possession will be arrested, and brought before a court-
martial, to be judged according to the usual laws, and
besides the sentence there passed upon him he will be
fined fifteen scudi for each weapon found in his house.
The proprietors of houses will be responsible for weapons
seized in them. The prohibition extends to sticks of
such dimensions as to lead to the inference that they
contain concealed arms. Notwithstanding these stringent
measures, assassinations of French soldiers take
place almost every night. A combination against the
use of tobacco has reached such a pitch that not a cigar
is to be seen in the streets or cafés, save in the mouths
of some stray foreigner or French soldier, and even in
the Trastevere, where it is to the interest of the people
to keep up the consumption of tobacco, as many of the
women are employed by Prince Torlonia in the preparation
of cigars, the men have cheerfully thrown away
their weeds and pipes as soon as they understood what
was meant by the sacrifice. The pecuniary loss to the
monopolist, Prince Torlonia, is believed to be enormous,
but it appears that he will receive compensation from
the government by being allowed to raise the price of
salt one bajocco per pound, he being the monopolist of
that most necessary article of consumption also.

NARRATIVE OF LITERATURE AND ART.

THE incident of the month most important in connection with literature has been the reversal by the
judges in the Court of Exchequer chamber of a very momentous judgment pronounced by the barons of
exchequer two years ago on the subject of literary copyright. By that judgment it was declared that
under the statute of Anne no copyright could be acquired by a foreigner or his assignee as a consequence of
a first publication in England; and one result of a decision promulgated with such weight of authority, and
supported by great force and clearness of reasoning, has been a perfect inundation of the English book-market
with cheap reprints of American books (conspicuous among them, those of Washington Irving) which before
this decision had been held entitled to the protection of English Copyright. It is now declared that those
unauthorised reprints have been piracies, and that any foreigner may at any time secure his right in England
by simply electing that his book be first published here.

The argument on the one side is to the effect that the object of the English legislature in passing the act
of Anne was not to encourage the importation of foreign books, and their first publication in England as a
benefit to this country, but that its sole object was the cultivation and encouragement of the intellect of its
own subjects; and therefore that the meaning of the act, as its own language emphatically states, was "to
encourage learned men to compose and write useful books," by giving them as a reward the monopoly of
those books for a certain period. On the other side it is argued, that, assuming the legislature to have
necessarily intended this boon for the encouragement of learning in Great Britain, the question remains of
whether it might not be greatly for the encouragement of British learning, even in the sense of the legislators
of Anne, that "foreigners should be induced to send their works here to be first published; " and that
therefore this consideration should not avail to withhold an alien from acquiring and assigning English
copyright.

When such grave doctors differ, who shall decide? Few will be disposed to think that the weight justly
due to Lord Campbell, and Justices Cresswell and Maule, is not balanced pretty equally by that of Lord
Cranworth, the Lord Chief Baron, and Baron James Parke; so that there can hardly be a doubt of the case
being carried to the Lords for final decision, however doubtful the issue of that decision may be. It seems
to us, we must confess, that the more the history and meaning of the act of Anne is enquired into, the
more clearly will the construction against copyright to an alien be borne out; but yet, if a reasonable doubt
exists, there are many reasons which would tend to give foreigners the benefit of it, and so we must be
content to wait patiently until time, and the temper of the House of Lords, shall put an end to this
"glorious uncertainty."

The most interesting publication of the month has
been a newly discovered series of Letters by Horace
Walpole, addressed to his and Gray's friend, Mason;
for which we are indebted to the judgment and good
fortune of Mr. Mitford, who, having found Mason's
share of the correspondence, traced Walpole's to the
library of Aston Rectory, where Mason resided for so
many years. The subjects of the letters turning more
upon literature than politics, they involve fewer repetitions
of matter already familiar to us than is usual with
Walpole; while the felicity and wit of his style are as
apparent and delightful as ever. To our knowledge,
indeed, in connection with literary topics, they add
little; but to our amusement at the absurd exaggeration
of Walpole's prejudices and dislikes, they minister
abundantly; and they not only clear up several doubtful
points in Walpole's intercourse with Gray, but explain
his participation with Mason in the secrets of the satire
which did such lively execution in its day, the Heroic
Epistle.

To the department of biography the Life of Edward
Baines by one of his sons is the only direct contribution,
and it contains that kind of picture of honourable and
well-aimed industry, intelligence, prudence, and steady
attachment to opinion, which when crowned with
worldly success is viewed with so much interest in
England. But another book may be mentioned, connec-
ted with this for its historical and social, as well as its
biographical illustrations, though belonging to a very
different period and character. A little volume has been
published exhibiting College Life in the Time of James
the First, as drawn from the unpublished diary of Sir
Simon d'Ewes; which deserves notice for the example it
sets to antiquarians (exacting too much self-denial, we
fear, to be generally followed) of at once conscientiously
communicating the results of research and pleasantly
dispensing with its dust and dryness.

Two new books are to be added to the shelves already
overloaded with tours and travels in America. Their
authors are the Lady Emmeline Stuart Wortley and
Col. Arthur Cunynghame, and a more than usually
polite and favourable view of the American character is
taken in both. Mrs. Norton has published a charming
novel called Stuart of Dunleath, and Miss Lynn has
denounced what she conceives to be the social errors of
the day in a novel called Realities. A pretty little collection
of animated and fanciful Pictures of Sweden has
been written and published (in English) by Hans
Andersen; and Mr. Walter Brodie, who was dropped and
deserted with some companions on Pitcairn's Island by
a ship in which he was taking his passage to California,
has condensed into a small and very interesting book all
the information he was able to collect of the virtuous
and simple race of people descended from the mutineers
of the Bounty.

Sir Francis Palgrave has issued the first volume of
his long-promised History of Normandy and of England,
carrying the subject down to the commencement of the
tenth century; and marked by unquestionable originality,
both of style and research. To Mr. Hudson Turner we