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which being interpreted means

Torotorotorotorotorotinx!

Kickabaw! Kickabaw!
Torotorotorotolililinx!!!

Mark that elegant parrakeet with its pure golden plumage. It is a variety of Palæornis torquatus which is placed beside it. Observe it on the hand of its favourite keeper, expressing its fondness by a thousand winning ways. It is formed to be the delicia of some beauty. Its delicate shape and hue would well grace her fair hand, and the murmuring caresses of its coral beak would be better lavished on her sweet lip than our worthy friend's bristly chin.

Quitting the parrot-house we come upon the breeding ponds, where may be seen, side by side, two lovely forms, one from the east and the other from the far west. The gorgeous mandarin drake*—but he is hardly worthy of a look now. It is in the very early spring when he appears full-dressed in his plumage de noces, that he throws all other ducks, or rather drakes, into the shade, not excepting the beautiful American—the summer duck ’— that swims near him.

Now to the palace of the monkeys, ever active, prying, and mischievous. Those of about the same size engaged in a scuffling fight for a nut-the larger tyrannizing over the smaller-some swinging by their tails-others by their hands-all busy, all chattering, except that silent little group in the corner, looking on with philosophic melancholy, but still unable to repress a sigh at their own nutless condition; they have so often had their nuts, when fortune has thrown them perchance in their way, abstracted by the strong hand, with a cuff and a bite in lieu of them, that they have at last retired from the scramble, hopeless, and resigned. If any visitor be disposed to refresh their spirits, let him tender his snuff-box, and keep off the stronger boys with his cane.

But who can look at apes when monkey green' is crowded with England's richest beauty. Here is every variety of clear complexion-ce beau sang, as we once heard an impassioned Frenchman ejaculate in his admiration at the scene, with such an emphasis on the beau, as none but a Frenchman can give-every hue of flowing hair, from the gold sunshine of the delicate blonde, with a skin like paper before the priest has stained it with his black unguent,' to the intense darkness of the raven tresses that arch the brent brow from beneath which shoot the penetrating glances of the bonnie black e'e. We, being sober and cautious Tories, must tear ourselves away from these breathing roses,' and proceed to the flower-garden; for a very pretty flower-garden it is. Dendronessa sponsa.

*Anas galericulata.

Those

Those who know that it was only commenced in 1835, and remember the show of dahlias in the last autumn, the star of crocuses this spring, and the general well-kept-up succession of bloom, will be inclined to think that Mr. Sabine possesses the lamp of Aladdin. We give him our hearty thanks for this treat, and we only wish that he could have heard the praises that many a fair creature, 'candidior cycnis,' has bestowed upon the work. If we might venture on a hint, we would suggest some leafy screen to the southward, which might be so managed as not to shut out the view; for we have seen the fine collection of dahlias suffering greatly from the blustering autumnal winds. A flower border to the southward of the great walk would be also an improvement. But it is very beautiful as it is, and we can hardly account for the jaundiced eye with which some-they are not many-look upon everything belonging to the Society. Not that we object to a little grumbling-it is the Englishman's privilege, and stimulates to improvement-but there has been rather too much unscrupulous assertion, and a spirit has been exhibited that bodes the Society no good.

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We trust that there will be an end to these disturbances, which do not seem to have reflected much credit on the promoters. We should remember that it is the gale of fashion, more fickle than any 'i' the shipman's card,' that has hitherto borne the Society so prosperously along: if it become adverse, all will go to wreck; and we do hope that the fellows will cordially co-operate to sustain, in its present commanding position, one of the first establishments in Europe; an establishment which has done more for zoology in England, during the few years of its existence, than had been effected in a century before. With correspondents in every part of the world, sending home rare animals and interesting papers, the Zoological Society may fearlessly say, with her geological and geographical sisters,

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Quæ regio in terris nostri non plena laboris.'

Already the provinces exhibit the influence of the parent society. To say nothing of The Surrey,' one of the prettiest lounges in the neighbourhood of London, and surpassingly rich in carnivora,* the societies of Liverpool, Dublin, and Bristol have all sprung up. The more the better. These are the recreations worthy of a reflecting people, and the more widely they are disseminated, the wiser and the more civilized will the people become. No observer can look upon the endless variety of forms pre

These animals seem to thrive so much better on the Surrey side than in the Regent's Park, that we cannot but think the differences in the modes of feeding, &c., should be narrowly inquired into-but we fear the great evil is the London clay. sented

sented in such establishments, without being struck with the wonderful adaptation of means to an end manifested in each; and the deeper he goes into the science, the more will he be obliged to confess that all are 'fearfully and wonderfully made.'

But the subject is inexhaustible, and we are apprehensive, gentle reader, that, in our affection for a favourite hobby, we have been riding him about a little too much at your expense-though we have passed by many, many living rarities entirely unheeded. Retiring, then, by the southern gate, which lets us into what will, when the trees are tall enough to give instead of receiving shelter from Christians, be the finest mall in all England, we quit the Garden-but not without a longing, lingering look behind'Floreat!

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ART. III.-Geschichte Roms in seinem Uebergange von der republikanischen zur monarchischen Verfassung, oder Pompejus, Casar, Cicero, und ihre Genossen, nach Geschlechten, und mit genealogischen Tabellen. Von W. Drumann, Professor der Geschichte zu Königsberg. Königsberg, 1834-5, 1 et 2 theil.

The History of Rome during its Transition from a Republican to a Monarchical Constitution; or Pompey, Cæsar, Cicero, and their Contemporaries, according to their Races, with Genealogical Tables. By W. Drumann, Professor of History at Königsberg.

THESE volumes will be of great service to the writer who shall

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attempt to accomplish, in a manner worthy of the subject, the work which we ventured to suggest in a former Number—a history of Rome, to connect Niebuhr and Gibbon; the Grandeur et Décadence' of the Roman republic. The singular form in which Professor Drumann has cast his laborious and profound researches, however valuable and, indeed, intrinsically interesting to the scholar or the writer of history, will prevent its general popularity, and limit its usefulness among the ordinary class of readers. It is a legitimate and frequently successful artifice in historical painting, to select some commanding representative of the period which we would describe-as the central figure of the design; to group around it all the subordinate characters of the time in their proportionate size and relief, and to arrange all the events, and even colour the opinions of the day, in their relation to this main subject. There is no necessity to sacrifice either the truth or the fulness of the narrative to this bearing on one particular character of the period. The historian may maintain the most rigid impartiality not only in the general judgment

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on the other personages who compose the picture, but in the just distribution of the importance which each ought to assume; every separate figure will fill its proper sphere, though they may all stand in their harmonious circle around the principal orb of the system. Mr. Drumann's work is composed on a very different principle. It is the same history disposed as it were in parallel columns, from one to the other of which we must be constantly passing, or comparing two separate narratives, in order to obtain a connected or continuous view of the life and actions of an individual. The lives are arranged alphabetically according to the families to which the subjects belong: thus Lepidus appears under the Emilii-Metellus under the Cæcilii. The two most important characters illustrated in the volumes before us are unquestionably Sylla and Cicero. The article on Sylla, as he appears early, in the Cornelian family, gives us a continuous and uninterrupted biography of that wonderful man; but we find the latter part of the account of Cicero in the long and minúte life of Mark Antony (among the Antonii in the first volume), and again encounter the great orator at an earlier period of his life in the article devoted to Clodius (among the Claudii). We obtain some further illustration of the former period of Cicero's life under the heads of Cassius (the Cassii) and of Dolabella, a Cornelius; but we must wait for his reappearance as the adversary of Catiline and the saviour of the republic, we know not whether for the letter under which the family of Catiline may rank, or for the plebeian Tullii, to which Cicero himself belonged.

But, however embarrassing and unsatisfactory this work may appear as a history of the great Roman revolution-yet as a genealogical biography of the times, which the author intended, or as a storehouse of materials for a complete and systematic edifice, it has peculiar and undeniable advantages. It places in a very clear light much of that underworking of private connexion and relationship which has often so great an influence on public affairs. We trace each individual up to his original patrician or plebeian stock; we follow out the various ramifications of kindred or intermarriage which unite him to either of the leading interests of the state. We see how, in one case, the ancient heirloom of nobility has descended upon the patrician, binding him in the indissoluble fetters of proud reminiscences and ancestral glories to the cause of his order;-in another, how the indelible attachment to popular rights, of no less ancient date, and no less consecrated in the family annals or images, has been handed down from sire to son from the first days of the republic. We thus obtain a much clearer insight into the state of affairs, ascertaining how far the influence of an individual may be ascribed to family connexion

VOL. LVI. NO. CXII.

connexion or inherited wealth, or to his personal distinction in arts or arms. This elaborate Peerage and Commonalty' of Rome becomes not merely an inestimable book of reference, but in itself is worthy of the most careful and profound study by all who wish to obtain a full and comprehensive acquaintance with the history of this unrivalled age of human energy and vigour.

The author of this work, we must honestly forewarn our readers, is an avowed and ardent admirer of monarchy. His device is οὐκ ἀγαθὸν πολυκοιρανίη: εἷς κοίρανος ἔστω,

εἷς βασιλεὺς.

No subject of the present king of Prussia, he asserts, can doubt that monarchy is the best form of government. However we may admire the frank loyalty of Professor Drumann, and fully concur in his estimation at least of constitutional monarchy, yet we doubt whether the Roman empire is the happiest illustration of this great political truth. If we could overleap the space between Augustus and Trajan, we might consider the splendid, but turbulent days of the later republic well exchanged for the peaceful and paternal sovereignty of the empire. But even if we form our notions on the republican provincial government from the Verrina of Cicero, and of the manners and habits of the ruling aristocracy from the Philippics, yet to continue the history of Rome we must open the pages of Tacitus. Mr. Drumann may, indeed, be considered to admit this evident conclusion, in his strong expressions as to the misery of a State which only reaches the haven of monarchy as a refuge from the horrors and exhaustion of civil war; still the zealous partisan of a monarchical government will not show his wisdom by awakening the recollection of Tiberius, Nero, and Domitian.

Continental writers have described one class of modern historians as the Fatalist school. According to the views avowed by or ascribed to these writers (some of them of acknowledged ability), mankind is developed upon certain fixed and unchangeable principles; irreversible laws govern the course of events. Each generation blindly and inevitably follows an impulse which is from behind, discharges its appointed task in the great unbroken chain of causes and effects, and transmits the same irresistible force to operate with equal power on the succeeding race. this system individual will is annihilated; individual character is as well the creature as the slave of circumstance; the events which are to take place always find the machinery which is to work them out ready, as it were, and at hand; the minds which are capable of great exertion or influence are already prepared and disposed for the part which they are to fulfil. Without involving ourselves in this historical predestinarianism, it is difficult to con

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