possessed a sweet face along with her beautiful shape, it might be one of the greatest evils that could befal her. For what, let me ask, is a beautiful woman, unless she possess those amiable and necessary qualifications which would render her a delightful companion, and an ornament to humanity? She is, as the Spectator justly remarks, "like a beautiful picture; it pleases the eye, but does not touch the heart." Experience daily proves the correctness of this remark. As an occasional spectator of men and manners, I have frequently found, that those ladies who possessed what might be called a handsome person, possessed, at the same time, a good deal of vanity, affectation, or some other unamiable quality; whilst their conversation and appearance showed that they had devoted much more of their time to the ornamenting of their persons than to the improvement of their minds. On the other hand, I have often found that the lady of mediocre beauty was amiable and intelligent, or was endowed with some other quality that rendered her company endearing. This is easily accounted for: the beauty is so taken up with her own handsome figure and lovely face,-she is so much occupied with the contemplation of her charms, and the decoration of her person, that she neglects to make herself mistress of such knowledge as is indispensible in a wellbred female: she bases her value, her intrinsic excellence, on beauty alone, and here she fails. She acts as if she believed all men fools. "Man (she says) must acknowledge the universal empire of beauty-possessing that, why need I put myself out of the way to acquire common-place knowledge? Possessing beauty, I possess every thing." But, softly, sweet fair one; man must do no such thing-at least a sensible one will not; and you may rely upon it, notwithstanding your high opinion of the power of beauty, that the sensible but plain fair one, who has taken care to acquire every necessary accomplishment, is far more likely to captivate the understanding and enchain the heart of a rational and good man, than all the pride, pomp, and luxuriance of beauty.

In conclusion, I hope the fair Sophia will not look upon any of the foregoing observations as personal: they are not intended as such. I by no means intend to insinuate that she does not possess every useful as well as every ornamental accomplishment; but, in possessing them, I assure her that she has not sufficient reason for putting herself to "much trouble and inconvenience" about those blemishes of which she complains,-as the good qualities, which I have mentioned, will always place her above the mere beauty-Yours, respectfully, Liverpool, December 17, 1827.

"In order to employ one part of this life in serious and important occupations, it is necessary to spend another in mere amusements."-JOHN LOCKE.

"There is a time to laugh and a time to weep."-SOLOMON.

11. Because she becomes an absentee (absent he!)
12. Because he says, "List, list, oh list!"
13. Because they are both judges of a size (Assize.)
14. Link, Ink.-15. Alphabet.-16. Oroonoko.-17. A
clergyman.-18. A pike.-19. The one supports arms,-
the other's arms support him.-20. He turns night into
day.-21. He is always for getting.-22. A name.

any size. Our correspondent will perceive that we hav taken some liberty with the original verses, which wen probably written as far back as the days of "Good Quee Bess."

If you'd have a good pudding, pray mind what you'r taught,

Take twopence worth of eggs, when they're twelve for
groat;

And take of the fruit which old Adam did cozen,
Va quantity just, if you please, half a dozen;
Take six ounces of bread, but pray leave out the crust,
And the crumb must be grater'd as small as the dust;
Six ounces of currants, nicely pick'd, clean, and neat,
And six ounces of sugar, wont make it too sweet.
When this is all done, six half hours you must boil
Then add butter melted, and the sauce will not spol

Just six eggs must be used whether dear or che eggs and apples will make it sufficiently moist with other liquid; but it would be none the worse for a brandy.

VIVENT LES BAGATELLES. SOLUTIONS TO THE PUZZLES, &c. IN OUR LAST.

9. Because they both float in air, (Ayr, the county in which the river Doon runs.)

If you, as you tell us, malt liquor can't drink,
You never should marry a woman, I think;

For, pray, with what conscience can you, my friend, court
ber,

When you yourself own that you cannot SUP-PORT her?

A correspondent, J. S. has favoured us with a doggerel recipe for making a plumb pudding, which he assures us has been handed down by oral tradition in his family, time immemorial. The materials will not form a very large pudding, but if the proportion of the ingredients be Printed, published, and sold, every Tuesday, by E. SMITH kept up, the recipe will serve as a standard for puddings of and Co., Clarendon-buildings, Lord-street.

.

OR,

Literary and Scientific Mirror.

"UTILE DULCI."

This familiar Miscellany, from which all religious and political matters are excluded, contains a variety of original and selected Articles; comprehending LITERATURE, CRITICISM, MEN and MANNERS, AMUSEMENT, elegant EXTRACTS, POETRY, ANECDOTES, BIOGRAPHY, METEOROLOGY, the DRAMA, ARTS and SCIENCES, WIT and SATIRE, FASHIONS, NATURAL HISTORY, &c. forming & handsome ANNUAL VOLUME, with an INDEX and TITLE-PAGE. Persons in any part of the Kingdom may obtain this Work from London through their respective Booksellers.

The Liver.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1828.

PRICE 3d

which are still to be found in the neighbourhood of the river Mersey was at one time termed a mere creek. Crosby, nearly buried in the sands, and extending The passage is as follows:-"In these tracts are soconsiderably below the ordinary high-water mark. veral other ports, all subordinate to the comptroller About thirty years ago we inspected the remnants of of Chester, and even Liverpool, in the patent, is this forest, and made some notes on the subject, which styled a creek in the port of Chester." we have subsequently mislaid or lost. We recollect Many of our readers, no doubt, recollect the late that the mutilated trunks or stumps of the trees were Mr. Henry Wilckens, who was a gentleman of conof considerable diameter, and had become quite black, siderable reading, and much attached to antiquarian with every appearance of being in a course of tran- and topographical research, although he was, per sition to coal. In a letter, which appeared in the haps, somewhat prone to be credulous. We distinctly Gentleman's Magazine, in the year 1796, these ancient remember, that in the course of some conversation we vegetable relics are described; and we believe that had with him on the very subject of the ancient forest The following article, which has cost us some it was the perusal of that letter which induced us to near Crosby, he stated, that he had heard that there uns in the way of research, is copied from the Mer-visit the neighbourhood of Crosby, to witness the phe-were ancient title deeds still extant, which proved nomenon. The letter, which is extremely interesting, that Burbo was, at a remote period, part of the main is appended to this article.

ANTIQUITIES.

It is well known that the immense forests with which this country once abounded, were found of the greatest service to our rude forefathers, when Brtiain was over-run by foreign invaders. They were convenient for retreat, for ambuscade, and for other purposes of offensive or defensive war.

ry, and is transferred to the Kaleidoscope, as likely prove interesting to the antiquarian, the geologist, End especially to our townsmen. It forms a very ppropriate introduction to the letter from the Genman's Magazine, to which it refers, and it will, in probability, lead to further interesting communiions on the same subject. In our next, we shall ume the subject of the article, which we last eek copied from the Liverpool Courier, respecting e dreaded irruption of the sea over the low lands Cheshire into Wallasey Pool, which, our readers By recollect, formed the theme of three letters in Mercury and Kaleidoscope, several years ago. In meantime, we think that the proprietors of the lands between Wallasey and the sea would do ell to be on their guard, bearing in recollection the e of some of the Mostyn estates, and of the God-be included." -Sands, which were once in a less perilous prediment than the present possessions of some of our Ire immediate neighbours.

MAINS OF AN ANCIENT FOREST NEAR CROSBY,
EXTENDING BELOW HIGH-WATER MARK-CONJEC
TCRES RESPECTING THE FORMER JUNCTION CF
LANCASHIRE. AND CHESHIRE

In common with many close observers who have aid attention to the topography of our immediate eighbourhood, we are thoroughly convinced that the Stuary of the Mersey, now so capacious, has been red by a sudden irruption, or gradual encroachRent of the sea; anterior to which, the opposite asts of Lancashire and Cheshire, now so widely andered, were either united, or only separated by a Darrow channel.

Our convictions on the subject are founded upon a personal examination of the relics of the large forest,

• See Kaleidoscope, Vol. IV. page 292, Letter III. signed

Fare thee well."

The writer of the letter in the Gentleman's Magazine, conjectures that the forest, the remnants of which exist near Crosby, must have been destroyed by the Roman invaders. "Suetonius Paulinus, (says he) at the time he subdued the island of Anglesea, ordered all the forests to be cut down; and though historians do not inform us of the extent of the execution of this order, it is most probable that it would comprehend not only the immediate object of conquest, but also its neighbourhood, in which Cheshire, and the lower parts of Lancashire, must certainly

land, whether of Cheshire or Lancashire we do not now recollect. The manuscripts of this gentleman, which were sold after his death, may probably contain some more explicit information on this point; and it is still more probable that the papers of the late Mr. Holt, of Walton, must have contained some documents, or speculations, calculated to throw additional light upon this interesting subject.

We have before us a rough copy of a map of Lancashire, from an original, dated 1598, with the following title,-" Lancashire, 1598-W. S. R. Copied from a drawing, No. 6159. H. L. MSS. By M. Gregson, 1821." In this sketch the distance between Crosby and the opposite coast of Cheshire does not exceed half a mile.t

It is the opinion of some persons, who have paid attention to the subject, that the trees, of which the remains are to be found near Crosby, did not originally grow there; but that they have been carried Although we do not attach much value to the maps away from the place of their growth by some of those of the ancient geographers, there is one thing which irruptions of the sea which have swept away thouwe have noticed in one of these documents, too re-sands of acres of land from the coasts of Wales. Sir markable to be passed over here, as it tends to con- Thomas Mostyn, of Flintshire, has, we are assured, firm the opinion of the writer in the Gentleman's Ma- in his possession, maps, plans, and other documents, gazine. In Camden's Britannica there is a map of proving, beyond doubt, that his ancestors have been Britannia Romana, collected from Ptolemy, in which the estuary of the Dee is distinctly laid down, whilst the river Mersey is represented as a narrow river, running east and west, without any estuary at ail.

In Ormrod's interesting history of Cheshire, vol. 1, page 290, there is a note, from which it appears that

The letter is accompanied by an engraved representation, as it is called, of the "Remains of a large Forest near Liver

deprived, by floods, of hundreds of acres of land, formerly situated between the Point of Ayr and the then boundaries of the sea. We are led to believe that we may be favoured with some authentic par. ticulars of this fact, which we have from the most respectable authority.

We shall, in our next, give a copy of this very apocryphal document.

TO MR. URBAN.

pool," so indifferently executed, that, to use a vulgar phrase,
we can scarcely "make head or tail of it."
It is not very
indicative of its authenticity, that, in the letter, the writer
does not say one word about the source from which it was
SIR,-There is a great curiosity, in the neighbourhood
taken. If the original copy of this were in existence at the of Liverpool, which, though daily seen by numbers of per-
time the letter was written, it might probably be still traced, sons, never, to my knowledge, excited the least inquiry
dark on the subject. Although it is very imperfectly deli- Walton. It is the remains of a large forest, six miles north◄
and the author should not have left us so completely in the or investigation, before it was remarked by Mr. Holt, of
ward of Liverpool, upon the shore, near Crosby Point,
extending, at present, upwards of a mile towards Formby.

neated, there appears to be something in this sketch in-
tended for a bridge, extending from the Rock to the Lanca-

shire shore.

What might have been its original extent, either in that or in any other direction, seems at present impossible to ascertain; but it is wonderful to remark, that vestiges of it are visible, dipping westward ly even into the sea, which, doubtless, from the changes made in a series of years, covers great part of the land on which a considerable portion of it grew. Upon a shore where there are frequent wrecks, and pieces of ship timber frequently thrown up, it is probable, from the similarity of appearances, that this forest has not been often noticed with much distinction from such wrecks of the sea; but the smallest degree of inquisitive inspection is sufficient to discover, to a certainty, that this was originally a forest, as there are num. berless trunks of trees, standing upright some feet above the surface, in the very places where they must have grown, with their prodigious roots extending into the ground in all directions, in their natural positions, though a great part of their branches, by being thrown promiscuously in all directions, exhibit, at the first view, very much the ap pearance of an ancient shipwreck, or rather of many of them together.

and pent-up situation, that what now forms the banks of Since the times of the Romans another change has taken
Burbo and Hoyle may have been land attached to the place, from those great drifts of sand called sand-floods,
peninsula of Cheshire, and the eastern banks attached in which are not now so usual as formerly, on account of the
quietly running through them, in a very narrow stream, star, which seems peculiarly designed by Providence for
like manner to Crosby and Formby, with the river Mersey regulations made by the legislature respecting bent of
until such time as the sea, having once gained an acciden this beneficial purpose, by giving it a quick and prolific
tal advantage, must have laid the foundation for that large growth, with a firm and binding root; but, what is the
expanse of water before and above the town of Liverpool, most remarkable, and secures it best for its destined put
which, though bearing the name of a river, is, in reality, a pose, is, that it is without nourishment, and no animal à
portion of the sea. The like, it is probable, happened to tempted to destroy it.
the Dee; for, if we go a very few miles only up either of The eye of fancy may here be gratified in raising even
these apparently great rivers, we shall not find streams scenery from the barren sands and watery expanse, and
that shall satisfactorily, of themselves, account for such varving and blending it with the sublimity that now pr
bodies of water; and this is, in some sort, confirmed by the vails amongst the few simple surrounding objects. The
successful labours of the River Dee Company, who are daily philosopher may here feel a depression and melanch
gaining the ground that the ocean has formerly over- not unpleasing, in the survey of the great changes wrog
whelmed. The like may probably happen at the mouths by time, and in the contemplation of his own uni
of all rivers, but in different degrees, both as to extent and tance amidst the works of Omnipotence. And her
time. The Thames and Severn roll gradually widening may the rash and presumptuous resort, to learn a
indicating neither abruptness nor violence; but not so the day; and that it is best to rest satisfied in the wis
to the sea, with which they unite in natural and easy forms, correct decision cannot be made of the good or evil di
Mersey and Dee; which, being alike situated, and the like the Almighty, and to be assured that what he does,
having apparently happened to both, proves the above con- permits, is intended to operate to the ultimate advanta
jecture more satisfactorily than if either of them had been of the human race.-Yours, &c.
considered apart by itself.
Liverpool, April 26, 1796.

There is a kind of black mossy soil, amongst these trees, by force of argument, to prove things that are self evident;
We are always reduced to perplexities when we attempt.
of very considerable thickness, under which their roots and, were it the business of this paper only to show that
extend into one of a more sandy nature. The higher land the wood in question has in part suffered from the inunda
to the east is formed almost entirely of sea-sand, and is tion, or rather incroachment, of the sea, it would be suf
sown with ling or bent to secure some form, and to pre-ficient to direct the curious to view it; but that the banks
vent the farther incursions of the sea, which, notwithstand.
ing, seems still to encroach; and, by washing the foun-
dations of the sand-hills, to occasion the almost perpendi-
cular front they exhibit to the west.

Having satisfied the mind of the reality of a forest, a considerable degree of astonishment arises on its being found in a place where it is impossible it should have grown, supposing the adjoining objects to have been in the state they now are. Not that it is impossible for trees to flourish on the sea-coast, experience having proved the contrary; but that they should actually have grown in the sea, between high and low water marks, is utterly so.

As the changes of this forest must have been effected principally, though, perhaps, not wholly, by the river Mersey and the sea, it seems necessary to direct some at tention to those two objects, and the probable alterations made by time.

It does not seem unphilosophical to suppose, that rivers are not all equally ancient, and that we are not obliged to refer them to any given point of time, as the Flood, or the Creation; for, as new springs may issue from the mountains, so may they, in a series of ages, become the sources of very considerable rivers; but if this cannot be the fate of every spring, yet it is very probable that it is of many. In their earlier days, as their channels were small, so must be their openings into the sea, giving little opportunity for those greater devastations which that powerful element is able to cause, after it has overcome some temporary obstruction. The imagination can easily look back into times of remote antiquity, and trace the Mersey, or any other river, from a brook, in its several ages and gradations, till it has attained its present maturity and greatness.

Any reference to the etymology of the name of the Mersey, serves only to ascertain that it was in being at some assigned period; but whether large or small, navigable or otherwise, must be judged of from other circum

stances.

The life of man is too short to observe slow and gradual changes; and, therefore, we must naturally and properly refer the first existence of large rivers to the earliest ages of the world; but it does not hence follow that great changes may not have been made at their junction with the ocean at a much later period, and that such changes, when begun, may not have advanced with great rapidity. Whoever will survey that part of the chart of the Irish sea now called the Liverpool Channel, which comprehends the openings or mouths of the Dee and Mersey, and the adjoining shores, will not find it very difficult to suppose, from the violence of the north-west sea upon this angular

The Bouquet.

"I have here only made a nosegay of culled flowers, and I brought nothing of my own but the thread that ties then

THE GHOST SEER.

brated Schiller.

(Continued from our last.)

were formerly land, attached to Cheshire and Lancashire,
is an opinion that requires some support, which the situa-
tion and present circumstances of this ancient assemblage
of large trees considerably afford. This opinion seems
farther confirmed by the same appearance of old trees, now Translated and abridged from the German of the t
to be seen, in Cheshire, opposite to the banks of Hoyle,
forest; with the Mersey hardly making a visible division
which were most probably only a continuation of the same
of it, perhaps fordable, or not too large for a bridge, and
whose union with the sea must have been considerably
beyond what it now is. If this opinion should be thought Terror and astonishment kept us silent. "You
to want still farther confirmation, we need but direct our at-continued the Sicilian, you see how my acqua
tention to the fate of the property and estates of Earl God with this Russian officer, Armenian, or Franciscan
win; which, in the course of a few centuries only, have has originated. Judge whether I had not cause
been as wonderfully converted from dry land, into those im at the sight of a being, who has twice placed him of "
mense sands and banks, the dread of mariners, so well way in a manner so terrible."
known by the name of the Godwin Sands.

It would be difficult to ascertain at what period the sea
destroyed so considerable a portion of this wood; but, for
such parts as were reserved for other modes of destruction,
some satisfactory conjectures may be formed, as they were
probably existing in a flourishing state about the time of
the Roman conquests in Britian.

Before war and bloodshed acquired a rank amongst the arts and sciences, and geometry and chemistry had taught civilized nations how to effect a speedier extermination of the human race, each barbarous nation had a mode of attack and defence peculiar to itself. In the rude ages of Britain its inhabitants not only found great security from greatly annoy their invaders from their ambuscades at their numerous and almost impenetrable woods, but could favourable junctures; which was found so detrimental to the progress of conquest, that the Romans determined on, and accomplished, the destruction of most of the forests in the island, and particularly such as were in mossy or fire, and thus secured a quiet possession of Britain for some boggy situations, sometimes by the axe, but generally by centuries.

I beg you will answer me one question more," the Prince, rising from his seat:" have you been alwa sincere in your account of the Chevalier ?"

"Yes, my Prince-to the best of my knowledge."
"You really believed him to be an honest man?"
"I did; by Heaven! I believed him to be an bal

66

man.

Even at the time that he gave you the ring?" "How? He gave me no ring. I did not say that gave me the ring."

Very well!" said the Prince, pulng the bell. preparing to depart. And you believe," (going back the prisoner,) that the ghost of the Marquis de La was a real ghost?" which the Russian officer introduced after your appara

"I cannot think otherwise."

Let us go," said the Prince, addressing himself The jailer came in. "We have done," said the Pr to him. "As for you," turning to the prisoner," shall hear farther from me."

"I am tempted to ask your Highness the last qu you proposed to the conjurer;" said I to the Prince, a Suetonius Paulinus, at the time he subdued the isle of we were alone. "Do you believe the second ghost to Anglesey, ordered all the forests to be cut down; and, been a real one?" "I believe it? No, not now, most assuredly." though historians do not inform us of the extent of the execution of this order; yet it is most probable that it "Not now? Then you have once believed it." should comprehend not only the immediate object of con"I confess I was tempted, for a moment, to believe quest, but also its neighbourhood; in which Cheshire, and to have been something more than the contrivance of the lower parts of Lancashire, must certainly be included. juggler. And I could wish to see the man who, This conjecture receives considerable confirmation from similar circumstances, would not have formed the s the great age of the wood, which is now as black as ebony, supposition." which it very much resembles, though evidently oak; as But what reasons have you for altering your opini well as from the most unequivocal marks of their destruc- What the prisoner has related of the Armenian ought tion being wilful, not only from the apparent labours of increase, rather than diminish, your belief in his super the axe, but from the great quantity left to perish natural powers." where it has been cut down, without applying it to any "What this wretch has related of him!" said the Prin most likely that such parts of this great forest as escaped you have not now any doubt that we have had to domestic or useful purpose; from which consideration it is interrupting me very gravely. "I hope," continued le the ravages of the ocean fell a victim to the fury of the Ro-with a villain ?" man conquest. Those devastations were, doubtless, se- "No; but must his evidence on that account-" verely felt and deprecated by the then inhabitants of this "The evidence of a villain! Suppose I had no oth island; but these seemingly great evils laid the founda- reason for doubt, the evidence of such a person can be d for the unrestrained progress of agriculture, which has Does a man, who has already deceived me several card tion for that general clearance of the country so necessary no weight against common sense, and established trah been the blessing of later ages, land whose trade it is to deceive; does he deserve to be heard

in a cause, in which the unsupported testimony of even the most sincere adherent to truth could not be received? Ought we to believe a man who, perhaps, never once spoke truth for its own sake? Does such a man deserve credit, when he appears as evidence against human reason and the eternal laws of nature? Would it not be as absurd as to admit the accusation of a person notoriously infamous, against unblemished and repreachless innocence ?"

But what motives could be have for giving so great a character to a man whom he has so many reasons to hate?" "I am not to conclude that he can have no motives for doing this, because I am unable to comprehend them. Do I know who has bribed him to deceive me? I confess cannot penetrate the whole contexture of his plan; but has certainly done a material injury to the cause he ntends for, by showing himself, at least, an impostor, and rhaps something worse." **The circumstance of the ring, I allow, appears susjous."

striking as to be easily imitated; what now remains to be
explained respecting the second ghost?"
The words he uttered; the information he gave you
about your friend."

"What? Did not the juggler assure us, that, from
the little which he had learnt from me, he had composed a
similar story? Does not this prove that the invention
was obvious and natural? Besides, the answers of the
ghost, like those of an oracle, were so obscure, that he
was in no danger of being detected in a falsehood. If the
man, who personated the ghost, possessed sagacity and
presence of mind, and knew ever so little of the affair on
which he was consulted, to what length might not he have
carried the deception?

Pray consider, my Prince, how much preparation such a complicated artifice would have required from the Armenian; what a time it requires to paint a face with sufficient exactness; what a time would have been requisite to instruct the pretended ghost, so as to guard him It is more than suspicious; it is decisive. He received against gross errors; what a degree of minute attention ring from the murderer; and at the moment he re- to regulate every attendant or adventitious circumstance jed it, he must have been certain that it was from the which might be useful or detrimental! And remember, rderer. Who but the assassin could have taken from that the Russian officer was absent but half an hour. raymo's finger a ring, which he undoubtedly never Was that short space sufficient to make even such arrange. without? Throughout the whole of his narration the ments as were indispensible? Surely not, my Prince, la has laboured to persuade us, that while he was Even a dramatic writer, who has the least desire to preduring to deceive Lorenzo, Lorenzo was, in reality, serve the three terrible unities of Aristotle, durst not venriving him. Would he have had recourse to this sub-ture to load the interval between one act and another, 1. age, if he had not been sensible that he should lose with such a variety of action, or to suppose in his audience ith of our confidence, by confessing himself an accom- such a facility of belief. with the assassin? The whole story is visibly nothing a series of impostures, invented merely to connect few truths he has thought proper to give us. Ought Een to hesitate in disbelieving the eleventh assertion of erson who has already deceived me ten times, rather admit a violation of the fundamental laws of nature, Gech I have ever found in the most perfect harmony." I have nothing to reply to all this; but the apparition saw is to me not the less incomprehensible." It is also incomprehensible to me, although I have tempted to find a key to it." How ?"

Do not you recollect, that the second apparition, as has he entered, walked directly up to the altar, took , crucifix in his hand, and placed himself upon the

et?"

It appeared so to me."

And this crucifix, according to the Sicilian's confession, is a conductor. You see that the apparition hastened to ake himself electrical. Thus the blow which Lord mour struck him with his sword, must, of necessity, neffectual: the electric stroke disabled his arm." This is true with respect to the sword. But the pistol by the Sicilian, the ball of which rolled slowly upon haltar?"

Are you convinced that this was the same ball which fired from the pistol? Not to mention that the pupfor the man who represented the ghost, may have been well accoutred as to be invulnerable by swords or bullets; consider who had loaded the pistols."

*True," said I, and a sudden light darted into my
枫; the Russian officer had loaded them, but it was
ar presence. How could he have deceived us ?"
Why should he not have deceived us? Did you sus-
him sufficiently to observe him? Did you examine
ball before it was put into the pistol? It may have
a one of quicksilver, or clay. Did you take notice
ther the Russian officer really put it into the barrel, or
oped it into his other hand? But, supposing that he
ally loaded the pistols, what is to convince you that he
not leave them behind him, and take some unloaded
es into the room, where the ghost appeared? He might
y easily have exchanged them while we were undressing.
person ever thought of noticing him in particular. It
besides, very possible that the figure, at the moment
en we were prevented from seeing it by the smoke of
pistol, might have dropped another ball on the altar.
hich of these conjectures is impossible?"

You are right, my Prince. But that striking resemince to your deceased friend! I have often seen him th you, and I immediately recognised him in the parition."

"What? You think it absolutely impossible that every
necessary preparation should have been made in the space
of half an hour?"

"Indeed, I look upon it as almost impossible."
"I do not understand this expression. Does it militate
against the laws of time and space, or of matter and motion,
that a man so ingenious and so expert as this Armenian
must necessarily be, assisted by agents whose dexterity
and acuteness are probably not inferior to his own; pro-
vided with such means and instruments as a man of this
profession is never without; is it impossible that such a
man, favoured by such circumstances, should effect so
much in so short a time? Is it absurd to suppose, that,
by a very small number of words or signs, he can convey
to his assistants very extensive commissions, and direct
very complex operations? Nothing ought to be admitted
against the established laws of nature, unless it is some-
thing with which these laws are absolutely incompatible.
Would you rather give credit to a miracle, than admit an
improbability? Would you solve a difficulty rather by
overturning the powers of nature, than by believing an
artful and uncommon combination of them ?"

66

Though the fact will not justify a conclusion such as
you have condemned, you must, however, grant, that it is
far beyond our conception."
"I am almost tempted to dispute even this," said the
Prince, with a sarcastic smile. What would you say,
my dear Count, if it should be proved, for instance, that
the operations of the Armenian were prepared and carried
on, not only during the half hour that he was absent from
us; not only in haste, and incidentally; but during the
whole evening and the whole night? You recollect that
the Sicilian employed nearly three hours in preparation."
"The Sicilian? Yes, my Prince."

"And how will you convince me that this juggler bad
not as much concern in the second apparition as in the
first?"

"How? my Prince."

"That he was not the principal assistant of the Armenian? In a word, how will you convince me that they did not co-operate?"

"It would be a difficult task to prove that they did," exclaimed I, with no little surprise.

"Not so difficult, my dear Count, as you imagine. What! could it have happened by mere chance that these two men should form a design so extraordinary and so complicate upon the same person, at the same time, and in the same place? Could mere chance have produced such an exact harmony between their operations, that one of them should appear as if subservient to the other? Suppose the Armenian has intended to heighten the effect of his deception, by introducing it after a less refined one; I did the same, and I must confess the illusion was com- that he has created a Hector to make himself an Achilles. ete. But as the juggler, from a few secret glances at Suppose he has done all this to see what degree of cree souff-box, was able to give to his apparition such a like- dulity he should find in me; to examine the avenues to ss as deceived us both; what was to prevent the Russian my confidence; to familiarize himself with his subject, ficer, who had used the box during the whole time of sup- by an attempt that might have miscarried without any er, who had liberty to observe the picture unnoticed, and prejudice to his plan: in a word, to try the instrument on whom I had discovered, in confidence, the person it re- which he intended to play. Suppose he has done this resented; what was to prevent him from doing the same? with a design to draw my attention on himself, in order Add to this, what has been before observed by the Sicilian, to divert it from another object more important to his that the prominent features of the Marquis were so design. Lastly, suppose he wishes to have imputed to

"It is possible that he may have bribed some of my servants, to give him some secret intelligence, or, perhaps, some papers, which may serve his purpose. One of my domestics has absconded. What reason have I to think that the Armenian is not concerned in his leaving me? Such a connexion, however, if it exists, may be accidentally discovered; a letter may be intercepted; a servant, who is in the secret, may betray his trust. Now all the consequence of the Armenian is destroyed, if I detect the source of his omniscience. He, therefore, introduces this juggler, who must be supposed to have the same, or some other, design upon me. He takes care to give me early notice of him and his intentions; so that, whatever I may hereafter discover, my suspicions must, necessarily, rest upon the Sicilian. This is the puppet with which he amuses me, whilst he himself, unobserved and unsuspected, is entangling me in invisible snares."

(To be concluded in our next.)

Fashions for January.

A pelisse of stone-coloured gros de Naples, with a very broad bias fold round the border, and down each side of the skirt in front; the bias cut in points at the upper edge. These points are edged round with narrow black velvet. The pelisse fastens down from the waist to the feet, with very full rosettes of the same material as the pelisse. The body is made plain, with a double pelerinecape, pointed, and bound round with black velvet, to correspond with the bias ornaments on the skirt. The throat is encircled by a double ruff of lace. A bonnet of black velvet is elegantly trimmed with pink ribbon, chequered across in hair-stripes of black, edged with black satin stripes. The strings float loose. The shoes worn with this dress are of black kid, with pearl-gray gaiters. The gloves, Woodstock.

EVENING DRESS-A dress of gros des Indes, of a beautiful bright Indian red, figured over with a delicate Chinese pattern. Two flounces ornament the border, cut in points, and are edged round with a rare and valuable trimming, formed of the small feathers of different foreign birds, which have the appearance of a fine fur. Green and yellow are the prevailing colours in this trimming. The upper flounce is headed by a row of the same delicaté plumage. The body is made low, and à la Circassienne. The sleeves long, white and transparent, of Japanese gauze, and are confined at the wrists by two bracelets; that next the hand consisting of a broad Hindostan bar of pure gold, clasped by a cameo. A row of large pearls forms the bracelet which surmounts it. There are short white satin sleeves under these, that are transparent; and a mancheron, formed in points, of the same material as the dress, ornaments the shoulder, trimmed round with feathers to correspond with the flounces. The hair is dressed in full curls on each side, with plaits across the forehead, ornamented with puffs of saffron-coloured gauze, and an elegant plume of white feathers.

BALL DRESS-Crepe lisse dress of bird of Paradise yellow, with short full sleeves, set in a black satin band round the arm; stomacher front, composed of five perpendicular divisions, widening at the top of the bust, and displaying black satin puffings between: scolloped blond trimming in front, deepening to a zephyr cape on the shoulders and at the back. The point of the stomacher is low, and finished with a ruche of tulle. The skirt is short, and ornamented with three rosaceons borders of the same material as the dress, with black satin puffings at the corners, and is terminated with a yellow satin rouleau: a band of the same colour is arranged between each of the borders. The hair is dressed in large curls in front, high on the top, and ornamented with tulle drapery, and supported with a tiara comb. Necklace, ear rings, and bracelets of embossed gold and turquoise; white kid gloves; French trimmed gold tissue shoes and sandals.