When the plague was at its height, perhaps nothing could have been more silently or solemnly conducted than the removal of the dead to the various pits round London, that were opened for their reception; and it was the business of Corpse Bearers, such as the one exhibited in the preceding engraving, to give directions to the carmen, who went through the city with bells, which they rang, at the same time crying "Bring out your Dead." This melancholy description may be closed, by observing that many parts of London, particularly those leading to the Courts of Westminster, were so little trodden down, that the grass grew in the middle of the streets.

The curious relic, of which we herewith give an engraving, was frosented by Mary, Queen of Scots, to her Maid of Honour, Mary Seaton, of the house of Wintoun, one of the four celebrated Maries, who were Maids of Honour to her Majesty.

"Yestreen the Queen had four Marics,

The night she'll hae but three;

There was Marie Seaton, and Marie Beaton,

And Marie Carmichael and me."

The watch is of silver, in the form of a skull. On the forehead of the skull is the figure of Death, with his scythe and sand-glass; be Etands between a palace on the one hand, and a cottage on the other, with his toes applied equally to the door of each, and around this is e legend from Horace "Pallida mors æquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas Regumque turres." On the opposite, or posterior part of the skull, is a representation of Time, devouring all things. He also has a scythe, and near him is the serpent with its tail in its mouth, being an emblem of eternity; this is surrounded by another legend from Horace, "Tempus

edax rerum tuque invidiosa vetustas." The upper part of the skull is divided into two compartments: on one is represented our first parents in the garden of Eden, attended by some of the animals, with the motto, Peccando perditionem miseriam æternam posteris meruerc." The opposite compartment is filled with the subject of the salvation of lost man by the crucifixion of our Saviour, who is represented as suffering between the two thieves, whilst the Mary's are in adoration below; the motto to this is "Sic justitia satisfecit, mortem superavit salutem comparavit." Running below these compartments on both sides, there is an open work of about an inch in width, to permit the sound to come more freely out when the watch strikes. This is formed of emblems belonging to the crucifixion, scourges of various kinds, swords, the flagon and cup of the Eucharist, the cross, pincers, lantern used in the garden, spears of different kinds, and one with the sponge on its point, thongs, ladder, the coat without seam, and the dice that were thrown for it, the hammer and nails, and the crown of thorns. Under all these is the motto," Scala cœli ad gloriam via."

The watch is opened by reversing the skull, and placing the upper part of it in the hollow of the hand, and then lifting the under jaw which rises on a hinge. Inside, on the plate, which thus may be called the lid, is a representation of the Holy Family in the stable, with the infant Jesus laid in the manger, and angels ministering to him; in the upper part an angel is seen descending with a scroll on which is written, "Gloria excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonæ volu" In the distance are the shepherds with their flocks, and one of the men is in the act of performing on a cornemuse. The works of the watch occupy the position of the brains in the skull itself, the dial plate being on a flat where the roof of the mouth and the parts behind it under the base of the brain, are to be found in the real subject. The dial plate is of silver, and it is fixed within a golden circle richly carved in a scroll pattern. The hours are marked in large Roman letters, and within them is the figure of Saturn devouring his children, with this relative legend round the outer rim of the flat," Sicut meis sic et omnibus idem.”

Lifting up the body of the works on the hinges by which they are attached, they are found to be wonderfully entire. There is no date, but the maker's name, with the place of manufacture, "Moyse, Blois,' are distinctly engraven. Blois was the place where it is believed watches were first made, and this suggests the probability of the opinion that the watch was expressly ordered by Queen Mary at Blois, when she went there with her husband, the Dauphin, previous to his death. The watch appears to have been originally constructed with catgut, instead of the chain which it now has, which must have been a more modern addition. It is now in perfect order, and performs wonderfully well, though it requires to be wound up within twenty-six hours to keep it going with tolerable accuracy. A large silver bell, of very musical sound, fills the entire hollow of the skull, and receives the works within it when the watch is shut; a small hammer set in motion by a separate escapement, strikes the hours on it.

This very curious relic must have been intended to occupy a stationary

place on a prie-dieu, or small altar in a private oratory, for its weight is much too great to have admitted of its having been carried in any way attached to the person.

A MONSTER.

It is almost incredible that such a monster, as the one we are about to describe should have been allowed to continue his wicked career for some years, in a civilized country like France, little more than a hundred years ago, but the following paragraph is copied from a Paris journal of that period-1755, January the 17th-and there is every reason to believe that it is strictly correct. What was his fate we do not know, but can hardly doubt.-The Marquis de Plumartin, whose execrable crimes are known over all France, has at last been taken in his castle, by 300 men of the King's Own regiment of foot, and carried to Poitiers, loaded with irons. The king is going to appoint a commission to try him. This monster turned away his wife some years ago, and became the terror of Poitou. Neither woman nor man durst appear in the neighbourhood. Having one day lost a cause in one of the king's courts, he caused the usher and his man, who came to intimate the sentence to him, to be burnt alive. Some days after, having drawn six of his creditors into his castle, where he had shut himself up with several of his crew, he ordered some of his people to drag them into a pond, tied to the tails of horses, and afterwards fastened them to a stake near a great fire, where three expired, and the other three died a few days after. Thirty of the Marshalsea guards, who were sent to apprehend him, having beset his castle, he barricaded the doors and fired on them from the garret window, killing the commanding officer and five others. After which he left the kingdom, but absurdly imagining that his crimes were forgot, he lately returned."

PERSEVERANCE REWARDED BY FORTUNE.

We have copied the following paragraph from the pages of a local historian, because it gives us a striking instance of what perseverance and good fortune will accomplish, in raising a man to comparative distinction from the humblest walks of life.

August 26, 1691-Sir John Duck, bart., departed this life, being Wednesday at night, and was buried upon the Monday after, being the 31st of August. The wealthiest burgess on the civic annals of Durham. Of Sir John's birth, parentage, and education, th, two first have hitherto remained veiled in impenetrable obscurity; as to the third, he was bred a butcher under John Heslop, in defiance of the trade and mystery of butchers, in whose books a record still exists, warning John Heslopp that he forbear to sett John Ducke on worke in the trade of a butcher. John Duck however grew rich, married the daughter of his benefactor, and was created a baronet by James II. He built a splendid mansion in Silver-street, where a panel still exists recording his happy rise to fortune. The baronet, then humble Duck, cast out by the butchers, stands near a bridge in an attitude of despondency; in the air is seen a raven bearing in his bill a piece of silver, which according to tradition fell at the feet of the

lucky John, and was naturally calculated to make a strong impression on his mind. He bought a calf, which calf became a cow, and which cow being Fold enabled John to make further purchases in cattle, and from such slender beginnings, to realise a splendid fortune. On the right of the picture is a view of his mansion in Silver-street, and he seems to point at another, which is presumed to be the hospital he endowed at Lumley. He died without issue, and was buried at St. Margaret's, where his wife, Pia Prudens- Felix, lies buried beside him.

On Duck the Butchers shut the door; | In mortgage rich, in offspring poor, But Heslop's Daughter Johnny wed: Nor son nor daughter crown'd his bed.

TRAVELLING IN THE UNITED STATES EXACTLY ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

The American advertisement, of which we here give a literal copy, is deserving of preservation on account of the quaintness of the inn-signs, the peculiarity of the spelling and diction, the "shifting" of the passengers which it announces, and the general idea it gives us of the way in which travelling was performed in America at the time when it was issued.

Philadelphia STAGE-WAGGON, and New-York STAGE BOAT performs their Stages twice a Week.

JOHN

OHN BUTLER, with his waggon, sets out on Mondays from his House, at the Sign of the Death of the Fox, in Strawberry ally, and drives the same day to Trenton Ferry, when Francis Holman meets him, and proceeds on Tuesday to Brunswick, and the passengers and goods being shifted into the waggon of Isaac Fitzrandolph, he takes them to the New Blazing-Star to Jacob Fitzrandolph's the same day, where Rubin Fitzrandolph, with a boat well suted, will receive them, and take them to New-York that night. John Butler returning to Philadelphia on Tuesday with the passengers and goods delivered to him by Francis Holman, will again set out for Trenton Ferry on Thursday, and Francis Holman, &c. will carry his passengers and goods, with the same expedition as above to New-York.

Weekly Mercury.

FÊTE OF THE FEDERATION.

March 8, 1759.

PARIS 1790.

The leading events of the great Revolution in France, may be fairly classed with the marvellous, and among our "Ten Thousand Wonderful Things" there will be found few more wonderful than the civic festival of the general federation of the National Guards of France, which took place on the 14th of July, 1790, and of which the above is a correct representation, taken from a view by Duplessis Bertaux. The proceedings of that memorable day had in them a mixture of religions celebration apparently singular among a people who had lately so much trampled on religion; but as this celebration was more pagan than Christian in its character, the singularity becomes less marked. On the preceding evening, a Hiérodrame was performed at the cathedral of Notre Dame-a kind of sacred drama, made up by M. Désaugiers of scraps from the Bible mixed with other matter, and set to music; it pro

fessed to tell the story of the taking of the Bastille, and to typify the sadness, trouble, confusion, joy, and alarm of the Parisians. Then succeeded a Te Deum, chanted in presence of some of the principal federal and municipal bodies. Early in the morning of the 14th, amid denga clouds and heavy rain, the National Guards from all the eighty-three departments of France, together with deputations from the state army and navy, began to assemble, and speedily formed an immense line from

the Porte St. Antoine to the Porte St. Martin; whence they marched, with bands playing and colours flying, to the Champ de Mars, regaled and cheered by the Parisians on the route. On reaching the great square of the Tuileries, the procession was headed by the municipality of Paris and the members of the National Assembly, and followed by a body of gray-headed veterans. The procession traversed the Seine by one of the bridges, greeted by salvos of artillery drawn up on the quays, and entered the Champ de Mars under a triumphal arch almost hidden by flags and patriotic inscriptions. One o'clock had arrived before the various bodies forming the procession had taken their destined places in the enclosed