The Brecon County Times Neath Gazette and General Advertiser for the Counties of Brecon Carmarthen Radnor Monmouth Glamorgan Cardigan Montgomery Hereford

Facts and. Facetiae, —«— ALTHOUGH nobody ever saw a perpetual motion, somebody has made a perpetual motion saw. AN Illinois paper says there is a man in Olney so dirty that the assessors put him down as real estate. A HUNGARIAN, desiring to remark on the domestic habits of a young lady, said, Oh, Miss, how homely you are." THE men who flatter women do not know them sufficiently, and the men who only abuse them do not know them at all. IT is said when a Russian husband neglects to beat his wife for a month or two, she begins to get alarmed at his indifference. OUR grandmothers, Whiffler remarks, patronised coal scuttle bonnets. Our sweethearts beat this—their bonnets have scuttled off together. A TALKING match is on the tapis between two women of Boston. Amount of wager not stated. Time 24 hours, without sleep. No stoppage for food or drink. -American paper. How do you and your wife get on ? Oh, rather badly. She gave me her hand awhile ago, and I thanked her. She gives it to me now every time I speak, and I'd thank her not to." AT a Sunday-school, lately, a bright little fellow was asked, "What is conscience?" "An inward monitor," was the reply. And what is a monitor ?" One of the iron-clads." Mr. QUILP, who has recently been snooping around a restaurant kitchen, whispers to us that the constituent elements of veal pies are of a character not to be re-veal'd. EXCEPTING EXCEPTIONS.—Brown, stopping on the scorching flags of Regent-street to moralise, observed, "There's nothing new under the sun." "Except boots," exclaimed his limping frind, who was suffering agonies. AN auctioneer, at a late sale of antiquities, put up a helmet, with the following candid observation This, ladies and gentlemen, is a helmet of Romulus, the Roman founder but whether he was a brass or iron founder I cannot tell. A COUNTRYMAN who often called at a certain bishop's, and was always told that his lordship was at his studies and could not be disturbed, at last replied, I wish the Queen would never make folk bishops who have not finished their studies." H How is it, my dear, that you have never kindled a flame in the bosom of any man ? said an old lady to her pretty niece, who was portionless. To which the young lady replied, The reason, dear aunt, is, as you well know, that I am not a good match." DR. ADAM CLARKE, who had a strong aversion to pork, was called upon to say grace at a dinner where the principal dish was roast pig. He is reported to have said, 0 Lord, if thou canst bless under the Gospel what thou didst curse under the law, bless this pig." A TRANSCENDENTAL preacher took for his text, "Feed my lambs." A plain farmer very quaintly re- marked to him, on coming out of the church, A very good text, sir but you should take care not to put the hay so high in the rack that the lambs can't reach it." CHARLES, how far is it round the world ? Isn't it twenty-four thousand-" Charles (who adores pretty girls, and puts both arms round heij That's all a mistake, my love; it's only about 24 inches." She was all the world to him. SHERIDAN was once asked by a gentleman, How is it that your name has not an 0 prefixed to it ? Your family is Irish, and no doubt illustrious." No family," replied Sheridan, has a better right to an 0 than our family for, in truth, we owe everybody." AN INTELLIGENT JURY.—At the late Quarter Sessions not 100 miles from Hereford, in a case of larceny, a jury returned as their verdict, We find the prisoner not guilty, but we hope he will not do it again." THE MOUNTAINS OF RASSELAS.—A young swell at the bar, when he heard Disraeli talk of the Mountains of Rasselas," said, or is reported to have said, Mountains of Rasselas Where are they ?" He had never seen them, you see, mentioned in the despatches. A CORRESPONDENT asks us why the newspapers charge for the insertion of marriage and death notices. For the very best of reasons, we suppose inasmuch as one is an advertisement of co-partnership, and the other of dissolution. Business is business in this city.- New York Paper. IT is a very indiscreet and troublesome ambition which cares so much about fame about what the world says of us; to be always looking in the face of others for approval; to be always anxious about the effect of what we do or say to be always shouting to hear the echoes of our own voices. A HUNTINGDON SHIRE labourer said to me, There's a saying, up with the lark but there's a bird that's earlier than the lark. The cuckoo's the first bird to be up in the morning, and he goes round and calls the other birds. You may hear him a hollering and waking them and then they set up their charm." I -No,es and Queries. A CORRESPONDENT extracts from Hone's Everyday Book the following proverbs as especially II interesting just now, and they are said to be collected by Dr. Forster "Drought never bred dearth in England. Whoso hath but a mouth shall ne'er in England suffer drought." I When the sand doth feed the clay England woe and well-a-day, But when the clay doth feed the sand, Then it is well with Angle-land." YANKEE PORTRAIT OF JOHN BULL.—An Ame- rican writer says John Bull is altogether too super- fluous and clumsy his proportions want regulating. His belly is too protuberant, his neck too thick, his feet too spreading, his hands too large and podgy, his lips too spongy and everted, his cheeks too pendulous, his nose too lobular, blunt, and bottle-like-his expression alto- gether too beef-eating. In a word, according to our taste, John Bull won't do, and must be done over again. The American is an Englishman without his caution, hia reserve, his fixed habits, his cant, and his stolidity." THERE is a tradition that one of the old squires in Maiden, Massachusetts, had a slave who had been in his family until he was about 70 years of age. Perceiv- ing that there was not much work left in the old man, his master took him one day, and made him a somewhat pompous address, to the following effect You have been a faithful servant to me, and my father before me. I have been long thinking what I shall do to reward you for your services. I now owe you your freedom. You are your own master-you are your own man." Upon this the old negro shook his head, and, with a sly glance which showed that he saw the master's intentions, quietly replied, "No, no, massa you eat the meat, and now II yeu must pick de bone." ELLISTON, the theatrical manager, could hum- bug an audience better than any other manager of his day. He once took a celebrated pantomime down to Portsmouth-company, scenery, dresses, and all; but to when the company were dressing for the evening, it was found that the harlequin's dress was left behind. Elliston was equal to the emergency. He went before the curtain and addressed the audience in this wise Ladies and gentlemen, I have brought to this city- 'I this celebrated naval depot of his most sacred majesty -my celebrated pantomime of Jack and the Bean-stalk. I wish to do honour to this maritime city, celebrated for its naval depot, its vast congregation of sailors and ships of war. The costume of harlequin consists of a dress in many colours—a parti-coloured dress. Now, we know of but one party in this country, and that is the party of our sailor king." His majesty was a sailor. This is a great naval depot. Most of its inhabitants get their living by the sea, and therefore I have resolved that my harlequin, instead of wearing his usual dress, shall be dressed in sailor's costume." The address was received with cheers, and thus Elliston get over the absence of his harlequin's costur

NOT DROWNED A gentleman named Edward Samuel Richards, a liea, tenant in the navy, whose only attire consisted of an olf blue guernsey and a pair of corduroy trousers, wa. j brought before the Farnham magistrates, having been apprehended on the previous evening in an adjacent village, as a wandering lunatic. The unfortunate man was the same whose death was recently reported in several newspapers as having occurred from drowning whilst bathing at Great Yarmouth on the 1st instant He was an inmate of the Royal Naval Lunatic Asylum in that town, and whilst bathing swam so far out to sea that, owing to the strong tide, he was unable to return He was an inmate of the Royal Naval Lunatic Asylum in that town, and whilst bathing swam so far out to sea that, owing to the strong tide, he was unable to return to the shore. He was fortunately picked up by a vessel passing through Yarmouth Roads at the time, and shortly afterwards landed at Lowestoft. He. seems then to have wandered to Farnham.

I HINTS UPON GARDENING. KITCHEN GARDEN -Earth up the earliest rows o celery, earth up leeks, hoe between potatoes to give air to the roots, plant out broccoli and every kind of winter greens as fast as you get vacant spaces thin out the rows of parsley so as to get rid of every plant not well curled; sow sa'adings, succession lettuce, turnip radish, cabbage, and turnips. Sow cauliflower the third week, to keep over winter in frames. Remove decayed leaves from cucumbers and gourds, to prevent the growth of moulds and fungi about them in damp weather, and take cuttings, or sow seed, for cucumbers to fruit during winter. Sow winter spinach. FLOWER GARDEN.—Grass-plots may now be sown down. In some cases seed is preferable to the laying of turf, as the finest grasses can be had in suitable mixtures, free from weeds but close fine turf from sandy com- mons will make good lawns at once on well-drained ground, and if laid now will be established before winter: Propagate bedding plants for stock of geraniums and fuchsias, ripe hard shoots make the best plants, both for winter keeping and next season's blooming. Strike verbenas and petunias from the points of young shoots calceolarias should be struck in chopped mosa or peat. Herbaceous plants may also be struck in quantities to keep over winter in frames, such as pansies, dielytras, double walls, double Canterbury bells, double feverfew, and hollyhocks. Sow hardy perennials and biennials for next season's blooming, if not done before but by this time the plants ought to be fit for planting out, in which case plant them where they are to remain, to get thoroughly strong. Keep dahlias well fastened, and put stakes to chrysanthemums before their heads get heavy, as a protection against storms. Pompones may still be struck for blooming in pets. Plant out pinks and carnations, in nursery beds, in well-manured loam. Bud roses as the season permits, choosing dull moist weather, when the bark rises freely. Give plenty of water to chrysanthemums, with occasional doses of strong liquid manure. Look over your bins and heaps of compost with a view to replenish for autumn potting, as there will soon be a heavy demand for that purpose. FRUIT GARDEN.—Hardy fruits may still be budded. Sweet oil, applied with a brush, will remove American blight from apple-trees effectually, without injury to the bark. Throw nets over fruit-bushes, to keep off the birds, and give a little shade to keep a few bunches hanging for a late supply. Put wasp-traps about vines and peaches, or stick a few lumps of loaf-sugar among the branches, and as long as there is any sugar left they will not touch a single fruit. Nail in all good shoots on wall-trees, that they may have the heat of the wall to ripen them. Plant strawberries. FRAME.—Auriculas should be turned out of their pots, and re-potted in rich turfy loam in a very sweet state. Cinerarias, named sorts, should be propagated at once from offsets, which are to be planted round the sides of pots in sandy compost, and at once transferred to a cold frame. Pansies: Plant out from the cutting pans during showery weather, and shade till they make fresh roots. GREENHOUSE.—Azaleas must be trained into whatever shapes they are to have when in bloom, and the plants should be set out in a shady place to ripen their wood. Azaleas may yet be propagated by cuttings from young wood, taken off close to the shoots fiiom which they issue, and planted in sand under hand or bell glasses. As soon as rooted, put them singly in fibry peat, with a good admixture of sand, and plenty of drainage. Camellias, to flower early, may be brought into the greenhouse; the remainder may remain out till the end of next month. Pelargoniums that have broken freely should be repotted in as small pots as their roots, after trimming, can be got into. Young stocks should be well hardened as soon as possible. Keep cinerarias and primulas growing freely, and make a last sowing of the latter. Sow now, for decorating the house early in the spring, clarkia, ne- mophila, erysimum, cenothera, collinsia, veronica syriaca, mignonette, &c. Give plenty of air to stove plants, and get a good stock of young pines forward. Vines that have ripened their fruit should be well cleared, and have thorough ventilation. Whatever painting or repairing is required should be attended to forthwith.—Gardeners' Magazine.

THE LATE GALE. On Saturday a gale of great violence burst upon the south coast of Ireland and swept St. George's and the English Channels. The ship Tara, which sailed from Liverpool in the course of the day, has been totally lost off the mouth of the Mersey, and while the captain has been saved, 23 persons are supposed to have been drowned. Two other vessels, names unknown, had run ashore near the same place where this wreck took place. On Saturday afternoon a fine brig proceeding from the westward was caught in the gale oft Portland, and went down so suddenly with all hands on board that it was impossible to learn either her name or any particulars respecting her. --=--

THE CASE OF A "PROMOTER." A week or two ago a prosecution was commenced against Mr. Edward Yelland, a promoter of public companies, for having obtained various sums by false pretences. In the intervals between the examinations, however, an arrangement appears to have been come to, without the knowledge of the solicitors on either side, by which the prosecutors withdrew from the charge, the defendant giving them bills and shares for the amounts which he was alleged to have procured from them by misrepresentation. On Monday the case was finally called upon at Guildhall, and as there were no prosecu- tors present, Alderman Finnis had no alternative but to discharge the defendant. At the same time he expressed his strong sense of the impropriety of "settling" a matter which, in the interests of the public, ought to have been thoroughly sifted, for a clearer case of obtain- ing money by false pretences he had never seen.

RETURN OF FATHER IGNATIUS. On Friday morning Father Ignatius resumed what are known as his Friday morning lectures" at the church of St. Edmund the King, Lombard-street, after a lengthened absence from London. Athough one o'clock is the time of service, and the hour one of the busiest in the City, the church was densely packed, the majority of the congregation being men—business men for the most part-who rapidly ran off immediately the service was over. The Dean of Norwich (Dr. Goulburn) and a large number of clergymen were among the con- gregation. Mr. Lyne "said" the Litany, there being no approach to a musical service, and it was a noticeable fact that he was habited simply as a deacon of the Church of England-wearing a surplice, the hood of Trinity College, Glenalmond, but no stole. He preached an impressive sermon upon the 2nd verse of the 61st Psalm-" When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock." He explained that his institutions at Laleham—differing in some respects, though not mate- rially, from his monastery at Norwich-were mainly sup- porteti by the offertories at these Friday morning services, and the offerings which were made on the part of the congregation appeared to be liberal. The services will be continued henceforward without interruption.

GREAT ROBBERY AT AN ARlYIY OLOTHIER'S. A discovery has just been made in the great clothing establishment of Messrs. Cannock, Tait, and Co., at Limerick, which seems to show that the firm has been systematically robbed, to the extent of many thousand pounds, for some time back by one of their employés. The robbery was brought to light by the fact of an empty box, which had been required for use, having been missed by a young man named Carmody, and on being searched for it was found in the parcel office, nailed up, and labelled To be called for." It was opened, and was found to contain several pieces of the most valuable silks, and its deposit in the parcel office was almost immediately traced to James Drought, a young man in a position of trust in the establishment, who could give no satisfactory explanation respecting it, and he was accordingly taken into custody. Subsequent searches revealed wonders. It was found that he rented a small store in John's-square, where were found sofas, lounges, tables, chairs, looking-glasses, &c., which had been taken from the furniture department; but how such heavy articles were removed unobserved is a matter of surprise, and that he must have had an accomplice is generally surmised. It was ascertained that he had taken a house in Listowel to commence business, and upon visiting that town three bales of goods were found on the pre- mises, and their contents were identified as the property of Cannock, Tait, and Co. It then transpired that Drought rented a farm at Clonlara, county Clare, and had upon it a dairy of 15 milch cows also that he had to his credit in one of the local banks a sum of £ 250. It appears that for the last five years Drought allowed the greater portion, if net the entire, of his salary to accrue due, and did not draw it from the counting- hoa.se.

SHOCKING BATHING ACCIDENT. Amongst the unusually numerous deaths from drown- ing recorded during the present season, there have been few more sad than one which happened a day or two ago in the Severn, to the two only daughters of Mr. William Lewis Hodgson, grocer, of Chepstow, Clara and Mary, aged respectively 14 and 13 years, and Jane Treherne aged 19, daughter of Mr. James Treherne, of Beachley! The Misses Hodgson had been in ill-health for some time, and a fortnight ago Mr. Hodgson placed them in the care of Mr. Treherne and his wife, at Beachley, for change of air. After breakfast on Friday morning they proceeded to bathe as usual, accompanied by the other young lady, who acted as their guardian. A heavy tide was running at the time, and instead of the young ladies keeping on the green shore, where there was a good bathing place, they went on hand-in-hand "ducking" into the water, until they appeared to lose their depth, and the youngest sister was immediately carried away by the force of the tide. Miss Treherne at once jumped into the water to save them but as she approached them the eldest grasped her, rendered her helpless, and in a few seconds all were lost to sight. The body of the youngest sister was picked up near the spot where it sank, when the tide receded. The body of the elder sister was not recovered until six o'clock on Saturday morning, when it was found upon the old chapel cliff lying upon its side. A diligent search has been prosecuted for the body of Miss Treherne.

VILLANOUS ASSAULT IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE. A day or two since an outrage of a most brutal cha- racter was committed upon a young lady in a first-class carriage of the Ulster Railway Company, between the towns of Portadown and Lisburn, in consequence of which the young lady lies at Lisburn under medical treatment in a very critical state. On the departure of the Belfast train the only other occupant of the apart- ment in which the lady happened to be was a gentleman whose description has been only partially learned. This person having observed the melancholy aspect of his female fellow-traveller, who was much de- pressed at the recent death of a relative, entered into conversation with her. Some time after this he brutally assaulted her. With a heroism which did the lady credit, and a strength which until that moment she thought she did not possess, she resisted success- fully the attacks made so furiously and repeatedly upon her. Her garments were torn, her hair dishevelled, her watch-chain broken, and she also sustained very severe personal injuries. At one time the lady, in the madden- ing desperation of the moment, sought safety from her tormentor by trying to throw herself out of the carriage —an act which happily she did not succeed in accom- plishing, as death must have been the certain result. On the train arriving at the Lisburn station, the perpe- trator of the offence speedily left the carriage, in which the young lady was afterwards discovered in a fainting condition. She was at once removed to the house of a friend, where medical aid was procured, and where she so far recovered that some time after she was enabled to swear informations against her assailant, for whom the constabulary are at the present on the look-out.

THE CASE OF MR. G. F. TRAIN has been once again before the Bankruptcy Court, Dublin. Mr. Butt, Q-C., on his behalf, obtained an adjournment, on the ground that the Ebbw Vale Company proposed using information of which his client had not received sufficient notice. HALF A TOWN DESTROYED BY FIRE.—A letter from Prerau, chief town of the district of that name in Moravia, states that half the place has been reduced to ashes. At nine in the morning," it says, "fire broke out suddenly in the suburb, and spread rapidly under the influence of a high wind, so that the entire of the long line of the street which opens on the- square was in a few minutes in flames; the finest buildings, as well as the two towers of the church, fell with great noise. The handsomest quarter of Prerau, which was really an orna- ment to the town-namely, the Jffiigh-street, presented at two o'clock no more than a heap of ruins. The fire- men did not arrive from Olmnt7, until about four o'clock. About 150 houses were destroyed-. The origin of the. disaster is not known," ,.i

Our Miscellany. —♦—' ELECTRICAL SEWING MACHINES. — An in- genious Frenchman, M. Cazal, alarmed at the fatigue occasioned by working sewing machines by the feet or the hands, has imagined an electrical arrangement, by means of which the wheel of the machine is turned and the stitching produced in the ordinary manner. This is effected by a moderately strong electric current emanat- ing from a small battery placed upon the ground, the positive and negative wires of which are connected with a series of electro-magnets acting upon alternating pieces of soft iron. The person who works the machine cuts off the current, or allows it to pass, at will, by pressing a small button upon the table. The arrangement is ingenious, but perhaps a little expensive. It would be necessary also to use a battery which evolved no Mid fumes, or to place it outside the house. BLACKHEATH.—This healthy suburb of our rapidly extending metropolis possesses an open space which is of almost incalculable benefit to our teeming p@pulation. For years past its green sward has been gradually destroyed, partly by wantonness, and in some cases by a legalised stealth. Local authority even, aided by the recent Commons Enclosure Act, has failed to pre- serve what in our day we value more and more as we lose it-an open space for the purposes of recreation and fresh air. We are therefore glad to learn that recently the subject has been brought before the Metropolitan Board of Works, with the object of preserving this lung of London, and of continuing its full benefits to the public. It is in contemplation to plant some portions of it with trees, to set apart others for recreation and equestrian exercise, and to place the entire heath under police authority.-The Lancet. A TEIX-TALE APPARATUS.—An extra- ordinary tell-tale apparatus is in use at the vast establishment of Dolffus, Mieg, and Co., Mulhouse. There are four night watchmen on these premises, and they have to make 10 visits to 93 stations, in all 930 visits. On commencing his rounds a card is delivered to each watchman, which he carries about with him. At every station he has to visit is a frame of the size of the card, at which, at a given time, a stamp presents itself, and im- presses a mark on the card. The marks are so arranged that when the whole are printed they form one complete design. Any delay or omission on the part of the watchman leaves a blank space on the card, which tells the hour at which the man failed in his duty. When going off duty, the men push their cards into a kind of letter-box, and as this is done the exact time at which they are delivered is printed. All this contrivance is completely beyond the men's control, and there is no possibility of tampering with the mechanism.— .frfechœnics' Magazine. ENGLISH 6r viutows.—In the spring of 1866 four pairs of English sparrows came to the Union-square Park, New York, and there built. Three pairs occupied the trees one ejected a wren from her little house, the only bird-house then in the square, and took possession a fifth built in the ivy of Dr. Cheever's Church, facing the square. The industry of these little fellows in devouring the measuring worm (so great a nuisance that most persons avoided passing through the park, prefer- ring to go round during their occupancy, and so numerous were they that they did not leave a leaf on any tree except the alianthus) was such that boxes were provided on almost all the trees for them. In one year they increased from five pairs to a flock of 70, and they are now estimated at 600. Last summer a reward of one dollar a head was offered for worms, but the birds had eaten the last one; they also eat moths, grasshoppers, and many other insects. These birds have extended about 40 miles in every direction. The estimate that they destroy in Europe one-half million bushels of grain was probably correct; but how much would the insects they devour destroy ? The question is, which is the greatest evil, worm or bird, and which most readily con- trolled 1-American paper. VENTILATION. In ill-ventilated workrooms men strip to the skin to enable them to bear the heat, which is intense and almost stifling. Continuous breathing of polluted air both in rooms and in work- shops causes lassitude of mind and body, and a resort to stimulants, resulting in habits of intemperance. Badly-ventilated houses produce virulent diseases, which raise the death-rate yet hundreds of houses are built yearly without any provision for ventilation. The lowest death-rate is 11 per 1,000 and the highest 45 per 1,000. The lowest is inevitable, and arises from inherent natural diseases but death-rates from 11 per 1,000 to 45 per 1,000 are referable to zymotic diseases caused by defective sanitary arrangements. The death- rate of the metropolis is 24 per 1,000 but if houses, drains, and sewers were properly ventilated, the drains and sewers trapped, and the sewers made self-cleansing, the people would become more healthy, hardy, and happy, and the death-rate would be reduced probably to 18 per 1,000. How to do it is known, and it would be done if the Metropolitan Board of Works and the local boards and vestries were to take it in hand, not piece- meal, but upon a well-organised system for the whole of the metropolis. Until it is done the poor will become poorer, the parish rates will be made higher, and the death-rate will be inerea",d.-Builde- FROM FRANCE TO BELGIUM.—There is French Flanders, then, and Belgian Flanders but they are one natural tract, which an invisible boundary cannot separate. When you have crossed out of France into Belgium, you cannot believe that the move has been really made till you find you get tobacco for next to nothing, and have to pay turnpike tolls before your carriage can pass. In other respects the continuity is unbroken. There is the same blunt, coarse, matter-of- fact language which nobody ever thinks of learning, but which anbody who knows something of German may roughly understand the language which proves its relationship to English by all its naughty words coinciding with our own; which startles you with syllables plainly spoken or printed, which with us never meet ears or eyes polite; a language whose yah yah conversation sounds something be- tween a quack and a neigh. What contrasted forms of speech with French smooth-spokenness France dis- plays, Ici on donna manger," Here they give to eat," on pothouse signs. The genius of Flanders is content in telling you, Hier verkoopt men dranken," Here they sell drink." The same of manners. You are forbidden, in legible black and white, to spit inside a Flemish church And the word for "spit"—excuse it, reader, but etymology is deaf to delicate remonstrance—is the mother of our (we have long since put it in the lumber- room) spew." In short, what Teniers innocently painted, Flanders innocently speaks, dreaming no harm. Huis te huren for house to let, "gist" for yeast, "browery for brewery, wolle" for wool, coke for cake (plural koeken "), and scores of others, hardly require an English interpreter. Dickens's All the Year Round. THE AMERICAN -NEGRO AND THE HEAT.— One feature-in our opinion a very singular one-of the heated term appears to have escaped the notice of the daily papers. We have lived through some tolerably torrid, and some intolerably torrid weather, but we never remember a time before when coloured people succumbed: to the heat. When all the rest of the population walked out in a parboiled condition, feeling like so many human puddings in pudding bags of clothes. Senator Sumner's equals would sit simmering gently in the genial sun, and "tink him berry pleasant wedder." But within the last ten days we have been surprised to note in the terrible daily sun-stroke reports the names of several coloured people. There is evidently a powerful element at work, of which chapters are yet to be written. New York luxury and enervation are breeding up a class of city negroes altogether peculiar, and physically and mentally as different from the plantigrade field-hand stock of the South as Abdul Medjid from Genghis Khan; aclass full of the civilised refinements of vice, and of the debasement, unnaturalness, weakness, cowardice, cunning, sinuousness, and subtlety of all decaying spccies. The negroes of the barber shop and hotel and steamboat, the bucks of Laurens-street, the supporters of the innumerable coloured gambling hells, et id genus omne —these are a class so fatally refined away from the coarse healthfulness of the original type that we do not wonder at seeing their last and most tenacious physical virtue depart frem them. But when even these are in danger, there is no safety for any head but a cabbage head. All that poor whites have to do is to wear hats woven of fresh greens, keep in the shade, as directed by our good Dr. Harris, from eleven a.m. to four p.m., take a thirty-five minute sitz-bath every half-hour, and be very careful not to over-exert or excite themselves between baths.-New York Round Table.

IN CONSEQUENCE of the death of the Bishop of Peterborough Dr. Atlay, Bishop of Hereford, will become entitled to a seat in the House of Peers, and will act as its chaplain on the opening of the new Parliament. THE Carlisle Patriot says that the Burial Board of that city have refused to allow the daughter of the late Mr. John Daly, an able comedian in. former years, and latterly clerk of Carlisle races, to place upon his tombstone th words, Not lost, but gonia before." The same body SOOilQ time ago objected to the words H Sacred to the memory of" be placed. upon. TIE headstone ot "Dean Classy ssm.

THE COURT. PENSION WALLIS, LUCERNE, AUGUST 19.—Yesterday, the Queen, accompanied by Princess Louise and Prince Leopold, crossed the lake by steamer to Brunnen, and drove home by Goldaw. Her Majesty has felt a good deal fatigued by the heat. The royal family are well. HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE ARTHUR, attended by Colonel Elphinstone, C. B., and suite, arrived at Dover at 0,30 a.m. on Saturday, havingtravelled from Charing-cross by the South-Eastern Company's continental mail train, which left London at 7.25 a.m. His Royal Highness was received upon alighting from the train "by Colonel Cox (acting for General Russell, commandant of the garrison), a guard of honour, with the band of the 4th Regiment, being drawn up oil the pier. A salute from the Nicholifl Fort was fired as his Royal Highness embarked. Captain Bruce, Admiralty superintendent, and Sir Luke Smithett also were in attendance to conduct his Royal Highness to the mail packet Wave, which was specially ordered to convey the Prince and suite to Calais. Mr. J. P. Knight, superintendent of the South Eastern Railway, travelled in charge of the train from Charing-cross to Dover, the Prince being in one of the company's royal saloon carriages. The weather was very fine, and the Wave made a good passage to Calais, arriving there at 11,30 a.m. PENSION WALLIS, LUCERNE, AUGUST 22.—The Queen, accompanied by Princess Louise, and attended by the Marchioness of Ely, Sir William Jenner, and Major- General Sir Thomas Biddulph, has left Lucerne for the Furka, near the St. Gothard Pass, where her Majesty will remain for two or three days.

THE ARTS, LITERATURE, &c. DEATH OF A BOTANIST.—For some years past, many of the most beautiful new plants introduced to this country have been discovered and sent home by Mr. R. Pearce, from South America. So many and such valuable acquisitions are they, that his name has be- come famous throughout Europe among botanists and horticulturists. But this gentleman's fate has been that of most botanical explorers he recently started from England to make collections of new plants, arrived at Panama on the 7th of July, was taken ill on the 13th, and died on the 19th, having succumbed to one of those dreadful fevers so peculiar to the pestilential marshes of some portions of the tropics. MUSURUS PASHA has caused to be constructed, in the Greek church at Arnaootkene, on the Besphorus, a hand- some tomb, to his late wife, of marble from the Mar- mora Islands. It is richly ornamented by local artistes, and is said to excel any monument of the kind in the Turkish metropolis, LAKE DWELLINGS IN SCOTLAND.—Extremely interest- ing researches have been recently made on the Loch of Forfar, the lowness of the water in that lake having afforded unusual facilities for that purpose. The exist- ence of a crannog, or lake-dwelling, on this lake has long been known, but its thorough examination has only now been made. Twelve labourers were employed to cut through the causeway, 150 yards of which were exposed. The causeway was found to consist of a ridge of stones and marl, stretching across to the west end of the loch. On the north side there had been a row of piles, on the top of which were transverse piles, generally about five feet belew the surface of the ground. Various excava- tions made in this ground disclosed layers of ashes, bones of sheep and oxen, tusks of boars, and some bronze implements. In short, the examination of this crannog ledto the inference that the inhabitants were similar in their modes of life to those who erected the celebrated lake-dwellings in Switzerland.—Athenceum. BARON DE FLOTOW, to whose musical genius we owe the adaptation of so many delicious Irish airs to the opera entitled Jfartha, has married his cousin, Mdlle. Flotow. THE -Tournal des Travaux Publics states that the Municipal Council of Paris has decided on erecting a statue to the Prince Imperial, eetat. 12. A TELEGRAM from India was read by Professor Tyndall, in the Mathematical, and by the Hydrographer, in the Geographical Sections, at Norwich,with respect to the eclipse. The view had been hindered by light clouds, but the observations were mainly successful. THE process of destroying the Colosseum in Regent's- park will be shortly begun, and that once "favoured place of resort," but of late peculiarly forlorn edifice,will soon be removed, to make way for a work of more immediate serviceableness. AT the annual meeting of the French Academy various prizes were awarded. The fair winner of the first prize for virtue is thus officially catalogued Un prix de trois mme franrs-A la Negresse Nymphe, au Mourillon, prè;; Toulon (Var)." SIR JOHN HERSCHEL AT THE CAPE.—At Feldhausen, near Cape Town, there is a piece of cleared ground on which stands a neat obelisk, with the following inscrip- tion—" Here stood from 1834 to 1838, the reflecting telescope of Sir John F. W. Herschel, Baronet, who, dur- ing a residence of four years in this colony, contributed as largely by his benevolent exertions to the cause of education and humanity, as by his eminent talents to the discovery of scientific truth. Erected 1841." Sir J. Herschel is such a person as in very early youth, before the education of the labouring classes was much in favour with Church and State, we heard described as "a fellow who is always setting up a school, or something of that kind The obelisk commemorates his exertions for education and humanity but he did something, without meaning it, for the colonial theology, at least for theology of a certain sort. He showed a resident a remarkable blood-red star: and some little time after ¡ that, he heard of a sermon preached in those parts, in which it was asserted that the preacher's view of Bible statements must be true, for that Sir J. Herschel had seen in his telescope "the very place that wicked people go to "—Athenceum. AN" EGYPTIAN" DEADHOUSE.-The comical side of I a dismal subject appears in the account, which has recently appeared in the morning journals, of a dead- house that is about to be erected in Marylebone. The foilowing has seldom been surpassed. The building is to be rapidly constructed the style will be plain Egyp- tian the extent 28 feet by 19 feet; the height 17 feet; the walls will be of brickwork (plain also, we hope) and stuccoed-in the plain Egyptian style, wa 3Unr)()Sp, INTERESTING AUTOGRAPHS.—A very interesting col- lection of autograph letters has been disposed of by Messrs. Pattick and Simpson. Among the most note- worthy were three good specimens of Lord Byron's haridwrlticg, which fetched <610 17s. 6d. a letter and MS. of ballad by Kirke White, six guineas an autograph letter of Charles Lamb's, two guineas a I, eoupie of letters written by Nelson, E.5 lis.; t-0 letters by Richard Baxter, < £ 11 2s. 6d. and a letter from George Washington to the President of Congress in 1778, which was sold for J69 15s. A manuscript of 13 pages, said to be Napoleon Buonaparte's notes on Smith's Wealth of Nations," fetched 15s. Smith's Wealth of Nations," fetched £4 15s. CALIFORNIA has already 238 newspapers. MR. J. L. MOTLEY, lately minister to Austria, and the iearned author of The History of the Rise of the Dutch Republic," and other kindred works, has declined the honour of a public reception in Boston. A TELEGRAM from Bombay states that the weather on the 18th was unfavourable for scientific observations. :i>i i) fell at the time of the greatest obscuration. 8;

SHOCKING OCCURRENCE AT LEICESTER, A shocking affair happened in Leicester on Monday awning. A young man named John Scampton, twice an inmate of a lunatic asylum, has lately been under the care of a keeper, his wife and her little girl residing with hi. t ther, Mr. Parr. Having eluded the vigilance of hi keeper, Scampton went to the house of Mr. Parr, •> was refused admission. He went away, but re- u r again about half-past twelve, and knocked at the door, which Mr. Parr went to open, but on perceiving who is was he attempted to close it again. Scampton, lwwever, placed his foot against the door, and kept it a Wtle way open, thrust his arm through the aperture, having- a six-barrelled revolver in his hand, and fired oir rive of the barrels in rapid succession. One of the ju1 t > took effect in Mr. Parr's left arm, which was broken in two places. Another struck Scampton's J own childj a little girl three years old, the charge passing completely through the skull. An inspector and a policeman happening to be in the neighbourhood hastened to the spot, and found Scampton walking in front of the house, muttering to himself that "he was prepared to meet his God and his judge." A .ir'C,h our named Manton informed the officers what had o med, and Scampton then put his hand in his pocket, ■T! wag about apparently to draw the pistol, when the pohecman rushed upon Scampton and drew his arms behind him. The child is in imminent danger. At the time the pistol was fired, Mrs. Scampton and two other women were in the passage, and how they escaped injury l most a miracle. Two ENGLISH STAFF ARTILLERY OSTICBIRS nave arrived at Turin to examine some new models of deli artillery recently invented. They were very Hirteously received by the Italian officers.

AGRICULTURE. AGRICULTURAL GOSSIP. Hardly recovered from the disastrous effects of the cattle plague—which, if not traced to a foreign origin, was most probably introduced from abroad-we are now threatened with a new danger which may prove almost as serious. The sheep-pox is raging in Holland, and animals affected with this fearful disease have arrived in the port of London. Mr. James Odams, in a letter to the Times, mentions two cargoes of infected sheep, viz., on the 5th inst. the Waterloo, with 1,314 sheep from Rotterdam, and on the 8th the City of Norwich, from Tonning, having on board 976 sheep. Since Mr. Odams's letter, the matter has assumed more alarming proportions. All the London wharves have been declared infected, and a large number of sheep-over 2,000— were condemned on Monday at the Brunswick Wharf, Blackwall, and ordered to be slaughtered. The Govern- ment have hitherto taken no. further steps than to increase their inspectors. To stop the importation- which, under present circumstances, appears the right step-is a serious matter, seeing that a considerable portion of the metropolitan supply comes from the in- fected country. The risk of the disease being com- municated to our flocks would not be nearly so great if we had a separate foreign market. Fortunately, the in- fected animals appear to have been discovered by the in- spectors but who can say that none passed muster, seeing that the animals may possess the disease for eight days without showing it ? The extremely infectious nature ofmall-pox is well known, and we shall indeed be fortunate if we escape so great a calamity. Mr. Cochrane, of Montreal, whom we mentioned as the pur- chaser of Duchess 97, takes out many other valuable animals, amongst others a "Wild Eyes heifer" of Mr. C. W. Harvey's (which has since produced a bull calf and three heifers), and a bull from the celebrated herd of Mr. W. Torr, of Aylesbury; also 50 Cotswold sheep from the flocks of Mr. R. Garne and Mr. J. K. Tombs. This is the first export since the cattle plague, and we trust Mr. Cochrane will be rewarded for his enterprise. The Times, according to usual custom, publishes reports on the probable yield of the harvest. Their notorious correspondent from Yorkshire is, however, silent. Mr. J. Sanderson puts the average yield in England at 34 bushels, estimates the area at 10,000 acres in excess of ordinary years, allows one bushel per acre for the extra weight of grain of 2tb. per bushel, and, granting these assumptions the result is an excess over last year of 4,671,285 qrs., and that of ordinary years of 2,472,974 qrs. The average, Mr. Sanderson assumes, is enormous. No doubt the wheat is a great crop upon wheat land but the light soils on the eastern coast cannot, yield well, and it is evident, from a leading article in the same paper since the report, that the estimate is too high. We only hope Mr. Sanderson, whose experience has been consider- able, may prove a true prophet, as a reasonable loaf would materially help to restore trade. The ram sales have continued slow, although a manifest improve- ment followed the growing showers with which most districts have been favoured. Notably one of the more important events in this line was the sale of Mr. W. B. Canning's Hampshire rams and ram lambs. Mr. Canning has been a successful exhibitor at our leading shows, and has taken no less than 23 prizes at the Royal and Smithfield Club shows on several occasions, but brought his stock to the hammer in consequence of giving up showing: 216 lots were disposed of, the biddings being spirited, and the prices satisfactory. The highest price for lambs was 30 guineas. The two- tooths varied from 40 guineas to five guineas. Mr. Willoughby Wood, who has frequently appeared in print as the champion of the Shropshires, could not get into high figures, although his sheep are spoken of as better than usual. Should the grass grow and the late turnips promise well, higher prices will be made and we recommend a little patience.—Field. BEDDING HORSES ON SAWDUST. In reply to a correspondent wishing to try the experi- ment of using sawdust for litter, the editor of the Field gives the following :—"The drains may be plugged, as they will not be required, owing to the absorbent nature of the sawdust. A correspondent who had used it for a great length of time, alike in stalls and loose boxes, and in the hovels in his yearling paddocks, and who, when he wrote, had hunters, hacks, carriage horses, and mules standing on sawdust, said The wet and soiled surface of the bedding is raked off every morning, and a little fresh sawdust added, by which means it is kept sweet and fresh but when much discoloured and hardened it is taken away altogether, the floor swept, and three or four wheel-barrows of fresh sawdust put on. This is only done four times a year.' Other correspondents, however, merely raked in the droppings, which are quickly deprived of all moisture by the sawdust. Some preferred pine sawdust, others beech oak is the worst. With regard to the manurial value of the refuse sawdust, one correspondent says it is the best possible foundation for hotbeds another that it makes a strong and excellent manure for both kitchen and flower garden; a third, that he had used it with wonderful effect on clover, and also on grass but a fourth stated that it had burnt up the grass on which he had spread it, owing, no doubt, to its being too highly charged with ammonia to be thus used in large quantities."

REVIEW OF THE BRITISH OORN TRADE. During the past week we have had frequent falls of rain, sometimes in liberal quantities, with intervals of sunshine and warm weather. Nothing could be more acceptable to the country. The late crops of greenstuff are now out of danger: everywhere new verdure is cropping up through the bronzed meadows and corn-fields and in two months or less we may now have an abundant supply of vegetables but we doubt whether the rain is not generally too late for potatoes, excepting the very latest sorts, as they are more disposed to throw new small tubers than in- crease the growth of the old ones. The new herbage will be sweeter and more nutritious than that after a long-continued growth, and graziers have had a happy escape. The plough has been actively at work on the stubble, and market-gardeners have lost no time in planting out, while the late-sown turnips have a very fair chance, for the soil below is like a hotbed. Better supplies of new wheat, brought forward by the recent advance, have about reduced it again to the recent low price, and the facilities that farmers have found in thrashing have pressed on a free delivery: our rates have therefore given-way about 2s. per qr.,and, in the absence of a speculative demand, we may expect these fluc- tuations all through the season. Commissioners are send- ing in their reports that we have a general yield this season (4.1 qrs. per acre), with an increased growth of 100,000 qrs. in wheat; but, as we have begun upon the new crop nearly a month earlier than usual, our wants are necessarily about 2,000,000 quarters beyond the average so a large portion of the surplus of this year, whatever it be, was previously bespoke and, when the greater or less failure of all the other crops, including roots and grass, is considered, we doubt whether well-to-do farmers will readily throw away their, only chance. American accounts of increased growth are very much discounted by extensive damage through rust in the South and other States and the corn crop has yet to be gathered. I Everywhere old stocks were reduced to the lowest point, and some countries are sadly deficient, and France yet doubtful as to quantity. So we do not think, when prices come to their level, it will be a low one.-Mark, lane Express.

EXPLOSION OF FIRE-DAMP ON BOARD A MAIL STEAMER. An explosion from fire-damp occurred on board the Union Steam Company's mail steamer Briton, which was to sail on Monday. The' explosion took place in the after hatchway amongst some patent fuel. The flames shot up half-mast high, and it was first thought that the ship was on fire. Several engines were immediately on the spot, but fortunately were not required. The explo- sion smashed the saloon table, tore away the ventilators, fittings, skylight, ship's binnacle, and compass, and burnt some linen. Fortunately, two men only were injured, and they, it is supposed, but slightly. They have been removed to the infirmary. The ship sailed the same night with workmen on board to repair the damage.

STORMS IN FRANCE. A terrible storm accompanied by hail and lightning, broke over Champagne, on the night of the 16th, and the cantons of Ervy, Chaoucies, Bonilly, Estissac, Troyes, Lusigny, and Piney suffered immensely. At Ervy all the chimneys were blown down, and a large tannery was left in a mass of ruins. At St. Paul the lightning set fire to several houses. At Vauchassis the liquid fire also destroyed several cottages, and killed a quantity of farm stock. At Laines-aux-Bois three houses were burnt down by the lightning. At St. Thibault, while the firemen were absent at a conflagration in the neighbouring commune, the lightning descended on a number of small houses, and before the engines returned they were a mass of ruins. On a farm in the commune of Cormost several of the out- buildings were blown down by the hurricane; five horses and six cows were destroyed, and a farm labourer was killed by the falling debris. At St. Aventine no less than 3,000 trees were torn out of the ground, and hurled about in all directions. At Clarey, about 1,000 trees, besides a number of small huts, were blown into fragments. In the department of the Drome the River of the Aigues suddenJy swelled more than eight yards, and carried before it everything that came in its way. Several silk manufactories have been destroyed, and bridges thrown down. The high road at Gap is entirely under water for several miles. At Remusat more than 20 houses have been carrried away, and all the crops have disappeared. From Marseilles similar reports have been re- ceived. Several persons were struck by the lightning, and in some cases fatally. In the Yonne the hailstones were of enormous size, and in no less than twenty-six communes the fruit and other crops have been entirely destroyed. The Cathedral of Auxerre was greatly damaged by the lightning, and several of the houses in the district were set on fire by the electric fluid. Throughout Orleans the storm raged with equal violence; many of the railway stations were bkmn d.own, and. the trains, delayed for hours*

THE STORM AT LIVERPOOL. The effect of the gale on Saturday night and Sunday in the Irish Sea was most disastrous. Four large sailing ships left the Mersey on Saturday with a south-east wind. They had got to the edge of the banks when the wind veered to the north-west, the exactly opposite quarter, and they were caught in a complete trap. The wind increased to a gale, and they were unable to escape. The Tara and the Neptune were totally lost, the Magdala was driven ashore, and the Queen of Beauty was towed back with loss of masts and three men killed. The crews of the three vessels aforesaid, with the exception of Captain Armstrong, of the Tara, are reported lost, and he was rescued from a floating spar. The Edward Barnett brig, of Gal way, went ashore at Formby boathouse, laden with timber. Her crew were saved. A large dismasted vessel was reported ashore at Hoylake. On Sunday afternoon the stern of a vessel bearing the words Caledonia, Greenock," was drifted by the tide into St. George's Basin. Henry Grimes, a watchman in the employ of the Bridgewater Trust, reported that on Sunday he found a quantity of wreck in the dock, with the name Isabella Chester," painted upon it. The coasts of Lancashire and Cheshire were completely strewed with wreck. It is said that the captain of an Isle of Man boat reports that on Saturday he saw six schooners founder. The Point of Ayr lifeboat crew have picked up several cases containing patterns of prints, beads, and other articles directed to the care of "Captain Conning, bark D'Jex." This vessel left Liverpool en the 11th inst., for the West Coast of Africa. Captain Armstrong, of the Tara, has died from the injuries he received.

THE CONDEMNED MURDERER IN NEWGATB. Mr. Alderman and Sheriff Stone, accompanied by the ordinary of Newgate, the Rev. Mr. Jones, the governor, and Mr. Under-Sheriff Davidson, on Monday morning went to the cell of the condemned lad, Alexander Arthur Mackay, for the purpose of announcing to him that the sentence passed upon him would be carried into effect on Tuesday morning, the 8th of September, at nine o'clock. The prisoner, who is only in his nine- teenth year, heard the announcement with the greatest composure, and it did not appear to have the slightest effect upon him. This will be the second execution that has taken place since the passing of the Act of Par- liament for carrying out executions in private, or within the walls of the prisons, and all the necessary ar. rangements have been made for carrying out the sentence in conformity with the law. The execution will take place in one of the yards of the gaol at Newgate, over the cell where the culprit is confined, and the gallows will be on a level with the pavement, and the drop will be in a place underneath. The jury recommended the culprit to mercy, and this will of course be forwarded to the Secretary of State, but, having regard to the aggravated character of the crime, and the opinion entertained by Mr. Justice Lush respecting it, it is not believed that the recommendation to mercy will have any eflect.