96 
OLLA PODEIDA. 
[Nature and Art, August !, 1866. 
from her statue at the Erechtheum, and represents 
the goddess wearing a helmet chased with a helix 
ornament, crowned with olive, and surmounted by 
a low crest. She wears ear-rings : the features are 
archaic, the eye represented in profile, a smile on 
the lips, like the works of the Dredalids, or of the 
vEginetan school, such as the statue made by the 
sculptor Encloios must have been. On the reverse, 
within an indented square, Minerva’s emblem, the 
owl, standing full face and with extended wings. 
At the corner is a sprig of olive, also an emblem of 
the goddess, who, in her contest with Neptune for 
the honour of naming the city on the plains of 
Attica, produced it from the ground, and, on account 
of its supreme utility to man, was adjudged by the 
assembled gods to be the winner. In the field is 
A0E, for AOENAION, money of the Athenians. 
The style of art of this coin is anterior to b.c. 470 ; 
but the old type was retained for nearly a century 
later. It is somewhat difficult to account for the 
deficient weight of this coin; and neither the place, 
time, nor occasion of its issue, has yet been satis- 
factorily settled. 
To the Editor of Nature and Art. 
Sib, — W e have had sad havoc around our hencoops. 
Thirteen young- chickens have been found headless, their 
bodies lying quivering on the ground. From the description 
given by our poultry-woman, I have no doubt but that the 
jackdaws destroyed them, as she saw one of them fighting 
with a hen, who was trying in vain to defend her little 
brood. In every instance they left the bodies on the ground, 
taking the heads to their young ones, whom they are 
known to feed on the eyes and brains of small birds. My 
butler was constantly on the watch, but never succeeded in 
shooting any of them. They would fly away on his approach, 
and return to the spot the moment he was gone. They 
have now entirely ceased their depredations, and I am led 
to believe from this that the young birds are able to support 
themselves by this time, and are now living on other food. 
Last year they destroyed a great many young pheasants in 
Kneb worth Park, where there is a colony of them, but the 
keeper managed to kill several, not however before he had 
lost the greater portion of his birds. W. B. 
Welwyn, June 28, 1866. 
[This has the appearance of being a very serious charge 
against our old friends the Daws. There are persons who 
OLLA P 
From the second volume of Otto Htibner’s Verglei- 
cliende Statistik Europas, we learn that there are in Europe 
1,480 theatres, though only 298 permanent companies. Of 
these theatres, 337 are in France ; 296 in Italy (with 
Venice, 348) ; 168 in Spain; 159 in Great Britain; 152 in 
Austria ; in the smaller States of Germany, 115 ; in Prussia, 
76; in Bussia, 44 (Poland, 10); in Belgium, 34; in the 
Netherlands, 23 ; in Switzerland, 20 ; in Sweden, 10 ; in 
Norway, 8; in Portugal, 16; in Denmark, 10 (Schleswig- 
Holstein, 5) ; in Greece, 4 ; in Turkey, 4 ; in Boumania, 3 ; 
in Servia, 1. In France there are 61 permanent companies; 
in the smaller States of Germany, 46 ; in Great Britain, 39 ; 
in Austria, 34; in Prussia, 32; in Italy, 24; in Bussia, 15. 
Of capitals, those that possess the greatest number of 
theatres are Paris, which has 40 ; London, 26 ; Naples and 
Milan, 13 each ; Borne, Turin, and Brussels, 10 each ; 
Berlin, Vienna, and Florence, 9 each (in the case of Vienna, 
singing-halls seem to be included in the calculation) ; 
Madrid, Venice, and Genoa, 8 each; Seville, 6; Lisbon, 
Amsterdam, Hamburg, St. Petersburg, Bologna, Leghorn, 
and Verona, 5 each. There is a theatre for every 190,000 
inhabitants in Europe. The most theatres in proportion to 
the population are found in Italy, where there is one theatre 
for every 75,000 persons; in Spain, one theatre to 93,000 
persons ; in France, one theatre to 110,000 persons; then 
come Switzerland, Belgium, and the smaller German States, 
one theatre to 150,000 persons; the Netherlands and Great 
Britain, one theatre to 184,000 persons; Norway and 
openly say, “Jack is a rogue.” Of course he is, we all 
know that. Did he not steal the abbot’s ring ? and was 
he not deservedly visited with the thunders of the abbot's 
“anathema” in consequence? Jack is like the immortal 
Major Bagstock, “ sly, sir.” Of that there can be no 
doubt, and even his best friends admit it. But when we 
first heard of this wholesale chicken slaughter, we rather 
hoped that some other marauding delinquent might have 
been caught in the very act, and our minds have been 
relieved of much painful suspicion ; but the weight of 
evidence rests heavily against Jack. We have ever been 
accustomed to regard him with a certain degree of rever- 
ence, as being a frequenter and lover of our venerable 
cathedrals and ancient baronial towers, and we have felt 
inclined to forgive many a thievish trick from the associa- 
tions with which his haunts have surrounded him. But as 
the murderer of dainty young pheasants, alas ! Jack, we 
can take your part no more. We fear there is no help for 
it but to deliver you over to the- tender mercies of “ our 
butler ” and poultry-woman (when they can catch you). 
We can only imagine one little bit of excuse for you ; viz., 
that amongst other of your ecclesiastical preferences, you 
have learned to bo a sad epicure, and that you do not stand 
alone in your relish for a “ daintie dish ” of brains. — Ed.] 
Austria, one theatre to 235,000 persons; Prussia, one theatre 
to 243,000 persons; Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, and Greece, 
one theatre to 380,000 persons. The fewest theatres are 
found in Bussia, with one to 1,360,000 persons. Italy has, 
therefore, comparatively eighteen times as many theatres as 
Bussia. 
The famous illustrator of Perrault, Balzac, Chateau- ^ 't 
briand, Cervantes, Dante, and the Bible, is now at work on 
Lafontaine and Shakespeare. The illustrations of the 
fables of Lafontaine are far advanced, if not completed ; 
and the artist is said to be working, with even more than 
his ordinary vigour, on the sketches for the illustration of 
our immortal bard. There was a meeting of publishers 
some weeks since in Dore’s studio, and it was then said 
that the artist had placed his work with one of these gentle- 
men at the price of 400,000 francs. This is now contra- 
dicted, and it is said that while that sum was offered by 
the three publishers, M. Dore demanded one quarter more, 
or half a million of francs. Such is the report which we 
repeat without guaranteeing its exactness. Twenty thou- 
sand pounds is certainly a large sum, but M. Gustave Dore 
is in a position to ask, and to obtain, an exceptional price. 
It is added, that of the three publishers, one only was a 
Frenchman, one an American, and the other an English- 
man. The rat figures constantly in Lafontaine’s works, 
and the artist has therefore set up a “ ratary ” — to coin a 
word for the occasion — at home, and is living on most 
familiar terms with its fifteen occupants. 
ODRIDA. 
