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make war against you (heaven forbid it!) States, would receive a terrible lesson, if compelled to make war at all?'

"Let me hear it.'

""We should bring one-half of the naval power of England against you in two divisions. One would have a powerful army on board destined for Long Island, of which we could take possession in defiance of all the military volunteers of the Empire State, with those of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey at their back. This army should be marched to the west of the island and plant two hundred field pieces, fifty mortars, and fifty howitzers, with a park of Congreve rockets, at Brooklyn.'

666

Where we beat you in the war of independence.'

666

Granted, but these proposed operations would be as different to our former pitiful ones, as the present times are different to '76. The army would be brought over the Atlantic in a hundred and fifty war steamers, only ten of which would go to the bottom. A mere trifle.' 666 'Go a-head.'

"We should keep possession of Long Island until the other division of the navy, which would be sent to the south, reported progress, and compelled congress to submit to any terms of peace we might propose, which of course would include payment of every cent due by the States to the British subjects, and payment also of the cost of the war.'

"You're joking.'

666

"Not a bit of it, my dear sir. As soon as we arrived out here, we should offer ten per cent. better wages than you give (and for three years' service only) to all the British seamen serving in the American service. Your fleet would then be denuded of half its strength, and have a few sham fights with ours.'

"Now I see you're poking fun. You are a comical fellow; that's a fact. And what would your other grand division in the south be at ?'

"The other division would be sailors and marines, and three black regiments from our West India Islands. The marines would have two thousand petty officers, picked from all the non-commissioned officers in the English service, and on board the transports there would be three hundred thousand stand of arms, with munition to correspond. The black regiments, the marines, and the two thousand extra officers would be landed in Georgia, and arming as many of the slaves as might be found deserving of freedom, march along the coast under the protection of the fleet, and carry the servile war from thence to the banks of the Potomac. During this campaign Canada should merely be called on to defend herself. New York, and through her the whole of the United

which would prevent future quarrels; three millions of slaves would be made free, and you would be compelled to be honest and pay your debts in spite of yourselves. Now, major, I'm much obliged for your attention, for I have eased my mind and spoken freely for once. I begin to believe that bragging is infectious, and that I have taken to it, suddenly.'

999

Miscellaneous.

EXPENSE OF REDEMPTION FROM PURGATORY IN SPAIN.-The churches of Madrid exhibited a placard, at the close of the year 1827, setting forth what had been accomplished by masses said for the repose of the departed. It ran as follows:-"The sacred and royal Monte de Piedad of Madrid has relieved from purgatory, since its establishment in 1721 to November, 1826, 1,030,395 souls, at an expense of 1,720,4377.; 11,402 from November 1st, 1826, to November, 1827, at a cost of 14,276/; total number of souls redeemed, 1,041,797; total expense, 1,734,703l. It was further stated the number of masses by which so much was effected amounted to 558,921. Each individual soul, therefore, it resulted, required one mass and nine-tenths of another, or an expenditure of thirty-four shillings and fourpence.

SINGULAR FRIENDSHIP.-A correspondent in an old magazine gives an amusing account of a friendship established between a horse and a hen. They were left by themselves in an orchard and saw no other living creature. By degrees an apparent regard began to take place between these two sequestered individuals. The fowl would approach the quadrupeds with notes of complacency, rubbing herself gently against his legs; while the horse would look down with satisfaction, and move with the greatest caution and circumspection lest he should trample on his diminutive companion.

A DREADFUL DEATH.-Ingenious cruelty could scarcely have devised pains so awful as those an unhappy man, named James Johnston, was doomed to endure. He was a kilnsman at Lowick, and having gone on to the kiln to break a large stone he fell with his weight about five feet, and got firmly fixed and hedged in among the stones in the middle of the burning kiln; another man, who was breaking stones with him, gave the alarm to the quarrymen, and in a minute they threw him a rope, which he tied about his body, but so firmly fixed was he among the stones, that they could not pull him out. The poor fellow threw the hot and burning stones from about him until his fingers were completely burned off. He lived in this miserable situation for

three quarters of an hour. They got horses, but could not pull him out even with them. They then got a pully and hung it straight above him, and with great difficulty lifted him. It was about seven o'clock in the morning when it happened, and about eleven when they got him out. In the midst of his sufferings he cried for his children. His sister got down before he died, but they did not allow his children to go. He kept his senses to the His legs were not in the least burned, but were nearly severed from his body.

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The Gatherer.

Military Costume of the Chinese.-So little external distinction is there between the Chinese soldier and artisan, that, on throwing off the upper blue cotton jacket or coat, on which the badge of their service is emblazoned, the former may mingle with the inhabitants of a village without his metier being distinguishable to any but a practised eye. Many of the Chinese soldiery were in the habit of escaping death by adopting this prompt method of changing their profession. Lieut. Ouchterlong's History of the Chinese War, 1844.

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War with the American Indians.-A letter dated Cape Breton, Oct. 3, 1747, gives in few words a lovely picture of the sort of warfare then raging, when the French and English were in the habit of arming the Indians against each other. Capt. Scott brought us hither, and immediately upon landing our men we met with a terrible misfortune, for whilst they were mowing grass to make hay for a few cattle we had procured, a party of Indians came out of the wood, destroyed and took all our men except three, who saved themselves by swimming, and one woman, who was murdered in sight of her husband. These wild people are encouraged by the French to these desperate undertakings by a reward for what they call scalping the English. (Scalping is cutting the skin from the eyebrows round the head and peeling it off, and the French give them a reward of three pounds sterling for each scalp)."

A Check for Valour.-A French nobleman, at the passage of the Rhine under Louis XIV, seeing a gentleman well known to him about to throw himself one of the foremost into the river, stopped him, clap ping a pistol to his breast. Everybody was surprised, when the count was heard to say, I can easily believe that you don't fear death! A fellow over head and ears in debt would be too happy to get himself decently drowned; pay me the 2,000 louis d'ors you owe me, and then venture as far as you please.

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A Moorish Meal.-Capt. Beauclerk, describing an entertainment given to himself and others at Talée, 1826, says,-" A huge baking-dish was set before us, containing nearly half a sheep so exquisitely dressed and so finely flavoured as to surpass any dish I have ever partaken of. We were preparing to do justice to its merits when we missed the knives and forks. The basha sent immediately for what in Barbary are considered superfluous articles of luxury; but Hadoud, seizing on the joint before him, began to pull it to pieces with his fingers, and culling the choicest and fattest parts, he offered them to us; at first we hesitated, from the force of cleanly habit, in receiving these delicate morsels from the hands of Hadge; but on his giving us a hint in Spanish, not to offend the company by our fantasia,' but to do as others did, we gave up all our scruples of delicacy, and fell to with so good a grace upon the baked mutton that we soon convinced the Moors that we knew the way to our mouths without the help of knives and forks."

Theatrical Dignity-A prima donna is entitled to a dressing room, with a sofa and six wax candles; a seconda donna a dressing room without a sofa, and two wax candles. The same principle obtains with the chief male performers, and with the first and second dancers of both sexes. Ludicrous as it may seem, these marks of precedency are insisted upon with the greatest exactness. Madame Vestris went beyond all others, and furnished herself with two additional candles; and on one night, there not being, by some inadvertency, candles enough in the house, she stood on the stage behind the curtain, and refused to dress for her part until the required number of lights was obtained.Ebers.

Anecdote of Mademoiselle Sontag.-When Sontag was the bright star of the drama, a young student at Jena gained her favourable opinion. She valued him because he had maintained an unsullied reputation, keeping free from the excesses in which other youths of the university indulged. In an evil hour, under the excitement proceeding from having obtained some academic honour, the student indulged beyond his wont in the festivities of the table, was

led to play, and, unaccustomed to gaming, rose from the table the loser of a large sum. The report quickly spread; but his mistress received the information from the lover himself, who wrote to her with the confession of his error. "I still love you," was the reply, "but you are no longer the same, and we must not meet again. Farewell!"

The Opera House at Lisbon.-This is a fine building, with a handsome portico, situated in a spacious square. It required only five months for its erection, in 1793. The corridors throughout are vaulted, as the staircases also, which lead to the several tiers of boxes, while the vomitories are so numerous and so skilfully distributed that the interior of the theatre, in case of fire, can be instantaneously cleared. Over the proscenium there is a large clock placed, rather in advance, whose dexter supporter is old Time with his scythe, and the sinister, one of the Muses playing on a lyre. A figure of Cupid surmounts the clock. Between the two columns on either side of the stage are figures representing the comic and the tragic muse.

Mozart's Home.-At Vienna Mozart lived in the Rauhenstein Gasse, a narrow street leading down to the cathedral, in a house now a tavern or drinking house, which, by some remarkable coincidence, wears on its front a badge of fiddles and other musical instruments.

Smoking for Breakfast.-M. Jorevin, when he visited Worcester, in the time of Charles II, was informed by a very intelligent gentleman that "in England when the children went to school they carried in their satchel with their books a pipe of tobacco, which their mother took care to fill early in the morning, it serving them instead of a breakfast; and that at the accustomed hour every one laid aside his book to light his pipe, the master smoking with them and teaching them how to hold their pipes and draw in the tobacco."

Sir Fulk Greville's Tomb.-Sir Fulk valued himself on nothing more than on being the friend of Sir Philip Sydney. The following lines were placed over his remains: "Here lies Sir Fulk Greville, Lord Brooke, servant to Queen Elizabeth, counsellor to King James, and friend to Sir Philip Sydney."

Chinese Batteries.-The engagement at Amoy was a fine spectacle, and it furnished strong evidence of the excellence of the Chinese batteries, upon which the fire of our seventy-four-gun ships, though maintained for fully two hours, produced no effect whatever, not a gun being found disabled, and but few of the enemy killed in them when our troops entered. The principle of their construction was such as to render them almost impervious to the effects of horizontal fire even from the 32-pounders

of the seventy-fours, as, in addition to the solid mass of masonry of which the parapets were formed, a bank of earth, bound with sods, had been constructed on the outer face, leaving to view only the narrow mark of the embrasure.-The War in China, by J. Ouchterlong, 1844.

Rival Sea Commanders.-"It was pleasant," says a writer of the time, speaking of the naval fight off Cape Finisterre, a century ago, "to observe a laudable contention between the commanders of the 'Bristol' and Pembroke,' which should engage the 'Invincible.' The 'Pembroke' attempted to get in between the 'Bristol' and the enemy; but there not being room enough, the commander of the 'Pembroke' hailed the 'Bristol,' and bid her put her helm a-starboard or his ship would run foul of her: to which Captain Montague replied, Sir, run foul of me and be damned; neither you, nor any other man in the world, shall come between me and my enemy.""

Civilization.-Some of our readers will read with amazement the following paragraphs from newspapers published in the United States. The "Natchez Free Trader,' 16th June, 1842, gives a horrible account of the execution of the negro Joseph, on the 5th of that month, for murder. “The body," says that paper, 66 I was taken and chained to a tree immediately on the bank of the Mississippi, on what is called Union Point. The torches were lighted and placed in the pile. He watched unmoved the curling flame as it grew, until it began to entwine itself around and feed upon his body; then he sent forth cries of agony painful to the ear, begging some one to blow his brains out; at the same time surging with almost superhuman strength, until the staple with which the chain was fastened to the tree, not being well secured, drew out, and he leaped from the burning pile. At that moment the sharp ring of several rifles was heard, and the body of the negro fell a corpse to the ground. He was picked up by two or three, and again thrown into the fire and consumed."

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Another Negro Burned.-We learn from the clerk of the Highlander,' that while wooding a short distance below the mouth of Red river, they were invited to stop a short time and see another negro burned. -New Orleans Bulletin.

TO CORRESPONDENTS. K.'s Essay, though correctly written, suggests noJack Mainmast' wants point, and is far inferior to thing new on the subject. some of the writer's former productions.

Adelaide Street, Trafalgar Square; and sold by all LONDON: Published by JOHN MORTIMER,

Booksellers and Newsmen.

Printed by REYNELL and WEIGHT, Little Pulteney street, and at the Royal Polytechnic Institution.

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Original Communications. ment, invited artists to send carved work

THE KING-STREET EXHIBITION. A CORRECT representation is given above of one of the most interesting exhibitions in London. Though it may be visited gratuitously, on every day but Saturday, for the varieties of talent connected with the decorative art which it comprehends, it is equal to anything we have seen, and for the historical reminiscences which it suggests, it is worth a dozen collections of odds and ends belonging to one remarkable individual, such as have sometimes been produced-to be visited, at an expense of half-a-crownas if its sage proprietor expected all the world aspired to ride with him on the same hobby.

In June last" Her Majesty's Commissioners on the Fine Arts," by advertise. No. 1215.]

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in wood, designs for stained glass windows, arabesque paintings, and heraldic decorations, ornamented metal-work for screens and gates, and ornamental pavements for the New Palace at Westminster. The exhibition to which we now call public attention presents a series of designs intended to decorate the future Houses of Parliament: they are displayed on each side of the screen, or partition, which appears in the centre of the hall. The carvings, as the visitors enter, are to the right; the stained glass will be found on the left.

Of the carvings many are very beautiful; and representations of some of the most memorable scenes recorded in our national history arrest the eye, and claim almost unqualified admiration. The doors of the new House of Lords, which, it has been intimated, are likely first to [VOL. XLIV.

be wanted, have called forth vigorous competition, and produced works of great ingenuity, wrought with superior elegance and precision. W. Freeman, junior's, design, which brings before us the Barons demanding Magna Charta from John, has much well-marked character, and the feelings which may be supposed to have animated each party are forcibly indicated. The sullen gloom of the king, and the stern determination of the nobles, are hit off with equal felicity; but the strait line in which all their heads are seen, might be altered with some advantage, unless it can be shown that the barons of that age, like the grenadiers of this, must of necessity have reached a certain stature to be admissible to such rank.

In our limited pages we cannot particularise all the scenes it is proposed to perpetuate in the new building. A few, and only a few, shall be mentioned. No. 11, by S. A. Nash, besides the statue of Henry III., "under whom the first traces of the present constitution of a Parliament appeared," and the reign. ing Queen, suggests for "the sculpture proposed for the head of the arch the memorable event in the history of English constitutional government, which took place in Westminster Hall on the 3d of May, 1253, when the peers obtained from Henry III. a fresh and most solemn confirmation of liberty for his subjects." No. 19, by William Thomas, would body forth" the laws that have governed at different periods. In the four principal panels are bas-reliefs, under the general heads of-The Divine Law, The Law of Superstition, The Law of Force, and Justice Revived. In the first, is represented the Lawgiving by Moses, the Justice of Solomon, and the Death of Ananias; in the second, the Trial by Ordeal, the Inquisition, and the Martyrdom by Fire; in the third, the Strongest shall be Right,' Trial by Tournament, and Trial by Combat; and in the fourth, the Reformation, the Good Samaritan, and the Trial by Jury: each of these are surmounted with appropriate figures, and in the centre (on the buttress) is the figure of Justice." No. 26, by Wm. Allan, offers in "the first panel representations of a priest, a soldier, and an agriculturist, a lawyer, a sailor, and a merchant, in the costumes of the twelfth century. The centre panels represent Cranmer receiving the Bible from Henry VIII., and King John

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signing Magna Charta, in the costumes of the respective periods. The top panels represent David I., King of Scotland, administering justice, and St. Patrick summoned before the king and princes of Tara for lighting the paschal fire. The centre figure represents Britannia, those on the left, Henry III. and Henry VII., and those on the right, a bishop in the costume of the eleventh century, and Robert Fitzwalter." And No. 37, by Samuel Nixon, comprehends almost a perfect old English exhibition, as we have the following tableaux enumerated:

minated Missal, as a reward for learning "Alfred the Great receiving an illuto read, from his mother Osburgha. "Alfred at the Battle of Aston. "The first flotilla defeating a Danish squadron.

"Alfred scolded by the Neatherd's wife for letting her cakes burn.

"Alfred dividing his only meal with the Pilgrim.

"Alfred comforted in his adversity by the vision of St. Cuthbert.

"Alfred in the Danish camp. "The meeting of Alfred with his trusty followers at Egbert's Stone.

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Baptism of Guthrum previous to his signing a treaty, Alfred standing sponsor. dren of Hastings, his most powerful "Alfred releasing the wife and chil

enemy.

"Trial by Jury.

"The Assembly of the Witan, or First Parliament,"

In the stained glass we have some excellent portraits. Queen Elizabeth at various ages meets the eye. Here we

see her as the blooming young creature found at Hatfield, on her sister's decease; there, as might appear, the gracious friend of Leicester; and elsewhere, as she looked at a later period of her life, making up for the injuries time had done her person, by the splendour of her attire and the profusion of her ornaments, as if ambitious of shining forth,

"Solicitous to bless,
In all the glaring impotence of dress."

Some of the tessilated pavements will be found well worth examining, as also the screens and ornamental metalwork. The effect of a visit to this attractive exhibition will be to convince every visitor who gives the subject his serious attention that the talent of the present day, in the decorative arts, will

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