elds of ice are portions of the slowly
released masses, the growth of many preceding winters, which were first
broken two winters ago by the strong southwest and southerly gales over
all the North Atlantic and North Pacific; but which, in consequence of
their bulk and extent, were again condensed before they could be fairly
swept into the Atlantic, and thus offered continued obstruction to the
release of Franklin and his ships. Nor would this appear to be
impossible, assuming detention in the ice to have been the only danger,
and that continued means of subsistence were accessible.--The Steamer
_Orion_, plying between Liverpool and Glasgow, was wrecked June 18th,
off Port Patrick, in a smooth sea, by striking upon a rock, and over two
hundred lives were lost.--The baptism of the infant prince was
celebrated June 22d, the Duke of Wellington being one of the sponsors,
and the ceremony being performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who
named the royal infant, "Arthur William Patrick Albert."

* * * * *

The English LITERARY INTELLIGENCE of the month is summed up in the
Household Narrative, from which mainly we copy. It remarks that the
class of books which has received the largest additions, is that of
biography. Mr. Edmund Phipps has published extracts from the diaries and
literary remains of the author of _Tremaine_, with biographical and
critical comment, under the title of "_Memoirs of the Political and
Literary Life of Robert Plumer Ward_;" and the book has been made more
interesting than the subject would have seemed to promise, by the fact
of Mr. Ward's intimate connection, both in private and public life, with
the leading tory statesmen of the administrations of Addington,
Perceval, and Liverpool. The political and administrative
characteristics of the Duke of Wellington have probably never had such
vivid illustration.--Mr. Leigh Hunt has published his "_Autobiography,
with Reminiscences of Friends and Contemporaries_," of which very
copious extracts were given in the July number of this Magazine. It will
be issued in a few days from the press of the Harpers. Some of it is the
republication of a former work, but the greater part is original, or at
least so changed by interpolations, recantations, or additions, as to
produce the effect of novelty.--The Reverend Mr. Field, an enthusiast
for the separate and silent system of imprisonment, has published a new
_Life of Howard_, dedicate