Monmouthshire Merlin

THE SLEEPING BLOODHOUXD. SLEEPING V—Yes, but the sleep of death Never again will thy terrible breath Waken the forest when night is still 2; ver again,'on his periloas w y, Shall the breathless fugitive hear the bay, Echoing hoarse over mountain and hill Quiet the limbs, once so fleet and so strong, To bear thee the rough mountain pathways along Dull are the eyes once so watchful and bright. Vainly now striveth the bugle's shrill blast, To rouse thy deep voice, as in dayg that are past— Hushed thy heart's beating, and ended thy might. Ay sleep now, and rest, for thy work is all done-. The quarry is tracked, and the long race is run- The woods for the last time have rung with thy cry." Oh, faithful and brave one Oh, trusty and bold At my feet thou are lying so stiff and so cold- Thou heed'st not his voice, though thy master is nigh I must e'en say, Farewell-it is useless to sorrow When evening falls grey, I shall miss the to-morrow, And vainly may call thee when morning breaks bright, A.h thus, one by one, the thiogs that we cherish 'Neath Time's ruthless band fall too surely, and perish My dog-dear, dead Moro-for ever good night! -St. James's Magazine.

A PERILOUS BALLOON VOYAGE One dull day in autumn, just after noon' a balloon rose into the air at the foot of Cleet Hill-, on the western edge of the great central plain of England, It was inflated with the lightest of gases which chemical skiil could produce; it rose with amazing velocity. A mile up, and it entered a stratum of cloud more then a thousand feet thick. Emerging from this, the sun shone brightly on the air-ship the sky overhead was of the clearest and deepest blue and below lay cloudland -an immeasurable expasne of cloud, whose surface looked as solid as that of the earth, now wholly lost to view. Lofty mountains and deep dark ravines appeared below; the peakes and sides of those cloud-mountains next the sun glittering like snow, but casting shadows as black as if they were solid rock. Up rose the balloon with tremendous velocity. Four miles above earth A pigeon was let lose it dropped down through the air as if it had been a stone. The air was two thin to enable it to fly, It was as if a bark laden to the deck were to pass from the heavy waters of the open sea into an inland unsaline lake; the bark would sink at once in the thinner water. Up, up, still higher The spectrum, when opposed to the sun, showed marvellously clear lines appeared which are invisible in the denser atmos- phere on the earth's surface but as the car swung round in its gyrating upward flight, the moment the direct rays of the sun passed off the prism, there was DO spectrum at all. The air was so pure, so free from the comparatively solid aq aeous matter, that there was no reflected light; the air was too thin to retain or reflect any portion of the rays which fell upon it. And what a silence profound Tie heights of sky were as still as t!ie deepest depths of ocean, where, as was found during the search for the lost of the Atlantic Cable, the fine mud lies aa unstirred from year to year as the dust which imperceptibly gathers on the furniture in a de- serted house. No sound, no life-only the bright sun- shine falling through a sky which it could not warm. Up, -five miles above earth!—higher than the inaccessible summit of Chimboraz) or Dewangiri, Despite the sunshine, everything freezes. The air grows too thin to support life, even for a few minute's. Two men only are in that adventurous balloon,—the one steering the air-ship, the other watching the scientific instruments, and recording them with a rapidity bred of long prac- tice. Suddenly, as the latter looks at the instruments, his sight grows dim he takes a lens to help his sight, and can only mark, from the falling barometer, that they are still rising rapidly. A flask of brandy lies within a foot of him be tries to reach it, but his arm refuses to obey his well. He tries to call to his comrade, who has gone into the ring above: a whisper in that deep stillness would suffice,—but no sound comes from his lips-be is voiceless. His bead droops on his shoulder with an effort he raises it- it falls on the other shoulder; once more, with resolute dfvrt, he raises it—it falls backward. For a moment he sees dimly tbe figure of his comrade in the ring above then sensation fails him,-he lies back, uncon- scious. Some minutes pass-the balloon still rising upwards. Seven miles above earth The steersman comes into the car he sees his comrade in a swoon, and ieels his own senses failing him. He saw at once that life or death hung upon a few moments. The balloon was still rising rapidly it must be male to descend at once, or they were both dead men. He seized, or tried to se ze the valve in orripr to open it and let out a portion of the inflating gas. His hands are purple with the in- tense cold-they are paralysed, they will not respond t) his will. It was a fearful moment. In another minute, in !heir upward flight, he would be senseless ns his com- rade. But he was a bold, setf possessed man, trained in a hundred balloon ascents, and rettdy for everyemer- gency, He seized the valve with his teeth it opened a little-once, twice, thrice. The balloon began to de- scend. Then the swooned marksman heard a voice calling to him, Come, take an observation—try He heard as in a dream, hut could neither see nor move. Again he heard, in firmer and commanding tones, "Take an observation—now then, do try." He re- turned to consciousness, and saw the sttersman stand- ing before him. He looked at his iastrnments; they must have been nearly eight miles up; but now the barometer was rising rapidly — the balloon was de scending. Brandy was used. The aeronauts revived. They had been higher above the earth than mortal man, or any living thing, had ever been before. But now they were safe. Such are the perils which science demands of her votaries, and which they encounter bravely and cheerlully. Such was the memorable balloon ascent of Messrs. Coxwell and Glaisher from Wolverhampton, on the 5th of Sep- tember, 1862. A madness, thousands will say—a peril- ous absurdity, a tempting of Providence, a risking of life for no adequate purpose. Oue minute more of in- action—of compulsory inaction-on the part of the steersman, whose senses were failing him, and the air- ship, with its intensely rarefied gas, would have been floating untended, with two corpses, in the wide realms of space. What would have become of it ? How far it would have ascended with its lifeless freight; how long it would have floated all unseen in the empyrean, who shall say ?-" Scientific daring," in Once a Week.

I refused his invitation-his hignoble bribe." The cheering here was such that I thought the roof would have come down. But I could not help fancying, as an observer, that the meeting was not less proud of the in- vitation than of its laughty rejection. In a few years, however, the popularity of poor Odgers waned. I be- lieve that he owed his final disappearance into obscurity to the dtctumoia. publican who was of a rather patrician turn, in spite of his Radicalism.—" No,-gents," that great man said to a committee, "No,—gents; Odgers wants statiss" So the patriot fell by an aristocratic hand, after all.-From Political Cads," in the Imperial Review. HOLLOWAT'S PILLa aie admirably adapted for the cure of diseases incidental to females. They purify the blood, regulate the secretions, correct all suspended functions, give tone to the stomach, and clear the com- plexion. The first approach of disordered action should be met with appropriate doses of these Pills; whilst taking them no restriction need be placed over the patient. They contain nothing which can possibly prolle injurious to the system. They act by purifying the blood and regulating every organ.—Advertisemmt,

SUBSTANTIAL SPIRITUALISM. Home, sweet home says the Atlas, has proved a very pretty tune indeed for Mrs. Lyon; and her Daniel, now he has come to judgment, wishes, per- haps, he had never been among the lions at all. It must certainly be very trying to have to plead one's own imbecility, even to recover one's consols but if the lady was such a confirmed goose as she says she was, her recovery is quite as marvellous as her delu- sion. Money has power indeed. It makes an old lady with one hand in the grave write herself down a fool on her tombstone with the other and a young man, with all the world, and something over, as he says, before him where to choose," come forward and de- nounce himself as one who kisses only to tell, if, in- deed, what he thus unblushingly tells be true. A miserable spectacle, concerning which it is difficult to say whether age or youth has the worst of it. But as the lady was operated upon through her affectionate remembrance of her late husband, this reveals a good trait in her character that should suffice to defend her from low insinuations, even on the part of the adopted one. A pretty son, of a verity! and little enough, we should think, to the taste of the ghost of the great grandson of the eighth Earl of Strathmore, especially when made by him the spiritual" instru- ment to bamboozle his evidently faithful wife. We have so strong a belief in Scottish honour and in shrewd Scottish sense-especially in re consols- that we most unhesitatingly acquit the shade of Mr. Lyon of being a particeps criminis in the spoiling of his spouse. We should think spiritualism would re- ceive a great blow and heavy discouragement from this exposure. The spirit" of Mr. Lyon has cer- tainly turned the tables on the Home minister of this wilderness of jargon, shameless irreverence, and moral-or rather immoral-mirage. The worst and most dangerous characteristic of the whole absurdity is its utter want of anything substantial enough to grapple with. To contend with it is truly like fighting a shadow, or dodging an ignis fatuus among the tombstones. But now that it has developed so strong an appetite for mortgages, and other such death fruit, and will play upon and pervert tile best feelings of our nature to get at them, "spiritualism," if such it can any longer be called, runs a very great chance of being disowned both by this world and the other, nem. con. We doubt whether, even in these days, any ghost would long maintain its reputation, that developed a strong penchant for the best old port and hothouse grapes; or, far more astounding still, conspired to deprive its own late wife of sixty thou- sand pounds of solid gold coin for its special enjoy- ment, by proxy, in the person of a most utter stranger. If the spirit of fraud and chicanery—the only spirits really at work, it would seem—continue to cling thus desperately to household furniture, it will become the duty of the law to see if it cannot devise a sharp and radical disinfectant for their sole and absolute enjoy- ment and penal use.

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A DEMOCRATIC M.l'.—Has the world yet forgotten I wonder, the illustrious Hiram Odgers, M.P. for the Balls Pond Boroughs? Odgers was a money-lending attorney, who suddenly took a political turn, and re- solved, if possible, to get sixty per cent, out of the British Constitution. Odgers agitated ia his district nobly; the publicans, its dominant class, rallied round him and he was returned. Odgers spoke in the 'Ouse constantly, and soon became a recognized fool of the Assembly. But for a long time this did him no harm in Balls Pond. It was enough there that he did speak, and as for the roars of laughter" which followed, Balls Pond set these down to their member's hutcourous and satirical powers. It once fell to my lot, es a Caddo- grapher, to go to a meeting at which Odgers addressed his constituents. The reception of the patriot was tremendous. He went on, in his own inimitable manner, with much applause, till presently, in a vein still more characteristic, he began to treat of the temptations to which Democratic virtue is exposed at the hands of a licentious oligarchy. Why, gentlemen," he cried "what do you suppose happened to myself ? (deep at- tention) Viscount Broadlands, their great leader, sends me one day a card, asking me to dinner And at what hour, do you think ? Halt-past eight o'clock .'—(shouts of derisive laughter)-a time when all decent people ought to be thinking of going to bed (renewed applause). The Viscount did not even know me. BREAKFAST. — EPPS'S COCOA. The very agreeable character of this preparation has rendered it a general avourite. Invigorating and sustaining, with a refined and grateful flavour developed by the special mode ot preparation applied, this Cocoa is used as their habitual beverage for breakfast by thousands who never before used Cocoa. "Cocoa stands very much higher than coffee or tea," Dr. Hassalt says, "and contains every ingredient necessary to the growth and sustenance of the body." It is made simply by pouring boiling water or milk on the preparation as lold, in ;Ib., il.b. and lib. packets. 16 [11,739

THE POSITION OF THE MINISTRY. The various and complicated considerations sug- gested by the position of the Ministry at the present moment will be found, on analysis, to resolve them- selves into three questions. Is Government by a minority tolerable ? Are Ministers justified in disre- garding the two decisive majorities which have lately been recorded against them ? Have they a right to ask the House of Commons to continue the despatch of public business with a dissolution hanging over its head? Now, of the first of these questions one may say, solvitur ambulando. The thing is done. A Go- vernment which has been in office two years, has car- ried, against a vigorous opposition, so important and extensive a measure as the last Reform Bill, has brought to an eminently successful conclusion a dan- gerous and difficult military expedition, and has con- ducted the foreign policy of this country to the su- preme satisfaction of the public, has already an- swered the general question now mootedT The experiment has been tried, and has succeeded. It is now too late to raise any objection to Government, founded merely on general grounds. Such objections might have been valid at the beginning of last year. And if the Opposition had moved a vote of want of confidence in February, 1867, solely on the ground that Ministers were not supported by a majority, they would have been able to appeal to arguments of which subsequent experience has deprived them. Such a course would not have been strictly constitutional; because a vote of want of confidence, in the absence of any overt act on which to found it, would impugn in effect, the abstract prerogative of the Crown. Prac- tically, however, we dare say this difficulty might have been surmounted and then, if any, was the moment to raise the general objection we have named. It is now, we say, too late. If Government by a minority was tolerated before we bad seen its capabilities, a fortiori, it may be tolerated now, when those capabilities have been triumphantly demon- strated. The second question involves the consideration how far the defeat of Ministers on a single great mea- sure should be taken to indicate that those relations with the House of Commons which enabled them to govern with success for two years have now termi- nated and how far, if that be so, they can defend their own retention of office. Now, in the first place, several members of the Opposition, both above and below the gangway, have said at different times that they did not intend the passage of the Irish Resolu- tions, even in defiance of Her Majesty's Ministers, to be taken as a vote of want of confidence. What they said we presume they meant; and certainly Mi- nisters are entitled to believe they meant it. Upon this hypothesis there is nothing more in this defeat than in any of the defeats they sustained last session, or than in many of the defeats which other Go- vernments have sustained before them without finding it necessary to resign. In 1828, when Parliamentary usage was certainly not laxer than it is now, the Duke of Wellington's Go- vernment was beaten by a majority of forty- four on no less a question than the Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, yet the Duke of Welling- ton kept his place. Lord Melbourne's Government was frequently defeated, both before and after the celebrated Bedchamber Plot," when he did make a feint of going out yet Lord Melbourne kept his place. So far, therefore, these divisions are in no way decisive of the point. But accepted as a distinct declaration of hostility by the present House of Com- mons, they assume, of course a different aspect, and we have then to inquire whether Ministers can con- stitutionally disregard such a declaration of opinion. The precedent in their favour is, of course, that of Mr. Pitt, who was met with much the same kind of abuse, "unsupported calumny and intemperate in- vective" he called it, as has been showered on the head of Mr. Disraeli. Now which was in the right? the accused or the accuser ? And on this point we are happy to find that a high constitutional authority is on our own side in thinking Mr. Pitt's view of the constitution, and not Mr. Fox's, the correct one. In his Life of Mr. Fox, Lord Russell draws the very distinction which Mr. Disraeli, we suppose, would draw, between the House of Commons in general and the House of Commons in particular; in other words, between the general principle of Ministerial responsi- bility, and the application of that principle to a given crisis. The following are the noble Earl's words:- "Mr. Fox attempted to reduce the Court to surrender to the majority of the House of Commons. But, while he was undoubtedly right in maintaining that no Ministry could conduct public aflairs with advantage to the country unless they had the confidence of that House, he failed to perceive, or lie chose to be blind to the truth, that there is a wide difference between the House of Commons existing at any particular moment and the House of Commons as a part of the constitution. He always argued as if Mr. Pitt were defying the authority and advice of the House of Commons, when he was only refusing to acknowledge the supreme power of the House of Commons elected in 1780. Had the result of a dissolution been to confirm the decisions of that House, there can be no doubt Mr. Pitt would and must have retired." By those who regard Earl Russell as an unimpeachable authority on such matters, this passage must be held to be decisive. A temporary disregard of the majo rity of one House of Commons by a Minister who is contemplating an early appeal to another, is here distinctly recognised as a legitimate and constitu tional policy. We now come to the third question on our list and here, too, we are happy to say that our own opi-; nion is fortified by the same high authority. Mr. Pitt distinctly required the House of Commons to carry through the business of the session without commit- ting himself to any declaration at all on the subject of a dissolution. Then, as now, Ministers were accused of trying to intimidate Parliament by keep ing the prospect of dissolution suspended over its head. Then, as now, were heard denunciations of a" penal dissolution." But what says Earl Russell upon this point?—If Mr Fox had maintained that a Ministry ought not to continue unless it should ac- quire the confidence of the House of Commons, and that doctrine had been practically overthrown by the decision of the country, the Constitution, as it had been understood since the accession of George I., would have been virtually set aside. But the doc- trine set up went beyond this and affirmed that the power of dissolution did not belong to the Crown. No advantage would have flowed from the establish- ment of this opinion for, had the King taken Mr. Fox back for the remainder of the session, it was denied, that at the end of it he might have sent for Mr. Pitt, and, by his advice, have dissolved the Parliament. On the other side, there was some appearance of assuming for any existing House of Commons power beyond that which had been assigned to them, of controlling the Crown by the votes of an ascertained majority." Lord Russell, therefore, evi- dently subscribes to the doctrine, that it is perfectly open to the Crown to reserve to itself the right of dissolution at any period of the Session which it shall consider most expedient for the purpose. To sav that a Ministry chosen by the Crown may not govern permanently in defiance of the will of the House of Commons is one thing. To deny that the Crown may appeal to the people from the verdict of any particular House of Commons is another. Lord Russell accepts the first, but repudiates the second, of these negations and infers very sensibly that the right of the Crown being once admitted, the mode of exercising that right cannot be in any way controlled. The assumption of such power of control would re- duce the Sovereign to a cypher, and remove one of the most valuable safeguards for the integrity of the British Constitution which we still possess. Just as in all conflicts between the House of Lords and the House of Commons, it is practically the rule for the former to give way as soon as the feeling of the coun- try has declared itself in favour of the latter beyond all chance of reconversion, but not .ill then so, in any difference of opinion between other estates of the realm, the same wholesome rule should be observed. By all means let the Crown accept the ultimate ver- dict of the people. But let that verdict be one based upon a well-matured, well-digested consideration of the whole case. Instantaneous submission to the majority of the moment which is not required from the House of Lords, ought not to be expected from the Crown. And Ministers who, bad they consulted only party interests would have done well to resign at once, deserve the gratitude of the public for their patriotic vindication of a great constitutional prin- ciple. Conservatives have often been taunted with giving way too late. We trust on this occasion they will not rush into the opposite extreme, and give way too soon.—Atlas

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I MR. GLADSTONE'S SPONTANEOUS CONCURRENCE.. It is one of the fortunate peculiarities of Mr. Gladstone's temper that, even when he most attempts to be disingenuous, he cannot refrain from being in- discreet. A striking example of this combination of qualities was afforded by him in the recen debate, in which he took upon himself to repudiate the existence of a coalition between himself and a class ot politicians with whom English statesmen have not hitherto been supposed to act, even for the sake of obtaining office. He would have done well to have contented himself with the polite observation that this charge brought against him by the Premier was not the truth." But thongh the unparliamentary rudeness of the language seems to have perfectly satisfied the right honourable gentleman—^hose good manners are, perhaps, naturally becoming somewhat corrupted by his habitual communications with Mr. Bright-its brevity far from contented him. Having informed the House what was not the truth," he then pro- ceeded with infelicitous ingenuity to inform them what was. While we admit of no conspiracy," he said, we claim, at least I claim, to be in spontane- ous coneurrence with that Party all over the world, by whatever name it may be called, which, in any country, is endeavouring, for the sake of social justice, to break down the system of religious ascendancy." The meaning of this last phrase he developed more fully by forthwith speak- ing of" the tyranny of the State Church in Ireland," and the oppressive privileges of the Established Church but, intimately aware that it would baffle even his rhetorical dexterity to bring bome tyranny or oppressive privileges to the Anglican Establish- ment, he cleverly diverted the attention of his hearers from what he was himself proposing to do in England and Ireland, to what was being done by the Constitutional Party in Austra, whom he accurately described as endeavourind to obtain a relaxation of the severe restrictions imposed under the recent laws of that country in consequence of the Concordat with Rome." He thus hoped to leave upon their minds the agreeable impression that he was in spontaneous concurrence with a distinguished and truly Liberal section of Continetal politicians, wbose efforts have been applauded in this country, by none more warmly than by Conservatives, and in no journal more heartily than in this. We are bound to say that, in all our re collection of oratorical subtlety and contrivance, we can recal nothing so flrgrantly impudent or so fla. grantly false. What are the oppressive privileges," and what is the tyranny" which Mr Gladstone can impute to the Church of England and Ireland, that have anything in common with the astounding pre- tensions of the Church of Rome, now so justly de- nied and ignored in the Civil Marriage Bill and the Public Schools Bill, accepted by the Austrian Reich- srath ? We are glad to know, and Englishmen will doubtless be glad to know, that Mr. Gladstone re- gards the religious ascendancy" of the Church of Edgland and of the Church of Roma as identical, and equally offensive to social justice but we shall be more than surprised if he finds anybody to be in spontaneous concurrence" with him on this subject. But, in fact, the attempt to ally the two things was nothing but a rhetorical ruse, intended to screen his real position, and to lead the House and the country away from the consideration of who they really are with whom the right honourable gentlemen is work- ing day and night, for the destruction of the Irish Church, and the re-possession of political power. Fortunately, all the unwarrantable parallels and all the disingenuous oratory in the world will not succeed in hiding from us the truth, now every hour becoming more and more apparent. The Liberation Society rushes in opportunely to solve all remaining doubt, and demonstrate with infallible frankness that Mr. Gladstone's "spontaneous concurrence" is with Mr. Miall, Mr. Baines, and Mr. Spurgeon. We are so rarely indebted to the Morning Star for any- thing, that we take this opportunity of returning it our most grateful thanks for its ample and interesting report of the Eighth Triennial Conference of that, at present, exultant Society. Our immediate object," said the Chairman, "is the disenthralment of religion from State control throughout the Bri- tish realm." The speaker then indulged in the apostrophe—" Great and illustrious Gladstone May you live to cairy on this work to a conclusion Loud and long continued cheering, we are told, greeted this outburst, which affords the key-note to all the speeches delivered upon the occasion. Another gentleman "warmly eulogised" Mr. Gladstone's course, and prophesied that it would preface the way for the abandonment of the English Establish- ment also." Mr. Baines, less confident, but taking precisely the same view, declared that the Society had not achievements to glory over yet, but they had advances to be thankful for." After a lament- able display of utter senility by Sir John Bowring, who had every reason to thank the meeting for listening to the words of an old man," Mr Spurgeon, young and vigourous, stepped upon the scene. If, after this, anybody can doubt who are the people with whom the right honourable gentleman is in "spontaneous concurrence," he must indeed be curiously sceptical. Emulating the chairman, Mr. Spurgeon declared Mr. Gladstone to be one of the noblest Englishmen alive, and he hoped that God would long support hiifi nntil everything like Episcopal ascendancy should be cast to the winds." It may perhaps be thought that Mr. Spurgeon's wishes are of too effervescing a character to be taken as foreshadowing Mr. Gladstone's inmost intentions. But there were more sober individuals present. Mr. Whitworth, M.P., trusted the division of the other night was a fair precursor of the fate of the Established Church in this country, and believed that another ten years would bring the English Church as near to disestablishment as the Irish, Church." Sir F. Crossley delivered himself of similar sentiments, and Mr DuncanM'Laren, ano- ther member of Parliament, compared the leader of Radical Gpposition with the Prophets of Old and the early reformers, and added that, when Mr Glad- stone spoke, it was with a purpose, and tbey"-i. e. the Liberation Society-" could not do better than trust him." Sir John Gray, who averred that he cculd not find adequate words to thank such a man as Mr. Spurgeon, went so far as to assert that he knew personally Mr. Gladstone was as anxious for disendowment and disestablishment." But the hero of the proceedings, Mr. Miall himself, was even more distinct still. He actually so far forgot the presence of reporters, and what is yet due to hypocrisy, as to to tell his hearers that Mr Glanstone was endeavour- ing to show that he was making a change far less in its magnitude than it really was, but that they mnst not be misled by this little piece of pardonable political strategy. Mr Gladstone's small arrange- ments," he said, were necossary in order to ease the transition fram one period to another; but his proposal, however it may be described, in all its essential features corresponded exactly with the demands which the Liberation Society had always made." We think we have quoted enough to show what the Party" is, with which Mr. Gladstone is "in spontaneous concurrence." It is not the Austrian Constitutionalists; it is not Baron von Beust and the famous Cabinet of Doctors it is not the opponents of Romish Concordats and Papal pretensions it is no other than the Liberation Society, "whose imme- diate object," according to its Chairman of the other night, "is the disenthralment of religion from State control throughout the British realm After this, let us have no more hypocrisy, no more circuitous language; in plain words, no more dishonesty. Let us fight in the light of day. Mr. Gladstone hungers for office, and he is in "spontaneous concurrence" with anybody who will help him to get it.-Abridged from the Imperial Review.

POPE AND PAGAN. The Dean of Westminster once made Convocation angry by describing with disagreeable minuteness the Pagan origin of the ecclesiastical costumes which are so precious to Ritualists, and which create such a stir in these times. In a paper he has published in one of the May magazines he subjects some characteristics of the Papacy to the same trying process. The effect to many will be curious. The Pope in his association with the old classical world, is not at all like the Pope as the chief oracle of Christendom. In Dean Stanley's representation he is a museum of curiosities, and the ceremonies to which importance is attached are insignificant- In these things the Holy Father has acted merely as the shoal which like the island in his own Tiber has arrested the straws of former ages as they floated down the stream of time." The white gown, which is the ordinary dress of a Pope, is the common clas- sical dress of all ranks in Roman society, worn before the difference between lay and clerical costume had sprung up and perpetuated in the head of the clergy from their longer adherence to ancient habits. The formidable crosier of great ecclesiastics is not the symbol ot the priesthood against the State, nor even the crook of the pastor over his flock, but simply the walking stick, the staff of the old man, of the presbyter, such as appears always in the ancient drama of Greece and Rome, and in the fa- mous riddle of (Epidus. It is the symbol of old age and nothing besides. The chair of state, the sella gestatoria, in which the Pope is borne aloft, is the ancient palanquin of the Roman nobles, and, of course, the Roman princes. The red slippers which he wears are the red shoes, campagines, of the Roman Emperor. The kiss which the faithful imprint on those shoes is the descendant of the kiss first im- printed on the foot of the Emperor Caligula. The fans which go behind him are the punkahs of the Eastern Emperors, borrowed from the Court of Persia. The Pontifex Maximus," from whom the name by which the highest ecclesiastical character of the Pope is indicated, was not the Jewish Hirrh Priest, but the Pagan dignitary whose duty it was to conduct all public sacrifices, preside at the assem- lies and games, and scourge to death any one who insulted the Vestal Virgins. The word bishop," episcopus, was taken, not from any usage of the temple or of the synagogue, but from the officers created in the different subject-towns of Athens, bor- rowed from the Grecians. The word ordo (our holy "orders") was the name of the municipal senate of the empire. The word and idea of a diocese" was taken from the existing divisions of the empire. The Pope's "Temporal power" is in no way the result of the connection of Church and State, but belongs to that feudal and princely character which was shared by so many great prelates of the middle ages. When the Pope is seen surrounded by his Swiss guards, or defended by his Chassepot rifles, we must regard him as "the last of the brotherhood of the fighting, turbulent, courtly prelates of the Rhine, of the Prince Bishop of Durham, or the ducal Bishop of Osnaburgh." Whether Dean Stanley is right or not in his belief that lessons of charity and wisdom are taught by considerations of this kind, it is certain that they possess strong historic and anti- quarian interest.-Express.

THE REV. W. M. PUNSHON IN AMERICA.—Rev. Wm. Morley Punshon, fraternal delegate from the British Wesleyan Conference to the General Con- ference of the M. E. Church, and President elect of the Canadian Wesleyan Conference and the Wesleyan Conference of Eastern British America, reached this port by the Scotia on Wednesday of last week. The voyage was stormy and rough, but MR Punshon was in good health and spirits as was also his son, a youth of about fifteen years, who accompanies him On lauding he was met by several friends, including some members of the Reception Committee, who cordially greeted him and accompanied him to the residence of John Elliott, Esq., who insisted on making him his guest. On Thursday Mr. Punshon visited the Book Room, and in the evening, yielding to the urgent entreaty of Dr. Harris and others of the committee having the matter in charge, preached a sermon in connection with the dedication of St. John's M. E. Church in Brooklyn. The sermon, referred to elsewhere, was in harmony with the high reputation of Mr. Punshon in England, and was lis- tened toavitli special pleasure by the large audience present. Later in the evening the Reception Com- mittee appointed by the Preachers' Meeting, and consisting of Drs. Curry and Mattison, and Revs. Pease, liidgaway, Watkins, and King, met at the residence of Mr. Elliott and gave him a formal and hearty greeting. Dr. Mattison, on behalf of the committee and preachers and laymen of New York and vicinity, in a neat speech welcomed him to our hearts, homes, and pulpits. Mr. Punshon responded, pleasantly and fully reciprocating the cordial greet- ings which he had received. Numerous ministers and laymen were present. On Friday Mr. Punshon left for Montreal, where he was booked for a pulpit service on Sunday. On Sunday next, May 3, he is to preach the baccalaureate sermon at the Convo- cation of Victoria College, at Cobourg on the following Sunday he will dedicate the new Wesleyan Centenary Church at Hamilton, and the day after will leave for the General Conference at Chicago.— New York Christian Advocate. Nature and Art.The Chinese are proverbial for dexterity and cunning, consequently it is not sur- prising that most of the tea they send to England is got up," or coloured, to make the withered leaves appear equal to the best, a custom affording extra profit to the seller, but mi-leading the consumer as to the value. Horniman and Co London, having for many years found it advantageous to secure lasting pre- ference, by importing Tea without any powdered colour on its surface, keeping entirely to the choice spring growths, that have no worthless brown leaves to be disguised with a coat of powdered mineral c ¡lour, The list of AGENTS who sell Eorniman's delicious and strong tea, is advertised in this paper.

THE RITUAL COMMISSION. Writing oi the recommendation contained in the second report of the Commissioners that a speedy and inexpensive remedy" should be provided against important variations in the form of public worship in the Church, the London Review says-It is a striking proof of the danger of delay in such matters that these proposals, admirable as they are, and dictated both by justice and common sense, have an air of hardship about them, which could not have been pleaded five and twenty, or twenty years ago. During that period it is unquestionable that the number of congregations who are favourable to Ritualism has much increased, There are many congregations in which there is a majority in favour of candles, vestments, and incense. Are these to be deprived of what they consider conducive to the devotional spirit at the instance of a churchwarden or of parishioners belonging to the minority of the congregation ? If Jaw is to have any weight, if the uniform practice of the Church prior to the date of these innovations is to determine the answer to this question, there is no doubt that it will be, Yes." The Ritualists can no more than any of her Majesty's other subjects be allowed to take ad- vantage of their own wrong. In a matter of this kind, time is no justification of a false position. If the usages introduced by the Ritualists are illegal, the fact that they have obtained considerable footing in the Church is no reason why they should be allowed to remain there. The hardship therefore involved in depriving the majority of a congregation of candles and incense, is on a par with that which a man suffers who, having taken what does not belong to him, is obliged to give it up. There is, however, on the part of some four of the twenty- three Commissions s who have signed the Report, such a reluctance to sanction the remedy to which the remaining nineteen have committed them- selves, that they have thought it neces- sary to explain and qualify their signatures. The Dean of Westminster aud Mr. J. D. Coleridge, hold- ing that there has ever been and ever must be two parties in the Church of England—one caring much for outward observance and ceremonial, and the other careless about and even hostile to them—consider that, if the Church of England is to reman the national Establishment of a free country, room for both must be found in it, as far as it is consistent with general uniformity in such matters as may be deemed essential." The use of incense and of lighted candles they hold not to be essenrial matters. Again, the Bishop of Oxford and the Dean of Ely dissent from the remedy proposed in the Report, because they cannot approve of any attempt to stereotype by legislation for perpetual observance any use not actually enjoined;" because" such legislation even thirty years ugo would have prohibited much which is now generally adopted, and all but universally ap- proved;" because the attempt to introduce such a new rule of ornaments for the Established Church would be dannerous and because they are con- vinced that the ritual of the Church must be regu- lated by living authority, acting, as such authority always mnst act, under a strong sense of in- dividual responsibility, and under public obser- vation, checked by "the prevalence of good sense and good feeling in each parish." The Ritualists cannot but be pleased at these dissen- tients from the most important part of the Report but the vast majority of the members of the Church will agree with the nineteen Commissioners who have signed the report Iwithout any qualification. The argumont that the Church of England may in- clude persons entertaining a considerable variety of beliefs, and that its Articles were framed with that object has been pressed to an undue length. It was, no doubt, the intention of those who framed the Articles to give them as much elasticity as they would bear, so as to embrace as many of the population as possible. But it could not have been their intention to say black was white, or that it made no difference whether its members held distinctly opposite beliefs m essential points. Nor can it be said that the Commissioners are guided in forming their opinions by a less spirit. They say that The National Chureh may well include men of varying shades of opinion so long as they combine in a conscientious icceptance of her recognised formularies and ap pointed rites." There is no narrewness in this. One jould not desire a greater freedom of conscience than :he right to put any doctrinal interpretation you )lease on the formularies and ritos oi the Church, so ong as you aceept them as adequately symbolising Jut interpretation. Such a license is in truth almost atitudinarian and it brings out in strong relief the jorition of the Commissioners, that all members )f the Church being expected to join devoutly in me common form and order of service, are, as we lonceive, entitled to expect that no unaccustomed orrn be used, giving to the service a new tendency tnd significance, by which the devotion of many is mpeded."

At a meeting held recently in Edinburgh for the Im> irovement of the Condition of the Poor, the Rev. Hanna described the following scene A father lies, leaving grown up sons. By membeiship in two riendly societies they becarne entitled to receive £10, which waerspent in drink before the buriul. The sons then ook their father's clothes, pawned them, and spent what hey got for them in drink. The mother havmg re- uonstrate^, she was told it she did nut hold her tongue hey would do with her as they had done with the dead Ind they did it. They took off her clothes and pawned tieui, and sent her to bed. Next came the pawning of he furniture, which they disputed about and in order o settled this dispute, what did these men do ? They lrigged the dead boiv from the coffin, set it up against lie wall, having previously agreed that, when it was ha ken, if the lieau ieii in this way the one wis to gain, nd if it fell trlat WhY the other would be the gainer. BBPSUBWH OAOHSVHO RKWOEEOM W I D U ]) R H E I N E L B Y A U G li D Y 0 S K B N A Is E E It saves time, labour, iinuney; makes bread and pastry more nutritious and enables dyspeptic persons to eat them with impunity. Housekeepers are requested to try the above Powder, which has been known so long for its utility in raising bread instead of yeast. Thousands of dyspeptic persons, who, through the use of UOI wick's Baking Powder, are no longer troubled with indigestion and wh", previously to the introduction of it, were unable to eat puddings or pastry, can bear testimony to its making those luxuries more delicious, and to its depriving them of ali indigestible properties. Dr. Hassall, the celebrated analyst to the Lancet, recommeuds Borwick's Baking Powder as efficacious, perfectly wholesome. and tntirely free from alum. May be had of all grocers and < herniate, 11603 Mas, S. A. ALLEN'S WORLD'S HAIR RESTORER OR DRESSING never fails to quickly restore Gray or Faded Hair to its youthful colour and beauty, and with the first application a beautiful gloss and delightful fragrance is given to the Hair. It will cause Hair to grow on Bald Spots. It will promote luxuriant growth. FALLING Hair is immediately checked, THIN Hair thickened. BALDNESS prevented. It oaakes the Hair rich, soft, and glossy. It invigorates, thereby strengthens the Hair. It keeps tha Head cool and clean. It removes all scurf and dandruff. It contains neither oil nor dye. It will not soil white cambric. In large Bottles—Price feix Shillings. ZYLOBALSAMUM (MRS. A.ALLEN'S) far excels any Pomade or Hair Oil.—Words cannot describe the gloss, the silkiness, the luxuriance, the flowing wavy beauty of the Hair that is dressed with this preparation. Its early use on Children's Hair will insure an abundant and bountiful supply from Youth to Old Age. In large Bottles -Price Three Shillings. Sold by most Chemists aad Per. fumers. European Depot and Sales Office: 26S, HIGa HOLBORN, LONDON. Sold by J. Young and H. L. Wil- liams, cheiuiBts, Newport. MORE CURES OF DISORDERS OF THE CHEST AND LUNGS, BY DR. LOCOCK'S WAFERS. From Mr. Williamson, Medical Hall, Hunslett-, Leads, Dec 10, 1867. I have had reported to me, and have seen their bene. ficial effects for years, in cases of Consumption, Asthma, Coughs, &c„ Indeed, the effects of your deservedly po- pular Wafers are most wonderful. I could recite nu- merous marvellous instances of their beneficial, and as it were magical influences, and 1 with confidence recommend them." DR. LOCOOK'S PULMONIC WAFERS give instant relief to asthma, consumption, coughs, and all disorders of the breath and lungs All throat affections are immediately relieved by allowing one occasionally to dissolve in the mouth. To Singers and Public Speakers they are invaluable for clearing and strengthening the voice, and have a pleasant taste. Price Is I J,I, 2s 9d, 4s 6d, and lis per box. Sold by all Druggists. 1-4 GALVANISM II, Nervous Exhaustion, Pains, Rheumatism, aud Debility, Gout, Sciatica, Lumbago, Cramp, Neuralgia, and Liver Complaints, Nervous Deafness, Epilepsy, Indigestion, Functional Disorders, &c.-On Loan. For ascertaining the efficacy, a Test of real Volta-Electric Self-applicable Chain Bands, Belts, and Pocket Batteries, will bel sent gratis for a week, Prices from 5s. to 22s., according to power, Combined Bands for restoring exhausting Vital Energy, 30s. to 40s- Pam- phlet post free. J. L. Pulvermacher, Patentee, No. 200, Regent- street, W., London (12,151.

HOME-MADE SUPERPHOSPHATE.—I use a ton of ground hones, costing last year 45 dols., testing9 bones invariably with sulphuric acid to see that i t not cheated in them. Half a ton of proof (60°) J costing 45 dols. the half a ton. A ton of unle«^: hard wood (oak and hickory) ashes, costing per bushel. A ton of woods mould or fine well*10 barn-yard manure. The ton of bone is vat by pouring on a ton of water by the bucketful,^ stirring with a large wooden hoe until the whole of bone is thoroughly dampened. I leave it for three days thus wetted. Next I pour in the half^ of vitriol, mi*ed with half a ton—an equal bulk —of water. This mixture is made in the m and is worked b.y the bucketful at a time in previously wetted bone. It takes two men two with wooden hoes or drags (such as are used ing away snow) to thoroughly saturate the bone the vitriol. I then leave the mass alone for two by which time the whole has become a tnassofp°'C all the bone being completely dissolved, so as to cf^. ble between thumb and finger. I next work 'a ton of ashes by the bucketful, taking care becomes thoroughly and evenly mixed with the n Lastly, I work in the tons of woods mould by "J bucketful in the same way. The fertiliser is 4 finished, and fit for use in a week at farthest, it is dry. It will be necessary, before using it, torf it through a cob crusher or iron mill, or to pound tions of it ia a trough—a work that requires 1'^ time and labour, otherwise it will be too lumpy I drying. The vat I use is made of 2 inch pine caulked with tow, and pitched over the seams, torn of which sets on three pieces of 3-inch scaD^'J notched so as to receive it, and kebed or wedged> It holds four tons of the fertiliser when conopl6^^ Its cost is mainly that of the plank, tow and pi^ f quired, and perhaps a day's labour of the man pi it together. I use it iu the winter in mixing ci^ J straw, Mangel Wurzel, and crushed corn, for ho^ horned stock, and sheep. It pays for its cost 10 ovty every year in saving of stock food. The **5 cost of this fertiliser—transportation of the to my farm and labour in composting included— more than 30 dollars per ton. Pound per pou^j goes as far and acts as well with me, on any crop8*. say 30 dollars per ton commercial fertiliser I can H [The dollar is nearly 4s. 2d. English fV- D. Wallace, in the "Albany Country Gentleman, OUR FOOD PROSPECTS. — The limes CONTAIN^, communication from Mr. Kains Jackson, showing^ available data bearing upon our food prosp^ between now and the commencement of the harvest. The general conclusions are as follows 1st, In the United Kingdom, in France, andl almost all countries, the seed time promises, frofl^j great success, universal plenty. 2nd, Navigation commenced this season at an unusually early even the Sea of Azoff being now telegraphed as opf; 3rd, Current prices, even if reduced 10s. per qua^ would be still high enough to command stocks wherever they could be found. 4th, H other countries which have competed with EasKl are one or two months nearer to harvest dji we are. Already Egyptian Wheat of the new "J is offered for future sale, and may proba^ be shipped in June. Algiers, Southern Italy, Spjv and California, &c., will know enough of their P^ pects at the end of the same month to affect by grams the English markets; and the moment bUÝ J shall know there is safety in the future, the valufl grain will fall iu Mark Lane, although two or$,1 months must elapse before the new corn can arri*6' s The Farmer. |

GARDEN .OPERATIONS' HARDY FRUIT GAEDEN.. FFL All necessary foresight must now be brough1 play in regard to forming the necessary stra^e (51^ runners, for the purpose of growing good early pl^eT for forcing next year. Old plants intended to A them should have a good mulching with well deC»? t manure, and be occasionally well watered vvittl j, strong liquid manure. Secure "ruaners" from 511 e# plants only as show plentifully for fruit. PEARTFE t attached to walls, it will be seen, are in instances now pushing large quantities of breast though the practice is customarily followed J allowing this to remain until such time as the at the base has become well hardened, I advise be removed by occasional pinchings back to commenced forthwith, for nothing can be GAINED6] allowing useless shoots to dram away the W resources of the trees. When they are rena°vJ towards autumn, it is then too late for the eyes* their base to form flower-buds, whereas if a syste^ of pinching back—summer pruning, ia fact> j followed, the hope is that a more perfect recipr°cjZ will exist between the roots and branches a stance which will induce the less constant of masses of superfluous wood, wliich require ing annually, the practice in itself entailing each tree the necessity of constant repetition of balancing all its in and outgoing resources. Especi8■ needful will this system of summer pruning be$ 11 young trees which have not yet finshed the spac t allotted to them. Thus only can due encourage^6 be given to the final shoots to grow freely, quickly furnish the places for which they are lllteDde HARDY FLOWER GARDEX. 1'5 The two beautiful variegated forms of poa trl and dactylis glomerata should now be looked C" fe fully through. It is to be regretted that tbey each a great tendency to drop their variegation, f to revert to their weedy noimal form. The bette plan is, in such instances—and they are numer»i's' fear—to shake all the soil from each tuft; remove green wholly, root and all, and repet separately i" small pots with not over rich soil. hardening off by moderate exposure nightly, wte11 K is not anticipated any frost will occur, all pla"^ intended to be bedded out. Einist pottino 0* amaranthuses, and all the late struck cuttings. is only possible to keep them iu separate pots fortnight, much benefit will accrue, by simply afford ing full play to the air around them. I H j caution all who have not a superabundant suppiy °.t i '• bedding stuff' against beginning to ''bed out" 1^7 [ perfect immunity from fiost may fairly be anticipate* The'• 20th of May" we admit almost universally f be a safe date the fact being that rarely has»W j frost which injures been experienced after the 1^ of this month. A few hardier subjects, such K j Centaureas, Cineraria maritima, Calceolarias, the like, might be placed in about the latter date, which will aid somewhat in bringing to a close final planting out, and give all the chance of a wore simultaneous start in combination. KITCHEN GARDEN. W Top the earliest Peas when in full flower, and e!i podding is a desideratum. Continue to earth advancing crops of Potatos, which should at this sea son be done effectually, as a protective precauti0 against any frost which may ensue, as well as assistance in tuber forming. The earliest sowing Dwarf French Beans will likewise be showing throQ% the ground, and should be well earthed up in H*. manner, and for a similar purpose. A slight sowi^P of Walcheren and Cattell's Broccoli might again made for a successional supply. Turnips should^5 be sown again for a like purpose. I advise steepi^ some part of the seed for half an hour in luke-wa1"^ water before sowing—especially in dry weather 1 will come up at different times, and so give a bette chance of an ultimate crop. Hoe and thin out earliest bed of Onions, and run the hoe between of all similar seed beds as soon as the plants sb° well above ground. Stirring the soil around seedling plants has an almost magical effect in gard to the aid it affords in inducing a spee growth.

PRIMARY REASON FOR THE MEDICAL ESTIMAT* OF DR. DE JONGH'S LIGHT-BROWN COD LIVER Thia pure ami genuine Oil, in consequenee of invanably satisfying all scientific chemists, when be jecttid to an elaborate analysis, that it contains in j fullest proportions all the essential medicinal CODsutll ød of thia powerful remedy, has, from actual use experience, acquired the confidence and secured preference of the medicil profesbLin. Dr. Lankes^j F.R.S, Coroner for Centeral Middlesex, observes: g onsider that the purity and genuineness of this Oil secured in its preparation by the personal attention ot good a chem'.st and intelligent a physician aa Dr» Jongb and Dr. Banks, Kings Professor of | Practice of Physic at the University of Dublin, rema* 9 —"The fact of so able and accurate an observer as Dr Jongh subjecting the Oil to careful analysis its exposure lor fals, is a sufficient guarantee °* purity and excellence. Dr. de Jongh's Light-BrO Cod Liver Oil is sold in capsuled imperial half-p1 2s 6d.; pint?, 4s. 9d.; quarts, 9s.; labelled stamp and signature, without which none can d be genuine, by his sole consigness, Ansar Harford -jQ Co., 77, Strand, London aud reepeotacle