Monmouthshire Merlin

SONG TO HOPE. COME Hope, thou little cheating sprite, And let us set the quairel right Come thou to me, Or I to thee, No matter so we but agree. You told me Phillis would be true, I trusted her, I trusted you She prov'd a jade, I was betray'd, And this was one sly trick you played. You promis'd me to launch a dart At Parthenissa's stubborn heart You swore 'twould hit: The deuce-a bit; It, miss'd-yon told a second tit. You said, bf Be imp, that I should find Belinda best of woman kind The knot was tyed, She waR my bride She was my plague-again you ly'd. A thousand times you vow'd and swore, And fibb'd and flatter'd o'er and o'er Thoush all was vain, It lull'd my pain Come then and cheat me o'er again. Ïiiii:

VARIETIES. An anecdote is told of a Providence Potter in the Forest of Dean, one of whose representatives, a sad ^nken fellow, once went to his humane squire in great Stress. The worthy gentleman, after suggesting va- rious expedients but to no purpose, at last said, » en, j1* could see nothing for it but to trust m Providence. Wd bless you, sir, why Providence has been dead these TPFR VCFLRS ANECDOTE OF THE DUKE OR MAT.AKHOFF.-When in «o«amand of a brigade in Algeria a Zouave was brought Wore him charged with committing some grave infrac- tion of discipline. The general, who is very irascible &°«red out such a volley of abuse and reproaches that tbe Zouave, stung to the quick, clapped his rifle to his ■Wilder, and-click another moment should have rolled general in the dust; but the rifle hung fire one of J^Ruard struck up the b .rrel, another knocked down ^0 Zouave and Pelissier, who never winked, cried out 1Q a deliberate voice, "Twenty-five days extra drill, as as be is out of prison, for having a foul firelock !"— Quarterly Jtevicic. ^K&ICHARD SAVAGE.—Wp.s Richard Savage an impostor, r*' Johnson a dupe, and the Ooui\tesa of n- NW-hearted mother ? Mr. Aloy Thomas, in a curious "lies of papers, now publishing in the columns of our ^atemnorarv Notes and Queries, maintains the affir- mative,and I think successfully. Mr. Thomas has "kedup half-burnt and mouldy records of the House of Lords, ^etrated into the dusty depositories of the Arches Court, found papers which have not seen the light since the C?IIrJtess of Macclesfield made her unfortunate faux- pas *»th Lord Rivers, and was in consequence divorced. -By lk« help of these documents, and I know not how many wills, parish registers, musty pamphlets, newspapers, poems, the Countess's true story, and the story ot S illegitimate children—one of whom Savage claimed J°be—is at last satisfactorily made out; and it does not in any respect with Savage's romantic tale, which Palmed upon Johnson, and through him on every man reads. What would Mr. Whitehead, who wrote the ??»el of Richard Savage," and so strenuously defended B Hero in the preface, have said to this had he lived ? **age was after all but a vulgar ruffian, as even John- highflown narrative and elaborate apology cannot °°1*cea] jlluslrated Times. CHAUI.ES LAMB.—lie was singularly charitable in 11 JudgjnK 0f others, and often repeated, Let not my weak ^knowing hand," &c., from Pope's beautiful prayer. He ^?rt>ed, the economical caution (so common with penny- philanthropy) that shuts the heart and hand indis ruinate!y against the street-beggar. It is au accepted he would say, that twenty rogues had better punishment, rather than that one innocent man °Uld suffer. I therefore hold that to be duped by a ?°*en imnost'ors out of a few paltry pence is not half so aa denviPR one really deserving supplicant." He JS'er refus d grey hairs, the halt, or the blind, and he !Nted to a fine engraving of Behsanus that adorned his Sng-room as his excuse. Spring and autumn were his Surite months. The one fought with it renewed NiurP hone and ioy the other' wllh ltS ,fall,nS leaves, *VflowL aud hollow whistling winds, suited his ^ftuthmal melancholy. It was in autumn, alas that Jessed away from us.—Literaly GaMte■ TOO MUCH WOKK. —Work is doubtless the condition 0,«*iat(.nee' to good sound honest work the greatest ^erenre is due. For the consigner of bales of cotton 5^8 to Cochin-China we entertain such respect as one Sid pay to a man who, casting his eyes over the world i** the intelligence to see where a stroke of usi y 5? done, and does it. Work is the very pillar on which all ^•present, and future civilization has ripened,and oes It is the columen rerum, the column of affairs. cut icolumn is not complete without the Corinthian capi- it is bald, incomplete, and unsightly, and the Corin- capital to work is a proper and artistically disposed h **>re Arrangements for human life on these conditions l yCt to be made in this English land; but unmis- w^ble signs we recognise from time to time as proofs that t?**e beginning, as a nation, to be aware of the fact 81 We should work to live, and not live to work. lo human life entirely subservient to labour, is making taan carry the ass, instead of the ass carrying the N>. Well-spent leisure is the laurel wreath of con- Nt-the crown of industry, lo ao more work than is S*ary, is to keep on galloping iound the race-course JS we have won the race-to carry more knapsacks one on our life-march when one is enough. When We done a good day's work, let us get rid ot it, and Sk no more of it. We have reached a point of repose iourney of life; 'et U3 throw the burden of care 2N our shoulders, and see how mind and body may re- Ik.c« in the beauty and abundance around us. Why anv more of the counting-house when we are out Whv should we keep on board ship when we |S^ i »'nd an enlightened undemanding. u relics oi Greece and Rome are (Nucts8 of'the reciprocal influence of a public who felt W rpmiirenients ot leisure, and of artists iS 8UaSed those Requirements. We hope there is no Xer of our being interpreted to mean that the wnole I K4 OdUon's ambitfon should be devoted to the mere ele- tSelof life—that we would have England converted N Lord Nelson's descrintion of Italy, a nation of con- hNed noets fiddlers, and dancers." Est modus m rebus WU, P lt at)d science should be the mere KSd^ora^t-tO•'U1e^b of the tapestry is 5b°ur; and, unless that is fairly and soundly woven Jkther, the embroidery is of no value whatever. e WW the Englishman has made and is making the L of sound texture enough the maiu thing left is o LV^ople to see that the embroidery bas yet to be put .*L't. We do no more than advocate that which the mobt IH^guished political economist of the day, Mr. JMiJl, located some time back. The study of the philosophy Ifciiii hour is pretty well advanced in this generation. A !^»°phy of leisure ia now desirable.—JSTew Quarterly » NVedderburn askea ftheriUan how he had got rid .ot his Irish brogue, as he wished to get rid of his Scotch accent. My dear fellow," said Sheridan, "don't attempt such a thing. The House listens to you now because they don't understand you but if you become intelliglhle, they will be able to take your measure." MISERABLE SINNERS IN EASY CIRCUMSTANCES. —SO healthy, so wealthy, so jnlly, much respected by the viear, so much honoured by the tenants, so much be- loved and admired by his family, amongst whom his story of grouse in the gun-room causes laughter from generation to genei-ation-tilis perfect being a miserable sinner! Allons done! Give any man good health and temper five thousand a-year, the adoration of his parish, and the love and worship of his family, and I'll defy you to make him so heartily dissatisfied with the spiritual conditional as to set himself down a miserable anything. If you were a Royal Highness, and went to Church in the most perfect health and comfort, the parson waiting to begin the service until your R.H. came in, would you believe yourself to be a miserable, See. ? You might when racked with gout, in solitude, the fear of death before your eyes, the doctor having cut off your bottle of claret, and ordered arrowroot and a little sherry—you might then be humiliated, and acknowledge your own shortcomings and the vanity of things in general; but in high health, sunshine, and spirits, that word miserable is only a form. You can't think in your heart that you are to be pitied much for the present. If you are to he miserable, what is Colin Ploughman, with the ague, seven children, two pounds a-year rent to pay for the cottage, and eight shillings a-week ? No: a healthy, rich, jolly, country gentleman, if miserable, has a very supportable misery if a sinner, has very few people to tell him so.— The Virginians. A DEFENCE OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.—Now, although I freely avow that I entertained a different opinion when writing my Life of Elizabeth," the duty of an historian compels me to declare that a new and singular light has been thrown upon that dark passage—the death of Mary Stuart—by the discovery of a contemporary document, which, if founded on fact, transfers the guilt of that deed entirely to those ministers who, having injured the un- fortunate heiress of the crown beyond hope of forgiveness, determined that she should not survive Elizabeth. The document in question is apparently a minute of a privy council or star-chamber investigation, dated 1606, nearly 20 years after Mary's execution, when death had swept away all the leading actors iu that historical tragedy from the stage. Walsingham, Leicester, Bui ley, Hat ton, Paulet, Elizabeth hersell, had all gone to their great account, and it is impossible to conceive any motive for fabrication in the matter. It is the deposition attested by the signatures of two persons of the names of Stayer and Macaw, affirming that the late Thomas Harrison, a private and confidential secretary of the late Sir Francis Walsingham, did voluntarily acknowledge to them that in junction with Thomas Phillips and Maude, he, by the direction of his master, Sir Francis Walsingham, added to the letters of the late Queen of Scotland those passages that were afterwards brought in evidence against her, and for which she was condemned to suffer death that he could forge the hand signature of every prince in Europe, and had done so often, and that he was employed by his said master, Sir Francis Walsingham, to forgo Queen Elizabeth's signature to the death warrant of the Queen of Scots, which none of her ministers could ever induce her to Úgn." It is certain that the warrant for Mary's execution remained six week's in Davis )iI'S hands unsigned and that Elizabeth ever did sign it rests on his unsupported testimony, no witness being present when, according to his statement, she set her hand to that instrument; and in this self-same hour desired him to take measures for having the necessity of using it su- perseded by Mary's keepers putting her to death. The joint letter written by him and Walsingham, making the proposition tu, ani its refusal by, Paulet. and Drurv, are undeniable. Vo' vii. pp. 401-5.—Miss S(riekl(tnd'$ Lives of the Queens of Scotland. FOUEST MICE.-lt was during this year. £ 1SLL] espe., cially, but to a certain degree also in tbe preceding and succeeding ones, that this forest and the New Forest were visited with an enormous number of mice. They appeared in all parts, but particularly in Haywood en- closure, destroying a very large proportion of the young trees, so much so that only four or five plants to an acre were found uninjured by them. The roots of live years old oaks aud chestnuts were generally eaten through just below the surface of the ground, or wherever their runs proceeded. Sometimes they were found to have barked the young hollies round the bottom, or were seen feed- ing on the bnrk of the upper branches. These mice were of two kinds, the common long-tailed field-mouse and the short-tailed. There were about fifty of these tattersort to one of the former. The long-tailed mice had all white hreasts, alld the tail was about the same length as the body. These were chiefly caught on the wet greens in the forest, and the short-tailed were caught both on the wet and dry grounds. A variety of means were resorted to for their destruction, such as cats, poisons, and traps, but with little success. A Mr. Broad, who had been employed by the Admiralty, and had been successful in killing the rats and mice ill the fleet, was sent down, and tried several plans, all of which failed. At last a miner, living on Edge Hill, named Simmons, came forward and said that he had often, when sinking wells or pits, found mice fallen in and dead, in conse- quence of their endeavours to extricate themselves, and he had little doubt the same plan would succeed in the forest. It was tried, and holes were dug over the en- closures about two feet djep, and the same size across and rather hollowed out at the bottom, and at the dis- tance of about twenty yards apart, into which the mice fell, and were unable to get out again. Simmons and others were employed, and paid by the number of tails which they brought in, which amounted in the wholj to more than 100,000. Iu addition to this it may bo men- tioned that polecats, kites, hawks, and owls visited the holes regularly, and preyed upon the mice caught in them; and a small owl, called by Pennant IStrix passe- rina. never known in the Forest before or since, ap- peared at that time, and was particularly active in their destruction. The mice in the holes also ate each other. -The Forest (1' Dean. By the Rev. 11. G. Nieholh. BACKSWORD PLAV.—They shake h aids, throw them- se ves into position, and the bout begins. Harry is c tai y le finer player, and his adversary feels tliis at once and the shouts of anticipated victory in the Berk. shire tongue, rouse his temper. Now comes a turn of T|6 8 <!nL'1 W u 0 j^bt never to be seen on a stage. The Somerset man bends far back, and strikes upper cuts at the face and arms, and then savagely at the yi v nl ymVu° malm and cow' and n°t to win by fair brave play. The crowd soon begin to get sava-e too; upper-cutting is not thought fair in Berks nd Wilts a storm begins to brew, hard words are bandied, and a cry of .B ouJ, and" Pull him down," is heard more than once, and the committee man, who watches from below, is on the point of stopping tho bou' But nothing puts out old Harry Seeley; no upper cut can reach his face, lor his head is thrown well back and his guard is like a rock; and though the old blue shirt is cut through and through, he makes no mora of the welts of the heavy stick than if it were a cat's tail. Between the bouts his face is cheery and confident, and he tells his friends to hold their noise, and let him alone to tackle the chap," as he hands round his basket for the abundant coppers. Now I see well enough why the parsons don't like these games. It gave me a turn to watch the faces round the stage getting savage, and I could see what it might soon get to if there was much of this wild work. And there was Master George, and the two Oxford scholars, shouting till they were hoarse for old Seeley, and as savage ana wicked-looking as any of the men around them setting such a bad example, too, as I thou»ht—whereas it didn't matter for a fellow like me, who was nobody—so I shouted, and threw my cop- pers to old Seeley and felt as wild as any of them, I do believe. Three bout?, four bouts pass Harry's stick gels in oftener and oftener. lias the fellow no blood in him ? There it comes at last I'tthefifdibout, Harry's stick goes flashing in again, a fair down blow from the wrist, which puts the matter beyandall question, as the Somersetshire man staggers back across tue stage, the blood streaming from under his hair. Loud are the shouts which greet the fine-tempered old gamester, as he pulls on his velveteen coat, and "ets down from the stage. 44 Why, Harry, thou'dst broke his yead second bout, mun, surely!" shout his admirers. "No," says Harry, dogmatically, You see, mates, there's no 'cumulation of blood belongs to they cider-drinking chaps, as there does to we as drinks beer. Besides, they drink vinegar alius for a week afore playin,' which dries up most o' the blood, as they has got, so it take, a 'mazing sight of cloutin' to break their yeads as should be.From the Scouring of the White Morse, by the nthor of Tom Brown's Seltool.Days. 1 he papers ot the candidates at the oivn Service Examinations continue to supply a fund of amusing anec- dote! The other day one young aspirant for the service of his country replied to the question, Who wa. Toliti Hampden, and for what was he fanious Ho was a celebrated architect, and built Hampton Court," MR. CAULYLE'S ERRORS.—But perhaps the most sin- gular instance of the confusion between right and wrong 1 into which Mr. Carlyle's enthusiasm has led him, is to 11 be found in his description of the 44 Tobacco Parliament." Ljt us suppose, for instance, that his Royal Highness the present Prince Consort, finding life at the palace get- ting a little slow, should establish a quiet evening gathering of a few choice spirits, let us say my Lord Shaftesbury, Mr. Bright, Mr. Bornal Osborne, and two or three more of the right sort, just to smoke a pound or two of mild cigars, and consume a few dozen of Bass's pale ale. Let us suppose, moreover, thattheirprincip-d amusement was to get hold of some famous literary gentleman," who believed himself a great deal wiser than everybody else, and, after listening to his eccentricities < for some time, to make him dead drunk, and play the same kind of practical jokes upon him for which our young ensigns and cornets at present enjoy an enviable notoriety. Let us suppose, that on leaving the palace, the intoxicated celebrity loses his way, and wanders < towards Regent's Park. That his tormentors, who of course are watching him, just shove him into the bear's den for a "lark," where he is "inhumanly hugged and squeezed," and that after this they hoist him up upon < two ropes over the frozen canal, and drop him down with 44 his sitting part upon the ice," in which he breaks a big hole, and narrowly escapes drowning. Let us go on to suppose that the poor man at length turns restive, and very naturally refuses to join in the royal festivities any ( more, and that then he is forced out of his room by t crackers, rockets, and mal-odorous projectiles." Lstus i sunpose that, 14 becoming human for a moment," he runs away and takes refuge with his relatives in Scotland, but that the gay, good-hearted circle, unable to spare their dear companion, take advantage of his poverty to lure him back again, and then maltreat him worse than ever. I And that, by way of a climax, they invite another and t bigger literary gentleman to come and quarrel with him, who first provokes him into hurling a hot smokiug-pan at t his head, and then, in retaliation, lays him across his i knee, strips him, ami smites the part exposed with the i hot pan aforesaid. Let us suppose we were to see in the t Morning Advertiser some morning, a column of large ( type, headed "Practical Joking at the Palace," and to i find on perusal that Mr. Carlyle had been subjected to ) these various indignities, been sivung on ropes, hugged by bears, and his os coccygls subjected to the extremes of cold and heat, accompanied with violence—what would be our feelings on the subject? Would our only re- mark be, that we had now gained some insight into the Prince Consort's 44 views u. oa spiritual phosphoreuce, i and stupidity grown vocal;" or should we express our- 1 selves in short and simple Saxon on the matter ? We < leave the decision to our readers. Some may think one ) thing and some another. But we can assure them that such feats were actually performed by thrt invaluable monarch, Frederick William 1., and that his victim was a German professor of considerable learning and distinc- tion.—New Quarterly lievieiv. 0 How TO ENJOY A COLD.-You have one all over vou as violent" aa may be—one that is not to be sneezed at, that will confine you to your bed, compel you to take medicine, and restrict you to broth and barby-water. There you are, then, ill-happy fellow !—very ill I-you have not thc least conception how much you are to be < envied. The mere fact of being in such a condition renders you an object of interest and anxiety. Every- body inthehouseis ready to wait upon you, and all you have to do is to lie still and enjoy your bed, while other 1 people are bustling about indiors or outdoors, all day, t undergoing the fatigue and irks uneness of their ordinary avocations. You are ill you are to do nothing, not even to get up to breakfast, hut to have it brought to you in hod you are made an object of sympathy it ia so very lamentable to see you propped up with pillows, and ( cosily encased in a warm shawl around the throat and f shoulders. You are not to be hurried over your break- f fist there are no engagements to fulfil; the note you have t dispatched implies an exemption from them all. You £ have nothing to think of but the enjoyment of your 1; chocolate, or perhaps tea and muffins, which you may 8 munch and sip as leisurely as you please, while reading ( a magazine or newspaper At last breakfast is over, and you have become tired of reading; down go the pillows to their usual position, and after some gentle hand has J smoothed and placed them comfortably, you sink back upon 8 them ovei whelmed by a delightful sense of mental and bodily indolence. What a blessing it is to have escaped s the ordeal of shaving, even for one morning only think of t that; and remember, also, how the warmth of the bed ( will encourage the growth of the beard, compelling you, of course, to send for the bather when you have got well 1 enough to leave your room again. Hark there's a c knock at the street-door—somebody you don't want to s see, prob iblv 44 Master's very poorly, and obliged to c keep his bed." lla, ha keep his bed, eh ? no such thing i it's the bed that keeps him sung and warm, and in a 1 blessed state of freedom from all annoyance. Every- I body is agreed that you are poorly, and are not to be I disturbed about anything. You complacently abandon { yourself to the idcn, nestle your head luxuriously in the pillow, pull the bed clothes over your chin, and resign ( yourself to a delightful doze.—Ijeigh Hunt. i THE LAY OF THE HUNTED PIG. K Vatliers, inothers' z,)iis s You as loves yer little wuns! ( Happy pegs among the stubble, 1 Listen to a tale of trouble Listen, pons in yeard and stye, How the Barkshire chaps zard I. ( I wur barn at Kings'one Lisle, Wher 1 vrolicked var a while, ) As vine a petj as e'er »ur /.Jen j (One of a li'ter o' thirteen), Till some chaps ;i' cuss e, d spite Aimed ov I to make a zite, f And to have a bit o' vun, '1 ook. 1 up to Uffington. j Up, vorights the Casile mound They did ssjt 1 on the ground Tnen a thousand clnps, or nigh, Hunned and hollered alter 1 J Ther, then, I, till I wur b owed < Runued and hollered all I knowed, j When, zo zure as pegs is pegs. Light chaps ketched I by the logs, ( Two to each—'tis truth I tell ee—- Dree more clasped 1 round the belly Under all tile)' tellers lyin'- Pegs!—I thought as I wur dyiu'. But the Squire (I thenks I zee un), Varmer Whitfield ridin' wi' un, Fot 1 outo' ail thuck caddie, (Stretched athurt the varmer s saddle— H less 'em, pegs in yeard and stye, Them two vrends as stuck to I. Barkshire men, vrom Hill and Vale, All as ever hears this tale, It to spwoort you be inclined, ] Ptaze to bear this here in mind-- Pegs beant made no race to win, Be°zhart o' wind, aud tight o'skin, Dwont 'ee hunt 'in, but instead At backswyrd break each other's yeall- Checzes down the manger rowl- Or try and cliai the greasy powi. Pegslinstnbbleyeardandstyc, May y ou be never zard like I, Nor druv wi greasy ears and tail, ) By men and bwoys drough White Horse Vale —Scouring of the IVhite Horse. 1

CRYSTAL PALACE.—The report of the directors sub- milted to the meeting o! the shareholders on Wednesday 1 recommends a dividend to be declared of 2s 6d Der 1 share on the ordinary shares of the COMPANY The 1 directors say they have curtailed the ordinary working 1 expenses ot the company very much, and they point to « an increased revenue which has arisen from the refresh- { merit department, now under the management of Mews. c lawyer and Strange. According to the report of tbe £ directors the number ot persons who appear to have availed hemsclves of the Sunday opening by becoming 4 shareholders is c .ly 417. Ihe number of visitors to the J palace during the six months embraced in the ac- 1 counts shows an increase of 21,000 over the cor- 1 responding period last year, and of 48,000 as compared < with the > ear befoie that. The directors say that 1 lhey look forward hopefully to the future, and have 1 every confidence that the improvement in the company's s affairs, so evident in the face of the accounts, is not a mere transitoiy alteration for the better. They think 1 that hereafter they will be able to declare a regular annual ■ diyidend on the ordinary shares of the company. l

<9tner¡tt I On Monday last a new room was opened to the public in the British Museum, containing an extremely interest- ing collection of foreign plants and seeds—sections of the trunks of trees, showing their structure, and speci- mens of wood, British and foreign, polished and unpo- lished. These objects represent, principally, the vegeta- tion of southern climates. All who have visited the workshop of a maker of Tunbridge ware must have been surprised at the great number of common English woods whiii are brought into use in forming the patterns on this very beautiful manufacture but the present exhibi- tion displays, to a far greater extent, the variety and beauty of the grain of the woods of our own country, with the addition of a vast number of specimens from New Zealand, California, British Guiana, South Africa, Van Dieman's Land, Brazil, Ceylon, and even the Ruins of Nimroud. One table displays cabinet woods and deals, and the woods used by the North-western Railway in the construction of their carriages; another, what may be termed the curiosities of botany, such as the efforts made by a tree to cover a wound—the primitive representation of a gallows cut in the bark of a tree, and visible in the interior of the wood-a spike nail imbedded in oak, and covered over with many subsequent layers of wood, &c. The glass cases on the walls also contain a large collec- tion of models of English fungi.—Athenccum. MIXEHAL STATISTICS.—An interesting Return has re- cently been published, by order of the Lords Commis- sioners of the Treasury, by the Museum of Practical Geology, showing the quantity of mineral ore obtained from the British mineral districts during the past year. The following are the principal points of interest :-The quantity of pig iron made in 1857 was 3,6-59,447 tons- being an increase, notwithstanding the depression of the iron trade, of 73,070 tons over the quantity produced in 1856. The produce of tin ore was 9,783 tons, producing 6,5S2 tons of metallic tin-being an increase of 433 tons of tin ore, a-id 465 of metallic tin above the produce of 1856. The importations of tin ore, including 816 tons from our colony, Victoria, amounted during the past year to 4,095 tons. Under the head of copper there is consi- derable difficulty in arriving at a just estimate of the pro- duce, from the circumstance that very large quantities are purchased by private contract, alike from British and foreign mines, and it is almost impossible to separate these. It is believed, however, that this has been more closely effected in the present Return than has been done in any former year. The purchases of the Copper Com- pany in Cornwall for 1857 show a decrease of 1,414 tons; and those in Swansea of 840 tons upon the previous year. The exports have been—in 1856, 52,863 tons; and iu 1857, 25,241 tons. The production of lead has been-in 1856, 73,129 tons and in 1857, 69,266 tons. Of silver -in 1856, 614,188 oz. and in 1857, 532,866 ox. The importations of lead exhibit a falling-otf of about 3,000 tons; and of foreign silver ores, instead of 6,636 tons, the quantity brought into this country in 1856, we only im- ported 5,190 tons—being a decrease of 1,440 tons. The return of coal production is a remarkahle test of tho de- pression of commerce during 1857. For while the quan- tity produced and sold in 1856 amounted 66,645450 tons, that of 1857 was only 65,394,707 tons -being a faliing-uff of 1250,743 tons. JUVENILE JEALOUSY.—The village of Bredbury, Che- shire, has been roused from its wonted quietness by an occurreuce as extraordinary as it is unusual—the at- tempted murder of a girl 16 years of age by a boy 17 years old, through jealousy, who afterwards attempted to commit suicide. It appears that about nine o'clock on Tuesday evening last, as a girl named Fanny Bailey was returning to her home in Bredbury, from an evening school, she was met by a boy named William Bradshaw, 17 years of age, who discharged a loaded pistol at her, and then ran away. The girl suffered a contusion in her left side, and her left hand was burnt by the explosion. The boy was found on Wednesday in his father's house, I with his face covered with blood, arising, as it was found jjti examination, from his linviag discharged the contents of a pistol in his mouth. His wounds are described as of a dangerous character. On searching him a book was found, iu which was written the cause of me doeing tiiis Was because fany Baily Would Not Speak to me and i culd Not Live any longer so farewell Companions and Relations for ever But if fany Baily ever goes with any one els i will appear to her in my grave aute." The case is in the haods of the police. WARNING TO LADIES.—We regret, says the Globe of Saturday, to be obliged to announce the death of Lady Lucy Bridgeman, who, with her sister, since dead, suffered so severely from taking fire accidentally at Lord Newport's residence. This second death from the same accident occurred yt sterday.-The Medical limes says, the melancholy accident by which the Ladies Lucy and Charlotte Brulgeman and Miss Plunkett have been such fearful sufferers teaches a lesson which must not be neglected. The light fabrics manufactured for ladies dresses must be made blaze-proof. Nothing can be more simple. The moat delicate white cambric handkerchiefs or fleecy gauze, or the finest lace, may, by simple soaking in a weak solution of chloride of zinc, be so protected from blaze that if held in the flame of a candle they may be reduced to tinder without blazing. Dresses so pre- pared might be burnt by accident without the other garments worn by the lady being injured. IRISH PROCLAMATION.—The Dublin Gazette of Friday evening contains a proclamation by the Lord Lieutenant for the suppression of the Ribbon and other Secret Societies. It opens by announcing that Associations of a seditious and treasonable character exist in several parts of Ireland, and that for their suppression it is declared that all such bodies of persons, associated under the pre- tended obligation of oaths unlawfully administered, or who t tke, or assist in administering these oaths, shall be ..1. -J "1. n. ueciiteu gunty of felony..Alter cautioning all parties agaInst becoming or remaining members ef these societies, the firm determination of the Government to upioot them is announced, and all loyal subjects are required to the utmost of their power to discountenance such societies or assemblies, and to aid in the suppression of the same and for better carrying into effect these our intentions and purposes aforesaid, and the execution thereof, we do hereby offer a reward of £100 for such information as will lead to the conviction of any of the persons who shall have administered any oath, and a reward of X50 for such information as will lead to the conviction of any of the persons who shall be found to be members of, or in any way connected with, any of (he aforesaid societies." The I ivies and other journals censure this proclamation as beinsr unnecessary and ill-advised. ht SERIOUS ACClDENT.-On Tuesday evening se nmght an accident of a serious nature occurred to Lady Tucker, the wife of Admiral Sir Edward Tucker, under the fol- lowing circumstances :-It appears that her ladyship was crossing Regent-street, when she was knocked down an run over by the carriage of Mr. Arnott, of JNew ur- lington- street. She was immediately taken to t e s lop of Mr. Waugh, chemist, Regent-street, and at en e y Mr. Arnott, and afterwards removed to Beattie s Hotel, Dover-street, on a stretcher, by Mr. Holder, one of the inspectors of the C division, and by Sergeant Smith; her ladyship having unfortunately sustained two serious injuries, and being too ill to be conveyed in a carriage. In addition to other injuries, her ladyship has broken the elbow joint of her left arm, and greatly injured one of her hips. A STORY OF POLICE LIFE. An officer^ was relieved from duty the other night three hours earlier than usual. lie proceeded home, undressed, and shared the bed to which his wife had already retired. He had not lain many minutes before his wife complained of being un- well. Her indisposition increased rapidly, and she statEd that nothing but a glass of brandy would affurd her re- lief. Giving berhusband a shilling she requested him to go to a neighbouring public house and obtain for her the required stimulant. The man dressed himself hur- riedly, and having aroused the landlord obtained the brandy, and tendered what he took to be a shilling iu payment. Mine host, to the surprise of the officer, counted out 19s. 6d. Ihe pohceman called attention to the excess in the change. The landlord pointe-l to the coin which he had received, and the officer was bound to admit that he had given a sovereign in payment, and not a shilling 1 utting his hand into his trousers pocket the ufficer was stIll more surprised to find nine other sove- reigns, and on a still closer inspection he discovered that be was not standing in his own small-clothes, but in those of some other man, who there could be l'.itle doubt, occupied his bed in his absence. The officer took care to stow away the £ 9 19S 6d returned home with the brandy, again undressed, and went to bed without I saying a word as to the awkward discovery which he had made. In the morning however he failed not to inform his wife that he had discovered her base conduct. She soon after left the house, and nothing more has been heard of her,—Liverpool Mercury- ,pool SHARP t'RACTICF.-A very smart tning was done by the Editor of the Scientific American, who got possession of a work oil reaping machines—a stray copy-by Pro- fessor Woodcroft, of the British Patent Office. He slightly altered the woodcuts and types, and week after week gave a chapter as an original production without any hint at its source. The London Mechanics' 2iagazine got hold of this, and christening the print" The Know- ing American," pointed out to all the world the trick. Not a whit was he abashed, but exclaimed against the ignorance of his detector in not waiting for the conclu- sion of the work, when the author's name would have appeared in due course. This was smarter than all Engineer. WANTED A CONTRACTOR, to cut open the Isthmus of Suez.—Apply to Messrs. Lesseps and Co., Paris." Suell is the advertisement put forth in a recent issue of the-Charivari l No—of the Presse, according to the Morning Herald's Paris Correspondent. The laconicism is somewhat Frenchified and affected, and is designed, doubtless, to induce the world to believe that French en- gineers think nothing of a work which a Stephenson ad- visedly declares, after personal and local study, to be little else than impracticable.-Bltilder. A TELEGRAPH PROBLEM.—Whoever originated the following deserves to have his name handed down to pos- terity -If a despatch from England to America gains on the sun so as to reach America four and a half fours by the clock before it left England, at what time would it arrive at the point of departure, were a cable carried round the world ? Would it arrive the day before it left, less only by the time exhausted in making the cir- cuit ? If so, then, with a continuous telegraph line round the world, why not sond a despatch ronn I and round until it reached back and back to A jam, to let him know what his children are about in these daya ?— Bu ilder. BRAIN WORK.—Over-work of the brain, against which we hear so many people cry, and which we hear so many cosy-looking men deplore very complacently in their own persons, is not by a good deal so dangerous as underwork of the brain, that rare and obscure calamity from whioh nobody is supposed ever to suffer. The Rev. Onesimus Howl drops his chin and elevates his eyes, ups^.ti his digestion with excess of tea and muffin, and supports, upon the doughy face he thus acquires, a reputation for the great strain on his brains caused by the outpcaring of a weekly puddle of words. His fri, nds labour to prop up his brain with added piles of muffin. Paler becomes his face, and more idiotic his expression as he lives from New Year's-day to New Year's-day rattling about in his empty head the few ideas of other men he has contrived to borrow, and tranquilly claims all thesweets ofindulgence on account of the strain put upon his wits. Doctor Porpice is wheeled about from house to h use in his brougham, prescribes his cordials and his mild aperients; treats, by help of what knowledge gathered from a past generation may happen to have grown into his habit ot practice, all the disease he sees now and then turns to a book when he is puzzled, but more commonly dozes after dinner. Yet very gladly does the doctor hear the talk about immense strain on his mind, large practice, great re-, sponsibility, and the wondering that one poor head can carry all he knows. He seldom passes a day without having taken care to confide to somebody that he is over- worked. Once a week, indeed, if his practice be large, he may be forced into some effort to use his brains, bat that he does really exercise them once a week, I am not certain. The lawyer elevates his routine into a crush of brain work. The author and the merchant flatter them- selves, or account themselves flattered, by an application to their labours also of the same complimentary con- dolence. The truth is, that hard work of the brain, taken alone-apart from griefs and fears, from forced or voluntary stinting of the bedy's need of food or sleep, and the mind's need of social intercourse—does in- finitely more to prolong life and strengthen reason iu the workers than to cut or fray the thread of either. Men break down under the grind of want, under the strain of a continuous denial to the body of its half-a dozen hours a day of sleep, its few necessary pounds of wholesome food, and its occasional exercise of tongue and legs, If an author spends his whole life in his study his mind fails under the pressure of the solitary system. If a great lawyer refuses himself month after month the necessary fourth part of the day for sleep, he wears his brains out, not by repletion of study, but by privation of something else. Under all ordinary circumstances no man who performs work for which he is competent is called upon to deny himself the first necessaries of life, except during short periods of encroachment which occur to men in every occupation, and which seldom are of long duration, and can almost invariably be followed by a period of ease sufficient for recovery. Healthy men, who have bed and board assured to them, while they can oat, sleep, stir, and be merry, will have sound minds, though they work their brains all day, and provide them for the other five or six hours with that light employment which is the chief toil of Doctor Porpice or the Reverend Onesimus.—Dickens's Household Words. WORTHY OF BEING REMEMBERED.—On one side of the statue just erected to the memory of the late Mr. Joseph Brotherton, member of parliament for Salford, are the words uttered by the honorable gentleman on a memorable occasion in the House of Commons :—" My riches consist not in the extent of my possessions, but in the fewness of my wants. OYSTERS, Sm.—On Tuesday evening last, a young gas- tronome of this town put out of sight ten score of real native oysters in 23j minutes. The mollusses were taken pur et simple, without pepper or vinegar, or any other contrivance by which ordinary oyster-eaters mar the refinement of the relish. He betrayed no other symp- tom of inconvenience than an intimation that he felt rather as if he had swallowed asmall iceberg.-Northamp- ton Mcrcury. WHERE IGNORANCE IS BLISS 'TIS FOLLY TO BE WISE."—Some consolation may be derived by those who look with apprehension on the progress of education among the humbler classes, from the fact that at the Sliiie Hall, Nottingham, on Saturday week, a young woman, apparently twenty years old, who was called as a wit- ness in a case, was ignorant of the day of the monih, was unable to say what month it was, could not tell in what month newyear's day occurred, and on being asked whether it was winter or summer, could only suppose that it felt something like winter." We regret to say that we fear the health of the noble Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, the Marquis Dalhousie, is failing so fast that his medical attendants hesitate even advising him to risk seeking a warmer climate for the winter. It was intended, as before announced, that the noble marquis should proceed to Malta but, desirable as this is for many reasons, there are grave doubts now that the time has come for him to take his departure whether his strength is sufficient to enable him to bear the fatigues of travel, or the disturbance of a voyage. Lord Dalhousie still remains at his ancestral castle, and there is little prospect of his being able to move.—Dover Chronicle. CATS AND COMETS.—It is an extraordinary fact, in- capable of explanation, that, during the visit of the asl comet, feline disease and death were prevalent. Ihe present eccentric stranger has brought the same in its tail —or, more euphoniously speaking, in its train ca s, an especially pet cats, are dying in all direc ions, a ca a oguc of sorrows, especially to their lady owners, Can any of our readers give us a categorical reply to the question, How is this f-City Press. [W «aQ 1 solve the question put by onr contemporary, but we can vouc l or t ie exis- tence of the disease in this neighbourhood. Ihe dis- temper commences with mou'diness on the edges of the ears, gradually extending down the neck and face, and a dressing with any.oil appears to cure this symptom, but the disease progresses. By and by toe body is patched here and there with a dry pustular eruption, a thin serous fluid is exuded, not from the pustules but from the skin, fluid is exuded, not from the pustules but from the skin, which keeps the creature s fur quite wet, as if water had been thrown over it. The vital powers giadually decay, but the creatures appetite remains good, and it will, if permitted, linger on for three weeks, dying at length of exhaustion. 1 he disease is believed to be incurable, and was up till a few weeks ago unknown.— Worcester Herald. 0 THE NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION.-The con- ductors of the London Journal announce their willingness to receive the contributions of Uie friends of this excel- lent institution, from one penny to one shilling, and to apply them to the purchase of a Life-Boat, to be pre- sented to the Life-Boat Institution. We must, how- ever, enforce the following rules 1. No donation shall exceed in amount one shilling. 2. Every donor must adopt some distinctive initials or pseudonym, if he objects to give his real name. 3. Acknowledgments of amounts received will be given in the columns of the Joumal.- With these few observations we heartily commend the proposition to the charitable consideration of our friends." A ONAG.— ihe steamer sulton Cety, uaptain z*. xd, Bricknell, bound from Pittsburgh for St. Louis, with a cargo of 300 tons of Pittsburgh manufactures, iron, glass, &c., whilst passing Bnffington Island, struck a stump or root, tearing off about 50 yards below where she struck, and lies in the channel, with the water up to the top of the table in her cabin. The cabin passengers barely es- caped with their lives by clambering up to the hurricane deck, the majority of whom lost all their baggage, and being asleep, saved very little of their clothing. Twelve deck passengers-two women, two children, and eight men—were drowned. The Melnotte, Captain M'Gown, came alongside, 45 minutes after the accident occurred, and relieved the passengers and crew from their perilous situation on the hurricane roof. The stairs leading from the ladies' cabin to the buriicane roof gave way when the boat struck, rendering it difficult for the ladies to escape to the hurricane deck. They waded through three feet in the cabin, and were pulled out over the roof. Captain M'Gowan rendered all the assistance required, and after furnishing a breakfast for the passengers and crew, continued on the trip, bringing the sufferers here free of charge.—Cincinpatti Commercial. THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS.—We observe that in several towns steps are being taken to induce the trades- men to extend the approaching Christmas holidays a day longer than usual, in order to afford a more convenient opportunity to persons engaged in trade, whether prin- cipals or assistants, to visit their friends and enjoy a seasonable ralaxation. For this purpose it is proposed to extend the holiday, which will commence on Saturday, the 25th inst. (Christmas-day), until Tuesday, the 28th, (the Innocents'-day), thus suspending business for three days-viz., Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. As Christ- mas-tide is pre-eminently the season of festive enjoyment, and by long custom regarded as the most legitimate and pleasurable of all periodic holiday makings, it is hoped. that the movement will be sanctioned by tradesmen generally throughout the country towns, and that, fol- lowing the example of their craft in Derby, Lincoln, and other places, they will give themselves, and their assist- ants,' a three days' holiday to enjoy the pleasures of Christmas. There is a precedent tor this laudable step, as in 1854, when Christmas-day fell on a Monday, the Saturday (or ecclesiastical Christmns-eve) was also, in many places, made a holiday, so as to give to the em- ployed a respite from toil for three fult days. In 1853, again, when what St. Chrysostom calls the greatest and priinest of festivals, feil on the Sunday, the following day (Monday) wAs generally observed as a close holiday, excepi by the drivers and conductors of public Vehicles, the traffic having been enormous.:—Times. OPENING OF THE CRYSTAL PALACE ON SUNDAYS.— A public meeting was held on Tuesday evening, in St. Martin's Hall, to promote the opening of the Crystal Palace on Sundays. The large hall was crowded with a large and enthusiastic assembly, and the chair was taken by Sir Joshua Wulmesley. Some opposition was attempted by the Secretary of the Naval and Military Bible Society, but the resolution and petition were adopted by overwhelming majorities. M. DE MONTALEMBERT. — The position and prospects of the Count de Montalembert continue to be discussed in Paris, especially as it is not yet known for certain whether his appeal against the decision of the police ma- gistrates will be entertained. It is not, of course, in the columns of the Paris journals that these discussions ap- pear for the Paris papers do not yet seem to kno II that such an individual as the Count de Montalembert has any existence, or that any trial has ever taken place in which such an individual was in any way interested. It is light, the light of day and the light of truth, which, according to the ordination of the Emperor, is no longer to be allowed to shine over France. Accordingly, Frenchmen must go to such a paper as the Northern Be*, published in St. Petersburgh, or to papers published in European towns, if they want to learn what goes on in their own country. FRIGIITFCI. RAILWAY COLLISION. -A collision, which caused injury to at least thirty passengers, some being very serious, if they do not prove fatal in their results, occurred on Monday evening, on the line of the North London Railway, at Hackney station. The ordinary passenger train to London from the Chalk Farm station at Camden-town, left there at its usual time, about half- past five o'clock, for London, with the Stratford train, consisting of three or four second-class carriages, attached, and proceeded on its journey, followed a few minutes after by a pilot engine, which had been ordered to bring back to Camden a goods train from the goods station at Haydon-square. The fog was very thick throughout the line at the time, and became more dense on the approach towards Xingsland, where the engine was brouglit to a stand by fog signals, ani the driver was informed that he must proceed very cautiously, as the passenger train preceding him had not left the station for Hackney more than two minutes. The engine then went on, and the passenger train had delivered its pas- sengers, and was just moving from the platform of the Hackney station, when the pilot engine referred lo dashed into the last carriage which belonged to the Stratford train, and was full of second-class passengers. The crash of the collision was so loud that, notwith- standing the fog, it was heard for a considerable distance throughout Hackney, and several of the more immediate inhabitants rushed into the station, as well as the police, to render assistance. Tiie last second-class carriage was found completely smashed, and the passengers lying about in all directions, while the two or three preceding carriages were also broken, and some of the inmates con- tused or injured. One gentleman—Mr. Bates, organist at Woodford—was found to have his leg broken in two places, and was removed to the residence of Dr. Pye Smith, where he now remains. Another gentleman, nameu ueeley, irom Birmiugham, with au injured sptue, was taken to the Britannia Tavern, where he still re- mains, also under the care of Dr. Pye Smith. Mr. H. igurs, who was ridsng with his wife in the smashed carriage, was dreadfully cut in several places about the head and face, but his wife escaped unscathed. Miracu- lous as it may appear, the fireman and stoker of the engine were but slightly injured. As may well be lma., gined, the alarm created among the passengers was very great, and loud compl lints were made at the rough usage several of them received from the police and officials on being ejected from tbe statiou, although anxious to ren- der assistauce. fbe fragments of the broken carriages covered the rails, and the up line was consequenily blocked for three or four hours and, indeed, the entire traffic was stopped between seven and ten o'clock. It is. wonderful that the loss of life was not almost as great as that resulting from the late catastrophe on the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway, and yet with the coolness for which railway officials are proverbial, this collision was described b> some of tbe authorities of the North London line as a mere trivial affair only a dislocated ancle, or a contusion or so." RAILWAY TIME v. MEAN TiME.—A curious application was made in the Court of Queen's Bench on 'ihursday in respect to a case, Curtis v. Marsh, which was tried at the Dorchester Assizes. The case stood first in the list of causes to be tried before Mr. Baton Watson. His Lordship came into court precisely at 10 o'clock accord- ing to the clock in court, which was regulated by railway time. The case (one of ejectment) was called on, Mr. S'ade, Q,.C., and Mr. Kingdom appearing for the plain- tiff, and as the defendant did not appear either by attorney or counsel, the learned judge therefore, under the provisions of the Common Law Procedure Act, directed a verdict to be entered for the plaintiff. After the verdict Mr. Cole (for the defendant) came into court, and said that his Lordship had disposed of the cause with too punctual a precision, as it wanted a minute and a-half to 10 o'clock by the town clock (which was regu- lated by the mean time at Dorchester). Although his Lordship did not admit this. he expressed an opinion that it would be better to have the cause tiied. The plaintiff's attorney did not come back for that purpose.—Mr. Slade now showed cause against the rule, which had been ob- tained to show cause why a new tiial should not be had and contended that time at a place is that which is gene- rally considered to bo so. -For the defence, it was argued that if the cause had not been disposed of before the arrival of counsel the defendant might have obtained a verdict.-The Lord Chief Baron said that the difference between Greenwich time and Dorchester time would be about nine minutes. If the clock in court was set by Greenwich time, it was not 10 o'clock when the cause was tried, and the defendant ought to be let in to try. Time means time at the place, and the local authorities cannot alter that by adopting a different mode of calcu- lating time. I he rule was made absolute to set aside the verdict without costs, and for a new trial, the whole Court being of opinion that the plaintiff ought to have consented that the verdict should be vacated and that the cause should be tried.