NORFOLK Naval Column, intended to perpetuate the brilliant victories and fame of the gallant Nelson, stands near the middle of the Yarmouth Denes; and was erected by the contributions of his countrymen of Norfolk, under the direction of William Wilkins, esq., architect. The first stone was laid on the 15th of August, 1817, in the presence of a numerous assemblage of persons, by the honourable colonel Wodehouse, chairman of the subcommittee appointed to execute the work, and was completed in something less than two years. The order is that of the Grecian Doric, beautifully fluted, and ornamented above with the names of the ships on board of which the hero's flag Fas so valorously maintained; and be neath, with title inscriptions of his most celebrated victories. There is a flight of steps on each of the four sides of the pedestal; the top of which forms a promenade round the shaft. The 100f is supported by caryatides, surmounted by a ball and figure of Britannia, finely cast, holding a trident and laurel wreath. The structure is composed of white Scottish marble. On the east side of the pedes tal are the names of the committee, architect, and others, engaged in the building. On the west is the following very elegant inscription in Latin, from the pen of Mr. Sergeant Frere, descriptive of the birth and exploits of the renowned admiral. of brass and stone, his fellow-countrymen of Norfolk, have resolved to commemorate by this column, erected by their joint contributions. He was born in the year 1758; entered on his profession 1771; and was concerned in nearly 150 naval engagements with the enemy. Being conqueror, among various other occasions, at Aboukir, August 1798; at Copenhagen, April 1801; and at Trafalgar, October, 1805. Which last victory, the crown of so many glorious achievements, he consecrated by a death equally mournful to to himself. SPIRIT OF THE Public Journals. THE CROSS OF THE SOUTH. PERHAPS there is no circumstance which more forcibly reminds a European traveller, when in the southern hemisphere, that he is at an immense distance from his native country, than the extraordinary alteration which he finds in the appearance of the heavens, as surveyed upon a starlight night. Above him, are constellations of unparalleled beauty and brilliancy; but they are not those which he has been accustomed to contemplate. He can no langer observe the bright and glittering groups, which every country of the north designates by some familiar name, the stars which may be termed tne own; they have all passed away, and in their stead are others perhaps more bright and more brilliant, but not those with which the eye of a European has been familiar, and therefore not so welcome to his sight. I remember, during the course of my voyage, when I first crossed the Equator, I used nightly to watch the stars which from my own home I had been accustomed to survey; I considered them as friends-I had learnt to designate them in my childhood, and those friends I had left behind could even then observe them as well as myself. I looked upon them as links, which in a manner connected me with home. They gradually sank near to the horizon night by night I saw them less and less, until at length I looked for them in vain. They had disappeared, and then not only the air, but even the firmament of heaven convinced me, that an immense distance separated me from the country of my birth. The southern celestial hemisphere is extremely dissimilar to the northern, not only in the grouping of the stars, but in its whole character. With us there is scarcely a portion of the firmament that is not studded thickly with stars, but in the southern hemisphere, there are large tracts or spaces of extreme blackness, in which no star appears. These black, unlighted spaces give a very peculiar and novel appearance to the brilliant constellations, whose effect is aided by the darkness. Amongst the southern_constellations, no one is more beautiful than that called the Cross of the south, known to all the readers of St. Pierre's Paul and Virginia. titude 13; the weather had been cloudy When I first saw it, we were in about lafor several nights, but just before sunset, of the firmament was visible all night. the sky brightened, and the full beauty When the Cross is first seen, it is strongly inverted, but it gradually rises in the firmament, until it becomes quite erect. Two stars of extreme brilliancy form the top and bottom of the Cross, and these having the same right ascension, the Cross is vertical when it passes the meridian; so that the time of night may always be told by noticing whether it inclines or not. The natives of the south frequently refer to it for this purpose, and amongst the Catholics, its holy form renders it an object of peculiar veneration. Most of our crew had seen it in former voyages, and it was a curious, and by no means unpleasant, sight to witness the joy with which they hailed its re-appearance, as if it were indeed an old friend. One man who had been bred a Catholic, immediately fell upon his knees, and muttered an ejaculation, at the same time devoutly entitled Specimens of Serious and Sacred Poetry, consisting of judicious selections from the works of our greatest and best poets, and biographical sketches of their lives. A memoir of James Grahame, the author of a sacred poem, The Sabbath, possesses the charm of exciting the sympathy of the reader merely from the plain, unaffected, and sweet simplicity of style peculiar to the talents of the writer in sketching the memoir. We have room only for one little anecdote extracted from excellent critical remarks on his writings. the life of Grahame, which precedes some It may, however, be observed of this "child of song," that he was extremely diffident of his own powers, and did not even to his wife's affectionate sympathy confide the secret authorship of his principal poem, The Sabbath, which was pub lished about two years after their marriage: In addition to our "Choice Extracts from New Works," we intend giving, from time, to time literary notices of important publications, and briefly acquaint our readers of the nature and character of the work from which we extract. We shall also occasionally allude to the literary noyelties of the week; and in thus preserving an accurate feature of the general state of literature, we confidently presume we shall add an additional charm to our "MIKROR of Literature, Amusement, and In. struction," while we present our readers with information both valuable and useful. -SPECIMENS OF SACRED AND SERIOUS POETRY. On the publication of the anonymous poem it was silently laid on his wife's table by the over-sensitive author, trembling before his unconscious and beloved judge. It is related by one of his most intimate friends, that while he walked about the room in agitation, Mrs. Grahame was led by curiosity to examine the new work. After a time, she burst out into enthusiastic admiration of the perband's weak side, very naturally added, formance, and well knowing her hus Ah! James, if you could produce a poem like this!' Longer concealment was not compatible with the warmth of affection and sympathy of tastes which form the charm of such a union. The author of the admired performance was revealed in the husband. The scene is worth preserving. These were the golden moments with which poetry sometimes rewards the sacrifices of its simple votaries. Mrs. Grahame, justly proud of her hus band's genius, no longer checked its bent."-p. 10. We earnestly recommend these admirable Specimens of Sacred and Serious Poetry to every parent and every family, as conveying the most moral and impor. tant information in a manner the most fascinating and pleasing. CAPTAIN HALL'S INTERVIEW (Concluded from page 87.) In a few seconds after making this remark, Bonaparte asked, with a playful expression of countenance, as if amused with what he was saying, "Have you ever heard your father speak of me ?" I replied, instantly, "Very often." Upon WE have lately met with a little work which he said, in a quick, sharp tone, What does he say of me?" The manner in which this was spoken seemed to demand an immediate reply, and I said that I had often heard him express great admiration of the encouragement he had always given to science while he was emperor of the French. He laughed and nodded repeatedly, as if gratified by what was said. His next question was, "Did you ever hear your father express any desire to see me ?" I replied that I had heard him often say there was no man alive so well worth seeing, and that he had strictly enjoined me to wait upon him if ever I should have an opportunity. "Very well," retorted Bonaparte, "if he really considers me such a curiosity, and is so desirous to see me, why does he not come to St. Helena for that purpose?" I was at first at a loss to know whether this question was put seriously or ironically; but as I saw him waiting for an answer, I said my father had too many occupations and duties to fix him at home. "Has he any public duties? Does he fill a public station ?" I told him, None of an official nature; but that he was president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the duties of which claimed a good deal of his time and attention. This observation gave rise to a series of inquiries respecting the constitution of the society in question. He made me describe the duties of all the office-bearers, from the president to the secretary, and the manner in which scientific papers were brought before the society's notice. He seemed much struck, I thought, and rather amused, with the custom of discussing subjects publicly at the meetings in Edinburgh. When I told him the number of members was several hundreds, he shook his head, and said, "All these cannot surely be men of science!" When he had satisfied himself on this topic, he reverted to the subject of my father, and after seeming to make a calculation, observed, "Your father must, I think, be my senior by nine or ten years at least nine-but I think ten. Tell me, is it not so ?" I answered, that he was very nearly correct. Upon which he laughed and turned almost completely round on his heel, nodding his head several times. I did not presume to ask him where the joke lay, but imagined he was pleased with the correctness of his computation. He followed up his inquiries by begging to know what number of children my father had; and did not quit this branch of the subject till he had obtained a correct list of the ages and occupation of the whole family. He then asked, "How long were you in France ?" and on my saying I had not yet visited that country, A The opportunities which his elevated station had given Napoleon of obtaining information on almost every subject, and his vast power of rapid and correct observation, had rendered it a matter of so much difficulty to place before him any thing totally new, that I considered myself fortunate in having something to speak of beyond the mere common-places of a formal interview. Bonaparte has always been supposed to have taken a par ticular interest in Eastern affairs; and from the avidity with which he seemed to devour the information I gave him about Loo-Choo, China, and the adjacent countries, it was impossible to doubt the sincerity of his oriental predilections. notion also prevails, if I am not mistaken, that his geographical knowledge of those distant regions was rather loose a charge which, by the way, Bonaparte probably shares with most people. I was, therefore, not a little surprised to discover his ideas upon the relative situation of the countries in the China and Japan seas to be very distinct and precise. On my naming the island of Loo-Choo to him, he shook his head as if he had never heard of it before, and made me tell him how it bore from Canton, and what was the distance. He next asked its bearing with respect to Japan and Manilla, by the intersection of which three lines, in his imagination, he appeared to have settled its position pretty accurately, since every observation he made afterwards appeared to imply a recollection of this particular point. For instance, when he spoke of the probability of the manners and institutions of the Loo-Chooans having been influenced by the interference of other countries, he drew correct inferences as cerned. Having settled where the island far as geographical situation was conlay, he cross-questioned me about the inhabitants with a closeness--I may call it a severity of investigation-which far exceeds every thing I have met with in any other instance. His questions were not by any means put at random, but each one had some definite reference to that which preceded it or was about to follow. I felt in a short time so completely exposed to his view, that it would have been impossible to have concealed or qualified the smallest particular. Such, indeed, was the rapidity of his apprehension of the subjects which interested him, and the astonishing ease with which he arranged and generalized the few points of information I gave him, that he sometimes outstripped my narrative, saw the conclusion I was coming to before I spoke it, and fairly robbed me of my story. Several circumstances, however, respecting the Loo-Choo people, surprised even him a good deal; and I had the satisfaction of seeing him more than once completely perplexed, and unable to account for the phenomena which I related. Nothing struck him so much as their having no arms. "Point d'armes !" he exclaimed, "c'est a dire point de cannons -ils ont des fusils ?" Not even muskets, I replied. "Eh bien donc des lances, ou, au moins, des arcs et des fleches?" I told him they had neither one nor other. "Ni poignards ?" cried he, with increasing vehemence. No, none. "Mais !" said Bonaparte, clenching his fist, and raising his voice to a loud pitch, "Mais! sans armes, comment se bat-on ?" I could only reply, that as far as we had been able to discover, they had never had any wars, but remained in a state of internal and external peace. "No wars!" cried he, with a scornful and incredulous expression, as if the existence of any people under the sun without wars was a monstrous anomaly. In like manner, but without being so much moved, he seemed to discredit the account 1 gave him of their having no money, and of their setting no value upon our silver or gold coins. After hearing these facts stated, he mused for some time, muttering to himself, in a low tone, "Not know the use of money-are careless about gold and silver." Then looking up, he asked, sharply, "How then did you contrive to pay these strangest of all people for the bullocks and other good things which they seem to have sent on board in such quantities:" When I informed him that we could not prevail upon the people of Loo-Choo to receive payment of any kind, he expressed great surprise at their liberality, and made me repeat to him twice the list of things with which we were supplied by these hos pitable islanders. I had carried with me, at Count Bertrand's suggestion, some drawings of the scenery and costume of Loo-Choo and Corea, which I found of use in describing the inhabitants. When we were speaking of Corea, he took one of the drawings from me, and running his eye over the different parts, repeated to himself, "An old man with a very large hat, and long white beard, ha!-a long pipe in his hand-a Chinese mat-a Chinese dressa man near him writing—all very good, and distinctly drawn." He then required me to tell him where the different parts of these dresses were manufactured, and what were the different prices --questions I could not answer. He wished to be informed as to the state of agriculture in Loo-Choo-whether they ploughed with horses or bullocks-how they managed their crops, and whether or not their fields were irrigated like those in China, where, as he understood, the system of artificial watering was carried to a great extent. The climate, the aspect of the country, the structure of the houses and boats, the fashion of their dresses, even to the minutest particular in the formation of their straw sandals and tobacco-pouches, occupied his attention. He appeared considerably amused at the pertinacity with which they kept their women out of our sight, but repeatedly expressed himself much pleased with Captain Maxwell's moderation and good sense in forbearing to urge any point upon the natives which was disagreeable to them, or contrary to the laws of their country. He asked many questions respecting the religion of China and Loo-Choo, and appeared well aware of the striking resemblance between the appearance of the Catholic priests and the Chinese bonzes; a resemblance which, as he remarked, extends to many parts of the religious ceremonies of both. Here, however, as he also observed, the comparison stops, since the bonzes of China exert no influence whatsoever over the minds of the people, and never interfere in their temporal or eternal concerns. In LooChoo, where every thing else is so praiseworthy, the low state of the priesthood is as remarkable as in the neighbouring continent, an anomaly which Bonaparte dwelt upon for some time without coming to any satisfactory explanation. With the exception of a momentary fit of scorn and incredulity when told that the Loo-Chooans had no wars or weapons of destruction, he was in high good hu mour while examining me on these topics. The cheerfulness, I may almost call it familiarity, with which he conversed, not |