,-is to be brought very near the old Jewish times. But to see the necklace and ear-rings of Menes, the first Pharaoh of Egypt, and the first king of whom we have historical accounts, who flourished, according to the best commentators, 2771 years before Christ, and the gold signet-ring of Suphis, or Cheops, who built the great pyramid, 2352 years before Christ-this is the letting in of daylight upon Egyptian darkness, and clasping the hands of men who lived four and five thousand years ago, as acquaintances of yesterday. Beside these articles of signal and peculiar interest, there are beautiful specimens of papyrus preserved so well that the writing is perfectly legible, every kind of household and domestic implement, fruits, seeds &c., glass of the finest texture, the stylus with which the Greeks wrote, and the tablets upon which they used them-mummied hands and feet -mummied birds, and three huge bulls, the Egyptian Apis, mummied-every variety of charm and image, cloth woven thirty centuries ago, beautiful jewelry, and a little bronze group of two lizards fighting, the remarkable workmanship of which could not be surpassed at this day. This admirable collection, weighing not less than thirty tons, was carefully packed by Dr. Abbott himself and shipped at Alexandria for Boston, where it safely arrived, and was there reshipped for New-York. It is, in a historical view, one of the most valuable importations ever made into this country, and we trust it will be so appreciated. For, in that case, we may hope to have it remain here permanently, either as a national Museum, or as an ornament of New-York or some of our large cities. England has its Egypt in the British Museum at London, France in the Louvre at Paris, Germany in its museum at Berlin, Italy in the famous Turin collection. Shall not the United States preserve in some fitting way,-itself the youngest of nations,-these wonderful memorials of the oldest?

OFFE

the Eastern shore of the continent of Asia, and bounding the Pacific Ocean on the West, between the parallels of 31° and 45° North latitude, and in longitude between 130° and 150° East from Greenwich; stretching a North-East and South-West course, the navigator betwixt San Francisco and China must pass by the islands of the empire of Japan. He looks wistfully upon the lofty mountains, verdant and cultivated to their very top; thinks upon the pleasant valleys, growing fruits and corn, so thick that they laugh and sing," longs to be released from being tossed to and fro on the waves, and to see the gallant ship resting on her shadow in the placid bays; or, if embarked on the ocean steamers that are cleaving the waters of the Pacific, he turns to the lessened pile of coals, almost exhausted by his voyage of five thousand miles, and calls to mind the beds of coal which are (in the language of Mr. Webster) "a gift of Providence, deposited by the Creator of all things in the depths of the Japanese Islands for the benefit of the human family," and yet knows that fuel, and food, and repose, and refreshment are all denied him; the ports shut against him; commerce interdicted, even to the purchase of bread and water; while, in case of his shipwreck on these inhospitable shores, he would be caught and caged, treated as a malefactor, and doomed to hopeless imprisonment by a people, not barbarous, but intelligent and refined, far above the inhabitants of other provinces in Asia; whose laws and customs, fixed as "the laws of the Medes and Persians," put constraint on the humanity of the Japanese, compelling their barbarous treatment of all stranger ;-she would invoke the mercy of the God of nations, he would demand the lawful exercise of the power of his native country, to interpose VOL. I.-16

the majesty of their might, both to shield the shipwrecked and to prosper the adventurous sailors. That prayer is gone up on high. An armament, under the flag of these United States, is already on the waters, to plead with arguments of reason and of gunpowder, for the accomplishment of these grand objects. The eyes of Europe are attentive to the operations of the American fleet. The Expedition to Japan has elicited remarks from diplomatic agents, from writers in reviews, from men in the ranks of commerce, from all who desire the extension of civilization and Christianity.

It is becoming to the intelligence of the American community that they be informed on the subject of Japan. Whatever method be chosen to diffuse information-whether by the press, in books; or by reviews in quarterly and monthly periodicals, and by leaders in daily newspapers; or by oral teaching in lectures before lyceums and scientific societies-we hail the contributor with a cordial welcome, and we will do our part to spread the knowledge among the inquiring public of this free land.

But books on Japan are scarce; or were so a few months ago. Locked in the archives of the Jesuit mission rooms; hidden under the unfamiliar language of Holland or of Russia; buried beneath the dust of the library of the East India Company; and burrowing deep on the shelves of the largest libraries, might be found the only extant annals of the Japanese. Translations of these documents had been made, but where to find them was a knotty question. But our cunning booksellers, scenting the public curiosity afar off, have set on foot a search, successfully; exhuming old "Kampfer," the Dutch chronicler; rubbing up the faded covers of "Golownin," the Russian cap-