The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-06-30 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

eurraturr.

VARIETIES.

By the wise tempering of work with play, and both with
intellectu .1 study, and all under the mastery of religion,
how ennobling becomes the life of an English artisan.—
Lord John Manners.
At the top of Richmond Hill, on the right hand side,
is to be seen, printed on a board which is placed in the
window, " Preparatory School for Boys of both sexes !"
There is not an hour in the day in which a man so much
likes to see his wife dressed with neatness as when she
leaves hey bedroom and sits down to breakfast.—Mrs.
Ellis.

There bare been fifty kings, two protectors, and six
queens in England ; and the regular succession to the
throne has been changer' ten times since the kingdom was
founded by Egbert, 1012 years ao'n.
It is calculated that there are 1.660.000,000 sons in the
world; of whom 153,000,000 are in Europe, 156,000,000
in Africa, 500,000.000 in Asia, 150,000.000 in America,
and 7,000,000 in the islands of the Pacific. Five parts of
the population are Christians, six are Mohometans, eigh-
teen are idolaters, and the Jews form one part.
Above one hundred thousand men were employed for
twenty years in erecting the great pyramid of Egypt.
From a computation of M. Dupin, it appears that the
steam engines of England would equal the whole product
of this immense application of human labour, in lifting
stone=, within the short space of eizhteen hours.
A shopkeeper in Drury Lane informs the public, through
the medium of an enormous placard over his door, that
be has " 20,000 pair of shoes for the million." It is evi-
dent that nine hundred and eighty thousand of his custo-
mers must go without shoes to their feet, for if he supplies
the million out of his stock of 20,000, Cocker will tell him
there must be the deficiency to which we have alluded.—

TEXAN BARBARISM.—The ruder orders of people
farther couth, for there, no more than in England, are the
"ruder" orders to be considered as merely ivnonymous
with the " lower" orders, have a custom, I am informed, of
occasionally deciding desperate wagers cf battle by hooking
themselves together by the bands they wear, and thus
fighting with the knife, since neither can get away, until
one falls or both are killed.—Colonial Magazine.

PENCIL CEDAR.—Nearly all the railway sleepers in
America are made of this wood, as it never rots, and it
hardens by exposure to wet. It is now being introduced
into some of the railways in the north of England fur the
same purpose; it is also extensively used in America for
ship-building, having the property. whets used with other
wood, of preventing its rotting. There is no limit to the
quantity that can he obtained of this wood if required. Its
present selling price averages about sd. the superficial foot.
—The Builder.

WHAT BECOMES OF PINS AND POLICEMEN.—We
recollect to have once seen this question propounded by
some individual of an inquiring mind, of "What becomes
of all the pins ?" This disappearance is certainly most
remarkable. AlPchanical statistics inform us that the
consumption of pins in Great Britain alone amounts to
15,000 000 daily ; and yet we never find more than one or
two lying about, and even that is a chance. A lady once
told us she believed they all walked off to unknown regions
during the night, (there is a German popular tale respect-
ing the holiday of a pin, which favours the notion,) for
that if she left a dozen on her toilet table on going to bed
at night, she never found more than two or three there in
the morning; and these were pins of delicate coneitution,
or not quite right in their heads. It is certainly very
strange. This same property of pins is shared in also by
policemen ; one cannot tell where on earth they go to.
You see them leaving the s!ation hou'es in long files, and
then strangely disappearing into nothingness, like the
long spiral procession which progresses so rapidly to no-
where, when you twirl a corkscrew against your finger.
And herein do policemen differ strangely from the street
vagabonds they ought to look after ; for whilst, on the
occasion of a row, or a railway omnibus stopping. cad
scamps seem to rise up out of the pavement as though the
flags were traps, none having been before visible—so do
policemen vanish with equal celerity, in a manner which
leads us to think that the fairy tales are not altogether the
tremendous lies we always imagined them to be.—Albert
Smith.

THE HORSE-Co ARM E a.—Doubtless our readers must
have heard of the extraordinary gift said to be possessed
by an Irishman, named Sullivan, who exercised a power
over horses that no other horse-breaker in the United
Kingdom ever obtained by means of whispering. He is,
therefore, better known in the spotting circles by the so-
briquet of " The Whisperer." It may not he known
that the grandson of this extraordinary man, (George
Church,) who practises the art of horse-breaking and
training in Sydney, possesses the secret of charming this
noble animal which gained for his grandsire so much ce-
lebrity. We have had frequent opportunity lately of wit-
nessing his performances, and can confidently vouch for
his skill. He will take a wild, unbroken colt, from the
bush, and in twenty-four hours make him so docile and
obedient, without severe treatalent, that the animal, at
command, will lie down under him, feigning death, re-
main until roused from the a,parent stupour in which lie
has been thrown by mesmeric passes and slight manipu-
lation (as it appears to us) on the nervous system, by a
slight touch of a rattan. The animal will then lick the
face of the operator, put his tongue in his mouth, and
whisper in. his ear at a signal. Church will then lie down
on the broad of his back, and place the animal's fore-foot
on the pit of his stomach, also his hind-foot in his teeth,
without danger of being pressed too hard—_ When the_
horse is relieved from the stupour into which be appears
to have been thrown, be resists a repetition of the opera-
tion as long as he can, until, subdued by the irresistible
charm of the extraordinary man, he relapses into the
mesmeric state, and is then passively obedient to his will.
Svclney Sentinel.

THE LADY 's NTAID.—Her constitution is broken by
irregular rest and irregular diet. Addicted to novels and
green tea, she is not aware that her tender hypochon-
driacism is the result of her swallowing her dinner whole,
to be in time for dressing my lady for her daily drive; and
of restless nights, spent in watching for the return of my
lady's carriage for the b,II. On the contrary, she admits
that she is a poor weak-spirited creature; but swears,
like Cassio, " that she had it from her mother." It is a
strange thing that, howbeit, we all admit the difficulty of
being a hero to one's vale! de chambre or an angel to one's
lady's maid—every lady insists upon the maid being an
angel to her lady. The mistress h:.s a right to be en
deshabille at certain hours of the day. The maid never.
The maid must be always presentable—always smiling.
Curl-papers are warning, and a slipshod foot dismissal
without a character. Whether in drawing my lady's cur-
tain at dead of night, or undrawing it at daybreak, she
must be tir6e a qualre e-pingles, and neither look fatigued,
nor restless, nor sick, nor sorry. A weary eye, a pale
face, would condemn her to hear that " her health was
not equal to her situation." For with the exception of an
inquisitor of Spain, there are few things more cruel than
a fine lady. Having laid it down as an axiom that a
lady's maid is simply her lady's shadow, it is almost un-
necessary to add, that there are as many varieties of ladies'
maids as of roses and geraniums ; serious ladies' maids,
fashionable ladies' maids, ladies' maids on their prefer-
ment, flirting ladies' maids, and so forth. The serious
lady's maid is pretty sure to be privately married to the
butler or to have a weakness for the under footman. The
fashionable lady's maid is shove such vulgarisms ; talks of
" the circle she moves in," and goes to the Opera. The
lady's maid on her preferment converts my lady's cast-off
satins and ouipures into cash, end tag of her property in
the funds. While the flirting lady's maid converts them
to her own use; has a correspondence in verse with one
of the young gentlemen at Howell and James's, which
does not prevent her lending an ear to a thousand tender
nothings when the country house is full of dandies, mas-

tern, and me
Airs. Gore.

for the hunting and simting season.—

GENTLEMEN TIIIEVES.—ShortIy before I left Mexico,
the stage was robbed near Puebla. The rubbers all had
the dress and bearing of gentlemen. When the operation
of rifling the pockets and trunks of the pas-engers was
finished, one of the robbers said to them—" Gentlemen,
we would not have you to suppose that we are rubbers by
profession ; we are gentlemen, (somos caballeros.) but we
have.been unfortunate at monte, and that ha. forced upon
us the necessity of thus incommoding you. for which we
beg that you will pardon us." InnumerAle are the sto-
ries of robberies which one hears in Mexico, some of them
of 001

'be case of

Colonel Yanes, who w
full of incidents of a ci

executed a few years since, is
aster deeply dramitic. I will
they were told to me : Th P Swiss
eet of St. Cosme. About twelve
y t in) e , a carriage drove up to his
got out, one in the dress of a priest—

they v

e o'clock in
and three !it I

the porter, and the door doted,

when they immediately seizA arid gagged him, went into
the house, and robbed and murdered the consul. The
only clue for the discovery of the murderers w,.9 a metal
button with a small piece of blue cloth attached to it,
which was found clenched in the fingers of the murdered
vnd which he had torn from the coat of one of the
Suspicion at last rested upon a soldier. who was
more ney than he cuu!d account for. His
were se hed, and the coat from which the but-
.. He sas convicted,
Amost confidence upon a pardon,
avourite aid-de-camp of President
:complice. lie was brought out to
actually taken his seat on the fatal
r placed around his neck, and the
'd, when he said—" Hold 1 I will
'mplices—Colonel Yanea is the
__,,ended, and on searching
correspondence in cipher was dis-
ablished his guilt in this and other
he paramour of a WMII.III in Mexico

robbers

seen with more mor
quarters
ton had been torn
but he relied with th
as Colonel Yanes, the
Santa Anns, was his a

be executed, and had
bench, with the. colic

Lbout to b

ho are m

1" 'PI.

found there

a was su

ose of Yens
whirl) fully
ies. Times w

coverer
robber

very nearly related to one whose word was law, and whose
influence over her relative was known to be very great,
and upon that relianeetvis placed for a pardon, at least ;
but she was not disposed to trust to that, awl let her lover
suffer the disgrace of conviction—she went to the judge
with whom the cipher had been deposited, which fur-
irsisbed the evidence of the guilt of Yanes, and offered him
a large bribe to give it up. lea was an honest man and
an upright judge—be sternly refused the bribe, and firmly
resisted the menaces of this powerful woman. In a day
or two he died suddenly, as all supposed, of poison. A
successor was appointed of principles less stern, who ac-
cepted the bribe, and promised to destroy the paper ; but
when, in confession to his priest, he disclosed his corrupt
conduct, the worthy man prevailed upan him, if he had
not destroyed the paper, not to do so, and he did not.
Yanes, in the meantime, was informed that this evidence
would not be produced against him, and that tree prosecu-
tion would rest entirely upon the testimony of his accom-
plice. Upon the trial, with the habitual air ref command
of an officer, and the habitual fear and submission of the
•lnion soldier, Yanes brow beat and confu-ed his accuser
:ch a degree, that he telt secure of an acquittal: At
moment the fatal paper was produced, and he was
condemned and executed. His not less guilty paramour
still resides in the city of Mesico.—Recollections of

coo)
to sr
this

Mexico.

CANNING AND Pi,EL.—Sir Robert Peel labours, as a
public man, under the heavy disadvantage of the want of
popular trainers, and of those personal attractions which
captivate and delight the mind, and often carry the posses-
sor of them far beyond his real deserts in the estimation
of mankind. Canning was as rich in the possession of
these natural and acquired graces as Peel is deficient in
them; and it is a deficiency which no human power can
supply. At the time to which this attack recalls our re-
collections, how rich the intellectual feast of one of Can-
ning's parties! How dull and ponderous one of Peel's.
Both men, it is to be presumed, were equally solicitous to
attract and charm their guests. The one could not but do
it : the other could not had it been to save his life. The
dis3dv,ntage was great, and yet notwithstanding the defi-
ficiency, set out in its strongest colours in contrast with
the surprising brilliancy of Canning, Peel, it nay be safely
advanced, was more trusted than his competitor. His
manner repelled, but his conduct attracted. He was not
the man for the dinner-table, but he was viewed as wise
in council, safe in the senate, and competent accordingly
to stand at the helm of the national affairs.—Lon. Paper.

FREE PEOPLE OF COLOUR.—We hear that a numerous
body of free coloured men of this city propose to offer
their services as soldiers. Many of our coloured inhabitants
are respectable and worthy people, hoftling considerable
property and are sincerely attached to the country ; and
the patriotism that dictates the proposition is worthy of
all praise. It occurs to us, however, that it is entirely in-
admissible. General Jackson accepted their services in
1814, to repel invasion, and they proved themselves
worthy of the trust. If the city was in danger, they might
properly share in its defence. Even our slaves might with
propriety be employed. But the present campaign will
consist of offensive operations. We shall not only force
the enemy across the Rio Grande, but, in all probability,
push our arms into the very heart of Mexico. In wars of
invasion we cannot employ men of colour. If we set such
a precedent, we shall have no right to protest against the
employment of a similar force against us should we become
involved in a war with Great Britain. It is distinctly
understood that if ever the English land a regiment of
blacks in this country, we can grant no quarter to prisoners.
It will be a war of extermination, marked with blood at
every step. And we must he careful bow we set the pre-
cedent, when we march into the territory of another
power.—New Orleans Jeffersonian.

TIM VARIOUS MODES OF EXECUTION EMPLOYED.—
The Cavildo is a large building used for a court-house and
a prison. On the first floor is the large court-room, with
its ante-chambers: above are the rooms appropriated to
prisoners of state of the better or higher classes, and be-
neath are the cells of those who are placed in solitary con-
finement. At the front of the building is a wide proj:Tting
porch, supported by pillars, and adjoining is the coral or
yard, where prisoners condemned to death are executed.
The manner in which the victims were put to death varied
according to the propensity of the condemning power, and
according to circumstances. Sometimes they were shot.
Some met their fate at the hands of two lancers, who,
placed on either side of the prisoner, would at a signal
plunge their glittering weapons in his body. Others,
again, fell by the most barbarous practice of drawing a
blade across the throat. All these modes of execution I
have been compelled to witness, and in no case did the
victim know his sentence until the moment before his
death, and tt,en only by the preparation made- when he is
to be shot. In the other cases the first intimation of his
fate is the touch of the steel. These things will seem to
those who hive lived in a land blessed with peace and
good government as almost beyond belief, but they are,
nevertheless, truths.—Life in the Argentine Rei,ublic.

THE OLDEST RACE-COURSE IN ENGLAND.--The
race-course which is supposed to be the oldest in Eng-
land,
and to which still belongs a fund (the annual sum
being only about £13,) and which is regularly run for—is
situated about the centre of the East Riding of York-
shire, upon the wolds between Market Weighton and the
town of Drifficld, and is known by the name of " Kiplin
Cotes." The country has been enclosed in that part of '
the world within the last twenty-five yen.s ; still the race-
course remains, all under turf, as modern inn)vations
have not yet substituted exines and gravel in lieu of the
fine old velvet turf, of which the " bridle road" through
the wolds is to th a day composed. The entries for this
ancient plate are exceedingly select. hut unfortunately
they are selected from the greatest ruffi .ns ie the country,
many of whom, exchanging the taper jockey whip for the
more impressive bludgeon, batter arid tight their way
through the crowd of horsemen who throng the course,
and by their more vociferous exertions arid expertness at
j.)stling contrive to prove. to the competitors that the
race at issue shall not, in this instance at least, he ad-
judged unto the swift. What renders the difficuli y the
greater in this extraordinary race is the circumstance of
the gateways not being removed on the occasion, and the
dreadful accidents which have occurred at the awful
crushings which take place have in more than one instance
ended in the death of one of the competitors for the
prize. ..
RAISING AND REMOVING Houses.—One need not
walk through many streets in New York without wit-
nessing in one of them a removal or lifting up of a house;
this is almost peculiar to American mechanics, and I was
never tired of looking at it. The parties have contributed
very much to the straightness and uniformity of the
streets, and so perfectly at home are they at it, that if an
advertisement were put in the Sun, the Hr raid, or the
Tribune, to remove the London Mansion House to Hamp-
stead Heath, there would be several offers for the job. As
for the North side of Middle-row, they would think no-
thing of removing it bodily at once to the model prison at
lerkenweltewithout any of the young misses of the family ,
Tieing in the slightest degree interrupted -tit- Theft' Mini-'
avocations. AS for the everlasting and dangerous nuisance
of Holborn-hill, which I have been looking at more in
sorrow than in anger for these forty years, in New York
it would be levelled in a week. A worthy tradesman in
the city of Brooklyn, opposite New York, wanted to eon-
vert his two pirlour windows into a shop-front; "No,
no," said the builder, " don't throw away your parlour, I
will lift the house up, and build you a much better, lof-
-1
tier, and more spacious shop where the parlour now
stands." The screws and timber were accordingly brought,
and I saw the two-story brick house go up slowly and im-
perceptibly, whilst the daughters were looking out of the
window, as if nothing was goig on more than usual. I
watched the alteration every time I crossed the ferry to
Brooklyn, and in the course of two or three weeks the
tradesman was occupying his new and handsome store, as
the shops are called.—Rambles in the United Slates.
We find the following curious details in the Ailoniteur
des Arts:—" There exist at Rome secret workrooms of
sculpture, where the works manufactured are broken
arms, beads of the gods, feet of satyrs, and broken torsi—
of nobody. By means of a liquid there used, a colour of
the finest antiquity is communicated to the marble. Sc'it-
tered about the country are goat-herds, who feed their
flocks in the vicinity of ruins, and look out for foreigners.
To these they speak incidentally of the treasures found by
digging a few feet deep in such neighbourhoods. The
English, in particular, are the victims of such mystifica-
tion; and freely yield their money o the shepherds, who
are agents to the General Artificial Ruin Association,
and know; well where to apply the pick-axe. They are
careful, however, to spend much time and labour in fruit-
less
search, before they come finally upon the treasure—
for which the foreigner willingly pays. England is full of
these antiquities of six months' age. Nor do the amateur
numismatists leave Rome with empty hands; for in that
city are daily coined, without fear of the law, the money
of Caesar, Hadrian. Titus, Heliogabalus, and all the An.
tonines—filed, pinched, and corroded, to give the look of
age. Paris may be sa'd to have hi,herto, by comparison
with London, escaped this epidemy for the youthful anti-
quities of bronze arid marble—but she is devoured by the
forgers of Middle-Age antiques. It is notorious with
what skill and impudence certain cabinet-makers manu-
facture chairs, tables, and footstools of the fifteenth cen-
tury, and how readily they find dupes. A young anti-
quarian showed lately, with great pride, to an artist, a
friend of his, a very fine article of Gothic furniture, which
be bad just bought at great cost. 'lt is very fine,' said
his friend, after examination, ' and it will last you long—
for it is quite new.' u —Athenceum.
Tile 'MEXICAN SOLDIERY.—The Mexican soldier is of
the middle stature, or below it, small-boned, slightly
built, graceful, with a smooth, glossy skin, scarcely any
muscle, no visible sinews, and of extremely light weight.
He can be agile for a short time, but is constitutionally
indolent. This is the Mexican Indian from the interior.

The soldiers of mixed blood, partaking of the more north-
ern races, and of old Spain, are stronger, rather sinewy,

and capable of more continued exertion: These, however,
comprise only a minority of the Mexican army. The
Mexicans are capable of no physical efforts or endurance.
Their constitutions are almost wholly without stamina :
and from their habit of getting into the shade whenever
they can, during the day, taking a nap at noon, or lying
about under walls, or in shady places, flat upon the
ground, to play at cards for reales or medins, (and dollars,
if they have any,) they are so enervated that the climate
during the sickly season is very apt to affect numbers of
them, if much exposed during the fiercest hours of the
day; to which, in fact, they have never been accustomed.
They very frequently take the yellow fever, and di of the
vomit° negro, particularly at Vera Cruz, Tampico, and
Alverado, as well as the temeritous foreigners. They even
fear it beforehand. A Mexican soldier who has been
drunk over night wi h aquadiente, and has a sick-headache
next morning, will ask permission of his serjeant to leave
the ranks during parade or guard duty, as he is very un-
well, and will so and squat down under a wall or shed.
If you ask him what is the matter, he shakes his head with
a melancholy, much injured, but resigned air, and answers:
" Calentura, Senor—calentura." I will answer for it
that any moderately strong English grenadier—not a re-
gular boxer, but who can only " hit straight,"—would
knock down ten or a dem Mexican soldiers, equally un-
armed, one after the other, as fast as they presented them-
selves. Put a sword into their hands. and give a stout
Highlander a claymore, or a raw-boned Irishman a good
' shillelah, and the ten soldiers would be very likely to
tumble to the right and left with broken blades and
broken beads. The Mexicans are by no means de-
ficient in courage. They have fiery soirits, arid no fear
of cold steel. They are " always ready to die." I have
even heard them in hours of danger, use that very ex-
pression. What they want is physical force ; the power
to justify their feelings. The Mexican officers are, for the
most part, not good. They are valiant, but have no judg-
ment. They are far too excitable, and without self-go-
vernment. Moreover, they are very often much too
young ; many of their lieutenants, and even captains, being
mere boys. I was once acquainted in Vera Cruz, with
the Mexican colonel of artillery who was not two-and-
twenty. He was a very well informed, high spirited,
amiable young man, a good mathematician, and a fine
swordsman • but of course without any adequate experi-
ence for such a post. The Mexican cavalry is admirable—
in respect of horsemanship. The artillery is good in all
respects. In the recent battles (as well as in former wars)
they seldom failed to throw their halls and shells directly
into the works of the fortress attacked ; and before General
Vego's little fort was taken, his guns destroyed nearly one-
third of the assailants ; but when the strong-armed men
got close in among the Mexican ranks, it was all over in
a minute.

THE DAIRY AT BLENHEIM.—One gets a tolerable
idea of the almost extravagant opulence which is here
displayed, when I say, that in a large vaulted ball for pre-
serving milk, cream, and butter, a splendid fountain had
been erected, to throw up the clearest spring water, which
falls down along several basins, growing gradually larger,
until it comes to a large basin at the bottom, which is so
arranged as to have upon its brink vessels and pans for
containing the cream and butter, which thus, in the
warmest weather, are pt at the degree of coolness, so
necessary to these useful kinds of food. In any other
place, this fountain would be used to ornament the en-
trance avenue, while here it merely serves to cool a dairy.
—Enoland in 1844, by Dr. Carus.
AWFUL. IF TRUE.—A young rascal, a mad, reckless
vagabond, was drinking one day with some companions
in a pot-house. His money being all spent, he cried out
that if any body would treat him to a can of good wine,
he would sell him his soul for it. Shortly after, there
came into the room a man who began drinking with the
scape-grace I speak of, and by and by asked him if he was
really willing to sell his soul. The fellow daringly ans-
wered that he was. Wl,ereupon the new corner provided
him with as much drink as he liked for the rest of the
day. Towards evening, when the young man was quite
drunk, the stranger said to the rest of the company :
" Gentlemen, bow say you: when one has bought a horse,
don't the saddle and bridle go with it ?" The people sit-
ting round were alarmed at these words, and for a while
made no answer. However, the stranger pausing for a
reply, they said, " Yes, the saddle and bridle go with it ;'
whereupon the devil, for it was he, clutched hold of the
miserable young man he had bought, and flew oft with
him through the ceiling, since which time nothing has
been heard of the impious creature.—Michelet's Life of
Luther. _ _

AN ARSENAL OF NEW YORK.—A visit to this depart.
ment would prove interesting to the tourist or citizen, at
this crisis in particular, when our capabilities for defence
in case of a hostile attack demand the attention of every
patriot and citizen. This building, which is situated in
Centre-street, contains the enormous amount of 50,000
stand of arms, together with 500 pieces of ordnance of
different calibre. The trophy room contains several field
pieces which were taken from the British in the last war.
The whole are in excellent condition, and capable of imme-
diate use. There has been much agitation, for the past
few years. in the board of common council, ab,,ut the lo-
cation of this necessary and useful public building. In
comparison to its size, the vast quantity of arms con-
tained in it, and arranged with extreme neatness and re-
gularity, would astonish any person in viewing the out-
ward dimensions of the building. The erection of a suit-
able building for the safety and protection of our military
stores, will doubtless soon excite the attention of the au-
thorities. We learn that New York could, in 24 hours,
bring into the field an effective force of 40,000 troops !
Good ! —New York Herald.
PlTT.—Pitt was tenderly attached to a Lady Eleanor
Eden, and it nearly broke his heart to give her up; which
he did from a conviction that the demands made upon his
time by public affairs, were incompatible with the atten-
tions due to such a woman. She is said to have been of a
lofty style of beauty ; quite dazzling from the grandeur of
her forehead. Lord Malmesbury tells us that there was
a report that he was going to be married to her—his at-
tachment had so far betrayed itself in society. He was
gracious in all companies to women, and possessed an in-
stinctive taste in matters of costume—he was himself so
plain and careless. Wraxall speaks of his "inclination"
for one of the Duke of Richmond's daughters; and Lady
Hester Stanhope says there was a young lady he admired
so much that he drank out of her shoe. Then he was
fond of round games with young people, and used to play
at speculation with the eagerness of a child. His private
intercourse was full of little humanities, which nobody
dreams of who regards him only as a statue mounted on a
pedestal, with some hard state-paper rolled up and clutched
in his hand. His manner was partly constitutional, and
had something to do with the integrity of his mind, which
did not deal in professions. All travellers in the highest
regions of the Alps have observed that it is the property of
the purest snow to be the coldest.—Bell's life of Coni,ing.

THE ALPINE ECHO.—The keeper of the chatelet had
a small mortar, which he fired off at our request. Ten
distinct echoes came back. From deep and awful silences
these innumerable peaks seemed aroused into sudden and
almost angry life. Report after report, like the rapid dis-
charge of a whole park of artillery, thundered through the
clear air. At length the echoes one by one, sank slowly
away, and I thought all was over. Fainter and fainter
they grew, till nothing but a low rumbling sound was heard
in the distance, when suddenly. without warning or pre-
paration, there was a report like the blast of the last
trumvet. I instinctively clapped my hands to my ears in
affright. It came from the distant Wetterhorn, and rolled,
and rattled, and stormed through the mountains, till it
seemed as if every peak were loosened from its base, and
all were falling and crushing together. It was absolutely
terrific. Its fearful echo had scarcely died away before
the avalanches which the sudden jar had loosened began
to fall. Eight fell in almost as many minutes. The thun-
der of one blended with the thunder of another, till one
continuous roar passed along the mountains, The tumult
ceased as suddenly as it commenced, and the deep and
awful silence that followed was painful; and my imagina-
tion painted those falling masses of snow and ice as half-
conscious monsters. crushed to death in the deep ravine.
The Alps and the Rhine.
PECULIARITIES Of, THE AUTHOR OF " WEALTH OF
NATlONS."—Somewhat akin to these peculiarities was
his habitual absence, not only muttering in company as
unconscious of their presence, but even unaware of the
-wirlicr—www{h;ng--iir
streets. One that knew him, which the sufferer did not,
was a good deal amused to hear a poor old woman, whose
stall he had overturned while he moved on with his hands
behind his back and his head in the air, exclaiming in
some anger, " doating brute!" Another was amused at
the remark of an old gardener, near Kirl aid) , who only
knew him by having answered his questions, somewhat
incoherently put in his walks, when the "Wealth of Na-
tions" appeared, and he found who was its author :
" Weel a wee!!" quoth he, they tell me that lad Adam
Smith has put out a great book. lam sure it would be
long before I would thing, of doing a thing of the kind."
It is related by old people at Edinburgh, that while he
moved through the Fishmarket in his accustomed atti-
tude, and as if wholly unconscious of his own existence or
that of others, a female of the trade exclaimed, taking him
for an idiot broken loose, " Heigh, sirs ! to let the like of
him be about ! And yet he's well enough put on"
(dressed). It was often so, too, in society. Once dur-
ing dinner at Dalkeith, he broke out in a long lecture on
son e political matters of the day, and was bestowing a va-
riety of severe epithets on a statesman, when he suddenly
perceived his nearest relative sitting opposite, and stopt ;
and he was heard to go on muttering " Deil care, deil
care, it's all true."—Lol d Brougham.

AN AMERICAN'S NOTION OF TILE LONDON DOCKS.—
We find the follow ng in an American paper called the
Chronotype :—" We next proceeded to the London docks,
which are much larger, enclosing about twenty acres of
water. This, also, is surrounded by immense warehouses.
We went into the cellar of one of them. It is devoted to
sherry wine, and covers five acres. We were furnished
with lights, as if descending into a mine. There, into
those intermediate grim archways, are piled up thousands
of mouldy pipes filled with the great brain-stealer. I forget
the number of pipes, but in another cellar which we visited,
of equal extent, we were told there were 37,000 hogsheads
of rum. Into the latter repository of infernal spirits they
allow no light to he carried. There is a range of windows
on one side, and the light comes dimly gleaming over the
long tiers of hogsheads, and when they wi-h to read the
marks on the heads they use reflectors, to throw the light
down upon them. These vast vaults, both for wine and
rum, are traversed by railways for removing the ponderous
puncheons and hogsheads. In the wine vaults we saw cer-
tain vats for mixing old and new wines. to produce the
requisite quality and flavour, which contained 10,000 gal-
lons a-piece. We were also astonished at the size of the
tobacco warehouse, which covers four or five acres. To-
bacco is enormously taxed ; on some kinds to the extent of
800 or 900 per cent. I was told half the amount used is
made up by smuggling and adulteration (though what stuff
vile enough to adulterate tobacco with, they can get is
past my comprehension), and what vast, yea, sublime
quantities are here of the genuine weed I People are be-
witched for cigars and pipes, and you will see men whiffing
'heir tobacco in the street—strange-smelling tobacco—
probably adulterated, who don't look as if they knew

where to ge, a dinner, or were on any terms whatever with
the tailor. What a luxury ! Here is tobacco enough to
make a Niagara of ju;ce, to be chatted by a nation said to
he starving ! It was comfortable to get away to hoards of
other luxuries, less suggestive of the ruin of human nature.

AFFECTING TItAGEDY.—In Colonel King's" Twenty-
five years in the Argentine Republic," a brief but affect-
ing history is given of the destruction of the Masa
family. Don Masa was the President of the. Legislative

Assembly. He had been the tutor of Rosas, and was one
of the most respected personages in the state. The De-
tator conceived a suspicion of him and commanded his
resignation. Don Masa at first declined, alleging his de-
sire to see the sufferings of the people first relieved. But
afterwards he complied, and the day for his retirement
was named. His son was a colonel in the service of Ro.
sas, and a suiter to Donna Clara, a lady of distinguished
family. The brother of this lady, Don Juan, was also in
the service of Rosas, holding a commission as lieutenant.
This young officer received an order to assist in arresting
Colonel Masa. To overcome his reluctance he was in-
formed that his own father was under arrest, and would
surely suffer were any hesitation on his part observed.
Duo Juan, accompanied by some soldiers, went to his
siste.'s apartment, where Colonel Masa was visiting
Donna Clare at the time. The Colonel at once yielded
himself, but begged only a few moment's delay. He re.
tired to a room, and wrote a few lines to his father to
warn him of his danger. Don Juan stood guard at the
door, but the soldiers became impatient, and the young
lieutenant was attacked. Colonel Masa was in an instant
beside his friend, but two volleys of musketry brought
them both to the ground. Grievously wounded as they
were, they were thrown into a cart, and conveyed to pri.
son. Don Juan survived but a few hours. While his
sister Donna Clara, and her mother were waiting in ter-
ror in their dwelling, it was invaded by a body of soldiers
who came to search fur papers. Donna Clara, excited to
madness, resisted them, till she sank pierced by a b linnet
wound in her side. Almost at the same time that these

events were occurring, the President Masi was seated
alone in his council chamber signing his resignation. He
had just eiven it to his secretary, when he observed some
men muffled in cloaks approach him. Before he could
cry for help they had approached, and stabbed him to
death. Rumour asserts that Rosas was one of the assos_
sins, and the leArr of the Macsorcas another. Intelli-
gence of his fither's murder was brought to Colonel Mass
in prison. He was exhorted at the same time to reveal
plots which had no existence, and to give up accomplices
he never had. The young officer indignantly rejected
these overtures. The agents of Rosas reported they could
elicit no information from the prisoner. An order for his
execution was instantly given, and that same night he was
taken from his bed, cartied to the coral, being unable to
walk, and there shot.

THE CHINAMAN'S TAIL: TOUCH MY TAIL, POUCH
MY HONOUR.—A Chinaman's love for his tail is prover-
bial, and it is truly amusing to see the pains and trouble
they take concerning it. Most of them are dressed and
plaited with singular neatness and care, and are of such a
length that they sweep the ground when walking. Those,
however, who are not sufficiently fortunate as naturally to
possess a very handsome appendage borrow a portion from
their barbers; and should it get disengaged from his head,
the owner has to bear the same ridicule as an unfortunate
dandy does, who in Europe, by ill luck, should chance to
lose his wig. The front portion of the head is very care-
fully shaved, for which purpose they make use of a curious
and very peculiar description of razor, resembling in mi-
niature a butcher's chopper. This love of their tails
produces a very easy method of restoring order, or re
straining personal violence, when any cause of dissension
or dispute may arise among them. The peons or govern-
ment police, catching some half dozen of the crowd by
these heady ornaments, deliver them over to one of their
force, who with a drawn sword, holds them in check,
threatening, upon the slightest unruly movement, to razor
their honourable appendages.
FRENCH AMUSEMENTS.— Nothing illustrates a nation's
peculiarities so effectually as a correct insight into the
way in which they severally amuse themselves. All men
make out an invoice pretty much alike, and the common
enemy regulates office hours ; but when a man, or twenty,
have each a day, or an hour or two, with means for the
occasion at their disposal without dictation, the natural
bias of the mind is shown in the freedom thus allowed it
for action. I have watched for anything like a reading-
room, or institute for the mechanic or his class, in the va-
rious towns in which I have resided in France. I see
groups of hundreds sipping black coffee—and, by the way,
brandy too, in anything but petits verres—playing a mo-
notonous, stupid hand at dominoes, or piquette, with cards
made for dolls, one would imagine, from their diminutive
size. I hear an immense chatter on all occasions : there
are three fellows under my window, called labourers.
whose tongues rattle on every subject a great deal faster
than their spades. I have watched these fellows narrowly
for several days, and would not give half-a-crown a-day
for the three : they lean on thei • pickaxes and shovels
every third minute to have a " jaw," shaking their hands
in their paroxysms of eloquence as if it was a quarrel, in-
stead of the usual yearning to talk instead of work. I see
a vast flourishing of hats, loathsome salutations among the
men, and hear a great scraping of fiddles in the various
salles for dancing: but no otter-hunt, cricket match, or
any out-door amusement whatever.—Sylvanus.
No SOLITUDE IN NATURE.—And so, reader, let us
breathe awhile in this green solitude—if, indeed, it be a
solitude. For who shall count the little eye-like flowers
peeping at us from hedges—looking up from the sward in
our face, openly as loving innocence ? A solitude! What
a world of grasses do we tread upon, a world so crowded
and humming with insect citizens! If only one turn of
the peg we would let down our pride—of all the heart-
strings the bass and grumbling one—we might compare
many of these children, fathers, and grandfathers of a day,
with the two-legged kings of creation, the biped majes-
ties of three-score years and ten. We might watch
their little runnings to and from their hoards; their pain-
ful climbings to the very needle point of some tall blade of
grass; watch them and smile, even as the angels, at their
pleasant leisure, watch and smile at you, Grubbings, when
you go to the bank and add to your sweet salvation there,
the balance ; smile, as at poor Superbus when, climbins
and climbing, he rose to the great gold stick, and kept it
twenty years—to angelic computation just twenty throb-
bings of a fevered heart. Surely there is not an insect
that we might not couple with an acquaintance. Here, in
this little trim sobriety, is our quaker friend, Placens ; and
here, in this butterfly, tipsy with its first day's wings, is
Polly, foolish Polly, who cannot consent to see the world,
unless she sees it in her finest clothes. And so, looking
at a piece of turf, no bigger than a lark's footstool, we may
people it with friends and world acquaintance. Is this
solitude ? The earth has no place of solitude. Not a rood
of the wilderness that is not thronged and eloquent with
crowds and voices communing with the spirit 01 man; en-
dowed by such communion with a knowledge whose dou-
ble fruit is divinest hope and meekest humility.—.Ter-
rold's Magazine. _ _ _

FACN,TI:2E OF THE BENCH AND THE BAR.—One day
that Dunning (whose exterior graces were by no means
commensurite with his personal vanity), had been cross-
examining a young woman at considerable length upon
the age of a person with whom she professed herself well
acquainted, he asked her, " How old now do you take me
to be ?" and was considerably dumbfounded by her
promptly replying, to the universal laughter of a crowded
court, " From your appearance sixty, from your question
sixteen ?"—Sir William Grant was notorious for the re-
serve and taciturnity under the disguise of which he pos-
sessed the richest stores of hoarded legel knowledge. Men
of great learning and research had one day in his company
been wrangling for a long time upon the construction of
a particidar act of parliament, and, unable to agree among
themselves, referred the matter to Sir William Grant,
who had not yet said a word, but upon being appealed to,
summarily terminated the discussion by the following cute
remark : " -The statute in question has been repealed."—
Of a late celebrated chief-justice it is related, that of
the physicians who surrounded his death-bed, he with dry
humour took leave in these terms, " Gentlemen, you are
discharged," the words with which from the bench a judge
is accustomed to dismiss a jury.—The late Justice —,
whose profound attainments were only equalled by the ur-
banity and gentleness of his nature, had by his guileness
simplicity of disposition endeared him to all his profes-
sional brethren, amongst whom, until his elevation to the
neen-nesignated by a friendly and familiar
nickname. At a banquet given in celebration of his at-
taining the judicial dignity. upon returning thanks to the
company for drinking his health, the new judge expressed
a modest hope that "in court at least, they would thence-
forth no longer call him Joey.—Upon another occasion,
sitting in banco, Judge interrupted the interminably
long speech of a Q C. upon a very dry subject, with the
following sly inuendo : " If you think you will put me to
sleep like my three learned brethren beside me you are
mistaken."—A former clerk of Justice had com-
mitted suicide in his master's chambers. A successor to
that office had applied for a short leave of absence in order
to get married, and received permission to do so in these
terms :—" You may take a wife—you will hang yourself,
I have no doubt you will—but if you do so, do not hang
yourself in my chambers."—When disencumbered of the
toils and trappings of office, Judge— loves to pursue the
country recreations with the independence of a private
gentleman. Being one day out partridge shooting, and
seeking shelter from a passing shower in the tap room of
a little country inn, he was recognised by an attorney, and
accosted by his title of "my lord." " lam not my lord
here, you," was the brief reply.—The eminent —,
who as all the world knows was the son of the earl of
S—, was walking in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields with a witty
chief commissioner; " I must step into Green's Hotel
and get a zaandwich," he observed : " Right, right," re-
joined his companion, " one good turn deserves another."
—A barrister was speaking to Sir with much com-
placency of a lately-purchased estate, and in his newly-
awakened taste for agricultural pursuits, dilated at some
length upon his farm and pigs. " Stick to the fee farm
and guinea pigs," interrupted the other."—Dolman's Mag.