A NEW MODE OF FILING LETTERS. THOSE who receive many letters feel it is dangerous to destroy them, but preserving them without order comes almost to the same thing, as amidst the multitude soon collected, the particular one wanted can seldom be found at the proper moment. Several contrivances have been resorted to, in order to remedy the evil. We have received a file from a Mr Perkins, which very conveniently shuts up the correspondence in a case, and the spindle on which they are

secured, parting in the middle, enables the owner to take out any sheet he may have occasion for without disturbing the rest; and our attention has been particularly called to an invention by Mr W. Fyffe, of the Berwick Warder,' which has procured for that gentleman the thanks of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts.

Of this, which for distinction's sake the inventor has called the "Warder Letter File and Register," we submit an engraving. It will be seen that it takes the form of the

Index

Warder Letter File.

Inches

empty boards of a book, of which the upper or left hand board ad aperturam is movable upon a sliding hinge of a simple construction, so as not only to admit of its opening outwards like any other volume, and like its counterpart, the corresponding board-but so also as it may slide down upon the latter, or remain up from it, at any height requisite to accommodate the "letters received," as they are progressively filed betwixt the two boards, until the volume is filled.

The whole contrivance is very simple. The boards may be made of ordinary bookbinding materials; or, if made of tin, may embrace the principle of the tin safe in its most approved forms. They are formed exactly like the empty boards of a bookthe left or upper one being detached, leaving the bulged back and right or lower board connected in the usual way in binding. If tin were used, the hinge connect ing the right or lower board with the bulged back might be a serrated one, close fitted, and moving on a wire.

The construction of the other hinge admits of the sliding board being turned over free of the points of the files by which it is perforated, leaving space for the opera

tion of filing on letters. And when letters are placed upon the points of the files, this board being turned over above them, wi!l press them securely down to their destination on the file.

The files are fixed on the under board, and perforate the movable or upper one. Their lengths being adjusted so as to admit of the sliding board passing clear of their points when slid up to the width of the volume, and turned back on its hinge. The points of the files are bent backwards to facilitate the turning over of the sliding board, and to prevent the files running into the fingers. In filing letters, cards notes, &c., respect can be had to the thickness of the volume by full-length letters being passed down on the whole filessmaller ones, notes, &c. on one or more of them, at convenience. The number of letters on hand being passed over the points merely of the files, the upper board, as already mentioned, is to be passed over the points also, and slid down on the filed let

the sliding board, fastening up with a catch, just clear of the prongs or files, and jointed to the front of the board inside. It is the usual alphabetical index. The first letter filed will be numbered highest (1,000, if the file is calculated for that amount) and entered so as to be found at such a number in the index-either the name of the writer or the subject of the communication being taken for the head under which the entry is made. The next letter, of course, will be numbered one less (say 999, if the book is calculated for 1,000) and so retrogressively back to No. 1, which will be the latest letter received and the first met with in reading the file. When the book is filled the three rounded points of the file just rest within the slits through which they perforate the sliding board; and if the sliding board has been properly kept under pressure during the filing of the contents, the whole will be nearly as firm as the contents of a bound book.

The file can be made to any size.

HISTORY OF THE TROUT; HABITS, VARIETIES, MODE OF TAKING, AND

THE ART OF BREEDING THEM. AS ADOPTED BY G. BOCCIUS, ESQ. THE Salmo Fario (Common Trout)- In Ichthyology a genus of fishes of the order Abdominales. The generic character is, compressed, head smooth, mouth large, lips small, the tongue cartilaginous, movable, and white, eyes moderate and lateral, teeth in the jaws and on the tongue, the gill membrane is from four to twelve-rayed, the body long and covered with very fine striate scales, back convex, lateral line straight, nearer the back, hindmost dorsal fin fleshy, without rays; the ventral fins have many rays.

The trout is generally found in clear cold streams or lakes, and in most parts of Europe; but it is not confined to Europe alone. Great variety is observable in the size and tinge of both its ground colour and its spots; it also varies in size. When full grown it is from six inches to fifteen inches in length—that is, the ordinary trout; but in some lakes a bull trout, as it is vulgarly named, is taken several times that length. Its general colour is a yellowish grey, brown on the back, and frequently marked on its sides by round bright red spots, each spot surrounded by a tinge of pale blue grey. The colour of the body varies; it is mostly of a purplish grey, with red spots more or less mixed with black, and the belly of a silvery cast, and the fins of a pale brown inclined to purple; the dorsal fin marked with several dark spots, and the scales are rather thin. The female fish is much brighter and more beautiful in appearance than the male. In

some of the lakes and rivers of Wales, indeed in almost all where there is no communication, there is a considerable difference in the trout; those of the Lake Llyndivi, in South Wales, are marked with very large red and black spots, and have frequently been caught weighing nearly ten pounds, but when of that size are coarse and badly flavoured. The best size for trout is found to be from half a pound to two pounds; when that weight is about their full size they are best for the table. In some of the lakes in North America the trout has been taken of sixty pounds and upwards, and they are spoken of as being of fine flavour; but for this we have only the authority of hungry travellers, or that of the hunters for the Hudson Bay Company's furs, of whom it may be presumed that the appetite is more keen and the taste less fastidious than that of the skilful angler on the banks of his home stream. The trout delights in clear cold and briskly running waters, having a strong and rough gravelly bottom. He swims with exceeding swiftness, and will leap from the surface to a considerable height to surmount the rapids or weirs that may interrupt his course. Its food consists generally of small fish, aquatic insects, shell-fish, and worms. It is particularly fond of the May or day fly (ephemera), as well as gnats and their larva.

In the Irish lakes, and in no other place, is the stomach of this fish found to be so remarkably thick and strong, more especially in the county of Galway, that they have received the name of gillaroo trouts; but they do not differ in any other respect from the ordinary trout, and it is supposed that, by living so much upon shell-fish, and swallowing at the same time so many small stones, to which the shell-fish adhere, that the stomach acquires the increased thickness which has been mentioned. This fish, although so common, is unnoticed by the ancients, excepting Ausonius, who is supposed to notice it under the name of salar; he says nothing of it as an article of food, but speaks highly of its beauty.

There are a great number of species of this fish, their names are as follows:

Carpio-Has a palate with five rows of teeth: it is found in the rivers of England and Switzerland, and is the smallest of the trout species, the Arcticus excepted.

Alpinus-Back black, sides pale blue, and belly orange: some few have been taken in Loch Inch, Scotland, and also in some of the lakes in Wales; it seldom visits running streams; it is found plentifully in the cold lakes of Lapland.

Erythrinus-Having scarlet spots: found chiefly in the rivers and lakes of Siberia.

Gædenii-Very small head, body spotted red and surrounded with a white ring: found in the northern seas.

Hucho-Palate has two rows of teeth, spotted with black, of an oblong shape: found in the northern lakes.

Lacustris-Body marked with minute black spots, tail forked, belly with a longitudinal grove: found in the northern lakes, and grows to a great size.

Lepechini-The sides are marked with ocellate spots, surrounded by a reddish colour, upper jaw prominent: found in the stony rivers of Russia.

Stræmii-Dorsal and ventral fins edged with white: it inhabits the muddy rivers and waters of Denmark.

Salmarinus-Back tawny with yellow spots, tail forked: found in the stony rivers of Italy.

Salvelinus-Shape more like the salmon, back dark brownish blue, numerous small round red spots on the sides, belly red orange colour, pectoral, ventral, and anal fins the same, but with the two first rays white, dorsal and caudal fin bluish brown, tail moderately bifurcated, irides silvery: native of the mountainous lakes of Germany and of some of the Siberian rivers, and also found in some of the lakes of Westmoreland: it is a fish greatly prized for its delicacy of flavour.

Umbla-The lateral lines are turned up and tail forked, body above greenish and white below, the flesh turns red in boiling: found in the lakes of Switzerland.

Rivalis-Head obtuse, belly reddish, colour pale brown: inhabits the muddy rivers and stagnant lakes of Greenland.

Stagnalis-Body roundish, upper jaw elongated, back brownish, belly white, not spotted: inhabits the remoter mountainous rivers of Greenland.

Argentinus-The body marked with a longitudinal silvery stripe,anal fin very long: found on the coast and rivers of Brazil.

Arcticus-This trout is not above three inches long, is silvery, and has four rows of brown dots and fine lines on each side: it is found in the stony rivers which run into the Arctic sea.

While writing on the trout it will perhaps be well to give a succinet history of fish zoologically, as their general history will, in a great measure, represent the trout as well as other fish. This class of animals has either a naked or scaly body, without feet, and always fins. Water being so dense a medium, must naturally occasion very remarkable phenomena in the organs of the animals which inhabit it. For a more intimate research into their anatomy and structure we must refer the reader to the elaborate writings of Cuvier and Blumenbach. The organ most useful in their vital functions is the mouth, which is generally situated under or at the end of the snout, the orifice of which has usually the appearance of a transverse slit, but in abdominal fishes the aperture is made by an opening passing obliquely downwards, except in the lamprey, where it resembles a sucker. The glands of the mouth secrete a tenacious mucus by which it is lubricated; fishes do not chew their food, nor do they possess any salivary glands to assist mastication, therefore their teeth can only be to hold or destroy their prey; they are situated differently in different fish, and are found not only in the jaws but in the palatine arches and the tongue. The oesophagus, or gullet, of fishes is generally short, at times opening from the mouth nearly direct to the stomach; the oesophogus in very large fish is capable most frequently of dilation to nearly the size of the stomach; this may be particularly noticed in the jack, which will swallow a fish half its own size. The stomach in most fish resembles the form of a common alembic inverted; its coating varies very much in strength, and depends greatly upon what the fish feeds upon; in the salmo fario, or trout, the cœcal part of the stomach is very inconsiderable, but the trout called gillaroo, found in the western part of Ireland, is of great strength and thickness; this trout feeds on shell-fish, and the stomach acts as a sort of gizzard to grind or masticate them. (To be continued.)

CENTURY.

nishing degree: all distinctions of party, religion, sex, character, and circumstances -were swallowed up in this universal concern, or in some such pecuniary project. Exchange alley was filled with a strange concourse of statesmen and clergymen, churchmen and dissenters, whigs and tories, physicians, lawyers, tradesmen, and even with females: all other professions and employments were utterly neglected. New companies started up every day under the countenance of the prime nobility: the Prince of Wales was constituted Governor of the Welsh Copper Company; the Duke of Chandos appeared at the head of the York Buildings Company; the Duke of Chandos formed a third for building houses in London and Westminster: about a hundred such schemes were projected and put in execution, to the ruin of many thousands: the sums proposed to be raised by these expedients amounted to 300,000,000l. sterling, and exceeded the value of all the lands in England!

"An obscure projector, pretending to have formed a very advantageous scheme, which however he did not explain, pub. lished proposals for a subscription, in which he promised that in one month the particulars of his project should be disclosed: in the meantime he declared that every person paying two guineas should be entitled to a subscription of 100%, which would produce that sum yearly; in one forenoon the adventurer received a thousand of these subscriptions, and in the evening set out for another kingdom."

These delusions eventually became the subjects of general ridicule, and it is worthy of remark that the ordinary instruments of play were made the instruments of chastising gambling extraordinary. In the British Museum there are specimens of the playing cards then published, which effectively caricatured the scheme of the day. They had burlesque engraved representations of some of the mighty works announced, with satirical lines beneath. In one of these packs the York Buildings speculation was dealt with a series of rickety falling houses were seen on the five of spades, with a flag inscribed scire facias flying over a water wheel. The verses were these :

"You that are blest with wealth by your Creator,

And want to drown your money in Thames water,

Buy but York Buildings, and the cistern there Will sink more pence than any fool can spare."

The seven of hearts treated the company formed for building ships to let to freight, which was thus complimented:

"Who but a nest of blockheads, to their cost, Would build new ships for freight when trade is lost?

an

Many, no doubt, still remember the days, or rather nights, when invitation to tea-dinner parties were not of very frequent occurrence- was usually concluded with the remark, "and then we can have a nice rubber of whist," or "a game of seven-shilling loo." No other mode of passing the hours from five or six, by which time the cups and saucers had generally disappeared, till twelve or one was recognised; with the exception of dancing, whist, picquet, or loo, formed the regular occupation of the evening. An hour for tea and scandal, five or six hours for cards, another hour for supper, and then by way of a conclusion, and "just to pass away half an hour"-another game at cards; and not unfrequently the visitor who had been invited to a tea party arose from the table, the loser of from twenty to thirty guineas. And this rage for gambling was not confined to gentlemen; coteries of ladies, young and old, married and single, had their regular nights of meeting, and the household expenses were occasionally not a little increased by the loss in a single evening, of three times the last night's winnings. It was in vain that sermons were preached, moral tales written, Hogarth's 'Lady's last stake' painted, and moral dramas performed, to stop the growth of what eventually became a frightful evil; the prince and the peasant, the clergyman and the actor, alike yielded to temptation, and hour after hour, evening after evening still found them gloating over the gaming table.

But in London were the favourite resorts of professed gamesters, who, despising the quiet though sufficiently hazardous game of the family circle, preferred a desperate one with avowed sharpers.

The green-rooms of the theatres were frequently the scene of great doings in the

gambling way. Miss Bellamy tells us that thousands were frequently lost there in a night. To witness some of these aristocratic follies, if they do not deserve a harsher name, that celebrated actress one night took a lady of title, her patroness, behind the scenes. On that occasion, how ever, she seems to lament that fashionable ruin was not going on in the usual way; and on entering the apartment Miss Bellamy was horrified at seeing Mrs Woffington with a pot of porter in her hand, giving as a toast Confusion to all order." The great lady she had introduced, shocked at something so vastly different from what she had expected to behold, it is added, delicately exclaimed, "Is all hell broke loose?" and immediately retired. The vulgar jollity of the actress appalled her ladyship, and produced the exclamation just quoted. She had expected to behold a different hell.

The Daily Journal,' of Jan. 9th, 1751, gives a list of the officers retained in the "most notorious gaming houses." The first twelve were

"1st. A Commissioner, always a proprietor, who looks in of a night; and the week's account is audited by him and two other proprietors.

“2nd. A Director, who superintends the

room.

"3rd. An Operator, who deals the cards at a cheating game called Faro.

"4th. Two Crowpees, who watch the cards, and gather the money for the bank.

"5th. Two Puffs, who have money given them to decoy others to play.

"6th. A Clerk, who is a check upon the Puffs to see that they sink none of the money given them to play with.

"7th. A Squib is a puff of lower rank, who serves at half-pay salary while he is learning to deal.

"8th. A Flasher, to swear how often the bank has been stript.

"9th. A Dunner, who goes about to recover money lost at play.

"10th. A Waiter, to fill out wine, snuff candles, and attend the gaming-room, "11th. An Attorney, a Newgate solici

tor.

"12th. A Captain, who is to fight any gentleman who is peevish for losing his money."

Foote, the celebrated comedian, was a notorious gambler, till the dissipation of his entire fortune and the subsequent distress of his condition taught him prudence; and Fox often deserted the benches of the House of Commons to pay a visit to the gaming house. The chocolate rooms in the vicinity of Charing cross, Golden square, and Leicester fields (now called Leicester square), were the principal rendezvous of gamblers, and at these "hells," as they are justly termed,

a

fortune or an estate was often lost and won in a few hours, and the man who had entered into the room in a state of comparative affluence turned into the streets at night penniless, and probably in debt to a large amount! When every article of value-money, land, and jewels had been staked and lost, when the blacklegs who frequented the gaming tables, preying upon the inexperienced, had robbed them of their money to the last sixpence, and their property to their rings and brooches, they were invited, nay, encouraged to proceed until land, estates, and houses, all had passed away, and then, when the almost irresistible fascination and maddening excitement of the game were over, the unhappy gambler found himself a homeless wanderer in the streets, without a shilling to call his own or to purchase for him food or lodging. The necessary consequence was the constant recurrence of murders, robberies, suicides, and duels; it was the same oft-repeated tale that at last, from very repetition, scarce shocked the feelings of the readers of the newspapers. From Leicester square to the Serpentine or the Thames was but a short journey, and phrenzy, despair, and madness pointed out the way. The report of a pistol or a sullen plash in the water was the dying knell of the unhappy gamester, and when his body was found and recognised, the report of the dreadful, but by no means unfrequent, occurrence was usually wound up by the remark that "no money was found upon his person."

ALEXANDER ANDREWS.

A BUNN AND A BELL.
(A parody.)

Tune- Said a smile to a tear.'

SAID A. Bunn to a Bell,

In a half screech or yell,

And frown'd like a cloud in bad weather, "How is it Bob B.

That you wish to see,

Your work and my players together?" "I brought something smart Relief to impart,

To yonder poor devil, John Bull;" "And 1," said the Bunn, "Came to banish all fun,

Since you gave a play with it full." "O! then," said the Bell, "Sweet Bunn, will you tell,

But-how sweetly it sounds! 'Is it known you are out to your mother?' Entre nous, fifty pounds,

You must tip ere you humbug another."

Master Stratton.-The Queen has been advised to decline seeing the wonderful dwarf, Master Stratton, for the present. After a certain event he will have the honour of appearing in her presence.