THE LADY OF THE LAKE.-A R...
The Times, 1824-10-04T00:00:00

TuIe LADY OF THE LAICE.-A Rteverend(I Gentleman named llaMmersley, residing on the borders of one of the beautiful Cuumberland Lakes, was awoke a few nigh1ts since by a violent knockinig at the street door. Alatmed by the arrival of a visiter so unexpected at suich an hour, the Revercnd (Gentleman himnnself went to the door, where he foand a rustic, who apologized for his intru. sion, by telling him that an apparently young lady was sailing in a smna3beoat on the lake, totally unaccompanied, and thathe considered from so unusual a circurmstance, that the poor lady was not right in her mind. The Reverend Gentlemaif, with great humanity, imme. diately putit i9 own little wherry, in requisition and( proceeded in search of the mysterious object. The night being moonlight, he Boorn espied her under the lee of a neighbouring island, when, as he neared her, fie distinctly heard the wild notes of a fatvourite Pasun_. tain air, which shc, apparently heedlessly, was chanting. On getting nearer to her, he soon discovered, from herdisordereti drems, that the peasant was right in his sirnilses. He approached her with thegreatestgood-nature, and attempted to get frewnicr an explanation o, her mycterious appearance in such a sittuation, atsuci an hour but sherepliel to his interrogatories with'the archnessand evasion often pe. clliar to persons of dieranged intellect. 'tVith copsiderable difficulty the divine prevailed on her to accompany him to his home, wlhere she was kindly received by his wife, and every attention paid her which her melancholy situation and the dictates of humanity pre- scribed. The following (lay her friends camne into the village in search of hier, and she was reatored to them amidst tears of joy and gratitude. It appears that her husband wat a naval officer, v,ho fell in battle at thc rtorming of Algiers under Lord Exn outh, and that he was peculiarly attached to the little island near which shie had been discovered, and where the often acconmpanied bim during his 1ife.time, on parties of pleasure. She wszs under the care ot friends, but hail in the dead of night contrived to elide their pursuit, and to get to the still much cherished spot.-S'stiday paper. A recent traveller in the United States gives an account of a matrimonial lottery, which was fornmed there with beneficial effects. At a wedding in South Catolina, a young lawyer moved, "That one man In the company should be selected an president - that this president should he duly sworn to keep entirely secret all the communications that shonil(l be forwarded to Itim in his official department that night ; that each unmarried gentleman anci ladv should( write his or her name on a piece of paper and under it place the name of the person they wished to marry; then hand it to the president, for inspection, and if' any gentleman and lady had reci. procally ehosen each other, the president was to inform each cr the result; and those who had not been reciprocal in tlicir choice, kept entizely secret." After the appointmetnt of the president, conmui. nications were accordingly handed up to the chair, andI it was found twelve young gentlemen and ladies had made reciprocal choices; and the traveller states that eleven of the twelve matches were so. lemnized. FORGERiEs or BANK Noyys.For somne tine past, in different parts of the county of Aberdeen, and in particular on Dee. side, two well-dressed young Men, rather of genteel appearance, have been-circulatitg forged notes of different banks. One of themn, a twentr shillirng note of the Fife Bank, wae well executed with a nev (4overnment stamp on the back, but had the distinguishing mark of many of thiese forgeries, the signatures being all engraved?. Tlhe uitblin Morriisg Post says-" We have teen a forgery on the Bank of Ireland, purporting to be of the value of Il., the plate of which is so well erecutedl that it is extremnely difficult to discrimii- nate between a note struck from it and a'genuine one. The better way of detecting the forgery is, by examini the texture of the paper, which is somewhat coarser and darker than that of a geoiuLne one: it has also a gTeasy appearance. rt is dated 8th Decetsber 1823, and thle No. is 91,574. The one vwe have seen was passed -in she neighbourhood of Enniskillen." On the above statements we take the 15berty to observe, that so long as notes are made solely to depend on the sstricacy or iDgenuity of their executi6n, so long will they, sooner or later. he iitate closely enough to deceiva the most acute and-expert ofjudges. It is curios s that the means recomi mended. fi Aetecting the above forgery is that of examitining the texture of the paper, which, we asi-c told, is somewhat coarser anti darker than the genuine note; as if this difference could not eaiUy be removet the moment it is pointed out to the forger. The least objectionable plan for preventing imitation we kiow of, is one which was some tine ago exhiNited to us, the merit of which was, that the.manu'facturer hinmself, haeing once nmale tbe late of a note fit for working off copies, was not able to make another in the least to resemDble it. This was efiected by the means of fine printing types, of a certain form, being promiscuously put together, as chance might happen to place them, wid then printing these huddled-up letters iti various coloure, in otder to preelude all hopes of itnitation by a cop. per-plate engtaving. Lttte2-press and copper-plate printers will easiIy hifsta the difficulty of Imiitating such a note, bdcause It is impossible to produce, at wil, that wzhich was produced by chiance, Thie.onlyway of propagating sach nQtes i5 bz takin4 vcgu from tiaohr1te.-1BrfUtd 7rrcv6Kr,