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PATRONS OF ASTRONOMY.

The Emperor of Russia has presented to the Observatory of Dorpat, a
magnificent telescope by Franenhofer, with a focal length of 13 feet,
and an aperture of 9 inches; the cost was L1,300. The king of Bavaria
followed his example by ordering a still finer instrument for the same
purpose; and the king of France, with a liberality still more patriotic,
has had executed in his own capital, an achromatic telescope, surpassing
them all in magnitude and power. What a misfortune it is to English
science, that the name of the most accomplished prince who has as yet
occupied the throne of Charles I. does not appear in the list of
sovereigns, who have been thus rivalling each other in the patronage of
astronomy! What a mortification to English feeling, that the subject of
sidereal astronomy created by the munificence of George III. should thus
be transferred to the patronage of foreign monarchs. A slight exception
must be made in the case of Edinburgh. During the King's visit, the
observatory had permission to take the name of the _Royal Observatory of
George IV._; and it has received from government L2,000. to purchase
instruments.--_Quarterly Rev_.

* * * * *

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

DINNERS.

A Family Dinner! Pot-luck, as it is called, in Scotland--when the man's
wife is in the sulks, the wife's man proportionably savage, the children
blear-eyed from the recent blubber in the nursery--the governess afraid
to lift her eyes from her plate--the aunt sourer than the vinegar
cruet--and we--alas! the stranger, stepping in to take pot-luck--we,
poor old Christopher North, thanklessly volunteering to help the
cock-y-leekie, that otherwise would continue to smoke and steam
unstirred in its truly classical utensil! What looking of inutterable
things! As impossible to break the silence with your tongue, as to break
pond-ice ten inches thick with your knuckle. In comes the cock that made
the cock-y-leekie, boiled down in his tough antiquity to a tatter. He
disappears among the progeny, and you are now tied to the steak. You
find there employment sufficient to justify any silence; and hope during
mastication that you have not committed any crime since Christmas, of an
enormity too great to be expiated by condemnation to the sulks.

A Literary Dinner! apparently the remains of the Seven Young Men
sprinkled along both sides of the table--