as Lord Hertford may bring home for the walls of his private mansion, or Mr. Dominic Colnaghi may have
purchased for his wealthy patrons in Pall Mall East. No commissioner from the National Gallery of
England stood in the sale-room beside those from the capitals of Russia and France; and Englishmen have
the additional mortification of reflecting that among the rarest and most choice possessions of the gallery
thus dispersed, was the collection of Italian drawings made by Sir Thomas Lawrence, and forming originally
but a part of that priceless general collection which our government refused some fifteen years ago to
purchase, at a sum less than has since been demanded for portions of it only, illustrating particular schools. Thus
the fiction of the Sybil's books has come literally true in this deplorable matter. It may be said that the Dutch
at least have not the advantage of us; but their poverty and not their will consents. The gallery, of the
Hague was mortgaged some years since to the Emperor of Russia; and the cause of its present dispersion is
the belief of the Dutchmen that it was worth more than the mortgage-money. This turns out to have been
well founded. Among the prices given was six thousand guineas for two portraits by Vandyke!—a sum,
we believe, without example.

As Wordsworth's Prelude and its attack on the
Universities opened our last month's summary, this month's
may open with Professor Sedgwick's Discourse on the
Studies of the University of Cambridge, of which the fifth
edition has just appeared with a new preface four
hundred and thirty pages long. Considering that the
discourse itself occupies something less than a hundred
pages, this preface may be pronounced a somewhat
remarkable achievement. It is principally devoted to
an onslaught on the principles of the author of Vestiges
of Creation in reference to science and philosophy, and
on those of the authors of the Tracts for the Times in
regard to religion and belief. Professor Sedgwick thinks
the middle way apparently the safest in most matters;
and in this spirit remarks also on the proposed
commission of inquiry into the Universities. He protests
against Wordsworth as an authority in favour of its
necessity, on the one hand; but is not less disposed, on
the other, to reject such authorities against it as Lord
Brougham or Mr. Stuart.

Of books in the higher departments of publication, we
have to notice the appearance of an elaborate work on
Tubular Bridges by Mr. Edwin Clark, with a striking
folio of illustrative drawings and lithographs. Also of
an Essay in two goodly octavos on Ancient Egypt under
the Pharaohs by Mr. Kenrick, full of learning, yet full
of interest, because grafting on the ascertained old
history all the modern elucidations of travellers and
artists, critics and interpreters. It appears to be but a
portion of a contemplated work comprehending a
complete history of those countries of the East whose
civilisation preceded and influenced that of Greece;
and to our proper understanding of which, the discovery
of the hieroglyphic character, and such researches as
those of Mr. Layard, have lately contributed an entire
new world of information. Another book remarkable
for the precision and completeness of its knowledge, is
Doctor Latham's Natural History of the Varieties of
Man, a very important contribution to the literature of
ethnology; and with this we must connect in subject,
though certainly not in any other kind of merit, an eccentric
fragment on the Races of Man by Doctor Robert Knox.

Mrs. Jameson has published a second series of her
Poetry of Sacred and Legendary Art, in a volume of
Legends of the Monastic Orders, similarly illustrated;
and nothing can be more graceful than this lady's treatment
of a subject which has not much, to our thinking,
that is graceful in itself. She clips its claws, and makes
it fit for drawing-room society; but essentially, the
theme is odious, though the institution had its uses, after
the fashion of all things that have existed for any time
in the world. To understand and feel the temper in
which they should be judged in the present day, let the
reader, however, study such books as Sermons on some
of the Subjects of the Day by the new dean of Bristol,
on which the true Christian spirit of modern life is
impressed, in vivid contrast with the dangerous assumptions
of Tractarianism.

To biography, a new volume of the Life of Chalmers
has been the most interesting addition. A Life of
Ebenezer Elliott, by his son-in-law, possesses also some
interest; and, with a little less of the biographer and
more of the biography, would have been yet more
successful. In English fiction, a semi-chartist novel called
Alton Locke, full of error and earnestness, and evidently
by a university man of the so-called Christian Socialist
school, is the most noticeable work of the kind that has
lately appeared. The other romances of the month have
been translations from the German and French. The
Two Brothers is somewhat in the school of Miss Bremer;
and Stella and Vanessa is a novel by a graceful French
writer very agreeably translated by Lady Duff Gordon,
of which the drift is to excuse Swift for his conduct to
Mrs. Johnson and Miss Vanhomrigh, The subject is
curious, and the treatment (for a Frenchman) not less
so. Nothing painful or revolting is dwelt upon, and if
it does not satisfy it fails to offend. Dates spoil the
author's arguments and inferences; but the countrymen of
Swift have reason to be grateful to the gentlemanly
purpose and intention of M. Leon de Wailly.

The Barbarigo Gallery at Venice, celebrated for ages
for its rich collection, especially of the works of Titian,
has been purchased by the court of Russia, for 560,000
francs, or £22,400 sterling.

The great Collection at the Hague, belonging to the
king of the Netherlands, has been sold by auction, the
sale occupying many days. The pictures having been
chiefly purchased by private individuals, are thus
scattered over the world; comparatively few have come to
this country, and none have been purchased for behoof
of the English public.

The fine Collection of Pictures, the magnificent gift
of the late Mr. Vernon to the nation, have been removed
from the National Gallery to Marlborough House; and
the works of English artists, which were previously in
the National Gallery, have been added to it. These last,
however, are kept apart from the Vernon pictures. The
ground floor of the building is appropriated to this
purpose. It contains a suite of rooms, the first two of which
are devoted to the works of English artists, and the
remainder to the Vernon Collection.

Both the Italian Opera-houses have brought their
respective seasons to a close. The last performance at
Her Majesty's Theatre was on Saturday the 24th; and
the same night concluded the season at Covent Garden.
But there were several extra performances, at reduced
prices, during the following week.—The only operatic
event of any interest as been the appearance at Her
Majesty's Theatre, of Madame Fiorentini, who
performed the parts of Norma and Donna Anna with
extraordinary success. She is a native of Seville, and
married to Mr. Jennings, an English Officer. She
received her musical education in London, and made
her first public appearance at Berlin only twelve
months. She is engaged by Mr. Lumley for next
season. Madame Sontag and Lablache are re-engaged;
the latter for three years.

Jenny Lind sang at two concerts at Liverpool on the
16th and 19th; the Philharmonic Society of that place
availing themselves of her visit for the purpose of
embarking for America, having offered her a thousand
pounds for those two performances. The first concert
was miscellaneous; the second consisted of the Messiah,
and its proceeds were appropriated to the benefit of the
Toxteth Hospital. The popular enthusiasm manifested
at these concerts, and when Mdlle. Lind embarked on
the 21st, was, even in her own case, quite
unprecedented.