The Illustrated Usk Observer and Raglan Herald

«— A Villanous Murder.-A cruel murder was on Wednesday evening committed on board a. vessel called the Nymph, which had only a few hours left Montrose, with a crew of four men, for London, The master, John Greig, had lain down to sleep near the stern of the ship, when the mate, Andrew Brown, stole upon him, un perceived for the moment by the other two men on board, and struck the sleeper three fearful blows on the head with an axe, causing instant death. There had been no quarrel between the master and mate, and nothing is known as to the motives of the murderer-whose demeanour after the deed was very violent, but who before long permitted the two men to take the vessel into Stonehaven, where he was arrested. Brown, it is understood, has made to the authorities a full confession, describing the manner and assigning the motive of the crime. As yet, the onlv light thrown on the motive of the crime is given by the statement that Brown is of a violent and quarrelsome disposition; and apt to be excessively ex- cited by drink.

| THE ARTS, LITERATURE, &c. 41 SOMEWHAT late in the day it has been determined to erect a memorial at Birmingham to James Watt, the father and pioneer of mechanical engineering." A large sum has already been subscribed, among the subscribers being James Watt and Co." successors of the great inventor, who contribute £ 100. THE Archaeological Association has been spreading itself about in the neighbourhood of Durham, visiting old Roman altars to the Doly chene Japiter, and hearing discourses on the Roman ancestry of the Nevilles. AT a meeting of the Cobden Memorial Committee, held at Manchester, it was unanimously resolved to entrust the commission for the statue to Mr. Marshall Wood. The total subscription was announced at .£4,377, of which more than £3,000 has been paid into the bank. ONE of the most curious articles of the Wakefield Exhibition is, perhaps, a steam-engine and boiler in miniature, and described as* the smallest steam- engine in the world." It stands scarcely two inches in height, and is covered with a glass shade. The fly- wheel is made of gold, with steel arms, and makes 7,000 revolutions per minute. The whole engine and boiler is fastened together with thirty-eight screws and bolts, the whole weighing fourteen grains, or under one quarter of an ounce. The manufacturer says of it that the evaporation of six drops of water will drive the engine eight minutes. This dwarf piece of mechanism is designed and made by a clock manu- facturer at Horsforth. A LIFE-SIZE statue of Napoleon I., in the costume of the school of Brienne, where he made his military studies, has just been placed in the Napoleon-room of the Museum of Sovereigns at the Louvre. It is in silver, and has been presented to the Louvre by the emperor. THE equestrian statue commemorative of the pub- lic services and private worth of Field-Marshal Vis- count Combermere, to be erected opposite the castle at Chester, will be inaugurated next month. It was intended that this ceremony should have taken place in August, when the Cheshire Volunteers assembled, but owing to some mistake of the sculptor, Baron Marochetti, this postponement became inevitable. AN authorised English translation of Mozart's letters, edited by Dr. Nohl, and translated by Lady Wallace, will be ready in October. A SOCIETY has been formed in Exeter for the study and practice of plain song and other ecclesiastical music of the same style." THE translation of Homer into English seems to have become quite a mania. Four translations are put forth at once-one by Henry Dart, M.A., and the others by E. A. Simcsx, Mr. Green, and Mr. Wright— but these, like others, possess one merit and one failing, the former that the translators are excellent Greek scholars, the latter that they are net poets, and only a poet-one in whom a kindred ideal thought is awakened in English to that which was first felt in Greek-can do the work justice. Pope remains at the head of all translators for this simple reason, that Mr. Dart, Mr. Simcox, Mr. Wright, and Mr. Green cannot flatter themselves with any other merit than that of being translators in the crude way of good seholarahip unwedded to poetic thought. OF other new books which have recently made their appearance we should notice-" Concise Historical Proofs respecting the Gael of Alban or Highlanders of Scotland as descended of the Caledonian Picts; with the Origin of the Irish Scots, or Dalriads, in North Britain, and their supposed Conquest over the Cale- donian Picts Examined and Refuted. Also, the Language of the Caledonian Piots. Short Notices re- garding the Highland Clans." With Explanatory Notes, Map, Illustrations, and Descriptions of the Country of the Gael, by James A Robertson; Memoir of the Life and Writings of Sir Richard Steele, Soldier, Dramatist, Essayist, and Poet. With his Corres- pondence and Notices of his Contemporaries, the Wits and Statesmen of Queen Anne's Time." By H. B. Montgomery. MR. GLADSTONE has permitted Mr. Hillocks to dedicate to him My Life and Labours in London: a Step nearer the Right Mark." Of course the dedica- tion will cause attention to be paid to this work, which is written by a Scotch weaver, self-educated, who came to London to make a name, and forthwith commenced lecturing. Now he gives us in a volume that which he had formerly given in lectures. TRAVELLERS will read with interest a pretty little sketch of Nice, its situation and climate, its social aspects, its history, and the nearest route from Eng- land. This is printed by the Mediterranean Hotel Company for presentation to visitors of the Nice Motel des Anglais. It is published and sold by Groombridge and Sons, Paternoster-row. This hotel is said to adhere entirely to English notions, and travellers are made as comfortable as they are at home.

SERIOUS CHARGE AGAINST A CLERGYMAN. The Rev. John Robert Greer, incumbent of Kildar- ton District Church, was cited last week at the in- stance of the Primate, to appear before the Vicar- General, surrogate of the diocese, in the Diocesan Registry-office, Armagh, to defend a number of charges preferred against him as perpetual curate of that parish. The Rov. Alexander Irwin, surrogate, opened the court at noon. Robert Riddell, Esq., registrar, attended aa registrar, and Jacob Barrett, Esq., as proctor of the judge. Mr. Henry Harriss, solicitor, was engaged by the impugnailt. It was stated that the disagreement between the Rev. Mr. Greer and -the congregation originated in a difference of opinion respecting the erection of party emblems over the belfry during the month of July. It would appear that the predecessor of the rev. impugnant and his parishioners had been constantly at variance. The citation against the rev. impugnant commanded him to appear to answer, in the words of the eccle- siastical indictment, certain articles or perorations to be objected against him for the health of his soul and lawful reformation and correction of his man- ners, and more especially for neglect of his ministerial duty, in refusing to perform Divine service, either in the morning or the evening of three successive Sundays in the month of July last; and for refusing to administer the sacrament of the Lord Supper to his congregation on Sunday, the second day of the said month, being the day announced by him on the preceding Sunday for the administration thereof; and for refusing to visit the sick parishioners; and for refusing to baptise a child of one of his parishioners; and for refusing to administer the sacrament of the Lord's Supper to aged and respectable parishioners on their death-beds; and for refusing to catechise the children of his parishioners; and for annoying and vexatious con- duct and proceedings in several cases respecting the burial of the dead, whereby he gave unprovoked offence to divers of his parishioners, and for other offences, irregularities, and misconduct." The charges are made out in twelve separate and distinct articles. Mr. Harris, solicitor, appeared for the impugnant, but the Act of Parliament empowering attorneys to act., and entitling them to all the rights and privileges of proctors in ecclesiastical courts, not coming into operation before the 12th inst., the case was adjourned by the surrogate for three weeks. Before the announce- ment of this decision the impugnant prayed for a copy of the articles to enable him to prepare his defence. The application will, of course, not be disregarded. At present the congregation at Kildarton Church does not exceed a dozen; formerly the attendance, when the Rev. Mr. Disney had the parish, often exceeded 800. —; •

Murderous Assault in a Coffee-house.- John Tinnor, a flashily-dressed young fellow, was charged, at the Southwark Police-station, with cutting and wounding Catherine Morton, the keeper of a coffee-house in the Westminster-bridge-road. The complainant, whose head was bandaged up, said she was waitress at the coffee-house in question, and on the previous evening the prisoner and another young man came in and commenced creating a disturbance. The prisoner said he wished to be served with some coffee, but perceiving he was under the influence of liquor, she told him she could not supply him. He then got in a passiou and made me of bad language, calling her very abusive names. He wanted to be supplied with a bed, and because she told him be could not be accommodated he turned upon her, and struck her a violent blow on the head with a cane. The latter was broken, and the handle was very heavy. She believed he struck her three or four times, but she could not say exactly, as she was rendered insensible. When she recovered she found a severe wound on her fore- head. Thomas Green, 160 L, said that about ten o'clock on Friday night he was called to the coffee- house in question, when he saw the complainant in a bad state. She was bleeding profusely from a wound in the forehead. Other evidence was given, and his l worship committed the prisoner for trial.

EXTRACTS FROM PUNCH & « FUN." The Bad Beef of Old England. A Lay of the Rinderpest. On fish and on poultry you safely can dine;, But to these I'd advise you your meals to oonSne Beware, lest you taste buttock, sirloin, or chine Of the poisonous beef of Old England; Beware of the poisonous beef The Rinderpest weekly, nay «aily, we see Extending itself in a fearful degree; For reasons explained by Professor Gamgee, Who lectures on beeiin Old England, Who lectures on poisonous beef! From whatever infection the plague may arise, The butcher, before a poor aumal dies, » Disregarding the horrible look of its eyes, Just "sticks it for beef in Old England, And sells us his poisonous beef! It's hard that a fellow is forced to forsake His dainty aitch-bone and his succulent steak— But on geese and on salmon a meal he can make, Though deprived of the beef of Old England, The juicy and'jolly roast beef! The Worse for Liquor Law. Poor Lawson, from Carlisle, Alas! Thou att discarded. And yet the wise may, smile To see thee thus rewarded For that Permissive Bill John Barleycorn to slaughter. There go, thy tumbler fill, And drown thy grief in water. Thou, Somes, dismissed from Hull, About thy business wander; r, For making Sunday dull, IV On schemes, in private, ponder. Down in oblivion sink, Thou, who wouldst by coercion, Have barred, from needful drink, The people on excursion. Pope, too, of Main Law fame, Thee Bolton has rejected; Defeated is thine aim, As was to be expected. Retire, resume the ptump; The House is not thy station. Betake thee to the pump, Thence draw thy consolation. Substitutefbr News. The enormous gooseberry just now is out of season, but in its place we are presented by a contemporary with a very peculiar species of RARA AVIS.—A few days since Mr. White, a gentleman residing at Erith. shot a heron in the marshes near the sewage outfall at Crossness Point, and wishing to have the scarce bird preserved and stuffed, took it for that purpose to a naturalist at Woolwich, who found in its gizzard a full- grown rat, the tusks of which were nearly an inch in length. The common heron is not a scarce bird. Rats, how- ever, are rarely found in the stomachs of herons. Did the writer of the above paragraph mean to make out his Bar a Avis "a rat ? Discovery of a Horrid Plot. Robert Brown, Esquire, senior, opened by mistake a letter addressed to Robert Brown, Esquire, junior, the author of an (unpublished) sensational novel, and this is what the poor old parent read: Dear Bob,—You really must show more caution in constructing your plots, or the governor will be sure to discover the dead body of Geraldine in the cellar, and then your secret will be out. You consulted me about tne strychnine. I certainly think you are giving it to hiralu rather large doses, and if I wereyou I weuldnot have two illegitimate children. One is quite sufficient. "Let Emily put her mother in a mad-house. It will answer your purpose well to have the old girl out of the way. I think your forgery is for too small a sum Make it three thousand. "Leave the rest of your particularly nice family circle to me. I will finish them off, and send you back the Fatal Dagger' afterwards by book post. It Yourv, "JACK." Hints on Etiquette. The more distant your friends are, the more you should call—if you want to make yourself heard. When you take a friend home to dine with you for the first time, count the plate before you let him go home. It saves subsequent awkwardness. If a friend wants to borrow an umbrella send for a policeman at once, apd give him in charge. It will guard against a repetition of the error. Should you happen in a discussion to find you and your opponent are likely to take opposite views, knock him down at once for fear you should be led into a quarrel. Epigram. BY A BAD .TBAVEXLER. Bother poets! How they rave, Sadly facts confounding; Call the sea "the boundless wave," When it's always bounding A Settler. First Little Boy (boasting): My father's got a balcony on his house. Second Ditto (ditto): Ah, but! my pa has a mort- gage on h is! Young, but Artful. Frank: I say, Arthur, I wish you'd go and kiss my sister There she is. Arthur: All right—what for ? Frank: Why, because then, I could kiss yours. Scene—A Railway Station. Railway Official (very kindly): Nice child that, Mam. What age may it be ? Delighted Mamma: Only three years and two months. Railway Official (sternly): Two months over three. Then I shall require a ticket for it, please.

THE SHEFFIELD CUTLERS' FEABT This "great northern dinner" took place in tho Cutler's-hall on Thursday evening to members of the Cutler's Company, who were duly sworn in at the Town-hall at noon, after which they proceeded to the parish church, where service was performed and a sermon preached by the chaplain, the Rev. W. Wilkin- son. The Master Cutler (Alderman John Brown) ia suffering from ill-health, and, under the advice of his physician, is now on the Continent, ard«did not attend the banquet. In his absence his Worship the Mayor (Mr. Thomas Jessop) received the guests, and presided over the proceedings. The guests began to assemble about five o'clock, and were received by his worship in the ante-room. A guard of honour, consisting of members of the Hallamshire Rines, under the command of Lieutenant Bright, lined the entrance, hall and staircase, and there was also present the baud of the troops, which during dinner played a number of pieces. The noblemen and gentlemen pre- sent included Earl Fitzwilliam, Lords Wharncliffe and E. Howard, the Hon. F. Stuart Wortley, the Hon. W. Fitzwilliam, Lord Foley, Mr. J. A. Roebuck, M.P., Mr. a. Hadfield, M.P., the Hon. R. B.Beebey, member of the legislature, Nova Scotia, &o. The customary loyal, patriotic, and local toaets having been given, Mr. W. Smith, Italian and French vice-consul, pro- posed the members for the West Riding. The Hon, W. Fitzwilliam briefly responded, after which Mr, Thomas Dunn proposed the members for the borough.. Mr. Roebuck, M.P., responded. In the course of his speech be said: Now allow me to call your atten- tion to what has taken place two or three days ago at Portsmouth. We have had our old enemy, and now our ally, the French, meeting as in friendly concourse, and in friendly, I may say, emulation, in the waters ot Portsmouth; do you believe that that is a fact of sig- nificance to the world ? It is a fact significant of this- that while England and Franoe hold together the world must be at peace (cheers). There may be outlying populations who wish to distarb the peace of the wor-Jd, but they will be kept down by the dominion and ioroe of the two great nations of the world—France >iIÚlld. England (cheers). I doa't care whether they aroon the other side of the Atlantic or this, they must obey. I don't care about the world, and I will say for the Emperor of the French that he sees clearly what the destiny of the world ought to be, and he employs that power which he has and so well exercises for the- benefit of mankind (cheers). Now, I would make the moral of my tale. What I have said will be my guide as your representative. As your representative, speaking in the House of Commons, every word that I utter goes forth to the world (cheers). It is not the individual; he has ideas in burning words; it is not that; it is that he is the representative known ca thoroughly representing the people of England & £ >d Wales, he utters his sentiments; they are known -to be the sentiments of a large body of his country- men (hear, hear). Well, sir, those will be the ideas with which I go again to represent you, after many years of representation. I believe and I feel myself to be now as a sort of part and parcel of this great Cutlers' Company (hear, hear). I am always here, and I believe myself to be part cf you, and this very day I have gone through all yoar forma, and I ought to be elected an honorary member of your oom- pany (laughter). But I have a greater dignity, and it is thought I am the representative of Sheffield, and in that character I shall maintain peace. I shaH main- tain the dignity of England, and I will do all I can to advance the great body of my countrymen to the attainment of that power to which I think they &<?» destined. Mr. Hadfield, M.P., also responded, and after sonve other complimentary toasts had been disposed of, fchs proceedings were brought to a close. ♦

The Holly Tree of Biscay. — On the recer.t visit of Queen Isabella to Bermeo, the ancient capita; of Biscay, her Majesty expressed a desire to possets a branch from the holly tree of the liberties of Biscay' and to present another to the king. Two branch'^ were accordingly cut and offered to the Royal visiter, on which occasion the following conversation is re ported to have taken place between the queen and too deputy general, Senor Urquiza, to whom her Majesty delivered one of the branches :-The Queen said, "Take this branch and preserve for my sake. I as- sure you that as these two branches (poisting to that destined for the king) belong to one and the same tree, so shall our ideas be one and the same respecting the tree." Senor Urquiza replied, "Madame, tbia* branch, placed in a. frame, bearing the precise wonte uttered by your Majesty, will be the ornaments of the chamber in which we assemble." The Report of the Registrar of FriencJJy, Societies.—The report of the Registrar of Frieiwiiy Societies for the year 1864 has just been given in a. Parliamentary blue-book. The registrar had examined and certified the rules of 1,056 friendly societies, REqi also the alteration of the rules of 1,352 societies making a total of 2,408 certificates. Notices had been given to dissolve 120 societies. The registrar calls. attention to the act 27 and 26 Vict., cap. 56, that no stamp duty is required where the estate doea isot exceed .£100. This provision, he considers will found of great benefit to depositors in saviaWbbnks- and members of friendly societies. The registrar still continues to receive the complaints of members who are required to pay "beer money," and the evils com- plained of are sufficient tg cause a desire for reforn-i for the benefit of the industrial classes. The funds o f tha friendly societies amounted in NoveraHer b- t to, £ 5,406,578 10s. lOd. n ^oveui.

A VALUABLE MEMBER OF AMERICAN SOCIETY Recent advice from America informs us that the importers, bankers, and traders of New York, have offered 5,000 dollars reward for the apprehension of Edward Ketchum." A defaulter, whose capture is considered to be worth so much as that, must be a precious rogae. Not a few, perhaps, of Mr. Ketohum's countrymen have been heard to express the hope that Ketchum will be ketched. BUOYANT INSCRIPTION FOR THE ATLANTIC CABLE. —" To be left till called for." PLEASE THE Pms.- With a view to timely pre- paration against the threatened epidemic, the autho- rities of Hogsnorton have instituted a system of stye to stye visitation. THE BILL-STICKER'S MOTTO — .ApplJoatior.

ALLEGED ROBBERY BY A LAD. I At the Clerkenwell Police-court, on Friday, a well- dressed boy, who gave the name of James Connor, aged fifteen, and described himself as an errand boy, residing at No. 60, Coppice-row, Clerkenwell, was charged with stealing a box containing fifteen diamond rings, five pairs of diamond ear-rings, two gold brooches, and other jewellery, the property of his employers, Messrs. John and George French, wholesale and manufacturing jewellers, of Clerkenwell, of the value of £ 350. Mr. French said: The prisoner was in my employ as an errand boy. On Wednesday I made up a quantity of jewellery and put in a box, and the prisoner was sent with the box and a parcel, and his duty was to book them at the coach-office. He did not return that evening, and I did not see him again until his father brought him to me on Thursday morning. I spoke to the prisoner about the box of jewellery, and he said he had had it taken from him. His conduct was so very unsatisfactory that I gave him into custody. The prisoner said, with the greatest diffidence, that some one had given him a blow in the baek, and the parcel was taken from him in front of Pickford's booking-offices, Gresham-street, City. He said he saw plenty of people in the street when he was assaulted and robbed, but that he did not call out or tell any one of what had happened. He also said that he went to the Swan with Two Necks, and threw the remaining parcel in there, but he did not speak to the booking-clerks about his loss. The parcel lost was going to Salisbury, but I do not know that the prisoner knew its contents. I have not seen nor heard anything of the property since. I should like you to remand the boy, to see if we cannot get some clue to the property. The magistrate remanded the boy for a week, and said he would take good bail for the prisoner's ap- pearance.

THE DOG NUISANCE. A poor woman, named Jane Game, of No. 2, Kirk's- road, Rhodes well-road, Stepney, came before Mr. Paget, at the Thames Police-court, on Friday, with her son, a boy aged twelve years, whose face was enveloped in surgical bandages, and said he had been bitten in a frightful manner by a furious dog belong- ing to a ma,n named Matthews, a retired publican. Her boy was passing along a public road, a new one, near Bow-common school, and the dog jumped over the paling of its owner's yard, attacked him, and pinned him against the wall on the opposite side of the way. The boy was bitten and lacerated about the face and mouth, and his side and spine were also bitten. The wounds had been cauterised by a surgeon. The dog was suspected of being mad, and had bitten two more children and a butcher's dog. It was de- stroyed the previous night by Matthews, the owner. Mr. Paget said it was a very foolish thing to destroy the dog until it was asoertained whether it was in a rabid state or not. The dog ought to have been kept in a place of security. Mrs. Game believed the butcher's dog was about to be killed. Mr. Paget hoped not. The dog should be tied up and closely watched. He would grant a summons against Matthews for permitting a ferocious dog to be at large unmuzzled in a public thoroughfare.

OUR MISCELLANY. I Effects of a Ballad.—It would be easy, for in. stance, within the range of lyric narrative, to find a poem which, considered as a poem, surpasses Mrs. Sewell's popular ballad, Mother's Last Words;" but hard to find one so completely answering the one for which it was written, so fraught with the secret of true pathos-that which grows out of the very nature of the things it deals with, the pathos that is entangled and involved in life, the sadness of the streets, that comes across us in the cracked tones of the ballad singer, in the bare feet of the forsaken child. We have seen a class ef adult criminals so sunk in the strange apathy habitual to those in whom the moral sense has lain even from infancy as an unquickened germ; so stolid and indifferent, that the voice of in- struction and warning seemed to pass through them to the blank wall beyond we have seen such a class roused, interested, awakened to life, to intelligence, to affection, through the mere reading aloud of this simple story. We have known them follow its course with eager, attentive eyes, with broken exclamations, with sobs, with floods of tears, as if there lay within it some spell, with power to restore them, were it but for a moment, to their share in all that is most holy and tender in our common nature.—North British Review) June number). Brain-Work.—Within a recent period death has b een busy with persons engaged in literature and art. Men ofmark have been called away, when, by years of experience of human life, by long observation of nature in its various phases, and by the acquisition of the mechanical skill which is needed in the production of books or of pictures, they had fitted themselves for greater things, so that we might, if it had been allowed for them to have lived to the allotted time of man's age, have looked for much that would have been honourable to the labourers and advantageous to the community. The pursuit of literature or of art, especi- ally whom employed in periodical publications, in- volves an incessant wear of the brain. There is a never-ending care for the provision of each week's materials, and the mind is seldom at rest. The mill is incessantly at work the bow is always bent; and before the due time comes, the mill stops; the bow is broken. We are often forced into such reflections when we glance around and miss so many contemporaries and associates as we do. Let our readers look round their own particular circles, and it will be found how large is the number of those who, having hardly worked their brains, have for ever left their places.— Builder. Manners.-The first requisite to good manners, I am convinced, is ease; and that is never to be obtained by dwelling upon self. Consideration of the feelings of others is true politeness. To give a visitor a smiling welcome, a comfortable chair, seek for a footstool, draw down or raise a blind, so that there may be enough or not too much light, undivided attention given to what they are saying, and, if you differ from them, a gentle deference of manner is what is required by good breeding. You were thinking of yourself, and that made you embarrassed: you felt you were shabby. My dear, in the morning of the day, all that is needed is great neatness, and that I'm sure you have. Your collar and cuffs are faultless; your hair might have been smoother, but you tumbled it; and there's nothing to find fault with in your general appearance. But if you will get into the habit of thinking how you look, you will never be at your ease. And rely upon it, you are wrong in supposing a carriage and fine clothes make people look like ladies. They do nothing of the kind. Being, not seeming, is what you have to aim at. Anything put on is mere affectation, and is soon deteoted.-From "Jottings in a New Sphere," in Cassell's Illustrated Family Paper. Pigeons Routed by Swallows.-A pair of pigeons have for the last two years made their nest in a box attached to the wall of an outbuilding, the door of which is regularly closed at night. Two swallows attached their nest to a beam of this building, and so persecuted the unfortunate pigeons that they were suddenly compelled to retreat and establish a home elsewhere. The circumstance did not come under my notice until the swallows had hatched their eggs, when the swallows' nest was removed and placed outside the building, under a spouting which protected it from the wet, and the pigeons reinstated. The old ones con- tinued to feed the young, and the swallows soon were on the wing. The pigeons, however, did not long enjoy their quiet, for, having laid more eggs, they were again attacked by the swallows, who made great efforts to build a second time on the beam, but were prevented by my servant. It was very curious to witness the attacks made on these unwieldy pigeons. The perse- cutions were not confined to the building, but where- ever these unfortunates were met, down the swallows were upon them, skimming the air, and with the rapidity of lightning, pouncing upon them, and re- moving a lot of feathers with their beaks. Whilst the larger biÛs were turning round to make their attacks, the smaller ones were far out of reach.—Charles Wotton, M.D., in Ifardiuick's Science Gossip. The Volunteer Force.-Otlr experience teaches that volunteers really do learn a good deal on a large field- day, and that in a sham fight the object of a change of position is immediately seen and noted. Real cavalry being present prevents straggling and threatens the badly-formed square, and the skirmishing is found to badly-formed square, and the skirmishing is found to be something beyond walking Blowly and blazing away when the word "ready" is said "in an under- tone; and yet field-days cn any large scale, oxoept- jaZ at Brighton; are hardly known, and attendance on them is no part of the duty of the vohmteefP. Com- pany drills, position drills, and musketry instruction: are all most useful and necessary, but men will not always be content to wheel about in a squad or "goa bit of position." They have learnt all this, or think they have, and desire to see this knowledge brought out and proved to be useful. The battalion drill) pro- bably hurried over and somewhat blundered through does not help much, and the result is that from wanS of some incentive to persevere or excitement, the attendants at company drill become fewer, the know- ledge of the elementary parts of the drill less, and battalion manoeuvres a caution. The drawback to attendance at battalion drills or any general muster of corps is the expense of travelling, the cost being on an average treble of that allowed.- UMted Service Magazine. All Incident in an Emperor's Career.— Sometimes, indeed, one of the deeper fellows docs stumble into Tho Tombs." It is said that tfcas building once had the honour of entertaining for a brief time one whose consummate art has since ob- tained for him a powerful throne. Committed on the charge of being mixed with some disreputable affair, this adventurer was, according to the New York story, barely, saved from a residence in that unimre- rial abode, of a duration that might have considerably affected the destinies of Europe, by the smartness of a young lawyer, who had to take fine promises for his fee. When his former client had gained a crown, this lawyer forwarded to him a bill for services rendered in New York on the occasion referred to, which bill may or may not have been of imperial dimensions, bnt at any ra.te elioited no response. After trying this twice without effeot, the audacious lawyer forwarded a copy of an amusing account of the adventure of his highness in New York, which, it was added, would, in case of the non-settlement of a certain twice-forwarded bill, shortly appear in the New York Herald, which paper would pay a good sum for so rich a. saoraeL Within six weeks from this communication the lawyer was invited to an interview with one of the foreiga ministers at Washington, which proved satisfactory to all parties; and thus history has lost an interesting item in the career of one of her most distinguished characters.—Fraser's Magazine. Religious Eccentricity.—As religion open msk a boundless horizon to the mind, in which conjectures, hopes, and fears assume every variety of form which the imagination can lend them, it is in this domain, perhaps, that we are to look for the most fantastic^ creations of disordered reason. Strange and whimsi- cal, indeed, are the freaks of eccentric theologians We read, for instance, of a sermon published by a celebrated English divine named Baxter, entitled "Hooks and Eyes for Believers' Breeches;" of a titillating preparation described aa a Spiritaa 1 Snuff-box, to make Devout Soula Sneeze." Anobtses divine furnished a medico-theological appliance, in book form, called "A Spiritual Seringue for Devotion ally Constipated Souls." The ingenious John Fry supplies A Pair of Bellows to blow off the Dust coft upon him by Hostile Sectaries;" while about the same time the English public were awakened io repentance by A Sigh of Sorrow, breathed oat cl a Hole in the Wall of an Earthen Vessel, hnowa among men as Samuel Fish!" — Dublin University Magazine.

THE COURT. HER MAJESTY, accompanied by their Royal High- Besses the Princesses Helena, Louisa, and Beatrice, and Prince Leopold, returned to Windsor Castle on Friday afternoon, at a quarter-past three o'clock, having travelled from town by a special train, under the charge of Mr. Godson, on the South-Western Railway. Lady Churchill, Dr. Jenner, and Colonel Sir George Grey were in attendance on her Majesty, and Mr. Buff, tutor to Prince Leopold, was also in attendance on his Royal Highness. The Royal party were received by the Hon. Colonel Ponsonby, and Mr. Hill on the part of the company. Her Majesty and the Royal family proceeded to the Castle in two pony carriages, and the numerous suite followed in four close travelling carriages. The servants had discon- tinued their mourning for the first time, but the foot- men still were crape on their left arm. ON Saturday afternoon Queen Emma, of Hawaii, attended by the Royal suite, left the metropolis on a visit to her Majesty at Windsor Castle. Queen Emma, who was dressed in deep mourning, quitted the Pad- dington terminus of, the Great Western Railway, in a state saloon attached to a special train, at 2.15 p.m., and arrived at Windsor at three o'clock, the train from Slough being also accompanied by Mr. Morley. At the Windsor Station two of the carriages belonging to the Royal establishment were in readiness, and in these the Queen and suite were conveyed to the castle. Having visited her Majesty and the Royal family, and inspected the various objects of interests in and around the castle, Queen Emma left the palace, and returned at six o'clock by special train to Paddington. ON Sunday the baptism of the infant son of the Hon. and Very Rev. Gerald Wellesley, Dean of Windsor, took place in the private chapel of Windsor Castle, in the presence of her Majesty and the Royal family. The sponsors included, ib is un- derstood, her Majesty and the Duke of Wel- lington. His grace had previously attended the morning service at the Chapel Royal of St. George having sat in his stall beneath his banner as a Knight of the noble Order of the Garter. It is stated that her Majesty has presented Mrs. Wellesley's infant son with a splendid set of gold plate. THE Queen, accompanied by their Royal Highnesses Princesses Helena, Louisa, and Beatrice, and Prince Leopold, quitted the Castle on Monday evening about a quarter to seven o'clock, and drove to the Windsor station of the Great Western Railway, where the special train provided by the London and North- Western Railway, under the charge of Mr. W. Cawk- Well, the general manager, and Mr. G. P. Neele, the out-door superintendent of the above line, was in readiness to receive the illustrious travellers. Her Majesty travelled through the night, and the next day, in the afternoon, reached Balmoral.

A SCENE AT A FUNERAL. At Kingston Cemetery, the other day, a funeral pro- cession arrived with the corpse for the purpose of interment, when another service was being performed in the church by the vicar. On the exit of the minister, therefore, a question was asked the undertaker (Mr. B. C. Miller) whether he would take the corpse into the recepticn-room. And here it will be necessary to I explain that, for a considerable time past, great dis- satisfaction has been manifested at the difference shown in the arrangement of the morning and after- noon funerals, the vicar receiving the morning funerals with the corpse into the church, while afternoon funerals are deprived of the same privilege, a room in the porch being allotted them. The bnrial board, after duly considering the matter, determined on. placing a stand, or what is called a turn-table" in the church, and also one in the chapel, both of which are used at the morning funerals. Being pressed to use the turn- table at the afternoon funerals to which reference has been made, we are assured that the vicar refused, the result being that Mr. Miller expressed, on behalf of the deceased's family, his determination to use the table. The vicar positively refused to perform the service, unless the corpse was removed from the church. Mr. Miller was equally determined not to remove the body, and after some delay the vicar disrobed himself and left the cemetery, leaving the corpse in the church. We understand Mr. Miller told the vicar that if he did not return in a quarter of an hour he would read the service himself! The vicar did not return, and at six o'clock, or there about, Mr. Miller proceeded to the grave, and read the burial service over the body. The grave was ultimately filled in, and the mourners left the cemetery.