makes their achievements so wonderful. The style of these dancers is in many respects different from that of any of the celebrated artists who have heretofore appeared in this country; and some idea of the spirituelle which has been said to constitute the great charm of Mlle TAGLIONI, may be gathered from the performances of her brother and his wife. Miss and Master WELLS deserve a word of commendation, for they really did wonders. They were perfect in their share of the ballet, and seemed to make extra efforts to merit the hearty approbation which was awarded them.

We have lately had Mrs. GIBBS and Mr. SINCLAIR in what is called, by courtesy, English opera,' but which, (if the composition entitled the 'Lord of the Isles' is meant to be included in the designation,) would be as easily recognised by almost any other name. When Mr. SINCLAIR utters his own native melodies, no bird sings sweeter. He is then at home, and he warbles con amore. But in the stiff jacket of an opera singer, he is uneasy and uncomfortable, and so are his audiences. Mrs. GIEBS always acquits herself to the satisfaction of her friends, when she attempts only what nature and art have intended her to produce. She is a pleasing singer, but she can never be a great one. A Mr. FREER, from the London theatres, played Richard, for this lady's benefit, and very creditably he did it. We have seen such awful massacres made of the noble Gloster, that we have come to regard his highness as doubly entitled to the appellation of the 'misshapen duke.' Mr. FREER showed that at least he had seen the character well played, and was content to tread, as nearly as possible, in the steps of his illustrious predecessors.' He was, however, somewhat prozy, in scenes where quick action and utterance are allowable. There was a propriety in his costume, throughout, which is too often forgotten by our modern Roscii. His dress of sables, in the second scene of the second act, was appropriate, and in good taste. From his exits and entrances, and other evidences of stage practice, we take it for granted that Mr. FREER is old to the sock and buskin. He would be an acquisition to the regular company, and might do a considerable favor to the public, by bearing a part of the heavy burden at present attempted to be supported by Mr. HIELD. By the way, either the ambition of this last-named gentleman overleaps itself, or he is hardly used in the multitudinous variety of characters thrust upon him. Tragedy, comedy, and farce, we have seen him enact on the same evening; and it would give us pleasure to add, that he merited praise in them all. But the truth must out; and after having studied Mr. HIELD in all the different varieties of his art, we have come to the conclusion, that he is not particularly well fitted for either. There is an overweening affectation in his playing, which is as contrary to nature as is cold to heat. He has no passion, but what is manufactured for the nonce; no soul, save such an artificial, far-fetched show of one, that he seems no better, at times, thau an improved specimen of automaton, which to its machinery of motion has superadded the engine of speech. His want of true feeling is so badly concealed by an affectation of the sentiment, that the text would be more powerful in its effect, if left to fall evenly from his tongue, without an effort at point or emphasis. His 'Duke of Buckingham' had no character in it. He delivered the dialogue, from beginning to end, as a school-boy would his weekly recitation; with an equal degree of emphasis in passages where emphasis was required, and in those where it was not. Thus, in relating to Gloster his reception by the citizens, he used the same vehemence in his narration that he did in the affected expression of honest indignation at the disappointment caused by Gloster's hypocritical refusal of the crown. An actor with the pretensions of Mr. HIELD, who can pay so little respect to the common proprieties of the scene, can hardly be expected to be very particular in rendering the true text of the author. At the close of this same act, when, in reply to Gloster's assent to be crowned 'to-morrow,' he should simply say: To-morrow, then, we will attend your grace;'

• Mr. HIELD, more poetical, rendered it thus:

To-morrow, orders shall be taken,
In preparation

For your coronation!'

Thus, for Alice,

A fantastic pronunciation is added to the list of Mr. HIELD's peculiarities. 'A-ha-lice;' canvass, 'can-vuss;' 'shon,' for shone; and for betrayer, 'be-ter-ay-er;' and so on, multiplying syllables to the utter destruction of sound and sense. Did not Mr. HIELD claim for himself the first rank in tragedy, at the first theatre in the Union, we had let him rest under the honors of his self-woven laurels; but Patience herself would leave her monument,' to rap the knuckles of such a vain pretender to the first honors of the drama.

C.

THE NATIONAL. We have but little of novelty to chronicle of this establishment. Opera, with the ever attractive performances of Miss SHIREFF, and Messrs. WILSON and SEGUIN, has been the reigning feature, varied by the laughter-moving personations of BROWNE, who has recently returned from the south, where his irresistible comicalities won all suffrages.

THE AMERICAN THEATRE,' BOWERY. - The public are aware that a spacious and handsome edifice, an ornament to its vicinity, and to the town, has arisen from the ashes of the old Bowery Theatre. Mr. HAMBLIN has opened it, with a good company, and 'starry influences,' which have filled the house nightly. The old dramas of 'Mazeppa,' Ernest Maltravers,' etc., have already been presented. We shall have an eye to this establishment hereafter.

HOW TO BE LONG-LIVED.

We find before us a pamphlet, from the press of Mr. ADAM WALDIE, Philadelphia, which we have great pleasure in warmly commending to our readers. It is a lecture, delivered before the Athenian Institute of Philadelphia, by J. PANCOAST, M. D., and is a brief but comprehensive consideration of the art of prolonging life.' The comparisons drawn between the processes of animal and vegetable existence, and the descriptions of the human frame and its functions, are not, as is too often the case with medical or anatomical illustrations, 'heathen Greek' to the merely general reader, but are lucid and interesting; while the warnings against the undue exposure of the body to the elements, the proper cultivation and exercise of, and the evils of overtasking, the mental faculties; and the indulgence of the depressing passions, as fear, envy, jealousy, chagrin, etc., are fruitful of most valuable lessons. Moreover, the style is excellent, as the annexed extracts will show:

'No error has been productive of more injurious consequences, than the opinion, which is too generally prevalent, that the true value of life depends less upon its length than its intensity. Those who practice upon such a belief, if they outlive their youth, drag out a premature old age, without energy and without enjoyment. Like Icarus, they would overstep the bounds of nature. Byron, who adopted this opinion as the motto of his youth, and died prematurely old at his thirty-seventh year, thus speaks in the last as well as the most sincere of his poetical effusions :'

My days are in the yellow leaf,

The flowers, the fruits of love are gone,
The worm, the canker, and the grief,

Are mine alone!'

'What a contrast does a virtuous, happy, and lengthened old age, present to that of one precipitated by a life of dissipation!'

A striking contrast is afforded in the subjoined passage. The local allusion is, as we infer, to the late venerable BISHOP WHITE:

'Cornaro, a noble Venetian, reformed, with philosophical fortitude, at the age of forty, a life of passion and dissipation, which had nearly brought him to the tomb. From that time forward, this excellent man graduated the amount of his food, his wine, his exercise, kis amusements and his studies, so exactly within the bounds of temperance and moderation, as to have been enabled to preserve, much beyond the usual term of life, the freshness of youth, with the vigor of middle age. Between the ages of ninety and one hundred, he wrote two excellent treatises, in which the amiable garrulity of old age is mingled with the wisdom of the sage, and the benevolence of a christian. He lived past his one hundred and fourth year, enjoying life richly to the last, and died in his elbow-chair, without pain or agony, like one who falls asleep, surrounded by a devoted family, by admiring friends, and in the midst of a region which his skill had fertilized, and his kindness peopled with an admiring peasantry. To whom would not such a life be attractive-thus rationally prolonged, and deeply respected, enabling him to enjoy to its utmost limit, as the writings of Cornaro indicate to have been his case,

'But we need not go to olden times, nor to a foreign region, for models of excellent and philosophic old age! Our own city may supply them. One now but lately lost, and

lamented-not only by the religious persuasion of which he was the head, but by a circle so wide that its limits have not been told; a pattern of christian purity and moral worth. His earthly close was like that of a setting summer sun, whose beams having all day brightened, beautified the earth, and solaced the path of the wayfarer upon it, fade at last solemnly and insensibly into the mellow light of even, and leave at their departure a lingering tinge of brightness on the sky-a halo, commemorative of expiring day, and prophetie of the glory of the future torn.'

While the professional features of the lecture in question evince that the writer is a worthy pupil of the distinguished physician to whom it is dedicated, its literary characteristics are equally honorable to his scholarship and his talents.

GEN. H. L. V. DUCOUDRAY HOLSTEIN. - The death, at Albany, of this distinguished officer and civilian, has been generally announced in the public journals. Our readers will remember the series of articles from his pen, upon Talleyrand' and the 'Secret Police of Napoleon,' which he contributed to these pages. They attracted much attention on this side the Atlantic, and were widely copied in England and France. Gen. HOLSTEIN was one of Napoleon's staff, and personally acquainted with, if not an actor in, some of the most prominent scenes and events of more modern French history. He was an accomplished scholar, and filled honorable collegiate offices, at Geneva, Albany, etc. Those who knew him best, speak of him as an exemplary and excellent man, in all the relations of life.

CRITICISM UPON THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN.- It is proper to mention, that the review of the exhibition of pictures at the National Academy, which appears elsewhere in this department of the KNICKERBOCKER, proceeds from the pen of an artist, who claims to have the honesty to acknowledge the merits of his rivals, and courage to make a temperate opposition to popular errors.' He has the advantage of having been for upward of six years a student in the Royal Academy of England, and the benefit of an intimate acquaintance with many of its most distinguished members. Having used all plainness of speech,' the writer desires no concealment of his name; and only affirms, that his freedom of animadversion arises from no sinister causes. He assures us, that he has no individual wrongs to avenge, nor personal pique to gratify. He has experienced no slight from the National Academy, having never been a candidate for its titles, or an applicant for its benefits, in any way. He claims, therefore, to be considered a candid and disinterested critic; and we leave the public to confirm or annul his pretensions.

ROMANCE OF AMERICAN HISTORY. We have read, with unmixed gratification, if we except a feeling of regret that we are unable to quote from its pages, 'A Lecture on the Romance of American History,' delivered at the Athenian Institute, Philadelphia, in February last, by WILLIAM B. REED, Esq. It is a rapid yet lucid sketch of prominent historical incidents, the discovery of America, the annals of Mexican conquest, the early history of this continent, etc., with incidental allusions to remote and foreign history, appositely adduced. The writer, though but in the vestibule, as it were, of his great theme, shows conclusively, that the romance of history is the poetry of truth; that viewed aright, recorded truth is as picturesque as fiction; and that 'the archives of the past are not stored only with dry bones and shapeless mummies, but have their walls clothed, in colors which never fade, with the forms and figures that realize the spirit of departed ages.' ADAM WALDIE, Philadelphia.

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NEW BOOKS, ETC. Notices of some of the following works were prepared for the review department of the present number; but owing to the length of the articles upon the fine arts and the drama, and other causes, they are necessarily excluded. We are compelled, therefore, barely to advert to, instead of adequately noticing them: 'A L'Abri, or the Tent Pitched, is the name given by Mr. WILLIS to a handsome volume, from the press of Mr. SAMUEL COLMAN, containing a collection of all his well-known 'Letters from under a Bridge;' 'The Idler in Italy,' published by Messrs. CAREY AND HART, in two clearly-printed volumes, is a specimen of LADY BLESSINGTON's best style, and embraces the journal of a tour in Italy, with picturesque descriptions of scenery, reflections, account of various lions, etc.; 'The Cabinet Minister,' from the never-ceasing press of those popular publishers, the BROTHERS HARPER, is by Mrs. GORE, who wrote 'Mothers and Daughters,' 'The Heir of Selwood,' etc., and has received commendation from praiseworthy sources in England; 'The Phantom Ship,' by CAPTAIN MARRYAT, which has been 'to be continued' so long, in many American journals, is completed in two volumes, from the press of Messrs. CAREY AND HART, and reads infinitely better, as a whole, than in detached numbers; 'Adam Buff, and other Men of character,' containing eight of Douglas Jerrold's capital stories, from English and Scottish periodicals, from the press of LEA AND BLANCHARD. The works whose titles are annexed, reached us at too late a period for perusal: 'Robin Day,' a novel by the author of 'Calavar,' in two volumes, by LEA AND BLANCHARD; 'Isabel, or Sicily, a Pilgrimage,' by H. T. TUCKERMAN, by the same publishers; 'Behemoth, a Legend of the Moundbuilders,' by J. and H. G. LANGLEY; Schoolcraft's 'Algic Researches,' in two volumes, by the BROTHERS HARPER, heretofore alluded to; 'Mr. BARNARD'S Discourse on the Life and services of STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER, with an Historical Sketch of the Colony and Manor of Rensselaerwick; 'The Characters of SCHILLER,' by Mrs. Ellet ; 'FRANCIA'S Reign of Terror,' a sequel to the 'Letters on Paraguay,' noticed a short time since in the KNICKERBOCKER; and 'Phantasmion,' from the press of Mr. SAMUEL COLMAN.

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THE BEAUTIES OF DANIEL WEBSTER. Mr. EDWARD WALKER, Fulton-street, has published, in a small and handsome volume, of an hundred and ninety-six pages, "The Beauties of DANIEL WEBSTER, selected and arranged; with a Critical Essay on his Genius and Writings.' It is a second edition, with considerable additions, and a very good reduced portrait. The selections are made with judgment, and their subjects are various. The compiler's unnecessary preface and essay are less to our taste. They strike us, in a hasty perusal, as being ambitious and inflated, to a degree. Errors have been permitted to escape, or alterations bave been attempted, in the text itself, which evince either carelessness or amusing temerity. In the last extract, for example, Mr. WEBSTER is assisted with an emphatic word, which makes the whole sentence ridiculous: When my eyes shall be turned to behold, for the last time, THE sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union,' etc. What are we to make of 'the armies and trophies streaming in their original lustre,' on the gorgeous ensign of the republic? A more careful revision should have been bestowed upon fragments, professedly authentic, from the productions of an eminent American statesman.

OUR NEW VOLUME. We would respectfully invite the reader's attention to an advertisement of the FOURTEENTH VOLUME of the KNICKERBOCKER, which accompanies the present number. It would have been easy to have added many well-known names to our regular list of contributors, and numerous commendatory paragraphs to the subjoined opinions of the public press; but it is unnecessary. Reasoning from pleasant experience, we need desire no more ample support than will be voluntarily contributed by the public, nor a wider repute than will naturally accrue from exertion, which, with additional resources, shall be as untiring in the future, as it has been in the past.