ing lucid and brilliant. The third act assumes a higher poetic character-much more imaginative. It abounds with the terrific and the supernatural. The duet between Bertrand and Alice, "La force m'abandonne," is, beautifully dramatic and effective, but the subterranean chorus of demons bears a character of infernal revels-a recklessness, a dare-devil feeling,—the braving of evil without either help or hope-which gives it a stamp of unrivalled originality and dramatic excellence. The wild, fantastic scenes of magic and witchcraft brought about by Bertrand in the ruined abbey, have led Meyerbeer to inspirations as successful as those of Weber, though in quite a different style; but there is nothing in "Der Freischutz" which can bear a comparison with the incantations of Bertrand, when he raises the nuns from their graves in which they had slumbered for centuries. This we should certainly have considered the very perfection of dramatic music, had we not afterwards heard the fifth act. The power of pourtraying the wild superstitions of the forest, is the chief excellence of Weber; that of the same kind of scenes under different circumstances, though with the same feelings and motives of inspiration, we at first concluded to be the characteristic of Meyerbeer's highest conceptions. We were, therefore, not a little surprised at finding that, however successful in such efforts, they sink into comparative inferiority under his powerful delineations of impassioned tenderness, of the most elevated feelings of virtue, and of the sublime grandeur of religion. The scene and duet between Robert and Isabelle in the fourth act, is full of beauty and pathos. The victory which the former gains over himself, and the generous sacrifice of his power and safety, are admirably wrought. The chorus of monks in the beginning of the fifth act is of extraordinary power and grandeur; the scene which follows, is beautiful in its effect, in the opposition of light and shade; and the trio "A tes lois je souscris d'avance," is, to use the words of a foreign critic, "une de plus belles créations de la musique dramatique." The whole of this act surpasses everything we have yet heard in the musical drama of any country, and certainly imprints upon Meyerbeer the stamp of great and original genius, equal to all, and superior to most of his contemporaries. The opera of "Robert le Diable" is alone sufficient to immortalise the name of Meyerbeer. SONNET. OUR Fathers worshipped in the mighty woods, Their hymns were chanted to the solemn floods, Or to the brooklet, ringing on its way An ancient strain, more ancient than their lay, Or than the mighty forest brotherhoods ! Each wild became a consecrated place ; So very holy, that the timid deer Fled not man's coming-but stood still and gazed! Lost with their covering of leaves, I fear,— All but its memory from the heart erased ! S. S. THE HON. MRS. ASHLEY COOPER. THE HON. MRS. ASHLEY COOPER is the eldest daughter of Colonel Hugh Baillie, and wife of the Hon. Anthony William, second son of the present earl of Shaftesbury. The noble family of Cooper, earls of Shaftesbury, descends from RICHARD COOPER ESQ., living in the reign of Henry VIII., who inherited large estates from his father and brother, in the county of Southampton. He married Jane, daughter of Sir John Kingsmill of Sydmonton, in the county of Southampton, Knt., by whom he left, with other issue, an eldest son, SIR JOHN COOPER, of Rockburne, in the county of Southampton, who inherited the estates of his father, and received the honour of knighthood from Queen Elizabeth. He died 24th November, 1610, leaving by Martha, his wife, daughter of Anthony Skutt, Esq., of Stanton Drew, in Somersetshire, an only son, SIR JOHN COOPER, of Rockburne, who, July 4th, 1622, was created a baronet, and subsequently received the honour of knighthood. Sir John sat in parliament for the town of Poole, in Dorsetshire. He married first, Anne, daughter and sole heir of Sir Anthony Ashley, Knt., of Winbourne St. Giles, in the county of Dorset, by whom he had two sons and a daughter. He espoused, secondly, Mary, relict of Sir Charles Morrison, and daughter and co-heir of Baptist Hicks Viscount Campden, but had no other issue. He died 23rd March, 1631, and was succeeded by his elder son, SIR ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER, one of the most distinguished statesmen and orators of the era in which he lived. Sir Anthony was born at Winbourne, 22nd July, 1721, and at fifteen became a fellow-commoner of Exeter College, Oxford, under the tuition of the then rector, the celebrated Dr. Prideaux. At the University, where he remained but two years, he acquired a reputation for great assiduity and genius. From Oxford, he removed to Lincoln's Inn, where he applied himself closely to the study of the law, but was not called to the bar, being elected in 1640, before the completion of his nineteenth year, member of parliament for Tewkesbury. At the commencement of the civil war, he enlisted under the royal banner, although ever the friend and adviser of peace. To accomplish a suspension of hostilities between the contending parties, he repaired to the king at Oxford, and proposed a plan for terminating the war by treating with the parliamentary garrisons, promising them amnesty for the past, and full security for their future liberty. The scheme did not succeed, and Sir Ashley perceiving that he had lost the confidence of the court, that his conduct was disliked, and his person in danger, went over to the parliamentarians, from whom his great talents and influence obtained for him a welcome reception. In 1644 he raised forces in Dorsetshire, reduced that county, and took Wareham by storm. The next year he served the office of high-sheriff of Wiltshire. So desirous was he of putting a stop to the civil contest, that his influence in the western counties gave rise to a third party, denominated the Clubmen, which, spreading over the country, became formidable both to the royalist and parliamentary army. The avowed intention of the clubmen was to compel the two factions to lay down their arms, and to submit their differences to the arbitration of a free parliament, convened for that especial purpose. The rapid success of the republican arms defeated this project. Sir Anthony vehemently opposed the usurpation of Cromwell, and was a member of the convention that met after the expulsion of the Long Parliament. He again sat in parliament in 1654, and signed, with other distinguished persons, the famous protest that charged the Protector with tyranny and arbitrary government. On the deposition of Richard Cromwell, Sir Anthony entered into a secret correspondence with the friends of Charles II., and became greatly instrumental in promoting the Restoration. In 1660, he was one of the twelve deputed to invite the return of the monarch, who, in consideration of his services, made him a privy councillor, gave him a commission for the trial of the regicides, and in the April of the ensuing year raised him to the peerage by the title of BARON ASHLEY OF WINBOURNE ST. GILES, in the county of Dorset. He was soon after appointed chancellor, and under treasurer of the exchequer, a lord commissioner of the treasury, and became the leading member of the celebrated Cabal administration. His Lordship was constituted lord lieutenant of the county of Dorset in January 1672, advanced the ensuing April to an earldom, by the titles of BARON COOPER OF PAULETT, in the county of Somerset, and EARL OF SHAFTESBURY, and appointed, in the November of the same year, Lord Chancellor of England. He retained the seals for thirteen months, during which period he performed the duties of his station with equal ability and integrity. After quitting the court, Lord Shaftesbury became the avowed enemy of the Duke of York, and steadily promoted the object of an exclusion bill; but |