SCIENTIFIC BURLESQUES.-The Torch,' a clever London periodical, for late numbers of which we are indebted to the kindness of a friend in England, has an amusing report of an Association for the Advancement of Science,' held at Newcastle, England. The subjects discussed are somewhat unique. In the departinent of mathematical and physical science, a committee reports in favor of instituting a prosecution for libel against Sir JOHN HERSCHELL, for making observations' on the moon; and another proposes a reduction of the stars, in consequence of the more economical diffusion of gas-light.' The mineral logical and chemical section have an animated discussion of 'quarts;' and a learned member reads a very interesting paper on the chemical combinations of half-and-half,' observing, that if the one liquor should predominate over the other, it would be a misnomer; and illustrating the theory, by combining the fluids together in such nice proportions, as to enable him to swallow them both together, without the company present being able to pronounce which first arrived at its destination!' A second describes an experiment which he made with Cordialis Hodgesii,' which we take to be 'Hodges' Best,' in the spiritual way. He reports, that he took a bottle of the fluid, and poured upon it barely as much cold water as was sufficient to prevent its being what is technically denominated 'neat,' expecting thus, of course, to procure a saturating solution. This he continued to imbibe, until it began to diminish in specific gravity; and he was much astonished to observe, that on a second experiment being made, his gravity appeared to diminish with it; and it was found that each succeeding solution diminished in quantity, and smelt less of the Cordialis Hodgesii,' in proportion as the bottle was emptied of its contents. He was not aware, until apprised by a police constable, that the Marquis of Waterford had noticed this action of a small quantity of water on the same liquid, before!

A member of the section of Medical Science' read a curious paper on the quantity of air required by a member of Parliament during the progress of a debate;' and submitted a new method of raising the wind, which had met with the cordial approbation of many of the Irish members. He also noticed instances in the House of Commons, where the air which had been pure and fit for human respiration, previous to a speech of Mr. Daniel O'Connell, had, subsequent to an oration of that individual, become fetid, and unfit to enter the lungs of a Christian. The learned member was followed by a medical gentlemen, who exhibited to the meeting the skull of Eugene Aram, when a school-boy, and a second son of Galen presented another of the same individual, when at a more advanced age! The innocence of the boy, contrasted with the criminality of the murderer, as clearly developed in the two existing heads, was highly corroborative of the incontrovertibility of skullology. An illiterate by-stander, who interrupted the meeting by asking 'how Eugene Aram came to have two skulls?' was immediately taken into custody, and lodged in the county gaol. The business of the section of Zoology, was confined to an account of a short-sighted fish, which had been seen with barnacles, on the coast of Surinam! And thus terminated the eighth quarterly meeting of the Newcastle 'Association for the Advancement of Science.'

Since the above was placed in type, Boz's latest Report of the Second Meeting of the Mudfog Association for the Promotion of Everything,' has reached us. The reporter dates his communications from the Blackboy and Stomach-ache' inn, Oldcastle, (a palpable hit at the ridiculous tavern-signs in England, such as the Bull-and-Mouth,' the Cat-andSalutation,' etc.,) where, considering the immense throng of strangers in Mudfog, he has succeeded in obtaining very comfortable accommodations, on very reasonable terms, having secured a sofa in the first-floor passage, at one guinea per night, which includes permission to take his meals in the bar, on condition that he walks about the streets at all other times, to make room for other gentlemen similarly situated!' He finds, also, that equally felicitous accommodations may be obtained at a rival hotel, the Boot-jack and Countenance,' where have already arrived, among other distinguished savans, the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Long Eers, Sir Hookham Snivey, Mr. X. Misty, and Prof. Pumpkinskull. The section of Zoology and Botany is opened with a paper on the disappearance of dancing ars from the streets of London, with observations on the exhibition of monkeys, as conwith barrel-organs. The former, it should seem, had gradually fallen off, until not mained, to create a taste for natural history in the breasts of the poor and uninstructed;

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and of the latter, the proportion, in the year 1829, it appeared by the parliamentary return, was as one monkey to three organs! In the department of Display of Modes and Mechanical Science,' a member exhibited a most beautiful and delicate machine, of little larger size than an ordinary snuff-box, manufactured entirely by himself, and composed exclusively of steel; by the aid of which, more pockets could be picked in one hour, than by the present slow and tedious process, in four and twenty. Another presented a treatise, entitled, 'Practical Suggestions on the necessity of providing some harmless and wholesome relaxtion for the young Noblemen of England.' A space of ground was to be enclosed, ia which should be erected stables for such as affected ostlering; streets, also, should be provided with cheap houses, and door-bells, whose handles could be easily pulled off at night; lamps, which could be broken at a comparatively small expense per dozen; footpavements, for gentlemen to drive their cabriolets upon, with pedestrians from the workhouse, who might be knocked down and run over, for a trifling charge per head; and a police office, with automaton officers, should be attached, furnished with an inclined plane, for any nobleman or gentleman who might wish to bring in his horse as a witness! An admirable satire this, upon the Marquis of Waterford' class of the nobility, and the ease with which they escape the penalty of their misdemeanors. We can allude to but one more specimen : Mr. Blank exhibited a model of a fashionable annual, composed of copper-plates, gold leaf, and silk boards, and worked entirely by milk and water! Mr. Prosee, after examining the machine, declared it to be so ingeniously composed, that he was wholly unable to discover how it went on at all;' to which the exhibitor replied: Nobody can, and that's the beauty of it!"

PORTRAIT OF Boz'- PICKWICK IN AMERICA.-A large and finished portrait of the author of the Papers of the Pickwick Club,' the only one in America, flashes upon the passer-by, in the window of the publication office of this Magazine, Messrs. WILEY AND PUTNAM, Broadway. The countenance is that of a young man of some twenty-three years, and its general expression, the reader will scarcely be prepared to learn, is that of melancholy. A profusion of fair hair is parted gracefully over an ample forehead, replete with the best intellectual organs,' and falls carelessly over the ears. The mouth is expressive and well cut, and that invariable accompaniment of talent, a full-rounded nostril, is a conspicuous feature. We had secretly promised ourselves the pleasure of being onabled to present our readers, during the progress of the present volume, with original articles from the pen of the author of the inimitable Pickwickian records; but we must postpone the gratification, it should seem, until it can be enjoyed in an enhanced and double sense. Mr. DICKENS writes, under date of August 31st: 'I should be very happy to write for the KNICKERBOCKER, but I do assure you, that I have scarcely time to complete my existing engagements. So I think I must defer this pleasure, until I visit America, which I hope to do before very long, and then I shall be more independent and free, which will be more in keeping.' Mr. DICKENS has doubtless learned, from the unanimous testimony of his countrymen, who have travelled among us, that the Americans, as a mass, are a humorloving people. Should he journey through, or tarry within our borders, for a brief space, he will find the best proof of this verdict, in the fact, that he is himself, as an author, universally 'endenizened in the national heart.' And here we cannot resist the remark, that the writings of Boz,' volumnious and various as they have been, and continue to be, rather increase than flag in interest, as they advance. The latest number of 'Nicholas Nickleby,' which reaches us by the Great Western,' fully sustains the promise afforded by the previous portions of the narrative. The affection of the Nickleby family, the fondness and weakness of the mother, the high spirit of Nicholas, and the confiding loveliness of his sister Kate, are clearly depicted, and in fine artistical contrast. The interior of the miliner's shop of Madame Mantalina, with its interesting and amiable forewoman, the once young and pretty, but now old and sycophantic Knag, and the assemblage of heartless puppies of the town, Mr. Verisopht, and kindred worthies, at the house of the cold and unprincipled worldling, Ralph Nickleby, are not less felicitously drawn, and vigorously executed. We make a long arm' across the Atlantic, and confidently, in behalf

of some fifty thousand KNICKERBOCKER readers, grasp the unreal hand of our author, and bid him welcome among us, whenever it shall suit his convenience and pleasure to turn his face hitherward.

THE CITY OF ROCHESTER. We had prepared for the present number an elaborate notice, with liberal extracts, of a work of some four hundred pages, entitled Sketches of Rochester, with Incidental Notices of Western New York.' It is a collection of various matters, designed to illustrate the progress of Rochester, during the first quarter century of its existence; including a map of the city, and some representations of scenery, edifices, etc. Arranged by HENRY O'REILLY.' The great length to which the department of 'Literary Notices' has extended, must be our apology for presenting a mere synopsis, rather than a review, of the contents of the work. It opens with a brief sketch of the rise, progress, and present condition, of the city of Rochester; gives the geology and medical topography of the town and its vicinity; a history of the lands of the original Six Nations, with some particulars of the principal tracts in the subdivisions of Western New York, the progress of improvement from the Hudson westward to the Genessee and Niagara rivers, together with complete statistics of the city, and sketches of the recent Indian occupants of Western New York, and some of the prominent founders of the town, and promoters of its unrivalled growth and prosperity. The work is full and ample, in all these details, and arranged with much clearness and tact. We can heartily commend it to the reader, as a succinct history, not only of Rochester, but of Western New-York. He will learn, especially, from its pages, what that young town has become, which Capt. BASIL HALL described as a place where the streets started up in the forest of their own accord; as if a great box full of new houses had been sent by steam from New-York, and tumbled out on the half-cleared land.' Where he heard the anvils and hammers ringing, and the saws and axes flashing amid the woods, he would now find a noble city of brick and stone, with its spacious well-paved streets its numerous steeples rising heavenward, and its inhabitants rejoicing in its deep and wellfounded prosperity. When the Great West shall have filled up, and New York has become a London, what will Rochester- a town which has reached its present estate, not through the aid of immense capitalists, or incorporated companies, but by the industry and integ rity of those who, like the city itself, have worked their way up from the stump' — what then, we repeat, will Rochester, with its inexhaustible natural resources, become, and what the other noble towns of triddle and western New York? The engravings of the volume are clear, and strikingly correct, and the letter-press is handsomely executed, on good paper.

BONAPARTE. The two volumes from the press of Messrs. CAREY AND HART, entitled 'Napoleon and his Times,' by CAULINCOURT, Duke of Vicenza,' as might naturally be inferred, possess, in portions, absorbing interest. The details, however, have but one tendency to magnify, alike in peace and war, the character of a selfish and ambitious man, whose fame, like a statue of snow, is slowly melting away beneath the sun of truth. Great indeed was Napoleon, in one sense, but good in none. The more conspicuous human instruments by which he worked out his large designs, were slaves to his iron will, not less than the countless thousands who were bound with the brave amid Victory's sheaves ;' yet they delighted to serve him, so long as he knit up their chains into ornamental festoons, even while laboring, as he always did, to elevate himself above the rest of mankind, by stifling all feelings which he partook in common with them. Such are the real evidences, malgre the transparent glosses, which these volumes afford. It should be added, that they are not written by CAULINCOURT, Duke of Vincenza, but are the recorded conversations of that distinguished nobleman. The work has had a rapid sale, the American edition being already exhausted, although scarcely a week has elapsed since its first publication. Its externals of paper and typography are superior to the 'general run' of similar republications.

THE ARTICLE ON LOCKHART'S LIFE OF SCOTT, in the present number, was intended by the writer to have formed an original paper, in the body of the work. Arriving too late, however, to occupy this' advance position,' we have been compelled, contrary to our custom, to permit an unofficial document to 'lead off' in our own department. We mention this fact, to save any good-natured friend the trouble, by reference to a past volume of this Magazine, of ferreting out that which, unexplained, might strike him as something very like a discrepancy.

PARK THEATRE.- The first month of the new season has passed off brilliantly. POWER, whose unapproachable delineations of Irish character have, from previous visits, become so familiar, has again gone through his round of laughter-moving eccentricities, with unabated effect. It is almost too late in the day to attempt to add any thing, in the way of praise, to the full measure of commendation which has been bestowed upon the efforts of this admirable performer. Mr. POWER has presented, during this engagement, four new pieces, which require some notice. The first and most important of these, is the play entitled 'Rory O'More,' dramatized from the celebrated novel of that name, by the gifted author. The principal incidents of the tale are effectively introduced, and work together well and naturally enough, in the drama, and make up a plot of more than ordinary interest. It is enough to say, in recommendation of the comedy of the performance that the two principal characters, 'De Welskein' a French Smuggler, and Rory O'More' an honest, follicking, light-hearted son of the sod, are in the hands of PLACIDE and POWER; the bad English of the one, and good Irish of the other, being brought continually (as Mrs. Malaprop would say) in 'beautiful juxtaposition.' Mrs. RICHARDSON added much to the serious interest of the piece, by her effective acting in the part of 'Kathleen.' There was much pathos and beauty in some scenes, especially in her meeting with O'More and Shan Dhu. Mrs. VERNON rattled through the very short scene allotted her, with all that vivacity and spirit which characterise her efforts. This lady, like Mrs. WHEATLEY, slights nothing. In her hands, a character of little importance meets with the same care and justice, as would the prominent heroine of the piece. Mr. RICHINGS, as 'Shan Dhu,' was the picturesque villain that any modern Salvator would fall in love with. In such characters, Mr. Richings is without a rival. His costume is always in 'horribly good' taste; his walk, action, and utterance, bespeak altogether an individual of a description decidedly on the north side of amiable. It is a commonly received opinion, that the devil is less ugly than he is painted; this may be the case with those of his insinuating agents whom Mr. RICHINGS Occasionally represents; but whether his studies are from copies, or from Nature herself, his pictures are perfect specimens of that sort of personage which a traveller of tolerably delicate nerves would willingly avoid encountering alone on a heath at midnight. Those who have read the book - and who has not?-need not be told of the racy portraits of Irish character with which it abounds, nor be advised of the interest of the plot. The scenes between De Welskein and Rory, are full of fun. The Fox story is a whopper,' and comes off at the end with a twang, which contrasts quite dramatically with the previous jest.

We are not able to say much in praise of the piece entitled Confounded Foreigners,' the principal humor of which seems to consist in the bungling efforts of a Frenchman to pass for an Irishman, and of an Irishman to hide his brogue under a French disguise. It is rather a silly affair, and hardly worth the trouble of a rehearsal. 'The Irish Lion' comes next, and excepting the broad humor of the first scene interspersed as it is with some original scintillations of Irish wit, made the most of by the 'modus loquendi' of the inimitable TYRONE this piece will gainnothing by comparison with the last. McIntosh and Co.' is not much better. PLACIDE and POWER, together, however, can hardly fail to infuse some spirit into the dullest dramatic compound. There is most as much improbability in the story of this piece, as in the 'Irish Lion,' and no in crease of originality. It is, however, more deserving of the exertions of the dram. per.,' than either of the two last. The wit is less farcical, and the situations more dramatic, than is generally characteristic of such ephemeral trifles.

best singer for an actress, and the best actress for a singer, that has appeared in our day. Her vocal powers are certainly brilliant. Her voice appears to be a mezzo-contralto' of exquisite purity a sweet voir de salon, possessing degrees of moderation truly surprising. The simple ballads introduced in her performances, are given with a finish and effect which, with but one exception, we have never heard equalled. Of her acting, so much has been said, that we are quite unable to add any thing in the way of criticism. As an actress, she certainly stands alone. She is sui generis,' and cannot be compared, in justice, with any other. But it is not, as some of her admirers have asserted, because she 'soars above the regular standard of criticism.' She does no such thing. She cannot act in opposition to its laws, nor in defiance of its opinions. She is amenable to the rules which govern the art histrionic, as any other performer. If her strength does not lie in what is called the legitimate drama, she is nevertheless guided by the same natural laws that influence the most orthodox comedian. It is absurd to suppose, that the exercise of any particular passion, the same muscles of the face, the same actions of the body, are not requisite; as if, for example, to express the love of comedy, and the love of farce, two sets of muscles were required. If Madame VESTRIS is above the rules of criticism, heaven help her! Every thing which she attempts, seems at once stamped with the utmost finish of art. There is nothing more to be desired; no awful pauses, for the imagination to lath and plaster, but each minute particular of the scene is noted and expressed, with the most careful attention. If her performances are of a character which does not astonish, they always please. There is no drawback, no occasional brilliancy, breaking forth at one moment, to be contrasted the next with more than Egyptian darkness. The most cynical are pleased. In her acting all is smooth, and critically just.