f the battle of
Trafalgar, "ENGLAND EXPECTS EVERY MAN TO DO HIS DUTY."

The figures constituting the principal design are Nelson, Victory, and
Death: his Country mourning for her loss, and her Navy, eager to avenge
it,--naturally claim a place in the group.

The principal figure is the Admiral, resting one foot on a conquered
enemy, and the other on a cannon. With an eye stedfast and upraised to
Victory, he is receiving from her a fourth naval crown upon his sword,
which, to indicate the loss of his right arm, is held in his left hand.
The maimed limb is concealed by the enemy's flag, which Victory is
lowering to him. Under the folds of the flag Death lies in ambush for
his victim, intimating, that Nelson received the reward of his valour
and the stroke of death at the same moment.

By the figure of an exasperated British seaman is represented the zeal
of the navy to wreak vengeance on the enemies who robbed England of her
gallant leader.

Britannia, with laurels in her hand, and leaning regardless of them on
her spear and shield, describes the feelings of the country fluctuating
between the pride and the anguish of triumph so dearly purchased, but
relying for security on her own resources.

_Hoxton_. T. WARD.

* * * * *

TAKING OF CONSTANTINOPLE BY THE TURKS.[1]

[1] From the time of Alcibiades to the reign of Mahommed II.,
Constantinople has undergone twenty-four sieges.

(_For the Mirror_.)

Mahomet II., soon after he mounted the Turkish throne, resolved to
achieve some glorious action, that he might surpass the fame of his
predecessors; and nothing appeared so compatible with his ambition as
the gaining of Constantinople, and the total subversion of the Greek
empire, which at that period was in a very precarious condition. The
sultan, therefore, made vast preparations, which the Greek emperor,
Constantine VIII., perceiving, he solicited the aid of several Christian
princes, especially of Pope Nicholas V. and the king of Naples; but they
_all_, in a most unaccountable manner, excused themselves. Being thus
disappointed, the emperor laid an embargo on all vessels within his
ports, so that he added about three thousand veterans of different
nations to the garrison of his imperial city, which before consisted
of only six thousand Greeks.

In the spring of 1453, Mahomet set forward, with an army of three
hundred thousand men, for Constantinople, which city, on the ninth da