ly dug in. Then drill the ground, after the manner of gardeners in sowing peas, and plant the potatos in the drill, or plant them with a dibble, without drilling, about two or three inches beneath the surface, the dibble being formed with a broad point, so as to insure the potato having no open space left beneath it, when dropped into the hole. For large fields, which cannot well be dug or planted in this manner, the ground should be prepared exactly as for oats or barley. Then have the ground drilled, and in plant. ing place the seed potato in the clean soil, on the back of the half drill, formed the return of the plough, which half drill should be made larger than ordinary, to bring the seed as near to the centre of the drill as possible, so as to afford it every advantage of the fresh soil to vegetate in. In this way the fructifying earth, in which the seed is embedded, will secure its healthful vegetation; and as it progresses in its growth, and so soon as it throws out roots, it will reap

the full benefit of the manure contained in the surrounding soil. It is of the utmost importance to have the seed planted, so as it may have the earth both below and above it when put in; for in keeping the seed free from the dung, lies the whole secret, which should be particularly attended to.-J. Smith.

The Gatherer.

The President Harlay.-This celebrated person, as he had no regard for the feelings of others, rarely suffered his own to be ruffled. On one occasion, the Duc de Rohan leaving him in great dudgeon at the manner in which he had been treated, as he was descending the stairs indulged in all sorts of abuse of the first president, to his intendant, who accompanied him, when suddenly turning round, they found Harlay close behind, bowing them out in the most reverential style possible. The Duke, quite confused, was quite shocked that he should give himself the trouble to see him out. "Oh, sir," said Harlay, "it is impossible to quit you, you say such charming things.

Contemporary Monarchs.—At the time of the discovery of America the sovereigns of the principal European states were more potent and magnificent than, perhaps, at any previous or subsequent era; the office of Pope was held by Leo X.; Charles V. was monarch of Spain, and at the death of Maximilian made Emperor of Germany; Francis I. was king of France; Henry VIII., of England; and the Turkish Empire was under the sway of Solyman the Magnificent.

The Penny Post.-Mr. M'Culloch's 'Commercial Dictionary' speaks of the "miserable quackery of a uniform penny-rate," and, generally, in hostile terms of the plan. It may be as well, in order to qualify the opinion of Mr. M'Culloch, to remind the reader that that gentleman, before his accession to office, actually signed the first petition for the adoption of "the miserable quackery."

Hydropathy at Graäfenburg.-A letter from the establishment of Vincent Priessnitz at Graäfenburg has appeared in the newspaper, signed by a number of English persons staying there, which speaks most highly of the system. It states there were 1050 patients at Graäfenburg in the year 1843, and only four deaths occurred. these, two cases on the arrival of the parties were pronounced by Priessnitz to be incurable.

Of

Drinking Spirits in the Army unnecessary. Sir Robert Sale, writing from Jellalabad upon the hardships to which the soldiers under his command were subjected, added

"I will not mention as a privation the European troops having been without spirits, because I believe that to be a circumstance tending to keep them in the highest health, and in the most admirable state of discipline; crime has been almost unknown, and a murmur is never heard, though they are deprived of their usual quantity of animal food."

Strange Reverses.-We hear that a person of the name of Brown, residing in the island of Jersey, and acting as a common porter, has lately succeeded to comparative wealth. It seems that thirty years ago he was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and was dismissed the service, without being heard in his defence, for striking his superior officer. At length, however, his complaints having been taken into consideration, the Admiralty having decided that, as he had otherwise always faithfully, diligently, and bravely fulfilled his duties, his commission should be honorably restored to him, accompanied by all arrears of pay and prize-money, amounting, it is asserted, to nearly six thousand pounds.Berwick Warder. [Who is to pay the money? The public or the official people, who have kept a worthy man in unmerited poverty, by delaying justice for thirty years?]

Admiral Byng.-The administration of that day were accused of having basely sacrificed a gallant officer to popular cla..

mour, in order to cover their own misconduct. Lord Mahon, in his History of England, from the Peace of Utrecht, says of the Duke of Newcastle, "He was most willing to sacrifice any of his admirals, any of his generals, or even any of his cabinet colleagues, as a scapegoat for himself. One day, when a deputation from the city waited upon him with some representations against Byng, he blurted out, with an unfeeling precipitation which his folly ought not to excuse, 'Oh, indeed, he shall be tried immediately-he shall be hanged directly!' Comfortable Travelling.-Mr. Waterton, a gentleman of fortune, perambulated the thorny forests of South America without either shoes or stockings, a mode of travelling which he found so agreeable or beneficial that he earnestly recommends it to

future adventurers.

Turkish Women.-The blue eye is unknown among the Turkish ladies, and a few of their jet-black locks are suffered to fall beneath the turban. Their hands are beautifully small and white, and adorned with rings and bracelets. No support to the bosom is ever used. The dress altogether, though it hides much of the symmetry of the figure, gives it a grand and imposing air, particularly the elegant cashmere turban, of which European ladies, if they possess it, spoil the effect by not knowing how to put it on.

Kingly Taste.-Louis XIV. found delight in singing the most fulsome passages of songs written in his own praise. Even at the public suppers, when the band played the airs to which they were set, the monarch delighted his courtiers by humming the same passages.

Post Office Money-orders. From late returns it appears the money-order service has multiplied twenty-five times in comparison with its amount of duty before the reduction of the rate of poundage.

Superscriptions of Letters.-"Formerly, a direction was an academy of compliments: 'To the most noble and my singularly respected friend,' &c., &c.-and then, Haste! haste for your life, haste!'-Now we have banished even the monosyllable To! Henry Conway, Lord Hertford's son, who is very indolent, and has much humour, introduced that abridgement. Writing to a Mr. Tighe at the Temple, he directed his letter only thus: T. Ti. Temple,'-and it was delivered! Dr. Bentley was mightily flattered on receiving a letter superscribed To Dr. Bentley, in England.""-Horace Walpole.

Inscription placed by Curran on the tomb of his mother." Here lies the body of Sarah Curran; she was marked by many years, many virtues, few failings, no crimes. This frail memorial was placed here by a son whom she loved."

An Alderman enlightened.-One of the duke

of Marlborough's generals, dining with a lord mayor of former days, an alderman who sat next to him said, “Sir, yours must be a very laborious profession." No," replied the general," we fight about four hours in the morning, and two or three after dinner, and then we have all the rest of the day to ourselves."

A Poet's Taste.-Dryden, in 1699, writing to a lady who had invited him to a supper, after declining certain promised rarities, adds, “If beggars might be choosers, a chine of honest bacon would please my appetite more than all the marrow-puddings, for I like them better plain, having a very vulgar stomach."

Parliamentary Privilege. Throughout the reign of George the Second, the privileges of the House of Commons flourished in the rankest luxuriance. On one occasion it was voted a breach of privilege to have 'killed a great number of rabbits' from the warren of Lord Galway, a member. Another time, the fish of Mr. Joliffe were honoured with a like august protection. The same never-failing shield of privilege was thrown before the trees of Mr. Hungerford, the coals of Mr. Ward, and the lead of Sir Robert Grosvenor. The persons of one member's porter and of another member's footman were held to be as sacred and inviolable as the persons of the members themselves.-Lord Mahon.

Providence for the Fall of Sparrows.— The Berwick Warder states a recent novel attempt to destroy the feathered depredators who do such mischief in the country, to have been completely successful. A mixture of meal and malt thrown in their way rendered the sparrows so thirsty that, drinking to assuage it, killed great numbers of them.

POSTSCRIPT.

Thames Embankment.-Since the article on this subject was put in type, a Return of the sums of money expended in the alterations and repairs of Westminster Bridge, has been printed by order of the House of Commons. The amount expended is as good as the story of the Town Council of exceeds 165,0001.; to be expended, 52,0001.! This Edinburgh of yore, which had two public dinners to discuss the question whether it would be wiser economy to repair the bell-rope of St. Giles, or go to the expense of a new one!

The Noble House of Bedford.-An accident at the moment of going to press, which it is impossible to repair in time, has compelled the postponement of "The Noble House of Bedford," intended

for the present number, till next week.

CORRESPONDENTS.

"Angels" will appear.

meaning of a word, but has not whim enough to An epigram, which merely gives the second

move a smile, we deem hardly worth writing. "A Friend" will take the hint.

LONDON: Printed and Published by AIRD and BURSTALL, 2, Tavistock street, Covent-garden; and sold by all Booksellers and Newsmen.

Original Communications.

THE NEW PALACE AT WESTMINSTER.

What a variety of associations will attach themselves to the opening of the New Palace at Westminster, an event, and no trivial one, in parliamentary history! Well do we remember an analogous epoch in schoolboy annals, the procession of our fellow M.P.'s (members of the playground), from the ancient High School of Edinburgh, to the classical edifice on the Carlton Hill, the chef-d'œuvre of Thomas Hamilton. That day of white wands and white trousers, is it not marked with a white stone in our memory's almanack? So shall the children of larger growth, but not perhaps with such "emotions, beautiful and new," who now fret and strut their languid hour upon the floor of St. Stephens, look back, as they now look forward, to the first opening of Parliament in the New Palace at Westminster.

It is hardly worth while to enter now upon a description of the architectural peculiarities of Mr. Barry's structure, Gothic in all details, and yet essentially Italian in its gracefulness and lightness of effect. The theme has occupied an hour by ShrewsNo. 1218.]

M

bury clock with every scribe, from the Cornwall Gazette to John o' Groat's Journal. Be it for us, at this period, when the works rapidly approach completion, to offer a suggestion or two which such a prospect may well excuse.

The Times, of a recent date, after blowing a gentle but cooling blast against the sage ventilator of the house, for his futile efforts to adapt the internal atmosphere to the lungs of honorable members affected with asthma, coughs, colds, or shortness of breath, or subject to rheumatic and other similar affections, and delicately touching upon the architect's offence in altering, without due sanction, the internal con. struction, for the purpose of preserving Her Gracious Majesty's self and horses from imminent peril on state occasions, passes to a consideration of the architectural idea, or what Mr. Bernard, the clever concoctor of Anglo-French after-pieces, would call the sentiment of the building: and argues "excellently well" that a one idea'd character is as unsuitable to a palace as to a mansion, although in these modern days, it has unfortunately happened that all architects have fallen into this error, and given unity instead of harmony to their houses as to their churches. A cathedral, [VOL. XLIV.

66

Gothic or Norman, embodies one grand and beautiful idea; a modern chapel or meeting-house, likewise, would embody one idea; the former the poetry of religion, the latter religion stripped of all poetry as extraneous and impertinent. A mansion, on the other hand, a palace, or a castle, was wont to typify a variety of purposes, and a variety of qualities-power, hospitality, charity, splendour, conviviality: now-a-days, all these qualities are merged in COMFORT, upon whose inventor, in truth," as Sancho Panza would have said, had comfort been known in his time, "be all blessing, for it does wrap Englishmen round like a cloak." The monks of old gave one character to the external appearance of the refectory, which modern bishops would call the restorateur department of sentimental architecture-another character to the chapelry-a third to the dormitory-another to the abbot's sanctum sanctorum. But your modern monk of the Carlton or Reform Club, according to the Times, amalgamates all these various ideas, and rolls them, like little globules of quicksilver, into one gigantic bubble of comfort.

So with the New Palace at Westminster. Where is the distinctive tone of a royal entrance? what exterior mark of Bellamy's? what classical hint of the Library Quarter? what of the Debating Hall? what of the Committee? We do not pretend to suggest how a variety in harmony might have been attained. Perhaps the Times, which is, however, quicker at picking holes than filling them up, will enlighten Mr. Barry and ourselves on the subject, when we may incontinently endeavour from this our Mirror, to reflect

a notion or two further.

In the meantime, we shall be well content if Right Honourable Peers, and Right Honourable Members, will endeavour to realise one idea within themselves, and to reflect it to the world-this, to wit, that the paltry and selfish interests which have hitherto governed English legislation, must be entombed within the Old Palace at Westminster: and if an inscription be wanted to note the inhumation, we humbly offer for the occasion, one we hope not altogether impertinent: Here lied"

Party."

startling disclosures will occasionally be made. A very slight glance at society will satisfy the simplest observer, that even in the present day there is much to come out. In former time, and in a foreign land, the mysterious veil which concealed the truth, lifted by the hand of Time, showed one wretched female rising to greatness by becoming the mistress of her own father, a king making himself the hired-paid-salaried agent of a brother monarch, and a prince plotting to shed a brother's blood. Though like revelations are not to be expected in England in regard to those who stand in high places, yet we may hereafter learn with amazement, why some things meet the eye which at the moment are wholly unaccountable; why, for instance, a fellow known to have no talent but for gambling in the funds, frantic vituperation, and general swindling, who could pretend to no public service which it would not be disgraceful to name, should be dignified with a title; why a ruffianly and notorious thief should have been entrusted with magisterial power; and why a mean wretch, who drove by his inhuman avarice those who ought to have been most dear to him to utter despair, should be found spouting at every dinner, playing first fiddle in most public charities. Such things may 66 move our especial wonder" now; the circumstances connected with them, when fully explained hereafter, will perhaps be more wonderful still.

The keen satirist who has the fortune to be unsuspectingly admitted to the "vita post scenia" of politics, has a vast field, a rich harvest open to him. If he exercise his talent with courage and determination he may do much good, but assuredly much evil will be reported of him. The delinea tions which some term admirable pictures, others will denounce as venomous libels; the statements many hold to be valuable revelations, some will proclaim villainous falsehoods; and what all who think with the author must commend as intrepid exposures, their opponents will condemn as instances of the meanest treachery. Such book, however, will be served by his enemies as much as by friends, and while some assail as fiercely as others lovingly applaud, all will desire to read.

Such is the new novel of Cnoingsby. It is not a trashy attempt to ape the common-places of fashionable life, with exact

RATION."

While men continue to act from mixed motives-that is to say, while human nature remains such as it has ever been from the location of our first ancestors in Eden up to the year of grace, 1844-there must always be something to conceal; and where there is constantly something to conceal,

silver fork, but it aspires to

"Bare the mean heart that lurks beneath a star," and to show the labours of politicians of eminence with a view to place, profit, and distinction; and doing this it presents to our eyes, or rather images to our minds, an ocean of crime, which men remote from power would hardly expect could in any