MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 682, 14 February 1852, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

Her Majesty at Balmoral. — On Monday Mr. and Mrs, Farquharson, of Inverclaud, Called at the Castle, and on the same day the Duke of Leeds sent a stag a s a present to her Majesty, which was graciously accepted. Since her Majesty arrived she has visited many of the cottagers whom her bounty had supplied with new bouses, and kindly inquired into their condition, examining very minutely whatever came under her notice. Ths royal children are in excellent hea th. The entrance to the Castle and several points of the approaches are, as usual, under the care of London and rural policemen. The roads up and down the south side ol the river, on either side of Balmoral, have be?n much improved, and many tasteful beds officers have been introduced into the Castle grounds. Improvement has also been effected, in the drainage of the Castle, and i*» fe way of trenching and levelling the grounds between it and the

De?. The state of <he game over his Royal Highness’s shootings is such as to give good ground for anticipating that be will have excellent sport. Principal M’Farlin, of Glasgow, preached before the Queen at Crathie, on the 7th ; and Dr. Muir, of Edinburgh, on the 21st ; Mr. Anderson himself will officiate on the other days.— Aberdeen Journal, September 6.

The Great Exhibition. —The compensationd ispute long subsisting between the Society of Arts and Messrs. James aiytl George Munday, who had entered into an agreement to erect an edifice suitable for the “ Great Exhibition of 1851,” but which agreement was afterwards cancelled upon promise of adequate remuneration for outlay, risk, liability, anxiety trouble, and loss, has at length been settled by Mr. Stephenson, appointed sole umpire in the matter, who has swarded the said Messrs. Munday the sum of £5120. — Bell's Messenger.

The Bishop of Oxford is engaged on a tour of observation in Switzerland, visiting alternately Protestant and Roman Catholic cantons, and taking personal notes of their relative social condition, with the intention of using his information during the next session of Parliament. His Lordship also intends to carry his researches through the Papal States as a supplementary confirming evidence to the celebrated Gladstone letters.

The head of an enormous hippopotamus has arrived for the Army Medical Officers’ Museum at Fort Pitt, Chatham. The animal from which this bead was taken was killed, after a pursuit of several days, on the banks of the Kieskamo river, Cape of Good Hope, by Assistant-Surgeon Barclay, of the 91st Regiment, and a party of Kaffirs. The animal is represented to have been by far the largest hippopotamus ever seen in that part of the country, measuring 13 feet from the snout to the tail, and the same in the girth of the body. The head is in excellent preservation, and is about 5 feet in length.— Bell’s Messenger.

The International Jurors and Awards.—The first incident that occurred to us when we reached Paris the other day caused us some annoyance. Every juror for the Great Exhibition, when he accepted his office, signs a solemn declaration to the effect that he would keep secret all the awards made by the juries until these were officially announced by the commissioners. Our astonishment, then, may be guessed when we found men on all the boulevards of Paris selling, for a sous, a list of the French exhibitors to whom great medals had been awarded ! According to this paper, 55 great medals have been obtained for France : and in it the appropriation of 38 of these, with the names of 31 recipients, is given. We look upon the matter as a breach of faith which deserves the severest reprehension.— The Builder. Five Guineas for a Kiss.—At the last races of Peri, the English sportsmen could not but admire the grand and historical women of Normandy. A group of gentlemen riders, a little elevated by the fumes of the generous tokay, stood admiring, not only the handsome dresses but also the pretty faces of the fair villagers, whose beauty was still enhanced by their original and becoming bonnets a la Cauchoise, They were commenting freely on all they saw, and their words could be caught by all around, when a beautiful girl, married only the week before, happened to pass bv them. She was escorted by a large number of gay and joyous friends, in their handsomest suits, and accompanied by the venerable curate on his mule. “ What a charming person !” e: claimed one of the men. “ Upon mv word, I would willingly give two sovereigns for one kiss of her sweet lips.” “ Look here, boys,” exclaimed a tall fellow ; “ do you hear him ? There, that fellow with the black moustaches says that he would give two louis to have Louise kiss him !■” “ Ah ! ah !” laughed out a dozen young girls. “Two louis! Well, tis cheap enough,” “ There, then,” exclaimed the Englishman. The young girl to whom the proposal was made turned round towards the sportsman, and in a smiling tone, “You would be much delighted, eh.?” she said in a bewitching manner. “ Enchanted I” exclaimed the passionate Englishman. “Well, then, she continued, after a little hesitation’ “ give five guineas and yon shall have the kiss.” The Englishman thus defied, in his generosity would not have backed out had it been twenty times that sum. He pulled ont a well ff led purse, presented the fair one with five bright guineas, and, instead of one, received two sweet kisses in exchange. This done, “What luck!” she exclaimed gaily; “what luck! Here, Mr. Curate, here are five guineas for the poor of the Parish. Take them and make them happy,” “If that’s the case, one guinea more for the poor,” said the y >ung Englishman. This act of generosity was received with enthusiastic applause Journal d' Alencon. Dishonesty of the Police at St Petersburg.—The police a e by far the grea'est robbers in St. Petersburg. Accom-

plices after the crime, they take the stolen goods, punish the thieves, but restore nothing to the owners. A Courland nobleman, Mr. Von H., lost some silver spoons, knives, and forks, stolen out of his plate chest. Some weeks afterwards one of his servants came rejoicing to him ; he had found the stolen goods ; they were openly exposed for sale in a silversmith’s shop window. Mr. H. went to the window, recognized his property, took a police-officer with him, and made the silversmith show them the plate. His arms and initials were upon it; the dealer admitted he bad bought it of a stranger, and offered to restore it to its rightful owner. Mr. H. would have taken away hisproperty, but the Lieutenant of police foraade that, drew up a formal statement of the affair, and requested Mr. H. as a proof that the plate was his, to send to the police some other articles out of the chest to which he affirmed it to belong. Mr. H. sent the whole case, with its contents, to the police bureau. He never saw either of them again. Mr. Jerrmann had the story from the victim's own lips, and soon afterwards told it to a friend, a physician in St. Petersburg, thinking he should greatly astonish him. Astonished the physician certainly was ; not, however, at the rascality of the police, but at the simplicity of Mr. H., who ought to have known them far too well to have trusted them with his plate chest. The St. Petersburg thieves are exceedingly skilful and daring. The doctor, too, had his tale to tell. He wanted a coachman : one applied for the place just as bis droschski happened to be at the door, and by the doctor’s desire he drove up and down the street,- to give a specimen of his skill, which was satisfactory. The doctor called to him io come up stairs and sit down to dinner. The man did not appear ; inquiry was made : he had driven away the horse and carriage, and was nowhere to be found. The doctor made his report to the pSRce, as in duly bound, but at the same time made a formal declaration that be renounced all claim to the stolen property, and declined taking it back again. Tbe precaution was most judicious. He could not do without a vehicle, so he bought another tbe same day ; and when the police, six weeks afterwards, brought him back horse and droschski, they were in so wretched a state, and the charges were so enormous, that he was heartily glad to have it in his power to decline receiving his property or paying the costs. Mr. Jerrmann himself had some plate stoleu, of no great value, but, as a christening gift to his child, he was anxious to get it back. The police soon found it, but put a thousand difficulties in the way of giving it up, and the commissary to whom Mr. Jerrmann applied almost laughed in his face at the idea of its restitution. This time, however, the policeman was outwitted by the actor. “ I happen to dine to-day with Perowsky,” said the latter, “and I will just mention this incident to him as a curious example of the facility with which one recovers stolen goods in St. Petersburg, when once they are in the hands of the police.” The commissary affected to laugh, but it was with an ill grace. The spoons were speedily forthcoming.— Blackwood’s Magazine.