[1] "When Nero exhibited himself as a singer and flute-player on
the stage at Naples, the musicians of that province assembled to
hear him; and Suetonius tells us that the emperor selected _five
thousand_ among the best to be his household musicians, and
clothed them in a rich and uniform dress."

Anything is, however, better than despair, and let us hope that
something may be done towards the amendment of our musical reputation.
We have too much of what Cobbett would call the "dead-weight" in us to
become adopted by Apollo as the "children of song;" but what with the
school of music in Tenterden-street, and numberless juvenile prodigies,
we may indulge the expectation of rising in the diatonic scale, and that
too at no very distant period. Burney and Crotch were remarkable
instances of precocious musical skill; and in the present day, children
from eight to twelve sing the most popular Italian airs on the English
stage, with remarkable accuracy.

Apropos, we hear of constitutions being set to music, for says the
_Foreign Review_, "during the short revolution at Naples, in 1820, a
Neapolitan was heard to swear that if the government intended that the
new constitution should be understood or accepted by the people, they
must first have it set to music by Rossini."

* * * * *

GARDENS OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY, REGENT'S PARK.

[Illustration: GARDENS OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY, REGENT'S PARK.]

We are again in the _Regents Park_; but we must leave its architectural
splendour for the present, and request our readers to accompany us
towards the eastern verge of the Park, to the Gardens of the Zoological
Society, established in 1826, and whose members now amount to _eleven
hundred_! The grounds are daily filled with fashionable company,
notwithstanding the great migrations which usually take place at this
season of the year, and almost depopulate the western hemisphere of
fashion. The gardens, independent of their zoological attractions, are a
delightful promenade, being laid out with great taste, and the parterres
boasting a beautiful display of flowers. The animals, too, are seen to
much greater advantage than when shut up in a menagerie, and have the
luxury of fresh air, instead of unwholesome respiration in a room or
caravan.[2]

[2] It should, however, be noticed, that the object of the
_Zoological Society_ is not the mere exhibition of animals. In