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THE COURT. -..--

POLITICAL GOSSIP. .

LITERATURE AND THE ARTS. -

SPORTS AND PASTIMES. —,— «

TOPICS OF THE WEEK.

OUR MISCELLANY. --

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OUR MISCELLANY. Royal Adulation.—Among the addresses pre- sented upon the accession of James I. was one from the ancient town of Shrewsbury, wishing his Majesty might reign as long as the sun, moon, and stars endured. Faith, mon," said the King to the person who presented it, If I do, my son, then, must reign by candle-light." A Hint to Parents.—Do all in your power to teach your children self-government. If a child is passionate, teach him by patient and gentle means to curb his temper. If he is greedy, cultivate liberality in him. If he is selfish, promote generosity. Good Advice.-Those who have become addicted to evil habits must conquer them as they can—and they must be conquered, or they will conquer us, and destroy our peace and happiness. And those who have not yet yielded to bad habits must be on their guard lest they should be unexpectedly assaulted and sub- dued. A Flunkey Outwitted by a Bishop.-Bishop Morley was fond of a joke. Once, when the footman was out of the way, he ordered the coachman to fetch some water from the well, to which the coachman made a grumbling objection that his business was to drive, not to run errands. Well, then," said Morley, "bring out the coach and four, set the pitcher inside, and drive to the well. a service which was several times repeated, to the great amusement of almost the entire village. The Laugh of a Child.- I love it, I love it—the laugh of a child, Now rippling and gentle, now merry and wild; 'p Ringing out in the air with its innocent gush, Like the thrill of a bird at the twilight's soft hush: Floating up in the breeze like the tones of a bell, Or the music that dwells in the heart of a shell; O the laugh of a child, so wild and so free, Is the merriest sound in the world for me." Notes and Queries. Lord Aberdeen at Sea. I was very much amused by an anecdote Rogers gave us of little Queen Victoria and her nautical vagaries. Lord Aberdeen has had to attend her in her cruisings, very much against his will, or, at least, against his stomach. You know he is one of the gravest and most laconic men in the world. The Queen, one day, undertook to reconcile him to his fate. "I believe, my lord," said she, graciously, you are net often seasick?" "Always, madame," was the grave reply. "But," still more graciously, "not very seasick?" With profounder gravity, "Very, madame!" Lord Aberdeen declares 's that if her Majesty persists in her cruisings he will have to resign.-Thc Life and Letters of Washington Irving. Lord Eldon's Father's Second Marriage.— After the death of his first wife, he rose one morning with the whimsical resolution of marrying any one of his maids who should first appear on his ringing the bell. He rang, and the chambermaid came up, to whom he abruptly said: Get yourself ready, and go with me to be married." The silly girl, treating the affair as a joke, refused, and withdrew. He rang the bell a second time, when the cook maid appeared, to whom he said: "Well, my girl, I intend this day to make you my wife; go and dress yourself with the best you have, and order the coach immediately." She took him at his word, dressed herself, and coming downstairs, was met by the silly chambermaid, who asked her where she was going? "Abroad; I have my master's leave." She had scarcely uttered these words, when her master came down and took her by the hand to the coach, which drove to St. Bennet's church, where they were married. Advice to Wives.-A wife must study never to draw largely on the small stock of patience in a man's nature, nor to increase his obstinacy by trying to drive him; never, never, if possible, have scenes. I doubt much if a real quarrel, even made up, does not loosen the bond between man and wife, and sometimes, unless the affection of both be very sincere, is lasting. If irritation should occur, a woman must expect to hear, from most men, a strength and vehemence of language far more than the occasion requires. Mild, as well as stern men, are prone to this exaggeration of language; let not a woman be tempted to say anything sarcastic or violent in retaliation. The bitterest repentance must needs follow if she do. Men frequently forget what they have said, but seldom what is uttered by their wives. They are grateful, too, for forbearance in such cases for, whilst asserting most loudly that they are right, they are often conscious that they are wrong. Give a little time, as the greatest boon you can bestow, to the irritated feelings of your husband. Descended to the People.-The nominal father of Madame Lamotte, of diamond necklace notoriety, who announced herself as the descendant of Henri II., was a cobbler. "There are in France, "says a Paris correspondent, several individuals who claim to be allied with sovereigns." At Troves there is a woman who looks after the cattle who' is known to be the descendant of the Lacerda, who reigned over Spain. At Venddme there is a pastrycook recognised as a descendant of Rodo.'ph of Hapsburg, who proposed to pay a visit to his august cousin Francis Joseph a* Frankfort, but was forbidden by his wife. The Revolution swept away many noble families, and claimants constantly start up who believe th8m,¡,c.¡ves their legitimate descendants. Patronising the Poor.-How often have I heard the unfortunate working man lectured, as if lie were A little charity-cliild, humid as to his nasal develop- ment, strictly literal as to his catechism, and called by Providence to waFc all his days in a station of lifoe represented on festive occasions by a mug of warm milk-and-water and a bun. What pop-guns of joke-s have these ears tingled to hear let off at him, what asinine sentiments, what impotent conclusions, what spelling-book moralities, what adaptations oi the orator's insufferable tediousness to the assumed level of his lluderstandillg: If his sledge-hammers, his spades and pickaxes, his saws and chisels, his paint- pots and brushes, his forges, furnaces, and engines, the horses that he drove at his work, and the machines that drove him at his work, were all toys in one little paper box. and he the baby who played with thorn, he could not have been discoursed to more impertinently and absurdly than I have heard him discomsecl to afc times innumerable. Consequently, not being' a fool or a fawner, he has come to acknowledge his patronage by virtually sayillg-" Let me alone. If you under- stand me no better than that, sir, and madam, lot me alone. You mean very well, I dare say, but I don't like it, and I won't come here again to have any more of it."—All the Tear Round. Smoking by Women.—As the special chroniclers of the world of fashion, and bound to record all events that occur in high life, we must refer to a custom which has lately been introduced into this coimtry, and which,, we venture to predict, will ere long become very pre- valent—we allude to the smoking of cigarettes by ladies. Fashion holds such a tyrannic sway over society, that we need never be surprised at seeing the most astounding changes of manners, custom?, and. dress brought about through its magic influence. High waists, short waists, no waists at all, chimney- pot bonnets, fiat bonnets, powdered hair, dishevelled hair, rouge, patches, enamel, hoops, farthingales, crinoline, high-heeled boots, sandals, high dresses, decolleices dresses, have all had their day; we have lived to see the time when duellists and four-bottle men no longer exist, and when every man, high and low, rich and poor, old and young, indulges in the German and Dutch luxuries of the short pipe and mild Havannah. But a more startling change is likely to come over the spirit of our dream ladies belonging to la cr&me de la creme of society have introduced cigarettes. We could mention the names of many of England's aristocratic daughters who openly indulge in mild Latakia. A clever contemporary has alluded to fast matrons; let us hope that unmarried ladies will be slow to follow the example of those who would introduce the noxious weed into female society. If Belgravo ladies seal their lips against pleasant contact by such a, custom, let the outer circles hold aloof, and believe not that there is aught celestial and godlike in entering such unfragrant clouds.— Court Jon-ma I. The Magnetic Pole.—A magnetic mountain has been discovered in Swedish Lapland, on the left bank of the Rautusjoki, and the vein, which is several feet thick, promises to be one of the richest sources of natural magnets at present known. Mr. Berg, to whom it belongs, hopes to obtain from it enough to supply specimens to all the collections in Europe. Among the facts mentioned in proof of the magnetic force which these magnets derive from this source, it is stated that the galvanometer traverses 10 to 15 degrees in their presence, and that a contact of a few minutes imparts a sufficient charge to a piece of soft iron to enable it to support a weight of one or two Swedish pounds. A natural magnet, weighing 4001b., has already been obtained, and larger ones may be ex- pected. M. Done, of Berlin, has already possessed himself of one weighing 68 Swedish pounds the price varies from 80 centimes to 3 francs the kilogramme. The Abbe Moigno, from whose able journal, LeG Mondes, the above account is taken, remarks that the extraordinary magnetism of this mountain suggests the question whether the magnetic pole of the earth must not be sought in Lapland rather than in Siberia, the more so as the existence of the pole in Siberia more than doubtful. What Wines are Made of.—Hiram Cox, M.D., of Cincinnati, has made the following startling state- ment :—During the summer of 1856 I analysed a lot of liquors for some conscientious gentlemen of our own city, who would not permit me to take samples ta my office, but insisted on my bringing my chemicals and apparatus to their store, that they might see the operations- I accordingly repaired to their store, and analysed samples ef sixteen different lots. Among them were port wine, sherry wine, and Madeira wine. The distilled liquors were some pure, and some vile and pernicious imitations; but the wines had not one drop of the juice of the grape. The basis of the port wine was diluted sulphuric acid, coloured with the elderberry juice, with alum, sugar, and neutral sprits. The basis of the sherry wine was a sort of pale malt, sulphuric acid, flavoured from the bitter almond oil, with a percentage of alcoholic spirits. The basis of the Madeira was a decoction of hops, with sulphuvie acid, honey, spirits from Jamaica rum, &c. The same week after analysing the above, and exhibiting the quality and character of the liquors to the pro- prietors, a sexton of one of our churches informed me that he had purchased a gallon of the above port wine to be used in his church OI: the next Sabbath for sacramental purposes, and that for this mixture of sulphuric acid, alum, and elderberry juice he paid S dols. 75c. a gallon." England and America in 1840.—Mr. Irving had been much disturbed of late by noticing, in the Madrid Gazette, articles from English journals, in which all our acts and intentions in regard to the Oregon question and the disputes with Mexico were grossly misrepresented, and we were reviled as a. people without principle or faith. As the Gazette was exclusively a court paper, edited by persons about the Government, he took occasion to inquire of Mr. Isturiz, the minister of state, whether these British calumnies were believed and countenanced by the cabinet. Mr. Isturiz assured him that he had not not noticed the offensive articles, and that he would take care to have them excluded for the future. In another letter, showing how much he deprecated the effect of these persevering attempts to debase the national name, he remarks :—" A rancorous prejudice against us has been diligently inculcated of late years by the British press, and it is daily producing its fruits of bitterness." "Bulwer," he once exclaimed to the British minister at Madrid, in strong excitement on the same subject, I should deplore exceedingly a war with England, for, depend upon it, if we must come to blows, it will be serious work for both. You may break our head at first, but, by Heaven! we would break your back in the end.The Life and Letters oj Washington Irving. British Pluck.-The inhabitants of the British. Islands have ever exhibited the most dogged courage in the defence of the colours. The history of the battle of Waterloo displayed two brilliant examples of the strength of that feeling which we have designated as the sentiment of war. Some of the Polish Lancers succeeded in reaching the 79th Highlanders, at that time drawn up in line, and one of them made a dash at the colours. He inflicted a painful wound in the eye of one of the young ensigns who bore them, and succeeded in seizing the flag. The gallant boy, though suffering the most dreadful agony, had resolution enough, even while in the act of falling, to retain his grasp of the precious charge. Ere another instant had passed, the adventurous horseman was killed, and the wished-for prize remained in the hands of him who had shown himself so well fitted to be its guardian. In another regiment, we cannot remember which, the ensign, a mere boy, who bore one of the colours, was shot. The enemy were advancing in overwhelming force, the regiment was being gradually pushed back, and the colours that had waved above their heads in many a dearly bought victory seemed destined to become the prize of the foe in whose discomfited faces it had so often proudly flaunted. At this instant, a gallant sergeant rushed to the front, determined to avert the threatened calamity. The attempt appeared, certain death, but he had only one thought—the honour of his regiment. Reaching the spot where the colour lay dabbed in mud and the blood of its bearer, lie seized it with a nervous grasp, and strove to tear it from the dead man's hands. He found it impossible to do so. In the moment of death, the ensign's fingers had tightened round it like a vice. The flag could not be moved. His own comrades were retiring, the French advancing-nay, were almost upon him. With- out a moment's hesitation, the sergeant, by a vigorous effort, cast the corpse and the standard together across his shoulder, and thus nobly freighted rejoined his own ranks, friends and foes both uniting to greet the exploit with hearty cheers.— Cclbv.vn's V,¡Ue,.f Service Magazine.