formed on the 27th of December, and on New Year's-day, 1613, gifts were exchanged between the royal family and Frederick; and the people being clamourous for the wedding, and the whole affair being both tiresome and expensive to James's impoverished exchequer, it was concluded that the final ceremony should take place on St. Valentine's-day, the 14th of February.

runner of more sad and dire events; which shows how slippery nature is to toll us along to those things that bring danger, yea, sometimes destruction with them."

The queen was present at these espousals of her daughter and the count palatine in the chapel of the palace of Whitehall; and it is to be remarked that this was the first royal marriage celebrated according to the form of the Book of Common Prayer in England.

England had seen nothing equal to the sumptuousness of this royal marriage. For many days after the bridal, a sue"It were to no end," remarks a cour- cession of the most luxuriant entertaintier of that period, "to write of the curiosity ments was given, which James's already and excess of bravery both of men and exhausted exchequer was in no state to sus women, with the extreme daubing on of tain. His straitened finances threw him cost and riches; only a touch shall serve in into an unamiable mood, and he began to be a few for a pattern of the rest. My Lady tray sundry unhospitable feelings. The truth Wotton was said to have a gown that cost is, that the royal funds were really at the fifty pounds a-yard the embroidering; and lowest ebb; for the sum of £140,000-3 the Lord Montague bestowed fifteen hundred tremendous outlay for that era,-had been pounds in apparel upon his two daughters." expended on the wedding ceremonials and Sir John Finett writes-"The bravery and festivities; and so thoroughly was the riches of that day were incomparable; gold king's purse drained by the expenses of and silver laid upon lords', ladies', and gen- these nuptials, and by other causes, that he tlewomen's backs was the poorest burden. was unable to pay for the board and educaThe king's, queen's, and princes' jewels tion of Elizabeth during her residence only, were valued that day by his majesty with Lord Harrington; and he finally himself at nine hundred thousand pounds settled that nobleman's just claim of sterling!" The fireworks and mock-fight | on the Thames are said to have cost above £6800. A very rich and sumptuous masque, which proved, however, "long and tedious," was exhibited by noblemen. "The gentlemen of the Middle Temple and of Lincoln's Inn rode in great state to court; and those of Gray's Inn and the Inner Temple, meaning to represent as their device the marriage of the Thames and the Rhine, made a grand procession by water."

Elizabeth herself was attired in a splendid robe of white and silver, studded with diamonds; her beautiful dark hair floated at length upon her shoulders, and a crown of pure gold was upon her head. Some chroniclers speak of her tresses as fair, and elaborately interwoven with pearls and diamonds. She was led to the altar by her brother, the young Prince Charles. On her other hand was the venerable Earl of Northampton, and a bevy of fair and noble bridesmaids, also robed in white, and decorated with jewels, hovered about her steps, so that an eye-witness declared "that her path looked like a milky way!"

£30,0 0-for he had not only been at the entire expense of the princess's support and tutelage, but had also spent "divers monies" in her service,-by conferring on him the privilege of coining copper money, or, as a certain reputable historian hath it, he "had his suit granted for the coinage of a certain number of base farthings of brass." "And you must think," writes Chamberlain, "that we are brought to a low ebb, when last week, the archduke's ambassador was carried to see the ancient goodly plate of the House of Burgundy pawned to Queen Elizabeth by the General States, A.D. 1578, as I remember, and to know whether his princes would redeem it, for otherwise it was to be melted."

The ungracious manner of the king, and the rudeness of the queen, who is said to have publicly addressed her daughter as "Goody Palsgrave," at length had the effect of sending away the newly-wedded pair. The household of the palatine himself was abruptly broken up, and most of his company dismissed, to the extreme mortification of the bride; because, we are as"While the archbishop was solemnising sured, "necessity had no law." For the the marriage," adds Wilson, "some corussame very sufficient reason, the suite of the cations and lightenings of joy appeared in princess was by no means befitting her her countenance, that expressed more than rank or her position as a lately married an ordinary smile, which could not clear daughter of England. In her train, howthe air of her fate, but was rather a fore-ever, were included the Harringtons', Anne

Dudley, and several other English per-phyry, and gilt pillars, cornices inlaid with

sons.

The bridal-party embarked at Margate, and arrived at Flushing on the 28th of April, and were welcomed with every demonstration of cordiality in their progress through Holland to Amsterdam. There they were for some time royally entertained; and, after awhile, Frederick hurried forward to make arrangements for the reception of his beautiful young bride at Heidelburg. The princess followed at leisure, sailing slowly up the Rhine in a magnificently-appointed yacht, to the sound of "goodly music,' and accompanied by princes and nobles. Touching at various places by the way, and admiring, as she journeyed on, the worldrenowned scenery through which she glided in her sumptuous vessel, the beauteous Rhine-land, first beheld in the green and smiling month of May, must have seemed to her inexperienced eye and sanguine fancy one continuous realm of fairy brightness, and gladsome land of happiness and promise.

gems, a ceiling painted in fresco, walls hung with superb tapestry, and "a suite of ten rooms, including the Knight's hall, the royal saloon, the silver chamber, the ante-rooms,"-forming a complete Gothic palace, which, during that long, gay summer, seemed the temple of pleasure." Still may the traveller retrace these scenes of departed grandeur,-still may he wander in Elizabeth's beautiful gardens, and along her favourite terrace, while in the rear are the older palaces and towers, forming a vast irregular quadrangle, "Rodolph's ancient castle, with its fantastic gables, the Giant's tower guarding the drawbridge over the moat, and the Rent tower, with the linden-trees growing on its summit." You enter wide, desolate chambers, and there, resting on the escutcheons of Bavaria and the palatinate, you see medallions and divers heraldic bearings,-the Globe of the Empire, the Golden-Fleece, and the Eagle of the Cæsars! There, too, the eye rests on exquisite mouldings and rare sculptures, on graceful caryatides, rich arabesques, and garlands of fruit, flowers, and foliage. "The cunning hand of art," says a modern writer, "was busy for six centuries in raising and adorning these walls; the mailed hands of time and war have defaced and overthrown them in less than two!"

On the confines of the palatinate she was met by her husband, who welcomed her joyously, while crowds of his subjects rent the air with acclamations in honour of the great English princess, now the wedded wife of their own elector. In all the towns through which she passed she was met by Splendid entertainments followed Elizaprocessions of enthusiastic citizens and ad- beth's arrival in the palatinate. Jousts miring peasants; learned professors pre- and sports of chivalry were presented in sented addresses, as in our own day, and the castle gardens; the cavaliers tilted in grave divines speechified in long and adula-gilt armour on superbly-caparisoned horses; tory Latin orations, likening her to all the heathen goddesses of antiquity, and comparing her with all the feminine worthies of Bible-lore and of later days. It was one deepening and widening stream of congratulation, till at last she reached the gates of the castle of Heidelburg, and was clasped to the heart of the excellent dowager Juliana, who shed tears of joy at the sight of the daughter whom she was well assured deserved not only her warmest affection, but her highest esteem.

Longfellow, in his "Hyperion," says, "Next to the Alhambra of Granada, the castle of Heidelburg is the most magnificent ruin of the middle ages." And all those who have seen it are perfectly willing to endorse the opinion; but it was no ruin when, in May 1613, its portals flew back to receive the fair and accomplished Elizabeth Stuart, the daughter of a long line of kings and all was festivity and rejoicing within its ancient walls. In the record of its splendours, we hear of floors of por

lances, spears, and swords flashed in every direction; and in the mimic combat the Duke of Wurtemburg was pre-eminently victorious. Then at night was a display of fireworks on the river, while trumpets and hautboys resounded among the high cliffs that overhang the rushing, Neckar. A spectacle called the Argonauts was also enacted, in which the elector-palatine appeared as Jason, while the princes and nobles supported the characters of Pallas, Juno, Mercury, Orpheus, and his companions.

Nor were these revellings all to which Frederick confined himself. In order to give pleasure to his beloved young wife, he caused a garden to be laid out in the English style, formed by a series of excavations on the side of the hill on which the castle stands, and adorned it with exquisite flowers, rare shrubs, fountains, and statuary; and still, over the entrance to this once charming retreat, one may see with melancholy interest the royal arms of Eng

land carved in stone, with other memorials powdered antimony will in chlorine, and of the hapless Elizabeth Stuart.

sheet zinc will burn with a greenish flame in a common fire if the heat be sufficient; but the new material, which is made in the form of wire, only requires to be lighted at a candle like a paper match, and as soon as sufficiently heated it burns away with a brilliant light and gives off smoke, while a white chalky substance remains, which is simply common magnesia. It is not merely the dazzling brightness of the flame that makes So flowed on five happy, tranquil years. it valuable in photography, but the peculiar Surrounded by loving hearts, dwelling in quality of the light, which is suitable to the one of the most princely palaces of Europe. purpose, it being what photographers term amid the most beautiful scenery, honoured"rich in the chemical rays," or that porby her little court, cherished by a tender and noble-minded husband, her children blooming in her ancestral home,-what more needed the fair electress to complete her earthly happiness?

Within a year of her arrival in the palatinate Elizabeth gave birth to her eldest son, Henry Frederick, an event which caused undissembled joy throughout England and Scotland, and all Protestant Europe. In little more than twelve months, a second son, Charles Louis, was born, and in due season a daughter, who received her mother's name, Elizabeth.

tion of light which has the power of im pressing an image on the photographic surface. In a climate like ours, where dull weather prevails during a great part of the year, an efficient substitute for the scarce Here we leave her for a little space in article good day-light, must be a valuable the enjoyment of all that the truest type of discovery; and to the man of business womanhood could desire. In our next whose day hours are taken up with the chapter the scene will be changed. Here affairs of his calling, anything that enables falls the curtain over peace, domestic joys, him to use his evenings photographically and refined recreations. Then it will rise must be equivalent, as far as that pursuit on dreams of wild ambition, on religious is concerned, to lengthening his days. discord, a phantom throne, all the tumult Many a camera lies idle because its owner and desolation of war in its savagest, is otherwise employed during the hours in fiercest aspect, and the sun of life setting which the sun visits our side of the globe, amidst clouds of gloom, and desertion, and and to such an efficient mode of lighting lonely sorrow, all the bitterer for the the metal must be a boon of great value. memories of those halcyon days which There are also many scenes and objects of must have seemed like a beauteous, mock-interest which the camera has never been ing dream to the broken-down, solitary woman, the unfortunate Elizabeth Stuart, ex-queen of Bohemia!

(To be continued.)

LIGHT FROM METAL.

IT has long been one of the drawbacks of photography that its successful operation required the light of day, and though attempts have been made to substitute artificial illumination, the results have not been very satisfactory hitherto.

A new light, it may be said, has been recently thrown on the matter, and it may surprise some to hear that the material consumed is neither oil nor gas, but a metal wire, which only requires to be lighted to burn as readily as a wax taper. The idea of a metal burning may be rather a startling notion to many, and it would certainly be rather alarming to see the poker burst into flame on coming into contact with the hot coals; but to students of chemistry the combustion of metals, under certain conditions, is familiar enough.

An iron wire or watch-spring will burn brilliantly in oxygen gas, as gold leaf or

used to represent, from the sheer impossi bility of getting sufficient illumination. Remarkable caves, like that in Kentucky, crypts and catacombs, rock-hewn temples, and the interiors of those oldest of the old, the pyramids of Egypt - the latter, it is said, are soon to be attempted, thanks to the new light-these and similar subjects may soon be expected to enrich our portfolios free from the suspicion of their being untruthfully portrayed by an unskilful or fanciful draughtsman!

For portraits it is questionable whether the magnesium or any other artificial light will ever rival the sun to any extent, though the specimens we have seen show that much may be done in cases where we cannot command that luminary, and it seems probable that in dark studios and dull days this method may be successfully employed in conjunction with nature's lamp.

Of all the modes of artificial lighting hitherto proposed for photography the combustion of magnesium appears best to fulfil the conditions of efficiency, freedom from injurious fumes, and moderation in cost. GORGONIA.

OWLS IN COUNCIL.

"Mr. Barn," said he, "if you have not had such opportunities of seeing distant countries as our friend Lofty, you at least have had a very superior education. I "Stifling, do you call it ?" said Poke, perceive that you quite understand all the South American burrowing owl; "I the conversation of our human visitors." call it a drafty, nasty, chilly spot. Not "You are too kind to say so, my lord," a warm corner in the whole of it." said Barn, who, being vain, was very par"Chilly! Mr. Poke?" said Snow; "Itial to a little flattery; "I confess I have feel quite over-heated, and I think the scenery of England very poor indeed; there are so many trees, the snow when it falls has not a comfortable place to lie."