The Illustrated Usk Observer and Raglan Herald

THE COURT. THE Court has been at Balmoral during the week, and it is likely that her Majesty's visit to Scotland will be longer than was anticipated. When her Majesty left Windsor Castle it was with the intention of returning in a month, but it is now understood, says the Court Journal, that the Royal visit to Scotland will extend to five weeks, and that the return of the Court to Windsor will be on Saturday, the 17th of October. ALTHOUGH the weather has been somewhat rough and cold since the arrival of the Court at Balmoral, yet her Majesty has not missed a day in being out of doors and visiting scenes endeared by associations of the late Prince Consort. On an early day after her arrival she made a visit to the cairn" raised to the memory of his Royal Highness, inspected the new dairy, now quite completed, and also drove to Aber- geldie Castle on a call to the Prince and Princess of Wales. Their Royal Highnesses seem to be enjoying the Highlands very much, and continue to take long drives among the fine romantic scenery every other day, accompanied by Colonel R. Farquharson, Colonel Keppel, and Captain Farquharson. The Prince has been deer-stalking in the forest of Invercauld, where the other day he had the good fortune to see a herd of 300 noble stags. Some rare sport was expected, but the wind having suddenly veered, the herd passed beyond rifle range, and consequently nothing could be done. At an after period of the same day, however, when the Princess of Wales had joined the party-all of whom partook of luncheon, served on the grass near the skirts of the wood-the sportsmen were more successful. A deer drive having been proposed from Craig Cluny, the Prince and Princess gaily ascended the hill. Her Royal Highness took up a favourable position at the pass and soon had the pleasure of seeing a number of fine stags go bounding past at some twenty or thirty yards distance. Two of the herd fell before the rifles of the Royal party. At the conclusion of the sport, the Prince and Princess were conducted round to the romantic Falls of the Gar- rawalt. THE Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse have arrived at Balmoral Castle and have been received with a hearty welcome from the Queen and a number of the tenantry who had been made aware of their coming by command of her Majesty. Princess Alice was always a great favourite at Balmoral, from her frank and winning manners in mixing with the dwellers on the estate, and on her arrival, finding that all the neighbourhood had come out to greet her, she held up her child so that her old friends might see baby," the incident was felt to bespeak kindly recollections of past days. THE congregation of the Free Church afc Crathie have just erected a neat tablet in that building in remembrance of the late Prince Consort, who liberally gave the site for the church. It bears the following inscription:—" To the noble and illustrious Prince Albert, K.G., Consort to her Majesty Queen Victoria, and Lord of the Castle and Lands of Balmoral, this tablet is dedicated, in deep sorrow for his early death, and in pious remembrance of his beneficent gift of the site whereon their church is erected by those who worship under its roof." THE Princess of Wales has granted her patronage to a bazaar to be held at Halifax, in December next, in aid of the funds for the new church now in course of erection at the picturesque village of Copley, near that town.

POLITICAL GOSSIP. -ø. IT is stated that Sir E. Filmer, one of the present Conservative members for West Kent, has determined on retiring from Parliament. THE Chancellor of the Exchequer has promised, if his engagements permit, to lay the first stone of the Wedgewood Memorial at Burslem, on the 20th of October. The Committee of Council contribute j8500 in aid of the building. THE Russian Autocrat is said to have added 150,000 men to his army by calling out forty-eight regiments from the reserve. Of these, twenty-four regiments are to be placed at the disposal of General Mouravieff, to be sent to Odessa, and four to Kieff. IT is reported that the Russian Government has demanded the abolition of the Polish societies in France, and that the Government has acquiesced and closed one at Versailles. This would be looked upon as rather a misplaced acquiescence at the present moment. AT a Privy Council held at Windsor, Parliament was ordered to be further prorogued from the 14th of October next to the 1st of December. Convocation is also further prorogued to the 2nd of December. ALTHOUGH no definite step will be taken in inviting a gentleman to offer himself as a candidate for the representation of Coventry, vacant by the death of the Honourable Mr. Ellice, until after the funeral of the deceased member, the following names are men- tioned as those who will be likely to offer themselves the first is that of Mr. Morgan Treeherne, of 47, Eaton- square, London, who has several times contested the representation with Mr. Ellice; and the other is that of Mr. W. H. Eaton, of 16, Prince's-gate, Hyde-park, London. Mr. Treeherne is reported to be at the present time on a tour in Italy. The only name that has yet been mentioned in the Liberal interest is that of the Hon. Edward Chandos Leigh, of the Midland Circuit, a brother of the Lord-Lieutenant of War- wickshire. A MEETING was held last week at Brighton, to dis- cuss Polish affairs. The two members for the borough, Mr. Coningham and Mr. White, were present, and both made speeches. Mr. Coningham strongly urged that England should recognise the Poles as belligerents, and Mr. White urged that Russia should be treated as Naples had been—namely, that our ambassador should be withdrawn aa a mark of disapproval of the massa- cres which were being perpetrated by Russia in Poland. IT is expected that a vacancy will speedily occur in the representation of the city of Oxford. The friends of Mr. Sergeant Gaselee have been canvassing the electors during the last few days, and another Liberal candidate is spoken of in the person of Mr. W. C. Cartwright, of Aynhoe, near Banbury. THERE seems to be a likelihood of a contest for the vacant seat at Tamworth. The Hon. Henry Cowper, a stepson of Lord Palmerston, has issued his address, which has the genuine Palmerstonian tone. A requisi- tion has, however, been presented to Mr. John Peel, of Middleton-hall, and that gentleman has consented to stand. He declares himself an adherent of the party who acknowledged the late Sir Robert Peel as their leader. MR. JOHN BROWN, the well-known manufacturer of armour-plates, has announced his intention of com- plying with a requisition signed by 2,500 electors of Sheffield, soliciting him to become a candidate for the representation of that borough at the next election. We judge from the letter in which he intimates his acceptance of the invitation, that Mr. Brown is a moderate Liberal. This "move" is stated to be directed more particularly against Mr. Roebuck. IT is stated that a sort of Polish Parliament will be held in London ere long. No object is stated, but the sensation the proceedings will produce will be immense. WARSAW, it is said, is to be divided into twenty-two quarters, watched over by 4,500 policemen, so that each will have only three houses to look after. Warsaw will thus be transformed into an immense prison, of which General Trepow will be the head gaoler. LORD NAPIER, on reading, in the Nomade of Naples, that the Marquis Papoli was accused of having caused, through remarks lie made, a misunderstanding between himself and Prince Gortschalcoff, instantly communi- cated with the English Government, denying the fact most strenuously, and declaring that his relations with the Italian Minister were of the most friendly descrip- tion. THE members for Norwich, Mr. Warner and Sir W. Russell, have been addressing a meeting of their con- stituents. Their speeches were of a purely political character. Mr. Warner commended the policy of the Government in regard to Poland and America. He thought that before long a new reform bill would be brought in which would be carried. As to Lord Palmerston, while approving generally of his pro- ceedings, he differed from him in some matters-. Moreover, he suggested that the Liberal party should set themselves to work.to. choose a leader who might succeed the present Premier. Sir W. Russell's ob- servations were of a very similar character. A MEETING- of the committee and friends of Messrs. Roebuck and Hadfield, the members for the borough of Sheffield, was held in the Council-hall of the borough at-iioon on Friday. The meeting was called to con- sider the circumstances in which the friends of the sitting members are placed by the candidature of the present mayor of Sheffield, Mr. John' Brown. The meeting was very influentially and numerously at- tended. Mr. Thomas Dunn was in the chair, and he explained that the requisition to Mr. Brown had been obtained on the representation that one of the sitting members was going to resign. The friends of Messrs. Roebuck and Hadfield considered it desirable to have an authoritative statement that such was not the case, and he read a letter from Mr. George Hadfield, in which he said:—"Permit me to assure you and the electors generally that I consider myself to hold my seat in Parliament as in the enjoyment of the confi- dence of my constituents, and that if ever I should be so unfortunate as to forfeit that confidence the seat will be worthless to me. I have, however, received so many flattering communications from friends and supporters, expressing the wish of themselves and many other electors, that I cannot doubt as to the existence of a general desire that my services to the borough should be continued, and, having that conviction, I beg you to inform the meeting that if life and health be continued to me I intend to solicit a renewal of their kindness at the next general election." The chairman, on the Spart of Mr. Roebuck, gave an authoritative assurance that he would offer himself for re-election at the general election. A resolution was proposed by Mr. H. E. Hoole, and seconded by Mr. R. Leader, and carried unanimously, by which the meeting expressed their gratification at learning that the sitting members intended to offer themselves for re-election, and pledg- ing themselves to support them at the election. The only word of opposition to Mr. Roebuck was from a violent partisan of the Federals, who objected to the hon. gentleman's views with regard to the recognition of the Southern Confederacy.

THE ARTS, LITERATURE, &c. PHIZ has just ready a companion to his recent How Pippins enjoyed a Day with the Fox-hounds," to wit, How Pippins enjoyed a Day with the Stag- hounds," the 3ame size as the former, twelve plates, quarter double elephant. IN the Melbourne General Cemetery a monument to the memory of Burke and Wills, the courageous and unfortunate explorers, has been erected. This consists of a massive granite monolith, roughly hewn as from the quarry, twelve feet high, six feet square at the base, tapering to five feet at the summit; it is raised on a die of a single block, nine feet high and eight feet square, which bears the inscription. The base consists of two steps, the lowest covering fourteen square feet; the total height of the monument is eighteen feet. THE Austrian Academy'of Fine Arts announces that an exhibition of pictures will take place in Vienna next year, opening the 15th of April and closing the 31st of May. All artists are invited to send such works as are in their own possession, and have not been already ex- hibited in Vienna the term for receiving works being from the 15th of March to the 1st of April. Prices are to be affixed in Austrian money; pictures without frames are inadmissible, and subjects which offend against decency will be rigidly excluded. THE Grand Reception-room at Windsor Castle, which has been closed to the public for several weeks past, will shortly be re-opened. The decorations in Louis XIV. style, have been entirely repainted in the same richness and splendour as when originally finished from designs prepared in the reign of George IV. As soon as the scaffolding is removed the public will be admitted as heretofore. IN commemoration of the visit of the Queen and Prince Consort, in 1861, to the beautiful well at the Hill o' Craig o' Doon, Lord Dalhousie called it the Queen's Well. Since the melancholy loss of the Queen, the Earl erected a memorial to our lamented Prince, in a way which reflects much credit on his taste and good feeling, and is in admirable keeping with the scenery around. Over the well six solid arches of roughly-hewn granite rear themselves about twenty feet high, terminating in a rude cross of white quartz— both kinds of stone gathered from the neighbouring hills. This cross is said to be but temporary, to be replaced by a suitable block of granite. But even as it is, the eye finds no fault with the tout ensemble, which gives a massive, yet light and elegant imitation of the old Scottish crown. Within its base the clear well now bubbles up in all its beauty, piercing a surface of finely-broken quartz of snowy whiteness, and re- strained for a time within a basin of smooth sand- stone, on the margin of which, all unobscured by the clear waves that are ever lapping over, runs tflis touching legend:— Best, travellers, on this lonely green, And drink and pray for Scotland's Queen." Outside of all, smooth green turf is laid, and beyond that is the natural herbage, soon lost among the brown heath and grey stones of the mountain side, on which small white cairns are seen to rise, suggestive and appropriate accessories to this memorial of respect and sympathy. An inscription on the lower stone of the central arch simply sets forth that "Her Majesty Queen Victoria and His Royal Highness the Prince Consoit visited this well and drank of its refreshing waters the 20th September, 1861, The year of her Majesty's great sorrow." Lord Dalhousie submitted the plan of the erection to the Queen ere a stone was laid, and all received her Majesty's gracious approval, but one desire, which showed the feelings of the widowed Queen, was ex- pressed, namely, that it should be called the Prince's Well." EVERY season, it is said, brings its various duties and obligations to man, but publishers appear to be in advance of the seasons. Already books and almanacs for 1864 are advertised. Autumn's shades are scarcely exhibited when we are reminded by these things of the frosts and snows of winter, when, sitting by a cozy fire, such reading is pleasant. Amongst works of this kind we notice Cassell's Illustrated Family Almanac for 1864. It is said that the circulation ob- tained by this in 1863 was something enormous and, judging from the contents for the ensuing year, we conclude that it may even exceed its predecessors in usefulness and popularity.

SPORTS AND PASTIMES. --+- THE amateur foot race for £ 400—< £ 200 a side- made at Bognor during the Goodwood race week, is to take place at Newmarket during the Second October Meeting. The competitors are Captain Machell, of the 59th Foot, and Mr. Chadwick, late of the 9th Lancers, and the distance is one hundred yards. Both gentlemen are in active training for the match. ANGLING BY STEAM.—Last week, Mr. Fildes, with his little steam yacht City of Manchester, went a-fishing on Windermere. The day was fine for angling, a south wind and cloudy sky, and this new application of steam power was a decided success. A pannier of very fine pike rewarded the disciples of honest old Izaak for their novel and amusing experi- ment. RIVER POACHERS.—At Blackburn, a man named Thomas Greenwood was fined £ 10 and costs for two offences against the Salmon Fisheries Act, at Dinckley, near Blackburn. He and another man, Mark Anderton, were found on the banks of the Ribble by the night watchers, with a bag containing twenty-five fish, and an illegal net, with an inch mesh, in their possession. Anderton has since got out of the way. LORD ST. VINCENT gave Osborne, who rode Lord Clifden, the winner of the St. Leger at Doncaster, a thousand pounds, and the same sum to Edwin Parr, the trainer. LIEUTENANT THOMAS, of the 32nd Regiment, who walked, as an accoutred private soldier, sixty miles in twenty hours, has offered to walk from Berwick-upon- Tweed to Land's End at the rate of forty-two miles a day until the journey is completed. THE FRENCH GAME LAWS.—A silly paragraph is going the rounds to the effect that a modification is about to be introduced into the French game laws, prohibiting the killing of hen birds. "By this means," says the paragraph, it is hoped to restock the woods with game, of which some species are tending to dis- appear in France." A sportsman can distinguish a cock from a hen pheasant, but how is he to distinguish between the sexes of other game is a secret which the writer does not reveal. THE match between -the All England Eleven v. Twenty-two of York has been decided in favour of the Ali England Eleven, who won by 83 runs. The All England Eleven made 154 and 90; the Twenty-two of York, 86 and 75. THE Doncaster Cup, representing St. George and the Dragon," supplied by Messrs. R. and S. Garrard and Co., was exhibited in the window of a jeweller's shop in High-street, Doncaster, and it nearly cost a crush to death to get near it. The possessor of the Cup of 1863 has received a prize not only as an intrinsic work of art, but as most closely associating Doncaster with the Cup, which this year illustrates the valour of a saint after whom its noble edifice is called— St George. The value of the Cup is three hundred sovereigns. Many judges consider that it is not of the average merit of former cups.

How Damp Grain may be Harvested. The wet weather of the last few weeks (says the Agri- cultural Gazette) gives great importance to suggested methods by which damp grain may be harvested, and we accordingly reproduce a paragraph published some years ago. Mr. Gould, of Amberd, near Taunton, had written on this sabject as follows :—" My wheat was reaped on Wednesday, the 9th of August. On Thursday it rained all day, the wheat being shocked Friday was showery; Saturday was very fine, and I made my men put the sheaves with the ears inwards in a circle, and on those to lay others, diminishing the circle until the whole formed a conical mow containing about a load; the top was surmounted by a cap of reed. This morning, August 21, after a very rainy and stormy night, I pulled out one of the stalks with the ear, to show that even in this most precarious season corn may be preserved uninjured. Most of the corn in this neighbourhood is in a sad state." This is one j 1 m: another, which we regard as preferable, was suggested some years ago by Mr. Hannam, of North Deighton. He recommends the placing of two parallel rows of hurdles three feet apart, as long as convenient, erect on some dry piece of land. He then advises to build sheaves one on the other, laid horizontally, ears inwards, to the hurdles, forming a row sheaf-long wide on each side of them. He builds these sheaves up to the height of the hurdles, and then covers the interval and stacks a row of sheaves all along over the top. There need not be an ear that is not in contact with the air, on this plan for the tunnel is open from end to end, and the sheaves are all placed with their heads to it, while the top sheaves and the row of stocked sheaves overhead hinder the access of rain. There is nowhere sufficient bulk of corn to heat, though it may be damp; nor is there sufficient weight to hinder the lowest sheaves from getting rapidly dry. Of course it will be ad- visable to lay the first sheaves not immediately on the land, but against the hurdles.

Flower Garden and Shrubberies. Cuttings should be carefully looked over to see that nothing has been omitted, and that a sufficient quantity of everything is in a promising state for making nice plants before winter; it should be borne in mind that things which are at all difficult to winter rooted after this season maybe considerably thinned before spring, and also that they will not be sufficiently strong to furnish many cuttings for spring propagation; conse- quently a larger quantity than would have been necessary had the cuttings been put in earlier should be provided. But if there is a reserve stock of strong plants in pots, which is a safe practice where there is a large quantity of bedding things required, and proper convenience for growing them and propagating them in spring, these will furnish a large quantity of cut- tings next March, which, as has been formerly stated, will form equally good plants by turning-out time as cuttings put in now. In the case of such things as ageratums, heliotropes, and dwarf lobelias, it is useless wintering young stock, as these grow so freely in heat, and are so easily propagated from soft cuttings that a few good-sized old plants which require but little room or attention in winter will furnish a very large quantity of plants by bedding-out time. Attend to the potting of cuttings sufficiently rooted, and give every after attention to these in order to get them well established. Persevere with leaf-sweeping and other routine work.

Hardy Fruit and Kitchen Garden. Pay every attention to getting the wood of peaches and apricots well ripened, by exposure, shortening, &c. Most kinds of apples may be gathered during this and next month. Late pears should be left on the trees while the weather continues favourable for their ripening. Prepare for planting all kinds of fruit trees, by getting the ground in good order for the different kinds. On cold stiff soils, it is advisable to plant on hillocks, one foot or eighteen inches higher than the surrounding surface. The trees will not grow so fast in consequence, and will require more attention in summer in the way of mulching, but they will form short-jointed, well-ripened, fruitful wood, which is the best preventive of canker, gum, &c., and will save the labour of resorting much to root-pruning. No oppor- tunity should now be lost for getting potatoes that are ripe out of the ground, and stored in a dry condition. Potatoes may either be kept in narrow pits, with a little dry earth sprinkled among them, or in airy dark sheds. Before storing, however, take care to separate the bad ones, fortunately, very scarce this season, from those that are sound. Use cauliflower before it gets too large, and prepare a shed or pit to plant a quantity on the first approach of frost. French beans may require a slight protection at night. Plant out lettuces and endive for spring use. If planted on the sloping sides of wide ridges they will stand better, damp being quite as destructive as frost.—Gardeners' Chronicle.

TOPICS OF THE WEEK. i EMANCIPATING THE NEGROES.—President Lincoln's proclamation for emancipating the negroes is adopted by the Federal convention, and awkwardly vindicated by its author. It has not produced the expected anarchy in the South, and it has not, thus far, inter- fered with the success of the war. It would have been more to the purpose to explain how it has promoted the cause of reunion, or in what manner it has facili- tated military operations. The proclamation was issued in virtue of a supposed prerogative which the Republicans describe as the war power, and it was professedly intended, not to benefit the negroes, but to weaken or intimidate the insurgents. If it had produced a servile rebellion, it would have been an inexcusable crime, but not, as at present, an idle menace. If the dread of its operation had induced any Confederate State, or part of a State to submit, the questionable justice of the act might have been partially redeemed by its successful operation; but, after the experience of eight months, Mr. Lincoln can only say that the war progresses as successfully since the issue of the proclamation as before. Peace, if it is ever to be restored, must necessarily be less distant than before, but it has by no means been accelerated by the device which was justly denounced as culpable until it proved itself abortive. The Republicans will have derived little advantage from the opportunity of pledging themselves to anticipations which may not improbably be falsified by events. If, after the lapse of another year, peace has not approached visibly nearer, the professions which are now thought at- tractive to the constituency will have become generally distasteful. It will then be the turn of the Democrats to show whether they have learnt moderation and honesty during their temporary exclusion from political power.—Saturday Review. FRUIT V. BIRDs.-The Times has had a vast deal of correspondence about the destruction of birds. On the one hand it is contended that the birds are the police appointed by nature to keep down insect life, which would otherwise swarm so as to devour crops and poison the air, a plague which is beginning to be felt in France, where a war of extermination has been waged with birds. On the other hand it is asserted that the birds are nothing but thieves, that they rob gardens of all their fruit, and will not trouble them- selves to pick up a caterpillar while a cherry, a rasp- berry, or plum can be had. A country parson writes a long letter of mixed lament and complaint. He has, he says, a weakness for fruit and a fondness for birds, but he finds it impossible to have both—non bene conveniunt, nee in Wita sede morantur. The black- birds ate all his strawberries, with some help from thrushes and robins. The gooseberries followed; but there was balm in Gilead, and the parson com- forted himself with the thought of the ripening pears, for which the good man has a particular weakness." Indeed, he seems to have a weakness for every- thing eatable in his garden, and would have been much misplaced in Eden. The destruction of half his crop of pears he lays to the charge of the birds, and accuses them of now having designs on the winter sort. The sanguinary conclusion the rev. gentleman arrives at is, that the small birds must be destroyed or fruit cannot be had at a price suiting his pocket. Another clergyman, a London incumbent, accuses the birds as follows:—They consumed all the currants and all the gooseberries, they devoured all the peas, and we left them making holes in the plums to see if they were ripe in the intervals of their hammering at the nuts and filberts. Now one of two things must b3 certain, either that the incumbent had very little fruit, or that the birds must have swarmed in his garden in numbers never yet seen or heard of except in this complaint. If birds could collect in force capable of the havoc described, they would have some quarrels and grudges to settle amongst themselves which would seriously interfere with the business of regaling. We believe the destruction to be enor- mously exaggerated in these representations. The confessed weakness for fruit has introduced a vindictive spirit into the report, magnifying the trespasses of the poor birds. But the question is not, as stated, between birds and fruit, but between birds and insects, and if the country parson destroys the small birds to preserve his strawberries and gooseberries, will he be content to be overrun and choked with insects ? A writer, who signs himself Sense," denies, indeed, that the birds render the service of destroying snails, caterpillars, &c., and it is possible that in certain short seasons they prefer a vegetable diet; but the experience of France proves that where birds have been exterminated, insects and vermin have multiplied to a disgusting, destructive, and noxious extent. And birds, we take it, have the same manners and habits in all lands. It is remarkable that most of the witnesses against the birds are clerical, and their judgments marker. with the severity that generally characterises the cloth in the magistracy. We are sorry for it, as the example of the parson is too likely to counteract the endeavours (hitherto promising well) to put an end to the wanton destruction of nature's police for the suppression of insects and vermin. It is a very short-sighted policy and economy to grudge this force their wages, for which, besides their more substantial services, they please our eyes with their beauty and our ears with their song. But what, asks the country parson, are these gratifications compared with gooseberries.—-Examiner. BRIGHTON AS IT Is.-England is indebted to George IV. for Brighton in its present state. The Pavilion, which now belongs to the town, is a monu- ment of that monarch's taste—or want of taste. There were some points of resemblance between George IV. and Charles II.: but how many points of difference! King Charles had a fine intellect, misdirected by the accidents of his early life. He was a good mathema- tician and chemist-a man of real courage, as he showed in his escape after Worcester, when he swam a wide river with a peasant on his shoulders. Every one remembers Rochester's epigrammatic epitaph— Here lies our sovereign lord the King, Whose word no man relies on, Who never said a foolish thing, And never did a wise one. Elsewhere the witty Earl describes King Charles as The easiest prince and best bred man alive. Although it was the boast of George IV. to be "the first gentleman in Europe," it may well be doubted whether he would have held that rank in the eyes of so good a judge as Rochester. Praed's comment on his career is terribly sharp A noble, nasty course he ran, Superbly filthy and fastidious; He was the world's first gentleman And made the appellation hideous. Peace to his Manes But when one looks at that vile Pavilion of his, which disfigures Brighton, it is im- possible not to pity a man who filled a position for which he was so terribly unfit. To be King of England -how glorious the career! It is simply the noblest thing earth has to offer. Nobly was the position occupied by Edward I.-by Edward III.: nobly will it, we trust, by Edward VII. But it is sad when a man who would have made an excellent tailor is called to such a career. A dissertation on extinct monarchs has been provoked by the Pavilion. However, the Pavilion gardens are pleasant enough—are peculiarly pleasant in a place like Brighton, where there are scarcely any trees for miles. The slopiug downs in the vicinage are wide and breezy: but Englishmen cannot do without foliage. So, while the Pavilion itself is an abomination, its gardens are delightful— and the corporation of Brighton are wise to maintain them in their present state. Tired of the glare of sunlight upon the open sea, you take up the last French novel to be had for love or money (kappy if it be Edmond About's), or, failing this, an English one— and then, selecting a patulous elm in which the rooks are musical, you lie on the turf beneath and read till dinner time. The soft susurrus of the tide reaches you at intervals. You are in the land In which it seemeth always afternoon, and with the immense advantage that a capital dinner awaits you at your hotel, the lotos being brought in merely for dessert. Still, Brighton is by no means perfect for those who desire thorough enjoyment of the sea. Its very popularity has spoilt it. Its excellence deteriorates it. London removed to the margin of ocean-wide waters in front and wide downs behind- is very charming in theory; but it charms other people, it brings with it the excellent and agreeable acquaintances who have bored you all through the season, it compels you to dine with men you are tired of dining with, though they are the best fellows in the world, and give capital dinners. Hence our verdict is that though Brighton is without rival for the man who wants a few desultory days by the sea, longer vacation should be spent in some spot less known and less fashionable.—Spectator.