The Illustrated Usk Observer and Raglan Herald

THE COURT. -+-- THE Court still remains in Scotland. The Queen is said to be enjoying good health. THE following account of the doings of the Royal family is taken from the Scotsm&n:—Her Majesty the Queen, accompanied by their Royal Highnesses the Princesses and the Duchess of Coburg, and daily at. tended by Mr. Grant, enjoys her usual walks and drives through the grounds, and around the district as far as Braemar and other places, while the^ Duke of Coburg and the gentlemen of the suite are daily out in the moors and forests. Their success in deer-stalking has been fair; but on the moors the grouse are now very wild, consequently poor bags have been got during the last ten days. On Sunday the Rev. Robert Stephen, M.A., of Renfrew, preached in the parish church of Crathie, forenoon and afternoon. His sermon was noted for simplicity of language and striking illus- trations. It not having been officially made known at Crathie, several of the Royal suite were absent in the forenoon, but in the afternoon her Majesty the Queen, the Princess Helena, the Duke and Duchess of Coburg, and the ladies and gentlemen of the household, were present, and occupied the Royal pews. The church was well filled, but there were fewer strangers from a distance present than usual, owing to their not having heard that Mr. Ste- phen was ta preach. His Royal Highness Prince Alfred arrived at Balmoral Castle on Thursday. The Duke and Duchess of Coburg were to leave in the end at the week; but previous to their departure it was intended to hold a ball at the Castle, that their High- nesses might see the style in which the Highlanders dance their national reels. Lord Delawarr arrived on a visit at Abergeldie Castle on Monday, and will stay for a few weeks. The Marchioness of Ely has been suffering for some time from an attack of scarlatina, but she is now nearly convalescent. Lieutenant Phipps and ether gentlemen have been prosecuting the ashing for the last few' days, without, however, being very successful. There is plenty of fish in the water a.t present, but from some cause or other they do not take well with the hook. ON the evening of the 15th, her Majesty received from Potsdam the gratifying intelligence of her Royal Highness the Crown Princess of Prussia's safe de- livery of a prince at twelve o'clock that morning. THE Prince and Princess of Wales have been travel- ling from one part of Denmark to the other, and have been especially happy in the society of the Royal parents of the Princess. It is expected their Royal Highnesses will visit Sweden on their return home. THE Duke of Cambridge, attended by Colonel Clifton, arrived at Gloucester-house last week from Paris and Germany. The Princess Mary did not ac- company the Duke of Cambridge, but has gone to Switzerland with her sister, the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg Strelitz. IT is said that the Dublin people, in spite of the re- oent disgraceful proceedings in the Town Council re- specting the Albert Memorial, are expecting a visit from at least one of the members of the Royal Family at the inauguration of the statue. The funds have already been collected, and the site de- termined. It remains now for the Queen to give her consent as to the time and the persons who shall take the chief part in the ceremonial.

POLITICAL GOSSIP. -.JiiL.o. A PARLIAMENTARY return shows that the salaries paid by the government to Roman Catholic army chaplains amount to £10,000 per annum. THE Duke of Somerset, with Rear-Admiral the Hon. James R. Drummond, C.B., and other Lords of the Admiralty, have left London for Paris and Marseilles on their way to Malta. The First Lord and his col- leagues will visit Gibraltar on their return home. THE liberal constituents of Honiton intend to bring forward a gentleman to contest tli-e second seat for this borough—a Mr., Richards, from Wales, being the candidate expectant ME. JUSTICE WILLIAMS, who has had a most -severe attack of indisposition, t'tlld whose state was described as critical, is said to be gradually recovering. His lordship is now at Exmouth, where he has obtained much benefit from the sea air. THE Queensland Assembly, as we learn by a tele- gram published in icbo 'South Australian Register and dated Brisbane, July 25, have passed an act legalising marriage with a deceased wife's sister. THE Gazette -de France quotes the following passage from a letter addressed by Garibaldi to the Rifle Club at Can Italy" Practise with the rifle. The rifle fatally constitutes the justice of modern civilisa- tion, and, when handled by stout arms like yours, it gives men the right to have no masters bnt them- selves." THE French Cliarivan, or Punch, publishes a wood- cut representing a Prussian soldier grown of enormous size, and covered with laurel, having at hi-s side an Austrian, also in uniform, but as thin as a thread- paper. The latter says, It is really altogether annoying; you are not leaving me the smallest wreath of glory I The other replies, Ah! my dear ally, I look so handsome ap I am,! And then, you know, you have the honour of accompanying me Is not that enough r EABL RUSSELL has arrived at Balmoral, m order to be in attendance on Ifer Majesty, in the place of Sir Charles Wood. Themoble earl left the-Countess and Indies Bussell at Windermere, sleeping at Sterling the first night, and on the following day he proceeded on his journey to Balmoral. THE disbandment of the 14bh Hants (Basingstoke) Rifle, Volunteer Corps, for not obeying the command of the officer at GaiJdford last Easter Monday, has been confirmed by the Earl do Grey and Ripon, after a full consideration of the evidence adduced at the late court of iuaulry held at Winchester. THERE are now between 70 and 80 prisoners in custody, awaiting their trial for offences arising out of the late Belfast riots. The quarter sessions com- mence on October :21; but, as usual in all cases of a party nature, the informations will be returned from the quarter sessions to the assises; and as the ordinary gaol delivery will not take place till March, we have it on good .authority, says the Belfast Whig, that a. special commission of assize for the discharge of the gaol will take place soon after the October sessions. Mr. Hamilton (crown solicitor) and Mr. Dunne, ( deputy crown soliciter. North-East Circuit) are at present in ■Pelfast. THE Moniteur-du Soir has an article touching the arrangements made between the Emperor of the French and the Mexican Government. According to the terms (it says) of the convention concluded at Miramar between the Emperor Maximilian and the French Government, an annual sum of 25 millions of francs was to be paid into the hands of the paymester- in-chief of the French army in Mexico at the rate of 2,0S.3,333f. per month. The first instalment, due on the -31st July, has been regularly paid in gold at Mexico to the chief of the French Treasury. The pay ef tfce French army in Mexico was, moreover, to .be from the 1st July, at the charge of the Mexican Government. A-coordiag to a private stipulation, the French Treasury, which had made the advance of those expenses for the month of July, received as re- imbuxserfient on the 1st of August a, further sum øf J,742r(IGOf.. MB. LAW.SON, in a lector published by the Times, eempares the revenue which is paid by Ireland with the Government expenditure upon Ireland. The gross revenue from Ireland is £ 5,734,231 (of which Customs and Excise make up £ 4,579,000). The expenditure on account -of Ireland, the most of which was voted by Parliament, amounted to £ 4,736/1(99^ besides which' the interest <011 the Irish 'National Debt comes to together ^88,910,160, the whole of which is paid out of the English Exchequer, and this does not include the Maynooth College and Gal way packet votes. We therefore spend on Ireland ■ £ 8,175,929 more than we get from her. It is true that a large part of our Irish expenditure is on the military force (sg3 730.060) and fche.eonstabulary (< £ 727,500); but.even if we deducted the cast of the military force (which is essential to civil ord&r there), the Irish Government wo-eld still be at a lose; to us. MR. WHAliSiEY, M.P., has been commissioned to go out to Cs-srera, to present to Garihaldi the yacht which has been purchased by public subscription for the great Italian LosD PALMESSTOS will be 89 years old on the 20th cf next month. THE Earl of Carlisle cannot be considered to have recovered from his recent illness, but he has been ei-I !I better since his residence at Castle Howard, Yorkshire. THE man who sent the threatening letter to Lord Palmerston's Irish agent has been discovered and committed for trial, to the great joy o £ the respectable ortion of his lordship's tenantry, who feel that they 3ia--e an upright and generous landlord. LOBO RAGIAN has been nominated by the Duke of Beaufort to the captaincy of the Doddiiigton Squadron of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, in the room of the late Sir. W. Codrington, Bart. This nomination has received the hearty approbation of the members of the troop, to whom it was submitted for approval by his Grace. THE rumour whieh has been current for some time past, that the Right Hon. J. W. Henley, who has for so many years represented the county of Oxford in the House of Commons, intends to retire at the end of the present Parliament, is now stated to be entirely without foundation. It is not probable that there will be any opposition to either of the present mem- bers, as nothing but the retirement of Mr. Henley would bring Sir Henry Dashwood forward again. THE Royal licence, directing the Archbishop of Can- terbury to consecrate the black bishop, Dr. Samuel Crowther, ran as follows:—"We do, by this our licence, under our royal signet and sign manual, autho- rise and empower you, the said Rev. Samuel Adjai Crowther, to be bishop of the United Church of Scotland and Ireland, in the said countries in Western Africa beyond the limits of our dominions. The Patriot asks, "What has her Majesty, or if she pleases, the Head of the English Church, got to do with places external to her dominions? or wherein does this piece of impertinence differ from the Papal aggression which was so resented here ? We fear the blackamoors of Western Africa will not yield due obedience to the bishop who has been set over them without asking their leave."

Wednesday week rose within a few minutes more than seven feet. Parties who happened to be on the bridges at the time described the scene as something at once grand and terrific. Between Jackson's Bridge and the Iron bridge there is an interval of about a quarter of a mile and the river here broadens considerably, its own'volume being swollen with the water of the Mor- lais, which empties into it at this point. Standing on the Iron bridge there people saw all of a sudden a torrent of water six or seven feet high—stretching across the entire brea/ith of the river—sweeping grandly down the channel, and passing within a few feet of the roof of the arch, rushing with a tremendous roar over the woir, the spray being dashed to a great distance upwards in the air. Happily no lives were lost, although one little girl had a sorrow escape.

THE ARTS, LITERATURE, &e. A MEMORIAL statue of the late Mr. Joseph Locke is to be erected at Barnsley: the work is by Baron Marochetti. ONE of the most important of the acquisitions of the British Museum, comprised in the recent purchase of the remains of the Farnese collection of sculptures from the ex-King of Naples, is a figure of Mercury, much resembling the statue in the Vatican, but which has not suffered mutilation of its hand. AN equestrian statue of the late Prince Consort, cast in bronze by Messrs. Elkington, of Birmingham, from a model by Mr. Thornicroft, of London, at a cost of .£1,300, defrayed by a general subscription in Halifax, was last week publicly unveiled, on its Aber- deen granite pedestal at Ward's-end, whither volun- teers, the corporation, subscribers, &c., walked in procession from the Town-hall, preceded by one volun- teer band and followed by another. THE inhabitants of Marylebone are exerting them- selves to establish a School of Art for the working classes. It now appears, by the statement of a local journal, that a working-class industrial exhibition will be held at Christmas in the schoal-room in Great Portland-street; a meeting is called in the same place. A BEAUTIFUL memorial bust of the late Sir .G. C. Lewis, which has been modelled by Mr. Weeks, the sculptor, under the direction of Mr. Lowe, M.P., and is a striking likeness of the deceased statesman, has just been placed in Westminster Abbey by a few of Sir George's private friends. THE working men of Birkenhead have subscribed for a bust of Mr. John Laird, M.P., to be placed in the Birkenhead Borough Hospital, which owes its foundation to the liberality of that gentleman. The bust is of Carrara marble, and has been executed by Mr. M'Bride. SOME of the first artists in Paris are now busily employed in sculpturing a collection of beasts destined to be placed in the gardens of the Sultan at Constanti- nople. Twenty-two animals are already completed- crocodiles, porcupines, tigers, and serpents, so life- like," says a contemporary, "that one scarcely feels safe in their neighbourhood." THE Dundee Town Council have finally resolved to invite the British Association to visit that place next year, preferring, however, that the visit should take place in 1867. THE first of the series of Mosaic paintings which are to adorn the spandrels of the dome of St. Paul's is now completed and exposed to view. It represents the prophet Isaiah. THE Working Men's Committee, who organised the planting of a Shakespeare oak on Primrose-hill are now engaged in the far more arduous task of collecting £2,400 for a Shakespeare statue and an ornamental screen to cover it. ONE of the most curious and interesting discoveries for some years at Pompeii has just been made. It consists of a large white square marble block, upon which is carved an almanack with some extraordinary and interesting data. THE Rev. John Greenwell, one of the vice-presi- dents of the Surtees Society, was intrusted by Lord Carlisle with the task of exploring the curious British tumuli at Castle Howard. He proceeded accordingly to open two, but they showed evident signs of having been already ransacked. In one he found several urns, ashes of human bones, some wrought flints, and a flint thumb-ring; in the other a very fine scalloped or pectinated urn, and a curiously constructed floor of concrete. All such remains were probably searched hundreds of years ago, under the supposition that they contained valuable ornaments, as they probably did, and there is not much left for the modern anti- quary to find. AOTIVE operations were commenced last week for the manufacture and submersion of the new Atlantic telegraph cable. The construction of the core, with all the latest practicable improvements, is progressing at the works of the GuttaPercha Company in the Wharf-road, City-road, London, in accordance with the designs of the scientific commission, consisting of Captain Galton, Professors Wheatstone and Thomson, and Messrs. Fairbairn, Whitworth, and Varley. The iron wire, and hempen covering forming the exterior portion of the cable, are also in hand at the manu- factory of the Telegraph Construction Company's works, and Messrs. Glass and Elliot, the contractors, at Mordcn Wharf, East Greenwich, a large number of artisans being employed at both places for the purpose. The new cable is in every respect a great improvement on the old one of 1858. THE imposition at New York and other American ports on foreign newspapers, amounting to all but a prohibition, has induced some spirited Transatlantic publishers to announce reprints of All the Yc-ar Bound, the Illustrated London News, and Punch. A POET who has been dead for twenty-five years, and whose works are now for the first time published in a collected form, must either have very great ability or very warm friends. The "Poems of Winthrop Mackworth Praed," just published, suggest both these alternatives. They possess a spirit and a feeling, a delicacy and refinement, which lift them far above the average verse-making, yet they would hardly have made their appearance in .print if Praed had not been a man of note in his day, whose memory had been kept alive by warmly-affectionate friends. He was a man of high promise, but cut off in early life. Born in 1802, and educated at Eton, he graduated -at Trinity College, Cambridge, became a member of the bar, and after- wards entered Parliament, where, had his health not failed him, he would have risen to high repute. As it was, he held the office of Secretary of the Board of Control under the Peel Government in 1834-5, and died in 1839. His mind was, perhaps, better fitted for literature than for the rougher and sterner work of politics-at least, that is the impression which one gathers from the tenderness and the grace which distinguish most of the compositions now given to the world. Besides writing poetry, Praed was a, critic and a satirist of considerable power, but chief contributions to the magazines were the 'poems now published, consisting of tales in verse, poems of love and fancy, life and manners, and so forth. There is a charming sketch of a young lady, five months old," full of bright thoughts and deep feeling. Arminius is a more serious and sus- tained flight. The German patriot denounces the: brother who has sold himself to the Roman invaders, and curses him for the desolation and the slavery he has brought upon his country. But Praed was more at home in political hits "—in pictures of social life —such as "The County Ball," in which the verse,is flowing and easy, and the sketches of character are very-amusing. Of the lighter poems, this definition of 'Love is a good specimen I think tha.t Love is like a play, Where smiles and tears are blended; Or like a faithless April day, When shine with shower is ended. Like Colnbrook pavement, rather rough, Like trade, exposed to losses; And like a Highland plaid, all stuff, And very full of crosses.

Agricult,ural Improvements. In'this country, says the Field, where it is our pe- culiar privilege to possess the liberty of speech, we may generally expect .to arrive at the true issue of a subject, after it has undergone the process of public discussion. There are always two sides to a question, and a calm and temperate review of both sides, even I though forming part of .a postprandial peroration, yet has its advantages as well as its uses. There is a tendency in these days—though, perhaps, not more so I than formerly-to run at once to conclusions, instead of taking a comprehensive view of all the bearings of a subject; there are many who are apt to be carried away by the first impressions, which may be right or wrong; but still, as they require a test of their value, we ought to be cautious in accepting them. In farm- ing matters this has been especially the case within a comparatively few years the old order of things has been changed, the cut-and-dried theories of a former age have been exploded, and we are inaugurating a new -career. There is still, of course, much to be said for the old state of things. In certain localities these changes have not turned out so well, but still the principles of farming are better understood, and it is therefore not altogether unreasonable to suppose that we are on a course which will eventually reward our labours. There are, however, some who think that these alterations made and additions introduced have not been productive of good, and would rather see things as they were than as they are. Now that such may I be the case in some instances is no argument against the general proposition; but still as regards any particular localities these opinions cannot but have their value, for the circumstanees which could at all give effect to such views must be entirely local, and the conditions the result of a long succession of the same principles. Thus, for instance, at the late meeting of the Manchester and Liverpool, at Knuts- ford, while Lord de Tabley expatiated on the improved condition of farming and of the progress that had been made, having especial reference to the improve- ment in agricultural machinery, Sir Harry Main- waring, on the contrary, sees no good in anything that has been done, and holds his views with much force of abuse. Now there is not much in such vague generalities to meet with opposition; but Sir H. Mainwaring, of whom it had been said previously that he had been the means of opening up a new resource in a large district, and had himself been the means of great improvement in agriculture, it appears, not- withstanding, is opposed in full force to all these innovations. He wants no machinery; steam ploughs to him are an abomination; he would have no reapers, nor would he attempt even the im- provement of the breed of cattle by the in- troduction of a single short-horn bull. He held it as an established opinion that Cheshire did not require drainaere, needed no artificial manure, not even a pinch of bone-dust, and would, moreover, be the better off without the usual accompaniment of farming generally, of even a few sheep. According to Sir Harry, Cheshire was a dairy-farming county; it wanted but its herds and its grazing, its milk, and above all, its cheese—the staple commodity for cen- turies past; and in this it would hold its way against all competitors, and be successful in the matter of paying, beyond all that could be done for it by any r. e v-fangled notions. Such was the substance of the views entertained by Sir Harry Mainwaring and although they could hardly be sustained by the growing intelligence of the country, there is still much connected with local cir- cumstances which might induce even Cheshiremen to listen and pause before they instituted a new series of agricultural principles, or introduced a new system of farming. Sir Harry is known as an improver on his own principles, and one who has already achieved success by carrying them out. He has opened up a country, has brought tracts of land hitherto unprofit- able into paying cultivation, and yet heartily eschews all those so-called improvements—such as drainage, artificial manure, and agricultural machines-which certainly have formed the chief staple of agricultural progress in this country.

Gardening Operations for the Week. Bedding plants struck in the open ground must be potted forthwith; in all cases a poor sandy soil and plenty of drainage must be used, especially if the plants are to be kept in pits or other places where they will be exposed to a low temperature during hard weather. Take up all choice plants now that it is intended to keep through the winter, and pot them if left in the ground any longer they will be likely to die after potting. Bulbs of all kinds which it is inconvenient to plant early because of the ground being occupied, may be started in a mixture of leaf-mould and old dung, or in cocoa-nut waste, so as to be lifted in clumps with good roots to the positions in which they are to flower as soon as those positions are ready for them. Where an early bloom of snowdrops and crocuses is required, and the ground cannot be made ready for the bulbs, this plan answers the purpose to perfection. Flowering shrubs to be forced for the conservatory should now be thought of, to get them potted up and plunged ready to be taken in to force. Plants that have made good growth in the open ground are best for this work, such as lilacs, kalmias, daphnes, andro- medas, polygala eharruebuxus, ledum latifolius, rhodora canadense, double flowering plums and cherries, azaleas of the nudiflora section, weigelias, &c. Get them into as small pots as possible without doing any serious harm to their roots, and plunge in a bed of cocoa-nut waste, in a sheltered position, till required to go to the forcing-house. Cinerarias, primulas, calceolarias of the herbaceous class, and other soft-wooded plants now growing freely, should be carefully looked over to see that they are in a fit state for housing as required. Some will want a shift; some will be found infested with fly, &c. None of these things should suffer for want of 'water, as it will spoil their looks by causing the leaves to turn yellow. c Fuchsias may be kept in bloom late by the aid of l weak manure-water and a close warm house. The shading may be removed and the pots have a, sprink- ling of fresh sheep or deer dung as a top dressing. Gather ripe berries of any varieties from which seed is required bruise the berries with sand, and expose the mixture of pulp and sand to the sun till quite dry then store it in chip boxes till spring, when sow sand and seeds together. Raisers of seedlings who can keep the young plants in the stove all winter may sow at once in a. mixture of three parts leaf and one of sandy loam, and start in a gentle heat. Hard-wooded plants must be kept well aired and in full sunshine, to ripen the wood and give them strength to pass the winter in an ordinary greenhouse tempera- ture. Heaths, epacrises, pimelias, &c., to have free ventilation, and the ranks shoots pinched in, to pre- serve uniformity of growth. Orchids generally should have less moisture as the days shorten. The majority of growers keep them too damp and too, warm all winter, but they should now be prepared to pass the winter at as low a temperature as will be safe, and in as dormant a state as possible. Fires will be useful now on dull days to dry the house, and allow of the admission of air. Young plants of asrides, dendrobium, vanda, cattleya, and saccola- bium, to be kept growing in the warmest com- partment. Roses budded this season require now to be looked 'over, the wild growth cut in slightly, the ties loosened, and any wild buds starting below the work to be rubbed off. Roses struck from cuttings to be potted off as soon as rooted into sixty-sized pots, and be put on a gentle dung heat, to promote the filling of the pots with roots. Roses layered in the open ground may be removed and potted: in fact, it is better to winter all roses on their own roots in pots the first season after striking them, if there are conveniences for doing so.—Gardeners' WeekLy Magazine and Flori- cultural Cabinet

OUR MISCELLANY. --+- A Sweet Remembrance.- Fair is her cottage in its place, When yon broad water sweetly, slowly glides. It sees itself from thatch to base Dream in the sliding tides. And fairer she, but ah, how soon to die Her quiet dream of life this hour may cease, Her .peaceful being slowly passes by To some more perfect peace.-Tennyson. George Sands at Home.—We are favoured by the Monds.Illustrd with a sketch of the vie intime- the everyday life—of "George Sands" at his or her residence at Rohant. According to this description, it must be Liberty Hall" in the pleasantest sense of the expression. All that is expected of you is to come to dinner, to which you are called by a welcome boll. One pewiliarity is, however, observable in this curious establishment. You never see any servants. In the hall are two postboxes, one for letters for the "exterior"—-that is to say, Paris, France, England, the world:, the other, which may well be called It aetite poste," is only for the house, and intended solely to prevent the guests ever speaking to the ser- vants. If, therefore, a visitor prefers muffins to toast, or likes his eggs hard-boiled, he drops a line to the housekeeper. If Madame Z. wants "tea in the morn- ing," or Count X. requires an extra blanket, he writes to the major-domo. It is an eccentric way certainly, but. yet requires a certain constant return to pens and iuk; and I am not sure that ringing a bell does not get over the difficulty with more rapidity and less ceremony.—Paris Letter. A Parisian Anecdote.—" The anecdote, Madame la Marquise," said the Abbe, sipping a glass of Noyeau, was this-it was thought full of sentiment by the philosophers, and amusing by the wits. In the terrible crowd during the festivities in the Place Louis XV., when the firework scaffolding caught fire, some persons were crushed, many of the lower orders suffocated in the ditches, and others trampled to death. Amongst the frightened crowd was a young man and a beautiful girl, to whom he was to be married on the following day. For a long time the lover protected her, and sustained her strength and courage but the tumult, the cries, the terror increased-she fell behind. 'I am sinking! sinking!' she cried, 'my strength is gone! I can go no farther!' There is still a way,' cried the lover, in despair; get on my shoulders.' He did not look round, but his advice seemed instantly followed. The hope of saving her redoubled his ardour, strength, and courage. He breasts the crowd, he prays, he fights, he struggles-at length he clears the crowd! Arrived at a safe place, feint, staggering, he sets down his precious burden, intoxicated wiùh joy. He turns round-it is a Etranger His beloved has perished, and another peasant woman more active has taken advantage of his offer."—Wttdjvre. A Bird at a Battle.-We printed a few days ago, from an Atlanta paper, an account of a mocking bird, which, at the battle of Resaca, perched itself on the top of a tree, and during the fight imitated the whistling of the bullets and other noises incident to a battle. Another, and yet more touching incident of a similar character was yesterday related to us by Cap- tain George Babbitt, of General Gresham's staff, and of which he was himself a witness. Daring the fierce cannonading at Nickajack a small bird came and perched upon the shoulder of an artilleryman—the man designated, we believe, as No. 1, whose duty it is to ram down the charge after ammunition is put in the gun. The piece was a Napoleon, which makes a very loud report. The bird perched itself upon this man's shoulder, and could not be driven from its position by the violent motions of the gunner. When the piece was discharged the poor little thing would run its beak and head up under the man's hair at the back of the neck, and when the report died away would resume its place upon his shoulder. Captain Babbitt took the bird in his hand, but when he released his grasp it immediately t'sumed its place on the shoulder of tbe smoke- begrimed gunner. The scene was witnessed by a large [lumber of officers and men. It may be a subject of curious inquiry what instinct led this bird to thus place itself. Possibly frightened at the violent commotion caused by the battle, and not knowing how to escape and where to go to, some instinct led it to throw itself upon this gunner as a protector.—Neiv Albany (In- diana) Ledger. Why do we Shake Hands ?—The learned Dr. Humphrey has given us the solution to this frequently- conjectured problem. He says:—" It is a very old- fashioned way of indicating friendship. Jehu said to Jehonadab :—' Is thine heart right as mine heart is with thine heart ? If it be give me thine hand.' It is not merely an old-fashioned custom, it is a strictly natural one and, as usual in such cases, we may find a physiological reason if we only take the pains to search for it. The animals cultivate friendship by the sense of touch as well as by the senses of smell, hearing, and sight; and for this purpose they employ the most sensitive parts of their bodies. They rub their noses together, or they lick one another with their tongues. Now the hand is a part of the human body in which the sense of touch is highly developed and, after the manner of animals, we not only like to see and hear our friend (we do not usually smell him, though Isaac, when his eyes were dim, resorted to this sense as a means of recognition), we also touch him, and promote the kindly feelings by the contact and reciprocal pressure of the sensitive hands. Observe, too, how this principle is illustrated by another of our modes of greeting. When we wish to determine whether a substance be perfectly smooth, and are not quite satisfied with the information conveyed by the fingers, we apply it to the lips and rub it gently upon them. We do so because we know by experience that the sense of touch is more activelv developed in the lips than in the hands. Accordingly, when we wish to reciprocate the warmer feelings we are not content with the contact of the hands, and we bring the lips into service. A shake of hands suffices for friendship, in undemonstrative English at least; but a kiss is the token of a more tender affection." Mozart's Sister and Vincent N ovella.- Monday, July 5.—Mozart's son came to me at about eleven, to conduct us to his aunt. On entering the room, she was reclining placidly in bed-but blind, feeble, and nearly speechless. Her nephew kindly explained to her who we were, and she seemed to derive much gratification from the intelligence we conveyed to her. During the whole time I held her poor thin hand in mine, and pressed it with sincere cordiality of an old friend of her brother. Her voice is nearly extinct, and she appears to be fast approach- ing "that bourne from whence no traveller returns. Her face, though much changed by illness and drawn by age, still bears a strong resemblance to the por- traits that have been engraved of her; but it was difficult to believe that the helpless and languid figure, which was extended before us was formerly the little girl represented as standing by the side of her brother, and singing to his accompaniment. In the middle of the room stood the instrument on which she had often played duets with her b other. It was a kind of clarichord, with black keys for the naturals ani white ones for the sharps. The compass was five octaves, from F to F. The tone was soft, and some of the bass notes, especially those of the lowest octave of C's, were of a good quality. At the time it was made, it was doubtless considered an excellent instru- ment. You may be sure I touched the keys which had been pressed by Mozart's fingers wi-ch great interest. Mozart's son also played a few chords upon it with evident pleasure. The key he chose was C minor and what he did, though short, was quite sufficient to show the accomplished musician. On the desk were two pieces of music, the last which Mozart's sister had ever played, before she took to her bed six months ago. They were" 0 cara Arraonia," from her brother's opera of The Zauberflote," and the minuet in his "Don Giovanni." This to me was a most touching proof of her continued sisterly attachment to-him to the last, and of her tasteful partiality for his inimitable productions.—Life and labours of Vincent Novello, by his Daughter, Mary Cowden ^A Paper House.—An exhibition of a novel and interesting character will shortly take place it is one designed to illustrate the varied and almost exnaust- less uses to which paper may be applied. M. Szerelmey, whose inventive genius is only rivalled by his perse- verance under many difficulties, has been for some time past engaged in the preparation of the materials for • this exhibition. He proposes to build a, house of paper, to construct the walls of paper, to roof it with paper tiles, to floor it with paper boards, to supply the water through paper tubes, to light it with gas supplied through paper pipes, and to supply a large portion of the furniture and nousehold utensils of paper. The inventor, in the preparation of the materials, makes use of a peculiar description of gum, which he calls zopissa, which is found in large- quantities in the East, and which he contends is the same material as that used by the ancient Greeks and Romans as a coating for their ships, and by the ancient" '1 artists for encaustic paintings, sucn as aaornea une tombs of Egypt and the dwellings of Pompeii. M Szerelmey, now a political exile from Hungary, was formerly colonel in the engineers of the Austrian ser- vice, and was appointed by the Imperial Government one of the members of a scientific commission to in- quire into and report upon. various subjects connected with archaeological science, and in the conrse of his extensive travels in the East he was en- abled to throw considerable light upon many questions of interest respecting the encaustic and zopissa processes of the ancients. The gum, treated in various modes, "according to the pur- poses for which it is required, possesses very remark- able preservative qualities. It will indurate or harden stone, as may be seen by those portions of the exterior of the House of Commons on the river front which have been treated with this substance. Its effects may also be seen in a portion of the front of the Bank of England. It has been employed by Mr. Penrose as the base upon which to paint the frescoes on the interior of the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, and, it its merits be as great as are claimed for it, we may soon have reason to regret that this material was not employed for the frescoes of the Houses of Parliament; and that Mr. Herbert's magnificent picture was not painted upon zopissa rather than upon the so-called water-glass. The gum has not only been successfully applied to stone, but bricks; and soft plaster casts, when immersed in, or coated with, the compound, become hard as granite, and sparks may be struck from a substance which but a few days before was only a piece of soft chalk. Iron ftiay be equally pro- tected from decay and oxidation by this process much more successfully than by ordinary paint, and the railings round St. Paul's-churchyard—the last of the products of the once extensive foundries of SUSSÐX- have been preserved from the decay which was rapidly eating them away by several coatings of th's remark- able substance.—Morning Post. —k —k

An American Enoch Arden.- When the war first broke out, says an American paper, a your.? married man of Stenbenville, Ohio, YolnBteered. He' was reported killed at Perryville, and subsequently his wife received a metallic coffin which purported to contain the bedy of her husband. She buried it with ali due ceremony and affection, and after more than a year elapsed married again. A few days since an exchanged prisoner passed through Stenbenville, and left a message from the husband supposed to be dead that he would probably be soon exchanged, and would be home again. Her present husband is a worthy man, and the case becomes somewhat embarrassing.