MISCELLANEA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 127, 11 June 1853, Page 10

MISCELLANEA.

A New Prima. Donna has appeared at Rome. Her success has been most brilliant. Her voice is exquisitely sweet—full of liquid bird-like notes —and is, moreover, of considernble power and compass. She is little more than-eighteen years of age,.and of great beauty. With such advantages as these, the success of the prima donna is tolerably certain. But what has raised the enthusiasm of the Roman public to an unusual height, is the fact that the young debutante is niece to one of the Cardinals,'and a member of the historical family of the Piccolomini, of Sienna. So great is her enthusiasm for music, and so strong ber passion for the ex-

citing triumphs of the theatre, that her venerable relative, fearing the young girl's health might suffer in case of a refusal, at length yielded his consent to her appearing before the public. The Grand Duchess of" Tuscany,'^ith whom Mademoiselle Piccolomiui is a particular favourite, used her influence in bringing about this result. It is only under the sky of Italy that one sees the passion for art so strong as to induce a young girl, rich and beautiful, and a member of an illustrious family, to appear upon the stage ; and it is amongst Italians that such an act has more than the colouring of romance, and is looked on by this music-loving people as something heroic and sublime. As maybe supposed, the young prima donna's singing and acting bear the impress of that enthusiaim'before which the will of the Cardinal, yielded, and at times during the> '\ performance, so great was the effect of the something like inspiration which she displayed; that the whole audience simultaneously rose aud thundered forth their applause.' The Sea Serpent.—The sea serpent has again been seen! Captain Vaile,.commander of the ship " Barham," which has lately arrived at Madras from England, states.that the serpent was seen by him and all pn hoard, in a high latitude, in the course of the voyage. The head and about 30 feet of the body were distinctly visible at times ; a "mane" was also distinctly seen, and fins under the quarter -, and the length of the animal was estimated at from 130 to 150 feet, with a girth about the size of a barrel. It is added that the serpent spouted water occasionally. The "Barham" gave chase, but the animal made off, and was never within 350 yards. The commander, officers,.and passengers of the vessel express their conviction that the monster was a sea serpent. Tammany Ham..—When the venerable Pebblesworth was in New York, he asked a-pipe-smoking old Dutchman the origin of the name of Tammany Hall. 'Vy, you see*' said Hans, 'yen the beoples has a meeting in the Hall, it holds tarn many!'— American paper: Sucker Wedding. — 'Will you take thiswoman to be your wedded wile?' asked an Illinois magistrate of the masculine half of a couple who stood before him to get married. 'Wall, squire, you must be tarnal green, to ax such a question as that ar ! Do you think that L'd be such a plaguy fool as to go the bar-hunt, and take this woman from the,quiltin' frolic, if I wasn't confoundedly in love with her ?, Drive ' on with yer business, and don't ask foolish questions.'—American paper. Riding through the streets of Benares. —"On our going away, each person was invested with a large collar of sweet smelling flowers; a remnant of the old customs of making presents to visitors. The elephant was called in requisition, and we proceeded on our tour. Our mount was a fine she elephant; with a small head (a great point), the upper part of her trunk and her forehead of cream colour, and a magnificent" fringe to her tail (another great point). As we went along we got rid of our long garlands by presenting them to the,...* numerous Brahminy bull which infest the ■ streets of Benares, It was amusing enough passing along the narrow streets to stare into the first floor windows,.with which we were generally on a level. Sometimes the elephant would come in contact with a slight verandah like awning, common-to the houses here. Down that came of course. Then again we were reminded of our position by a sudden contact with a cornice, or with the angle of a house; for we were seated Irish car fashion on a large pad, with our legs dangling over the side or resting on a moveable foot board, made so as to avoid its being broken by contact with the walls. On our way. the elephant kept a bright look out for number one. No green grocer's shop escaped without a contribution. One counter looked very tempting; so she pretended that one of the eternal Brahminy bulls was in the way: in the meanwhile she swept off a whole heap?of grain. At another place she disturbed . the domestic economy of a whole shopfull of greens, much to the dismay of the proprietor, and the amusement of the passers by. The Brahminy bulls are a great nuisance. Fat and pampered they crowd every street, temple, and alley, and will :hardly get out of ones way. Sacred as they are, however, they do not always get off scot-free; and the musselmans, whenever they dare, give them a hearty blow or a good poke, while Europeans drive their buggies straight at them.

SA British Minister and "Sambo."—Mr. ackenham, late British Minister at Washingm, was dining at the residence of the Hon. snator'Barrow, of Louisiana.,- Before dinner,, ad in the temporary absence of his host from |tlie room, her Majesty's Ambassador was accosted by an old grey-headed coloured man, kvho was in the apartment " putting things to frights," with " Massa,: is you' name PackenRiain ?" " Yes," said the Minister. " Was. Dat [youi brudder dat was killed at Orleans in the Igreat battle dar ?" "He was," replied the lAmbassador. " Well, dere! Somehow or nudper I fought so! I was dar myself. I see him ■popped ober wid my own eyes. Great fight pat, massa!". While at dinner, Mr. Packenjyatnsaidto Mr. Barrow, "Your man tells me, Inr, that he was at the battle of New Orleans." §' He was," said Mr. Bar row, " and acquitted Piiiriself manfully in that ehgagemehf;" but, at She same time, he "looked daggers" at the old I'seneschal" for having broached. such a subled in' presence of his guest. "He tells me, poo," continued Mr. Packenham, " that he saw fray brother fall." The frown upon the host's jface grew darker, and the subject was adroitly Ichanged. The next day Sam came into Mr. IBarrow with a note. " Massa, dere's a note, [5,-id dey say dat it's for me! E'yah! e'yah!" And sure enough it was for him; moreover, it was an invitation to dine the, next day with Mr. : Packenham, which he did, and was listened to 1 with intense interest, while he rehearsed'the events of the great battle, "all of which he saw, and part of which he was."—Knickerbocker. .... Robbery op State Papers.—We understand from good authority, that very great consternation has been produced in the Tuilleries, in consequence of a large bundle of letters, of great State importance, having been abstracted from one of the private apartments of the Emperor. Among these letters are no fewer than eighty, which, we are assured, very seriously compromise the characters of some of the most distinguished public men in France, and develope political and private intrigues on the part of persons never suspected of anything at variance with' the strictest honour, 'which will astonish France and Europej should the letters so stolen ever see the light. In the mean time, so great is the anxiety of the Emperor to recover them, that an offer of a reward of 200,000 [ francs has been made, for their restoration, in quarters where it is thought most likely a knowledge: of their locality exists. An English lady, who was long on intimate terms with the Emperor, but who has been obliged to quit France in consequence of the marriage, has been suspected of being concerned, directly or indirectly, in the abstraction of these important letters ;■ but we have reason to believe that the person, in question has had nothing whatever to do with the matter. We may add, that we have good grounds for stating that the letters are in this country, and, what is more, are in the hands of members of the Orleans family, who we may state, are not only deeply interested in their contents, but must be appalled At the revelations they make of the unparalleled perfidy of some of those who had hitherto made the most flaming professions of friendship for the family of the ex-King.— Morning Advertiser. ' Madame Fanny Wright Daursmont, once celebrated as a political agitator, died at Cincinnati on the 13th Dec. She was born at Dundee, in Scotland, 1795, and was early initiated in republican principles by her father, who was well 'known in the literary circles of his time as a scholar and a politician of extreme opinions. He was intimate with Dr. Adam Smith, Dr. Cullen, and other men of literary and scientific eminence of his day. In early life, under the tuition of his maternal uncle, Professor Mylne, his daughter Fanny had obtained a first-clas.'i education, and at the age of eighteen she wrote a little book called ' A Few Days in Athens,' in which she defended the opinions and character Epicurus. She was soon afterwards left an orphan, and was reared as a ward in Chancery by a maternal aunt. She visited America in 1818, and-afterwards visited Paris on the invitation of General Lafayette. On her return to America, she purchased about 2000 acres of land at the old Chickasaw Bluffs, now Memphis, and peopled it with a number of slave families whom she had redeemed. In 1833 she appeared as a public lecturer. Her deep soprano voice, her commanding figure, and marvellous eloquence, combined with her furious attacks on

slavery and all American abuses, soon made her j notorious over that vast continent. Her powers of oratory are spoken of by several travellers as extraordinary, and when she spoke thousands ■ flocked to hear her. Elated by her powers, she visited all the principal cities of the Union, but as she too often made the philosophy of her ' Few Days in Athens' the ground-work of her discourses, she aroused the hostility of the press and the clergy, and for two years she battled single-handed, by her pen and her tongue, with her powerful foes, and kept the country ringing with her name. Meanwhile she had her redeemed slaves educated in agricultural pursuits and general knowledge, and they promised to make a thriving colony, when, unfortunately, the ill-health of Miss Wright forced her to quit her estate, and to leave the management of it in incompetent and wasteful hands. The estab* lishment was consequently broken up, and the slaves sent to Hayti. She then joined .Robert Owen in his communist scheme in New. HarHarmony, editing the ' Gazette,' and lecturing in its behalf at the principal cities and towns of the west of America. After the close of her lecturing career she removed to Cincinnati, where she married a Frenchman named Daursmont, with whom she subsequently disagreed, and got into a lawsuit in reference to the disposition of her property. This circumstance and her ill-health compelled her to visit Europe, where a few years' residence seems to have cooled her enthusiasm and modified her opinions. Daniej. Webster.—From an interesting document containing the particulars of the last illness of the great American statesman, we I extract the following incident: —"On Sunday evening, October 10th, he desired a friend, who was sitting with him, to read to him the passage | in the 9th chapter of St. Mark's Gospel, where : the man brings his child to Jesus to be cured, and the Saviour tells him,' If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth; and straightwayjthe father of the child cried out, with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.' 'Now,' he continued,' turn to the 10th chapter of St. John, and read from the verse where it is said,- Many of the Jews believedon him.' „ Afiey this he dictated a few lines, and directed them to be signed with his name, and dated Sunday evening, October 10th, 1852. ' This"/ he then added, ' is the inscription to be placed on my monument.' A few days later— on the 15th—-he"recurred to the same subject, and revised and corrected with his own hand what he had earlier dictated, so as to make the whole read as.follows: — '^'Lord, I believe;help thou mine unbelief.' _ . Philosophical argument, especially that drawn from the vastness of the Universe; in comparison with the apparent insignificance of this globe, has sometimes shaken my reason for the faith which is in me ; but my heart has always assured and re-assured me, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be a Divine reality. The Sermon on the Mount cannot be a merely human production. This belief enters into the very depth of my conscience. The whole history of man proves it. . Daniel Webster." The Art of Growing Trees from Cuttings— Professor Delacoix, of Besancon, .in France, has discovered a mode of propagating from cuttings, which is not only successful in the case, of roses and other plants easy to live, but apples, pears^ plums, apricots, &c. Out of a hundred cuttings put out in June, not one but was thriving in August iv the open air, without shade or extra care, except watering a few times after they were planted. His method is to put the whole cutting in the ground, bent in the form of a bow, with the centre part up, and just on a'level with the surface, at which point there must be a good bud or shoot, which is the only part exposed to the air; the other being protected bp the earth from drying up, supports and gives vigor to the bud, which starts directly into leaf, andin its turn helps the cutting to form roots, and the whole soon forms a thriving tree. The method of setting them is to form two drills, about three inches apart, with a sharp rido-e between, after which bend the cutting and stick in each drill, and cover and press the earth firmly, and water freely. Cuttings should be of the first year's growth, fresh, and vigorous.

Self-devotion and Cookery.—Vatel was the maitre d'.K6tel of the great Conde: the closing scene of his life is one of the most extraordinary instances of self-devotion recorded in history. It appears that Louis XIV. was on a visit to Conde, at Chantilly. The collation was served in a room hung with jonquil; all was as could be wished. At supper there were some tables where the roast was wanting, on account of several parties which had not been expected; this affected Vatel: he said several times,' lam dishonoured; this is a disgrace that I cannot endure.' He said to Gourville, 'My head is dizzy ; I have not slept for twelve nights: assist me in giving orders.' Gourville assisted him as much as he could. The roast, which had been wanting, not at the table of the King, but at the inferior tables, was constantly present to his mind. Gourville mentioned it to the Prince: the Prince even went to the chamber of Vatel, and said to him, ' Vatel, all is going on well; nothing could equal the supper of the King.' He replied,' Monseigneur, your goodness overpowers me; I know-that the roast was wanting at two tables.' 'Nothing-of the sort,' said the Prince,' do not distress yourself; all is going on well.' Night came ; the fireworks failed; they had cost sixteen thousand francs. He rose at 4 the next morning, determined to attend to everything in person. He found everybody asleep. He meets one of the inferior purveyors, who brought only two packages of sea-fish : he asks, 'Is that all ?' -' Yes, sir.' The man was not aware that Vatel had sent to all the sea-ports. Vatel waits some time ; the other purveyors did not arrive ; his brain began to burn ; he believed that there would be no more fish. He finds Gourville ; he said to him, 'Monsieur, I shall never survive this disgrace.' Gourville made light of it. Vatel goes up-stairs to his room, places his sword against the door, and stabs himself to the heart; but it was not until the third blow, after giving himself two not mortal, that he fell dead. The fish, however, arrives from all quarters; they seek.Vatel to distribute it; they go to his room—-they knock—they force open the door—he is found bathed in his blood. They hasten to tell the Prince, who is in despair. The Duke wept; it was oh Vatel - that his journey from Burgundy hinged. The Prince related what had passed to the King, with marks of the deepest sorrow. It was attributed to the high sense of honour which.he had after his own way. He was very highly commended ; his courage was praised and blamed at the same time. The King said he had delayed coming to Chantilly for five years, for fear of the embarrassment he should cause.