preserved, but bonfires were made in several parts of Paris to consume the quarters of the criminal, which were reduced to ashes, amidst the furious execrations of the frantic multitude."

A GENTLEMANLY EXECUTIONER. Ir is known, at least by the readers of Mr Cooper's 'Headsman,' that in some parts of Germany the situation of public executioner is an hereditary office, but it is not so well known that the holder of it is considered a gentleman; and less still is it suspected that he may be a man of sentiment, who decapitates in a spirit of benevolence. Yet all this is so. Some time since the functionary, who, on certain awful occasions, operates at Rastadt and other towns, resigned his office, or at least engaged an assistant or substitute; but shortly afterwards, being at Heidelberg, he was shocked at seeing an execution performed in a very bungling manner. He takes off the head invariably at a single blow. The Heidelberg executioner made two or three chops before he finished his task. Upon this the ex-headsman is said to have exclaimed, "Good heaven forgive me! I am the cause of that poor man's suffering;" and, in consequence of that, he resumed the office which he had for a time performed only by deputy.

An eye-witness of his labours gives the following picture of a scene in which he was one of "the observed of all observers." It will be found the whole of the spectacle is sufficiently recorded.

"On my arrival at Rastadt, at eight o'clock, I proceeded to Derrichtplatz (place of execution), a spacious field near the river Murg, and obtained a place within eight yards of the military, who were stationed around the scaffold. From

eight o'clock to half-past ten countless numbers continued to pour into the field from all quarters. The scaffold was a platform about ten feet high, twenty-five feet long, and fifteen feet broad, surmounted by a railing; at one end was a table covered with black cloth, surrounded by about eighteen chairs for the officers of justice; in the centre of the platform was a chair, in which the prisoner was to be seated when the sentence of death should be read to him; at the other end was a low-backed chair, firmly screwed to the flooring, and secured by iron bars, in which he was to be seated when judgment should be executed. As half-past ten approached anxiety was depicted on every countenance, and although a crowd of between 20,000 and 30,000 persons were congregated, the greatest decorum was observed. At the appointed time several carriages appeared, containing the officers of justice escorted by a detachment of life-guards. As soon

as the court had assembled the criminal was led to the scaffold. He was smoking his pipe with the greatest sang froid, laughing in the most jocular manner, and in a lamentable state of intoxication. Crimi

nals are allowed, a day or two previously to their execution, whatever they choose to ask for, and this wretched culprit had been regaling himself with champagne till it was with difficulty that he could walk straight. The greatest abhorrence was expressed at his disgusting demeanour, and nothing was heard around but My God, he is smoking,' and 'Heaven be gracious to us, he is drunk.' During the time that sentence was being read he continued to smoke, and after having addressed the crowd, and shaken hands with the judge, he was firmly bound in the chair, his shirt stripped over his shoulders, and his hair cut as close as possible. All this time he evinced not the slightest dread of what was going to take place; on the contrary, he appeared the most unconcerned person present. Two assistants now approached, the one with a black cap, which he secured over the culprit's head, and continued to hold it by a loop at the top at arm's length, the other took his station at a convenient distance, with that tremendous weapon the two-handed sword, holding it by the sheath. Everything being prepared, the headsman made his appearance, and drawing the sword he severed the criminal's head from his body at a single blow, in the most dexterous manner. So wondrous was the skill with which this was done, that the man could not possibly have been conscious of the blow. The head was then held to the view of the spectators, during which time jets of blood were spirted from the neck of the corpse until it was completely deluged. The cords which bound the arms were then unloosed, and the body fell through a trap door from the view."

SYMPATHY. "Out from my path, thou ragged boy, Thou can'st not taste what I enjoy ; Look at my chariot, chaise, and horse, And then despise your garb so coarse; Down with your hat from off your brow, Look up, and view your master now!" This is in thought the rich man's strain, The poor man's greeting and his pain. Could but the wealthy ponder once, And heed the call to sage and dunce"Earthworm! what are ye? can'st thou be? Lay down this night as mean as he!" Could he but think that life's a shade, That man, like blossom, soon must fade; Did he reflect, that marbled stone, Whose tenant once so brightly shone, And o'er whose form the wint'ry gust, Blows but the truth, "that all is dust!" Could he think this, the poorly born, Would ne'er feel pangs, nor meet his scorn.

J. B.

THE PEN.

In a little pamphlet, called 'Stylophology,' written to make known the merits of Mr Alderton's improved steel pens, ink, and paper, we have the following history of the pen :

"In the old Jewish chronicles we hear of 'calami,' which properly signify the reeds which the ancients used, being employed for the preservation of their verbal traditions respecting the early patriarchs; and this is the first mention made of pens or writing with which we are acquainted. But the oldest certain account we have of pens, as instruments for writing, is in a passage of Isidore, who died A.D. 636, and who distinctly alludes to the power of making and mending them. These reeds were used long after the introduction of writing pens, which have only been introduced into Europe since the sixth century. A poem on a pen, written in the seventh century by Adhelm, a monkish historian, who was the first Saxon that ever wrote in Latin, is still in existence, and manifests, even then, a full and fervent appreciation of the great importance of his subject, which at an age prior to the introduction of printing and the penny postage, must have been limited in its uses, misdirected in its aim, and misunderstood in its estimation. This poem by Adhelm was originally written in monkish Latin, but a few years afterwards a rough translation was made by Layamon, one of the old Saxon chroniclers, which, as being perhaps slightly the more intelligible of the two, we subjoin, from the original preserved amongst the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum. The following extract will serve as a sample of the rest :"Ye Penne thilk Paynimmine ne ye Christyan

honde

know. George the Third once remarked that members of the legal profession did not know the law better than he and others did, who were not lawyers, but they knew better where to look for it. Many of the ornaments of Westminster Hall, who strut in wigs and gowns, have to look for their law when they want it, and if they speak from themselves can only mislead those who purchase their advice. Mr Cornish, however, has great taste for that by which we suppose he lives, or wishes to live,

"For 'tis a duty, all the learned think,
To fight for that by which they eat and drink."
See what a lovely picture he gives of
Equity:

even-handed justice, she, like her mother, is
"Of this dignified and comely daughter of
of heavenly origin. Equity has her courts,
to which the injured resort; at whose petition
she condescends to detect latent frauds and
concealments; she takes cognizance of matters
of trust and confidence; she delivers her con-
scientious suitors from the perils into which
unavoidable calamity or oversight has plunged
them; she grants the boon of a specific relief
adapted to their several fortuitous exigencies;
property of the adult who shall be deemed
she throws her shield around the person and
incapable of acting-non compos mentis; she
makes a fair division between equal claimants,
rendering the haste and clamour of the
greedy vain; she is the widow's friend; the
benevolent guardian of fatherless innocents."
This of Equity!
fine from "a barrister-at-law," but talk
Truly it is all very
chancery suit, who has scarcely a hope of
to a poor devil in the tenth year of a
living to its conclusion, about this "digni-
fied and comely daughter of heavenly
origin," and we believe, writhing under
attornies' bills, fees to "barristers-at-
law," expenses of court, &c., and it would
not be very astonishing if the victim should
wish Dame Equity, not perhaps above the
skies, but in "t'other place "-the place
where Hamlet hints his most gracious
Majesty King Claudius has his permission
to seek the late Lord Polonius himself.

Personal Observations on Sindh. By Cap

tain T. Postans. Longman and Co. NOTHING particularly striking appears in this volume. Individuals who happen to be on the ground when anything very remarkable occurs, naturally think of making a book. Captain Postans has done so,

is often amusing though it is not important. His description of the hunting is curious:

and with some success. What he recounts

"Their method of pursuing these sports is, among the inferior classes, with dogs and spears; but with the princes and chiefs it is a very systematic and luxurious affair. The Amirs, seated in temporary huts erected for the occasion at the termination of one of the enclosed preserves, have the game driven

towards them by an immense crowd of men, the inhabitants of the country being collected from every direction for this purpose. Thus the Hindú is forced from his shop and the Mahommedan husbandman from his plough, and detained for several days without food, or a farthing of remuneration for their services, but too often losing their lives, or sustaining serious injuries, merely to contribute to the sport of their rulers. Thus driven from their covert by the yells and shrieks of the beaters, who, surrounding the sporting grounds armed with staves, and loudly beating drums, gradually close towards the centre, the poor frightened brutes in the preserves make towards the only path of escape left to them, which is an opening leading directly under the muzzles of the matchlocks of the sportsmen, who pour upon them a destructive fire. The mass and variety of game that is forced from the shelter of the jungle by this means is most surprising, for not only does it include numerous hogs and black buck, the nobler sport, but great varieties of smaller game, the beautiful cotahpacha, with foxes, hares, &c., in abundance. Hawking is also a very general sport throughout the country, for the capture of the beautiful black partridge, very similar in plumage to that of Cutch, abounding both in the interior

and on the banks of the Indus."

DR STENHOUSE'S NEW MODE OF EMPLOYING CREOSOTE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF BUTCHERS MEAT AND FISH.Creosote, so named from its great antiseptic power, which exceeds, perhaps, that of any other substance, has been long employed to preserve animal matters from decay. The only two ways in which creosote is usually applied for this purpose, consist either in exposing the meat which we wish to preserve to the smoke of burning wood, of which creosote is the effective constituent, or else in immersing it for a short time in water containing a few drops of creosote. Articles of food prepared by either of these methods may be kept for a long time; but both these modes of using the creosote are attended with the inconvenience that the food acquires the taste and smell peculiar to smoked meat. This may be entirely avoided. During the past

summer it struck me that perhaps the vapours of creosote might be found efficient. The method adopted was the following very simple one:-I placed a small plate containing a little creosote under each piece of meat as it hung suspended in the larder, and covered both over with a cloth. The creosote soon gave off vapours which formed an antiseptic atmosphere around the meat, and kept it quite fresh three or four days longer than it would otherwise have kept. If the plate is gently heated before the creosote is put into it the vapours rise more quickly, and if the additional precaution is taken of suspending the meat in a box or jar closed with a lid, the beneficial effect is still more discernible. I tried this process during the greater part of last summer with invariable success, and a butcher, who tried it' on a larger scale, was equally convinced of its efficacy. The meat, when cooked, has not the slightest smell or taste of creosote. Another advantage attending the use of creosote is, its smell is so disagreeable to flies that it frees a larder from the presence of these noxious insects. The same quantity of creosote may be used for several weeks, but on being long exposed to the air it loses most of its smell, and is partly changed into a species of resin.

FUNERAL OF A PERSIAN AT BISHOPSGATE. -In 1626 there died at London a merchant, who was a Persian both by birth and religion, and belonged to the retinue of the ambassador, being his secretary. His name was Maghomet Shaugsware, and he was buried without the churchyard of St Botolph, Bishopsgate, but in a place close adjoining to it. His son erected a tomb for him, which, in 1720, when a new edition of Stowe was published, still remained, but was removed when the present church was built, on which was cut, in the Persian tongue, the name of the deceased with the following words, "This tomb was erected for Coya Shaughsware, the chief of the servants of the King of Persia, during twenty years, who came here on the business of the King of Persia, and died in his service. If any Persian travelling from his own country comes to this place, let him read this, and offer up a prayer for the deceased. The Lord receive his soul! Here lies Maghomet Shaughsware, who was born in the city of Novoy in Persia." The funeral solemnities were performed in public, August 10. Between the hours of eight and nine in the morning, the ambassador, followed by the son of the deceased, and several other persons, accompanied the corpse to the place where it was interred. The son seating himself to the north of the sepulchre, with his legs across, read and chanted certain things alternately, intermixing with his reading and chanting abundance of sighs and tears. This,

with other ceremonies performed over the grave, lasted nearly half an hour, after which the friends of the deceased, to the number of six, did not fail of coming to the tomb every morning for a month together to offer up some devotions and prayers, and would have done so, perhaps, much longer if the populace, who began to insult them, had not prevented it.

GAMBLING EXTRAORDINARY.-The following is reprinted from the newspapers of April, 1812 :-"On Wednesday evening, an extraordinary investigation took place in Bow street. Croker, the officer, passing the Hampstead road, observed at a short distance two men on a wall, and directly after saw the taller of them, a stout man of six feet high, hanging by his neck from a lamp post, attached to the wall, being that instant tied up and turned off by the short man. The officer made up to the spot, when the tall man fell to the ground, the handkerchief with which he had been suspended having given way. Croker produced his staff and demanded the cause of such conduct. In the meantime, the man who had been hanged recovered, got up, and struck Croker a violent blow for interfering. The short man endeavoured to make off; however, both were secured and brought to the office. They worked on canals, and had been together on Wednesday afternoon, tossed up for money, and afterwards for their clothes. The man who was hanged won the other's jacket, trowsers, and shoes; they then tossed up which should hang the other, and the short one won the toss. They got on the wall, the one to submit, the other to hang him on the lamp iron. They both agreed in this statemeut. The tall one, who had been hanged, said, if he had won the toss, he would have hanged the other."

AN AMERICAN BOARDING HOUSE DINNER. -It was a numerous company-eighteen or twenty, perhaps. Of these some five or six were ladies, who sat wedged together in a little phalanx by themselves. All the knives and forks were working away at a rate that was quite alarming; very few words were spoken; and every body seemed to eat his utmost in selfdefence, as if a famine were expected to set in before breakfast time to-morrow morning, and it had become high time to assert the first law of nature. The poultry, which may perhaps be considered to have formed the staple of the entertainment--for there was a turkey at the top, a pair of ducks at the bottom, and two fowls in the middle disappeared as rapidly as if every bird had had the use of its wings, and had flown in desperation down a human throat. The oysters, stewed and pickled, leaped from their capacious reservoirs, and slid by scores into the mouths of the assembly. The sharpest pickles vanished; whole cu

cumbers at once, like sugar-plums; and no man winked his eye. Great heaps of indigestible matter melted away as ice before the sun. It was a solemn and an awful thing to see. Dyspeptic individuals bolted their food in wedges; feeding, not themselves, but broods of nightmares, who were continually standing at livery within them. Spare men, with lank and rigid cheeks, came out unsatisfied from the destruction of heavy dishes, and glared with watchful eyes upon the pastry. What Mrs Pawkins felt each day at dinner-time is hidden from all human knowledge. But she had one comfort. It was soon over. -Martin Chuzzlewit.

The Gatherer.

Persepolis. Under the early Persian monarchs Persepolis was the religious capital of the empire, to which the kings repaired at certain periods to perform devotional rites; to the eyes of the genuine Persian it would always appear as their true and national metropolis. Here the monarch, after his death, reposed in a tomb hewn out of the native rock, and in whatever distant part of his empire he might die, his body was conveyed in solemn procession to the city where his ancestors rested. The chief attendants of the king, the guardians of his harem, accompanied the body of their master, and closed their often eventful life in watching at their sovereign's grave. Two sepulchres, hewn in the mountain rock near the ruins of Tschil-Minar, are still shown. One is said to be the tomb of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, the most kind and benevolent of the Persian monarchs. Near the close of his life, he visited the original and native seat of the Persians, where it is probable he died, and was buried; his faithful servant, Bagapates, watched over his tomb for seven long years, till death put an end to his weary vigils.

A Judge and an Acquitted Prisoner.Lord Thurlow called on Tooke at Wimbledon, in the year 1802. "Mr Tooke," said he, "I have only one recollection which gives me pain. As AttorneyGeneral, I must confess that I was prevailed on to act against my own feelings, for I had always an esteem for you." "I am aware of it, my lord. You made a promise to perform your duty with impartiality and without rancour. Notwithstanding this, as if influenced by magic, you laboured with all your might to convict me." "It is true," said Thurlow. acknowledge it, and I lament it. So good morning, and farewell." Stay, my lord," said Tooke, "if I could not escape you at that time, you shall not escape me now." "What is your meaning ?" exclaimed Thurlow. "I fear no man on earth, nor

66

66

shall you threaten me with impunity." "I mean, my lord, that you shall stay and dine with me." 66 'No, I will come to-morrow." He kept his word, and they remained friends during his life.

Missionaries Wanted. When the 'Utopia' of Sir Thomas Moore was first published, it occasioned a pleasant mistake. This political romance represents a perfect but visionary republic. The learned Budæus and others took it for a genuine history, and considered it as highly expedient that missionaries should be sent thither in order to convert so wise a nation to Christianity.

The True Cross.-Fragments of wood, stated to have been cut from the true cross, were to be found, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, in every church in Europe, and would, if collected in one place, have been almost sufficient to have built a cathedral.-Mackay.

Newly-invented Paper. - Mr Alderton, whose steel pens were lately mentioned, has brought out a new description of writing paper, made wholly from linen, and adapted to the metallic pen, as it presents a smooth surface without that glaze which is sometimes found disagreeable. The specimen we have seen is excellent.

Meanness of Sir Joshua Reynolds. It was told of Sir Joshua that he made his servant, whose name was Ralph, gave him half the shillings and half-crowns bestowed upon him for showing his master's pictures. Dr Farmer, on this being mentioned in his presence, applied to the circumstance two lines from Hudibras

"A squire he had whose name was Ralph, Who in th' adventure went his half." A Gratuitous Treat Refused.-An island in the Humber is called Sunk Island. In a letter which has been published, written in 1711, the following passage occurs relating to the rats, by which the island was infested :-"The present proprietor of the island has dressed these rats for food, but could never persuade his workmen to feed on them, though they might have had plenty of them for nothing."

Church-yard Payments. For the sake of publicity it was formerly customary to make certain payments in churchyards. In Langdale's Dictionary of Yorkshire,' we are told-"John de Collingham, the rector of Easington, a little before the destruction of Odd, near Ravenser, used to sit on a tombstone in Easington churchyard, and there receive of fifty inhabitants 50l. pro decimis quadragesimalibus; that is, for Easter offerings."

Tulip-Tree. This is increased either by layers or from seeds procured from its native country. There is no necessity for pruning it further than to cut out any dead wood which may occur in old trees.

To render the plant more vigorous, the best plan will be to water it occasionally when in full growth with liquid manure.

Cuttings.-Honeysuckles, jasmines, and similar climbers, will strike readily from cuttings after this time. A little bottomheat will forward the production of roots, and establish them better before the approach of winter.

Moths. The readiest mode of destroying moths in woollen or other clothes, is to pass them through a mangle, the larvæ of the insect being, at this season of the year (August), destroyed by the slightest pres

sure.

A Card. The person who advertises the horse-hair gloves, which are said to be adapted for promoting CIRCULATION, is requested to apply without delay at the office of the Morning Post.-Punch.

Sea Sickness.-A girdle worn round the body above the bowels, that is, over the epigastrium, will prevent sea sickness.

Beauty of English Girls.-I never see nothin' like it since I was raised, nor dreamed nothin' like it nother. It beats all natur. It takes the rag off quite. If that old Turk. Mahomed, had seed these gals he wouldn't a bragged about his beautiful ones in Paradise so for everlastinly, I know; for these English heifers would have beaten all hollow, that's a fact.-Sam Slick in England.

Recollections of the Departed.-Very trifling things connected with those who are no more make a strong impression on the youthful mind, more especially when the departed were persons of eminence. "I little thought," says Miss Hawkins, "what I should have to boast when Goldsmith taught me to play Jack and Gill by two pits of paper on his fingers; and when Israel Mauduit, the author of the 'Considerations on the German War,' dissected a flower of the horse-chesnut to give me an idea of the science of botany."

The Dog of Alcibiades.-The celebrated piece of sculpture, a cast of which is now seen in almost every piece of ornamental ground, is supposed to be the work of Myron. Dallaway, in his description of sta tuary and sculpture, says "it was discovered at Monte Cagnuolo, and procured by Henry Constantine Jennings, Esq., who brought it to England, and from whom it was transferred to Mr Duncombe for a thousand guineas. It ranks among the five famous dogs of antiquity."

Persecuted Royalists injured by Prosperity. -The followers of Charles II, when they had been exposed for ten years to the unfeeling brutality of Cromwell and his soldiers, did not learn wisdom from suffering. For them "the uses of adversity" had but moderate value. This we learn from Lord Hale, who, in his reflections On the Modesty and Reasonableness of Jacob's De