complete assortment of hideous idols, with ogres' and reptiles' faces. Here you see, huddled together pell-mell, the gods of heaven and earth; fabulous monsters, patrons of war, of the silk manufacture, of agriculture, and of medicine; the images of the saints of antiquity, philosophers, statesmen, warriors, literary men-in a word, the most heterogeneous and grotesque assembly conceivable. ORACLES OF APOLLO IN FRANCE. Towards the frontiers of Auvergne and Velay, upon the high rock of Polignac, there was formerly a temple of Apollo, famous for its oracles. The time of its foundation ascends to the first years of the Christian era, since, in the year 47, the Emperor Claudius came hither in great pomp, to acknowledge the power of the god; and he left proofs of his piety and munificence. The debris and mysterious issues that are found even Dow upon the rock, in the heart of its environs, reveal the secret means employed by the priests to make their divinities speak, and to impose upon the people. At the bottom of the rock was an ædicula: it was on this spot that the pilgrims took up their first station, and deposited their offerings and made their vows. A subterranean passage communicated from this ædicula to the bottom of a great excavation, pierced, in the form of a tunnel, from the base to the summit of the rock. It was by this enormous opening that the vows, the prayers and questions, pronounced in the very lowest voice by the pilgrims, reached instantly the top of the rock, and were there heard and collected by the college of priests; the answers were then prepared, while the believers, by a sinuous and long path, slowly arrived at the end of their pilgrimage. The answers being ready, the priests commissioned to transmit them repaired to profound and deep apartments, contiguous to a well, the orifice of which terminated in the temple. This well, crowned by an altar, being enclosed by a little hemispherical roof, supported in its external parts the colossal figure of Apollo; the mouth of this statue being half open, in the middle of a large and majestic beard, appeared always ready to pronounce the supreme decrees. It was also through this opening, by the means of a long speaking-trumpet, that the priests at the bottom of this den of mystery and superstition made known those famous oracles so imposing and so powerful in their effects upon the human soul as to impede for centuries the substitution of the more pure and holy precepts of the gospel. BEST POSITION FOR SMOKING OPIUM. Opium is not smoked in the same manner as tobacco. The pipe is a tube of nearly the length and thickness of an ordinary flute. Towards one end of it is fitted a bowl of baked clay or some other material, more or less precious, which is pierced with a hole communicating with the interior of the tube. The opium, which before smoking is in the form of a blackish viscous paste, is prepared in the following manner :A portion, of the size of a pea, is put on a needle, and heated over a lamp until it swells and acquires the requisite consistence. It is then placed over the hole in the bowl of the pipe, in the form of a little cone that has been previously pierced with a needle so as to communicate with the interior of the tube. The opium is then brought to the flame of the lamp, and after three or four inspirations the little cone is entirely burnt, and all the smoke passes into the mouth of the smoker, who then rejects it again through his nostrils. Afterwards the same operation is repeated, so that this mode of smoking is extremely tedious. The Chinese prepare and smoke their opium lying down, sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, saying that this is the most favourable position; and the smokers of distinction do not give themselves all the trouble of the operation, but have their pipes prepared for them. EXECUTIONER's sword. The weapon engraved below forms one of the curiosities in the superb collection of ancient armour belonging to the late Sir Samuel R. Meyrick, at Goodrich Court, Herefordshire. It is the sword of an executioner, having on it the date 1674. The blade is thin, and exceeding sharp at both edges; and engraved on it is a man impaled, above which are the words, in German, of which the following is a translation: "Let every one that has eyes Look here, and see that a man holding a crucifix, his eyes bandaged, and on his knees; the executioner, with his right hand on the hilt, and his left on the pommel, is about to strike off his head; above is written "He who ambitiously exalts himself, And thinks only of evil, Has his neck already encompassed On the other side, a man broken on the wheel; over which is— "I live, I know not how long; I die, but I know not when:" and a man suspended by the ribs from a gibbet, with the inscription"I move, without knowing whither; I wonder I am so tranquil." ORIGIN OF EXCHEQUER BILLS. In the year 1696 and 1697, the silver currency of the kingdom being by clipping, washing, grinding, filing, &c., reduced to about half its nominal value, Acts of Parliament were passed for its being called in and recoined, and whilst the recoinage was going on, Exchequer bills were first issued to supply the demands of trade. ANCIENT ETRURIAN BUST. If we look backwards to the most remote times of Greek industry, we find that long before fire-casting became customary, almost every kind of work was carried out by the simple means of the hammer and tongs, wielded by skilful hands. Even products of art were created in this manner; and as statues, vases, and the like could not be put together by the process of soldering, nails were used for the purpose, as we learn not only from ancient writers, but even from monuments which have lately been discovered in Etruria, and the most important specimens of which are now possessed by the British Museum. In one of the tombs belonging to the vast necropolis of Vulci were discovered, about twenty years ago, a great many bronzes of this very ancient workmanship; one of them represents a bust placed on a basement covered with thin copper plates, and adorned by a row of figures, which are likewise chased; long curls fall down over the neck and shoulders, and these parts especially are formed in the most simple manner: would be tempted to call it child-like, did not the whole composition show a certain character which enables the experienced eye of the art-philosopher to distinguish in these rude attempts at plastic metal work the very germ of those wonderfully-styled productions of a later period. The engraving here annexed, giving a side view of this remarkable, and as yet unique monument, is intended to show the arrangement of the hair, which, in spite of its simple treatment, presents as a whole some trace of grace, and principles of fine proportions. We perceive that the curls are formed by rolling and one twining together small strips of bronze plate, connected with the head itself by the mechanical means we have alluded to. There is no trace of soldering; and we may be sure that we possess in this figure a good specimen of those hammer-wrought sculptures of old which were spoken of by the Greeks themselves as belonging to a fabulous period. THE HAIRY WOMAN OF BURMAH. The following account of this remarkable freak of nature is taken from Captain Yule's "Mission to Ava." Writing from the city of Amarapoora, the capital of Burmah, the Captain says: "To-day we had a singular visitor at the residency. This was Maphoon, the daughter of Shwé-maong, the "Homo hirsutus" described and depicted in Crawfurd's narrative, where a portrait of her, as a young child, also appears. Not expecting such a visitor, one started and exclaimed involuntarily as there entered what at first-sight seemed an absolute realization of the dog-headed Anubis. "The whole of the Maphoon's face was more or less covered with hair. On a part of the cheek, and between the nose and mouth, this was contined to a short down, but over all the rest of the face was a thick silky hair of a brown colour, paling about the nose and chin, four or five inches long. At the alea of the nose, under the eye, and on the cheek-bone, this was very fully developed, but it was in and on the ear that it was most extraordinary. Except the extreme upper tip, no part of the ear was visible all the rest was filled and veiled by a large mass of silky hair, growing apparently out of every part of the external organ, and hanging in a dependent lock to a length of eight or ten inches. The hair over her forehead was brushed so as to blend with the hair of the head, the latter being dressed (as usual with her countrywomen) à la Chinoise. It was not so thick as to conceal altogether the forehead. "The nose, densely covered with hair so as no animal's is that I know of, and with long fine locks curving out and pendent like the wisps of a fine Skye terrier's coat, had a most strange appearance. The beard was pale in colour, and about four inches in length, seemingly very soft and silky. "Poor Maphoon's manners were good and modest, her voice soft and feminine, and her expression mild and not unpleasing, after the first instinctive repulsion was overcome. Her appearance rather suggested the idea of a pleasant-looking woman masquerading than that of anything brutal. This discrimination, however, was very difficult to preserve in sketching her likeness, a task which devolved on me to-day in Mr. Grant's absence. On an after-visit, however, Mr. Grant made a portrait of her, which was generally acknowledged to be most successful. Her neck, bosom, and arms appeared to be covered with fine paie down, scarcely visible in some lights. She made a move, as if to take off her upper clothing, but reluctantly, and we prevented it. Her husband and two boys accompanied her. The elder boy, about four or five years old, had nothing abnormal about him. The youngest, who was fourteen months old and still at the breast, was evidently taking after his mother. There was little hair on the head, but the child's ear was full of long silky floss, and it could boast a moustache and beard of pale silky down that would have cheered the heart of many a cornet. In fact, the appearance of the child agrees almost exactly with what Mr. Crawfurd says of Maphoon herself as an infant. This child is thus the third in descent exhibiting this strange peculiarity; and in this third generation, as in the two preceding, this peculiarity has appeared only in one individual. Maphoon has the same dental peculiarity also that her father had-the absence of the canine teeth and grinders, the back part of the gums presonting merely a hard ridge. Still she chews pawn like her neighbours. Mr. Camaretta tells some story of an Italian wishing to marry her and take her to Europe, which was not allowed. Should the great Barnum hear of her, he would not be so easily thwarted. According to the Woundouk, the King offered a reward to any man who would marry her, but it was long before any one was found bold enough or avaricious enough to venture. Her father, Shwé-maong, was murdered by robbers many years ago. A TRAVELLER'S PASSPORT. The following document, included among the rolls, is dated 1680, from Whitehall: "Dame Mary Yate, having asked his majesty's permission to pass beyond the seas, for the recovery of her health, his majesty was most graciously pleased to grant her request, under the usual clauses and provisoes, according to which ye said Dame Mary Yate having given security not to enter into any plott or conspiracy against his majesty or his realms, or behave herself in any such manner as may be prejudicial to his majesty's government, or the religion here by law established, and that she will not repaire to the city of Roome, or return unto this kingdome without first acquainting one of his majesty's principal secretaric of state, and obtaining leave for the same, in pursuance of his majesty's commands in council hereby will and require you to permit and suffer the said Dame Mary Yate to imbarque with her trunkes of apparel and other necessaries not prohibited at any port of this kingdom, and from thence to pass beyond the seas, provided that shee departe this kingdom within 14 days after the date hereof."—April 14. If the above refers to the celebrated Lady Mary Yate (a daughter of the house of Pakington) who is commemorated on a monument in Chaddesley Church, Worcestershire, as having died in 1696, at the age of 86, she must have been 70 years old when these precautions were taken by the Government against the poor old lady attempting to invade the country, or to comfort the Pope with her presence and support. Dame Mary Yate was no doubt a Roman Catholic, and the permission above referred to was granted under the seventh section of the statute 3rd James I, chap. 5, which was virtually repealed by the statute 33rd George III, chap. 30, which exempted Roman Catholics from all the penalties and restrictions mentioned and enjoined in the older acts, if in one of the Courts at Westminster or at the Quarter Sessions they made a declaration which to them was unobjectionable. CURIOUS PROVINCIAL DANCE IN FRANCE. The inhabitants of Roussillon are passionately fond of dancing; they have some dances peculiar to themselves. The men generally commence the country dance by a contre-pas, the air of which is said to be of Greek origin; the women then mingle in the dance, when they jointly perform several figures, passing one among the other, and occasionally turning each other round. At a particular change in the air, the male dancer must dexterously raise his partner and place her on his hand in a sitting posture. Accidents sometimes happen upon these occasions, and the lady falls to the ground amidst the jokes and laughter of her companions. One of these dances, called lo salt, is performed by four men and four women. At the given signal, the cavaliers simultaneously |