The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-14 00:00:00

Country Life in France,

My cousin's husband was by no means badly off;
in fact, for a French gentleman living on his own
estate, he passed for being almost rich. And yet,
day by day, he toiled—to say that he merely worked
would not convey half my meaning—at improving,
or at seeing to the current necessary labour of his
estate, much as Australian settlers are obliged to
look after their newly acquired sheep farms. By
daylight every morning he had taken his cup of
café au WI, and was off, either on foot or on
horseback, according to the distance, to see
how some planting, or draining, or ploughing,
or reaping, or felling of trees, was going on. At
eleven o'clock he c:.me back, and we then met for
the first time in the day, at a dejeuner a la four-
chotte, which lasted until noon. No sooner was
this meal over than he was off again tosuperintend
some other work, while the lady of the house—who
was always invisible until 11 o'clock—disappeared
again to her household duties, and was no more
seen until six, at which time we all sat down
to dinner. In the evening the master of the house
was invariably knocked up and sleepy, and his
wife was fully occupied with hearing their two
children say their prayers, and seeing them to
bed. By nine o'clock everybody in the house
had retired for the night. This was the life we led
six days out of seven. On Sunday the whole family
went early to hear mass at the church of the
neighbouring village. It was a league off, and they
only got back a little before noon, when the substan-
tial breakfast was served. The afternoon was spent
in smoking, inspecting the poultry-yard, and re-
ceiving the visits of the parish priest, or a few of
the peasant farmers who lived in the vicinity. There
were no books, music, visitors to my hosts of their
own rank in life; there was no returning of visits,
no hunting, very little shooting, and, in short, no
amusement of any kind.—Dickens's " All the Year
Round."

[ADVERTISEMENT.]—HoIIoway's Pills.—Harbingers of
Joy .—llow often does it happen in families that the least
robust are the most precious. In such cases how much
misery would be spared if these purifying, invigorating,
and laxative pills were judiciously administered. Hollo-
way's admirable pills have worked their way by their in-
trinsic merits, and in spite of interested oppositions have
established their supremacy as a household remedy, equally
well adapted for the derangements of strong and the if:-
firmities of the sickly. These corrective pills rarely fail
to remove the seeds of disease and to overcome all in •
furious results arising from luxurious indulgence, irre-
gular hours, and similar causes. To the weak this medi-
cine is a precious boon, as it re•endows them with full
health, and strength,

Naval and Military Intelligence,

THE NAVY.

The America, targetship, at Portsmouth, is having
two 52 inch armour plates bolted on her sides, for
an experimental day's firing outside the harbour,
most probably on tho Horse or Dean Shoals, in the
vicinity of Horse Shoal Fort, with the Armstrong
7 inch shunt gun. The Duke of Somerset is expected
to be present. The gun will be mounted on board
the Stork gunboat, and the firing will be carried out
under the superintendence of Capt. A. C. Key, C. 8.,
commanding her Majesty's gunnery ship Excellent.
It is with regret we learn that Capt. C. P. Coles,
R.N., has been compelled by the state of his health
to repair to Ventnor, Isle of Wight, on short leave
of absence from his duties in Portsmouth dockyard.
The Thunderer, old sailing liner, lately used as a
target ship at Portsmouth, is in No. 3 dock of that
yard, where preparations are being made to cut her
down to her orlop deck. This accomplished, the
deck will be strengthened and converted into a
permanent platform, on which will in future
bo erected butts of the usual kind, and on
these butts will be laid the armour plates under
trial. Under these conditions greater certainty as to
the uniformity of the strength in the " backing" of
the plates can be arrived at than is now possible in
merely bolting the plates on the side of an old ship.
The Thunderer's platform is, however, only an in-
termediary measure, as it is intended, as soon as it
can be arranged, to test the armour-plates on shore
as targets and plates are tested at Shoeburyness.
It is understood that the Admiralty have decided
on constructing by contract five more screw troop-
ships after the designs of the Himalaya. As the de-
signs for these vessels must be furnished from the
Admiralty to the builders, we trust that no such
" improvements" as were introduced into the de-
signs of the Orontes will be introduced in any of the
new vessels, but that the new vessels, if built, will be
as nearly! as possible simply copies of the cele-
brated troopship. The Orentes, it cannot be for-
gotten, was designed at the Admiralty as an " im-
proved" Himalaya, and now she is in commission
and at work she has become tamed for the absence
of many of those excellent qualities in the posses-
sion of which the Himalaya stands pre-eminent.

Mr. E. J. Reed, the Chief Constructor of the
Navy, visited Portsmouth dockyard yesterday.
The iron-built screw steam troopship Adventure,
2, Capt. Chas. L. Waddilove, appointed to embark a
detachment at Plymouth for conveyance to China,
arrived in the Sound yesterday, and was boarded
officially by Commander Aylen, the Queen's Har-
bourmaster. In consequence of the unhealthy state
of :some of her crew she left Plymouth about a
week since for a sanitary cruise. Up to sunset last
evening she had not communicated with the shore.
It is, however, understood that no indication of any
special disease remains among the crew, of whom
there are on the sick list only six, the ordinary pro-
portion to a ship with her complement.
The folowing appointments and promotions have
been made at the Admiralty :—James B. Haines,
master, additional, to the Indus, for the Brisk ;
Charles Prickett, master, additional, to the Cumber-
land, for the Clio ; Charles R. Chamberlain, chief
engineer, to the Cumberland, for the Scout ; Stephen
H. Moore, paymaster, to be Secretary to Rear-
Admiral the Hon. Charles Elliot ; Charles H. J.
Collings and Charles N. Drew, assistant-paymaster,
for secretaries' clerks, to the Bombay ; Alan G.
Grey, clerk, additional, to the Wellesley ; Charles
W. Aylmer, nominated to a naval cadetship ; John
Leeson, of the Indus, Thomas G. Punnett, of the
Warrior, Thomas J. Warburton, of the Hector, and
William Bryan, of the Hogue, for the tenders, pro-
motee to first class assist.-engineers ; John R. Har-
vey, of the Rosario, J. Tapp, of the Jason, Charles
B. Hargrave, of the Foxhound, Thomas Halton, of
the Trident, and E. Wimshurst, of the Bacchante,
promoted to acting first class assistant-engineers.