in the most serious pieces. He proceeded to speak of the more regular comedy, which did not exist among us till a late period. He then noticed the error of our poets, in taking the subjects of their comedies from antient times and foreign countries; and observed that they who sometimes did so, and sometimes took domestic stories (as Massinger, in his City Madam, and New Way to pay. Old Debts), had been most successful in the latter case, when they described English characters and manners. He enlarged upon the nature of their plots, the variety, richness, and strength of their characters. He then spoke of the sentiments which our comic authors of Queen Elizabeth and James's time; assigned to their personages; and condemned the grossness and licentiousness which they frequently introduced; concluding, however, with an acknowledgment, that their plays, upon the whole, had no immoral tendency,

Mr. DAVY began his eleventh lecture

on the chemical phenomena of nature, with an account of meteoric stones. He stated, that the belief of stones having fallen at the time of the appearance of fiery meteors, has prevailed from the earliest times. Anaxagoras was said to have predicted the fall of one of these stones; and in that age of superstition many marvellous accounts were connected with these events. In late times, histories of the fall of meteoric stones have been fully authenticated. In the year 1627, on November 27, Gassendi saw a burning stone fall at Mount Vaisir, in Provence. In 1672, two stones fell near Verona; one weighing 300, the other 400lbs. and the circumstance was authenticated by the testimony of from 3 to 400 persons. In 1768, three stones, of the fall of which a very detailed account was given, were presented to the Royal Academy of Sciences, of Paris. On December 18, 1795, a large stone, weighing 56 pounds, foll near Captain Topham's house, in Yorkshire, which is now in Mr. Sowerby's museum, Lambeth.

Since this period many similar phenomena have occurred, particularly at Benares, in India; at l'Aigle, in France; and near Glasgow, in Scotland; and Mr. Howard, and the Count de Bournon, have proved by a very accurate chemical and mineralogical examination, that they agree with each other in their composition and external characters, and differ from any known productions of the earth. They consist of metallic particles, containing iron, alloyed by nickel, of pyrites, and of silicious and magnesian earths, with oxide of iron. Their origin is still unknown.

THE last part of this lecture was devoted to the " History of the Winds." Mr. Davy considered the causes of the winds as the rarefaction or condensation of air by heat and cold, occasioning cur rents, and the difference of the primary motions of the transferred air, considered as revolving with the other parts of the earth, round its axis.

Mr. Wood began his ninth lecture on perspective with a recapitulation' of the preceding, and then proceeded to explain the general application of the rules of perspective to the common purposes of drawing views from nature; which he 'illustrated by drawings of different subjects, accounting for the height of the horizontal line; the projection of shadows; the vanishing lines of ascending and descending places, &c. &c. and the course concluded with a comparison of the methods used by famous authors with that most excellent and comprehensive system, established by Dr. Brook Taylor, in the beginning of the last century.

British Gallery.

MINIATURES. (Continued.)

No. 135. Spanish courtship.

A A. Chalon.

THERE is an air of elegance and of pleasing expression thrown about this

picture. The female is perfectly a Span

ish character.

No. 143. Countess of Desmond.

Miss Jones.

A WELL executed portrait: appearing to be a faithful copy from some ancient and valuable one.

No. 155. Love and Innocence, from R. Cosway, Esq. R. A. Miss Jones.

THE powers of miniature painting are here represented with great success. The colouring is clear and brilliant, and perfectly natural: the composition, exquisite. It is rather surprising that so beautiful a cabinet ornament should not have found a purchaser,

2

No. 156. A subject from an epitaph on a child, who died suddenly.

S. Shelley.

THIS picture ranks, beyond all doubt, among the happiest specimens of Mr. Shelley's pencil. The composition and colouring are correct and brilliant; but