THE THEATRE. 143 



advantage, even in the departments of stowage. He feared that 

 the details which he had brought before the society, had proved 

 uninteresting, but they were not unimportant; he was free to 

 confess that his knowledge of the subject was very imperfect, 

 and that he should have hesitated to write a paper on "Stowage,'' 

 if he had not experienced the most enlightened attention at those 

 public departments in the neighbourhood, where he had sought 

 for information, on the subjects to which his observations had 

 reference. 



The lecturer reminded the Society that he had said on former 

 occasions, in that hall, that it yet remains for English ship build- 

 ers to reduce naval architecture to a scientific system : he wished 

 he could see reason to alter that opinion — but he could not; his 

 sentiments on that point were unchanged. " They order matters 

 better in France." In England, we want that encouragement to 

 prosecute naval philosophy, which, in France, is so liberally prof- 

 fered. The French Academy of Sciences have offered several 

 prizes, from time to time, for the best Memolres on the stowage 

 of ships. In 1757, Daniel Bernouilli received a prize; in 1759, 

 Mon. L. Euler divided the prize; in the same year, and again in 

 1765, Mon. Groignard, Constructeur des vaisseaux du Roi, k 

 L' Orient, divided a prize; in 1761, Mon. L' Abbe Bossut, and 

 Mon. J. A. Euler divided a prize; and, in 1766, Mon. Bourd^ 

 de Villehuet obtained a prize. Besides these, many other com- 

 petitors were candidates for the honours to be awarded. 



But where shall we look for essays, (I will not say prize essays) 

 in the English language? If it be true that the destinies of 

 an empire may be read in the characters of its public institutions, 

 let us hope that in proportion as we value our naval supremacy, 

 so shall we cherish every means of becoming superior to rival 

 countries in every thing that relates to our maritime resources. 



THE THEATRE. 



Jan. 30., Henriette, and Turn Out. 



Ilenriette, or the Forsaken, was brought out for the first time, 

 on the above evening. It is a melo-drama, founded on the 

 German novel, "The Patrician," and dramatized by Buckstone, 

 author of " Victorine." It was received with unbounded ap- 

 plause, and was well worthy of such a reception. Miss Mason 

 appeared to great advantage as Henriette ; her conception of the 



