MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 412, 14 July 1849, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

AFlOamng JStAUrROAD.— • ?Our railways - have hem Uid/inioultißgs*u^embtwlsiaeats,j|

through tunnels and over viaducts, and by the genius of a Stephenson they are actually being carried over the arms of the sea, where ships in full sail can pass beneath them. While this dating work, however, can be effected where the width, as at the Menai Straits; is only some 500 feet, such great tidal estuaries as the Forth and Tay will not admit of it. As these lie across the route of the great east coast line of railways which will shortly extend from London to Aberdeen, it became extremely desirable that some means should be devised by which those seas might be crossed without the troublesome necessity of passengers and goods changing carriages. We are happy to say that a plan has been devised for carrying the trains bodily across the Tay at Broughty Ferry, where it is about a mile and a half broad. Mr. Robert Napier is at present building, in his yard at Govan, a floating railway for the Edinburgh and Northern Railway Company. It is built of iron, 180 feet in length, and 35 in breadth. It is to have three lines of rails on deck, so as to enable it to take on a railway train of 500 feet in length, and is to be propelled by engines of 250 horsepower. As the main line of railway on each side of the Tay is considerably above the level of the sea, stationary engines on either side of the Firth are to be employed to draw up or lower the trains. This railroad steamboat is expected to be launched in a few weeks. In the meantime, and before the above improvement is completed, the Edinburgh and Northern Company have made arrangements for having their cattle and heavy goods for the English markets carried by the Dundee line, and thence through Fife, and by the east coast lines to England, on very moderate terms. — Perthshire C ourier.

Lord Ashley amongst London Thieves — The Weekly Chronicle says, " We have seen Lord Ashley in many situations — in the House of Commons, on public platforms, in churches and comnittee rooms, and a variety of places — but his last appearance transcends them all ; — he has made his " debut" among the felons of the metropolis. A Mr. Jackson having heard from one or two penitent thieves a desire to emigrate and reform, thought a number of the fraternity might in like manner be acted upon, and at last, with the concurrence of a body who had sent for him to the Blue Anchor Court, he summoned a meeting of them In the Irish Free School, to meet Lord Ashley. He expected to gather 100 thieves who might listen to what his lordship had to say. Bui bis expectations were more than fulfilled. On July the 27th his lordship went, when no fewer than 207 professed thieves were assembled, each of whom expressed his earnest desire to renounce his dishonest course, if it were possible. Some five or six gentlemen were pi esent with Lord Ashley, and *it was such a meeting,' says one of them, ' that no one could forget it to the day of his death.' Several of the best and most experienced thieves were placed at the door, to prevent the admission of any but thieves. Some four or five individuals, who were not at first known, were subjected to examination, and only allowed to remain on stating who they were, and being recognised as members of the dishonest fraternity. His lordship addressed the meeting at considerable length, and his discourse appeared to produce a deep impression."

Tact and Talent. — Talent is something. Tact is everything. Talent is serious, sober, grave, and respectable. Tact is all that, and more too. It is the open eye, the quick ear, and judging taste, the keen smell, the lively touch. It is the interpreter of all riddles, the tormentor of all difficulties, the remover of all obstacles. It is useful in solitude, for it shows a man his way into the world. It is useful in society, for it pleases every one. Talent is power ; Tact is skill. Talent is might ; Tact momentum. Talent knows what to do ; Tact knows how to do it. Talent makes a man respectable ; Tact makes him respected. Talent is wealth ; Tact is ready money. For *11 the practical purposes of life, Tact carries it against Talent ten to one. Talent is fit for employment, but Tact is the test, for it has a knack of slipping into place with sweet and silent gUbneas of movement, as a billiard ball insinuates itself into the 1 pocket. It seems ;to know everything without learning anything. It has served an invisible and extemporaneous . apprenticeship. It wants no drilling. It never ranks in the awkward squad. It has no left hand, no deaf ear, no blind side. It puts on no wondrous ' wisdom. It has no air of iprofundity. It has &11 the .air of commonplace* and allithe force of .power and genius. A large party, well mounted, are following up the channel of the Sacramento, to discover Where this gold, found in its banks, comes From ; they imagine 'that near the river's fount they will find the great yellow mass itself. But they -might as well hunt the fleeting rainbow. The gold was thrown up from the bed of the ocean with the rotiks 4rid sands ia which it it found ; and still bears, where it

'has escaped the action of the elements, -viiritl races of volcanic fire. It' often endure* a crystal of quartz, in which the pebble lies a% if it had slumbered there from eternity r itr beautiful repose sets human artifice at defi^ ance. How strange that this ore should havfc lain here scattered about in all directions, peeping everywhere out of tie earth, mi sparkling in the sun, and been (rod upon i6t ages by white men and savages, and by the emissaries ,of every scientific association in the world, and never till now have been djicovered! What an ass man is, with all hi* learning! He stupidly stumbles over hills of gold to reach a rare pepper pod or rifle, a bird's nest. — Report of Rev. TV. Colton, Air cade of Monterey.

Postage between the United Kingdom and any Part of the United States. — A Treasury warrant appears in the London Gazette of last night, dated Whitehall Treasury Chambers, Dec. 22, 1848. By this warrant it is directed that all letters transmitted by the post between the United States and any part of the United Kingdom, or between the United Kingdom and the United Stares being by the United States packet boats, shall, instead of being liable to the rates of British postage now chargeable thereon, be free from all British postage on the, con.* veyance between the United States and anj part of the United Kingdom. This alteration is not to extend to any letters the set conveyance of which between the United States and the United Kingdom shail be by British, packet boats, or otherwise than by United States packet boats, and letters conveyed be-, tween the United States and any of her Majesty's colonies, or any foreign country, thro' the United Kingdom, the sea conveyance of which between the United Kingdom and .the. United States shall be by the United States packet boats, shall nevertheless be chargeable with the same rates of postage for the conveyance by the pose between such colonies or foreign countries and the United Kingdom,, as all other letters forwarded by the post between the United Kingdom and any such colonies or foreign countries are or shall be liable to. The 'United States packet boats' include vessels employed or used by the government or Post-office of the United States of America, under contract for the conveyance of post letters. This warrant will come into operation on the 29th day of Dec. 1849. Honours of Literature. — Edgar Quinet, the young German poet, repaired oue day to the Chateau de Xuileries lo visit one of the Queen's maids of honour, and was on this occasion more than usually melancholy. Suddenly, while he was conversing with her, a young person entered, so fair, so natuially elegant, that our poet would immediately have recognized her, had he not been so absorbed in his grief that he could see nothing. Howeves, the new comer took pity on his sufferings, and with much elegance and feeling began to talk to him of his new poem, ' Prometheus,' telling him that it was an excellent work, perhaps the best he had ever written ; and she even knew by heart several of the rustic verses, extemporised as bards extemporised before the mead. Imagine the delight of the poet at hearing her thus speak! Seeing that it pleased him, she poured the healing balm, drop by drop, upon his wounded heart. She gradually and carefully proceeded from the poem in verse to the poem in prose ; she passed from ' Prometheus ' , to the touching story of 'Ahasuerus,' that masterpiece of poetical legends. ' Follow me,' said she to Quinet, ' and you will see whether I love this poem.' The two ladies immediately arose and conducted him -to a 'Gothic studio, filled with drawings and sketches. What was the joy of the poet when four 'admirable bas-reliefs, taken from bis poem, were pointed out te him ! Yes, his heroes themselves, in the very attitude, and exhibiting the very passions which his poetry had given them! It would be quite impossible to describe his feelings when (he fair young artist said to him., in her sweet voice, 'This is y?ur work, take it with you/ and when {he readmit: the bottom of .these ,exq^isite jbas-reljefs jjke royal name of Marie ,d'Orle»ns. We ha^e heard of a great prince who , hejd }th« iJadjier for Albert Durer; of a powerful imo^afch: who picked up the pencils of Tiiia.nj.wse know that the sister of a King of France kissed the lips of Alain Char tier while he slept ! but this great surprise given to a poet — this unhoped-for and consolatory gift — the infinite grace of- the young girl, the princess, the great artist — cannot be -too much admired. — Chambers'* Edinburgh JourtikL