The Aberdare Times

THE LATE MR. CHARLES DICKENS. lJont at Portsmouth, February 7th, 1812. Slftl at his residence, Gad's-hill House, Rochester, June 9th, 1870.-Aged 68 years.

The Times, in a leader, pays the followir g tribute to the memory of Mr. Dickens, whose eloquent pen was always rebuking vice and satirising follies; and there is not a home in which the English language is spoken, but will have received the mournful intelligence of his death, with the most heart-felt regret One whom young and oW, wherever the English language is spoken, have been accustomed to regard as a personal friend is suddenly taken away from among ug, Charles Dickens is no more. The loss of such a man is an event which makes ordinary (xpreRsions of regret seem cold and conventional. It will be felt by millions as nothing less than a personal bereavement. Statesmen, men of science, philan- thropists, the acknowledged benefactors of their race might pass away, and yet not leave the void which will be caused by the death of Dickens. They may have earned the esteem of mankind their days may have been passed in power, honour, and prosperity; they may have been surrounded by troops of friends but, however pre-eminent in station, ability, or public services, they will not have been, like our great and genial novelist, the intimate of every house- hold. Indeed, such a position is attained Dot even by one man in an age. It needs an extraordinary combination of intellectual and moral qualities to gain the hearts of the public as Dickens has pained them. Extraordinary and very original genius must be united with good sense, con- summate skill, a well-balanced mind, and the proofs of a noble and affectionate disposition before the world will con- sent to enthrone a man as their unassailable and enduring favourite. Thii is the position which Mr. Dckens has occu- pied with the E iglish and also with the American public for the third of a century. If we compare his reputation with that of the number of eminent men and women who have been his contemporaries, we have irresistible evidence of hi3 surpassing merits. HIs is a depart- ment of literature in which ability in our time has been abundant to overflowing. As the genius of the Elizabethan age turned to the drama, so that of the reign of Victoria seeks expression in the novel. There is no more extraordinary phenomenon than the number, the variety, and the generally high excellence of the wmki of fiction in our own day. Their inspirations are as many as the phases of thought and social life. They treat not only of love and marriage, but of things political and ecclesiasti- cal, of social yearnings and sceptical disquietudes they give us revelations from the empyrean of fashion and from tne abyssss of crime. Their authors have their admirers, their p irty, their public, but not the public of Dickens. It has been his peculiar fortune to appeal to that whi h is common to all sorts and conditions of men, to excite the interest of the young and the uninstrncted, without shocking the more reflued taste of a higher class and a more mature age. Thus the Dews of his death will hardly meet the eye of all educated man or woman who has Dot read his works and who has not been accustomed to think of him with admiration and friendly regard. To the survivors, at least, there is something terrible in sudden death, and when we hear that Dickens Is gone we cannot but recall how Thackeray died before him, also in the vigour of age, and apparently in the fulness of health. Dickens has lived longer than his great rival, for he was born only a year after, and he has survived him several years. But he has been cat off while still in what may be called middle age. He was horn in February, 1812, and has consequently not long attained his 58th year. As men live and woik now, this is an age which would give the hope of many years of successful exertion, to be succeeded by a period of honoured re nose. But we have this consolation, that the life of Dickens lists been long enough to allow full scope for his genius, and to enable him not only to earn, but to enjoy his fame. In this respect his career has been extraordinary. He was one whose marvellous powers were developed early, and he attained the highest eminence in the first years of his literary career. It is certainly a wonderful phenomenon that a book like Pickwick, the pages of which over- flow with humour, and are marked in every sen- tence with tha keenest observation of men and things, should have been produced hy a young man of 21. After the light nut clever Sketches by Boz, Dickens began Pickwick in 1338, and finished it in the course of the succeed- ing We are inclined to think that this, the first con- siderable work of the author, in his masterpiece; but, what- ever be the world's decision on this point, it can hardly be doubted that the prize must bo given to one of the group of fictions which he produced within the first ten or twelve years of his literary life. Nicholas Niekleby teems with wit, and the characters, with one or two exceptions, are life-like in the extreme. Oliver Twixt everybody knows Martin Chvzzlewit is excellent-, and the American portions are not only the most amusing satire that has been published in the present age, but fill us with wonder that the peculiarities of t'n. uaht, manner, and diction of a people should be so surely seized and so inimitably expressed by a young writer who had been only a few months in the country. In this marvellous precocity of genius Dickens formed a contrast to some of those with whom a comparison naturally suggests itself. Scott was 34 years old before he published his first great poem, the Lay of the. Last Minstrel, and it was nearly ten years afterwards, in 1814, that he made his experi- ment as a novelist with Waverley. So, too. Thackeray, though knowu for some time iu the field of literature, made his first great success with Vanity Fair, when no longer a young man. Of Dickens it may be said, also, that his early books show no signs of juveuility. When young in years he showed the mental balance of an experienced writer. And yet what freshness and vigour there was fit tuose wonderful serials which, about the time the present Queen came to the throne, changed the popular liteiature of the day When that young unknown author appeared on the field he was at once hailed as the Lew chief of popular fiction. It is a long time ago, but our older readers will remember the excite- ment caused by the Pickwick Pavers. The shilling numbers of Boz carried everything before them. They were read here by tens of thousands, though the reading public thirty years ago was not what it is now; and thty were reprinted in every passible form in America. In fact, half the newspapers in the Slates transferred them to their columns bodily the day after their arrival. This popularity they fully deserved. They are among the few books of the kind that one can return to again and again; or having opened at any page can read straight on, carried forward by a sense of real ei joyment. The best characters stand out in real flesh and blood, and in this respect are superior to those of Thackeray, which, though excellently designtd, show too much the art of an able pketcher from artificial types. For this reason, Thackeray, though he has always maintained his hold on the London world in which his personages figure, has never come near to Dickens in popularity with the great mass of the peoo The characters of Dickens have been accepted by all men's discernment as the true reflection of human nature; not merely of manners or costume. Squeers is to everybody the low tyrannical schoolmaster: Bumble the representative of parochial pomposity; Mrs. Gamp is the type of her vulgar hard-hearted sisterhood. Perhaps a more signal proof of the genius of Dickens is the manner in which his sty Ie and diction have penetrated into the ordinary literature of the country. So much has become naturalised and is used quite unconsciously that it is only by re-reading those earlier works which most impressed his contemooraries that one becomes aware how great has heon their influence. no" v,<tiinot conclude these remarks without paying a tri- bute to the moral influence of the writings of which we have spoken. Mr. Dickens was a man of an eminently kindly nature, and full of sympathy for all around him. This, without being paiaded, makes itself manifest in his works; and we have no doubt whatever that much of the active benevolence of the present day, the interest in humble persons and humble things, and the desire to seek out and relieve every form of misery is due to the influence of his works. We feel that we have lose one of the foremost Eng- lishmen of the nge. There are clever writers enough, buo no ore who will take the place, literary and social, tnat bel rnged to i.im. It was but the other day ihat at t< e Royal Academy Banquet he made the best speecn of the evening, in mat er, Ian-uagp, and manner. His powers as an ac or are well known, though, of late years, ihey have fetn only exhibited in the narrow field of public rea ungs. He was made to he popular, and, even irrespective of h s liter :ry genius, was an able and s'rong-minded man, who would h*ve Siicce'eded iu almost any professi n to which he devoted himself. We can but condole with the public on his sudden and premature lo-s.

(From the Observer.) About fourteen months ago the writer of these lines, ac- cording to appointment, met Mr. Dickens, who was then engaged on his last tour of provincial readings at Leeds. After tho business of the evening was over they supped together at the Queen's Hotel, and the writer noticed that his friend looked jaded and worn, end had to a certain extent lost that marvellous elasticity of spirits, which was his great characteristic He was suffering too, from an inflimmation of the ball of the foo', which had previously occasioned him some annoyance, and the origin and cause of which could never be rightly settled by his medical attendants, although amot gst those whom he had consulted about it were Sir lltnry Thompson and Profezaor Syme. TIe relieved himself of his boot imrneuiitely on gaining the room, aud while he remained sat with his foot swathed in lotion bandages, but he was evidently fatigued and depres'ed, and retired early. The next morning at bieakfast his ordinary cheerfulness had returned, aud he rallied the writer, who was about to visit Sheffield in the rain which was then pouring down, about his probable chances of pleasure, remarking that it was just the kind of day in which the loveliness of the locality would be seen to the highest advantage." On the Thursday in the next week Mr Dickens was to read at Preston, but still feeling ill had summoned his triend and usual medical attendant, Mr. Frank Beard of Welbeck- street, to meet him there. On Mr. Beara's artival he at once saw the gravity of the case, and instantly ordered Mr. Dickens then and there to give up all bodily and mental exertion for the time. In vain it was urged that an enor- mous number of tickets had been sold for that evening's reading. Mr. Beard would hear of no excuse, but carried off Mr. Dickens with him to London by the five o'clock train. The precautions thus seasonably taken seemed to have due effect. Mr. Dickens retired to his residence at Gad's-hill, and, implicitly obeying the orders of his phy- sicians, appeared soon to regain his normal state < f physical health and strength. Indeed, a very few weeks afterwards, replying to an inquiry made by a friend as to his condition, he wrote, "After all that has been said, I feel almost like an impostor I am so unconscionably well." As is now well known, he resumed his readings in the winter at St. James's-hall, and on the 15th March last took fareweli of the public in a manly and touching speech which will be well-remembered by all, and the delivery of which was marked by an emotion which he seldom per- mitted himself to show. In order to avoid the necessity of frequent journeyings to and fro durirg these readings, he fer six months rented the town of his old friend, Mr. Milner Gibson, in Hyde Park-place, which be continued to occupy until the end of last month. There, iu his bedroom on the first floor, with the roar of Oxford-street beneath him-he was always singularly unsusceptible to the nuisance of noise—with the open windows commanding a splendid view over the park, much of what is accomplished of Edwin Drood" was written. It was during this period that, in obedience to her Majesty's commind, he attended at Buckingham Palace, and had a lengthened personal interview with the Queen, in the course of which her Majesty expressed to him her warm interest in and admiration ot his works, and on partiDg pre- sented him a copy of her own bock, Our Life iu the High- lands," with an autograph inscription, "Victoria E. to Charles Dickens," on the flyleaf, at the same time making a charmingly modest and graceful remark as to the relative positions occupied in the world of letters by tue donor and the recipient of the book. During this period too he was presented to the trincs of Wales at a levée, entertained his friends frequently and most hospitably, as was his wont went perhaps rather more than was usual with him into society, and dined at the annual banquet of the Royal Academy, where he delivered a splendid eulogv on his dead friend, Daniel Mactiae. But evidence was not "wanting that he was still to a certain extent out of health. He had promised to dine at the annual dinner of the General Theatrical Fund, an institution in which he took the greatest interest, and was to have spoken to one of the toasts, but at the last mo- ment he telegraphed that he was too ill to attend. Two days la er he sent a short note to one of hi3 intimates, postponing a little expedition which had been arranged, and stating that the old enemy in his foot was again causing him annoyance. Unquestionably, too, he had very much aged in appearance durlDg the two previous years; the thought graven lines in his tape were deeper the beard and hair were more grizzled IT Cj)mP< £ ?'°Q ruddier, but not so healthy in hue. He walked, too, lessan^ less actively latterly, indeed, dragging one leg rather wearily behind him. But he maintained the b.u^ frank, hearty presence, and t £ e deep, cheery voice; ?-lv j'1 1° had all its aucctionate grip, and the splendid bpauty of the dark eyes remained undimmed to the last. How that last came about is now well known. To the present writer he once told a curious anecdote of his reporting days. The late Earl of Derby, then Lord Stanley, had on some important occasion made a grand speech in the House of commons. This speech, of immense length, it was found necessary to compress, but so admirably had its pith and marrow been given in the Morning Chronicle that Lord Stanley sect to the office requesting that the gentle- man who had reported it would wait upon him at his residence in Citrlton-house-terrace, that he might then and there take down the speech in its entirety from his lordship's lips, Lord Stanley being desirous of having a perfect transcript of it. The reporter was Charles Dickens. He attended, took down the tMaph, and received Lord Stanley's compliments on his work. Many years after, Mr. Dickens, dining for the first time with a friend in Carlton-house-terrace, found the aspect of the dining-room strangely familiar to him, and on making inquiries discovered that the house had previouly belonged to Lord Darby, and that that was the very room in which he had taken down Lord Stanley's spesch. (From lhe Times.) In the last novel which Mr. Dickens ever completed, and in the last paragraph of its last page, he wrote words which now posses? a remarkable interest:— 0 Friday, the ninth of .Tune, in the present year (1ST-), Mr. and Mrs. B >ffla (in their manuscript dress of receiving- Mr. and Mrs. Lammle at breal-.faso) were on the Squill Eastern Railway with me In a terribly-destructive accident. When I had done what I could to help others, I ciimbed back into my carriage-nearly turned over a viaduct, and caught aslant upon the turn-to extricate the worthy couple. They were much soiled, but otherwise unhurt The same happy result attended Miss Bella Wilfer onher wedding-day, and Mr. Riderhood inspecting Bradley Headstoue's red neckerchief as he lay asleep. I remember with devout thabkfulness that I can never be much nearer parting com- pany with my readers for ever than I was then, until there shall be written against my life the two words with which I have this day closed this bock—THE END." It is now strange to observe that just five years later, on the very same day of the very same month, THE END catno, and the reader will probably be impressed with Mr. Dickens's own account of its first approach in the spring of last year :— "Once upon a time (no matter when), I was engaged in a pursuit (no matter what), which could ba transacted by myself alone, in wh;ch I could have no help which imposed a constant strain on the attention, memory, observation, and physical powers, and which involved an almost fabulous amount of change of place and rapid railway travelling. I had followed this pursuit through an exceptionally trying winter in an always trying climate, and had resumed it iu England after but a brief repose. Thus it came to b3 pro longed until at Jength-and, as it seemed, all of a sudden—it so wore me out th"t I could not rely, with ms usual checrful confidence, upon myself to achieve the constantly rrcurru.g task, and began to feel (for the first time in my life) giddy, jarred, shaken, faint, uueertaia of voice and sight, and tread and touch, and dull of spirit. The medical advice I sought within a few hours was given in two words, 'Instant rest.' Being accustomed t,) observe myself as curiously as if I were another man, and knowing the advice to meet my only need, I instantly halted in the pursuit of which I speak, and rested My intention was to interpose, as it were, a fly leaf in the book of my life, in which nothing should be written from without for a brief season of a few weeks. But some very singular experiences recorded themselves on this same fly- leaf, and I am going to relate them literally. I repeat the word, literally. My first odd experience was of the remarkable coincidence between my case, in the general mind, and ol;e Mr Merdl;s as I find it recorded in a work of fiction called Little Dorrit. To be sure, Mr. Merdle was a swindler, forger, and thitf, and my calling had been of a less harmful (and less remunerative) nature, but it was all one tor tha: "Here is Mr. Merdle's case :— At first he was dead of all the diseases that ever were known, and of several brand-new maladies invented with the speed of L'ght to meet the demand of the occasion. He had c jncealed a dropsy from infancy he had inherited a large estate of water on the chest frum his grandfather he I a I had HI operation performed upon him every morning of tis life for 18 years; he had beeu subject to the explosion of important veins in his body after the manner of fire- works, he had something the matter wit.n his lungs, he had had something the matter with his heart, he had had something the matter with his brain. Five hundred people who sat uown to breakfast entirely uninformed on the sub- ject believed bsfore they had done breakfast that they prL- vately aud personally knew Physicians to have said to Mr. Merdle, You must expect to go out, some day, like the snuff of a candle;' and that they knew Mr. Merdle to have said to Physic'an, 'A man can die but once.' By about eleven o'clock ia the forenoon, something the matter with the brain became the favourite tneory against the neid and by twelve the something had beeu distinctly ascertained to be 'Pressure.' Pressure was so entire'y satisfactory to the public mind and seen;ed to make eveiyona so comfortable, thtt it might have lasted all day but fur Bar's having taken the real state of the case into Court at half-past nine. Pressure, however, so far from b01I1, ove; thrown by the ditc jvery, I eariae a greater favourite than ever. There was a general moralizing upon Press hi e in every street. All the people who had tried to make money and had not been able to do it. said, There you were You no sooner began to devote yourself to the pursuit of wealth than you got Pressure. The idle people improved the oceision in a similar manuer. 'See,' said they, what ycu brought y urself to by work, work, work. You persisted In working, you overdid it. Pressure eime on and ) ou were done for This consideration was very potent in many quarters, but nowhere more so than among the young clerks and p trtners who had never been in the slightest danger of overdoing it. These, one and all, declared, quite piously, that they hoped they would never forget the warn- ing as long as they lived, and thit their conduct might be so regulated ss to keep off Pressure, and preaerve them, a con fJrt to their friends, for many years. "Just my case—if I had only known it-when I was quietly basking in the surishine fit my Kentish meadow But while I so rented, thankfully recovering every hour, I had experience more odd than this. I had experiences of spiritual conceit, for which, as giving me a new warning against that curse of mankind, I shall always feel grateful to the supposition that I was too far gone to protest against playing sick lion to any stray donkey wich an itching hoof. All sorts of people seemed t,) become vicariously religious at my expense. I received the most uncompromising warning that I was a heathen on the conclusive authority of a field preacher, who, like the most of his ignorant and vain and daring class, could not construct a tolerable sentence in his native tongue or pen a fair letter. This inspired individual called me to order roundly, and knew in the freest and easiest way where I was going to, and what would become of me if I iai eu to fishion myself on his bright example, and was on terms of blasphemous confidence with the Heavenly Host. He was in the secrets of my heart and in the lowest sound- ings of my soul-he !-a.nd could read the depths of my nature better than his A B C, and could turn me inside out, like bis own clammy glove. But what is far more extra- ordinary than this-for such dirty water as this could alone be drawn from such a shallow and muddy source-I found from the information of a beneficed clergymau of whom I never heard and whom I never saw, that I had not, as I rather supposed I had, lived a life of some reading, contem- plation, and inquiry that I had not studied, as I rather sup- posed I had, to inculcate some Christians lessons in books that 1 had never tried, as I rather supposed I had, to turn a child or two tenderly towards the knowledge and love of our Saviour that I had never had, as I rather supposed I had had, departed friends, or stood beside open graves; but that I had lived a life of 'uninterrupted prosperity,' and that I needed this 'check, overmuch.'and that the way to turn it to account was to read these sermons and these poems en- closed, and written and issued by my correspondent I beg it may be understood that I relate facts of my uncommercial experience, and no vain imaginings. The documents in proof lie rear my hand. Another odd entry on the fly-leaf, of a more entertaining character, was the wonderful persiste; cy with which kind sympathizers assumed that I had injuriously coupled with the so suddenly relinquished pursuit, those personal habits of mine most obviously incompatible with it, and most plainly impossible of being maintained, along with it. As all that exercise, all that cold bathing, all that wind and weather all that uphill training—all that everything else, say, which is usually carried ab jut by express trains in a portmanteau and hat-box, and partaken ot under a flaming row of gas- lights in the company of 2,000 people. This assuming of a whole case against all fact and likelihood struck me ai particularly droll, and was an oddity of which I certainly had had no adequate experience in life until I turned that curious fly-leaf. "My ohi acquaintances the begging-letter writers came out 011 the fly-leaf, vtry piou-ly indeed. They were glad, it such a serious citsis, to >iff jrd me another opportunity of send- ing that .Post-urnee order. Inaecn'tmake it a pound a3 pre- viously insisted on; 103. mi^ht ease my mind. Aud Heaven forbid that they should refuse, at such an insignificant figure, to take a weight eff the memory of an erring fellow-creature une gentleman, of an artistic turn (and copiously illustrating the bonks of the Mendicity Society), thought it might soothe my conscience iu the tender respect of gifts misused, if I would immediately cash up in aid of his lo^ly talent for ordinal (iestgn—as a specimen of which he enclosed me a woik o. art which I recognized as a tracing from a woodcut originally published in tne late Mrs. Trollop/s book on Americ 1,40 or 60 years ago. The number of people who were prepared to live long years after me, untiring benefactors to their spec e3, for £ 50 a piece, down, was astonishing Also of those who wanted bank-notes for stiff pentitential amounts to give away,—not to keep, on any account. D.vers wot derful medicines and machines insinuated re- commendations of themselves into the fly-leaf that was to have been so blank. It was specially observable that every prescnaer, whether in a moral or physical direction, knew me thoroughly—knew me from head to heel, in and out through and through, upside down. I was a glass piece of general property, and everybody was on the most surpris- iugl, intimate terms with me A few public institutions had complimentary perceptions of corners in my mind of which after considerable self-examination, I have not discovered any indication. Neat little printed forms were addressed to those corners, beginning with the words, I give and be- queath. "Will it seem exaggerative to state my belief that the most nonesr, the most modest, and the least vainglorious of all tbe records upon this strange fly-leaf, was a letter from the sex,-deceived discoverer of the recondite secret 'How to live 400 or f00 years?' Doubtless it will seem so, yet the state- ment is not exaggerative by any means, but is made in my ser.ous and sincere conviction. With this, and with a laugh at the rest that shall not be cynical, I turn the fly-leaf and go on again." 1

A BISHOP'S EULOGY ON THE LATH MR. DICKENS. On Sunday evening the Bishop of Manchester preached at Westminster Abbey, from the words "Great is the mystery or godliness. The sermon was a plea for the toleration ot aifferences of opinion where the fouudations of religious truth were accepted. Jl the hope of a reunited Christendom were nothing better than a soothing dream, let us not (said tha Bishop) disturb it needlessly by misrepresentations and jealousies. There might be unity of purpose beneath wide divergences of thought, and in spite of apparent differences of aim. In conclusion, the Bishop said: It will not be out of har- mony with the line of thought we have been pursuing—cer- tainty it will be in keeping with the associations of this place dear to Englishmen, not only as one of the proudest Christian temples, but as containing the memorials of so many who by their genius in arts or arms, or statesmanship or literature, have made England what she is—if in the sim- plest and briefest words I allude to that sad and unexpected death which has robbed English literature of one of its highest living ornaments, and the news of which, two morn- ings ago, must have made every household in Eugland feel as though they had lost a personal friend. He has been called in one notice an apostle of the people. I suppose it is meant that he had a mission; but in a style and fashion of his own a gospel, a cheery, joyous, gladsome message, which the' people understood, and by which they could hardly help being bettered; it was the gospel of kindliness, of brotherly love, of sympathy in the widest sense of the word. I am sure I have felt in myself the healthful spirit of his teaching Possibly we might not have been able to subscribe to the same creeu in relation to God but I think we should have subscribed to the same creed in relation to man. He who has taught us our duty to our fellow men better than we knew it before, who knew so well to weep with them that wept, and to rejoice with them that rejoiced, who has shown forth all his knowledge of the dark corners of the earth, how much sunshine may rest upon the lowliest lot, who had such evident sympathy with suffering1 such natural instinct of purity, that there is scarcely a page of the thousands he has written which might not be put into the hands of a little child, must be regarded by those who recognize the diversity of the gifts of the Spirit as a teacher sent from God. He would have been welcomed as a fellow- labourer in the common interests of humanity by Him who asked the question, If a man love not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen ?"

The Paris Tejnps of Saturday morning, in an article signed k"1*580 Ladet, say8 :—"A telegram announces the sudcen death of the most powerful and most popular English novelist, Charles Dickens. No writer has ever been more fertile, or so unrivalled in his fecundity. Charles Dickens will be regretttd all over the world, where numerous transla- tions have spread his works."

In an account of the origin of "Pickwick," Mr. Dickens 011 jOIle oocas'°nI was a young man of two o> tnree-and-twenty, when Messrs. Chapman and Hall attracted by some pieces I was at that time writing in the Jnormng Chronicle newspaper, or had just written in the Old Monthly Magazine (of which OLe series Litd laiely collec ei and published in two volumes, illustrated by Mr, George Oiuikdhank), waited upon me ta propose a some- thing that should be published in shilling numbers—the only known to me, or, I believe, to auybody else, hy a dim recollection of certain interminable noveis in that form, which used to be carried about the country by pedlars, and over some of which I remember to have shed innumerable tears before I had served my apprenttceship to Life. When I opened my door in Furnival's-inn tJ the partner who n pre- sented the firm, I recognised in him the person from whose hands I had bought, two or three years previously, and whom I had never seen before or since, my first copy of the magazine in wbich my firs^ effusion-a paper in the Sketches," calied "Mr. Minns and his Cousin "-dropped stealthily one evening at twilight, with tear and trembling, into a dark letter-box, in a dark office, up a dark court in Fleet-street—appeared in all the glory of print; on which occa- sion I walked down to Westminster-had, and turned into it for half-an-hour, because my eyes were so dimmed with joy and pride that they could Dot bear the street, and were not fit to be seen there. I told my visitor of the coincidence, which we both hailed as a good omen; and so fell to business. My views being deferred to, i thought of Mr. Pickwick, and wrote the first number; from the proof sheets of which Mr. Seymour made his drawing of the club, and his happy portrait of its founder-the latter on Mr. Edward Chapman's description of the dress and bearing of a real personage whom he had often seen. I connected Mr. Pickwick with a club, because of the original suggestion, (chat the hook should represent a Nimrod club,) and I put in Mr. Winkle expressly for the use of Mr. Seymour."

INTERESTING JOTTINGS. We learn by telegram frcm New York that the news of the death of Mr. Charles Dickens has evoked manifestations of general and profound regret. Friday evening's journals pay glowing tributes to the nigh talents of the deceased, and unanimously declare that his death brings sorrow to nearly every American household.

An incident is mentioned as shewing in how great regard Mr. Dickens, as a man and as an author, was held by the Queen Shortly before his death he sent to her Majesty an edition of his collected works and when the Clerk of the Couucil went to Balmoral last week, the Queen, knowing the friendship that existed between Mr. Dickens and Mr Helps, showed the latter where she had placed the gift of the great novelist. This was in her private library and her Majesty expressed her desire that Mr. Helps should inform Mr Dickens of this arrangement. On his return home from Bal- moral, Mr. Helps wrote to Mr. Dickens, in pursuance of her Majesty's desire but the letter that contained so remarkable a tribute to the great novellist could «nly have reached Gads- hill while he lay unconscious and dying.

A newspaper corespondent writes :— A short paragraph in the current nu-nbpr of The Mystery of EJ><j¡; Uruod" has acquired a panful significance from the sad tv-nt of the 9cll inst. Sadde-ted as Mr. Dickens muss hive been by the ioss or so mi: y old friends, notably y the very lvcent at,d sudden deMh ot M-clise tile tone. f thought w hich d ct ited the few iines referred to is easily ac- counttd fur, but his own lamented d partme points the moral with rnord than ordinary force. The few lints nny be interesting to yourreaders. Toey are from a descript on ot" a stonec-iitei'sy >rd :—"Tae two j >uriuymeu have left their two great saws sticking iu their blocks of stone and two skeleton journeyman out of the Dince of DMth might be griming iu thesaadowof their sheltering sentry-boxas, about to slash away at cutting out the graves,oues of the next two pe jp!e destined to die at Cioisterham. Likely enough the two think Jittle of that now, being alive and perhaps mer: y, Curious to make a guess at the two—or say, as one of tha two!

All the leading foreigu papers refer with regret to the death of Mr. Ch tries Dickens, but the event has excited pro- fouuder sympathy in Germany than in any other continental country. The following is from an article in the Cologne Gazette of Friday last:- Charles Dickens died yesterday evening-a piece of sad news which will fill the whole civilised world with deeper sympathy than the death of emperors and kiugs No writer of this century has exercised upon the English peop e an influence so ceep and lasting. His descriptions, characterised by poetic truihs and incomparable humour, and drawn from reality, held up to the people a mirror in which they saiv faithfully reflected their faults and laughable sides, but also their good points and the inner moral kernel of their life. Itich and poor, educated and uneducated find themselves in D.ckeus's novels on ttie common ground of pure humauitv, and learn to meet each other in a spirit of mutual respect. Thus amongst all classes from the palace to the simple hut, the loss ot the great teacher and peace- bringer will be painfully felt. The North German Gazette thus concludes a notice of Mr. Dickens;- Seldom has a writer in modern times so succeeded in win- niug the universal love and respect not only of his countrj- men but of the entire civilised world.

FUNERAL OF MR. CHARLES DICKENS. On Tuesday morning, at half-past nine, the remains of Mr. Char,es Dickens were privately buried in Weotmmsler Aobey. The body left G^danill Place at six o'clock, and was conveyed in a special train to the Charing Cross terminus. There the coffin was at once removed to a plain hearse, with- out feathers or trappings of any kind. Following were three plaiu mourning coaches, containing the members of the family and a few friends, as follows;- In the first coach were Mr. Charles Dickens, jun., Mr. Harry Dickens, Miss Dickens, Mrs. Charles Collins. In the second coach, Miis Hogarth, Mrs. Austin (Mr. Dickens's sister), Mrs. Caarles Dickens, jun., Mr. John F jrster. In the third coach, Mr. Frank Beard, Mr. Charles Collins, Mr Ouvry, Mr. Wilkie Collius, Mr. Edmund Dickens. None ot the mourners wore bands or scarves, but were simply in plain deep black. At about a quarter past nine the simple cortege quitted the station, where it attracted little observation, only a few knowing whose funeral it was, for the consent of the family to the interment in Westminster Abbey was only given late on Monday, and then only on the condition that the strictest privacy was observed, and that the ceremony should take place at a time when no crowd was likely to be col- lected. To these conditions the Dean of Westminster instantly conseuted in fact, he had proffered them when he made his urgent request to the family that the remains should be allowed to rtst in Westminster Abbey. A grave had actually been prepared in the St. Maiy's Chapel of Rochester Cathedral; but all will feel glad that Mr. Dtcken's relatives, at the last moment, consented ta gratify what was assuredly a national desire. Tne funeral procession drove to Dean's-yard, which it reached at about half-past nine. The body was received by Djan Stanley, the canons, and the other officials of the abbey, and was at once conveyed t rough the western cloister door along the nave into the Chapel of St. Faith, better known as Poets'-corner. Here, after the abbey had beeu closed on Monday night, agrave had been oug, which was simply surrounded by a plain black cloth border to indieate the narrow opening, which otherwise might not easily have been seen. The grave is situated at the foot of the cuma of Handel, and at the head of the coffin of Sheiidan, and between the coffias of Lord Macaulay and Cumberland the dramatic poet. Only a few feet removed, and near to the side of Dickens, but to- wards his feet, lie Johnson and Garrick, while near them repose the remains of CampbelL The statue of Addison and the bust of Thackeray overlook the grave at its head. Shak- speare's monument is not far from its foot. Goldsmith's monument and that to the great Duke of Argyll are on the left. The Dean himself read the Burial Service, which was over before ten, before any visitors were admitted. It was the Prayer-book service, read, not chanted or intoned. Between the prayers the organ played a soft voluntary. When the coffin, a plain oak one, was lowered into the grave, and the service was over, it was strewn with wreatns and flowers by the female mourners one large chaplet of white roses was placed at the head. The brass plate bore the simple inscription, CHARLES DICKENS, BORN FKBKUAIiY 7TH, 1812, HIED JUNE 9TIf. Ib70. During the day the grave was left open, and the news o the interment having taken place becoming known abroad literally thousands Ciime to look into the grave, and to take a last look ou the shell which holds the remains of one whose name will long be cherished and held in honour, not only by Englishmen, but by all English-speaking nations. only by Englishmen, but by all English-speaking nations.

THE EDUCATION BILL. A meeting of Nonconformists was held on Monday evening in the St. James's-hall, London Air. M'Arthur, M.P., in the chair, in opposition to sec- tarian teaching at the cost of the State. The Chairman said Mr. Forster's Bill contained In itself many admiraule provisions; but there were points to which they, as Nonconformists, did not assent. There was general agreement that the present denominational schools in the country should not be disturbtd. It was a compromise certainly but was admitted because of the valuable services rendered by those schools to the question of education. Another point of agreement was that no board should have the power or riwht, to forbid the introduction of the Bible into schools; the majority would not only admit the Bible but Biole instruction, if it were unuenominational and unsectarian. if the Bible were, however, introduced some such plan as Mr. Vernon Hlircourt's should be adopted to provide against sectarian teaching. Nonconformists would strenuously oppose power being given to local boards to determine the religious character of the schools aided by local rates. All denominational formularies or catechism should be rigorously excluded. He trusted no Government would attempt to carry a measure against the great and influential body of NOllconfurmtbts ot the country. School boards should be at once established in every part of the coflntry, and any system of education should be compulsory. (Cheers) the ttev. A. Hannay moved—" That this meeting while cordially recognising the value of the amendments pro- posed by Mr. Forster to be lutroduced into the Elementary Education Bill, feels compelled to express its conviction that so long liS, nuder its provisions, any classes may be required to pay rates for the teaching of religious tenets from which they dissent, the Bill cannot have the approval of Nonconformists." It was not true tnat the opponents of the measure were conspiring against Mr. Forster to hamper him and attack him their feeling was one of disappointment and surprise rather than anger; and so far from factiously op- posing the Government, many had brought themselves to perilous concessions in order to help the Government out of the difficulty in which it had placed itself. He advocated the exclusion of the Bible as a class book from the common scheols. (Loud cheers, aud cries of "No no.") He would have every child taught the Bible, but taught by proper teachers and in proper institutions. (Cheers.) Mr. Illingworth, M.P., seconded the resolution. He agreed with the late Mr. Cobden that the only solution of the edu- cation question was to have a sectarian system Mr. ii. Richard, M.P., supported the resolution. The attitude of the Government had compelled many of its best friends to assume a position of friendly antagonism but that did not imply any disaffection towards the best and noblest Liberal Government which the country had ever seen No man had more earnestly sought, or taken more pains to ob- tain, a fair and satisfactory solution of the difficulties con- fessedly serious and formidable, which beset the question than the Prime Minister himself. He t Mr. Richard) could not speak in other than the kindest and most respectful terms of Mr. Forster, who was not only an able but honest and conscientious man, who, Nonconformists should not forget, had given them the Endowed School Bills of iastyear (Cheers.; He warmly appealed to his brother Nonconformists not to betray their principles. The Rev. A. Mursell supported the motion in an amusing speech, and it was carried unanimously. Air. P. W. Clayden moved That, considering that a number or denominational schools have been called into existence under the minutes of the Privy Council this meet- ing does not urge the withdrawal of the grants they at pre" sent receive, but deprecates any extension of the denomina- tional system of education at the cost of the State and heartiiy approves of the application of the time-table con- science clause to those schoo s, and o! the abolition of all in- quiries on the part of the Government inspector into the re- ligious teaching given In them." In proposing this he wished, as a warning, to say that he had in the House of Commons within a few hours seen a very iinportaut amendment defeated owing to a division amongst the Dissenters in the House of Commons. If the resolution were passed as a wise and generous compromise he believed the Government and Parliament would accept it. The basis of this compromise was this:-The existing schools were denominational; it was not proposed in the Government Bill to supersede them, but it was proposed where these schools had not met educational deflciences to provide rate-aided schools. Let these two classes of schools go on side by side let the denominational schools alone with the exception of the application of the amended time'table conscience clause, and do not let them be supported out of the rates. (Cheers.) This might not be a permanent settle- ment of the question; but it was a compromise to rest upon for a time. If this compromise were not granttd, they must agitate for the entire severance of the State with religion in every respect. (Cheers.) Air. B. Scott seconded the motion, which was carried with a few Dissentients. The Rev. J. G. Rogers moved-" That in relation to schools established or aided by local school boards out of the rates, this meeting believes that the difficulties of the case may be met by prohibiting the use therein of any religious catechisms or formularies, or the teaching of anything in opposition to, or in support of, the tenets of any isect-this prohibition not to apply to the use of the Holy Scriptures, but such use, wherever adopted, to be under the regulation of the time table conscience clause, so that the attendance of any child at such Bible lessons shall not be compulsory." The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon seconded the motion. Never- theless he did not sympathise with much of what he had heard. He trusted he should never allow his Noncon- formity to outride his Christianity or love for the Bible. He was sorry to differ from what he felt to be the current of the meeting, but his opinion was that Government had better have left education alone. (Cheers and A'o, no.") If the Nonconformists of England had been logical, they would, instead of allowing the Government to touch it have been more liberal themselves in its support. It was a gross falsehood to say that voluntaryism had failed. The Nonconformists now had made a great concession, but they had violated their logical position. His conscience required that the Bible should be read in the school where his children were taught, and it the Bible were ex. luded he wouldjireach defiance of the Government up and down the land. He be- lieved the majoiity of Nonconformists agreed with him (Cheers, and" So, no.") The motion having been carried the meeting separated.

A large gathering of supporters of the National Education League was held at Halifax on Monday, for the purpose of eoiisideui g tne Government amendments to the Education Bill introduced by Mr. Forster. The meeting was held pre- paratory to the general meeting in London on Wednesday, when the representatives of all the provincial towns will be in attendance, Resolutions were passed affirming that in all schools maintained or aided by local rates the teaching of creeds, catechisms, or tenets peculiar to any sect should be prohibited by the Legislature; that it was of the utmost im- portance that the Education Bill s-hould include compulsory provision for securing the attendance of children at school, and that the admission of children to schools supported or aided by localrat«3 should be free. A petition embodjing these resolutions was unanimously adopted, and forwarded to trie Right Hon. James Scansteld, M.P.,for presentation in the House, Colonel Akroyd, M.P, the other member for Halifax, being requested to support it.

BIRMINGHAM, Monday Night. At a meeting of the Central Nonconformist Committee, held in Birmingham to-day, it was resolved unanimously to support Mr. Richard's motion, to the effect that in the opinion of the committee in any national system of elementary edu- cation, the religious teaching should be supplied by voluntary effort, and not out of the public funds. The committee adhere to their resolution passed at the last meeting to support Mr. Winterbotham's amendment on the seventh clause, providing for the teaching of the Bible without note or comment. A committee of leading Nonconformists has been appointed to remain in London while the bill is before the House, for the purpose of watching the progress of the measures in Committee.

.EXETER, Monday Evening. At a meeting held to-day the B.anop of Exeter moved a resolution to the effect that any system of education must be deficient which does not make provision for religious as well as tecular education. The Kishopsaid he rejoiced at the proposals of the Government, because they could not deal with the masses until they were able to bring the law to bear upon them. To make the measure a national one, all parties must be prepared to make cousider- able sacrifices. He would consent to the most stringent con- science clause, but they ought not to concede that religious instruction should be wholly withdrawn.

IJXisttllanco.us |rtlci!i0cntef < HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL, POS>OFFICE ECONOMR.—A correspondent Bind- ing himself "A London Printer" writes to The Times:— I enclose you a circular from a well-known firm of coal merchants, which is dated June 1, was printed in Ghent, and was delivered at my house with a Belgian postage stamp one half-penny only. Is there not something wrong in this to our own Post-office ? And is there not something also wrong when afirm getting good prices for its goods in London sands its prospectuses abroad to be printed that it may save the difference in cost of production between the two countries ? [ Uhe firm of coal merchants explain that" having to aend out nearly 30,000 circulars, more in the interest of our customers thanourselvef, we took advantage of the Belgian rate, and posted our circulars in Belgium at half the cost of postage in England. In accordance with the Post Office regulations we were obliged to have the circulars printed abroad, though much re- gretting at the time the consequent offence to London printers."] THE Loss OF THE "OrrY OF BOSTON."—In the Court of Commons Pleas on Monday moining an ap- plication was made in the case of Inman and others v. Jenkins. Mr. Raymond said this was an action arising out of the loss of the City of Bos on steamer, and the statement complained of WiHI one which accom- pa jied a letter that the defendant had received from rialifax, and had beeu published iu The Times. At Chambers Mr. Justice Blackburn had made an order that the defendant should answer an interrogatcry which inquired whether he had published the alleged libel. The present application was for a rule to show cause why the order should not be set aside, and it was submitted to the Court, upon the authority of E Imunds v. Greenwood, that a defendant ought not to be bound to answer a Question that tended to crim nate him. A rule was granted. A SUMMING UP !-The Sheriff of Perth has awarded C50 damages to a young woman, named Elizabeth Forbes, who was the plaintiff in an action for breach of promise of marriage. Attached to his interlocutor was a note in which the sheiiflF said This is not a case of hasty acquaintance, followed by pro- mise to marry, heedlessly made and as wantonly violated. The parties are of equivalent ages and station, and their courtship wason the patriarchal model of seven years. The amount of damages is the only question. Here there is a special damage, as the pursuer is proved to have made an exuberant preparation in articles which generally is the province of the man to provide. These still have their value and if the defender was to pay their full value, he would of course be entitled to the equivalent, and some of them would he unsuited for his sex. Bat, doubtless, the loss on the pur- chases forms an item of calculation. "Loss of market," is the favourite terms in which damages are often awarded. But the Sheriff Substitute discards so ignoble an epithet, suitable only to the beasts of the stall. And, indeed, it has often been said that such actions operate rather to enhance than to diminish the wotth of the rejected one. DEATH FROM HYDROPHOBIA.—A boy named Cowan, eight years old, son of a widow residing in Berwick, has died of hydrophobia. On the 20th of May a terrier dog had been fighting with another dog aud went home in a very excited state. Shortly after- wards it attacked the boy, and inflicted several very severe wounds on his face and other parts of his body. A Miss Young, in endeavouring to screen the boy from the dog, was also bitter. The boy's wounda healed well, and he so far recovered that he was able to be out on Tuesday in last week, but on Wednesday symp- toms of hydrophobia showed themselves. A medical gentleman gave it as his opinion that he was suffering from hydrophobia in a most apgravated form. This opinion was corroborated. The little fellow got gradually worse, and became very violent. He foamed at the mouth, bit and scratched at every person who approached him, and had to be tied in bed. His suffer- ings were very great, and in this condition he con- tinued until his death on Friday morning. A meeting of the justices was held on Friday morning, when it was resolved to give notice to the public against allow- ing dogs to wander at large. ON GUARD !-The Brussels pap?rs relate an amusing story of a disaster which recently befel a detachment of soldiers stationed in the Rue du Grand Hospice. It appears that the sergeant and his seven men, including the sentry on duty at the door, bad such perfect confidence in the tranquillity and safety of the city that they considered any violence on their part was wholly unnecessary. Accordingly, the mus- kets were all piled in the rack and the men calmly sought slumber within the guardhouse. Their endea- vour was not unsuccessful, and when at daybreak-the sergeant awoke and summoned his men to relieve a somewhat distant sentry, he found to his dismay that some joker or thief had stolen the eight muskets, and the party was thus di-armed. Information was given at the barracks, and the unfortunate detachment was marched off in disgrace, while the sergeant, who is only 17 years of age, was placed in confinement, AWFUL SOICID.E.-On Saturday afternoon, about l^alf-past twelve, a married man, named Abraham Wilman, about 60 years of age, who has recently resided at Paper Miil Bridge, near Keighley, committed suicide. He had for many years been a resident at the village of Stanbury, near Haworth, and was well known as a quack doctor, and latterly he had been addicted to inttmperate habits. On Saturday be went down the foot-road on the Worth Beck side, and when opposite Craven's damstones. he went out of the foot- way to the railway, where a luggage train was coming up the line. He lay down with his head and shoulders across the rail, and the train completely cut them off. The body was removed to the "Globe" Inn, Park Lane, and in the afternoon was taken to the residence of the deceased. AMERICAN MUSICAL CRITICISM.—The California Advertiser thus discourses tauTwmi .V6 8weet face of her Is enough to make a man talk with a tongue as broad as from here to the C«ve of Coik. ISot for any pi.r ,lcular reason, except that when one 6'»W?:,r' °r the la,iiea' he "Orally does lr H 6 glenoid sod. "The Saturday What doMth'p ",lth8rei4t6itcc«« by Miss Alice Z ivistowski it htp i J m?a"? With tu"cess qwha ? She -.Inm rflnoln and looked the while like a sun- oeam dancing on the ripples of our bay, or a humming-bird fiSa°npi^h0»TeH h We,r",mead' or anything else that is sweet as a peach and beautiful as a butterfly. Her own fac« is pasted upon tha outside of It. and that is what set na < ff. • NoN-VACCINATION.—An inquest has been held In London on the body of John Francis Sleep, aged 20 months. His father, in evidence, said his son had not been vaccinated. He left those things to his wife. Emma Sleep, mother of the deceased, said he was born au lubbs-hill, near Sevenoaks. When she registered his birth she did not receive any paper. He was not vaccinated, but her eldest boy, who also had the small- pox, was, and he had got over it. She had another JU a iiule —w^° had not been vaccinated. She and her husband had travelled about from place to place in the country, and no one had told them there was any penalty for not having the children vacci- nated. Mr. Fouracre, surgeon, said he had attended the deceased. He died from smallpox. He refused to grant a certificate because the parents had broken the law. Dr. Lankester said there was no advantage in one parish carrying out the law if the next did not. In Ireland and Scotland it was enforced, but not so in England. Ia three years, from 1866 to 1869, 23,000 persons died in England and Wales from small- pox, and it would be as well for the public to know that there were officers who had power to enforce the law. It was a question for the Government to take up. The jury returned the following verdict That the deceased, who had not been vaccinated, died from Bnallpox brought on by natural causes." SINGULAR DJSCOVJSRT OF HUMAN REMAINS. On Friday evening a party of boys, while playing in a field at Fa'sgrave Scarborough, accidentally came upon a human foot protruding out of the soil. They went for a police constable, and on the arrival of the officer the foot was exhumed, and the ground was at once searched, when another foot was found, with por- tions of the extremities of the body of 4,,1 apparently young person, though it was impossible to define either the age or sex. The remains were carefully put aside until further search was made, but nothing more was found. The flesh appeared to be in the peculiar con- dition observed in mummies, being dry, hard, and tan- ned; and round part of one leg was wrapped some folds of coarse cloth ot a tanned colour, and almost exactly corresponding to the cloth in which mummies are enveloped. The body bad evidently been buried some vears. A NARROW ESCAPE.—The Lockport (Iowa) Journal narrates the following :— Lately a party were rambling in the woods near the town of ATe faue, when one of the youngest, a lad about twelve years old, named Cobb Walsh, accidentally stepped upon the tail of a black make. Like lightfing the serpent raised Its length—one of six feet three inches—into view and wound it round the boy's leg, at the same time advancing its head in the snake-like, threatening manner. It ig needless to say the boy was scared, and there is no guessing at the result of the fierce attack had not the pluck of a dog accom- panying him been aroused to the pitch of taking hold of the serpent, at which the black coijs were loosened and his serpentine majesty dropped to the ground, after which te was summarily despatched by a well-dirtcted shot from a gun in the hands of a young man accompanying the party. A NEW TRICK.—A gentleman stepped into a jeweller's shop in Berlin the other day, and pointing to his ring, said he wished to choose a stona for it. He was fashionably clressed, had an air of distinction, and while speaking German fluently, yet gave the impres- sion that he was a foreigner, The Berlin Mr. Ruby, therefore, feeling sure that he had found a customer who was worth attending to, at cnee freely displayed his treasures. After long consideration the gentleman at last selected a stone, and leaving his name-a very high-sounding one-and address, went away. He had scarcely left when the most valuable stone in the jeweller's collection was mused. Filled with alarm, I that worthy at once sent the distingui^hed-lookm > foreigner's purchase to his hotel. Alas no such person was there known. Too late the jeweller re- membered that hift customer, pretending to be very short-sighted, and kept his face in close proximity to the goods displayed to him, and had at one moment been seized by a fit of coughing, when Bis handkerchief had been brought into great requisition. It was evident, therefore, that the point of his nose must have been previously rubbed with some sticky substance, and tliat the missing jewel had been thus abstracted Had the jeweller been a student of the annals of Berlin police-courts, be would have become suspicious in pro- portion as his visitor became short-sighted. As it is, be must be content with so much of consolation as he can find in the knowledge that his misfortune was a common occurrence to his fellow-townsmen some years ago, and that their tormentors went by the name of Stippers." SUPERSTITION ABOUT LAKE MANITOBAH.—This lake, which lies north-west of Fort Garry, and has given a title to the province formed out of the Red River region, derives its name from a small island from which, in the stillness of night, issues a "mysterious voice." Oa no account will the Ojibways approach or land upon this island, supposing it to be the home of the Ma.nit)bah—" the Speaking God." The cause of this curious found is the beating of the waves on the shingle," or large pebbles linir.g the shores. Along the northern coast of the island there is a long low cliff of fine grained compact lime- stone, which uiider the stroke of the hammer clinks like steel. The waves beating on the shore at the foot of the cliff cause the fallen fragments to rub against each other, and to give out a sound resembling the chimes of distant church bells. This phenomenon oc- curs when the pales blow from the north, and then, as the winds subside, low, wailing souuds, like whispering voices, are heard iu the air. Travellers assert that the effect is very impressive, and have been awakened at night under the impression thit they were listening to chtrjh bells. AN OPINION ON SMOKING.—Goethe's nature, so highly rt fined, utterly abhorred smoking. In his Conversations with Eckermann he expresses himself in strong terms against it, and says that be ceJUld not think a man of real genius could ever be found indulg- ing in a habit so utterly averse to the ideal beauty of the sculptor, the painter and the poet. He wondered whether Leasing had ever been given to it. There is .11. story extant, that on these remarks becoming kuown, some persona rushed at once to Wolff en V.ii-,tel to in- vestigate this interesting question. They found there Lessing's aged housekeeper still living, aud when they after many introductory phrases, put the all-important question, they were answered in the low German dialect, Ja smbken un schriewen kun he erood, man to anners where he ook nix to brunken." (Yes, smoke and write he could very well, bat he was no use for any- thing else.) FEARFUL STORM AT ADEN.—A correspondent, writing from Aden on the 22nd ult., gives the following account of a storm which has jost occurred there, and which, we regret to say, has resulted in the death of two British soldiers and several natives, besides great loss of property:— We have had a terrific storm here for the last two days. At about 3 p.m. the day before yesterday a sand-squall rusiied over the place, followed by a downpour of raia which lasted for three hours. At It p.m. the storm recommenced, ushered in with loud thunder and vivid lightning, and then the rain descended again in torrents till six oYlock the following morning. No such storm has occurred here since 1846. The report of the thunder was awful, and the lightning flashes snpassed in brilliancy anything which I have ever witnessed. Two soldiers were struck dead by the lightening in camp, where an immense amount of damage has been done in the baz a- andthe native town. 1 hsroads a'so have been washed away in several places, and are now quite impfissalilti to wheeled vehicles. The tanks are full to overflowing, but they have suffered cousiderable damage by the huge rocks which were carried into them by the rush of water from the hills. Many natives and much cattle have been swept into the sea by the irresistible current and drowned. The number of lives lost has not yet been ascertained. A RPBUIKIM TO PLKASURE-SERKKES.—IN the University sermon at Cambridge on Sunday, the Rev. Dr. Butler, the Head Master of Harrow, admiijiitered a severe rebuke to pleasure seekers. He doubted whether there ever had been a time when tdie pursuit of pleasure had been so distinctly contemplated as a large and imperious part of human life. It was raised to the rank of a distinct profession. It bad its hier- archy, -its graduate in honours, its well-known cham- pion, its recognised privileges. It could not be as- serted that it was necessary to keep bodies vigorous or spirits Lyht but it was a grave question whether the time it consumed and the aspirations it fostered did not sadly interfere with duty. This almost idolised co-operation for pleasure was one of the spiritual snares of the day. THE ACCIDKNT INSURAKCB: COMPANY. A special case raising a question upon a policy of ic- surai ce against accidents was argued on Saturday in the Court of Exchequer. A client of the Accident In- surance Company, who had effected a pol'cy for £ 1,000, having received a severe cat on one of his feet, erysi- pelas supervened, and he died. The policy contained a clause staging that "it did not insure against death or disability arising from rheumatism, gout, hernia, eryaipdap, or any other disease, or secondary ciuse or causes arising within the system of the insured before or at the time or following such accidental injury." Counsel for the deceased's representatives contended that as the erysipelas was the natural result of the accident, the company was liable. In this view the Lord Chief Baron concurred, but Barona Martin, Channell, and Cleasby held that although the disease was due to the wound, the language of the contract clearly and precisely exempted the defendants from liability. Judgment was therefore entered for the company. PROFESSIONAL DEVOTION.—A nrich-iesoected physician residing at Bercy, near Paris, has recently fallen a victim to his professional seal under singular and painful circumstances. A young woman bad thrown herself into the Seine from the Quai de Berey some young men plunged in after her and succeeded in bringing her body to the shore. Dr. Launessau was sent for, and on hi3 arrival found the young woman apparently dead. He, however, had recourse to all the known methods of restoring animation, and among others to that of reviving the action of the lungs by the inspiration of his own breath. After two hours' assiduous efforts he had the satisfaction of obterving signs of recovery. The doctor was txhausted, and as his patient gradually recovered strength so he became enfeebled, and finally died from exhaustion produo-d by his incessant and successful efforts to preserve the life of one who was a complete stranger to him. MOVING A "WIMDMILL SIXTEEN MILES, — A 4 novel experiment, not quite so sensational as the mov- ing of aa hotel at Chicago, but yet Bometbing quite out of the ordinary way, has been the removal of a r|n« wUr"i 1 it8 filings, from Westacre to out of the ordinary way, has been the removal of a r|n« wUr"i 1 it8 filings, from Westacre to Clenchwai ton, Norfolk, a distance of about sixteen miles. The mill was a woodeu structure, and, with l.s machinery of enormous weight, stood upm wheels having b^en purchasea by a man liviug at Cteuch- warton, he deteimiLe 1 to endeavour to draw it along the road by a traction engine, but all efforts to fiod one strong enough proved ineffectual; the application, however, of a powerful steam cultivating engine proved more succersful. In passing along the routs various expedients had to be tried, such as in ascending a hill the engine proceeded to the summit, and then, pulled the mill up with a chain, and to carefully had the task to be performed, that it occupied three days to make the j .urney. In crossing the Great Eastern Bail-vay at Walton, the telegraph wires were broken. In attempting to cross the 011111 it was feared the celebrated long bridge would not be strong enough to bear the enormous weight, but the engine having first passed over, the mill itself was drawn over, the timbers of the bridge in the meantime creaking, and showing that a very severe test was being put upon its powers. At first it was feared that the bridge had been broken, but it was found not to be so. Its ar. rival at Clenchwai ton was received with quite an ovation. THE ANTIQUITY OFTHE CHIGNON !—Oar thanks are due to the Baboo litjendralala Mitra for more light on the subject of chignons. He has lately been employed by the Government of Bengal to make a. tour of Ons^a, for the purpose of arcbta ilogical research, and one of his most remarkable discoveries is that the fashion of the chignon is of great antiquity. The acnes of fashionable Europe will doubtUss feel flut- tered by the information that among the ancient Uriahs tne style of head-dress was very striking. The cnignon was common, and some specimens bore the closest resemblance to the Parisian coiffure of the present day, and were in some instances one-third larger than the head." A great prophet of antiquity once a,ked to die because he was not; better than his fathers, and the reason is not altogether a bad one. Will our fair friends die of envy when they find that their latest extravagant folly, shows no advance upon the ancient U ciahs ?" THE F(I,MAN RAID—A WAR BULLETIN !—The New York Tirrutol the 27th and 28th of May prefaces its report of the campaign with the following head note The Border War—A'Change of Base' by tile Armv r>f Invasion—Authentic History of Operations on the Frontier—The Professional Army 'Bummer* R«i, Correct List of Casualties at the Brick-house' FiJht ThI New Point of Interest at Huntingdon Canada r » tion of the Fenian Strength for a Battle To Achievement by the Liberators of Ireland Th*v Pi ht Ji «rir>wo°°'ied~0™er*1 "DhS.°" SOM^DAVAT110^8 AND ROBINSON CRUSOES.— viait the mofti- ari*l°?e expedition may be organised to globe in s4r v? °/\Vhe-^y 8h0res and isIauds the fbout them ru JiliUroPeai)s who are scattered Crusce* 1> • of skirmishing Robinson who rbioo I8 n 8uPP°-ie<i that every seaman Arrf»na i come hotne is ,0it Greyer. Euoch hnn,wi t? the P°ttry of their situations., exi»t by the iiitoii* -from a recent cruiser }n the Pacific we have "Sence of extraordinary sprinklings of white men t)e found on its various inlands, living either alone or on peaceful terms with the natives. Indeed, they make themselves entirely at home with the latter, accepting the protection of the chiefs to whose tribe ♦hey attach themselves, and showing their snpeiior breed by makiDg the inferior savages their olives • setting them to paddle their own canoes, to fish for turtle, to collect shells, and make themselves generally useful. And what wages think you ^he white men pays? Occasional scraps of tobacco. Se has taught the aborigine the virtues qf tho weed, and It has become the desire of the black man's heart; it eyeu ua,, money, for obyiously coin is of no use But It never saved the moment a morsel is "earned and paui it is rammed into a pipe and puffed vi^oraS away. This tobacco specie is whaling and trading ships that -av aUj tortoise-shell, pigs, and fowls are eive« m European resist a fbvk of powder • and e i« ^1.^1 ,°^ amusHt or SUJNDAY W oux sas.-What ever a man's opinions bere6retted, it » matter for profound re- gret that large numbers of the very class of men who best know how needful is proper rest, and how blessed periodical opportunities for meditation and for ttie cul- tivation of the social virtues, make it a practice to work harder on the seventh day than oa any othqjf <J$y of the week. Medical men have ttie beot < haps, for suffering must bit assuaged on St the Founder of our Faith pronounced it 1; £ ood on the Sabbath day. But architec lawyers, artists, et hoc genus omne, are sad the devotion of Sunday to bits of 4; quiet w j injury of their health and the loss of th spiritual comforts the day of rest should bi at.d for which it should be by such hopeful, ious'y looked for. This is the other Sabba and the one better worth consideration, affects the prime movers of society, and n therefore, to lie at the root of public m morals. Moreover, the law can afford nc this matter but persuasion and fair arguu wondeis. Indet d, the less legislation for better; and we know not but that if every to Sunday was repealed, the public ob>erv day might undergo in consequence c 'nsi provement. But it is of the utmost inapt the men whose strong wills and capaciou them for leadership iu life, do Lot, as a it Sur.day as they chould, both for ,h.ir OW] for the sake of example. Able men do n such lergth of days now as in former timef cannot doubt, to the overtax of mind and necessarily accompanies the practice of wor, of resting on Sundays.—The City Press. MINDING 'JHKJR P's ASDQ'S -The of Vienna, gives a curious txtrast frou: regulations of the Hofburg f< rtheye&r 1 etiquette to bi observed by cfl cjis when it royal tab'e. The regulation bigins by f usually officers behave ut cer Mich ci "with great politeness and oo I breed in and worthy cavaliers hut ti at the Empe necessary to issue the fullowii g d'rections of inexperienced cadets:— Offi ;tr8 sh( the palace handsomely die-s<-c, aud ro room in an half-drunktn stat< 2. Wh at table they should not rock ab >ut on t nor sit back aid stretch out th-ir legs should not "drink after eech mouthful, as they will very soon get drunk no drink half a glass at a time; and before d inking wipe their lips and moustache Po" The) put their hands in the dishes nor throw the tat le. o. They should not lick tt ei spit on the pitte; nor wipe their nose napkins; nor drink so brutally as to f chair. TRAITS OF WOMAN !-The "wisdl ancients" sometimes indicates itself in ways. In Aristotle's quaint enumel a'ion ferences between man and woman there at least in which, thinks to lady novclis philanthropists, the philusopher appears t right after all. "Woman," he says, "is than man, and more given to tears, and m envy, and more querulous against fate, with her tongue and readier with her I female also is more easily dispirited and thjin the male, atidiess sensible of shame a ful of truth." He adds an observation domain of facts which Mr. Funk Bucklai tibly be able to verify. "The male is m help and more courageous than the femal among the molluscs, when the cuttle-fi: with the spear the male helps the femal I the male is struck the female makes off." A WISE SUGGESTION.—A departn Social Science Association has adopted a solutions respecting the employment of paupers. The committee are of opinion tl practicable the work should be useful and and, while affording relief to the rate-pai as the pauper has been accustomed to. As exertion, every pauper who earns more tl or who performs more than a fair day measured by that of ordinary workmen) the surplus for himself. That the wages whether in money or kind, for such work st be so moderate as to induce the recipient t soon as possible, work of an ordinary 1 workhouses should be placed, not in the he. where land is scare and dear, but in the cc receiving houses, however, in towns fo purposes. That arrangements should be ready transfer of paupers likely to r.-m-ain able from one workhouse to another sc pauper may be placed where his work can moat productive. CLOSE OF A PROTRACTED LITIGAT Justice Giffard, on Saturday, gave judgmt tion presented on behalf of a lady name Grylls, a lunatic, and one of the co-heir* Humphrey Millet Grylls, who died in IS an annuity to his widow, and shortly aft< series of litigations commenced between had been in the banking firm of the de claimed to he creditors to a considerable an wished his estate applied to the liquida claimi. The two sisters of the lunatic ali legal proceedings, and suits in connection i had been pending for several years. They h to an arrangement to stay all further proc to that course the sanction of the court wa A FAITHFUL COSVART.—While Bab Chunder Sen is creating an interest in L surprises many who know the antipathy munity of Brahmos to Cbr stiani'v. an himself is most sincerely urging the dutv to fend out teachers to the z-i anas of Ildi of his, a widow, has excited the animosity class of BrAhmos iu India by be:Dg bap Church missionary. The widow, a lady I baptism after she had left her mother's ho proved her knowledge and the siLce motives at om time her mother was abc same. Sli- was allowed frte intercourf family, who did their best, ereu to pr marriage with a rich landholder, to sha stancy. WILL IT EVER BE DJNE 1-The si claiming our waste lands, and espec:a'J Forest, has again been discussed in Han time by the county Chamber of Agrici Cowr,er T,ml,l, M. P., Captain Maxs*, Mr. W. W. B. Beach, M.P., were among t and as the result of three hours' discus^ior were passed affirming the desirability of ei cultivation of waste land upon private est bringing the New Forest gradually into for sale, after adjusting the rights of con reserving portions for recreation nun moved by Captain Maxje, that it be not I pass into the hands of private owners, bui leases in such form of holding as shall be n to large and small cultivators, found no se POSTAL C IRDS FOR NORTU GERMAN I 1st July "Correspondence-cards" will I through the post, one side of which wil blank printed form for the insertion of the whole if the surface of the other side btir for the written communication. Addrt-f municafion Cln be written with ink, or b pencil, I ut the writing must be durable inehack may also be filled with letter-i n graphic; m uter, in which case insertions in allowable. The s«i.der need not sign his i curds are obtainable from all post-offices, o: and country letter-carriers, ri a ly providi adhesive stamp of the value of three kreuz according as they shall be required for deiiv or country, or in neighbouring Stites. Tt Bold for the ptice of the stami s affixed, at without further expense. They may t stamped, if required, in quantities of not hundred, at cost price. They eannot b post-office orders. Ssamped cards, whei otherwise rendered useless, can be changi ones without expense. A DESIRABLE POTION !—Tha BOMBAY OAZETTT says the position of the Ameer Sher Ali at Cibul seems, from the following summary o £ the state of things to be somewhat critical *4 TVi li_ -I north-west is the dominion^«f at any rate, a dependency ^>f Ll £ £ Khorasan with its borders lined with Persian WfS and a predatory population ready at the best <>* south anYQVaf-te th!'r Afghan neighbours to the to tiw ?v, °Uf Ie aa 'n open rebellion. Adi to these the standing quarrel with the 8hah, an empty exchequer, troops in arrears of pay, divided nobdity and the picture, as it stands, is dark enough. to justify alarmists ia prophesyiug a crisis." T°° MUOH !—An American >.apef tells the following anecdote of a will case wlada re- cently made a sensation in court:— The barrister was cross-examining wit « called to deposa to the authenticity and foTn! M ? the testament, and extiacted from him thatb etxec"tlon °J the testator g s'griaturo ami hn,i .7* 11 a witnessed With red or black^ wSiiSd.f "een .«»^cument sealed, the seal affl^d with red wax ? • I T tes'ator at the time ? •• Trl Lrf •> « CT 6ero was of af aUoff-wnY t" *t Tu' How long was the piece handed it to the testator?^ &■?'d..fo"rKinch- It from»" dtd Where <li;| yon take wA^tedte from the same place Who )ii7htp<i tif ii -5 witli a match I took from the m Jtelehelf the la* v £ pained in his cross-questioning, and fix.n3 hia eves on the witness, with his thumb an the seal ol thn „ recapitulated point point the eviriLol ? 1 dl8Dut<V asked him if ft correct « Y«V I r jury," said the advocate, I bea to Inform in question is a wafer {" niorm you that th* sea 1 T*LHOBAPHIN».-Tho3e who witnessed e-c- ?VfZ™ TT°' n 15 h of M l^in the office „f the Western Union Company in this city believe that- th« lmit of the capacity of the telegraph wire's is not vet known says the New Orl*ati* Times^ A n w J of circuits was formed, varying in j ^tW 5.000 miles through which "\fr R h T^rom 3.000 to operator oi the company in thiq niftr i 'ncan' mosV accomplished of the profession 0Be great ease and rapiditv Th« fl • 8.rnt messages with* from New Orleans, *5' N V, 1°' '">^1 was, "NVivn S •nt.i.'i We* York, to Piaist*-# Cove,. NOT VERT FRIENDLY TO HIM T-TH* KVVA belh",r!"°f 10 An Ultramontane pan°r in thae g Some time. ing pleasing remarks on his personal the fol,ow_ a distance he resembles Ren eseoial aversion of th-ia Tia^- s ^utz, another ever, wears epecUcle^w] ^11^- bow- Herr Loyson Sn £ Near a"- hand, worn brewer of tha cood 1, !'Q mtelbgent but cure- conical, thickeatia the miill'i i T8; is garment', A cereral V^l clothed m short black hi suits "of thf>ai^erea- gnat- Su«lr the "stingier