The Illustrated Usk Observer and Raglan Herald

THE COURT. THE Court has been at Balmoral during the week, and it is likely that her Majesty's visit to Scotland will be longer than was anticipated. When her Majesty left Windsor Castle it was with the intention of returning in a month, but it is now understood, says the Court Journal, that the Royal visit to Scotland will extend to five weeks, and that the return of the Court to Windsor will be on Saturday, the 17th of October. ALTHOUGH the weather has been somewhat rough and cold since the arrival of the Court at Balmoral, yet her Majesty has not missed a day in being out of doors and visiting scenes endeared by associations of the late Prince Consort. On an early day after her arrival she made a visit to the cairn" raised to the memory of his Royal Highness, inspected the new dairy, now quite completed, and also drove to Aber- geldie Castle on a call to the Prince and Princess of Wales. Their Royal Highnesses seem to be enjoying the Highlands very much, and continue to take long drives among the fine romantic scenery every other day, accompanied by Colonel R. Farquharson, Colonel Keppel, and Captain Farquharson. The Prince has been deer-stalking in the forest of Invercauld, where the other day he had the good fortune to see a herd of 300 noble stags. Some rare sport was expected, but the wind having suddenly veered, the herd passed beyond rifle range, and consequently nothing could be done. At an after period of the same day, however, when the Princess of Wales had joined the party-all of whom partook of luncheon, served on the grass near the skirts of the wood-the sportsmen were more successful. A deer drive having been proposed from Craig Cluny, the Prince and Princess gaily ascended the hill. Her Royal Highness took up a favourable position at the pass and soon had the pleasure of seeing a number of fine stags go bounding past at some twenty or thirty yards distance. Two of the herd fell before the rifles of the Royal party. At the conclusion of the sport, the Prince and Princess were conducted round to the romantic Falls of the Gar- rawalt. THE Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse have arrived at Balmoral Castle and have been received with a hearty welcome from the Queen and a number of the tenantry who had been made aware of their coming by command of her Majesty. Princess Alice was always a great favourite at Balmoral, from her frank and winning manners in mixing with the dwellers on the estate, and on her arrival, finding that all the neighbourhood had come out to greet her, she held up her child so that her old friends might see baby," the incident was felt to bespeak kindly recollections of past days. THE congregation of the Free Church afc Crathie have just erected a neat tablet in that building in remembrance of the late Prince Consort, who liberally gave the site for the church. It bears the following inscription:—" To the noble and illustrious Prince Albert, K.G., Consort to her Majesty Queen Victoria, and Lord of the Castle and Lands of Balmoral, this tablet is dedicated, in deep sorrow for his early death, and in pious remembrance of his beneficent gift of the site whereon their church is erected by those who worship under its roof." THE Princess of Wales has granted her patronage to a bazaar to be held at Halifax, in December next, in aid of the funds for the new church now in course of erection at the picturesque village of Copley, near that town.

THE ARTS, LITERATURE, &c. PHIZ has just ready a companion to his recent How Pippins enjoyed a Day with the Fox-hounds," to wit, How Pippins enjoyed a Day with the Stag- hounds," the 3ame size as the former, twelve plates, quarter double elephant. IN the Melbourne General Cemetery a monument to the memory of Burke and Wills, the courageous and unfortunate explorers, has been erected. This consists of a massive granite monolith, roughly hewn as from the quarry, twelve feet high, six feet square at the base, tapering to five feet at the summit; it is raised on a die of a single block, nine feet high and eight feet square, which bears the inscription. The base consists of two steps, the lowest covering fourteen square feet; the total height of the monument is eighteen feet. THE Austrian Academy'of Fine Arts announces that an exhibition of pictures will take place in Vienna next year, opening the 15th of April and closing the 31st of May. All artists are invited to send such works as are in their own possession, and have not been already ex- hibited in Vienna the term for receiving works being from the 15th of March to the 1st of April. Prices are to be affixed in Austrian money; pictures without frames are inadmissible, and subjects which offend against decency will be rigidly excluded. THE Grand Reception-room at Windsor Castle, which has been closed to the public for several weeks past, will shortly be re-opened. The decorations in Louis XIV. style, have been entirely repainted in the same richness and splendour as when originally finished from designs prepared in the reign of George IV. As soon as the scaffolding is removed the public will be admitted as heretofore. IN commemoration of the visit of the Queen and Prince Consort, in 1861, to the beautiful well at the Hill o' Craig o' Doon, Lord Dalhousie called it the Queen's Well. Since the melancholy loss of the Queen, the Earl erected a memorial to our lamented Prince, in a way which reflects much credit on his taste and good feeling, and is in admirable keeping with the scenery around. Over the well six solid arches of roughly-hewn granite rear themselves about twenty feet high, terminating in a rude cross of white quartz— both kinds of stone gathered from the neighbouring hills. This cross is said to be but temporary, to be replaced by a suitable block of granite. But even as it is, the eye finds no fault with the tout ensemble, which gives a massive, yet light and elegant imitation of the old Scottish crown. Within its base the clear well now bubbles up in all its beauty, piercing a surface of finely-broken quartz of snowy whiteness, and re- strained for a time within a basin of smooth sand- stone, on the margin of which, all unobscured by the clear waves that are ever lapping over, runs tflis touching legend:— Best, travellers, on this lonely green, And drink and pray for Scotland's Queen." Outside of all, smooth green turf is laid, and beyond that is the natural herbage, soon lost among the brown heath and grey stones of the mountain side, on which small white cairns are seen to rise, suggestive and appropriate accessories to this memorial of respect and sympathy. An inscription on the lower stone of the central arch simply sets forth that "Her Majesty Queen Victoria and His Royal Highness the Prince Consoit visited this well and drank of its refreshing waters the 20th September, 1861, The year of her Majesty's great sorrow." Lord Dalhousie submitted the plan of the erection to the Queen ere a stone was laid, and all received her Majesty's gracious approval, but one desire, which showed the feelings of the widowed Queen, was ex- pressed, namely, that it should be called the Prince's Well." EVERY season, it is said, brings its various duties and obligations to man, but publishers appear to be in advance of the seasons. Already books and almanacs for 1864 are advertised. Autumn's shades are scarcely exhibited when we are reminded by these things of the frosts and snows of winter, when, sitting by a cozy fire, such reading is pleasant. Amongst works of this kind we notice Cassell's Illustrated Family Almanac for 1864. It is said that the circulation ob- tained by this in 1863 was something enormous and, judging from the contents for the ensuing year, we conclude that it may even exceed its predecessors in usefulness and popularity.

SPORTS AND PASTIMES. --+- THE amateur foot race for £ 400—< £ 200 a side- made at Bognor during the Goodwood race week, is to take place at Newmarket during the Second October Meeting. The competitors are Captain Machell, of the 59th Foot, and Mr. Chadwick, late of the 9th Lancers, and the distance is one hundred yards. Both gentlemen are in active training for the match. ANGLING BY STEAM.—Last week, Mr. Fildes, with his little steam yacht City of Manchester, went a-fishing on Windermere. The day was fine for angling, a south wind and cloudy sky, and this new application of steam power was a decided success. A pannier of very fine pike rewarded the disciples of honest old Izaak for their novel and amusing experi- ment. RIVER POACHERS.—At Blackburn, a man named Thomas Greenwood was fined £ 10 and costs for two offences against the Salmon Fisheries Act, at Dinckley, near Blackburn. He and another man, Mark Anderton, were found on the banks of the Ribble by the night watchers, with a bag containing twenty-five fish, and an illegal net, with an inch mesh, in their possession. Anderton has since got out of the way. LORD ST. VINCENT gave Osborne, who rode Lord Clifden, the winner of the St. Leger at Doncaster, a thousand pounds, and the same sum to Edwin Parr, the trainer. LIEUTENANT THOMAS, of the 32nd Regiment, who walked, as an accoutred private soldier, sixty miles in twenty hours, has offered to walk from Berwick-upon- Tweed to Land's End at the rate of forty-two miles a day until the journey is completed. THE FRENCH GAME LAWS.—A silly paragraph is going the rounds to the effect that a modification is about to be introduced into the French game laws, prohibiting the killing of hen birds. "By this means," says the paragraph, it is hoped to restock the woods with game, of which some species are tending to dis- appear in France." A sportsman can distinguish a cock from a hen pheasant, but how is he to distinguish between the sexes of other game is a secret which the writer does not reveal. THE match between -the All England Eleven v. Twenty-two of York has been decided in favour of the Ali England Eleven, who won by 83 runs. The All England Eleven made 154 and 90; the Twenty-two of York, 86 and 75. THE Doncaster Cup, representing St. George and the Dragon," supplied by Messrs. R. and S. Garrard and Co., was exhibited in the window of a jeweller's shop in High-street, Doncaster, and it nearly cost a crush to death to get near it. The possessor of the Cup of 1863 has received a prize not only as an intrinsic work of art, but as most closely associating Doncaster with the Cup, which this year illustrates the valour of a saint after whom its noble edifice is called— St George. The value of the Cup is three hundred sovereigns. Many judges consider that it is not of the average merit of former cups.

How Damp Grain may be Harvested. The wet weather of the last few weeks (says the Agri- cultural Gazette) gives great importance to suggested methods by which damp grain may be harvested, and we accordingly reproduce a paragraph published some years ago. Mr. Gould, of Amberd, near Taunton, had written on this sabject as follows :—" My wheat was reaped on Wednesday, the 9th of August. On Thursday it rained all day, the wheat being shocked Friday was showery; Saturday was very fine, and I made my men put the sheaves with the ears inwards in a circle, and on those to lay others, diminishing the circle until the whole formed a conical mow containing about a load; the top was surmounted by a cap of reed. This morning, August 21, after a very rainy and stormy night, I pulled out one of the stalks with the ear, to show that even in this most precarious season corn may be preserved uninjured. Most of the corn in this neighbourhood is in a sad state." This is one j 1 m: another, which we regard as preferable, was suggested some years ago by Mr. Hannam, of North Deighton. He recommends the placing of two parallel rows of hurdles three feet apart, as long as convenient, erect on some dry piece of land. He then advises to build sheaves one on the other, laid horizontally, ears inwards, to the hurdles, forming a row sheaf-long wide on each side of them. He builds these sheaves up to the height of the hurdles, and then covers the interval and stacks a row of sheaves all along over the top. There need not be an ear that is not in contact with the air, on this plan for the tunnel is open from end to end, and the sheaves are all placed with their heads to it, while the top sheaves and the row of stocked sheaves overhead hinder the access of rain. There is nowhere sufficient bulk of corn to heat, though it may be damp; nor is there sufficient weight to hinder the lowest sheaves from getting rapidly dry. Of course it will be ad- visable to lay the first sheaves not immediately on the land, but against the hurdles.

Flower Garden and Shrubberies. Cuttings should be carefully looked over to see that nothing has been omitted, and that a sufficient quantity of everything is in a promising state for making nice plants before winter; it should be borne in mind that things which are at all difficult to winter rooted after this season maybe considerably thinned before spring, and also that they will not be sufficiently strong to furnish many cuttings for spring propagation; conse- quently a larger quantity than would have been necessary had the cuttings been put in earlier should be provided. But if there is a reserve stock of strong plants in pots, which is a safe practice where there is a large quantity of bedding things required, and proper convenience for growing them and propagating them in spring, these will furnish a large quantity of cut- tings next March, which, as has been formerly stated, will form equally good plants by turning-out time as cuttings put in now. In the case of such things as ageratums, heliotropes, and dwarf lobelias, it is useless wintering young stock, as these grow so freely in heat, and are so easily propagated from soft cuttings that a few good-sized old plants which require but little room or attention in winter will furnish a very large quantity of plants by bedding-out time. Attend to the potting of cuttings sufficiently rooted, and give every after attention to these in order to get them well established. Persevere with leaf-sweeping and other routine work.

Hardy Fruit and Kitchen Garden. Pay every attention to getting the wood of peaches and apricots well ripened, by exposure, shortening, &c. Most kinds of apples may be gathered during this and next month. Late pears should be left on the trees while the weather continues favourable for their ripening. Prepare for planting all kinds of fruit trees, by getting the ground in good order for the different kinds. On cold stiff soils, it is advisable to plant on hillocks, one foot or eighteen inches higher than the surrounding surface. The trees will not grow so fast in consequence, and will require more attention in summer in the way of mulching, but they will form short-jointed, well-ripened, fruitful wood, which is the best preventive of canker, gum, &c., and will save the labour of resorting much to root-pruning. No oppor- tunity should now be lost for getting potatoes that are ripe out of the ground, and stored in a dry condition. Potatoes may either be kept in narrow pits, with a little dry earth sprinkled among them, or in airy dark sheds. Before storing, however, take care to separate the bad ones, fortunately, very scarce this season, from those that are sound. Use cauliflower before it gets too large, and prepare a shed or pit to plant a quantity on the first approach of frost. French beans may require a slight protection at night. Plant out lettuces and endive for spring use. If planted on the sloping sides of wide ridges they will stand better, damp being quite as destructive as frost.—Gardeners' Chronicle.

TOPICS OF THE WEEK. i EMANCIPATING THE NEGROES.—President Lincoln's proclamation for emancipating the negroes is adopted by the Federal convention, and awkwardly vindicated by its author. It has not produced the expected anarchy in the South, and it has not, thus far, inter- fered with the success of the war. It would have been more to the purpose to explain how it has promoted the cause of reunion, or in what manner it has facili- tated military operations. The proclamation was issued in virtue of a supposed prerogative which the Republicans describe as the war power, and it was professedly intended, not to benefit the negroes, but to weaken or intimidate the insurgents. If it had produced a servile rebellion, it would have been an inexcusable crime, but not, as at present, an idle menace. If the dread of its operation had induced any Confederate State, or part of a State to submit, the questionable justice of the act might have been partially redeemed by its successful operation; but, after the experience of eight months, Mr. Lincoln can only say that the war progresses as successfully since the issue of the proclamation as before. Peace, if it is ever to be restored, must necessarily be less distant than before, but it has by no means been accelerated by the device which was justly denounced as culpable until it proved itself abortive. The Republicans will have derived little advantage from the opportunity of pledging themselves to anticipations which may not improbably be falsified by events. If, after the lapse of another year, peace has not approached visibly nearer, the professions which are now thought at- tractive to the constituency will have become generally distasteful. It will then be the turn of the Democrats to show whether they have learnt moderation and honesty during their temporary exclusion from political power.—Saturday Review. FRUIT V. BIRDs.-The Times has had a vast deal of correspondence about the destruction of birds. On the one hand it is contended that the birds are the police appointed by nature to keep down insect life, which would otherwise swarm so as to devour crops and poison the air, a plague which is beginning to be felt in France, where a war of extermination has been waged with birds. On the other hand it is asserted that the birds are nothing but thieves, that they rob gardens of all their fruit, and will not trouble them- selves to pick up a caterpillar while a cherry, a rasp- berry, or plum can be had. A country parson writes a long letter of mixed lament and complaint. He has, he says, a weakness for fruit and a fondness for birds, but he finds it impossible to have both—non bene conveniunt, nee in Wita sede morantur. The black- birds ate all his strawberries, with some help from thrushes and robins. The gooseberries followed; but there was balm in Gilead, and the parson com- forted himself with the thought of the ripening pears, for which the good man has a particular weakness." Indeed, he seems to have a weakness for every- thing eatable in his garden, and would have been much misplaced in Eden. The destruction of half his crop of pears he lays to the charge of the birds, and accuses them of now having designs on the winter sort. The sanguinary conclusion the rev. gentleman arrives at is, that the small birds must be destroyed or fruit cannot be had at a price suiting his pocket. Another clergyman, a London incumbent, accuses the birds as follows:—They consumed all the currants and all the gooseberries, they devoured all the peas, and we left them making holes in the plums to see if they were ripe in the intervals of their hammering at the nuts and filberts. Now one of two things must b3 certain, either that the incumbent had very little fruit, or that the birds must have swarmed in his garden in numbers never yet seen or heard of except in this complaint. If birds could collect in force capable of the havoc described, they would have some quarrels and grudges to settle amongst themselves which would seriously interfere with the business of regaling. We believe the destruction to be enor- mously exaggerated in these representations. The confessed weakness for fruit has introduced a vindictive spirit into the report, magnifying the trespasses of the poor birds. But the question is not, as stated, between birds and fruit, but between birds and insects, and if the country parson destroys the small birds to preserve his strawberries and gooseberries, will he be content to be overrun and choked with insects ? A writer, who signs himself Sense," denies, indeed, that the birds render the service of destroying snails, caterpillars, &c., and it is possible that in certain short seasons they prefer a vegetable diet; but the experience of France proves that where birds have been exterminated, insects and vermin have multiplied to a disgusting, destructive, and noxious extent. And birds, we take it, have the same manners and habits in all lands. It is remarkable that most of the witnesses against the birds are clerical, and their judgments marker. with the severity that generally characterises the cloth in the magistracy. We are sorry for it, as the example of the parson is too likely to counteract the endeavours (hitherto promising well) to put an end to the wanton destruction of nature's police for the suppression of insects and vermin. It is a very short-sighted policy and economy to grudge this force their wages, for which, besides their more substantial services, they please our eyes with their beauty and our ears with their song. But what, asks the country parson, are these gratifications compared with gooseberries.—-Examiner. BRIGHTON AS IT Is.-England is indebted to George IV. for Brighton in its present state. The Pavilion, which now belongs to the town, is a monu- ment of that monarch's taste—or want of taste. There were some points of resemblance between George IV. and Charles II.: but how many points of difference! King Charles had a fine intellect, misdirected by the accidents of his early life. He was a good mathema- tician and chemist-a man of real courage, as he showed in his escape after Worcester, when he swam a wide river with a peasant on his shoulders. Every one remembers Rochester's epigrammatic epitaph— Here lies our sovereign lord the King, Whose word no man relies on, Who never said a foolish thing, And never did a wise one. Elsewhere the witty Earl describes King Charles as The easiest prince and best bred man alive. Although it was the boast of George IV. to be "the first gentleman in Europe," it may well be doubted whether he would have held that rank in the eyes of so good a judge as Rochester. Praed's comment on his career is terribly sharp A noble, nasty course he ran, Superbly filthy and fastidious; He was the world's first gentleman And made the appellation hideous. Peace to his Manes But when one looks at that vile Pavilion of his, which disfigures Brighton, it is im- possible not to pity a man who filled a position for which he was so terribly unfit. To be King of England -how glorious the career! It is simply the noblest thing earth has to offer. Nobly was the position occupied by Edward I.-by Edward III.: nobly will it, we trust, by Edward VII. But it is sad when a man who would have made an excellent tailor is called to such a career. A dissertation on extinct monarchs has been provoked by the Pavilion. However, the Pavilion gardens are pleasant enough—are peculiarly pleasant in a place like Brighton, where there are scarcely any trees for miles. The slopiug downs in the vicinage are wide and breezy: but Englishmen cannot do without foliage. So, while the Pavilion itself is an abomination, its gardens are delightful— and the corporation of Brighton are wise to maintain them in their present state. Tired of the glare of sunlight upon the open sea, you take up the last French novel to be had for love or money (kappy if it be Edmond About's), or, failing this, an English one— and then, selecting a patulous elm in which the rooks are musical, you lie on the turf beneath and read till dinner time. The soft susurrus of the tide reaches you at intervals. You are in the land In which it seemeth always afternoon, and with the immense advantage that a capital dinner awaits you at your hotel, the lotos being brought in merely for dessert. Still, Brighton is by no means perfect for those who desire thorough enjoyment of the sea. Its very popularity has spoilt it. Its excellence deteriorates it. London removed to the margin of ocean-wide waters in front and wide downs behind- is very charming in theory; but it charms other people, it brings with it the excellent and agreeable acquaintances who have bored you all through the season, it compels you to dine with men you are tired of dining with, though they are the best fellows in the world, and give capital dinners. Hence our verdict is that though Brighton is without rival for the man who wants a few desultory days by the sea, longer vacation should be spent in some spot less known and less fashionable.—Spectator.

OUR MISCELLANY. Twelve Feet High.-The wit deservedly won his bet who, in a company when every one was bragging of his tall relations, wagered that he himself had a brother twelve feet high. He had, he said, two half brothers, each measuring six feet. Deuce and Knave.—"You have played the deuce with my heart," said a gentleman to a young lady who was his partner in a game of whist. Well," replied the lady, with an arch smile, "it was because you played the knave." No Accounting for Taste.-An Irishman being asked, as he lay sunning himself on the grass, what was the height of his ambition, replied, To marry a rich widow with a bad cough." An Old Lover.-A correspondent of a Melbourne paper says that a Mr. Dorwin, lately from England, eloped last week with the daughter of Dr. Hotchkiss, of Glenallen, in the county of Wellington. The gay Lothario is aged about ninety, and the young lady seventeen. She has since returned to the paternal fireside, after passing through the Toronto police- court. Birmingham Wit.-At a recent meeting of the Birmingham Town Council a resolution was passed for erecting a cemetery chapel for the exclusive accom- modation of the Roman Catholics of that borough. A facetious burgess, on hearing the decision, remarked that he was not at all surprised at the result, inasmuch as the members of the corporation had betrayed their leaning towards Romanist observances even as far back as the election of the present mayor, when they resolved to have Sturgeon all the year round. Eccentrics and their Hobbies. — There is no accounting for the tastes displayed by various people (says a Parisian paper), thus one is supposed to feel no surprise at hearing that the Due de Dino has a weakness for waistcoats. The number he possesses is asserted to be one thousand, the value of them amounting to 20,000f.: they cannot, however, be very gorgeous ones, as at that rate they are worth but 20f. a-piece. His canes are said to exceed in number his waistcoats. The Duke of Brunswick also has a failing for walking sticks, whips, and riding-whips. His col- lection is very great, though their value is not more than 10,000f. Three spacious rooms, it is said, would prove incapable of holding the Princess de Buttera's wardrobe. The travelling carriage of the Marquis d'Aligre cost upwards of 15,000f. Count and Viscount Aguado have in their stables thirty carriages and sixty horses. The Population of the Earth.-A professor of the University of Berlin has recently published the result of his researches as to the population of the earth, according to which Europe contains 272 millions; Asia, 720 millions; Africa, 89 millions; America, 200 millions and Polynesia, 2 millions-making a grand total of 1,283 millions of inhabitants. As in places where deaths are accurately registered the annual mortality is at least 1 in 40, the number of deaths must be about 32 millions every year, which gives 87,761 per day, 3,653 per hour, and 61 per minute, so that every second witnesses the extinction of one human life. Another calculator states that the number of persons who have lived on the earth since the creation is 36,627,843,275,075,855! i-Galignani. The Russian Lady and her Bag.-A letter from Berne of the 14th relates the following curious story" The Russian Embassy in this city has lodged a complaint with the authorities respecting an affair which has nothing to do with politics. A few days since a Russian lady, while on board a steamer which plies on the Lake of Thun, having mislaid her travelling bag, thought proper to take possession of that of another passenger, fend refused to give it up until her own was restored, and on her landing she was arrested and lodged in prison. Having obtained permission to send a note to. the Russian Ambassador and to other members of the diplomatic body, they interfered, and proved that she had no intention of stealing the bag-, and she was set at liberty after having been for some hours in confinement. The lady, thinking tha.t she had not been treated in a manner suitable to her rank, has made a complaint to the Federal authority, and her application is said to be supported by the Russian Ambassador." Dr. Hook on "Bad Copy.The chairman of the Slaughani harvest-home dinner said that Dean Hook had preached a magnificent sermon to them, and he (the chairman) was very sorry he was not now present, but he was compelled to leave a short time ago in order to catch an early train. Before the dean went he asked him whether, if they wished it, he woul(I print the sermon. The answer the dean made was- that he should not say "No," but should leave it to them, upon which he (the chairman) at once said, Yes." He told the dean he thought they could sell one hundred, and he believed they would print it. With respect to the copy of the sermon, he offered to the dean to get it written out plain for the printers. The dean made answer, and said that would never do, he would write it out badly himself. Upon his asking" the dean why, lie explained that if the copy was plain it would be put in the hands of the worst compositors, whereas if it was written badly, the best hands would get it, and the work would be better done. Half-time Education.—Where the balance be- tween mind and body, brain and muscle, is established by education, the chances of life, health, and pros- perity are improved beyond all computation." Mr. Chadwick tells us that in half-time industrial schools the mortality is reduced to one third of what it is at the same time of life in the general population of England and Wales. With this weightiest of facts I conclude our contemplation of the lot of the fortunate children who have come in for the first share of the benefits of half-time schooling. They have the ad- vantage of the sons and daughters of nobles, and gentry, and tradesmen for the old-established schccl- hours are still the rule in upper and middle-class edu- cation and the physical education of children—of girls especially—has still to be introduced into practice, while it is having a fair trial among not only young- peasants and operatives, but paupers, foundlings, and City Arabs.-Once a TYeck. A Word oil Swans.—At a very early date it was' a very high privilege, granted only by the sovereign to different companies and individuals, to keep and pre- serve swans on the different rivers and lakes through- out England. Many different swan marks were adopted by the proprietors, that each might know their own'birds. This privilege only being granted under certain conditions and to certain persons, shows the degree of value and importance attached to the possession of these birds in old times, as well as the authorised power to protect them. For example, in the 22nd year of the reign of Edward IV., 1483, it waeo ordered that no person who did not possess a freehold of a clear yearly value of five marks should be per- mitted to keep any swans; and in the 11th year of Henry VII., 1496. it was ordained that any one steal- ing or taking a swan's egg should have one year's im- prisonment, and make payment of a fine at the king's will." And stealing or setting snares for, or driving- grey or white swans, was punished still more severely. Even at the present time it is felony "to steal, or injure in any way, a young swan."—Once a lVeek. Our Antipodes- Know ye the land where the spey oak and gum trees In shapeless deformity darken the wold- Where the blasts of the north, where the chill of the sea breeze, Now scorches to fever, now pierces with cold? Know ye the land contrariety sways, ■' Perverting the laws common nature obeys, Where black swans, and magpies in whitened array, And water-rats, duck-billed, come forth to the day; Where the trees shed their barks as the serpents their skin, And the stones of the cherries are outside, not in; Where the crOwing of cocks at the midnight is heard, And beasts breed their young in a manner absurd; Where enjoyment a fiction is, comfort a myth, And the heart of all esculent hardens to pith; Where a wooden pear offers the toughest of fruit, And the laugh of the bush jackass never is mute; Where the dust of the earth and the glare of the sky Are a plague to the breath, to the skin, and the eye; Where waters are brackish, and rivers are dry; Where the loadstar of life is the gold in the mine, And the spirit supreme is the spirit of wine ? —Melbourne Punch. A Spanish Bacchanalian.— In the days of the reign of King Philip of Spain, u When corpulent monks ruled the roast, The stoutest of all, Brother Francis of Gaul, In sherry the whole world would toast.. Now this Franciscan friar had a wond'rous desire To tipple the best he could find; Reclined in his chair, before daintiest fare, He cast all his cares to the wind. •- w, In the cellars so cold of the monastery old < The bright wine of Xerez was stored 'J' And the cellarer gray, who tippled all day, At vespers melodiously snored. One cold winter's night Francis had a sad fright, As he dozed in his old oaken chair The lights they burned blue-he had flagons twice two— And a gent with a tail came the banquet to share. Jolly Francis the Friar, in dismay the most dire, Told his beads as fast as he might; But the gent with the horns he punished his corns, While his hair stood on end with affright. Ha ha! Francis, my boy, I am loth to annoy, But no more olla or sherry for thee; You've enjoyed your last glass, and your time must now pass In the kingdom of sulphur with me." Rosy Francis declares he then seized his few hairs, And battered his nose on the noor The room full of smoke, he felt fit to choke, As he shuffled to grope for the door. At the dawn of the morn, the Abbot, shaven and shorn, Found rosy Francis asleep on the floor; But Francis declares he was saying his prayers When his holiness opened the door. „ „ But the cellarer grey, who tipples all day, Winks, and saith 'tis fustian outright. Francis fell on his nose when his sherry-warmed toes Refused to preserve him upright. \:y iv The moral we learn into rhyme I will turn- f Quantum suff. is as good as a feast One flagon of wine is enough when you dine- Twice two made poor Francis a beast. The Sun's D'stance from the Earth.—Mr. Hind, the astronomer, has published a long letter, discussing this subject, and enumerating the reasons for amending the hitherto received reckoning based on the observations of the transits of Venus across the sun's disc in 1761 and 1769. The second transit is always more favourable than the first, and. the contradictory results derived from ob- servations of 1761 led to great preparations in 1769. The entrance of the planet, utson the sun's disc was seen at nearly all the European obser- vatories, and its departure therefrom at several points in Eastern Asia, at Manilla, Batavia, &c.; while the entire duration was watched at Wardhus, at different places in Lapland, at Tahiti, St. Joseph in California, and elsewhere. Unfortunately clouds interrupted the northern observations, except at Wardhus, where, however, the carelessness or fraud of the observer marred the work, and his observations, kept back for some months and never relied on, were in 1834 proved to be forgeries. The calculation made—95,360,000 miles-has been disputed since 1854, the earth's mean distance being calculated at 91,328,600 miles. The new calculations are based on experiments as to the velocity of light, the lunar equation in the theory of the earth as investigated by Leverrier, and similar reasons. The next transits of Venus will take place on 9th December, 1874, and 6th December, 1882; after which no other opportunity will occur till 2004. Mr. Hind therefore suggests an extensive system of obser- vations to verify the recent calculations. Among other favourable positions he names in 1882, is the place where an Antartic continent was laid down some years since by Admiral Wilkes, but upon the existence of which geographers are not agreed. No part of the transit of 1874 can be witnessed in this country, but that of 1882 will be visible-the first external