MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 560, 14 December 1850, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Queen's Family. — The following statement of her Majesty's family may be interesting to some of our readers : — The Queen was born May 24th, 1819 ; married to Piince Albert, Feb. 10th, 1840. 1. Victoria Adelaide, Princess, Royal, born Nov. 21s>t, 1840. 2. Albert Erlward, Priuce of Wales, born Nov. 9th, 1841. 3. Alice Maud Mary,, born April 25th, 1843. 4. Alfred Ernst Albert, born August 6ib, 1844. 5. Helena Augusta, born May 25th, 1846. 6. Louisa C. Alberta, born March 18th, 1848. 7. Arthur, Patrick, Albert, born May-day, 1850^ — Leeds Mercury.

Precaution against Fire at Windsor Castle. — An engine of 70 horse power was being erected on the River Thames*,' near Eton College, irom which cast iron pipes, communicating to a reservoir at Cranbourne, in the Great Park, a distance of three miles, are being laid down. The work was to be completed by July. The reservoir, which will contain 10,000,000 gallons of water, is connected with pipes leading to all parts of the Castle. The cost of this undertaking, which was under the direction of Mr. Simpson, of London, will amount to £10.000. Jellachich, Haynau, and Windischgratz. — Jellachich is to be rewarded for his services in the recent campaign against Hungary, with an estate of 15,000 yoke of land, Haynau with one of J 6,000, and Windischgratz with one of 14,000. — Atlas. According to the celebrated chemist, Orfila, there is no remedy for poisoning by copper at all comparable to svgar — a discovery which we owe to Marcellin Duval ; therefore, when a person is known to be poisoned by copper, he should be made to swallow sugar and syrup in large quantities. A new mode of expediting the passage across the Irish Sea has lately been proposed, of which the following is an outline. An immensely powerful vessel, of At least 1,200 horse-power, and from 12,000 to 15,000' tons measurement, drawing only twelve feet of water, is to be constructed. It is calculated that such a vessel would make the passage at a uniform rate of three hours, possess accommodation for hundreds of passenger*, and go so smoothly through the water that sea sickness would be almost unknown. The expenses are calculated as follows : — Cost of vessel £26,000, engines £72,000, total — £98,000. It is proposed to make only one passage each way every day, except Sunday. It id considered that the number of pasießgers which would avail themselves of thismode of communication might safely be calculated at 500 per day ; which, at 2s. Qd. per head, or less than %d. per mile, would produce £39,125 yearly. Never has there been such a plan proposed for the regeneration of of Ireland and for infusing vitality into all the railways both of England and Ireland. It is worthy of consideration for those companies whom it would so much benefit to complete it among them. If any loss (which we do not anticipate) should arise in the direct water traffic, it would be completely swallowed up in the indirect advantages which would accrue to all. — Liverpool Chronicle. Progress of the Electric Telegraph in Europe. — A few weeks ago we gave our readers some account of Mr. John

Wilkes's plan for *n electric telegraph between New York and Europe. We have now to add to it, on the authority of the Deutsche Reforme and other German paper*, some account of the progress which is being made in thus belting the earth in the north of Europe. The importance of rapid communication of intelligence in such times as we have recently passed through has made itself deeply felt in Russia. Not content with connecting St. Petersburgh with Moscow, Warsaw, and Odessa, the Baltic with the Black Sea, the Emperor Nicholas has established a convention with Prussia and Austria, in virtue of which lines are now in progress of being laid down between the Russian capital and Berlin, by way ot Posen, and between the same capital and Vienna, by way of Warsaw and Cracow. The Brandenburgh Ministry resolved, seme months ago, to connect Berlin with the great cities on all the frontiers of Prussia. In Belgium the lines are conunuous. The connexion between London and the Continent is nearly completed by the suhmarine wires now being laid down between Dover and Calais ; so that at no vsry great distance of time it will be possible for a person to repair to the telegraph- office at Charing-cross and transmit messages in a few minutes to New York, St. Petersborgb, Vienna, or Odessa ! This new agency has produced many curious changes in the relative value of position. For example, the Manchester and Glasgow merchant had formerly need of an agency in London, because it was the first point at which commercial intelligence arrived. Now, important despatches are sent forward by telegraph, and are known as early in the northern cities as in London. When the great lines referred to shall be completed, a message may be sent from Charing-cross to the Black Sea or to the Hudson River, and an answer obtained in as little time as a person could ride to St. John's Wood and back in! While writing on this subject, we may add that both in Prussia and in Austria a trial is being made of the under-ground telegraph. The experience of our own country has shown that the wires above are not subject to much risk of derangement. Wanton offences against them have been very rare; hut it is well that we should have a trial of both plans. — Athenaeum. A striking fact was mentioned to us the other day, as illustrating the deep interpst which the preparations for the Industrial Exhibition have already excited throughout Europe. The landlord of a pretty large inn, in the husie.'t part of London, has applied to his landlord for leave to build an additional story to his house in order to obtain increased accommodation for the numerous visitors whom he expects next summer. Tbe inn which he occupies contains some 90 or 100 bedrooms; and, in addition to that, he has tak^n two houses adjacent, to prevent being over-crowded next year. Such, however, has been the demand for lodgings for the summer of 1851, especially from Germany, that the whole of bis house, with the additions we have named, has already been engaged for nearly the whole of 1851, and he is now about to build an additional story, with a view to provide room for twenty or thirty more guests. If this may b~ taken as a fair sample of the "coming events" which "cast their shadows before," the tavern-keepers, shopkeepers, and cab-drivers of the metropolis will hail the Ist of May 1851 as tbe coming of the true golden age to them, whatever it may be to other classes. — Leader.

The Exhibition of 1851. — We have watched, as oar readers know, with lively interest, and from time to time have reported, the progress made at home and abroad in relation to the Great Industrial Exhibition. Until the present moment, however, the data for a safe judgment as to bow the public would accept the Prince's proposition had not been gathered in an authentic shape. The newspaper press — with here and there an exception — had pronounced in its favour ; but we all know that in England, more especially in the provinces, newspapers rather represent the loose masses of opinion than those energies and influences which are essential to the working out of a scheme like that of 1851. During the last two months the country has been appealed to in a formal and official manner ; gentlemen have been sent down by the Royal Commissioners to about 200 of the Chief towns of England to invite the inhabitants to co-operate in the work ; and a careful comparison of the reports of the meetings held, as given io the local papers, puts os in possession of some general facts which it may be interesting to our reader* to have laid before them. A few days ago, a feeling of discouragement was produced in London by the announcement of Lord Overstone that the subscription had at that moment realized only £50,000. A perusal of the local papers explains this slownees of operations — without, in the lea«t degree, suggesting the idea that the public disapprove or are indifferent to the scheme. Wherever it is well explained,

it is at once accepted. The apathy that exists is not the effect of indifference — but of ignorance. To persons living in the centre of intelligence it may seem incredible that any one should still be unaware of the nature and objects of the Exhibition ; but a glance at the heap of papers now lying before us would convince the most sceptical on that point. At a meeting held in Oldham, a wealthy manufacturer said he had never understood the purpose of the Exhibition before ; in some towns we find parties going to the meetings in a hostile spirit — but staying to propose resolutions in its favour! Everywhere we see the people asking cut bono? Everywhere the question of merits is discussed. What are the social and material advantages? These were the questions certain to be put as soon as the masses were invited to join the movement ; so far as they are met — plainly and completely met — popular adhesion is obtained. There is no cause to complain of the want of popular enthusiasm ; wherever the masses have been appealed to on a large seale — as in Macclesfield, Preston, Bolton, &c. — the feeling in Us favour is deep and strong. At Wigan, at Macclesfield, and at Colne, we find parties expressing their surprise that not a single person had left the meeting from commencement to close. The fact is also noticed by the local reporters. Indeed there has never yet been a public meeting from which a warm expression of interest and adhesion has not been obtained. This is convincing. We notice how satisfactory to the artisans is the regulation by which new inventions are to be covered as by a patent-right during the Exhibition. We hear of several new inventions of a curious and important character — which, for want o( means to take out patents, have been kept secret for years — as likely to he exhibited. The belief, too, prevails that this temporary grace to the inventive genius of the country will lead to a great change in the patent laws. Why should not the inventor be protected in his property like the author — and on the like easy terms ? The need of another suggestion arises from a perusal of these reports. The artisans of the north are naturally anxious to see their way to London in the summer of next year. Fear lest, after all, the expenses of the journey may be beyond their means goes a long way to damp their rising enthusiasm. Might not some assurance be given to them now ? It is known that railway directors have expressed a desire to meet the views and purses of all classes of the community.. What prevents them from publishing now a tariff of prices for the excursion trains of next year? It is their interest to do so. Thousands will save their money for a certainty who would not practise present self-denial in fear of a contingency that does not depend upon themselves. Such a publication would benefit all parties — exhibitors and spectators. — Atheneeum.

Turnpike Trusts. — According to a return just published relating to turnpike trusts, the total cost of Parliamentary renewals from the year 1800 to 1848, inclusive, has amounted to £559,284. The entire sums borrowed during the existence of each trust amounted to £8,987,211, the amount of interest converted into principal to £290,080, and the total amount of debts paid off to £2,672,897. The total amount of debt on the Ist of January, 1849, was £6,604,304.—^*/as.

The Poet Bowles. — The canon's absence of raind was very great, and when bis coachman drove him into Bath he had to practise all kinds of cautions to keep him to time and place. The poet once left our office in company with a well-known antiquary of our neighbourhood, since deceased, and who was as absent as Mr. Bowles l.imself. The servant of the latter came to our establishment to look for him, and, on learning that he bad gone away with the gentlemau to whom we have referred, the man exclaimed, in a tone of ludicrous distress, " What ! those two wandered away together ? then they'll never be found any more !" The act of composition was a slow and laborious operation with Mr. Bowles. He altered and re- wrote bia M.S. until, some times, hardly anything remained of the original, excepting the general conception. When we add that his hand-writing was one of the worst that ever man wrote — insomuch that frequently he could not read that which he had writteu the day before — we need not say that his printers bad very tough work in getting his work into type. At the time when we printed for Mr. Bowles we had one compositor in our office who had a sort of knack in making out the poet's hieroglyphics, and he was once actually sent for by Mr. Bowles into Wiltshire to copy some M.S. writteu a year or two before, which the poet had himself vainly endeavoured to decipher. — Bath Chronicle.

A Weighty Fleece. — The Down ewe bred by Mr. John Moore, of Littlecot farm, near Pewsey, which has attained so much celebrity, from the circumstance of never having been shorn, and which has received bounties at many agricultural shows, died on

Thursday last, with seven years' wool on her back. The wool measured 25 incites in length, and weighed 44 lbs. — Wiltshire Independent.

Adverse Change of Fortune. — A gentleman of highly respectable family and connexion, and the owner in fee of different estates in the county of Tipperary, producing a rental of a £IOOOa-year, died lately in one of the workhouses of Dublin, a recipient of in-door relief. His father had been High Sheriff of the county, and held the commission of the peace for three other counties, and had at one time possessed one-and-twenty fee simple estates, and in early life was a close companion and favourite of George the Fourth when Prince of Wales.

Rats — Leading the Blind. — The Rev. W. Cohon, a chaplain of the United States navy, gives an instance, in a work just published, of fidelity amongst rats. "On a bright moonlight evening we discovered two rats on the plank coming into the ship. The foremost was leading the other by a straw, one end of which each held in his mouth. We managed to capture them both, and found, { to our surprise, the one led by the other was | stone-blind. His faithful friend was trying to get him on board, where he would have comfortable quarters during a three-years' cruise.

Courts of Crowners' Quest. — If there appeared a paragraph in the newspapers, stating that her Majesty's representative, the Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, had held a solerau Court in the parlor of the " Elephant and Tooth-pick," the reader would rightly conceive that the crown and dignity of our Sovereign lady bad suffered iome derogation. Yet an equal abasement daily takes place without exciting especial wonder. The subordinates of the Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench (who is, by an old law, the Premier Coroner of all England) habitually preside at houses of public entertainment ; yet they are no less delegates of Royalty — as the name of their office implies — than the ermined dignitary himself, when surrounded with all the pomp and circumstances of the law's majesty at Westminster. This is quite characteristic of our thoroughly commercial nation. An action about a money-debt is tried in an imposing manner in a spacious edifice, and with only too great an excess of formality; but for an inquest into the sacrifice of a mere human life, " the worst inn's worst room," is deemed good enough. In order rightly to determine v/hether Jones owes Smith five pounds ten, the Goddess of Justice is surrounded with the most imposing insignia, and worshipped in an appropriate temple ; but when she is invoked to decide why a human spirit, " Unhousel'd, disappointed, unaneal'd No reckoning made, is sent to its account. With all its imperfections on its head ; she is thrust into the " Hole in the Wall,' the '« Bag o' Nails," or the parlor of the "Two Spies." — Dickens' Household Words.

Kabyle Treachery. — One most glaring instance of Kabyle treachery and revenge was consummated close to the walls of Bougie, a few years back, by Mahomed Amzien, chief of the Oulid-ou-Rabah, a tribe dwelling on the upper banks of the Messaoud. The commanding officer of Bougie, M. Salomon, had held some correspondence and conference with this fierce chieftain, vainly hoping by diplomacy to lead him to an alliance. The crafty Amzien encouraged this idea on the part of the French commandant, and, to lull him into confidence, at one time sent him fourteen beeves as a present. Shortly after this a conference was agreed upon, by letter to take place on the borders of the sea, between Bougie and the river. In the letter sent by the chieftain from one of the villages of the Beni-Abtes, with which tribe he was holding counsel upon his meditated treachery, he professed the greatest amiability, desire for peace, and affection for M. Salomon, his intended victim, and coolly closed his missive with a request for some fine snuff scented' with rose, some tobacco, and some sugar. The conference took place, M. Salomon being accompauied by one or two friends unarmed, and the treacherous Amzien by some twenty cavaliers. The French presents were distributed and accepted with every token of friendship, coffee handed round, and protestations of good faith made. Jt was now drawing towards evening. With a feeling of distrust the doomed victims noticed the gradual crowding upon them of the chief's escort. A cavalier armed with a tromblon, or blunderbuss, and to whom the French commandant had shortly before given a dollar, admiring his fine appearance, stealthily leaned over his saddle bow, placed his weapon close to the back of the commandant, and blew the upper part of his body to pieces, the tromblon being, as usual, loaded with ten or a dozen balls. As the victim fell he received three other charges. The interpreter was killed also by a tromblon, and the other attendants of the unhappy commandant were all fearfully wounded, excepting one. The cry "Aux armes, aux arraes !" was raised by the distant spectators of the conference ; but, before the

French dragoons could be in pursuit, the cowardly assassins had scattered, fled,' and reached tbe thick covert. — Six Weeks' Cam* vaian in Kabvle.

Conjuring Birds. — Tbe birds that we saw exhibit (for Miss Vandermeersh has other cages in the room, any of whose tenants she offered for similar exhibition) are four in number, consisting of the common goldfinch, the cardinalfinch, and two other species of the finch. They are in very healthy condition; and perform their feats at the command of their young mistress — who does her conjurations with peculiar grace — passing from an elegant cage on to the table on which it is placed. The chief performances consist in the birds selecting from a long line of closelypacked cards, arranged with the edges uppermost on tbe table, those which contain answers to questions put by the company. Thus, a bird is requested to give the result of adding seven to five, when it selects from the hope-less-looking heap a card containing the number twelve. The work of subtraction is in ' like manner performed with unerring certainty — by a process in which there would be little hope of a human subject not making mistakes. Letters were marked by the company in books, and without any apparent communication the birds selected from amongst the interminable cards those on which the same letters existed. Cards were marked and placed in the pack in such a way that those who put them there could by no means discover them again, — but what they could not do was immediately accomplished by the birds. There are other performances, — but, like those named, all pointing to one set of conclusions. Watches are examined by any oi the company, — and the bird reports the hour and minute at which they stand : — words are proposed by whoever will, and tbe little feathered conjurors select the letters that compose them, where human patience would have a weary hunt : — a common die is flung into a hat, and for greater mystery covered with a handkerchief, and the winged oracle proclaims from a distance the number of points that stand on the upper surface. These are a sufficient specimen of the wonderful things performed by these little creatures, — who, though they do not talk, beat the talking birds of Arabian fable. It is quite evident, on reflection, that the most wonderful performer of all is the young lady herself; who so naively exhibits these birds that she appears as disinterested as any of the spectators in the room. A marvellous power of observation on her part, combined with the secret of communicating her knowledge to the i birds, doubtless constitute the means by which

the effects are produced. j Extensive Bank Robbery in America. — The most extensive bank robbery that i has taken place in the United States for a number of years occurred recently. The vault of the Dorchester and Milton Bank, at Dorchester Corner, was entered, and about 35,000 dollars in bank bills and specie abstracted. The money taken consisted of the following sums :— 29,000 dollars in bills of various denominations on the Dorchester and Milton banks ; and about 4,000 dollars in gold and silver, put up in small bags or sacks. All this was removed by the robbers, who retired, locking the front door as they left, put their booty imo a waggon, and started off, as it is supposed, in the direction of the city. Information was immediately sent to the Boston police, and office™ Butraan and Heath, were despatched to the spot. They ascertained a few particulars, which may lead to the detection of the perpetrators of this daring robbery. — Observer.

Extraordinary Imposture. — An extraordinary imposture has been detected by the surgeon of the Brighton hospital. Betsy Ginn, an Essex woman, aged twenty-three, has been suffering from December, 1847, from sores on her body, and latterly on her face ; she tenanted divers hospitals without any means of cure being discovered, fresh "sores breaking out as others healed ; so that her body is scarred all over those parts which she could reach with her hands. In a London hospital she created quite a sensation ; drawings of the appearances on her body were made, and consultations held ; but all the faculty were puzzled by this new disease. Charitable persons pitied and relieved the sufferer ; and by their means she obtained idmission to many hospitals. Recently she wti admittpd to the Brighton Hospital. After a time the surgeon suspected that the woman caused the wounds by means of ' hydrochloric acid (spirits of salt) ; he washed the wounds, tested the water, and detected the acid ; he applied a little to the skin, and it produced sores similar to the others. Betsy was searched, and a phial containing a small quantity of the acid discovered upon her ; finally, she confessed the fraud — she declared that she had committed it to obtain better homes than a workhouse. She must have suffered greatly, and both her body ard countenance are frightfully disfigured. There is an office of Registrar of the Canterbury Prerogative Court, worth £ 12,000

■-year to the possessor, worth nothing to the public, — a sinecure. The Archbishop has the patronage of appointment on a vacancy, and tiro nominations in reversion. Tbe office is now held by a Mr, Moore, appointed by his father, Archbishop Moore, and his emoluments are estimated at the moderate turn of £15,000 a-year, he holding other preferment besides the sinecure Registrarsbip. When Dr. Howley's turn came to make a nomination in reversion, be refused to do 10, conscientiously disapproving the unprincipled and profligate patronage. The present Archbishop, having no such scruples, bas appointed his own son, a young gentleman studying the law. The character of the present Archbishop of Canterbury has hithertood stood very high, and how it is that he can have been iuduced to stoop to this transaction we are utterly at a loss to conceive ; but the example shows how dangerous are the uses of rich patronage, even where the modesties might be supposed most on the alarm. — Examiner.

Dreadful Tornado ok the Island of New Providence. — The following is an extract from a letter dated Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas : — " Since the date of my last letter we have been visited by a most awful tornado. On the 30th March, about noon, a heavy fall of rain with much thunder and vivid lightning, passed over the island, the wind veering rapidly from one point of the compass to another. Suddenly there appeared in the south-west a densely black cloud, the intervening atmosphere assuming a very remarkable appearance, alternately green and livid. There was then a momentary calm, succeeded by a mighty rushing of the elements, as if set in motion from every quarter at the same moment. These were, however, but the precursors of the tornado itself, which burst with such tremendous fury over the adjacent villages of Grants and Baines Town that it carried thence into the sea everything in its way — houses, trees, stone walls, &c. Within a very few minutes 150 dwellings or orchards, or gardens, were wholly or partly laid by it ; eight persons were killed on the spot, and many injured. One singular feature is, that the damage was confined to a space of about 50 yards in width and a mile and a half in length. These villages were occupied either by liberated Africans or coun-try-born negroes. Some of tbe wooden houses of the poor were literally taken up from the ground on which they stood with their inmates {'who, iv some cases, escaped wholly uninjifred)and moved for some distance ; others were dashed to pieces, and swept away to distant .parts of the island." — Atlas.

Brutal Outrage at Naples. — By a letter from Naples, dated May 24, it appears that four days previously an atrocious scene occurred on one of the principal quays. The Tunisian steamer Minos, commanded by Captain Medoni, of the French navy, had recently anchored off Naples, and a part of the crew had landed to purchase provisions, and had scarcely reached the quay styled " Delia Marina," when they were surrounded by a posse of Lizzaroni. A prejudice prevails among the Neapolitans that the Turks are wont to carry off their young girls during the night to store their harems, and on seeing the Tunisian i land and approach the city, the mob concluded they bad come for that purpose, and then began the tragic scene. The crowd commenced a brutal attack on about thirty unarmed men, in which the police interfered, but, as they partook of the same fatal superstition, instead of siding with and protecting the victims, they handcuffed and delivered them over to their barbarous oppressors. At length the Minos got wind of what had befallen her men, and all her officers, with the remainder of her crew, flew to the rescue of their shipmates. It was too late, for they found twenty-three cut down, whom they were forced to put on litters to remove on board. — Ibid.

The Assyrian Researches.:: — Col. Williams, Her Majesty's Boundary Commissioner, who has lost no opportunity of supporting Mr. Layard in his operations, occupies his spare time at present at Workab, an immense ruin south of Babylon. He had previously despatched Mr. Loftus, the naturalist attached to bis diplomatic mission, accompanied by a young man (son of the late Mr. Churchill, acting as interpreter), with the caravan of mules and horses by the way of the Mesopotamian deserts; and these explorers have been fortunate enough to discover an entire mine of antiquities, consistiog of bricks with very perfect inscriptions, which cannot fail to throw considerable light on the period of history to which the city to whose previous existence they bear testimony belongs. In addition to this, they discovered coffins of glazed earthenware, out of which they took armlets and anklets, furnished with inscriptions in a very perfect state. From these, it is probable that information as to the burial ceremonies of the dead may be collected, — in illustration not only ot their domestic life, but also of their religious ceremonies connected with the final destination of both body and sou). In the

short space of three days, Mr. Loftus (by the assistance of Arab excavators) has collected from ihise mounds sixty very carious relics, — the moi-t important of which consisted in armlets, anklets, arrow-heads, bronze and clay statuettes, bracelets, and a sword : and, in addition to them, innumerable inscriptions. On his returns to bead-quarters, whither Mr. Loftus considered himself bound to proceed, to obtain an eitension of leave, in order to revisit the scene of his successful labours, he , laded bis mules with some fine fragments of a statue in black basalt, all of which will be transmitted to England with Mr. Layard's third exportation of Assyrian marbles. — Architect.

London and New York. — An American gentleman now on a visit to this country describes in the Boston Register his impressions on entering the city of cities. — " I have heard it said by Americans, that entering London was very much like entering New York ; and I can conceive that if one comes from the station asleep in a cab it may be so, — but under no other circumstances. There is something not merely in the immense distances you traverse, but in the grim solidity of the bouses — the continuous flow of the people — the ceaseless thunderous rumbling carriages, carts and vaus — and the dense canopy of smoke — which announces, to my mind at least, the presence of multitudes of human beings and human interests such as I never elsewhere saw or felt to be gathered together. And I know no better expression for the sentiment with which I have always entered and abided in London than Mr. Webster's, who when hewas asked wjiat be thought of the city, answered, " I have not yet done wondering." Especially does this stupefaction overcome one now, when the world-city is wrapped in its wintry mystery of fog ; for all that has been said and sung of London fog conveys a feeble idea of the reality. We, born under the glowing American sky, under sunlight more golden and blue heavens more blue than smile on any other land save Greece, can with difficulty believe that a place exists where for day after day the sun shines not at all, or only as through smoked glass, — while a murky mist floats at morning and evening up and down the streets, blackening all that it touches, and turning Parian marble to the hue of Newcastle coal."

Sidney Smith on the Faculties of Beasts. — I confess I treat on this subject with some degree of apprehension and reluctance ; because I should be very sorry to do, injustice to the poor brutes, who have no professors to revenge their cause by lecturing on our faculties ; and at the same time I know there is a very strong anthropical party, who view all eulogiums on the brute creation with a very considerable degree of suspicion, and look upon every compliment which is paid to the ape as high treason to the dignity of man. There may, perhaps, be more of rashness and ill-fated security in my opinion than of magnanimity or liberality ; but 1 confess I feel myself so much at my ease about the superiority of mankind — I have such a marked and decided contempt for the understanding of every baboon I have yet seen — I feel so sure that the blue ape without a tail will never rival us in poetry, painting, and music — that I see no reason whatever why justice may not be done to the few fragments of soul and tatters of understanding which they may really possess. I have sometimes, perhaps, felt a little uneasy at Exeter 'Change, from contrasting the monkeys with the 'prentice boys who are teazing them : but a few pages of Locke, or a few lines of Milton, have always restored me to tranquillity, and convinced me that the superiority of man had nothing to fear. — Review of the Rev. Sidney Smith's Essay in the Edinburgh Review.

Amusements of the People. — The Saloon in question is the largest in London (that which is known as The Eagle, in the City Road, should be excepted from the generic term, as not presenting by any means the same class of entertainment), and is situate not far from Sboreditch Church. It announces " The People's Theatre," as its second name. The prices of admission are, to the boxes, a shilling ; to the pit, sixpence ; to the lower gallery, fourpence ; to the upper gallery and back seats, threepence. There is no halfprice. The opening piece on this occasion was described in the bills as " the greatest hit of the season, the grand new legendary and traditionary drama, combining supernatural agencies with historical facts, and identifying extraordinary superhuman causes with material, terrific, and powerful effects." Strengthened by lithographic representations of the principal superhuman causes, combined with the most popular of the material, terrific, and powerful effects, it became irresistible. Consequently, we had already failed, once, in finding six square inches of room within th<! walls, to stand upon ; and when we nu\v paid our money for a little stage box, like a dry shower-bath, we did so in the midst of a stream of people who persisted in paying theirs for other parts of the house in despite of the

representations of the Money-taker that i was M veiy full, everywhere." The outer I avenues and passages of the People's Theatre bore abundant testimony to the fact of its being frequented by very dirty people. Within, the atmosphere was far from odoriferous. The place was crammed to excess, in all parts. Among thg audience were a large number of boys and youths, and a great many very young girls grown into bold women before they had well ceased to be children. These last were the worst features of the whole crowd, and were more prominent there than in any other sort of public assembly that we know of, except at a public execution. There was no drink supplied, beyond the contents of the porter can(raagnified in its dimensions, perhaps), which may be usually seen traversing the galleries of the largest theatres as well as the least, and which was here seen everywhere. Huge ham-sandwiches, piled on trays like deals in a timber-yard, were handed about for sale to the hungry ; and there was no stint of oranges, cakes, brandyballs, or other similar refreshments. The theatre was capacious, with a very large capable stage, well lighted, well appointed, and managed in a business-like, orderly manner in all respects ; the performance had begun so early as a quarter' past six, and had been then in progress for three-quarters of an hour. It was apparent here, as in the theatre we had previously visited, that one of the reasons of its great attraction was its being directly addressed to the common people, in the provision made for their seeing and hearing. Instead of being put away in * dark gap in the roof of an immense building, as in our once national theatres, they were here in possession of eligible points of view, and thoroughly able to take in the whole peformance. Instead of being at a great disadvantage in comparison with the mass of the audience, they were here the audience, for whose accommodation the place was made. We believe this to be one great cause of the success of these speculations. In whatever way the common people are addressed, whether in churches, chapels, schools, lecture-rooms, or theatres, to be successfully addressed they must be directly appealed to. No matter how good the feast, they will not come to it on mere sufferance. If, on looking round us, we find that the only things plainly and personally addressed to them, from quack medicines upwards, be bad or very defective things — so much the worse for them and for all of us, and so much the more unjust and absurd the system which has haughtily abandoned a strong ground to such occupation. — Dickens" Household Words.

A Good Plain Cook. — Young ladies of the leisure classes are educated to become uncommonly acute critics of all that pertains to personal blandishment. They keep an uncompromisingly tight hand over their milliners' and ladies' maids. They can tell to a thread when a flounce is too narrow or a tuck too deep. They are taught to a shade what colours suit their respective complexions, and to a hair how their coiffure ought to be arranged. Woe unto the seamstress or handmaiden who sins in these matters ! But her " good plain cook" — when a damsel is promoted to wedlock, and owns one — passes unreproached for the most heinous offences. Badly seasoned and ill assimilated soup ; fish, without any fault of the fishmonger, soft and flabby ; meat rapidly roasted before fierce fires — burnt outside and raw within ; poultry rendered by the same process tempting to the eye. till dissection reveals red and uncooked joints ! These crimes, from their frequency, and the ignorance of " the lady of the bouse," remain unpunished. Whereupon, husbands, tired of their Barmecide feasts — which disappoint the taste more because they have often a promising look to the eye — prefer better fare at the clubs, and escape the Scylla of bad digestion, to be wrecked on the Charybdis of domestic discord. All this is owing to the wife's culinary ignorance and to your " Good Plain Cooks." — Dickens.

New Orleans Races. — Such a mockery as it was of Epsom and Newmarket! The sporting gentlemen of New Orleans, with long hunting-whips in their hands, Mere clothed in what they seemed, in the ignorance of their hearts, to consider a sort of racing costume — green cutaway coats, with metal buttons, being evidently considered as the " correct thing" to wear on these sporting occasions. The great and knowing men among them, the "Peels" and " GreTilles" of their turf, who are looked up to as oracles from having learnt what horse-racing really was at New York, had taken possession of the stand, and were laying down the law about a certain " Lady Sarah," who was to win everything. The grand-stand contained a slight sprinkling of the beauty and fashion of the other sex ; but on the whole the entertainment bore, as it should do, a decidedly masculine character. We were invited into the stand to take some refresh men t by a very polite gentleman, calling himself one of the stewards ; for which civility, though it was refused, I felt duly

grateful, till I ascertained that a consideration would have been required had the civility been accepted. At length the* riders came out to be weighed. One was a very old boy indeed, in the ibape of a negro with white hair, and proportions of not very diminutive description. The other (there were only two) was also a black, but of very tender years indeed ; and their yellow and red calico jackets contrasted finely with their dark features and their shining black paws. There was immense difficulty in hoisting them on their horses — two wretched, raw-boned animals, whose only qualifications for racing seemed to lie in their long, square-cut tails, and their fleshless bodies. The two jockeys were evidently, during the last lingering moments allowed them, coming to some private understanding as to the best manner of conducting the race, the entire meaning of whirh confederation was known only to themselves* I, however, heard the elder and more knowing of the two, whisper to the other, " If you never pass me, Phil, he'll give you five dollar I expect." It was too clear that the unprincipled old fellow^ was instilling his horse racing morality into the innocent mind of the unsuspecting tyro. I heard no more ; for at that moment the bell rung and off they started. Such a start ! and such a gallop afterwards ! There were two Irish cab-drivers standing near us, for whom the joke was evidently too good to be passed over quietly. "Hourra, Murty !" shouted one of them, standing on the wheel of his vehicle, and waving his dilapidated hat in the air. "Hourra! and wouldn't you like to be seeing them black fellows at the Curragh ?" " And wouldn't I> that's all !" replied his friend : " that dacent boy in yaller's well fixed anyhow." The remark produced such a burst of genuine Hibernian merriment ; and the sight of the two " niggur fellows" straining and thumping along the course was in itself so irresistiblyludicrous, that we, too, were fain to join our mirth, and mingle our laughter with the rest. — Hesperos.

Barley Water for the Healthy. — Soak common barley in water, and set it by till it begins to sprout ; when dry expose it to a tolerable heat. Four on the barley thusprepared hot water in proportion to the strength of which you wish the liquor to 'be. Strain and flavour according to the taste with an infusion of the dried leaves of the Huraulus Lupulus, or common hop plant. Add to the compound before it has cooled, a. small quantity of baker's yeast, and let the whole remain in a warm place till an effervescence, which will occur in it, shall have subsided. Then dravr off into convenient vessels — wooden barrels are preferable — and reserve for use; the best place to keep it in is an ordinary cellar. The beverage may be made in quantities of from ten gallons and upwards, and; from half a pint to a pint makes an agreeable draught, though some will drink as much as • quart at a pull. — Punch's Almanack.

Lamb's Advice to Bernard Barton. — You are too much apprehensive about your complaint. I know many that are always ailing of it, and live on to a good old age. I know a merry fellow (you partly know him,) who, when his medical adviser told him hehad drunk away all that part, congratulated himself, now his liver was gone, he should be the longest liver of the two. The best way in these cases is to keep yourself as ignorant as you can, as ignorant as the world was before Galen, of the entire inner construction of the animal man ; not to be conscious of » midriff; to hold kidneys (sare of sheep and swine) to be an agreeable fiction ; not to know whereabout the gall grows; to account the circulation of the blood a mere idle whim of Harvey's; to acknowledge no mechav nism not visible. For, once fix the seat of disorder, and your fancies flux into it like so many bad humours. Those medical gentry choose each his favourite part ; one takes the lungs, another the aforesaid liver, and refers to it whatever in the animal economy is amiss. Above all, use exercise, use a little more tpiritous liquors, learn to smoke, continue to keep a good conscience, and avoid tampering with bard terms of art — virosity, schirosity, and those bugbears by which simple patients arescared into their graves. Believe the general sense of the mercantile world, which holds that desks are not deadly. It is the mind, good 8.8. and not the limbs, that ttints by long sitting. Think of the patience of tailor* — think how long the Lord Chancellor sits — think of the brooding hen. — Letters, fyc, of Bernard Barton.