MR. FOX'S ESTIMATE OF FRENCH CHARACTER.

IN one of the latest days of Fox, the conversation turned on the comparative wisdom of the French and English character. "The Frenchman," it was observed, "delights himself with the present; the Englishman makes himself anxious about the future. Is not the Frenchman the wiser?" "He may be the merrier," said Fox: "but did you ever hear of a savage who did not buy a mirror in preference to a telescope?”

Chronicle.

THE BARBER.

LORD ERSKINE having been disappointed, when a student at Cambridge, of the attendance of the college barber, was compelled to forego his commons at Hall. In revenge, he determined to give his hair-dresser a dressing-so he sat down and began a parody on "Gray's Bard:"

"Ruin seize thee, ruthless Coe,

Confusion on thy frizzing wait!
Hadst thou the only comb below,

Thou never more shouldst touch my pate!

Club, nor queue, nor twisted tail,

Nor e'en thy chatt'ring, barber, shall avail
To save thy horsewhipp'd back from daily fears,
From Cantab's curse, from Cantab's tears."

Examiner.

A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY

OF

REMARKABLE EVENTS FOR THE YEAR 1824.

JAN. 6.-Thurtell, Hunt, and Probert, tried at Hertford for the murder of Weare; the trial lasted two days, when Thurtell and Hunt were convicted, and Probert admitted an evidence for the Crown. Thurtell was executed on the Friday following, and Hunt's sentence was commuted to transportation for life.

12. James Such, a student of Trinity College, Cambridge, was convicted of a gross fraud upon various booksellers there, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment.

14. Lord Cochrane created Marquis of Maranham, besides several other titles of nobility, by the Emperor of the Brazils. An Association formed in London for working the principal mines of Mexico.

14. New Literary Society established in Edinburgh, of the nature of the Roxburgh Club, for the republication of scarce and curious

tracts.

15. Mr. John Hunt of the Examiner tried in the Court of King's Bench, and found guilty of publishing a Libel on his late Majesty George the Third, in a work called the "Liberal,” on the prosecution of the mis-called-Constitutional Association.

20. The King of Spain, by Edict, abolishes the Political Constitution of the Indies, and places affairs exactly as they were in

1820.

FEB. 3.-Parliament opened by Commission-the speech, a flattering picture of the increasing prosperity of the nation— Consuls appointed to the free Provinces of America; declaration of a strict neutrality on the part of England in the war between France, the Allies, and Spain. No amendment was moved in either House.

3. The Government of the Netherlands contract for the

erection of a monument, on the plains of Waterloo, to commemorate the victory obtained there by Great Britain and her Allies over Napoleon; the cost estimated at 12,000l. sterling.

Feb. 12. Advices received from Zante, of Lord Byron, Col. Leicester Stanhope, and several other literary and military cha racters rendering essential service to the Greeks.

21. Notification in the Gazette, of hostilities having commenced against the Regency of Algiers, for refusing reparation for an insult offered to the flag of the British Consul.

21. The Bey of Tunis compelled to give up the Greek captives forcibly taken from a British vessel.

21. The Emperor of the Brazils gives a new and liberal constitution to the Brazilian States.

23. The Chancellor of the Exchequer brought forward his financial arrangement for this and two succeeding years; when, after proposing various new grants for repairs at Windsor Castle, the building of new churches, and establishment of a national gallery of paintings, and purchase of the Angerstein pictures for 57,000l. all of which were agreed to, he declared the intention of government to remit a million of taxes annually! should the peace continue. At the same time it was agreed to liquidate the 4 per cent. then standing at 75 millions, by commuting them annually, until the whole should be paid off.

24. Mr. Williams brought forward his motion for a Committee to inquire into the forms and practices of the Court of Chancery, when Mr. Peel suggested the issuing of a Commission, which was agreed to.

26. Mr. Abercromby moved for leave to bring in a Bill for the more effectual representation of the City of Edinburgh in Parliament, which was rejected by a majority of 92 to 75.

MARCH 6.-Advices received of a great mortality prevailing at Rome, in consequence of the intense cold.

6. Interesting information received of the success of the Greek cause; Col. Liecester Stanhope succeeds in establishing a corps of artillery; Lord Byron the soul of the Greek cause; remonstrance of the Porte in consequence of the interference of his Lordship and other illustrious Englishmen, to our Ambassador Lord Strangford.

6. Sir Harry Neal maintains a strict blockade off Algiers.

March 6. Serious disturbances continue in Limerick, Cork, and Kilkenny; numerous arrests take place under the Insurrection Act.

6. A general survey of Ireland finally determined upon by the government, and Major Colley, with twenty cadets, sent from Woolwich for that purpose.

10. The King was pleased to decide that one uniform system of field exercise and movement shall be established throughout the army; and all general officers, colonels, and commanding officers of corps, are held responsible for the due and accurate performance of every part of the regulations approved by his Majesty, in order that no deviation may creep into practice.

12. A paper printed by order of the House of Commons, presenting an abstract of the net public income and expenditure of the United Kingdom for the last year; by which it appears that the income paid to the Exchequer in the year ending Jan. 5, 1824, was 57,672,9994. 8s. 41d. the expenditure 50,962,014l. 17s. 11d. leaving a surplus of 6,710,9847. 10s. 5 d.

15. The first pile of the new London Bridge was sunk this morning, amidst the cheers of a great number of persons, who had collected on both sides of the water, and on the west side of London Bridge, to witness the commencement of this undertaking.

16. The great question of the condition of the West Indian slaves came under discussion. The speech of Mr. Canning was full, clear, and candid, and of the mildest and most conciliating temper. That the communications made in it partook of the satisfactory character, will be seen by the following abstract of the Order in Council, by which a milder treatment of the Negro was enjoined to persons in authority: 1. The use of the whip, so indecent and so shocking, is to be utterly abolished in regard to female slaves.-2. The whip is no longer borne by the driver in the field; to be no longer employed as a summary punishment of the male negroes; to be wholly laid aside as a stimulus to labour, and resorted to only as a chastisement for misbehaviour, deliberately proved and recorded.-3. Ample provision is to be made for the religious instruction of the Negroes, by the appointment of two Bishops, with regular clergy under them.-4. Marriage is to be encouraged, families never to be separated, and the property of the slave is to be protected by positive law.— 5. Banks are to be established, in which the slave may deposit

his earnings; the money so placed to be sacred, in all cases, from the master's grasp.-6. The testimony of slaves, under cer tain limitations depending on personal character, is to be received in all civil cases, except when the master's immediate interests are concerned, and in all criminal cases, except when the life of a white person is involved.-7. The slave who has acquired a certain sum of money is to have the power of pur chasing his own manumission, or that of his wife or child; and thus the father may become, as it is fit he should, the instrument of liberty to his offspring. In the first instance, the experiment is to be tried in the conquered colonies alone; and it is hoped that the old English colonies, with the advantage of their Legislative Assemblies, will not fail to follow so excellent an example.-Mr. Canning obtained leave to bring in a bill making the slave-trade piracy.

March 18. A fire broke out in the extensive wharfs and warehouses of Messrs. Pickford and Co., on the banks of the City-road Basin, which proved dreadfully destructive.

24. Dreadful fire at Woolwich, and twelve houses, besides other property, completely destroyed.

30. Lord Gifford appointed Master of the Rolls.

APRIL 8.-Lieut. Goldsmith, of his Majesty's cutter Nimble, with fourteen of his men, succeeded in throwing down the celebrated Logging (rocking) Stone, one hundred tons weight, which stood on the summit of a mass of rocks at the Land's End, Cornwall; by which wanton frolic two poor families, who acted as guides to visitors, have been deprived of subsistence. In consequence of a representation to the proper quarter, the Lieutenant has since been engaged in an attempt to replace it in its former situation.

8. By the Statistical Return for the year 1823, it appears that in the metropolis crime has been nearly stationary for the last eight years; the number of persons committed for trial in London and Middlesex, during the year 1817, being 2686, and in 1823, 2503; in 1820, the number was 2773; but in the following year it had fallen to 2480. It appears by the returns, that in the year 1817, 13,932 persons were committed for trial in England and Wales, and in 1819, 14,254; but the number in