Tidings From The Sandwich Islands.

and the third at this—the establishment of an Insane Asylum . Such Acts speak louder of the civilization of a people , of its humane sentiments and ifcs appreciation of that highest of ah commands— ' Love your neighbour as yourself '—than the most complicated constitutions , the most clamorous professions . '" There is an allusion in the newspapers to an

up setting of the ministry by the legislature ; but this event does not seem to have removed our worthy brother , Wylie , from the discharge of the functions of Foreign Minister to the King .

New Materials For The Life Of Caius Gabriel Cibber.

NEW MATERIALS FOR THE LIFE OF CAIUS GABRIEL CIBBER .

The case of Gibber and Son ( shall I add the profligate grandson , "The" ?*) is a characteristic exception to the general rule that a clever father seldom has a clever son . Colley has eclipsed his father ' s name . Caius , hoAvever , was no common man . The " poetic statues" of "Madness" and "Melancholy , " at Bedlamhave more than a touch of Michelangelo

, in their conception and execution . What were familiar objects to our great grandfathers in London are now hidden and in London ; the two savages over ¦ St . Dunstan ' s , in Fleet-street , still do daily ancl hourly duty , unseen but not unheard , in the Eegent ' s-park ; the " Brainless Brothers " of Cibbermade immortal

, by Pope , and knoivn - ' sixty years since , " to every city apprentice and every lord mayor , are now only to be seen by favour , Avithin the walls of Bedlam , and not without , wanting as they do the gate for which they designed , and without which they are seen to great disadvantage , for Cibber had the taste of an architect

¦ as well as the skill of ascnlptor . t In the works of accounts of the Croivn , when "the hero William , " the " great Nassau , " Avasking , I found the following entries touching Cibber when at work at Hampton Court , under the eye of Wren : — " To Gabriel Gibber , statuary , for two Coats of arms in Portland stone , several statues and figures in metal and for carriage of the statues and other charares , "—£ 530 .

The payment was made between the years 1691 and 1694 . Younger and more experienced eyes than mine may perhaps succeed in identifying the chisel of Cibber in the masonry of the William and Mary period still to be seen at Hampton Court . A second payment to Cibber occurs in the account

of King William ' s favourite , Bentinck , Earl of Portland , as " superintendent" of certain " work" done at Hampton Court in the way of garden decoration : — £ s . d . To Caius Gabriel Cibbber , carver , for a great Vauze of white marble enricht with divers ornaments , with a Pedestal of Portland stone

also enricht 234 0 0 More for a great marble TTrne with divers base relieves and figures , 621 12 0 In both £ 755 12 0 The "vauze" and " urne " are UOAV in her Majesty ' s flower garden at Windsor , in front of the private apartments . King George IV ., with a bad taste not

common to him , ordered their removal to Windsor , where they are somewhat out of place . They were designed for Hampton Court ; when Wren was alive , were placed by Wren , and should be restored to their old situations , where , in Inigo language , they " conduce" to the whole design . Copies- would suit Windsor as well , —Hampton should have its own . A third payment to Cibber ran thus : —

"To Gabriel Cibber , statuary , for inscribing the Eelieve on . the Timpan . of the great Frontispiece , with Iconological figures , and for several journeys of himself and men to look after the performance— £ 400 . " This I copy from the " Crown Works at Hampton Court , " between the 1 st of April , 169-1 , and the 31 st of March , 1696 , " when William was king . " The fourth , and unfortunately the last , payment to Cibber by the CroAvn is as follows : —

" To Gabriel Cibber , statuary , for four great Flowerpots of Portland stone , richly carved— £ 187 10 s . " That is , forty-six pounds , seventeen shillings and sixpence a flowerpot . The Flower-pot Gate at Hampton Court is still standing , and deservedly admired . Where are the four flower-pots ?

" I can only find , " says Walpole , " that he [ Cibber ] was twice married , and that by his second wife , descended from the ancient family of Colley , in Rutlandshire , he had £ 6000 and several children , among whom was the well-knoivn poet-laureate , born in 1671 , at his father ' s house in Southampton-streetfacing

South-, ampton House . " To this is added in a note , as I read in Dallaway ' s edition and Mr . Wornuin ' s edition of "The Anecdotes , " the only editions printed since Walpole ' s death : —

" By this alliance his children were kinsmen to William of Wykeham , and on that foundation one of them ( afterwards a Fellow of New College , Oxford , and remarkable for his wit ) was admitted of Winchester College , in consideration of which the father carved and gave to that society a statue of their founder . "

So runs Dallaway ' s edition of 1827 ( vol . iii ., p . 153 ) , and so runs Mr . Wornuin ' s edition of 1849 , p . 549 . If , however , we look into Walpole ' s own text of his Avorks , ( vol . iii ., p . 339 ) , we shall find an additional sentence : — "He also executed some statues for the library of

Trinity College , in Cambridge . ( Vide 'Life of Colley Cibber , ' chap , hi . )" What say you , Mr . Bohn , to this second omission in your "Standard Library Reprint of Walpole ' s Anecdotes " ? The date of Gibber ' s second marriage I discovered

( when engaged on my Handbook for Windsor ) in the valuable registers of the parish of St . Giles-in-thefields . Thus runs the entry : — " L . L . 1670 , Nov . 24 . Caius Gabriel Cibber , widower , and Jane Colley , spinster . " What does Colley himself say ? "I was born in

London on the 6 th of November , 1671 , in Southampton-street , facing Southampton House . " Southampton House ( of Avhich a street directory memory survives in Southampton-row ) occupied the whole north side of the present Bloomsbury-square , and was within the parish of St . Giles-in-the-fields . The period between the birth and baptism of Gibber ' s son was then an unusual period .