Miscellaneous.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 490, 15 July 1857, Page 5

Miscellaneous.

An Atjsteian Catechism.—A suddenly opening door wakes me up; the landlord of the inn approaches, places a. long, official-looking cook on the table, and hands me pen. and ink. I enquire peevishly what I am wanted to write at that time of night, when I am just digesting my dinner ? The landlord answers respectfully that I am required to give the police a full, true, and particular account of myself. I approach the table, thinking this demand rather absurd, for my passport is already in the hands of the authorities. However, as lamin a despotic country, I keep my thoughts to myself, open a blank page in the official looking-book, see that it is divided into columns, with printed headings, and find that I no more understand what they mean than I understand an assessedtax paper at home, to which,, by-the-by, the blank page bears a striking general resemblance. The headings are technical official words, which I now meet with as parts of Italian speech for the first time. lam obliged to appeal to the polite landlord, and, by his assistance, I get gradually to understand what it is the Austrian police wants of me. The police requireto know, before they will let me go on peaceably to-morrow, first, what my name is in full? (My name in full is Matthew O'Donoghue M'Phinn Phipson Dee: and let the Austrian authorities read itif they can, now that they have got it.) Second, What is my nation ? (British, and glad, to cast it in the teeth of continental tyrants.) Third, Where was I, born P (At Merthyr Tydvil. I should be glad to hear the Austrian authorities pronounce that when they have given my name up in despair.) Fourth, Where do I live ? (In London, and I wish I was there now, for I would write to the ' Times' about this nuisance before I slept.) Fifth, How old am I ? (My age is what it has been for the last seven years, and what it will remain till I have married the lady whom I saw in my magic glass—2s exactly.) Married did I say? By all that is inquisitive 1 here are the police wanting to know (sixth) whether I am married or single P Landlord, what is the Italian for bachelor P " Write nubile, Signer." " Nubile P" That means marriageable. There is an epithet to designate a bachelor, which is sure to meet with the approval of the ladies, at least. What next P (O distrustful despots ! what next P) Seventh. What is my.condition ? (First-rate condition, to be sure; full of rolled beef, toasted larks, and effervescent wine.) Condition ! What do they mean by that ? Profession, is it ? I have not got one. What shall I write P " Write proprietor, Signor." Very well; but I don't know that I am a proprietor of anything except the clothes I stand up iv; even my trunk was borrowed of a friend. Eighth, Where do I come from ? Ninth, Where am I "going to P Tenth, When did I get my passport ? Eleventh, Where did I get my passport? Twelfth, Who gave me my passport? Was there ever such a monstrous string of questions in address to a harmless idle man, who only wants to potter about Italy quietly in a postchaise P Here, landlord, take the Traveller's Book back to the police. I can write no better answers to their questions. Take it away; and may the Emperor of Austria feel all the safer on his Throne now that he knows that I was born at Merthyr Tydvil, and thai I have not yet been so fortunate as to get any lady to marry me.-—Dickens' Sousehold Words.

■ Gbetna Geeeh Maeeiages.—At the end of last year Gretna Green and border marriages .were prevented. By an Act of last session, it is provided that, after the 31st of December, no irregular marriage contracted in Scotland by declaration, acknowledgment, or ceremony, shall be valid unless one of the parties had at the date thereof his or her usual place of residence there, or had lived in Scotland for 21 days next proceeding such marriage. A letter from Venice announces that a painting by Paul Veronese, for three centuries the property of the Pisani family, has been purchased by the British Government for £14,000 sterling. The French Republican party has decided ' upon the candidates to be brought forward at the approaching elections. In the provinces they will be men of local importance rather than men whose names are familiar to the country. The editor of the Genoa ' Movimento ' has been sentenced to a fortnight's imprisonment and fined 500 francs for an article insulting the Emperor of the French. It is said that the French Government in- j tend to visit penally the now common as sumption of " Count," " Viscount," and " Baron," as a prefix to the names of persons who have no claims to nobility. The " revisor" at Messina, and thirty persons who applauded a particular scene in a comedy called "Pasquino," have been sent to the island | of Favignano : in the scene a soldier was repre- J sented killing his general, ;

The Advertiser believes that Lord Panmure will, next month, resign his situation as Minister of War, and Mr. Sidney Herbert will be his successor.

Kissing.—Kissing the hands of great men was a Grecian cust«ra. Kissing was a mode of salutation among the Jews, as we may recollect from Judas approaching his master with a kiss; it was also customary at Rome. Kissing the Pope's toe took its rise from the custom of kneeling to sovereigns, and began with Adrian 1., or Leo 111., at the close of the eighth century. Kissing is also the salutation of love between the opposite sexes, but among some continental nations it is common with males as the salutation of simple aquaintanceship. To an English eye nothing can be more inconceivably ludicrous than the sight of two bearded Frenchmen hugging and kissing each other in the public streets. " The hiss,' says Ashe," was* the offspring of nature, the salute the formality of civilized life, and as distinct as love and ceremony."