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BEWICK, THE ENGRAVER.

The Duke of Northumberland, when first he called to see Mr. Bewick’s workshops at Newcastle, was not personally known to the engraver; yet he showed him his birds, blocks, and drawings, as he did to all, with the greatest liberality and cheerfulness; but on discovering the high rank of his visiter, exclaimed, “I beg pardon, my lord, I did not know your grace, and was unaware I had the honour of talking to so great a man.”  To which the duke good-humouredly replied, “You are a much greater man than I am, Mr. Bewick.”  To which Bewick, with his ready wit that never failed or offended, resumed, “No, my lord; but were I Duke of Northumberland, perhaps I could be.”—­Mag.  Nat.  Hist.

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FRENCH DRAMA.

Voltaire, as a dramatic writer, studied only to complete what is called stage effect; and with him, moreover, originated the contemptible practice, now so prevalent in France, and once so much in this country, (and which the Irish triumvirate justly call ‘blarneying John Bull,’) of flattering the passions, and pouring incense on the high altar of popular vanity.—­Foreign Review.—­Nearly all Colman’s comedies have this glaring weakness, although some allowance should be made for the strong excitement amidst which they were first produced on our stage.

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It was a remark of Lord Chatham’s, and equally so of Mr. Burke’s, that the occasional use of low words does not detract from the dignity of true eloquence.  Mr. Canning and some of his successors have, however, ventured to differ from these two great men.

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The people of England have, in the last year, consumed one half more of candles, soap, starch, bricks, sugar, brandy, and one-third more of tea, than they did only twelve years ago, a date which seems to most of us recent.—­Finance Article, in Quarterly Review.

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THE ANECDOTE GALLERY

DR. SOUTHEY.

BALLADS VERSUS BONNETS.

(For the Mirror.)

A Mr. L------, a respectable straw-hat manufacturer, from the vicinity
of Bond-street, who had dabbled considerably in the fine arts, in the
way of sketches and outlines, taken at the different watering-places
which he visited, determined on making a tour to the Lakes, “in search
of the picturesque.”  Desirous of rendering his journey poetically
interesting, he solicited from a friend of his in town, who was
acquainted with Dr. Southey, a letter of introduction to the Laureate,
which was accorded.  But the epistle, instead of describing Mr. L------
as an artist, merely designated him “an honest bonnet-maker,” who had a