his room. M. Hyacinthe gravely replied that the Minna affair was over; on hearing which, his lodger thanked Heaven with great fervour-for he had felt it impossible to divest himself of secret misgivings on this point-and proceeded to inform him that he laboured under a mistake in supposing him to be Monsieur de St Maur. But M. Hyacinthe only smiled incredulously. It was no business of his, but monsieur could not expect him to believe this.' Such, however, seemed to be M. Renaudin's intention; but his efforts proved fruitless. M. Hyacinthe remained convinced that monsieur's real name was not Renaudin, and must consequently be St Maur. Monsieur had his private reasons for lodging in such a poor place as this; monsieur thought it shabby to pay his tailor; evidently monsieur was the individual in question.' 'Very well,' returned the exasperated Renaudin, 'I suppose I am Monsieur de St Maur. But granting this, what business is it of yours?' he fiercely added. 'Don't bully me, sir!' loftily observed M. Hyacinthe, making a dignified retreat towards the door. I am not one of your unfortunate tradesmen to bear with it. If you wish to leave this house, you can do so at once.' I protest against this,' exclaimed a voice from the landing; and I hope that if monsieur has anything like decent feeling left, he will wait for the arrival of the two police officers for whom I am going to send, and who cannot be long without making their appearance, and allow himself to be quietly taken to prison.' "To prison!-police officers! Well, what have I done now?' asked Renaudin with a gloomy smile. or murdered?' Killed 'Monsieur Hyacinthe,' continued the voice on the landing, 'I call you to witness that he has confessed his horrible intent in the plainest terms! No, sir, you have not done the deed, but your design against my life was not the less criminal. I consider my escape a miraculous one!' tated feelings in bitter and gloomy language' about blighted hopes, and people being driven to do desperate deeds.' M. Hyacinthe, who was listening on the landing, shuddered as he remembered that the window was not fastened; but Renaudin was probably too much bent on vengeance to think of self-destruction, for he quietly ate his bread, drank his coffee, and when a few hours had passed away, asked if dinner was ever going to come up, or if they meant to starve him. In answer to this question, a dish of onion soup, with cold mutton and bread, soon made their appearance; but on beholding this sorry fare, M. Renaudin became so indignant, that he threatened to break all the window-panes in M. Hyacinthe, alarmed by this menace, pacified him by a dubious promise of mending his bill of fare the next day. As he was meditating, however, on the best means of eluding this engagement, an event occurred which relieved him from his embarrassment. News were received of Minna, who had now been gone more than a week. The father of the fugitive wrote to apologise for the conduct of his daughter, who, unable to bear a longer absence from home, had returned to the bosom of her family. Madame Latour was greatly incensed by this explanation of the guilty Minna's conduct; and though the innocence of Renaudin was now clearly proved, she threw the whole blame upon him. Every one, indeed, felt disappointed at this commonplace conclusion, and, like the portress, found fault with the luckless Renaudin. They had got into the habit of associating his name with that of Minnano longer the unhappy; they had looked upon him with suspicion and horror; he had been for them that favourite theatrical character-the traitor of the melodrama; and lo! he now turned out to be a false traitor! In short, M. Renaudin was now despised for not having committed the act which had drawn down persecution upon him. M. Hyacinthe himself, who, when pleading the cause of Minna, had termed his lodger a hard-hearted wretch!' no sooner found him to be innocent, than he contemptuously called him a mean and spiritless fellow!' M. Moreau was the only individual who showed no disappointment or surprise. 'He knew all along,' he observed, that Minna had nothing to do with Renaudin's presence in the house.' And he dropped such mysterious hints on the subject, that every one shrewdly concluded there must be something in it. On being informed by M. Hyacinthe of the turn the affair had taken, M. Renaudin naturally enough expected to be released from his captivity; but though his landlord told him that he was free, it struck M. Renaudin that there was something very peculiar in his manner as he did so. M. Hyacinthe's first act, when this explanation was over, was to request his lodger to pay him the two months' rent, which happened to be due that very same day. M. Renaudin threw him the money with silent scorn; but without heeding this, his landlord examined each piece of silver with minute attention, counted and recounted the sum, and at length, apparently satisfied that it was right, put it into his pocket. When this was over, he produced a small packet of papers, which he laid on the table before his lodger. M. Renaudin 'Sir,' dryly replied M. Hyacinthe, 'I had your chasaw that the papers were the bills of different trades-racter from your own lips; and events have shown that men, concerning heavy debts contracted towards them you were, as you boasted, remarkably sincere.' by a Monsieur de St Maur. After eyeing them one by one with a bewildered look, he asked an explanation of M. Hyacinthe; but his landlord affected not to understand him. Surely monsieur needed no explanation; tradespeople had come to inquire whether Monsieur de St Maur lived in the house; and though monsieur had changed his name, they gave such an accurate description of his person, that Madame Latour knew it must be he. He had nothing to do with the whole affair; and if the next time monsieur went out he was apprehended by the gardes du commerce, he could not prevent it.' Sir," said M. Renaudin with a sort of desperate calmness, before we attempt to elucidate this new and mysterious affair, let me know whether I am to hear anything more about the unhappy Minna.' | At the conclusion of this speech, M. Moreau, who was the speaker, ventured so far as to look into the room, though he prudently remained behind M. Hyacinthe, whose person acted as an effectual shield for his own. 'Now what does this mean?' wildly exclaimed the unhappy M. Renaudin. This means,' continued M. Moreau, 'that monsieur's real character and designs are now known; that there are such things as traitors among conspirators, and that people may receive letters by which they learn that they are going to be murdered; and though the name of the murderer may be concealed, monsieur will easily understand that there is no difficulty in guessing at it." The unhappy M. Renaudin heard this speech in the silence of dismay; but when it was over-So,' he exclaimed, sinking down on a seat in a kind of solemn fury, so it seems no silly girl can run off, no madman squander his money, and no fool think himself a murdered man, but I must be the seducer, the spendthrift, and the assassin! Really, gentlemen, I am greatly obliged to you.' M. Renaudin thrust his left hand into the opening of his waistcoat, and assumed the Napoleon attitude, in order to bid defiance to his enemies with more effect; but a bright thought seemed to flash across his mind, and he suddenly checked himself. 'Leave me,' said he in an authoritative tone; 'and let me have pen, ink, and paper: there is that on my mind which must be revealed. Yes,' he solemnly added, 'all shall be confessed. But remember,' he continued in a menacing tone, to let no one even approach the door of this room, or linger on the staircase, until half an hour at least has elapsed.' Fear and curiosity induced M. Moreau and M. Hyacinthe to comply with this request; for the former was fully convinced that the alarmed Renaudin was going to sacrifice his friends to his safety, and reckoned on the names of a dozen accomplices at the very least; whilst M. Hyacinthe gloomily congratulated himself on the tale of horror which his lodger was going to unfold. A lingering feeling of suspicion, however, induced them to remain on the first floor landing until the half hour was over, when they impatiently hurried up stairs. Renaudin's room door was partly open, and M. Hyacinthe cautiously peeped in. A light was burning on the table, and a letter was lying near it; but Renaudin had vanished. The truth flashed across his mind; he rushed in, tore the letter open, and read its contents aloud: The manifold persecutions which I have endured in this house, compel me to retire from the shelter of its inhospitable roof, as I feel convinced that designs against either my life or property are entertained by certain individuals who dwell beneath it. All I say to my persecutors is, that they may live to repent of their conduct.' 'Monsieur Hyacinthe,' exclaimed M. Moreau in a prophetic tone, mark my words-I am a dead man;' and he retired to his apartment with the heroic air of a man resigned to the prospect of being shot at the first opportunity. But M. Hyacinthe's personal fears were outweighed on this occasion by his curiosity, which was greatly excited by Renaudin's mysterious disappearance. Madame Latour's assertion, that the fugitive had effected his escape by going down a back staircase, and opening the street door whilst she was asleep in her lodge, he always treated with the contempt which such a commonplace explanation deserved. Indeed M. Hyacinthe would | have been rather sorry to find out the truth. As his late lodger owed him nothing, and had done him no real injury, he found it pleasant, upon the whole, to have been connected with such a fearful and desperate character. There was, as he poetically expressed it, a horrid charm in it, and food for the imagination.' Fate, however, seemed perversely bent on dispelling the romance and mystery with which he had invested Renaudin, and to show this luckless individual in the most commonplace aspect. In the first place, it was ascertained shortly after his disappearance that he was not M. de St Maur; then, as though this was not bad enough, M. Hyacinthe discovered amongst the few articles which his lodger had left behind him a small book, from which he learned that M. Renaudin had 1500 francs in the savings' bank-a mean and paltry piece of economy, which made M. Hyacinthe justly indignant, as affording another proof of the gross manner in which he had been taken in. He was still smarting under the mortification of this discovery, when a friend of his treacherous lodger came to claimi, in his name, the pistol-which also turned out to be a mere counterfeit, as, whether loaded with powder or lead, it would not go off-the razors, and the book. M. Hyacinthe delivered up the articles with a hope that this was the last time he should hear of their owner. Such, however, was not to be the case, for the very same day Madame Latour triumphantly asked him if he knew who Renaudin was? M. Hyacinthe said 'No,' with the air of a man resigned to anything he may hear. 'I got it all out of his friend!' exclaimed the portress with evident exultation. He is a hairdresser!' M. Hyacinthe was at first stunned by this new blow: the splendid, the extravagant, the terrible Renaudin a hairdresser! But no: it could not be: he would not believe it. But, alas! even his scepticism was obliged to yield to the evidence of his senses; for the hairdresser to whose establishment the redoubtable Renaudin belonged, took a shop in a neighbouring street, so that longer doubt was impossible. There have been, however, such things as romantic hairdressers; but though M. Hyacinthe fancied for a time that Renaudin might belong to that class, this was a short-lived illusion. The young man, according to the universal testimony, led a most exemplary life: instead of going to drink or dance at the barrier, he spent his Sundays with his family, occasionally indulging in the harmless amusement of taking out his sisters for a walk. On learning these circumstances, M. Hyacinthe bitterly declared that he gave him up.' His only comfort under this trying dispensation was, that Renaudin afforded a living proof of the tendency which made every individual seek to cheat and deceive him. There is no knowing how M. Moreau might have acted under the influence of the dangerous neighbourhood in which he was now placed, if he had not discovered about this time that the anonymous letter which had caused him so much alarm was only a practical joke of one of his friends-a fact which he took in high dudgeon. As for M. Renaudin, he seemed to bear very philosophically the degrading position to which he was reduced in the eyes of his former acquaintances. Perhaps he had learned, from personal experience, that though it is very fine and agreeable to be thought a desperate sort of character, it occasionally happens to be inconvenient, as there are simple people who will take you at your word, whatever ill qualities you may bestow on yourself. However that may be, it will perhaps be gratifying to the reader to state, that Renaudin continues to be the same exemplary character he always was; he has forsworn all ambitious thoughts, and is satisfied with being considered one of the most prudent, economical, and gentle professors of his gentle craft. THE DINORNIS. IN the year 1839, a sailor on board a New Zealand ship brought to London a fragment of an old bone, which, according to his statement, was declared by the natives of that country to be part of the leg-bone of the ' Movie,' a large bird of the eagle kind, and that similar remains were often found in the mud-banks at the mouths of rivers. The relic was offered for sale at various scientific institutions, but was rejected by the naturalists who examined it, as being nothing more than a portion of the marrow-bone of an ox, or some analogous quadruped. At last it reached the hands of Professor Owen at the Royal College of Surgeons: this skilful anatomist compared it with the bones of various mammalia, but found no correspondence between them; further examination of the structure of the fragment led him to pronounce it to be part of the thigh-bone of a Struthious* bird, or bird of the ostrich genus. The specimen, which was not more than six inches long, and weighed but a little over seven ounces, was sufficient to enable the professor to predicate on the nature of the animal to which it had belonged; and he described the latter as having been a heavier and more sluggish bird than the ostrich of the present day, offering at the same time, in the communication which he made on the subject to the Zoological Society, to stake his reputation on the correctness of his conclusions. Thus, on a comparatively insignificant piece of bone, was the existence, either actual or recent, of an extraordinary bird affirmed; a remarkable triumph of reason, combined with a habit of correct observation. In 1843, a letter received from one of the missionaries resident in New Zealand gave some further information on this interesting subject. The writer stated that he had seen large quantities of the bones, numerous specimens of which had been forwarded to an eminent geologist in this country. At a search made, with the assistance of the natives, the bones of as many as thirty birds were collected: the largest of these measured two feet ten inches long. They were described as having been found in abundance at Poverty Bay; and according to the same authority, many singular traditions respecting the bird, which was called the Moa, were current among the aborigines. They held it to be sacred, and reported it to be still in existence in the * See a sketch of the family Struthionide, in No. 613, old series. sacred district of Tongariro, and the mountains of the middle island. Two Englishmen,' pursued the writer, 'had been taken out by a native at night to watch for the bird which he had described to them; they saw it, but were so frightened, that they did not dare to shoot at it, though they had gone out expressly to do so.' Notwithstanding frequent rumours of the birds being still alive, subsequent researches have rendered it probable that their extinction took place more than a century ago. in front of the lecturer, and their dimensions more than confirmed all that had been previously advanced by Professor Owen. An entire skeleton, it was stated, would have been secured, but for the opposition of the natives, who crowded round the excavators, and destroyed the relics as fast as they were exhumed. The work of destruction was the more easy, as the bones were found in a soft state, owing to the wet condition of the sand in which they were imbedded. In his recent work on the Geology of Russia, Sir R. Murchison On the arrival of the bones referred to in the letter records a similar instance of opposition on the part of quoted above, they were transferred to Mr Owen, who, the Bashkirs, who protested against the removal of with the multiplied materials thus placed at his com- mammoth bones from their territories. It was only by mand, was enabled to produce a complete figure of the working early in the morning, and late in the evening, animal in a drawing. So extraordinary was its stature, when no natives were present, that Mr Mantell was that he proposed for it the name of Dinornis, from two able to obtain the bones with which he has enriched Greek words signifying frightful bird. The conclu- the science of this country. Dr Mantell states that the sions which the professor had drawn were abundantly birds must have been exceedingly numerous, roaming verified; the species was found to be distinct from any over the island in swarms,' the largest of them with a other large bird with which we are acquainted. Its length of stride from six to seven feet. His drawing dimensions,' he writes, prove the dinornis of New of the entire animal, ten feet in height, presented an inZealand to be the most gigantic of known birds. There teresting specimen of nature's handiwork on a gigantic is little probability that it will ever be found, whether scale. He described the adze-like form of the bill, and living or extinct, in any other part of the world than the peculiar conformation of the skull in its union with the islands of New Zealand or parts adjacent. At all the neck, the muscular power of which must have been events, the Dinornis Nova Zelandia will always remain tremendous, rendering it easy for the bird to dig up one of the most extraordinary of the zoological facts in the roots of esculent ferns, which in all probability the history of those islands; and it may not be saying formed its food, and which are still among the principal too much to characterise it as one of the most remark- vegetable productions of the country. able acquisitions to zoology in general which the present century has produced.' That the bones were of comparatively recent date, was proved by their containing a large amount of animal matter, with no appearances of petrifaction, as seen in fossils generally. Five distinct species have been fully made out, the largest of which, Dinornis giganteus, must have stood ten feet in height, with a foot from twelve to sixteen inches in length. Others were seven and four feet high. It is an interesting fact, that a link connecting these extinct tribes with the present time is yet to be found living in New Zealand. The apteryx, or wingless bird of that country, dwindled down to the size of a turkey, remains the last representative of the moa race, destined in turn speedily to disappear, as it is much sought after for its feathers, which are used to decorate the persons of the chiefs. The bird is at the present time extremely rare, and making its appearance only at night, is very difficult of capture. The arrival of a large quantity of bones during the past year, has greatly increased the interest on the subject of the dinornis. They have been made the subject of a lecture, delivered at the London Institution by Dr Mantell, whose son collected and forwarded the bones to England. The writer was among those fortunate enough to be present at the doctor's exposition, an outline of which imparts a general view of what is known respecting the extinct birds. The lecturer had received a letter from his son but two days previously to the public discourse, and was enabled, among his other diagrams, to exhibit a view of the New Zealand coast | from Wanganui to New Plymouth, in which district the bones are found in the greatest abundance, and chiefly on the banks of a small river which descends from the rocky heights of Mount Egmont. This portion of the island-shore appears to have been considerably upheaved at no very remote period, as the banks of the river near its mouth are one hundred feet high, the base consisting of a blue clay, covered with a layer of sand five or six feet in thickness, above which, to the surface, is a mass of conglomerate. It is in the layer of sand that the bones of the moa are found. Had it been necessary to dig down through the bed of conglomerate, they would not repay the labour; but in one part of its course the river makes a sharp bend round a peninsulated area, composed of drift, and free from superincumbent rocks. Mr Mantell's excavations in this place were well rewarded by the discovery of more than seven hundred bones; many of these were lying on the table In addition to the bones, numerous portions of eggshells of the moa have been discovered; these present all the appearance of having been for some time exposed to the action of running water. The original size of the egg, as stated by the lecturer, was such that a hat would have formed a suitable egg cup. The fragments are of a light cream colour; and the structure of the shell, which is relatively thin, is altogether different from that of the ostrich and emu. To some of the specimens a portion of the interior membrane was still adherent, showing that a young bird had been hatched within them in the usual way. In the course of the lecture, Dr Mantell adverted to the objections which have from time to time been made to the fact of the disappearance of certain races of animals from the earth. It is, however, unquestionable, that in the changes which the crust of our globe has undergone, many have become extinct, or have been exterminated by human agency. Even in countries where no convulsion has taken place during the current era, species have passed away, and been replaced by others, as it were in obedience to a definite natural law, under which certain races were endowed with a power of existence for a definite period only. In our own country, the hyena, wolf, wild-boar, beaver, bear, and Irish elk, are among the most remarkable instances of comparatively recent extinction. Another important instance occurs in the history of that singular bird the dodo. When the Mauritius was first colonised by the Dutch about the year 1640, this bird was found in great numbers in that group of islands, and was for a long time the chief food of the inhabitants. In 1638, a dodo was exhibited in London as a notable curiosity; and in Savery's picture of 'Orpheus Charming the Beasts,' preserved at the Hague, is a drawing of the bird; but at the present time a few fragments only are known to be in existence-a head and foot at the Ashmolean Museum, a leg in the British Museum, and a skull in the museum at Copenhagen. This fact, occurring at so recent a period, amply confirms the arguments brought forward with respect to the law of extinction. It is probable that the disappearance of the moa preceded that of the dodo; both, however, may have taken place within the past hundred and fifty years. The lecturer, in conclusion, pointed out the remarkable fact, that no native quadruped has ever been found in New Zealand; and that the present indigenous vegetable productions of the country are similar to those which existed in earlier periods of geological history-magistrates of Reading against profane swearing; and the carboniferous and triassic eras-in Europe and other an exposure of poor Carte's unlucky account of the cure parts of the world, before the appearance of mammalia. of king's evil, by the touch of the so-called Pretender. The Galapagos Islands, too, lying in the Pacific Ocean, Then follow extracts from the memoirs of the Swedish as described by Mr Darwin, furnish another most inte- Academy, making honourable mention of the writings resting example; a living specimen, so to speak, of one of Linnæus, which must have been new at that time to of the earth's former conditions-the reptile age of the England. One of the first things of a strongly characsecondary period. The islands are about ten in number, teristic nature which meets us, is a remonstrance from the largest a hundred miles long, and consist entirely Holland, setting forth that the want of corn in France of volcanic rocks. In the whole group there are two is a thing notorious; that to keep up the famine there, thousand craters, some of immense height, and still is a point of great consequence to the powers at war smoking. Everything about these islands is peculiar, with France; that, nevertheless, British merchants and without a parallel elsewhere: the vegetation is are busy introducing corn there, for which they get chiefly coarse grass and ferns; a mouse is the only large prices. 'Sure,' says this precious document, mammal, and this is confined to one of the islands; the 'there can be no law too severe against such traitors birds are such as are never met with in other countries, to their country. This is a matter which ought to while enormous tortoises and lizards exist in thousands. fall under the examination of his Britannic majesty's In fact, to quote Mr Darwin's words, this Archipelago council, too wise and too prudent not to discern is a little world within itself: most of the organic pro- what mischief the transporting of corn and other productions are aboriginal creations, found nowhere else. visions into France does to the common cause; more Seeing every height crowned with its crater, and the mischief, we may boldly say, than all the troops which boundaries of most of the lava-streams still distinct, Great Britain has in the Low Countries can do good.' we are led to believe that, within a period geologically Follows upon this a letter from an Honest Farmer, who, recent, the unbroken ocean was here spread out. Hence, though not insensible of the benefit of a good market both in time and space, we seem to be brought some- for the superabundant grain in England, manfully dewhat near to that great fact—that mystery of mysteries clares-Though I have a pretty large stock by me, I'd -the first appearance of new beings on this earth.' sooner send it to the bottom of my pond, or turn it out into the yard to feed the sparrows (one of our greatest plagues), than let one grain go to help a Frenchman from starving.' The reality of the whole matter is shown by a proclamation given at St James's on the 19th February, to strictly prohibit and forbid all our subjects of Great Britain, Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Isle of Man, Minorca, and the town and port of Gibraltar, and of any of our colonies and plantations in America, and all our other dominions, that they do not directly or indirectly carry on any commerce, trade, or traffic with France, or any other of the dominions of the said French king, upon pain of far effectual, though it would appear that the instincts our highest displeasure.' We suppose this would be so of the country gentlemen showed a considerable_inclination to stand up for the feeding of the national enemies, on the score of its beneficial effect in enabling the farmers to pay their taxes, so as the better to support active hostilities against France. DIPPINGS INTO OLD MAGAZINES. THE GENTLEMAN'S FOR 1748. THE original idea of a magazine was-a receptacle for selections from the newspapers. They were received here, as into a storehouse or magazine, and thus redeemed from the ephemeral destiny to which the remaining matters of the public journals were condemned. The Gentleman's Magazine,' commenced in 1731 by Edward Cave, and for many years without any worthy rival in this walk of literature, had on its front, besides the well-known rude cut of St John's Gate, Clerkenwell (where Cave had his printing-office), the list of London and provincial papers from which the selection was made. This work, however, was also furnished with original literary articles, in prose and poetry; and seldom did a number appear without one or more engravings, some of these being maps, some of them representations of public buildings, or objects of antiquity, while others depicted new inventions in the useful arts. The volume for 1748 shows in a sufficiently striking manner the change which has come over magazines in the course of a hundred years. Its dark paper, coarse print, and homely engravings, strike the eye at once as in strong contrast with the externals of the nominally same class of works in the present day. The literary contents are in equally violent contrast, though perhaps the superiority of the modern over the ancient is here less certain. At least we think it might be contended, that if the magazine of 1748 is full of homely and simple matters, few of which ascend to the character of elegant literature, that of 1848 is marked by straining after effect, which is by no means calculated to give greater pleasure to a sound taste. The old work addresses itself to the time. It gives accounts of places where armies or fleets are operating. It overlooks nothing new in science or art. It chronicles all great men deceased, and forms a faithful register of events, which obviously may afterwards be referred to with advantage. It seems to us highly questionable if the neglect of these matters, for the sake of filling the brochure from end to end with extravagant fictions, and long political discussions, is an improvement in the modern magazines. We fear that the magazine has departed from the spirit of its mission in some degree. At the commencement of the Gentleman's' in 1748, we have a treatise on short-hand writing; an edict of the Some curious traits of domestic manners are presented throughout these pages. There is an epigram ' On the Ladies Chewing Tobacco.' The balmy breath, the ambrosial kiss.' 'I sing not of battles that now are to cease, How oft have we heard that the ladies love change, And from one entertainment to t'other will range; In this they are constant, what difference was seen, When they laid down the fribble, and took the Pantin?' Rather oddly, that chequered cloth, called in its own country tartan, but which the people of England insist on calling plaid-which is much the same as if they were to call velvet by the term coat collar-was at this time in fashion, while the legislature was endeavouring to suppress it in Scotland, as a symbol and stimulator of rebellion. It seems to have been assumed as a safe method of expressing favour for a cause past all other befriending. Euryalus lashes the modern plaid-wearers in the following somewhat pithy strains : 'What do I see! ridiculously clad Our English beaus and beiles in Highland plaid, Yet say, ye dastards, who in peaceful days A few particulars regarding the unfortunate partisans of the House of Stuart are scattered here and there. We hear of the pardoned Earl of Cromarty going to reside at that place in Devonshire in which he was condemned to spend the remainder of his life. (What a punishment, by the way, for a Ross-shire man!) The death of Cameron of Lochiel is mentioned, 'colonel of a regiment in the French service, composed of Camerons and other rebels.' A writer in the Daily Advertiser, speculating on the means of employing the discharged seamen of the navy, is strong for planting them as fishers in the Highlands, and giving them a bounty of five shillings on every barrel of herrings-a branch of industry which would people and cultivate those wastes in Scotland which are only a harbour at present for the barbarous clans, who are bred up in ignorance, poverty, and dependence, and are the scandal, as well as a nuisance, to their mother country.' At the peace, Prince Charles Edward is forced to leave France, in order to please the British government. The French king writes to the Swiss canton of Friburg, asking an asylum for him, which was granted. Up then starts Mr Barnaby, the English minister to the Swiss cantons, and expresses to the Magnificent Lords of Friburg the astonishment of the king of Great Britain at learning that they were to give refuge to the Pretender's eldest son, whose race is odious to all British subjects, and proscribed by the laws of Great Britain.' 'Such a step on your part, without the participation of your co-allies, would be a pretty odd contrast to the cordial expressions, so full of gratitude, contained in the letter which the laudable Helvetic body so lately wrote to his majesty!' Helvetian flesh and blood could not stand the insolence of the remonstrance, and they accordingly wrote to Mr Barnaby, that his letter was drawn up in terms of so little respect, and so improper to be addressed to a sovereign state, that we think it deserves no answer.' After all, the poor prince preferred taking up his residence in the pope's city of Avignon. A curious illustration of a national, and we fear persevering foible, is given in the form of a Pharmacopaa Empirica, a list of quack medicines then in vogue, two hundred and two in number, specifying their professed objects, their inventors and patentees, and their prices. These last do not appear low in comparison with the cost of such articles in the present day: many are 5s., and even 10s. 6d. per box or bottle. Dr Belloste's pills for rheumatism (1) are 20s. a box, and Mr Parker's for the stone 2s. 6d. a pill. Two hundred and two quack medicines, what a battery against the stomach and the pocket of poor Jean Bull! But this was not the only form of delusion about health. A number of reports are given from country correspondents regarding a certain Bridget Bostock, a poor old woman living in a hovel near Namptwich in Cheshire, and who was believed to be able to cure all diseases. One gentleman makes the following statement:- Old Bridget Bostock fills the country with as much talk as the rebels did. She hath, all her lifetime, made it her business to cure her neighbours of sore legs and other disorders; but her reputation seems now so wonderfully to increase, that people come to her from far and near. A year ago she had, as I remember, about forty under her care, which I found afterwards increased to one hundred a-week, and then to one hundred and sixty. Sunday se'nnight, after dinner, my wife and I went to this doctress' house, and were told by Mr S and Tom M who kept the door, and let people in by fives and sixes, that they had that day told six hundred she had administered to, besides her making a cheese. She at length grew so very faint (for she never breaks her fast till she has done), that at six o'clock she was obliged to give over, though there were then more than sixty persons whom she had not meddled with. Monday last she had seven hundred, and every day now pretty near that number. She cures the blind, the deaf, the lame of all sorts, the rheumatic, king's evil, hysteric fits, falling fits, shortness of breath, dropsy, palsy, leprosy, cancers, and, in short, almost everything; and all the means she uses for cure are only stroking with fasting spittle, and praying for them. It is hardly credible to think what cures she daily performs: some people grow well whilst in the house, others on the road home, and it is said none miss. People come sixty miles round. In our lane, where there have not been two coaches seen before these twelve years, now three or four pass in a day, and the poor come by cart-loads. She is about seventy years of age, and keeps old Bostock's house, who allowed her thirty-five shillings a-year wages; and though money is offered her, yet she takes none for her cures. Her dress is very plain: she wears a flannel waistcoat, a green linsey apron, a pair of clogs, and a plain cap, tied with a halfpenny lace. So many people of fashion come now to her, that several of the poor country people make a comfortable subsistence by holding their horses. In short, the poor, the rich, the lame, the blind, and the deaf, all pray for her, and bless her, but the doctors curse her.' The lists of marriages and deaths are well worth looking over. In the former case, when the lady has any fortune, it is always stated: thus, Vilters, Earle of Tedbury, Esq., to Miss Sterling of Newington, 20,000Z.' Nor are personal charms overlooked: " Sydney, Esq. of Cranfield, Derbyshire, to Miss Sutton, a celebrated beauty, 10,000l.' In the obituary, wealth is also duly noted: thus, Mr Halsey, master of a glass-house at Limehouse, worth 50,000l.; or, Thomas Walker, Esq. surveyor-general, worth 300,000l.' The legacies | of deceased persons to public charities are always recorded. Sometimes a historical name illumes the page with association, as, 'Mrs Bracegirdle, a celebrated actress of the reigns of Charles II. and James II., but had since retired to live on her fortune;' or, Mr James Thomson, the celebrated author of the Seasons, &c. at his dwelling, Richmond, Surrey, of a violent fever. His inoffensive, benevolent disposition, and excellent genius, make his death a public loss.' In the following notice, our attention is called to one whose name will ever be recollected in connection with a useful public service: March 7, Rt. Hon. George Wade, Esq. field-marshal of his Majesty's forces, Lieutenant-general of the ordnance, and of his Majesty's Privy-Council, aged 80. His first commission bore date Dec. 26, 1690, whence he rose, under four succeeding reigns, to the highest honours of his profession. . . . In 1724 he commanded in Scotland, and made the roads through the High |