The Illustrated Usk Observer and Raglan Herald

LITERATURE AND THE ARTS. THE completion of the cathedral of Manchester by the erection of the new tower is making rapid pro- gress. THE Liverpool merchants have just laid the first stone of a new Exchange, which, according to report, is to be the finest commercial building in Europe. A VERY handsome window has been placed in Mel- ton Church, to commemorate the Christian virtues and charity of the late Lady Elizabeth Norman. WE hear from Egypt that Prince Halim has painted two pictures for next year's Fine Arts Exhibition in the Champs Elysees, Paris. THE Brighton Art Society has opened its exhibition at the Pavilion in that, town. It includes some fine pictures from the Sheepshanks collection, and has during the last week been one of the leading attrac- tions of the season in Brighton. AN invention has just been patented in Paris by means of which printing can be conducted without the employment of ink. The process consists in the introduction between the paper and the type of a sheet of some fabric on which is deposited lampblack and glycerine. M. MARCY has addressed to the French Academy of Sciences a description of an instrument for marking small variations of temperature, which he has recently invented. MR. HOLMAN HUNT is at the present time on a-visit to Mr. Fairbairn, at Burton-park, Petworth, and is engaged in painting one of those beautiful landscapes for which Burton-park and its neighbourhood are so famous. FIFTY-SIX pictures, principally by old Dutch masters, which have been lent to the department of Science and Art by Mr. Walter, M.P., are now arranged in the Gallery of the Kensington Museum, which, until recently, contained the paintings of Mulready. A CAST has been taken of the face of the lamented hero of the Nile, Captain Speke, with the consent of his family, and his bust will adorn the Shire-hall at Taunton, in company with two of England's noblest worthies-Locke, and Blake the great admiral of the Commonwealth. THE church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, has been re-opened for Divine service. The amount of the Milton" subscription is now exhausted, yet much still remains to be done in the way of restoration. The vicar, churchwardens, and Milton committee therefore make an appeal to the public for funds to enable them to complete the perfect restoration of this "stately, eminent, and graceful structure," which contains the tomb of England's great epic poet. The further sum required is about .62,000. THE Psychonomy of the Hand," by means of .which it is attempted to prove the hand to be an index of moral, intellectual, and social development, is the title of a. new work by Mr. Richard Beamish, F.R.S., the well-known compiler of "The Life of Sir Marc Isambard Brunei." THE following lines, says a correspondent of a contemporary, were out with a diamond on a square of glass, by the great naval hero, Admiral Benbow, in a window of one of the bedrooms belonging to the house in which the gallant Admiral was born, at Cotton Hill, Shrewsbury:— Then only breathe one prayer for me, That far away, where'er I go, The heart that would have bled for thee May feel through life no other woe. I shall look back when on the main, Back to my native isle, And almost think I hear again That voice, and view that'smile. Underneath have been added these lines :— Then go, and round that head, like banners in the air, Shall float full many a loving hope, and many a tender prayer. A FINE antique bronze statue has been dug up in Rome, eighteen feet high. It was five yards below the soil in the courtyard of the Palazzo Biscione, on the site of the old theatre built by Pompey, which con- tained 30,000 seats, and was adorned with a magnificent porch, &c. INTELLIGENCE has been received at Bath (of which city he was for many years a resident) of the death of Walter Savage Landor ab Florence, on the 17th inst. Mr. Landor was born on the 30th of January, 1775, and kad obtained celebrity as a scholar and a poet before the end of last century. His Imaginary Con- versations" have rendered his name familiar aa an accomplished man of letters. MR. JAMES WILLIAMS, of California, has just com- pleted an admirable plaster bust of the Venerable Archdeacon Lord Arthur Hervey. As a likeness, says the Court Journal, it is one of the most successful busts ever seen; the painter, with all the aids of colour, could hardly achieve a more striking portrait. His lordship is taken in his Archdeacon's coat and cassock, and the mould and finish of the whole are exact and natural in every detail. It is to be copied by Mr. Williams in marble. GREAT excitement exists in art circles at Munich in consequence of King Louis the elder having ordered that the three statues of Venus and the well-known torso should be Removed from the Glyptothek to a lumber-room in the new Pinakothek, where they can be no longer seen by the public. The attendants at the Glyptothek are instructed to inform all inquirers for these statues that they have been sent to be em- bossed. On moving the statues, the blundering servants contrived to let fall the most valuable one of the three, which cost 25,000 florins, and so complete has been the destruction that all his Majesty's horses and all his men will never be able to restore it to presentable condition. A SENSIBLE thing, says, the Athenwum, has been done in the town of Brecon, South Wales, in the placing of a marble tablet on the front of the house where"Mrs. Siddons was born, in order to keep the fact in memory. Some time ago, we heard that an attempt ha.d been made to cause the erection of a tablet to the same end on the front of Turner's birth- place. in Maiden-lane, Covent Garden; it was stated, it the time in question, thab the Metropolitan Board of Works had interfered to prevent the execution of this plan, or in some other way obstructed its realisa- tion. If this be true, it is by no means creditable to she good sense of that body that it cannot discern the difference between such a tablet as that in question and a signboard such as its legal powers may authorise it to suppress.

I POLITICAL GOSSIP. MR. MURCH, of the Western Circuit, has been ap. I pointed Recorder of Barnstaple and Bideford. THE Earl and Countess of Derby have joined a dis- tinguished party down at Bretby at the invitation of the Earl and Countess of Chesterfield. SIR E. BULWER, who make, such frequent trapeze flights from the East to the West, is again in Paris, and has transacted a little diplomatic business. VISCOUNT AMBERLEY, eldest son of the Earl Rus- sell, will shortly lead to the hymeneal altar the Hon. Kathe,rine Stanley, one of Lord Stanley of Alderley's daughters. THE British Government has given = £ 500 to the sister of the late Dr. Edward Vogel. who lost his life in Central Africa whilst travelling for the Foreign Office, giving his services gratuitously. WE regret to hear that the health of the Earl of Carlisle is very unsatisfactory; the noble earl is said to be almost speechless, and sinking under a disease known as the creeping pa.lsy. The Earl of Cardigan and Lord Lonsdale are also, we understand, in ill health. EARL RUSSELL, who has been in attendance on the Queen at Balmoral as rnembar of the Cabinet, left her Majesty on Saturday for Aberdeen, and has joined the Countess Russell and daughters at Edinburgh. The Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone has succeeded the noble earl in attendance on her Majesty. 'v'n THE following announcement respecting General Garibaldi has been published in one of the Liberal Italian papers General Garibaldi is quite restored to health. I mean this to be taken in the fullest pos- sible sense. He is quite well. He does not now even walk with a stick. Every morning at five a.m. he is out, and he is farming all day. All he wants now is a chance; but for this, alas! he will wait but too lonar." MR. JOSEPH WILKINSON, of Bonscale, Ullswater, a veteran politician, who formerly took great interest in the election contests of Lord Brougham in Westmore- land, has just erected a stone pillar upon the mountain called Halle, in commemoration of the 86th birthday of the noble and venerable peer. The mountain on which the memorial stands commands a beautiful view of the lake of Ullswater and its surroundings. The pillar is twelve feet high, and is conspicuous enough to be seen from Cross Fell, with the aid of a good glaas. IT is a singular feature of the Swiss Federal Consti- tution that it is found to hamper, if not to forbid, such a treaty of commerce as the Swiss are just now desirous of making with the French. Therefore it has been resolved to demand a revision of the Federal Constitution—a sort of Reform Bill which would alarm most quiet-going Englishmen, as it will dig up the 'very root of Federalism, and it may be replanted with some curious extraneous growths by its side which are not now contemplated, bat which agitators will seek to introduce when the root is once up. THERE have been wholesale proceedings in Prussia against journalism at home and abroad. The latter suffers to a laughable degree. For instance, the Frank- fort journal I JUv/rope, and a Hanoverian journal like our friend Punch, have been tried, and condemned to be exterminated—destroyed—vernichtet—that is, the copies of the papers containing the obnoxious matter. What would the poor proprietors and editors get (asks a contemporary) if they were hopelessly in the clutches of Prussian law p" AUSTRIA does not much care about financial matters. She is above the paltry consideration of seeing that there is a balance or cash in hand before cash is laid out, so she goes to war, and lays out many millions in Schleswig-Holstein just as her accounts are handed in, which shows a balance against her of- forty millions! How is the money to be got ? says an Austrian paper; and another, as though answering the question, remarks that a loan will be necessary in London or Paris. We know what Paris will say. AT the Brighton Borough Registration Court, a man claimed his right to vote as a burgess, but was objected to, as a defaulter of poor's rates." The receipts showed that he had paid threepence short of last rate, and it was suggested that the incident was a mistake in giving change or something of that kind. The collector, however, said that the claimant had previously paid rates short to aboutlthe same amount, and had neglected to bring the balance. The barrister said he must take the consequences of his neglect, and disallowed the claim, which had been supported by the Conservatives. THE Queen has been graciously pleased to signify her intention to confer the decoration of the Victoria Cross, on account of acts of bravery performed by them in New Zealand, on Assistant-Surgeon William George Nicholas Manley. Royal Artillery, for his conduct during the assault on the rebel pah, near Tauranga, New Zealand, on the 29th of April last—it is stated that he was one of the last officers to leave the pah-Assistant- Surgeon William Temple and Lieutenant Arthur Frederick Pickard, Royal Artil- lery, for gallant conduct during the assault on the enemy's position at Rangiriri, in New Zealand, on the 20th of November last. Ensign John Thornton Down and Drummer Dudley Stagpoole, 57th Regiment, for their conduct at Pontoko, on the 2nd of October, in rescuing a wounded comrade from the rebel Maosfe^.

SPORTS AND PASTIMES. ♦ TOUCHING the International Rifle Contest, Mr. T. B. Crosse, member of several of the Belgian rifle clubs, gives some information which will, be useful to parties intending to compete at the forthcoming contest at Brussels.. He says:—" Englishmen intending to com- pete at the Grand Tir National will do well to prepare for the style of shooting in use here, which really is for the short distance, 225 metres, as near perfection as possible. The metre, it is well known, is 39in., which gives 232J yards and a fraction-say iin.-for which exact distance the arm must be regulated, or exactness will be out of the question add to this the difference of the bull's eye, which is here white on a black ground, without any visible rings on its surface, and nino in diameter. The firing is from an enclosed building, with large windows to each compartment, where ten only are admitted for each series-not over agreeable to those used to fire in' the open air. I hazard these remarks, inasmuch as I should be vexed to see my countrymen firing at a disadvantage. To be forewarned is to be forearmed." A NOVEL and exciting race took place last week from Putney to Hammersmith. The competitors were Mr. Charles Bush, well known on the turf, and George Drewitt,, of Chelsea, who had agreed, in a double- sculling outrigger, by Biffen, of Hammersmith-the first of her class ever built-to row Randolph Cook, of Oxford, and Tom King, ex-champion of the P.R., in a pair-oared boat, by Salter, of Wandsworth. The match was an impromptu one, only having been bruited a week or two ago, and it set at rest the fallacy that a pair-oared boat was as good as double sculls. The excitement was intense, consequent upon the notoriety of all the parties, and Putney presented a very animated appearance at the time fixed for the start, the banks being crowded with some of the leading members of Tattersall's and the City book- makers. The ex-champion and Cook won the toss, and took the Middlesex station, and all the com- petitors were in splendid condition. Mr. F. W.' Bryant, of the West London Rowing Club, was referee in an eight, and a vast number of boats of every description accompanied the race, and they got off well together; but, in a few strokes, the scullers were half a length ahead, and the race was tremen- dous. From the Star and Garter to Simmonds' they drew clear, and at the Point the scullers led by two lengths. The betting veered from five to four on oars to two to one on skulls; and, after a desperate race, in which the scullers gave the others any amount of wash, Messrs. Bush and Drewitt came in a clear length ahead at Hammersmith-bridge, not being any the worse for their row. Drewitt steered the sculls and Cook the oars. OWING to the protracted drought which prevailed during the month of August, and the Autumn spates which followed, salmon fishing in Scotland has been unusually good in most parts of the country. The Ness is swarming with fish; it is nothing uncommon for fifteen salmon and grilse to be taken by one rod in the course of a few hours. In fact, most of our northern rivers have been yielding splendid baskets since the withdrawal of the nets, and there is every prospect of their continuing to do so until the close of the season. Anglers on the Spey have every reason to be well satisfied. The sport obtained on the Tay, however, notwithstanding tho apprehensions which were entertained during the past month, seems to eclipse the whole. THE following is from the reports of the assistant river-keepers of the Thames Angling Preservation Society, for the week ending September 21: —At Staines the sport has been very indifferent, the water still being low and fine, gudgeon fishing being the best. At Laleham fishing is a little better. A large quantity of chub and barbel have been taken at Halliford and Sunbury, and some very fine perch at Shepperton. The water here is described as being in very good con- h r.. dition for fishing. The Clarkes have bees taking some good roach and barbel at Sunbury. The gudgeon fish- ing still continues good at Hampton; the Snells have been taking from fifteen to twenty dozen a day. A chub of 4Hb. has been taken with a bleak. The angling at Moulsey has not been good; the takes have consisted of a few jack and barbel. Johnson reports that he has been fishing at Teddington with about the average sport. A few barbel have been caught at Kingston; and in one night, after the rain, nearly a hundred-weight of bream were taken at the railway bridge at Kingston. Eniclcer says the sport at Ted- dington still continues very good. There have been some good takes of barbel and bream under the weir. At Richmond there have been great quantities of roach and dace taken, with an average of eight barbel whilst roach fLhing. Fly fishing has also been good. I was unable last week, from severe indisposition, which confined me to my room, to send the usual reports. The only feature now worth noticing is in the report of Johnson, from Kingston, that a large trout had been picked up, of the length of twenty-nine inches and a half, very thin. It was cut open to see if there were any hooks in it, but none were found. It was a female fish. Arrangements are being made for a com- plete protection ef the river during the approaching "white fast" of the Jews.—W. H. BROUGHAM, Secre- tary, Isleworth. Two importan; ram sales were held in Cornwall during the past 'veek, and on both occasions the atten- dance of farmers, &c. was large. On Tuesday, at Mr. Rosewarne's sale, Nanspuske, Hayle, 4 hog rams averaged eight guineas eaeh; 11 ditto, seven guineas each six ditto, five guineas each; and 40 ewes, 49s. each. On Thursday, 30 Leicesters, belonging to Mr. Davis, pf Tregeale, also sold readily at good prices. THE hop picking in Worcestershire is nearly finished, and the hops are almost all cured, so that the supply to the market during the last week was very large, 3,000 pockets being broughtto the market on Saturday. All the warehouse. were filled, and the Guildhall was appropriated to their reception during the busy time. The sales have been very active, and prices remain with little change. Good Worcester have fetched £ 7 10s. to X7 15s. per cwt., but the general run of prices averages P,7 per cwt. IT was currently reported last week that Blair Athol, the winner of the Derby and St. Leger, had been sold to go abroad, but although Mr. I'Anson has had a very tempting offer for the horse, he has not yet parted with him. We may add that the animal is rapidly recovering from the severe kick he received on his off-knee while striving to come through his leaders in the race for.the St. Leger. THE Marquis of Hastings has determined to sell all his horses in training, except The Duke, Attraction, Donnington, and another or two, after the Houghton Meeting. The Duke has been thrown up, and will not run again before the Derby. CROYDON STEEPLE CHASES will take place on Tues- day and Wednesday, the 29th and 30th November. There will be a Weight for Age Steeple Chase, three miles and a half, with 100 sovs. added, and the Grand Open Handicap will have 200 sovs. contributed from the fund.. THE following twenty-two, and five others which have not accepted, were given at Doncaster against the field for the Cesarewitch, for £1,000, to a noble and well-known owner of horBes:- Blithfield, Gibraltar, Carisbrook, Noelie, Welcome, Scamander, Summer- side, Baldwin, Tattoo, Skeffington, Signalman, Myrtle, Planet, Suspicion, Fanfreluche, Pearl Diver, Cathe- dral, Calista colt, The Giant, Gratitude, Lady Florence colt, and Retainer. A DISTINGUISHED party, consisting of the Duke of Cambridge, the Earl of Chesterfield, Lord Wharncliffe, Lord Canterbury, and Lord Stanhope, who are staying at Gedling Lodge, the seat of the Earl of Chesterfield, visited the noble earl's estate at Stoke Fields, near Nottingham, for a day's shooting, last week. Game was plentiful, and the party had some excellent sport, fifty-seven hares and forty brace of birds being killed by three o'clock in the afternoon. THE commissioners appointed to receive the salmon ova which arrived in Tasmania in April have made their report to the Colonial Government. They state, says the Hobart Town Mercury, that upon examination of the cases on arrival it was found that a close and almost unvarying relation existed between the fate of the ova and the condition of the moss in which thoy were enveloped. Where the moss retained its natural green hue and elasticity there a large proportion of the ova retained a healthy vitality. Where, on the contrary, the moss was of a brown colour, and in a collapsed or compressed form, few of the ova were found alive, and ail were more or less entangled in a network of fungus. The smallest amount of mortality was invariably found to have taken place in those boxes in which the moss had been most loosely packed and the ova subjected to the least amount of pressure. On the 4th of May the first trout made its appearance, followed on the succeeding day by the first salmon that had ever been seen in Australia, or south of the equator. The further hatching of the trout and sal- mon proceeded very slowly for some days, but then became more rapid—especially among the trout. Among these the process was completed about the 25th day of May, producing upwards of 200 healthy fish. The hatching of the salmon is more protracted, and was not concluded until the 8th of June, on which day the last little fish was observed making its escape from the shell. As they continued to make their ap- pearance from day to day their numbers were counted by Mr. Ramsbottom with tolerable accuracy up to about 1,000, after which it was no longer possible to keep any reckoning. The great undertaking of introducing the salmon and trout into Tasmania has now, the commissioners believe, been successfully accomplished. Few countries of the same extent possess more rivera suited to the nature and habits of this noble fish than Tasmania. A stranger acquainted with the salmon rivers of Europe could scarcely behold the ample stream and sparkling waters of the Derwent without fancying that they were already the home of the king of fish. And the Derwent is but one of many other large and ever-flowing rivers almost equally suited to become the abode of the salmon. When these rivers have been stocked, they cannot fail to become a source of considerable public revenue, and of profit and pleasure to the people. THE great and salutary changes that have taken place in connection with rejoicings for the successful in-gathering of the harvest in Oxfordshire have affected the observance of the custom in that county most beneficially, in an equal degree with many of the leading agricultural districts in the kingdom. In the place of the week's excess and dissipation that formerly characterised these gatherings, the landowner, the clergy, the tenant-farmer, and the leading inhabitants generally make it the occasion for social gatherings ef an improved kind in which all may partake, and it is satisfactory to find that this, among other efforts for the social improvement and rational diversion of the labourer, is duly appreciated. The proceedings have invariably been inaugurated with Divine service, at the conclusion of which liberal collections have been made in aid of the Radcliffe Infirmary and other local charitable institutions, and the response made to these varied but seasonable appeals exceeds the anticipations of the most sanguine. Then have followed the attrac- tions of the festive board, the after-dinner addresses in all cases abounding with sterling advice, and instead of the harvest-homes as heretofore, rendering the domestic circle unhappy by reason of the privations they engendered, the wives and families of the labourers have been allowed to partake in the festivities, provision for which has been made most unsparingly. In no instance throughout the country has any case arisen from these festivals calling for police or magisterial interference, and the reform thus effected is in some districts being extended to the dis- continuance of statute or hiring fairs.

How to Choose Eggs.—In putting the hands round the egg, and presenting to the light the end which is not covered, it should be transparent. If you can detect' some tiny spots, it is not newly laid, but may be very good for all ordinary uses, except boiling soft. If you see a large spot near the shell, it is bad, and should not be used on any account. The white of a newly-laid egg boiled soft is like milk; that of an egg a day old is like rice boiled in milk and that of an old egg compact, tough, and difficult to digest. A cook ought not to give eggs two or three days old to people who really care for fresh eggs, under the delu- sion that they will not find any difference, for an amateur will find it out in a moment, not only by the appearance, but also by the taste.

Value of Agricultural Meetings. The month of September has been prolific in agri- cultural meetings, and the bucolic mind has, no doubt, been greatly edified at the sight of the animals col- lected together in their different localities. If we take into consideration the value placed upon the various classes of animals among cattle, it is not difficult to fix upon the short-horns as occupying the first place. The short-horn is extending in every direction, and will, no doubt, exercise an influence on many local breeds. Tha Hereford, the Devon, the Suffolk, the Sussex, seem to be fixed to their several districts but the short-horn is ubiquitous, commencing its career in the northern counties of England, it has gradually tracked and spread itself southwards. Local breeds may have their peculiar advantages; but the short- horn holds its position in every competition. Nor need this circumstance create any surprise; the possession of three important points, the propensity to fat, early maturity, and great bulk, must have their weight in the category of agricultural contingencies. In the sheep classes neither the Leicester of the long wools, nor the Southdown of the short wools now stand alone. The old Lincoln breed is making itself more known, and the high prices lately given for this class of animal show its growing importance. The South- down, although pre-eminent for form and symmetry, begins to find a competitor for the first place in the Shropshire down. This breed is extending in many directions, not only in England, but has found especial favour in Ireland, where it seems likely to spread throughout the land. If we look to the horses, there seems to be a general impression that the breed of hunters is degenerating. It is true that greater speed is now required thau formerly, owing to the greater size and speed of the dogs, and the especial requirement of combining speed with power is a difficulty, perhaps, not easily got over; it may be that sufficient attention has not been paid to the subject, but the deficiency being once admitted will, no doubt, in time be overcome. As for the pigs, they must be consigned to their fate of fat, for if any addition could, by any possibility, be made to this porcine propensity, it is a consummation, we should think, devoutly not to be wished. Such are among the changes and chances which are certainly due in a great measure to these local meetings. All classes of animals are there brought severally and distinctly into competition, and find their level or become elevated into a position of more importance still; and we cannot overlook the effect upon the agriculturist, which finds all classes fully represented, and has the opportunity afforded him of weighing the probable results of crossing his own breed, or of making altogether a fresh importation into his locality. As for the implements, the display of which forms such a prominent part at these meetings, they have already induced important alterations in all agricul- tural operations, and seem destined ere long to effect more still. Improvements have been made in every machine—the plough, the drill, the roller, the reaping and mowing machine, the thrashing machine—all have felt the improving touch of the machinist; and the application of steam has added to the power of action. The possibility of ■steam-ploughing has also received a solution; but, although much has been done, and emulation among manufacturers has almost ended in strife, there remains enough yet to be accomplished to give employment to the busy minds already engaged in bringing about the object of applying steam success- fully to the cultivation of the soil. If in England we have been thus busy, it must be admitted that Ireland has not been behindhand. At the numerous meetings lately held there in different parts some important facts are clearly elicited; for instance, the shorthorns and Shropshire downs have established themselves fully in public favour, and have arrived at such a pitch of excellence as to bear com- parison with the original stock in this country. And as regards horses, if the Irishman grumbles at the supposed deterioration of his racehorse, his hunter has its supporters and still holds its position. In the breed of pigs great improvement has -been made through the introduction of good English animals-so much so that at the different shows lately held the Irish offshoot might well be able to stand a competi- tion with the originals on this side of the channel. This Parthian glance is, then, so far satisfactory that whichever way we look there we find progress, the chief element of success.

Gardening- Operations. Gardening Operations. CHRYSANTHEMUMS require plenty of water, and twice a week manure-water, but not a drop of the latter to touch the leaves. See to any tying that has been neglected. Pot up at once those grown in the open, ground for the purpose, or if to be moved to make beds and ribbons, clear the ground, dig it over, and plant them in the places where they are to bloom at once, or make all ready and move them as soon as there are signs of rain. Plants potted up from the open ground to be kept shaded and frequently sprinkled till they recover. Of course they must be lifted with good balls, and be potted firm, with plenty of drainage. Thin the buds of the plants grown for cut blooms. Most of the large incurved varieties give the best blooms from the top buds. AURICULAS to be housed for the winter, and watered very sparingly. Look over the stock in removing them to the frames; see if slugs are hidden in the hole next the crocks; and if the surface of the soil in the pots has moss or liver-worts growing on it, you may be sure there is something the matter with the drainage which see to at once. BULBS to be potted in successional batches, so as to prolong the blooming season. Put the early-bloom- ing gladioli, sparaxis, ixias, narcissus bulbocodium, onguils, and tritonia aurea in a mixture of peat, leaf- mould, and turfy yellow loam, equal parts. WINTER FLOWERS must be thought of now or never. Give a few begonias a shift, and push them on for flowering; look to euphorbia fulgens and splendens, poinsettia puleherrima, achimenes picta, lily of the valley, and pot up from the borders dielytra spectabilis in plenty; it is one of the best of things to force, and, though "common," exquisitely beautiful.

Conservatory and Greenhouse. The high winds during the past week must have given our readers fair warning that if tender pot plants are not at once housed, they may very soon not be worth housing. There is nothing more to be gained in the way of hardening; in fact, a little sun-heat under glass will ripen the wood of plants that are still in a sappy condition much more effectually now than sunshine out of doors, besides the safety of glass for whatever is worth keeping. Keep from sing fires as long as possible, but if any special reason requires it, let no rules without reason interfere; set the fires going, dry the house, and have a change of air while there is no fear of a chill. By good management much may be done now with sun-heat. Plants recently potted and housed must be frequently sprinkled, and kept a little close to encourage root action. Do not keep them very wet at the roots; in fact, after the first watering when potted, let them go nearly dry at the root before watering again, but sprinkled fre- quently, and as the lower leaves wither remove them. Keep the houses clean and dry, so as to allow of as much ventilation as possible among hard-wooded plants. If the weather is mild, and wind westerly, give air at night to camellias, azaleas, heaths, epac- rises, and other subjects of like habit and hardiness.— Gardeners' Weekly Magazine and Floricultural Gazette.

A contemporary tells of the sad case of a man who was shipwrecked, and cast upon an uninhabited island, without a shilling in his pocket. A Singular Marriage Ceremony among the Low Castes of Malabar.—Their marriage cere- mony is very simple, but it is also employed by some of the other inferior tribes, at certain times, although quite contrary to their rites. A large round building is made of leaves, and inside this the bride is en- sconced. All the eligible young men of the village then assemble, and form a ring around this hut. At a short distance sits the girl's father, or nearest male relative, with a tom-tom in his hands, and a few more such musical instruments complete the scene. Pre- sently the music begins, and a chant, which may be translated as follows, is sung by the father:— Take the stick, my sweetest daughter, Now seize the stick, my dearest love. Should you not capture the husband you wished for, Remember 'tis fate decides whom you shall have. The young men, each armed with a bamboo, commence dancing round the hut, into which each of them thrusts his stick. This continues about an hour, when the owner of whichever bamboo she seizes becomes the fortunate husband of the concealed bride. Amongst the Nicomars, the bridegroom on his marriage inva- riably kills and eats a cat, in which he is assisted by the bride. The bridal feast of the tank-diggers con- sists of a fox.

OUR MISCELLANY. A Blunt Boy.—A lady, of somewhat dignified demeanour, having lost her way, said to aa urchin in the street, Boy, I want to go to Dover-street." Well, marm," replied the boy, coolly walking on, why don't you go there, then ? Poor Tom B ardy.- He was the village pet, I know, a curly headed lad, A merry tongue, a roguish eye, aRd gay light laugh he had; He was his mother's only child, and proudly down the street He marched beside her to the bay, to join the Ohannc-l fleet. From many a casement by the way peep'd many a village lass, With brimming eye and beating heart, to see the sailor pass: But one kind heart, she could not look, she oovud not speak that day, When in the Agamemnon Tom Hardy went away. To smile away his mother's grief he told, with jocund voice, Of coming home with medals flue and marrying his choice: And while he spoke a shining lock of sunny hair he press'd, That underneath his flannel-blue lay heaving on his breast. No braver heart to battle went, no kinder one I know, With constancy to meet a friend, with courage meet a foe; Aye, true and tender was the heart that trod the deck that day, When in the Agamemnon Tom Hardy went awny. Ere many days upon the foe they bore with pennon proud, And round the lad the death fire flash'd from battle's thunder cloud; Just ere the foe her colours struck, down on the deck he fell, While all the cry was victory the cry that boom'd his knell- A sunbeam seemed to flood his face to light him to his rest, As underneath the flannel-blue the shining curl he press'd, One dream of love!—Oh! spirit true, that wing'd it a flight that day, When from the Agamemnon Tom Hardy went away! -Correspondent of the Sunday Times. Railway Brakes.—Considerable attention has been given on the Continent of late to the means of stopping railway trains. A series of experiments was made the other day on the Sambre-et-Meuse Railway, with a new brake, invented by M. Micas. The move- ment is transmitted with great rapidity by a single brakesman, and by means of a simple lever, without any screw; its mode of action is the pressure of a wooden shoe against the wheels in such a manner that the latter are raised from contact with the rail to a distance of not more than the twelfth of an inch. The distance of not more than the twelfth of an inch. The experiments were conducted under the eye of M. Gobert, the Government railway engineer, and in the presence of several engineers of other lines. The results are given as follows:—A train, without an engine, and weighing 195 tons, was started on an incline of 1 in 140—at a speed of seven miles an hour; the train was brought to a stand-still by two brakes, at 230 yards; at the rate of ten miles and a half per hour, at 282 yards and at twenty-one miles per hour, at 325 yards. The two brakes were coupled and worked by one. man. The next trials were made also with two brakes, but disconnected, and worked by two men. At eighteen and a half miles per hour the train was arrested at 190 yards. The next experiments were made on a level portion of the line, with the train driven by a powerful engine at the rate of thirty-three miles per hour; a single brake brought it to a stand- still at 433 yards, and two brakes at 190 yards.— Society of Arts Journal. Richard Whittingtom-B-at no exaggeration was needed in dealing with the merits of so remarkable a man. When his story is stripped of every ex- traneous ornament, and reduced from its romantic aspect to the simplicity of truth, it will be impossible to withhold from him a liberal meed of praise. The example of his successful career, and of the admirable uses to which he dedicated his great wealth, must often have stimulated or confirmed young citizens in zealous industry or Christian benevolence. The tale of Whittington and his Cat," almost rivalling in interest the stirring legends of the nursery, must have frequently fixed many an apprentice's fancy on the possibility of a prosperous future, may have filled troubled and desponding hearts with the echoes of distant joy-bells, promising a happy and honourable life. The value of such wise histories can scarcely be overrated. He who muses over the stone at Highgate, or in the College garden adjoining, and in his poverty (if it be not criminal) comforts himself with a hope that, like the despised Richard Whittington, he may one day conquer fortune and position, should not be laughed at as a mere dreamer. Within our own memory several chief magistrates of London have reached that dignity from the humblest ranks. One rode in the gilded City coach over roads he had once assisted in paving; a second, who became a singularly astute and fortunate merchant, was for years a tide- waiter at the Custom-house; and a third handled the trowel, a working bricklayer, almost within sight of the Mansion House, where, in middle life, he was to preside as Lord Mayor. It is especially the glory of London that such unlooked-for events in the annals of commerce are of every-day occurrence. No clerk, no warehouseman, no apprentice, need suppose he must always be doomed to an inferior post. Hogarth, in his graphic delineation of the career of two poor boys -the idle and industrious apprentices-tells us in the indelible symbols of art, governed by the hand of genius, that the highest rewards belong as of right to the all-achieving force of integrity and perseverance, and that poverty can never be a disgrace or an ultimate injury, unless it be associated with sloth and immorality.-City Press. The ASB.-Of all the animals that came out of the ark, the donkey is the least considered by the master whom he serves so patiently and well. The poor beast seems to have shared the curse with Ham, and to have been banned from the beginning. We may, without incurring the charge of irreverance, imagine that Noah had a great deal of trouble with him; that he was the last to be got into the ark, and the last to be got out of it; that while Shem ascended to the back of the stately elephant, and Japhet mounted the graceful horse, Ham bestrode the humble ass, and man and beast went forth into the wilderness together, to be slighted and'despised. Buffon and Cuvier both thought that the donkey was despised only because he cut a sorry figure by comparison with the horse, and that if the latter were unknown the donkey would have had great care lavished upon him, and thus have increased in size and developed his mental powers to an extent almost impossible to imagine. Adopting this theory, we must regard the donkey as the victim of an invidious and odious com- parison. But with all respect for Buffon and Cuvier, I am inclined to think that there are other causes for the contempt which attaches to this animal. At the very outset of his career, he laboured under the great disadvantage of not being "good looking." We all know how a defect of this kind affects^ even the destiny of man. Hunchbacks and cripples, and misshapen persons are not, as a rule, the special pets of society, but rather the contrary. Natural disposition, too, is a most important element in the account. By nature the donkey is humble and patient, susceptible of strong attachments, and con- tented with the smallest of mercies, and for this reason he is "put upon." It is the same with the human animal. When a. man is patient, and humble, and contented with little, he is almost invariably the butt and the drudge of others. Every one is acquainted with some big-headed, ungainly, meek, easy-tempered human donkey, who runs errands, lends money, amuses children, hangs pictures, sees old maids home, sleeps on the shake-down, gets outside in the rain to oblige a lady, and generally does everything he is asked to do by his sharper and more selfish neighbours. This is pure good nature, but clever people who profit by it call it, in the fulness of their gratitude, stupidity. The meek and mild character always invites contumely and ill-usage. If the horse commands more respect ban the donkey, it is not because his character is more amiable, but because he inspires more fear. Thus the world will always have a higher opinion of the ruthless warrior who conquers with sword and flame, than of the mild apostle of peace who goes about quietly and unobtrusively seeking to do good. But the donkey has a physical defect-a defect which is never forgiven in either man or beast. He is little. To be weak of mind and short of stature is a terrible combination of misfortunes. -Dickens's All the Year Round."