The Brecon Reporter and South Wales General Advertiser

POLITICAL GOSSIP. IT is'said that Abcl-el-Kader came to this country to invest money! THE date for the great swearing in of M.P. s, it is thought, will be November. PRINCE HUMBERT, it is finally stated, is to be the representative of Italy at the French Exhibition. WONDERFUL exaggerations have gone forth as tothe amount of money spent by candidates at the late elections.. £ 20,000 have been roundly put down for Mr. Smith, of Westminster, and Alderman Lusk, of Finsbury. A fourth part of the sum would in each case be more than the truth. IT is said that Mr. Blake, one of the members for the city of Waterford, is not likely to take his seat when the new Parliament meets. Mr. Blake, accord- ing to report, has inherited a large property by the death of a relative in Australia; and will probably re- Bide in future in the colony. THE letter from the Queen of Madagascar to the Emperor Napoleon has arrived, and is understood to be unsatisfactory. She does not distinctly promise the indemnity which France claims for the violation the treaty concluded with the late King Radama. PRESIDENT JOHNSQN, it is said, has tendered to John Bright, through Admiral Goldsborough, of the European squadron, a steam-frigate, to convey him to America, should he decide to visit that country-thus recognising him as the nation's guest. This, it is said, was the intention of President Lincoln, also. THE Saturday Review points out that the result of J the recent elections must be very satisfactory to the < peers. As nearly as possible one-third of the Lower < House is composed of the relations and the nominees i of members of the Upper-the triumph of every third ] member, in other words, has been a direct triumph to i some peer, and in most oases to several peers. THERE is good reason to believe that next session will be remarkable for the determined efforts of the Liberation Society, who intend to go to work with renewed zeal and ardour for the abolition of church- rates. The society has resolved on raising £ 25,000 to extend its operations during the next five years, and money towards this amount is fast rolling in. The Liberation party in the House will also be somewhat stronger than last session. WE regret to learn that the state of Mr. Frederick Peel's health has compelled him definitively to resign his Secretaryship to the Treasury. No formal ap- pointment has yet taken place, but there is no doubt that the post will be conferred on Mr. Childers, at present Civil Lord of the Admiralty. SIR HENRY BTJLWER retires from the embassy at Constantinople, his health, we understand, requiring a change. The vacancy, we have reason to believe, will be filled by the appointment of Lord Lyons, whose conduct in the protection of British interests at Washington, during all the complications and diffi- culties of the American war, affords the most tangible proof of masterly ability and discretion. SEVERAL interesting communications have been addressed to Mrs. Cobden by foreign commercial and other public bodies. Two of them are from Bordeaux, -oae from Italy, and the last from the Free-trade Society at Syra. The Italian letter is touching, both from the warmth of its expressions of sympathy, and the admirable parallel which is instituted between Cmear Becoaris and Richard Cobden. All of them show how profound was the grief which Mr. Cobden s death awakened in every civilised country, and how devoutly his memory is cherished. PuBLIC business and private affairs are going on quietly in Sweden, aad the Sovereign of the country is engaged in the pleasant occupation of exchanging courtesies with his Royal neighbours. But still those things which conduce to the prosperity of a nation are not forgotten, and amongst other encouraging facts is the Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures, just held at Malmac—a notable place for woollen goods-and an agricultural show. Both have been under the direct patronage 9f the Crowns of Sweden and Den- VISCOUNT and VISCOUNTESS PALMERSTON has jnst left town for his seat in the country. The noble Vis- count is in better health, and daily takes carriage drives. The Right Hon. Thomas Milner Gibson has left Cowes on a cruise in his yacht. The Right Hon. Sir Charles and Lady Mary Wood, and Miss Wood, have arrived at Homburg, wnere they purpose staying a few weeks. The Duke of Somerset, who arrived in town on Saturday from Portsmouth, left on Monday, accompanied by Lord Edward St. Maur, on his return to Portsmouth, and will embark for Cherbourg in the Enchantress. His Grace is expected to return to the Admiralty shortly. The Right Hon. Sir George Grey left town on Saturday evening for Hallodon, Northumberland.

LITERATURE AND THE ARTS. 0 THE restoration of the famous Eleanor's cross a Winchester was inaugurated last week. DAVID GRAY, the youngpoetof the Luggie,hashad a monument erected to his memory—the result of voluntary subscriptions sent from all classes—over his «rave in the Anld Aisle burying-groand, Merkland, Kirkintilloch. The inscription written by Lord Honghton, is aa follows:— This monument of affection, admiration, and regret is erected to David Gray, the Poet of Merkland, by friends from far and new, desirous that his grave eho^d be remembered amid the scenes of his rare genius and ewly death, and by the Luggie, now nurr^red with the^streams illustrious in Scot ish song. Born 29 th J anuary, 1838; died 3rd December, 1861." ± HER MAJESTY having expressed her throw open every part of Windsor ^ff^Vrcha^ spection of antique ies, the members of the Arc seo- loffieal Institute will hold their next year a Congress in-London. Westminster Abbey and the Tower will eooupy their chief attention; but many excursions can be easily made from London, that for Windsor being the most important.. IT is understood that the reply of the Royal Academy to the propositions of the Government, with regard to the removal of the institution from Trafalgar- square to Bnrlington-house, has been delivered. It is rumoured that the Government suggested a consider- able increase in the number of members to the Royal Academy, and certain other modifications of the laws, such as those with which most of us are familiar, by means of the recent discussion of the whole subject. The questionable infusion of the "lay element" was not, we are glad to bear, even proposed to the academicians. It is said that the answer of the acade- micians to the proposals in question declined the ad- vantages which were proffered, although they included liberty of choice of either the back or front portions of the site of Burlington- house, and that the members expressed themselves ready to make reforms of even more extensive character than those which were sug- gested to them, but not exactly in the'manner which seems tie be doeirtd. THIRTEEN letters by Cardinal Richelieu have been I found in an old cabinet sold recently by a broker of i the Rue de Grenelle. They are to be published forth- W^VMRS. CAUDLE'S Curtain Lectures," under the title of Sous les Rideaux, are about to issue from the press, and will familiarise France with the humour of Douglas ^THE eloquent prayer at the opening of the £ eace Jubilee at the Crystal Palace was written by the Rev. J. A. Emerton, of Hanwell. IT is stated on excellent authority that the sale of Enoch Arden up to the present time has produced to its author, Mr. Tennyson, the sum of Xll 000. THE following new books have been issued during the past week"The President's Words, a Selection of Passages from the Speeches, Addresses, and Letters of Abraham Lincoln;" "The Life, Times, and Scien- tific Labours of the second Marquis of Worcester, to which is added a reprint of his Century of Inventions, 1663, with a Commentary thereon," by Henry Dircks; Essays on the Invasion of Britain by Julius Caaaar; [ the Invasion of Britain by Plautius, and by Claudius Ceesar; the Early Military Policy of the Romans m Britain; the Battle of Hastings. With Correspond- ence." By George Biddell Airy, Esq., Astronomer Royal. (Collected and printed for private distribu- tion.) "The County of Surrey; its History, Anti- quities and Topography. With an Itinerary for the Tourist." (Cassell, Petter, and Galpin.) One of the best things in this volume, says the Athenxum, is the excellent county map, whioh, of itself, is worth the cost of the book. As a guide, the volume ia as good as far as it goes, and for "one and sixpence," it, cannot be expeoted to go in every direction that every. wayfarer would have it. One excellent feature is the brief account of the great families and individuals who have been resident in the county. This is, at least, suggestive, and it excites the curiosity, which it does not fully satisfy. Again, with regard to churches, something less might have been naid of the exteriors, which all can see. and something more of the silent sleepers of note who lie within, and at whose tombs a traveller might desire to rest and meditate. There is a wonderful variety of beauty in this county, and stout young holiday-makers could not do better than walk this home-trip. The outlay would be insignificant, and the pleasure considerable. That is to say, the cost would be small, and the grati. fication great, if English hotel-keepers did not greet pedestrian tourists with such a du haut en bas air, and would only allow them to quaff ordinary Bordeaux at something less than extraordinary claret prices. We ought not to forget, either, the "Hebrew and English Almanack for the Years 5626 and 5627 from the Creation." This work includes not merely the calendars for the two years above mentioned, but most interesting explanations of the origin of the various fasts and festivals observed by the Jewish people. The years 5626 and 5627 from the Creation correspond with the two years inoluded between Sept. 21st, 1865, and Sept. 21st, 1867, the Jewish years commencing and terminating in the month of September. The Christian as well as the Jewish holidays are included in this work. In addition to the varied information given upon the above subjects, the editors have most opportunely presented in the almanack now issued an account of the system adopted by the Jewish community for ensuring the wholesomeness of their animal food. At the present time, when the existence of a formidable cattle plague" has been ascertained, the attention of the Christian community should be drawn to the subject. In each community a board is established, the number of the members varying according to the circumstances of the locality, those members, who are rabbis, attend merely to these matters which pertam to the Mosaic rules; but amongst the duties imposed upon the board is the important duty of inspecting all boasts slaughtered", and ascertaining that they are perfectly sound in health. sound in health.

EISTEDDFOD AND WELSH MUSICAL FESTIVAL. This annual gathering of Welsh bards took place this year at Flint. The president of the day on Wed- nesday was Edward Bate, Esq., and during the day a prize of X5 5a. and a medal were awarded to Mr. J. Roberts, Holywell, Slafurwr." A prize of Xl le. and a medal was awarded to Mr. Williams, Caarwy a, for the best Welsh.apron piece. A prize of 5s. and a medal waa awarded to Mrs. Doctor Dayies, Holywell, for the beat Englyn (epigram) 1 r Golomon (on the dove). A competition in pianoforte playing (females only), the Vesper Hymn, resulted in the prize, C2 2s. and a medal, being divided between Miss Leech and Miss Daviee. This was followed by a competition in singing any Welsh comic song, for which ^the prize (.£1 and a medal) was divided between David Davies and John Rowland Jones. The prize for the best essay (in English) on the "Evils arising from Popular Ignorance," was awarded to Myfanwy." The com- petition in playing on the harp (females only) resulted in deciding that the prize (£2 and a medal) be awarded to both Mrs. Davies and Miss Evans, Mold. The Denbigh string band took.25 and a medal. The prize for the best translation into Welsh of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, £ 5 5s. and medal, awarded to Mr. Owen James, Carnarvon. The first prize for the patchwork quilt, < £ 1 Is. and medal, was awarded to Tersa." For the best composition of a trio, English and Welsh words, a prize of £ 2 and a medal was awarded to Un hoff o Gymru." The next was a choral competition in singing, And the Glory of the Lord," the prize being zElO and a medal, competed for by choirs from Mold, Birkenhead, Holywell, and New- market-tlae prize was won by Birkenhead. The rifle contest opened at ten o'clock on the range of the 5th Flintshire Rifle Volunteer Corps. Thursday night's concert was an immense success, for not only was the monster pavilion densely crowded, but hundreds, probably thousands, were unable to gain admission, though many had travelled miles, in every variety of nondescript vehicle, for the express purpose of hearing Sims Reeves, who has excited a perfect furare of enthusiasm amongst the honest Welshmen. As on the previous evening, the pavilion was lighted with candles and paraffin lamps, and it was somewhat of a novelty to see the great "prince of tenors" singing in a canvas tent, and holding in his hand a "sweltering" wax candle, the effect being considerably heightened when, responding to an encore in the popular national ballad of The Maid of Llangollen," he stood between two volunteer candle bearers." There was again a very numerous attendance at the Eisteddfod meeting on Friday morning, the proceedings of which commenced with a.n address to the president of the day, Mr. P. Ellis Eyton, of Cornist, who replied in a lengthened ad- dress, in which he urged that the original object of the Eisteddfod was the education, not merely of the people, but the educators of the people also. In times past, when reading, writing, and printing were not known, traditions were carried from generation to generation, and history was recorded in the songs of the bards and in the music of the minstrels (hear, hear). It was then that the wandering minstrels went from house to house, supported by the people, to whom they recited deeds of war, acts of courage, and tales of love (hear, hear). It was said that people then set up as bards who had no poetry in their souls, or as musicians without knowing a note of music, and theEisteddfod was therefore instituted for the purpose of conferring degrees upon such bards and minstrels as might be found worthy of them, and of preventing the adoption of that profession by any but duly qualified persons. After the Saxon conquest they heard but little of the Eisteddfod for some time, and in the reign of Eliza. beth a Royal commission was issued by which many of the principal inhabitants of the principality were 11 commanded to hold an Eisteddfod and congress of bards and minstrels at Caerwys, and to confer degrees upon those who were deemed worthy of them. The Saxon invaders, he was happy to say, had left them the institution of the Eisteddfod, and the great Saxon invaders of the present day were the fashionable ladies who graced the assembly with their presence. It was a remarkable fact, that after the lapse of 600 years since the reign of Edward I., who built Flint Castle, their country, although having physically no line of absolute separation from England, yet, maintained its nationality (hear, hear). They stiU preserved their language and their lays; the people still worshipped God in the language of their fathers, and Welsh music was still revered as much as it was in the time of Chadwallader (hear, hear). He was opposed to any attempt to destroy the nationality of the people, for next to the love of God and love of kindred came the love of country (hear, hear). He was by no means opposed to Welshmen learning the English language, but he maintained that they were in no sense worse men, but better, for retaining a knowledge of their own language. He concluded by urging that the future objeots of the Eisteddfodan should be to encourage the cultivation of Welsh literature, and Welsh music, and adapting themselves to the altered circumstances of the times to encourage also the love of industrial art amongst the people by inviting exhibi- tions such as they had had upon that occasion.—The distribution of prizes was then proceeded with. For the volunteer prizes it was announced there were nearly 80 competitors. The first prize of,210 and the Eisteddfod medal, was won by Corporal Cowap, of the 6th Cheshire V.R., who scored 23 points; the second prize of < £ 5 and a medal was carried off by Private Daniel Morris, of the 4th Carnarvonshire V.R. (Port Madox), who made 22 points; the 3rd prize of £3 and a medal was won by Sergeant John- son, of the 6th Cheshire V.R., who made 21 points; and a 4th prize of X2 was awarded to Sergeant Pres- cott, also of the 6th Cheshire V. B., who also made 21 points. Each competitor fired five shots at a 200 yards range, Hythe position, Wimbledon targets (1864), and with the long Enfield Government rifle. There was only one competitor for the prize for the best English History of the County of Flint, and his composition was declared to be unworthy of a prize. A Carnarvon policeman, named Robert Stephen, ob- tained a prize of X3 and a medal for a glee to Welsh and English words. A prize of .£20 and the bardic chair of Powys was offered for the best ode or poem on "Flint Castle and its Memorable Events," but none of the compositions were deemed worthy of the prize, and it was therefore resolved to re-open the competition. The proceedings of the Eisteddfod were brought to a close by a concert, for which there was again an excellent programme, including several of Sims Reeves' most popular songs.

EXTRACTS FROM" PUNCH FUN.' -4-- A Bad Night of it. By a Contributor who (with his wife and babe) has ac- cepted an invitation to spend a day or two at a friend's place in the country. What, about to leave town ?" Yes, we've got to go down to the Thompsons' at Weybridge, in Surrey, For a week at the least, and the wind's in the east, and I'm ill and I'm wheezy, and Weybridge is breezy, and awfully slow, and I don't want to go, but my wife did it all in a hurry; But Thompson is rich, and a bachelor, which is im- portant to me, for his brother, you see, married Polly's mamma (he may swear at his star, for her ma is a dame whom I podgy call), So Jack Thompson's her aunt-no, her uncle. I can't in such weather as this, when you steam and you hiss like an engine, be genealogical. And I'm thinking with dread of that awful spare bed; for you can't sleep a wink, but you lie and you think, when you're stopping in rooms that are new to you, And to ask you to go to a place you don't know, and lay down your poor head in an unexplored bed, when the weather is hot and unpleasant, is not what a good sort of fellow would do to you. You kick and you plunge, and you roll and you lunge, and you shake off the bed-clothes that cover you, With a terrible tickling, torturing, trickling, tingling feeling all over you; You curse and you swear at the garments you wear, and you do all you can to get colder; And then sick of despairing, and cursing and swear- ing, the sleeves you are wearing you roll away up to the shoulder; Then the moon, which you know half-an-hour ago seemed the veriest ghost of a crescent, Is blazing away, turning night into day, and quite round, and extremely unpleasant; So you make up your mind just to draw down the blind, as a step that may lead to your snoring, And you jump out of bed, and you damage your head, and you hollo with dread as you find that you tread on a terrible tack in the flooring; And you look at the clock, and you see with a shock that the night has all gone, and you're far on to dawn, and you're ready to weep, for you've not had a sleep all the while, and it now will be soon light. Then you rattle the shins of your tottering pina (they're as feeble as lath) on the edge of the bath, which, you then are aware, is the only thing there which is not lighted up by the moonlight. Once again into bed, but this time with your head where your feet ought to rest, and your quick- throbbing chest all exposed to such air as there may But that move no sleep charms, and you fling out your arms till a faint little shriek (shrill enough, though it's weak), from a fat little dot in a neighbouring cot, proclaims you've assaulted the baby, Which awakens your spouse, and you then count five thousand to send you to sleep, but a vigil you keep for a half-hour's rout, for she ups and lets out in a way that would frighten a Gorgon; Bat still you go through "eighty-one, eighty-two, eighty-three, eighty-four," and so through many more, while she's talking away till it's far into day, for her mouth's an unwearying organ. So now you will know why I don't want to go to the Thompsons' at Weybridge, in Surrey; For old Thompson's a beast, and the wind's in the east, and I'm ill and I'm wheezy, and Weybridge is breezy and awfully slow, and I don't want to go, but my wife did it all in a hurry. A Seasonable Petition. To the Sportsmen of Great Britain, whether Lords or Commoners, in or out of Parliament, anywhere as- sembled, The Humble Petition of the Grouse and other Game, now under sentence of death for purposes of sporting, Showeth, That your petitioners are about to be pur- sued by your honourable selves, and hunted, caught, shot, wounded and otherwise maltreated, to afford you some amusement. That your petitioners have, from their birth, been fed and taken care of with a view to this maltreat- ment; and, nurtured as they are, unhappily it is not in their power to escape it. That your petitioners have heard from their grand- fathers and grandmothers, who happen to have sur- vived, or from their parents, aunts, or uncles, with whom they now reside, what tortures these their relatives have received in former seasons, through being hunted by bad sportsmen, and fired at by bad shots* „ v. That your petitioners have friends who have been mangled, maimed, and mutilated, instead of being bagged, and who have suffered frightful anguish and the loss of limb or eyesight, by the clumsy way in which they have aforetime been attacked. That such agonies have specially been suffered in battues, where, in the fuss and fluster of what is called a "flush," guns have been let off without suf- ficient aim, and volleys have been fired at so many birds together, that some of them are certain to be wounded by stray shot. Your petitioners would therefore humbly pray that battue- shooting be in future discontinued, as being barbarous and cruel beyond the common run of sport. And your petitioners would further pray that, as far as may be possible, all bad shots be excluded from all future shooting parties, and that sportsmen be in- structed how to judge their distance rightly, and to hold their weapons straight, before they be permitted to come into the field. And your petitioners would further pray that loaders be appointed to load for all unskilful sports- men, and, to prevent such mutilation and mangling as aforesaid, that these loaders be directed to put no shot in the guns. i „ And your petitioners would also pray that, inas- much as what is sport to you is death to them in most cases, care should be humanely taken to make that death quite certain, and, where your petitioners are picked up before dying, they be put out of their misery ere being put into the bag. And your petitioners will ever pray, &c. (Here jollov the jootmarks.)

HINT FOR A BROKEN-HEARTED GARDENER- How to multiply your sorrows. By striking one of your own A CASE OF CONSCIENCE.-The Chancellor of the. Exchequer begs to acknowledge the receipt ot tn en- closed conundrum, in liquidation of nnpafl contribu- tions to the imperial revenue :-Why is the collector of income duty like a carpenter? Because he is a nailer with his tin- tax. A BYE-LAW. —Guard: "Smoking nou allowed, gents." Swell ■. O ah What a the fine ? Guard A shilling, ready money, to the guard, sir. Forty shiUin gs to the company^ payable by instalments, and at your own convenience." SOMETHING IN THE C.C.C.! LINE.— I say, Sambo, where you get de shirt studs r "In de shop, to be sure." Yah, you just told me you hadn t no money." Dat'a right." How you get dem, den ? Well, I saw on a card in de window Collar Studs, so I went in and collar'd dem."

BELIQUBS OF BERNARD PALISSY. A most remarkable discovery has just been made under the gallery of the Louvre, in the Place du Car- rousel, where it is being rebuilt. It is one of the ovens in which Bernard de Palissy baked his celebrated pottery. The Debats says:— Some vitrified bricks first led Mr. Berty to think that he had to do with a potter's oven, and it struck him it might possibly be that of Bernard Palissy, the prince. of potters. He prevailed upon the architect of the palace, M. Lefuel, to have the excavation con- tinued on purpose outside the line that had been traced, and seon they came upon carneaux (openings in the vault of ovens) and upon fragments of gazettes (cases used to put the pottery into the oven); then, fur- ther on, they found large pieces of moulds of figures and of various objects and plants, evidently modelled on the natural substances, and which at first ap- peared singularly strange, and even inexplicable, to any one not thoroughly acquainted with Palissy and his ways. Thus, one of these moulds seemed a fantastical bust, a sort of monster, composed- even to the features of the face and the two eyes- entirely of shells. Others were moulds of human limbs, on which the very hairs of the body were to be dis- cerned; others showed strange costumes and coarse striped stuffs. These seemingly enigmatical relics, as fresh as if they had been placed there only the day before, clearly told their own tale and origin. In the eyes of a connoisseur such moulds could be none other than those of the Termes conceived and executed by Bernard Pallisy for the grotto he constructed in the garden of the Tuileries, towards 1570, by order of the Queen mother, Catherine de Medicis. In a manuscript memoir of the illustrious artist, found in a broker's shop at La Bochelle by M. Beniamin Fillon, and pub- lished by him only four years ago, we find the follow- ing :—" As to the Termes which shall be seated on the rock of the fountains, there should be another, which wnnlrl hA all fftwio/L nf varinnia mavifima "hAI1. namely, the two eyes of two shells, the nose, mouth chin, forehead, cheeks, the whole of shells, as well as all the residue of the body. Item, I would make three or four of them attired, and with their heads dressed in strange manners, which dress and coiffure should be of divers linens, cloths, or striped substances, approaching nature so nearly that no man could tell the difference. And, if it pleased the Queen-mother, I would make certain figures from life, imitating nature so closely that even the little hairs of the beards and eyebrows, of the same size as on the human body, should be observed." Certainly nothing could correspond more closely than this description (written in the quaint old French of that day) with the objects just found. M. Read hastened with the news of the discovery to M. Riooreux, of the Sevres porcelain manufactory, and that gentle- man taken to the spot, was at once convinced. A dozen great moulds were found, without reckoning small fragments, and two days later three or four pieces of enamelled earthenware. It was here, there- fore, that Maitre Bernard dea Tuileries, as he is called on the cover of a copy of his admirable book, dated 1563, and preserved in the Imperial Library, lived and worked before he was cast, in 1590, into the Bastille on account of his religious opinions, after having miracu- lously escaped the massacre of St. Bartholomew's eve. According to the Abbe de Lestoile, his contemporary, he died in misery in that far-farmed but mute witness of the crimes of the French monarchy.

OUR MISCELLANY. A Duel at the Grecian.-lu 1710-11, Addison, starting the Spectator, tells us his own grave face was well known at the Grecian; and in No. 49 (April, 1711), this great observer describes the spleen and inward laughter with which he views at the Grecian the young Templars come in, about eight a.m., either dressed for Westminster, and with the pre-occupied air of assumed business, or in gay cap, slippers, and parti-coloured dressing-gowns, rising early to publish their laziness, and being displaced by busier men to- wards noon. Dr. King relates a story of two hot blooded young gentlemen quarrelling one evening at this coffee-house about the accent of a Greek word. Stepping out into Devereux-court, they fought, and one of them, being run through the body, died on the spot.—Thornbury' s Haunted London. Liberty of the Press in the Sixteenth Century. Some old manuscripts in the Biblio- theque Imp6riale include a decree signed by Charles IX., on the 10th September, 1563, which gives an excellent idea of the situation of the press at Lyons in the sixteenth century. It is as follows: "It is forbidden to publish or print any work, or writing, in rhyme or in prose, without the previous authorisation of our lord the king, under pain of being hanged or strangled." Another clause says: Three times every year a visit shall be made in the shops and printing- houses of the printers and booksellers of Lyons by two trustworthy persons belonging to the Church, one representing the archbishop and the other the ohapter of the said city, and they shall be accompanied by the seneohal of Lyons." An Industrious Squaw.—Milton took the op- portunity, afforded by the visit of an Indian and his squaw, to engage the latter for general washing and house-cleaning. Although it was night when they arrived, the woman set to work immediately, diligently melting snow at a roaring fire for hours. And when about midnight she had obtained a sufficient supply of water, proceeded to scrub blankets and clothes. Milton expostulated, and suggested she should retire to rest, but in vain. The splashing and scrubbing still went on without cessation, and sleep was impos- sible. At length Milton, driven to desperation, jumped out of bed, threw away all the water, ana put out the fire. The squaw thereupon retired to rest in muoh astonishment, and for a time all was still Presently, however, when Bhe imagined Milton had fallen asleep, she quietly got up, and recommenced her labours..The unhappy retainer of her services was fairly beaten, and compelled^ to resign himself to his fate, venting many maledictions on the untimely industry of his servant. -Tlie North-West Passaqe by Land. An Arabian Laughing Plant.-For the first time I met with a narcotic plant very common further south, and gifted with curious qualities. Its seeds, in which the deleterious principle seems chiefly to reside, when pounded and administered in a small dose, produce effects much like those ascribed to Sir Humphrey Davy's laughing gas; the patient dances, sings, and performs a thousand extravagances, till after an nour of great excitement to himself, and bystanders, he falls asleep, and on awaking has lost all memory of what he did or said while under the in. fluence of the drug. To put a pich of this powder into the coffee of some unsuspeotmgjidua is anot uncommon joke, nor did I hear that it: was ever follo wed by serious consequences, though an <1 itymight perhaps be dangerous. I <» two individuals, but in proportw^.ifnot absolutely homoeopathic, still sufficiently minute to keep on the safe side of risk, and witnes^d its operation laughable enoueb but very harmless, i he plant that bears these berries hardly attains in Kaseem the height of six inches above the ground, but in Oman I have seen bushes of it three or four feet in growth, and wide- spreading. The stems are woody, and of a yellow tinge when barked; the leaf of a dark green colour, and pinnated, with about twenty leaflets on either side; the stalks smooth and shining; the flowers are yellow, and grow in tufts, the anthers numerous the fruit is a capsule, stuffed with a greenish padding, in which lie embedded two or three black seeds, in size and shape much like French beanstheir taste sweetish, but with a peculiar opiate flavour the smell II .heavy, aud almost sickly.—Palgrave's Central and Eastern Arabia. Destructive Lightning.—Though the number of persons killed by a single flash of lightning may have been greater, there are, probably, not many in- stances on record of its having covered so great an area as in a family at Eastbourne. The coachman I and butler were outside the house. The former was! struck dead, and the latter was so much affected by the shock that, without being hardly conscious of what I he was doing, he went into the house. Here he found his master insensible, and, as it turned out, very xlg much hurt on the left side. In the pantry he found the footman lying dead on the floor; and a further examination of the house showed that the lightning had been through all parts of it. Everywhere the windows were broken, looking-glasses shattered, articles of furniture torn to splinters, cornices and ceilings cracked, bell wires melted, and so forth. The owner's daughter had a wonderful escape. The electric stream entered into the room where she was dressing, and splintered the bed she had just left, besides doing other damage. It is evident that this was not a case of a small stream passing from one one object to another, inasmuch as the coachman struck dead outside the building. But, large as ttt area was over which this extended, it was not to that at Reichenbach, which town was fired in s maYlY places that the inhabitants had the greatest difficulty in escaping into the country, without beiog able to save any part of their goods; even a of cavalry quartered in the town were unable to save any portion of their ba-,Page.-All the Tear Round. The Origin ot the Art of Cooking.-The art of cooking is as univeiijal as fire itself among tle human race; but there are found, even among savages, several different processes that come under the ral term, and a view of the distribution of these cesses over the world may throw some light on early development of human culture. Boasting broiling by direct exposure to the fire seems the o» method universally knovrn to mankind, but the „ ] some kind of oven is also very general. The V islanders keep fire continually smouldering in h°U° trees, so that they have only to clear away ashes at any time to cook their little .'vi- and fish. In Africa, the natives take PfJ session of a great ant-hill, destroy the 8J> and clear out the inside, leaving only the clay WjL i standing, whioh they make red hot with a fire, so & bake joints of rhinoceros within. But these are usual expedients, and a much commoner form of Søj\"t oven is a mere pit ia the ground. In the # elaborate kind of this cooking in underground hot stones are put in with the food, as in the faBW1^ South-Sea Island practice, which is too well knoWJ* e need description. The Malagasy plan seems to b0^e same, but the Polynesians and their connections v by no means a monopoly of the art, which is pracWr with little or no difference in other parts of the wo'1 The Guanches of the Canary Islands buried meat » I' hole in the ground, and lighted a fire over it, J similar practice is still sometimes found in the i& 3 | of Sardin a, while among the-Bedouins, and in a in North and South America, the process comes C closer to that used in the South Seas.— Tylor's ™ | searches into the Early History of Mankind. The Maids of Merry England.—Mr. Ros^ who is allowed to be a judge of such matters, ø1 t v that the present style of female dress is the IILnl, graceful and artistic ever worn. I quite agree him, and I think it has had almost a magical etfe6 bringing out and setting off the beauty of the of merry England. There are no plain girls days. Positive ugliness ia altogether baniahed the land. All the girls are pretty. Walking ID streets, or driving in the park, or sitting in a bo* the opera, one is kept in a state of continual adn>*j_e tion by the number of pretty girls that meet the^ j on every hand. All this female beauty has of | existed at any time; but I venture to think that > only lately that it has been shown off to the advantage. In these days of economics and art t1: 0f ing we know how to make the most and the b08i-g.; things. Mark what a mine of beauty has oil red I covered in red hair. How many years is it since hair was contemptuously denominated "carrots? ty be carroty was to be a fright, and an allusion to a ca*«"0fy girl, in a song or a play, was sure to raise a \a,nS. derision. But now carrots are the fashion, the The girl with the ruddy looks, instead of plaster J, her hair down, to look like polished slabs of Peters i i granite, combs it out and lets the sun into x J" Btraightway it is a fleece of gold. Golden lock0"7 iif i is to say, the ridiculed •' carrots of another perl°V r are now the admiration of all the men, and the eD all the women. It is no secret. I believe that women are in the habit of bleaohing their dark "1- order co impart to it a tinge of the fashionable mired red. I am informed, too—and I can jj|0 personal testimony to the fact, that red-haired jLjf j who have been on the shelf until they are no I young, are now going off in the matrimonial like wildfire.-All the Year Round. i Sportsmen of the Old Time.—Things 1 done very differently in the past century by jL fashioned squire: his twenty or thirty coup' hounds, and six or seven horses, which afforded ^1 real sport than these flashy establishments 0 if time. We have got now into very luxurious pensive habits moderation and economy altogether pooh-poohed. We must hunt four ot or even six days a week—many would hunt on if they could. The master in a crack country.vjsj keep his seventy or eighty couples of kennel, and fifty or sixty horses in his stable—aod*T^j! of the right stamp, too. His men must be well and if the under-whip's horse be a little groggy ° y; fore-legs, he is at once denounoed a screw, and^ pertinent inquiry reaches the master's ears," Jack be expected to do his work on such v*m those? Then as to the appointments aad dress0 staff, everything must be in tip-top fashion and even to the tie of Jack's neckcloth. This is for carrying all these things into absurd We do not, of course, find fault with the appropriate equipments of man and horse, afPj. »l with the old adage, that what is worth doing is worth doing well." I like to see whips tarn out well shaved, well washed, jjW, dressed at the place of meeting; but workmen, in their woollen cords and mahogany* ) boots, as the lamented Will Goodall, of Belvo^^y peared, when I saw him for the last time trotting ^jjl I with his black and tans from the kennel door.. | Goodall," I aBked before he mounted, give me your receipt for boot-top stuff?" ingly, sir; it is simple enough, and don't writing down: just dip your sponge # copper, and wash them well over; it gives j a good polish of the right colour." Abt Will! he was one of the right sort himself, ef i and out, for a huntsman, although hia rivals border would indulge sometimes the joke at his j —a very far-fetched one—" that when runni^^pgi51,, late at night in the Home Wood, he hung up ji"1 the long drive, that he might see how to hol*9^^opB I over." In his estimation, white leathers over." In his estimation, white leathers a.n pØ1". I', looked wishy-washy upon men of business quite of his opinion. They may do very e gucO gentlemen who have sufficient Btook in han» ° y go artioles, to indulge in a clean pair every day L jjjiioM out hunting, but huntsmen and whip3 have I time to devote tothis pipeclaying work.—'S<^ I Lessons on Hunting. IJ The Cholera: How to Prevent Cop^°i\s» -In the first place, the sanitary condition •-jujfl' |; neighbourhood m which they reside should b of the u k of dlately attended to. This is properly the -Oog^ j local authorities, but it can be rendered too M | effective only by the earnest co-operation various inhabitants. These should see that I00&& or decaying matter is allowed to accumulate o | near their houses; that dust-heaps be removed as possible; that ill the house drains flushed; and thtt the various water-clo .j0 o | sewers are kept dsinfected by the use of 1 lime. In the secoal place, the interiors of .nS& should be kept as dean as possible. o0-fv, q-.rt walls should occasionally be well washed w nge(jc„1 lime water. Soap snd water only should b oanees wood-work, a solution composed of two chloride of lime disolved m a gallon of afterwards applied vhere line wood is olc. b<j of cellars, stables, or oatnouses, &c., all « thoroughly limewastea, and the floors kept tree oi bp offensive matter. *0 decaying refuse ;rBj allowed to remain m cupboards or closet8- -in at f passages, and floors should be also well was. faben least once a week. OK paper-hangisgs should t>e_|. down from the wails, VIKCQ should then be eSpe- J andre papered. Ventiktion should b3 attended ft cially in bedrooms, thwindows of which shouta* t open as much as possibe during fine weather, car et*> < SbO 1, taken th-it the variola artioles of bddtt!g- & blankets, &e., are thoroughly exposed jjofc r Overcrowding should b> avoided wberfl « prevented, the rooms sioaid be effi'iisntiy f There can never be too tsv ch fresh sir).;11 -g(, & [ or workshop. Personalclearmness is C)p. p pensable. Bathing should be frequently rc « j Where this cannot be cone, the body^no, ^0gt, j sponged at least once i week. eje'^ -ng ( and others, whose trad^ are n°i-e« of ojy | should have a good wasl daily. « e9Vec apparel should be kept asclean as Pos- ^p. fot the various portions of unlur clothing, f j* repeatedly changed and oleanset. imp11 oPgi? j drinking purposes should >e free fro gu s6r This is a precaution whiih cann°" o ofcbfr_id^ insisted upon. The ciatens, bu'tts, ine(j sh° Jj0lic voirs in whish water thus tied^is c 0f al repeatedly cleansed.^ baj3ltHjnWi1ole5oinftkei» °! liquors should be discouraged. u u" v,e especially diseased meat, sh<pld it js £ {o°i upon any account. Toomu->rawf 0ook&* 10 All utensils used in the preparation" GaSSeU « I should be kept scrupulous!? clew"* trated Family Paper. trated Family Paper.