return have the bill thrown across the table, with the supercilious and loud remark: We don't know the parties.' Tradesman retires affronted, and ever afterwards speaks of the unmannerliness of the bank. There was at the same time another banking establishment in the town, the oldest in the country, which was noted for its civility. It was presided over by Mr F- -, an aged gentleman, who knew the value of a soft word. When a tradesman, as in the former case, was to be refused the discounting of a bill, the old banker came forth from his den, and addressing the would-be customer in a friendly and confidential way, said: 'I am sorry it is not convenient to discount your bill to-day; but be so good as give my compliments to your wife!' Tradesman retires a little chopfallen, but not displeased, and ever after lauds the politeness of the bank.

ENGLISH RESERVE.-Lord Ashburton, in conversing with me at Sir James Clarke's, suggested a reason for the cold formal manners of English servants, which had struck him when he was himself a subaltern of office under Lord Riponbeing then a young man, I presume, and not come to his title. He said when he came into the room of one of his superiors, he observed great formality, that he might protect himself from being treated over-familiarly in his turn. He thinks the English servants have a similar view. It is a defensive

measure.

[In this last sentence, is in a great degree explained the principle of English reserve. To a certain extent, reserve may be imputed to shyness, but it is substantially a defence against over-familiarity and intrusiveness.]

PINKERTON.—In the learned dispute about the Picts between Jonathan Oldbuck and Sir Arthur Wardour, it will be recollected that Oldbuck declared: 'I have the learned Pinkerton on my side.' Pinkerton, who died in 1826, was not only learned, but one of the most laborious and whimsical writers of his time. The man was in a sense mad, and his madness was of a curious kind. It was a maniacal hatred of everything Celtic. This he brought to a climax in his Inquiry into the History of Scotland, preceding the Reign of Malcolm III. a book issued in 1790. A writer in one of the London morning papers touched him off beautifully soon after his decease. Pinkerton maintained that every Celt, be he Scotch, Welsh, Irish, Breton, or Biscayan, is an unimprovable savage. "Shew me," said he, "any Celt that has contributed to the rolls of fame." And, it must be owned, that he had studied family genealogies so indefatigably, that it was no easy matter to knock him down without preparation. If you mentioned Burke-" What," said he, " a descendant of De Bourg? Class that high Norman chivalry with the riff-raff of Os and Macs? Shew me a great O, and I am done." He delighted to prove that the Scotch Highlanders had never had but a few great captains-such as Montrose, Dundee, the first Duke of Argyle-and these were all Goths; -the two first Lowlanders; the last a Norman, a de Campo bello! The aversion he had for the Celtic name extended itself to every person and every thing that had any connection with the Celtic countries. He used to shut his ears, and screw his absurd iron features into a most diabolical grin of disgust, whenever a bagpipe sounded; and I remember once meeting him at a country-house in Scotland, where the landlord was at the pains to have a bed hung with tartan curtains on purpose for his reception, well knowing that some explosion of the most particular frenzy would follow. Pinkerton did not observe anything that night, but he appeared in the morning with a face pale as marble with rage, his little gray eyes lighted up with the most fiery ferret-like wrath. He said nothingnot a word; but ordered a post-chaise immediately after breakfast, and, stepping into it, growled out a good-bye with coarse execrations of his tartan. With this outrageous humour, he was an extraordinary epicure. If a Goth was the first of human beings, a good cook was as certainly the second. Bitterly ferocious, he always softened at dinner. The soup melted him. As for his ap: pearance, he was a very little and a very thin old man, with a very small, sharp, yellow face, thickly studded with small-pox marks, and decked with a pair of green spectacles. Gibbon had patronised him in his youth, and he returned the service by assuring the people of our generation that the historian of the Decline and Fall was really, in spite of his style, a man of considerable talent and discernment.' Considering his sublime hatred of Celts, it is amusing to know that Pinkerton died in Paris, the capital of a Celtic people. Perhaps a love of good cookery explains the incongruity.

CONFUSION OF IDEAS.-My brother W. once found a lady's brooch, which he next day advertised in the newspapers. Shortly after the announcement appeared, he was waited on by a lady who eagerly stated that she had lost a ring, and proceeded to describe it. But,' said my brother, 'it was not a ring that I found; it was a brooch.' 'Oh, yes,' replied the lady, but I thought you might have seen or heard something of my ring!' Phrenologists would call this a want of causality. It looks like a want of common-sense.

THE MONTH:

SCIENCE AND ARTS.

DEAR coal, ships seaworthy and unseaworthy, frozen meat from the antipodes, the difference between voltaic and induced electricity, schemes for further arctic exploration, Sir Samuel Baker's exploits in Africa, Exhibitions in Science at the universities; the opening of the new buildings of the Owens College, Manchester; the education of working men and young children, sleeping-cars on railways-all these and other topics mingle with the special and general talk which the opening of the sessions of the learned and scientific societies and long discussions has once more begun, and never fails to inspire. The period of short days science, art, and literature are going to shew us something worth taking note of.

A SOFT WORD.-The art of saying an unpleasant thing in a perfectly agreeable manner, is a very high accomplishment, which should be studied by all persons liable to be asked for loans. Some years ago there was a banking-house in Edinburgh which gave general offence by the rude way that customers were sometimes addressed. A tradesman leaving a bill for discount, would on his

Some of our leading entomologists are bestirring themselves in favour of insects. It would be exceedingly inconvenient if every lady in the kingdom had three or four names; but for years

past every insect has had to fly about with a batch of names, by any one of which it was supposed to be known. Consequently, catalogues of insects have swollen in size, and identification has become difficult; and for all these reasons the naturalists above referred to are doing what they can to secure that insects shall have but one name. It will be a happy day for the Cimex Babbii when the Smiths, Browns, and Joneses which now confuse and obscure it, are swept away.

Naturalists have not yet told us where herrings come from; but they still come in incredible numbers. The Report of the Scottish herring-fishery for the present year shews that 715,047 'crans' of herrings were taken by the boats employed. Seventy dozen of the fish go to a cran; hence the total number may be ascertained by a little easy arithmetic. The money value of the whole capture is nearly a million and a half sterling; and what adds to the interest of the subject is, that this large sum is earned within the space of three months, and in a narrow strip of sea on the east coast of Scotland.

The noxious effects of mercury on the health of workmen in factories where this metal is used, have often been discussed with a view to a remedy. We now learn that ammonia neutralises its vapours, and that in a looking-glass manufactory in France where the workshops are sprinkled every evening with ammonia, the health of the workpeople does not suffer.

A French periodical states that the sale of artificial eyes in Paris amounts to four hundred a week. The principal place of sale is a handsome saloon, where the man-servant has but one eye, and customers wishing to buy, first judge of the effect of the artificial eye by placing it in the man's empty socket. The best made eyes command a high price; but we are informed that poor folk can be fitted with second-hand eyes on what is called 'reasonable terms.' The demand for artificial eyes is much greater than would commonly be supposed; and large numbers are exported to India, and even to the Sandwich Islands.

A party of American naturalists travelled in 1872 through Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, to collect specimens for the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, Massachusetts. Their Report makes known to us interesting discoveries and important conclusions. They found reason for believing that the bills of birds generally are larger on the Pacific slope of the continent than on the Atlantic slope that on the great arid plains and in the deserts the plumage of birds is less vivid than in other regions. They mention a narrow belt of land stretching northwards from the mouth of the Columbia river, where the annual rainfall is nearly double that of any other district in the United States, and where the birds (and mammals also) not only reassume the brighter colours of the region east of the Great Plains, but in many cases present a depth of colour unequalled eastward in the same latitudes.

To those who have seen or read of the two groves of 'big trees' for which California is famous, it will be interesting that a third grove has recently been discovered in the forest region on the direct route to the Yosemite Valley. The timber generally in that part of the country is of large size; but these giants tower above all, and will no doubt attract tourists from afar. Destruction of forests

goes on so recklessly in America, that in some of the open districts premiums are given for the planting of trees. Abundant foliage is much wanted to improve the climate.

Young folk of the present generation may perhaps see the result of an attempt to repair the mischief occasioned in Italy by the reckless cutting down of forests in bygone years, for the Marquis Ginori has successfully commenced the rewooding of his estates on the slopes of the Apennines, in the neighbourhood of Florence. On a large breadth of mountain which the torrents had swept bare as a turnpike road, he planted oak, ilex, cypress, pine, and other hardy forest trees, and these, after a growth of ten years, form a pretty and promising thicket, which year by year will grow broader and higher, and eventually become a forest. By clever management, the torrents, led into lateral channels, are converted into a friendly source of irrigation, and add to the interest of the experiment. It is to be hoped that the marquis will find imitators among other landed proprietors in Italy: the plains as well as the mountains will benefit thereby, and the climate will become really as agreeable as an Italian climate is fondly but erroneously supposed to be.

A brief but interesting account of a discovery in Egypt is published in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries. An Englishman travelling on the skirts of Sinai noticed small blue stones lying in the beds of dried-up torrents, and brought a few to England, where he learned that they were turquoises of good quality. He went back to Egypt, made further researches, built a house at the junction of three valleys, and, aided by friendly natives, whom he took into his service, he discovered_the_turquoise mines formerly worked by the ancient Egyptians, together with some of their tools, and the places where they ground and polished the stones. So now turquoises are dug from those old rocks and sent to England. Ancient ironworks have also been discovered with huge heaps of slag piled around them. A specimen of this slag on being tested was found to contain 53 per cent. of iron, which favours the supposition that it would pay to smelt the whole mass over again. To protect these valuable deposits, the Pharaohs built fortifications, and a barrack and temple for the troops, relics of which still remain.

In a communication made to the Manchester Philosophical Society, it is stated that a large part of the iron ore of Lancashire was transported by ice from the place of its origin, was then redeposited as drift, and covered by clay and fragments of rock. As the ice melted, the water carried the ore down into crevices and caverns of the limestone beneath, where it is now found quite soft, or what miners call 'puddling ore.' The quantity of iron ore of various kinds in the United Kingdom is so great that, as one of the witnesses said in his evidence before the parliamentary Coal Committee, it will outlast the coal. Even in Cornwall, so renowned for copper and tin, a lode of solid iron ore has been recently discovered, forty feet in breadth and thickness in places, and extending with an average breadth of twenty feet to a length of four miles. And it is now known that miles of smaller lodes exist in the same county.

In India, also, recent surveys have disclosed hundreds of square miles of iron ore-much of it

excellent in quality-and endeavours are to be made to turn it to account, by the erection of smelting-works.

Antiquaries and ethnologists have for years been talking about an 'iron age;' but some of our geologists and mineralogists are now agreed that there never was an iron age, in the sense generally understood, but shew that iron is mentioned in the very oldest literature in the world, and that there never was a period when iron was unknown. A new motor-engine, in which oil is the source of power, has been patented in America. A shower of oil in the form of spray is discharged into the cylinder behind the piston, and, being mixed with air, is ignited at the proper moment by an electric attachment. The consequent expansion drives the piston forward, and the movement of the fly-wheel drives it back, and thus the motion may be kept up for any length of time.

There are now twelve places in Australia where diamonds are found-two being in South Australia, and five each in New South Wales and Victoria. In the Vaal River Territory in South Africa, the diamond district comprises nearly four hundred square miles. In the province of Bahia, Brazil, is a region as yet but imperfectly known, which produces diamonds by thousands, the annual value being estimated at three million dollars. This region is a Tertiary sandstone, a very remarkable fact, and some mineralogists are of opinion that there will be discovered the history of the formation of the diamond. The use of the diamond as a boring-tool is thought to be a modern invention; but there is a tradition in South Africa that the Bushmen of past generations were in the habit of seeking for diamonds along the Vaal, and using them to bore holes in hard stones, which were their tools, implements, and ornaments. To these mineralogical particulars we add a few words spoken by the President of the Royal Society of New South Wales in his last anniversary address: 'We have now evidence that Eastern Australia is what I have often stated, one vast field of mineral wealth. From north to south, and from the coast to the 141st meridian, the western boundary of New South Wales, we know that coal, gold, copper, tin, and in many places lead, and other minerals of less local importance, are found in abundance.'

The telegraph is making good progress in Brazil, and erelong a line will stretch along the coast from one end of that great empire to the other. From Rio de Janeiro an extension will be carried to Monte Video and Buenos Ayres, where a connection with the line that crosses the Andes to Valparaiso can be made. Thus England and Europe will soon be able to send telegrams direct to the far-away port on the Pacific, for in a short time a cable will be laid from Lisbon to Madeira, and thence to St Vincent and Pernambuco. The laying of deep-sea cables seems now to have become a matter of course; and the ease with which broken cable can be hooked up and repaired from great depths is one of the most noteworthy triumphs of modern mechanical enterprise.

a

In Philadelphia has been introduced a system of 'domestic telegraphy,' which, as its name imports, is intended for familiar household use, playing the part of a swift-footed messenger in emergencies, and aiding in the cause of order. The city is parcelled into districts, each with a central office, whence wires are stretched to any house and in

any direction, terminating in a small iron box containing the working apparatus. A ring projects from the box. If this ring is pulled once, a nimble errand-boy speeds from the central office, ready to obey orders; if pulled three times, a policeman makes his appearance, also ready to obey orders; and if the ring be pulled more than three times, it announces that a fire has broken out; and before the fire-engine can arrive, a man rushes in from the same prompt depot with a fire-annihilator strapped to his back. People who wish to take a holiday, may connect all their doors and windows with the central office, then shut up their house, and depart, confident that the slightest attempt at burglary will be at once detected. In this way, as the mayor of Philadelphia remarked, 'electricity is to be reduced from its proud position as a messenger between continents to the humble uses of

domestic life.'

How did the fire break out? is a question too often asked, unfortunately, and too seldom answered. In most instances the answer would be, want of thought. If people did think on the subject, they would not let dangerous rubbish-heaps lie about as they do now. Major Majendie, Inspector of Gunpowder Manufactories, has made known at Woolwich the result of certain experiments which, while of high importance to all engaged in the manufacture or storage of gunpowder, is worth consideration everywhere. In all places where machinery is in work, cotton-waste is used for cleaning and oiling; and this oily waste is suffered to lie about on window-sills and in holes and corners, though liable to set itself on fire with an elevation of temperature to one hundred and thirty or to one hundred and fifty degrees. Thus it may easily happen that sunshine or the heat of a steam-pipe will excite a neglected heap of waste to the burning-point; and in this way we have the answer to the question with which this paragraph begins. The conclusion is obvious: Waste heaps should never be allowed to accumulate.

OUR LOST PET.

SHE went what time the birds of passage sought
The sunny south, our first and only love;
A short and pleasant loan, who only brought
Joy to our hearts awhile, then soared above.

A star dropped where nought star-like long may be
Fair as a day-old flow'ret washed in dew,
With eyes so clear, we fancied we could see

Her soul-the Angel in her-shining through.

Departed hath she, like the first light snow,
Quick melted in the early winter sun;

And all of her we evermore may know

Is, that a marvellous sight hath come and gone.

For now, left lonely as we are again,
Our only darling, gone beyond recall,
Is unto us a vision in the brain,

A dream within the heart, and that is all.

Printed and Published by W. & R. CHAMBERS, 47 Paternoster Row, LONDON, and 339 High Street, EDINBURGH Also sold by all Booksellers.

most of the male bystanders raising their hats, as along the narrow lane came three Hindus, clad in turbans and voluminous eastern robes, short scimitars, with jewelled hilts, flashing at their sides. They were the princes coming to pay their bootmaker a visit; perhaps to order another windowful of incomparable slippers.

Suddenly, as I looked, a feeling of amazement seized me. Behind the Indians, himself languidly acknowledging the salutations, as though he considered they were meant partially for him, advanced a more European person.

"That,' I heard it whispered around me, 'is their interpreter.'

But, surely, that familiar, tall, lank figure could only belong to one being in the world; those large, sallow features shewing under the gold-braided cap, with its white linen folds of sun-protecting curtain falling on the shoulders, could not be mistaken for any other. The interpreter's gaze met mine. He, too, made a start of recognition. Upon his closing the near blue eye in a rapid wink, there was no longer any possibility of doubt. Unquestionably, it was Tom Brims, late of the same shipping-office with myself in London, who was filling the important and dignified post of interpreter to the Indian princes.

Six months before, he had left the Fenchurch Street premises, owing to not being sufficiently appreciated by the heads of the establishment. It was, in fact, at their instance that he departed, to reside with a maiden aunt living somewhere in France. He severed himself from his desk in the best of spirits, making his exit with perfect self-possession, and not without a certain grace; but he had had much experience previously in going through the performance, both at home and abroad. Educated for the Indian service, Tom Brims had gone out to the East; but he reappeared in London in a period of time which could not be considered long, taking into account the distance. The explanation he gave was, that a Hindu potentate wished to adopt him as his successor; but that the governorgeneral of India enviously objected. After this, his stay in India, he said, was made so uncomfortable by intrigues, that he left for England. I will confess that we had thought Tom Brims was in part romancing; here, however, he was with these great Hindu chiefs.

He paused, and solemnly lifting his finger, called to me in some gibberish, such as we had used in Fenchurch Street, and which I knew to mean that he would meet me in five minutes in a shop on the opposite side of the way. The crowd, on seeing and hearing me thus addressed, gave way very respectfully around me. Hats were lifted; a way was indicated for me to advance. I had presence of mind to bow to those making a road for me availing myself of it, I crossed the pavement, and, rather diffidently, passed just within the doorway of the shop. There, in less than the five minutes, Tom Brims came to me.

You unbelieving wretch,' were his first words, 'didn't I always tell you and the other fellows in the office I should make my fortune some day? I did not make one in India when I was there, I know-more fool I was for it; but I shan't be a simpleton this time. Their mahogany Highnesses here are rolling in the rupees I have a lack of ha ha!-I mean to make more than a lac of it.'

t

I grasped Tom's hand, congratulating him, although I hardly knew how to address him, he was so changed altogether, looking so grand in his gold-lace and semi-uniform.

The bootmaker, having discovered that as the his volubility in the absence of Tom, here came princes knew not a word of French, he was wasting smilingly towards us, and reminded him, in the politest way, that he was needed by their Magnificences.

Tom lightly waved him off with his hand. He said aside to me in English: Let them wait. They could not stir a yard without me. I have got them under my thumb completely. They come from Upper India, right away from the known parts, and there is not a man within thousands of miles of us at this moment who could tell a word they say.' He went on to add that it was the luckiest thing in the world. He was on the quay at Marseille when they landed. The interpreter they had brought with them was, poor fellow, killed on the spot by falling headlong into a dock, where a vessel crushed him. He himself stepped forward, was of much service to them, and was appointed straightway.

I told him how delighted I was at his good fortune, but said I must not detain him. The fellows in the office, I assured him, would be equally glad of the news. I was taking my leave. His large features relaxed into a grin, deepening into a chuckle; then, instantly, he put on a most tremendous frown. 'It would never do,' he muttered, for them to see him laughing. If I keep them waiting any longer,' he continued, 'when they get back to the hotel, they'll run their swords through two or three of the poor wretches of their suite. Nobody could hurt them for it, as they are travelling under Ambassadors' Law. I'll stop, if you like.'

You must come to me at the hotel,' he added; come at six o'clock. There will be time for a little chat. We are going to one of the minor theatres to-night; we shall go to the Grand Opera when we come back to Paris from London. They are in a sort of incognito till they reach England, for fear of offending the Indian Secretary.'

He gave me a card of the hotel; taking it, I hastily made my way out into the street, amazed at the coolness with which Tom Brims sauntered towards those fierce magnates.

At six o'clock that evening, instead of being at Tom Brims's hotel, I was some fifty miles away from Paris, hastening on the railway route to Calais on my way for England. The re-extension of my holiday had run out, and I knew that if I had any dispute with my principals in Fenchurch Street I could not hope to tumble into an interpretership to great Indian nabobs. If there was no other reason, I did not know any eastern languages, which was perhaps sufficient. I did not choose to take up Brims's invaluable time, by explaining this; but, before quitting Paris, I posted a letter to him stating it. It was great news I was taking back to the London office. The clerks were only a little less amazed at it, second-hand, than I was in the first instance. Business in the office, I fear, suffered from our watching the newspapers from day to day for the arrival of the great personages in this country.

The intimation was found in the Times on the morning of the fourth day. It appeared among