gentle, and conscientious. Perhaps he was too delicate for the rude tempers of the world; and he was like a tender plant, which could not bear the rough air, and tempests, and frosts.

PETRARCH AND LAURA.-A manuscript, on parchment, has been discovered in the archives of Montpellier, consisting of a series of poems in the Provençal tongue. They are thought to have been from the pen of Petrarch. They make frequent mention of Laura, of Vaucluse, of Rome, and of his coronation there. Petrarch, it is known, studied jurisprudence at Montpellier.

THE SHADDOCK contains generally thirty-two seeds, two of which only will reproduce Shaddocks; and these two it is impossible to distinguish: the rest will yield, some sweet oranges, others bitter ones, others again forbidden fruit, and, in short, all the varieties of the orange; but until the trees are actually in bearing, no one can guess what the fruit is likely to prove; and even then, the seeds which produce shaddocks, although taken from a tree remarkable for the excellence of its fruit, will frequently yield only such as are scarcely eatable.-Lewis's Journal. FRENCH TRAVELLING. A company has just been formed in Paris to accelerate stage coach travelling; a much lighter vehicle has been adopted, called a véloce, having four coupés, with three places in each, the first to be 1fr. 10c, the post, and the rest 1fr. throughout the whole line of route, including all charges. The company intend to commence operations next month. A lighter vehicle is contemplated for the Calais and Dieppe roads. A card of fixed prices for refreshments, adopted by the company, will prevent John Bull from suspecting imposition.

FOREIGN ROBBERY.-A letter of the 4th ult. from Bologna announces that the diligence between that city and Rome had again been stopped and plundered between Faenza and Forli. Among the booty was the sum of 3,000 Roman crowns, belonging to Cardinal Maffei. The robbers who carried off the golden armilla have been taken and the gold recovered, though it had been melted down. The Museum of Bologna possessing a drawing of the armilla, intends to have it recast, to resemble as nearly as possible the ancient one.

AN ANCIENT TOMB.-The following is an extract of a letter from Kertsch, in Russia :-"The director of our Museum has found on the hill of Mithridates an ancient tomb, containing a coffin of cypress wood, in very good preservation, in which there were two skeletons. On the top there were two earthen amphora; on one of which is the figure of a dog in relief, with the Greek inscription Skulade.' At

the feet of the skeletons were two vases in alabaster, a metallic mirror, a small cup painted black, and another beautiful vase, ornamented with designs in red. On one of the sides of this vase the figures of the three fatal sisters, with their attributes, are distinctly marked. Although this vessel has suffered much from time to time, there remain traces of gilding, and of the oil colours in which the garments of the figures were painted. The vase is valuable from its remote antiquity, it be ing well known that the manufacture of these vases ceased on the conquest of Greece by the Romans. It has also an additional interest from the circumstance of there never having been any object of the same kind hitherto found at Kertsch, or in any other part of New Russia."

WHEN TO LEAVE OFF DRINKING.When you feel particularly desirous of having another glass, leave off-you have had enough. When you look at a distant object, and appear to see two, leave offyou have had too much. When you knock over your glass, spill your wine upon the table, or are unable to recollect the words of a song you have been in the habit of singing for the last half-dozen years, leave the company-you are getting troublesome. When you nod in the chair, fall over the hearth-rug, or lurch on a neighbour's shoulders, go home-you are dead drunk.

PROBABLE EFFECT OF TEMPERANCE.— The last report of the American Temperance Society, showing the inconceivable mischiefs resulting from their consumption of ardent spirits, states that-one hundred million dollars was a sum far less than was annually lost to the United States by this destructive traffic-a sum which would purchase 4,000,000 sheep, 400,000 head of cattle, 200,000 cows, 40,000 horses, 500,000 suits of men's clothes, 1,000,000 of boys' ditto, 500,000 women's ditto, 1,000,000 girls' ditto, 1,200,000 barrels of flour, 800,000 barrels of beef, 800,000 of pork, 3,000,000 bushels of corn, 2,000,000 bushels of potatoes, 10,000,000 lbs. of sugar, 400,000 lbs. of rice, and 2,000,000 gallons of molasses; it would also build 1,000 churches, support 2,000 ministers of the Gospel, build 8,000 school houses, furnish 500,000 newspapers, and all in a single year!

MODEL OF A PYRAMID.-At the Duke of Sussex's late conversazione, at Kensing ton Palace, the attraction of the evening was a splendid model of the great pyramid of Cheops, composed of 43,000 pieces of cork, and a vertical section of the pyramid, from which it appears that the pyramid was not only built upon, but round a rock, which, it is stated, rises in the centre of the pyramid 130 feet, on the apex of which is situate what is called the Queen's

Chamber. The pyramid was originally covered with plaster or mortar, which made the surface even, and thus rendered the ascent so difficult as to be accounted by the ancients a great feat: this plaster having now fallen off, the ascent is easy.

HORRIBLE SUTTEE.-(From the Bombay Courier of Sept. 28.)-The Rajah of Eedur, a small independent state beyond the British frontier in Guzerat, died in the afternoon of the 12th of August last; and when the event, which was for some little time concealed, became known to his household, seven of the Ranees (his wives) rushed into the apartment where the dead body lay. The mother of the present young Rajah was alone ignorant of the fact of the death, being detained in her room by the Karbarees, or native ministers. On the morning of the 5th the above seven Ranees, two concubines of different castes from the Rajah, one personal man-servant, and four female slaves, were taken down with the corpse and burnt with it, before the whole assembled population of Eedur. Every body of influence is stated to have aided in the horrid tragedy; and not a single person, either connected with the Rajah's family, or otherwise, appears to have interposed a solitary effort, by word or deed, to prevent these fourteen unfortunate people from taking the fatal step of burning with their chief's body. On the contrary the greatest alacrity was shown on all sides to complete this infamous outrage. One of the Ranees was several months advanced in pregnancy; another, who had throughout shown a disinclination to sacrifice herself, had only been married nineteen months to the Rajah, and was under twenty years of age. Just before the lighting of the funeral pile, the eldest Ranee (sixty years of age) addressed the Karbarees, saying that "she herself had always determined to burn with the Rajah, and that no expostulation would have turned her from her purpose, but that it was strange she had not heard one word of dissuasion or compassion expressed by any one." She concluded her remarks by desiring them to go and live on the plunder they were securing to themselves by the destruction of their chief's family. The Karbarees were influenced, it is understood, in sparing the life of the surviving Ranee, as she is the mother of the late Rajah's only son, and her loss might have been injurious to their interest. An extensive pillage of the Rajah's personal property, consisting of various valuables in jewels, &c., is stated to have taken place for the benefit of the Karbarees.-Well may Mr. Poynder (the director) urge the East India Company, and the public to use every influence to put an end to such unparalleled atrocities!

And yet he stands as it were alone in the cause the reader, even, reads and forgets the occurrence.

KITES IN THE AIR.-The kite has, from the extent of its wings and tail, very great command of the atmosphere and possession of itself in that element. It does not bear along in straight lines, but wheels in curves, which it is constantly opening and closing, and always in a smooth and graceful manner, without any jerks: and if it were possible to trace a day's path of a kite, it would be a very fine specimen of looped curves. The kite can hover for a long time over the same spot, with very little exertion of the wings, and though there is a fresh breeze; and there are times (probably when it has lost sight of some prize on the ground, or discovered that the prize over which it was hovering was no prize at all) at which it will "give itself to the wind," and drift to leeward in very beautiful style, and apparently with complet self-possession. Kites will also sometimes turn down the wind to escape the more powerful falcons, which, though they do not attack the kite, often frighten it, and make it lose its prey: and as going down the wind is not a habit of the falcons, the kite gets away from them by the manœuvre. That manœuvre, though held in great contempt by the falconer, is by no means an ungraceful or an uninteresting one: the bird rides lightly on the wind, but retains its self-command, so that it can take a new direction whenever it pleases. The axis of its body is placed at an angle to the wind, which is smaller in proportion as that is stronger, and the windward wing is elevated, so that the wind takes the under side at an angle, and tends to raise the bird obliquely upward, while its weight presses downward and counteracts. When looked at, the bird always has in these cases the appearance of descending as it drifts: but that is an optical deception; for all things that are higher than the eye appear to descend as they recede, even though they are rising, and the kite may often be observed to have gained height while thus appearing to float downward. If on these occasions an alarm is given, the bird hauls closer to the wind and makes off.-Mudie's British Birds.

A FEMALE GUARD.-The Nizam has guard formed entirely of women. These Amazons are under a state of military discipline, can go through the manual and platoon exercises of the general drill. An European officer, whose curiosity had been excited to se this female prætorian band, observed with astonishment that the big drummer, or rather the beater of the big drum, had her instrument suspended behind, instead of having it in the usual position, and was in this attitude hammering away with great execution.

CHANGE OF FORTUNE. - Rowland Stephenson, the once wealthy London banker, whose society was sought for by nobles, whose parties were every thing that was stylish; whose dinners were rivalled only by Sir William Curtis in the east, or Lord Sefton in the west; whose influence and character in the world stood high, and apparently immovable, impervious, and unimpeachable, is now the mere creature of passing charity, the object of common bounty, of mere eleemosynary aid and support. For years he has been the inmate of a debtors' gaol in New York, which is described as one of the most loathsome

prisons in the world, and has been fed and clothed by the hand of the stranger.

A RICH BEGGAR.-An old woman of Calais, who lived upon alms, having lately died, a sum of no less than 10,000 francs in different kinds of coin was found in the hovel which she occupied.

COINS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.The number of coins purchased by the British Museum between Christmas, 1832, and Christmas 1833, was 3,968, of which 659 were pennies of William the Conqueror; 296 were coins of the Kings of Northumberland, and of the Archbishop of York; and 2,012 Greek and Roman.

BIRTHS.

Mar. 7th, at Middleton Rectory, near Manchester, the lady of the Rev. C. J. Way, of a daughter-Mar 10th, at Woodford, Essex, Mrs. John Knowles, of a daughter-In Bruton-street, the lady of George La Touche, Esq., of a daughter-Mar. 8th, at Hampstead, Mrs. P. Earle, of a daughter-Mar. 7th, at Hook, near Odiham, Hants, the lady of the Rev. E. R. Larken, of a son-Mar. 15th, at Lynn, the lady of the Rev. Ambrose Goode, chaplain to the Hon. East India Company, of a daughter-Mar. 15th, in Bruton-street, Mrs. Beauvoire Berens, of a son-Mar. 17th, Lady Susan Lygon, of a son-Mar. 19th, in Brutonstreet, the lady of B. Travers, Esq. of a

son.

MARRIAGES.

Mar. 4th, at Alne, Vaughan Edwards Vaughan, Esq., of Rheola and Lanely, Glamorganshire, to Harriet Amelia, second daughter of Edward Swainston Strangways, Esq., of Alne Hall, Yorkshire-Feb. 28th, at Cardross, Dumbartonshire, Captain William Edward Alured Elliott, 29th Regiment Madras Native Infantry, to Isabella, eldest daughter of the late Thomas Ritchie, Esq., of Greenock -Mar. 6th, at Dover, Robert Shore Milnes Bouchette, son of the Surveyor-General of Canada, to Marianne, daughter of the Hon. Herbert Gardner-Mar. 11th, at Blantherwycke, Gerard Noel Hoare, Esq., nephew to Lord Barham, to Sophia Lilias, daughter of Stafford O'Brien, Esq., of BlatherwyckeMar. 15th, at Brighton, P. Stewart, Esq., Bombay civil-service, to Matilda Frances. daughter of the late W. Dawson, Esq., of St. Leonard's-hill, Berks-Mar. 18th, in Cavendish-square, the Earl of Kerry to the Hon. Miss Ponsonby, daughter of Viscount Duncannon-Mar. 17th, at Gretna-green, and again at Marylebone on the 19th, C. F. Schrader, Esq., to Harriet, daughter of General Northey Hopkins, of Overpark, BucksMar. 18th, Rev W. G. Moore, Rector of West Barkwith, and Vicar of Stixwold, in the county of Lincoln, to Emily Ann, widow of Major G. H. Rigby, late of the H. I. C.'s service-Mar. 18th, at Aston, Warwickshire. by the Rev. J. Smith, M.A., Mr. J Kendall, junior partner in the firm of Kendall and

Sons, to Harriet, youngest daughter of the late T. Mole, Esq., of the Poplars, near Birmingham,

DEATHS.

Mar. 6th, of consumption, Mr. John Morris, nine years mathematical master in Uxbridge school-Mar. 7th, at his residence, Counterhill. New Cross, from a sudden fit of apoplexy, Mr.Thomas West, formerly of Threadneedle-street, London-Mar. 8th, at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, in the 70th year of his age, Major Gen. Sir George Bulteel Fisher, K.C.H., Commandant of the GarrisonMar. 7th, suddenly, at Old Brompton, in the 45th year of her age, Mrs. Charles Maude, widow of the late Charles Maude, Esq., of the Ordnance Department Mar. 9th, at Ramsgate, aged 72 years, John Henry Campbell, Esq., formerly Major to the 23d Regiment of Royal Welsh Fuzileers - Mar. 8th, the infant daughter of the Solicitor-GeneralMar. 2d, at Paris, Charles Henry Templeton, Esq., late of Trinity College, Cambridge, son of Thomas Templeton, Esq., formerly of Calcutta-Mar. 9th, at Brighton, William Biknell, Esq., in the 82d year of his ageMar. 7th, R. Best, Esq., late Secretary of the Bank of England, in the 87th year of his age -Mar. 17th, at her residence in Southampton-place, Euston-square, deeply and deservedly lamented by her family and friends, Mary, widow of the late John George Graeff, Esq., in her 59th year-Mar. 14th, of a rapid decline, Mr. J. Palmer, Governor of St. Martin's Workhouse-Mar. 17th, in Devonshirestreet, aged 76, Mrs. Morier, relict of Isaac Morier, Esq. late Consul General at Constantinople--Mar. 16th, at Dublin, aged 73, Mrs. Bunn, mother of the lessee of Drurylane and Covent-garden-Feb. 28th, at Brussels, the Right Hon. Lady Charlotte Adelaide Constance Fitzgerald.-Mar. 17th, at Mecklenburg square, Robert Barron, Esq., aged 62-Mar. 12th, at Wiesbaden, Eliza, wife of Captain Gardiner-Mar. 16th, Daniel Capel, Esq., late Captain of the 14th Light Dragoons, third son of the late W. Capel, Esq., of Prestbury-house, near Cheltenham-Mar. 19th, at Westhorpe, near Southwell, Notts, Charlotte Anne, only daughter of R. Warrand, Esq., aged one year and ten months.