to be tall. He had a slouching figure, with large, bony, | and prominent shoulders. He was pot-bellied. His skin was white; his hands were long and clammy. His legs were the same size all the way down, and in addition he was knock-kneed. He was very thin, and had a sickly and delicate complexion; but want and toil had served to harden him. He was ugly, and very disagreeable; his head was buried between his shoulders. His hair was coarse, black, and lank. His face was long; his forehead projecting and irregular.. His eyes were small, deep-set, and watery. His temples and cheek-bones were large, and his cheeks were hollow. His nose was flat, his chin sharp; his mouth large, and filled with black and ugly teeth. Naturally, his complexion was pale, and he rouged his face, to avoid looking like a corpse. His voice was like a woman's. His appearance contemptible. The general expression of his face was idiotic. He had the manners of a clown, and the gait of a fool. He had a scar on the left eyebrow, caused by a stone thrown at him; scars beneath both eyes, produced by the incision of a lancet. At his birth, his ears were attached to his head at the outer edges in such a manner as to make it necessary to separate them with a razor. He had marks of scrofula on his neck and legs, and a tumor beneath the knee, which had been punctured thrice. As a child, his great toe was lanced for inflammation, caused by the nail growing into the quick. His nurse had cauterized his left leg. At the back of his head there was a large pointed bone, which protruded in a very remarkable manner. His father, grandfather, and uncle, had each a similar peculiarity, which, indeed, was hereditary in his family. Finally, the son of Monsieur de Caille resembled his mother chiefly in his nose and the lower part of his face. He resembled Mademoiselles le Gouche and St. Etienne, his cousins; but above all, he was like Madame de Lignon, his aunt, and Mlle. la Coulette, his cousin. Such was the description of his person. As to his mind, he was, it was alleged, stupid, and rarely spoke without making some silly remark. It was found impossible to teach him either to read or to write. He was brutal, passionate, quarrelsome, without feeling, and always ili-treated children of his own age. He had a cringing aspect, and the manners of a groom, and fled from the society of respectable people to enjoy that of scoundrels. This description was flatly contradicted by Monsieur Rolland's witnesses; and the soldier's counsel urged that, as Monsieur Isaac de Castellane could not have two noses, two mouths, in short, two faces and two bodies, his was the right portrait. Witnesses were brought who stated that Monsieur de Caille was never at his son's death-bed at all. Others swore that Isaac never could read or write; and to show that this was nothing extraordinary, several instances were cited of persons of good position who were then in the flesh whose education had been left in the same deplorable condition. Other instances of persons who had forgotten to read after they had learned were proved, in order to meet the evidence of those who appeared to remember that Isaac's learning had reached thus far. He Many witnesses swore that the soldier in no way resembled Pierre Mege, in stature, features, complexion, or voice. The attacks upon Monsieur Rolland were resumed. was denounced as a mendacious conspirator, in league with the other members of the family. The evidence in the depositions of Monsieur de Caille was ridiculed as being utterly worthless, coming from a man who had fled from his country as a heretic; and it was urged that the majority of his relations were not to be believed for similar reasons. On the other hand, Monsieur de la Blinière's witnesses knew nothing whatever of the numerous peculiarities said to have been visible in and upon Isaac le Brun. According to their testimony, Monsieur de Caille's son had fine eyes, a well-formed nose, a small rosy mouth, a remarkably well-formed face, and a beautiful complexion. His figure was slight, but firmly and compactly built. He carried himself well, and had a most pleasing expression of countenance. His manners were winning, and his disposition kind. He was a man of high character, and extremely liberal-minded. He was well-informed, full of wit and vi vacity, yet at the same time gentle and unassuming. He spoke French perfectly, and was devoted to the exercise both of body and mind. He was much attached to his own profession of faith, - was pure in morals, fair in his dealings. In fine, he was a scholar, gentleman, and Christian. Four of Isaac's tutors deposed to his having learned to read and write, and to his having studied Greek and Latin at college. Duly attested certificates, signed by the French minister at Geneva, from five different professors, set forth that Isaac le Brun had attended their lectures at Geneva during three years. As it had been urged that he had forgotten to read and write, Monsieur de la Blinière pointed out that the soldier had denied ever having been able to learn to write. With regard to the proofs of Isaac de Castellane's death, certificates were produced from the magistrates at Vevay, establishing the fact. Other depositions were also forwarded, after having been authenticated by the authorities of Berne and the Marquis de Puysieux, the French ambassa dor in Switzerland; amongst others, those of Monsieur le Sage, the minister who attended Isaac le Brun on his death-bed; of Monsieur Second, in whose house he lived; of the doctor, surgeon, and chemist who attended him; of the watcher who had been placed over his body, and who had laid it out; of the undertaker who had prepared the corpse for burial, and placed it in the coffin; and of several others who had attended the sick man during his last illness, and who had subsequently followed him to the grave. Monsieur de Caille further obtained the evidence of twentynine other witnesses, who had known the deceased at Lausanne, and who gave an accurate description of the illness that had eventually carried him off, and of his general appearance. Three of Isaac le Brun's aunts gave similar evidence; and the vicar of the parish of St. Louis at Grenoble deposed that he was present when Madame Rolland received the news of her nephew's death in 1696. This was the principal evidence brought forward in proof of the death of Isaac le Brun; and certainly most people would consider it suthciently convincing; and in the end it proved so. Other proof, however, was forthcoming to show who the soldier in reality was; and this was subsequently placed beyond doubt. Honorade Venelle came forward and swore unhesitatingly that Pierre Mêge was her husband, whom she had married in 1685, and with whom she had cohabited until 1699. Her reasons for keeping so rigid a silence since she first heard of her husband's villanous proceedings were perfectly valid and comprehensible. Had she attempted to verity his statements, her position would have been that of partceps criminis; on the other hand, had she given information as to who he really was, she would in effect have been signing his death-warrant, and she determined to let things take their course, the more so as her position as a married woman was not imperilled until the marriage of Pierre Mêge with Mademoiselle de Serri. Her evidence, coupled with that of many other witnesses, established the identity of the soldier as Pierre Mege, who had enlisted seven times in the French army; against whom a warrant for violence against a clergyman had been issued; who had three times abjured his religion; and who had been guilty of many other vile actions. In this extraordinary case, which stands at the head of the French causes célèbres, no less than three hundred and ninety-four witnesses, who had almost all seen and known Isaac de Castellane, were examined on the impostor's side. Of these, one hundred and ten either swore positively that the soldier was the son of Monsieur de Caille, or that they believed him to be such. Of these one hundred and ten witnesses, twenty said that the impostor resembled Madame Rolland, although not the slightest likeness existed between the two. Sixteen were convicted of falsehood out of their own mouths. One extraordinary fact was elicited during the trial: the journal of Monsieur Bourdin, Isaac de Castellane's maternal grandfather, contained an entry of the names of the five different nurses who had attended his grandson when a child; and these did not correspond with either the Christian or surnames of those examined during this trial; and it was proved that one of them, Martine Esprit, could only have been seven years old at the very time she swore she suckled Isaac le Brun. On behalf of Madame Rolland, one hundred and eightyfour witnesses were examined: of these, thirty-eight swore that the soldier was not the son of Monsieur de Caille; seven, at the Toulon trial, swore the same. All these witnesses agreed with those at Lausanne and Vevay, in their description of Isaac le Brun. One hundred and thirty witnesses swore that the soldier was Pierre Mêge, whom they had known- some fifteen, others twenty, and, again, others twenty-five years. At the Toulon trial, nine gave similar evidence. They showed themselves to be thoroughly conversant with his history to the most minute details. Many of his comrades and superiors in the army, never doubted for a moment that he was the same Pierre Mêge; in fact, on all sides, from those who had known him well, and those who knew but little of him, the cry came that he was no one else but Pierre Mêge. It is to be observed that the whole of the members of the family of De Caille rejected the soldier as an impostor from the very first. Only one relation, who had never seen Isaac le Brun, said he believed in him; but this statement was afterwards withdrawn. Amongst the witnesses of the soldier, there were twenty beggars, subsisting on charity at Manosque, and sixty workmen and peasants, who were unable to read or write. Amongst the witnesses on behalf of Madame Rolland, more than two-thirds were burgesses, lawyers, gentlemen, or clergymen, many of whom had studied with Isaac le Brun. On the 17th March, 1712, thirteen years from the date upon which the impostor first came forward, the supreme court of Paris decided that he was not the son of Monsieur de Caille, but was Pierre Mège. He was again thrown into prison; but the unfortunate Mademoiselle Serri, with whom the impostor had gone through the ceremony of marriage, after the absurd decision of the Provençal Parliament, commenced a suit, conducted by Monsieur Jylouin, in which she sought to obtain an order to oppose the judgment, which made her marriage illegal. This delayed a prosecution for bigamy against Mège, which was to have been at once proceeded with; but before Mademoiselle Serri's case had been terminated, death had summoned him before a higher tribunal. Although it is difficult, within the prescribed limits of a magazine article, to give a faithful account of such a protracted trial, we have endeavored to do so. Much of the evidence has, of course, necessarily been omitted, together with the able speeches of the counsel; but enough has been said to show that boldness and effrontery are principally needed for successful imposture, and that the clearest and most unimpeachable evidence is sometimes scarcely sufficient to combat successfully the fraudulent designs of those who possess such qualities. DANGER FROM LIGHTNING. In WHEN we hear that so many persons are struck by lightning in the course of a year, we are apt to regard the danger from lightning as greater than it really is; and thus the feelings of awe and terror which many experience during the progress of a thunder-storm are too often increased. reality, the danger to which we are exposed during such storms is far from great, more especially in towns. It is well that this should be known, because the effects produced on persons of nervous temperament by the vivid flashes of lightning and the resounding peals of thunder, are sufficiently painful, without that additional and even more distressing terror which the apprehension of real danger commonly produces. Instances have been known of death being occasioned by the dread which a thunder-storm has excited, when the seat of danger was in reality several miles away. There are, however, persons, not otherwise wanting in courage, who experience an oppressive sense of terror apart from the fear of danger when electrical phenom ena are in progress. The Emperor Augustus used to suffer the most distressing emotions when a thunder-storm was in progress; and he was in the habit of retiring to a low vaulted chamber under ground, under the mistaken notion that lightning never penetrates far below the earth's surface. Maj. Vokes, the Irish police-officer, -a man whose daring was proverbial, used to be prostrated by terror during a thunder-storm. We cannot doubt that, in these instances, nervous effects are produced which are wholly distinct from the fear engendered by the simple consciousness of danger. We have said that the danger is small when a thunderstorm is in progress. If we consider the number of persons exposed during a year, in England, to the effects of lightning-storms raging in their immediate neighborhood, and compare with that number the small number of recorded deaths, we shall see that the probability of being struck by lightning is very small indeed. The danger we are exposed to in travelling along the most carefully regulated railway, is many times greater than that to which, under ordinary circumstances, we are exposed when a thunder-storm is raging around us. Yet, in cases of this sort, men do not reason according to the doctrine of chances; nor, indeed, is it desirable that they should. There are measures of precaution which, small though the danger may be, it is well to adopt. In a railway-carriage, it would be foolish to let the mind dwell upon the danger to which we are in reality exposed, since we can do nothing towards diminishing it. But it would be as unreasonable to neglect precautions in the presence of a heavy thunder-storm, merely because the danger of being struck is small, as it would be to neglect the rules which regulate powder-stores, merely because the instances in which fires have been caused by carrying cigar-lights in the coat-pocket, or by wearing iron on the sole of the boot, are few and far between. We have mentioned one precautionary measure adopted by the ancients. The notion that lightning does not penetrate the earth to any considerable depth, was in ancient times a wide-spread one. It is still prevalent in China and Japan. The emperors of Japan, according to Kæmpfer, retire during thunder-storms into a grotto, over which a cistern of water has been placed. The water may be designed to extinguish fire produced by the lightning; but more probably it is intended as an additional protection from electrical effects. Water is so excellent a conductor of electricity, that, under certain circumstances, a sheet of water affords almost complete protection to whatever may be below; but this does not prevent fish from being killed by lightning, as Arago has pointed out. In the year 1670, lightning fell on the lake of Zirknitz, and killed all the fish in it, so that the inhabitants of the neighborhood were enabled to fill twenty-eight carts with the dead fish found floating on the surface of the lake. That mere depth is no protection, is well shown by the fact of those singular vitreous tubes called fulgurites, which are known to be caused by the action of lightning, often penetrating the ground to a depth of thirty or forty feet. And instances have been known in which lightning has ascended from the ground to the storm-cloud, instead of following the reverse course. From what depth these ascending lightnings spring, it is impossible to say. Still, we can scarcely doubt that a place under ground, or near the ground, is somewhat safer than a place several stories above the ground floor. Another remarkable opinion of the ancients was the belief that the skins of seals or of snakes afford protection against lightning. The Emperor Augustus, before mentioned, used to wear seal-skin dresses, under the impression that he derived safety from them. Seal-skin tents were also used by the Romans, as a refuge for timid persons during severe thunder-storms. In the Cevennes, Arago tells us, the shepherds are still in the habit of collecting the cast-off skins of snakes. They twist them round their hats, under the belief that they thereby secure themselves against the effects of lightning. Whether there is any real ground for this belief in the protecting effects due to seal-skins and snake-skins, is not known; but there can be no doubt that the material and color of clothing are not without their importance. When the church of Châteauneuf-les-Moutiers was struck by lightning during divine service, two of the officiating priests were severely injured, while a third escaped, who alone wore vestments ornamented with silk. In the same explosion, nine persons were killed, and upwards of eighty injured. But it is noteworthy that several dogs were present in the church, all of which were killed. It has also been observed that dark-colored animals are more liable to be struck (other circumstances being the same) than the light colored. Nay, more; dappled and pie-bald animals have been struck; and it has been noticed, that after the stroke, the hair on the lighter parts has come off at the slightest touch, while the hair on the darker parts has not been affected at all. It seems probable, therefore, that silk and felt clothing, and thick black cloth, afford a sort of protection, though not a very trustworthy one, to those who wear them. The notion has long been prevalent that metallic articles should not be worn during a thunder-storm. There can be no doubt that large metallic masses, on or near the person, attract danger. Arago cites a very noteworthy instance of this. On the 21st July, 1819, while a thunder-storm was in progress, there were assembled twenty prisoners in the great hall of Biberach jail. Amongst them stood their chief, who had been condemned to death, and was chained by the waist. A heavy stroke of lightning fell on the prison, and the chief was killed, while his companions escaped. It is not quite so clear that small metallic articles are sources of danger. The fact that, when persons have been struck, the metallic portions of their attire have been in every case affected by the lightning, affords only a presumption on this point, since it does not follow that these metallic articles have actually attracted the lightningstroke. Instances in which a metallic object has been struck, while the wearer has escaped, are more to the point; though some will be apt to recognize here a protecting agency rather than the reverse. It is related by Kundmann, that a stroke of lightning once struck and fused a brass bodkin worn by a young girl to fasten her hair, and that she was not even burned. A lady (Arago tells us) had a bracelet fused from her wrist without suffering any injury. And we frequently see in the newspapers accounts of similar escapes. If it is conceded that in these instances the metal has attracted the lightning, it will, of course, be abundantly clear that it is preferable to remove from the person all metallic objects, such as watches, chains, bracelets, and rings, when a thunder-storm is in progress. If, on the other hand, it is thought that the lightning, which would in any case have fallen towards a person, has been attracted by the metal he has worn, so as to leave him uninjured, the contrary view must be adopted. Mr. Brydone considers that a thin chain attached in the manner of a conductor to some metallic article of attire, would serve in this way as an efficient protection. Our own opinion is, that, in general, metallic articles belonging to the attire are not likely to have any noteworthy influence, but that such influence as they do exert is unfavorable to safety. We may agree with Arago, however, that "it is hardly worth while to regard the amount of increased danger occasioned by a watch, a buckle, a chain, pieces of money, wires, pins, or other pieces of metal employed in men or women's apparel." Franklin recommends persons who are in houses not protected by lightning-conductors, to avoid the neighborhood of the fire-place; for the soot within the chimney forms a good conductor of electricity, and lightning has frequently been known to enter a house by the chimney. He also recommends that we should avoid metals, gildings, and mirrors. The safest place, he tells us, is in the middle of a room, unless a chandelier be suspended there. His next rule is not a very useful one. He recommends that we should avoid contact with the walls or the floor, and points out how this is to be done. We may place ourselves in a hammock suspended by silken cords; or, in the not unlikely absence of such a hammock, we should place ourselves on glass or pitch. Failing these, we may adopt the plan of placing ourselves on several mattresses heaped up in the centre of the room. We do not think that such precautions as these are likely to be commonly adopted during a thunder-storm, nor does it seem necessary or desir able that they should be. We have not even the assurance that they greatly diminish the danger. A stroke of lightning which fell on the barracks of St. Maurice at Lille, in 1838, pierced the mattresses of two beds through and through. That glass is a protection from lightning is an opinion which has been, and perhaps still is, very prevalent; yet there have been many instances tending to prove the contrary. In September, 1780, Mr. Adair was struck to the ground by lightning, which killed two servants who were standing near him. The glass of the window had not only offered no effective resistance to the lightning, but had been completely pulverized by it, the frame-work of the window remaining uninjured. Again, in September, 1772, lightning pierced through a pane of glass in a window on the ground floor of a house in Padua, "making a hole as round as if drilled with an auger." It seems to have been established that if a thunder-storm is in progress, a building is in more danger of being struck when many persons are crowded within it, than when few are present. This points to the danger of the course some times followed by the inmates of a house during a thunderstorm. They appear to think that there is safety in society, and crowd into one or two rooms, that they may try, by conversation and mutual encouragement, to shake off the feeling of danger which oppresses them. They are in reality adding, and that sensibly, to any danger there may b "There is,” says Arago, "a source of danger where large assemblages of men or animals are present, in the ascending currents of vapor caused by their perspiration." Like water, moist air is a good conductor of electricity, and lightning is attracted in the same way- though not, of course, to the same extent by an ascending column of vapor, as by a regular lightning-conductor. It is on this account, probably, that flocks of sheep are so frequently struck, and so many of them killed by a single stroke. Barns containing grain which has been housed before it is quite dry, are more commonly struck by lightning tha other buildings, the ascending column of moist air being probably the attracting cause in this case, as in the former. When we are overtaken by a thunder-storm in the open air. precaution is more necessary than within a house. It is well to know, especially when no shelter is near, what is the most prudent course to adopt. It has been stated that there is danger in running against the wind during a thunder-storm, and that it is better t walk with than against the wind. One should even, it is said, if the wind is very high, run with the wind. The rationale of these rules seems to be this: a current of air is produced when we run against the wind, the air on the side turned from the wind being rarer than the surrounding air. A man so running "leaves a space behind him in which the air is, comparatively speaking, rarefied" Lightning would be more likely to seek such a space for its track than a region in which the air is more dense. A instance is recorded in which, during a gale, lightning actually left a conductor which passed from the mast a ship to her windward side, in order to traverse the space of rarefied air on the ship's larboard side. It is quite certain that trees are very likely to be struck by lightning, and, therefore, that it is an exceedingly dangerous thing to stand under trees in a storm. No con sideration of shelter should induce any one to adopt dangerous a course. The danger, in fact, is very much greater when heavy rain is falling, since the tree, loaded with moisture, becomes an efficient lightning-conductar For similar reasons, it is dangerous to seek the shelter of a lofty building (not protected by a lightning-conduc or) ia a thunder-storm. One of the most terrible cata: tophe known in the history of thunder-storms occurred to a crow of persons who stood in the porch of a village church waiting till a thunder-shower should have passed away. In the open air, when a heavy thunder-storm is progres ing, and no shelter near, the best course is to place considered a distance of about fifteen or twenty feet the best. Henley also considered five or six yards a suitable distance in the case of a single tree. But when the tree is lofty, a somewhat greater distance is preferable. The reader need hardly be reminded, perhaps, that the necessity for taking these precautions only exists when the storm is really raging close at hand. When the interval which elapses between the lightning-flash and the thunderpeal is such as to show that the storm is in reality many miles away, it is altogether unnecessary to take precautions of any sort, however brilliant the flash may be, or however oud the peal. It must be noticed, however, that a storm often travels very rapidly. If the interval of time between he lightning and the thunder is observed to diminish narkedly, so that the storm is found to be rapidly approaching the observer's station, the same precautions should at once be taken as though the storm were raging mmediately around him. So soon as the interval begins o grow longer, it may be inferred that the storm has passed ts point of nearest approach, and is receding. But the aws according to which thunder-storms travel are as yet very little understood; and it is unsafe to assume that because the interval between flash and peal has begun to ncrease after having diminished, the storm is therefore certainly passing away. It must be in the experience of all who have noted the circumstances of thunder-storms, that when a storm is in the neighborhood of the observer, the interval between the flash and the thunder-peal will often increase and diminish alternately several times in succession. It is only when the interval has become coniderable, that the danger may be assumed to have passed way. FOREIGN NOTES. Ar Milan a dramatic novelty, entitled "Beethoven," has ately been performed with success. A VINCENNES photographer advertises: "Babies taken and finished in ten minutes;" which is rough on the rising generation. VICTOR HUGO is to receive a franc and a half a line for ais new romance, "Peuple Souverain." THE death of Señora Bonita Moreno, in a village in Estramadura, at the age of eighty, is announced. She and her sister were the prime donne who introduced Italian operas into Spain. In its news from the Diamond Fields, the Cape Standard says that diamonds are drugs now, and that drugs are diamonds: that is to say, a very small quantity of quinine is worth a big precious stone. THE Illustrirte Zeitung states that for the prizes instituted by King Ludwig for the best dramatic work, to be performed at the Munich Volkstheater, fifty-one pieces have been sent in. MR. DISRAELI is said to be at work upon another novel, which will be published before the close of the season. It is said that Mr. Swinburne has written a poem on the death of Mazzini, which will appear in one of the April magazines. FIVE of the leading Paris publishers are making efforts to secure the copyright of "The Memoirs of Talleyrand," which will shortly be given to the world, and published in five languages simultaneously. THE following is the balance-sheet of the Cairo Opera for the season just passed: Receipts, 277,000 francs; ex penses, 1,000,000 francs; deficit to be made good by the Khedive, 723,000 francs. Opera doesn't pay in Cairo. THE author of that wonderfully successful child's book, "Alice in Wonderland," and of the equally popular one published this year called "Through the Looking-glass," who writes under the name of "Lewis Carroll," is Canon Lightfoot, of Christ Church, Oxford. CHARLES READE and Anthony Trollope are at work on a humorous drama for one of the London theatres. The subject chosen for dramatizing is Mr. Trollope's Ralph the Heir," which was published in St. Paul's about a year ago. There is one superb comedy character in the novel, - Mr. Neefit, the tailor. AT Geneva, this summer, on the occasion of the Congress of Schoolmasters, to be held in that city, July 27 to Aug. 5, there will be exhibited a collection of school manuals, maps, plans, globes, school furniture, and other materials used in the work of instruction, not only in Switzerland, but in other countries as well. AT Paris they are seeking to repair the loss of the library of the Hôtel de Ville, burned during the last days of the Commune, by collecting a new one at the Musée Carnavalet. This is said to contain already a great many works, among which are as many as two thousand volumes relating to the Franco-German war, and the communal insurrection. RIZK ALLAH HASSOUN EFFENDI, the well-known Arabic poet, author of the "Tarikh al Islám," &c., has established a printing-press in England, for the production of standard Oriental works. The types, which have all been cut under Hassoun Effendi's personal supervision, are very elegant, and much more simple than those ordinarily in use. THE world can boast of at least one man who was insensible to political ambition. An old sergeant-major named Leroy died lately at Lyons, after refusing to avail himself of an opportunity to become a legislator. Leroy was elected for Lyons in 1849, but would not accept the mandate, preferring the less dangerous but more tranquil occupation of a gardener, which he fulfilled to his death. AT a sale at the Hotel Drouot, of the collection of stringed instruments left by the late M. Durand-Dubois, an undoubted Amati-violin was sold for 810 francs, and a magnificent alto, by Stradivarius, for 4,800 francs. This last had been brought several years back from Italy by M. Tarisio, a dealer well known to the luthiers of Paris and London, and was purchased from him by M. Vuillaume, the violin-maker, who disposed of it to the late owner, now deceased. The present possessor is M. Maulaz, an amateur, of Paris, well known for his extensive accumulation of fine instruments. A GOOD story is told of M. Taine. Max Muller, it is said, went to the dining-room of a hotel in Oxford, and there saw Taine sitting with a dish of roast beef and vast quantities of buttered toast. The learned German was surprised at the combination, and at the large quantities of the toast. Is that a French dish?" he asked. "No," said Taine; "but they keep on bringing it to me, in spite of all I can say to the contrary." "What did you ask for?" observed his friend. "Why," replied Taine, "I keep telling them to bring pottertos, and each time they bring me a fresh dish of toast. Mr. Taine's pronunciation of "potatoes" was so much like "buttered toast," that the astonished waiter could not be blamed. THE treasures of Notre Dame, which already comprise a number of precious objects, are about to be increased by the addition of a veritable historical relic, in the shape of the cossack worn by Monseigneur Darboy on the day of his death. It is a violet vestment, well worn, stained with dirt and blood, and showing distinctly the marks of bullets. The curious, who visit the church of Notre Dame, may now see the cassocks of the three archbishops of Paris, who died by assassination, of Monseigneur Affré, killed on the barricade of St. Antoine; of Monseigneur Sibour, killed in the church of St. Etienne du Mont; and of Monsigneur Darboy, killed in the prison of La Roquette. ALL Paris is at present laughing over a clever smuggling device which the vigilant French octroi men have just detected. The heavy duties on spirits have of course made the smuggling sisterhood (most of the smuggling nowadays is by women) doubly eager to bring into Paris an extra quantity of the precious liquors; and this they have accomplished in a most ingenious manner, viz., by wearing zinc corsets," provided with rotundities which can easily contain four or five gallons of brandy." For a time the trick succeeded admirably; but at length the officers began to be suspicious of the magnificently developed busts, which contrasted oddly in some of the ladies with the “ "inadequate necks and faces." A staff of female searchers was enrolled, and the cheat discovered. ONE of the most striking features in French political persecutions is their surprising thoughtlessness. "Alarmed," says a Paris paper, "by the number of Communalists who have been set at large, the Préfecture de Police has just decided that all men having taken a part in the insurrection of 1871, shall be debarred from exercising the professions for which a police license is needed; such as cab-driver, commissionnaire, scavenger, hawker, &c." It is difficult to perceive what can be the object of such an order as this, unless it be to drive the liberated men into rebellion again. By all accounts, the Communalists do not find it very easy to get employment in private houses; but if they are to be prevented from earning their bread honestly in public careers, what is to become of them? It looks as if M. Thiers hoped to settle the "question sociale" by starving all the troublesome classes into emigration. PROF. HEINRICH WEISHAUPT, of Munich, author of several treatises on lithography, and one of the inventors of chromolithography, he having produced the first chromolithographs in Germany, at the time when Engelmann was doing the same thing in France, writes as follows to a gentleman of this city, who sent him some specimens of the publications of L. Prang, & Co.: "These exquisite productions of American color-printing, from the world-renowned establishment of Mr. L. Prang, are of very great interest to me; and I have seen from them that they do indeed by far excel the best European color-prints. It is obvious that this process has reached the highest summit of its development in America, and in view of such perfect reproductions of oil paintings it only remains to be wished, that the classical works of our most eminent German and other painters be widely distributed by these means, so as to aid the cause of general intellectual culture, and of a true love for art." Prof. Weishaupt being an expert in these matters, his testimony is certainly very flattering to L. Prang & Co., and ought to convince all who persist in lauding European chromos and decrying those published by the firm just named. SPEAKING of Dr. Shelton Mackenzie's "Life of Scott," the London Spectator remarks: "The enthusiasm of our friends on the other side of the Atlantic about some of the literary celebrities of the old country,' is giving us some very good books. Such is a work which we noticed two or three months ago, -Mr. Hunnewell's Lands of Scott,'and such, though of a less elaborate kind, is the volume before us. It gives, taking Lockhart's life as its basis, in a moderate compass, as good a biography of Scott as we have seen. The criticism is appreciative, without being extravagant; and the writer avoids the idolatry of his subject, which is the too common fault of biographers. At the same time, he has carefully collected all available materials, employing some that have not before been published." "Dr. Shelton Mackenzie," says the Liverpool Daily Post, in quoting the above paragraph, "was formerly connected with the Liverpool press, and is now the editor of one of the most distinguished newspapers in Philadelphia. He excels all the men we ever knew in his perfect knowledge of modern literature and modern authors. He knew the whole story of both minutely; and, when necessary, he could relate the facts connected with them succinctly, forcibly and elegantly. As we knew him well, we are delighted to see from this notice that he still retains, in great perfection his intellectual vigor." A FRENCH inventor has patented an apparatus for swinmers; but we think that any frog might bring an action against the man for infringement of a device secured to the batrachians by endowment of nature. For the hands he has a large membranous fin, which is held in its place by loops passing over the fingers and a strap around the wrist. The surface presented to the water by these fins is so large as to add greatly to the effectiveness of the strokes of the arm, but not so large as to exhaust the muscular power. Their effect is to reduce very much the effort required to swim without them. But the greatest ingenuity is dis played in the form and fitness of the fins for the legs, which are attached to the ankles, and are so formed that they act upon the water, both in the movement of bringing the legs together and throwing them back. They act so finely in "treading water," as swimmers call it, that one can really walk, if not on the water, at least in it. The difference between swimming with this apparatus and without it, is very much like the difference between rowing a boat with the handle and the blade of an oar. The old swimmer has no trouble in using the fins at first trial, and is surprise! to find with what ease he can swim without exhausti He easily swims twice as fast with the apparatus as witho it, and he can sustain himself for hours upon the water, or swim miles with it. THE WIND IN THE STREET. A COUNTRY wind is in the street; |