man,
modestly, but not shamefacedly, showing us one thrush and one linnet.

An image-man told me to-day, that after the trade for classical
models--Apollos and Venuses--had gone out, and nobody would buy, _Tam
o' Shanter_ and _Souter Johnny_ operated a good _revival_ of the fine
arts for several months. How much, then, the models from the antique,
do towards improving our taste! and how absurd to set up institutions
with the expectation of making the populace other than the gross,
unideal, matter-of-fact thing it is, and always was, no doubt, even in
Athens itself!

THE IMPROVISATORE.

We heard one of these monsters last night. The arena for his
exhibition might, but for the known liberality of society, be thought
objectionable--being none other than the English place of worship. But
_tout est sain aux sains_--or _aux saints_, if you please. Charity
covereth many sins; and if there be a place upon earth where charity
reigns, it is at what you call _watering-places_. Pindar was right,
[Greek: ariston men hudoz]. If we were enquired of, and propitiated
by a fee, as to the effects of the waters here, we should give it as
our opinion that they act directly on the _picrochole_, or bitter
principle of bile, and carry it, soft as milk, through the duodenal
passages. Our Improvisatore has, we understand, been six times
_painted_, (we know not what saloons are so fortunate as to possess
his portrait,) but we believe he has not been described. When we saw
him, his hair danced wildly over his shoulders, as if electrified: he
had a quick eye, and wore enviably well-fitting ducks: his neck,
besides supporting his head and all its contents, supported an
inextricable labyrinth of gold chains; from every buttonhole of his
waistcoat the chains they came in, and the chains they came out, like
the peripatetic man on the Boulevards who sells them: his gloves,
well-fitting, and buttoning at the wrist, were of the whitest kid, and
grasped a yet whiter and highly-scented cambric: his boots shone
bright with varnish, and his face with self-complacency. As the room
filled, he went round, giving the girls permission to write _subjects_
on bits of waste (wasted!) paper, which set them _thinking_ at a great
rate. Presently, a second circuit round the room, to collect the
orders payable at sight--a title such as the _Lucciola_, _Italia_,
_The Exile_, _Woman's Love_, _Man's Ingratitude_; after which he
proceeds to fold up and puts them into a