The Illustrated Usk Observer and Raglan Herald

Fatal Result of Jealousy.-A young seaman named Roderick M'Donough has just died at Birken- head from injuries received under the following cir- cumstances He was talking to his sweetheart on Sunday evening, at the back door of the house in which she lived as domestic servant, when two young men named Cogwell and Murphy came up. Without a word having passed between them, M'Donough was knocked down by Cogwell, and while on the ground was brutally kicked both by Cogwell and his com- panion. He was removed to his home in an insensible state. It is supposed that Cogwell was incited to make the attack from jealousy, his addresses having been rejected by the girl. Rather a curious story is told of an American medium who pretended to conjure up spirits. At one of his siances a simple-looking Quaker asked if he could have a spirit. By all means," was the oblig- ing reply. "Who will you have?" "Moses, if you please, sir." After a little preliminary spiritualism the medium exclaimed, He is here! What would you have ? But just at that moment the lights grew dim, and amidst a dead silence a venerable figure en- tered, the side door opened, and a venerable figure with long beard, pale visage, sunken eyes, and long, flowing, ancient Jewish garb, tottered slowly into the room and sinking into a chair, exclaimed in deep ac- cents' Here." Moved with horror on seeing that he was sold, the medium had precipitately taken flight, and it took some time to reassure the horror-stricken spec- tators that it was the actor Susini who was before t them, and the simple Quaker was his confederate.

To the Terrestrial Globe. By a Miserable Wretch. Roll on, thou ball, roll on Through pathless realms of space Roll on! What, though I'm in a sorry case ? What, though I cannot meet my bills ? What, though I suffer toothache's ills ? What, though I swallow countless pills ? Never you mind! Roll on! Roll on, thou ball, roll on! Through seas of inky air Roll on! It's true I've got no shirts to wear; It's true my butcher's bill is due; It's true my prospects all look blue- But don't let that unsettle you Never you mind! Roll on [It rolls on.

Answers to Correspondents. R. S. V. P.-Upon the question of domestic servants we really do not know what to say, and we say it un- conditionally and without reserve. If your housemaid offend you, we think that you were somewhat hasty in tearing her hair, and throwing boiling coffee over her, but no doubt you best understand her temperament, and how she should be treated. We do not think you are warranted in refusing to give her a character be- cause she cried when you called her a slut, but do as you please. Cold turnips should always be eaten by servants. It makes them know their station. GREEN.- What's fun to you would be death to us; besides, "baker" and "paper" are not used as rhymes except in blank verse, and then only by poetic licence. OLD HONESTY.—It's all very well to say you are honest and straightforward, and call a spade a spade. But when you took three numbers off our counter the other day, and handed over a bad threepenny piece, you could hardly call us paid, as paid. NATURAL SYMPATHY. — The Bishop of Oxford having touched upon the subject of the cattle disease with more pathos than wisdom, drew down upon him- self some sharp comments from a leading journal. Now we need not suppose that the right reverend prelate has any sympathy for the Pope's bulls, yet the sanitary condition of cattle must be a subject of per- plexing anxiety to Oxon. EXTRACT FROM A SCARBOROUGH LETTER.— Come here, my dear Charlie. It is the land of luxury and laziness par excellence. I know of no place where the lazy faire and the lazy aller are so admirably united and carried to such perfection. It is the English Naples for sueh confounded Lazyrones as you are." AN EXTRAVAGANT CLIMB.—"I wonder why it is," remarked eur tailor the other day, "that people who are fond of running up bills never seem to come down with any money." We were so much struck by the philosophy of the remark that we immediately ordered a gorgeous coat. A CLASSICAL ERROR.—The late lamented Lempriere tells us that Io was changed into a heifer; but we have lately gleaned from a doctor's prescription the following piece of information respecting the end of that young person Io-dide of Potassium." A SOCIAL CONTRADICTION.—Our "Juvenile Cor- respondent says he cannot make it out, but he finds that, with most of his acquaintances, he has fallen out," through having neglected to drop in." ON-DIT FROM BREST.—We understand that it is the opinion of many who were present at the banquet on board the Ville de Lyons, during the recent visit of our fleet to France, that the speeches delivered below did not come up to the dec-orations. ECCLESIASTICAL BILLIA.RDs.-The Celebrated Con. vocation Players flatter themselves that their little game is won because they've just made their 25th Canon. VERY CRUEL.-Street Boy: Please S' r'member the grotto, Sir!" Old Gentleman: "What! and natives half-a-crown a dozen! you little unfeeling vagabond, get along with you! How TO DISCOVER YOUR REAL WORTH.—Become suddenly poor.

FRIGHTFUL DEATHS OF RAILWAY GUARDS. An inquiry was held by Mr. William Payne, the Southwark coroner, on Friday night, at Guy's Hospi- tal, respecting the death of John Barkwiok, aged thirty-five years. It appeared from the evidence that the deceased was a goods guard in the employ ef the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway Com- pany. On last Monday night he was hooking an engine on to a goods train at the Redhill Station. It was dark at the time, and the engine being in motion the deceased stumbled over a. piece of coal that lay in the four foot, and he was thrown under the wheels of the engine. His thighs and legs were mangled in a frightful manner. When assistance came the deceased was sent by train to Guy's Hospital, where death put a period to his sufferings in an hour after his arrival. George May, engine-driver, said that it was usual for the guards of trains to hook them n to engines while in motion. Coroner: It would be well if that dangerous practice was altered, for the lives of the guards are often endangered by it. The jury returned a verdict of "Accidental Death." The circumstanoes under which the goods guard, named John Charles Kemp, aged thirty years, lost his life, formed the subject of an inquiry before Mr. Wm. Carter, the Surrey coroner, at Wimbledon. The evidence went to prove that the deceased was in the employ of the London, Brighton, and Sonth Coast Railway, and that on the 8th instant he was riding on the step of an engine while it was entering the station at Wimbledon. The engine, while turning round a curve came in collision with an empty carriage, which it smashed to pieces. The deceased was knocked off the step and thrown under the engine. He was dread- fully injured, and expired shortly afterwards. The jury returned a verdict of Accidental Death."

PANIC IN A CHURCH. On Sunday night, just as the officiating clergyman was closing the service by prayer, the congregation of St. Andrew's, Holborn, was thrown into a painful state of excitement owing to a man in one of the aisles screaming out at the top of his voice Fire." A sud- den and simultaneous rush for the door was made by the occupants of the different pews, and in the con- fusion which prevailed many persons were thrown down, and some injured. The scene behind the choir, devoted to the accommodation of the children belong. ing to the parochial school was most harrowing. No sooner had the cry of fire been raised than the children rose in a body and rushed one after the other to make good their escape from the building, some of the girls jumping from the gallery on to the stairs. The chorister and teachers tried to assure them that no fire had taken place in the church or near it, but they still continued to rush out tumbling over one another, and one of the girls who jumped from the gallery on to the stairs was much hurt. A young lady, who was in the body of the church was pressed dewn by the people, and was obliged to be removed in a cab whilst several ladies, who were unable from the crowd in the passages to leave their pews, fainted. So great did the alarm be. come that the Royal Society's escape was sent for from'the Hatton-garden station, when it was clearly ascertained that there was not the least grounds for the terror which had been so wantonly created. It is l. to be regretted that during the confusicn which pre- vailed the alarmist got clear off; but, having left his I hat in the church, it may possibly lead to his identity.

OUR MISCELLANY. A Juryman's Soliloquy. To spare, or not to spare that is the question Whether 'tis wiser in a state to suffer Its murderous brood to rust out in a prison, Or to bring down swift justice on the ruffians, And on the gallows end them ? To hang to choke; No more; and by a rope to say we end This growth of monstrous crimes that daily shocks Our whole society-a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To save, to spare; To spare-and then to dread ay, there's the rub; For if we spare, what nightly fears may come Of thieves turned murderers by our clemency, Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of tender-heartedness For who would bear the groans of death-struck men, The desolated homes, the widows' tears, The orphans' anguish'd cries, the pangs of want And endless miseries of love bereaved That ruthless Murder to his victim bears, When this dull fiend may his quietus take From a mere rope-yarn. Who would, loathing, bear To stain his eyesight with the ghastly corpse Dangling 'twixt heaven and earth in hideous guise, But that the dread of more extended ills, The spawn of crime prolifically spread By too weak government stiffens the min d And makes us rather bear those laws we have Than fly to milder that would shield us less ? Thus fear doth make stern judges of us all; And thus the native hue of sweet Compassion Is ruddied o'er by the first sight of blood, And kindly hearts of patient jurymen With this regard their currents turn to ice, And lose the sense of mercy.-H. J. B. in the Press. Indian Traditions.—The tradition of the origin of their tribes, existing amongst some of the Indians of British Columbia, appears to be a curious confusion of the Bible histories taught them by the Romish priests, who have been established amongst them for upwards of a century. For the following version we are indebted to Mr. Greville Matthew, registrar of the colony: A race of men existed upon the earth at the time when a great flood came. It rained day and night and week after week. The waters rose rapidly, so that all were drowned except one man. He made haste to reach higher ground, and ascended a lofty hill. Still it rained ceaselessly, the waters covered the face of the land, and followed this last Indian re- lentlessly as he retreated higher and higher up the mountain side. At length he gained the very summit, and as he sat and watched, the pursuing floods continued to approach. In hope- less despair he prayed to the Great Spirit, who responded to his prayer by changing the lower half of his body into stone, so that, when the advancing waters surged up to him, he remained unmoved. They rose to his waist, and then the rains ceased and the floods began to subside. Although delighted with his unex- pected escape, the solitary Indian was oppressed with dismay by the reflection that he was the only survivor, I and in his distress again prayed to the Great Spirit to grant him a Klootcheman," or squaw. He then fell asleep, and after a time awaking, he found his lower limbs restored to flesh and bone, and a beautiful Klootcheman," by his side. From this pair sprang the Indian tribes in British Columbia. This is a striking instance of a fusion of the story of the creation with that of the deluge; originally derived, no doubt, from the early Romish missionaries, but by lapse of time having passed into a tradition of the tribes, and suggests a source of error affecting philology.-The North West Passage by Land. Madness through Love. — On one occasion, when Louis Napoleon was riding round the Lake of Constance, he suddenly saw a pair of horses shy that were drawing a carriage along the high road, which was only separated from the lake by a steep incline. They bolted at a tremendous pace with the carriage, in which a young lady and an elderly gentleman were seated, and it only required a stumble on the part of one of them for the carriage to be hurled into the lake. Louis spurred his horse with bold decision, made a sign to the young lady-who had already lost her self- possession, and was prepared to spring out, at the risk of life-to remain seated, and in the next instant had caught the reins of one of the carriage horses. Drawing it back with all his strength, he succeeded in checking the other horse, and the carriage was saved. Its owner introduced himself to the prince as proprietor of an estate in the neighbourhood, and the young lady as his daughter Lisette. A few days after he went in person to Arenenberg, in order to express his gratitude again. The prince, out of politeness, returned the visit, and found such pleasure in Lisette's society that the visit was repeated again and again. Lisette gave these visits such a favourable explanation that she fell seri- ously in love with the prince. Once, when he had not called for a month, she took his absence so to heart that she lost her senses. After dressing herself in her best, she hung a lighted lantern around her neck, and proceeded in this strange costume toward Arenenberg in broad daylight. Chance willed it that the prince met her. When he looked at her in amazement, she said delightedly, I was certain you would come, and that is why I adorned myself." Louis conveyed Lisette to her father, who set out on a lengthened tour with her on the following day, from which she returned quite cured. —Napoleon III. and his Court. John Clare in the Militia.—John Clare, being among the smallest of the young heroes, scarce 5ft. high, was put into the last company, the fifth in num- ber. These preliminaries being duly arranged, the thirteen hundred had to change their smock-frooks, jackets, and blouses, for the regulated red coat and trousers. Unfortunately, the official distributor of those articles paid no attention whatever to the stature and physical conformation of the recipients, nor even to their division into the different-sized companies, but threw out his uniforms like barley among the chickens. The consequences were of the most ludi- crous kind. Nearly all the big men got coats which fitted them like straight-laced jackets, while the little ones had garments which hung upon their shoulders in balloon fashion. John Clare was more un- lucky than any of his warrier brethren. His trousers, apparently made for a giant, were nearly as long as his whole body, and though he drew them up to close under his arms, they still fell down, by many inches, over his shoes. To prevent his tumbling over them, like a clown in the pantomime, he held up his pantaloons with one hand, while with the other he kept his helmet from falling in the mud. This won. derful headpiece was as much too small for the big- brained recruit as the other parts of the uniform were too large, and it required the most careful balancing to keep it in a steady position on the top of the crown in a quiet atmosphere, while, in any little gust of wind, it was indispensable to ensure the equilibrium with outstretched arm. All this was easy enough while John Clare went through his first martial exercises; nothing more simple, while learning the goose-step, than to hold his big trousers with one hand and his tight helmet with the other. But at the end of four weeks, his superiors gave John Clare a gun, and with it came blaxk despair. He did not know in the world how to hold his trousers, his gun, and his headpiece at one and the same time.-Life of John Clare. A Town Gardener.-The appearance, or, at least, the apparel of this individual, was eminently satisfactory, and suggestive of his calling. He was clothed almost entirely in blue calico, and wore an apron in which there were something like six-and- twenty distinct pockets, or rather pouches, such as are (erroneously) supposed to be peculiar to the kangaroo. He was also provided with a gigantic pair of gardening scissors, with snips and snaps of which he emphasised his conversation in an alarming manlier; in short, there could be no doubt of his being what he described himself to be—a practical gardener. For the small remuneration of 25s. he brought me thrice as many little brown paper parcels, as carefully separated as was Robinson Crusoe's gun- powder against thunderstorms, and informed me that they contained the germs of many rare and varied plants. He would "guarantee," he said, "as the colours would mix well." His frequent use of that word "guarantee" impressed me with a confidence in this man approaching to awe. And when he had spent a whole day in my garden upon his knees, em- ployed in dibbling in the seeds, I thought a sovereign a very modest demand for so much skilled labour. I do net say that he left my barren plot a glowing flower-garden, but he stuck it all over with small cleft sticks, with bits ef white paper in them, than which— except actual blossoms—nothing could be more per- fectly satisfactory. The parterres looked like whole- sale infant burial-grounds. Months went on. Everything (I read in the newspapers) was coming'up with unprecedented rapidity everywhere else, but excepting some mustard and cress which I had Eown with my own hand in a mignonette box, not a isproat of green appeared above the surface of that ground I so proudly called my own. The only flower which it gave any signs of producing was the laughing stock— and that it was fast becoming to all my neighbours; At last I called in person upon the greengrocer, and upon his kindly stepping over," and prodding about my garden with a little rake, he came to the sad con- clusion that the highly recommended party had not planted a single seed. You should always see 'em dibble 'em in, ma'am, with your own eyes there is no trusting persons in the gardening line any farther than you can keep your eyes on 'em." At the Forge.—Cling, clang cling, clang ?Tis a winter's night, in the month of January., well-nigh half a century ago, in a central county of merry Eng. land. Out upon the still, sharp, frosty air rings the beat of the smith's hammer, chiming pleasant music that shapes itself into song, as it did in the days of of our first George to the ear of Handel, when he fixed the sounds into a melody and made them immortal, Oat, too, upon the blackness of the dark, cold sky, flashes the ruddy glow of sparkling light through the open window of the smithy, flooding into the night in a sharply-defined stream, with its banks of glooia bounding it at either side—one of those pictures.which, old masters loved to paint for the contrasts of light and shade. How gratefully comes the^esse of warmth and comfort from within to him who stands outside in the chilly air! some belated villager making his way homewards; some wanderer that knows not where to rest, and haih the friendly blaze where he may find heat and shelter. One such stands. there now, and gazes upon the bright in- terior. There is but one person within-a tall, large-boned, athletic man; his coat is off, and his shirt-sleeves, tucked up to the shoulders, display the toil-developed muscles of his hairy arms. The roar from the nozzle of his bellows has just subsided and the smith, hammer in one hand and tongs in the other:, plucks from the fire a bar of red-hot iron, lays it on the anvil, and down comes the heavy hammer, making the sparks fly all around him. Cling, clang! cling, clang and the merry sounds ring out like a hymn of labour And a nobler subject for a hymn to God never warmed an English heart! There are the two genii of the lamp of England's glory—grim, and swart, and hard, yet submissive and pliant ta the hand of toil—Iron and Coal. Men of England, let us bless God who gave us, not the olive and the vine of Southern Europe, no7: the diamonds of Golconda, nor the pearls of Arabia, nor the gold-fields of Australia; but the ironstone and the coal-field-prociot-is gifts, by which the brain of Science and the hand of Art have wrought out a nation's wealth and power.-Frora, Turned to the Wall," by John Francis Waller, in the" Quiver." Abyssinia and its People.—It will surprise any who may have formed the idea that Abyssinia is the Dahomey of eastern Africa, to learn that it has for centuries been, in name at least, a Christian nation. As far back as the fourth century, Christianity was introduced into the country, and soon obtained a, secure footing. It has so far held its ground that from that time to the present it has been the recognised religion of the nation, the form of worship being some. times that of the Roman, but more generally of the Greek Church, which latter still bears swav" The priests are numerous, and are under the supervision of a bishop or metropolitan, whose position is recog- nised by the king, and who appears to have weight in his councils. A large number of the inhabitants of Abyssinia probably about one-third profess the Mahom etan faith; and there are also in the coun try many Jews, descended from branches of that people who, in past times, fled from persecution in adjacent lands. Some pagans are also found; and it is said that this variety of races and creeds, which for centuries has characterised the nation, gave rise to the name Abyssinia, from the- Arabic habesch, mixture, or confusion. The people of Abyssinia present in their physical characteristics that absence of prominent or decided features which a mixture of races naturally tends to produce. They are unlike the purely African nations, and seem rather a combination of African, Asiatic, and European. They are, in general, of good height, well-made, with proportionate features, and olive complexion. They are described as docile in disposition, and temperate in their general habits and demeanour. The women perform many of the more laborious offices of life, but among the people generally there is a strong disin- cliuation to work; agriculture is neglected, and the lower orders live in great indigence. The dress of the higher classes is a long vest of silk or cotton, tied round the middle with a scarf; that of the common people is a pair of drawers, and a loose linen coverirg for the rest of the body. Their manners and their modes of life are midway between barbarism and civilisation—a curious mixture of the two, which has apparently existed for centuries unchanged. The population of Abyssinia is estimated at 3t millions, and its area is about double that of the British la- lands.- Cassell's Illustrated Family Paper.

A WEALTHY BEGGAR. Stephen Blondy, a dirty-looking old man. covered with filthy rags, but who had a bundle hanging on his right arm containing a suit of good clothing, was placed at the bar before Mr. Burcham, at Southwark, charged with begging in the public streets.—Police, constable 35 L said that about four o'clock on the previous afternoon he saw the prisoner standing on the edge of the pavement in the New-cut, begging. He held his left hand out, and received several small sums of money from the passengers in the street. H& had the bundle in his right hand, and every now and then put the coppers into it. The rags were nearly falling off him, and he kept calling out, "Poor old ma! —Mr. Burcham Did you hear him aEk any one for money ? — Witness He did not actually ask for money, but he held his hand out towards the pas- sengers, and mumbled something. When I got him to the station-house I found in the bundle a suit of very good clothes which fitted him, and a leather bag containing .£1 0s. lOd. in small silver and copTOU, —Mr. Burcham (to the prisoner) Where do you some from ?-Prisoner I came up from Marlborough a isw days ago to look for a relation, and being unable to find him I stopped in the street, as I was very tired, and some persons came us to me and gave me a copper or two.—Mr. Burcham: But you were beq. ging,- and that is an offence against the laws,— Prisoner: I really did not beg, sir." I was making my way back to Marlborough. Let me go, sir. and were to get back.—Mr. Burcham But you had a large sam of money about you, and a suit of good clothes. Your dressing in rags excites a great suspicion as to your conduct.—Prisoner: The money was given to me by my friends at Marlborough, and is only enough to take me home again. As for being in rags, they were my every-day clothes, and those in the bundle wer& my Sunday ones.—Mr. Burcham doubted his state- ment, and, after cautioning him, ordered him to fee discharged.

Three Centuries and a Half Ago.—"I have seen a man who conversed with a man who fought at Flodden Field," may be said by a vene-ubl", octo- genarian gentleman to whom we are indebted for the- following most interesting memorandum:—The writer of this, when an infant, saw Peter Garden, who dled at the age of 126. When 12 years old, on a Ou-ney to London about the year 1670, in the capacitvV TVI^R in the family of Garden of Trsuo, he became ac- quainted with the venerable Henry Jenkins, and heard him give evidence m a court of justice, at York that, he "perfectly remembered being employed, when a- boy, m carrying arrows up the hill at the battle of Flodden. AD. It was fought in ]513 Add Henry Jenkins's age 169 Less 11 158 Peter Garden 126 Less his age when'at York 12 114 The writer of this in 1865, aged 80 1865 Fcfuiburgh Cmtrant, Income and Property Tax.—A return h.r? just been issued showing that m the year ending Ap^r the 5th, 1864, in Great Britain, the Incomes chafed with tax under schedule D amounted to < £ D5 844 2^" the amount of the tax being £ 2,785.579. The amount but one, viz., £ 401,528 was paid by fcho=e wtaZ incomes ranged between £ 100 and £ 200 pe/»T rvn„. The sum of £ 410,229 was paid by those w^h ni-f n « between £ 10:000 and £ 50,000. It appeal from tee return that there are nmety-cne persons with in-PtrL of £ 50,000 a year and upwards. Under seo»duW £ £ 540,243 was paid The, total^mount ofVax chafed So Sh,e u e?"4'1 SD' E> — amounted to £ 8^65,242, of whicn- £ 7,661,476 was paid in England, and Wales, and £ ;2a, /6o in Scotland. In Ireland the. total under all the schedules was £ 616 190.

THE COURT. THE Queen remains in great quietude at Balmoral. According to the present arrangement, the Queen will return to Windsor Castle from Scotland on the 7th of November. ON the return of the Court to Windsor, the youthful Princes Arthur and Leopold will be taught rowing, under Talbot, the Royal waterman. A four-oar and a two-oar gig have recently arrived at Windsor for the use of their Royal Highnesses. ON Saturday, the Queen, the Princess Helena, the Princess Louise, and Princess Louis of Hesse, accom- panied by Lady Churchill, paid a visit to Sir C. Forbes, at Castle Newe, and returned to Balmoral in the even- ing. On Wednesday, her Majesty and party, from Balmoral, drove through Braemer, via Mar Lodge. At a short distance beyond, guides and ponies from the palace were in waiting, and the Qaeen and her suite had a delightful tour in the environs of the rugged Grampian peaks, which guard the infant rills of Dee." The Royal party passed through Braemar en route to Balmoral about seven in the evening. ON Monday afternoon his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Prince Louis of Hesse, and Prince John of Luxburg (uncle to the Princess of Wales, who arrived at Abergeldie recently) went to the Glengelder forest deerstalking. The Prince of Wales succeeded in knocking over two very fine stags, while one fell to the rifle of Prince Louis of Hesse. The party slept at the Hut" all night, and resumed the sport in the morning. Prince Louis then killed two stags, and the Prince of Wales one, and on his way home the Prince of Wales shot a fine hind. In accordance with the usual custom the deer were "shown" in front of Abergeldie Castle in the evening, by torchlight. Peter Robertson attended with his pipes. The Countess of Fife, accompanied by Lady Anne Duff, the betrothed of the Marquis of Townshend, drove to Balmoral on Tuesday on a visit to her Majesty. In the evening the Earl and Countess of Fife and Lady Anne Duff dined with their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales at Abergeldie.

fne various metropolitan lines met at the Camden Arms Camden-town, the other day, for the purpose rj ^akiri" into consideration their position as a class, L, 11 and to discuss the best means for its amelioration. It was mentioned in the coarse of the proceedings that not oniv was their pay very inadequate, but their hor^of labour so excessive as become injurious to health It was finally determined that an association be formed in order to promote in the best manner the objects of the meeting, and a committee was appointed f*>n the spot, who proposed an adjournment to Friday, October 6, when the wnole object will be more fully discussed. Before the close of the evening subscnp- tkms to a considerable amount were handed in.

THE ARTS, LITERATURE, &o. --+-' MESSRS. CASSELL, PETTER, and GALPIN announce a second edition of "The North-West Passage by Land," by Lord Milton, M.P., and Dr. Cheadle, and that they will publish, in a few days, a very hand- some volume of Dante's Inferno," with seventy-six full-page illustrations by Gustave Doré, Carey's translation and notes. Also, an edition of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen," with one hundred and forty illustrations by Gustave Dore. Also a charming volume for children, written by Mr. Tom Hood, and illustrated by Messrs. Bennett, Brunton, Paul Gray, and T. Marten, entitled, "Jingles and Jokes for the Little Folks." Also, a small volume with seven original illustrations by J. E. Millais, R.A., entitled, Little Songs for Me to Sing," and dedicated, by express permission, to H.R.H. the Princess of "Wales A NEW work, to be entitled Commentary on the Scriptures," written and compiled by the Right Hon. John Evelyn Denison, Speaker of the House of Com- mons, is about to be issued. A BIBLE left by Proudhon is about to be sold, and the value is estimated at 6,000 francs. It appears that when hewas a compositor atBesançon, the Arohbishopof that diocese wished to have a Bible in Latin, and it was to this hard-working typo" that the setting up and the correction of the Bible was committed, and but one copy was kept, that for the Archbishop. Proud- hon, however, reserved for himself a proof-sheet ef every page, with a large margin of paper, and after it was bound he employed nearly the thirty years of his remaining life in notations and comparisons of the Latin text with the Hebrew, and the whole of the Bible is covered with these valuable comments for the scholar. Perhaps the Bibliothèque Imperial will make a bid for it. WE are requested to state that arrangements will be made in due time for a biography of Mr. Cobden, under the authority and with the sanction of his family, until which time the friends of Mr. Cobden are respectfully requested to reserve his letters to them. "THE Matrimonial Chameleon; or, The Adventures of Count Caskowhisky," is the name of a pamphlet which professes to give the fullest information con- cerning what is considered a most merited, if some- what illegal, punishment inflicted on a so-called Polish count, living in the neighbourhood of Wandsworth. The pamphlet informs us how this man was in the habit of inveigling young girls, while still at school, into a correspondence with him, and then of obtaining hush money from their relatives. A trap was, how- ever, laid for him, and after much ingenuity had been displayed he was decoyed to Wandsworth-common, and there dragged through a horse-pond. The letters written by the count and those of his fair correspon- dent are given. The lady's letters are exceedingly well managed; they are precisely those which a silly romantic school-girl, foolish enough to answer a news- paper advertisement, would write; the count's are the most hideously blasphemous ever read. Names are given in full, and the pamphlet should be read by all who care to see the nature of the traps laid for youth, or the degree of vileness to whieh human nature may descend. The profits of .the pamphlet will be given to the Society for the Protection of Women and Children and the Mendicity Society. AN album containing a series of views relating to the Queen and Prince Consort's visit to Fettercairn in 1861, has been presented by the Earl of Dalhousie to the Queen. It is needless to say the illustrations are very beautifully done, and the album is a fine art pro- duction. IT is intended that the equestrian statue of Lord Combermere, which has been erected at Chester in memory of the late Field-Marshal Combermere, shall be unveiled on the 25th of the present month, the day on which the foundation stone of a new town-hall is to be laid in the city. The inauguration of a drinking-fountain and clock, which were subscribed for by the inhabitants of Mold and vicinity, as a tribute to the memory of the late Prince Consort, took place last week. The memorial is placed at the Cross. It is made of bronze, and was cast by the Colebrook-dale Company. A MR. PERRY, of Yeovil, Somerset, exhibits in the Bristol Industrial Exhibition a model of a church, with a peal of bells and miniature ringers, and several small cases containing mechanical figures, railway trains, &c., the whole of which, before they can be set in motion, severally require that a halfpenny shall be dropped into the till. These working models are very attractive, and it is estimated that several pounds are dropped into the tills in the course of the day. There are eleven of these mechanical figures, all belonging to the one man, and it is thought that he is clearing from J610 to .£15 per day. DURING the past week alterations have been going on, under the superintendence of Mr. Redgrave, of the South Kensington Museum, who has also charge of the Royal pictures at Hampton Court, in the Queen's Gallery at that palace. The pictures, mostly by Holbein, have been removed and temporarily placed in what was lately the Raphael Gallery. The frame- work for hanging these pictures has also been re- moved, and the gauze material which covered up some old and valuable tapestry. This tapestry was covered up some twenty-seven or twenty-eight years ago, in order, it is said, to obtain increased hanging room for pictures. It is now in beautiful preservation, and was evidently made expressly for the room, as it is in panels. The subject is supposed to represent some of the battles of Alexander the Great, but it is not at present known where the tapestry was worked and when it was put up. The alteration is being made by Mr. Wyatt, carver and gilder to her Majesty, Soho, under the supervision of Mr. Redgrave. ONE of the foremost of English animal painters, who in the particular branch of the art which he prae- tised was perhaps unrivalled, Mr. J. F. Herring, died a few days ago at Meopham-park, Tunbridge. Mr. Herring's early life was not cast under such circum- stances as ordinarily serve to evoke artistic aspira- tions, or to foster artistic powers; his genius, and the ability with which he was gifted to express it, rather had to force their way out of the trammels of early associations and necessities. He was the son of a London tradesman. His father was a native American settled in the metropolis. As a boy he obtained em- ployment in making signboards, and filling in the crests on coach panels; then he travelled to Yorkshire, and, still a very young man, became a stage coachman -for many years driving the coach between Wake- field and Lincoln, and afterwards between York and London. But the love of art which he manifested as a boy was not quenched or forgotten amid the arduous life he had to lead. He practised painting in all the leisure he could gain, until some of his productions—portraits of the horses he drover- attracted attention, and gained him the good advice that he should prosecute his art as a profession. Doubtless his occupation and its associations had given his taste the bent which his pencil ever afterwards followed. He soon attained notice, and then fame for his portraits of racers and his pictures of the hunting field. He outstripped all his rivals for this particular class of subjects, and to the day of his death was never overtaken. He, however, painted several pictures of more extended subjects, the great beauty of which won 'him much fame; but as a class painter of high rank his professional reputation will best survive. He was 70 years of age. -»

The Sweets of Office. A Dialogue between a Youth of Inquiring Mind and his Papa. Papa, the newspapers complain, A minister but wishes, His hold of office to retain For the mere loaves and fishes. What fishes ? Whitebait? Eh, papa? To like that's no disgrace! "Boy, they like whitebait well—but, ah, Much better like their pla(i)ce."

Macbeth and Comus. Three gentlemen, in various ages born, By turns the British drama did adorn. First Shakespeare came: John Milton was the next; The third is Falconer, who-much perplexed At not exactly knowing what to do- Takes Drury Lane, and joins the other two.