544 



Theatres. 



[MAY, 



the principal actors, for which he is remark- 

 able ; and a " Monopolylogue,'' in which he 

 very ably plays a succession of parts. The 

 whole is dextrously conceived and per- 

 formed. 



The King's Theatre has hitherto had one 

 of its best seasons. Siguora Toso, a fine 

 stage figure, with a powerful voice, which 

 the practice of a few years must bring out 

 with great effect and beauty, has given new 

 life to the performances. Galli, the first 

 basso cantante of Italy, has appeared, and 

 sustained his high reputation. He is a power- 

 ful and scientific singer. Caradori has re- 

 turned to the performance of those characters 

 for- which she is best fitted. Tenderness, in- 

 nocence, and modesty seem to adopt her as 

 their natural representative on the stage ; but 

 she must leave the storms and struggles of 

 the higher passions to others. When she in- 

 sists on flourishing in the prima donna ener- 

 gies, she mistakes her talent and the public 

 interest. 



The Haymarket Theatre is already mak- 

 ing preparations ; and a complaint has gone 

 through the newspapers against the cruelty 



of shutting up the theatre for eight mouths 

 in the year. There seems something arbi- 

 trary enough in this at first sight, and we are 

 satisfied that the whole system relative to the 

 ministerial government of the drama might 

 be very advantageously reformed. Why the 

 appointment of a licenser should exist this 

 odious remnant of the most odious law of the 

 njost odious of all codes is incomprehensible 

 except on the ground of patronage. Why 

 the authorship of the stage should be exposed 

 to universal plunder, in the midst of a time 

 when the law of copyrights is growing more 

 accurate, more solid, arid more practically 

 guarded every day, is a question which it is 

 extremely difficult to answer. Something 

 should undoubtedly be done to secure the 

 stage author's right to his play, and .his. family 

 their inheritance in the labours of hjs pen. 

 Until this is done, by some legislator, with 

 sense enough to see his way, and with zeal 

 enough to defy the trouble of the effort, the 

 authorship of the stage elegant, vivid, de- 

 lightful as its nature is must feel itself but an 

 exotic in the winter- world of England. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



DOMESTIC. 



ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



March 9. At this meeting there was read, 

 a *' Notice respecting some errors common 

 to many tables of Logarithms," by Charles 

 Babbage, Esq., Foreign Secretary of this So- 

 ciety, of which we have already given an 

 account. There were next read two letters 

 from Mr. Andrew Lang to F. Baily, Esq., 

 dated St. Croix, 20th of March and 30th of 

 November 1826. The first of these trans- 

 mits an account of observations of the meri- 

 dian transit of the moon's enlightened limb, 

 and some stars preceding and following her, 

 made at St. Croix, lat. 1 TO 44' 32" north, as- 

 sumed long. 64 45' west, between Septem- 

 ber 22, 1825, and March 15, 1826. These 

 were sent to Mr. Schumacher at the same 

 time, and have been published in No. 104 of 

 his Astron. Nachrichten. 



Mr. Lang describes the climate of St. 

 Croix as peculiarly favourable to astronomi- 

 cal observations, and speaks of the steadiness 

 of the terrestrial refraction there. The ter- 

 restrial refraction scarcely ever varies per- 

 ceptibly from the one-sixteenth part of the 

 intercepted arc. 



In Mr. Lang's second communication, he 

 presents a further account of the meridian 

 transits of the moon's enlightened limb, and 

 of moon- culminating stars, observed between 

 March 30, and November 21, 1826. He also 

 gives a summary of his observations of oc- 

 cultations of ^\ and /txi, Sagittarii by the 

 moon, on the 9th of September ; and of 4- 

 Virginia, on the 28th of October. 



Next, there was read a paper, " On a new 



application of the method of determining 

 the time by observations of two stars when 

 in the same vertical, to the case of Polaris 

 when so situated with respect to any other 

 circurnpolar star in the course of its diurnal 

 revolution below the pole. By Dr. T. L. 

 Tiarks. The author first describes the pecu- 

 liarities and advantages of this method, and 

 then presents the investigation of the for- 

 mula; of computation. If I denote the co- 

 latitude of the place of observation, d the 

 polar distance of the pole-star, D that of the 

 other star, a their difference of right ascen- 

 sions, and t the time elapsed from the upper 

 passage of the pole-star to the moment of its 

 being on the same vertical with the other ; 

 then the result of the investigation gives 



>in a, 



tan I 



The, values of y arid being determined by 

 the following equations ; viz. 



(II) = sin (D d") 

 sin d sin D cos 4* 



(III)., tan 4,: 



(IV).. sin f 



sin(D d) 



sin a, 

 tan 'd 



The author occupies a portion of his paper 

 in tracing the limits of error, and in point- 

 ing out in what cases the method is not 

 strictly true. 



Lastly : There was read a letter from M. 

 Gambart to the President, dated Marseilles, 

 30th of December 1826. After adverting to 

 what may be supposed his temerity in anti- 



