The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-08-02 00:00:00

roved within the

nediate

space of twenty-one years. Four perished
told, by the hand of the public executioner; one
nh.riirit, after hPina denriveri of Pirrht • and

the other was only allowed to end his days peace-
fully in a monastery, because Leo felt the Imperial
sceptre firmly fixed in his own grasp. The history
concludes with the dethronement of Michael VI.,
the decrepid general and doting senator whom the
Empress Theodora had, with her dying breath,
named as her successor. Theodora, who, at the
advanced age of seventy-six, looked forward to a
long life, hoped to recover her health, and ,compelled
the new emperor to swear with the most tremen-
dous imprecations, that he would always remain
obedient to her orders, but she survived his nomi-
nation only a few hours ; and with this infatuated
woman—whose senators were all eunuchs, and
who, to preserve her personal power, presided her-
self in the cabinet, and even heard appeals, as
supreme judge, in civil cases—expired the race of
Basil, the Sclavonian groom, and the administrative
glory of the Byzantine Empire, on the 30th of
August, 1057.—Mr. Finlay's style is clear, concise,
and eloquent; as a recorder of events he is scru-
pulously careful, and every statement he makes is
endorsed by a competent authority ; in every page
we observe evidence of a ripe and comprehensive
scholarship ; and altogether we regard the work as
an important addition to the standard historical
literature of our country.

VARIETIES.

VEAL 16 now called" unfinished beef ;" lamb, "incipient
mutton ;" and sucking pig, " premonitory pork."
THE TWO NEIGHBOURS who fell out have got in again.
Neither of them are injured.
THE MAN who attempted to whistle a bar of soap has
injured his voice by trying to sing a stave of a sugar-hogs-
head.

AN AMERICAN PAPER advertises :—" To PERSONS
WHO THINK OF DYING.—For sale, several lots in Cypress
Hills Cemetery. Apply at the office of the Evening Mir-
ror, 40, Ann-street."

IN " Haddock's Chancery Practice," we find the fol-
lowing beautiful specimen of legal perspicuity :—" When
a person is bound to do a thing, and he does what may
enable him to do the thing, he is supposed in equity to do
it with a view of doing what he is bound to do."

ONE of the admirers of Richard Coeur de Lion attempts
to portray him as a humorist, quoting the following anec-
dote—When the Pope Celestine wrote to remonstrate
with him for keeping " his son," the Bishop of Beauvais,
in prison, Richard returned for answer the bishop's coat
of mail, with the text from the Vulgate, " See whether
this be thy son's coat, or no!"
ONE never knows what place to assign to sighs and
tears in this world of ours—whether they are to be classi-
fied as ministers of pleasure or of pain, for we meet them
everywhere—the handmaidens of all strong emotions—
even as in external nature we continually find light and
shade alternating and succeeding one another, administer-
ing each at times to our enjoyment and our discomfort.—
Jonathan Freke Slingsby.
HOPE.—Hope is a slender reed for a stout man to lean
on, but it's strong enough, I do suppose, for them that's
infirm of mind and purpose. The houses hope builds are
castles in the air. The houses of the wretched who are
altogether without hope are too dismal to live in. A. slight
infusion of hope may be prescribed in bad cases ; but
strong doses weaken the mind, loosen the morals, and
destroy the happiness of those who indulge in them,
The true rule is, perhaps, not to let hope build a house
for you, or to live with you in t ; but he might come to
visit you sometimes, to cheer you up a little by talking
pleasant, and getting you to look on the bright side of
things when you are in a solemncholy mood. Hope is
a pleasant acquaintance, but an unsafe friend. He'll do
on a pinch for a travellin companion, but he is not the
man for your banker.—Sam Slick's Wise Saws.
AN OBLIGING HOSTESS.—Two young officers were tra-
velling in the far West, when they stopped to take supper
at a small road-side tavern, kept by a very rough Yankee
woman. The landlady, in a calico sun bonnet, and bare
feet, stood at the head of the table to pour out. She en-
quired of her guests if " they chose long sweetening or
short sweetening in their coffee." The first officer, sup-
posing that " long sweetening " meant a large part of that
article, chose it accordingly. What was his dismay when
he saw their hostess dip her finger deep down into an
earthen jar of honey that stood near her, and then stir it
(the finger) round the coffee. His companion, seeing
this, preferred " short sweetening." Upon which the
woman picked up a large lump of maple sugar that lay in
a brown paper on the floor beside her, and biting off a
piece, put it in his cup. Both the gentlemen dispensed
with coffee that evening. This anecdote we heard from
the sister of one of those officers.—Travels in the United
States.

RECOLLECTIONS OF A SERJEANT AT LAW.
THE RETURNED FEE ; OR THE HIGHWAYMAN AND

HIS COUNSEL.

I think it was Preston Assizes, on the Northern circuit,
about the year 1814, that I was instructed to defend a no-
torious highwayman ; and, as the case was expected to be
one of great difficulty, I received a fee of five guineas.
When the trial came on, the judge descovered some flaw
in the indictment, which was fatal to the whole proceed.
ings, and the prisoner was in consequence discharged
without any of the particulars of the case being entered
into.
I sat until late after the bar dinner in the evening, and
the clock struck twelve as I entered my lodgings which
were in a lonely house a short distance from the town.
The folk had all retired to rest, and were by this time
deeply anchored in the snoring depths of a Lancashire hard
sleep. I sat musing over the fire for an hour, visions of
future wool sacks figuring to themselves shapes in the burn-
ing coals, when a loud knock at the door disturbed my
meditations. My clerk, of course, was absent ; and sup-
posing some client in a hurry, or some " sublime rascal"
of an attorney was impatient, I opened it myself.
A tall, gaunt man, wrapped in a loose horseman's coat,
with a handkerchief from which the tip 3 of his ears peeped
red like " the rosy morn," with a ferocity of whisker, and
an obliquity of vision and a deep scar on his cheek, in a
gruff voice, thus addressed me :—" Measter, I a'cum for
that £5."
" What do you mean, my good fellow ?" said I, feeling
rather nervous.
" I say I want that five pound note that 'torney Mr.
Shark gave you this morning."
" Who are you, Sir ?" I inquired, by no means reas-
sured by his mention of Mr. Shark's name.
" I am Harry Hell-Fire, that was imprisoned for high-
way robbery, and they've just let me out, and so I thought
I'd come, have back my money before I was offto London."
" But my good fellow," replied I, beginning to feel ex-
tremely uncomfortable, " you can't claim the money, your
case has been heard, and you are acquitted ; what more
could you want ?"

" Ah," retorted my client, the highwayman, in a voice
something between a growl and a grin, " no thanks to you,
measter—it was the old codger above in the wig that got
me off ; Mr. Shark handed you over the £5 to make a
speech for me, and you had no speech to make, and you
didn't make a speech, so hand me the money, measter."
At this juncture the wind blew aside the skirts of his
coat, and the moonlight fell upon the brass mounting of a
horse pistol ; my knees knocked under me, but I sum-
moned my courage, and screwing up a bold face, I replied,
" But it is not professional, my good friend, to return
money, for you see that if we were at once to do so—"

fdon't understand your trade, measter coun-
sellor ; but I know that you have had my money, and
done nothing for it ; so hand it back,—come I can't stop."
With this he gently insinuated his left hand and foot
within the door, and tapped his fingers persuasively on a
large blackthorn club in his right hand. I looked back-
ward upon the darkness and loneliness of my room, for-
ward to the solitary house and unfrequented lane, and
putting my band into my waistcoat pocket, I took out
the five pound note and handed it to him.
He wished me good night, with a knowing leer, and I
heard no more of him. _

I never was so taken in but once, when myself and two
other barristers having exerted ourselves for a handsome
fee, succeeded in getting the two W—s off for forgery.
They were acquitted—and by the time they were a
hundred miles at least from the assize town, we found out
that all of us, counsel, attorneys, and all, had been liberally
paid in forged notes.

THE BUILDINGS IN PARIS.

—'-..a.—'-_

We read in the Moniteur :—" There is just a year, day
by day, since the laying of the first stone of the monu-
mental constructions, commenced by order of the Em-
peror, to realise the grand idea of the union of the Louvre
to the Tuileries. It was on Sunday, the 26th of July,
at 9 o'clock in the morning, the cure of St. Germain
l'Auexerois, in presence of M. de Casablanca, at that time
Minister of State, approached the first stone, placed at
the angle of the facade opening on the Rue de Rivoli,
and called for the blessing of Heaven on the undertaking
at once Royal and popular, the termination of which has
been the desire and the ambition of several centuries ;
then a box containing coin was sealed up, and the stone
was laid with the usual solemnity and ceremonial. To
effect the junction of the two palaces, difficulties, which
appeared to be insurmountable, had to be vanquished.
The greatest difficulty was, without contradiction, the
difference of the level which exists between one half of the
gallery by the side of the water, which was built in the
time of -Henri 11., and the parallel wing of the Rue
de Rivoli. This street is much higher, so that, without
shocking common sense, and the view, two symmetrical
and parallel facades could not be placed in presence ; one
difficultiest bas em en t
disappear,2l yards
higher than h ehsaed
stop within
of them, in factti,iewooutilider.hasTe
the Guichet Matignon and the Rue de Rohan, and are
galleries by the
buildings
thanks to the two lines of constructions which
connected with the two great T t
the
place the grandeur of tthe
place an extent in prop ortion w
en facade on the Place du Carrousel. p
o reserve o
to
'o levelof
the part of the it, without in.
monuments which surround it;
juring the effect of the lower port!
southern gallery, the nearest to the Louvre ; to complete
the Museum by vast saloons destined for the exhibition
of modern paintings and sculpture; to provide for the
reception of three ministries, the telegraph and the
National Printing-office ; to disguise the inconvenience
caused by the Pavilion de l'Horloge and that opposite to
it not being in the same line; and, finally, to place the
new buildings in harmony with the architecture of the
Louvre and with that of the Tuileries, and to borrow
from the two palaces what is most elegant and most
exquisite in them, and what at all times has caused the