MR. PINKERTON has most kindly lent me a rare and privately-printed book of Forster's, entitled _Harmonia Musarum, containing Nugæ Cantabrigenses, Florilegium Sanctæ Aspirationis, and Anthologia Borealis et Australis_, chiefly from a College Album, edited by Alumnus Cantabrigensis (N.B. Not published): 1843, pp. 144, 8vo. The preface is signed T. F., and is dated "Bruges, Sept. 15, 1843." In it he says: "The harmony of the Muses has been divided into three parts--the first being the _Nugæ Cantab_. The {570} second contains the sacred subjects, hymns, &c., written chiefly by a relation, and formerly collected under the title of _Florilegium Sanctæ Aspirationis_. The third consists merely of a small collection of Latin verses selected by some student, with occasional notes from the rest, and called _Fragments from North and South_: they have, many at least, been printed before." It is impossible to give an idea of this extraordinary Olla; we have in it pieces of Porson, Gray, and Byron, &c., Cowper's _John Gilpin_, and Coleridge's _Devil's Walk_; at p. 19. we have "Spring Impromptu, found among some old papers," with the signature "N." attached, which turns out to be Gray on the "Pleasures of Vicissitude." I regret to say that this volume contains much that is coarse and offensive, which is the less excusable, and the more surprising, as coming from the author of the very beautiful and devotional pieces published in the _Circle of the Seasons_. The _Florilegium_ and the _Anthologia_ of the _Circle_ have little in common with their namesakes in the _Harmonia_, which latter contain poems by Southwell, Byron, Gray, Hogg, Porson, Jortin, &c., but none of Forster's prose pieces, which form so large a portion of the other _Florilegium_ and _Anthologia_. Dr. Forster's life would make a very entertaining biography, and I should be glad to know more about him, whether he be yet alive, what books he printed at Bruges, &c.[2] In concluding this matter, I beg to return my best thanks to MR. PINKERTON for the valuable information he so freely imparted to me, and the handsome manner in which he placed it at my disposal. [Footnote 2: Dr. Forster was born in London in 1789, of an ancient Catholic family; he was himself a Protestant until the year 1835, when it appears that he became a convert to the Church of Rome: at the same time he received the additional names of Ignatius Maria. It is most probable that he is yet alive and in Belgium, where he has resided for many years. The Editor of "N. & Q." has kindly sent me a list from the Catalogue of the British Museum, of some four and thirty works by Dr. Forster. There is, however, another book by Dr. Forster not contained in the Museum list, _Onthophilos, ou Les Derniers Entretiens d'un Philosophe Catholique_ (Brussels?), 1836.] * * * * * PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.