MANY of the internal portions of the structure are now completed, and the upper portions of the Victoria and Clock towers are proceeding externally, as rapidly as the season will allow and the hazardous nature of their works will admit of. The scaffolding is now erected to its full height for the setting of the crowning portions of the turrets at the angles of the former -tower, and the roof of the latter is nearly completed. In the interior, the Peers' staircase is now finished, and is a perfect gem of architectural design in the style of which it is composed. The spandrils between the ribs of the groining of the roof have been colored blue, of the richest ultramarine, and are studded with golden stars, that relieve the quiet light and shade of the moldings of the roof, which are very judiciously left in one color-that of the stone itself. The bosses, clasping the various intersections of the ribs, are embellished with emblazoned shields, surrounded with foliage in great variety. The Peers' corridor, leading directly to the House of Lords, is now also completed. The roof of this communicating passage is constructed of a pointed arch, the form of which is peculiar to the Tudor period, and is divided into compartments, having stained glass inserted in them, which has at once a pleasing effect, and serves also to light the corridor very effectually.

In the Prince's chamber very great advances have been made. Mr. Gibson's colossal group, representing her Majesty Queen Victoria enthroned, having been placed in position under one of the principal arches on one side of the room, and is now entirely finished. The Queen is represented sitting on a throne, holding the scepter in her right hand, and from her left is suspended a laurel wreath. The Sovereign is supported on the right by a statue of Justice, and on the left by Clemency; the former holds the sword and

PARLIAMENT.

balance, and the latter has a sheathed sword in her left hand, and an olive branch, emblematical of peace, in her right. The figure of the Queen is 8 feet. high, and those on each side upwards of 7 feet. each. The whole are carved from the purest blocks of statuary marble that the quarries of Carrara could afford, and, as a great work of ideal sculpture, deserves great praise. The back of the throne on which the Queen sits is surrounded by lions, expressive of British strength and courage. In front of the footstool are sea-horses, emblematic of dominion on the ocean, and inserted in panels on the three sides of the pedestal are bassi relievi of Commerce, Science, and the useful arts, having in the background, in faint relief, the steam-engine, the wires of the electric telegraph, and other representations of useful objects.

Around the walls, in panels prepared for them, eight of Mr. Theed's beautiful works have been fixed, together with two paintings of Edward VI., and Mary in the larger panels above them. The former are exquisite productions of the sculptor's art, and have been successively electrotyped in bronze from the original models. The subjects comprehend respectively, "Edward VI. signing the Charter for Christ's Hospital," "Lady Jane Grey," "Bastion Carbot," "Catherine of Aragon appealing to Henry VIII.," Sir "Walter Raleigh spreading the Cloth for Queen Elizabeth," the "Death of Sir Philip Sydney," "Queen Mary looking back on France," and the "Murder of David Rizzio in the presence of Mary Queen of Scots." The two paintings to which we have adverted are stiff, elaborate, and Holbeinish in their character, and by having a somewhat deep plinth at bottom, somewhat destroy the effect and proportion of the oblong panels in which they were placed.

THE

LAST

WHEN Nero learned that he had a master in Galba, he upset the table at which he was seated feasting, dashed to pieces his two most favorite crystal glasses, called for a box of poison, which he was afraid to use, and then rushed into the Servilian gardens to think upon what he should do next. There, or within his sleeping-room, he passed a miserable night; and when at daybreak he found that his guards had not only deserted him, but had carried off the little gold box containing the poison, and even the very covering of his bed, he ran headlong down to the Tiber, where he stopped short on the bank, and slowly walked back again. It was then, barefooted and half-dressed as he was, that he was encountered by the faithful Phaon, who flung a cloak over his shoulders, tied an old handkerchief about his head, hoisted the bewildered wretch on to a horse, and rode away toward a country-house four miles off. In danger of discovery, the fugitive party abandoned their horses, scrambled through thickets, brakes, bypaths, and brambles, and at length reached the neighborhood of the desired asylum. The tender feet of the Emperor were mangled and bloody, despite the care which had been shown by his friend to spread his cloak upon the ground for the ex-Emperor to tread upon. Phaon asked him to conceal himself for a while in a gravel-pit; but Nero declared that it looked too much like a grave, and he was determined not to be buried alive. He sat down under a wall, picked the burrs and brambles from his dress, drank from the hollow of his hand a few drops of water, and sighed over the thought of the draughts he used to imbibe of boiled water made cool again in snow. He was

at length got into the house, where he turned away in disgust from the piece of brown bread which was offered him-his last banquet; drank again a little lukewarm water, flung himself on an old flock bed, and cursed his destiny. They who surrounded him counseled him to make an end quickly; and thereupon he had a grave made before him to his exact measure. He ordered sundry preparations to be made for his funeral, commanded water for the washing of his body, wood for the pile, expressed a hope that they who survived him would allow his head to remain on his body, and he then burst into an agony of tears at the thought, as he said, of what a clever fellow the world was about to lose: "Qualis artifex pereo !" was his exclamation. It was not his only one. He cited lines from various Greek and Latin authors as applicable to his situation; and when reproached for dallying so long before he put himself to death, very appositely and naturally inquired if any one present was willing to show him the way by setting him the example. He then made a few more pedantic quotations, and finally, with trembling hands, put the dagger to his throat. He would have held it there long enough had it not been for Epaphroditus, who grasped his hands and forced the weapon into his throat. The terror of the ex-monarch was fixed on his features after death. But even he had friends; five thousand crowns were expended on his funeral pile, on which his body was laid in a splendid silk coverlet. A couple of his old nurses collected his ashes, and an Imperial concubine accompanied them in the task of solemnly depositing the remains in the tomb of the Domitii.

The tradesmen at the west-end had their shops | partially closed out of respect to the memory of her late Royal Highness, whose private virtues and many charities endeared her to persons in every rank of life.

Her Royal Highness the Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh in the Peerage of Great Britain, and Countess of Connaught in that of Ireland, the fourth daughter of King George III. and Queen Charlotte, was born the 25th April, 1776. She was a lady of great personal attractions, clever, and most amiable. Miss Burney, in her famous Memoirs, speaks of her as "the lovely Princess Mary." The Princess was married, the 22d July, 1816, to her first cousin, Prince William Frederick, second Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, and Earl of Connaught, a Field Marshal in the Army, who died on the 30th November, 1834, without issue, when his titles became extinct. The Duchess of Gloucester was appointed Ranger and Keeper of Richmond New Park, by letters patent, on the 38th October, 1850. The widowed Duchess, though latterly far advanced in years, still enjoyed and saw society, of which she had been a charm during her whole life. She was continually visited by her Royal niece and other illustrious relatives, and she may be said to have died in the very midst of her august and much beloved kindred.

THE VELOCITY AND COLORS OF LIGHTNING.-The lightning of the first two classes does not last for more than one thousandth part of a second; but a less duration in passing than one millionth part of a second is attributed to the light of electricity of high tension. In comparison with this velocity, the most rapid artificial motion that can be produced appears repose. This has been exemplified by Professor Wheatstone, in a very beautiful experiment. A wheel made to revolve with such celerity as to render its spokes invisible, is seen for an instant with all its spokes distinct, as if at rest, when illuminated by a flash of lightning, because the flash had come and gone before the wheel had time to make a perceptible advance. The color of lightning is variously orange, white, and blue, verging to violet. Its hue appears to depend on the intensity of electricty and height in the atmosphere. The more electricity there is passing through the air in a given time, the whiter and more dazzling is the light. Violet and blue-colored lightnings are observed to be discharged from the storm-clouds high in the atmosphere, where the air is rarefied and analogous. The electric spark made to pass through the receiver of an airpump exhibits a blue or violet light in proportion as the vacuum is complete.-Peterman's Physical Geography.

DR. KANE.-Dr. William Elder, of this city, is now engaged in writing a memoir of the late Doctor Elisha Kent Kane. It can scarcely fail to prove, not only a striking and picturesque narrative of the career of the interpid adventurer, but also an intelligent delination of his character, which was more bright and beautiful than the funeral orations and eulogies have told. Christendom, at present, knows nothing of the life of the man now so famous for his deeds. It is the story of that life that we may expect to read in this forthcoming memoir. The public actions of an individual, however admirable, are little in comparison with his noble private qualities. It is Sidney, passing the cup of water from his thirsting lips to the dying soldier at Zutphen, that adds

love to the admiration we give to the historic Sidney of the court and the battle-field; and in like manner, the private generosity and compassion, the self-forgetfulness, the self-sacrifice, and the thousand nobilities which were revealed in Dr. Kane's daily intercourse and relations with his fellow-men, and which the world can not honor only because it does not know, are more to us than the calm intrepidity that dared the dangers and endured the horrors of the Arctic shores and seas. Something of this, the memoir may make known to us. If it prove to be what we expect it will, it can not but add a deeper feeling to our present apprehension of the life and character of one whose epitaph seems most fitly written in the words of the old ballad:

"He was a true and gentle knight-
Ah! well-a-day! Amen."

TURKISH POETRY.-Under the title "Conseils de Nabi Effendi à son fils Aboul Khair," M. de Courteille, Professor of Turkish in the College de France at Paris, has brought out a translation of a poem of Nabi, one of the most distinguished poets of Turkey, who was born under Murad IV., about the year 1632. The translation is pronounced by competent Oriental scholars to be well executed. It treats of religion, the duties of man, science, virtue, the phenomena of nature, and numerous other objects.

THE German papers report the death of Prof. Karl August Hahn, of the University of Vienna, one of the greatest old German scholars belonging to the school of the Grimms and Karl Lachmann. Prof. Hahn was born in 1807, at Heidelberg. This, after the recent death of Prof. von der Hagen, is another heavy loss to that branch of science of which Prof. Hahn was one of the chief authorities.

it Should Be," by Rev. John Bayley, a neat 16mo M. W. DODD publishes "Marriage as it Is and as volume, relating to the nature and importance of marriage, the duties of husbands, wives, and parents, etc. The author, "encouraged by the favor with another subject, and with a grateful sense of the which the public have received a previous work on kindness of his friends, offers this humble contribution to the religious literature of the day, in the hope that it may be acceptable to the friends of morality be attended by the blessing of heaven in every and religion, and with a fervent prayer that it may family where it may find a kindly reception."

D. APPLETON & Co. have reprinted in two neat duodecimo volumes, "The Life of Charlotte Bronté," by Mrs. E. C. Gaskell. The volumes are illustrated with a fac-simile of Miss Bronté's manuscript, a portrait, and a view of Haworth Church and Parsonage. The biography includes sketches of the members of the family of the authoress of "Jane Eyre,” and will prove of great interest to all the admirers of the distinguished novelist.

TICKNOR & FIELDS have published a neat edition, in blue and gold, of Mrs. Jameson's "Characteristics of Women," reprinted from the last London edition, "containing many corrections, and some additions, which the Author hopes may be deemed improvements." The volume is uniform with the works of Longfellow and Tennyson, recently issued by the same firm.