Star.
London, England, 1830-10-22 00:00:00

SCINTILLA.

It is remarkable that 171;=e7111:use their first wire;
the least difficulty in procuring a second.
The abolition of the Star system at the winter tlioatte,i
said to be likely to be followed both by clouds and storms in the t't .
tried hemisphere.
EFFECT OF INDICIESTION.—A dyspeptic Aniciit..t,.
whose letter to his physician appears in the Bolos Gawk, t.l
him that his sufferings from indigestion have been so severe, that tI
materially affected his conduct, and " hie capacity for usefulne4."
How TO RAISE it BELL.—The Boston Comm
Gaulle recommends a small bell, which, it says, could be raised, ,
subscription," to announce to the merchants the arrival of the
boats and mails. " The suggestion," it adds, " did not emanat, •
us, but from a friend at our elbow."
USEFUL INVENTION.—A ship's pump has lately lir:,
invented, the handle of which, though worked with the greattst
throws out at every moment five gallons of water ; so that, sup's,,
only thirty strokes to be made in a minute, the astonishing quantity
9,000 gallons, or nearly one hundred and seventy hogsheads,
pumped out of a vessel In an hour.
A DAMPER FOR M•LTII US. —At Laghtamoneen Cowl
Clue, aged 63 years, the wife of Mr. James Lysaght, of • dough:.
Her husband was in his 73d year. This happy couple had
crease to their family for the last twenty years—nothing can equal th.
happiness !
HORSE RA DlM—Reddish, the actor, bad a wife of slit:.
unseating dimensions, that Foote used to designate her the hor.•
radisk; on which soother wag observed that, judging by the colour c
theLlady's face, the orthography need not have been altered.
A WON DER.—There has not been a poor-rate in (It
parish of Widford, Gloucestershire, in the memory of man. There ant
only two payers in the place, and very few paupers. The two paye.t
meet occasionally, and distribute such relief as they consider nccc..
scary; and what is stranger still, it appears that they are generally rt..
hpected among the labouring classes. [lt is something surprising nos.
a.days to find a parish where there is not a poor-rate.]
APA REN T.—ln Berkshire,lately, a gentleman observim-
a remarkably corpulent man pass, inquired who he was ?" " Why,
that is Mr. , dreier/ter of the town of B." " Bless me, said
the inquirer, and he seems just ready to be delivered of another town !"
QUESTION FOR QUESTION.—At the commencement of
the first revolution in France, a gentleman of Dauphine, anxious to sup-
port the interest of the aristocracy, said, " Think of all the blood th.:.
the Nobles of France have shed in battle !" A commoner replied,
" and what of the blood of the people poured at the bane fine!
that wafer 9"

A Box MOT.-. Lady L—. who had a very fair ski:;
said one day to Lady Gl—, of whom she was a little kaiak. it
must be confessed, my dear, that, for so beautiful a brunette, you t,
very brown." " I suppose," answered Lady "it
sequence of being so often toasted."
A WHIMSICAL INTRODUCTION.— Boswell, iu
" Journal of a Tour," &c. relates that Cooke, the translator of Itsiod,
itc. introduced Foote to a club in the following singular manner :
" This is the nephew of a gentleman who was lately hung In chairs
murdering his brother."
POLITICAL DIALOOUE.--ThO following dialogue as:.
heard to pus the other day on a hackney-coach stand :—" I say, N.A.
I know you're a politishun—what's all this here fighting about atlion-
the Dutch and Bilging?" " Wot is it about ? Wy it's about 'het
fundintenstat law. The Dutchman vants to make (others year th..i.
big.breeehes, and they vont."
Tic RILFUSED.—" Open the doors, Polly," said Bar, •
bones Grant, " I want a naggin on skoare." " Waite a while," sa.s
Polly, (whd keeps the Cuckold in Banagher) " wanent you drinken it
at Mock Turtell's ?" " Not my own self," says Barebones. " It's
false, you lying bosthoon. I seen you go In with my two blessed eyes.
and they diddent desave me." " Och then a vorneen, not to tell yo,
one word of an untroothe, myself and Father Cohen, and John Hay,
glipt in useabearved, to have the value of a pig .fine. But to tell the aanw
of the histhory, when my pocket was drunk dry of whiskey bad luck t.
myself, but I was very undasently wheeled out into the street—and
now lam come to az you for a naggin on tic." " Sure, then, coslit.
mo cree," says Poll, "as you haveent the money, and you didder.'
come here when you had, be off with yourself; bad cess to your as.
surance, dickens a thimble-full will you get here—go coff where yor
get oold."
SCOTTISH CLERGY. —The situations of the Scottisi:
Clergy in the aggregate, as regards worldly circumstances, is superioi
to that of any priesthood in the world.—lncluding chapels of east,
double charges, it may be estimated that there are now one thousand li.
sings in the church, the value of which will be comprehended from ill •
following summary
,E

t 72 benefices at 150 each ... ..
..
200 do. at 200 do .. .•• • 25,800
•• •• • .. 40,000
150 do. at 230 do ... ... .. 34,560
130 do. at 250 do .. .. . . •• • 37.000
150 do. at 300 do ... ••• ••• .. 45,0(10
80 do. at 326 do. ... ... ... • • 28,000
30 do. at 350 do .. .. .. ... 3,500
28 do. of 4110 do. ... —• ... ... 11,800
10 do. at 500 do ... . . . . •• • 5,000
10 do. at 600 do .. •• • ... ... 6,0011
29 do. at 800 do .. ... ... ... 16,000

1000 252.500
Sav that 950 of
.these have manse" and glebes at
401. each •• ••• . • 98,000

Total Revenue of the Church of Scotland ... '290400
This statement is, unavoidably, very imperfect, as the stipends vary
every year according to the liars; but, if even correct In a general
pect, it shows that the average living is nearly as good as that of
beneficeslin England, which we believe is 3031—Chambers' ilisiory
qf Scotland.
OBJECTS PRESEILVED IN HERCULANEUM AND PON-
PEII.—Both at Herculaneum and Pompeii, temples have been found
with inscriptions commemorating their having been rebuilt idler they
were thrown down by an earthquake. This earthquake happened in
the reign of Nero, sixteen years before the inhumation of the cities. Is.
Pompeii, one-fourth of which is now laid open to the day, both the pub-
lic and private buildings bear testimony to the catastrophe. The walls
arc rent, and in many places traversed by fissures still open. Columns
are lying on the ground, only half hewn from huge blocks of travertin,
and the temple for which they were designed is seen half repaired. It:
some few places the pavement had sunk in, but in general it was until'.
turbed, consisting of great flags of lava, in which two immen.e ruts
have been worn by the consent passage of carriages through the :e.rrow
street. When the hardness of the stone Is considered, the continuity
these ruts from one end of the town to the other is not a little retnark.
able, for there is nothing of the kind in the oldest pavements of sander:
cities. A very small number of skeletons have been discovered in either
city ; and it is clear that the great mass of inhabitants not only found
time to escape, but also to carry with them the principal part of their
valuable effects. In the barracks at Pompeii were the skeletons et tae
soldiers chained to the stocks, and in the vaults of a country-house is
the suburbs, were the skeletons of seventeen persons who appear to have
lied there to escape from the shower of ashes. They were found in.
closed in an indurated tuff, and in this matrix was preserved a perfect
cast of a woman, perhaps the mistress of the house, with an itifata
her arms. Ajthough her form was imprinted on the rock, nothing bill
the bones reinsined. To these a chain of gold was suspended, a..!
rings with jewels were on the fingers of the skeleton. Against the stile
of the same vault au ranged a long line of viriliern amphora. Th.
' writings scribbled by the soldiers on the walls of their barracks, are:
the names of the owners of each house written over the doors, are still
perfectly legible. The cola's* of fresco paintings on the stuccoedC walls
in the interior of buildings are almost as vivid as if they were jars:
finished. The wooden beams in the houses at Herculaneum arc blaei:
on the exterior, but when cleft open they appear to be almost in :ht.
state of ordinary wood, and the progress made by the whole it-ass s -
wards the state of lignite is scarcely appreciable. Soule animal :t t:
vegetable substances of more perishable kinds have of course stithsee
I much change and decay, yet the state of conservation of these is huh
remarkable. Fishing-nets arc very abundant in both cities, often qe,t,
I entire; and their number at Pompeii is the more interesting front s
sea being now a mile distant. Linen has been found at Herculaneum.
with the texture well defined ; and in a fruiterer's shop in that ells
were discovered ,vessels full of almonds, chesnuts, walnuts, and fnii:
of the " carubiere," all distinctly recognisable from their shape. A
loaf. also, still retaining ha form, was found in a baker's shoo. wttil
his name stamped upon it thus : Elena Q. Crani Riser." On the
counter of an apothecary was a box of pills converted into a fine earthly
substance ; and by the side of it a small cylindrical roll, evidently Fs-
pared to be cut into pills. By the side of these was a jar containing
medicinal herbs. In 18117, moist olives were found in a square glace
ease, and " caviare," or roe of a fish, in a state of wonderful preserva-
tion. An examination of these curious condiments has been publi:•!led
by Covelli, of Naples, and they are preserved hetmetically sealed rt
the tieuseum there—Lyelfs Geology.
SEIIOI=MMIE