kinds of vegetables, and should not be thrown away; they act beneficially on soils where cabbages are infested with the club, and in some instances have been known to entirely cure that disease.

Vegetables.-A sowing of radishes may be made on a warm border, but they must be protected from frost by covering the bed with straw. If any digging or trench ing yet remains to be done, no time should be lost in getting it forwarded while the weather permits.

Fruit. In pruning gooseberry and currant bushes, care must be taken to thin them well out in the centre, so as to admit plenty of sun and air. The same remark is also applicable to standard apple trees; the middle of the tree must be kept quite open, taking care that all the branches lead outwards, and preserving a regular distance from each other. Pear trees should also be thinned well out, and the produce will be much better in quality.

Flowers.-Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, &c., in pots, should have as much light and air as possible; they should be sparingly watered, and this ought always to be done in the morning; if they are inclined to grow up tall and slender, the points of the shoots may be pinched off by the finger and thumb, and this will induce them to throw out side branches, and make them dwarf and bushy. Anything that is likely to be injured by frost should be carefully watched and protected from it by straw or fern.-Gardener's Chronicle.

Puss in Boots, and the Marquis of Carabas. THE juveniles are in extraordinary good luck this year. From east to west we find nothing more carefully attended to than the literary and pictorial wants of the rising generation. In the whimsical affair before us we have a very amusing history of our elderly friend 'Puss in Boots,' containing some important facts which were omitted by his former biographers. The cuts, twelve in number, from drawings by Lewis Haghe, are appropriately playful. There is elegance and spirit associated with the frolicksome performances of the cat, and they are admirably printed on stone by Day and Haghe, lithographers to the Queen. One brief extract we must borrow:

"They tell me,' continued Puss, 'that you have carried science to such a pitch, that you can at pleasure assume the form

of any animal you like. Although I have paid some attention to magic, this does appear to me, I must say, incredible.' 'I'll soon give you a proof of it,' said the Magician, and instantly stood before him turned into an elephant. The Cat politely requested him to assume his own shape, otherwise he should faint with terror; and in a moment the Magician re-appeared, seated as at first, in his arm-chair. There's a trick for you!' said he; 'you certainly never saw a more wonderful performance than that.' The cat expressed his astonishment, but hinted that he had once seen an artist who could turn himself into the smallest sized animals, which was certainly even more wonderful, as he could not comprehend what became of the huge human body. That is a mere nothing,' said the Magician; and at the same instant began leaping about the room in the shape of a mouse. The Cat was after him directly; and, before he could recollect the right word to utter in order to disenchant himself, the Cat had seized him in his teeth, killed him as dead as a door-nail, and eaten him!"

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The Eglintoun Tournament in 1839. Puckle (late Colnaghi and Puckle.) THIS is one of the most beautiful works that has been published for some time, and forms a splendid book for the drawingroom table. It consists of twenty-two plates, from drawings taken on the spot by Mr Nixon, lithographed by Aubrey and Loiellot, and accompanied by historical and descriptive notices from the pen of the Rev. J. Richardson, LL.D., &c. The points are elaborately coloured; great care being taken faithfully to delineate the dazzling pageantry of the tournament. Around each print, forming a border, is a very appropriate design, which greatly enriches the work. The letter-press is highly illuminated. The first fourteen plates consist of the procession to the lists, which are as follows:-Earl of Eglintoun, with body guard, Knight Marshal, King of the Tournament, Queen of Beauty, Lord of the Tournament, Knight of the Griffin and Dragon, Knight of the Lion, &c.; general view of the lists, the challenge, the joust, the mêlée, the presentation, the banquet, the ball, &c., &c. This work must be seen to be properly appreciated, and we only wonder how such a book can be offered for ten guineas.

Miscellaneous.

EFFECT OF ROCKETS ON THE ABYS SINIANS.-As soon as it became dark, rockets, which had been brought by the embassy, were to be discharged from the tents, by the king's express desire. With firearms the Abyssinians were previously

acquainted; and the brass galloper (cannon) which had echoed so recently, although viewed with wonderful respect, was still only the engine, on a colossal scale, to which they were familiarized. But these were the first rockets of which his majesty had viewed the flight; and the impression they produced upon his mind, as he gazed from his watch tower, was scarcely less than that worked upon his assembled subjects. Night had thrown her sable mantle around, and the novel principle of ascent, with the grandeur of the brilliant rush into the skies, afforded matter of amazement to all spectators. When the projectile started, with a loud roar, from its bed, men, women, and children, fell flat upon their faces. Horses and mules broke loose from their tethers, and the warrior who had any heart remaining shouted aloud. -Major Harris's Highlands of Ethiopia. RUSSIAN BARBARITY.-Twice every week were ten or twelve Gipsies or Wallachians, useless or criminal fellows, conducted to a public square from the prison or house of correction; here they were stripped naked to the middle. Some one took the prisoner on his back, and held his hands fast over his shoulders, while another seized the feet; a third carried the weapons, an armful of great sticks as thick as one's thumb; the fourth stood waiting and ready to strike. A Russian drummer gave the signal on his drum, when a hundred strokes were counted on the naked body of the culprit, which caused him to utter the most horrible outcries. A second signal was given by the drummer, and a second hundred was told out to the unhappy wretch. In this manner he received from three to four hundred strokes on the back. After this execution, the poor prisoner presented a dreadful spectacle. The flesh hung in rags from his back, and you saw little but the naked bones. They had then spirits dashed over them, at which they shrieked again horribly with the agony. Finally they were conducted to the saltpits, where they were compelled to hard labour for from four to six years. The majority of them sunk under it,-rarely did any one return. Wanderings of a Journeyman Tailor. TREATMENT OF SERVANTS IN THE NETHERLANDS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.-Before the Statthalter rises, the clothes must be brushed clean, and laid in order on the table; shoes and boots cleaned and set under the bench; fresh water and a towel must be in readiness. His excellency must be most delicately dressed, and what he lays aside be carefully put by. The meals are to be served in good order, without spilling, and the dishes to be taken away with a bow. If any one nibbles at things, and puts his finger or his mouth into the dishes, he shall be made to eat hot

and burning food to cure him of his greediness. Every one is bound, when called upon, to step forward, making a reverence, and to say grace with a clear and audible voice. He who stutters and hesitates shall receive six fillips on the nose. If any man waits at table with dirty hands, he shall do as if he were washing them, while one pours water over them, and another dries them with two sharp rods till they bleed. In like manner, he who waits uncombed, shall be well curried in the stable with the currycomb. The table-cloth is to be spread at one cast; every plate to have a napkin, and the salt-cellars to be filled with clean salt. At the proper time, candles are to be brought, and to be constantly snuffed, every time beginning at the place where the highest guest sits. Lastly, the table-cloth is to be removed in a mannerly way; and the servants are to retire with a reverence, under pain of six fillips on the nose. Whoever mixes in the conversation, or grins at what is said, shall be made to blow till he is tired: whoever laughs loud shall have four raps over the fingers. Whoever fills a glass too full, and then sups it out with his own mouth, shall have twenty lashes with a whip. He who hands a dirty glass may have his choice between four boxes on the ear, or six fillips on the nose. After dinner, a basin of water and a clean towel is to be handed (with reverence) to every guest. As it is a scandalous and insufferable thing for servants to be long at meals, those who are more than a quarter of an hour at dinner shall have it taken away from them.Hardenburgh Archives, 1666.

A MAN OF OTHER DAYS.-One remnant of the Royal House of Stuart survives. He still lives at Tweedmouth, having completed his 115th year at Christmas, 1843. His father, General John Stuart, was a cousin of "Prince Charlie," the Pretender. His grandmother was the Lady of Arlie, well known in the old Scotch song. James Stuart saw those memorable battles during the rebellion of 1745, Prestonpans and Culloden, and has spoken to and partaken of wine with the Pretender. He served on the side of the Royalists in the American war, and was at the battle of Quebec, where General Wolfe lost his life at the moment of victory. He served on board of a manof-war for many years under those naval heroes Admiral Rodney and Rear-Admiral Hood. He has been five times married, and now lives with a fifth wife, seventyfive years younger than himself. has had by his several wives twentyfive children; ten of them have been killed in battle, five of them in India, two at Trafalgar, under Nelson, one at Waterloo, and two at Algiers. For nearly sixty years he has travelled in the Border districts as a wandering minstrel,

He

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playing on a fiddle, but he never asked alms from any one. Hundreds of persons can bear testimony to his amazing strength, from which circumstance he got the byename of "Jemmy Strength. Among other feats he could carry a 24-pounder cannon, and he has been known to lift a cart-load of hay, weighing a ton and a half, on his back. Many a time he has taken up a jackass, and walked through the toll-bar carrying it on his shoulders.

PORTRAITS OF JEFFREY AND SCOTT BY SOUTHEY.-"I have been at Edinburgh and there seen Jeffrey. When he was invited to meet me, he very properly sent me the sheets, that I might see him or not, according to my own feelings: this was what he could not well avoid, but it was not the less gentlemanlike. I met him in good humour, being by God's blessing of a happy temper: having seen him, it were impossible to be angry with anything so diminutive. We talked about the question of taste on which we are at issue. He is a mere child upon that subject: I never met with a man whom it was so easy to check-mate." In the same letter he wrote "I passed three days with Walter Scott, an amusing and highly estimable man. You see the whole extent of his powers in the Minstrel's Lay,' of which your opinion seems to accord with mine, a very amusing poem; it excites a novel-like interest, but you discover nothing on after-perusal. Scott bears a great part in the Edinburgh Review,' but does not review well. He is editing Dryden, very carelessly; the printer has only one of the late common editions to work from, which has never been collated, and is left to make conjectural emendations. This I learned from Ballantyne himself in his printing-office."

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SALE OF A CLOAK AND ROBE -"[An agreement for the sale by Isaac Burgess to John Alleyn, citizen and inholder,' of a cloak and robe, no doubt for the purpose of being worn on the stage. The price, 167, seems very high, recollecting the great difference in money then and now: it affords another proof of how much was expended at this date upon theatrical apparel.]-Be yt knowen unto all men by theise presentes, that I, Isaacke Burges, of Cliffordes Inne, London, gent., for and in consideration of the somme of sixtene pounds of good and lawfull money of Englande, to me before hand payde by John Allene, Cytizen and Inholder of London, have bargainde and solde, and by theise presents doe fully, clearlie, and absolutely bargaine, sell, and deliver unto the sayd John Allene, in playne and open market of or within the Cytty of London, one cloke of velvette, with a cape imbrothered with gold, pearles, and redd stones, and one roabe of cloth of golde: to have and to holde the sayd cloke and roabe with th appurtenances,

unto the sayde John Allene, his executors and assignes for ever, to the onely use and behoof of the sayde John Allene, his executors or assignes for ever, as his and their owne propper goodes and chattels. And I, the said Isaacke Burges, the sayd cloke and roabe againste all men shall and will warrante and defende for ever, by theise presentes. In witnes whereof, I have hereunto putt my hande and seale the xxiijth daye of November, in the xxxiijth yere of the reign of our sovereigne lady Quene Elizabeth, &c., 1590.-P. me, Isaacus Burges.-Sealed and delivered in the presence of me, John Deane, Scr.-James Tonstall." -Alleyn Papers.

A SKELETON FOUND.-A few days ago, as some workmen were employed in demo. lishing the ruins of a tower of an old manor-house, near the Chapelle-gaugain, on the confines of the Sarthe, they came on a skeleton which was recognised as that of a female. A chaplet of glass beads was found round the neck, and on two of the fingers were gold rings, one bearing the letters C.D.B., and the other, in which was a turquoise, the figure of a turtle, engraved on the gold, with the word Impossible close to it. The skeleton was in a place only just large enough to hold it. The teeth are in excellent preservation, and evidently belonged to a young woman. About two hundred years ago this residence belonged to Jacques des Loges, Gentleman of the Chamber to Louis XIII. By a legal process this estate was declared forfeited, but he was subsequently allowed to sell it, and in the act of sale he signed for his wife, whom he declared to be absent, but engaged to produce her ratification within a period of six weeks. This ratification, however, is not to be found amongst the titles of the property, which are otherwise complete. The wife of Jacques des Loges was Catherine de Broc; C.D.B.

GASTRONOMIC ENTHUSIASM.-After sitting a quarter of an hour, discussing many important topics, we returned to my friend's tent, when, at a proper hour, we sat down to part of a large boiled mahaseer. I have eaten most of the civilized fish, such as the salmon, cod, skate, turbot, flounders, and flukes, perch, pike, carp, pomfret, bumelow, shark, dolphin, and cuttlefish, becktee, mango, and hisla, and scores of others, but I never have eaten anything so delicious as was this glorious mahaseer. My friend, whether out of the most exalted generosity, or the most lamentable ignorance, though he is certainly fully capable of the former feeling, of his own accord presented me with the head and shoulders. It was one of the largest I had ever seen. To devour the whole, at starting, seemed an impossibility; but I accomplished it, and even the recol. lection soothes me. The palate was two

Archbishop to pray for him that night, and to give him his blessing on the morrow as he passed his window on his way to the scaffold. The next morning the Archbishop, apprized of his approach, came to the window; then the Earl bowing to the ground-"My Lord," said he, "your prayers and your blessing." The Archbishop lifted up his hands, and bestowed both: but, overcome with grief, fell to the ground in animi deliquio. The Earl, bowing the second time, said, “Farewell, my Lord; God protect your innocency."

The Birth of the Princess Victoria.-That was a bright day to the illustrious parents of our young and beloved monarch, when her birth was announced to a waiting and anxious nation. The duke wept for joy, and the fact that the infant was a daughter, and not a son, did not appear in the least to diminish the general rejoicing. The country appeared to be relieved by the event from a considerable pressure of anxiety, for Prince George of Cumberland was not born till three days afterwards, and Prince George of Cambridge was the then only issue of the royal marriages of 1818.-Fraser's Magazine.

Honesty in Trade.-At the lowest calculation, there are 150,000 labels, printed with French type in the French language, annually cleared at the London custom house alone. These labels, so imported wet from Paris, are here used for wrapping round English - made "French" soaps, scents, pomatums, and cosmetics in endless variety, known by the French names of Fixatur, Philocome, Oleophone, Sachets, &c. Hint to Lovers of Flowers. -A most beautiful and easily-attained show of evergreens in winter may be had by a very simple plan, which has been found to answer remarkably well on a small scale. If geranium leaves (branches ?) are taken from healthy and luxurious trees, just before the winter sets in, cut as for slips, and immersed in soap and water, they will, after drooping for a few days, shed their leaves, put forth fresh ones, and continue in the finest vigour all the winter. By placing a number of bottles thus filled in flower baskets, with moss to conceal the bottles, a show of evergreens is easily ensured for a whole season. They require no fresh water. Effects of soaking Seeds in Chemical Solutions.-Seeds of wheat steeped in sulphate of ammonia on the 5th of July had by the 10th of August, the last day of the show, tillered into nine, ten, and eleven stems of nearly equal vigour; while seeds of the same sample, unprepared, and sown at the same time in the same soil, had not tillered into more than two, three, and four stems. The time of steeping varied from fifty to ninety-four hours, at a temperature of about 60° Fahrenheit. I found, however, that barley does not succeed so well if

steeped beyond sixty hours. Rye-grass and other gramineous seeds do with steeping from sixteen to twenty hours, and clovers from eight to ten, but not more. Mr Campbell's Transactions of the Highland Society.

"As Good as a Play."-King Charles the Second attended the debates in the House of Lords. He received their lordships' thanks for his condescension. Andrew Marvel, writing on this subject some time after his Majesty's debut, thus expressed himself:-"The King has ever since continued his session among them, and says it is better than going to a play.

- A Word to the Wise."Parson, I had much rather hear you preach,” said a baffled, swindling horse-jockey, "than see you interfere in bargains between man and man!" "Well," replied the parson, "if you had been where you ought to have been last Sunday, you might have heard me preach." "Where was that?" inquired the jockey. "In the state prison," returned the clergyman.

The Hydropathic System. One of the English captives at Teyrien gives the following evidence in favour of hydropathy. It is a female who writes:-"We contrived to make ourselves a little tea; and then, with our clothes all wet as they were, prepared ourselves for sleep: this was a matter of no small difficulty; for, huddled together as we were, it was next to impossible for all to find room to stretch their limbs. However, with our feet towards the still smouldering fire, we did our best; and, strange to say, all woke in the morning tolerably refreshed; and though our clothes were still wet upon us, neither man, woman, nor child of our party was the worse for their yesterday's drenching."

A Literary Treat.-Ozias Linley having once expressed an inclination to read the 'Memorabilia' of Xenophon, a waggish friend promised to supply him with that beautiful composition, the language of which is simplicity itself, though abounding in the refinements of the Attic dialect. But instead of Xenophon, the wag brought him Euclid's treatise on music in the original Greek,—a work which, being involved in its construction, was nearly unintelligible to him. After a fortnight's labour, Ozias threw the book aside, and told the person who had placed it in his hands, in answer to an inquiry how he liked the Memorabilia,' that he expected to have read more about Socrates, but the dog was so long in getting to him, that his patience was quite exhausted, and he had given up the book in despair.