idea that the eyes of the philosopher sparkled with delight at the splendid setting of the picture, rather than at the picture itself. Then followed a collection of books in the Russian language, which Voltaire admitted that he did not understand; but he admired them, and very justly, as rare specimens of typography, and as being bound in a style of magnificence, befitting an Imperial gift. The last of the presents was a robe, the lining of which was the fur of the black fox, from the Kurile Isles. It was certainly of immense value, and such only as the Empress of Russia could give. The prince, on producing it, begged to be shewn into a darkened room, where, on drawing his hand across the fur, it produced so much electrical fire, that it was possible to read by it. This was ascribed to the extreme closeness or thickness with which the hair was set on the skin. In return for these princely gifts, Voltaire had his portrait drawn by my friend Hubert, in which he was exhibited in rather an extraordinary position, rising out of bed in an ecstasy upon the presents being presented to him. The picture was accompanied by a copy of verses in the empress's praise, in the taste of the period, and, of course, sufficiently nauseous and fulsome."- (From a very curious and amusing publication, entitled Memoirs of Sir James Campbell, of Ardkingglass, written by himself. The writer is the father of Mr. Thomas Sheridan. ANECDOTE OF LORD CARHAMPTON AND COLONEL LUTTREL.-The father and son had long been at daggersdrawing, and it is known that the earl so far forgot himself, in a fit of exasperation, as to send a challenge to his son to fight a duel. "If you can again forget that I am your father," such were the words of this extraordinary message, “I expect you to meet me," &c. The answer of Colonel Luttrel was not less extraordinary. "My lord," he said, "I wish I could at any time forget that you are my father." IB. TAILING A LAWYER.-Oglander, in his Memoirs of the Isle of Wight, written in 1700, gives the following record:-"I have heard, and partly know it to be true, that not only heretofore, was there no lawyer nor attorney in the Isle of Wight, but in Sir George Carey's time, 1558, an attorney coming to settle there was, by his command, and with a pound of candles hanging at his breech, lighted, with bells about his legs, hunted out of the island." STORY OF FASHION.-Sir Philip Calthorp purged John Drakes, the shoemaker of Norwich, in the time of King Henry the Eighth, of the proud humour which our people have to be of the Gentleman's cut. This knight bought on a time, as much French tawny cloth as would make him a gown, and sent it to the tailor's to be made. John Drakes, a shoemaker of that town, coming to this said, tailor's, and seeing the knight's gown-cloth lying there, liking it well, caused the tailor to buy him as much of the same cloth and price, to the same intent, and further bade him to make it of the same fashion that the knight would have his made of. Not long after, the knight came to the tailor's, that he might take measure of his gown, and perceiving the cloth lying there, asked the tailor whose it was. Quoth the tailor, "It is John Drakes', the shoemaker, who will have it made of the selfsame fashion that your's is made of."- "Well," said the knight, "in good time be it. I will have mine as full of cuts as thy shears can make it."-"It shall be done," said the tailor; whereupon because the time drew near he made haste to finish both these garments. Drakes had no time to go to the tailor's till Christmas-day, for serving his customer's, when he hoped to have worn his gown. Perceiving the same to be full of cuts, he began to swear at the tailor for making his gown after that sort. "I have done nothing" quoth the tailor," but what you bid me; for as Sir Philip Calthorp's is, even so have I made your's."- "By my latchet," quoth John Drakes, "I will never wear gentlemen's fashions again!" John GENERAL WOLFE.-Professor Robinson, who when a young man went to the American coast as tutor to the son of Admiral Knowles, used to relate that he happened to be in the boat in which General Wolfe went to visit some of their posts the night before the battle, which was expected to be decisive of the fate of the campaign. The evening was very fine, and the scene, considering the work they were to be engaged in, and the morning to which they were looking, was sufficiently impressive. As they rowed along, the General with much feeling repeated nearly the whole of Gray's Elegy, (which had appeared not long before, and was yet but little known,) to an officer who sat with him in the stern of the boat, adding, as he concluded, that he would prefer being the author of that poem, to the glory of beating the French to-morrow. To-morrow came, and the life of that illustrious soldier was terminated amidst the tears of his friends and the shouts of his victorious army. FEMALE KNIGHTS OF THE GARTER.Three females, and only three, have in this country worn the insignia of the Garter, viz. Lady Harcourt, Lady Gray, and Lady Suffolk. Lady Harcourt was daughter of Sir John Byron, and wife of Sir Robert Harcourt, K. G. (temp. Edward III.) Her tomb is at StantonHarcourt, in Oxfordshire. The garter is above the elbow of the left arm. lt has the motto. There is at NunehamCourtenay, Oxfordshire (the seat of the Earl of Harcourt), over one of the doors of the dressing-room, a painting of that Lady Harcourt, wearing the garter on her arm.-Lady Gray was daughter of John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon and Duke of Exeter. She married, first, Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk; and, secondly, Sir John Gray, K. G. (temp. Henry V.) Sir John was afterwards Earl of Tankerville. Her tomb (now defaced) was in St. Catherine's Church, near the Tower of London.Lady Suffolk was daughter of Sir Thomas Chaucer. She married William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk (temp. Henry VI) Her tomb, with her effigy, wearing the garter on her left arm, is in good preservation in Ewlme Church, in Oxfordshire. known in England, but now almost universally drank. A NEGRO fellow, previous to the revolution, being suspected of having stolen goods in his possession, was taken before a certain Justice of the peace in the county of Philadelphia, and charged with the offence. The negro acknowledged the fact, and made the following decisive defence:"Massa, Justice, me know me got dem tings from Tom, dere, and me tink Tom teal dem too; but what den, massa? dey be only a piccaninny knife and a piccaninny cork-screw: one cost sixpence and tudder a shilling, and me pay Tom for dem honestly, massa.""A very pretty story, truly," said his Worship," you knew they were stolen, and yet allege, in excuse, you paid honestly for them: I'll teach you better law than that, sirrah! don't you know, Pompey, the receiver is as bad as the thief? you must, you black rascal, be severely whipped."" Very well, massa, if de black rascal be whipt for buyin tolen goods, me hope de white rascal be whipt too, for same ting, when you catch him, as well as Pompey.""To be sure," replied the Justice. Why den," says Pompey, "here be Tom's massa; hold him fast, constable; he buy Tom as I buy de piccaninny knife, and the piccaninny corkscrew. He know berry well poor Tom be tolen from him old fadder and mudder; de knife and de corksrew hab nedder." Such was the justice as well as the severity of Pompey's address, that after a short pause, the magistrate, with the consent of Tom's master, dismissed him, and discharged the action. AT St. Patrick's dinner, a warmhearted "gem" was called on for a toast, when he gave the following, involving a genuine spice of over-thewater antithesis:-"Tom Moore-may he never be no more!" The bon vivant stared at one remarking, that two neand that the English of the affair would gatives were equal to an affirmative, be, "May Tom Moore be no more!""By Jprosody? (with an earthquake of enco-s, and that's your Saxon miums on the patriotism of the Lyrist :) but if ever he lives to be no more, the sooner he dies the better!" EPIGRAM. Instalments then-cried Mr. Dun, I care not, if you pay me so; A CONVERSATION IN THE BACK WOODS OF AMERICA." What is the suffered the extreme penalty of the law, and was gibbetted near the place where he committed the foul deed. It appears, that whilst the carniverous tom-tit was feeding on the flesh of the malefactor, he had an eye to a comfortable habitation in the vicinity of so much good cheer; and, as there was no hole in the gibbet-post to suit his purpose, he actually took possession of the dead man's mouth, an he and his mate brought forth a brood of young cannibals; and more than that, they built there the next year, and were equally successful in rearing their young. INSECTS.-The fertility of insects is one of the most striking subjects in their economy. The musca meridiana lays two eggs; a flea, 12; the silkworm, 500; the goat moth, 1,000; various cocci, from 2,000 to 4,000; the wasp, 30,000; the bee, 40,000 or 50,000; the aleyrodes protetella, 200,000; while the termes fatale is computed to lay 211,449,600 in a year. Diary and Chronology. Wednesday, April 18. First Anniversary of the death of that eminent surgeon, John Abernethy. Thursday, April 19. MAUNDY THURSDAY. This day is a commemoration of our Lord's washing the feet of his disciples. Annually, on this day, the lord almoner, or the sub-almoner, relieves as many poor men and as many poor women as agree with the years in the King's age, This practice was instituted by Edward the Third, in the year 1363. On this day, at Rome, called The day of the Lord's Supper, a particular Bull, called BULL in Cena Domina,' is read every year, in the Pope's presence, containing excommunications and anathemas against heretics, and all who disturb or oppose the jurisdiction of the Holy See. After the reading of the Bull, the Pope throws a burning torch in the public square, to denote the thunder of his anathema. Friday, April 20. GOOD FRIDAY.-Holy Friday, or the Friday in Holy Week, was its more ancient and general appellation; the name Good Friday is peculiar to the English Church. It is the anniversary of our Savionr's crucifixion, and has been held as a solemn fast, from the earliest ages of christianity. Saturday, April 21. The fields once more their gay embroidery wear, Sunday, April 22. EASTER SUNDAY. Lessons for the Day.-12 ch. of Exodus, morn. 14 ch. of Exodus, even. . This day commemorates the anniversary of our blessed Redeemer; and is kept with great solemnity in most countries, particularly at Rome, where the Pope assists personally at high mass. Monday, April 23. EASTER MONDAY-ST. GEORGE. The patron saint of England, of whom very little is known. He is said to have been born at Cappadocia, and was a soldier by profession. Having presumed to complain to the Emperor Dioclesian of his cruelties to the Christians, he was, in consequence, thrown into prison, and afterwards beheaded, in the year 303. Tuesday, April 24. Anniversary of the death of the immortal bard of Avon, ætat 52. Mr Brewer, in his Topography of Warwickshire, speaking of Stratford upon Avon, says :-"The most interesting of the ancient domestic structures, is the house in which Shakspeare was born. This building was situate in Henley-street, and remained the property of the Hart family, descended from Jane, the sister of Shakspeare, until 1806, in which year they parted with it by sale. The premises, originally occupied as one dwelling, are now divided into two habitations; the one being used as a butcher's shop, and the other as a public-house, known by the sign of the Maiden's Head. The outer walls of the whole were divided into panels by strong pieces of timber, but a brick front has been substituted in that part of the building now used as a public-house or inn; the ancient form is yet preserved in the other half, or butcher's premises. Illustrated Article. ALICE DACRE; OR, THE GAMBLER'S DAUGHTER. "THEN you have no faith in witches, wraiths, second-sight, and all the wonders wrought by supernatural agency," said my gay young college chum, Frank Evelyn, as we sat together one winter night, in the oriel chamber at the Priory, his paternal estate; (bearing no doubt, that sacred title, from being erected on the site of some monastic establishment, levelled to the dust in the reforming days of the Eighth Harry.) "And yet," continued he, "if you look at my fair ancestress in the corner, and listen to the legend I could tell of her, your scepticism would be put to flight;" and rising, he stirred the already blazing fire into fresh brilliancy, and holding the wax candles to a picture, rallied me on my infidelity, which I confess I persisted in the more steadily, in VOL. IX. hopes of luring him on to the promised story; for Frank was one of those careless creatures, who are apt to whet your curiosity to the utmost, and then fly off to some other subject, leaving you in all the tortures of uncertainty, as to whether you may ever hear the termination of the previous anecdote. His "fair ancestress" was painted in the attire of an Arcadian shepherdess, but with all the free and graceful outlines and classical arrangements of drapery, which distinguish the productions of the Italian school. Her large round pastoral straw hat, with its floating green ribbons and cluster of wild roses, which caught up on one side some of the rich profusion of her fair silken curls, suited the expression of a sweet girlish face, whose features had no pretension to regularity, but to which their smiling youthfulness, and a certain piquant air of archness, gave an indescribable charm; blue eyes, whose "violet light" had more of fire than languor; lips like twin strawberries, 240. fresh with the honey dew of morning, and dimple cheeks tinted with the delicate bloom 'The apple blossom shows,' were the principal beauties of the pastoral nymph; her form was slight and graceful, her attitude airy and Dryadlike, and you might gaze upon her picture, till amid the floating and vary ing light, it almost appeared that with that bounding joyousness of motion, she was about to step forth from her sylvan paradise, to woo you to her dwelling in Arcadia. "Don't you expect," said Frank, smiling, "this prettiest lass that ever ran o'the greensward, this Perdita, to offer you her store of -violets dim, But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, "But come, you must not fall in love, for the original was my great grandmother, so we will remove from the fascination of eyes, whose light has long been in the tomb, to the emerald gleam of my father's veritable Hockheim glasses, whose antique tracing, and good old German inscriptions, never shew to such advantage, as when the rich wine sparkles through the green lustre of its crystal prison; and now we are comfortable again, I will try to confute your sceptical arguments, by the simple facts which have been handed down to the descendants of the fair Alice Dacre. "Sir Reginald Dacre inherited from his ancestors not only their unsullied name, but extended possessions whose revenue was almost princely; his establishment at Dacre Hall, his principal seat, was magnificent in the extreme; and he wedded early in life, the orphan daughter of a noble house, whose rich dowry increased his almost boundless wealth. The beautiful Blanche had been his betrothed from childhood, and blest alike by love and fortune, the heir of the house of Dacre was the brightest star of "exclusive society." Years fled away, and a change was in the hall of his fathers, dissipation had bowed the proud form of Sir Reginald, and the young and broken-hearted Blanche, had faded away into the grave. Gambling, "the worm that dieth not," was the fiend which had blighted his paradise; and the vast possessions of his ancestors, the princely dowry of his bride, were madly cast upon the altar of the demon. Old in heart, and scathed by the confficting passions attending his infatu ated career, Sir Reginald found himself at thirty-five, an irritable hypochondriac, whose morbid feelings could only be excited by the fatal passion which had destroyed him, and whose of the rents attached to the estate of revenues were bounded by the produce Dacre Hall, where he lived in comparative obscurity, a prey to wild and unavailing memories of the past. Alice, his only child, grew up there, disregarded by her father, a lady of nature's own A maid whom there was few to see, but those who did see, loved her. 'In the leafy month of June.' And oh, how sad was their partings, when Dora Evelyn returned to school, and Alice, by the stern decree of her inflexible father remained alone at the hall, with no companion save her own favourite fawn, and a pair of white doves, the parting gift of her friend. Occasionally, she was summoned from her little aviary and her fairy garden, to appear before her father and amuse him with the playful sallies of her wit and youthful gaiety of imagination, (which even solitude, and a certain dread which in spite of herself, mingled with her love for her father, had not the power to repress ;) even the cold heart of the misanthrope seemed yielding to the charm, and the few ancient domestics he retained, dared to hope for smiles once more on the countenance of Sir Reginald. The silvery laugh, and joyous carol of Alice, met with no reproof, and she was allowed to bring her dewy violets and fresh strawberries to his morning meal, at which she presided with looks of sunshine and of love. Sir Reginald appeared about to enter on a new era of his life, a second Eden, the bliss of a peaceful home-the happiness of a father, when a nobleman, one the inseparable associate of his short and splendid career, purchased a huntingbox near Dacre Hall, and with a select party, stormed the "Castle of Indolence," as they called it, and carried |